FactsOfIsrael.com covers the basic facts on the State of Israel and the Middle East. This includes Maps, the History of the region, Statistics, and more. We also post articles related to the Victims of Palestinian Terrorism, Anti-Semitism, Jewish History, and also a bit of Humor, News and Opinions.

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Fact 146: "In 166 BCE, the Jews were prohibited from practicing Judaism and their Temple was desecrated as part of an effort to impose Greek-oriented culture and customs on the entire population. The Jews rose in revolt and subsequently recovered Jerusalem in 164 BCE. These events are commemorated each year by Jews in the festival of Hanukkah."

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News, Links and Comments

July 19, 2014

The Middle East problem (July 19, 2014)
Opinion

Dennis Prager explains "The Middle East problem":

Mr. Prager is right on: the solution may be hard, but the problem is simple: one side wants the other side dead.

I copy more info on the video below.

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Note: 15 random articles are displayed below. Refresh this page to display another set of random articles.
Camp for Israeli families of victims of Palestinian terrorism (10.30.2002)


VictimsA few weeks ago, I posted a video that showed on how some Israeli children attended a summer camp for those who have lost a brother, sister, or parent murdered by a Palestinian terrorist.

The Christian Science Monitor (www.christiansciencemonitor.com) follows up with a good article on how the victims are coping with their losses:

They were neighbors. They were counselors in the same youth group. They even shared the same initials. And they were heading to a meeting for their volunteer work when they stopped off to get a slice of pizza in downtown Jerusalem. There, a year ago Aug. 9, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a Sbarro restaurant, killing both of them and 13 others. [...]

We're left with a very big hole in our lives," says Arnold Roth, who was the father of seven until 15-year-old Malki – a pillar of a middle child and a classical flautist – was killed 14 months ago.

"In my family, no one wants to bring it up because it's liable to trigger responses that we don't want to deal with," he says as his intense, hazel-eyed daughter, Pesi, 10, slips into the chair next to him and wraps small fingers around his hand. "The loneliness of it is offset by talking to other families, because what we're hearing is [that] the same issues keep coming up again and again." [...]

Miriam Sarah [15], who sustained serious injuries in the Sbarro bombing that killed her sister Yochevet, dismisses her mother's worrying as pointless. "I just tell her that if I'm going out anyway, what good will fear do? It can happen anywhere."


I copy below the full article.

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Israeli Astronaut takes with him into space a small pencil drawing made by a 14-year-old boy who was killed in Auschwitz (11.25.2002)


NewsThe BBC has an article that describes how Ilan Ramon will become Israel's first astronaut and how he'll celebrate the Sabbath in space:




Ilan Ramon, Israel's first Astronaut


Israel's Science Ministry has said it is investigating ways to allow Colonel Ilan Ramon, the country's first astronaut, to cast his ballot [for the 2003 Israeli elections] aboard the space shuttle Columbia, scheduled to lift off on 16 January 2003.

Israel's first space traveller faces other difficulties: How does a Jew observe the Sabbath in space? More precisely, if he or she is in a low-lying orbit where the sun rises and sets every 90 minutes, what constitutes the Biblical "seventh day of rest?"

Colonel Ramon is not particularly religious on the ground, but believes it is important to mark the Sabbath in space.

"My mother is a Holocaust survivor who was in Auschwitz and my father fought for the independence of Israel not so long ago," says the 48-year-old veteran fighter pilot from the Israel Air Force.

"I was born in Israel and I'm kind of the proof for my parents and their generation that whatever we've been fighting for in the last century is becoming true.

"I feel I'm representing the whole Jewish people," adds Colonel Ramon, who will be Columbia's payload specialist on its 16-day mission designed to study how the human body adapts to the zero gravity of space. [...]

Among the nine personal items Nasa will let Colonel Ramon take with him into space will be a small pencil drawing made over 60 years ago by a 14-year-old boy who was killed in Auschwitz. Petr Ginz's "Moon Landscape" is an emotional work created by the Czech boy during his imprisonment in the Theresienstadt ghetto. [...]

While his mother survived the Nazi horrors, Ramon's grandfather and many extended relatives perished in the death camps.

An official at Yad Vashem says: "'Moon Landscape' connects the dream of one Jewish boy who is a symbol of the talent lost in the Holocaust to the journey of a Jewish astronaut, who is a symbol of our national revival."


To find out how Ilan Ramon will be able to celebrate Sabbath in space, see below. I also copy an information page on Ilan Ramon from Nasa's website.

Update 2/3/2003: Here are some related articles to the incredible stories of Ilan Ramon and Petr Ginz -

NASA sends first Israeli astronaut into space (1/16/03)

Tragedy over Texas skies: seven astronauts killed
in explosion of space shuttle Columbia (2/1/03)

Artist Barry Munden creates painting in memory of Ilan Ramon and Peter Ginz (2/2/03)

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Supporter of Palestinians is also Neo-Nazi (12.03.2002)


Hate MailI have decided to create a new category on FactsOfIsrael.com: "Hate Mail". Every once in a while I receive messages full of hate. I have so far identified three groups that are foaming at the mouth:

1) Arab/Muslims who are so brainwashed they don't even realize how racist they are. The difference between Jews and Israelis and political arguments are lost upon these racist morons, who wish to commit genocide against all Jews.
2) Neo-Nazis, Hitler's scum, who deny the Holocaust, yet wish to commit the mass murder of Jews once again.
3) Liberals, Socialists/Communists, western leftists who associate Israel with America and capitalism, and therefore hate the Jews Zionists with a passion. They are the new fascists, as intolerant as Mussolini and Franco.

Note that being a member of one group does not exclude these morons from subscribing to the ideas of another group.

My first example comes from someone who called himself "Zyklon B" (the gas used by the German Nazis to murder millions of Jews):

IF YOU still dont belive in jesus christ you deserve what adolf hitler has done.. and it shpould be done again...you are the race that put christ to the cross...unbeliever... CHRIST KILLER.... THATS WHAT YOUR RACE IS ALL ABOUT TO KILL CHRISTIANITY!!!!!!!YOU STILL DONT BELIEVE HE IS THE SAVIOUR.......FREE PALESTINE YOU FUCKING IDIOT RACE... YOU HAVE NO PLACE IN THIS WORLD....YOU LIVE IN A WORLD OF HATRED AND ANGER AND IT WILL ONLY HURL BACK TO YOUR RACE AND KILL YOU ALL!!!!!!STUPID RACE OF WEIORD PEOPLE THATS WHAT YOU ARE!!!!!FUCKING JEWS....DIE IN TTHE GAS CHAMBER.... NUKE TO YOUR ASSHOLE..!!!!1SEIG HEIL...!!!
FREE PALESTINE!!!!!!!!


Notice that the above parasite is a Neo-Nazi, a religious fanatic, and a supporter of Palestinians at the same time. He/She posted this garbage as a comment to the article "Anti-Semites try to burn a synagogue in Britain", which I posted on 7/31/2002. Click here for the original article - the comment is still there.

I have traced the message back to the IP address 202.164.165.182 which belongs to "Eastern Telecom", an ISP in the Philippines - http://etpi.com.ph/. Unfortunately, I have received no response from the ISP.

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The Jews will not go quietly again (04.06.2003)


OpinionJoe McCain, brother of U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, has published an excellent article that gives an overview of Jewish history and describes how Israeli Jews will fight back when murderous Arab Muslims attack them:

Throughout the history of the world, the most abused, kicked-around race of people has been the Jews. Not just in the Holocaust of World War II, but for thousands of years. They have truly been ''The Chosen People'' in a terrible and tragic sense. [...]

There is not a country in Europe or Western Asia that at one time or another has not decided to lash out against the children of Moses, sometimes by whim, sometimes by manipulation. [...]

But in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella, having driven the last of Moors from the Spanish Shield, were persuaded by the righteous fundamentalists of the time to announce ''The Act of Purification.'' A series of steps were taken in which all Jews and Arabs and other non-Christians were expelled from the country, or would face the tools and the torches of the Inquisition. From this ''cleansing'' come the Sephardic Jews -- as opposed to the Ashkenazis or Eastern Europe.

In Eastern Europe, the sporadic violence and brutality against Jews are common knowledge, Fiddler without the music and the folksy humor. At times of fury, no accommodation by the Jew was good enough, no profile low enough, no village poor enough or distant enough. [...]

The irony goes unnoticed -- while we are hammering away to punish those who brought the horrors of last September here, we restrain the Israelis from the same retaliation. Not the same thing, of course -- We are We . . . they are they.

While we mourn and seethe at Sept. 11, we don't notice that Israel has a Sept. 11 sometimes every day. If it comes to where a new holocaust looms -- with or without the concurrence of the United States and Europe -- Israel will lash out without pause or restraint at those who would try to annihilate the country.

The Jews will not go quietly again.


Jewish history is marked by hate, violence, murder against Jews for centuries (see the Jewish history page for details). Now that the State of Israel has arisen from the ashes of the Holocaust, believe me, we will always fight back when attacked.

Thanks to GF for the info. I copy the full article below.

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Barbaric Islamic murderers from Al-Qaeda kill American civilian, cut his head off (06.18.2004)


Palestinian TerrorismFox News (www.foxnews.com) reports that Islamic murderers from Al-Qaeda have captured and killed an American contractor in Saudi Arabia:

The body of American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr., apparently beheaded by an Al Qaeda-linked Saudi militant group, was found Friday just outside the Saudi Arabian capital. The discovery came soon after a Web site posted pictures of his death.

[...] Earlier Friday, the organization Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) confirmed to Fox News that a message on the Al Rifaq Web site said Johnson's body was found in Al Muwannisiyya, east of Riyadh.

The news came hours after gruesome photographs of Johnson with his head cut off were posted on an Al Qaeda Web site Friday, along with a statement of responsibility by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. It was the same group that had announced Johnson's abduction over the weekend.

[...] The kidnappers had threatened to behead Johnson, a longtime resident of Saudi Arabia, by Friday if imprisoned terrorists had not been released by Saudi authorities. "In answer to what we promised ... to kill the hostage Paul Marshall after the period is over ... the infidel got his fair treatment," the Web site statement said.


I copy the full article below.

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Chechnean Islamic terrorists linked to Al-Qa'eda (10.26.2002)


Palestinian TerrorismThe Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) reports that there was one Israeli among the hostages in the Moscow theatre:

Alexander Lisiansky's private vigil of fear is over.

Fearing for the safety of his wife if it were known that she is Israeli, for three days he, his family, the media, and the Foreign Ministry were quiet about her presence in the Moscow theater where 800 were held hostage by Chechen rebels from Wednesday to Saturday. They were released following a daring rescue by Russian forces.

"The Foreign Ministry asked the family to be quiet, and I agreed," said Alexander, 46, who spent three days alternating between fear and hope, before hearing Saturday morning that his wife Valrya, 45, was among those saved. She is now in Hospital 13 in Moscow. Alexander, who lives in Nesher, said he hadn't spoken to his wife yet, but expects to talk to her soon.


During the nightmare, Israeli TV and radio reported that there were no Israeli nationals among the poor group of 750 hostages that were held up by the Islamofascists from Chechnea.

Also, contrary to yesterday's reports, Statesman.com reports that the final toll of the massacre is 90 hostages and 50 Islamofreaks.

Today on the leftist National Public Radio (NPR), I heard a report about the whole Moscow ordeal. The NPR reporters described the Islamofascists as "Gunmen", "Chechnean Rebels" and "Guerillas". The word "terrorist" was only only mentioned at the end, and not by the NPR reporter ("Russians accuse the terrorists of..."). The word "Islamic" was not mentioned once.

I copy the full articles below.

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Biased BBC reporter openly cries over mass murdering Muslim terrorist's health (11.07.2004)


Media BiasThe Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) reports that a reporter for the BCC has clearly shown her anti-Israel bias after she openly admitted crying over the health of a Palestinian mass murdering terrorist:

Senior editors at the BBC are understood to have remonstrated with their correspondent, Barbara Plett, over her "misjudgment" in revealing on air that she had cried when Yasser Arafat's Jordanian helicopter carried him away from Ramallah en route to hospital in France.

The BBC has received some 500 complaints about Plett's broadcast, which was broadcast on its Radio 4 program, "From Our Own Correspondent."

In her report, Plett said: "When the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry . . . without warning."

[...] In her report, entitled "Yasser Arafat's unrelenting journey," Plett noted that "foreign journalists seemed much more excited about Mr. Arafat's fate than anyone in Ramallah We hovered around the gate to his compound, swarming around the Palestinian officials who drove by, poking our microphones through their dark, half-open windows."


This BBC reporter is just as biased as the journalists from other leftist western media outlets such as CBS or NPR. The only difference is that this one was stupid enough to openly admit it.

Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian's excuse for a leader, is directly responsible for murdering thousands of innocent women and children over the years in his career as a terrorist bastard. He has personally refused peace with Israel and turned down an offer for an independent Palestinian state four years ago (for more information, click here).

Well it looks like this scum-bag will not kill anyone anymore - hopefully he'll rot in hell soon. I copy the full article below.

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Nazi from Brazil sends us hate mail (08.10.2007)


Hate MailA few months ago, I reported on how a nazi from Chile sent a death threat to FactsOfIsrael.com. You can read about it here. Today, another racist bastard posted the following comment to the first article (I replaced the 4 letter word with stars - "*") :

F*** YOU JEW !!!



14/88 HEIL NEO-NAZIS IN CHILE, BRAZIL, ARGENTINA AND URUGUAY !!!



USTEDES EN CHILE PELEAN EN LA LUCHA ETERNA EN DESFAVOR DE LOS JUDIOS !!! 88


The comment above was posted by someone who named himself "Lord B. Dayrell". I traced it back to the IP address 201.17.212.45, which originated from the country of Brazil (reverse DNS gave me the host "c911d42d.bhz.virtua.com.br"). I believe the "88" is a common code Nazis use - it signifies "SS", in reference to the German Nazi "SS" soldiers.

Luckily for many Jews across the world this Nazi piece of garbage from Brazil can only send anonymous threats on the Internet. But if he and other Nazi thugs starting acting up like they did in the 1930s and 1940s, the State Of Israel is now a safe haven for any Jewish man, woman or child persecuted by Nazis and other racist vermin.

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Israel gives Palestinian civilians early warning before attack (01.13.2009)


Opinion

The Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com) has published a great article by Charles Krauthammer where he explains the difference between the States of Israel and Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists:

  • Late Saturday [Dec. 27], thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language cell-phone messages from the Israeli military, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons (Associated Press, Dec. 27, 2008).

Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger. Hamas, which started this conflict with unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks on unarmed Israelis — 6,464 launched from Gaza in the last three years — deliberately places its weapons in and near the homes of its own people.

This has two purposes. First, counting on the moral scrupulousness of Israel, Hamas figures civilian proximity might help protect at least part of its arsenal. Second, knowing that Israelis have new precision weapons that may allow them to attack nonetheless, Hamas hopes that inevitable collateral damage — or, if it is really fortunate, an errant Israeli bomb — will kill large numbers of its own people for which, of course, the world will blame Israel.

For Hamas the only thing more prized than dead Jews are dead Palestinians. The religion of Jew-murder and self-martyrdom is ubiquitous. And deeply perverse, such as the Hamas TV children's program in which an adorable live-action Palestinian Mickey Mouse is beaten to death by an Israeli (then replaced by his more militant cousin, Nahoul the Bee, who vows to continue on Mickey's path to martyrdom).

At war today in Gaza, one combatant is committed to causing the most civilian pain and suffering on both sides. The other combatant is committed to saving as many lives as possible — also on both sides. It's a recurring theme.

Charles Krauthammer makes many additional good points on the latest battle against Hamas and other Palestinian Islamic terrorists - I copy the full article below.

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Arafat and his terrorist thugs could be gone in 6 months (07.08.2002)


OpinionHa'aretz (www.haaretzdaily.com) reports that Israeli Military Intelligence has come to the conclusion that Arafat's days are over. Arafat and his terroristic corrupt administration could be gone in 6 months.

The IDF's General Staff has reached the conclusion that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's stature is dropping so precipitously that there is no need for Israel to push him out of the territories.

This analysis, following President George W. Bush's speech calling for a new, different Palestinian leadership and the opening of Operation Determined Path, has been presented to the political echelon. It says Arafat's prestige has been so damaged that there is no need for action on Israel's part to expel Arafat. A senior military source told Ha'aretz that "chances are increasing that within six months, Arafat's standing will have declined so much that he won't be able to prevent a new, pragmatic leadership from emerging, which will lead the Palestinians to a compromise with Israel." [...]

Not untypically, Newsweek today is quoting Abas Zaki, a member of the Fatah executive and a longtime associate of Yasser Arafat's, as saying that the PA chairman should resign, saying that "when you lose, you must go."

A resident of Halhul, Zaki told the magazine that wherever Arafat went he brought disaster, "corruption and instability."


I copy the full article below.

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New FactsOfIsrael.com AvantGo Channel for Palm and Windows CE (07.19.2002)


AnnouncementI have released the FactsOfIsrael.com "AvantGo Channel" for the Palm Pilot and Windows CE. If you have a Palm Pilot or Windows CE, our AvantGo channel will contain the last 3 articles published on FactsOfIsrael.com.



Latest News on your Palm


Synch Up your Palm in the morning and read the articles in the bus! Note: you don't need a Palm modem to use this feature, and you can also sign up to get articles from CNN, the New York Times, etc... It's free!

To learn more about AvantGo, click here.
To get the FactsOfIsrael.com AvantGo Channel (32Kb max), click on the image above or here.

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Alan Keyes letter of support to the people of Israel (08.14.2002)


OpinionIsrael Insider (www.israelinsider.com) has reprinted a letter from Alan Keyes to Mesora. Title "With the brave people of Israel", the letter touches on some excellent points and made me shiver.

I write to express my solidarity with the people of Israel in this difficult time, and to assure you of what I know you cannot doubt, that millions of Americans stand with Israel as well. We will remember the truth of Israel's honorable record, insist that others treat Israel in light of that truth, and not succumb to the cowardly passions of the moment.

When the European Union asserts moral authority to coerce Israel into a shameful surrender of its just claims, we will remember that many Europeans sat on their hands and did nothing while millions of Jews were slaughtered in the era that gave birth to the state of Israel. [...]

We will remember that Israel acquired the Sinai, West Bank and Gaza not in a war of conquest, but in a desperate and just defensive war for survival.

We will remind the "international community" that territory acquired in a defensive war of survival can, according to universal understanding, international law, and common sense, be retained until a negotiated peace is reached. And we will proclaim the truth that the Israeli people have again and again shown their willingness to put those territories on the table in the hope of achieving just such a negotiated settlement for just peace.


Alan Keyes is a former Republican candidate for U.S. President and a former host of "Making Sense" on MSNBC - AlanKeyes@msnbc.com

I copy the full letter below.

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Free Information Channel (05.02.2002)


AnnouncementI have released the FactsOfIsrael.com Klip for Klipfolio. It'll basically automatically download the latest descriptions of news, articles, and links from FactsOfIsrael.com - you can then easily choose which ones you want to read. Download it from:

http://www.klipfarm.com/farm.php?page=info&klip=320

You'll need to download the Klipfolio client, and then install the FactsOfIsrael.com Klip:





Serence™ Klipfolio™ is a free information channel viewer that lets you view and manage Klip™ information channels right on your desktop. KlipFolio is a real time saver - a "break through the clutter" approach to gathering information that interests you. Download it now - you'll be up and running in less than a minute!

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Tutorial to implement Category Icons in 'Movable Type' (07.07.2002)


AnnouncementIf you don't manage a website or a blog, please ignore this posting.

For those of you who use 'Movable Type', I have created a tutorial that will go over the steps on implementing Category icons.

After using Movable Type for a couple of months, I decided that on my index page, an image corresponding to the post's category should be shown, making it easy for the reader to automatically look for their favorite types of articles (this is similar to what is displayed on Slashdot.org).

If you are interested in the tutorial, click on the link below:

http://www.factsofisrael.com/load.php?p=/en/mt-categories-icons.php

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University of Cincinnati student website publishes racist article (10.25.2002)


OpinionI have just sent an email to "The News Record", who published a racist article that compared Zionism to Nazism:

Dear Sir,

I stumbled upon an article published on “The News Record”, title “ZIONIST ATROCITIES SIMILAR TO NAZISM” by Jehan Mansey, found at http://www.nr.uc.edu/read.asp?ID=11653

I strongly object to Mr. Mansey’s hysterical accusations. His historical facts are wrong, and his comparison of Israel’s war on Palestinian terrorism to Nazism is simply absurd.

The German Nazi regime murdered 6 million Jews during World War II and the Holocaust, including 1.5 Million children. That’s on average 10,000 Jews per day. On bad days, it would go as high as 35,000 per day, something like the mass murder in one day of a whole Pacbell Park in San Francisco, where we watch the World Series this week.

On the other hand, about 1,600 Palestinians have been killed in the past two years, the large majority of them armed men who were attacking Israeli civilians targets or where part of a terrorist organization such as the Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Please do not publish such rubbish before checking your facts.

Regards,

David Melle
dmelle@factsofisrael.com


If you have time, please send a message to the editor of "The News Record". Just click here and submit the form. Once again, thanks to Andrew Sullivan for posting the link.

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