The Wrongful Case of Shalom Rubashkin

Please take 2 minutes to watch this short awareness piece about a man and a case that truly affects us all. 



http://justiceforsholom.org/

A Profound Moment... of Silence

Today is Israel's national memorial day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks.  As on every Israeli memorial day, there is a 1 minute moment of silence at 11am. 
This is not like any moment of silence I have ever taken part in.  I stand on the street in statue-like reverence, surrounded by others in equally still poses.  A woman's cigarette burns in her hand. 
In my relatively short time in this country I have experienced a deep exposure to the reality of Israeli life.  I have spent 6.5 years here.  Not a lifetime.  Not even half of my young life.  Yet in this chapter of my life here I have felt the sacrifice, I have seen the pain, and I have the faces of lost friends burned onto my conciousness .  My moment of silence is filled with images of my young compatriots who fell defending their homes and the ideals thats stand among them.  All of this is reinforced by the stand-still scene that surrounds me on a busy street in Tel Aviv. 
There is much behind this fervently observed moment of silence.  Seeing the cars come to a stop; their drivers standing alongside in the street, the never-ending stream of city busses sitting in their places, the throngs of pedestrians on the sidewalks, all standing motionless and deep in thought. 
This scene means something.  It means that the sacrifice laid down by the hero soldiers we stop and remember today, was not in vain.  The people here remember.  The loss of a soldier matters.  The nation cares. 

Each soldier that falls in the line of duty here is remembered as a hero, and their deeds will never be forgotten or taken for granted. 
This is why the Israeli Defense Force is the best army in the world.  The whole country stands behind us.  The whole nation cares.

A Migrant Thai Worker Killed by an Indiscriminately Fired Rocket from Gaza

"I condemn any kind of violence. We have got to find a peaceful solution to the issues and problems,"
Catherine Ashton during her visit to Gaza as the top diplomat from the EU. 


Thanks for being the voice of the EU Cathy. But we arent talking about "violence of any kind" today.

What a weak and insulting comment / condemnation from the EU's top diplomat in response to a blatant act of murderous terrorism targeting civilians... while she is actually present in the strip no less!

A proper response could have been: "If this is how you people are going to act then we are withdrawing all of our aid." But then maybe she is worried that the rockets might simply get pointed in Europe's direction instead. Then again, they are already pointed at Europe from one of Gaza's largest supporters today.... Iran.

The story in the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704207504575129213578261560.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hps_SECONDTopStories#articleTabs%3Darticle

Ron Artest Looks For Some Defensive Help From Hebrew

I turned on the Lakers - Magic game the other night and could not believe my eyes... Ron Artest of the Los Angeles Lakers, decided it would bring him some extra defensive ability on the court if he had the word "defense" written on his head. He imprinted the word in three different languages: Hindi, Japanese, and Hebrew!

Jewish Jamaican History Now a Tourist Attraction

This is a great article from the Wall Street Journal about Jewish heritage in Jamaica and the new efforts being made by the Jamaican tourist industry to preserve it.
Lets Go!!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703382904575059113221038280.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLENews

The Dubai Police Mockery

For far too long we have been hearing about the "alleged" Israeli assassination of a top Hamas operative in Dubai. Why has the media carried on so long (over a month now) about the death of this Hamas operative? Why does the world seem to care so much?

The answer: because it "allegedly" involves Israel.

We have always seen this disproportionate amount of attention on Israel in the media but this time there is nothing even concrete to tie Israel to the story except that it involves an operative of Israel's vile enemy, Hamas. If the world media was so quick to point the finger at Israel for this murder without ANY evidence, then there must be a reason that Israel would want such an agent of Hamas dead. It turns out that this particular Hamas operative was the go-between of Hamas and Iran for smuggling weapons to the Gaza strip.

Now Dubai's response is to ban entry to ALL Israeli citizens (who before this were only allowed to enter using an alternate foreign passport, if they were dual citizens). To do this the police force in Dubai says that they will "seek to identify Israelis by physical features and the way they speak.'' said Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, chief of the Dubai Police Dept.

The Dubai police are making a mockery of themselves with this high profile response and should instead focus their efforts on the many high profile exiled terrorists (with similar resumes to the Hamas operative killed) residing peacefully in their emirate.

It is quite clear that it is not in the interests of the Dubai Police force to crack down on local Islamic militancy, but rather to point the finger ignorantly at Israel for all of Dubai's embarrassing woes.

This Wall Street Journal Article expands:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703429304575095124162751164.html?mod=WSJ_World_LEFTSecondNews#articleTabs%3Darticle

The Passing of a National Hero

This morning I learned of the passing of Zvi Shafir ז"ל, the grandfather of good friends of mine here in Israel. This man was a great representative of a fantastic generation here who pioneered the establishment of the modern Nation of Israel. He was one of the lucky Jewish refugees from a morally tattered Europe who made it to then Palestine and toiled to create this country for the generations to come. Zvi was part of a generation who will hold legendary status in the lengthy annals of Jewish history. It is of my opinion that proper tribute can hardly be paid to Zvi and the many others of his time who created a new future, pride, and a hope of surviving and prospering for the Jewish People. I feel lucky to have known him. His passing simply highlights how my young generation must truly cherish the opportunity to still sit and learn first-hand of the tribulations of those times over 60 years ago.

Please take some time to watch this incredible video interview produced just weeks before his death by his granddaughters:

Zvi's Memories from Gustavo Sales on Vimeo.