Posts Tagged ‘Laura Rosen Cohen
Israel Round Up
Dear HillBuzz,
I know it’s been a while since my last Israel Round Up, but I’m going to try and catch you up on some of the Israel-related issues that I have been thinking about over the past while, and then throw in some general thoughts and links to items that I think are related. This Round Up is a little less about Israel, but includes links that illustrate Israel’s battle-our battle. We are up against a terrible enemy. This is World War IV.
Most of my focus in this Round Up will be on a few main themes such as the sanctity of human life, the great privilege of living in the democratic western world and the beauty of our Judeo-Christian heritage and the sanctity of protecting the lives of the vulnerable among us-the disabled and the elderly and the unborn. I think a lot about the greatness of our culture, and about how lucky Jews are to have Israel, America, Canada and Australia as relatively safe places to live in freedom (I’ve purposely excluded Europe).
As always, feel free to leave any comments or questions in the threads and I will try to address them in a future post, which hopefully I will be able to get back to writing on a more regular basis along with some other project ideas that Kevin and I have on the go!
First of all, I just read this incredibly nutty “security” plan. How deep in denial is it possible to sink? Pretty deep. I guess I should never, ever be surprised by idiocy and by greed or by the abject submissive dhimmitude that is passing for living in the western world.
I’m pretty sick of people being embarrassed to admit publicly that our way of life is better than life in dumps like Pakistan. If you are a girl in Pakistan, you might not even make it out of the womb. Where are the feminists on this issue? Does NOW have a stand on this? What part of the phrase “Islamic misogyny” does the left find incomprehensible? It’s a bad scene. We all know that Europe has a lot of “diversity issues” on its hands, but these battles are here in North America also. Just take a peek over here. There are 2 Islamic “honour” killing trials going on in America this week, one in NY and one in AZ.
Unfortunately, the left doesn’t care about issues-just feelings!
Did you hear about this dude? Honestly, this idiot makes me laugh. Antisemitism poisons the soul. I do not consider this “religious leader” a Christian. This is more my kind of Christian.
There are lots of people in denial, but we are in a war. There is evil around us. But I’m confident that we will prevail.
What do you think?
Laura Rosen Cohen
Israel News Round Up-July 2010
Israel Round Up-July 2010
By Laura Rosen Cohen
Dear HillBuzz,
I know it has been a while since I wrote up a round up – my life has been pretty busy lately, but I know how important Israel is to you and to your readers so I knew that I had to catch you up. I’m going to try to give you a picture of some of the things that I have been thinking about lately with respect to Israel and the Western world-I think they all relate. As always, please feel free to leave any questions in the comments and I will try to address them in an upcoming post.
This story is about the attempts by European Muslims to make Sweden Judenrein – and they have almost succeeded (if you want to see what happens when Muslim “youths” take over a city, just google “Malmo/rape/infidel women”). I wonder if Europeans are really actually happy with the way in which their Jews were killed and then after the way, their elites imported vast numbers of poor, religious Muslims from various sharia-based nations, with little intention of absorbing into the larger culture. Are they happy to see these new immigrants attack Holocaust survivors and physically threaten and assault local Jews? I guess so.
Did you all read about how President Obama suggested that Israelis distrust him because of his “funny”middle name – Hussein? I’m sure you did. A friend of mine said “isn’t it time we get over the funny name stuff?”. She rightly pointed out that sometimes you are allowed to talk about it (i.e in Cairo) and sometimes you are not (in America for example). That’s the thing about Lefty. Lefty always wants to make up and change the rules. Like how the Persian Madman denies the Holocaust, but wants the new and improved nuclear one that he is planning to be much, much more effective. They want it both ways. I thought that Jennifer Rubin, from Commentary, put it best. She writes “President Obama: Israelis are racists and some of my best political hacks are Jews.”
Anyway between you and me, I think Ahmedinejad has waaaaay too much time on his hands if he is focusing on a new Haram Hair-Do Squad.
This is an important story that I think a lot of people missed. Remember that Britain is the land of the Magna Carta, and then read about how a British judge so sympathized with the Palestinians that a complete miscarriage of justice occurred. Jew hatred was more important than punishing criminals. If this had happened in America, the judge would possibly have been sacked (well, let’s hope so). Melanie Phillips has also written about this case.
The pathetic Turks continue to dig their heels in and whine about Israel. Turkey is really going down the tubes. Finally, at least Israelis have started to fight back with their wallets. How’s that anti-Israel stuff tasting nowadays, Turkey? How do you say “bite me” in Turkish?
In other news, your tax dollars, America, continue to be spent on fanatics in backward, Sharia-based countries who want to kill you.
But it’s not just Americans who have naïve, “good intentions”. Israel is chock full of idiotic utopians, too.
Anyway, I don’t want to leave you depressed. I still remain totally optimistic about America’s future and the future of the Jews and Israel. I’m optimistic about November, too. I think that despite the damage (and it is extensive) that the current administration has done to your incredible country, that the ship will right itself. I feel very honoured to be able to share my thoughts with you here and feel comforted by the fact that there are so many decent, hard-working, straight thinking people among you and look forward to hearing your thoughts on these and other items.
Here’s a last link that I really loved. I have a soft spot for people with disabilities, and the people who take care of them. I believe that the way we treat disabled and vulnerable people speaks to our own humanity. Lefty hates disabled people – that’s always been obvious to me.
I thought this video was pretty inspiring. It’s the story of the SHALVA organization in Israel that helps kids with special needs. To me it shows how one person can make a difference in the lives of so many others, by just making the decision to do something-and to ‘repay’ a kindness. I was very moved by the founder’s words – it’s an incredible picture of ‘people who can’t take care of themselves still trying to take care of the defenders of the Jews and the Land of Israel’. If people who can’t take care of themselves are doing something for Israel, what should the rest of us be doing? Are we doing anything? What are you doing? Something about that idea gives me chills.
Sincerely,
Laura Rosen Cohen
Toronto, Canada.
Israel Round Up for May
Dear Hillbuzz,
I’m worried. I’m worried about a new war brewing in Israel. I’m aghast, day in and day out at the animosity of the current administration toward the State of Israel-the world’s Jew. I don’t think that Israel has been treated as badly since James Baker’s policy of “f&ck the Jews”. The President of the USA has lived a life surrounded by the most vile kind of anti-Semitic, radical, self-hating American leftists around. We should not be surprised now that we are seeing such aggressive, public loathing of Israel-but we can be concerned.
I’m concerned but not pessimistic because I know that the American people have a deep love and deep bond with the Jewish people and the State of Israel. With luck, this one-term president will be buried in history books and remembered only as competing with Jimmy Carter for the title of Worst President Ever. Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post, calls him the first “post-American” president, which I think is quite apt. But the American people are resilient and will overcome this temporary intrusion into their freethinking and freedom-loving way of life-you continue to inspire me.
Here are some articles for you to consider, some food for thought on this sunny spring day.
We all read about Obama’s disgraceful treatment of Bibi Netanyahu at the White House, but one has to wonder if the treatment is part of a larger, organized plot?
The Jew-hatred is right in your backyards. The campus intifiadah is emboldened all over North America because the hot heads have not been disciplined. When Jews are attacked, Western values are being attacked. The Jews are the canary in the coalmine.
Here’s another piece I found interesting. When Israel tries to keep Palestinian terrorists out of its territory, all hell breaks loose. When Egypt tries-not so much.
Here’s a great piece from Commentary about our ongoing discussion of Jews and their liberal allegiances. Will Jews ever give up their ties to the Democratic party? I live in hope. That would require them becoming much more Jewish, in a way-“converting” to traditional Judaism, not just “bagels and lox” Judaism. Will they leave the Church of Liberalism in great droves? Probably not, but certain individuals will and many current conservative intellectuals today started their careers firmly on the left. Like I said-I live in hope. This piece is not about Israel, but about Jews and their liberalism-maybe this guy is my long lost twin brother?
The second last link is from Bibi Netanyahu’s speech on Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day. Contrast his elegant understanding of history, with the classless treatment he was afforded at the White House. The contrast could not be more stark.
The bottom line: Don’t despair. The Jews are a hopeful, joyful people. The people of Israel live (in Hebrew “Am Yisrael Chai”). And even in our times of the worst sorrow imaginable, we look out for one another and force ourselves to remember the circle of life, and the beauty of life.
As always, please feel free to leave comments and questions and I will try to address them in an upcoming Round Up.
Laura Rosen Cohen
Toronto, Canada
Fantastic February Israel Round Up
Dear HillBuzz,
I thought I would write a short Israel Round Up for you and your readers on this chilly February morning. Israel hasn’t really been in the news much lately, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot of stuff going on.
Israel did a lot of incredible rescue work in Haiti, for a small country, it set up some of the most impressive disaster relief services, including the field hospital, and a crack search and rescue team. Now, they have set up a school in the devastated country.
What has the Arab world done to help? Hmmm…do I hear crickets? Yes, I do…
Meanwhile, a third barrel bomb has been discovered in Israel-which goes to show that there is really nothing that the terrorist won’t use, or try, in their efforts to kill innocent civilians whether in Israel or in other parts of the world. There is simply no living thing, and no inanimate object that they will not use as a weapon of destruction and murder.
Charmingly, 54 members of President Obama’s government have accused Israel of inflicting collective punishment on Gaza-whatever that is supposed to mean. Interestingly, they are always mute on the collective punishment meted out by Hamas terrorists to Israeli civilians in nearby Sderot.
In the larger Jewish world, we just finished celebrating the holiday of Tu B’Shvat-the holiday of the trees. It’s not a very well known Jewish holiday, but a really important one for Israel. In fact, destruction of nature and trees via arson has long been an additionally well tried and true tool of terrorists in Israel.
And it also means it the countdown to Purim-and that’s a fun one. Usually around Purim time, the Arab press pitches a few good blood libel stories-so let’s wait and see what turns up in the next few weeks.
Some people last Round Up left questions about Turkish-Israel relations. Generally, they were very good up until recently. Israeli tourists loved going to Turkey for cheap, fun, sunny, gambling vacations. In fact, the most friction between the countries was due to an ongoing conversation about the extent to which Israel recognized the Armenian genocide. I suspect things will continue to go downhill with the current government in Turkey.
As always, please feel free to leave questions and comments in the thread. And HillBuzz, don’t let the turkeys get you down!
Laura Rosen Cohen
Toronto, Canada.
Fresh, Jewlicious Israel Round Up
Dear HillBuzz,
I’m so happy to see you up and running again and have an Israel Round Up for you on this fine morning. Things are very busy for me right now, but I will try to get back to weekly Round Ups. As always, readers can leave comments or questions for me in the comments.
Most of you know that until recently, Turkey and Israel had very good relations. But now, with an Islamist at its political helm, the relationship is really deteriorating. I wouldn’t be surprised if ambassadors were recalled in the next few days. The Turks are apparently offended that the uppity Jews in Israel object to being portrayed as blood-thirsty Mossad murderers who eat babies for breakfast! Imagine that! Their “honour” has been besmirched by the Joooooos! Most social conventions in Islamic culture revolve around sharia and the shame/honour paradigm. There are lots of great books on this topic.
In other news, our friends the Jordanians are accusing Israel of “stealing” the Dead Sea Scrolls. They want them back, and they want them now! I think the scrolls are safest in Israeli hands. Jewish holy sites and holy books do not generally do very well in Muslims hands. When the Jordanians had control of east Jerusalem before the Six Day War, synagogues were razed, Torah scrolls burned and Jordanian soldiers frequently urinated on the Western Wall. Even now, Jewish holy sites in the Palestinian territories are descecrated-like Joseph’s Tomb for example.
On the Iranian front, this episode does seem to have Israeli fingerprints on it, but I suppose we will never know. It does seem to be a warning of some sort-doesn’t it?
My last item is this. The US Administration is backing Egypt’s Apartheid Wall!! Organize demonstrations around the world! Free the Palestinians from the Apartheid Wall! Oh wait-it’s not a Jewish/Israeli wall? Oh-forget about it. Go back to sleep.
Have a great week-and I hope you enjoy the links.
Laura Rosen Cohen
Toronto, Canada
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HillBuzz Note:
We love Israel.
We love Laura Rosen Cohen.
We love her Israel News Roundups.
It’s a WONDERFUl service she provides us to take the time to monitor what’s going on in Israel and give us the links to great articles on what’s happening there, as we don’t have time to devote as much to this as we would like.
So, we really appreciate her work…and love every installment of her Roundups. Please read her articles, digest them, and comment on them here letting her know if there are certain questions you have or things you want more info on. And thank her for her time on this, because she does a really great job.
Israel News Round Up – by Laura Rosen Cohen
Dear HillBuzz,
Well, I’m not really the kind of person who ever gets speechless, but this article about former US President Jimmy Carter makes me almost speechless. He has to hold back the tears in Gaza! What do you think about that? Has Jimmy Carter ever met a terrorist that he didn’t love? Has he ever met a Jew he liked? Here’
s what he was saying earlier in the day today.
In my opinion, much of the turmoil (and dare we say-revolution) is a result of Jimmy Carter’s inept handling of the Iranian revolution and his caving into the forces of darkness during his tenure as President. And now, the current administration seems ready to continue the unfortunate Carter legacy of appeasement. Here is a piece by Brett Stephens at the Wall Street Journal. What do you think? I am inclined to agree that Obama seems more concerned about pressuring Israel than giving any sign of hope to the protesters in Iran. Here’s a view from Dennis Prager-which makes me really unhappy, even though it is probably true: Dear Iran-Don’
t Count on America. Can you imagine? Did you ever think you would hear yourself say such words?
The current administration remains committed to diplomacy with Iran. How do you feel about that? It makes me really angry-and I weep for the incredibly brave Iranian protestors who have died because they want their freedom, too. These are dangerous times. Your President is being tested by many dark forces. Will he rise to the occasion, or sink into woeful leftist appeasement policies that could take years to undo-if ever?
I hate to leave off you with depressing news, so just for fun, listen to this amazing song-it’s an Israeli singer (Shlomy Saranga) who sings in Greek-and he’s mixed in tracks from another very famous Israeli singer (Zohar Argov) who unfortunately died of a drug overdose. I like it a lot. One of my kids calls it the “mana mana” song…(remember the Muppets “Manamana”
song?). If you would like other Israeli music recommendations, please leave a note in the comments.
Laura Rosen Cohen
Toronto, Canada
Israel Round Up
Dear HillBuzz,
The news coming out of the Middle East is usually anxiety provoking and worrisome. So, I thought I would mention something kind of cool that I spotted in The Jerusalem Post. It’s a really neat, new robot snake developed by the IDF . What will they think of next?
This item from Fox News is a bit disconcerting. An American Muslim politician who once praised ‘the jihad way’ has been invited by Secretary of State Clinton to participate in a conference call of Muslim leaders. Does this cause you any concern? In my opinion, the current administration is gently whitewashing a lot of the more troublesome aspects of the Muslim world. Do you agree with Bruce Bawer? Bruce Bawer is a gay American, living in Europe, who wrote the excellent book: While Europe Slept.
What do you think about this new appointment? Is this an indication of a trend? Or are writers like Bruce Bawer, and other conservatives barking up the wrong tree?
Did the President’s ground-breaking speech in Cairo do it for you? Here’s Caroline Glick’s take on it. Here’s Barry Rubin’s analysis. At MEMRI, they have a round-up of reactions from Arab countries. Here’s something to keep in mind as well, this is how democracy and democratic reforms are viewed in certain quarters of the Arab world.
The current administration is trying to assure Israel that America is still a close ally. Do you feel reassured?
As always, please leave questions and notes in the comments and I’ll try to include your feedback in the next round up.
Laura Rosen Cohen
Toronto, Canada
Israel News Roundup – by Laura Rosen Cohen
Dear HillBuzz,
I thought I would try and put together a few items before the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (“weeks”) begins this evening. This holiday is a celebration of the Jewish people being given the Torah, and it is customary to read the Book of Ruth and eat dairy foods. It’s a fantastic story – it’s got everything, love, joy, intrigue, royalty – if you have a chance, do read the links.
I really enjoy reading articles in The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh, He’s a Palestinian journalist who has found, over the years, that he has the most press freedome working for The Jerusalem Post, rather than the Palestinian news outlets. He frequently lectures in North American and is very well connected in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. This article takes a look at the situation facing Mahmoud Abbas on the eve of his visit to Washington. One of the most interesting recent articles was a piece in which he observed that anti-Israel, or anti-Zionist, activism in North America is pretty much worse than anything Yasser Arafat ever spewed out.
Here’s a piece in which Amnesty International’s obsessive focus on Israel is discussed. Do you feel AI is obsessed? Are there other countries and causes that receive similar levels of attention? I think the NGO-world’s focus on Israel is suspicious – do you? I think there is selective outrage in the world when it comes to Israel. Phyllis Chesler has written a lot about the left’s disappointing abandonment of women in need in the Muslim world. I generally find that Pajamas Media has the content. If you don’t read it, you really should. Lastly, I’ll leave you with an item that makes me question if France will ever, ever learn. I’m leaning towards never, but perhaps you have different thoughts.
As always, if there are any questions or subjects you are interested in, please jot down a note in comments. I’ll put together some more book recommendations in my next round up if you think they are useful.
Sincerely,
Laura Rosen Cohen
Toronto, Canada
NOTE: Because of technical issues, we couldn’t get this post up on May 28th when Laura sent it to us, so the holiday reference was for last week, not this week. The information was so good we wanted to make sure you all got it, even if it was a little late. Sorry to Laura for not being able to get it up sooner — we really appreciate these Roundups and learn so much about Israel from them. For some reason, this upsets some people out there and always causes arguments to start in comments — but we think it’s important for everyone to learn more about Israel and to see through the MSM’s decades-long propaganda efforts on behalf of Islam and antisemitism, which we clearly see as going hand-in-hand more often than not in the Middle East.
