Two years ago, the North was a war zone. Fields and forests, homes and hospitals were set ablaze by Hizbullah missiles. But on Sunday afternoon, as a tireless patriot was laid to rest in the Jezreel Valley, the ground was not burning with missile fire, it was exploding with fecundity. It filled the air with the aroma of its promise of spring harvests.
A multitude of mourners from all over the country crowded into Moshav Moledet's small cemetery to pay their final respects to 53-year-old Tzafrir Ronen, who died of a heart attack on Friday night. The man they mourned had dedicated his life to defending the country. In recent years, Tzafrir spent nearly every waking moment fighting for its soul. He sought to educate his fellow Israelis about the threats facing the country generally, and specifically about the existential danger to its viability presented by the Left's defeatist and post-Zionist narrative.
For this son of the Jezreel Valley, who grew up with the land, that narrative – which argues that Israel has neither the ability nor the right to defeat its enemies and to settle its land – was the single greatest threat to the long-term well-being of the country. Over the years, as Tzafrir's frustration at the direction the country was taking grew, his message became angrier and more urgent. As each of his successive warnings – about the fraudulent Oslo peace process, the withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the criminalization of Jewish building in Judea and Samaria, the refusal to enforce laws in the Israeli Arab sector, the expulsion of the Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria and the establishment of the Hamas terror state in Gaza – were ignored by successive governments, by the media and, inevitably, by voters, Tzafrir, like so many others in his position felt he was shouting into the wind.
MARGINALIZING AND silencing voices like Tzafrir's is one of the Israeli Left's greatest achievements. By consistently ignoring or demonizing voices like Tzafrir's – who have been correct about every major strategic issue facing the country – while steadfastly legitimizing and lionizing men and women like Amos Oz, Shulamit Aloni, Yossi Beilin and Haim Ramon – who not only have been wrong about every major issue in the past generation, but have also often taken leading roles in our enemies' propaganda campaigns – the Left has managed to remove our most vibrant thinkers and bravest builders and fighters from the national debate.
But the hundreds who crowded into the cemetery on Sunday are proof that the Left's success has been far from complete. The mourners at his funeral included Israelis from all walks of life — religious, secular, farmers, city dwellers, Jews, non-Jews, new olim and sabras. The fact that people from such diverse backgrounds and traditions have found the way to work with one another shows that in spite of the demonization of the Right, people are still interested in defending and building the country. They are still are drawn to voices in the wilderness, like Tzafrir's, which say that we must fight, and win, and that we deserve to win and should feel privileged to fight for what is right.
On the face of it, Tzafrir, his colleagues and friends could feel vindicated by the Olmert-Livni-Barak government's decision to launch Operation Cast Lead against Hamas's regime in Gaza. Since Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni first began advocating the surrender of Gaza in late 2003, Tzafrir and his colleagues were at the forefront of the protest movement against the giveaway. Not only did they argue that the forcible expulsion and destruction of communities in Gaza was a moral outrage, they warned that a withdrawal would transform Gaza into the jihadist hub it has become.
AND OF course, they were right. Far from bringing peace and stability, as they warned the likes of Olmert and Livni, withdrawal from Gaza started the countdown to the war we are now fighting. And as they warned would happen, withdrawal from Gaza allowed Hamas to become an Iranian proxy and build the Iranian-supplied army that now assaults the South with missiles and rockets.
Moreover, the international outcry which has greeted the IDF operation, and the tepid US support it has enjoyed, shows clearly that by "ending the occupation" of Gaza, (which actually ended with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994), Israel weakened rather than strengthened its international supporters. Today Israel is being condemned more harshly than it was in 2004 when the IDF nearly destroyed Hamas in Gaza by decapitating its leadership.
On the face of it, Tzafrir and his colleagues could pat themselves on the backs and say that by waging Operation Cast Lead, Livni and Olmert and the architect of unilateral surrenders of land to terrorists himself – Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who handed South Lebanon to Hizbullah in 2000 – have finally seen the light. They understand that terrorists have to be defeated and that the country is better off controlling hostile territories than allowing its enemies to control them.
BUT THIS is not the case. Olmert, Livni and Barak have made clear that they haven't changed their defeatist and post-Zionist view of Israel's prospects at all. Their current operation in Gaza is not aimed at defeating Hamas. They have uttered no call for victory. To the contrary, as Olmert made clear in his speech on Saturday evening, the goal of the current campaign is simply to "change the situation" in the South. The question is what "change" they have in mind.
For her part, Livni has called for installing the Fatah terror group in Gaza instead of Hamas. But Fatah has been rejected not only by Gazans, but by the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria as well. Bringing Fatah into Gaza would do nothing to stabilize the situation. It would simply be an invitation for Fatah to conduct war against Israel and seek an accommodation with Hamas and Iran.
Barak has claimed that we can no more negotiate a settlement with Hamas than the US can negotiate a settlement with al-Qaida. And this is true in principle. Just as al-Qaida will never live at peace with America, so Hamas will never accept peaceful coexistence with Israel. But Barak has never been one to abide by principles.
He didn't adhere to that principle six months ago when he convinced Livni and Olmert to accept a cease-fire that enabled Hamas to build its army and its missile arsenal without fear of IDF attack. And Barak did not adhere to this principle when as late as last Tuesday he was calling for a renewal of the failed, one-sided cease-fire.
THE FACT of the matter is that the change that the Olmert-Livni-Barak government seeks today has more to do with the public's perception of its competence than with any interest in changing the situation in Gaza in any fundamental way. During the Second Lebanon War, the government showed that it could not be trusted with the defense of the country and with the proper deployment of IDF soldiers. And in the aftermath of that war, the government lost its moral right to send its forces into battle.
Now it uses its campaign in Gaza as a means of winning back its moral authority. But the problem is that despite its protestations of cunning competence, the government's aims today are the same as they were in 2006. As was the case with Hizbullah, the Olmert-Livni-Barak government is signaling that it seeks a new negotiated settlement with Hamas. The hoped-for settlement, which has been telegraphed to the public through the pro-government media, will leave Hamas in power in Gaza. Although the government claims that the postwar Hamas will be more peaceful than the prewar Hamas, there is no reason to believe this will be the case.
Just as has been the case with Hizbullah since the government failed to destroy the terror army in 2006, so if Hamas remains in control of Gaza after the current war, no matter what its condition, it will be perceived as the winner.
HERE IT is important to
make a sharp distinction between the IDF's clear military successes in Gaza and the political leadership's problematic management of this campaign. In the former case, it is inarguable that by destroying Hamas's military installations, killing its military commanders and incapacitating its weapons smuggling infrastructure, the IDF is weakening Hamas as a military organization. And this is a great and long-awaited achievement.
In contrast, the Olmert-Livni-Barak government's refusal to reconsider its defeatist political philosophy makes it apparent that in the longer term, any strategic advantage enjoyed from the IDF's success will be marginal. Like Hizbullah, Hamas – which enjoys Iranian and Syrian state sponsorship and authentic popularity throughout the Islamic world – does not have to defeat Israel to be perceived as the victor. It merely needs to survive. That is the great difference between jihadist organizations and Western democracies. And by surviving, it will expand its international cachet.
JUST AS the Bush administration seeks to accommodate Hizbullah by selling advanced weapons to the Lebanese government it dominates, so too, in the aftermath of the current campaign, Hamas will be accepted by the West.
Tzafrir Ronen, and his colleagues whose strategic wisdom caused them to be banished from the public square, can always depend on hapless, defeatist governments like that of Olmert, Livni, and Barak to remember them in times of crisis. Like a Swiss clock, whenever leaders who preach nothing but defeat and retreat to their countrymen find themselves in a position of having to fight our enemies, they know they can count on men like Tzafrir to fight for them. And to date, men like Tzafrir, who served in the IDF's elite combat units, and whose sons and daughters continue to bear the greatest burdens in our defense, have answered their calls without hesitation.
Looking at the faces of the mourners on Sunday afternoon and listening to the many eulogies of Tzafrir that repeatedly praised his Zionism, there was no room for doubt that again today these people will answer the call. But how long will this state of affairs continue? How long can failed and strategically blind politicians continue to expect the men and women they demonize to save the country after they fail, and then hand it back to them to endanger again?
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.
The current state of affairs will continue until Kadima is defeated next year. Unfortunately, the ongoing Gaza military campaign may turn into a strategic blunder similar to the 2006 Lebanon War. Just like that war, Kadima started with an air campaign, then finally permitted an invasion. If the current government wants to stop the rocket attacks, it needs to allow the IDF to do its job. The only solution is to recapture Gaza, and destroy the Islamic entity. Hopefully, Tzafrir Ronen’s legacy will be a resurgence of classical Zionism.
In your article you didn’t mention Tzafrir’s faith in God more than his faith in mankind and their foolish,failed plans that never bring true and lasting peace.
From His zeal for Zion and his unheeded watchman’s warnings this seems quite evident.
Those Jews who place their faith in lies instead of God for peace never listen to the Tzafrirs.
They are too wise in their own eyes to listen to the truth or see reality.
Their delusion feeds them until the grave swallows them up.
I love the old Jewish prophets and they were never listend to either.
Almost three thousand years after their death they continue to fire me up for Zion unlike the living dead who rule Israel today.
The King of Israel threw Yeremiah’s scroll,the warnings from God into the fire.
They also refused to hear.
This (below) is what God gave the Jewish prophet Isaiah to write down about the Road Map which the faithless leaders of Israel religiously follow and put above the words of the Holy One of Israel.These words are directed
to Olmert,Livni,Barak and Netanyahu and spell the doom of the peace process Israel has married herself to.
Israel’s covenant (agreement) with death has been doomed to fail since 1993.
Thankfully God Himself will end it.
‘Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.” Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place. “Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place. “As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.” The bed is too short on which to stretch out, And the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in. For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon, To do His task, His unusual task, And to work His work, His extraordinary work. And now do not carry on as scoffers, Or your fetters will be made stronger; For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts Of decisive destruction on all the earth.
Isaiah 28:14-22
Caroline, the best tribute that can be paid to patriot Tzafrir Ronen is to never let his message of passion and concern for Israel be forgotten.
Sometimes voices of patriots never fade away and based on what you have written about him I would hope that his voice will ring loud and clear, especially at this time.
Those principals should apply now. Israel has put a deaf ear to the criticism of other governments. Israel has to defeat her enemies. Israel can do this.
Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran and Syria and others will bank on Israel backing away and giving in to outside pressure. This cannot happen. Israel has a right to defend and protect her citizens. Israel, a sovereign Nation has those rights.
Forget the past road maps, chuck them out the window. This group is not interested in peace. Israel is and will always be a constant reminder of their failures to their own people.
Our constant prayers are with the men and women of the military and their families and for the people of Israel.
God Bless and Protect Israel
By being more concerned about Palestinian civilians than the hamas enemy is will cause the death of many more soldiers than if Israel focused only on destroying Hamas and told the world to go to hell.
This PR war will turn into another disaster because Israel fights to gain public relations appeal ,a losing battle.
The Palestinians always win this game even with innocent blood dripping from their hands.
The two Palestinian girls killed by a Palestinian kassem on Friday is completely forgotten by the media who never forget to remind Israel of how bad they are to go after Hamas.
Can you tell the wolrd to go to hell ?
Until you can that’s hwere Israel is headed.
Ms.Glick,as long as Israel is ruled by self serving gangsters($$$) it will continue to live on the precipice.Israel needs a leader elected by all of the people who will act on their behalf..a strong man or woman who will do what needs to be done.We laugh here in the States at Governor Blago and Illinois,but Illinois is a shining star compared to the government of Israel…
I humbly submit the following:
Israel, and thus all Jews, has been fighting this same war for centuries. This is Chanukah. This is the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans. This is the pogroms, the Hebron Massacre of 1929, the Holocaust, the attack by 5 modern Arab armies in 1947 upon the passing of U.N. resolution 181, it’s Suez, 67′, Yom Kippur, Lebanon 82′, Intifadas, suicide bombers, rockets, Lebanon 06′.
Why is this all the same war? Because none of this destruction has been over oil, land, money…all of these wars and massacres are about one thing; the absolute extermination of the Jews from this planet. Please read the Hamas charter. It is at heart an existential war that we’ve been fighting over and over. Hamas lives only so Jews may G-d forbid, die.
But it hasn’t worked. Never will. If, however, this questionable leadership of Israel pulls back, gives into ‘world’ opinion and pressure like all their Jewish governments before them, this will lead to terrible tragedy. The world will NEVER support us. (G-d Bless George W.). This isn’t a popularity contest. This is not Lebanon 06′. We have made a declaration. I cannot believe that even this Israel government isn’t aware that this must now be just the FIRST front. A fuse has been lit amidst the nuclear powder keg looming over us. Us. All of us. Each and every single Jew in the world. May G-d protect our People, give us the courage to achieve what must be done, and may we ultimately serve as an illuminating example to the whole world that we all must be INTOLERANT to terror, violence and hate. I’ll finish this long winded but at least heartfelt post with a quote from Mark Twain’s ‘Concerning the Jews”; “All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
Evicting several thousand from Gaza was not a “moral outrage.”
What’s an outrage is that previous Israeli leadership preferred to deliver over the Palestinian people to the tender mercies of the homosexual Arafat, ———— all under the morally infirm idea that he was a murderous dirtball, but a murderous dirtball who they could cut a deal with, even if by that deal, they consigned over the Palestinian people to him and his.
THAT act, that choice, that policy, well pondered, well thought out, was an act of a moral degenerate.
And Israel has paid DEARLY for that moral degeneracy.
And Israel will continue to pay, and pay, and pay.
As for Gaza, ———————— Israel had no business allowing Palestinians to remain once it was clear, as it has been for decades now, that that populace has no interest in making peace.
The only policy that can work is a policy of depopulating Gaza and the West Bank.
And we all know which group needs either to be bought out, {25K per capita} or forcibly evicted, ——– and it isn’t the Jews.
So long as there is any faith in that bit of gallow’s humour, “the peace process,” so long as there are Israelis who want to sit down and discuss shared jurisdiction of that land West of the Jordan, ———— then so long will Israel and Israelis endure carnage.
The West has gotten into itself the idea that the Arab needs to be given his carnage, needs to be given the occasional outburst of bloodlust. That the people on the receiving line happen to be Jews, and not themselves, is something that tends to reinforce the impression, that episodic terror, episodic carnage, episodic bloodletting, not infrequent murderous rampages, that all of that is simply par for the course for Israelis, and something that is just part of the bargain for living in that corner of the Earth.
It’s a given.
It’s not shocking.
Nor surprising.
It’s not even seen as a moral outrage.
The West has become completly morally jaded.
Abortion, open displays, OPEN displays of homosexualism, experimentation in human cloning, ——— this is all just the beginning of the moral reckoning………. all of this leads to a moral jadeness.
And that spills over into analysis of the events transpiring in Israel.
It’s not seen in any kind of context.
Each terror event is seen as some discreet event which has no connection to events of the previous year, ten years of the last fifty.
Because to put it in context forces one to conclude that Arabs and muslims have a prob, a MAJOR prob with Jews.
A prob which can’t be dealt with by the mind of the post-modern.
That can’t get a handle on the whole notion of religious war.
How long will the people of Israel allow themselves to be led by people who demonize them? Why do the people of Israel continue to hand the country over to failed and strategically blind leaders? When does victory, not accomodation, become the goal of the people who are placed in harm’s way by the feckless leaders they continue to elect
Your evaluation of the progress of the war is, unfortunately, correct. The war seems lost even before it has hardly begun.
The standard for success in this war had to be the eradication of Hamas. As you have noted, if Hamas is still around at the end of the war they will have won, no matter how bloodied they may be.
The Palestinians in Gaza have also, to a great extent, been spared from the consequences of their actions for voting in and then supporting Hamas. This is unjust and counter-productive. At a minimum Gaza should be blockaded and the infrastructure systematically degraded. In other words they should be bombed back to the Stone Age where savages properly belong. The population of Gaza must be made to realize that a war against Israel will bring them only death and destruction.
This action may seem harsh and disproportionate but this is the only way to win a war and end the threat that Hamas poses to Israel. In the end a short ruthless war causes few causalities on either side.
Ms. Glick, that Hamas has been accepted by the West as a governing entity de facto, if not de jure, is evident by the disproportionate criticism your country is being subjected to now in the wake of Operation Cast Lead. Particularly the EU is treating Gaza as a sovereign state and Israel as the occupying – or soon to be the occupying force. This is, however, a distortion of international law. One of the tenets of sovereignty is that of absoluteness, that is the unlimited right of control into one’s own territory. A right this, that was never conferred upon the Palestinian Authority, much less Hamas. Specifically, the EU is now charging Israel with disproportionate use of force contrary to the Principle of Proportionality by and through which a state “must not take any action that exceeds that which is necessary to achieve the objective of government”. This theme is recurrent in editorials throughout France, Britain, Italy, Spain and to a lesser extent Germany. The fallacy of it all is that there is no Proportionality recognized between a state and a terrorist organization, in that a terrorist organization does not fit the international standards of a rightful form of government, even when elected by popular suffrage. Hence, the EU cannot invoke Proportionality for Hamas when the EU itself lists Hamas as a terrorist organization. The fact that they do, however, is not only the end, proximate result of a resurging and rampant anti-semitism throughout the Old Continent, but proof that the self-defeating policies of appeasement you so aptly describe in your post go well beyond the borders of tiny Israel and are reverberant throughout the West. And as the West ought to know by now, it is through appeasement that world conflicts erupt. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (William L. Shirer – Rise and Fall of the Third Reich).
Until Israel constructs a constitution that shifts the power back to the citizenry and away from the corrupt political parties while instituting real checks and balances, Israel is doomed.
Israel is a dysfunctional mess.
Jeffry…my point exactly.
Caroline ,Israel is not wise in seeking permission because with the green comes a red.
Be sure that just like in Lebanon the red light will be given before Israel finishes.
That is guaranteed.
Looking at Israels’ not quite all out war against Hamas and the reaction of the world a few things stand out .
Israel has suffered through 8 years of missile fire and attacks from the Palestinains of Gaza and there was never a large outcry from the world to halt this disproportinate use of force by the msolem’s immdiately.
With Israel in it’s second day of a long overdue response to finally end the attacks after years of extreme restraint the U.N. and the world called on Israel to immediately stop it’s defensive action.
The pressure is always severe against Israel but never against the evil ones.
It’s evident that the world does not want Israel to defeat another moslme army and that they are quite willing to sacrifice Israel for their personal insurance policy against jihad.
The media allows the evil ones in Gaza to deceive and lie to the world.
One example is saying Israeli occupied Gaza when Israel left a number of towns in 2005 to please Prersident Bush and advance his failed 2 state agenda where moslems could live in Israel but no Jew could live in any moslem area. The lairs keep crying about occupation because they aim to conquer every meter of Israel.
The media give them a pass on the fact they have no intention of living in peace with Israel.
Israel is always at fault even though they have no business or responsibility to send in humanitarian aid into Gaza they do , medicine,food,gas,money,even providing medical treatment to many Hamas terrorists in Israeli hospitals.
The worlds media keep this a secret ,intentionally not reporting it.
Israel is way to kind to her enemies and still it is not good enough for the evil hypocrites who hold Israel to an impossible standard which no other country is held to.
The media is guilty of extreme propaganda against Israel working hard to make them the guilty party and the Ilsamic terrorists and their families the victims.
They focus incessantly on the death of two Palestinian girls killed today in an IAF strik while ignoring completely the killing of two Palestinian girls last Friday by a Palestinian missile that fell short of an Israeli civilian target.
The Hamas terrorist’s intentionally target civilians in their attack while they wage war from civilian locations
THIS IS A WAR CRIME AND THE MEDIA AND THE WORLD COMMUNITY ARE SILENT AND GIVE THE MOSLEMS A PASS.
Israel though is held to an impossible standard as the world and media bash Israel for excessive force but never the Islamic terrorists for anything they do.
If they had thier way the Jews would only be permitted to use sticks to defend themselves against their enemies.
The media is silent while Israel intentionally target terrorist and they in unison bash and attack Israel if a few civilians are unintentionally hurt or killed.
The U.S. has been given many many years to deal with Islamic terrorists half a world away and there is no rush to halt their wars and occupations in the Moslem countries of Iraq and Afghanistan and yet less than a few days the cry arises acroos the earth for Israel to stop immediately.
The nations of world do not like to see Israel fight back against the Islamic hordes set on their destruction and for this evil the world will pay a very heavy price.
The U.S. has hindered Israel under it’s false peace agenda for too long and this is why it took ISRAEL so many years to respond to Hamas. This is why the situation is worse than if Israel had immediatly responded.
The green light mentality of seeking permission from the U.S. for any defensive action is extremely dangerous to Israel’s survival and this slavery must end for Israel to get strong again and defeat her enemies. With the green comes a red.
I fear there will need to be some kind of radical restructuring of Israeli electoral politics (possibly after the military intervenes to save the country) if the State of Israel is to survive. I suggest that after Hamas’s victory, the Army remove Mr Olmert (actually imprisoning him is the way to go) and Israel re-examine its constitution. Because whenever folks in my country demand “proportional representation” I point to the State of Israel and remind them of where that ends up. Existential non-viability.
This is why proportional representation is such a bad idea. Special interest minority parties across the spectrum. In a Westminster system, Kadima would be a loony Left party with no seats in government. Mark my words Caroline, if you guys don’t fix this, your parliamentary structural defects will be the end of your State… You are not in Europe. You can’t afford the luxuries of Euro-squabbles…
Can you give the 3 stooges:Olmert/Livni/Barack metal detectors and send them to scour a minefield? There has to be some use for these fools? By the way I have not heard anything about Peretz in a long time. Is he on vacation?
Well said,Dan..I am hoping that Caroline will address this question
And Bev…also well said
Before the peace process there were no rockets and mortars fired at Israeli cities and it was out of the question that rockets would hit as far as Ashkelon,Ashdod and Beersheva.
Has Israel taken the time to thank their close friend and peacemaker for all he has done for Israel ?
Before President Bush and his Road Map to ‘peace’ there were Christian’s in Gaza not under severe persecution and they were not targeted to be killed if they preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.
They even had a bible society there,but no more thanks to Bush’s peace agenda.
The president is directly responsible for the Hamas takeover of Gaza and what we see now.
He and Rice called on Israel to leave the Philadelphia corridor where the IDF kept the Palestinians from smuggling weapons into Gaza.
The same suffering goes for Christians Iraq now who were safe under Saddam Hussein.Because of Bush it has become deadly for Christians there and iraq has become more radicalized like it’s neighbor Iran.
Do Christians and Jews know how bad Bush has been for Israel and Christians under his counterfeit peace agenda or are they still useful idiots ?
http://averyheavystone.blogspot.com/
well said, Bev.I agree.
Caroline, the Post reports Pres. Busch wants truce that Hamas will respect. Fat chance.
Forget it.
Hamas doesn’t know what respect is, they indiscriminately bomb schools, residential homes and the likes. Not my idea of showing respect, what they should get is more bombing to put them out of business.
Truce is a method of buying time to regroup, get more supplies from their supporters, Egypt, Iran, Syria, just a few to mention.
You notice all the commotion around the world calling for Israel to halt the attack.
Where the hell were all of these critics when all the rockets were being sent into Israel?
I didn’t see any demonstration on Israel’s behalf. I am a FOX NEWS junkie and if there were any, I would have seen it.
Israel, please don’t listen to the outsiders and above all tell them to keep their peace plans to themselves. All previous plans should be off the table.
This is a time for all Christians and Jews to stand together.
God Bless the men and woman of the IDF and ADF our prayers are with them and their families.
Caroline,
Everyone Proclaims that They are The Patriot … but to test for a patriot … that’s what we need. And who makes the test … you get my drift … Then there is something about Darwin, as in Sir Charles late in life, commenting on how he knows you can’t trust a monkey’s brain and yet he’s shown how we are descended from them … kind of a cunundrum. So we might conclude that a patriot has humility … go figure ….
Then there is religion or faith itself … does anyone of faith think that because they are of one religious opinion and faith that they know all the answers and if you don’t follow that absolutely supreme religious command, well you are as good as dead. Oh yea, let’s make him or her (not really possible) leader ….. Islam. The fact that Mohammed(Mo) was illiterate, a war- (almost said whore-) monger, and one of his wives was a christian (of the roman pope type) nun who wrote most of the koran… somebody had to … and that it was everything Mo wanted … that he was supreme … everybody would have to listen to his commands …. follow or die …blah blah bahl…
So it’s back to first principles … the early church … that’s why I like that story of Cain answering G-d, “Am I my brother’s keeper” … because not even G-d kept a very tight grip on what was happening when Abel’s animals were destroying Cain’s crops and he refused to stop … cause he was the favorite one … and so how perfect was that G-d? He should have known, and G-d should have been Cain’s keeper or master as he promised… and been fair, just etc.
Well he made up for it by the time Methusalah, Cain’s grandson was on the scene … he kept him going strong for some 900 years in a grand city (I think ) called Enoch.
My point is our Judio-Christian G-d will have a dialogue … maybe gets too busy elsewhere to pay attention to all the details … or has evolved (certainly he could have at least pre-empted Darwin’s ideas, if he wanted to).
Beware of anything or anyone who tells you that YOU WILL BOW DOWN TO ME…. no matter what HE, SHE, or shIT promises … it’s back to Jesus in the desert with Matthew 4 or repeated in Luke 4. And that is why the Muslims think that they can just say that they worship the Lord and serve him only… and do it so publicly, because they maintain that lie that satisfies their real master … the DEVIL or everything from (de) Evil … or everything that so angered G-d from Eve in that garden of truth and knowledge … not just apples … but perhaps more like the seeded fruit that Jeffery Dommer enjoyed or watching as young children are chopped, beheaded, impailed …
Oh, yea, let’s bury them in Gaza, the West Bank or where ever they foul the earth with their presence…. By knowingly within their mind defying life … they are asking for no less. The only reason that they demand so much is that they want to consume you as well …
Eph. 5.9 is to me a defining idea. There must be goodness in the beginning and everywhere … but if it squandered and abused … then righteousness locks onto the events that are being abused … be it man or society … and measures are taken and only then can truth emerge. It is like two gears, each will turn oppositely …. but there is only one goodness direction and the gear of righteousness must be opposite that goodness… that is when the third gear is introduced … the truth gear that locks that position…. that can look all around it and can judge it right or wrong.
And so too if the good gear is going in the evil direction, a righteous gear is moving for total freedom … until the truth gear can be injected and freeze the events Pace and allow a judgement, a picture of the Event Space to be captured in our memories.
So let us not be fooled by the Evil direction of all of Islam as it proclaims it’s own holiness up front instead of the steady Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Siek, or other religion which patiently shows us their goodness, trust and kindness and who may even think it is not enough and so may consider themselves foolish…. they are the ones to look to and hope with for a better Event Space continuum … aka life on earth.
Israel has a worship problem that not even an election or new form of government can change.
Whomever one obeys,one worships.
On bended knee Israel’s leaders have for many decades run to Washington for peace and picked up the phone to receive the red light.
The green light never stays on long if it is ever given.
Israel’s worship of America is a curse upon the nation.
Since Israel’s religious obedience to America’s peace agenda,Israel has ignored Hashem and has become incapable of defeating her enemies only making worthless truces with them and allow them to grow into even greater threats.
Israel has grown fomidable in strengthing her avowed enemies ,sending shekels and food and mediacal aid to keep the killers alive for another fight.
This is a direct resuct of Israel’s woeship of idols ,it has made her mad, insane.
Your subservience to the polluted,perverse nations is idolatry a sin against Hashem.
You’re talking about actions. If the ACTIONS taken at the mosque violate the law, they should be punished. At this point, “conservatives” want the government to restrict speech. That’s wrong, and it will backfire.