RUTHFULLY YOURS

1. A record of 5.3 million tourists in Israel in 2013.

2. A record of $83.2BN foreign exchange reserves reflects the strength of Israel’s Shekel, while the currencies of the emerging markets plummet.

3. A record of $2.3BN invested in 662 Israeli startups in 2013 (21% above 2012), according to KPMG and IVC (Globes, January 23, 2014).

4. Over 250 multinational research & development centers operate in Israel (Globes, February 13).

5. “Funds from the US, Europe and China are showing interest in dozens of Israeli companies that will be forced on to the auction block by Israel’s efforts to increase competition…. The sale [of dominant Israeli companies] is required by a law passed in December, 2013 to loosen the grip conglomerates have on the economy…. [Israel’s economic] growth is projected to outpace both the US and the euro area this year and next. The stability of the Israeli economy, and its fundamentals, make it attractive to foreign investors…. You are buying not because of a crisis in Israel, but because there is a desire to boost competition (Bloomberg, February 4, 2014, Alisa Odenheimer and Sharon Wrobel).”

And why not Ashura?- Shiite Muslims celebrate in the streets by self-mutilating themselves.
Ashura marks the death of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, the revered Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq 1,300 years ago. rsk
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/nyc-public-school-kids-new-holidays-article-1.1601237#ixzz2sMxzthxT
Mayor de Blasio said Monday that he’d move forward with closing schools for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, two Muslim holy days, and for Lunar New Year. But he was hesitant regarding Hindu festival Diwali.
New York City is moving to close school for two Muslim holidays and the Lunar New Year — but Mayor de Blasio isn’t so sure about the Hindu festival Diwali.
Appearing on WNYC’s “Brian Lehrer Show” on Monday, the mayor said he hadn’t taken a position on whether Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated in India and other South Asian countries, should be a day off from school.

“This group is much more dangerous and radical than Hamas.” — Palestinian journalist, Gaza City

Palestinians are worried that DAESH terrorists will perpetrate atrocities against those who oppose their ideology and activities.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas need to take into consideration the possibility that Palestinian unity on the pre-1967 lines would pave the way for DAESH terrorists to move into the West Bank.

It’s official: Al-Qaeda has begun operating in the Gaza Strip.

A video posted on YouTube this week showed terrorists belonging to the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known colloquially by its Arabic acronym, DAESH, announcing plans to wage jihad [holy war] against the “infidels, traitors and Crusaders.”

This is the first time that a group linked to Al-Qaeda announces its presence in the Gaza Strip.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/americans-are-biggest-losers-in-obamas-changes-to-the-law The Obama administration’s announcement that the employer mandate will be delayed yet another year for employers with 50 to 99 full-time workers will clobber taxpayers because fewer people getting coverage on the job means more people needing coverage at the public’s expense. The sudden change also trashes the rule of law. Presidents lack the constitutional authority to […]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/arnold-ahlert/income-inequality-at-the-white-house/print/

Loosen up…the blue lacy shower curtain Michelle Obama wore was probably donated by a Republican designer and the entertainment was no big deal. Maybe it is all a bit over the top and hypocritical but it pales in comparison to the other depredations of the lawless administration. Osetra caviar is a bit much but bagels and lox or pastrami on rye would not have been as festive….rsk

In the midst of joblessness and deprivation for millions of Americans, another opulent White House party took place Tuesday night feting fellow socialist crusader François Hollande, the president of France. While the Obamas frequently decry the excesses of private-sector wealth, characterizing it as the product of ill-gotten gains, they have demonstrated time and time again that they have little difficulty emulating the same behavior when Americans are footing the bill. Meanwhile, incessant regulations, attacks on industry and on middle class paychecks through ObamaCare, are crushing ordinary Americans, with no end in sight.

Three hundred and forty-eight guests took part in the state dinner for President Hollande. In an uncharacteristic burst of honesty, the New York Times noted that while many presidents have used state dinners to promote America, those that have taken place during the Obama administration “have been elaborate events and criticized for expenses that have risen with the number of guests and high-cost entertainers like Beyoncé, who may waive their fees but still require equipment, lighting, technicians and even wind machines.”

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/david-james/dhimmitude-in-tennessee/print/ Tennessee Islamists recently complained to their friend, Fox Channel 17 news reporter Sky Arnold, about a pamphlet that was inadvertently included in a pro-Israel booth at a school cultural/heritage fair.  Looking to incite the Muslim community, the complainants posted this image of the pamphlet that addressed anti-Israel hate messages in Palestinian school materials. The […]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/obamas-war-on-israel-2/print/

f the left’s foreign policy these days had a slogan, it would be, “Boycott Israel, not Iran.” The double standard, dishonest as it is ugly, is also the motto of Obama’s foreign policy, which benevolently blesses Iran’s nuclear program with one outstretched hand in the name of peace and chokes concessions out of Israel to the terrorists with the other also in the name of peace.

Both peace plans are going disastrously according to plan.

Iran has made it clear that it will dismantle nothing and that it will go on developing ballistic missiles and nuclear technology. Its military commanders threaten to attack the United States and boast that their ships are encroaching on America’s maritime borders.

The Palestinian Authority has shed the last vestiges of democracy as its leader begins the tenth year of a four-year term and its elected legislature has been discarded in favor of the PLO Council. Instead of a representative government, the Palestinian Authority has reverted back to what it always was; the PLO.

A Palestinian state has receded into the figment of a dream as elections have become a distant memory and Hamas continues to hold Gaza, leaving a PLO mafia in the West Bank to maintain its monopoly on cigarettes and other commodities while passing around Western aid money to its terrorist militias.

The more Kerry pressures Israel, the more bellicose PLO leaders have become. Fatah officials have accused Kerry of threatening to poison Abbas, the Palestinian Authority’s current President-for-Life. The accusation is ridiculous, but the PLO, like Iran, is feeling emboldened by American weakness.

The softer American power gets, the harder its enemies hit.

http://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2014/02/shame/?utm_source=Mosaic+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=ade1412183-2014_2_13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0b0517b2ab-ade1412183-41165129

I’m not quite sure what Israel did to the Presbyterians, but it must have been pretty bad.

Take the recent Zionism Unsettled report released by the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s quasi-official “Israel Palestine Mission Network.” Glossy, high-color, and bundled with a nifty DVD, the report provides “an invaluable guide to deeper understanding” of what just might be the universe’s most important conflict.

Its conclusion is straightforward: Zionism is the ultimate source of the world’s problems and those Jews and Christians who support Jewish sovereignty (or should I say “the Zionist quest for demographic control of the land”) are no better than war criminals for sanctioning Israel’s colonization of the Palestinian homeland.

The Presbyterians who drafted this shameless polemic have one goal in mind: to sway delegates who will be attending the PC-USA’s June assembly to vote in favor of divesting from Israel. A similar measure was narrowly defeated in 2012; this year’s vote is expected to be just as close.

The good news for Israelis is that not all Christians, not all Protestants, not all Reformed churches, and not even all Presbyterians support this heinous initiative. We’re talking about a small, albeit loud and powerful, faction within Christianity that – for whatever reason – has nothing better to do than to criticize the Jewish state. Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, and North Korea no doubt look on with mild amusement.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/congress-warned-about-evolution-of-jihadist-networks/?print=1 WASHINGTON – Terrorism experts warned Congress last week that Islamist terrorist groups are expanding in complex networks across the Middle East, highlighting the evolving nature of the threat these organizations pose to the region. Seth Jones, a national security analyst with the RAND Corporation, told the House Armed Services Committee that there has been […]

http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2014/02/12/dont-celebrate-eric-holders-departure/?print=1 Nobody should celebrate the announcement that Attorney General Eric Holder will be leaving the administration this year. Whoever replaces Holder will be just as radical and ideological. What the replacement will enjoy, however, is a clean slate. Some will naively assume a new attorney general means a fresh start and an attorney general better […]