Fact: Six Day War Cause Due to Arab Aggression, Changing Legality Issue

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

 Is the fact that Israel wasn't the aggressor in the Six Day War of 1967 an issue because of Anti-Semitism or what?  Of course it is.  Professor Avi Schlaim is one of the most critical of Israel's own historians, and even he has had to admit that Israel was the VICTIM of Arab aggression in that amazing War that started from June 5th to the 11th and changed the future of the Middle East.

   

Avraham "Avi" Shlaim FBA (born 31 October 1945) in Bagdad, Iraq,  is an Israeli-British historian, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and fellow of the British Academy. He is one of Israel's New Historians, a group of Israeli scholars who put forward critical interpretations of the history of Zionism and Israel.  Usually, no one is harder on Israel than its own people, and he is a hard one.  We Jews seem to have a lot of judgemental personalities.  He married the great-granddaughter of David Lloyd George, who was the British prime minister at the time of the Balfour Declaration. He has lived in the United Kingdom since 1966, and holds dual British and Israeli nationality.

Beit El: Beit El is an Israeli settlement and local council located in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. The Orthodox Jewish town is located in the hills north of Jerusalem, east of the Palestinian city of al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah. In September 1997, Beit El was awarded local council status

Professor Kontorovich is an advocate of Israel and the legal eagle about International law.   He lives in Israel with his family.  

International law is very clear about the issue of Israeli settlements in and sovereignty over JUDEA-SAMARIA (West Bank) and Gaza.  "Had Israel been the aggressor, its occupation of JUDEA-SAMARIA and the Gaza Strip would have been illegal, as would all future expansion of Israeli population into these territories. 

That wasn't the case, though, was it.  Israel was the VICTIM of aggression.  They weren't the one who went out and aggressively attacked these areas.  The AGGRESSORS came to them;  and one country wasn't enough.  They had to gang up on one of the smallest states in the world; They had a coalition:  Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon with Russia supplying lots of weapons.  Other Arab states were in the mix as well.  And no other nations were helping Israel.  She was alone facing unbearable odds.  The difference is that the people were praying for their higher power in such a situation as this.  They were aware that they had had one in their past history, but it certainly didn't seem like it during the Holocaust when many had lost hope. 

                              

     Roman aggressors taking land

The difference in international law is this:  If Israel had been the AGGRESESORS in this looming war, its occupation of JUDEA-SAMARIA and Gaza Strip would have been illegal as would  ALL FUTURE EXPANSION of Israeli population INTO THOSE TERRITORIES.  

                                                

    Winning a battle in 6 days, considered a miracle and allowing these IDF soldiers to see Jerusalem and the wall for the 1st time since Jordan held it since 1948.  Nasser had moved 100,000 men and 1,000 tanks into Sinai while the other Arab states rapidly made their preparations and coordinated their moves for a unified attack on Israel, including an agreement betwen Nasser and King Hussein of Jordan. Could I call Egypt and Jordan narcissists?  The Arab world was seized with war hysteria and in a preemptive move.   

That wasn't the case, now, was it?  As the VICTIM OF AGGRESSION, Israel's legal position is EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE.  Let this be a lesson to any future Nazi-type aggressors looming  and drooling over someone else's land that they've been sitting on for thousands of years.  There should be no more ROMAN  or NAZI-thinking AGRESSORS! 

                                               

                 Netanyahu and Obama discussing peace objectives

The legal disposition of territories conquered in a DEFENSIVE WAR can be determined ONLY  by a peace treaty between the belligerents.  No peace treaty cometh?  Well, then, there is allowed the continued sovereignty and economic activities of the VICTIM OF AGGRESSION over its NEWLY WON TERRITORIES.  This is completely legal as long as:  such activity doesn't unfavorably prejudice the indigenous people involved.  

Israel's sovereignty over JUDEA -SAMARIA and Gaza Strip was helpful,...until their administration was turned over to the Palestinian Authority (PA) under the Oslo Agreements. 

                                                   

Haj Amin al Husseini, the Sherif of Jerusalem who was always stirring up the Arabs against the Jews.  He didn't want to lose his newly given title.  

The problem has always been since 1948 that the Arabs are not interested in creating their own land of a Palestine, which they have never ever experienced in the past. Trotting back and forth across the land were Bedouins on camels or donkeys, and later, Arabs from all the surrounding areas looking for work.  They came from established countries but were the labor force out of work.  They saw a future in sharing the beginning of the Jewish nation.  It didn't take much for people like Haj Amin al-Husseini, who had just received his title from the British mandate of the Sherif of Jerusalem to stir up these workers and use their competitive inclinations to attack the Jews.  

                                   The Hebron massacre of Jews by Arabs          

1929 was not only bad economically for the USA, but bad in Palestine with the Arabs attacking Jews in Hebron, where Abraham had bought the Cave of Machpelah and surrounding land from the Hittite to bury Sarah, and later he and his family, Judah's ancient city only 18 miles south of Jerusalem.  The Arabs massacred many Jews of this town of 700, and the Jews who survived the attack had fled.  30 Jewish families returned in 1931.  Then there were Arab riots again in 1936.  The population in 1967 was 38,310.  After the Six Day War of 1967, a number of Jews again settled there, as was their right. They established the Kiryat Arba quarter east of the city.  This numbered 3,700 in 1988. It was Haj Amin al-Husseini who caused this riot.    

                                                

Following the 1995 Oslo Agreement and subsequent 1997 Hebron Agreement, Palestinian cities were placed under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, with the exception of Hebron,which was split into two sectors: H1 is controlled by the Palestinian Authority and H2 – which includes the Old City of Hebron – remained under the military control of Israel.  Around 120,000 Palestinians live in H1, while around 30,000 Palestinians along with around 700 Israelis remain under Israeli military control in H2. 

                   Cave of Machpalah, now cave of our fathers

As of 2009, a total of 86 Jewish families lived in Hebron. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) may not enter H1 unless under Palestinian escort. Palestinians cannot approach areas where settlers live without special permits from the IDF. The Jewish settlement is widely considered to be illegal by the international community, although the Israeli government disputes this knowing the facts as explained above.

                                                  

                          Moses and the 10 Commandments

What is amazing is that Jews and Israel have been a land of law.  Judaism contains 613 points of law to be followed, like the first 10 Commandments.  Israel was under the rule of Judges in its beginning stages like Deborah, a judge of the people AND a leader-fighter.  Not even Golda Meir went that far to actually lead a unit and fight.  

(a woman, by the way), Gideon, Samson with each judge governing their own tribe or an alliance of tribes.  Jews are known to go into the law profession in profusion, as it is so natural for them, and many Jews have become judges in their diaspora countries. Yet the international world can't wipe away their anti-Semitism  to see the fact; that International law has advanced; changed since Germany first entered Poland in 1939.  World War II began in Europe on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Great Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany on September 3.

Gus Jerome Solomon (1906-1987)  was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. He was a Jewish lawyer who became a judge and sat as the longest serving federal judge in the state.  Born in Portland, Oregon, Solomon was the child of immigrant Jewish parents, his father having been born in Romania and his mother in Russia. Solomon received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago in 1926 and a Bachelor of Laws from Stanford Law School in 1929. He was in private practice in Portland from 1929 to 1949, first individually and then in partnership with Raymond M. Kell. The Portland law firm of Kell, Alterman & Runstein traces its origin to his practice. Laws seem to be a part of our thinking.  it's a natural.  

                                                     

     Israel has always fought alone, but their women fight with them.   

Where was the international community for Israel?  This was the 3rd war that Israel was fighting Arabs.  Each one was a defensive war, actually due to anti-Semitism.  Funny, since Arabs are also Semites, and DNA is showing us that they really are our very very distant cousins.  We should coin a new term in this case.  Greed, unwilling to share, that was really the cause, to do so with Jews was beyond grief for them since Jews living in Arab lands were always treated as 2nd class people, living under a list of predudicial laws because they weren't Muslims.  They simply could not allow 2nd classers into their social strata at that time.  It was like the untouchables and the Brahmas social class of India.  We were the untouchables.  Untouchables with high IQs.  They were afraid Jews would show them up.  Jews had mixed in with the West, and these Easterners couldn't handle this new breed of people coming in with new ideas and old Middle Eastern DNA.               

Israel is the only country in the world to be born again via legal and beneficial land development as opposed to history's conquests like the  Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire  and Hitler, who came close to owning the whole world, east and west.  Did this happen in the Age of Aquarius or what?  It should be the dawning of a great age now that our calendar has a 2 for starters such as 2001-and now we're about to be in 2022. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all expect the Mochiach to be arriving at any time.  The Abraham Accords are the best thing developed so far, and it's hopefully going to grow.  

Resource:

Big Lies: Demolishing the myths of the propaganda war against Israel by David Meir-Levi from David Horowitz Freedom Center

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

Who Are the Two Leaders of the Tenuous Coalition, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

Yair Lapid, 58 years old, born November 5, 1963 in Tel Aviv, is an Israeli politician and former journalist serving as chairman of the Yesh Atid and opposition leader in the Knesset. He served as minister of Finance from 2013 to 2014. Before entering politics in 2012, Lapid was an author, TV presenter and news anchor.  Lapid ranked first on the list of the "Most Influential Jews in the World" by The Jerusalem Post. He was also recognized in 2013 as one of the leading Foreign Policy Global Thinkers, and ranked as one of Time magazine's 100 "Most Influential People in the World".  An amateur boxer and martial artist who has also published a dozen books, Lapid was a newspaper columnist before becoming a presenter on Channel 2 TV, a role that boosted his stardom, and he once featured on lists of Israel's most desirable men.

Lapid grew up in Tel Aviv and London. His childhood home in Tel Aviv was in the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood, in a residential building known as the Journalists' Residence, as several prominent journalists lived there. He attended high school at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, but struggled with learning disabilities and dropped out without earning a bagrut certificate.  He is married to journalist Lihi Lapid, and lives in the Ramat Aviv Gimel neighborhood of Tel Aviv. He and his wife have two children, and he has another son, Yoav (born 1987), from his first marriage. He attends the Daniels Centers for Progressive Judaism, a Reform synagogue in Tel Aviv.

He began his mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces in the 500th Brigade of the Armored Corps. During the 1982 Lebanon War, Lapid suffered an asthma attack after inhaling dust kicked up by a helicopter, and was pulled from the Corps. He then served as a military correspondent for the IDF's weekly newspaper, Bamahane ("In the base camp"). After completing his military service, he began working as a reporter for Maariv and published poetry in literary journals. Maariv is associated with Israel's political center and has been critical of Benjamin Netanyahu's center-right government.  He also had a career as an amateur boxer.

 Yair is the son of journalist and politician Yosef "Tommy" Lapid, who also served as Justice Minister, and novelist and playwright Shulamit (Giladi) Lapid. His father was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and his maternal grandfather was from Transylvania, Romania. These places are outside the Pale of Settlement, where so many Jews have been from.  He has a sister, Merav, who is a clinical psychologist. Another sister, Michal, died in a car accident in 1984^] Both of his grandmothers were alive when his parents moved to Israel. His great-grandmother Hermione Lampel was arrested in Serbia and sent to Auschwitz, where she was murdered in a gas chamber.  

On 17 May 2020, Lapid became the Leader of the Opposition, after the thirty-fifth government of Israel was sworn in. Lapid serves on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and the Sub-Committee on Intelligence and the Security Services. 

Since 5 May 2021, he is in the midst of talks with other parties to try to form a coalition government.  On 2 June 2021, Lapid informed Israeli President Reuven Rivlin that he had formed a new governing coalition with Naftali Bennett and was prepared to replace the incumbent prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

                                                                                        

Naftali Bennett, 49 years old,  was born in Haifa, Israel, on 25 March 1972. He is the youngest of three sons born to Jim and Myrna (Lefko) Bennett, American Jewish immigrants who moved to Israel from San Francisco in 1967, a month after the Six-Day War. His father's Jewish roots come from Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. His maternal grandparents moved to San Francisco from Poland 20 years before the outbreak of World War II, and relocated to Israel as seniors, settling on Vitkin Street in Haifa. Through his paternal grandmother, Bennett is a descendant of the Rappaport rabbinic family and of the Medieval Biblical commentator Rashi. Some of his mother's other family members who remained in Poland were murdered in the Holocaust.  That, we have in common.  My father's line also claims Rashi as being on our tree.  Bennett has two brothers. One, Asher, is a businessman now based in the United Kingdom. The other, Daniel, is an accountant for Zim Integrated Shipping Services.  Bennett's wife, Gilat, is a professional pastry chef. She was secular, but now observes the Jewish Sabbath and religious Jewish kosher laws regarding food. The couple have four children, and live in Ra'anana, a city 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Tel Aviv. Like his brothers, Bennett adheres to Modern Orthodox Judaism.

Naftali Bennett attended Yavne Yeshiva High School in Haifa, and became a youth leader ("Madrich") with the religious Zionist youth organization Bnei Akiva.

Bennett was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1990. He served in the Sayeret Matkal and Maglan commando units as a company commander. Bennett was discharged from active service after six years, but continued to serve in the reserves and attained the rank of major. Bennett served during the First Intifada and in the Israeli security zone in Lebanon during the 1982–2000 South Lebanon conflict. He took part in many operations, including Operation Grapes of Wrath.

After his regular IDF service, Bennett received a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  During the Second Intifada, he participated in Operation Defensive Shield. He was called up as a reservist in the Maglan special forces unit during the 2006 Lebanon War and participated in a search and destroy mission behind enemy lines, operating against Hezbollah rocket launchers.

After moving on from software entrepreneurship, Bennett returned to Israel from the USA and embarked on a career in politics. After taking part in the 2006 Lebanon War, Bennett joined the Leader of the Opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu, and served as his Chief of Staff from 2006 to 2008. He led a team that developed Netanyahu's educational reform plan. He also ran Netanyahu's primary campaign to lead the Likud party in August 2007. On 31 January 2010 Bennett was appointed director-general of the Yesha Council and he led the struggle against the settlement freeze in 2010. He served in this position until January 2012.

Following his election to the Knesset, Bennett had to renounce his U.S. citizenship, which he held as the son of American parents, before he could take his seat. He was appointed Minister of the Economy and Minister of Religious Services in March 2013. In April 2013 he was also appointed Minister of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs.

Naftali Bennett is an Israeli politician who served as Minister of Diaspora Affairs from 2013 to 2019 and as Minister of Defense from 2019 to 2020. He has led the New Right party since 2018, having previously led The Jewish Home party between 2012 and 2018.   Bennett announced on 30 May that he would serve as prime minister in a potential unity government until September 2023, at which point Lapid would take over.

This is something when you have a Reformed and a Modern orthodox Jew working together to make Israel  and even better place than it is, or at least keeping it together in one piece.  Usually Israel has had one person at the helm but now we are juggling two.  When Netanyahu was trying to create a budget, the thing today is to consider how money is divided between religious and secular matters.  

                                                                    

The thirty-sixth government of Israel will be the next expected cabinet of Israel, and is expected to be formed after the 2021 Israeli legislative election.

On 2 June 2021, a coalition agreement was signed between Yesh Atid, Blue and White, Yamina, the Labor Party, Yisrael Beiteinu, New Hope, Meretz, and the United Arab List.

If the government is confirmed in the Knesset, it will have two prime ministers during its duration. Namely, under a rotation agreement, Naftali Bennett of Yamina will serve as prime minister until September 2023, when he will cede the position to Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, who would hold office until November 2025. In addition, the New Right/Yamina and Yesh Atid would become the fourth and fifth parties, respectively, to lead an Israeli government – following Mapai/Labor Party (1948-1977; 1984-1986; 1992-1996; 1999-2001), Likud (1977-1984; 1986-1992; 1996-1999; 2001-2005; 2009-2021), and Kadima (2005-2009).

                                                                               

                Yair Lapid giving a speech at Sapir Academic College in November 2015

In 2016, Lapid presented his platform, the "Seven Point Plan for Israel", which includes:

1. A robust security doctrine, 

2. A regional conference with Arab states based on the necessity of separating from the Palestinians, 

3. Reforms of the political system to clean up corruption,

4. A State of Israel that strikes a balance between its Jewish and democratic character, 

5. A strengthened law enforcement system, an economy propelled forward by innovation, 

6. Increased emphasis on education and science.

7. Under Lapid,  Yesh Atid claims to spearhead the fight against corruption in Israel. The "Nachshon Plan", unveiled in 2017, stipulates that any person found guilty of corruption will be banned from serving in public office. To prevent political bribery, it also abolishes "coalition funds".'

                                                                             

          Bennett at the pre-election foreign-policy debate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 8 January 2013

In spite of his expressed right-wing views against a Palestinian state, while engaged in coalition negotiations for a unity government with Yair Lapid and other party leaders following the 2021 Israeli legislative election, during which he was offered the Prime Ministership, Bennett agreed to a policy of not annexing any territory in the West Bank and to not build any new settlements while serving as Prime Minister in a potential unity government

       In January 2013 Bennett said, "There is not going to be a Palestinian state within the tiny land of Israel", referring to the area from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. "It's just not going to happen. A Palestinian state would be a disaster for the next 200 years."

In June 2013, Bennett said that Israel must learn to live without separation of the 2 States

    Bennett suggested in June 2013 that Israel must learn to live with the Palestinian problem without a "surgical action" of separation to two states: "I have a friend who's got shrapnel in his rear end, and he's been told that it can be removed surgically, but it would leave him disabled... So he decided to live with it. There are situations where insisting on perfection can lead to more trouble than it's worth." Bennett's "Shrapnel in the butt" quickly became widely known as representing his view of the Palestinian problem.

Update: 6/7/2021 3:30pm  But Bennett is also different in fundamental ways from all 11 men — and one woman — who will have preceded him as Israel’s leader. Assuming his coalition government does not fall apart before it can be sworn in, Bennett, 49, will be Israel’s first prime minister to identify as religious, rather than secular. And he will be the first to have lived in one of the Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

Resource:

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

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maariv_(newspaper)

Are Any Jews Left in Venezuela?

Nadene Goldfoot                                           

"“As far as the Jewish community goes,” journalist Gabriel Chocron noted in January 2019, “the chief Sephardi rabbi, Yitzhak Cohen, met with Maduro a month and a half ago because the Jewish community wants to keep living in the country as a community whose safety is ensured, and can keep importing kosher products and maintain its Jewish lifestyle.”

Jews first settled in Venezuela in 1850 and were Western Indian Sephardim.  Following their arrival were anti-Semitic outbreaks in Coro in 1855.  It happened again in 1902.  It wasn't over anything these Jews had done, but only who they were religiously.  Judaism was not welcome.

At the turn of the 19th century, Venezuela was fighting against the Spanish Empire in wars of independence and Simón Bolívar, celebrated as Venezuela's liberator, found refuge and material support for his army in the homes of Jews from Curaçao. The Jewish Cemetery of Coro is the oldest Jewish cemetery in continuous use in the Americas. Its origin can be located in the 19th century, when Sephardic Jews from the Dutch colony of Curaçao began to migrate to the Venezuelan city of Santa Ana de Coro in 1824.

Before they arrived, the Secret Jews had discovered the land and had already settled here.  " Their arrival dates to the middle of the 17th century, when records suggest that groups of marranos (Spanish and Portuguese descendants of baptized Jews suspected of secret adherence to Judaism) lived in Tucacas, Caracas and Maracaibo.  Jews usually do settle in capitals where they would congregate and build a synagogue, and for trading purposes and other sources of business.  We call former Jews who had been forcefully converted to Christianity the anusim, not the ugly word of marranos anymore.  It's a dated word.

In the 20th century, Eastern European and German Jews entered the country until they were barred after World War II.  This is AFTER, not before.  

However, those who had entered previously played a leading role in developing the country's trade and in modernizing the capital, Caracas.  

 By 1917, the number of Jewish citizens rose to 475, and to 882 in 1926. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Jewish community began to develop with the arrival of North African and eastern European Jews. Jewish immigration from Eastern and Central Europe increased after 1934 but, by then, Venezuela had imposed specific restrictions on Jewish immigration, which remained in effect until after the 1950s.

By 1990, there were 20,000 Jews in Venezuela, mostly in Caracas.  Some 90% of Jewish youth attend Jewish schools.  They would be private schools needing tuitions to attend.  

"Jews were hit especially hard by economic hardships and food shortages following a state-of-emergency declaration by the Venezuelan government in May 2016, caused by economic mismanagement combined with falling oil prices. 

Ex-Patriot Venezuelan Jews living in Israel and around the world sent food, medicine, clothing, and other items through organizations like Yajad, the main humanitarian group assisting the Venezuelan Jewish Community. The economic crisis caused many Venezuelan Jews to make aliyah to Israel during 2016.

About 20,000 Jewish Venezuelans have left the country in the past decade because of the declining economy and the way the Jewish community was treated under Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolás Marudo. About half of those remaining are wealthy and the other half in financial need.

SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. (JTA) — Sitting outside a Starbucks coffee shop in this small city north of Miami Beach, Paul Hariton recalls the dramatic night in 2002 when he and his wife decided to leave their native Venezuela." 

Leftist leader Hugo Chavez had just returned to power following a failed coup, and the Haritons feared the political fallout.  This happened in 2013.  "

Community that scattered during the anti-Israel leader’s long tenure appears unlikely to return now that he’s gone." 

                                                 

Grafitti outside Israeli embassy in Caracas-
Look at this.  Our ancient HOME is Israel, yet people like this are so
anti-Semitic-Jews entering here may be just trying to do that very thing!  

Beyond the economic crisis that is affecting all Venezuelans, the situation for Jews is reasonably good. “The government tries to respect us and gives us freedom to live as Jews,” said Jewish community leader Elias Farache. “There are synagogues, schools, and all the Jewish services are fine.”

                                                      

The Tiféret Israel Synagogue in Caracas was attacked in 2009.

At the beginning of 2019, Jews, like other Venezuelans, were trapped in the crossfire as the sitting president and his rival fight for power. The United States and other Latin American and Western governments do not recognize Marudo as the leader of Venezuela and are supporting opposition leader Juan Guaidó as head of state."

A coalition of countries are with the United State in support of Guaido.  TV has just shown a vehicle run down a crowd up Venezuelans belonging to the state. Marudo is supported by Cuba and the Cubans have Russia on their side over this land fight.  It happens that Venezuela has more oil in it than any other country, so is oil rich and a plum to control for any nation.   

Bolton of USA "remarks followed massive uprisings across Venezuela on Tuesday after Guaido – who won a contentious presidential election earlier this year – called on members of the country's armed forces to cease their support for the regime of Nicolas Maduro, who continues to claim victory from the January election.

Russia has deployed military troops and equipment to Venezuela in support of Maduro, whose hardline administration it backs. Bolton said Tuesday that Cuba had sent as many as 25,000 security forces to prop up the regime.                                                                                                     

 Resource: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/venezuela-virtual-jewish-history-tour

The New Standard jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Venezuela
https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2019-04-30/pro-guaido-protests-could-be-venezuelas-last-chance-at-reform-bolton-says?yptr=yahoo
http://www.timesofisrael.com/post-chavez-venezuelan-jews-plant-roots-elsewhere/