JNF Betrays Its Jewish Mandate - Dec 5, 2009

Arieh King, founder and head of the Israel Land Fund, has been battling with the JNF for years. He has documented the egregious abuse of the organization's mandate to collect money from Jewish people in order to buy and preserve land in the Land of Israel. King has documented proof of JNF land purchase and give-away to Arabs that has been going on with the knowledge and approval of the Israel Land Authority.

King asserts that during the years 2004-2009, more than 200 new apartments were built on JNF land in the area north of the Atarot airport, in Jerusalem. When one drives near that area today, a very visible sign reading AREA A - NO ISRAELIS (Jews) ALLOWED, can be seen, even though one is in Israel's capital city of Jerusalem. (Israel has been divided into areas A,B and C. A is solely Arab. B is under Israeli control, but open to Arab administration, and C is solely under Israeli control.) King also accuses the JNF of failure to protect Jewish land in Gush Etzion where three years ago, no effort was made to keep hundreds of acres inside the separation wall. Arabs are now using this land. In the Shoafat/JNF forest, near Pisgat Ze'ev, Jerusalem, Arabs have built 300 apartments between 1991-2009, with building continuing today.

King has written to the heads of JNF, pleading with them to stop JNF assistance in planting 3000 trees in the area of a new Arab city, RUWABI, scheduled to be built north of Ramallah. Instead, we read that "Michael Weinberg of the JNF acknowledges that there is a great deal of "professional pride in the project. We are helping in any way we can."

The reports on the project mention such names as Hirui Amara, who heads a JNF greenhouse at the Golani Junction, and Suhil Zaydan, one of the JNF's forestry managers. At the recent Zionist Congress an Israeli Arab was nominated to the KKL (Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael or JNF) General Assembly. Why is JNF, or KKL, hiring and working with Arabs when so many Jews are jobless? Wouldn't some of the expelled farmers from Gush Katif be people who would be expert in working with the land, and keeping it in Jewish hands?

Maaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel, a member of the JNF board, describes the situation as something that has gone "haywire." He continues, "The country has gone crazy when it plants trees for the PA in Judea and Samaria at the same time that it forbids Jews to build. The system does not know who it is representing - us, the PA, or the Americans."

Diaspora Jews are urged to call JNF headquarters in NYC - 212-879-9300 to voice their indignation about the disgraceful betrayal of the JNF mandate. Ask for CEO Russell Robinson, or VP of Israel Relations Isaac Blachor. Tell them you will no longer contribute to JNF because of their scandalous behavior. Write letters to your local papers about the situation. Spread the information.

Those who are interested in getting more information about the issue are invited to contact Arieh King at kingshir@bezeqint.net or office@israellandfund.com. Tel: 972-2-622-3195. He will be happy to answer your questions and present you with the proof of his investigations into JNF abuses.

AFSI Applauds Calls For End Of Freeze - Dec. 3, 2009

Likud leaders, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Minister Benny Begin, and Chairman of the Knesset Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria Affairs MK Zev Elkin, have all come out in opposition to the "draconian" manner in which the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria has been implemented.

Considering that PM Netanyahu maintains that "the decision does not apply to 2,500 units under construction, to 500 additional housing units we recently approved.", the Likud leaders are outraged by Defense Minister Barak's stop-work orders on all construction in Judea and Samaria, including all of the above.

It is interesting to note that Steinitz, Ya'alon, Begin and Elkin all voted for the freeze, believing that it would proceed as stipulated in the Cabinet decision. They apparently didn't anticipate that Barak would enforce it in the brutal manner that he has implemented.

In the face of this, Netanyahu maintains that he "has no choice" but to keep the freeze in place. Who has given him "no choice"? The Prime Minister of Israel must have the choice to preserve the land and the people of Israel in the best way possible. There can be "no choice" to destroy peoples' lives and livelihoods.

The Likud leaders should never have voted for the freeze. They must anticipate the aggressive and destructive manner in which the Defense Minister would implement the "permission" he received to destroy Jewish homes and lives, while turning a blind eye to rampant and illegal Arab building throughout the land of Israel. This Labor Minister does not belong in a Likud government.

Finally, one must question the purpose and meaning of a freeze when it obviously makes no difference in the supposed "peace process." The Arabs have already rejected it as inadequate in satisfying their demands. This meaningless action only does harm to Israel's legitimacy.

We commend those who are calling for a halt to the freeze, and urge PM Netanyahu and Likud to remember the party mandate to preserve the Land of Israel for the Jewish people.

    In the Orwellian world in which we live, one still cannot follow the logic of the latest information on "permission" being given to Israel to attack Iran's nuclear holdings. Iran threatens the entire world, not just Israel, with its build-up of nuclear power. Any attack by Iran would drastically affect the oil producing countries of the Middle East, as well as the security and economies of Europe, America, and the world.

    Instead of providing assistance to Israel for having the will and skill to prevent Iran from accomplishing its nuclear goals, the world leaders will "allow" Israel to do the dirty clean-up work for them in exchange for "painful concessions."

    These concessions might mean removing 300,000 Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria. They might also include dividing Jerusalem in order to satisfy the hunger of the Arab leaders seeking "peace" with Israel.

    In other words, in order for Israel to have the privilege of putting its soldiers and civilians on the firing line in order to remove Iran's nuclear threat, Israel must uproot its citizens and reduce the size of its country to an indefensible nine mile wide swath of land. Can this situation be tolerated? Alert your Congressional representatives to the absurdity and dangers of this situation.

Action: Contact Congressman Gary Ackerman, Chairman of the Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee: 202-225-5021 Contact Congressman Howard Berman - Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Comm: 202-225-5021 Contact: Congressman Dan Burton, Ranking Member of the ME & SA subcommittee of the HFAC: 202-226-8467 Contact: Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Comm. - 202-226-8467

    The above is the title of an ad run by AFSI in the New York Times on Wednesday, September 17, 1997. We see that twelve years later, the U.S. government, led by President Barack Obama, is once again pressuring Israel into a path of self-destruction, as well as one that will harm America.

    In the ad, we quoted a statement made by Yasser Arafat on Jan. 30, 1996 to a group of 40 Arab diplomats in Stockholm. More than three years after he committed himself to the 1993 White House "peace" signing, he said:

    "You understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion.We now need all the help we can get from you in our battle for a united Palestine under total Arab-Moslem domination!"

    How is that different from comments made on a PA TV program just this week?: "Fatah is no less firm than Hamas in seeking the goal of Israel's destruction. Kifah Radaydeh, the deputy head of the Jerusalem chapter of Fatah, says openly that the PA will resume violence and terror against Israel when Fatah is "capable," and "according to what seems right.". "It has been said that we are negotiating for peace," she further stated, "but our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine."

    Following Arafat's statement, his Fatah PLO organization systematically began a terror campaign against Jews that included homicide bombings, kidnappings, shootings, and ongoing incitement to riot on PA radio, TV, the press, the mosque, the schools, and the marketplace. Underlying all of that is the unchanged PA Covenant calling for Israel's destruction as a doctrine of faith.

   Today, Hamas controls most of the PA territory and Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat's right hand man, is the so-called leader with whom Israel is pressured into making "peace." The Arabs have been made so arrogant by President Obama's persistence in pushing the "two-state solution" that they understand all they have to do is wait for America to do the take-over job for them.

    The harm done to Israel by this program is self-evident. What is the harm to America? Are we served by reducing Israel from a strong, independent U.S. ally and co-guardian of the stability of the region to a shrunken client-state, whose very survival is threatened on all sides? If America embraces terrorist leaders, rejecting Israel, its one democratic ally in the Middle East, what will be the cost in American lives if a new attack against U.S. interests occurs in the Persian Gulf? The absence of a strong Israel Defense Forces deterrent could tip the balance against America. Is America ready to take that chance? We hope not. It is time for a reassessment of U.S. policy in the Middle East, based on American values and interests.