Satmar and Reform Jews both support Obama's anti-Israel policy!

In my last post I clearly demonstrated Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum's, Satmar Rebbi, outrage at Republicans and Orthodox Jews that are pro Israel and upset at Obama's anti-Israel stance toward Israel....
Now read a report that clearly demonstrates that Reform Jews have the same Satmar opinion of Obama and his anti Israel stance.

This week President Obama took his “Hey I really don’t hate Israel” tour to the 71st General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism. The Reform movement’s attachment to Israel (cultural rather than theological) and itsprogressive bent made this an ideal location for Obama’s attempts to make Jewish Americans to forget his anti-Israel policies of the past three years.

The first part of Obama’s speech was an outline of the progressive policies he enacted. And each one was greeted with applause.

As in introduction to his talk he put the Torah on the same level as a Broadway Play:

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from [my daughter, who has begun attending Bar/Bat Mitzvahs], it’s that it never hurts to begin a speech by discussing the Torah portion. It doesn’t hurt.

So this week congregations around the world will retell the story of Joseph.  As any fan of Broadway musicals will tell you — there is a lot going on in this reading.

Nice–instead of talking about the Torah as sacred text, he relates it to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Obama then went into a list of his progressive accomplishments–each greeted with applause from the progressively-inclined audience. Finally, he got to Israel:

I have never wavered in pursuit of a just and lasting peace — two states for two peoples; an independent Palestine alongside a secure Jewish State of Israel. (Applause.) I have not wavered and will not waver. That is our shared vision. (Applause.)

Secure, Jewish State of Israel? Obama’s mismanagement of the “Arab Spring” has damaged the security of Israel. He helped push out Mubarak and turned Egypt over to the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. He has supported Lebanon’s Hizballah-dominated regime and has remained silent about Lebanon’s breaking of the treaty which ended its most recent war with Israel.

Obama has supported the radical Islamists who took over Libya,  and listens to the advice of Islamist-governed Turkey, while accepting their anti-Israel stance. Is that what he means by “secure Jewish state of Israel?”

How can one have unshakable support for Israel’s security when one is helping to destroy its security environment?

This is the President who has placed one-sided demands on Israel regarding the Palestinians. Not once has he demanded that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish State. Not once.

Now, I know that many of you share my frustration sometimes, in terms of the state of the peace process. There’s so much work to do. But here’s what I know –- there’s no question about how lasting peace will be achieved. Peace can’t be imposed from the outside. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them. (Applause.)

But according to this president, Israel must concede returning to the 1949 armistice lines before negotiations. And Israel (alone) must get to the “damn” negotiating table already. And the leadership of Reform Judaism applauds anyway.

And the fact that peace is hard can’t deter us from trying. Because now more than ever, it’s clear that a just and lasting peace is in the long-term interests of Israel. It is in the long-term interests of the Palestinian people. It is in the interest of the region. It is the interest of the United States, and it is in the interest of the world. And I am not going to stop in pursuit of that vision. It is the right thing to do. (Applause.)

Now, that vision begins with a strong and secure State of Israel. (Applause.) And the special bonds between our nations are ones that all Americans hold dear because they’re bonds forged by common interests and shared values. They’re bonds that transcend partisan politics — or at least they should. (Applause.)

This is President Obama echoing the appeal of the ADL and the AJCongress that Jews don’t complain about Obama’s anti-Israel policy, and that Republicans should not be allowed to bring it up. And the leaders of the Reform movement and the Satmar Rebbi apparently agree with President Obama that Jews should put their heads in the sand and shut up. (Or applaud.)

We stand with Israel as a Jewish democratic state because we know that Israel is born of firmly held values that we, as Americans, share: a culture committed to justice, a land that welcomes the weary, a people devoted to tikkun olam. (Applause.)

So America’s commitment — America’s commitment and my commitment to Israel and Israel’s security is unshakeable. It is unshakeable. (Applause.)

I said it in September at the United Nations. I said it when I stood amid the homes in Sderot that had been struck by missiles: No nation can tolerate terror. And no nation can accept rockets targeting innocent men, women and children. No nation can yield to suicide bombers. (Applause.)

Does he mean not yield–like he did by leaving Iraq against the wishes of his most senior generals? Or does he mean not yielding to terrorists–like his administration encourages Israel to do when it criticizes the Jewish state’s blockade of Gaza?

And as Ehud has said, it is hard to remember a time when the United States has given stronger support to Israel on its security. In fact, I am proud to say that no U.S. administration has done more in support of Israel’s security than ours. None. Don’t let anybody else tell you otherwise. It is a fact. (Applause.)

Stronger support? And the leaders of the Reform movement are eating it up!

Do they forget the recent indecent when President Nicolas Sarkozy ripped into Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and Obama replied, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you”?

Perhaps they don’t remember that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently compared the Jewish State to Islamic Republic of Iran–or that US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman blamed the Jewish state for the outbreak of Muslim-animated anti-Semitism in Europe.

That doesn’t sound like support to me.

I’m proud that even in these difficult times we’ve fought for and secured the most funding for Israel in history. I’m proud that we helped Israel develop a missile defense system that’s already protecting civilians from rocket attacks. (Applause.)

And how about the part where he broke an agreement between the United States and Israel about the construction of new housing units in existing communities is Judea and Samaria? Shhh–don’t share truth with the leaders of the Reform movement; it seems they are not interested.

Another grave concern -– and a threat to the security of Israel, the United States and the world -– is Iran’s nuclear program. And that’s why our policy has been absolutely clear: We are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. (Applause.) And that’s why we’ve worked painstakingly from the moment I took office with allies and partners, and we have imposed the most comprehensive, the hardest-hitting sanctions that the Iranian regime has ever faced. We haven’t just talked about it, we have done it. And we’re going to keep up the pressure. (Applause.)

Here’s the other thing President Obama hasn’t just talked about: when the Senate passed a measure imposing harsher sanctions against Iran, Obama threatened veto.  Even Democratic Party senators expressed frustration that the administration had not moved fast enough to curtail financing of Iran’s nuclear activities:“Given what appears to be a shortening timeline until Iran has a potential nuclear weapon, it would seem that we are not doing enough fast enough,” said coauthor Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

The Reform movement’s belief in Obama’s anti-Israel policy is based on two things.

First–its strong affiliation with domestic progressive politics.  Earlier in the convention, the movement passed aneconomic platform that would make the most hardcore progressive proud.

Second–theologically, Reform Judaism does not proclaim the same connection with Israel as Conservative and Orthodox Jews. Its association is mainly cultural (and the Reform movement even once opposed Zionism.)

While the other Jewish “flavors” believe that the eventual return to Israel by all Jews (in a messianic age) is an essential part of their faith, the leadership of the Reform movement believes in the vital importance of Israel as a Jewish homeland–a refuge for a persecuted people, but not a theological necessity.

Reform theology does not believe there will be a Third Temple in Jerusalem. That’s why Reform synagogues are called temples. The vast majority of Conservative synagogues, and all Orthodox ones, believe that the only place that can be called a Temple will be on top of Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.

Many Reform congregations do not face Jerusalem when they pray; all Conservative and Orthodox Shuls do. Reform Judaism has removed direct references to the Temple in its prayer books (although some indirect or ambiguous references remain such as “Happy are those who dwell in your House”, Psalm 84:5).

Between its progressive bent and its very lose affiliation with Israel, President Obama was preaching to the choir as he defended his anti-Israel policies to the the to the 71st General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism.

The bottom line: if Obama supplied Hamas with rockets, the leadership of the Reform movement would still vote for him.

Satmar Rebbi, condemns GOP and Orthodox Jews who are Pro-Israel and who "insult" Obama

"When GOP presidential candidates make increasingly strong pro-Israel statements, and some Orthodox Jewish activists applaud them, saying this is the only way they can win Orthodox votes, it gives the world the wrong impression of Orthodox Jews.” Aaron Teitelbaum, Satmar Rebbi

Can you imagine? Satmar Rebbe criticising Frum Jews who want the President to be Pro-Israel?

Read politickerny.com for more of his distorted way of thinking!politickerny.com


Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, the Satmar Grand Rabbi in Brooklyn, told a gathering of 30,000 of his followers on Saturday night that religious Jews should condemn those who “insult” President Barack Obama.

“Recently, certain self-appointed Jewish leaders have gotten up and insulted the President in the worst way, their words have been broadcast on the radio and television and all the media, why should Jews come out in public with statements like these?” the Rabbi said in remarks at the New York State Armory in Crown Heights, according to a release from the Central Rabbinical Organization. “It’s forbidden by the Torah to do so, it provokes the nations to hate us, and it brings danger upon Jews not only here but all over the globe, who knows what the effects of this irresponsible behavior could be? Therefore it is our obligation to make known that religious Jewry is completely opposed to these self-appointed leaders, we pray every day for our country and we bless its leaders with success in all their efforts to bring peace to the world.”

The gathering is held annually to celebrate the founding of the Satmar Grand Rabbi.

In the release, Rabbi Shmiel Weider, a Satmar activist who attended the gathering, explained that part of the context of the rabbi’s remarks was due to the victory of Bob Turner over David Weprin in a heavily Jewish area of Brooklyn and Queens, a victory that was spurred on by Jewish leaders like Ed Koch.

“The rabbi was reacting to recent events such as the special election in New York’s 9th district – a heavily Orthodox Jewish and Democratic-voting area – in which Republican Bob Turner won, Pro-Israel politicians wish to claim that the vote showed Jewish displeasure with President Obama’s Mideast policies,” he said. “And when GOP presidential candidates make increasingly strong pro-Israel statements, and some Orthodox Jewish activists applaud them, saying this is the only way they can win Orthodox votes, it gives the world the wrong impression of Orthodox Jews.”

The remarks come as the battle over the Jewish vote has heated up in anticipation of 2012.

Time Magazines "Person of the Year" has a history of giving that honor to Anti-semites & Murderers!

In 1938: Adolf Hitler

In 1939 and then again in 1942: Joseph Stalin

In 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini

And now in 2011 they put the face of an Arab Lady to represent
THE PROTESTER

Time lauded the generic "protester" as its fabulous person, presumably including the misogynistic Jew-haters who sexually attacked Lara Logan in Cairo's Tahrir Square. And the Occupy Wall Street miscreants who cost taxpayers millions of dollars, as some engaged in alleged rape, robbery and drug use. Way to go, Time!

North Koreans weeping hysterically over the death of the murderer Kim Jong il! Video!

Chareidim distribute booklet on Breast Cancer without having written the word "Breast" in the entire booklet!

They are now becoming more frum than Shlomo Hamelech that mentions the word "breast" numerous times in Shir Hashirim, and frumer than the Tanaim that mention the word "Breast" in the Mishna. The breast is mentioned countless times in the Gemarrah and in the Rishonim and Achronim. The Frummies that have taken over Israel are not going to mention "Breast" in a booklet designed for Ladies to make them aware of the terrible disease, Breast Cancer! Get it? I don't!

"Just what is going on here? Who could possibly view the term “breast cancer” as sexually arousing? What self-respecting medical team, seeking to produce an easy-to-understand booklet to promote early detection of breast cancer, can write phrases like: “The cancer in the organ under discussion” so as to avoid using the word “breast”? And as for graphics, just how helpful are photographs of someone pouring a green liquid from a test tube into a brown bottle or graphics of flowers in terms of showing women how to check their breasts for lumps? This creeping haredization of everyday life is dangerous, in this particular case literally.

When potentially fatal diseases cannot be discussed honestly and openly in a health-promotion booklet sent to all a health fund’s members due to a misguided puritanism, a tipping point has been reached. The sane, secular majority has to make a stand, just as it has done over the issue of women soldiers singing in IDF ceremonies, to ensure that we don’t descend into the fundamentalist depths like Iran."

Read the following from the Jerusalem Post:

Securing Israel as a Western, democratic country is coming under increasing attack from haredim and extremist settlers.

Even I thought Hillary Clinton was overstepping the mark earlier this month when the US secretary of state said the treatment of women in Israel was reminiscent of the situation in Iran. That was until my health fund, Kupat Holim Meuhedet, sent a booklet round to my house.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in Israel. Around 4,000 Israeli women (and 50 men) are diagnosed with this cancer every year and 900 die of the disease. According to estimates, one in every eight Israeli women is at risk of developing breast cancer at some stage of her life. This high rate is attributed to the “Jewish gene”: three mutations in the BRACA1 and BRACA2 genes, relatively common among Ashkenazi women, which raise the likelihood of breast cancer by 60 to 80 percent.

Early detection of the cancer increases the chance of recovery to 90% and so health funds like Meuhedet have an interest in running health-promotion campaigns among their members to inform them of the risks of breast cancer and alert them to early signs of the disease’s appearance.

Obviously, such a booklet needs to be written in the clearest language possible, while photographs and other visual aids to describe warning signs such as lumps or a rash on the breast also have an important part to play in imparting such vital information clearly and in the most accessible manner possible.

BUT APPARENTLY not if you’re Meuhedet, the third-largest health fund in the country. Instead, this health fund, wary of upsetting some of its members (it has a large percentage of religious and haredi members) sent out a booklet in the post titled “The Special Women’s Cancer: The Importance of Awareness of Early Detection.”

Throughout its 12 pages, the phrase “breast cancer” never appears, only the coy euphemism “special woman’s cancer,” which isn’t even medically accurate given the (admittedly small) number of men who succumb to the disease.
If it wasn’t so tragic, the irony of a booklet that aims to promote awareness of breast cancer but is afraid to use the actual word “breast” would be funny. But with 900 women a year dying of the disease, this is no time for false modesty.


Just what is going on here? Who could possibly view the term “breast cancer” as sexually arousing? What self-respecting medical team, seeking to produce an easy-to-understand booklet to promote early detection of breast cancer, can write phrases like: “The cancer in the organ under discussion” so as to avoid using the word “breast”? And as for graphics, just how helpful are photographs of someone pouring a green liquid from a test tube into a brown bottle or graphics of flowers in terms of showing women how to check their breasts for lumps? This creeping haredization of everyday life is dangerous, in this particular case literally.

When potentially fatal diseases cannot be discussed honestly and openly in a health-promotion booklet sent to all a health fund’s members due to a misguided puritanism, a tipping point has been reached. The sane, secular majority has to make a stand, just as it has done over the issue of women soldiers singing in IDF ceremonies, to ensure that we don’t descend into the fundamentalist depths like Iran.


AND IT’S not just the influence of haredi norms on everyday life that needs urgent attention by all those who want Israel to remain a Western, democratic country. For too long, the country has turned a blind eye to the state of anarchy in the West Bank, where extremist settlers ride roughshod over the law and commit appalling crimes with no fear of retribution.


The chilling comparison between the IDF’s killing of Mustafa Tamimi, who

threw stones at an army jeep during a demonstration in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh, and the failure of the army to even arrest the settler hooligans who threw concrete blocks at senior IDF officers, or who ransacked the Ephraim Brigade headquarters, highlights the kid-gloves treatment settler extremists have received over the years by those in power.
In a newspaper article over the weekend, Uri Saguy, a former head of Military Intelligence, had a simple solution to the problem of violent settlers threatening the lives of IDF soldiers: Shoot them.

“The restraint of the brigade commander and his deputy [who came under attack] is worthy of praise,” Saguy wrote. “But if I was in the position of the deputy commander and they were throwing bricks at my head and endangering my life, I would shoot them. You shoot terrorists.”


Sometimes you need a blunt-speaking military man to place matters into perspective. The wild-eyed, extremist settler youths who set mosques alight, uproot Palestinian olive trees, and who have now started to attack IDF soldiers seeking to enforce the law are indeed terrorists, and needed to be hunted down as such.

Anne Frank Protector, Mrs. Miep Gies dies at 100

Anne Frank was among eight people hidden by Miep Gies and others during WWII.

Miep Gies, who ensured the diary of Anne Frank did not fall into the hands of Nazis after the teen's arrest, has died. She was 100.
Gies was among a team of Dutch citizens who hid the Frank family of four and four others in a secret annex in Amsterdam, Netherlands, during World War II, according to her official Web site, which announced her death Monday. She worked as a secretary for Anne Frank's father, Otto, in the front side of the same Prinsengracht building. The family stayed in the secret room from July 1942 until August 4, 1944, when they were arrested by Gestapo and Dutch police after being betrayed by an informant. Two of Gies' team were arrested that day, but she and her friend, Bep Voskuijl, were left behind -- and found 14-year-old Anne's papers. "And there Bep and I saw Anne's diary papers lying on the floor. I said, 'Pick them up!' Bep stood there staring, frozen. I said, 'Pick them up! Pick them up!' We were afraid, but we did out best to collect all the papers," 

Gies said in a 1998 interview with The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam."Then we went downstairs. And there we stood, Bep and I. I asked, 'What now, Bep?' She answered, 'You're the oldest. You hold on to them. So I did." The girl had chronicled two years of the emotions and fears that gripped her during hiding, as well as candid thoughts on her family, her feelings for friend-in-hiding Peter van Pels, and dreams of being a professional writer. Mixed into the entries were the names of the Dutch helpers, who risked their lives to keep the family's secret. "I didn't read Anne's diary papers. ... It's a good thing I didn't because if I had read them I would have had to burn them," she said in the 1998 interview. "Some of the information in them was dangerous." The diary was sheltered in Gies' desk drawer and later turned over to Otto Frank when he returned after the war as the only surviving resident of the annex. Anne died at northern Germany's Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Her father published her diary, titled "The Secret Annex," in 1947. Despite the legendary hardship she endured during the German occupation, Gies never embraced the label of a hero. "More than 20,000 Dutch people helped to hide Jews and others in need of hiding during those years. I willingly did what I could to help. My husband did as well. It was not enough," she says in the prologue of her memoirs, "Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family.""There is nothing special about me. I have never wanted special attention. I was only willing to do what was asked of me and what seemed necessary at the time." Gies' husband, Jan, whom she married in 1941, died in 1993. The couple had a son together.

Jewish Lady joins Christians to boycott Israeli produce

We don't have enough  enemies we need some of our own Jews to help Chistians hate us!!!

Crazy Greenblatt Lady protesting, notice her palestinian scarf

Arts, faith and justice charity, Greenbelt Festivals, is calling on its supporters to boycott produce from the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Greenbelt’s call for a boycott of settlement goods comes at the culmination of its three-year ‘Just Peace’ campaign – which highlighted the issues of injustice suffered by those living under the Israeli occupation.

Around 20,000 people attend the annual Greenbelt festival, held over the August bank holiday weekend.

Whilst the festival has been shunned by conservative evangelicals over the years - following its welcome for figures including human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and gay Bishop Gene Robinson - many other more open evangelicals attend each year.

Evangelical and other Christian organisations have also entered into collaboration with the festival including Church Mission Society (CMS) SPCK, USPG, YMCA, ICC, Christian Aid and The Church Times.

At this year's festival, comedian and campaigner Mark Thomas was among the contributors with his new show Extreme Rambling, in which he tells the story of a walk he decided to go on, along the length of the separation wall between Israel and Palestine.

Festival director, Paul Northup, said: “Greenbelt calls for a boycott of produce from the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. And, while this settlement boycott statement marks the formal end of our three-year Just Peace campaign, we will continue in the struggle for a just peace in

the region. ”

The call for a boycott arises from concerns expressed by many within Greenbelt's own festival-going constituency, as well as several of Greenbelt’s partners, and other agencies working in the region. A major partner, the Methodist Church, have already made a call for the boycott of settlement goods. Another, Christian Aid, meanwhile, while not calling for a boycott, is calling on the government to impose a UK ban on the import of settlement

goods, due to the illegality of the Israeli settlements under international law."

Northup continued: “In the 1980s, Greenbelt joined people all over the world in championing the boycott of goods from South Africa as a form of protest against the unjust apartheid regime there. The truth and reconciliation that finally came to that country gives us hope now. Greenbelt is committed to standing with global civil society in joining with these new forms of boycott, in the hope that their combined actions may play a part in influencing the Israeli government and leading to a just settlement for all peoples in the region.”

New York Times Reporter Thomas Friedman bashes Israel again! Update!!

The self-hating Jewish reporter for the New York Times, Thomas Friedman, uses baiting language such as  "apartheid" and "ethnic-cleansing" when talkin about Israel. In a column in today's edition of the New York Post, Michael Goodwin points out that in the last 20 opinion pieces published by The Times about Israel, 19 were negative.
Here is the must reading article: Scroll to bottom and read the update: Israel's US Ambassaodor Michael Oren  slams Friedman for perpetuating Anti-Semitism

A Jewish friend who leans right offers a shorthand way to understand how Americans see Israel. Liberals, he says, love Jews and hate Israel, while conservatives reverse the pattern.

It’s a crude calculation, but The New York Times is proving his point about liberals. The nonstop screeds against the Jewish state on its opinion pages have left the field of politics and entered the realm of prejudice, so much so that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is citing its bias in refusing to write an article for the paper.

Times columnists “constantly distort the positions of our government and ignore the steps it has taken to advance peace,” a top Netanyahu aide writes in rejecting an offer from the paper. “They cavalierly defame our country by suggesting that marginal phenomena condemned by Prime Minister Netanyahu, and virtually every Israeli official, somehow reflect government policy or Israeli society as a whole.”

In the rejection letter, first obtained by the Jerusalem Post, the aide says that of the last 20 opinion pieces published by The Times about Israel, 19 were negative.

The latest example it cites was a column last week by Thomas Friedman. The piece was so scurrilous that it alone justifies the boycott.

In the column, Friedman describes himself as a secular American Jew who cares about Israel. But his disdain makes it clear he doesn’t like the country. Worse, he crosses the line that separates opinion from bigotry.

To dismiss the standing ovations members of Congress from both parties gave Netanyahu last May, Friedman resorts to a slur that recalls a staple of anti-Semites.

Thomas Friedman with Yasser Arafat
“That ovation was bought and paid for by the Israeli lobby,” The Times’ columnist declared.

He offers no support or example, as though the Jews-equal-money connection is so obvious it doesn’t require evidence. Such paranoid assertions are routine in crackpot circles, but the appearance in The Times under Friedman’s byline is shocking and will offer aid and comfort to enemies of Israel.

It is also an attack on America, as if our foreign policy is for sale to the highest bidder. Implicit is the charge that no smart and honest American, Jewish or otherwise, could possibly support the conservative policies of Netanyahu or recognize Israel as a vital ally in the war against terror.

Friedman’s list of everything he detests includes the Republican presidential candidates who support Netanyahu, Israel’s domestic politics and its relations with Palestinians.

He sprinkles in the baiting language of “apartheid” and “ethnic-cleansing” that is standard fare in anti-Israel circles from Turtle Bay to Tehran.

The result is a column that inadvertently showcases how liberals think about Israel and virtually every other aspect of modern life: Anybody who doesn’t agree with them is either stupid or corrupt. Only they have legitimate motives and views.

Not surprisingly, Friedman’s prejudices echo those of President Obama, an occasional golfing partner. Perhaps the golf course is where they share their cockamamie views that Israel, rather than Arab violence and deep hatred of Jews, is the impediment to Mid-East peace.

Friedman, naturally, leaves out the facts that don’t fit this view. He never mentions Hamas, a terror group that continues to fire rockets into Israeli towns and vows to eliminate the Jewish state.

Nor does he mention that many Democrats who also stood for Netanyahu last May are at odds with Obama’s policies, including on Iran. They see the president’s one-sided demand for concessions from Israel as putting a bull’s-eye on the country.

Friedman also could have noted the recent special election in New York to replace the disgraced Anthony Weiner.

Thanks to former Mayor Ed Koch, the race became a referendum on Obama’s treatment of Israel, with the result that many Jews and Catholics who usually vote Democratic switched to elect Republican Bob Turner.

I e-mailed Friedman to see if he had second thoughts about his column. I got no response, which I take to mean he has no defense.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/poison_pens_vs_israel_VxdDhn81SFHBFz5fmQBMrO#ixzz1gv4UxI00

Israel's U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren said New York Times columnist Tom Friedman "strengthened a dangerous myth" when he said Congress was "bought and paid for by the Israel lobby."

"This allegation is profoundly disturbing," Oren told JTA. "The term 'Israel lobby' implies the existence of a Zionist cabal wielding inordinate economic and political power. Unintentionally, perhaps, Friedman has strengthened a dangerous myth."

Friedman's Dec. 13 column outlined concerns he said he shares with other American Jews about Israel's direction.

He listed a number of anti-democratic indicators, but it was an aside in which he warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take seriously standing ovations he enjoyed during his address to Congress last May, saying the applause "was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby," that sparked outrage.

A number of Congress members decried Friedman's allegation, and Oren said Friedman missed the real admiration Israel has in the body.

"The 29 standing ovations that Prime Minister Netanyahu received from both houses of Congress, and from representatives of both parties, reflected the deep support of the American people for the State of Israel," Oren said. "That commitment is not -- and never has to be -- purchased."

Oren, who called Friedman "an internationally acclaimed columnist who frequently writes about Israel and is often critical of its policies," said the Netanyahu government was "sensitive for the concerns of American Jews" and is "committed to maintaining the strongest possible connection between the Jewish state and the Jewish communities in the U.S. and around the world."

Muslim Husband Chops Off His Wife's Fingers for seeking higher education!

'I've got a surprise for you': Husband blindfolds his wife.... and then chops off her fingers to stop her studying for a degree

A jealous husband is facing life in prison after chopping off his wife's fingers because she began studying for a degree without his permission.

Rafiqul Islam, 30, blindfolded his wife Hawa Akhter, 21, and taped her mouth, telling her he was going to give her a surprise present.

Instead he made her hold out her hand and cut off all five fingers. One of his relatives then threw Ms Akhter's fingers in the dustbin to ensure doctors could not reattach them.

Mr Islam, who is a migrant worker in the United Arab Emirates, had warned his wife there would 'severe consequences' if she did not give up her studies.

'After he came back to Bangladesh, he wanted to have a discussion with me,' Ms Akhter told The Times.

'Suddenly, he blindfolded me and tied my hand. He also taped my mouth saying that he would give me some surprise gifts. But, instead he cut off my fingers.'

Mohammed Saluddin, the Bangladesh police chief said that Mr Islam had confessed after he was arrested in the capital, Dhaka, and will face charges of permanent disfiguration.

Human rights groups are demanding life imprisonment.

'He was enraged. He was jealous because while he only had a grade eight standard education, she was off to college to pursue higher studies,' said Mr Saluddin.

Ms Akhter says she is learning to write with her left hand and is determined to resume her studies. She is now back at her parent's house.

The attack is the latest in a series of acts targeting educated women in the Muslim-majority company.

In June, an unemployed man gouged out the eyes of his wife, an assistant professor at Dhaka University, apparently because he could not stand her pursuing higher studies at a Canadian University.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2075435/Husband-chops-wifes-fingers-stop-studying-degree.html#ixzz1gpxT5spb

Chareidim turn over carriage with baby inside to stop Egged bus!

Some 100 haredim in Jerusalem's ultra-orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood blocked a road in order to stop Egged bus line number 1 from passing through the neighborhood Tuesday afternoon.

In addition to standing in the road, the protesters overturned a baby carriage - with a baby in it - in front of the bus.

In a press conference in Mea Shearim, Jerusalem Police Chief Nisso Shaham insisted that police would not stop their activities in the neighborhood, working to stop the separation of women.
Jerusalem Post

Matisyahu the reggae star, Shaves his beard! "no more Chassidic reggae superstar"

Orthodox Jew rapper Matisyahu took a razor blade to the face this week ... and shaved off his trademark beard ... or so it seems. 

Matisyahu just posted the shorn pics of himself on his Twitter page ... along with the message, "At the break of day I look for you at sunrise ... When the tide comes in I lose my disguise."

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Jewish reggae star Matisyahu shaved his signature beard and issued a statement saying "No more Chassidic reggae superstar."

The artist posted two photos of his beardless face on Twitter and a statement about his decision on his website.

"When I started becoming religious 10 years ago it was a very natural and organic process," he wrote. "I felt that in order to become a good person I needed rules -- lots of them -- or else I would somehow fall apart. I am reclaiming myself."

He signed off, "Get ready for an amazing year filled with music of rebirth. And for those concerned with my naked face, don’t worry…you haven’t seen the last of my facial hair."

Born Matthew Miller, Matisyahu has been the most visibly Jewish artist in the hip-hop world since his debut album "Shake Off the Dust... Arise" was produced by JDub Records in 2004. While he first affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Matisyahu later distanced himself from the movement and moved on from JDub, which closed its doors this year.

Klausenberger Rebbe's Son dances with his wife in public, holding hands