IDF Faces Frame-Up By B'tselem And Arab Gangs For Propaganda

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

David, a  Nahal Brigade soldier,  was provoked by a teen-aged Arab gang who threatened and provoked him in Hevon, (Hebron).  Hebron has the Jewish  history of being a levitical city and a city of refuge of which there were 4 in Israel's early history with Joshua.  This is where King David ruled for 7 1/2 years before he moved to Jerusalem.  It's where Abraham bought land holding the Cave of Machpelah so that he could bury his wife, Sarah.  Hebron is now considered a Palestinian city which lies 19 miles south of Jerusalem which is in Judea/Samaria.   What is a soldier to do?  He was all alone so he warned one of the boys not to continue doing this but the teen pushed him  and continued to act in a threatening manner.  The soldier himself could have been no more than 18 years old himself.
                                                                     

                                                              Hebron
The problem is that the teens had been helped in their behavior by B'tselem, an NGO that gave out cameras to Palestinian Arabs for the very purpose of catching soldiers behaving in ways that could get them in trouble so as to have something on film for anti-Israel propaganda.   B'tselem gets funding from the New Israel Fund.  B'tselem says it has "championed human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for over two decades, promoting a future where all Israelis and Palestinians will live in freedom and dignity".but their way is to frame the Israeli soldiers with lies, giving the Arabs ammunition to fight against them which is not bringing about peace and harmony between the two peoples.  

An earlier attack on a soldier turned out to be very successful.  They got a senior officer, Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner dismissed from service.  A teen-aged gang  had tried to disrupt traffic on a major highway and the gang was being violent towards Eisner by breaking one of his fingers.  So they're out for more IDF victims.

The Nahal soldier being threatened had cocked his rifle and pointed it at the teen.  Then he pointed it at another Arab who jumped towards him with what looked like a set of brass knuckles on his hand, so the soldier kicked the first first teen away, making ready to handle the 2nd who was coming at him. It is alleged that he was involved in another incident earlier in the week.  Then it would seem that he has been pointed out by the Arabs as someone to work on and break down.

All this was being filmed.  Arabs and left-winged allies uploaded the video to the Internet and onto facebook and called the media.  The IDF heads, in defending their own IDF values, mores and reputation, said that the soldier had acted in a way that wasn't the regular way and said that he might be dismissed from his unit.  Also, he wouldn't be serving in combat positions.  In fact, chances are that he could be jailed for acting in an "inappropriate manner" and will be tried in court.   The IDF may even take steps against the supporting soldiers who held up signs they uploaded on facebook.

What would have happened had not the soldier reacted normally?  No doubt in this soldier's mind that he would have been taken down by the gang and attacked which might have led to his death.

The reaction of the soldier's fellow soldiers was that thousands of IDF soldiers from all units are supporting him.  They are protesting the action taken against him.  These soldiers see that the lone soldier was in a tight spot and treated unfairly so that they are demanding that the Israeli government give them the word to properly deal with these types of problems.  Right now the rules are such that they are not allowed to protect themselves and they must respond to violence by the Palestinians.  This policy is evidently not made by the army itself.  It's being an ongoing happening that Palestinian Arab teenagers deride and provoke IDF soldiers into a defense position.  What happens in this type of media is that they cut out the Arabs' actions and only show the IDF soldier's act.

This IDF position is like that of a new teacher in a classroom.  He has to set down rules of behavior in the fall to set the scene for future events that will come up.  The teacher cannot be wishy-washy or weak.  If you say NO to something, there must be consequences if not listened to.  David is expected to act like the British guard in England with the high tall black furry hat, not to move a muscle or say a thing.  He cannot do this when confronted with taunting getting into his space.  One soldier facing a gang bent on causing trouble should be backed up by his peers who will have to face similar situations.   The rules of behavior should be altered to cover these situations.  If there wasn't a camera available, this wouldn't have happened.  .

Resource: Arutz Sheva; news@israelnationalnews.com, Unprecedented IDF Protest over Soldier's Punishment and As AIDDF Protest Grows, Nahal Soldier Faces Jail, by Gil Ronen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebron-has error listed.
New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia: Hebron
http://www.btselem.org/

Joel's Right-on Prophecies of the Ingathering of Exiles-Jews' Return to Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

Lately it's been an interesting search to find what prophets had to say about the present happenings to Israel..  I found that in Joel 3:2-4:21,  were some amazing statements.
                                                                             

For in those days and at that time, when I will bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all of the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat and I will contend with them there concerning My people and My possession, Israel, ...Israel, that they dispersed among the nations, and they divided up My land.  (After the Assyrians attack in 721 BCE and took 10 of the 12 tribes as slaves,  as well as the Babylonians in 597-586 BCE, we come to 70 CE when Rome attacked and did just this.)  They cast lots among My people; they gave boys for harlot's fee, and they sold girls for wine and drank it. The implication here is that Israel has done you no harm, so you cannot claim that you are repaying them or G-d for past wrongs. ...and you have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the children of the Greeks in order to distance them from their border.  (The Jewish people were sold into slavery by the Romans who went so far as to change the name of Judah to Palaestina in order to erase the memory of the  Jewish presence of the land).  We can see that history repeated itself with the Jews.  We can't forget that the children of Jacob went into Egypt only to become slaves and emerged 400 years later with Moses at the beginning of their history from c 1671 to 1271 BCE when Moses died.

Finding the exiles:  I (G-d) will rouse them from the place to which you sold them, and I will return your requital upon your head.  I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabaeans, to a distant people.  Announce this among the nations;  prepare for war;  arouse the mighty men; let all the men of war approach and ascend.  Beat your plows into swords and your pruning forks into spears;  even the weak one will say, "I am mighty."  Let all the surrounding nations hurry and come and let them gather together;  there G-d will demolish your warriors.  Let the nations rouse themselves and go up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will  sit to judge all the nations from all around.  (This has been happening with the wars of 1948-1956-1967-1973-1982, and the present against Israel.  It's been the many nations against the one; Israel)  
                                                                                

My holy mountain:  Jerusalem will be holy, and aliens will no longer pass through her. ...Egypt will become a desolation and Edom will become a desolate wilderness;  because of the robbery of the children of Judah, for they shed innocent blood in their land.  Judah will exist forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.  Though I cleanse, their bloodshed I will not cleanse, when G-d lives in Zion (Jerusalem.)  this is understood to mean that though G-d will cleanse the nations by forgiving many of their sins, he will not forgive them for the bloodshed they perpetrated against Israel.  When "G-d lives in Zion, at the End of Days,  they will be punished.  

  Edom, or Idumea, was a country in SE Land of Israel, also called Mount Seir.  It was a mountainous land and easily fortified and had fertile land.  It lay south of the Dead Sea and bordered on the Red Sea at Elath and Ezion Geber.  The Edomites were of Semitic origin, traditionally descendants of Esau, and lived by hunting.  They had fought against King Saul and were defeated by King David.  

Joel lived possibly as early as the 9th century BCE, and more probably as late as the 4th century BCE.  He wrote of when G-d will restore his people from captivity and punish their enemies in the Plain of Jehoshaphat.  This was the place where G-d will gather all nations and plead with them for His people Israel.  From the 4th century, this was identified with the central part of the Kidron Valley, which contained the "Cave of Jehoshaphat" wrongly believed to be situated in the tomb-cave near "Absalom's Tomb". The Kidron Valley separated the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem.  It's importance has always been in defending the city from the north and east.  Jerusalem's only spring, the Gihon, rises in the west flank of the Kidron Valley.  in 2nd Temple times, the Kidron was crossed by one or maybe, two bridges.  The necropolis of ancient Jerusalem was cut in its lower flanks where Absalom's Tomb is. It goes across the Wilderness of Judah and its steep borders housed many hermits' caves and monasteries, the most famous being that of Mar Saba.    The Last Judgment was consequently located there by both Christian and Moslem tradition.

Jehoshaphat was a king of Judah, son of Asa who ruled from 874-850 BCE.  He was the first king of Judah to make a treaty with the kingdom of Israel.  He strengthened the ties by marrying his son, Jehoram to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab of Israel.  He fought unsuccessfully with Ahab against Aram and, with Ahab's son, Jehoram against Mesha of Moab.  He tried to revive sea commerce, but his boats were wrecked at Ezion-Beber.  He is praised for his piety.

There are those who disclaim our Jewish history in the area.  Little do they know.  Ask Joel about that!

The New standard Jewish encyclopedia
Tanakh, the Stone Edition

A Jewish Perspective on Rape

Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Going back to the 2nd millennium BCE to Abraham, we know that his son was Isaac and grandson was Jacob.  Jacob had 12 sons and one daughter, Dinah, whose mother was Jacob's first wife, Leah.    The family was living in the town of  Shechem, a part of Canaan and Dinah was raped by the chief or prince of Shechem named Shechem, who was the son of Hamor, the Hivite of one of the 7 nations occupying Canaan.   Dinah had been on her way to visit some Canannite women and was walking through fields alone.  Now,  to be raped by the head of the city is in any city of today a  serious accusation.  Who's going to believe you?  He has friends.  Jacob and his family were new immigrants into the land as far as the Canaanites of Shechem were concerned.

This was an event of 4,000 years ago.  What happened was that the family had to take the punishment for it into their own hands  Dinah had 12 brothers, but 2 of her 6 full brothers, Simeon, 2nd child and Levi, 3rd child,  avenged her by slaughtering all the men of Shechem.  Then they carried off the women and children and took their goods and livestock as spoils of the attack as revenge.  Dinah was young and so were her brothers.  They had not consulted with their father about doing this.  Notice that they never thought or considered that Dinah had brought disgrace upon her family, it was the other way around.  She was not blamed, the rapist was.

As it was, Shechem decided he wanted to marry Dinah, who was beautiful,  and asked his father to take him to her home.  Jacob would not have given Dinah to Shechem for marriage because he was from a different culture and was uncircumcised.  He would have to look for a suitable husband for Dinah among a Jewish  community, as they were the first into Canaan.  Her brothers were against this idea of marriage with Shechem and his people and they tricked Shechem and the other men to become circumcised.  While they were recovering, the brothers attacked them.  At the time, Dinah was in Shechem's house but was freed after the attack.

Jacob was appalled at his 2 son's reaction to Dinah's rape because he feared the reprisal of the whole country of Canaan for this, but Simeon and Levi said they didn't expect their sister to be treated like a whore.  Here we see the difference in the cultures.  Women were on a higher level in Abraham's family than with the Canaanites whose women could be expected to be taken and used at any time by leaders of the community.  It still sounds like the Neanderthals in the book by Jean M. Auel, "Clan of the Cave Bear, where this happened to the main character, Ayla.  and thus became pregnant eventually.  Jacob then took his family to Beth-el.  Rachel, the younger sister of Leah,  died on the way in childbirth with Benjamin.  Jacob's family stopped and settled in Migdal-eder.

The biblical patriots had camped under its walls upon entering with Joshua.  Shechem later became the land for Ephraim, son of Joseph and his 2nd wife, Rachel and Ephraim's wife, Asenath.  It was a levitical city and a city of refuge as well as the center of the House of Joseph.

Shechem is today's Nablus, which during 1948-1967 was controlled by Jordan.  Today it is under the control of  Israel and ruled by the PA.  It's earliest walls date back to 2,000 BCE.  It was under Egyptian control during Egypt's 12 dynasty.

Today the age of consent in Israel is 16.  Rape after this age is statutory rape.  It is treated as a felony and calls for being in prison for 16 years.  If one rapes a relative the punishment is doubled to 32 years of prison. Jewish women have always been treated with more respect than in other cultures.

"In cases of rape, a woman is generally presumed not to have consented to the intercourse, even if she enjoyed it, even if she consented after the sexual act began and declined a rescue! This is in sharp contrast to American society, where even today rape victims often have to overcome public suspicion that they "asked for it" or "wanted it." Traditional Judaism recognizes that forced sexual relations within the context of marriage are rape and are not permitted; in many states in America today, rape within marriage is still not a crime. " (from Judaism 101)

Sweden, on the other hand, has very lenient laws pertaining to rape.  Their rape crimes are the highest in Europe.  They just had  a gang rape this month of a 15 year old girl by 6 Muslim teenagers, also aged 15 and 16 that happened just outside of Stockholm.  The punishment was a fine equal to $8,500 to be paid to the victim and a few days of community service.  This will be followed up by social service.  Italy's age of consent is 14, and Japan is 16.  Sweden's history is one of being Vikings, raiding and pillaging and rape must have been a part of it, so they don't see harming women as such a terrible offense, evidently.  Maybe that's why my 18 year old grandmother emigrated and came to the USA in 1888.  That could be one good reason since she traveled with an older sister and her young son.

The state of Oregon in the USA has a complicated laws concerning rape, but the age of consent is 18.  3rd degree is rape under age 16 and that calls for probation or jail or prison.  2nd degree rape is that under 14 and calls for a prison term.  1st degree rape is under the age of 12 or a forced rape or with a relative or someone with a mental defect.

Resource: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_05229.html
Tanakh, Genesis 34 (1-31)
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/bruce-bawer/crime-and-non-punishment-in-sweden/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=996f3f4453-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-996f3f4453-156514682
http://www.oregoncrimes.com/sexcrimes.htm
http://www.jewfaq.org/women.htm