Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, January 13, 2022

Who is "Rabbi Shabsi Bulman"? And why are his Jewish conspiracy books a hit in Indonesia?

"Rabbi Shabsi Bulman" is a prolific author who is only being published and sold in Indonesia.

His titles include "Yahudi Infotainment" about how Jews control the media, and "Jewish Secret Business Success" which seems to be filled with Talmud quotes about business.

Also "The Secret Power of Jews," "Obama is the Black Hitler," "The Secret Agreement between Palestine and Jews," "Sayeret Special Force," "Krav Maga: Israeli Self Defense," "Marketing hypnosis for world dictators" and"Fuhrer File: A Story About The Fourth Reich."

He is described in one blurb this way:

Bulman is the founder of the New Historians, a group of Israeli scholars who have challenged long-held perceptions of the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their research documents the crimes and atrocities committed by the Israeli armed forces, including rape, torture, and ethnic cleansing.

He is obviously not one of Israel's New Historians, let alone their leader. I can't find anything about him in Israel or America. His books are not in Amazon or really anywhere outside Indonesian booksellers. I even saw one of his books mentioned in a school curriculum!

Maybe he is Neturei Karta, but I cannot imagine an NK guy writing about Krav Maga or Sayeret.

It just may be that "Rabbi Bulman" is just someone who found a niche to make money writing what the Indonesian audience wants to believe about Jews.

A major rabbi of the last century, Nachman Bulman, had a son named Shabsi, but I don't know if this is the same person or someone whose name was appropriated for these books.

Very, very weird.

Human Rights Group Insists Drone Infiltrating From Lebanon Just Looking For Work (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

drone Kiryat Sh'monah, January 13 - NGOs decried Israel's downing of an unmanned aircraft today that penetrated the country's northern border, claiming that the IDF should have ascertained the device's intentions before opening fire, and not assume malice amid some likelihood that the quadcopter fled its economically-beleaguered homeland in search of employment and a brighter future.

A surface-to-air missile downed a drone this morning that had crossed from Lebanon near Israel's northernmost city, the latest in a string of such infiltrations by Hezbollah-operated craft - the Iran-backed Shiite militia that exerts de facto control over Lebanon and an existential foe of the Jewish State. Activists from Btselem, Human Rights Watch, and other groups demanded an investigation into the incident, charging that the military personnel responsible for the order to fire failed to ascertain that the drone in fact aimed to accomplish anything beyond finding a stable source of income, given the collapse of Lebanon's economy, currency, public services, and supply situation.

"We have come to expect this kind of prejudgment and prejudice from Israel's security forces," lamented Btselem's Anna Thropomorova. "Shoot first, ask questions later, if at all. In fact I believe they only ask questions later when we and our colleagues in the human rights community give the matter attention, because Israel sees no interest in questioning its assumption that a remotely-piloted device with the potential to conduct espionage, sabotage, bombing, or other malicious purposes, and known to form part of the arsenal of the world's richest and best-equipped terrorist organization, must be intercepted immediately. It's an extension of their brutal attitude toward Palestinians, whom the IDF see as a threat by default just because of a few thousand Israelis killed in Palestinian violence. How many Palestinians did IDF troops kill for throwing firebombs when maybe those Palestinians were just trying to initiate a friendly game of catch?"

Dan LeKhafshtus of Human Right Watch concurred. "The prejudice is deadly," he decried. "A humane response would involve gentler treatment and perhaps eventual repatriation, but Israel has seldom shown willingness to change its behavior in that direction."

A statement by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel called on the High Court to restrain the IDF from intercepting any future cross-border drones not just from Lebanon, but from Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and the Gaza Strip, as well. "No device must suffer because it seeks a better existence for itself and its children," the statement read. "We fear that failure to act on this phenomenon will explode in our faces."

01/13 Links Pt1: It's time for Biden to keep his promises on Israel and the UN; Irish Times Reimagines Mahmoud Abbas as Man of Peace; Syrian surface-to-surface missile site exposed, ‘threatens most of Israel’

From Ian:

It's time for Biden to keep his promises on Israel and the UN

The Biden administration should use its seat on the UNHRC to defend the legality of Israeli operations. After all, combatting the council’s anti-Israel bias is part of how the administration justified rejoining the flawed body after President Trump withdrew from it.

During a hearing with the House Foreign Affairs Committee last June, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield argued that the United States has more leverage as a member of the council. And yet, in a response to a Rep. Ted Deutch’s (D-Fla.) question on what reforms the United States is pursuing, Thomas-Greenfield offered none, except that the United States would work with its closest partners and allies to push back when the council moves in the “wrong direction.” These are the same allies and partners that voted in favor of funding the perpetual commission of inquiry.

With its biased witch hunt against Israel, the UNHRC has clearly moved in the “wrong direction.” It is past time for the Biden administration to do something about it. The administration can begin by forcefully defending Israel’s compliance with LOAC in international fora, just as it would for similar lawful U.S. military actions. It should then publicly present its plan for UNHCR reform.

Congress should hold the administration accountable for its commitments. When Secretary Anthony Blinken heads to the Hill for budget hearings, presumably next month, Congress should demand that U.S. funding for the commission of inquiry be withheld.

Finally, the Biden administration should learn from Israel’s experience. The latest Gaza conflict underscores the need for U.S. and allied militaries to prepare for operations against adversaries that ignore the laws of war while claiming to be victims. In preparation for the type of spurious accusations Israel now faces, the United States should undertake a broad campaign to communicate effectively the legality of U.S. and allied military operations.

The UNHCR’s perpetual commission of inquiry represents yet another targeted attack by the international community on the Jewish state. It is also a slap in the face to the reforms the Biden administration has pledged to advance.

Now, more than ever, President Biden must live up to his commitments to fight this deeply ingrained U.N. bias.

In Gesture to Turkey Biden Administration Drops Support for Israel-Cyprus-Greece Gas Pipeline

The US is no longer supporting the construction of the EastMed gas pipeline project, according to a statement of the State Department that suggests the Biden administration’s interest is switching to renewable energy sources. Greek news media have pointed out this week that the move benefits Turkey, which the US is courting.

The EastMed Pipeline accord was signed in Athens by the leaders of Greece, Cyprus, and Israel on January 2, 2020. On July 19, 2020, the Netanyahu government officially approved the accord, allowing the signatory countries to move forward with plans to complete the pipeline by 2025. Now it’s not clear whether any of that will materialize.

According to Reuters, the US has expressed misgivings regarding the underwater pipeline, which Greek government sources described as a U-turn from the policy of the Trump administration.

The State Department this week issued a statement saying: “We remain committed to physically interconnecting East Med energy to Europe. We are shifting our focus to electricity interconnectors that can support both gas and renewable energy sources.”

The statement added that since Europe’s energy security is more than ever a question of national security, “we are committed to deepen our regional relationships and promote clean energy technologies.”

According to the State Dept., the US is now supporting the planned EuroAfrica subsea electricity interconnector from Egypt to Crete and the Greek mainland, and the proposed EuroAsia interconnector to link the Israeli, Cypriot, and European electricity grids, because “such projects would not only connect vital energy markets but would also help prepare the region for the clean energy transition.”

Legal experts: Opponents of Israel to push for ‘apartheid’ designation in 2022

‘Wind in the sails of the BDS movement’

Pnina Sharvit Baruch, a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and head of its program on law and national security, told JNS that Israel’s opponents have at least one practical reason for pushing apartheid charges.

She said the two reports that will be produced by the Commission of Inquiry and the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination are designed to push the new ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, to prioritize the investigation against Israel started by his predecessor, Fatou Bensouda. Khan is more pragmatic than Bensouda, she noted, and based on his own comments, “I’m not sure he would like to put our case at the top of his priorities,” she said.

“So this would be an attempt, first, to push him into pursuing the investigation and, second, to try to persuade him to include in the investigation also claims about apartheid because apartheid is one of the crimes against humanity included in the Rome Statute,” she explained, referring to the treaty that established the ICC.

“Of course, more generally, it’s part of the campaign against Israel—to try to get more countries, organizations and companies to boycott Israel, to divest from Israel under the whole idea of the BDS movement,” she said.

She doesn’t see a way to stop these U.N. bodies from condemning Israel, noting that the United Nations has appointed South African Navi Pillay, known for her hostile views to Israel, as head of the Commission of Inquiry. She said it’s a disturbing development. “Apartheid had been considered going too far, and now there’s an attempt—it might succeed, too—to put it within legitimate criticism against Israel. I think that’s very bad for Israel.”

As for Lapid’s belief that sports and cultural events would be the first target, Shany agreed that Lapid was right in pointing out that “this is going to put wind in the sails of the BDS movement and basically render cultural, educational, sports relations with Israeli counterparts as politically unacceptable in the eyes of increasing segments of the population.”

Khaled Abu Toameh: Arab Racism and the 'Jewish State'

First, Mansour Abbas did not "call" on the Palestinian people to recognize Israel. He simply stated the fact that Israel was "born as a Jewish state" and that "it will remain a Jewish state."

Second, there is no connection between accepting Israel's Jewish identity and the Islamic holy sites, including the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Since 1967, in fact, Israel has allowed the Islamic religious authorities to have exclusive control over the mosque and other Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.

Remarkably, since the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, the city has become a haven for coexistence and revitalized religious and cultural expression for all faiths. Freedom of worship at all holy sites is guaranteed for the faithful of all three monotheistic religions.

Ironically, the Palestinian leadership's false claim that Israel is seeking to "harm" the al-Aqsa Mosque came as Palestinians made two attempts to set fire to Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, only because it is frequented by Jewish worshippers. The attempts, according to reports in the Palestinian media, were foiled at the last minute by the Palestinian security forces.

Third, the Palestinian leadership's claim that recognition of Israel as a Jewish state "contradicts religion and history" should be seen in the context of the Palestinians' denial of any traces of Judaism in Jerusalem.

Notably, while the PA says that it is strongly opposed to the idea of Israel being a Jewish state, it has no problem defining itself as "Arab" and "Islamic."

There are 56 countries in which Islam plays a significant role. Many of them are countries with Islam as the state religion.

Jewish Insider/Circuit News has a really great profile of U.S. Army General Miguel Correa, a Catholic Puerto Rican who worked on and coined the term "Abraham Accords." It is a must-read.

Correa has had a most interesting life. When he was a teen his family lived in Kuwait where he learned Arabic and made friends with the Kuwaitis. His understanding of the Arab world helped a great deal when the US was brokering the agreements between Israel and the UAE.

Here, he describes what he learned about Israel at his high school:

Correa completed eighth and ninth grades at the American School of Kuwait, which catered to the kids of diplomats and wealthy Kuwaitis. It was there that Correa learned Arabic and studied Islam, and it was also the first time he learned about Israel. Sort of.

”You spent the first three or four days of every single semester taking your textbook, and you’d have a teacher at the front, and there was a Ministry of Education [directive] that would mandate what parts of your book you had to take out,” Correa recalled. Armed with a pair of scissors and a marker, he went through his textbooks, looking for offensive language and imagery. Any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad were cut out. Maps that showed the State of Israel were colored over in dark permanent marker.

“Anything to do with Israel,” he said, “you markered it, or you cut the whole page out if it was trying to explain something from the Western way.”

The “Western way” as it related to Israel meant describing the country as anything but an illegitimate Zionist entity occupying Palestinian land. “It was 100% one-sided, in that it was genocide, that the Israelis pushed out the Palestinians, period,” said Correa.

“You’re a little kid, and so you think anything the government says, it’s law, it’s perfect,” he explained.

The Americans and others who send their kids to the American School of Kuwait (ASK) would naturally expect an education on par with an American school. That was the entire purpose of the school, as its website says, its goal is "giving our students the highest standards of American education in Kuwait."

Moreover, ASK is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits thousands of American schools and about 100 foreign schools like ASK.

Which means that any school accredited by MSA may censor textbooks.

It sounds like this is something that is simply accepted because it is the local law. But accepting censorship is unacceptable, and the MSA should have policies about that. I didn't see any on their site.

In other words, a major accrediting organization that is itself recognized by the US Department of Education as a reliable authority allows textbooks to be censored for political reasons.

Does anyone think that ASK has changed a thing since the 1980s?

Isn't it a problem that schools that allow censorship can be accredited?

Does anyone care that the children of diplomats are learning to hate a US ally?

Correa notes that his informal education also included antisemitism:

A couple years later, he found himself staring at an Israeli flag hanging in a friend’s dorm room at the Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, where he attended high school as a boarding student. He did not understand.

“I remember taking this all in, like, ‘OK, what does this mean? He doesn’t have horns,’” Correa said of the first time he met Greg Wald, a Jewish teammate on the Pine Crest football team. Back in Kuwait, “anything that was derogatory to Jews was good.” His friends had taught him curse words in Arabic: Inta kalb. You’re a dog. Inta yahoodi. You’re Jewish. “And that was at the same level,” Correa said. “Think about that.”

Anti-Zionism and antisemitism have always gone hand-in-glove.

(h/t Jim W.)

Nah, nothing antisemitic about this!

A news site I had not seen before, Al Khanadeq, showed up on my Google News feed. It may be Houthi - it is certainly pro-Iran and pro-Hezbollah and its readership is mostly in Yemen.

Here's the beginning of one article and the accompanying photo:

The Jews saw that the most successful way to beautify the image of the Jew in the eyes of the world is to control the international media. In 1869, the Jewish Rabbi “Rashoron” expressed in his speech in the city of Prague the intensity of the Jews’ interest in the media, saying, “If gold is our first power to control the world, then the press should be our second strength."

In 1897, the first Zionist Congress in the Swiss city of Basel was a dangerous turning point. The participants said that their plan to establish an Israeli state would not succeed if they did not have complete control over the media, especially the press. Today, statistics indicate that 224 newspapers and bulletins are issued by Jewish organizations in America, in addition to forty secret bulletins circulated by Jews only, as well as their complete control over the major media.

I have no idea where this "Rabbi Rasharon" came from. I found that MEMRI had once translated an article from the most popular Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida that had these same paragraphs verbatim, but MEMRI translated the name as "Rabbi Yeshurun" which is almost as unlikely.

This is all stuff that was probably taken directly from a neo-Nazi site, yet the far Left that pretends to hate antisemitism and Nazis never say a word against Arab antisemitism.

Because they are on the same side.

The lone anti-Zionist synagogue isn't even a synagogue

In yesterday's article on CAIR I wrote that the organization "recently defended one of its officials who labeled virtually every organized synagogue in America 'enemies.'"

The reason I said "virtually" was because of the one anti-Zionist synagogue I'm aware of Tzedek Chicago, whose rabbi is Brant Rosen.

Tzedek Chicago used to call itself "non-Zionist" but just this week it decided to make anti-Zionism one of its "core values." Only the Left can make hate a "core value" while pretending to be righteous.

Their anti-Israel "Jewish" position is absurd:

At Tzedek Chicago we seek to develop and celebrate a diasporic consciousness that joyfully views the entire world as our homeland.

Moving away from a Judaism that looks to Israel as its fully realized home releases us into rich imaginings of what the World to Come might look like, where it might be, and how we might go about inhabiting it now. This creative windfall can infuse our communal practices, rituals, and liturgy.

Oh, and look at their liturgy: they erase Jerusalem and Israel from הַפּורֵש סֻכַּת שלום עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל עַמּו יִשרָאֵל וְעַל יְרוּשלָיִם, they erase Israel from the paragraph of שלום רָב עַל יִשרָאֵל עַמְּךָ . (They forgot to erase Israel in " וְשמְרוּ בְנֵי יִשרָאֵל אֶת הַשּבָּת" but they didn't translate that part into English!) In Friday night Kiddush, they erase reference to G-d choosing the Jews.

When they take Israel out of Judaism, all these people have left is...Left.

But...is Tzedek Chicago even a synagogue to begin with?

By any reasonable definition, it isn't.

The "services" it has are all virtual. The only ones it has are a biweekly Zoom Friday Night service that alternates with a biweekly 30 minute candle lighting ceremony.

On Saturday, instead of services they have what they call a "Torah Study" on Zoom. And on Wednesdays they have a virtual Zoom get together.

The "synagogue" has no address, just a post office box. A couple of times a year they meet in a church basement for things like a seder.

In other words, it is exactly like Jewish Voice for Peace - an anti-Israel organization that puts on some trappings of Judaism when they get together to make their hate for Israel sound more legitimate. And, just like JVP, they realize that hating Israel is not enough to attract members, so they throw in some other woke "values".

It is fitting that just as its members are Jews in name only, Tzedek Chicago is a synagogue in name only.

01/12 Links Pt2: The U.N.’s final solution to the Israel question; Emma Watson is right about Palestinians being enslaved; Prince Charles commissions Holocaust survivor portraits

From Ian:

Clifford D. May: The U.N.’s final solution to the Israel question

The endless drumbeat of anti-Israeli vilification by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) is sure to energize the economic campaign against Israel (echoing the 1933 Nazi “Don’t buy from the Jews” campaign) and perhaps lead to prosecutions of Israelis by the International Criminal Court, a politicized entity whose authority is recognized by neither Israel nor the U.S.

More concerning: The “findings” of the COI “inquiry” will be used to justify the genocidal threats frequently made by the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Lebanese-based proxy, Hezbollah, and of course Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

I could fill this column with examples of such threats, but two should suffice. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called on Muslims “to remove the Zionist black stain from human society,” adding that there is a religious “justification to kill all the Jews and annihilate Israel, and Iran must take the helm.”

When Nikki Haley was ambassador to the U.N., the Trump administration withdrew from the UNHRC, having concluded that significant reforms were unachievable. The Biden administration returned to that body this month, asserting that it can make a difference through diplomatic engagement. We shall see.

The U.N. campaign will make settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict impossible for the foreseeable future. Why would any Palestinian leader compromise so long as there is a possibility that what happened to the Jews of Europe — defamation followed by extermination, a “final solution” — could happen to the Jews of Israel with the assent of the “international community”?

The U.N. was established following World War II to prevent and resolve conflicts. Today, it promotes antisemitism and enables both terrorists and genocidaires. Acknowledgment of this reality must precede any attempt to change it.

Saying 'never again' is empty in the face of ongoing antisemitism - opinion

We have talked so much about bearing witness, about the importance of never forgetting but what good does that do? For the first time, I begin to understand the words we had heard so many survivors repeat over the years, “every home no matter how welcoming it seems is temporary except for Eretz Israel.”

We had discussed this sentiment at the beginning of our trip and our teacher had told us that we would understand it more deeply at the end of our Poland journey, but I doubt this is what he had in mind.

During that Shabbat as we fill the empty synagogue in Krakow with our prayers and songs, I find myself thinking about another synagogue, now most likely silent. Just another place where Jewish blood has been spilled. I feel as though nothing has changed, my people are still targeted for something I still cannot comprehend.

I think back to all the times I had defended Israel on my high school debate team and in Model UN, and how until this second it had simply been an academic or intellectual challenge to me.

Similar to the words “never again,” at the end of the day nothing more than words – impactful but at the same time suddenly empty. I understand that while merely bearing witness and not letting others forget is important, it isn’t enough. I don’t want to have to say the word “again” ever again. I make a promise to myself to find a way to do more to end this cycle.

Today as I sit here writing this, I am in a very different type of barracks. Our barracks aren’t empty, instead, they are filled with the sounds of good and life and of the Jewish future. I am on my base as I serve in the Israel Defense Forces. It’s 2021. I’m a combat soldier here to defend the Jewish people. I take in my surroundings. This place isn’t barren. It’s alive with hope. We truly are here. We are happy. We are strong. Now when I say the words “never again” I really mean it.

Wanna know how bad @tiktok_us’s algorithm is? I made this video about Holocaust denial and TikTok removed it for “hate speech.”

Yet antisemitic content runs rampant across the platform. #antisemitism pic.twitter.com/2AeSWFbIUB
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) January 12, 2022

Sandra Orman: Saving Lives with Chicken Soup

Sandra Orman was already my friend, someone in the neighborhood who volunteered for things, and did my makeup in local summer stock productions, when I noticed that she had begun advertising chicken soup in our local Efrat email list. The Maryland native wasn’t selling the soup—she was offering it to anyone who needed it for any reason. Sick, lonely, whatever. You didn’t have to explain. If you wanted it, the soup was there.

As this unique free loan initiative took off, Sandra went a bit further and suggested that people contribute to her stores of chicken soup, as the need was greater than even she had suspected. And of course, as in any other nice Jewish community in Israel, the women responded, and sent over containers of chicken soup for Sandra’s freezer. When anyone—including this author—had surgery or illness, there Sandra was, offering help, and of course, some soup.

She didn’t push it on you but offered it with kindness. Accept it or not, that was up to you. But the offer of soup was there.

Being shy about accepting help, I always thanked Sandra and declined, and she was always graceful, and let me know that if I needed anything (even NOT soup), to please let her know. Until one day it happened: I actually needed the soup. Within 15 minutes, Sandra was at my doorstep with a container of chicken soup in hand. (Truth be told, she lives only a block away, but still, not only providing chicken soup, but bringing it door-to-door! It blew me away that she did that. Sandra is just nice.)

It occurred to me that Sandra is doing something worthy of emulation, something revolutionary, even. Why didn’t anyone think of this before?? Why doesn’t every community have a chicken soup gemach [free loan society, V.E.]?

For all I know, there are other such loan funds, offering chicken soup in other Jewish towns and communities. But the idea was, for me, a unique concept, and I itched to write about it. Maybe more women would be persuaded to copy Sandra Orman’s brand of chicken soup kindness? And how best to make that happen? With an interview of course! (After all, that’s why I have this handy-dandy weekly writing space, nu?)

As it turned out, Sandra was happy to share about her life and her mission to provide chicken soup to all in need of a little Jewish penicillin. So get ready to read about a very special lady who is saving lives in a very humble way, armed only with chicken soup and love:

Varda Epstein: Tell us a bit about your family.

Sandra Orman: I made aliyah in 2009 with 3 teenagers and my husband. We came directly from Baltimore to our apartment in Efrat, where we still live, today.

Sandra and Baruch Orman

Varda Epstein: How long have you been in Israel? What made you want to make aliyah?

Sandra Orman: My husband is a toshav chozer [return resident, V.E.]. He made aliyah with his first wife to a garin [core settlement group, V.E.] at Moshav Katif in Gush Katif with about 15-20 other couples. He has always been a Zionist (he says he’s just a Jew) and I followed his dream, which became my dream, as well.

Sandra and Baruch, happy to be home in Israel.

Varda Epstein: How did your family feel about the move?

Sandra Orman: My boys came to Israel the year before we arrived with our daughter. One son, Moshe, went to a mechina (pre-military leadership academy) called LYA in the Golan Heights at Avnei Eitan and Noam moved in with our good friends/family, the Eastmans, and entered the first year of high school at YTA; he was in the first graduating class. Shayna was 13 and she entered an Israeli school in Efrat. She was open to the adventure, but, there were many challenges for her.

We also have two kids (and 8 grandchildren) in the States. They were already married with kids when we made aliyah. One was born here and the other was a baby when Baruch and his ex-wife made aliyah, so they all understand why we are here.

Varda Epstein: How did you come up with the idea to create a chicken soup gemach?

Sandra Orman: I wanted to open a soup kitchen and feed hungry people, but, I saw that Efrat already had its act together. I made a couple pots of soup for a couple of my friends who were sick. One of my friends said I saved her life and I thought, wow, that was an easy act to save someone’s life. I realized then that I would start a chicken soup gemach and save more lives. 😂😂

Varda Epstein: How many women take part in contributing soup?

Sandra Orman: I have about 5-8 participants, with 4 of them steady participants. Sometimes the soup needs a ride somewhere, sometimes I need a full pot because of the situation. I only service Efrat.

Varda Epstein: Do you ever have storage issues? Any plans to invest in a larger freezer?

Sandra Orman: I have a couple of containers in a friend’s freezer, one person makes it fresh and I squeeze a container or two in my freezer. Sometimes I ask other participants to put soup in their freezers.

Varda Epstein: What is it about chicken soup, anyway?

Sandra Orman: Everyone knows chicken soup is Jewish penicillin. It soothes the soul and it has medicinal qualities to it, as well.

Varda Epstein: Do you have any men contributing soup to the gemach? Can you see that happening in the future?

Sandra Orman: I work with only women, but there is one husband who makes soup for his family and the leftovers make their way to the gemach. Men are welcome to contribute.

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us about some of the feedback you’ve received from grateful recipients of chicken soup?

Sandra Orman: I have had the privilege to serve many people over the years in many different situations. One person called me up and told me they weren’t sick, but their family was in a bad situation. When I went there I saw with my own eyes what they were talking about.

A couple of people were having a health situation where they had to eat just broth day after day so we helped them out with their daily supply for a short time before her surgery. One person needed food in general because of a mix-up in cash flow so that was a true tzedaka [charity, V.E.] situation which involved more than just soup for a few meals. There have been several single or widowed men or women. Most people are sick and just need a quick fix until they can get their own pot of soup made.

I usually give out a 2-liter container per customer, sometimes more, depending on their situation. Everyone is grateful and I am grateful to be able to participate in their healing. Everyone deserves a hot bowl of soup when they need it. I even had to use it once when I was sick and out of my personal stash of soup. I also encourage people to give us their names so we can daven [pray, Yiddish, V.E.] for their recovery; some do and some don’t.

Varda Epstein: What’s next for Sandra Orman? Do you plan to expand the chicken soup gemach, or move on to something else?

Sandra Orman: I will continue to maintain my small soup gemach and I encourage others in other yishuvim [settlements, V.E.] to open their own soup gemachim. It takes some effort and coordinating, but it is really worth it. After all, you can save a life. 😘

The Bedouin Occupation (Vic Rosenthal)

Weekly column by Vic Rosenthal

Bedouin citizens of Israel formerly embraced a nomadic lifestyle, drifting between Arabia and the Sinai; but since 1948 many have permanently settled in the southern part of Israel. They established their settlements on any convenient unoccupied land, where they grazed their flocks and planted crops. Israeli authorities have established several towns and even a large city, Rahat, for Bedouin occupation, and in recent years have legalized numerous unrecognized settlements; but many Bedouin still live in the “dispersion,” a collection of hundreds of illegal favelas built on state land that resemble garbage dumps with scattered satellite dishes.

Throughout the years there have been various programs in which the state offered plots of land or homes in or near the recognized towns, along with agricultural land to replace state land on which Bedouins were squatting. Success of these programs was mixed. About 3/4 of the roughly 200,000 Negev Bedouin live in recognized towns.

The Negev Bedouin are virtually all Muslims. The population is significantly younger and is growing faster than either the Jewish or non-Bedouin Arab sectors, with (as of 2009) a fertility rate of 5.7, compared to Jewish and other Arab rates that are close to 3. Some 30% (as of 2002) of married Bedouin men have more than one wife.

Their political loyalties are primarily to their tribe or clan, though they are citizens of the state of Israel. A small number choose (it’s optional for Arabs) to join the IDF. Probably an equally small number of them identify with anti-state groups like Hamas. Those that vote lean towards the Ra’am party of Mansour Abbas (not to be confused with Mohammad Abbas of the PLO), a party whose official ideology is Islamist and associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. But Abbas has adopted a pragmatic approach – i.e., obtaining money and benefits for his constituents – in preference to an ideological one. This, and the deadlock resulting from the fourth successive election in two years, has led to Ra’am becoming the first Arab party to join a governing coalition in Israel.

Apparently the price paid to Ra’am for joining the coalition was astronomical, close to 30 billion shekels (US$9.6 billion) for programs to benefit the Arab sector. One of the promises made to them was that structures in unrecognized Bedouin settlements could be hooked up to the national electrical grid. This past week, the coalition, in one of the most raucous Knesset sessions ever, kept its promise to Mansour Abbas, passing an amendment to the Construction Law (referred to as the “Electricity Law”) permitting connection of illegal structures to electrical and other utility systems.

Normally, a structure built without a permit on land that the builder does not own cannot be connected to the national electrical and water systems. This has been described as “one of the state’s most effective tools against the national epidemic of illegal construction.” There have been exceptions when the state planned to legalize or otherwise regulate the structure, but these have been few. It will now be possible for tens of thousands of homes and other structures built illegally on state land to become permanent. To add insult to injury, an attempt to include “young Jewish communities” in Judea and Samaria to the law was voted down.

The law was passed by the Coalition with a vote of 61-0 after much of the Opposition walked out. Supporters say that it will save lives by eliminating unsafe electrical connections and will result in the Bedouins paying for electricity instead of stealing it. Opponents say that it will formalize the illegal occupation of state land, and permanently eliminate the possibility of relocating squatters. Israel Harel writes,

What’s the big deal? All they did was whitewash the (intolerable) status quo, in which thousands of illegal buildings are connected illegally to utilities, mainly electricity, putting lives in danger. Very humane. But – and it is a big but – in so doing we determine, in both theory and practice, that the piratical construction that extends over hundreds of thousands of acres will become permanent. Let’s recall that the so-called Kaminitz Law [increasing enforcement of building codes - vr] was suspended as a preface to the Electricity Law. Thus, the government put an end to existing plans to help the residents of the “Bedouin dispersion” to move, at almost no cost to them, to planned communities built by the state connected to modern infrastructure.

In 2005, the state of Israel tore Gush Katif from itself. Now, after the Electricity Law, it is ripping away large parts of the Negev too. In the area that extends eastward from Be’er Sheva nearly to Dimona, and southward from Be’er Sheva to the mountains of the central Negev, an independent regime will be established that will operate – and already does operate – according to Bedouin law. The neighboring state, Israel, will pay for this regime, according to the provisions of the most recent national budget.

Recently, there has been a sharp increase in crimes committed by Bedouins in southern Israel: car theft, drug offenses, agricultural theft, theft of weapons and ammunition from IDF bases, the use of firearms, and protection rackets. Women are harassed on the streets. Criminal activity is in the open, policing is ineffective, and judges give light sentences to those arrested, because they fear retaliation. Residents of the area complain of a “wild west” atmosphere; not long ago there was a shootout between gangs in the parking lot of a hospital emergency room.

One of the promises that the government has made, both to Jews and Arabs, was that it would crack down on crime among Arabs. So in November, the police took a stab at cleaning up the Negev, sending 1,200 policemen, with IDF assistance, into the area. They made a total of 12 arrests and confiscated a few makeshift weapons (in fact, the Bedouin are armed to the teeth with stolen military weapons) and some marijuana.

The Bedouin do not accept the idea that there is land which belongs to the state; as far as they are concerned, land belongs to whoever cultivates it. So this week the Jewish National Fund tried to plant trees on state land that Bedouins had decided was theirs. A riot ensued (encouraged by Hamas), in which cars were burned and rocks placed on railroad tracks. The planting continued this morning (Wednesday), but after Ra’am threatened to topple the government, a “compromise” was reached in which the tree-planting was delayed. Israel Harel’s words about “an independent regime” operating according to “Bedouin law” are apparently no exaggeration.

It seems that the Right’s worries about the consequences of including an Islamist party in the coalition were well-founded. Of course, the present coalition, which includes both Ra’am and the left-wing Meretz party, only exists because the Right has split itself over the question of Binyamin Netanyahu. Could we work any harder to defeat ourselves?

Hamas mouthpiece Felesteen has a series of articles on the Palestinian Authority misuse of its funds. The source is biased, but some of the numbers seem to be legitimate.

According to the articles, the public debt owed by the Palestinian Auhority in Ramallah is now at $3.702 billion, a jump of $905 million in just one year, and 53% of its GDP.

They quoted some economists about how the PA steals money from Gaza.

Dr. Osama Nofal blames Gaza's economic woes on the PA, not Israel. He says that the PA will raise cash from international donors to fund Gaza reconstruction but never gives any of the money to Gaza. He said the PA's continued imposition of economic sanctions on Gaza caused a decline in the gross domestic product from 40 to 18%, and an increase in unemployment from 22 to 50%. Accordintg to Nofal, Gaza's share of international aid annually has been slashed from $400 million to $20 million.

Economist Dr. Samir Al-Daqran that the Ministry of Finance in Ramallah seizes the taxes of major companies operating in the Gaza Strip, saying ti gets $60 million a month from taxes imposed on goods that go through Kerem Shalom but none of it makes it back to Gaza.

The economists didn't mention the money coming from Iran to Gaza.

There was one good piece of information: the articles confirmed that the PA has curtailed "pay for slay" a little bit. They reduced or stopped paying Hamas "martyr" families in Gaza, which apparently has a large effect on the Gaza economy.

01/12 Links Pt1: Crushing Palestinian hopes of destroying Israel should be our only strategy; Shin Bet thwarted Iranian attempt to recruit Israelis as spies

From Ian:

Crushing Palestinian hopes of destroying Israel should be our only strategy

This might make some sense for the short term, but clearly it’s not going to dissuade or deter violent Palestinian rejectionist and terrorist groups. Each time that Israel climbs down from its tree, they believe that they’re facing a paper tiger and have renewed hope for ultimate victory.

This sadly brings to mind what Winston Churchill famously and presciently said to Neville Chamberlain after the latter thought that he had made a deal to stave off war with Hitler and the Nazis in 1938: “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.”

Israel has many choices and options in its relations with the Palestinians. The history of these relations over the last three decades has amply demonstrated that seeking agreements, offering compromises or trying to stave off conflict merely feeds the beast of violent Palestinian rejectionism.

It is time for a different strategy—one that involves pushing back against Palestinian demands and threats. Every opportunity should be utilized to express to the Palestinians that their rejectionism will be defeated, and that Israel will ultimately emerge victorious.

As things stand at the moment, however, the Palestinians harbor hopes of victory. These must be crushed.

Doing this doesn’t necessarily require a single major maneuver or activity, but it does mean looking at each and every interaction to ascertain whether it further fuels Palestinian hopes of victory and an end to Jewish sovereignty, or Israeli victory and an end to the conflict.

David Singer: Israel must negotiate with Jordan, not with anti-peace Mahmoud Abbas

The map Abbas brandished (pictured below) was a phony map of “Historic Palestine” – dating from 1947 - not 1920. "Palestine" historically, referred to a region peopled by Jews and others and is the name the Romans called the area known up to then as Judea.

- Article 2 of the PLO Charter recognizes that Palestine between 1920 and 1946 included what is today called Jordan - 78% of the territory of Palestine under the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine:

- “Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit.”

- Jordan was granted independence by Great Britain in 1946 - terminating its Mandate in the remaining 22% of Palestine in 1948.

- The PLO never claimed sovereignty in Judea/Samaria '(West Bank') or Gaza on its establishment in 1964 – article 24 of its founding Charter declaring:
"This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields."

Jordan occupied Judea/Samaria between 1948 and 1967.

Jordan’s history certainly qualifies it to replace the PLO as Israel’s negotiating partner to implement Trump’s Plan.

Abdullah stressed to Gantz the: “importance of maintaining calm in the Palestinian Territories and taking all measures to create the horizon needed to achieve just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution”

Jordan - stepping into the negotiating void created by Abbas’s continuing rejection of Trump’s Plan – would become a major driver in maintaining that calm.

Israel-Jordan negotiations to redraw their currently-agreed existing international border - using Trump’s Plan - could result in the following two-state solution first contemplated by the 1922 Mandate for Palestine:

Israel acquiring sovereignty in about 30% of Judea/Samaria ('West Bank').

Jordan acquiring sovereignty in about 70% of Judea/Samaria ('West Bank'), all of Gaza and parts of Israel’s existing sovereign territory.

No Arab or Jewish residents being forced to move from their current homes or business locations.

Trump’s Plan has now become the definitive blueprint for resolving the 100-years old Arab-Jewish conflict in former Palestine.

Jordan's deputy prime minister is doing the Washington rounds this week. The darker parts of the Jordan/US story mysteriously get no coverage in the US media. Via this thread, we try to shine some light: https://t.co/ibBUGgirdp
— This Ongoing War (@ThisOngoingWar) January 11, 2022

This article in Jordan's Ammon News by Dr. Monther al-Hiwarat betrays an interesting fatalism about how Israel won over the Western world, bea the Arab world militarily and now is infiltrating the Arab world psychologically.

Arab media rarely betrays insecurity in English, and even in Arabic articles like this are rare because it is a source of shame.

It is not surprising that the United States and Western countries support Israel, as convictions there were established over centuries by the common root of religious texts.The biblical narrative that completely erased the history of Palestine to put the Jewish history in its place is present in the primary school and secondary school through the Jewish teachers, and we do not forget the huge number of academics, writers, historians and philosophers who filled the American and European world length and breadth, and they created the public mentality there in accordance with the Israeli vision. This led to the formation of this sympathetic and supportive position without borders with the occupying state.

This is with regard to the West and the United States. What could the matter be with the Arabs? The occupying state succeeded, during its first years of inception, in perpetuating their conviction that it is a war state and an indomitable power. Arab defeats rolled in front of it, so it implanted in the depths of Arab minds a sense of helplessness, and this logic became the norm for them. Therefore, the desire grew among many Arab countries that they did not want their relations to remain hostage to the Palestinian cause, and this is what Israel nurtured and began to push these countries towards and invested in it in support American administrations, especially the administration of Donald Trump, which pushed many of those countries to establish relations with the occupying power, and this was what happened.

Israel did not want to keep its relations captive to the official Arab system, but rather worked through its soft tools to lure Arab citizens to it, and the means it has are many. Through high technology, it entered into joint projects with companies, citizens and countries, and in the field of smart agriculture, informal education, water management and development. Of course, the goal here is to establish an interactive relationship between ordinary people and the occupying state. It undertakes a systematic process of dazzling their emotions and minds with its development and superior technologies, and with repeated visits. The idea that Israel is an enemy occupying the land of the Arabs was replaced with the the idea of a developed Israel and implanted in Arab minds that it is a normal state. With the repetition of experiences and their transmission among people, the number of believers in the Palestinian cause and their supporters decreases, and here it moves from the idea of hegemony by military force to hegemony by knowledge.and technical means.

Thus, the Palestinian will have to pay the price again and again because of the superior ability of his enemy to engineer history and the future in a way that serves his interests in a careful and calculated manner, which depends in large part on investing the weakness of the other side, its weakness, its lack of confidence in itself, and its unjustified surrender to global projects and conspiracies.The Palestinian losses continue, even from the closest people to him. Thus, Israel defeated us civilly twice, once by war and once by other means, and each time it defeated us with our weakness.

The Abraham Accords has created a huge despair among people who pretended to be allies of Palestinians.

And yet, I have still to see an article that recommends that Palestinians accept that they will not achieve their maximalist goals and try to compromise for once. The reason is simple: the goal was never to help Palestinians gain a state but to use them as a means to destroy the Jewish state. And since no one cares about the Palestinians, they prefer to keep them stateless rather than find a real solution.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which recently defended one of its officials who labeled virtually every organized synagogue in America "enemies," just issued a report on "Islamophobia in the mainstream."

The main point of the report is identifying "26 Islamophobia Network groups (that) spread misinformation and conspiracy theories about Muslims and Islam."

The members of this supposed "Islamophobia network" include Americans for Peace and Tolerance, CAMERA, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Gatestone Institute, Investigative Project on Terrorism, Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) and The Lawfare Project.

The idea that this is an "Islamophobia Network" is insane.

But then they go into actual antisemitism. They identify some of the funders of these supposedly Islamophobic groups, and - surprise, surprise - they find Jews!

The Adelson Family Foundation, Arie and Ida Crown Memorial, Combined Jewish Philanthropies

of Greater Boston, Hochberg Family Foundation, Irving I Moskowitz Foundation, Jewish Communal

Fund, Jewish Community Federation of SF, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Fed. Council of Greater L.A., Kovner Foundation, Mirowski Family Foundation, Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg Family Foundation, and the The Jewish Community Foundation, plus others. All major Jewish charities or charities that give heavily to Jewish causes are..."Funders of Anti-Muslim Bigotry!"

Those irresponsible, bigoted Jews!

CAIR defines Islamophobia as "closed-minded prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims." So it should be simple for them to identify how, exactly, these organizations are Islamophobic, right?

Not one of the organizations I am familiar with fits their own definition of Islamophobic.

Here's how they describe CAMERA, the watchdog organization that points out anti-Israel bias in the news media: "This organization serves as a lobbying and media-monitoring group that spreads misinformation pertaining to Muslim Americans. Its overall mission is to undermine the credibility of Muslim American individuals and organizations. "

Good to know that CAIR knows CAMERA's mission better than CAMERA does!

They say the Foundation for Defense of Democracies is a "neoconservative lobbying group [that] encourages the Islamophobic “war on terror” narrative and policies." They say the phrase "war on terror" is Islamophobic. George W. Bush, who coined the term, must be an Islamophobe too.

Gatestone Institute is "an anti-Muslim hate group."

Investigative Project on Terrorism is a "hate group."

The Middle East Forum is "an anti-Muslim policy center that produces and perpetuates hate speech, propaganda, and misinformation."

The Lawfare Project is an "anti-Muslim hate group."

In none of these cases can they find evidence that supports their definition of Islamophobia. In a couple of cases they dig up old contextless quotes from members of these organizations that they claim are Islamophobic, but even those do not fit their own definition.

Their description of MEMRI is particularly absurd: "MEMRI is a pseudo-research organization that carefully selects and purposefully inaccurately translates news from Muslim-majority organizations to

provide justification for anti-Muslim propaganda. The organization’s translations have been widely criticized for inaccuracy and inflammatory representation. "

MEMRI's translations are accurate, full stop. I couldn't find a single criticism of the thousands of MEMRI translations that is less than ten years old. This academic paper criticizing MEMRI from a native Arabic speaker at a UAE university admits MEMRI's "accurate translations on a linguistic level."

The only thing these organizations have in common is that they do not support CAIR's antisemitism and its historic support for terror groups. That is CAIR's real definition of "Islamophobia."

The ADL - which somehow is not on CAIR's list - describes the organization and its founders:

Some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas. Hamas is designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the United States and is also viewed by the EU as a global terrorist organization.

In addition, some of CAIR’s leadership have used inflammatory anti-Zionist rhetoric that on a number of occasions has veered into antisemitic tropes related to Jewish influence over the media or political affairs.

Key CAIR leaders have frequently expressed vociferous opposition to Israel and Zionism, claiming at times that Zionism and Zionists are fundamentally racist. (See below: Key CAIR Staff on Israel and Zionism).

Antipathy towards Israel has been a CAIR staple since the group was founded in 1994 by several leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a now defunct organization that was once described by the U.S. government as part of “Hamas’ propaganda apparatus.” Nihad Awad, who was IAP’s Public Relations Director, became CAIR’s first Executive Director, a position he retains today. IAP was active in the U.S. from 1981 until about 2004, and categorically rejected a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, writing in a December 1989 communique: “The only way to liberate Palestine, all of Palestine, is the path of Jihad…Hamas is the conscience of the Palestinian Mujahid people.” In 1987, immediately following the establishment of Hamas, IAP began to print and distribute Hamas literature, including Hamas communiqués and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

In response to CAIR’s involvement with the Holy Land Foundation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation distanced itself from the organization. In the past, the FBI had interacted with CAIR representatives regarding community outreach activities, civil rights complaints and criminal investigations. However, in 2008, the FBI issued an instruction to its field offices that they should sharply curtail “non-investigative interactions” with CAIR.This instruction was elucidated in an April 2009 letter to the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, in which the FBI explained that it would cease to liaise with CAIR “until [they] resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and Hamas.” To our knowledge as of this writing, the FBI has not retracted this protocol.

CAIR has supported and advocated for Rasmea Odeh, who was convicted by an Israeli court in 1970 for her role in a 1969 bombing of a supermarket that killed two Israeli students, and who was later released as part of a prisoner exchange.

Israel-haters love to say that Zionists falsely accuse critics of Israel of antisemitism. As usual, this is projection. This report proves conclusively that CAIR falsely accuses critics of Islamic terrorist organizations of being "Islamophobic."

Two years after he left the White House, Teddy Roosevelt spoke at a New York dinner for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. The New York Times, January 19, 1911, covered his speech.

Col. Roosevelt. said with particular emphasis that he believed that a few hundred years from now the Americans would look back with amusement at the "reluctance which one set of their ancestors had manifested at mingling with another set of their ancestors."

" I became acquainted with the east side, the greater part of the population of which is Jews, when I was Police Commissioner," Mr. Roosevelt said. " I earnestly wish that every American, for his can sake, could have the same experience. It taught me that the differences that seem to keep asunder the different peoples of this city are due to ignorance and misapprehension more than to any other cause. If we can only grow to sympathize with one another, we will quickly see that the things that divide us are superficial and the things that unite us are fundamental." The Colonel's remarks were cheered with enthusiasm....

All the diners sprang up from their tables and cheered when Mr. Roosevelt rose to speak. Mr. Roosevelt said: "I come here to-night to speak to you a few words of greeting, and to speak to you as fellow Americans.

"I don't feel that in acting as I always have to my fellow Americans of Jewish faith I deserved any praise. I would have deserved blame if I hadn't always treated them the way I have. I've met good Jews and bad Jews. good Christians and bad Christians. Whenever I have met a good man I have always tried to stand by him. Whenever I have met a bad man I've always cinched him. In both cases it would have been waste of time to have asked me to alter my course.

"I have been thrown much with my fellow citizens of the Jewish faith. When I worked with them I didn't know and didn't ask their faith. As I once said to a former member of my Cabinet--Straus, here - 'One of my favorite books is the Book of Maccabees.' White I wish most earnestly to do all I can to bring about the reign of peace, and wish the United States to do this, too, I wish to one peace with justice, and not weakness or timidity. I don't want to see the spirit of the Maccabees to die out.

"In my regiment at Santiago, after one of the fights, I promoted some men for gallantry. I knew nothing about them. Two I found out after were Catholics, two were Protestants. and one was a Jew."

One of the diners let out a shrill whoop, and Col. Roosevelt raised a laugh by exclaiming, "That's a real Rough Rider cry!"

"I didn't know or care what their religious faith was, all I wanted to know was whether, in a crisis, they'd 'stay put,' " Mr. Roosevelt went on when the laugh subsided, "Mr. Schiff probably remembers my visiting the Montefiore Home two years ago and meeting a member of my old regiment. That man was a Jew. He had been wounded in the first day's fighting at Santiago. I had sent him to the hospital. A few days later a rumor went out that we were going to assault the enemy's line, next morning. That Jewish soldier of mine left the hospital and came back to fight under me. I think he acted in an unconstitutional manner. You can imagine how that shocked me.

"When I was Police Commissioner I wanted the right kind of men on the force, but I never asked their religious faith. An English clergyman came over here to start an anti-semitic crusade. Some Jews asked me to stop his meetings. I refused because I am against stopping anyone from pitching into anyone else. Soon after, the clergy-man himself came to me and asked me to protect his anti-semitic meetings from interruptions by Jews. I sent thirty Jew policemen to protect him.

"In making the future American to be the highest possible type, it is our duty to accentuate the good qualities of each race and to reward each individual according to the high quality of citizenship he shows, no matter what his race is..

"There are countries where patriotism is shown by persecution. It takes the form of terrible outrages by Christians on Jews or by non-Christians on Christians. But this is an infamous form of patriotism and it is a source of degradation to the nation that does the wrong. No nation nowadays can rise by trampling down another. The motto on which we act here is 'All men up.' It is a much safer motto than 'Some men down.'

" Mr. Schiff alluded to my having Straus in my Cabinet. You'd have had to bring strong pressure to bear on me to keep him out. Perhaps I shouldn't compromise him by saying so. but he has always been a strong friend of mine. I must ask Mr. Schiff not to make this public in Wall Street, however. I'd have put Straus in my Cabinet anyway.

"But it was an additional pleasure to have him there because he was a Jew. The one prime lesson which should be taught to every man in this country is that if he acts like a good citizen the highest rewards are open to him.

"It has always seemed to me that the Jewish race possesses two qualities inherent in the old native American. The Jew is eminently practical, and .at the same time he is an idealist. But although both the Jews and the native Americans,have both these qualities in common, this mustn't keep them in separate compartments. The one quality I don't want to see developed in this Nation is the quality which applauds the loftiest sentiments provided they don't have to be lived up to.

" There is just one matter in which 1 want to see each race which composes this Nation show a separate identity. When I deal with a crook, I don't care whether he is a Republican crook or a Democratic crook. But I will always tend to hit the Republican crook a little harder because I feel a little responsible for him. It is the duty for all Americans to protest against dishonest public servants. But when a public servant of one nationality is dishonest his fellow-members in that race should especially punish him."

...Mr. Roosevelt concluded by saying that he was "only radical in trying to apply old moralities to new conditions."

" I believe in using any expedient the new condition warrants," he said. "I preach the old fundamental verities. My critics say I preach platitudes. The Decalogue is platitudinous—in theory. but not in practice. While we in this country need intellectual development, we need character more."

The episode that he mentioned with the antisemite was described in Tablet magazine in 2009, reproduced in The Atlantic, with another quote about the incident from Roosevelt:

"While I was Police Commissioner an anti-Semitic preacher from Berlin, Rector Ahlwardt, came over to New York to preach a crusade against the Jews. Many of the New York Jews were much excited and asked me to prevent him from speaking and not to give him police protection. This, I told them, was impossible; and if possible would have been undesirable because it would have made him a martyr. The proper thing to do was to make him ridiculous. Accordingly I detailed for his protection a Jew sergeant and a score or two of Jew policemen. He made his harangue against the Jews under the active protection of some forty policemen, everyone of them a Jew! It was the most effective possible answer; and incidentally it was an object-lesson to our people, whose greatest need it is to learn that there must be no division by class hatred, whether this hatred be that of creed against creed, nationality against nationality, section against section, or men of one social or industrial condition against men of another social and industrial condition. . . . "