Cathy Sherman

The Kurds are over the news this month – who are they anyway? When the media mentions the Kurds, one might think they are a cohesive group, like a nation of people. But that’s not quite the way it is, for in fact the Kurds are many things.

In terms of ethnicity, the Kurds are considered the fourth largest group in the Middle East. Arabs, Turks and Persians are larger. The Kurds live in a roughly contiguous region spanning Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. Though their language – related to modern Persian – and culture are distinctive, they are mostly Sunni Muslims. Because they are strongly tribal, the Kurds have not successfully united enough to forge and maintain a nation state, though they call a section of their land Kurdistan. This has often led to rebellions and uprisings as the Kurds fought for independence while never succeeding.

So we have a loosely affiliated Muslim group located in neighboring sections of four states. The People’s Protection Units, or Y.P.G., is now facing an escalating battle with Turkish forces in northwestern Syria, and are closely tied to the P.K.K (Kurdistan Worker’s Party). The P.K.K. is considered a terrorist group by both Turkey and the US. Because the Y.P.G. has helped the US against ISIS, their ties to the P.K.K. have caused problems between the US and Turkey.

It’s complicated, but the US has decided that after years of helping the Kurds, relations in the Middle East made it necessary to pull back from support on the Turkish-Syria border. This has caused a huge response from the anti-Trump crowd, who have descended on the issue like a herd of ants on a dead carcass.

This should be a unique issue, but the media and the left have been connecting the alliance of the US with the Kurds to the alliance with Israel. They accuse Trump of treating Israel the same way in the future, just because the media likes fake news about Trump.

Note to leftist media: Israel is not a loose group of Muslim tribes! Israel is a stable nation state which happens to be the most westernized of all Middle Eastern states. The only similarity between the Kurds and Israel in terms of US aid is that both receive US military equipment.

There is a huge difference between how the Kurds deal with their military help and how Israel deals with it. The Kurds used it to help the US beat down IS. The Israelis use it to develop weapons, buy US weapons, and provide other benefits to the US.

Highlights of these benefits include, but are not limited to:

Security

Israel is a major defense supplier to the U.S. military,  providing cutting-edge, sophisticated military technology, such as the David’s Sling Counter Rocket and  Arrow Missile Defense System. In addition, US received cyber-weapons, unmanned vehicles (such as land robots and aerial drones), sensors and electronic warfare systems, and advanced defenses for military vehicles. Israel is also on the front lines fighting terrorism and aggression before they reach the US.

Intelligence

Israel provides critical intelligence to the US in regard to the Middle East and the Mediterranean states. Without such intel, the US would have to maintain more bases and use more resources to carry out their own reconnaissance and spying.

Technology

Israeli civilian technological innovations have helped the US in a range of non-military security challenges. U.S. companies have set up technology incubators in Israel, one of the most innovative societies in the world. Israeli high-tech firms partner with US companies in production and marketing ventures in the US and other countries, which has created tens of thousands of jobs for Americans. Israel is also a top importer of American products. Remember, many Israelis are dual citizens of Israel and America and demand the American products they have used and loved. Israel also provides the US with its agricultural technological and land use innovations, such as the now ubiquitous drip irrigation system. We also must include the amazing wastewater reclamation developments, renewable energy innovations such as solar and wind power, and so on.

Medical Innovations

Mention Israel to an American and the first thing that often comes to their mind is medical innovation. More than medications, Israel produces med-tech innovations like the Re-Walk, the upright wheelchair, an immunotherapy technique to treat cancer, electro-optic medical devices, portable ECG, Ob/Gyn/Portable Fetal-Maternal Monitoring Device, and much more.

Let’s compare this partial list to the complete list of benefits provided by the Kurds:
Fighting IS, and….. and?…oh well.

So it’s ludicrous for the anti-Trumpers to jump up and down and warn that Trump is going to stab Israel in the back first chance he gets. He is aware that the US depends on Israel for many more benefits than the Kurds could ever provide. Besides, his Christian Zionist and Jewish supporters would raise a huge fit if he would even look like he is contemplating such a move. Let’s face it – it’s like comparing apples (fruit) to Apples (computers) – no comparison.

© 2019 NWV – All Rights Reserved

E-Mail Cathy Sherman: yofeee@gmail.com

Sources

Friends with benefits: why the US Israeli alliance is good for America

US reaps mutual benefit of aid to Israel

Israeli innovations in medical technology

“And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had acquired, and the souls they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan….. And the Lord appeared to Abram, and He said, ‘To your seed I will give this land,’ and there he built an altar to the Lord, Who had appeared to him.” Genesis 12:5,7

“When one looks into what the Palestinians say about themselves, how each family describes its lineage, there is no trace of a ‘Canaanite’ ancestry. Most of the families find their origins in Arab tribes, some of them with Kurdish or Egyptian background, and there are even – by word of mouth – widespread stories of Jewish or Samaritan ancestry.”   Pinhas Inbari, “Who Are the Palestinians?”

As the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs continues to drag on, with no end in sight, several things have become clear. There is a history of the Jewish people and one for the Arab Palestinians, and one of these histories gives the possessor a stronger claim to the ownership of the land.

If one wants to weigh in their opinion of the matter, for whatever reason, it is important to look into the competing historical claims. Along with histories there are traditions, and one of these two groups has traditions that reflect the importance of the land to their history. The history and traditions should have been conveyed from generation to generation, from ancient times to this present day, and this is reflected in each group’s narratives.

Anyone who has read Genesis in the Bible  has read of the Jewish roots in Israel, which began when God directed Abraham to go to the land of Canaan, today’s Israel. His family lived there until the generation of his grandson, Jacob. At that time there was a famine so Jacob moved the family to Egypt. After 210 years in Egypt, Moses brought the Israelites home to Canaan. There they established a kingdom in their homeland, built two Temples to God, and maintained some kind of presence for at least the 3000 years since the first Temple, which was built by King Solomon.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus was documented as living in Jerusalem through the writings of the New Testament. In regard to the narrative of the Jews, the NT is especially interesting for all the historical detail it contains. Most of this history is confirmed by the writer Josephus, who documented the history of the time.

Every day the traditions and Biblical writing is confirmed by new archeological discoveries. Stamps have been found bearing the names of Biblical personages, and many other proofs of the Temples and Biblical characters have been found. Archeologists are digging in the City of David currently and are excavating a large home which they believe to be King David’s palace. When I visited the site, they had just uncovered what they considered to be ancient toilets!. Now, it may seem strange, but what could be more authentic than an ancient toilet to prove a building housed important people, and why would archeologists make up such an explanation for these very toilet-shaped artifacts? So it seems, 3000 years ago, King David used a kind of ancient toilet in his palace. Similar items have not been found in normal homes of the time, which gives credence to the idea that this was the home of someone important.

There are many such sites in Jerusalem and around the city that prove there was a Temple and there was a Jewish people as described in the Bible and by Josephus.

For centuries it was understood by the world that Israel had been Jewish and there had been Temples and important kings there. No one had contested this proof of the Jewish homeland in Israel.

Recently, many questioned the Palestinian Arab narrative of their roots being in Canaan, because they offered no proof. There has been no history and no record of any nation called Palestine. The name itself originated when the Roman name -“Palestina” – was given to it, following the defeat of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135 CE. Roman Emperor Hadrian gave the name in the hopes of erasing its Biblical name “Judea.” So the name is not Arabic and has absolutely nothing to do with the Arabs. The Jews called themselves Palestinians when they lived in the land under other rulers, but never did any Arabs use that label for themselves until the last century.

Today the Palestinian Arabs continue to add to their history and narrative. Their leaders are reiterating that the origin of the Palestinians is the Canaani people. As we know, the Israelites destroyed their community and they either died or fled, and today DNA tests reveal that the remnant of the Canaani people may be today’s Lebanese.

Regardless, some Palestinian Arabs maintain that they are the Canaani and that the Israelites stole their homeland. Today, after thousands of years, they have decided to re-claim their homeland. They failed to show any interest in doing this when Jordan occupied the “West Bank” from 1948 until 1967. But when the Jews won the land back in 1967, the Palestinians suddenly remembered they were indigenous and they wanted their “homeland” back.

Recently writer Pinhas Inbari researched Palestinian Arab families in the area to try to ascertain their traditions and family history. He could not find one family who traced their roots back to the land of Canaan.

He writes, “Not a single Palestinian tribe identifies its roots in Canaan; instead, they all see themselves as proud Arabs descended from the most notable Arab tribes …of Iraq, or Yemen. Even the Kanaan family of Nablus locates its origins in Syria. Some Palestinian clans are Kurdish or Egyptian in origin, and in Mount Hebron, there are traditions of Jewish origins.“

There was a video on March 23, 2012, featuring the Hamas Minister of the Interior and National Security, Fathi Hammad, linking the Palestinians’ origins to Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula:

He stated, “Who are the Palestinians? We have many families called al-Masri, whose roots are Egyptian! They may be from Alexandria, from Cairo, from Dumietta, from the north, from Aswan, from Upper Egypt. We are Egyptians; we are Arabs. We are Muslims. We are part of you. Egyptians! Personally, half my family is Egyptian – and the other half are Saudis.”

Inbari also looked into other narratives of the origins of the Palestinian Arabs. For centuries before the birth of modern Israel, the area was considered to be part of southern Syria. Even then, there was no desire for an independent state. The Palestinians wanted to be part of Syria.

As Inbari wrote. ”At the 1920 riots, Haj Amin al-Husseini held up a portrait of King Faisal of Syria and showed it to the Jerusalem Arab crowd: ‘This is your King!’ The crowd responded: ‘God Save the King!’ The focus of much of the protest at the time was on the imposed separation of British Mandatory Palestine from Syria, which came under a French Mandate. The goal was reunification not Palestinian independence.”

Most nations have a flag. The flag the Palestinians of today use was only adopted as their flag in 1964. It happens to the flag of the Baath party of Syria. In fact, historically, “The flag of Palestine is, then, one of the flags of ‘Greater Syria’.  It expresses a pan-Arab commitment, which the flags of Jordan, the Baath Party, and the Hashemites during their short-lived regime in Syria also upheld.”  (Inbari)

King Feisal of Syria was adamant that Palestine area should remain in Syria, but of course, King Feisal’s reign on the throne had to end. When it did, the Palestinians became cut off from Syria, which forced them to seek separate roots for their identity. That’s when they first came up with the idea that they were Canaani.

How does the PA counter the story in the Bible that puts Isaac as the first-born son and heir to Abraham and the one from whom the nation of Israel will come? In the Palestinian version, Ishmael is considered the first-born son and the rightful heir. This is problematic, not only because we consider the Bible to be inerrant, but in later stories, it is clear that Isaac is the older brother, while Ishmael did not grow up with Isaac and his parents. Hagar was sent away with her son by Sarah. From this, it cannot be reconciled that Ishmael is the child of the promise, but only Isaac.

That also set in motion the rewriting of much of Jerusalem’s history. Just this year, due to the Palestinian influence in UNESCO, many of the historical ancient Jewish sites were stripped of their Jewish history and given new identities as Palestinian sites. Even the two Temples were wiped out with a stroke of a pen, or computer keys, and we’re told there were no Temples. That means that the New Testament lied when it said Jesus was in the Temple or on the mount on certain occasions, and he was said to have been studying in the Temple with the priests. But if one believes the Palestinians, there were no Temples and no priests to teach the young Jesus. Of course, the Palestinians answer this by saying Jesus wasn’t even a Jew, but a Palestinian Muslim.

They don’t take that statement to its logical next step. If Jesus was a Muslim, what is Christianity? How did the New Testament come to be written by Jews, in a Jewish context, describing Jewish traditions and holidays?

It seems the Palestinians have painted themselves in a corner. Will they now rewrite the entire New Testament to prove how Jesus was a Palestinian Muslim? In fact, as preposterous as it seems, Muslims have already attempted to do so, within the Koran.

You might ask, how could Jesus have been a Muslim hundreds of years before Mohammed? No problem for Muslims, they now say Jesus was given a copy of the Koran by Allah himself. Makes perfect sense, right?

This contradiction is no problem for those who make up history, rather than rely on factual evidence. Jihad Watch leader Robert Spencer has covered this rewriting by Muslims of Christian tradition. They have written a forgery called the Gospel of Barnabas.. In this hoax, they state that Jesus said that the Messiah’s name would be Mohammed!  But even though this “book” is a hoax, it is readily available from Amazon.

As we have dug deeper, we see that the rewriting of the Bible has already been done. Muslims have rewritten the Jews and the Christians out of the Bible and are trying to change the understandings the world has gained from ancient documents, ancient traditions, archeological evidence and the body of knowledge we have accepted for millennia.

Jews and Christians need to stand together and speak against these lies and forgeries. If the UN, as represented by UNESCO, has bought into the hoaxes, how long before this heresy begins to affect the public at large? We can’t ignore this; such lies have to be answered.

© 2017 Cathy Sherman – All Rights Reserved

E-Mail Cathy Sherman: yofeee@gmail.com

As a recent immigrant to Israel, I daily struggle with the big questions. Yes the big questions. There are enough of the small questions after all – Why didn’t I come out of the womb knowing Hebrew, the language of God? Why was I the only child in my family who never learned Hebrew at Sunday School, yet it’s me that is now living in Israel? Why am I the only believer in God in my family? Why did my parents stray so far from their own religious grandparents? There are enough ironies and conundrums in my life to fill a volume of “ironies from A to Z”

It’s the big question though with which I wrestle, because the answer is hard to find. The big QUESTION (and its corollaries): Why does the world hate Jewish people so much? Why do they never stop trying to kill us? Why won’t they allow the one Jewish nation to live in peace?

Why beloved God? “Beloved” is emphasized because many Jews, surely most of us in Israel, love God, or at least, our understanding of God. We are in Israel because we are no longer rejecting Him, but seeking to come as close to Him as possible. None of my Anglo friends left America, Australia, Great Britain, Wales, South Africa and so on because they were driven out. South Africans might be an exception, but most of us came to Israel to live Jewish lives and come closer to the God of our forefathers.

Admittedly and unfortunately, many (on the left especially) moved to Israel to make it another USA with “freedom and democracy for all”, because we are such TOLERANT Jews. Yes we love the Arabs as ourselves, and yes we no longer need that ancient idea of a paternalistic god, but we have a Jewish god called Tikkun Olam (literally “fixing the world”) that can be shared with all. However, the left is no longer in the majority in Israel, we are told, and we have a right-wing government to prove that.

Though it sounds altruistic and wonderful, the practicality of making Israel another USA is elusive. Israel is a very small place and while the US is surrounded by somewhat civilized societies, Israel is surrounded by peoples living with an ancient creed based on tribal warfare. Islam is like a survival of the fittest society, where the strongest, most ruthless, tribe wins. The only thing that unites all the tribes is the outlander, the non-tribe member, aka the infidel. This is because they unite to eliminate the common enemy.

We must return to the question of why a loving and loved God would protect His people, but only enough to allow survival. For thousands of years, there has been a war against “God’s people” to destroy us. This has been true even though Israel is a teeny bit of land with no huge resources of gold, silver, oil or other materials that are so important to the world. There is only one answer that makes sense, and that is that since the Jewish people and the Jewish nation are proof that God of the Bible exists, it is really He that the world seeks to destroy. Destroy the proof of God, and you then destroy God as well. So logical, so easy, it certainly can be accomplished in our generation.

It is hard to make an argument that most people of the world don’t want to destroy God. After all, the only supporters to really rally around Israel in true love and support are the righteous among the Jews and the Christians, with a few miscellaneous supporters thrown in. In the Bible this is known as the “remnant”.

Israel seems to be the only nation in which the Creator, God of the Bible, is allowed in the public sphere, while at the same time, the non-believing secular and the left are able to do their own thing. Even in some secular schools, students learn the Torah, the first five books of the Jewish Bible. All graduating students must pass a test, and questions about the Bible are included in the test. In addition, Israel has actually codified into its civil laws some of the Biblical laws. Examples include: Kosher stores must close on the Sabbath; Israeli buses cannot run on Shabbat; every Biblical holiday that stipulates work is forbidden means the Shabbat closures are followed. The only businesses, cabs, buses etc. that run or are open on Shabbat are those owned by non-Jews, and essential businesses for tourists such as hotels. Arab buses and cabs take up the slack on Shabbat and holidays.

Allowing for Arabs to break Shabbat could be one of the reasons God is still holding back from us. After all, the Bible states that strangers, and even livestock, in Israel are also supposed to refrain from working on Shabbat. But we have enough problems with the leftists without telling them they can’t hire Arab cabs and so on and have to stay put on Shabbat. But this is another issue.

An argument can be made, in Israel’s defense, that we Jews have only had 69 years to create this modern nation of Israel. In about 70 C.E. the second Temple was destroyed by the Roman conquest of Israel, and the Jewish people began their longest exile ever. That we were able to keep aspects of the faith alive, and especially that we were able to continue the priestly line along with the secrets passed down from priest father to priest son – for almost 2000 years – is really a miracle.

By other miracles, God used non-believing secular Jews to begin the process of honing a desert backwater into a modern vibrant state. The Jewish pioneers that had been living in the land or moved into the land at the end of the 19^th century began taming the land. They first had to rid the Galilee of malaria and initiate agricultural practices that would succeed. The early kibbutz system flourished, even though it was pretty much a socialist movement. Presently, many of the kibbutz communities have become more capitalistic, but some socialist-leaning ones still exist. I once looked into joining one, and balked when I found out I would have to give my car to the community and start out in the most basic house. One moves up from basic house to nicer houses as rewards for working on the kibbutz.

Even by 1948 when statehood was achieved, the country was pretty much leftist. In the 69 years to follow, Israel has brought in more and more religious Jews and Torah scholars, so now the country has skewed to the right, to the side of God, and Biblical principles, Since the Bible promises good things for those who study and obey God’s word, it began to look as if our Creator would help us to crush our enemies. Indeed He has done so and has extended much grace and mercy on us Jews. Along with adopting more Biblical principles, Israel’s economy has turned to capitalism. The transition has not been without its problems.

But even so, we daily continue to face terror. There are still roads we cannot drive on, places we cannot go, and even in Jerusalem we have to walk with our guard up at all times. Who knows but a terrorist in a car or wielding a knife might just decide to strike at any time? This has become very wearisome, especially since at any time our leaders could succumb to the pressure of the world, falter and sign yet another worthless peace deal that means giving away God’s land, which isn’t ours to give.

We still wait for the remaining Biblical promises to come to pass. There should not even be leftists and enemies in the land, because the Bible promises that God will vomit out those who don’t acknowledge Him. Yet here we are with 20% of our population being Arabs, some of whom want to destroy us entirely.

It is not this 20% that is the problem, but the million plus who have come to the territories won back in 1967. It is the presence of Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority Arabs who keep attacking in their relentless attempt to extend Sharia law into the one remaining spot of Middle Eastern land that is still holding out against them.

All I can conclude from this is that they want to destroy the main proof that the God of the Bible is real and is still involved in the world. Israel really is the only country in the world that is somehow making it work to bring God into the public sphere while at the same time allowing the non-believing secularists to do their own thing. The Arabs are blinded by hatred or they would see that it’s impossible to destroy the Creator of the world, but they prefer not to see that in attacking Him, they will be the ones destroyed.

Final note: Because I grew up in a gentile “Christian” environment shortly after the Holocaust, it has been my experience that only the Jewish people have been so persecuted. However, in today’s world, the Christians in some places are being targeted along with the Jews. This sad reality only enlarges the question to include not Jews only, but Christians as well. It seems clear that if the world wants to wipe out Jews to destroy God, they would need to also wipe out Christianity.

© 2017 Cathy Sherman – All Rights Reserved

As the preparations and hype for the inauguration of Friday, January 20, heat up and the anticipation grows, many people across the world are watching. Through live streaming of news from computer monitors or TV screens, the events will be watched by Americans and non-Americans in Israel. Because it’s happening on a Friday, which is Sabbath in Israel, those who are observant will have to wait until Saturday night re-runs, but the interest is still high.
Much has been expressed about the transition from Obama to Trump. All of the major Israeli online news sources are covering stories leading up to Friday’s main event. The biggest issue in Israeli media about Trump is his promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The big back-story here is that, though it is a law on the books in the US, every president since its passage has utilized a waiver to avoid the controversy which is threatened to erupt if this is done.
Israeli Trump Fans
The problem is that anything that changes the policy on Jerusalem is an excuse for the Arabs in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority to riot and protest. They still think they will be able to steal Jerusalem from the Jewish people as part of their proposed state. However, the issue has been put six feet under by most Israelis, since for 20 years at least, the Arabs have not accepted any offers of land from Israel, other than Jordan. Moving any embassy to Jerusalem is a proclamation that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Of course it is the capital and has been for 3000 years. It’s never belonged to any people called “Palestinian”, since they are a new people which was created in 1964 by Yasser Arafat, an Egyptian. Besides, their state is supposed to be Jordan, which was given land from Palestine-Israel decades ago.
The newest update on the Jerusalem issue is that Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat has begun his own campaign which encourages Israelis to welcome Mr. Trump in his new role as US president. The first part of his campaign is to post a petition online endorsing Mr. Trump’s support of Israel and his promise to move the embassy. The mayor then will present the petition with signatures to the new Trump administration.
Barkat exemplifies the hopes that the new administration is bringing to Israeli citizens. He says, “After the eight dry years, a true friend has come to the White House. And I, along with all the citizens of Israel, welcome President-elect Donald Trump as he is elected leader of the free world, and thank him for his support of Israel and his efforts to move the embassy to Jerusalem.
“The call to sign the petition comes in light of Israel’s enemies’ strong opposition to the move. I’ll direct all sectors of Israeli society [to it] and together, we’ll send a signal to leaders in Washington that the U.S.’s greatest friend is still here.”

It’s interesting to note that Mayor Barkat referred to Mr. Trump’s election as that of “elected leader of the free world.”
Yishai Fleisher, a leader of settlers in Judea, though he lives on the Mt. of Olives which cannot be called a settlement, also expressed hope in the new president. Anyone familiar with the Bible, and particularly the New Testament, realizes how important the Mt. of Olives was to the events revealed in the Bible. Yet to Obama and the UN, the whole area east of Jerusalem is now called an illegal settlement which, along with the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, is Islamic.
Fleisher wrote that “most indications show that he does not share your [Obama’s] contempt for Israel, for Jerusalem and for the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. We are looking forward to the next four years.”
After writing the above, I went to a birthday party in my neighborhood. Some of my friends were discussing where the embassy could be built and the length of time it would take to build it. The best solution seems to be the most obvious. A few years ago a new US consulate building was completed in Jerusalem, right smack on top of the imaginary armistice line of 1948. So it is in between Arab and Jewish neighborhoods. It is in the valley and there is lots of room to build more buildings, if other countries wanted to move their embassies there.

As with most things, it’s hard to get definite answers to questions, because when we try to find out if this new consulate building was indeed planned to turn into a an embassy when the time came, we have been told both yes and no. Whatever the plans were, it does seem prudent to just turn the consulate into an embassy. Then Mr.Trump could easily check one major promise off his list. More than that, he would be demonstrating his courage, along with his support for an ally which has been much maligned in the past eight years.

And the Arabs? This would be a major calling of their bluff. The only reason they can protest is the same old argument about borders of their never-gonna-happen state. The building is already there, the personnel are mostly Arab, there would be no change to the neighborhoods or the way of life in the area. So it’s a good guess the Arabs would back down and not start another war which they know they’d lose.
So Israelis have had much to talk about these past two months and the conversation has intensified as the final day of Obama approached. From where I sit in the outlaw territories deemed by the UN and Obama to be illegal for Jews, a great time of celebration will ensue on Saturday night after sundown. At that time we’ll all rush to check our internet, to make sure Mr. Trump is indeed the 45th president of the United States.
© 2017 Cathy Sherman – All Rights Reserved

A day before Chanukah, a Friday right before Shabbat started, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to pass Resolution 2334, which forbids Israel from “settlement activity” in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank to those who reject history). They not only included new settlements on land no one has used in centuries, but places in which Jews have had a presence for thousands of years – East Jerusalem and the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Basically they called “outlaws” all the 800,000 or so Jewish inhabitants of this disputed territory.
The US was complicit as the White House said “Netanyahu brought the US abstention on himself”. So this tells me that the US president brought suffering on 800,000 Jews because he has a personal vendetta against a Prime Minister. Wow. What a foreign policy that is. Your legacy, Obama, is a judgment that will bring dishonor on your head. What leader of the free world espouses a foreign policy of personal vendetta except for the Islamic terror state leaders?
This essay isn’t about the history of the disputed land, as volumes have already been written on this. Some history does, however, need to be summarized to provide context for the conflict. But basically, the land was part of Israel historically and Biblically. It includes the part of Jerusalem in which the Temple sat for centuries. Though the Jewish nation was scattered for 2000 years, there were always some Jews remaining in the areas of Judea and Samaria and the Old City of Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter. It was controlled mainly by the Ottomans and the British for centuries, though neither did much with this land overlooking the Jordan Valley. When Israel was made a state in 1948, Judea and Samaria became part of the state of Jordan, the part of Palestine which was supposed to be for the Arab refugees of Israel.
It didn’t work that way, of course. Muslims and Arabs are not known for keeping their word. They value taquiyya – lying – as a way to obtain their wants, in addition to terror and murder. For nineteen years, though Jordan “occupied” Judea and Samaria, they did little with the land. Then in 1967, when they held the “West Bank” in their control, several Arab nations attacked Israel. Miraculously, Israel won and not only protected small Israel, but advanced to the Jordan River and took possession of Judea and Samaria.
Normally when one state wins territory in a war, to end the fighting, a peace treaty is signed, awarding the land won to the winner. For some reason, Israel agreed to stop fighting even without such a treaty. Jordan and Israel did later sign a peace agreement, but the land Israel now occupied was left for some later negotiation.
Enter the Arab refugees, who were given Jordan for their state, when Palestine was split in 1948. Rather than do so, as the Jordanian king, being an Alawhite, didn’t want more of the refugees, the Arabs created the “Palestinians”. Even though Jews were also Palestinians, that inconvenient fact is not relevant to the Arab narrative, which suddenly became the need for the Arab Palestinians to have their own state. These were Arabs who moved to the area largely to work for the new state of Israel, since so many jobs were opened as the Jews needed help building infrastructure. Many of them were not the refugees who had lived in Israel and fled during the War of Independence in 1948. Despite the fact that there is no historical basis for a “Palestinian” state in Israel, many of the Arabs living in the area were incited to terrorize Israelis until land could be taken from Israel for their state.
However, it soon became clear – from their own words – that the Arab nations were supporting these “Palestinians” because the Arabs had failed in every war they waged against Israel. Their new weapon was the terrorism of the incited Arabs who were brainwashed to believe that Judea and Samaria were their lands. The goal has always been – as was the goal pre-1967 – to wipe out all of the Jews in the Middle East. Muslims can’t have a total caliphate in the Middle East with a nation of upstart Jews thriving in it. And this is the cogent, all-important basis behind all of the Arab-Israel conflict.

So that brings us to December 23, 2016, when the UN Security Council finally voted to outlaw the settlements which were built on land Israel had been controlling for 50 years. This ruling made outlaws of the hundreds of thousands of Jews living in this land. These Jews came to this area because they wanted to live on the land where King David walked, where their ancestors had lived, where the Tabernacle – and later the Temple – had been located. This was the land in which the sons of Jacob, David and others pastured their flocks. It is the land of Jewish heritage.
So I ask the UN and US – why do you wish to destroy Israel? Anyone who has lived in Israel knows we cannot survive living among warring Arabs without the protection provided by the highlands of Judea and Samaria. We cannot long survive without our control of the Temple Mount, the holiest site of our history and faith – our very heart and soul.
For years the UN policy and rulings stated that no one could dictate to the Jews and Arabs how the solution would be worked out to the conflict, but that Jews and Arabs would have to work out a “final status agreement”. Now the UN, for the umpteenth time, has violated its own previous rulings and policy. It has imposed Muslim desires upon Israel for no good reason, other than to rid Judea and Samaria of Jews and hand over the Judenrein-to-be area to the favored Muslims.
UN Security Council members and the UN-supporting world which remains silent: for what sins do you persecute us Jews?
• Is it for the sin of the provision of the Bible and the world’s first monotheistic faith?
• Is it for the provision of the foundation for the Christian faith?
• Is it for the provision of thousands of medical cures and treatments?
• Is it for Israel’s aid to countless nations such as Haiti following the cataclysmic events which brought suffering to each one’s citizens?
• Is it for our countless scientific and technological developments which have brought better living to many areas of the world?
• Is it jealousy that we continue to prosper throughout centuries of attempted annihilation?
• Is it our huge impact on the entertainment industry?
• Is it our long list of Nobel prizes in Literature, Chemistry, Medicine, Physics and Economics?
• Is it that we have the highest percent per capita of University Degrees?
• Is it because we have the highest percent per capita of museums, zoos, orchestras, and home computers?
• Is it because we’re the only country in the world with more trees at the beginning of the 21st century than at the start of the 20th?
• Is it for Israel’s high number of contributions to the advancement of agriculture?
• Is it for Israel’s high number of incredible environmental advancements in the world?
• Or perhaps, do you persecute us because we represent God’s will on earth when living in the land where He chose to put His Name? Are you really trying to stamp out God and His revelations to humans? After all, if you can eliminate the people whom God promised to save, you could make Him out to be a liar.
Is that your ultimate desire and goal? Because you might as well give up now, as you will only bring down trouble on your heads, and always fail.
So, for which of these things, or other more heinous crimes, do you persecute the Jews of Israel?

© 2015 Cathy Sherman – All Rights Reserved

“We can forgive [them] for killing our children. We cannot forgive them from forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with [them] when they love their children more than they hate us” –Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel
Two recent terrorist attacks in Israel have shined a light on the purposes and patterns of Muslim terror, revealing the usual beliefs about such terror to be myths.
Last month an American student was murdered by a terrorist in Tel Aviv, Israel, while on a graduate school trip from Vanderbilt University. He had served in the US Military, surviving tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israelis are very saddened by his death, and very angry at the tremendous loss to his family, friends and nation at the hands of yet another despicable Arab Muslim with a knife.
In addition to adding to the sorrow and frustration Israelis feel by the continued attacks by Arabs, the tragic death of Taylor Force and other recent attacks, reveal important trends in the Muslim war against civilians in Israel.
For one thing, the victim was a tourist, not a Jew living in Israel. Most victims have been Jews, though some were Arabs and a couple have been non-Jewish workers or visitors from abroad. It seems this Tel Aviv beach terrorist went wild, randomly slashing anyone he could reach. On a Tel Aviv beach on any given day, there’s a good chance a random person present is a non-Jewish tourist. Probably for this reason, tourists haven’t had to be concerned about potential attacks.
The second anomaly is the location, as Tel Aviv is not nor has it ever been in a region contested by Palestinians to be their fantasized “homeland”. It is not near Gaza nor is it near the Judea and Samaria regions – mistakenly called the “West Bank” by the media. The terrorist did not live in the city, but illegally entered Israel from his Palestinian village in the disputed territory. Thus, he did not act out of a so-called “resistance” to occupation or some wacko need to protect his Palestinian home. He came to Tel Aviv to murder apparently anyone, most likely as a way to demonize Israel and its tourist economy.
In addition to this attack, my own town of Maale Adumim was recently rocked by a gruesome violent attack. A night security guard at the local mall was violently and horrifically attacked by an ax-wielding Arab during the early morning hours. This attempted murder puts an end to other widely-held myths about Arab-on-Jewish Israeli terror. (At this moment, following weeks in a coma, the guard is conscious and undergoing rehabilitation at the hospital.)
The terrorist, who has been arrested, has no defense, as the entire attack was captured on security video camera. He was an employee by a deli in the mall, having worked there for some time serving Jewish residents from behind the counter without any indication of any animosity toward his Jewish customers. He often stayed late to clean up the deli and to share a cup of coffee with the security guard. They were very friendly with each other. It’s obvious that the victim had no fear of his friend, as his back was to him when the ax suddenly came down on his head.
Palestinian Arab workers in the city, and in other East Jerusalem neighborhoods, are quite common, often working in restaurants, retail, construction, and even in the local health center. They deliver groceries to residents, work on road crews, and are just about everywhere during the day, though they don’t live in town. To do this, they must meet certain qualifications to obtain a work permit, which allows them to get through the checkpoints at all city entrances.
When the terrorist’s photo was finally shown in the media, I did recognize him as the friendly deli counter person I had frequently laughed and joked with while buying the delicious hummus, chopped liver, and salads such as avocado and mixed fruits. It felt good to have camaraderie with “the other”, one of our cousins, rather than feeling animosity or the need to keep a distance. How could this smiling face, who laughed good-naturedly at my attempts at Hebrew, pick up an ax and repeatedly strike an unarmed “friend” who had never done him any harm?

Of course, the continuing story is in the media and on everyone’s minds, day after day. How does one live with the knowledge that their good intentions and love for fellow man is not enough to make peace? This terrorist did not attempt murder because he was unemployed and destitute. In fact, it was the very employment and opportunity enjoyed by him that gave him access to the friend who became his victim. How do we understand this? How do we live with this?
Prior to these two terrorist attacks, I had felt secure in believing that as long as I stayed away from the Arab section of the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Gush Etzion bus stop, plus a few other places, I could avoid attacks.
With the realization and proof that Arab terrorists are targeting all Israelis, even other Arabs, and just about anyone else they come into contact with, killing indiscriminately, it’s hard to feel safe anywhere. Not only that, but it’s impossible to even consider making friends with Arabs. If they will attack their friend, suddenly and viciously, why befriend them? There is no trust.
In fact, at least temporarily, many Palestinian Arabs have lost their jobs. More businesses are putting out the word that they have job openings and want to hire Jews. We now lock our doors, even when we’re home.
Dog trainers are offering classes on training our dogs in the arts of guarding and attacking on command. But do we really want our pets to learn to be aggressive? My Canaani is scary enough just by her size, exuberance and friendliness, along with a terrible shrill aboriginal bark. We’re trying to teach her NOT to bite, which she does in play, not to hurt, just like other puppies.
Krav Maga (self defense) classes for women fill up and new ones are added. More people are getting their gun licenses and guns. People are angry, fed up, tired of our leaders failing to do what needs to be done to secure our land and our safety.
We don’t want to be told we have to give land for peace. This is impossible with people who don’t want peace, but who want to destroy us. We don’t want to hear that we need to provide jobs, education etc. for our enemies and give them more money. Some of the homes the Palestinian Arab people live in are much nicer than those in which many of us Jewish residents of Ju-dea (get that, Jew-dea?) live. And what an affront that the Arab car-ramming murderers are targeting bus riders, because they can afford cars while the bus riders cannot.
Why can’t we afford cars? One major reason is the high cost of insurance; I’ve been told that most accidents on the roads are caused by Arabs, but I can’t prove it. Rates are high also due to the high rate of theft of cars, again, largely by Arabs. Recovery is made more difficult because when a Palestinian steals a car, he can drive it straight to his village and the jurisdiction of the Palestinian police. Sometimes these police cooperate with Israel, and sometimes not.

Yet we tried to love our Muslim neighbors and employ them, but it has often been the employed ones who did the terror. There’s no excuse, no explanation other than the incitement they’re taught from the time they can walk, finally explodes when they have a weapon in their hands.

How can I look at another Muslim Arab again, without having my hand on a weapon? I hate that they’re taking not only our lives, but our joy, peace and good feelings toward our fellow man. It’s like Golda Meir said – the worst of their sins is to make us kill them, even if it is in self-defense.
The Muslim Arabs are robbing us of some of our goodness. My faith remains strong but it’s the hatred that creeps in that I don’t like. It depresses me. A reader of my emails remarked that I’d changed, after he read what I wrote about no longer trusting Arabs. I prefer to think that I haven’t changed, but just gotten smarter.

© 2015 Cathy Sherman – All Rights Reserved

• Donald Trump, Islam, Terrorism and Insanity, 12-20-15
• Beware: Terrorist Celebrity Touring the US, 9-11-15
• Democracy: How’s That Working Out for Us?, 8-29-15
• The King’s Speech, 3-16-15
• Media Diversion from Iran’s Nukes Targets Israeli PM, 2-21-15
• Israel: Deterrence vs Disproportionate Use of Force, 12-31-14
• Are Israeli Settlements “Poisoning” the Peace Process?, 10-21-14
• ISIS, Hamas, Hitler and the Policy of Appeasement, 8-16-14
• Israels Right to Self Defense, 8-7-14