What Makes People Tick?

As if all in Europe is well and all European countries are flourishing, the European Union seems to feel the need to meddle in affairs that - as far as I am concerned - are none of their (or should I say 'our'?) business. On the 16th April 2015, Israel National News writes that Sixteen out of the 28 EU countries want the bloc to label products from Judea and Samaria in an economic attack on the Jewish state, diplomatic sources told AFP Thursday, confirming a Haaretz report. The plan was first mooted in 2012, but the 16 member states told EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini it was now time to press ahead as part of efforts to force Israel to divide in a "two state solution." Source: EU Label on Israeli 'Settlement' Goods: A Yellow 'Jude' Badge | Israel National News / Arutz Sheva The sixteen countries whose foreign ministers (seem to) want to force Israel to give up parts of historical Israel to a second Palestinian-Arab state (the first ...

In a 26 March 2015 article, The Jewish Press writes that "Rhetoric plays a major role in the demonization of Israel. The dissemination of false arguments is prevalent among the major demonization techniques. It is thus important that those who publicly defend Israel be trained to see through such tactics. One technique used against Israel is false moral equivalence. It is based on the deceitful claim that there is no difference between two greatly dissimilar actions. Examples abound and only some of the most frequent ones can be mentioned here. A prominent one is the perverse claim that Israel’s behavior is equivalent to that of the Nazis. This example of false moral equivalence is widespread throughout Europe. Five studies covering nine European countries show that about 40 percent of Europeans think Israel is a Nazi state." Source: Demonizing Israel With False Moral Equivalence | The Jewish Press http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/demonizing-israel-with-fa...

Want to know what life is like in Israel? Watch this very touching video made by Dana bar-on who lives very close to the Gaza border. She brought tears to my eyes, which is why I'm sharing this video. Source: 10 minutes about living on the Gaza border ,YouTube

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the Middle East this week. He met Israeli Prime-Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and gave a speech on Tuesday 22 July 2014 from Tel Aviv, Israel. It gladdens me that the United Nations fully support Israel's right to protect itself. It gladdens me to see that the UN condemns the use of their facilities for terrorist purposes. It gladdens me to see that the UN, unlike so many people I hear from and speak to these days, seem to care about both sides instead of praising one side and condemning the other. "My message to Israelis and Palestinians is the same: Stop fighting. Start talking. And take on the root causes of the conflict, so we are not back to the same situation in another six months or a year." Source: Ban Ki-moon's speeches: Remarks at press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu , United Nations News Centre

Yale University's Avalon Project has a copy of the Hamas Covenant 1988 in their archives. The following is a direct quote. I encourage all readers to read the entire Covenant and to form your own opinion based on your personal interpretation of the document. Article Seven:    The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:    "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.    The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.    Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."  (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem). Source: Hamas Covenant 1988 , The Avalon Project Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library

A Soldier's Mothe r is the personal blog of the mother of a soldier in the Israeli army, the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). Writing to ease her worries, to share her thoughts and to tell her story to the world, this particular soldier's mother started blogging about her eldest son Elie's entry into the IDF in 2007. Now, A Soldier's Mother will be going to print. There's a fundraising campaign to raise money to print and publish the book:  Help A Soldier's Mother get published at Jewcer.com. I first started reading A Soldier's Mother several years ago. I was looking for new blogs to read, blogs by people from interesting places or those writing about interesting things. I wanted to expand my horizons; get to know different worlds and different perspectives - A Soldier's Mother fit the bill on all counts. Paula Stern is an American Jewish woman who moved to Israel with her husband and three young children over twenty years ago. Now a famed blogger...

Source : Getty Images Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The world's three main monotheistic religions. First came monotheistic Judaism in a polytheistic world. Then came the Jewish Jesus whose teachings inspired Christianity. Then came Islam which accepts all the Jewish prophets and Jesus' virgin birth and teachings. These three religions are connected not only through acceptance of the same prophets and basic teachings but also through locations that matter to them and many very similar rituals, prayers and aspirations. When one examines the similarities between these three religious groups, the differences between them somehow seem to fade away into nothing. The Jewish Torah consists of the Biblical books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Together with several other books by or about prophets and some containing wisdom or songs or teachings, these books together make up the Tanakh - the full "Jewish Bible". Christians rearrange the books and ...

Many years have passed since 1948 and whether one likes it or not (I'm looking at you, Hamas!), the State of Israel is an established fact. The only way to remove the State of Israel is to wipe every last bit of it off the map entirely, which would equate to the mass genocide of millions of innocent people. Seeing the world already tried that 'solution' some seventy-odd years ago, let's try building bridges this time instead of fences. Just as the State of Israel is an established fact, so are the Palestinian people in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank and their aspirations for a united Palestinian state. Just as the horrors of the Holocaust must always be remembered so that we will never repeat such crimes against humanity, so too must the Palestinian people find a way to live without feeling like refugees, safe and secure, in a place they can call their own, in a land that they call their own. It is time that Israelis and Palestinians realise that they can keep fight...

Efraim Inbar of the Middle East Forum writes about the latest hiccups in the Israeli-Palestinian Authority (peace?) talks. He raises a number of interesting points that got me thinking, which is exactly why I'm sharing his article with you. http://www.meforum.org/3804/israel-palestinians-diplomacy

While wandering around the internet looking for new and interesting things to learn from and write about, I came across a YouTube video entitled " 'Sulha' Prayer at Abraham's Tomb in Hebron ". After watching this video, I was left with tears streaming down my face. In a region filled with so much anger, misunderstanding and hatred it is amazing to see Jews and Muslims together making an effort to understand each other, learn from each other and pray together at a place with such importance to both religions. Investigating some more led me to another YouTube video entitled the " Sulha Peace Project ". This video too left me speechless and amazed. If it were possible; understanding, love and hope would be coming from my computer screen and heading straight into my heart. The video itself explains it best of all, saying: "The Sulha Peace Project is a grassroots organization for healing and reconciliation of the Children of Abraham."   Je...