AZ shooter may be tied to anti-Semitic hate group

An internal memo put out by the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by Fox News suggests an anti-Semitic motive behind the AZ shooting.

As posted on Gretawire:

"suspect’s mother works for the Pima County Board of Supervisors* the suspect has multiple arrests ... But no criminal record? Intervention by someone?* no direct connection - but strong suspicion is being directed at AmRen / American Renaissance. Suspect is possibly linked to this group. (through videos posted on his myspace and YouTube account.). The group’s ideology is anti government, anti immigration, anti ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti Semitic. Gabrielle Gifford is the first Jewish female elected to such a high position in the US government. She was also opposite this group’s ideology when it came to immigration debate..." (bold, italics added)

According to JTA, Giffords, who grew up in a mixed religious environment, took interest in her Jewish roots and identity after a 2001 trip to Israel. During her campaign she openly recounted her Jewish upbringing and Jewish tradition among her strengths for the job:

“If you want something done, your best bet is to ask a Jewish woman to do it...Jewish women — by our tradition and by the way we were raised — have an ability to cut through all the reasons why something should, shouldn’t or can’t be done and pull people together to be successful.”

JTA also points out that in one of her last photos, Giffords posed with the new U.S. House of Representatives speaker, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) at her swearing in, with her hand on the Five Books of Moses.

Combine Giffords' public Jewish identity with the shooter's suspected ties to anti-Semitic hate groups, and it's hard not to cry wolf. This incident begs urgent follow-up questions, which we hope the media are asking: What role does anti-Semitism and Neo-Nazism play in the Tea Party movement? Why are we seeing an anti-Semitic shooting in 22nd-century America? And what is Obama going to do about it?

Jewish Congresswoman in critical condition after shooting

Jewish Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, 41, is alive and in critical condition in surgery, after being shot in the head in a shooting attack that killed a judge, one of her aides, and four others, and wounded at least 10, outside a grocery store where she was holding a meeting with voters. Her surgeon is optimistic about her chances for recovery.

YNet brings to light Giffords' Jewish heritage and identity, including legislation:

Giffords is the granddaughter of Akiba Hornstein, the son of a Lithuanian rabbi who in the 1940s moved from New York to Tucson. He later changed his name to Giff Giffords in an effort to avoid anti-Semitism.

Gabrielle Giffords first visited Israel in 2001 as an Arizona senator, later saying that she felt very committed to Judaism and that the visit provided her with a basis to better understand who she is and where she came from.

Upon returning to Arizona, she introduced legislation that helped Holocaust survivors.

Giffords was in Israel again last month and also visited a synagogue. She was planning to return to Israel in the summer.

In a recent visit at the Temple Emanuel synagogue she told the congregation that the US must remain committed to Israel, the Middle East's only democracy. Last week, she wrote in Arizona's Jewish newspaper that there would be no peace in the region before the Palestinian leadership and other organizations accept Israel's right to exist.

Let's pray for Gavriela's recovery.

November 29, 1947: Deja vu?

Today, the Palestinian Authorty is pressing for a vote to take place before Jan. 19th in the UN Security Council on a resolution demanding Israel to again freeze building in Judea and Samaria, which Israel gained control over after Egypt, Jordan and Syria instigated war in 1967. (Why did they instigate war then, if those were the desired borders?) The resolution also condemns settlement activity as illegal and as a "major obstacle" to peace.

In efforts to bring about a vote, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN (is that legal?) Riyad Mansour along with a delegation of Arab envoys met with representatives of the 15-member Security Council member governments, including India, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria. India's ambassador has reported no opposition to the draft resolution.

Diplomats, according to Bloomberg, predict support from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, giving the Palestinians 14 votes, in what could be (b"H) Obama's first Security Council veto. According to a former Tony Blair aid, "“It is going to be a difficult call for the Obama administration, which is not inclined to want to veto resolutions." Middle East analyst David Gordon says that while  US ambassador Susan rice may attempt to water down the resolution to the point where the US will abstain, a US veto is more likely.

In 1970, Stephen Schwebel, who later became head of the International Criminal Court, said the following about Israel and the disputed territories:

Where the prior holder of territory had seized that territory unlawfully, the state which subsequently takes that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense has, against that prior holder, better title.

On November 29th, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted 33 to 12 in favor of the Partition Plan, which recommended the termination of British rule over present-day Israel, and the partition of the territory into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Following the vote, Arab countries declared war -- which, by the way is illegal too! -- against Israel, ensuing a conflict going on until this day.

Countries cast their votes as followed:

In favor, (33 countries, 59%):

• 30 countries (54%) initially in favour:
  • Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Belorussian SSR, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Sweden, South Africa, Ukrainian SSR, United States of America, Soviet Union, Uruguay, Venezuela.

• An additional 3 (5%) switched to in favor:
  • Haiti, Liberia, Philippines.

Against, (13 countries, 23%):

• Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.

Abstentions, (10 countries, 18%):

• Argentina, Chile, Republic of China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.

Absent, (1 country, 0%):

• Thailand

The vote was generally celebrated throughout Israel and Jewish communities around the world: In Israel, the streetnames of the neighborhood Kiryat Yovel in Jerusalem are named after countries who voted in favor of the partition plan. 

Today on the other hand: why does Israel not have one friend it can count on in today's security council?

Clinton embarks on tour to strengthen ties with Arab allies

Last week, Hillary Clinton pow-wowed with South American leaders, many of whom have recently recognized a Palestinian state, at the inauguration of Brazil's new president. This week, Clinton departs on a six-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar, in an effort to strengthen ties with Arab allies. According to one state department official, agenda items include the Arab peace initiative and attitudes of the region towards the Palestinian Authority and "peace" talks.

According to Foreign Policy, there is so shortage of personal ties this week. Before departing, Clinton paid a visit to Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who has been in New York since November for surgery on his back. And in a trip designed to promote democracy and security in the Arab world,  Clinton will participate in celebrations in honor of the 40th anniversary the reign of Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who, according to state department official, is 'a long time friend of the United States and a valued partner who has made enormous changes on the ground in his country over the last 40 years.'" You can read about the sultan's collection of super yachts, one of which contains an orchestra and a swimming pool, here.

Motzei Shabbat News Update from Israel

1. 20-year old sergeant Nadav Rotenberg of Ramot HaShavim was killed in action fighting Hamas terrorists on Israel's border with Gaza on Friday night, on the day of his parents' 26th wedding anniversary, after the IDF identified several terrorists planting explosives near the security fence bordering central Gaza. Another soldier was moderately wounded and three others sustained light injuries. A preliminary IDF investigation concluded that friendly fire was responsible for the death and woundings, when a mortar strayed and struck the soldiers for an unknown reason. An investigative team is currently looking into the circumstances of the incident.

2. Four mortar shells exploded onto a kibbutz in the Sha'ar HaNegev regional council district (map), killing three Thai workers on Shabbat. One shell struck the building in which the workers lived, and one of the injured is undergoing surgery following shrapnel wounds to his chest. The Al-Quds Brigades military wing of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility on Saturday night for the attack. Another shell hit Eshkol Regional Council district later Saturday evening. No injuries or damages were reported. IDF: "We will deal with those who fired the mortars and those who sent them." (INN, JPost)

 3. A Palestinian man carrying pipe bombs and a knife, who approached a checkpoint yelling "God is great", was shot to death by IDF soldiers at the Bekaot checkpoint near Tubas, southeast of Nablus. (YNet)

The Ten Plagues

The Seventh Plague (John Martin, 1789-1854)

In this week's Torah Portion, we read about the last three of the ten plagues that befell Egypt in the context of trying to free the Jews of slavery. According to the New Bible Dictionary, the goal of the plagues were to clearly demonstrate the reality of the Israeiltes' one God, in contrast to the impotence of Egypt's gods.

Summary of the Ten Plagues (adapted from Wikipedia): 

1. Nile turns to blood, fish die, Egypt fills with an awful stench. Pharoah's magicians too show they can also turn water to blood.

2. Extremely large frogs fill all of Egypt, all the way into people's homes, even in their beds. Pharoah's magicians can mimic the plague but cannot stop it, pushing Pharoah to agree to let the Israelites go. After the frogs die, Pharoah changes his mind.

3. Deadly lice infect people and livestock of Egypt. Egyptian magicians fail to reproduce the effect, and declare the act as "the finger of God".

4. Herds of wild animals invade Egypt. Pharoah asks Moses to remove the plague and promises to let the people go. Yet again as soon as the plague ends, Pharoah "hardened his heart" and rescinds his promise.

5. An epidemic exterminates Egyptian livetsock. Pharoah makes no concessions.

6. Moses and Aaron take handfuls of soot from a furnace, throw it into the sky, inducing boils on people and livestock. Egypt's magicians were among the victims and were unable to heal themselves.

7. Moses warns Pharoah to let the Israelites go, lest God unleash the full force of the plagues against Egypt. Pharoah is warned, and God sends thunder, hail and lightning in the worst storm of Egypt's history, with many victims and damage of property and livestock. In a plea to stop the storm, Pharaoh says: "This time I have sinned; God is righteous, I and my people are wicked." As soon as Moses begins to pray to God, the hail stops. Pharoah again "hardened his heart" and goes back on his word.

8. Locusts: Locusts began on the first day of the Hebrew month of Shvat, which this year fell on Thursday, January 6th. Before the plague, God warns Moses that He Himself will "harden Pharoah's heart" so as to fully demonstrate the power of God throughout the entire world. Moses warns Pharoah of the plague, and Pharoah's ministers beg him to give in and spare them of the plague of locusts. Pharoah offers to let the men go alone, but Moses repeats the demand for the entire people, which Pharaoh refuses. A locust storm casts a shadow over Egypt and consumes all the remaining Egyptian crops, leaving not one tree standing.

9. Darkness: Egypt was consumed by darkness for three days. Light remained in the homes of the Israelites. Some say this plague was an attack on Pharoah's sun god Ra.

10. Death of the firstborn: Before the plague, God commands Moses to inform all Israelites to mark their doorposts with lamb's blood, so as to spare them from the plague. At midnight, all first-borns of Egypt, from Pharoah's own son, to the first-born of the cattle, perish. Pharoah, fearing his own life, finally succumbs and orders the Israelites to go and to take whatever they wanted. Fearing Pharoah will again change his mind, the Israelites make flatbread and pack quickly, eager for their redemption after four centuries of knowing nothing but suffering.

Animal deaths = tenth plague?

What if the animal deaths this week are a huge chesed (act of lovingkindness) of Hashem, an enactment of only the animal toll of makat bechorot (death of the first-borns)?

וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ-מִצְרַיִם, בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה, וְהִכֵּיתִי כָל-בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, מֵאָדָם וְעַד-בְּהֵמָה; וּבְכָל-אֱלֹהֵי מִצְרַיִם אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים, אֲנִי יְהוָה

And I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night, and smite all firstborns in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.

After the carmel fire, Rabbi Uri Shreki, head of the Israeli division of Machon Meir, said the Carmel fire was the attribute of judgment taking its toll, in what could have been a much greater disaster. Considering what could have been, the way things happened derived from the "total kindness of Hashem".

It is also worth noting that Uri Shreki, whose article was brought to my attention last month by Yeranen Yaakov, did not take the view that am yisrael 'deserved' the fire, h"v. Rather, he said the fire was in the category of 'yissurim shel ahava', or 'sufferings of love', where Hashem sends ordeals to his favorites, the heavy price which is only worth it in light of what's ahead.