Who Are Israel's Greatest USA Presidential Friends?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

Going to war was the U.S. president’s decision, for which he alone is responsible.  Nobody can tell Trump to do something he doesn't want to do.  

There is the Problem With the Idea That Netanyahu Made Trump Attack Iran floating around in the US.  So they blame higher gas prices and food prices on Israel now.  Jews have been blamed for every bad thing that has ever happened;  especially the Arabs.  I know that Syrians blamed even bad weather on Jews.  Well, indirectly, maybe I can say that it's the way Jews have been treated that brings on the bad things,  you know, Karma !  (Thank you, India for that one.)  All I believe is that something is watching up high.  Something knows who's good and who's bad and it isn't just Santa Claus.  (Thank you American children).  G-d knows.  Broad antisemitic tropes and theories regarding Jewish influence on war are significant: 

• Global Views on War Responsibility: A 2025 Anti-Defamation League (ADL) poll  found that 40% of people under age 35 and 29% of those over 50 worldwide believe "Jews are responsible for most of the world's wars".
• Manipulation Tropes: Approximately one-third of Americans at least "somewhat agree" with the trope that Israeli operatives manipulate U.S. national policy.
• Antisemitic Tropes in the U.S.: As of 2024, nearly 24% of the U.S. population agrees with six or more traditional anti-Jewish tropes, an increase from 20% in 2022.  So that's during  October 7, 2023;  blaming the victim.  
  
     Truman was the first to recognize Israel as a state; here with Weisman, and he was adamant about doing so.  His surrounding friends were against it.  Here he is with Chaim Weizmann.  Israel will be 78 years old on May 14, 2026.  It's called Yom Ha' atzmaut in Hebrew.  
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                           Truman and David Ben Gurion                    
  David Ben-Gurion (born October 16, 1886, Płońsk, Poland, Russian Empire [now in Poland]—died December 1, 1973, Tel Aviv–Yafo, Israel) was a Zionist statesman and political leader, the first prime minister (1948–53, 1955–63) and defense minister (1948–53; 
• 1955–63) of Israel. It was Ben-Gurion who, on May 14, 1948, at Tel Aviv, delivered Israel’s declaration of independence. His charismatic personality won him the adoration of the masses, and, after his retirement from the government and, later, from the Knesset (the Israeli house of representatives), he was revered as the “Father of the Nation.”
• Is there a problem in that Trump and Netanyahu have become friends as well as making their country's a friend?  It seems that way.  My goodness, it's true that Trump is the second real friend out of the 50 Presidents of the 50 states.  Trump has gone that extra mile that the others didn't.  However, 3 other U.S. presidents have been close allies of Israel, with Lyndon B. Johnson, George W. Bush, and Richard Nixon frequently cited as strong supporters alongside Truman and Trump. These leaders strengthened strategic, military, and diplomatic ties, with LBJ often regarded as the most emotionally committed, supporting Israel during the 1967 war
• 
  
•  By the way, Jews happen to live in the states as well as having returned to their native land they have re-named Israel.  It's interesting that Jews make up only 2%  of the USA, yet many people  distrust them.  Where do they get such ideas? 

Israel has been at war with Iran at least since 1967.  Every day they have had the knowledge hanging over their heads that their neighbors cannot bear a Jewish state among the Muslims surrounding them.  Trump led the motion of the Abrahamic Accords in which 4 countries now belong including the USA and Israel, of course.  

This is likely the oldest photo Dusky ever posted. It's from 1855, and it shows a group of Jewish laborers in Kerem Avraham, a neighborhood in Jerusalem.

These Jews belonged to what is called the Old Yishuv, those Jews who were already living in the Land of Israel before the First Aliyah, which began in 1882.

Here's a photo of agricultural workers in Ein Ganim in 1923. Ein Ganim was a moshav established in 1908. It was later absorbed into the city of Petah Tikva and is today a neighborhood there.

Photo credit: Oded Yarkoni Petah Tikva Archive

Yet Jews had ventured back in the 1880's and even earlier to their native land of Judah, then called Palestine with the Ottoman Empire at the head of it and all the others surrounding it.  It had become unbearable in Russia and those surrounding states creating Pogroms for Jews to live, always being 2nd class people used to vent all their problems on, then...as now, taking it out on them physically.  Jews started to return after being  chased out in 70 CE by the Roman attack that contained threats of not to return or face death.  

Why are the Jews always blamed for everything--the scapegoat of the world?  It started in the Greek days and have never stopped with Hellenism.  Christianity picked it up and added polish and spit.  This new religion did not help any Jews even though  Jesus was said to be Jewish.  As they saw it in those days, reason enough to kill Jews.  

It's taken over 2,000 years for people of this age to accept Jews, and now they have created anti-Semitism again even as bad as Germany had it before WWII.   In this new land of United States which is only 250 years old to finally accept Jews and secure them as 1st class citizens in 2026 is the greatest blessing  for our USA celebration.  It's been a struggle, but this land has been unique in many ways.  Thanks,  oh young USA.  

 Reference

israelAM

One Day of Sadness and the Next Turns to Happiness Only in Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Today is Yom Hazikaron, Israel's memorial day. the day began Monday evening with a nationwide one-minute siren in memory of 25,648 fallen soldiers. A two-minute siren sounded across the country at 11 a.m., followed by memorial ceremonies at cemeteries nationwide.                                    

The state memorial ceremony for victims of terror was held on Tuesday at the monument on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. The somber day will transition into Israel's Independence Day, Yom Ha'atzmaut, tonight, celebrating 78 years of statehood in the Holy Land.

Israeli forces are currently deployed in a security zone in southern Lebanon extending up to 10 kilometers from the border,(6.21 miles) from the Mediterranean coast in the west to the foothills of Mount Hermon in the east. 

Michael Issa is a Lebanese-American diplomat and businessman who is serving the United States ambassador to Lebanon since 2025.  As of April 2026, Mike Huckabee is the United States Ambassador to Israel, having assumed the role on April 21, 2025. Based in Jerusalem, Huckabee is the 29th person to hold this position, serving as an appointee of President Donald Trump.

The ambassadors to the U.S. from Lebanon and Israel, Michael Issa and  Mike Huckabee will meet for the second time in Washington on Thursday to continue direct talks.

Let's take a moment today to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend Israel and the Jewish People and to ensure that the State of Israel will continue to celebrate its Independence Days for generations to come.

Resource;

israelAM

Tonight's Two Day Holidays Begin in Israel: Of Mourning and Celebrating

 Nadene Goldfoot                                              

Tonight (Tuesday, April 29, 2025) begins Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance for the soldiers, police and members of the security services who fell defending Israel as well as for the victims of terror.

On April 29, 2025, in Israel, Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli Memorial Day, is commemorated with solemn ceremonies and observances. This includes placing the national flag on graves of fallen soldiers, lighting torches, and observing moments of silence. The date is just before the celebration of the anniversary of Israel's creation according to the Jewish calendar. 

Israel's Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron, began in 1951 as a separate day of remembrance for soldiers who fell in the War of Independence, distinct from the festive Independence Day. This separate day was established after families of fallen soldiers expressed a desire for a specific day of mourning. In January 1951, the Public Council for Soldiers' Commemoration was formed to recommend establishing the 4th of Iyyar (the day before Independence Day) as the General Memorial Day. This proposal was approved by the government the same year. Israel has been remembering for the past 74 years out of its 77 years established.  .  

 It is followed on Wednesday night by Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's 77th Independence Day, in USA on April 30,2025. The number 77 spelled out in Hebrew spells "Strength". May this be a year of physical and spiritual strength for Israel and the entire Jewish nation.

                                              

 Nir Am, Israel on April 20, 2010 enjoying Independence Day, like American 4th of July;  because Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, which corresponded with the 5th of Iyar on the Hebrew calendar in that year, Yom Ha'atzmaut was originally celebrated on that date. However, to avoid Sabbath desecration, it may be commemorated one or two days before or after the 5th of Iyar if it falls too close to the Sabbath. The day preceding Israel's independence day is Yom HaZikaron, which is dedicated to the memory of fallen Israeli soldiers and Israeli civilian victims of terrorism.  

Born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) died at 87 was the primary national founder and first prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency from 1935, and later president of the Jewish Agency Executive, he was the de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine, and largely led the movement for an independent Jewish state in Mandatory Palestine.

Born in Płońsk, then part of Congress Poland, to Polish Jewish parents, he immigrated to the Palestine region of the Ottoman Empire in 1906. Adopting the name of Ben-Gurion in 1909, he rose to become the preeminent leader of the Jewish community in British-ruled Mandatory Palestine from 1935 until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948,

David ben Gurion and Golda Meir, 2 prime ministers of Israel, announcing the birth of their nation in 1948...The announcement of Israel's independence on May 14, 1948, was a culmination of decades of Zionist aspirations, the aftermath of the Holocaust, and the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed by the Jewish People's Council at the Tel Aviv Museum, marking the birth of the State of Israel. 

 This holiday was proclaimed by future Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion on behalf of the Yishuv on 14 May 1948. The mood outside of Ben-Gurion's residence just prior to the announcement was joyous:

The possibility of a Jewish homeland in Palestine had been a goal of Zionist organisations since the late 19th century. In 1917 British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, above, stated in a letter (Balfour Doctrine)  to British Jewish community leader Walter, Lord Rothschild that:

His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. (Arthur Balfour)

Arthur Balfour, at center, in 1925, was an early convert to the idea that the Jews might constitute more than a religious community.Photograph by Universal History Archive / Getty

“Our policy may fail; I do not deny that this is an adventure. Are we never to have adventures? Are we never to try new experiments?” Arthur Balfour said, in an address to the House of Lords, defending what has become known as the Balfour Declaration. At the time of that speech, his declaration was not quite five years old; today, it is exactly a hundred years old. (It was made public, in a letter to Lord Rothschild, on November 2, 1917.) “His Majesty’s government,” the Balfour Declaration read, “view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.” He accepted the view, Balfour continued before the Lords, “that some members of this race (Jews) may have given—doubtless did give—occasion for much ill will.” But this should be seen, he continued, in light of the “tyranny and persecution” to which they were subjected. Surely it was proper to send a message, to “every land where the Jewish race has been scattered,” that Christendom is not “unmindful of the service they have rendered to the great religions of the world.”  (Said when Balfour Doctrine was not quite 5 years old. ) No doubt he refers to something, as I think of all the anti-Semitism they have rendered to Jews, causing them to seek new homes in their neighbor's countries like Persia, Iraq, Syria, instead of places like Germany, Poland, etc...At the creation of Israel, they were thrown out of their newer homes of Iraq, Syria, etc.                                 

       Iraqi Jews;  Seated in the centre: Sir Sassoon Eskell, first Minister of Finance of the Kingdom with King Faisal I immediately to his left. The tycoon Senator Menahem Saleh Daniel is seated on the far right of this shot.

  The expulsion of Jews from Iraq occurred primarily between 1950 and 1952, after the establishment of Israel in 1948. This large-scale exodus, known as Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, saw nearly the entire Iraqi Jewish population emigrate to Israel. This was a result of increasing persecution and government oppression following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which the Iraqi government then allowed in exchange for renunciation of Iraqi citizenship.  

                        Chaim Weizmann:   (born Nov. 27, 1874, Motol, Pol., Russian Empire [now in Belarus]—died Nov. 9, 1952, Reḥovot, Israel) was the first president of the new nation of Israel (1949–52), who was for decades the guiding spirit behind the World Zionist Organization.  Besides that, Chaim Weizmann's profession, as a chemist, created a method to produce acetone which was crucial for Britain's war effort during World War I. This acetone was a key component in making cordite (smokeless gunpowder). It helped Britain to win the war.

 Jewish men of Palestine, rabbi in center,  served in significant numbers in the British Army and other branches of the military during World War I, with an estimated 50,000 Jewish soldiers fighting for Britain. Beyond their direct military service, Jewish communities in Britain and elsewhere contributed to the war effort through various support roles and acts of patriotism. Additionally, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917, supporting the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, in part to secure Jewish support for the war effort. 

Resource:

israelAM

https://unpacked.media/what-is-yom-hazikaron-how-and-when-do-we-commemorate-israels-memorial-day/#:~:text=Israeli%20soldiers%20salute%20after%20placing,KAHANA/AFP%20via%20Getty%20Images)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(Israel)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ben-Gurion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Declaration_of_Independence#:~:text=

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Iraq

 

Those Israelis Murdered in Less than Two Months on Rampage

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

As many as 19 Israelis and foreign workers have been murdered in Israel in less than 2 months with 3 of them just yesterday during Israel's Yom Ha'atzmaut Celebration of Israel Independence Day.  Israel is 74 years old and this is  how we remember each year, it seems like, attacks continuing from those who oppose our existence. This attack was done by  one  who fired a rifle while the other attacked people with an axe or a knife, police said.                                              

Israeli police and medics at the scene of the attack in Elad on Thursday. Photograph: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty

The latest was the use of knives in the attack on 3 people in the city of Elad.                                        

 El'ad, also spelled Elad, is a city in the Central District of Israel. It was built in the 1990s for a Haredi and to a lesser extent Religious Zionist Jewish population. Located about 25 kilometres (15.5343 miles) east of Tel Aviv on Route 444 between Rosh HaAyin and Shoham, it had a population of 48,763 in 2019.  It's just a little less than Aloha in Oregon with 54,347 population.  

The distance between Tel Aviv and the border of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) is 48 kilometers or 29.8258 miles.  It's like driving from Portland, Oregon to Multnomah Falls or the town of McMinnville.  We can drive 21 miles in 31 minutes from Portland.  30 miles away would take  about 40 minutes.  I'd say that Judea and Samaria are very close to Tel Aviv and Elad is within Israel's border  but even closer !  They needed a heck of a lot more protection from these blood-thirsty attacks.                                               

"Three people have been killed and at least four more injured in the central Israeli town of Elad, in the latest in a spate of street attacks that have sent tensions soaring in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent weeks.

Suspects in the Elad ax terrorist attack, 20-year-old Tzabahi Abu Shakir (Left) and 19 year-old Assad al-Rafai (Right).

(photo credit: ISRAEL POLICE)

Israeli forces have launched a hunt for two Palestinian suspects, backed by a large deployment of security personnel, helicopters, drones and roadblocks. Police said the suspects were 19 and 20 years old and came from the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

Jenin is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank(Samaria). It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major center for the surrounding towns. In 2007 the city had a population of approximately 40,000 people, whilst the Jenin refugee camp had a population of 10,000.  

Medics described a horrific scene in Elad, an ultra-Orthodox town near Tel Aviv. Israeli media identified those killed as Yonatan Havakuk, Boaz Gol and Oren Ben Yiftah, three fathers in their 30s and 40s who together are survived by 16 children. Funerals will be held on Friday.  

     Israeli Security and rescue personnel work at the scene following an incident in Elad, in  central Israel, May 5, 2022. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Prior to Elad, Palestinians and members of Israel's Arab minority had killed 15 people, including three police officers and a security guard, in attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have mostly targeted civilians.

Israel has responded with arrest raids in Palestinian towns and villages which have often sparked clashes and brought the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of the year to at least 40.

These are ultra orthodox Jews of New York-people not looking for a fight...

Ultra orthodox Jews are not into killing, attacking others, etc.  They spend a lot of time studying the Torah (Old Testament) and praying.  To attack one of them is to attack the mildest of Jews, in my opinion, the people more likely to invite you to dinner, not to harm you.  People who attack them are nothing but bullies, killers for sure.  

Police said the incident appeared to be a terror attack.  Do you think???

When I lived in Israel from 1980 to the end of 1985, the streets were always full of soldiers on their days off, milling around, shopping, etc like the rest of us, I figured, but always carrying their rifle.  They were ready for whatever might attack us.  What has happened to this?  Isn't it still happening?  It never bothered me to see armed soldiers, but was a big comfort.  

Mahmoud Abbas of the PA said he disapproved of the attack.  However, the PA does all kinds of things to instigate such attacks, even paying murderers when they are imprisoned for these very acts!  It's sickening how readers outside the community can be hi-jinked into thinking that they are caring people.  

 

Resource:

Israel AM

Wikipedia

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/05/middleeast/israel-terror-attack-elad-intl/index.html

https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Tel-Aviv/West-Bank-Palestine#:~:text=The%20distance%20between%20Tel%20Aviv%20and%20West%20Bank%20is%2048%20km.