Monday, September 29, 2014

Netanyahu's Speech Today At UN About Iran (Persia)

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

                           Ali Khamenei (1939-Present) age 75, 2nd and Supreme Ruler of Iran

Jews have had 2,400 years of history with the Persians, who are today's Iranians.  Are the Americans, led by John Kerry,  going to make concessions with Iran that will put Israel in harm's way?  What Iran wants to do most, as they have so often expressed themselves, is to be the ones to destroy Israel.  One must not take this as brazen rhetoric.  They are being very straight with this warning.  It's one thing that Muslims are expected to do; give warnings before they strike.  They want to put atomic weapons on missiles and hit Israel with them.  Netanyahu keeps on warning the world every year at the UN where many leave their seats empty instead of listening to him.  Today there was clapping, however, mainly from the left side of the room.

First, the Assyrians had attacked Israel in 721 BCE and had carried off slaves consisting of 10 of the 12 tribes.  Judah, the southerly kingdom which had divided itself from Israel, was able to stop the Assyrians in 701 BCE at the walls of Jerusalem, but the city and state succumbed to the Babylonians in 586 and large numbers of Jews were deported.

  For the next 2 centuries, both these Jews in exile in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and in their homeland living in Israel and Judah, though Judah 's last king, Zedekiah, died in 586 BCE, were now under Persian (Iran) rule.
It was while under Persian rule that their king Cyrus  encouraged the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE.  Many left to do that but many also stayed.  In many  Persian provinces, there existed local autonomy for these Jews.
                                                                     
Living under Persian rule meant that there was a lot of movement of populations from one part of this area to another.  In the Book of Esther we see that Jews were living throughout  the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire, so they were numerous and had influence in the capital of Susa (Shusha) at this time. So about from the 4th century BCE and onwards, Jews lived in considerable numbers in Persia proper as they continued to do when the area was controlled by Parthia from 250 BCE onward.  In the story of Esther, Haman, the chief adviser of King Ahashueros, wanted to kill all the Jews in the kingdom because he didn't like them.  Esther was married to the king and unknown to the king, was Jewish.  Through her, Haman's plot was stopped.  Otherwise it would have been a Holocaust.

It wasn't until the Arabs conquered Persia in 641 and 642 CE and introduced Islam that this country became Islamic.  The Mongols invaded and ruled the land during which Jewish life had its ups and downs from the 13th to 15th centuries.  Persian independence was back in vogue in 1499 under the Safavid dynasty.  The Shi'ite form of Islam from then on became dominant, and was highly intolerant in theory and practice.  The Jews were then treated worse than in other parts of the Moslem world.  All manner of restrictions were being enforced, and in the 17th century, there were widespread persecutions and forced conversions, particularly in Isfahan.
                                                                             
                                                    Nadir Shah (1687 to 1747) Ruled Persia for 11 years

Things got better in the 17th century under Nadir Shah (1736-1737) who tried to create a new religious synthesis. He was descended from the Afshars, a tribe of Tartars who were subservient to the indigenous high-ranking Persians.   He created a Jewish community at his new capital of Meshed where they had previously been excluded.  When he died, Shiite intolerance became supreme again.

Skipping again to this generation, from the 1960s to 1970s, many Jews moved from the provinces to Teheran, the capital.  They emigrated in 1948 when Israel was created.  The Khamenei revolution in 1978 did not persecute Jews, but many felt uncomfortable under the strict Islamic regime and left for Israel and the west.  The Jews had numbered 80,000 in 1978 and then in 1989 the number went down to 20,000.  Things must have been pretty bad for them, because my cousin's husband escaped from Iran on a camel as a teen ager with a group of other boys.  He eventually, after going to Europe, got to the USA and became a doctor.
                                                                             
The last Shah of Iran was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was overthrown and left in 1979.  He gave amnesty to Ayatollah Khomenei.  Pahlavi's son, Prince Reza,  has asked Netanyahu not to bomb Iran but to help the opposition, instead.  "From his home in Washington, he said  that bombing Iran would play into the hands of the regime. Instead, he appealed for help saying the Jewish state should put its “technological, financial and other resources at our disposal.”

Pahlavi’s father, the late Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, had close ties to Israel before he was ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The clerical hierarchy is now headed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pictured above.  

Today, Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech at the UN included the danger coming from Iran for not only Israel but for the rest of the world.  Iran's ideology is that they are of the Master Faith and that their fellow Sunni Muslims in the world are infidels.  In their government they have the Revolutionary Guards who practice terrorism.  They are out for an Islamic World Government just like IS is trying to create.

The biggest problem they present to the world is that of building atomic weapons.  There are 2 months of extended talks left to go to decide on certain issues that are either allowable or not to keep the world safe from their possible harm.

At the UN, "The 15-nation council voted 12 to 2, with one abstention, to approve a resolution that also freezes the assets of 40 companies, banks and government agencies, and bars the foreign travel of Javad Rahiqi, head of a branch of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. Turkey and Brazil voted against it with Lebanon abstaining. "  "United Nations sanctions on Iran adopted yesterday by theSecurity Council include restrictions on financial transactions, a tighter arms embargo and authority to seize cargo linked to nuclear or missile programs."

The USA, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany are working on ways that Iran could keep its installed base of uranium enrichment centrifuges while disconnection some of their plumbing.  This isn't going to satisfy the nations most worried about them in the Middle East.  They might come up with the worst agreement for the countries that need to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.  To avoid a Persian trap, this committee must slow down their concessions to Tehran and not be so eager to please.  They must gear the overall progress in the talks to supporting the IAEA in its efforts to resolve questions related to the "possible military dimensions" of Iran's nuclear program.  This is a life and death situation that may never have a chance to be resolved if the deal doesn't protect the world from destruction.  

Re: The New Jewish Encyclopedia
CNN Newscast 9/29/2014 Netanyahu Speaking at UN
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-09/iran-sanctions-approved-in-un-council-vote-turkey-brazil-opposed-measure.html
http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/09/28/west_desperate_the_iran_nuclear_talks
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Nadir_Shah.aspx
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1442787/jewish/The-Jews-of-Iran.htm
http://www.rezapahlavi.org/details_article.php?article=590


Sunday, September 28, 2014

Baghdadi's Claim of Descendancy from Muhammad

Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Update 11/10/14 News on CNN announced that Baghdadi had either been killed or injured in the latest round of attacks from the coalition today.  Another man was also killed who could have been one close to his command.  
Information on al Jazeera's American website says that "Bagdadi, 43 years old,  is a native Iraqi, born Ibrahim al-Samarrai some 50 miles north of Baghdad in the city of Samarra in the city of Samarra in Salahuddin province in the north of Iraq in 1971 ." "His full name is Ibrahim bin Awad bin Ibrahim bin Ali bin Mohammed Al-Badri Al-Qurashi Al-Hashimi Al-Husseini.  He is Al-Samarai by birth and upbringing, "  He used Al-Baghdadi as a student and a resident.  " Baghdadi claims to trace his lineage to the Prophet Muhammad, giving him added legitimacy as a religious leader."   What he practices as a religion are acts that go against Islam.  In his twisted mind he has dubbed his caliphate "IS for Islamic State, giving Islam a very bad name connected to beheading and slaughtering of innocent children, women, civilians, Shi'as and even Sunnis. This man is worse than Saddam Hussein ever thought of being, and he was one of the worst of his era.  

Without proper DNA testing, anyone can make such a claim.  He needs to have evidence  that needs to be checked thoroughly, especially the date of the test.  I would not put it past him to offer a million dollars to any DNA company for papers to prove such a claim with the threat of off with  your head if you don't come through.  In fact, he should do the test over again with a different company with accompanying guarding to make sure it is accurate.  

Even so, I doubt very much if any real descendants would swear loyalty to such a demon as Baghdadi has become.  A man may be armed with the right credentials but be as mad as a hatter.  Would anyone follow Caligula knowing how insane he was and what his horrendous deeds had been?  

This man is most dangerous as he is intelligent.  "He has a Master’s degree and PhD in Islamic Studies (poetry, history, genealogy,…) at the Islamic University of Baghdad and was a ...Professor and Preacher on these matters."    The Americans had him once in prison.  ""Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Al Badry, also known as ‘Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’ was held as a ‘civilian internee’ by U.S. Forces-Iraq from early February 2004 until early December 2004, when he was released," the Pentagon said in a statement. "He was held at Camp Bucca.

His father is sheikh Awad and is from the Al-Bu'Badri tribe.  His grandfather was Haj Ibrahim Ali Al-Badri and died a few years ago at age 94.  


Resource: http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/inside-story/articles/2014/7/7/isil-s-leader-emergesfromtheshadowswhoisabubakralbaghdadi.html
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/blogs/politics/12487-profile-mysterious-qcaliphq-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/abu-bakr-al-baghdadi.htm
http://pietervanostaeyen.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-a-short-biography-of-the-isis-sheikh/

The L in ISIL is Levant-and the Really Important Jordanian King from WWI's End

Nadene Goldfoot                                              
What does Levant mean?  It's not in the Webster's 7th New Collegiate dictionary that I use every day copyrighted 1966.  They do have "levanter", though, meaning "a native or inhabitant of the Levant."  ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Levant is a geographical term.  When it first appeared in 1497 in English it just meant the East.  or the Mediterranean lands east of Italy.  This happened after the Spanish Inquisition of 1492 when Jews in Spain had to flee for their lives or convert to Christianity.  It comes from French levant meaning rising, in talking about the rising of the sun in the East, where the sun rises.  This came from Latin levare, meaning lift or raise.A satellite view of part of the Levant includes Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, Judea and Samaria, Jordan and southern Syria.

Today it is taking on  more meaning than it had been used in archaeology and literature.  People are using it as a category of analysis in political and social sciences.  Two academic journals have just come out; Journal of Levantine Studies, published by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and the Levantine Review, published by Boston College.
                                                                               
Baghdadi 
Evidently it's also being used by the leader of ISIS, Baghdadi, who claimed the name of his caliphate was ISIL and who has now shortened it to IS, but Obama keeps referring it to ISIL.  Why? Baghdadi's proclamation of his caliphate claims religious authority over all Muslims across the world and aims to bring most of the Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control beginning with territory in the Levant region which includes Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus, and part of southern Turkey.  Of course Iraq is included with the "I" which also stands for "Islamic."  ISIL includes Israel as one of their goals to take.

Baghdadi does not approve of the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 at the end of WWI when these countries were created, except for Syria, which has always been there and with the name of Syria as well as Aleppo and Damascus.  It was finally approved in April 1920 at the San Remo Conference when the mandate went to Britain for Palestine. France ruled the northern part of Britain's domain in Lebanon and Syria for a period of years.
                                                                     
                                           Sherif Hussein bin Ali served from 1908 to 1917
"When the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished, he further proclaimed himself Caliph of all Muslims
As a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad the British recognised this status."

The division of land was known to the Grand Sharif of Mecca.  He had 2 sons; Faisal and Abdullah.  Faisal had a short reign as king of Iraq but was ousted by the French.  Abdullah became King of Transjordan and it changed to be called Jordan.

Israel must be forever watchful that this Baghdadi does not have his way and take Israel along with the other states he covets.  Hopefully the coalition of 50 states will stop his advances.  Jordan has joined the coalition in bombing IS buildings where most of them have already been given a lot of advance warning and have turned tail and run into the nearby villages, hiding among those people.  
                                                                             
                                                               King Faisal 
                              King of Syria from March 8, 1920 to July 24, 1920
    King of Iraq from August 23, 1921 to September 8, 1933 when he died in Bern, Switzerland
                                                                             
                                     Dr. Chaim Weizmann on left with King Faisal signing agreement.                                      
                                                                               
King Abdullah
King Abdullah I  of Transjordan from April 1, 1921
of Jordan from1946-1951
Abdullah's son, Talal, King of Jordan from 1951-1952, resigned from illness

                                                                         
       King Hussein, Talal's son, of Jordan reigned from August 11, 1952 to February 7, 1999

                                                                         


 King Abdullah II of Jordan, son of King Hussein,  reigning started February 7, 1999 to present (picture caught at conference).

Jordan's last attack on Israel was when they joined the other Arabs and attacked in 1973.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant
Writer: Victor Sharpe
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sykes_pico.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hejaz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_bin_Ali,_Sharif_of_Mecca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_I_of_Iraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talal_of_Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan


Friday, September 26, 2014

What Happened to Kurds and Kurdish Jews of Syria, Iraq and Turkey?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                             

 Kurdish Kingdoms of Corduene-Sophene  in 60 BCE

There is a mountainous region that is now divided between Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq. It takes in  the northwest Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.  It was called Kurdistan.  The old spelling was Curdistan and the original name was Corduene.  "The Kingdom of Corduene, which emerged from the declining Seleucid Empire, was located to the south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia (Iraq) and ruled northern Mesopotamia   and southeastern Anatolia (peninsula in Turkey) from 189 BC to AD 384 as vassals of the vying Parthian and Roman Empire." 

The Seleucid Empire was a Hellenistic royal dynasty founded by one of Alexander the Great's generals, Seleucus Nicator.  Antiochus III settled Babylonian Jews in the cities of Phrygia and Lydia.  He conquered Judah in about 200 BCE and granted privileges to the Temple.  When he died in 129 BCE, the Jews revolted and his rule in Judah ended in 128 BCE.  

The Parthian Empire  was the empire of the Iranic people in the 3rd century BCE to 226 CE.  It ruled over the Jewish population in Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Media.  They restored Antigonus Mattathias to the throne of Judah in 40 BCE.  The Jews of the Roman Empire looked on Parthia as their future savior.  There, they enjoyed autonomy under the exilarch.  The famous rabbic schools in Mesopotamia began to flourish under their rule.  

 Jews lived there as early as the time of Ezra who lived in the 5th century BCE.  The Kurdish Jews spoke an Aramaic dialect up to modern times.  It is close to the language of the Babylonian Talmud and the speech of the Nestorian Christians in Kurdistan.

There were about 12,000 to 18,000 Jews scattered in many villages and townlets and living mainly as merchants, peddlers and craftsmen. toward the end of the 19th century.  During the 20th century, their number increased, numbering in Iran alone to 12,000 to 14,000.  After 1948 when Israel was established, many Kurdish Jews from all over emigrated to Israel and settled in or near Jerusalem.
                                                                       
1835 Kurdish Independent Kingdoms and Autonomous Principalities

Kurdistan was pretty much under the Ottoman Empire.  After WWI, it was broken up.  "After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Allies contrived to create several countries within its former boundaries – according to the never-ratified Treaty of Sèvres,   Kurdistan, along with Armenia, were to be among them. However, the reconquest of these areas by the forces of Kemal Atatürk  of Turkey (and other pressing issues) caused the Allies to accept the renegotiated Treaty of Lausanne and the borders of the modern Republic of Turkey – leaving the Kurds without a self-ruled region. Other Kurdish areas were assigned to the new British and French mandated states of Iraq and Syria.

Today the Kurds are also living in northern Syria, and they all are fighting against IS (ISIS).  There was 35 to 40 million Kurds today before the beginnings of ISIS.   The Kurdish people speak Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and Persian, depending on where they live.

Today we find that Jews all over the world, and especially the Sephardic Jews, are more closely related by DNA to the Kurds more than they are to any Arab group.  Most of the Kurds tested came from Moslem Iraq.  "The Kurdish Jews and Sephardic Jews were found to be very close to each other."  "In the article in the November 2001 issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics, Ariella Oppenheim of the Hebrew University of Israel wrote that this new study revealed that Jews have a closer genetic relationship to populations in the northern Mediterranean (Kurds, Anatolian Turks, and Armenians) than to populations in the southern Mediterranean (Arabs and Bedouins)."  "But the majority of Ashkenazic Jews, who possess Eu 9 and other chromosomes, descend paternally from Judeans who lived in Israel two thousand years ago."  That would take us to the Jews who fled  Judah when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.  It was when so many were taken as prisoners to Rome.  

"A 2010 US report, written before the instability in Syria and Iraq that exists as of 2014, attested that "Kurdistan may exist by 2030"  The weakening of the Iraqi state following the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive by"  ISIS "has also presented an opportunity for independence, augmented by Turkey's move towards acceptance of such a state."  Right now the Kurds are fighting alone on the ground against ISIS.  CNN just showed actually fighting during the daylight going on about 2 miles away from their cameraman.  They are begging for help from the air but so far none has come even though the coalition has been bombing previous to this.  

Reference: http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2014/06/found-lost-tribe-of-israel-right-in.html
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/22897/Anatolia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1626606/posts  DNA information, Kevin Alan Brook
CNN news on Kurds fighting against ISIS, watching fighting
Update:  http://www.noravank.am/upload/pdf/256_en.pdf  Israeli-Kurdish relations

Thursday, September 25, 2014

NAMES The Middle East Has Gone By and Their Relations to Jews

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   


For  400 years the Middle East had been a part of the Ottoman Empire 1299-1917.  Osman I (1299-1326) was the first Ottoman Sultan.  The Muslim caliphate and the Byzantine Empire were in almost a continuous struggle.  Turkish soldiers were the effective advance guard for Islam.  After 1492, when Jews had to leave Spain or convert to Christianity, the sultans of the Ottoman Empire opened their gates generously to the refugees, and later to the Portuguese Jewish refugees.  The Jews were favored as a valuable trading and artisan community and also as a counterpoise to the disloyal Christian minorities.  Jews in Palestine were a part of the Ottoman Empire.  from 1517 as were Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, etc.  After the 16th century things were not as good for the Jews and anti-Jewish restrictions were laid down.  The Ottoman Empire held the 3rd largest population of Jews in the world after Russia and Austro-Hungary having about 350,000 in 1900.  The Empire teamed up with the Germans in WWI and of course they lost the war and the Ottoman Empire was dismantled.

" Controlling much of Southeast EuropeWestern Asia, the CaucasusNorth Africa, and the Horn of Africa, the Ottoman Empire had 28 million people in 1914.  Of those, 15.5 million were in Turkey, 4.5 million in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine-what would cover Israel and Jordan, and 2.5 million in Iraq.   At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries."   By 1453  it became an empire.  

Mesopotamia is the old name for IRAQ.  It became a Moslem country in 637.    Mohammad had died in 632.  Before  that it was a part of Babylonia.  Back in the days of being Mesopotamia, the large and ancient Jewish community favored and even assisted the Arab advance in the hope that it would afford them deliverance from the terrible Sassanid persecution.

Sassanid Empire: were the Persians (Iran) before Islam entered their empire.Persia only became Iran in 1935.  They lasted from 224 to 651 CE.   They had been known as the Eranshahr and the Erah long ago.  "The Sasanian Empire, which succeeded the Parthian Empire, was recognized as one of the main powers in the MIddle East , alongside the Roman–Byzantine Empire, for a period of more than 400 years."   These Sasanids of Iran dominated the  area from the Tigris to the Indus and from the Persian Gulf to the Cauacasus and the Urals.  They fought against the Byzantine Empire who had control of Asia Minor, most of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and North Africa, and ruled from Constantinople.  Both fought what would be a tie, and in fighting had weakened themselves so much that they became easy prey to the Arabs of the desert.  

Safavids of Persia (Iran) 1500 to 1736)  A 1,000 years later, we see the Ottomans fighting against the Safavids in Persia.  They had also fought to a tie, and now these newer fighters  helped the Europeans take over.  Their leaders were Shahs.  The Safavids unified Persia for the 1st time since the Arab conquest and expanded its boundaries to what they were under the Sasanids.  The Safavids saved Iran from being incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.  they made Shi'ism the state religion and imposed it on the population.  They prevented the free exchange of ideas and stifled innovation in many fields of endeavor.  

Babylonia was an ancient state in the Middle East, also known in Bible days as the land of Shinar or of the Kasdim (Chaldees).  In Genesis, it states that it was the cradle of humanity and the scene of the "Tower of Babel."  The story of the Flood in Genesis is also found in Babylonian literature.  Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans, but migrated to Eretz Yisrael where he later fought against Amraphel, King of Shinar (Gen. 14).  The great Babylonian lawgiver was Hammurabi.  The Babylonian, Nebuchadnezzar II (604-561 BCE) inherited the Assyrian Empire.  He overran and took over Judah in 597 and 586 BCE.  Then he exiled many Jews to Babylonia.  There they probably met up with Jews of the 10 lost tribes  previously exiled by the Assyrians who now were living in Babylonia.  King Cyrus had permitted Jews to return to Jerusalem, but some did not, and they had remained.

Assyrian Empire:  Assyria was an ancient state in the Middle East and its people were Semites.  They had an aggressive kingdom in the 20th century BCE which expanded rapidly in the 13th and 10th centuries.  King David of Israel and his son, King Solomon had many successes against the Aramean states in Mesopotamia and Syria.  This probably contributed to Assyria's recovery.  Asshurbanipal II (king from 883 to 59 BCE) had a tactical revolution in the Assyrian army, and overran Syria and the Phoenician cities in 876 BCE.  Then, in 853 BCE, Shalmaneser III attacked Ben-Hadadd II of Damascus and King Ahab of Israel supported him in the indecisive battle of Karkar.  Shalmaneser led a 2nd attack in 848 and failed, but caused Kind Ahab's reign to fall in 842 BCE.  The Assyrian decline was ended by Tiglath-Pileser III in 745 BCE to 27 BCE who overthrew the Syrian confederacy.

Syria  was and still is a Middle East country and in the Bible was called Aram.   The people were the Arameans.  They had intermarried with the Israelites.  " Isaac had married Rebekah, the sister of Laban the Syrian.  Jacob married his daughters (Gen 24:29)  The period when the Arameans first appeared in Syia is uncertain, but was probably later than 2000 BCE.  When Abraham came from Haran, Damascus was already occupied (Gen 15:2), and this may have been the oldest settlement of the Arameans in Syria proper.

The kings of Aram didn't succeed in creating a homogeneous state.  The coastal strip was settled by the Phoenicians.  The Bible in Kings I and II tell of constant friction with the kingdoms of Israel and Judah until the 8th century when Syria was overrun by the Assyrians.  It had a Jewish population , especially at Antioch, that was of importance in the Seleucid era but suffered from the hostility of the Greeks.   Syria became a Roman (later Byzantine) province  in 64 BCE.   The largest Jewish communities in Syria in the 12th century, according to Benjamin of Tudelea, were at Aleppo with 5,000 Jews; Damascus with 3,000 Jews, and Palmyra with 2,000.  The Jewish settlement was increased after 1492 by refugees from Spain and Sicily and became an important center of trade between Europe and Asia.

Byzantine Empire/Byzantium was the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital in Constantinople (today is Istanbul, Turkey) and extended over a changing geographical area up to the year 637, including Palestine. "Constantinople was the capital city of the RomanByzantineLatin, and Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD at ancient Byzantium, as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, and dedicated on 11 May 330 In the 12th century.  The city was the largest and wealthiest European city."   As the Eastern emperors developed their specific  religious  attitudes about the position of the Jews, especially about their religious life,  relations with the Byzantine deteriorated.  They came up with elaborate anti-Jewish laws and issued a decree in 553 which interfered with the conduct of the synagogue services.  In 614 they issued an edict ordering the conversion of Jews.  Judaism was formally forbidden by their successive emperors; by Leo in 721; Basil I in 873-4; Romanus Lucapenus in 932-6, etc.  Even so, Jews reestablished themselves and Benjamin of Tudela in 1170 found communities throughout the Empire, but in Constantinople they were treated with contempt.  The empire was conquered by the Turks in 1453.

Hittite Empire were ancient people in the Middle East from the 15th century BCE with power extended towards Syria.  After the main kingdom fell in 1200 BCE, small Hittite kingdoms continued to flourish in northern Syria and in the vicinity of the Euphrates.  These states were overrun by the Armenians and the Assyrians.  They were connected to the Canaanites (Gen. 10:15) and some lived in Eretz Yisrael  at an early period.  Abraham bought the cave at Machpelah from Hittites.  Esau took wives from among them.  They were one of 7 peoples from whom the Israelites conquered Canaan.  Later, King David had Hittite warriors, and King Solomon had Hittite wives, so they were integrated into the society of Israel.

Reference: 2nd edition of Middle East Past &I Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasanian_Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire
The Settlers by Meyer Levin, telling of condition of Palestine from 1880 on under the Ottoman Empire for Jews and Arabs.
Messages from a Syrian Jew Trapped in Egypt-tells about the Blood Libel in Damascus in the 1800's.
http://www.iranchamber.com/geography/articles/persia_became_iran.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Syrian_history
http://www.bible-history.com/isbe/S/SYRIANS/
update: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassanid_Empire; dates

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Khorasan Terrorists Hit in Syria

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   



Al Qaeda is like an octopus with 8 or more arms.  IS is one arm , Nusra is another and now there is Khorasan.  Khorasan is an ancient term  meaning Islamic Empire.   Khorasan's specialty is to hit the United States with terrorists. This organization was formed by experienced al Qaeda members based in Pakistan who had traveled to Syria.   They have been working on new improvised explosive devices that will be hard to detect, and this includes common hand-held electronic devices and airplane carry-on items such as toiletries.  Let's hope the airports are getting special meetings on how to find and detect such items.  Seems to me they'll have to ban all such items completely if they are undetectable.

Khorasan is a new group to most of us, only publicly acknowledged last week when James Clapper, head of National Intelligence, said it was operating in Iraq and Syria, and that they focus on exporting terror to the West.   That means the USA has a threat hanging over our heads. They've been enjoying a safe haven in Syria up to Sunday night when the 5 Middle East nations of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar joined 2 USA ships off shore with their American made jets in bombing Khorasan and IS targets.
                                                                             
Muhsin al Fadhli, a short, slender 33 year old Kuwaiti is with Khorasan.  He joined Jabhat al Nusra in April 2013 and then left him because Nusra is connected with Iran.  He was based there as an al Qaeda representative.  President Bashar al-Assad of Syria just had his bodyguard, Abu Rama, arrested and confessed, probably under torture, as Syria knows how to do that.  A new report is that he may be dead, perhaps caught in the strike by the USA.

Early on Tuesday in the Middle East which happens before Tuesday comes up in the West,   The USA had their own targets to hit apart from the jets flown by the 5 Arab nations.  The USA hit some building to the west of Aleppo, some distance from IS strongholds where the Khorasan Group held up.  The USA's target was training camps, an explosives and munitions production facility, a communication building and command and control facilities.
                                                                           
                                                          Al Qaeda Terrorists

The competition is between al Qaeda battling with IS for leading global jihad. " Al-Qaeda has attacked civilian and military targets in various countries, including the September 11 attacks1998 US embassy bombings and the 2002 Bali bombings. The US government responded to the September 11 attacks by launching the War on Terror."

Osama abin Laden started al Qaeda in 1988 or 1989.  This goes back to the Soviet War in Afghanistan.  Al Qaeda is a network and has its own stateless army at its beck and call.  Their problem has been to have many factions break off and fight with each other.  They all follow Wahhabi Muslim lines that call for global Jihad and the following of strict Sharia law.  One can see how IS developed out of it.  

Research:  CNN  http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/22/world/meast/al-qaeda-syria-khorasan/index.html
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/09/23/jihadi-social-media-khorasan-group-leader-muhsin-al-fadhli-killed-in-u-s-airstrikes-in-syria/




Friday, September 19, 2014

Gaza Strip's Past Occupation and Present Blockade

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                

Gaza showing built up areas since 1967, refugee camps, crossing areas

Most Americans are uneducated about Gaza's history.  They're the ones found in demonstrations against Israel.  They've been shouting slogans like "Free Gaza!" without knowing anything about it.  They don't know that Israel left Gaza 9 years ago.  They don't know about the blockade the Egyptians have had on their side for the same reasons Israel has had a blockade or why.  They will tell you about who is winning in the NFL football league, though.  Then they'll join a demonstration against Israel without knowing facts and yell as if they're at at a football game.  It's time to wise up.
                                                                           
The Gaza Strip extends along the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt for 22 miles and is about 8 miles wide, like a peninsula that Florida is.  The Egyptians marched into the Negev Desert in May 1948 and Israel was on the offensive from October to December 1948 and drove them out of there but not from the Strip.  Egypt had control of the Gaza Strip then under an Armistice Agreement of 1949.  In November 1956, Israel's IDF captured it in part of their Sinai Operation.  Israel then returned it back to Egypt in March 1957.  A UN emergency Force was then stationed along the border with Israel.  In May 1967, Nasser, President of Egypt, demanded the UN force withdraw and the UN secretary-general, U Thant, agreed.  The 1967 War was the result which the Arabs started.  That's why Egypt wanted the UN out of the way.
                                                                   
There were 352,260 people in the Strip in 1967 of which 172,520 were Palestinian refugees who were there probably since 1948 when they left Jerusalem with the promise of the leaders taking the city for the Arabs.  Gaza is their main city.  The Jewish population had left in 1917 because of Arab attacks.  Many then returned only to be attacked again in 1929 during Arab riots against Jews led by their leaders.  In 1949 the population was 30,000 and was this big because of refugees that had come in.  Gaza's population in 1967 was 119,000.

The Gaza had been until 1948, part of the British Mandate of Palestine.  Between 1948 and 1967 it was administered by an Egyptian Military Government.  It was not annexed by Egypt.  Pending a peace settlement, in which the borders between Israel and its neighbors would be decided, it is that of territory occupied during a war (1967 Six Day War).  Israel has not annexed any part of the areas.  East Jerusalem was reunified in June 1967 with West Jerusalem, however.  Israel found that there were 388,600 living in the  Gaza Strip which is 360 sq km-140 sq miles.
                                                                         

Since 1967 the economy of the administered areas has been transformed from a condition of stagnation and unemployment to one of growing prosperity.  In the Gaza Strip and North Sinai, 19% of working men were jobless after the war;  in 1972, 98% of the labor force of 64,000 was employed.  Refugees were treated in the same way as local people in the matter of employment, whether for local special schemes or for work in Israel.  Work in Israel was  largely provided through 18 labor exchanges.

The number of workers employed daily in Israel rose from 4,000 in January 1969. to about 55,000 in July 1972.  Their salary rose from IL4.00 in 1966 to IL9.25 in 1972.  Daily earnings in Israel were about IL13.  Farm workers were 39% of the total employed, workers in crafts and industry were 13.8% and in building and public works 14.5%.  We live by the motto: "If you eat the fruit of the labor of your hands, you will be happy and prosperous." (Bible, Psalms 128.2.)  

In the Gaza Strip and North and Central Sinai, governmental education was free.  In 1969/70, 934 local Arab teachers were employed with 5 Israelis to counsel them.  UNRWA had no secondary schools or teachers' training colleges in the Strip;  here, too, refugee children attended governmental secondary schools.  The Military Government looked after 22 teachers' training colleges with an enrollment of 638 students.  12 private schools taught adults commerce, accounting.  There were 17 private kindergartens and nursery schools.  In 1972, 2,000 secondary school graduates from Gaza were granted entry permits for study by the Egyptian Government.  

Gazans received medical treatment as a State service under local law.  It was fully financed by the Military Government.  The flight of Egyptian personnel in 1967 left only 42 doctors compared with the 90 they had had, so Israel was trying to get the Arab practitioners to return.  There were 5 government and 2 other hospitals with a total of 967 beds.  This has caused large scale Israeli aid, out-patient clinics of Israeli hospitals to serve the Gazans and Israeli specialists to visit hospitals as advisers.  El-Arish Hospital was abandoned by their Egyptian staff, so Tel Hashomer Hospital in Israel adopted it.  The building was repaired.  and Israelis doctors, nurses and administrators are in charge.  A health center, with its own X-ray institute and laboratory was manned by an Israeli team.  

In the Gaza Strip, the British Mandatory law is enforced.  Senior judicial appointments had been held by Egyptians before the war.  The former local judges were reinstated by Israel and local lawyers and prosecutors were appointed to the bench.  The establishment of courts was as it had been;  a Supreme and High Court, a District Court and a Juvenile Court in Gaza, and 5 Magistrates' Courts.   

The Israeli Police shared the job of reorganizing the local constabulary, made up of local and Israeli policemen.  The local police, besides new recruits, includes men of previous Jordanian and Egyptian enrollment.  In 1971, 470 policemen were serving in the Gaza Strip and Sinai.  
                                                                   

Hamas Terrorists

The Al-Aqsa Intifada broke out in September 2000.

"The disengagement from Gaza Strip was proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005. By September 18, 2005, Israel was out of there. It's been 9 years since Israel was thus "occupying the Gaza Strip."  


"In his book Sharon: The Life of a Leader, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's son Gilad wrote that he gave his father the idea of the disengagement.[3] Sharon had originally dubbed his unilateral disengagement plan, the "separation plan" or Tokhnit HaHafrada before realizing that, "separation sounded bad, particularly in English, because it evoked apartheid."[4]
Sharon suggested his disengagement plan for the first time on December 18, 2003 at the Fourth Herzliya Conference. In his address to the Conference, Sharon stated that ″settlements which will be relocated are those which will not be included in the territory of the State of Israel in the framework of any possible future permanent agreement. At the same time, in the framework of the Disengagement Plan, Israel will strengthen its control over those same areas in the Land of Israel which will constitute an inseparable part of the State of Israel in any future agreement.″[5]
Sharon formally announced the plan in his April 14, 2004 letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, stating that "there exists no Palestinian partner with whom to advance peacefully toward a settlement" *

Disagreements over power showed up in 2005 between the terrorist factions of Fatah and Hamas. Someone from the West insisted this be decided by elections.  " Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did not want Hamas (the Movement for Change) to be allowed to run, since the far-right Muslim fundamentalist organization had never accepted the Oslo Peace Process. Although back in the 1980s the Israelis had backed Hamas against its secular, nationalist rival, the PLO-later called Fatah, , by 2006 the two had fallen out."  The Palestinian Arabs in Gaza were divided between Fatah and Hamas terrorists who became political powers.  "On January 30, 2006, the Quartet (United States, Russia, United Nations, and European Union) conditioned future foreign assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) on the future government's commitment to non-violence, recognition of the State of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements."  By June 14, 2007, a full scaled war broke out for a week between the two groups and Hamas won, meaning they ruled the Gaza Strip, and Abbas of Fatah was forced out and returned to Judea and Samaria.  
                                                                     

The blockade on the Gaza Strip wasn't considered until two years later after leaving it when Hamas gained control of Gaza in a cruel fratricidal battle against Fatah and Israel''s friendly hand was reciprocated with increased terror and rockets."  In order to keep ammunition that would be used against Israel out of Gazan hands, a blockade had to be in effect.  
                                                     
 Rockets shot from Gaza schools, hospitals

Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara, stopped and boarded by Israel, possibly carrying weapons for Gazans, May 31, 2010

Under international law Israel is within its rights to establish a maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip, since Gaza is ruled by Hamas, a hostile terrorist entity that has launched missiles into Israel targeting and killing civilians, and has also infiltrated and attempted to infiltrate into Israel in order to carry out attacks. There is therefore a state of armed conflict between Hamas-ruled Gaza and the State of Israel, and in such a situation Israel is permitted, with certain limitations, to blockade the territory of its adversary.**

Resource:  The New Jewish Encyclopedia
facts about Israel published by the Division of Information Ministry for Foreign Afairs, Jerusalem 1973
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah%E2%80%93Hamas_conflict
http://www.juancole.com/2014/07/trifecta-afghanistan-imploding.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_Gaza *
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_the_Gaza_Strip
http://www.jpost.com/Blogs/2nd-Thoughts/Why-is-Gaza-blockaded-372949
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_the_Gaza_Strip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=81&x_article=1858 **