Israel at 60

Financial Times
Published: May 14 2008 19:48

George W. Bush's arrival in Jerusalem to celebrate Wednesday's 60th
anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel -- the most
powerful nation on earth standing shoulder to shoulder with the most
powerful country in the Middle East -- should be pregnant with
political possibility. Instead, it is merely poignant.

Israel's president, Shimon Peres, told the US president who has done
so much damage in the Middle East, that "you stood like nobody else on
our side". True, but not helpful to Israel's long-term interests.
America's standing in the Arab and Muslim worlds has been brought so
low by Mr Bush that its friendship is toxic. Even more important, the
written guarantees Mr Bush gave former prime minister Ariel Sharon on
April 14 2004 -- in effect signing over the main Jewish settlements in
the occupied West Bank and Arab east Jerusalem to Israeli sovereignty
-- will, if honoured, place a two-states solution to the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict beyond reach.

The consequences of this for Israel's future would be profound.

By Richard Eden

The Foreign Office said yesterday that it was applying diplomatic pressure
on Saudi Arabia to commute a sentence of 800 lashes and eight years in jail
for a Briton accused of running an illegal drinking den.

Gary O'Nions, a 56-year-old businessman, was also fined

Tennessee Ten Commandments

Some people in Tennessee have trouble with all those 'shall's' and
'shall not's' in the Ten commandments. Folks just aren't used to talking
in those terms.. So, some folks in middle Tennessee got together and
translated the 'King James' into 'Jackson County' language..... no joke,
read on...

The Hillbilly's Ten Commandments
(posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Gainesboro, TN)

(1) Just one God
(2) Put nothin' before God
(3) Watch yer mouth
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin'
(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa
(6) No killin'
(7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal
(8) Don't take what ain't yers
(9) No tellin' tales or gossipin'
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff

Berlin

Israel officially celebrates its 60th birthday this month, but Amnon
Seelig's grandparents were in the Holy Land well before May 14, 1948.

Like many other Jews in the first decades of last century, they were
Zionists, building a life for themselves in Palestine. And while the
ideology of Theodor Herzl may have been inspiration enough for many Jews,
26-year-old Amnon's grandparents had a powerful additional motivation to
start anew in what was to become Israel.

"My grandparents lived in Berlin," he recalled. "There they witnessed the
emergence and rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis, and suffered the
stifling and sinister effects of German anti-Semitism."

For Mr Seelig's grandparents, Israel was - even before its creation - a
refuge from a tyrannical and ultimately murderous Germany. The Seeligs put
down roots there. Their children were born in Israel. Amnon himself grew up
in the outskirts of Tel Aviv, capital of the nation his grandparents helped
to build.

But, while he wears a gold Star of David on a chain around his neck, he does
not live in Tel Aviv any more. "I moved to Germany 18 months ago," he said,
"and I'm not planning on moving back to Israel any time soon."

PUTIN OPPOSES THE ZIONIST AGENDA

In Time Magazine's Person Of The Year 2007 Interview With Putin the War In
Iraq
& the threatened US War Against Iran were discussed:

Time: What do you think should be done in Iraq?

Putin: I said it was a mistake from the very beginning. Developments have
proved that we were right. The US now believes it is impossible to impose
time frames for a withdrawal. In my view if the Iraqis know that a deadline
is there they would be more proactive. But this is a decision that we must
make together at the level of the United Nations."

Time: What about a possible war against Iran by the US with regard to their
alleged nuclear program?

Putin: Any military action against Iran would be a mistake. Russia's
foreign-policy stance is guided by objective and verified data and
intelligence."

THESE ARE ANSWERS that the Jews fear. Is it any wonder then that the Jewish
controlled Media paints Vladimir Putin as "Ivan The Terrible?"

A bad trip in India

By Aryeh Dayan

Here is a popular joke among Israeli backpackers in India: An Indian asks an
Israeli backpacker, "So how many Israelis are there?" The backpacker answers
"Five million" and the Indian then asks "and how many in Israel?" Daria
Maoz, who is writing her doctorate on Israeli backpackers in India, believes
the joke increasingly reflects the feelings of Indians in light of the
Israeli "invasion" of their country. Some 15 years after Israelis first
began traveling en mass to the subcontinent, where they initially received a
warm welcome, Maoz's research points to a growing discomfort with the
Israeli presence in India. The problem is not the large number of Israelis
who travel to India, but their behavior, which the Indians are finding
increasingly difficult to bear.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's government cancelled measures on Wednesday that
angered the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and triggered the worst
internal conflict since the country's 1975-90 civil war.

The U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a
statement after a meeting that it was taking the step in line with a request
by the Lebanese army to preserve civil peace and promote an Arab League
mediation effort to end Lebanon's 18-month-old political crisis.

"The cabinet decided to agree on the suggestion of the army commander ...
which includes the cancellation of the two decisions," the statement, read
by Information Minister Ghazi al-Aridi, said.

A senior opposition source welcomed the move. "We welcome the government's
step and we see that it forms the prelude to end our disobedience campaign,"
he told Reuters.

The source said the opposition would end the disobedience campaign once the
ruling coalition agrees to talks. He said such an announcement was expected
on Thursday.

Shortly after Aridi read the statement, Hezbollah supporters fired into the
air in Beirut to celebrate what the group sees as a major blow to the
government and its allies.

By Matt Spetalnick and Tabassum Zakaria

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An emotional President George W. Bush pledged that
America would remain "Israel's best friend in the world" on Wednesday during
a celebratory visit to Jerusalem to mark the 60th anniversary of the Jewish
state.

His host, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, appeared to bring a tear to
the president's eye when he called him "a great leader, a great friend".
Olmert also held out hope of reaching a peace with the Palestinians before
Bush steps down in January.

The warmth of Bush's welcome and his own words for Israelis on a day when
Palestinians recall their sufferings at Israel's creation in 1948 will do
little, however, to dispel many Arabs' conviction that Washington is too
partisan to broker a deal.

A rocket attack from the Gaza Strip that wounded several Israelis at a
shopping mall and prompted warnings of an Israeli offensive was also a
reminder of problems facing negotiations which Bush helped relaunch toward
the end of a two-term presidency marked by intractable conflicts in the
Middle East.

Israel later killed two Hamas men in an air strike in Gaza.

By Matt Spetalnick and Tabassum Zakaria

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An emotional President George W. Bush pledged that
America would remain "Israel's best friend in the world" on Wednesday during
a celebratory visit to Jerusalem to mark the 60th anniversary of the Jewish
state.

His host, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, appeared to bring a tear to
the president's eye when he called him "a great leader, a great friend".
Olmert also held out hope of reaching a peace with the Palestinians before
Bush steps down in January.

The warmth of Bush's welcome and his own words for Israelis on a day when
Palestinians recall their sufferings at Israel's creation in 1948 will do
little, however, to dispel many Arabs' conviction that Washington is too
partisan to broker a deal.

A rocket attack from the Gaza Strip that wounded several Israelis at a
shopping mall and prompted warnings of an Israeli offensive was also a
reminder of problems facing negotiations which Bush helped relaunch toward
the end of a two-term presidency marked by intractable conflicts in the
Middle East.

Israel later killed two Hamas men in an air strike in Gaza.

July 4th is Independence Day in the United States. A day when the country's
Fathers set fourth a Declaration of Independence. from British rule.

India also declared its independence from British rule in 1947.

Finland declared its independence from Russian rule in 1917.

In the early part of the last century Mexico declared its independence from
Spain.

The list is endless.. country after country declaring themselves free from
the grips of another..

On May 14th, 1948, the 'People's Council of the Land of Israel' declared the
following.

ACCORDINGLY, WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE
ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER
ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE
STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY
DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS
THE STATE OF ISRAEL.

Termination of the British Mandate over Eretz- Israel (Land of Israel)???
What 'Land of Israel'??? Whatever happened to 'The Land of Palestine'???

In 1938, Mahatma Gandhi wrote the following. "Palestine belongs to the Arabs
in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the
French.What is going on in Palestine today cannot be...