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Skeptics Warn of Backlash to ‘great Expectations'
Jun 5th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gedalayhu
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech “to the Muslim world” on Thursday did not meet many Arab expectations that he state concrete policies in favor of the Muslim world and against Israel. He reached beyond authoritarian Arab governments and appealed to the "man on the street" with promises of equality, democracy and economic development.

The Muslim world’s expectations of the historic speech varied from cautious hope to deep skepticism among leaders and spokesmen for the 1.4 billion strong Muslim world. The buildup to the speech was so intense that a wide range of commentators have stated the creation of “Great Expectations” could boomerang.

James Zogby, founder of the Arab-American Institute and a leading Arab spokesman in the United States, warned that “expectations are high and dare not be let down. This speech must be more than banal clichés ("we are not at war with Muslims") or a repetition of hollow visions. It must be bigger, more consequential and more substantial.”

The president’s speech was one of his typical rhetorical successes, most analysts said, but the clichés that Zogby feared were not spared, with several quotes from the Koran as well as one from the Talmud.

Except for previously announced condemnations of terror in the Palestinian Authority and of a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, President Obama did not mention any specific plan except to use his "personal" efforts to put pressure on both Israel and the PA. He has the means to use economic and defense aid as a lever, assuming Congress supports him.

The problem with his message for many Muslims, including those in Egypt, is that those who did not hear the speech live will be dependent on negative interpretations from media, much of which is state-controlled.

Amr Adeeb, host of a popular television program broadcast throughout the Middle East, said, "Why should I tell my audience that the United States is a good friend and a good ally and that they are helping us? They are cutting aid every day. They are not giving us the right weapons; they are not giving us the right tools to survive – although they are giving Israel everything.”

“Actions, not just words – that was the strongest common sentiment we encountered this week when asking people in Cairo what they would be listening for in Obama's speech,” MSNBC reported.

The Washington Post noted, “The ultimate measure of whether this week's visit is a success is whether what Obama says begins to change behavior among parties who have so often frustrated the efforts of previous presidents to make peace."

Ibrahim Kalin, a scholar in Ankara, Turkey, and adviser to the Turkish prime minister told the newspaper, "You have never seen a president who has raised expectations so high in the Arab and Muslim world, for the good. People see in him something they would like to see in their own leaders, and that, in itself, creates huge expectations."

The Arab News website of Saudi Arabia, in an editorial welcoming President Obama’s arrival on Wednesday, wrote that “for too long the Arab world has been waiting in vain for a U.S. administration that will address the rights of the Palestinians within a viable sovereign state of their own.

“The American president has to cut through much lumber left by his predecessors. At the heart of it lies a legacy of often-deep distrust that has built up in the Arab world.”

Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), often accused of supporting Hamas, advised that President Obama must back up positive statements “with concrete policy initiatives.”

The Asia Times went so far as to say that the American president made a mistake by speaking in Cairo. “Why should the president of the United States address the ‘Muslim world,” it stated. “What would happen if the leader of a big country addressed the ‘Christian world’? Half the world would giggle and the other half would sulk.

“To speak to the ‘Muslim world’ is to speak not to a fact, but rather to an aspiration, and that is the aspiration that Islam shall be a global state religion as its founders intended. To address this aspiration is to breathe life into it. For an American president to validate such an aspiration is madness.”

Revised "gay Gene" Theory
Jun 5th, 2009
CommentaryTBC
Categories: Commentary;Contemporary Issues

APA revises 'gay gene' theory [Excerpts]

The attempt to prove that homosexuality is determined biologically has been dealt a knockout punch. An American Psychological Association publication includes an admission that there's no homosexual "gene" -- meaning it's not likely that homosexuals are born that way.

For decades, the APA has not considered homosexuality a psychological disorder, while other professionals in the field consider it to be a "gender-identity" problem. But the new statement, which appears in a brochure called "Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality," states the following:

"There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles...."

That contrasts with the APA's statement in 1998: "There is considerable recent evidence to suggest that biology, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors, play a significant role in a person's sexuality."

President Obama invites Iranian President Ahmadinejad to make a visit to a holocaust concentration camp
Jun 5th, 2009
News UpdateJimmy DeYoung
Categories: Jimmy DeYoung News

On his trip to Germany, US President Barack Obama visited the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, the site where 250,000 prisoners were held during World War II and a location that has personal significance for the president as his great-uncle helped liberate a satellite concentration camp to Buchenwald where 50,000 Jews were killed. President Obama suggested that Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who this week, repeated his claims that the Holocaust was a great deception, should make his own visit to Buchenwald.

The president described the camp as the ultimate rebuke to people who deny the Holocaust and he added that he had no patience for people who would deny history and the history of the Holocaust is not something speculative.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

President Obama's statement that the history of the Holocaust is not something speculative is in the face of Iranian President Ahmadinejad and a reminder of yet another holocaust to come - according to Bible prophecy.

In his speech to the Muslim world as well as his visit to the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany, President Obama reminded the world of the Holocaust of the Jewish people some 65 years ago at the hands of the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. This attention drawn to the reality of the Holocaust must be a reminder of another Holocaust for the Jewish people - one even worst than the last.

The ancient Jewish prophets wrote of a time when many nations will rise up to kill the Jewish people including the nation of Iran (Ezekiel 38:5). Zechariah, another of the Jewish prophets, reveals that during the time of Jacob's Trouble, two out of every three Jews will be killed (Zechariah 13:8). The time period for these crimes for the Jewish people will be a seven year period of time of tribulation as described in Daniel 9:27 and Revelation 12:13-17.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad's deniel of the Holocaust and US President Obama's affirmation of the Holocaust are indeed reminders that Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.

Obama: I will Speak the Truth, As the Koran Says
Jun 5th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gedalayhu
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo Thursday called for a sweeping change in Muslim-American relations, based on the establishment of a Palestinian Authority state.

He told 3,000 guests at Cairo University that he will put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to stop terror and on Israel to cease a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria. He did not specifically state whether Jerusalem neighborhoods are part of the “occupation” that he said must end.

His only reference to Jerusalem was a quote from the Koran that describes Moses, Jesus and Mohammed joining together in prayer, and a call for “Jerusalem [to a secure home for Jews, Christians and Muslims."

President Obama opened the speech with the Islamic greeting, “Peace unto you” in Arabic and reminded his listeners of his Muslim background. He quoted the Koran several times in his Cairo speech, stating that the Muslim holy book states, “Be conscious of G-d and speak always the truth."

The focus of his speech was a list of six sources of conflict that he said must be confronted in order to reach peace -- extremism, the Palestinian Authority-Israel dispute, nuclear weapons, democracy, religious tolerance, women’s rights and economic growth and development.

Concerning Israel, he made it perfectly clear that will personally pressure for an end to the "occupation” that he said has caused displacement to the Arab population in Israel for 60 years. His speech specifically defined the Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza as a “Palestinian people,” and he mentioned their “suffering” immediately after referring to the Holocaust.

President Obama said that just as the Holocaust cannot be denied, Israel must recognize the right of Arabs to a PA state, which he called Palestine. “Jews have undergone thousands of years of persecution...and I will go to Buchenwald” this week to visit the Nazi death camp where Jews were butchered.

“Denying the Holocaust and threatening Israel with destruction is wrong,” he declared.

“On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people have suffered in pursuit of a homeland and have suffered for 60 years of displacement.” He accused Israel of being responsible for "humiliation” of Arabs. “Let there be no doubt that the situation for the Palestinian people” is intolerable and America “will not turn its back” on the need for a PA state, he said.

“The U.S. does not accept the settlements, and they violate previous agreements,” according to the president. He was referring to the American Roadmap plan, which does not specifically call on Israel to surrender Judea, Samaria and Gaza but instead calls for negotiations on the borders of a PA state.

The president also blamed Israel for the lack of opportunity for Arabs under PA rule, despite the local Arab economy having enjoyed unprecedented economic growth following the end of Jordanian and Egyptian occupation in the 1967 Six-Day War. The socio-economic situation deteriorated with the influence of the Palestine Liberation Organization under the rule of Yasser Arafat.

President Obama insisted that “Israel must live up to its obligations” for economic opportunity for Arabs and implicitly compared the situation of Arabs with that of blacks in 19th and early 20th century America.

He also demanded a total halt to terrorism, warning that ”moral authority” is not claimed by rockets and bus bombings, but held out the opportunity for the Hamas terrorist organization to deny violence and recognize Israel.

While saying that the U.S. cannot impose peace, he added, "America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and we will say in public what we say in private…. Many Muslims recognize Israel will not go away, and many Israelis see the need for a PA state."

He also called on Arab states to contribute to the PA economy and society. The Arab world has pledged billions of dollars to help the government of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas but has fulfilled only a small fraction of its pledges.

The president preceded the issue of the PA-Israeli dispute with the need to end extremism. President Obama described the Muslim religion as one that “emphasizes the idea of religious tolerance and racial equality.” He declared that the U.S. “is not at war with Islam” but that the country will “relentlessly confront violence extremists who present a threat to our security.”

Concerning Iran, he asserted that it can have nuclear power if it abides by international treaties. President Obama did not spell out any specific measures to convince Tehran to end its current policy of non-cooperation with international inspectors while it continues to reach nuclear capability by enriching uranium, a key element for a nuclear weapon.

The fourth area of conflict that he addressed is democracy, which he said the U.S. cannot impose. He added that the U.S. will work with countries “that recognize the will of the people.” He specially pointed to discrimination of Copts in Egypt.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was notably absent from the speech, the official explanation being the death of his 12-year-old grandson nearly a month ago. Civil rights defenders have roundly attacked his regime as being authoritarian and suppressive.

The fifth and sixth areas of conflict that President Obama said should be address are women’s rights and economic development, both of which he stated help pave the road to peace and prosperity.



Earlier in his remarks, he warned that a “single speech” cannot “erase years of distrust.” He praised Islam as a force of religious tolerance and racial equality and said that Muslims “have always been a part of American sources.”

The president stated that “Muslims have enriched the U.S. and have won Nobel prizes,” although in fact less than handful of Muslims have won international Nobel prices.

Obama Wants Pa State, Pa Majority Sees No Fatah - Hamas Unity
Jun 5th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hillel Fendel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

Even as U.S. President Barack Obama tells the world there must be a Palestinian state, the residents of such a “state” themselves say this is not a viable possibility.

A poll released this week shows that 51% of Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza believe that unity between the two new Arab entities in the Land of Israel – Hamas-controlled Gaza and Fatah-ruled Judea and Samaria - will happen “only after a long time.” Another 27% says the split is permanent.

Obama did not explain in his Cairo speech heard around the world how he plans to get the two groups to unite.  “Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist," Obama said, but did not elaborate how this might occur.



Palestinian Authority sources report that PA security forces killed at least two Hamas terrorists today (Thursday) – possibly by drowning them. The two were hiding out in the cellar of a house, and there have been reports that the PA forces flooded the house with water, thus drowning the two.

The incident occurred in Kalkilya, east of Kfar Saba.

Hamas has also been cited for “unfair warfare” in Kalkilya -- using a woman as a human shield during a gun battle with Fatah.

That incident occurred earlier this week, with PA sources reporting that two Hamas men – who were ultimately killed in the battle – hid behind a woman during the battle. The woman herself was no innocent bystander, however; in the middle of the seven hours of gunfire, she threw a hand grenade at three Fatah policemen, killing them. Though she lost her arm in the fighting, she will apparently be charged with murder and faces a death sentence.

AFP reported that the civil rights group Amnesty International has “lambasted both Hamas and Fatah for arbitrary detentions, torture and suppression of freedom of speech in their respective areas of control.”

Mks Respond: 'zionist Vision is Stronger Than Any President'
Jun 5th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hillel Fendel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Church;Warning

As the Israeli government convenes to discuss the ramifications of U.S. President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo, other Israeli politicians have lost no time in responding to it. Excerpts:

MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union): “Obama makes a shocking parallel between the destruction of European Jewry and the suffering that the Arabs of Israel brought upon themselves when they declared war on Israel.”

“If Obama does not understand the difference between them, perhaps he will understand it better when he visits the Buchenwald concentration camp in the comings days. And if he doesn’t understand it even there, then Islam will once again teach it to him, just as it taught his predecessor on 9/11.”

Regarding Obama’s praise of Islam, Eldad said, “Obama spoke more from his own heart and less from genuine understanding of the direction Islam is taking around the world. Whoever thinks that the establishment of a Palestinian state will stop the war in Darfur, India, Chechnya, and Europe will apparently soon learn that Israel is not willing to be the ‘pound of flesh’ that he wants to throw to the Muslims.”

MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) said: “The Zionist vision of the rebuilding of the Land of Israel is stronger than any president or government. We outlasted Pharaoh, and we will outlast Obama.”

Obama said, "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. It is time for these settlements to stop."

Ben-Ari said, “Everyone can now see that Obama is not interested in Maoz Esther, but in Jerusalem.

 MK Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home): "The speech arouses fears and concerns regarding the future of American relations towards Israel. I fear an erosion of the traditional American commitment to Israel’s security needs and its very existence and independence. Our response must not be to cave in, but rather to have dialogue with, and persuade the Administration, while waging an emergency call-up of all the resources of Israel and the Jewish nation. ”

Col.(ret.) Moti Yogev told Channel One television news, "Obama's speech was very professional and peace-seeking. But he quoted our Sages, which he attributed to the Quran, and the same Sages and sources have spoken of the Jewish People's right to this Land. Just as he said that the State of Israel will not disappear, the same is true about the settlements in Judea and Samaria."

Yogev added, "Though the speech was not inflammatory, I am sure that it will give a push to the settlement effort throughout Judea and Samaria, and we will grow even stronger than the five percent growth rate we already enjoy."

Meretz Party chairman MK Chaim Oron: “The speech was inspired, optimistic, and heralded a new spirit that seemed to have disappeared from the region.”

Mk Katz: U.S. Supporters of Israel Must Get Tough With Obama
Jun 5th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hillel Fendel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

 
“Let’s not mince words,” says Knesset Member Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh), head of the National Union party. “The Obama-Clinton ‘no natural growth’ policy for 650,000 Jews in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem is nothing less than anti-Semitism.”

Speaking Wednesday with Israel National Radio, Katz called on Christian and Jewish supporters of Israel to get tough with President Obama and tell the administration that they will not accept such policies.

No Difference Between Jerusalem and Yesha

“Ever since we liberated Jerusalem, the Golan and the other Biblical Jewish areas over 40 years ago,” Katz said, “American administrations have always been pushing us and trying to stunt our growth in Judea and Samaria; what the Obama Administration is trying to do is not new. I would just like to add that for the Obama Administration, there is no difference between Jerusalem and the rest of Judea and Samaria. In the Jerusalem neighborhoods that were liberated in 1967, we have close to 300,000 Jews, and we have another 350,000 Jews in Judea and Samaria. For the Americans, all 650,000 are the same; they are all to be boycotted, discriminated against and told to stop building and stop growing. There is no difference for them.”

“There is one other difference [between past U.S. administrations and this o. In the past, other administrations have also pressured us – but this is the very first time that they are actually saying that the Jewish people have no right to give birth, or to build kindergartens, or to grow. President Barack Hussein Obama is the first one to say that a population of 650,000 Jews in Israel is not allowed to build even one square meter. He is bringing us back to the Middle Ages, with Jews facing discrimination simply because they are Jews.”



MK Katz, Pres. Obama. Israel news Photo: (Sasson Tiram, Flash 90)

Similar Decrees from Obama and Pharaoh

“This is the first time,” Katz continued with fervor, “that Americans – Christians and Jews – hear a President saying that the Biblical areas – areas that they believe and know are completely Jewish – must be sterilized of Jews. They hear him saying, just like King Pharaoh decreed so many years ago, that Jews must not give birth!"

"We have to ask the American people – Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Senators and Congressmen of both parties, and others – to stand up and say: We refuse to fight against the Biblical nation in the Biblical land, and we have to stop this president from discriminating against the Jewish people. This is the first time since the Holocaust that a Western leader has said Jews have no right to give birth. I repeat this – because [Secretary of Sta Hillary Clinton said that even natural growth will not be allowed. They don’t say this about dogs or cats; only Jews in the Holy Land, a population of 650,000 Jews, has no right to grow and develop!”

The question was posed: “There are those in Israel, such as former Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin of the Meretz party, who say that preventing children from building homes near their parents is a far cry from banning them from giving birth. How do you answer that?”

No Kindergarten Means No Growth

Katz: “First of all, we must note that the Jewish People have always had the problem that anti-Semitic leaders are often surrounded by Jewish advisors; we sometimes suffer from the Jews more than from the Gentiles. But regarding his point: If someone says you can’t add a room to a house, or build a kindergarten or a grocery or anything else, it means that 650,000 Jews in Jerusalem and elsewhere cannot grow, cannot give birth.”

Reiterating his message to American supporters of Israel, Katz said, “The American people have to stand up and say that a President who says these things is simply anti-Semitic. The American people must not be silent – and the fact that they are not shouting is what is scaring me! Something happened 70 years ago in Europe and no one stood up to stop it – and no one is standing up to Obama now either, to say, ‘Shut up! You have no right to tell the Jewish People that they cannot have children in their own land!’”

Ex - Defense Minister Arens: 'we Must Build Up Settlements'
Jun 5th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hellel Fendel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Ex-Defense and Foreign Minister Professor Moshe Arens says, “We must strengthen the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria even beyond their natural growth rates.”

The soft-spoken former Technion professor of aeronautical engineering is not happy with U.S. President Barack Obama’s new aggressive approach to Israel. “We're not used to receiving orders from others," he told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine on Thursday. "We are an independent country. We hear what the president says, but we are not at Mt. Sinai where we respond, ‘We will do whatever you say.’”

Arens served for six terms as a Knesset Member, was Minister of Defense in four different governments, and was Minister of Foreign Affairs in one. He immigrated to Israel in 1948 from the United States.

Against Outposts, Supports More Construction

Though he objects to what he calls “illegal” attempts by “hilltop youth to form outposts without authorization,” Arens says that the existing settlement communities in Judea and Samaria must be expanded and strengthened even beyond their rates of “natural growth.”

“Our settlement in the Land of Israel is the basic right of the Jewish Nation,” Arens said, “based not only on the Bible and Jewish history, but on international recognition during the times of the League of Nations and the British Mandate.”

“I do not accept the terms of ‘natural growth.’ We are not living in Judea and Samaria because of our ‘natural growth,’ but because of our natural rights.”

“It is incumbent upon us to strengthen the existing communities,” Arens said. “We cannot be like our former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and like Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni, who deny our natural rights, a basis of Zionism, to live in Judea and Samaria.”