RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.mideastoutpost.com/archives/turn-off-the-light-unto-the-nations-ruth-king.html

Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion proclaimed: “History did not spoil us with power, wealth, nor with broad territories or an enormous community: however, it did grant us uncommon intellectual and moral virtue, and thus it is both a privilege and an obligation to be a light unto the nations.”

Where did that hubris-fraught term originate? From the Book of Isaiah. There are three references.

“Yea, He saith, ‘It is too light a thing for you to be My servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the scions of Israel, and I shall submit you as a light unto the nations, to be My salvation until the end of the earth’ (Isaiah, 49:6)

“I the Lord have called unto you in righteousness, and have taken hold of your hand, and submitted you as the people’s covenant, as a light unto the nations” (Isaiah, 42:6)

“And unto your light, nations shall walk, and kings unto the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah, 60:3)

The notion mesmerized those who aspired to become a utopian, agrarian, virtuous, socialist model to the world. It even lured some realists who wanted the nation to be admired, respected and looked upon as a role model.

In the early post-independence years, the “light” bearers of Israel were depicted as super heroes–farmers/scholars who made the desert bloom and could turn their plough shares and pruning hooks into rifles at a moment’s notice to defend their nation, yet remain devoted to the goal of achieving peace with their neighbors and eager to make sacrifices to obtain it. Who would not be delighted by this image, coming as it did only three years after the Holocaust? How comforting was it to see them as models to illuminate a dark and venal world?

But Israel’s implacable neighbors sought only to destroy it and the price of survival became a seemingly endless series of wars, which sat ill with the utopian image.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/01/how_craven_art_thou_professor.html

It is troubling that the term academic has become a term of opprobrium. But after reading the fourth volume of the Journal of Academic Freedom (JAF) published by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), it is abundantly clear why this is the case. What they call academic freedom is merely a tactic to falsify history and harm the State of Israel.

The American Association of University Professors was started in 1900 when “noted economist Edward Ross lost his job at Stanford University because Mrs. Leland Stanford did not like his views on immigrant labor and railroad monopolies.” Thus, the AAUP was formed “to ensure academic freedom for faculty members.”

Which brings us to the decision about boycotting Israeli universities and Israeli researchers. Although the American Association of University Professors is against this boycott, the authors in the latest issue of the Journal of Academic Freedom, one of AAUP’s publications, support the boycott.

Marjorie Heins in “Rethinking Boycotts” explains that “one of the many groups that sponsored the call for [boycott, divestment, and sanctions] was the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).” In fact, at Discover the Networks, one learns

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304361604579290613920542386?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories

U.S. officials believe members of Hezbollah, the militant group backed by Iran, are smuggling advanced guided-missile systems into Lebanon from Syria piece by piece to evade a secretive Israeli air campaign designed to stop them.

The moves illustrate how both Hezbollah and Israel are using Syria’s civil war as cover for what increasingly is seen as a complex and high-stakes race to prepare for another potential conflict—their own—in ways that could alter the region’s military balance.
Some components of a powerful antiship missile system have already been moved to Lebanon, according to previously undisclosed intelligence, while other systems that could target Israeli aircraft, ships and bases are being stored in expanded weapons depots under Hezbollah control in Syria, say current and former U.S. officials.

Such guided weapons would be a major step up from the “dumb” rockets and missiles Hezbollah now has stockpiled, and could sharply increase the group’s ability to deter Israel in any potential new battle, officials say.

The movements appear to serve two purposes.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/author/max-boot/ The year is still young, but I would say the New York Times’s editorial board has already retired the prize for the most irresponsible, unconvincing, and pernicious editorial of the year with “Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower.” To get to the bottom line up front: TheTimes would like the U.S. government to offer “a plea bargain or some […]

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4116/turkey-government-crisis The unraveling of relations between Erdoğan and Gülen has begun to overshadow the details of the corruption scandal that brought it about. As the crisis of Turkey’s government and the country’s competing Islamists is deepening, the attitude of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party, known as AKP, […]

The NY Times’ Benghazi Myths — on The Glazov Gang
Hear no al-Qaeda, See no al-Qaeda.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/the-ny-times-benghazi-myths-on-the-glazov-gang/

http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X43C35998A675D3938BCD8B0CCE6AFE144417E7B44E0FF8438E14FAAB42FF1C732E22A26D92FA74C2343000CE794724DDFAD0835D29B27862219FB321148B2D232B18D517183476B3.htm

http://www.jewishledger.com/2013/12/we-should-not-forget-3/
We Should Not Forget

Sniper kills Israeli Defense Ministry employee
Salah Shukri Abu Latyef

Salah Shukri Abu Latyef

JNS.org – The recent uptick in Palestinian terrorism against Israel continued Tuesday, Dec. 24, when a Palestinian sniper fatally shot 22-year-old Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, a civilian employee of the Israeli Defense Ministry, while Latyef was making repairs to the Israel-Gaza border fence.

Latyef, a tractor driver, was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where he died of his wounds from the shooting. The Israel Air Force responded to the murder by striking two Hamas training camps, Reuters reported.

“This is a very severe incident and we will not let it go unanswered,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “Our policy until now has been to act to thwart such incidents beforehand and to respond in force and this is how we will act regarding this incident as well.”

The murder of Latyef follows the bus bombing near Tel Aviv on Sunday, Dec. 22, which resulted in no civilian injuries after the bus was successfully evacuated, and the stabbing of an Israeli policeman on Monday, Dec. 23.

Sniper fire kills IDF soldier
Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen

Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen

Israel Defense Forces Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen, 31, was killed Sunday night, Dec. 15, by Lebanese sniper fire while he was on patrol near the Israel-Lebanon border. The Voice of Lebanon radio station reported that the shooter, a member of the Lebanese army identified as Hassan Ibrahim, fled his post after the incident but returned to his base Monday morning. It was unclear why the shooter, who apparently acted alone, had opened fire. “We will demand that the Lebanese army first of all provides an explanation of exactly what happened there, and whether this is really a rogue soldier, what they did with him, and what the Lebanese army plans to do to prevent incidents of this type,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said.

Cohen

http://www.timesofisrael.com/four-islamic-jihad-members-arrested-over-bat-yam-bus-bombing/

NETANYAHU OUTRAGED MAY RELEASE MORE TERRORISTS FROM JAIL TO SHOW HOW ANGRY HE IS….(JUST KIDDING) RSK
Bat Yam bus bombers caught, were planning larger blast in Tel Aviv
4 West Bank Islamic Jihad members held for thwarted December 22 attack; 10 Bedouin also unwittingly involved; PM hails arrests, slams Abbas

Another 10 people, including several Bedouin Israeli citizens, were arrested for assisting in the operation, which ended with no injuries after an alert passenger noticed the bomb, authorities said.

News of the arrests was cleared for publication Thursday.

The four Islamic Jihad operatives were named as Yosef Salamah, 22, Sahaha Tamari, 24, Hamadi Tamari, 21 and Sami Harimi, 20. Sahaha and Hamadi Tamari, brothers, have both served time in Israeli prisons, and Salamah is a Palestinian Authority police officer.

According to the released documents, Harimi was smuggled from the West Bank to Jaffa on or around December 22 by Bedouin acquaintances, where he prayed in a local mosque and then was able to plant a bomb on Dan bus 240 heading south to Bat Yam. Security forces said that the Bedouin were unaware that Harimi was planning to carry out a terror attack.

http://www.yourjewishnews.com/2014/01/n30820.html?m=1

The Jewish brother of President Obama told an Israeli newspaper that he is proud to be part of the Jewish people.

Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo is a businessman and musician, who lives in China. He published a book several years ago, in which he wrote about an abusive Kenyan father.

Mark Obama also directs the Mark Obama Ndesanjo Foundation, which promotes cultural exchanges between Asia, Africa and the U.S., and provides instruments and music teachers to needy children in China.

When his parents divorced, Mark Obama moved to the U.S. where he studied physics at Brown University and Stanford. He received an MBA from Emory University.

Mark Obama’s mother, Ruth Nidesand, the third wife of Obama Sr., was born in the U.S. to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants.

Mark Obama told the Israeli newspaper that he considers himself a member of the Jewish people.