A Simple Truth

Dry Bones..
drybonesblog.blogspot.co.il..
28 April '15..

What are Israel's legal grounds for ownership of the Land of Israel?
What are Israel's rights in the matter?
What is the "simple truth"?

Check out a brand new site dedicated to exploring exactly those questions:
click on http://israelrights.com/en/

Link: http://www.drybonesblog.blogspot.co.il/2015/04/a-simple-truth.html

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After the Pillar of Defense Cease-Fire - Jewish Destiny or Iron Dome?

Moshe Feiglin..
jewishisrael.org..
23 November '12..

Translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper

After the Pillar of Defense cease fire, many now understand what we understood after the Zo Artzeinu demonstrations: The Israeli crisis is not on the continuum between Right and Left. It is on the continuum between Israelis and their Jewish identity.

We knew exactly where the Oslo Accords would lead. The huge amount of people who answered Zo Artzeinu's calls and blocked traffic in the entire country understood the reality. Ultimately, we succeeded in electing the Right to rule - against all odds. But Zo Artzeinu refused to politically "cash in" on the tremendous public credit that it had accrued. We understood that the Right also had no solution and that it was also incapable of getting off the Oslo track.

Everyone is angry at Netanyahu now for signing the cease-fire. But Netanyahu's predicament is a precise reflection of post-Oslo Israeli society. If Netanyahu had ordered a ground invasion of Gaza, soldiers would have been killed. After a short period of time he would have pulled the troops out of Gaza without significant achievements. After all, he had no intention of remaining. The retreat after many more fatalities would have ignited much more virulent criticism.

To remain in Gaza, we first have to renounce the very essence of the idea of partitioning this Land. We have to internalize that this is our Land – exclusively. We must - on a national scale - return to the Land of Israel and our Jewish identity. We must beg the forgiveness of the Jews expelled from Gush Katif and rebuild their towns and villages with the forces that destroyed them – and bring them back to their rightful place with an honor guard.

A Jewish Answer to President Obama by Moshe Feiglin

Moshe Feiglin
www.jewishisrael.org
Lag Ba'omer 5771
May 22, '11



President Obama,

In your speech to the people of the Middle East, you referred time and again to the principle of liberty. It is on this principle that you aim to base US policy in our region; a region that you rightly defined as the cradle of human culture.

(This film is in Hebrew with English subtitles.English transcript of film below)


Your words reflected your understanding that it is not only humanity's past that is bound up with this area, but its future, as well. The instability in the Middle East generates great danger for humanity, perhaps the greatest danger since World War II. The fate of humanity is inextricably linked to the expanse upon which Abraham, our forefather, started out on his trek to human liberty. As such, America's attempt to stabilize our region on the foundation of these values is commendable.

Yes, the Nation of Israel and the American nation share very deep values. But as you mentioned, these shared values must not prevent us from telling the truth. And the truth, as every Christian and Moslem well knows, is that the entire Land of Israel belongs exclusively to the Nation of Israel. The Creator promised it time and again to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – to them and their descendants.

The simple truth is that there is not a "Palestinian nation" and there never has been. Under every stone that you turn over in the Promised Land, you will find remnants of the history of the Nation chosen by the Creator to proclaim His message of liberty. In no place in the Holy Land will you find "Palestinian" history, simply because it does not and never did exist.

If liberty is truly what you want for the nations in our region, you must understand that genuine liberty cannot be founded on falsehood. There is truth, with which most Americans identify and which they sense; and there is falsehood, which they abhor. There is good to which the unique American nation wishes to cling, and there is evil, which it wishes to eliminate.

The American nation did not hesitate to dance in the streets when the evil Bin Laden was eliminated. Values like peace and liberty cannot thrive on a foundation of falsehood and surrender to evil. He who desires these values must be capable of clinging to the truth, and if necessary, of fighting evil.

You demand of the Nation of the Bible, of the nation chosen by G-d from amongst all the nations, the nation to which G-d gave the Land of Israel from which to proclaim liberty to the entire world – to retreat from the heartland of the Promised Land. You demand that we leave the proclamation that is supposed to emerge from Zion in the hands of those who invented the suicide bomber! In the hands of those who went out to celebrate in the streets when Bin Laden destroyed the Twin Towers! In the hands of a culture that sanctifies death!

Do you honestly believe that this is what will bring peace to the world?

Our claim to the land

Yoel Meltzer
Israel Jewish Scene/Ynet
01 April '11

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4048827,00.html

We need clear understanding of why Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people

What is the basis for our claim that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people? This is not simply a rhetorical question but rather an existential one since the Arabs claim that the same land is theirs. According to their version they were here first and then we, the big bad colonizers, came and stole their land. Although the many holes in their story can easily be exposed, focusing all of one’s energy on trying to debunk every lie is ultimately an exercise in futility. The Arabs believe their story and many in the world and even some Jews are fully convinced that the truth is with the Arabs.

Moreover, it has been the Arabs’ consistent and clear projection of what they believe, regardless of whether or not it is true, that has helped create the current environment where incessant demands are being placed on Israel to relinquish significant parts of its country for the establishment of a Palestinian state, and this notwithstanding the obvious dangers that such a state would pose for the future existence of the State of Israel.

Thus, in order to maintain a firm stand in the face of such demands, especially at a time when there is also a growing local threat to our very existence, we need to take a long overdue look in the mirror and clarify once and for all the reason that we claim this land is ours in the first place. In other words, do we claim our right to the Land of Israel because of the tragedy of the Holocaust, or because of a United Nations vote in 1947 or perhaps for some other sentimental reason? Although such beliefs may have been sufficient in the past, it is doubtful that these reasons alone can still provide us with the necessary fortitude to withstand caving in to the currently mounting threats and demands.

Similarly, clarity on this fundamental topic is essential for enabling the Israeli political establishment to start thinking out of the box on issues pertaining to the land. There are options outside of the suicidal two-state solution and it is high time that we actively begin pursuing them. However, without the inner confidence that is provided by having a clear understanding of why the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, not surprisingly alternative ideas are seldom even discussed. Thus, the situation continues to sputter along with most of our leaders still clinging to the bankrupt belief that there is no choice but the two-state solution.

The History Lesson So Desperately Needed By Israel’s Detractors

Paul Shnee
www.newsrealblog.com
08 February '11

http://www.newsrealblog.com/2011/02/11/the-history-lesson-so-desperately-needed-by-israel%E2%80%99s-detractors-1/

Unable to defeat Israel on the battlefield or intimidate her by decades of terror her Muslim tormentors have anxiously turned to a different strategy. In defiance of the mountains of historical and archeological facts, let alone the biblical evidence, they have embarked on a strenuous effort to turn history upside down and wage a campaign to prove that Israel and the Jews have no legal right to the Land of Israel and that it should always have been a land over which Islamic supremacists hold dominion.

Their insatiable appetite for historical revision, bolstered by an American president who conveniently suffers from historical amnesia, has led them into the realm of lawfare, where if you torture the facts long enough eventually the facts will tell you anything you wish to hear.

However, as Howard Grief pointed out in his essay, “Legal Rights and Title of Sovereignty of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel and Palestine under International Law,” before the Arab Palestinians’ romp of fantasy can be realized they need to disprove the legitimacy of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the Mandates System established and governed by Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations contained in the Treaty of Versailles and all the other peace treaties made with the Central Powers, i.e. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.

The Covenant was the idea of president Woodrow Wilson and contained his program of Fourteen Points of January 8, 1918 while Article 22, which established the Mandates System, was largely the work of Jan Christiaan Smuts who formulated the details in a memorandum that became known as the Smuts Resolution, officially endorsed by the Council of Ten on January 30, 1919 in which Palestine as envisaged in the Balfour Declaration was named as one of the mandated states to be created.

The official creation of the country took place at the San Remo Peace Conference (1920) where the Balfour Declaration was adopted by the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers as the basis for the future “administration” of Palestine which would henceforth be recognized as the Jewish National Home.

Economy and Security

Moshe Feiglin
Manhigut Yehudit
08 Elul 5770
18 August '10

Israel's economic and security might are at their highest point ever, while its moral standing and ability to preserve the legitimacy of its existence are at an all-time low.

Defense Minister Barak announced this week that he has authorized Israel's purchase of F35 fighter jets from the US. The defense department debated long and hard over whether it is worthwhile for Israel to invest billions for the new jets. Traditionally, the purchase of new jets would set off a mini-celebration in Israel. But this time, it looks like there is nothing to celebrate.

The main argument used time and again to explain why Israel must retreat or why we must not attack Iran is that we will not be able to manage without the American-made spare parts for our fighter jets. This claim is not true. Israel can and does acquire most (and possibly all) of its required spare parts on the open international market – at better prices than from their source.
Israel's continued reliance on American weapons is the perpetuation of the self-loathing mentality that bases Israel's existence on its big brother across the ocean.

It is not even clear that Israel needs these jets. What then, motivates the Defense Minister to authorize their purchase?

The disengagement of the Jews from reality - a.k.a. G-d - leads to its disengagement from its Land. This process of disengagement inevitably results in Israel making "painful concessions." Before these concessions, the US always sends some new weapons system our way, in an attempt to ease the pressure on Israel's leadership and to help it convince the Israeli public to swallow the bitter pill.

Israel should have neutralized the Iranian threat a long time ago, with or without the F35. It did not do so, and probably will not do so until the nuclear reactor is activated in a few days – not because of lack of operational capabilities but due to lack of moral/societal/political resilience. The F35 purchase will not add to this resilience. It will only to serve to make Israel more mentally subservient to the US, aggravating an already bad situation.

Does this mean that Israel should not use American weapons?

(Read full article)

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Open the Doors

Moshe Feiglin
Manhigut Yehudit
5 Elul, 5770
15 August '10

Translated from the NRG website

It was Shabbat, and I needed to re-enter the hospital, where my son, David, is being treated. The doors to the hospital are equipped with an electric eye, automatically opening as a person nears the entrance.

This presents a problem on Shabbat, when it is forbidden to activate electricity. An electric eye that opens doors cannot be used on this holiest day of the week.

But never fear; the Tzomet Technological Institute has a modern, technological solution for every Jewish-law challenge that arises. The Tzomet Institute engineers attached a special light for Shabbat observers onto the door of the hospital. They drew a line on the floor in front of the door. Whoever does not cross that line will not be detected by the electric eye. As the Shabbat observer stands behind the line, he must raise his eyes to the light above the door and wait for it to turn green. Every three minutes, the green light goes on, indicating that the electric eye is now taking its Shabbat rest. Even if an elephant would walk over the threshold during those seconds, the electric eye would not detect it.

There I stood, waiting for the green light in my finest Shabbat attire, feeling slightly out of place as pedestrian traffic flowed into the hospital. Suddenly a short man, shaven head, muscled arms, beach clogs, shorts and tank top – I assume that he had just thrown his cigarette away – approached the door. He did not notice me because he was in the middle of a lively conversation on his cell phone, pressed against his ear. He stepped up to the door and the electric eye faithfully opened it wide. But just then, something strange happened. The man moved the cell phone from his right hand to his left hand and used it to cover his head.

I don't know if the person on the other end of the line understood that he was being used as a temporary kippah: The man's right hand lifted in a movement that cannot be mistaken, his legs marched the width of the door and brought him straight to the mezuzah. The door did not like the idea, but patiently waited until the man kissed the mezuzah. The cell phone promptly returned from the man's shiny head to his ear. His legs carried him forward and the door also understood that the ceremony was finished and returned to its routine.

I don't know who was stranger in this scene – me or him. It seems to me that something was out of place with both of us. Stranded outside the hospital door, watching all the people stream past, I seemed to have taken G-d's word to a place that seemed patently unrealistic. The man with the cell phone seems to have taken reality to G-d in a way blatantly opposed to the interpretation of the Sages, who passed the Torah on from generation to generation. Clearly, the Torah is what the Sages say it is, whether I like it or not. Historically, anyone who has tried alternative interpretations of the Torah has simply disappeared from the Nation of Israel.

In the truly Jewish state, Judaism is supposed to blossom from its current contracted state of religion, to the broad dimension of all-inclusive culture. We are supposed to connect heaven and earth – not to separate them by means of religion or secularism.

So how should a hospital entrance door look in the truly Jewish state? There are two possibilities: One, that the doors in the Jewish state will open with a handle, just like they used to not so long ago.

The second possibility is much more fundamental and true. The Torah of Israel must become the vibrant and vital culture of our lives. It will be the Torah of the Land of Israel in all its glory, Torah that connects heaven and earth in the most direct way – in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Just as King David was not religious or secular, in the future there will no longer be religious or secular Jews. The original Israeli culture that will develop here will inspire the entire world. We can already see signs of that happening today. The shoulders of Israel's sages will broaden enough to connect the Torah to life and to re-delineate the borders of permissible and forbidden. I believe that when that happens, the doors will be wide open for everyone.

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Jewish Rights to the Shomron

King Ahab
Shomron Central
August '10

"No Jew is at liberty to surrender the right of the Jewish Nation and the Land of Israel to exist...This right is reserved to the Jewish People throughout the generations. This right cannot be forfeited under any circumstances...Our right to this land, in its entirety, is enduring and eternal. And until the coming of the Redemption, we shall never yield this historic right." -David Ben-Gurion, 21st Zionist Congress speech, Basel 1937


Your average Israeli takes great pride in being able to squeeze the most out of any given situation. He/she is always alert to new opportunities and pushes hard to work out the best deal, even if it means cutting a few corners. Huh, leave a little bit left over for the other guy even if he doesn't have to? Fuggedaboutit. No Israeli wants to be seen as a frier (sucker)! Which is why it's so curious that Israelis, who so jealously guard their day-to-day mundane rights such as that parking spot they saw first or their place on line at the bank, would blithely give away that which is rightfully theirs - their patrimony, no less! - when they really don't need to.


Biblical: The Birthright of the Jewish people. The Torah (Jewish Bible) says explicitly and unequivocally that the Land of Israel is the G-d given patrimony of the Jewish People. This is the Jews' strongest claim to the land and on that basis alone the Shomron and all the rest of the land should rightfully be in their sole possession. For millennia Jews had yearned for the return to Zion and the Land of Israel. The practice of their religion in exile, far from their homeland, has always been an adaptation and a compromise. A truly authentic and complete fulfillment of Judaism requires a presence in Eretz Yisrael. The Jews' presence in and ownership of their homeland is only natural and they need not apologize for it.

Historical: Constant Jewish Presence. Despite numerous expulsions over the centuries, the Jews had a continuous presence in their land since they first entered Jericho during the time of Joshua 3400 years ago. Innumerable archeological findings throughout the Land of Israel bear witness to the presence of the Jewish People in their homeland throughout the millenia.

(Read full topic)

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What Makes Me Different From Many Other Jews of My Generation...

Batya Medad
Shilo Musings
12 April '10

Unlike many of my peers of the immediate post World War Two Jewish world, I was brought up totally oblivious of the Holocaust. No, it wasn't a silent, repressed and repressing shadow shading and affecting my life. It just didn't exist, didn't affect my immediate family. My parents' voices and those of the other neighborhood grown-ups were totally American though with Jewish inflections and Yiddish slang. And before you guess wrong, I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, New York.

The fathers in the spanking new garden apartment neighborhood of Bell Park Gardens, Bayside, New York, were all United States military veterans. That was a condition of acceptance to the Veterans Authority co-op. I wonder if any sociologists have written their doctorates on why that and other similar housing developments were almost exclusively filled with young Jewish families. BPG was over 90% Jewish and so were the other nearby garden apartments, Oakland Gardens and Windsor Park. The same went for the one and two-family homes in the neighborhood. All of the new, post-WWII neighborhoods in northeastern Queens were Jewish. Churches could only be found in older, pre-World War Two areas.

I first heard about the Holocaust when The Diary of Anne Frank was published. It was featured on television shows, and I probably heard about it in Oakland Jewish Center's Hebrew School, which I attended for five years, three days a week. At that time there weren't many books, especially for children, written about the Holocaust.

(Read full post)
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Ouch! It's my Jewish Identity!

Moshe Feiglin
Jewish Leadership Movement
28 Adar, 5770 (3 March)

Translated from the NRG website

"Israel's problem is its public relations," people reason as they attempt to explain how it is that Israel is always at the receiving end of the world's criticism and hatred. "Israel simply doesn't know how to highlight all of its positive points."

But the problem is not simply lack of budget for public relations, as the Foreign Ministry would like us to believe. There is also no dearth of eloquent Israelis and fluent English speakers who could take Israel's case to the world. The problem is that instead of explaining its own position, Israel explains the position of its enemies.

When is the last time that you heard an official Israeli representative simply state that this is our Land – without ifs, ands and buts? Simply, "The Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish Nation, period." Has the prime minister made such a statement? Any minister? Perhaps an ambassador?

All the torrents of claims against Israel can be distilled to this one simple question: Whose land is this, anyway? But here's the caveat: It is impossible to say that this is our Land without falling back on our Jewish foundations. To avoid that unthinkable eventuality, Israel trades it ultimate playing card for paltry claims that its soldiers are the most humane in the world – and endangers their lives to prove it - and that it is the most democratic regime in the region.

The world, though, doesn't really care if Israel's armed forces are humane. What determines if you are right or wrong is if the ground under their feet belongs to you or not. The most courteous intruder is still an intruder who belongs in jail.

The refusal to admit that this is our Land - or in broader terms, to re-connect as a state to our Jewish identity - has brought Israel to its diplomatic knees. Netanyahu's senior ministers have arrest warrants waiting for them in Israel's capitals and the assassins of arch-terrorist Mabhouh are wanted all over the world while mass-murderer Ahmadinijad is invited to lecture at Columbia University. The modern-day Amalek does not tell the world that he is humane. He explains that he is right. The world accepts this as fact because Israel's leadership plays straight into his hands.

Just like the first Amalek, who attacked Israel when the entire world was afraid to initiate a fight with the nation that had just defeated the Egyptian empire, so Ahmadinijad publicly declares his intention to destroy Israel and proceeds with his technical preparations basically unhindered.

(Read full article)
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The Divine Nature of the Land of Israel

For the land that you are going in order to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where you came out, where you sowed your seeds, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs; but the land, that you go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, you will drink water as the rain of heaven comes down; a land which G-d your G-d cares for; the eyes of G-d your G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.
(From this week's Torah portion, Ekev, Deuteronomy 11: 10-12)

Tavor Stream in Israel's North

The Land of Israel is unlike any other lands. The rules of nature do not apply here. Back in Egypt, there was no rain, but the Nile always flowed and irrigation provided a steady source of water for the crops. But when you are always looking down at the Nile, it is easy to forget G-d. All the other lands closely resemble Egypt. While most receive their water from rainfall, the rain is dependable - just like the Nile. You don't have to pray for it.

The Land of Israel is different. In Israel, you must pray for rain. The Land of Israel is situated along a meteorologically unstable latitude that keeps us guessing about rainfall. And it is not only rainfall or lack thereof that keeps the eyes of the Jews in the Land of Israel fixed steadily on heaven. The Land of Israel is situated on a strategic and volatile geographic axis. All the great conquerors traversed the Land. The kings of Israel would never know which side to take in wars that crossed Israel's borders. In politics, as well, the Land of Israel leaves you no choice but to raise your eyes heavenward, to remember Who is running the world and to experience the fact that, " the eyes of G-d your G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year."

One of the first things a Jew learns in the Land of Israel is that nature here is supernatural. In Israel, faith in G-d is the pre-eminent law of nature. G-dless leadership in Israel simply cannot succeed here for long. That is why we have elections every two years and that is why any government that is not faith-based serves on borrowed time.

At Manhigut Yehudit, we are patiently preparing ourselves for the next round and are confident that the Divine laws of nature unique to this Land will prevail and triumph.

Shabbat Shalom,

Moshe Feiglin

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