Today through June 15: Ramp up numbers of calls to White House to move U.S. Ambassador to Jerusalem!

Please call on everyone you know to call the White House at 202-456-1111 (best); fax 202-456-2461, or email president @whitehouse.gov 

And have them all call their senators and representatives, even at their local district offices, to tell them to get moving on a bill, resolution or letter to the President indicating that they were serious about moving our ambassador to Jerusalem when they passed the ’95 law, and that they expect him to do it now.

 Urge Pres. Bush

• To keep his 2000 campaign promise to move embassy “as a first order of business”;
• To obey the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act that requires this move;
• To end the historically unique discrimination against Israel in not recognizing her capital, while we have recognized even the capitals even of enemy states; and instead
• To treat Israel as the real friend and ally that she is today, regardless of what may happen to Jerusalem in the future. 
• To avoid setting a new record on June 15, by breaking his tie with Clinton at ten six-month extensions of the 1996 legal deadline each;
• To be like Truman when he recognized Israel against State Department arguments May 14, 1948,
• To avoid building a new embassy now since we have existing buildings in Jerusalem; and
• To recall his own statements expressing doubts his 2002 “two state vision” is likely to be realized on his watch, and thus should not be seen as a prelude to this move of our ambassador.

CIPAC’S press release and letter to the President follow:

DEADLINE FOR US EMBASSY TRANSFER TO JERUSALEM 

FAST APPROACHING

The June 15th 2006 deadline for moving our US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem is fast approaching. 

The 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act states that the US Embassy should be there, and President Bush promised in his 2000 campaign to put it there " as a first order of business." 

Instead, Dick Hellman, President of CIPAC (Christians' Israel Public Action Campaign) recently wrote President Bush, urging him to follow through NOW, pointing out that he was at this point tied with former President Clinton for having taken 10 six-month extensions under this act, delaying this move. 

He further wrote:   

    "No other nation ever made Israel its capital. The Koran makes no mention of Jerusalem. 

   We Christians have no earthly   capital. (but) The Jewish scriptures mention Jerusalem 600 times (!).  

    "At heart, this involves recognizing the City of David and of the Great King.  Psalms 137:5-6 warns of   stark consequences for    ignoring Jerusalem's centrality: 

                "If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand lose its ability.  If I do not remember thee,   let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."

    "Therefore, unless you order the US Ambassador in Israel to make Jerusalem his official location

    (employing one of our  existing buildings for now), we will ask Congress to delete your authority to take more   extensions of this recognition of Israel's capital.    "Since we believe that you are a man of your word, we expect you to keep your promise and place our

    Ambassador in Jerusalem, where he belongs, before June 15, 2006.   

    "Respectfully yours, with our prayers for you and yours,

       Richard A Hellman 

-------------------------------
Column One: America Embraces the Hamas Fantasy

http://www.freeman.org/serendipity/index.php?/archives/280-America-Embra
ces-the-Hamas-Fantasy.html

_____


Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST

May. 11, 2006

_____

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a long, rambling missive to
US President George W. Bush this week. It ended on a somewhat ominous
note that seemed to some Islamic scholars to constitute a declaration of
war against the US. Ahmadinejad wrote, "Liberalism and Western-style
democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity.
Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already
hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts
of the liberal democratic systems."



After declaring the death of the ideals on which the United States is
founded, Ahmadinejad explained that "people around the world are
flocking towards a main focal point - that is Almighty God." He then
challenged Bush, "Do you not want to join them?"



Experts on Islam in Washington have noted that since Ahmadinejad
advocates Islamic fundamentalism as the only true religious path, his
question to Bush was in fact an ultimatum to convert to Islam or face
the consequences. Islamic scholar Robert Spencer put it carefully on his
weblog Jihad Watch when he wrote, "this letter could be - but is not
necessarily - a prelude to an attack."



Ahmadinejad's letter was delivered on Monday. One would think that if
the Bush administration was concerned about the signals Teheran was
sending that Bush and top administration officials would be at pains for
the next several days to ensure that Iran and the rest of the world
understood that the US would not be surrendering any time soon to the
dictates of its sworn enemies.



Sadly, the opposite occurred. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice met with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the EU's foreign policy chiefs at the
UN for a summit of the so-called Middle East Quartet. The meeting, which
was the first official gathering of Quartet members since the popularly
elected Hamas government assumed power in the Palestinian Authority and
Ehud Olmert formed his government in Israel, was dedicated to the
question of how to continue to give the Palestinians hundreds of
millions of dollars in international aid even though they just elected
an international jihadist organization to lead them.

Notably, at the same time that Rice was meeting with her colleagues in
New York, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal was meeting with his colleagues in
Qatar. Seated at a dais with terror preacher Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi
and Islamic Jihad commander Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, Mashaal called on
the Arab and Islamic world to send Hamas "weapons, money and men."
Mashaal reassured his audience, explaining that their "weapons, money
and men" would be a force for good in the world because Hamas is engaged
in "resistance, not terrorism."



It should be noted that for years Mashaal has been cultivating Hamas's
ties with Iran. Ahead of Hamas's election in January, in one of his
almost monthly trips to Teheran, Mashaal reportedly told the Iranian
leadership that he wants Iran to view Hamas as a Palestinian version of
Hizbullah. That is, like Hizbullah, in exchange for Iranian weapons,
money and training, Hamas will act as Teheran's client and subordinate
its actions to Teheran's command hierarchy. Iran accepted his offer.



And so, the day after Ahmadinejad wrote his war letter to Bush, Rice was
meeting with her associates figuring out a way to give the Hamas-led
Palestinians millions of dollars of US taxpayers' money.



While administration officials insist that Rice's decision to agree that
the EU can formulate an artificial mechanism to continue to flood the PA
with international monetary assistance is not an American okay to flood
the PA with international monetary assistance, in fact it is just such
an okay. Israel's announcement Wednesday that it would be resuming the
transfer of tens of millions of dollars of tax revenues to the PA is
proof that Tuesday's Quartet meeting did conclude with a green light to
renew Western monetary assistance to the PA.



RICE'S DECISION to enable the funding of the Hamas-led PA is
significant, and indeed disastrous for two main reasons. First, by so
acting, the Bush administration is ignoring strategic realities that
present immediate dangers not only to Israel but to the US as well.



Against the backdrop of Ahmadinejad's letter this week and his constant
threats against the US and its allies in recent weeks and months, it is
clear that Iran perceives itself as being in a state of active war
against the US. It is also a fact that Hamas is now an official client
of Teheran. As an Iranian satellite, an empowered and emboldened Hamas
is no longer just an Israeli concern. Hamas today can and ought to be
perceived as an enemy of the US as well - an enemy to whom the Bush
administration just pledged $10 million in medical assistance.



Indeed, even before Hamas subordinated itself to Teheran, the movement
was in a declared state of war against America. On December 17, 2001,
Hamas published a joint declaration with the Islamic Jihad in which it
declared, "Americans are the enemies of the Palestinian people," and
Americans "are a target for future attacks." Hamas's rhetoric has
customarily been imbued with virulent anti-Americanism. Hamas has
financed Palestinian members of al-Qaida and in at least one instance,
in 2003, it trained a naturalized Canadian citizen from Gaza in
terrorist tactics for the purpose of having him carry out attacks in
Canada and the US. Fortunately, Israeli security forces arrested him
before he was able to carry out his mission.



As Matthew Levitt points out in his copiously documented and detailed
new book, Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of
Jihad, in 2004 the FBI admitted that Hamas has the capabilities to carry
out attacks in the US. In August 2004, a Hamas terrorist was arrested
while taking pictures of the suspension cables of the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge.



In its present capacity as an Iranian client there can be no doubt that
Hamas's willingness to take action against the US has increased. Its
interest in expanding its activities beyond Israel has been on full
display in recent weeks in Jordan. For the second time in so many weeks,
on Wednesday a Jordanian government spokesman announced the unearthing
of Hamas weapons caches in the kingdom, including Iranian-made rocket
launchers. The spokesman also announced that Hamas is seeking to recruit
Jordanian nationals to undergo terror training in Syria and Iran. The
spokesman referred to Hamas's activities in the country as posing "a
major threat to the national security of the country."



And yet, even as Hamas devotes all its energies to building up its
arsenal and swelling the ranks of its jihadist forces, the US has
answered the frenzied call for more aid to the Palestinian people
sounded by the usual suspects in the EU, the UN, and (it must be said),
the Israeli media. To Hamas's calls for the destruction of Israel and
the defeat of the US, Rice answered on Tuesday by declaring that the
goal of the Quartet meeting was "to provide assistance to the
Palestinian people so that they do not suffer deprivation and do not
suffer an humanitarian crisis." Rice then proceeded to pledge $10m. in
in-kind US medical aid to the Palestinian health system, which was
widely reported to be short of money for dialysis treatments despite the
fact that Israel allowed four truckloads of medical supplies into Gaza
this week.



The US and its Palestinian-obsessed European counterparts and the
Israeli government claim that the hundreds of millions of dollars they
are about to provide the Palestinians with in "direct aid" will not
benefit the Hamas-led PA. But of course this is incorrect. Firstly, the
EU is already making clear that their Hamas-evading mechanism for
funding the Hamas-led PA will facilitate the payment of salaries of PA
employees who are supposed to be getting paid by Hamas. That is, the EU
will be paying Hamas's bills directly.



Secondly, every cent transferred in "direct aid" to the Palestinians is
money that will prevent Hamas from failing. Every well-fed Palestinian
welfare case will be a vindication for the Palestinian people's decision
to vote Hamas into power. Every penny of Western and Israeli aid tells
them that they may both escalate their war against Israel while
officially joining the global jihad and eat well on the Israeli/
American/ European dole.



THIS BRINGS us to the second disturbing aspect of the US decision to bow
to EU, Russian and UN pressure and open the dam of international aid to
the Hamas-led PA. Indeed, it brings us to the disturbing nature of the
Quartet to which the US belongs. The fact is that in its decision this
week to bow to Quartet pressure and enable the renewal of aid to the
Palestinians (after a six-week hiatus), like in its decision in 2002 to
agree to the establishment of the Quartet in the first place, the US
continues to pin its Middle East policy on a fiction that it is possible
to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians through Israeli
concessions and land giveaways to the Palestinians.



When the Quartet was founded to "advance the peace process," the peace
process had already died. The peace process ended in July 2000 when the
late Yasser Arafat rejected Israel's peace offer and the sovereign state
of Palestine the offer entailed in favor of war. From then on, all hope
of peace in our generation was extinguished as the Palestinian jihad
against Israel opened its current round.



The purpose the Quartet was founded to advance was the shunning of
reality, in the hope that if reality was rejected strenuously, that
reality would change. This was the context in which the Quartet members,
with the help of Yossi Beilin and Shimon Peres, wrote their road map
peace plan that the Bush administration shoved down Ariel Sharon's
throat in May 2004.



In the end, the Quartet's refusal to countenance the reality of war
caused Israel to choose the capitulationist policy of unilateral
surrender of territory to the Palestinians. Viewing the behavior of
Israel and the Quartet, the Palestinians rationally assessed that terror
and war were winning strategies and thus elected Hamas to lead them.
Now, in light of Hamas's refusal to keep up the fiction of a peace
process, the Quartet has engaged itself in a new enterprise. Recognizing
there is no chance for a peace process until Hamas ceases to be Hamas,
the Quartet is now convincing itself that Hamas is not Hamas.



In short, the US on Tuesday recommitted itself to a Middle East policy
that has no connection to reality and thus no chance of ever succeeding.
Indeed, failure is inevitable. It has been argued that the American
capitulation to EU, UN and Russian pressure to fund Hamas was undertaken
to secure their support for US efforts in the UN Security Council
against Iran. If so, then the deal the US struck is both delusional and
counterproductive. It is delusional because Russia, Kofi Annan and key
EU member states such as Germany will not provide the US with backing
for any measure that could possibly succeed in preventing or delaying
Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons. And it is counterproductive
because the fact is that by aiding Hamas, the US aiding Iran.

 

  Press Release: Eviction in Hebron Politically Motivated and Legally Flawed 

May 5.2006

The High Court order for the eviction of three families from Beit Shapira in Hebron   violates all legal norms of eviction.  It is an elementary principle of justice that a court will determine the legal grounds for eviction on merit, evidence and precedence before calling for the dislocation of citizens from their homes.

In addition to creating a blemish on the judicial system in Israel, the court's decision  is being enforced by the combined forces of the IDF, thousands of police, and special riot units to keep supporters away. The entire area has been declared a closed military zone.

Herbert Zweibon, Chairman of Americans For a Safe Israel asks "Why does the eviction of three families in Beir Shapira merit such an overwhelming display of military force, and why would Israel's High Court, so acutely sensitive to the complaints of Israel's Arabs, so gratuitously disregard the rights of patriotic Jewish citizens?"

 “The answer is that the government wants to send a political message that Hebron belongs to the Arabs of Judea and Samaria and the full force of the IDF and security forces will be leveraged to enforce the government’s will. Implicit in the message is that this will be done with the complete backing of the High Court.”

Mr. Zweibon continued; “The Israeli government is in full retreat and the very viability of the Jewish State is being brought into question by the government’s actions.  The  decision to relinquish Hebron, the cradle of the Jewish faith and the first capital of the Jewish people, is a clear harbinger of total surrender of Jewish sovereignty in its historical, and religious heartland."

                                                                 February 17, 2006             

Dear Friends,           

This is an action alert regarding the security of America’s ports. Please contact your Senators and Representatives by going to their respective websites and emailing them and please call the White House at 202-456-1414. 

The ports of America are perhaps the country’s most vulnerable spots and the most likely targets of terrorism. Turning over the management of them to a state owned company of the United Arab Emirates is unthinkable and must be stopped. In order for that company to effectively do their job they would have to be privy to matters of national security concerning the way we protect our ports. Revealing this information to a state that is heavily infiltrated by Al Qaida is simply inviting disaster. 

Rachel Ehrenfeld, the director of the American Center for Democracy and the author of "Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed - and How To Stop It," had this to say to the New York Sun:      

"This shouldn't happen. It really boggles the mind … the United Arab Emirates is a big hub for all kinds of terrorist activities. ... We know that terrorist money is being laundered there." 

 Please act promptly on this urgent matter. AFSI is available to provide further contact information.      

AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org Jan. 24, 2006. Contact: Barry Freedman, Executive Director

  It is now over five months since the forced ethnic cleansing of Gush Katif/Gaza.  Whether or not you favored the decision to remove Jews from Gush Katif/Gaza, the enclosed article from Arutz 7 (Jan. 22, 2006) demands your attention. It cites the remarks of Israeli Prof. Yisrael Aumann, this year's winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in economics, in regard to what he considers to be the "National Disgrace" regarding the shameful treatment of the close to ten thousand expellees from Gush Katif and the northern Shomron.  Prof. Aumann gives the facts as we have learned them from the refugees themselves.

    Please read this article and then send it to your email lists. Contact the leaders of all the Jewish organizations to which you belong. (The phone number for the Conference of Presidents, the umbrella organization for 52 major Jewish organizations, is: 212-318-6111; fax: 212-644-4135.)Ask them to put pressure on the Israeli government to live up to its promises that there would be a "solution for every settler," including proper compensation for the loss of their homes, jobs and communities. Get the message out to whatever media outlets you can reach. This is a tragedy of monumental proportions demanding that we not sit idly by as passive observers. Please take action now. Call AFSI -212-828-2424 or email afsi@rcn.com with your questions or comments. 

Prof. Aumann: "National Disgrace - and the Press is Silent"

Sunday, January 22, 2006 / 22 Tevet 5766

Nobel Prize Winner Prof. Aumann at the Herzliya Conference: "The treatment of the expellees is a national disgrace, and everyone is silent... Israel's mad rush for peace has the opposite effect."

Prof. Yisrael Aumann of Hebrew University won this past year's Nobel Prize in Economics, for "enhancing our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis." He spoke Saturday night at the opening session of the prestigious Sixth Annual Herzliya Conference.

Many of the thousands of people expelled from Gush Katif and northern Shomron are still in hotels, he noted, "even now, a half-year after the expulsion, without the most basic conditions. Most of them are not yet in permanent housing, or even in reasonable temporary housing. There is no work, the children are in despair, and there have been some suicide attempts. Many families, and maybe even most, have not seen a red cent in compensation money, and those who have received are spending it on daily food."

A report released earlier this month by the Gush Katif-L'maan Acheinu Task Force stated that more than half the families had received nothing at all of the promised compensation. The remaining families received an average of 50,000 shekels (just over $10,000), and only some 5% received the entire compensation payment. Those living in pre-fab housing, known as caravilot, are paying monthly rent of $450 - totally using up their advance payment within two years.

Click "play" below to watch a comprehensive TV report on the Task Force findings
Click here if video does not appear

"We're not talking about enemies or lawbreakers," Prof. Aumann said, "but rather productive people who built a glorious settlement enterprise, and whose lives have now been destroyed - and yet everyone just ignores it. The entire media and everyone else; no one hears a word about it, no one relates to it, everyone ignores it. I, for one, will not be silent, and I am not silent."

A religious Jew who grew up in New York City and currently resides in Jerusalem, Prof. Aumann won the prestigious prize together with Prof. Thomas C. Schelling of the University of Maryland. The two established game theory as the dominant approach towards understanding conflict and cooperation between countries, individuals and organizations.

"I don’t know how the treatment [of the expellees] affects our national resilience," Prof. Aumann said, "and I'm not talking about the expulsion itself - but just about the treatment of those who were expelled. It's not clear whether this is being done purposely to show a message that Zionism is not worth it and [people] might as well stop engaging in it as quickly as possible - or just out of criminal negligence. And I don't know which is worse."

The professor criticized the way in which Israel relates to the Oslo Accords:
"The wretched Oslo Agreement includes a clause in which the Palestinian Authority agrees to stop the unbridled incitement in their schools against Israel and the Jews... This clause has never been carried out, and the incitement gets worse and worse each year... It's much worse than various terrorist attacks or Kassam rockets, because these children who learn in school that the State of Israel must be wiped off the map will soon be grown adults."

Prof. Aumann said that Israel's mad pursuit of peace is precisely that which is pushing it further away:
"The Arabs always said they have time, and that they can wait 10, 20 or 50 years until we disappear. But our problem is that we don't have time; we're rushing. We want 'peace now,' and so we go and destroy beautiful blossoming productive communities. We destroy the lives of tens of thousands of people on the altar of 'we have to do something.' The very act of running crazedly after the longed-for peace is precisely that which distances it from us."

See also this article for findings of the Task Force's report and related government measures, and this one on the educational crisis caused by the expulsion.

1623 Third Avenue, Suite 205, New York, NY 10128

Tel: 212-82824-24; Fax: 212-828-1717;

E-mail afsi@rcn.com Website; http://www.afsi.org/

Contact: Barry Freedman, Executive Director; February 22, 2006 

 Dear Members and Friends, 

The Oregon chapter of AFSI reports progress in our campaign to demand a hearing on terrorism in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Please read their message below, see the attachments, and contact your Senators and Representatives on this urgent matter. 

Thank you,

Barry Freedman

Executive Director

                                                                   MESSAGE FROM OREGON CHAPTER

Within the last week we have learned that Sen. Richard Lugar responded positively to the need for a hearing on terrorism in the Middle East, particularly against Israel, and its impact on the U.S. We are pleased with his reception yet expect him to take prompt action. 

Our earlier document, "Judeo-Christian Civilization Under Attack," identified a list of key issues regarding Islamist terrorism and its funding that could be addressed.  

With news coming in daily --- alleged terrorists indicted in Toledo, OH; training camp in the Catskills (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48868), the Hamas victory and its results [Hamas: Iranian Ayatollah to Have Major Role in Palestine, Hamas Woman MP Backs Suicide Bombings, and Poll: 56% of Palestinians Still Support Suicide Bombing, (last three found in Daily Alert, 2-21-06)], plus the Iranian nuclear threat --- we need to seriously press for the Senate hearing. Americans need to be informed; new policies may be needed if we all knew the truth. 

Would you please contact AFSI leaders and members around the country to again demand the hearing?  Below are those on the Senate Foreign Relations Committe itself; yet citizens in all states should engage their Senators and Representatives to get involved. 

Thank you for your help in moving this hearing forward! 

Sincerely, 

Phyllis Lohse

1623 Third Avenue, Suite 205, New York, NY 10128

Tel: 212-82824-24; Fax: 212-828-1717;

E-mail afsi@rcn.com Website; http://www.afsi.org/

Contact: Barry Freedman, Executive Director; February 20, 2006 

REMINDER –AFSI CHIZUK MISSION TO ISRAEL

MAY 21-30, 2006 

         Please join Americans for a Safe Israel on our next Chizuk Mission as Jerusalem enters its 40^th year of re-unification. May 26, 2006 will be a day of great significance and AFSI will be there. 

           In addition to celebrating Yom Yerushalayim-Jerusalem Day- AFSI will re-visit the refugees from the scattered communities of the former Gush Katif, as well as the residents of the threatened communities of Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem.  

          Members of Knesset Aryeh Eldad and Effie Eitam, who were seriously injured at Amona, will be among those invited to speak to the group. Leaders of grass roots movements resisting any further expulsions will address the group as well.        

                                                            TRAVEL INFORMATION  

          The AFSI Chizuk mission will be departing from the New York area on Sunday, May 21, returning on May 30. The entire cost, including round-trip airfare on El-Al, land accommodations, guides, bullet-proof bus, and most meals, is $2200, not including airport taxes, single supplement fees, and personal changes in the group’s air itinerary. Non-members are charged an additional $100. (Membership in AFSI is only $50, so we urge interested parties to join the organization, thus saving $50 and receiving all the benefits of membership.) 

          A $200 deposit is necessary to ensure your space. Please send it to the AFSI office, or call 212-828-2424 or 1-800-235-3658 to use the VISA or Mastercard charge. 

       Helen Freedman and Bruce Rudolph will once again be the tour planners, in coordination with Barry Freedman at the AFSI office. Rabbi Bruce will be handling the travel plans.

1623 Third Avenue, Suite 205, New York, NY 10128

Tel: 212-82824-24; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org

                        Contact: Barry Freedman, Executive Director, February 2, 2006 

AFSI CHAIRMAN STRONGLY CRITICIZES EHUD OLMERT FOR THE UNPRECEDENTED VIOLENCE AGAINST JEWISH DEMONSTRATORS 

 It has been reported that the violence against a group of demonstrators in Amona resulted in over 144 wounded who were evacuated to hospitals in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Eleven people were evacuated by IDF helicopters and six are in serious condition. Close to 300 others were treated in a giant medical tent nearby.  

One injured protestor said, "We were standing in the front line, with no intention of using violence or anything, and all of a sudden the police just rained down on us with horses and clubs...” 

AFSI chairman, Herbert Zweibon states: “Olmert’s use of violence against the demonstrators in Amona was unprovoked and brutal.” 

“Ehud Olmert apparently believes that he impresses his supporters with this violence and that his election bid will be strengthened. That is yet to be seen. It is more likely that his brutality will backfire. The images of police brutality may be the beginning of the end of Olmert’s career – especially since what happened in Amona seems a clear message that Olmert would “unilaterally disengage” from all of Judea and Samaria in spite of Hamas’ victory – turning the heart of Israel into Hamastan.” 

"The victory of jihadists in the recent Arab elections has given pause to almost all Western leaders, but Olmert’s response has been callous and brutal disregard for patriotic Jewish citizens of Israel. The body politic of Israel will react with sorrow and the imperative for new leadership."

1623 Third Avenue, Suite 205, New York, NY 10128

Tel: 212-82824-24; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org

                        Contact: Barry Freedman, Executive Director, January 26, 2006 

The victory of Hamas in the Palestinian Arab elections, certified by none other than Jimmy Carter has created a dilemma for the United States Department of State, which in its April 2005 report stated “HAMAS elements have used both violent and political means, including terrorism, to pursue the goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel.”

Herbert Zweibon, states “there is absolutely no difference between Fatah which is defined as “conquest” in Arabic, and Hamas whose stated goal is to establish an Islamic theocracy in all of Palestine including Israel, Judea and Samaria and Gaza.” 

“In fact, the building of tunnels for smuggling arms and the establishment up of Al Qaeda terrorist training camps in Gaza occurred before the elections. While both groups may be rivals for local control, both groups seek the destruction of Israel.” Zweibon continued. 

AFSI rejects any negotiations with terrorists whether they are called Palestinian Authority or Fatah or Hamas and urges our government to desist from any further pressure on Israel to make any concessions. Zweibon adds “it is counterproductive to fight terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and at the same time to prop them up in Israel, particularly since the mullahs of Iran will closely monitor our responses.”

 AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org

Jan. 11, 2006  

     AFSI Protests Politically Motivated Expulsions in Israel

       Herbert Zweibon, Chairman of Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI notes that the Israeli security force’s planned evacuation of families living in Mitzpe Shalhevet in Hebron taking place on the eve of the March 28^th elections is a cynical manipulation ahead of the elections.

    He further notes that this new wave of capitulation to terror and international pressure is happening despite the fact that Gaza, immediately after the expulsion of Jewish residents, disintegrated into chaos and became a launching ground for rocket attacks against Israeli towns. “Gaza has become a magnet for terrorists and arms for terrorists, creating the foremost center for international terrorism, and it is clear that any further evacuations will lead to similar dangerous results. 

Zweibon added, “It is in the best interest of Israel to call a moratorium on all negotiations with the PA, and to halt all plans for withdrawal.”

1623 Third Avenue, Suite 205, New York, NY 10128

Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org

 Dec. 2005 

NEW DIRECTOR OF AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI IS ANNOUNCED 

            Herbert Zweibon, Chairman of Americans For a Safe Israel, announces a change in the AFSI organizational structure. Helen Freedman will be moving on from her position as Executive Director, with Barry Freedman taking over the role.   

            Barry has lived in Israel these past twenty years, moving from Jerusalem to Kiryat Arba to communities in Judea and Samaria and then settling in Tsfat. During this time he has kept his finger on the pulse of Israel, as well as the activities of AFSI. He has traveled with AFSI on its Chizuk missions to the threatened communities of the holy land. He has written extensively on matters relating to Israel. These writings have appeared in a weekly column in a LI newspaper, as well as on his blog: galileeblog.blogspot.com.  

            Helen is hoping to devote her efforts to the AFSI Chapters throughout the country, helping to strengthen them, in order to extend the AFSI philosophy. She also expects to be involved in special projects, as well as the continuing AFSI Chizuk missions to Israel. She speaks fondly of her ten year association with AFSI as Executive Director. Helen says, “I have been very fortunate in being able to work closely with Herbert Zweibon, AFSI’s  Chairman, for the past ten years. It has been an extraordinary privilege to be associated with him and the only organization that takes an unwavering, unconditional stance in regard to Israel. “Helen continues, “My association with AFSI’s Board members, Chapter Chairs, staff, and members has also been a unique and valuable experience. The final great reward of this position has been the ability to meet so many of Israel’s finest and purest people among the inhabitants of the former Gush Katif, and the inhabitants of Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem. I feel privileged to count them amongst my dearest friends.” 

            Upon assuming his new position, Barry says, “I am honored to be offered this opportunity to work with AFSI, the only organization in America that has steadfastly defended Jewish nationalism in the land of Israel. At a time when Jewish nationalism has been abandoned and demonized by post-Zionists, AFSI has proven its commitment to the land of Israel and the people of Israel – as demonstrated over the past year in its staunch defense of and tireless support of the Gush Katif and Northern Shomron communities. There are many challenges facing us in the months and years to come. We will do our best at AFSI to help defend Israel’s national interests.”

AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; December 21, 2005 

Open Letter to the Editor, 

          Steven Spielberg’s film, MUNICH, is based on fraudulent information. Tragically, because he is such a good filmmaker, audiences will be deceived into taking his account, “inspired by real events,” to be the truth.  

          Israel’s newspaper, Haaretz, reports that “the movie is based on a book in which there is no truth.” Research confirms this.  Canadian journalist George Jonas’ 1984 book : Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, is used by Spielberg as his reference.  Mr. Jonas relied largely on the information given him by Yuval Aviv, a man who posed as a Mossad agent, “even though he had never worked in the Mossad and certainly had not participated in operations to kill those involved in the athletes’ murder.” His only security experience was when he worked as a security guard for El Al in New York. Shaister.com tells us that “Zvi Zamir, who was head of Mossad during that period, has also stated on several occasions that he has never known Aviv and there there is no connection between what is related in Jonas’ book and what really happened.” Zamir also states that he was never contacted by Spielberg for the true facts in the case, and he is surprised that the director would “rely on this particular book” for his source material. 

           Dec. 21 marks the anniversary of the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie Scotland in 1988, which is related to the same Yuval Aviv and his fraudulent actions. The bombing, which claimed the lives of 243 passengers and 16 crew members. There were 37 students on board flying home from an overseas study program in London. One of those students was the only child of Susan and Dan Cohen, who have never ended their efforts to avenge their daughter’s death. The Cohens are very disturbed about the fact that Yuval Aviv, the same Mossad imposter who tried to take advantage of them, is the man whose fraudulent information was the source for Steven Spielberg’s new film, “Munich”.             

          According to the Cohens, Aviv’s “unscrupulous practice of telling tailor-made stories to the highest bidder” is illustrated by the fact that Aviv wrote a report exonerating Pan Am in the 103 matter which gained him much media attention.  Aviv had previously contacted them “and offered information that would prove that Pan Am had been negligent in preventing the disaster,” just the opposite of what he was saying on behalf of Pan Am. 

          Spielberg does a disservice in basing his film on fallacious material, and presenting the Munich massacre and Israel’s response as a “perpetual motion machine” and a “quagmire of blood for blood”. He describes the massacre as a “response to a response”. One must ask Spielberg what the Arabs were “responding” to when they carried out their murderous deed.  

          By falsely creating an atmosphere of moral equivalency in his film, Spielberg adds to the pain and suffering of the Pan Am 103 families and all others who have been affected by the murderous actions of terrorists. By choosing to deceive his movie going public about the true nature of the “clash of civilizations” and Islam’s war against western civilization, he contributes to the threat to Israel, America, and the western world. 

Helen Freedman

Executive Director

Attorney Yitzchak Meron, the head of the Land of Israel Legal Forum that has been representing the Gush Katif expellees on a pro-bono basis, has written a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Excerpts:

"Over 70 days have passed since, at your initiative, some 9,000 people were thrown out of their homes. Almost none of them have attained their permanent [housing] solution. At the earliest, they will reach it two years from now, and others will apparently have a final housing solution in only 3-4 years.

"No less severe is the fact that 2/3 of the people still do not even have a temporary solution. As it appears now, a large portion of them will reach this only 3-6 months from now.

"The temporary solutions themselves involve great suffering for the residents. They will have to live in very crowded conditions of 10-12 square meters [12-14 square yards] per person. Much of their furniture and belongings do not even fit into the small houses; their belongings will have to remain in containers or warehouses. The people have to buy furniture and equipment that fits their new houses - and it goes without saying that the law provides for no compensation for this."

"In short, the State has taken away from thousands of expelled residents their houses that they built with great toil, and these people are now without a home. They live in crowded hotel conditions. Some of them will have to remain this way for months to come. Physical and psychological ramifications of this situation are already noticeable, and experts say they will only get worse.

"We warned in advance that the state did not concern itself with providing appropriate housing solutions in advance. We warned of a double uprooting, and now it appears that some people will have to be uprooted three and even four times."

Meron contests the claim that the residents themselves did not cooperate sufficiently with the Disengagement Authority, but adds,
"In any event, ever since the expulsion, certainly there is no such claim! Yet despite this, everything that has been done has been too late, too little and too slow...

"Among the issues that have not been solved and that could be solved by your personal intervention are the families that lived in the area for many years - including young couples who were born there and families who rented privately - but because of various technical definitions, [are not yet receiving compensation]. The uprooted people themselves are not even involved in various negotiations between the government and the locations where caravila communities are planned - and they stand helpless on the sidelines."

1623 Third Avenue, Suite 205, New York, NY 10128Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org; Oct. 17, 2005 

SHAMEFUL RECORD OF ISRAELI GOVT-SPONSORED SUFFERING

From: Helen Freedman, Executive Director, AFSI 

          Hillel Fendel, writing for Arutz Sheva on Oct. 17, describes the Land of Israel Legal Forum second report to the State Comptroller, entitled, “THE FAILURES IN CARING FOR THOSE UPROOTED FROM GUSH KATIF AND NORTHERN SHOMRON.” “The 19-page report details all that went wrong with the government’s treatment of the residents after their expulsion.  The report paints a ‘sad picture of faulty treatment of people whose entire world was destroyed.”

          While many were impressed with the cruel efficiency of the Israeli police and army in forcibly removing 10,000 Jews from their homes, farms, schools, playgrounds, synagogues, yeshivot, places of employment, and cemeteries, the total lack of efficiency in caring for the displaced persons leaves a shameful record of neglect and broken promises on the part of the Israeli government.    

          Fendel’s summary of the report details the elongated stays in hotel rooms inadequate for families, with the lack of normal amenities available in a home. It describes the plight of the yeshiva students, left without any means of support; property stored in containers – at the owners’ expense – which cannot be accessed, and the contents, stored at abnormally high temperatures, undoubtedly damaged; the failure of the Disengagement Authority to live up to its slogan, “Every resident has a solution,” since housing, employment, schooling, agricultural plots, counseling and more remain unresolved and largely unaddressed.

          The “general inefficiency and lack of consideration on the part of the Disengagement Authority” is seen in the failure to deal with the emotional problems of the refugees, especially those who had to rebury their dead, and the failure to provide proper security for the displaced persons, many of whom have been relocating in the western Negev, not far from the Gaza border.

          Unbearable financial burdens are placed on the refugees. They are required to continue paying mortgage payments on their destroyed homes, while the government fails to provide the promised inadequate “compensation” monies. As the seasons are changing, money is needed for winter clothing as well as a hundred different purposes, and most of the refugees remain unemployed, having had their sources of income destroyed. This once proud, productive community of people has now been reduced to the position of becoming beggars, relying on the kindness of strangers to give them some relief.

          All of this is unconscionable, and should arouse the anger of all those truly concerned with human rights and dignity. Instead, we find in another Fendel report of Oct. 17, in discussing the latest PA cold-blooded murders of three young Israelis, and the wounding of five more, a quote from Yossi Beilin. He objects to the safety measures that the IDF will impose – probably for just a short time as MK Effie Eitam predicts – and is quoted as saying, “We have said all along that if the diplomatic process (emphasis mine) does not continue in Judea and Samaria, the disengagement from Gaza will have been a waste.”

          In other words, the lives of beautiful young Israelis don’t matter at all. They are sacrifices to the “diplomatic process.” And the destruction of 21 communities in Gaza will have been for naught unless 250,000 more Jewish refugees are created in the give-away of Judea and Samaria to the terrorists who are gunning down Israelis whenever they choose.

          What we have here is shame and disgrace of the highest order. The government of Israel is failing its people at every turn. Another Fendel article in Arutz Sheva’s Oct. 17 report tells us that America is pushing this program and received promises from Israel in a side letter to the “Disengagement Plan”, which were not discussed in the Cabinet or the Knesset. These promises severely compromise Israel’s ability to protect its citizens in Judea and Samaria. We see the results of Israeli government “concessions”, “confidence-building” and “humanitarian gestures” towards the Arabs in the increased attacks on Israeli citizens.       

          While we wait for the government to assume its obligations, those wishing to help the abandoned Jewish refugees of Gush Katif may send tax-deductible contributions made out to FRIENDS OF GUSH KATIF, mailed to Americans For a Safe Israel, 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, NY 10128. Rachel Saperstein, a refugee from Nevei Dekalim, has a band-aid fund where money is distributed to those who request it. Checks may be made out to “The Central Fund of Israel” c/o Jay Marcus, Rehov Hagoel 13, Efrat Israel 90435 and earmarked for “Rachel-Operation Band-Aid.” Another organization, HONENU, that provides legal assistance to over a thousand Jews, including 650 children between the ages of 12-18 arrested for protesting the expulsion, is in need of funds. Donations to: Honenu, 8204 Lefferts Blvd., Suite 381, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 – Tel: 718-441-7300 – Honenu.org.il

AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; www.afsi.org; afsi@rcn.com; September 23, 2005

Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director

ALERTING THE U.S. CONGRESS TO JUDICIAL HUMAN & CIVIL RIGHTS ABUSES IN ISRAEL

          On Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005, Herbert Zweibon, Chairman of Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI, and Helen Freedman, AFSI Executive Director, escorted Chaya and Moshe Belogorodsky through the halls of Congress in Washington, DC. The two leaders of AFSI believed it was very important to introduce the Members of Congress to a father and daughter who have been victims of the “judicial imperialism” that exists today in the Israeli courts, encouraged by the Sharon government’s disregard for the will of the people. Robert Bork, American legal scholar, describes the Israeli Supreme Court as one that “is gradually producing an Israel that is neither Jewish nor democratic.” Chaya, 14 years old, was arrested by the Israeli police for standing on the sidelines in a protest against the expulsion, and then speaking rudely to a policewoman. She was kept in solitary confinement for five days, without permission to call her family or a lawyer, denied water and basic needs for periods of time. After the five days, she was moved out of solitary and kept in jail for an additional 35 days. All of this was prior to any trial, the date of which must still be set. At the trial, should she be found guilty of her “crime”, the penalty for this would be a monetary fine, without any jail time. But for this, she has already served 40 days in jail. Her father, Moshe, tried desperately to get her released, going from one court to another, until he reached the Supreme Court. There the judge ruled that Chaya was an “ideological criminal” and therefore more dangerous than drug dealers, murderers, rapists, and even terrorists, who are released as good will gestures to other terrorists. It was only public opinion pressure that finally secured her release.

          As Chaya and Moshe told their stories to Congressman Jim Saxton, and aides for Senator Inhofe, Congressmen Mike Pence and Tom Tancredo, they received overwhelming interest and concern. It is expected that action will be taken on the part of those who heard the Belogorodsky story to inform Prime Minister Sharon that such civil disobedience actions as taking part in demonstrations is part and parcel of the democratic process, and jailing minors for long periods of time for such offenses is intolerable.

          As Freedman, Zweibon, Chaya and Moshe spoke in the halls of Congress, they also told about the hundreds of other cases where minors are sitting in jail for similar offenses. The case of Shimshon Cytryn, presently being held for “attempted murder” in a clearly trumped up case, and eleven new cases of arrests of minors, illustrates that the “judicial imperialism,” producing egregious violations of human and civil rights in Israel, is running out of control. Honenu, an Israeli Jewish civil rights organization that defends the legal rights of minors and others caught in such cases needs the support of an informed public. Call AFSI, 212-828-2424, or write: afsi@rcn.com, for additional information.

Eleven more dissident children jailed in Israel

 You remember the last crop of teenaged disengagement opponents who were thrown into jail, a few weeks ago. You're about to hear about a fresh crop of arrested preteen political dissidents here in Israel, but first let's backtrack:

 A few of the girls arrested for several WEEKS (not days), last month, were as young as 13 and 14. They were locked into real jails, intended for adults -- really and truly. But eventually they were released, due to an outcry throughout the world about the way Sharon's Israel is treating such young dissidents. Other countries do not even treat very young criminals this way.  Please help us create the same outcry today -- see below.

 By the way, perhaps you don't believe that young children aged 15 or 12 or 9 can think, feel and act like real, fiery dissidents. "Their parents are to blame -- they must be putting them up to it!", I can hear you thinking. But no. These dissident children's  bitter opposition is definitely their own and not their parents'. Many of them  come from small communities which have suffered multiple catastrophes at the hands of the Palestinians who Premier Sharon is trying to appease yet again. Take the community of Itamar, for example. In a community of about 90 families -- less than one small city street here in my town -- three fathers were shot to death by Palestinians in three separate incidents only months apart, a few years back. Next, Palestinian gunmen ! slipped into the community and succeeded in shooting three teenagers to death. Finally, in yet another attack on the 90 families of Itamar, some time later, more terrorists succeeded in penetrating a house. The father and some older sons were not home. By the time the terrorists were overcome, the mother and three of her younger children were dead. An incredibly brave and selfless neighbor immediately realized what had happened, and tried his best to rescue them, but  he was shot to death too. Leaving yet another family of orphans in Itamar.

 I will never forget the newspaper picture of a neighbor lugging one of the remaining children, with difficulty, through the gun-sprayed house. The terrorists had left this child, who looked about 8 or 10 years old, with only one leg. No mother -  three dead siblings - and only one leg. If this is the lasting impression that one newspaper picture of this kid left on me -- I cannot imagine, even after my two academic degrees in psychology, the effect that these events must have on the children of Itamar and other, similar communities. After all, the classmates of this crippled child see him every single day.

 Back to the present. This week, 11 dissident girls, aged 12 to 15, managed to visit the ruins of the erstwhile Jewish village of Sa-Nur. Last month Sharon gave orders for Sa-Nur's peaceful Jewish inhabitants to be dragged out and their homes razed, to make more room -- even more room -- for the Arab nation. Of course, the Israeli police -- too understaffed to adequately control traffic accidents, drug abuse and organized crime -- promptly arrested these girls for making this visit.  

 Just for comparison, a delinquent boy here in Rehovot, home of the Weizmann Institute of Science, where I live, was recently NOT arrested by the police although the police caught him red-handed, performing a robbery and armed with a knife. He was drunk, and high on drugs, but the police released him. They did not even dream of releasing those (politically) dangerous girls who walked into Sa-Nur, but him they released right away. This released drunk delinquent boy drug-addict found a 15 year old girl to prey on, right here in Rehovot, only a couple of hours after he was released. He killed her. Not long ago I asked our Rehovot police force about that case, because I was shocked that dissidents were being arrested whereas  criminals caught red-handed we! re not being arrested. The Rehovot policemen furiously retorted that their handling of the case had been excellent. "As soon as we heard that a girl was dead -- we came to the scene," they told me with pride.

 So, we need to protest the jailing of these very young dissident girls. But the story is not over. These girls were brought in a paddy wagon (wagon for transporting arrested criminals) to the court and ordered to descend and enter the courthouse. The girls refused. Obviously!! They are dissidents, so not surprisingly they do not choose to recognize any court's authority to judge a Jew for merely walking around in the Land of Israel. These 12 to 15 year old girls  barred the door of the arrest wagon so that the police would not drag them out violently.

 The police could have asked the judge to conduct the girls' hearing in absentia. Instead they did something disgraceful, illegal and dangerous: They tried to quelch these girls by turning off the ventilator in the sealed paddy wagon --  leaving 11 girls to roast in a tiny, sealed, unventilated area in the heat of the Israeli summer.

 Is it necessary to explain how dangerous that is? It is unnecessary to explain it to any Israeli, policeman or otherwise. All of us Israelis remember, and certainly any Israeli policeman must remember,  the headlines not long ago when a 6 year old girl from Rishon LeZion was left (accidentally) in a locked bus and rapidly suffocated to death. The policemen could easily have killed those girls.  The girls could have suffocated to death or suffered brain damage. The police must have known this.

 And one more thing.  The above incident occurred in the late afternoon. One of the things the hostile judge did manage to find out, was that the 11 girls had been given nothing -- nothing -- to eat, all that day. No lunch, no snack, no breakfast -- absolutely nothing, was given to this group of eleven girls aged 12 to 15. Can you imagine what would have happened if -- Heaven forfend -- a Palestinian had been mistreated in this way? Every "humanitarian" (sic) organization in this country would have beaten a path to the door of the High Court of Justice. But for these girls, not a single "humanitarian" organization has taken action.

 "What can I do?" I can hear you saying. You can do a great deal, to help us protest:

* the incarceration of these young girls,

* their being starved for an entire day and

* the suffocation incident.

 Your protest could be as drafted as you please, or you could simply write:

"Re: Complaint about the State of Israel's treatment of the eleven preteen girls"

"I hereby protest the jailing of 11 preteen girls who did nothing except walk peacefully through their own land -- the Land of Israel. I also protest the criminal suffocation of  these young girls in the "zinzana" (paddy wagon) and ask that the responsible policeman be criminally indicted for intentionally endangering the lives of 11 minors. Finally I protest the inhumane starvation of these girls  for an entire day. I DEMAND THAT THE PERSONNEL WHO PERPETRATED THESE ACTS AND THEIR COMMANDING OFFICERS BE RELIEVED OF THEIR DUTIES IMMEDIATELY AND INDICTED SUBSEQUENTLY. I ASK THAT YOU RESPOND TO THIS LETTER BY PROVIDING ME ALL THE RELEVANT INFORMATION AS TO WHY THIS HAPPENED AND WHAT YOU PERSONALLY INTEND TO DO ABOUT IT.& WHEN WILL THESE GIRLS BE RELEASED???  (Signed:) 

 * Please call, or send the above letter or one of your own to your local Israeli embassy, if you live abroad. Build consciousness in your community by writing a letter to your local Jewish newspaper explaining what you wrote to the embassy and publicly urging the embassy to respond.

* Please write to Dr. Yizhak Kadman, ncc@children.org.il, who runs Israel's children's rights organization. Urge him to take immediate action on behalf of these girls! Dr. Kadman does not share your political opinions and mine which is why he needs to be reminded -- by you -- to take action.

* Please contact the Minister of Justice Zippy Livni (sar@moia.gov.il  and the Minister of Police Gidon Ezra (sar@mops.gov.il) and ask them what is going on. Send reminders until you get answers. These two ministers are about to stand for re-election, so you may find them more responsive than usual.

* And please -- keep us posted. Keep all your friends and relatives posted as well.

Thank you so much for your assistance.

Susie Dym, spokeperson

Mattot Arim

sddym@bezeqint.net an Israeli grassroots organization working toward peace for peace since 1992

 PS Some of you have asked in the past why official complaints are not being filed for this type of event. The answer is that complaints are definitely filed, by the legal aid fund Honenu and its close associate Zchuyot Adam beYesha, but only to the extent that Honenu's fantastically dedicated volunteers and few paid attorneys can handle the torrent of events. Please therefore promote the efforts of Honenu (http://www.honenu.org.il)   to expand their tiny legal staff, in any way you can. Thank you.

 Update: Four of the girls have been released from jail, mostly because they are very young -- sixth graders. Those aged 13 and up are still in jail and will be there for at least another week. In direct contradiction to regulations and to a court order dated last week, they are not being permitted to call their parents, read, study schoolwork, or even wash their clothing. YOU can create the public outcry that will help these girls by sending YOUR protest letters NOW. Thank you so much.

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AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; www.afsi.org; afsi@rcn.com; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717

Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director; September 16, 2005 

AFSI ANTI-SHARON RALLY AT THE UN DRAWS HUNDREDS

By: Helen Freedman, Executive Director, AFSI                       

          The AFSI sponsored anti-Sharon rally at the UN, held Thursday, Sept. 15, while Israel’s PM Ariel Sharon was speaking to the UN General Assembly in the early afternoon, drew an enthusiastic crowd of over two hundred people. Entering Dag Hammerskold Plaza at 47^th Street & 2^nd Ave., the participants made their way to First Ave. and found themselves surrounded on one side by hundreds of demonstrators protesting against the dictatorial policies of Ethiopia, and on the other, against the repressive Chinese Communists. The drum rolls and chanting blended in with our calls against Sharon, the man being greeted enthusiastically at the Organization of Nations United against Israel. It was the perfect setting for him, being part of that group of 191 dictators and human rights violators, where corruption and greed are the rule of the day, and where Israel and America are seen as the enemy. But Sharon had become one of them by ethnically cleansing Gush Katif/Gaza and four N. Shomron communities. Destroying thriving Jewish communities, and turning 10,000 people into refugees, still homeless and wandering a month after their expulsion, was an action heavily applauded by the Arab states that dominate the UN, and indeed, to his shame, was praised by President Bush.

As Master of Ceremonies for the rally, I had the privilege of making introductory remarks about my personal experiences in Nevei Dekalim/Gush Katif/Gaza during the expulsion. I detailed the need to care for the 10,000 Gush Katif & N. Shomron refugees, and that AFSI was raising funds for them.  I also pointed out the fact sheet that AFSI was distributing on Ariel Sharon’s corruption, summarizing a report from the Institute for the Study of Corruption in Israel. It details the many money scandals in which Ariel Sharon, his sons and colleagues are implicated.

            I then introduced the featured speaker of the rally, Chaya Belogorodsky, a slim, tall, pale 14 year old Jewish girl who had recently been released from the prison where she had been kept by the Sharon government for forty days. Chaya and her father, Moshe, had arrived in New York from Israel early Thursday morning and the rally was the first item on their agenda.  Chaya told us of her participation on June 29, 2005, in a demonstration against the expulsion which took place at Morasha Junction. During the demonstration, the expressway was blocked by the protestors.  Chaya’s young friends, Penina Ashkenazi (17) and Moriah Goldberg (13), took part in blocking the road, while Chaya stood by the roadside. When Chaya saw her friends being arrested, she approached the police car and was accused of attempting to “obstruct the arrest,” and of “insulting a public servant” when she refused to identify herself to the police officer and answered, “Just shut up and arrest me.”  The girls were kept in prison for forty days, under very difficult circumstances.

The State prosecutor stated that “unauthorized demonstrations are more dangerous to the public safety than the drug trade [and that youth] suspected of having committed crimes on ideological grounds, make the threat they present especially grave.” The Judge determined that the girls present a “clear and present danger, i.e. the potential threat to safety of a person or the public, in face of the possibility of future upheaval when we deal with a challenging topic, in challenging times in a challenging place.” The word “challenging” seems to be a euphemism for undemocratic decisions foisted on the populace.

As Chaya told her story to the assembled crowd, it was hard to believe that this young girl could be considered such a threat to the state. She is a shining example of pure principle, faith and love of her country which dictates that one must speak out when seeing a loved one in danger. She could not sit home and go about business as usual while her brothers and sisters in Gush Katif were being threatened. The result was her imprisonment by a government that has betrayed the mandate of the people by which it was empowered.

 Moshe Belogorodsky spoke of his pride in his daughter, his efforts to secure her release, and the stone wall of resistance which he met, as his daughter’s ideology was deemed so dangerous that she had to be kept in prison. The judge refused to release Chaya in Moshe’s care as an alternative to detention.  He was considered unfit because he shares the same ideology as his daughter.

Moshe told us about the nationally acclaimed Israeli Jewish civil rights organization, Honenu, which provided legal services and support during the ordeal. The group’s literature tells us that HONENU “has defended 4000 civilians and soldiers over the past four years. In the past three months alone, over 1100 Jews have been arrested, detained, and jailed for activities protesting the expulsion. 650 are children between the ages of 12-18. Honenu pays their lawyers and offers stipends to the families involved in lengthy court proceedings. It provides free legal defense and counseling 24 hours a day, six days a week, with forty lawyers on call around the clock in ten regional courts nationwide. Its website is: HONENU.ORG.IL

             I then turned the microphone over to many of the grass roots participants who had shown up that hot, humid, rain-threatening afternoon, to come with their signs, orange shirts and caring hearts to demand justice from the Sharon regime. 

            Susan Rosenbluth, editor of New Jersey’s Jewish Voice and Opinion, began with a litany of charges against Sharon for the corruption and greed which propelled the expulsion plan.

Evelyn Haies read one of her poems about the new wandering Jews, and spoke of her recent experiences in Israel.

Rob Muchnick, who had been housed in a tent in Shirat HaYam/Gush Katif during the expulsion, described his hair-raising experiences.  

Shmuel Sackett, International Director of Manhigut Yehudit, commended Paul Schnek and Israel Dear for their daily demonstrations outside the Israeli Consulate. (Paul and Israel (Shaya) can be found at 42^nd Street & 1^st Ave. every day from 12-2, carrying their signs, denouncing the Sharon policies. They welcome anyone who wishes to join them.) Sackett, representing Moshe Feiglin, spoke about the need for new Jewish leadership and political change in Israel. Without a drastic overhaul of the political process, Israel seems doomed to continue on a disastrous downward spiral. 

Charlie Bernhaut, former radio host, and present TV co-host of Israel Update, spoke movingly about the failure of many Israelis to know about the human rights abuses occurring in Israel today. This may be a product of the left-wing media, or a bias against religious Jews instilled in them by an autocratic government.

Gil Margolis, who with his brother Oren, and mother Aliza, a former paratrooper in the Israeli Air Force, spends a great deal of time in Israel, spoke about his recent experiences there. Gil carried a sign citing Sharon as the Hero who is now a Zero.

James McClain, a Christian black man who has become a good friend of AFSI’s, has written a song entitled, CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, G-D IS ON YOUR SIDE. He was inspired to write the song for Shiraz, one of the terror victims of the Sbarro Pizza bombing in March, 2002. James sang the song for the group, and gave us inspirational words about the special nature of the children of Israel.

Joel Bell, a Christian who lives in Jerusalem, and who was in Nevei Dekalim with his wife, Pam, during the expulsion, gave an impassioned speech filled with hope and promise for those who treasure the Promised Land. He denounced PM Sharon for his brutal, senseless and dangerous destruction of Jewish homes and lands. He brought tears to the eyes of many when he spoke about the beautiful synagogues of Gush Katif, now merely burned out shells, as a result of the Arab desecrations.

Chabad representatives from Crown Heights were also present, delivering the encouraging words of the Rebbe, and denouncing both Sharon and Bush for their policies which are tearing Israel apart, contrary to the Rebbe’s admonition of NOT ONE INCH.

The rally would have been incomplete without putting in a special plea for Jonathan Pollard. We recalled that President Clinton had promised Pollard’s release to then PM Netanyahu. That promise was broken. We called for PM Sharon to speak on Pollard’s behalf to President Bush. How wonderful if Pollard could accompany Sharon on his return trip to Israel.

At the conclusion of the rally, still accompanied by the Chinese and Ethiopian drum rolls, seeking justice, as we were, we continued chanting, SHARON MUST GO.

The group was reminded that donations to help the Gush Katif refugees could be sent to AFSI, 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128. The checks should be made out to: FRIENDS OF GUSH KATIF. Tax deductible checks for HONENU may be sent to:  8204 Lefferts Blvd., Suite 381, Kew Gardens, NY 11415; Tel: 718-441-7300. Call AFSI at 212-828-2424 or send an email to: afsi@rcn.com for further information.

AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI; 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128; Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org. ; May 3, 2004; Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

P.M. SHARON HAS THE MARK OF CAIN ON HIS HANDS

            Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI extends warm congratulations to the organizers and participants in the huge grass-roots effort that defeated Prime Minister Sharon’s Likud party referendum on expelling the 8000 Jews of Gush Katif/Gaza and turning their homes, farms, schools and synagogues over to the Arab terrorists. During months of intense work, Gush Katif and Yesha leaders launched the campaign to alert Likud members to the truth that victory for terrorism in Gaza would be the beginning of the end for all of Israel.  AFSI in America is proud to have participated in that effort.

            Today, however, just one day after Sharon’s resounding defeat, Herbert Zweibon, Chairman of Americans For a Safe Israel, warns:  “The Likud’s defeat of PM Sharon’s Gaza “disengagement plan,” is nothing but a temporary pothole on the road map to surrender. Israel’s so-called “hawkish” Prime Minister has opened a door which can no longer be shut, regardless of the squabbles among ministers. Furthermore, he has broken his promise to abide by the outcome of his party’s referendum.  American and European supporters of the Gaza surrender plan have been put on notice that Israel is willing to cede all of Gaza and major portions of Judea and Samaria. The pressures from the United States and the Arabs will be intense, and as history shows over and over again, Israel will accede.”

            Zweibon adds, “What is morally repugnant is the Prime Minister’s response to the Nazi-like execution of Tali Hatuel, her four daughters, and the eight month old son with whom she was pregnant, in an ambush near Gush Katif. To claim, as he does, “Today’s terrible murder is the Palestinian way of rejecting and disrupting the plan,” is outrageous.  No,  Mr. Sharon. The Nazi-like barbarians were not enemies of any plans for Israeli surrender. They were enemies of Jews – those Jews who live under your jurisdiction, and whose security is your mandate.  Those thugs who danced in jubilation after the massacre are the only ones gratified by your craven response.”

            The Prime Minister has had charges of bribery dropped against him.  He is guilty of far worse charges.  Mr. Sharon has the mark of Cain on his hands.  Shame on him.   Shame on him.

1623 Third Avenue, Suite 205, New York, NY 10128

Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org

                         Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 21, 2004

AFSI DEPLORES DESTRUCTION OF TAPUACH SYNAGOGUE 

            Herbert Zweibon, Chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel, speaks out against the destruction of the synagogue at Tapuach West, by the Israeli police and army, under orders from the Sharon government. 

            Zweibon says, “The destruction of the synagogue, in an inhabited community, may be seen as the precursor to the destruction of other Jewish homes, communities, and synagogues. These actions on the part of Prime Minister Sharon are in direct contradiction to his own advice to “take the hills” of the Shomron. It is also tragically reminiscent of Sharon’s dismemberment of the Jewish community in Yamit, in 1982, when the first transfer of Jews from Jewish land took place.” 

            AFSI’s Chairman quotes MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) in his denunciation of the demolition, calling it a “national disgrace,” and demanding that the government “not employ a double standard. If it has decided to fight against [illegal] Jewish construction, then let it first carry out the thousands of demolition orders that have been issued against illegally-built Arab structures.” 

            Zweibon continues, “If, as we have heard, it is pressure from America that is forcing these actions, we, as Americans, must do everything in our power to influence the Bush administration to stop pressuring Israel. We call on all Americans, Jews and Christians, who object to the destruction of the Tapuach synagogue and the expulsion of Jews from their homes, to write letters of protest to Prime Minister Sharon, and to President Bush.”  

            The contact information is as follows:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,                      Pres. George W. Bush

Tel: 011-972-2-670-5555                             Tel: 202-456-1414

Fax: 011-972-2-670-5475                             Fax: 202-456-2461

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