07May 20 Israel News Launch

“Where there is no counsel, the people fall;
But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”

73% Israelis Consider Bush
a Friend of Israel
...but you wouldn't know it by listening to the religious.
Does that make the Bush bashers right? Emphatically NO

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - While U.S. opinion polls indicate many Americans don't care for President Bush, a majority of Israelis consider him to be a great friend of the Jewish state, a poll released here on Friday shows.. . . 73 percent of Israelis surveyed consider President Bush to be friendly to Israel....The comprehensive poll on U.S.-Israel relations is the first of its kind in more than 20 years.

Other key survey results in the press release from The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies ("The BESA Center") and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)

• 65% "agree" and "definitely agree" with the statement that the US is a loyal ally of Israel; 11% disagree.
• 64% describe their attitude, as an Israeli, towards the US, as good or very good; only 8% say their attitude is negative.
• 59% believe that in retrospect the US was correct in going to war in Iraq; 36% disagree.

When the security cabinet meets Sunday…on how to grapple with the Kassams from Gaza, one hopes …. it will also take up the issue of how Israel will react if the Palestinian Authority collapses. For the spiraling anarchy inside Gaza is not something Israel can watch from outside. A collapse of the PA as a government, something that the events of the last few days have shown is a real possibility, would have far-reaching strategic ramifications for Israel and could fundamentally change the two-state concept that has underpinned Israeli policy since 1993 and the Oslo Accords.

Analysis: Olmert's dilemma
By Herb Keinon Jerusalem Post May. 17, 2007

One of the most frustrating aspects of the recent barrage of Kassam rockets on Sderot for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is that although he knows exactly what is behind it, that knowledge doesn't help determine how to respond. It is clear to most that these attacks are an outgrowth of the Hamas-Fatah fighting in Gaza over the last few days. They are an attempt to provoke a massive Israeli response that would both unite the Palestinians against a common enemy, and divert international attention from the chaos in Gaza. But knowing this doesn't make the policy choices available to the government any easier.

Arab world in despair over Gaza fighting
By Associated Press CAIRO, Egypt Jerusalem Post May. 17, 2007

Some observers said the fighting underlined how the power-sharing deal only papered over Hamas and Fatah's disputes. "The Mecca agreement didn't get into the deep-rooted divisions between Hamas and Fatah," Khalid al-Dakhil, a Saudi writer said.

Arab League to talk peace in J'lem
By Barak Ravid Haaretz May 12, 2007

An Arab League delegation, comprising the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, will visit Israel in the coming weeks to discuss the Arab peace initiative. The Arab League's decision to dispatch the team - a groundbreaking development in Arab-Israeli affairs - was made during Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's visit to Cairo yesterday.

Palestinian Affairs: A Mickey Mouse unity
By Khaled Abu Toameh Jerusalem Post May. 17, 2007

"Hamas has turned Mickey Mouse into a monstrous figure," said the journalist, who describes himself as a secular and moderate Muslim. "When you spread such messages of hatred, especially among children, you then can't ask why young men grow up to become so violent and ruthless." But, apart from the incitement, the story of Farfur is an indication of how the new Palestinian "unity" government has been functioning for the past three months.

The rabbinate's Committee to Stop Missionary Dissemination met for a second time on Thursday, this time with MK Benny Elon, the Chairman of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus. Though Elon demonstrated his opposition to working with missionaries and the care his groups take to ensure that no missionary work is tolerated, the rabbis reaffirmed the previous ban.

Under normal circumstances I do not use Arutz Sheva/Israel National News as a source for news because I find their articles too prejudicially biased toward Israeli far right religious viewpoints. In this case however, this viewpoint against Christian supporters of Israel and the Messianic Jewish community of Israel is only being openly expressed in the Israeli media by those who fully embrace the views reported on in this article. Selah. Take note. --Israelprayer

Ban on J'lem Christian event upheld
By Etgar Lefkovits Jerusalem Post May. 17, 2007

In a stinging rebuke, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel on Thursday upheld a ban on Jewish participation in a long-planned Christian women's conference in Jerusalem next week, which was organized by the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus, due to concern that some of the organizations involved in the event were active in missionary work, officials said. … The Caucus has gone through extreme lengths to verify that any organization which we work with are not involved in missionary activity," said Caucus Director Josh Reinstein in a first response."

MK Erdan: Let's boost Evangelical ties
By Etgar Lefkovits Jerusalem Post May. 10, 2007

"The strengthening and development of our relations with the Evangelical world is a national interest which must be furthered," said Erdan, the deputy head of the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

Rabbi Deri explained to Arutz-7, "We note of late the terrible phenomenon of Messianic Jews wreaking havoc and destruction in Israel by trying to bring Jesus as Messiah into Israel. With pleasantness and kindness, they bring Torah, fear of G-d and even Torah commandments - but all with one underlying theme: that Jesus is Messiah. This joins with the phenomenon of millions of Evangelical Christians; Bibi Netanyahu said about them, 'They are not just friends of Israel, they are Israel!' They want to help and support us, but they have the same goals as the Messianics. They make tremendous efforts and support us all over, and are even more right-wing than we are in some ways, and they help us with Bush, etc. - this is all true, but in the end, they have one goal, and that is Jesus. We are not on the level of early great Rabbis who were able to take the good and spit out the bad..."

In Related News

The Subjection of Islamic Women
And the fecklessness of American feminism.
by Christina Hoff Sommers The Weekly Standard 05/21/2007, Volume 012, Issue 34

The subjection of women in Muslim societies--especially in Arab nations and in Iran--is today very much in the public eye. Accounts of lashings, stonings, and honor killings are regularly in the news, and searing memoirs by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Azar Nafisi have become major best-sellers. One might expect that by now American feminist groups would be organizing protests against such glaring injustices, joining forces with the valiant Muslim women who are working to change their societies. This is not happening.

A provocation in religious clothing
By Haaretz Editorial 5-15-07

The religious Zionist rabbis who ascended the Temple Mount on Sunday knowingly and irresponsibly brought a burning torch nearer to the most flammable hill in the Middle East. No supposedly halakhic pretext will serve them when this stupid provocation sheds innocent blood, through riots of which only the beginning can be predicted, and whose continuation does not bear imagining.

It is hard to understand how people like Haim Druckman, Avraham Zuckerman and Zefania Drori joined the most extreme and hallucinatory wing of religious Zionism, whose activities center around the Temple Mount. But their weakness reflects a serious problem in the religious Zionist leadership….This problem is reflected primarily in the blurring of the already fine line between politics and halakha (Jewish law).

Propaganda-Countering U.S. Arabic News
Network Gets Lost in Translation
...and others similarly neglecting their charge

The [House Middle East] subcommittee chairman, Rep Gary Ackerman, a Democrat of New York, said that in several instances Sheik Nasrallah used the American government's satellite television network as a platform for inciting a crowd to violence against Israel. In another Al-Hurra broadcast, Mr. Ackerman said, a Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyah, lent support to the Iranian assertion that the World War II Holocaust against European Jews was a myth. "Why are American taxpayer dollars used to spread the hate, lies, and propaganda of these nuts, when our goal was to counter them?" Mr. Ackerman asked.

Lawmakers Demand Close Oversight of US Arabic TV Channel
By Dan Robinson, Voice of America, Capitol Hill Payvand’s Iran News 5-17-07

Al-hurra…. has a five-year strategy designed to combat extremism, while adhering to U.S. law and guidelines requiring fact-based news and objective analysis, including broadcasts, and responsible discussion of, U.S. policy. But Al-hurra, which in English means "The Free One", has been the focus of intense criticism because of programs it aired between November 2006 and February of 2007…. While criticizing Al-hurra, Democrats and Republicans assert they do not want the station to fail, suggesting that the broadcasting board should institute private independent reviews of programming.

PJM Film Review Islam vs. Islamists
by Roger L. Simon PajamasMedia. Com May 10, 2007

Martyn Burke’s documentary “Islam vs. Islamists” (produced with Frank Gaffney and Alex Alexiev) was commissioned by PBS for its “American Crossroads” series, but never shown by the network. Quality control or censorship? Pajamas Media CEO and Motion Picture Academy member Roger L. Simon has seen the film and has an answer.

CNN Covers Up Death Cult Mickey Mouse Video
little green footballs. com May 9, 2007

The outrage of the day is the way CNN tried to cover up the Hamas Mickey Mouse story; Glenn Beck was played for a fool by his CNN producers, and he talked about it on his radio show today.

Play the video where Glenn Beck speaks to MEMRI translator Yigal Carmon about why CNN pulled the report citing questionable translation of one word (which proved absolutely accurately translated).

“I never realized the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics.”
—Quoted this week from Ronald Reagan’s memoirs
explaining his turnaround in the U.S. pull-out of Lebanon
(The presidential debater drew wrong conclusion using the ‘Reagan standard’
—Maybe it’s just time we got up to speed instead of pulling out…again!)

Know Thy Enemies
Who are we fighting, and who is supporting them?
by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Kyle Dabruzzi The Weekly Standard 05/11/2007

SOMETIMES WHAT WE DON'T KNOW can indeed hurt us. This was the case in 2006, when reporters noticed significant fighting between Iraqi insurgent factions. This confused journalists and government analysts, but the prevailing attitude was that if the insurgents were fighting each other, at least they weren't fighting us.

Last month, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress visited Damascus, flattered their hosts, and called for talks with the Syrian dictatorship. Last week Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice broke the administration's boycott by meeting with her Syrian counterpart. What has happened since then shows this approach to be totally wrong.

Battles Intensify

State of emergency declared near Gaza [Sderot and western Negev]
By Rebecca Anna Stoil, Yaakov Katz and Jerusalem Post Staff May. 20, 2007

Since the current assault on Sderot and the western Negev began on Tuesday, police say that 125 rockets have landed in the area - an average of over 20 a day. In recent days, the police's Southern District command have set up shop in Sderot, in order to establish control more quickly in the event of disorder.

At least 38 dead as Lebanese army battles Al Qaida in north
By Reuters Haaretz 5-20-07

Lebanese troops battled al Qaida-linked militants based in a Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday and 38 people were killed in Lebanon's bloodiest internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war. . . . "We warn the Lebanese army of the consequences of continuing the provocative acts against our mujahideen who will open the gates of fire... against [the army] and against the whole of Lebanon," Fatah al-Islam, a Sunni group, said in a statement.

Israel Prayer News Briefs: Be informed and pray accordingly.
We seek to digest the facts,
spit out as much rhetoric, bias and prejudice as possible,
shine a light on the under-reported aspects,
then position ourselves before God to pray as He leads.
This will produce much more effective
Issachar prayer warriors for Israel.
–Donna Diorio www.israelprayer.com