Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia: ******************************

In-Depth Issues:

Communities Around the World to Sing Israel's National Anthem on Wednesday (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
    On Wednesday, April 29 at 10:50 p.m. Israel time (3:50 p.m. EST, 2:50 p.m. CST, 12:50 p.m. PST), communities around the world will join together to sing Israel's national anthem Hatikva in honor of the 61st birthday of the State of Israel.
    Live Hatikva will be broadcast around America and on the Internet streaming live at www.jltv.tv.

Sick Gazans Victims of Hamas-Fatah Power Struggle - Diaa Hadid and Ibrahim Barzak (AP/Washington Post)
    Hundreds of Palestinian patients have been trapped in Gaza, unable to travel abroad for crucial medical treatment, because of political infighting between Hamas and Fatah.
    Eight Gazans who were waiting to travel abroad have died since a dispute shut down a medical referral committee that helps sick residents find treatment outside of Gaza, according to the World Health Organization.
    On March 22, Hamas took control of the Fatah-run medical committee, which referred about 1,000 patients a month with life-threatening illnesses to Israel and Egypt.
    In response, the West Bank government, which funds medical treatment for Palestinians abroad, froze most patient transfers.

Israel Confirms First Case of Swine Flu in Man Who Visited Mexico (Ha'aretz)

Turkish Army Unhappy over Drill with Syria - Yaakov Lappin (Jerusalem Post)
    "The Turkish military is not happy about [this week's joint military drill with Syria]. It does not like Syria, and views it as a problematic state," said Prof. Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, on Monday.
    Internationally, the drill raised many questions over Turkey's relationship to NATO (of which Turkey is a member), the West and Israel, Inbar said.
    Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an expert on Arab political discourse at BESA, noted: "Turkey is occupying a whole section of Syria [Alexandretta province], and yet Syria is willing to hold joint military drills with Turkey. So there's no reason why Syria can't cooperate with us while we're sitting on the Golan Heights."

Abbas Rejects Calling Israel a Jewish State - Isabel Kershner
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas on Monday dismissed a demand by Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Palestinian negotiators have long refused to recognize Israel's Jewish character. In an attempt to bolster the Palestinian argument, Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide and veteran negotiator, on Monday produced a copy of a letter signed by President Harry S Truman on May 14, 1948. In its original form, it recognizes the provisional government of the new Jewish state, but the typed words "Jewish state" in the second paragraph have been crossed out and replaced with the handwritten "State of Israel."
    Shlomo Avineri, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Erekat was misinterpreting the American president's intention. The Truman letter had been prepared hours before Israel declared its independence, before the new country had chosen its name. It was later corrected by a Truman adviser, Clark M. Clifford, after the declaration of independence in order to call the country by its name, not to deny its Jewish character. (New York Times)
    See also President Truman's Decision to Recognize Israel - Clark Clifford with Richard Holbrooke (ICA/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
    See also Israel: PA Recognition of Jewish State "Crucial" for Reconciliation - Yoav Stern and Barak Ravid
The Foreign Ministry said Monday that Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state was "crucial" for reconciliation between the two sides after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Israeli calls to do so. "Recognition of Israel as the sovereign state of the Jewish people is an essential and necessary step in the historic reconciliation process between Israel and the Palestinians," the ministry said in a statement. "The sooner the Palestinians internalize this basic and essential fact, peace between the two peoples will progress and come to fruition."  (Ha'aretz)

• UN Chief Raps Hizbullah "Intimidation" in Lebanon
  Hizbullah and other armed militias in Lebanon are fostering instability and intimidation as elections near, UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned in a report published Monday. "The threat that armed groups and militias pose to the sovereignty and stability of the Lebanese state cannot be overstated," he wrote. Hizbullah's arsenal, which includes an autonomous telecommunication network, "is a direct challenge to the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and an obstacle for the conduct of the normal democratic process in the country." In 2004, UN Security Council Resolution 1559 called for the "disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias." (AFP)
• U.S. to Expand PA Security Forces - Mohammed Assadi
  The U.S. plans to expand a program to bolster PA security forces in the West Bank. "We have plans to train at least three more battalions before this time next year," Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton said Monday. Each battalion has about 500 members. "If it goes the way the administration has asked for, we will accelerate dramatically what we are doing here in terms of training and equipment," Dayton said.
      U.S.-funded training is conducted by Jordanian police at a base outside Amman. Last month, U.S. officials said the Obama administration planned to boost support for the Dayton program by up to 70%, from $75 million in 2008 to as much as $130 million. Some 1,600 members of Abbas' National Security Force and Presidential Guard have undergone U.S.-funded training since January 2008. (Reuters)

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

• Netanyahu: We'll Continue to Pursue Peace - Ronen Medzini
  "In spite of the opposition of our enemies, Israel signed peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, and despite the difficulties, we will continue our efforts to complete the circle of peace with the rest of our neighbors, until we are successful," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday at a memorial service in honor of Israel's fallen soldiers. "The price we have paid and are still paying is unbearable, I know. My family has also been struck by bereavement; your sorrow is my sorrow. I feel the pain deep in my heart and carry with me the memory, the yearning and the burden of the loss." The prime minister's brother Jonathan was killed during the 1976 IDF raid on Entebbe to free Israeli hostages. (Ynet News)
      See also Address at Memorial Service for Israel's Fallen Soldiers - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Prime Minister's Office)
      See also Israeli Defense Minister: No Second Chance for Those Who Can't Defend Themselves - Hanan Greenberg
  "We live in a tough environment. This isn't western Europe or North America. There is no mercy for the weak here, and no second chance for those who can't defend themselves," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday prior to Remembrance Day. (Ynet News)
• Israel at 61: Population 7.4 Million, 75.5 Percent Jewish - Motti Bassok
  The population of Israel stands at 7,411,000 - 75% of it Jewish - up from 7,282,000 last year. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Jewish population of Israel stands at 5,593,000 and the Arab population is 1,498,000, or 20.2%. Foreign residents make up 4.3% of the population. There are 14 cities with over 100,000 residents. (Ha'aretz)

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

• Iran's New Target: Egypt - Abdel Monem Said Aly
  On April 8, Egypt announced it had uncovered a Hizbullah cell operating inside its borders, offering a rare insight into the way Iran and its proxies are manipulating Middle East politics. Tehran sees Egypt as its greatest rival in the region, and the most formidable Arab bulwark opposing its influence. It is in this context that Hizbullah actions in Egypt should be assessed. Acting as a front for Iranian objectives, Hizbullah is tasked with distracting Egypt from the diplomatic process. Egypt's persistent attempts to bring about peace in the Israeli-Palestinian arena and its encouragement of other Arab countries to follow its path with Israel threaten to deprive Iran of the single most potent regional issue that it can exploit to further its radical agenda. The writer is director of the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. (Wall Street Journal)
• Boycotting Israel Not Ethical - Editorial
  Having set up the Mountain Equipment Co-Op as an "ethical," customer-owned enterprise, the Vancouver-based MEC board has committed itself to letting those customers discuss what business practices may be considered ethical. Now a faction of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation thinks the MEC should boycott Israeli-made products. Why? Because when subjected to terrorist attacks from Gaza, Israel vigorously defended itself.
      Much of what we buy is made in countries where modest research would uncover human-rights abuses sufficient to justify a boycott. China, for instance, should be on any list of least-favored trading partners. Yet, without Chinese products MEC members would hike barefoot and sleep under the stars. Israel is at least a democracy, where citizens are free to criticize their government. (Calgary Herald-Canada)
      See also Getting One's Knickers in a Twist over Israel - Pete McMartin (Vancouver Sun-Canada)
• Observations:

Netanyahu Bids to Change "Diskette" - David Horovitz (Jerusalem Post)

• Israel's new government will formally unveil its foreign policy when Prime Minister Netanyahu meets with President Obama at the White House on May 18.
• Netanyahu will set out to achieve a changing of the international "diskette." This, first, necessitates an acknowledgement that successive negotiating efforts have foundered on the rock of Palestinian intransigence and weakness. Second, it requires a shifted focus to a more modest, gradual program for creating a climate in which reconciliation might truly start to flourish.
• In comments that mesh thoroughly with the thinking in the Prime Minister's Office, Foreign Minister Lieberman has stressed that Israel fully "intends to take the initiative" as regards the Palestinians. Indeed, the Netanyahu government wants to engage with the Palestinians and with the rest of the region - first and foremost, to build a partnership to face down the common threat posed by Iran.
• Netanyahu's government is not conditioning the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians on the thwarting of Iran. But it is saying, sensibly, that there is no prospect of substantive progress with the Palestinians unless Iran's nuclear drive is halted. Iran threatens Israel directly, via Hizbullah to the north and via Hamas in the south. But if Iran is cowed, moderate Palestinians and more moderate forces throughout our region would be liberated.

      See also The World According to Foreign Minister Lieberman - David Horovitz and Amir Mizroch (Jerusalem Post)

*** JOIN the JWR Facebook fan page: http://tinyurl.com/bjbtt9
Have a "conversation" about our articles: http://tinyurl.com/c4k99x

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"One who says, "Let good people [and only good people] bless You," is
considered to have spoken heresy."
                     --- Mishna, Megillah

[ J E W I S H  L I V I N G ]

---> reality check
What Israel's Arab neighbors grasp that the Obama administration won't
By Caroline B. Glick

You can't help but get a funny feeling when you see the Arabs defending
Israel from American criticism. But with the Obama administration's
Middle East policy firmly grounded in La La Land, what choice do they
have?

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0409/glick042709.php3

---> on law
Beware abhorrent hate crime legislation
By David Limbaugh

Color me an alarmist, but I think the main purpose of a proposed bill --
expected to be voted on April 29 -- is to demonize and criminalize
thought, especially the politically incorrect belief that homosexual
behavior is either abnormal or sinful. It is to make an emphatic
societal statement that this belief constitutes "hate" and possibly to
lay the groundwork for outlawing speech expressing this belief,
including from the pulpit

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/david/limbaugh042809.php3

---> JWisdom.com
Exodus from Egypt: The Hidden Agenda

SHORT -- but enlightening --  video presentation by master teacher Rabbi
David Fohrman on re-thinking the Exodus story

TODAY: FINAL EPISODE

http://jewishworldreview.com/jwisdom/fohrman_exodus.php3

[ D A I L Y     I N S P I R A T I O N  ]

NEW SERIES!

"The Sun Will Shine Again" by Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski

What does a person do when he loses his job after years of faithful
service? How do we deal with shattered retirement funds --- and broken
dreams? Rabbi Dr. Twerski shows us practical strategies to keep our
marriages, our families, and our own sense of self worth intact, despite
today's economic woes.

We cannot control a stock market on a rollercoaster ride or a pension
plan that's simply vanished, but we can control how we react. We can
listen to the financial news and hear a death knell --- or a wakeup
call. We can wallow in blame and despair, or harness the incredible
power of prayer and kindness to others.

Yes, times are tough, but Rabbi Twerski assures us that the sun will
shine again -- and he shows us how to keep ourselves calm and smiling
until it does.

TODAY: For our troubled times, prayer that's more than lip-service. Part II

http://jewishworldreview.com/twerski/Sun_Will_Shine_Again.php3

[ W O R T H  1 0 0 0  W O R D S ]

* Ripleys Believe It Or Not!
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/ripley/ripley.asp

* Andy Capp
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/a_capp/a_capp.asp

* 9 to 5
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/9_to_5/9_to_5.asp

* Bliss
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/bliss/bliss.asp

* Bottom Liners
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/bottomliners/bottomliners.asp

* The Born Loser
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/born_loser/born_loser.asp

* Bound and Gagged
http://jewishworldreview.com/strips/bound_and_gagged/b_and_g.asp

* Flo & Friends
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/flo/flo.asp

* Frank & Ernest
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/frank_and_ernest/frank_and_ernest.asp

* The Grizzwells
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/grizzwells/grizzwells.asp

* Herman
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/herman/herman.asp

* Mallard Filmore
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/mallard/2000/mallard1.asp

* Moderately Confused
http://jewishworldreview.com/strips/moderately_confused/mc.asp

* Momma
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/momma/momma.asp

* One Big Happy
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/obh/obh1.asp

* Prickly City
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/pc/prickly_city.asp

* The Other Coast
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/toc/toc.asp

* Shoe
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/shoe/shoe.asp

* State of the Union
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/sou/sou.asp

* The Wizard of Id
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/wiz/wiz.asp

* Dry Bones
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/strips/dry_bones/dry_bones.asp

* Chuck Asay
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/asay/asay.php3

* Chip Bok
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/bok/bok.php3

* John Cole
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/cole/cole.php3

* John Deering
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/deering/deering.php3

* Brian Duffy
http://jewishworldreview.com/toons/duffy/duffy.php3

* Bob Gorrell
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/gorrel/gorrell.php3

* Joe Heller
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/heller/heller.php3

* Jerry Holbert
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/holbert/holbert.php3

* Jeff Koterba
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/koterba/koterba.php3

* Dick Locher
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/locher/locher.php3

* Rick McKee
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/mckee/mckee.php3

* Scott Stantis
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/stantis/stantis.php3

* Jeff Stahler
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/stahler/stahler.php3

* Dana Summers
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/summers/summers.php3

* Gary Varvel
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/varvel/varvel.php3

* Michael Ramirez
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/toons/ramirez/ramirez.php3

 PoliticalMavens.com H I G H L I G H T S  ]

* Walid Phares: The Taliban's 'AfPak' Strategy: A Jihadi Preemptive
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2009/04/23/a-jihadi-pr/

* Monica Crowley: Where His Heart Is
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2009/04/24/where-his-heart-is/

* Arnold Ahlert: 'Drowning' In Self-Righteousness
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2009/04/24/drowning-in-self-righteousness/

[ T O D A Y  I N  H I S T O R Y ]

On this day in …

* 1789, there was a mutiny on HMS Bounty as the crew of the British ship
set Capt. William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in
the South Pacific

* 1939, Powell Crosley produces America's first miniature or "bantam"
car. The Crosley was a foot shorter and 100 pounds lighter
than the pre-war Volkswagen Bug, and far smaller than anything
manufactured by American companies. At a $800 sticker price, Crosley was
unable to convince consumers to purchase a miniature car when they could
buy a full-size car for a few hundred dollars more. He was soon out of
business.

* 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara
Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee
the country

* 1952, war with Japan officially ended as a treaty that had been signed
by the United States and 47 other nations took effect. Also:
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the most highly regarded American
generals of World War II, steps down as supreme commander of the
combined land and air forces of NATO. He does this in order to run for
president. In November 1952, "Ike" wins a resounding victory in the
presidential elections, and in 1956, is reelected by a landslide.

* 1958, Vice President Nixon and his wife, Pat, began a goodwill tour of
Latin America that was marred by hostile mobs in Lima, Peru, and
Caracas, Venezuela

* 1967, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted
into the Army, the same day Gen. William C. Westmoreland told Congress
the U.S. "would prevail in Vietnam"

* 1980, President Carter accepted the resignation of Secretary of State
Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the failed rescue mission aimed at freeing
American hostages being held in Iran by practitioners of that "religion
of peace"

* 1986, the Soviet Union informed the world of the nuclear disaster at
Chernobyl

* 1992, the Agriculture Department unveiled its pyramid-shaped
recommended-diet chart that had cost nearly $1 million to develop.
Of course, it was later revised

* 1999, in a sharp repudiation of President Bill Clinton's policies, the
House rejected, on a tie vote of 213-213, a measure expressing support
for NATO's five-week-old air campaign against Yugoslavia; the House also
voted 249-180 to limit the president's authority to use ground forces in
Yugoslavia

* 2001, a Russian rocket lifted off from Central Asia bearing the first
space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and two cosmonauts on
a journey to the international space station

* 2004, a Spanish judge indicted Amer Azizi, a Moroccan fugitive, on
charges of helping to plan the Sept. 11th tragedy

* 2005, a military jury at Fort Bragg, N.C., sentenced Sgt. Hasan Akbar,
a practitioner of that "religion of peace", to death for the
2003 murders of two officers in Kuwait. ALSO: More than 100 volunteers
joined police in Duluth, Ga., in searching for Jennifer
Wilbanks, a bride-to-be who had vanished two days earlier. (Wilbanks
turned up in Albuquerque, N.M., having run away on her own.)

* 2008, in a defiant appearance at the National Press Club in
Washington, Democrat Barack Obama's longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah
Wright, said criticism surrounding his fiery sermons was an attack on
black churches, and he rejected those who'd labeled him unpatriotic

[ L I F E S T Y L E S ]

* How 2 ...: Insert images in actual e-mail
http://jewishworldreview.com/0409/how2.php3

* Newer anti-cancer drugs target specific cells with fewer side effects
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0409/anti-cancer-drugs.php3

* Every Monday Matters: Respect the disabled
http://jewishworldreview.com/0409/mondays.php3

* Dr. Peter H. Gott: Hyperparathyroidism; wife's vanity mars her
judgment
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/gott1.asp

* Frugal Living by Sara Noel: Inexpensive fun for kids
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/frugal_living.php3

[ I N S I G H T ]

* Dennis Prager: Nine Questions the Left Needs to Answer About Torture
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0409/prager042809.php3

* Argus Hamilton skewers politics and contemporary "culture"
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0409/hamilton042809.php3

* Tom Purcell: Driving us to drink
http://jewishworldreview.com/0409/purcell042809.php3

* Diane Dimond: DNA Database Explosion, or A Li'l Swab Will Do Ya
(THOUGHT PROVOKING!)
http://jewishworldreview.com/0409/diamond.php3

* Mona Charen: Under Buckley's Giant Shadow
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/charen042809.php3

* Wesley Pruden: A pandemic of panic --- are we dead yet?
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/pruden042809.php3

* Jeff Jacoby: $8 gas and the green agenda
http://jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby042809.php3

* Roger Simon: 100 Days
http://jewishworldreview.com/0409/simon042809.php3

* Rich Lowry: 100 Days --- a success, but ...
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0409/lowry042809.php3

* Paul Greenberg: Contortion a day: Our ever flexible president
(MASTERFUL!)
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/greenberg042809.php3

* Jack Kelly: What will Napolitano say next?
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0409/jkelly042809.php3

* Debra J. Saunders: The Opposite of Intelligence
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0409/saunders042809.php3

* Michael Barone: U.S. moving toward Europe, but do Americans want to
go?  (SMART!)
http://jewishworldreview.com/michael/barone042809.php3

* Cal Thomas: Loose lips or loose pix: Same result
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas042809.php3

* Thomas Sowell: Survival optional
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell042809.php3
************************************************************************************************************
PA military court sentences man to death by hanging for selling land to Israelis
Date: 28 / 04 / 2009  Time:  13:54   
 www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37424
  
[Ma'anImages] Hebron – Ma’an – A special Palestinian Authority (PA) military court in Hebron in the sentenced a Palestinian man to death by hanging after he was found guilty of selling land to Israeli settlers on Tuesday.

This is the first time a Palestinian court has handed down a conviction for treason in a case relating to land sales. The suspect is from the Hebron area.

Presiding over tribunal was judge Brigadier General Abdul-Karim Al-Masri. The jurists were the judge Major Mihriz Atyani, and Major Nabil Jabir. Head of military prosecution in Hebron Issa Amr attended the sentencing as well as the military prosecuting attorney in Hebron Hani Al-Heih, the court’s clerk Abdul-Rahman Fannun. Lawyers defending the suspect were also present.

The military court held a hearing session on 21 April, on the charge of “leaking lands to Israel.”

The PA announced just over a week ago that it is investigating Palestinians who sell land to settlers.

PA courts have convicted Palestinians for collaborating with Israel in the past, usually for providing information about resistance fighters to the Israeli intelligence services. These convictions are based on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Revolutionary Code.

 

--
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
~Herm Albright~

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProJewishProZionistGroup/?yguid=368134690

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/stillnotjustmusicanymore/?yguid=368134690

http://groups.yahoo.com/adultconf?dest=%2Fgroup%2Fwhateverreturns%2F%3Fyguid%3D368134690

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shieldofdavid/?yguid=373549731_____________________________