BARROSO EU IS AN EMPIRE

Published: July 10, 2007
Abbas wants international force in Gaza

RAMALLAH, West Bank, July 10 (UPI) -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that an international force should be deployed in Gaza to protect the area's residents. Hamas, which controls Gaza, has said that it would regard any international troops as occupiers, Alalam Satellite TV reported. Abbas met Tuesday with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Prodi said that all parties involved, presumably including Hamas, would have to support the deployment of an international force. We have insisted on the necessity of deploying an international force in the Gaza Strip to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid and to allow citizens to enter and leave freely, Abbas said at a news conference with Prodi in Ramallah.

Abbas said that 4,000 people are waiting at the Rafah Crossing into Egypt, trying to leave Gaza and at least 11 people have died there.

IDF: Iran May Go Nuclear in 6 Months; NATO: Go It Alone
by Ezra HaLevi (JULY 11,07 INN)

According to the IDF, Iran will be able to produce nuclear weapons within six months. NATO says Israel must go it alone according to Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman. The IDF Military Intelligence (MI) assessment was reported Tuesday to the Knesset and included a concrete assessment determining that Iran could cross the technological threshold required to produce nuclear weapons in the next 6-12 months and possess an operational warhead by the middle of 2009. The assessment is at odds with US estimates that put the date between 2010 and 2013. Both agree, however, that military strikes could set back the technology for years.

IDF MI also is of the opinion that sanctions against Iran have not weakened the regime, because huge oil reserves still proivide all the money necessary to neutralize any pressure created by the international community. The assessment also revealed that Israel’s withdrawals – from Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005 – have added precedents and solidified belief throughout the Middle East that armed struggle can achieve the destruction of Israel within this generation.

Lieberman: NATO Says Go It Alone

Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu party), whose government portfolio was created specifically to deal with the Iranian threat, met with NATO’s Assistant Secretary-General Alexandro Minoto Rizo and the European Union’s representative Franco Partini earlier this week. Lieberman reported that NATO’s senior officials said Israel should not assume that the international community will stop Iran just to help Israel. Israel should prevent the threat, herself, and should not expect support of other countries, Lieberman reported as the conclusions reached at the meeting. NATO is stuck in Afghanistan and European and American troops are wallowing in the Iraqi quagmire, which is something that is going to prevent the leaders of countries in Europe and America from deciding on the use of force to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, he said. Winds of Chamberlain are blowing in Europe, Lieberman told Army Radio, referring to that leader’s conciliatory policy toward the Nazis in WWII. When I hear from a respected prime minister like [Italian Prime Minister] Romano Prodi that Israel should agree to a peaceful Iranian nuclear program, it seems like something surreal. The political situation is such that they are trying to turn this into our problem alone.

Lieberman said that although Europe or the US could not be relied upon to attack Iran on Israel’s behalf, they would support Israel’s actions. If we start military operations against Iran alone, then Europe and the US will support us, he said.

Another Lieberman in Favor of Iran Strike

US Senator Joseph Lieberman has been publicly calling for US strikes on Iran. He repeated the call last week, saying the Islamic Republic has declared war on the US and is waging a proxy war against coalition forces in Iraq. The Connecticut Senator and former Vice-Presidential candidate said intelligence reports proved Iran was behind much of the terrorism in Iraq and must be confronted directly. Although no one desires a conflict with Iran, the fact is that the Iranian government by its actions has declared war on us.

Al-Qaeda Threatens to Attack Iran
23 Tammuz 5767, July 9, '07

(IsraelNN.com) International terrorist group Al-Qaeda issued a threat to Iran recently warning that the group would attack Iranian interests if Iran did not cease its involvement in Iraq. The group issued a tape giving Iran two months to withdraw from Iraq completely. If they fail to do so, said Al-Qaeda leader Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, we will begin a cruel war against them. Iran, a Shiite Muslim country, has often been accused of supporting and training radical Shiite groups in Iraq. Al-Qaeda, which is Sunni, has accused Iran of supporting terrorist attacks against Sunni leaders and mosques.

Women in Green: Outlaw Peace Now
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 11,07 INN)

Motorists driving along the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway Tuesday morning were surprised and dismayed to see Syrian flags flying alongside Israeli flags as they made the ascent to the capital. The red, white and black Syrian flag was placed on poles between the Shaar HaGai intersection and the government complex by extreme left-wing Peace Now members. By hanging the colors of the enemy state, Peace Now wished to draw attention to its desire for government talks with Syria.Nadia Matar, co-founder of the grassroots Women in Green organization, said that Peace Now has thus shown its true face. I call upon the authorities to gather the Peace Now leadership, Matar said, put them on buses, and send them to Syria, where they belong and where they will be welcomed happily.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke with an Arabic newspaper on Monday and made a direct plea to Syrian President Bashar Assad to agree to direct, unmediated peace talks with Israel. I turn to you, Mr. Assad, and call upon you to engage in direct peace negotiations - but you prefer American mediation, Olmert said.Menachem Begin tendered a similar invitation to Anwar Sadat - who wound up receiving the entire Sinai desert in less than five years. In 1977, then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin tendered a similar, though less biting, invitation to then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat - who took up the gauntlet and wound up receiving the entire Sinai desert within less than five years. Hevron activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir filed a complaint with the police against Peace Now. They similarly claimed that as Syria is an enemy state, it is illegal to unfurl the country's flag in public.

Nadia Matar said that Peace Now is actually calling not for peace talks but for a surrender to Syrian demands to immediately give up the Golan Heights. I call upon the Attorney General to view this as an act of treachery and betrayal, she said. Those who act to give up Israeli territory to the enemy is, by law, a traitor.Israel took control of the Golan Heights in the Six Day War of 1967, after the Syrians used the area for years to shell Israeli kibbutzim below. Since then, the Syrian border has always been Israel's quietest. In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan.In early 1999, the Knesset voted that no part of the Golan or Jerusalem may be transferred to a foreign power without an absolute majority of 61 Knesset Members and a popular referendum in accordance with a to-be-legislated Referendum Law. In May of this year, the Knesset voted, in a preliminary reading, to require the referendum even before such a Referendum Law is legislated. Israelis must realize that Peace Now is collaborating with the enemy, Matar said and this organization must be outlawed. It is ridiculous that the Kach movement [originally founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane - ed.], which calls for love of Israel, is outlawed, while those who collaborate with the Palestinians and inform on Jews are legal.

Peace Now is dedicated to destroying the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria [Yesha], and often seeks out Arabs who will claim that Jewish towns are built on their land. The PA news agency Ma'an recently thanked Peace Now for publishing a report alleging that 40% of Yesha communities are built on private Arab land. The Yesha Council published a factual rebuttal of the report, but this did not stop Ma'an from writing, This is now a ready-to-go case for the International Court... Now that Peace Now has given this gift to the land-owners, we must thank this organization.

Barroso says EU is an empire
11.07.2007 - 09:12 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The EU is not just any old international organisation, nor is it a superstate, but it might just be an empire, according to European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. Veering into uncharted naming territory after being asked on Tuesday (10 July) by a journalist what kind of a structure the 27-nation bloc is, Mr Barroso said We are a very special construction unique in the history of mankind, Sometimes I like to compare the EU as a creation to the organisation of empire. We have the dimension of empire, he said. He went on the clarify that instead of like super state empires of old, the EU empire is built on voluntary pooling of power and not on military conquest.

What we have is the first non-imperial empire, said the centre-right Mr Barroso, who was formally Portugal's prime minister. We have 27 countries that fully decided to work together and to pool their sovereignty. I believe it is a great construction and we should be proud of it. The commission chief said he did not see why the EU should constantly be in existential doubt about this, adding that he did not see there being a danger of British, German or French identity ever being lost.

Communications commissioner Margot Wallstrom, present at the same press conference, steered clear of empire references. Instead she paraphrased former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright's comment that one has to be either a genius or French to understand the EU. They made the comments after giving the commission's official go ahead to a new treaty outline for the bloc. This is to be negotiated over the coming months and is to result in a treaty being finalised before the end of the year. The treaty mandate was agreed at an ill-tempered EU summit last month and is already being put into question in some capitals. Poland has been particularly vocal about re-opening a key part of the agreement on EU voting rights.

But Mr Barroso reiterated previous comments that the treaty outline should not be undone.There is a principle of good faith. For me it is as important as any legal commitment, he said. It is inconceivable that an agreement that was agreed unanimously in June is reopened now.

New EU treaty to be communications prority for Brussels
11.07.2007 - 09:13 CET | By Honor Mahony and Renata Goldirova

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission is planning on making the promotion of a new treaty one of its main tasks in the coming months, after the previous more grandly name EU constitution was rejected in two founding member states. EU communications commissioner Margot Wallstrom on Tuesday (10 July) said she wants to discuss the final treaty with citizens. Communicating will be one of the main political priorities, said the commissioner who is planning on highlighting the fight against climate change and energy solidarity as reasons why citizens should like the new document. The new treaty – essentially a repackaging of most of the draft EU constitution – is set to be finalised by the end of the year with one year for ratification, and is to come into force by mid 2009. We need them on board, we cannot do without them in 2007. [This year] is not enough to have a project for the political elite, citizens have to be there, she told EUobserver.

Skewed message

Ms Wallstrom, the first ever commissioner responsible for communications, has been struggling to make her mark through a combination of a lack of resources and a skewed message on how much to involve the citizens. While there were several Brussels-initiated citizen discussions on the EU after the constitution was rejected by France and the Netherlands, the first half of this year saw highly secretive government discussions on the new treaty. Member states also made it clear they were going to do everything possible to secure a new look treaty document that did not have to be put to a referendum again – with both France and the Netherlands keen to avoid the unpredictable ratification path. In addition, the new treaty reprises most of the constitution - 90 percent in the words of the Irish leader Bertie Ahern - leaving the EU open to the charge that it ignored the results of the referendums.For her part, the commissioner is planning on publishing a paper at the beginning of autumn on how to structure debate with citizens.

Communicating

But there are already problems with the approach. She admits that it is not clear whether there is actually a legal basis for taking communication in the direction that she would like – such as communicating priorities and making sure Brussels puts its own stamp on the message it wants to promote, something she calls political ownership of the issues.While MEPs are generally supportive of the idea, member states are reluctant to let the commission go down this path believing communication is more of a national domain and concerned that Brussels will spread propaganda.
According to officials, there is already a major discussion in the commission about whether an entirely new legal platform should be created for communications.

UN denies requesting control over Shaba Farms
by Barak Ravid July 11, 2007

The United Nations and the government denied a Haaretz report on Wednesday that said the world body had requested Israel transfer the disputed Shaba Farms area on the Lebanese border to UN peacekeepers.The UN has not asked the government of Israel to hand over the Shaba Farms to the UN, a UN official said. The UN's cartogropher continues his work and will be visiting the area shortly. The secretary-general remains engaged on the issue. Jerusalem also denied the report.

According to the Haaretz report, printed on Wednesday, the United Nations transmitted messages to Israel in recent weeks that the organization's mapping experts have determined that the Shaba Farms on Mount Dov, now controlled by Israel, is Lebanese territory. The report said that the UN, which has communicated to Israel that the disposition of the Shaba Farms should be dealt with as soon as possible, has proposed to senior government officials that Israel withdraw from the area and that it be considered international territory to be controlled by UNIFIL. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert oppose the idea, Haaretz said. The size of, and sovereignty over, the Shaba Farms has been a matter of controversy due to the way the border between Syria and Lebanon was marked during the French Mandate between the two world wars. When the UN marked the border between Israel and Lebanon after Israel's withdrawal in May 2000, the Shaba Farms were said to be part of Syrian territory, and that Israel therefore did not need to withdraw from it in the absence of an agreement with the Syrians.

Lebanon did not accept the line of demarcation, and has since claimed that the Shaba Farms are in its territory. Hezbollah took advantage of the controversy to justify attacks on Israeli forces in the area. Government officials in Jerusalem said the UN cartographer handling the matter in recent months has determined that the area is indeed Lebanese, said the report.Haaretz also wrote that the officials added that Syria and Lebanon also agree that the area is Lebanese. Therefore, the UN has said there is no reason for Israel not to relinquish control over the area. Government officials are treating the matter with kid gloves out of concern that a public statement by the UN could lead to renewed conflict in the North. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon apparently transmitted the UN's conclusions in the meeting between himself and Olmert in New York last month, part of which was private. Another message is said to have come through the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East, Michael Williams, in a meeting with Livni a few weeks ago.

France and the United States are also ratcheting up their pressure on Israel, in the belief that a withdrawal from the Shaba Farms will strengthen the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will be coming to the region next week, pressed Olmert during the Second Lebanon War to withdraw from Shaba to bolster Siniora. Olmert refused, saying the move would be viewed by Hezbollah as a victory. Israel and the UN discussed Shaba ahead of the release two weeks ago of the periodic report on the implementation of Resolution 1701. The UN wanted to include a clause stating that Shaba was Lebanese and urging a solution. This would have been a departure from 1701, which states that the fate of the farms is to be resolved in the determination of the border between Lebanon and Syria. On Livni's instructions, senior Foreign Ministry officials pressured UN officials to remove the clause.

Blair seeks a broader role in Mideast peace process
Blair is envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators.
By Adam Entous, Reuters | July 11, 2007

JERUSALEM -- Tony Blair is seeking a broader role as Middle East envoy that would give him more direct involvement in peacemaking, expanding the limited mandate world powers gave him last month, diplomats said yesterday. Breaking News Alerts The former British prime minister tentatively plans to visit Israel and the occupied West Bank next week for the first time as envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations.
Senior Western and European diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said talks over Blair's role were still under way and that his visit could be postponed.

Blair's office declined to comment.

Blair met the Quartet envoys privately following their meeting in London yesterday. It was a positive, practical discussion, a Blair spokesman said. Blair also met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The spokesman said it was the first time they have met since Blair was appointed to his new role. Few details about Blair's plans have been made public since the Quartet appointed him on June 27, the day he stepped down after 10 years in power. But he has been holding discussions with world leaders about his role, which the Quartet defined as raising funds for the Palestinians, building their ruling institutions, and promoting their economic development.He is talking to leaders about what he wants to do. He has made clear the capacity-building mandate is not enough, said one senior Western diplomat familiar with the discussions. He doesn't see himself bound to that. He wants a political role. A senior European diplomat in Jerusalem involved in the discussions said Blair has delivered a similar message to Quartet members. As far as Blair is concerned, his mandate has not been finalized, the diplomat said. Despite some initial resistance within the EU to Blair's appointment, a senior EU diplomat said there was growing support within the bloc for giving him a freer hand politically. In its June 27 announcement, the Quartet did not spell out any political, mediating role for Blair in reviving the long-stalled peace process. Many Arab and European commentators seized on the omission as a sign that Blair would be relegated to a peripheral role, leaving any serious peacemaking to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other leaders.

It is unclear whether the Quartet would agree, either formally or informally, to an expanded role for Blair. Some European diplomats have raised questions about Blair's ability to garner broad Palestinian and Arab public support because of his support for the US-led invasion of Iraq and his close ties with President Bush. Other officials say support from Bush is Blair's strength in the job because of US influence over Israel.Globe Newspaper Company.

Pastor says 'hate crimes' bill symptom of nation's moral rot
Jim Brown OneNewsNow.com July 11, 2007

Conservative Christian activists have held a press conference on Capitol Hill to denounce a hate crimes bill in the Senate they believe threatens their religious freedom. One of those activists, a pastor from Texas, says the removal of God from public life in the U.S. has led the country into a two-fold crisis.Pastor Rusty Lee Thomas of Elijah Ministries warns a dangerous trend has corrupted American culture and seeks to criminalize and remove the freedoms of Bible-believing Christians. He joined representatives from a handful of Christian ministries who rallied at the Capitol against S.B. 1105, which would include crimes against homosexuals in federal hate crimes statutes. Thomas told the crowd that America's experiment with liberty is in jeopardy. In America, what we are seeing is homosexuality is being exalted, it is being celebrated, it is being protected, and it is being honored, he said, while Christianity is more and more being marginalized, punished, and persecuted in the United States of America.

Thomas is convinced that America is struggling from what he calls the moral rot from within and is in danger of the threat of terror from without. The Texas pastor asserts that America is denying the obvious link between the two. Yes, I dare state that there is a direct connection between the sins and crimes of abortion and the sodomite agenda and the Islamic terrorism that threatens our nation, Thomas shared. America is refusing to connect the dots, however, and we are living in a major state of denial and may I tell you, it is not good to live in this wretched state. The coalition of Christian activists traveled to Washington to petition senators to reconsider their support of S.B. 1105. A House version of the measure passed in May.
American Family News Network.

Europe, UN Let Israel Down in Lebanon
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 12,07 INN)

The UN has all but decided that the Shab'a Farms in the Mt. Hermon region between Israel, Lebanon and Syria should be assigned to Lebanon. Italy may have flubbed a chance to free the captive soldiers, and France has no demands on its Lebanese visitors. A United Nations team of map experts has all but decided that the Shab'a Farms in the Mt. Hermon region should be assigned to Lebanon and not Israel. Israel has long contended that when the original border was drawn between Lebanon and Syria after World War I, the area was placed on the Syrian side. This would render it currently under Israeli sovereignty, following Israel's capture and annexation of the Golan in 1967 and 1981, respectively. Lebanon, however, claims the area as its own - and the United Nations cartographic experts are apparently siding with the Lebanese. Israel persuaded the UN not to publicize this position, for fear that it would lead to renewed Hizbullah hostilities against Israel, but publication now appears inevitable within two months. Haaretz reports that Israel turned down a proposal to internationalize the Mt. Dov area, as it is known in Israel. Israel instead would rather officially retreat from the region within the framework of a new and improved Second Lebanon War ceasefire agreement.

Europe Lets Captives Down

Meanwhile, the two Israeli soldiers being held captive in Lebanon by Hizbullah - Eldad (ben Tova) Regev and Ehud (ben Malka) Goldwasser - are still in the news, though their release seems no closer than before. No word has been heard from them since their capture in June 2006. The captives' families were utterly frustrated to hear on Monday of a vague Italian report accusing the Italian government of missing a chance to free their sons. Le Stampa reported that the ex-chief of Italy's intelligence agency, Nicolai Polari, said the two Israelis could have been released, but that the Italian government did not act appropriately. The intelligence services were very close to a situation in which they could have freed the two, but it didn't happen, Polari said. Italian President Romano Prodi said he could not confirm the report, as he does not have the full details. I am not aware that we ever had knowledge of the whereabouts of the captives, he said. On Monday, family members of the captives asked the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to demand a sign of the captives' health from soon-to-be-visiting Lebanese Parliament members. The relatives said that this must be a pre-requisite for the visit later this month - but the French minister did not agree. Kouchner said he could not make such a condition, but promised to demand such information on the captives when the Lebanese arrive in his country. French officials do claim that the release of the Israeli captives is a high priority for them.

Vatican Expands Use of Prayer for Conversion of the Jews
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 11,07 INN)

International Jewish bodies have called upon the Vatican to clarify a new Papal edict expanding use of an old prayer that asks Divine help for Jews to overcome their blindness. Pope Benedict XVI issued a directive last week, authorizing expanded use of a prayer service known as the Tridentine Mass. The phrase perfidious Jews was removed from the liturgy in question by Pope John XXIII in 1959, such that the anti-Semitism that accompanied it for centuries is not self-evident. However, the prayer, recited on Good Friday, still includes a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, asking Divine help in removing the veil from their hearts and overcoming their blindness.How do we now sit and dialogue when the other side believes we are blind and need to be converted?

Jews have responded with great disappointment. The leadership of IJCIC (International Jewish Committee for Inter-Religious Consultations) has sent an urgent letter to the Cardinal responsible for Catholic-Jewish relations, asking for clarification regarding the decision. The letter noted the profound concern within Jewish circles that have greeted this decision, adding that it can be construed to have turned back the clock on the improvements made in Jewish-Catholic relations since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960's. French Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard said on Saturday that the prayer could be changed if it caused difficulties with Jews.

The head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, said the Papal decision was a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations. He told the Catholic News Service, They understand that perfidious was offensive, but how is this any less offensive? Foxman noted that the previous pope, John Paul II, had been very courageous to bring about reconciliation and repair 2,000 years of terrible history in terms of understanding Jews, calling Jews the elder brothers of Christianity... How do we now sit and dialogue when the other side believes we are blind and need to be converted?

ONCE AGAIN THE BIBLE PROOVES TRUTH THAT THESE PEOPLE REALLY EXIST, NOT NO MYTHS. SO IF THESE PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE WERE LITERAL WE BETTER BELIEVE THE PROPHECIES WILL BE COMING TO PASS LITERALLY, BECAUSE THEY ARE TO.

Babylonian King's Eunuch Really Existed!
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 12,07 INN)

A routine research visit to the British Museum nets a landmark archaeological discovery and proof of the truth of the Bible.British newspapers report that ancient Babylonian expert Dr. Michael Jursa of Vienna discovered a small clay tablet that provides proof of the Bible's veracity. Though the tablet was unearthed near Baghdad in 1920, only last week was it deciphered for the first time, by Dr. Jursa. Upon reading the tablet, which records a donation of gold by the chief eunuch of King Nebuchadnezzar, a man named Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, Jursa suddenly realized that the name sounded familiar. He quickly consulted Jeremiah 39, where he found the man's name listed as one of Nebuchadnezzar's top ministers who took part in the destruction of the First Holy Temple 2,500 years ago. The Biblical account, however, has his named spelled slightly differently: (Samgar) Nevo Sarsekim.

Irving Finkel, assistant keeper in the British Museum's Middle East Department, was very excited: This is a fantastic discovery, he told The Telegraph, a world-class find. If Nevo-Sarsekim existed, [then] which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power.Speaking with The Times, Finkel said, A mundane commercial transaction takes its place as a primary witness to one of the turning points in Old Testament history. This is a tablet that deserves to be famous.Dr. Jursa, associate professor at the University of Vienna, said, It’s very exciting and very surprising. Finding something like this tablet, where we see a person mentioned in the Bible making an everyday payment to the temple in Babylon and quoting the exact date, is quite extraordinary.

Dr. Jursa has been visiting the museum for over 15 years to study a collection of more than 100,000 inscribed tablets. Reading and piecing together fragments is painstaking work, The Times reports, and more than half are yet to be published.

The full translation of the tablet, as provided in The Telegraph, reads: [Regarding] 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Not Altogether Invented

On hearing of the discovery, Geza Vermes, the eminent emeritus professor of Jewish studies at the University of Oxford, said it shows that the Biblical story is not altogether invented.The reactions of Vermes and Finkel indicate that the discovery has not yet totally shaken the core faith of some who believe that the Bible is not true. The Bible is merely not altogether invented, one says, and who knows how many other Old Testament figures may have existed? However, many websites provide information regarding the truth of the Torah.

The Israeli left unmasked
July 11, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern - By Aaron Klein

JERUSALEM – Much has been said here and abroad about controversial statements made in recent weeks by a yarmulke-wearing, prominent international leftist Jewish leader and senior activist of Israel's peace camp who called on Israel to cease being a Jewish state and instead model itself after Europe. But I think most people are missing the point. Avraham Burg, once an important Knesset member in Israel's leftist Labor party, recently published a book, Defeating Hitler, in which he repeatedly compared various Israeli Jewish policies with that of Nazism. To define the state of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end. A Jewish state is explosive. It's dynamite, said Burg, who once was Israel's Knesset speaker and was considered by some a hopeful for prime minister. Burg, a scion of one of Israel's founding families, also served as chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, both of which are major Jewish organizations.

Burg said Israel's Law of Return, which allows all Jews seeking sanctuary in Israel to become citizens, is similar to Nazi rule, even though it was created in response to genocidal Nazi crimes. The law helped Jews escape persecution in countries such as Germany, Russia and Yemen. The Law of Return is an apologetic law. It is the mirror image of Hitler. I don't want Hitler to define my identity, Burg said. He compelled Israelis to obtain foreign passports. He said Israel should model itself after the European Union and become a multinational state, and he urged the Israeli government to allow the EU more influence in its affairs. The leftist Israeli leader said Israel should learn from the assimilation and inter-marriage of Jews in the U.S., where Jewish individuals marrying non-Jews has become a major phenomenon.
Burg criticized what he called Israelis' closed conception of religion, which he stated is orthodox, not humanist and not universal. He said other alternatives to Judaism must be offered.

Burg now is a citizen of France. He retired from Israeli politics and departed Israel in shame after it was disclosed he may have engaged in election corruption and vote tampering while trying to become chairman of the Labor party. He also was accused of illicit business practices. He is still active as a leader in Israel's peace camp, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state and Israeli evacuations of the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Burg has been condemned by many politicians and commentators here and abroad as a self-hating Jew who is encouraging anti-Semitism. One Knesset member called for Burg to be denied a burial plot in Israel's national cemetery reserved for the country's leaders. But what many seem to be missing is that Burg's views are not renegade. They are representative of the Israeli left. Burg's reasoning is the same as those petitioning for more EU control of Israel's affairs and for evacuations from biblical Jewish territories and holy sites. Burg comes from the school of people like Geneva Initiative leader Yossi Beilin, Labor Chairman Ehud Barak, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and their ideological godfather and mentor, Shimon Peres, who officially becomes Israeli president later this week. So many around the world wrongly believe the conflict in Israel is about territory. They think the Israeli left mainly wants to cede land to the Palestinians while the right stands against land giveaways.

In actuality, the main Israeli political battle is between a left that wants Israel to be a secular, European-like state, and the religious right, which sees Israel as a Jewish country defined by national Zionism. It's a battle that will ultimately determine the future of Israel. Growing up in a Jewish community in the United States, I was fortunate enough not to have experienced the kind of anti-Semitism that permeates places like France and, increasingly, the UK. But European anti-Semitism pales in comparison to its venomous counterparts in Israel. That's right, Israel. It wasn't until I moved here to open WND's Jerusalem bureau in February 2005 that I fully understood what anti-Semitism is. The hatred many secular, leftist Israelis feel for the religious is so deep I cannot do it justice with words. The secular leftist media routinely demonize the religious. I've seen the way secular Jewish security forces brutally squash legal religious Jewish protests at the direction of leftist politicians. I've borne witness the past few years to the enactment of institutional anti-Semitic laws, such as deeming religious Jewish construction in strategic territory illegal while ignoring rampant illegal Arab building; or denying Jews the right to pray at or even visit Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, during most hours of the day.

This great divide extends itself to the streets. Religious and secular cities are mostly separated. Just try talking to a secular leftist Jew in Tel Aviv about religion and God and watch his or her face wither in anger. But many Israeli leftists politicians and activists are more enterprising than the average leftist Israeli. They disguise their hatred of Judaism with specific political policies. Just like Islamic terrorists who claim their attacks are aimed at ending America's military presence in the Middle East or our support for Israel when the jihadists' real goal is worldwide domination of Islam, leftist Israeli leaders state their aim is to create a Palestinian state when their true intention is the establishment of a secular Israeli country by stabbing at the lifeline of religious Zionism with evacuations of the West Bank – the biblical heartland and center of the religious Zionists movement – and with the division of religious Jerusalem and stationing of foreign troops on Israel's borders.

Already, the religious Jewish communities of the Gaza Strip were uprooted and international forces were deployed along the Israeli-Lebanese border. Burg is not a maverick. He is a leftist politician who knows he has no chance at being re-elected, so he was able to take off his mask and expose his true beliefs and the real nature of Israel's internal war. And he didn't blurt these things out during a spontaneous interview; he detailed his views in a book he said took him three years to compose.
Some believe Burg could have become Israel's prime minister. What if he had achieved Israel's highest office before he let loose his real beliefs? Why isn't anyone asking whether Israel's current prime minister, who seeks to evacuate the Jewish West Bank and sections of Jerusalem, shares Burg's anti-Jewish views? What about Ehud Barak, who as prime minister in 2000 announced at Camp David he was ready to cede the Temple Mount and who offered PLO leader Yasser Arafat a state within rocket range of Israel's population centers? And what about all the Israeli leftist politicians who regularly petition for placing EU or U.N. troops in Gaza or the West Bank?

Sure, some Israeli leftist politicians, including Beilin and some from Olmert's party, condemned Burg, but I believe they did so because they were angry at him for exposing them. The admitted anti-Jewish Burg once held some of the most prestigious leadership positions in world Jewry. Why isn't anyone questioning whether top leaders of Jewish organizations now share his beliefs? Perhaps Burg's revelations about the left help explain why, as I reported, the leaders of the Jewish National Fund, which collects hundreds of millions of dollars in Jewish donor funds for the stated purpose of Jewish settlement, has been ceding Jewish-owned properties to Arabs in key sections of Jerusalem and other Israeli cities designated by the left for evacuation. The JNF, which proudly posts pictures of leftist leader Peres on its newspaper advertisements, has been allowing Arab squatters to live completely illegally on millions of dollars worth of Jewish-owned land purchased for Jewish settlement.

Perhaps Burg's admissions might also help explain why, as I reported, mainstream U.S. Jewish groups, including the leadership of United Jewish Communities, one of the most financially endowed Jewish organizations on the planet, neglected the plight of religious Jewish refugees evacuated from Gaza in 2005 who didn't receive most compensation promised to them by the Israeli government. The uprooted national religious Gaza Jews still live in terrible conditions in refugee camps and suffer from low employment and a host of other problems. The UJC largely ignored the Gaza Jews while instead funding initiatives with Jewish money to aid Israeli Arabs. The esteemed Jewish organization finally started helping a bit after they were exposed and angry Jewish donors demanded action to help the Jews of Gaza. So, while many are resoundingly condemning Burg for his anti-Jewish views, I thank him for unmasking the true beliefs of the Israeli left. Perhaps now the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be understood in its proper context.