Joel Leyden - PR, Internet Marketing, Journalism, Israel

"Don't worry, I'm not going to Jew You!"

2012-01-24T17:14:00.000-08:00

"Don't worry, I'm not going to Jew You!"

By Joel Leyden

I heard about this expression being used but until today no one ever said it to!

At a bank today a teller was giving me some cash and while counting it she lifted her head up and said: "don't worry, I'm not going to Jew you."
I wasn't quite sure that I heard what I heard correctly. I responded: "sorry, I didn't hear you."

She then said quite clearly: "I said that don't worry, I'm not going to Jew you."

I now thought, let it go, don't make a big deal out of it ... or hey Capt. Joel - this racist shit transcends Jenin, Gaza and Rahmallah. Being somewhere outside of Boston in a rural community, they would never guess that they just spoke to a Jew. After all, we must be like less than 1% of the population here. This ain't Tel Aviv or New York.

"You know, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are not Jewish and they own half the world," I noted.

She then realized that she said the wrong thing to the wrong person.

I continued: "I am sure that you did not mean anything wrong by what you said, it's just how people talk around here. But if you ever said this to a Jew, I am sure that it could really offend them.

She could not be more apologetic.

"Sorry, I am really sorry." Then to break the tension she said: "OK, I am not going to Obama you."

With that we both laughed.

But hey, this racist shit really goes on in the US. They don't use rocks, Katushas and suicide bombers ... but hate speech.

I beg of you, never hesitate to correct when hearing a racist remark.

These people are ignorant until made aware of what they are doing. ... after all, she must have been related to Katy Perry's father! ;>

As Israel Amends Custody Law, Fathers Protest Militant Feminist Conference at Bar Ilan University

2012-01-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

As Israel Amends Custody Law, Fathers Protest
Militant Feminist Conference at Bar Ilan University

Bar Ilan University's Rackman Center is hosting
two male bashing conferences on January 3, 2012

By Joel Leyden

Israel News Agency

Tel Aviv --- January 7, 2012 ... A the Israel government is now recognizing that divorced fathers and their children deserve equal rights as divorced women, a militant feminist conference at the Rackman Center in Bar Ilan University is causing a fury in Israel. The anti-male conference is designed to sabotage parental equality, and indoctrinate social workers to treat all men and fathers in divorce or separation as unfit or dangerous parents.

Men's and children's rights organizations vehemently protest it, members of Knesset try to stop it, litigation in Texas has been launched, and pleas to the United Nations (UN) CEDAW rapporteur Rashida Manjoo were sent, seeking the termination of the organizer Ruth Halperin Kaddari's membership in CEDAW.

The Rackman Center at Bar Ilan University is headed by militant feminist Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kadari, in close association with another leading speaker, Dr. Dafna Hacker of Tel Aviv University’s Gender Studies program, another militant feminist with strong ties to the New Israel Fund. Hacker is a founder of Itach-Maaki, an organization that recently volunteered to assist in the legal defense of sadistic man-killer Erika Orbush Frishkin.

Halperin-Kaddari and Hacker publicly encourage women to use children to extort financial benefits from former spouses.

The morning session is an indoctrination session to train social workers in justifying parental alienation - PAS, and the use of sophisticated language to deny fathers parental rights and access to their children.

Australian male bashing guru Jennifer McIntosh participated by videoconference, and tried to persuade Israel social workers that only mothers connect to children because of "neuron emissions from the right side of their brains".

Their was no discussion of the documented importance of a father's role in the well being of their children.

The second session is the unveiling of two committee reports, one on custody and visitations, and the other on child support. Both committees announced reforms which the ultra feminist organizations are desperately trying to sabotage. The second session was attended by the Minister of Justice, Yaakov Neeman, and the committee chairmen, Dan Schnit and Pinchas Schiffman.

Israel pro-family and men’s rights organizations are outraged that such important conferences are held on the militant feminists’ home turf, and will be moderated by the same women who try to prevent any reform in family law from taking place. Moderator Ruth Halperin Kaddari has already expressed her position that the tender years presumption (automatic custody to women) should not be eliminated and instead stretched out to apply to children and youths until the age of 18.

In the past, she has been caught falsifying statistical data and disseminating false results of public opinion polls and surveys.

Another speaker at the first session, Saviona Rotlevi, was herself in charge of a sub-Commission on parental equality between 1997-2003. After six years of deliberations, she refused to issue a final recommendation, on the ground that she personally thinks that men are not mature enough to handle tasks of caring for children.

This appears to be in the 9th annual conference held in this format.

All eight previous conferences were secret, and the public was not made aware of them. Members of the pro-family and men’s rights organizations stated: “Now we understand why we are being treated with such immense hostility. Apparently, the Ministry of Welfare has been training its social workers at the institution where hatred of men is a form of art."

MK Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich (Kadima) has published letters she sent earlier this week to Welfare Minister Moshe Kachlon and Bar Ilan President Moshe Kaveh, asking them to rethink the conference, and cancel it. She states that it is academic hypocrisy to allow only radical male hating feminist speakers at such important conferences with national impact, and close the events to speakers supporting parental equality.

The conference is timed to coincide with the release of the conclusions of government committees that are expected to recommend canceling the Tender Years Clause that gives mothers automatic custody over young children in divorce. Israel is said to be the last country in the world where this presumption is still in effect, and causes a generation of fatherless children.

Shamalov-Berkovich notes that the conference is biased and that the social workers should also be exposed to the views of experts who support the cancellation of the Tender Years presumption, and the benefits of joint custody. In divorce cases that involve disagreement over parenting arrangements, social worker’s reports and recommendations are crucial to shaping the court’s decision, because family courts simply “so order” them without trial.

Bar Ilan U’s militant feminist leadership suffered some setbacks in the past year, in the wake of growing criticism of its ultra-leftist leanings.

Jennifer McIntosh, the Australian key speaker who intends to talk about “mental primary caretaker” research in Australia, received warnings from Israeli men's rights activists. In their letters they ask Ms. McIntish to decline participation in the Israeli Rackman Center conference.

“The fathers’ rights organizations in Israel intend to protest both inside and outside against Australian meddling with the internal affairs of Israel and the rights of Israeli parents to a happy, peaceful, loving and caring relationship with their children post-divorce on an equal basis”.

The fathers complain that McIntosh has “no idea about the ruthless oppression of men in Israeli Courts and by social workers, police, psychiatrists and even the rabbinical courts”, and “no idea how prevalent the “contact centers” are in Israel. It is enough that a woman creates a “lack of trust” situation for the SW and judges to send normative men to contact centers”.

“You have no idea how many men commit suicide here because of the incitement of hatred by organizations such as the Rackman Center. You also have no idea how hate mongering propaganda emanating from the Rackman Center is being used to suppress the lives of men, and you appear to willingly join the war against men in Israel”.

According to the fathers, the conferences will the videotaped and used as evidence in a litigation which is already filed in Texas based on Alien Tort Claim Act (“ATCA”) on the allegation that that the McIntosh and “the ferocious feminist organizations incite hatred and perpetrate crimes against humanity by separating men from their children”.

In conclusion, the Israeli fathers tell McIntosh, “we find that what you are about to speak of, at said conference, is nothing but junk science, and a despicable one as well, dressed up as “academic research”, when in fact, it is purely hate speech and incitement to commit crimes against humanity, incitements to perpetuate conflicts between women and men, incitement for woman to file false domestic violence complaints to create “high conflict”, and the encouragement of parental alienation on a grand scale. You and your cohorts have already gave Australia a very bad name in the international community, and especially here in Israel, since your garbage ideas have no academic merit whatsoever.

Let it be known by all men and children in Israel that Australia is responsible for a generation of fatherless children in Israel”.

An Israel Justice Ministry panel called to revoke an archaic 40-year-old law that automatically grants custody of all children under age six to the mother. The proposal suggested the law be replaced with a gender-equal alternative.

A complaint submitted last year to the United Nation’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Coalition for Children and Family (CCF), an Israel non-profit organization vying for father’s rights, blasted the legislation as “blatantly discriminatory against men.”

“If it was not for crazy feminist hate-inciting monsters we could have achieved this change in legislation in 2003,” commented Daniel Zer, a father who has not seen his son for more than two years and who is active in the CCF. “This would already have brought us a whole slew of changes, including in the area of divorces and the rabbinical courts, which is also a problem for many men.”

Zer said that Schnitt’s recommendations were not that relevant because it was the state’s obligation to remove this specific law because “Israel’s basic laws require equality.”

He said that it was time for Israel to adopt similar measures followed in most Western country regarding custody placement.

“There either needs to be gender mutuality, where the law is simply silent about the gender of the parent and bases the decision on the best interest of the children,” said Zer, “or there needs to be joint custody with a two-home presumption.”

Ron Paul Creates GOP Loss, Obama’s Gain

2012-01-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

Ron Paul Creates GOP Loss, Obama’s Gain

Ron Paul supports and accepts support from
the Nazis, the KKK, neo Confederates and Hamas.

(pictured above with the publisher of Nazi publication Stormfront.)

By Michael Medved

3 January 2012

Few of Ron Paul’s enthusiastic supporters actually expect their curmudgeonly, 77-year-old champion to win election as President of the United States, but they nonetheless plan to give him their votes in Republican primaries in order “to send a message” to the GOP and the nation at large.

But what, exactly, is the message that impassioned Paulestinians mean to convey if, as expected, the controversial congressman places first or second in the upcoming Iowa caucuses and goes on to show surprising strength in subsequent contests?

Any honest assessment of Ron Paul’s unconventional campaign suggests that whatever successes it manages to achieve can send only two signals, both of them disastrous to Republican prospects and the conservative cause.

First, and most obviously, increased attention to the perplexing Paul phenomenon only serves to strengthen the core argument for Barack Obama’s reelection: that today’s Republicans have become a wild and crazy bunch, harboring oddball, irresponsible notions that place them far outside the American mainstream and make them untrustworthy when it comes to the serious business of governance.

Association with 9/11 conspiracy theorists has destroyed the credibility of numerous figures in public life – even forcing the resignation of Van Jones, perhaps the most loathsome left-wing loony in the Obama administration. But Ron Paul has flirted with such paranoid delusions for years, appearing regularly on the freakazoid radio show of arch-conspiracist Alex Jones (who accuses George Bush and the New World Order of planning the extinction of the human race) and telling one of his senior congressional aides (Eric Dondero) shortly after September 11 that “the attacks were coordinated with the CIA, and that the Bush administration might have known about the attacks ahead of time.”

When leading GOP strategists acknowledge that the Republicans can only build long-term success for their party by reaching out more successfully to blacks, Hispanics, and Jews, Dr. Paul reemphasised just a few weeks ago his opposition to the celebrated Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which most Republicans in Congress enthusiastically supported at the time).

Concerning more recent history, Paul’s former congressional aide and long-time campaign worker Eric Dondero recently wrote a piece for LibertarianRepublican.net in which he attempted to defend his former boss against charges of anti-Semitism and racism relating to his newsletters. But he frankly allowed that “Ron Paul is most assuredly an isolationist….I can tell you straight out, I had countless arguments/discussions with him over his personal views. For example, he strenuously does not believe the United States had any business getting involved in fighting Hitler in WWII…When pressed, he often brings up conspiracy theories like FDR knew about the attacks of Pearl Harbour weeks beforehand, or that WWII was just ‘blowback’ for Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy errors, and such.”

Which brings us to the second poisonous message broadcast to the nation’s undecided voters by any and all scraps of Ronulan progress in the primary process: the notion that the Republican Party remains hopelessly divided, helpless to cope with its most oddly obsessed activists, and utterly unable to provide the unifying, competent leadership that most Americans crave. If, after gathering more notable support in caucuses and primaries across the country, Paul repeats this petulant performance in 2012, the impact on GOP chances in the general election could be catastrophic. He repeatedly insists he has no current intention of launching an independent candidacy but he also refuses to answer whenever questioned about his willingness to support the Republican ticket.

Unless he changes his tune and unabashedly embraces Romney, Gingrich, Perry, or whichever rival comes out of primary season with a majority of delegates, it’s inconceivable that convention organisers would grant him the high-profile, prime-time speaking slot he demands. How could GOP strategists possibly invite Dr. Demento to address the assembled delegates without some iron-clad assurance that he wouldn’t use the occasion to trash the party itself and its newly selected candidates?

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to imagine a reassuring “unity photo” from the Tampa convention showing Ron Paul joining the other also-rans lifting arms at the podium together with the victor who has beaten them. The more support angry voters provide to Paul protest candidacy the more inconceivable that image becomes, and the more likely the reelection of Obama and Biden.

By far the best outcome for those who yearn above all to replace the Democrat in the White House would be to witness the rapid, well-deserved fizzle of the Paulian insurgency. This sort of quick collapse remains a distinct possibility—with a disappointing showing in Iowa followed by even more limited support that polls presently predict in the other early primary states.

If Paul winds up with less than 10 per cent of the national Republican vote, he would merit only an obscure position at the convention, reassuring the broader public that if you refuse to disavow support from open Nazis and unrepentant Ku Kluxers—as Dr. Paul explicitly refuses to do, in interviews recently with The New York Times and four years ago on my radio show — you will find no comfortable home in today’s Republican Party.

Voters who might feel tempted to express discontent with the status quo by casting a ballot for Ron Paul during primary season still understand that backing him in any third party bid would bring disaster to the conservative cause; in the general election, it’s obvious that a vote for Ron Paul would amount to a vote for Barack Obama.

But even in caucuses and primaries, the prospective rise of “Paul Power” would cripple Republican chances for the climactic contest, conveying the impression of a GOP that nourishes angry extremists and remains painfully divided, headed toward crushing defeat at the hands of an unworthy foe in a fateful election that should have been winnable.

Newsweek

UN: Israel Discriminates Against Divorced Fathers, Children

2011-12-06T20:15:00.000-08:00

UN: Israel Discriminates Against Divorced Fathers, Children

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By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

New York, New York --- December 6, 2011 .... The UN, which has a long, documented history for bashing Israel at almost each and every opportunity, has come out today on behalf of divorced fathers and their children in Israel. It is unfortunate that thousands of loving, caring and responsible dads in Israel had to go to the UN to illustrate how blatant gender bias discrimination is under Israel law.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has declared that Israel discriminates against divorced fathers. That fathers in Israel who have gone through divorce often lose contact with their children solely because they are male.

The United Nations has called upon Israel to cancel the Tender Years Clause that grants automatic custody to women for all children under six years of age. The UN has pointed out that the Jewish state, which is supposed to be well respected for its values when it comes to family, is said to be the last country in the world not to have canceled this legal clause.

Thousands of fathers in Israel are made into second class citizens as they are provided just a few hours a week to see their own children. Many can only see their children in a supervised center as a result of false charges being made against the men by their ex-wives. These criminal charges are never investigated by the court or by child welfare due to a lack of funding, making the fathers into "visitors" rather than full time dads. The fathers must find thousands of dollars to retain attorneys and forensic psychologists in order to clear their names, money for which the majority of dads in Israel do not have as a result of low wages and high taxes.

In the concluding remarks of meetings held in Geneva in November and December, the UN committee wrote that:

"The Committee is concerned that, in the case of a divorce, custody of children up to the age of six is always given to mothers, and that fathers are often required to pay child support awards that exceed their income, and if not that their freedom of movement is seriously curtailed. The Committee is concerned that divorced fathers often are required to visit their children in supervised visitation centers during their working hours, which leads to the accumulation of work absences and the risk of dismissal."

The UN in making this statement addresses the fact that as long as the father owes child support he is prevented from leaving the country, even if his work is international.

"The Committee recommends that the State party amend the Capacity and Guardianship Law so that custody of children up to the age of six is not always given to mothers, and ensure that child support awards do not lead to an inadequate standard of living for the father."

The UN in making the above statement addresses the law preventing and or limiting contact between father and child until the age of six. What is not stated here is that even after the age of six, family courts and child welfare departments from Tel Aviv, Ra'anana and Haifa to Jerusalem, Metulla and Eilat maintain this gender bias discrimination. Discrimination which often leads to PAS - Parental Alienation Syndrome where the mother poisons the child against the father and the father eventually gives up and walks away - leaving the child with no father role model.

The UN committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights comprises of independent experts and monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by individual countries.

The UN committee heard testimony from representatives of the Israel Coalition for Children and Families, an Israeli group that fights for the rights of children and their fathers in divorce.

Following the testimony, the experts posed questions to a 12-person delegation from Israel. A source on the committee said that the experts noted that there was a high suicide rate among divorced men in Israel, amounting to half of all suicides.

The divorced fathers from Israel also said that this was reportedly because family rights for divorced couples were very biased towards mothers and restricted access of men to children and the family home to a degree rarely seen in any other State, and that the situation for divorced fathers was "apparently hellish."

The UN asked if it was true that divorced fathers were not allowed to leave Israel until they had paid approximately 20 years of alimony. The Israeli delegation did not provide direct responses to these questions.

CCF was founded by Daniel Zer, a father who has not been able to see his own six-year-old son for over three years, allegedly because the child's mother does not want him to see him, and the social workers in Israel agreed with her that the child has no need for a father in his life.

The father filed a motion to the High Court and asked it to declare that UN conventions forbid the state from denying a child the right to family life. The High Court refused to declare that fathers have rights to see their children, based on international law.

Fathers 4 Justice Israel, another group of dedicated fathers which works with the Coalition for Children and Families, stated that fathers in Israel can carry M-16's in the IDF to protect the state, but are not allowed to carry their own children.

A spokesperson told the Israel News Agency that representatives of Fathers 4 Justice Israel had gone to Haiti after the 2009 earthquake to aid hundreds of children there in rebuilding orphanages, providing clean water and food and making certain that the children had electricity and clean beds to sleep in.

After risking their lives in Haiti, these fathers returned to Israel and where they were denied contact with their own children.

"The severe suffering that these fathers and their children go though cannot be measured," said J from Fathers 4 Justice Israel, who cannot use his real name as a result of gag orders that the secret family courts apply.

"The emotional abuse that these fathers and their children are subjected to often leaves permanent scars. Many fathers commit suicide while the children's behavior remains greatly affected in terms of their being able to adjust to school, work, suffering from anxiety, depression and being able to create normal, healthy relationships."

"It's apparent that the Israel Ministry of Justice in Israel and Child Welfare departments simply do not care about the mental health of these fathers and their children. Hopefully, the UN can wake them up and place them in the spotlight for all global human rights organizations to see."

Disgusting: Netanyahu Government Suggests Israelis Avoid Marrying American Jews!

2011-11-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

Disgusting: Netanyahu Government Suggests Israelis
Avoid Marrying American Jews

Note by Joel Leyden: DISGUSTING ......... Israelis leave Israel for a wide variety of reasons. Most because we cannot feed our families. I can return because I am fortunate to have some money behind me - BUT other Israelis do not, and do not need this sick guilt trip.
Netanyaha should focus on lowering taxes and creating other financial incentives rather than using the memory of dead soldiers!!!

By Jeffrey Goldberg

Nov 30 2011, 9:12 AM ET

The Netanyahu government's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption is sponsoring advertisements in at least five American communities that warn Israeli expatriates that they will lose their identities if they don't return home.

The Ministry is also featuring on its website a series of short videos that, in an almost comically heavy-handed way, caution Israelis against raising their children in America -- one scare-ad shows a pair of Israeli grandparents seated before a menorah and Skypeing with their granddaughter, who lives in America. When they ask the child to name the holiday they're celebrating, she says "Christmas." In another ad, an actor playing a slightly-adenoidal, goateed young man (who, to my expert Semitic eye, is meant to represent a typical young American Jew) is shown to be oblivious to the fact that his Israeli girlfriend is in mourning on Yom HaZikaron, Israel's memorial day. The Jewish Channel, which broke the story of what it calls a "semi-covert national campaign," suggests that the Ministry does not differentiate between the "dangers" of marrying American Jews, and American non-Jews, and I have to agree. But let's lay that aside for a minute and watch the video:

The narrator says, in essence, "they will never understand what it means to be Israeli." The narration leaves no room for the possibility that "Dafna," the Israeli girlfriend, could explain to the Josh-character (my name for him, though it could be Jeremy as well) why she's sad on Memorial Day.

And here's the in-your-face Christmas ad:

I don't think I have ever seen a demonstration of Israeli contempt for American Jews as obvious as these ads. I understand the impulse behind them: Israel wants as many of its citizens as possible to live in Israel. This is not an abnormal desire. But the way it is expressed, in wholly negative terms, is somewhat appalling. How about, "Hey, come back to Israel, because our unemployment rate is half that of the U.S.'s"? Or, "It's always sunny in Israel"? Or, "Hey, Shmulik, your mother misses you"?

These government-sponsored ads suggest that it is impossible for Jews to remain Jewish in America. How else are we supposed to understand the "Christmas" ad? Obviously, assimilation and intermarriage are issues in America in ways they aren't in Israel. Israel has other problems of course, such as the fact that many of its rabbis act like Iranian mullahs. (I'm not even going to try to unpack my complicated beliefs about intermarriage and assimilation and life in the Diaspora here; that's for a book. But let me just say that intermarriage can also be understood as an opportunity.)

The idea, communicated in these ads, that America is no place for a proper Jew, and that a Jew who is concerned about the Jewish future should live in Israel, is archaic, and also chutzpadik (if you don't mind me resorting to the vernacular). The message is: Dear American Jews, thank you for lobbying for American defense aid (and what a great show you put on at the AIPAC convention every year!) but, please, stay away from our sons and daughters.

Israel Holds War Homefront Exercise To Defend Against Iran, Syria, Gaza Missiles

2011-11-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

Israel Holds War Homefront Exercise To Defend Against
Iran, Syria, Gaza Missiles

1digg

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem --- November 2, 2011 .... Anticipating a real threat of missile attacks against the civilian population of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command will be holding an exercise in the center of the country tomorrow.

The Israel Home Front Command is preparing to conduct a rocket and missile attack simulation in the Dan Region - the Center of Israel on Thursday. The security and rescue forces of the IDF, police and fire departments are to take part in the exercise, which will concentrate mainly in Holon, a city south of Tel Aviv. Roads will not be closed for the purpose of this drill, and the Israel public's participation will not be required.

An air raid siren is scheduled to sound across the Tel Aviv metropolitan area at 10 a.m. In the event of a true emergency, a second siren will sound after the first. Heavy military traffic is expected in the morning and explosions might be heard in the region.

Israel has been under constant threat of Islamic Jihad - holy war terrorism with rocket attacks from Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran, which has sworn to "wipe Israel off the map", has missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv. Syria, a close ally of Iran, is expected to join Iran in any attack against Israel, US bases, European nations, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Yesterday, Israel test-fired a missile from an IDF base, two days after Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of the "direct and heavy threat" posed by Iran's nuclear program.

The afternoon missile test launch near Tel Aviv, which had not been announced in advance, coincided with a week long surge of speculation in Israel media that Netanyahu was working to secure cabinet consensus for a defensive attack on Iran.

The Israel Defense Ministry described the missile launch from the IDF Palmachim base as the test of the propulsion system of a missile on which it declined to elaborate.

"This is an impressive technological achievement and an important step in Israel's advances in the realms of missiles and space, which has been a long time in the planning," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement.

Israel Radio's military affairs correspondent, who is regularly briefed by top officials on Defense matters, said a "ballistic missile" had been launched. The term generally applies to long-range missiles for delivering warheads.

Iran, which denies wanting to produce nuclear bombs, wants Israel's total destruction, prompting Netanyahu to compare it to the Nazis.

"A nuclear Iran will pose a serious threat to the Middle East and the entire world, and it of course poses a direct and heavy threat to us," Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Knesset address on Monday.

Israel remains prepared against any threat from Iran and Syria, with weapons deployed in a wide variety of operational means - including submarines.
If attacked, Israel is not expected to lead a counter attack but would be coordinating all activity with the US, NATO and several nations in both Europe and the Middle East.

Every child in Israel has gone through extensive drills in both school and at home to protect themselves against missile and rocket attacks from Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and Syria. The children of southern Israel, thousands from the cities of Sderot, Ashkelon, Beer Sheva and Ashdod have suffered from PTS - Post Traumatic Stress - as a result of thousands of unprovoked missile terror attacks from Hamas in Gaza.

The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in Israel by the Leyden Digital PR SEO New Media Group - Israel, New York, Hartford.

Reaching Millions: The 8 Secrets of Internet Marketing, Social Media, Digital PR

2011-10-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

Reaching Millions: The 8 Secrets of Internet Marketing,
Social Media, Digital PR

Joel Leyden reaching millions online from Haiti for
humanitarian aid after the devastating 2009 earthquake.

1digg

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

www.israelnewsagency.com/socialmediaseodigitalmarketinginternetbrandingprsecretstrainingseminarsfacebooktwitteryoutubegooglenewsjoelleyden88271011.html

New York, NY --- October 28, 2011 .... Today is my birthday. But gifts don't go one way here. What you are about to read are the eight secrets to reaching millions online. Yeah, there have been many other news and feature stories like this on the Net, but were the authors on the Web since 1995? Are they integrated marketing professionals?

First, at least 80 percent of those who say that they "know" social media are full of it.

Yes, maybe they know how to post a status update and create a banner ad but can they tell you about POP, branding, display advertising, media placement, multi level marketing?

Let's separate the virgins from the pros (media professionals) and simply count how many "friends" they have on Facebook, how many contacts on LinkedIn and how many videos they have uploaded to YouTube. Better yet, ask their clients if they have converted their Internet traffic into real customers!

So sit back, relax, pour yourself a cup coffee or a glass of wine and enjoy the following. I have never gone public with these trade secrets.

Am I afraid that I will lose business by giving this away?

No way. Ya also got to be an excellent journalist turned digital marketing and PR professional, one who knows how to write professionally. Lastly, you have to know the search engines from before they were born.

Got a pen? Excuse me, I forgot, ya gonna copy and paste this. Right? Can you at least give credit to the Leyden Digital PR, Social Media Group. Thanks!

The Web begins with an anchor. Your home base is a Website. And the first place to start is with a domain name with keywords inside that describe where and what you do. For me I am NewYorkSEOPr.com, NewYorkDigitalPr.com, IntegratedMarketingProfessional.com, SocialMediaPioneer.com,ReputationManagementPR.com, SocialMediaPRTraining.com and about 400 other domains that I use for targeted marketing on the Net.

How can you penetrate the Web in minutes and reach millions - use Google News. This Google News story is an example of this market penetration. In Google's search engines within minutes of uploading this news story. Don't have a news portal which is indexed by Google News? Then use PRWEB, PRNewswire, PRLog, RushPRNews or one of the many PR distribution online media channels. They vary in cost but are well worth it.

Optimize your content - SEO - for the search engines. Stay away from Flash and make your homepage keyword rich. Be sure to place those keywords in the headline, META tags, description, inside links and your URL.

Use Blogs. Using a Google Blog at Blogger will assure you that your Blog will be indexed within minutes by Google.

Create a Facebook presence and work it. Add new friends, but do so slowly as Facebook will disable you if it believes that you are spamming. Create Facebook groups and invite your friends to join them - from Facebook and from other marketing platforms such as print ads, brochures and broadcast media - TV and radio.

Get onto Twitter and network. Create new friends and announce what you and your clients are doing. Follow others and have others follow you as you enter your hash marks before popular keywords to reach maximum reach.

Join LinkedIn.com. After an infusion of several millions of dollars a few years ago, LinkedIn became the place to find and make professional contacts. Excellent for job hunting. But remember that when TIME, AP, Reuters, CNN and or Le Monde come looking to interview you, they will most likely find you on Facebook, same place that the CIA, FBI, Mossad, MI5 and other INTEL organizations watch your every move!

Side note - the above mentioned INTEL organizations are among the best when it comes to using the Net. They are only outdone by YouPorn.com and Xhamster.com. Can't win them all!

People love pictures. Moving pictures. Videos on YouTube can tell your and your clients story with better ease than words. Produce a 30 second to 4 minute video on YouTube and get famous quick. Place that YouTube video on your Website's home page.

PPC which means pay per click on sponsored links on the Net such as Google Adwords, is potent for getting your Web marketing campaign launched. After your Web properties are in orbit, rely upon organic Internet marketing, back links, SEO and Google New stories.

Did I mention Wikipedia? No. You don't want to be there. It's the same as using a public toilet - you never know who was there editing before and after you. Stay away from the Wikipedia curse!

Now take all of your Web properties and advertise them in select general and trade print media. Use both to bounce back and forth between one another. Now ya smoking - you have just produced a cost-effective viral marketing monster online.

Recent marketing studies indicate that when you integrate social media and PR with print, TV and radio advertising - revenues jump.
That's a fact.

OK, I lied. I just gave you 10 digital marketing secrets, not eight. And there are many more from where these come from.
For the rest ya gotta pay me. Someone needs to pay for my children's food!

By the way, if your Internet marketing, social media or SEO company has not provided you with the above information, its time for you to move on and find a professional digital marketing and PR firm which is substance, not style. And seek out mature, experienced integrated marketing professionals. Go for someone who has been working online for at least 10 years.

Steve Jobs proved that age is no barrier. Just the reverse. Jobs, the former Apple CEO, illustrated that classic PR, advertising and marketing knowledge when combined with Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 sings.

Sings with the sweetness of true success and ROI for your money and efforts.
Happy birthday and share the gift.

The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in Israel by the Leyden Digital PR SEO New Media Group - Israel, New York, Hartford.

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ISRAEL NEWS AGENCY

Social Marketing Is Best Served on a PR Combo Plate

2011-10-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

Social Marketing Is Best Served on a PR Combo Plate

BY Mikal E. Belicove

If you’re accountable for the dollars your company spends on social media-related marketing and you’re looking for evidence that socially engineered content and engagement marketing lifts sales, here’s some good news.

A just-released study shows that consumers - patrons of five fast-food franchises in this case - are much more likely to pull out their wallets and purses after being exposed to social content on sites like Facebook and Twitter than those who aren’t.

Moreover, when exposed to socially engineered content and other types of media (e.g., television ads, billboard campaigns and public relations efforts resulting in earned media placements) the likelihood for a bigger spend, consumption or brand perception is increased by a whopping two to seven times.

These findings — from the latest Social Media Sales Impact Study (published by Ogilvy & Mather and ChatThreads) — reinforce the importance of having an integrated multichannel marketing campaign that includes creating and leveraging conversational and user-generated content.

The study also shows that you shouldn’t put all your eggs into one basket. Exposure to several fast-food brands via social media reached only 24 percent of the consumers involved in the exercise. That’s low when compared to 69 percent of survey participants who reported having taken note of a TV ad for one of the restaurant brands during a weeklong test period. Billboards for one or more of the five US chains (KFC, McDonalds, Subway, Taco Bell and Wendy's) caught the eye of only 37 percent of consumers.

But the study shows that exposure to multiple channels — a combo plate involving social media along with television exposure, billboards, public relations or other advertising avenues — positively impacts sales.

For instance, consumers exposed to social media combined with public relations showed a 17 percent increase over purchases without such dual exposure.

(The Leyden Digital PR, Social Media Group provides dual exposure for its clients. Click here for more information.)

Those who experienced social media exposure along with a TV ad were two times more likely to purchase more that they did the week before. And brands that combined social media mentions with billboard advertising increased sales by one and a half times.

What are the implications of this study?

First, it suggests that those who employ social content should increase customer and prospect exposure in order to impact sales and brand perception. Even more important, the report shows that integrating other media channels into your content results in the biggest impact on consumers.

Use surveys, loyalty program tracking and coupons when evaluating the sales impact of your social content. Don’t depend solely on direct clicks. By monitoring your social media closely, you can also discover and remedy any negative press about your brand, product or service, because these certainly affect brand perception.

In fact, Taco Bell had a 220 percent lower shift in consumer perception of the chain providing a “great dining experience,” - a direct result of a socially charged news cycle involving ingredients used in Taco Bell’s meat products around the time of the study.

You should also plan your social content in a manner that best emphasizes the qualities with which you want the public to be aware. The goal is to reinforce your brand’s uniqueness, and that means promoting broad discussion on your brand in order to keep your social content fresh and up-to-date.

Islamic Terrorists - Free to Murder Again

2011-10-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

Islamic Terrorists - Free to Murder Again

Last Updated: 12:33 AM, October 18, 2011

Posted: October 18, 2011
New York Post Editorial

Now that the identities of some of the Palestinian terrorists being set free in exchange for long-imprisoned Israeli Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit have become known, the horror of the deal is even more apparent.

After all, Israel long refused to release any Palestinian terrorists “with blood on their hands.”
Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done just that -- literally.

Among the 1,027 Palestinian terrorists being freed is Abdel Aziz Salha, who was famously photographed proudly raising his bloody hands to a cheering crowd after killing two Israeli soldiers.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

And he’s far from the only cold-blooded killer walking free. Others include:

* Ahlam Tamimi, who in 2001 drove a suicide bomber to a crowded Jerusalem pizzeria, where he killed 15 people -- including Judy Greenbaum, of Passaic, NJ -- and wounded 130 others.

* Muhammad Daghlas, head of the Hamas network that carried out that bombing.

* Ibrahim Younis, who planned the 2003 suicide bombing in a Jerusalem cafe that killed seven people -- including Dr. David Applebaum and his daughter Nava, both US-born, on the eve of her wedding.

* Nasser Yateima, a mastermind of the Passover 2002 Netanya hotel bombing, which killed 30 and injured 140 others.

In all, those being released are believed to have the blood of 588 Israelis -- nearly all civilians -- on their hands.

So why did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has always maintained a hard line on fighting terror, agree to this one-sided exchange for a lone Israeli?

For one thing, Israel has a long history of refusing to abandon a single soldier on the battlefield.
Shalit has been held captive by Hamas for five years, and his family has been waging a sophisticated PR campaign that clearly touched the nation.

Which no doubt explains why a new poll shows overwhelming support for the deal among Israelis.

But there is a bitter price to be paid for this exchange, which Hamas already is hailing as a major political victory.

Just as past exchanges have set free terrorists who’ve killed again -- and emboldened Hamas to find new Israeli hostages.

No one should know this better than Netanyahu, who lost a brother in the heroic 1976 Israeli operation that freed hostages in Uganda -- back in the days when Israel hewed a firm line against negotiations.

Indeed, Netanyahu himself said it best, in his book “Fighting Terrorism”:
“Prisoner releases only embolden terrorists. ... Worse, by leading terrorists to think such demands are likely to be met, they encourage precisely the terrorist blackmail they are supposed to defuse.”

Sad to say, Netanyahu failed to heed the wisdom of his own words.
He’ll come to regret that.

Gilad Schalit Deal Spits At International Law, Israel Citizens

2011-10-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Schalit Deal Makes Mockery of International Law, Imperils Thousands In Israel

"No modern government has the legal right to free terrorists in exchange for its own kidnapped citizens, military or civilian.

Under long-standing international law, every state has a primary obligation to protect its citizens.

Yet it appears that tomorrow, Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will exchange Palestinian terrorists for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.

Any such exchange, however humane to Schalit and his family, would imperil thousands of other Israelis." - The Jerusalem Post

VIDEO: From Israel - Gilad Shalit and 1,000 Hamas Prisoners

2011-10-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

From Israel - Gilad Shalit and 1,000 Hamas Prisoners

On patrol somewhere on the Israel Gaza border two IDF soldiers discuss the Shalit and Hamas prisoner exchange.

2011-10-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs Illustrates Age Discrimination by HR Employment
Recruiters In High Tech Unwarranted

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
www.israelnewsagency.com/stevejobsagediscriminationhremploymentrecruitersheadhuntershightechsocialmediaseodigitalmarketingprintegratedexperienceapple88100711.html

Ra'anana, Israel --- October 7, 2011 .... If Steve Jobs answered an ad today for work on LinkedIn.com or Monster.com chances are he would never even get a response.

At the age of 56 he would be deemed a dinosaur who would be completely out of touch with modern technology and integrated marketing channels. That at 56, he would be lucky if he was using email. HR and executive recruiters in high tech, SEO, social media and digital marketing have instructions by most companies not to engage anyone over 45.

Steve Jobs, the man who founded Apple and turned it into the world's must successful high tech, computer company died of pancreatic cancer yesterday. Jobs, with an estimated net worth of $7 billion dollars, was responsible for creating the personal computer industry, teaching people how to use a mouse to click on objects and how to make hardware easy to use.

Steve Jobs created the iPod portable music player, the iPhone (telephone, Internet communicator, music player) and the iPad tablet. Consumer products which changed how we use and consume content in the digital age.

In addition to technology, Jobs served as served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios and became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company.

But yet, if Steve Jobs had not been so lucky in creating some of the first computers out of a garage in Mountain View, California and was simply a hard working, marketing professional who worked for Microsoft or HP and was laid off due to a recession where would he have been in the last few years?

Regardless of how deep his knowledge of software, hardware and marketing may have been - he could have wound up selling shirts at Macy's or frozen food at Walmart. If Jobs had not acquired the personal contacts that he accumulated over the years and simply relied on a resume to secure a hi tech position in 2011, he could have been collecting unemployment.

Many assume that those over 40 or 45 are not in touch with modern technology yet Steve Jobs was one of those middle aged professionals leading modern technology.

Many social media, digital PR and SEO employers assume that in order to secure fresh ideas one needs to tap into a market of 20 - 30 year-olds. That those who are over 50 are completely obsolete.

When has youth had a higher value over experience? That those high tech marketing professionals who have made the jump from conventional media to online sales and integrated marketing channels are to be ignored?

One highly respected tech professional recently interviewed for a chief operating officer position with a West Coast technology company. The headhunter was very positive and told him that he was "the leading candidate". The CEO congratulated this 50 years plus professional on his stellar technology background. Then he heard nothing for two weeks. He then called the headhunter, who then told him that the company was seeking "a person with more technical experience." This candidate writes for CNET!

Age discrimination is alive and well. In fact age discrimination is killing high tech.

There's a TV commercial being aired on ESPN right now that illustrates two hiring managers discussing the two job candidates sitting in the lobby. We only see the backs of these candidates' heads. One is dark brown and lustrous and the other brittle and gray. The HR recruiters debate should they go with the experienced candidate though "he won't have energy" or hire the fresh young guy? And then we see that the two candidates are the same person before and after a hair dye job.

More than two-thirds of tech professionals over 45 have said that ageism is a "significant problem" according to a study released a few years ago. That nearly one in three workers over 45 said they have either witnessed or experienced "age bias."

During the next ten years, mature workers will overwhelm the high tech industry by their sheer numbers. According to American Demographics, seven baby boomers will turn 50 every minute in the US from now until 2014.

Steve Jobs at 56 was still creating, producing and marketing new consumer products at the time of his death. Jobs was widely described as a visionary, as a pioneer and perhaps one of the key leaders ever in the field of business, innovation and product design. Many say that Jobs had "profoundly" changed the face of the modern world in having revolutionized at least six different industries and was the finest role model for all chief executives".

Jobs was working smarter, faster and more creative than those half his age. Steve Jobs does not just leave us with an iPhone or graphics that you want to lick, but with the life example that experience and hard work is still alive after 55.

Steve Jobs will be remembered for many things and many quotes but perhaps these words are the most fitting: “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

And excellence, like a fine wine, takes time to achieve.

The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in Israel by the Leyden Digital PR SEO New Media Group - Israel, New York, Hartford.

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Yom Kippur War Volunteers Serving In Israel - A Diary

2011-10-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

Yom Kippur War Volunteers - 30 Years On - Israel

By Joel Leyden
October 3, 2003

As I write the diary below, the first time retracing steps taken thirty years ago in Israel in October 1973, memories begin to pour back along with the anxiety and tears that we all experienced at the time. For many of us, the scars of war will never heal. Nor should they. - Joel Leyden

Due in part to faulty intelligence and arrogance, Israel was unprepared for a Syrian / Egyptian surprise attack. The Yom Kippur War took the lives of 2,688 Israeli troops.

Jerusalem---October 2003...Sitting in the relative safety of a suburban Long Island home, I first heard news reports of Arab armies attacking Israel on October 6, 1973.

It was not exactly clear what was transpiring in the Middle-East. News reports were censored and the media was not overly kind to Israel. I heard my father say that Israel's UN Ambassador Abba Eban was to address the United Nations General Assembly. I did not know of Abba Eban, I was expecting an Israeli to speak with a thick Israeli accent that most would not understand.

We had just extended our tree lined, middle-upper class home in Westbury. Our living room was now twice the size, with white marble floors, a bear rug, antique chandeliers and the latest TV and radio players. I sat down on one of the soft couches with my father to watch Abba Eban address the world on a color television set. I watched as this portly man in a neat two piece suit wearing large black glasses walked down an aisle at the UN and took his place at the podium. He spoke clearly with an English accent. A voice which embraced all of the desperate passion of the moment.

His English accent was a surprise. To an American, we are seduced by this English UK mother tongue twisting of vowels and nouns. It says to the American ear that the speaker is authoritative.

Weighing each and every word that Eban smoothly articulated, I awaited the latest news of what the Israelis were facing. Then I heard a defining sentence.

"This was a brutal and unprovoked attack in great mass by Egypt and Syria across the cease-fire lines," said Eban.

Israelis don't speak like this. They never admit weakness. To use the word "brutal" meant that Israel was bleeding. At that point I knew that Israel's very survival was in jeopardy. I said to my father that I was going to go to Israel to help out. He shrugged with disbelief. He must have asked himself where would a 20-year-old find the money and an aircraft which would fly a young boy into a war zone.

My father was a Jewish activist, he was and remains a Zionist. He served as the Chairman of the Transportation fund raising division of the United Jewish Appeal, was the president of his Temple and was a consultant to Israel's Ministry of Defense in New York.

I had been in Israel only the year before as a Kibbutz volunteer. It was the most romantic summer of my life. To wake up at sunrise, to be driven by tractor into the lush green banana fields and then to sit down for a breakfast of fresh scrambled eggs with halva was paradise. It was Ma'ayan Baruch, a kibbutz located directly on the Israeli-Lebanese border which was founded before the War of Independence by South Africans and Americans.

I also had family in Tel Aviv, warm people who greeted me as if I was one of their sons. Israel was all that I expected it to be. A romantic, exotic and pioneering state where all of the people pulled together. The collective warmth was infectious. As I left my many months on kibbutz, I promised that one day I would return to this Jewish state and make it my home.

As Eban walked off the UN podium and the news anchors began to deliver commentary, I walked into my bedroom, closed my door and called Kibbutz Aliya Desk - a center for volunteers to Israel located in New York City. I asked if I could immediately volunteer for a kibbutz in Israel. I expected a negative response. Who had time for some kid from New York who wanted to pick apples at a time of war? "If you come to Israel to assist us and promise us that you are not coming to fight, then we may have room for you on a flight in the next few days."

I had to pay a very small fee as the flight was subsidized. I went into New York City the following day for an interview. They accepted me and I was to leave from JFK airport to Israel on October 11.

My parents were in disbelief. I remember how my father was proud of my actions, as my mother cried and begged him not to let me go. But as a young man, I had decided my course and now had the means to implement it. I arrived at the El Al terminal with my parents and was rushed by security up to the El Al VIP lounge. Now it sunk in. Here I was with a few hundred other people going off to war. We knew our lives were expendable as soon as we would step on board the aircraft. Tears flowed in that terminal. It was a quiet, surreal scene, where I held back my own tears as not wanting to make the situation more tense.

I kissed my mother on the cheek, smiled and said I would call her upon arrival.

"Don't worry," I said. "I am going to pick apples, I will not be shooting anyone."

I stepped on board the aircraft, now somewhat afraid of what was in front of me but overshadowing this fear was the knowledge, the Jewish adage: "If not me, then who?"

There was no conversation on the plane. It was not as if you were traveling to Jamaica on vacation. There was no laughter, only quiet reflection. Many of us thought to ourselves, would we actually make it to Israel or be shot down in flight?

I sat next to a medical doctor who had volunteered as well. He assured me that all would be okay. He said that his specialty was trauma and that he was now assigned to an army hospital in Israel. I was in good company. These were people of action. This was the Jewish nation standing up and being counted when it was most needed.

As we approached Israel, the pilot made an unusual announcement. He wanted us to close our window shades. I guess the pilot, as many El Al pilots who had served as Israeli combat pilots previous to taking these commercial positions, knew a bit more than we did. Having a "lit candle" of civilian passengers flying into a war zone was not the best tactic that one would suggest.

As I looked outside one final time, I saw a combat fighter flying off our left wing just yards away. Then I heard the pilot make another announcement.

"Don't worry - the combat jet which is flying next to us is one of ours."

Now the reality of war was all around us. There was no turning back. If I lived through this - so would Israel, if I died then I would have given my life no different than those who had fought the Nazis.

As the plane's wheels touched Israeli soil, we applauded. We were not applauding the pilot and listening to tunes of Hava Nagila - we were applauding the fact that we were alive. That we had made it past the first hurdle and that we were only minutes away from physically joining our brothers and sisters in their defense for Israel's very existence.

The terminal was empty and dark. All of Tel Aviv was blacked out. Window shades were drawn on all of the homes and buildings we past. Even the headlights of cars and buses were painted blue.

We were a group of about 40 people. I later found out that we were a few hundred foreign volunteers accepted from thousands who had applied. We were the "official Israeli war volunteers" and we were greeted in the kindest manner. But we never forgot for a second that we were not on the front line - that there were others who were in far more danger than us and those Israelis who were assisting us in Tel Aviv were related to brothers, husbands and sons now in uniform.

The Yom Kippur War lasted for 3 weeks, starting on October 6, 1973 and ended on October 22 on the Syrian front and on October 26 on the Egyptian front.

It was evening. We were taken by bus to a large youth hostel in Tel Aviv by the Hayarkon River. Holding luggage and wearing backpacks we mingled quietly outside on the grass next to the buildings. Then someone started to read our names out. As they went through the list, we were instructed to enter one of the buildings. As I walked in, I saw several dining tables all with candles burning. This was not Shabbat. We were in a blackout. The mood was eerie. Little conversation, no laughter and much reflection.

A bearded man in his thirties stood up and made a prayer. He then spoke in English and thanked us for coming to Israel. He said that we would face very difficult days ahead, but with god's help, that we and all of Israel would be fine.

We began to drink hot matza ball soup. You could not escape the tension and anxiety. This was not the smiling Israel I had known from a year ago, neither was this Long Island. We were together, but yet alone as we sat and ate our first meal in the Yom Kippur War.

After finishing our dinner of chicken and mashed potatoes, we again mingled outside on the grass. We were taken to our rooms by flashlight.

We awoke early in the morning and after a brief breakfast, again heard our names called out. We were taken to buses which would take us to Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station. It was a busy scene of soldiers coming and going.

Then I spotted a long line of dark green ambulances with the white and red Magan David stars on their sides. These were military ambulances. With curiosity, I slowly walked over to one of the vehicles. I discovered that it was an emergency mobile blood donation station. I looked at the soldier in charge and gestured that I too wanted to donate blood. He wrote my name down and I stood in line. Next to me was another young war volunteer from France. He spoke no English and I knew no French.

We just smiled at one another. We were both asked to enter the ambulance at the same time. There were two cots on either side of the ambulance. We rolled up our sleeves and as our blood began to drip into plastic bags, we again smiled at one another, tears began to form, we did not need words.

As we both stepped off the IDF ambulance, we shook hands. I said good luck in English and he said the same in French. We now looked for our buses which were to be identified by number. Buses which were to take us somewhere in Israel, it was anyone's guess. After a few hours I found myself on the Israeli-Jordanian border.

It was a quiet journey. The dusty roads were vacant except for an occasional IDF truck, jeep or tank quickly rolling by.

About five of us stepped off the bus at Kibbutz Beit Zera. Located in the Jordan Valley about 15 minutes south of Tiberius, Beit Zera was another Ma'ayan Baruch, another magical, romantic kibbutz with palm trees, apple orchards and haystacks.

We walked past the main gate and were greeted by the head of the volunteers. A one-armed Israeli kibbutznik in his late twenties. His warmth was evident from first eye contact. A warmth which remained consistent throughout the ugly, dark days ahead. He led us across a large, open grassy field to a group of wooden huts.

This was to be home for the next several weeks. All seemed tranquil, as this is the normal environment for a kibbutz. But the tranquility lasted less than 24 hours.

At first it was the super sonic booms of low flying IDF aircraft intercepting Syrian fighters. We would run out of our shacks after being rattled by these heavy thuds, thinking that the kibbutz was being bombed. We would stand out in the open field, point our binoculars towards the sky and watch dogfights taking place above us. We could make out the Israeli planes from the Syrian MIGs. It was always the Syrian MIG which would be seen exploding or going down in a trail of grey smoke. We would yell in exhilaration for our brave brothers in the sky, we would laugh and walk proudly back to our work or beds. But this Hollywood show where the good guy would always win, would not last for long. Another dogfight, more missiles, but this time through the binoculars you could clearly see the Magan David Star painted on the tail or was it a wing, drop from the sky.

We fell silent. We cried. We walked back to our beds for a sleepless night.

After two days on the kibbutz I sensed something was wrong. There were almost no men on the kibbutz. They were all in the reserves. Our job was to keep the kibbutz functioning. Whether it was in the factory, the cotton fields or in the kitchen we did our best to keep morale high.

On the third day, I walked over to the volunteers' bulletin board and my mouth opened. On a piece of yellow ruled paper tacked onto the cork was a sign stating: Premilitary Training for Volunteers. One of the conditions for which many of us were not pleased to accept was that we were not going to Israel to fight.

Now they were offering us weapons training. Within 24 hours we were taught how to fire World War 2 carbines, instructed where we could find mortars and grenades and the positions around the kibbutz that we should take up if the kibbutz was attacked. There was no more magic or romanticism associated with this kibbutz. The war was not going well and we felt it.

I spent one day working at the kibbutz pool and became friendly with the man who managed it. I didn't see him for a few days and then I spotted him in the kibbutz dining room. He was sitting at a table by himself. With a big smile I walked over to him and asked him how he was. He responded: "my son is dead." I had no words. I was in shock. We were all in shock.

As the war worsened for Israel, one afternoon all of the volunteers were called into a meeting set for 5:00 p.m. Having been on a kibbutz, I thought nothing of this meeting except for some kibbutz beaucracy about to take place or the kibbutz secretary was now, finally going to introduce himself. I was right, it was the kibbutz secretary, but it was not about beaucracy or introductions. Without wasting anytime he said these words: "The situation has become very bad. We will be lucky to see the sun set this evening … even luckier to see the sun rise tomorrow morning. I thank you from my heart for being here … for helping us…now I wish all of you and us good luck."

You could hear the proverbial pin drop on the floor. What was actually happening in the south that for which we were completely unaware of was that Israeli troops had successfully crossed the Suez Canal. They were now marching towards Cairo and Moscow had just told the US that if the Israelis did not immediately leave Egyptian soil, that they would deploy paratroopers within 24 hours against the Israelis.

We were facing World War Three. The kibbutz secretary, having been briefed by IDF home front command intelligence, expected the Jordanians to enter the war and over run the kibbutz.

We walked slowly back to our shacks. Not a word was muttered. We were just told that we were living our last hours. All we could do was look at one another. We began talking about our families in the States, in the UK and Australia. All of our radios were on. We tried to maintain contact with the kibbutz secretary, but to no avail. We were alone.

When we stepped on board that El Al aircraft we knew very well that this scenario could take place. But none of us ever imagined that this could or would happen. We were not prepared. How does one prepare to die?

It was the longest night of my life. As the sun's first rays began to peak over the Jordanian mountains, over the Golan Heights which were nestled at our very door, I remember hearing the sounds of birds singing. The sound of factory machinery drilling and cutting metal and wood. The sun rose and we were alive.

I put on a pair of running shoes, as I did often to start my day and set out with a run to the kibbutz entrance and then around the kibbutz. As I approached the entrance of the kibbutz I saw a mass of people. I slowed to a walk. Then as I got nearer I saw that they were carrying an Israeli flag draped coffin into the kibbutz. I stared and cried. I turned around and again retreated to my kibbutz shack. I took off my shoes and just lay in bed.

By this point a very deep cloud of depression hung over the kibbutz.

We volunteers, whose job it was to keep the kibbutz functioning and keep morale high could no longer manage a smile.

Finally, I suggested to my roommate Jeffery, a schoolteacher from London, to hitchhike into Tiberius. We needed to get out of this environment.

Without hesitation, we grabbed our shoes and some money and made our way to the kibbutz entrance. An army truck stopped and we got into the back. It was a bumpy ride but it was heaven just to leave Beit Zeir.

Tiberius was wall to wall soldiers. Some preparing to go the Syrian front, others with mud stained shirts enjoying some Rest and Relaxation in the many pubs.

As Jeffery and I walked into one of the pubs, we realized that we were the only civilians there. We ordered some beer. Many of the soldiers stared at us. In retrospect, they were most likely thinking to themselves why we were not in uniform.

One soldier walked over to us and said something in Hebrew. I responded by asking him if he spoke English. The tension immediately turned to laughter.

"You are the volunteers, you are the volunteers who have come from the States and England - yes?"

We smiled. I was not quite sure if "we" were the volunteers he was speaking about. "You are the heroes who left your homes to help us. What do you want to eat? What do you want to drink? You pay for nothing," he said.

Another soldier walked over to us and took out a plastic bag of green peppers.

"I picked these peppers just outside of Damascus - I want you to have some," the soldier smiled. This was an ambush. A friendly ambush for as we placed the peppers in our mouths our throats began to burn and eyes began to tear.

These battle weary soldiers were having a joke on us and we could not be happier. This is why we had come to Israel. We were finally home. And we were alive.

- 30 -

Within two days, the IDF, now fully deployed, blocked the Egyptian and Syrian advances and took the offensive in the Yom Kippur War.

Free Donuts Over 50 - List of Discounts For Young Senior Citizens

2011-10-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

I'm Not Getting Older, I'm Getting Discounts

Somewhere in the USA ---- October 2011 ..... Recently, a friend of mine brought me to the movies. As we entered, he informed me that being over 54 one gets a 35 percent discount. I didn't think anything of it because I don't advertise my age and was willing to pay full price. But my Jewish blood kicked in and quietly I showed the cashier my ID.

A few weeks later, as I was waiting in line behind an older gentleman at Wendy's, I heard him ask for his senior discount. The girl at the register apologized and charged him less. When I asked the man what the discount was, he told me that seniors over 55 gets 10% off everything on the menu, every day.

    Being that age myself, I figured I might as well ask for the discount too. As I waited for my turn, I thought about the consequences of doing so. If the employee asked me for I.D., it could be embarrassing having to show my    license. But if she didn't ask for proof, I would get depressed that I really did look "old" and that I didn't need to prove it. Since I always like to save money, I boldly asked for the discount, and sadly she just rang up the discount (even though I am convinced I don't look a day over 34).

    Anyway, this incident prompted me to do some research and I came across a list of restaurants, supermarkets, department stores, travel deals and other types of offers giving various discounts with different age requirements.

I was actually surprised to see how many there are and how some of them start at the young age of 50.

    This list may not only be useful for you, your friends and family, but it might also be appreciated by your clients. You might consider sending them an e-mail about it and link to our site in the e-mail, or maybe include it in your newsletter.

Hmmmm, Dunkin Donuts gives free coffee to people over 55.
If you're paying for a cup every day, you might want to start getting it for free.

Restaurants

    Applebee’s: 15% off with Golden Apple Card (60+)
    Arby’s: 10% off (55+)
    Ben & Jerry’s: 10% off (60+)
    Bennigan’s: discount varies by location
    Bob’s Big Boy: discount varies by location (60+)
    Boston Market: 10% off (65+)
    Burger King: 10% off (60+)
    Captain D’s Seafood: discount varies on location (62+)
    Chick-Fil-A: 10% off or free small drink or coffee (55+)
    Chili’s: 10% off (55+)
    CiCi’s Pizza: 10% off (60+)
    Culver’s: 10% off (60+)
    Denny’s: 10% off, 20% off for AARP members (55+)
    Dunkin’ Donuts: 10% off or free coffee (55+)
    Einstein’s Bagels: 10% off baker’s dozen of bagels (60+)
    Fuddrucker’s: 10% off any senior platter (55+)
    Gatti’s Pizza: 10% off (60+)
    Golden Corral: 10% off (60+)
    Hardee’s: $0.33 beverages everyday (65+)
    IHOP: 10% off (55+)
    Jack in the Box: up to 20% off (55+)
    KFC: free small drink with any meal (55+)
    Krispy Kreme: 10% off (50+)
    Long John Silver’s: various discounts at participating locations    (55+)
    McDonald’s: discounts on coffee everyday (55+)
    Mrs. Fields: 10% off at participating locations (60+)
    Shoney’s: 10% off
    Sonic: 10% off or free beverage (60+)
    Steak ‘n Shake: 10% off every Monday & Tuesday (50+)
    Subway: 10% off (60+)
    Sweet Tomatoes: 10% off (62+)
    Taco Bell: 5% off; free beverages for seniors (65+)
    TCBY: 10% off (55+)
    Tea Room Cafe: 10% off (50+)
    Village Inn: 10% off (60+)
    Waffle House: 10% off every Monday (60+)
    Wendy’s: 10% off (55+)
    White Castle: 10% off (62+)

Retail And Apparel

    Banana Republic: 10% off (50+)
    Bealls: 20% off first Tuesday of each month (50+)
    Belk’s: 15% off first Tuesday of every month (55+)
    Big Lots: 10% off
    Bon-Ton Department Stores: 15% off on senior discount days (55+)
    C.J. Banks: 10% off every Wednesday (60+)
    Clarks: 10% off (62+)
    Dress Barn: 10% off (55+)
    Goodwill: 10% off one day a week (date varies by location)
    Hallmark: 10% off one day a week (date varies by location)
    Kmart: 20% off (50+)
    Kohl’s: 15% off (60+)
    Modell’s Sporting Goods: 10% off
    Rite Aid: 10% off on Tuesdays & 10% off prescriptions
    Ross Stores: 10% off every Tuesday (55+)
    The Salvation Army Thrift Stores: up to 50% off (55+)
    Stein Mart: 20% off red dot/clearance items first Monday of every month    (55+)
Grocery

    Albertson’s: 10% off first Wednesday of each month (55+)
    American Discount Stores: 10% off every Monday (50+)
    Compare Foods Supermarket: 10% off every Wednesday (60+)
    DeCicco Family Markets: 5% off every Wednesday (60+)
    Food Lion: 6% off every Monday (60+)
    Fry’s Supermarket: free Fry’s VIP Club Membership & 10% off    every Monday (55+)
    Great Valu Food Store: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
    Gristedes Supermarket: 10% off every Tuesday (60+)
    Harris Teeter: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
    Hy-Vee: 5% off one day a week (date varies by location)
    Kroger: 10% off (date varies by location)
    Morton Williams Supermarket: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
    The Plant Shed: 10% off every Tuesday (50+)
    Publix: 5% off every Wednesday (55+)
    Rogers Marketplace: 5% off every Thursday (60+)
    Uncle Guiseppe’s Marketplace: 5% off (62+)
Travel

    Alaska Airlines: 10% off (65+)
    Alamo: up to 25% off for AARP members
    American Airlines: various discounts for 65 and up (call before booking for    discount)
    Amtrak: 15% off (62+)
    Avis: up to 25% off for AARP members
    Best Western: 10% off (55+)
    Budget Rental Cars: 10% off; up to 20% off for AARP members (50+)
    Cambria Suites: 20%-30% off (60+)
    Clarion: 20%-30% off (60+)
    Comfort Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
    Comfort Suites: 20%-30% off (60+)
    Continental Airlines: no initiation fee for Continental Presidents Club & special fares for select destinations
    Dollar Rent-A-Car: 10% off (50+)
    Econo Lodge: 20%-30% off (60+)
    Enterprise Rent-A-Car: 5% off for AARP members
    Greyhound: 5% off (62+)
    Hampton Inns & Suites: 10% off when booked 72 hours in advance
    Hertz: up to 25% off for AARP members
    Holiday Inn: 10%-30% off depending on location (62+)
    Hyatt Hotels: 25%-50% off (62+)
    InterContinental Hotels Group: various discounts at all hotels (65+)
    Mainstay Suites: 10% off with Mature Traveler’s Discount (50+);    20%-30% off (60+)
    Marriott Hotels: 15% off (62+)
    Motel 6: 10% off (60+)
    Myrtle Beach Resort: 10% off (55+)
    National Rent-A-Car: up to 30% off for AARP members
    Quality Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
    Rodeway Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
    Sleep Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
    Southwest Airlines: various discounts for ages 65 and up (call before booking    for discount)
    Trailways Transportation System: various discounts for ages 50 and up
    United Airlines: various discounts for ages 65 and up (call before booking    for discount)
    U.S. Airways: various discounts for ages 65 and up (call before booking for    discount)
Activities And Entertainment

    AMC Theaters: up to 30% off (55+)
    Bally Total Fitness: up to $100 off memberships (62+)
    Busch Gardens Tampa: $3 off one-day tickets (50+)
    Carmike Cinemas: 35% off (65+)
    Cinemark/Century Theaters: up to 35% off
    U.S. National Parks: $10 lifetime pass; 50% off additional services    including camping (62+)
    Regal Cinemas: 30% off
    Ripley’s Believe it or Not: @ off one-day ticket (55+)
    SeaWorld Orlando: $3 off one-day tickets (50+)
Cell Phone Discounts

    AT&T: Special Senior Nation 200 Plan $29.99/month (65+)
    Jitterbug: $10/month cell phone service (50+)
    Verizon Wireless: Verizon Nationwide 65 Plus Plan $29.99/month (65+).

    Miscellaneous

    Great Clips: $3 off hair cuts (60+)
    Super Cuts: $2 off haircuts (60+)

    I have already been told that A&P supermarkets offers 5% off to people    over 55 every Tuesday. If you know of any other senior deals that aren't on    the list, please add them in the comment section of my blog.

Yom Kippur ...... המשפחה היא חשובה ביותר

2011-10-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but many made some real mistakes in the past year.

Some because they were lazy and others because they were truly destructive, greedy or simply narcissistic.

Mistakes are part of life. But whether its justified or not, the damage has been done.

During the ten days of repentance, I'm reviewing my actions from the past year, apologizing to certain individuals for things I did wrong and redoubling my efforts to do more things right. As Yom Kippur approaches, I hope we will be able to make 5772 even better than last year.

And for those who separate responsible, loving parents from their children - there is no forgiveness. As this time can never be made up!

There is nothing worse in life than the suffering of being seperated from your children - children that need BOTH parents.

For me, it has now been exactly one year that my children and I have not held hands, embraced or laughed together.

For those who have and continue to make every true effort to reunite caring, loving and responsible parents with their children, those who uphold the sacred principles of Shalom Biet, I say G-d bless you and your family.

May you have an easy fast. May you enjoy a long, peaceful and healthy life.
May you be recognized for not being selfish and judgemental. But rather rewarded for your unconditional goodness, sincere caring and being responsible for a child's love and well being.

That you, I and my children will soon break bread together.

Nothing is more important than family.

המשפחה היא חשובה ביותר

Shana Tova.

Best wishes,
Joel, Lior, David and Amanda Leyden

Hamas, Islamic Jihad Advertise in New York City - 9/11, Part 2?

2011-09-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Preparing for a UN vote on a Hamas led governed Palestine - Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PLO advertise in the New York City subway system!

Their side of "peace and justice" is responsible for thousands of Islamic terror attacks against civilians in Israel, London, Paris, India, Bali, Egypt, New York and London.

This is not about land.
What is called Palestine, was Jordan before the 1967 war.

This is Islamic Jihad - Holy War against Jews and Christians!

"HAMAS WOLVES WEARING SHEEP CLOTHING"

The 9/11 Israel Condolence Memorial Book

2011-09-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

9/11 9/11 9/11 11119/11 Victims Israel Memorial 9/11 9/11 9/11 1111

September 9, 2011

The people of the State of Israel grieve with the people of the United States of America on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
Two peoples, who share common values, embrace democratic principles, committed to a war on terrorism.
A war forced upon these two States to protect their liberty and freedom.
Israel stands with you America, as we send our profound condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives and sacrificed their lives on September 11th, 2001.

The 9/11 Israel Condolence Memorial Book was created hours after the tragic, barbaric Islamic terror attacks against the US.

Please view and add your condolences on this - the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

www.israelnewsagency.com/september11victimsmemorialisrael.html

REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11th 9/11 - By Joel Leyden

2011-09-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

This page is dedicated to all of the heroes - American and Israeli, police, firemen, medical crews, CIA, Mossad, FBI, Shabak and the soldiers of the US Armed Forces and the IDF who risk their lives daily to provide security and freedom to all our families and friends.

Watch the Israel Broadcasting Authority's English TV News Special on the 9/11 USA terror attack on September 11!... Watch the Israel Broadcasting Authority's English TV News Special on the 9/11 USA terror attack on September 11!... Watch the Israel Broadcasting Authority's English TV News Special on the 9/11 USA terror attack on September 11!...

REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11th 9/11

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/september11terrorattack.html

New York ..... On a sun-filled Autumn morning, within a period of two hours, the United States had lost its innocence, isolation and security.

Islamic terrorists attacked multiple targets in the USA murdering over 3,000 civilians. Four civilian airliners, packed with passengers and fuel became deadly suicide missiles hitting, collapsing New York's World Trade Center and destroying a part of Washington's Pentagon.

As a journalist reporting from New York, I visited "Ground Zero" twice - a hellish, gray gas and smoke filled area where only twisted metal and body parts remained. A place where I had once worked – a city within a city from where New York's Twin Towers once proudly touched the sky.

No image on television or in the newspapers came close to the gruesome reality that one would find in this mass cemetery.

Slowly approaching the area, you could hear the roar of F-15's flying overhead, circling Manhattan. The smell of burnt plastic and rubber fills the air - burning the eyes and throat. You walk past American landmark symbols, such as the NASDAQ building with it’s sign cracked and submerged in debris and thin, grey dust.
Israelis live in an atmosphere where senseless and barbaric terrorist attacks have almost become routine. Israelis have adjusted to a traumatized life style where crazy has become the norm. But for America - for Americans it has been very, very different. Americans had become so isolated from global affairs that on September 11th with total surprise they repeatedly kept asking "why", "why did this happen to us?"

American culture had become so safe, so secure – approaching uncomfortable heights of boredom which manifested itself into "reality television".

On September 11th - every American had now taken a lead role in the popular TV series "Survivor" and "Lost ". But only for a very short period of time. For Americans are an intelligent and proud people who once threatened, join hands, hold their Stars and Stripes above their heads and transform a "sleeping giant" into a fierce and fiery eagle which is unmatched for it's potent, respected speed and power.

Standing among the ruins of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, wearing a white hard-hat and breathing through a gray and red gas mask - one could only remember the Gulf War. A time when all Israelis wore masks, heard sirens wailing and scud missiles exploding.

Photo by: Thomas E. Franklin

In the middle of where the Twin Towers once stood were three gray, dust laden flag poles. One which would bear the flag of New York, another the flag of the World Trade Center and the third - the flag of the United States of America. Only one flag survived this terrorist attack, the American flag and three fire fighters made sure it was going to stand for a long time to come. American flags quickly blossomed in every direction - hanging from tall commercial buildings, taped to store windows and flying from car antennas. Nationalism had revisited the United States for the first time since the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor.

Police, fire and National guard soldiers created a five mile security perimeter. Soldiers marching in green uniforms with automatic weapons at the ready and armored personnel carriers patrolling the streets. It was a nightmarish scene, something that only existed previously in Hollywood monster movies. But now – it was not King Kong or Godzilla, but rather human beasts which had turned the lights out on what was once America’s vibrant financial capital.

In effect, this security perimeter created two cities - one which was completely evacuated leaving behind devastation and thick smoke south of Canal Street and the other up North – clean with restaurant and hotel doors open but almost completely deserted.

Traumatized New Yorkers took refuge in their cement caves as others headed for their green and removed suburban homes.

The only activity was in the city to the south where brave rescue workers from New York and those who had driven hundreds of miles to assist were digging under intense search lights, non-stop for any signal of life.

Many of these huge men, sweat dripping from their faces, were seen collapsing and crying from total exhaustion - not wanting to leave, not wanting to rest - their only desire was to find survivors who might still be alive trapped in air pockets below. Vietnam veterans had dusted off their old uniforms volunteering to join the search with sniffer dogs attached to their wrists.

Photo: Joel Leyden

Tons of supplies were donated and placed at the site. Food, medical and construction materials were within a few feet of the workers. At this point only 159 bodies had been recovered. 20,000 tons of debris had been carefully removed - ever so carefully so as not to create further danger for the survivors and rescuers and so that criminal evidence could be gathered and analyzed.

For a period of time, I was detained and interrogated by the FBI. They ignored my New York Police Department press credentials and were obsessed with my Israeli nationality.

"What did you know about the attack" they asked. I was in shock. I looked at them with revulsion as if to say: "how can you dare associate me with this barbaric act?"

These agents did not know that I was born and bred in the USA, that I had worked at the World Trade Center for several years, that my brother had an office across the street on Vesey and that I was no less American than they are.
After three hours they released me, taking both my film and press credentials. They were overreacting, but I could not blame them, it was the first time that many of them were face to face with terrorism. Some Israeli officials suggested that I file formal complaints, I responded, “this is not the time, these are our friends and they are traumatized, let it go”.
Recently, almost a year after the attack when nerves would be much more calm, thinking much more rational and less paranoia floating around (not every Israeli works for the Mossad!), I contacted the FBI and requested that they return my film. They responded that the film had been destroyed. I seriously doubt that the FBI would "destroy" anything obtained during 9/11. And if the film had so little value that it was actually destroyed - then I ask, why could they not have had the courtesy of returning these historic photos to me?
As an American citizen who had done absolutely nothing wrong and in fact had valid NYPD press credentials and followed all of the rules - it was a very sad and traumatic experience, but if the film and photos that I took in Manhattan of candle lit memorials and the devastation at Ground Zero assists the FBI in their investigations and research - I'm pleased!

This photo, which was taken from the United Nations of downtown Manhattan,
was shot four hours after the attack. Photo: Joel Leyden

The policeman, the fireman, the uniformed soldiers in their new, shining black boots – all had tears in their eyes.
A piece of America had been ripped away from them. We were on holy ground, no one spoke at Ground Zero unless they had to. You worked, you ate, you rested and worked again in a deafening and depressing silence.
You smelled death and heard only the sound of jackhammers.

Leyden purchased this ticket for the World Trade Center's 110th floor observation deck (southern tower) in his hotel on September 11 - knowing it's historic value - knowing that he would never see the offices for which he and his family had worked in the WTC for over 15 years. The Leyden Group of Companies had been on the 26th floor, Leyden Communications Inc. had been on the 79th and 13th floors.

As one left "Ground Zero" you could not miss the hundreds of memorial candles lighting up the entrance to the New York fire department's World Trade Center Ladder Company Number 10 which had lost so many good and brave men. Thousands of posters were clinging onto telephone and electric poles with photos staring at you, descriptions of many of the men, woman and children who were missing. Darkened churches, parks and subway stations were also lit up displaying more posters and more flowers throughout the city.

Ground Zero: smoke, floodlights, rescue workers and American flags
Photo: Joel Leyden

You could not escape the shock, tears, or anger - for America and the world had never witnessed such an evil and barbaric act of terror in the history of mankind. You could only think - what kind of people, what kind of animals could kill so many, could even kill their own Muslim brothers who were working in the Trade Center.

As I was now riding north on a subway train to the other city, two exhausted and spent fire fighters sat across from me. I asked them what they thought, how would they describe all that they had seen. They looked up at me and responded with only one word - "war".

Photo: Joel Leyden

- 30 -

Israel Commences Information PR War Confronting UN Palestine Vote On Facebook

2011-09-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Israel Commences Information PR War Confronting
UN Palestine Vote On Facebook

1digg

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

http://www.israelnewsagency.com/unpalestinevoteisraeldemocracyislamicjihadpawestbankgazairanabbasjewsjewishstateprpublicrelationspeacenetanyahusocialmediafacebookyoutubetwitter48090711.html

Jerusalem, Israel --- September 7, 2011 .... Several global Jewish and Christian organizations have launched an information awareness PR campaign using social media Websites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to confront an upcoming UN vote on unilaterally establishing a Palestine state.

Later this month PA, Hamas and Islamic Jihad backed Palestinians will take their ill-conceived bid for a unilateral declaration to statehood to the UN. It’s an irresponsible maneuver that would undermine all peace negotiations with Israel for a lasting settlement.

Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has stated that the PA would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

A UN vote for Palestinian statehood would be an egregious insult to the pursuit of peace and to the universal values of human rights. Washington should adopt the strongest position possible. The administration should cut off the annual $470 million in U.S. aid to the Palestinians if they pursue a statehood vote. Congress should pass a bill proposed by Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to reduce U.S. funding of the UN if the General Assembly gives Palestine an enhanced status.

The Facebook group Vote NO to a Hamas led UN Palestine Terror State calls for its members to demand that every free democracy in the world to speak out and not allow the UN to create a Hamas and Islamic Jihad governed Palestinian terror state.

This pro Israel Facebook group is also acting as a coordinating point for several events related to the Palestine UN vote.

A news release disseminated by Amcha-Coalition for Jewish Concerns (an umbrella organization of Jewish media advocates), calls for a massive display of civil disobedience to be held in New York City on September 20 as a vocal protest of the PA bid for statehood at the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting.

The protest will also spotlight the continuous and obsessive manner for which the world body attempts to castrate Israel, demonizing of the Jewish state as it deflects from member states own issues of lack of democracy, equal rights and increasing poverty..

Calling on "Israel's supporters to stand proud and strong as they articulate a resounding "no" to a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state", the organizers said that the protest will be led by a sizable contingent of rabbis who will gather along with participants at 10 a.m. at 40th Street and First Avenue on September 20. Other participating organizations will be listed as the date approaches.

Other Jewish organizations are mailing out petitions demanding that the US, UK, France, Spain, Canada and other free states stand up to Islamic Jihad (war against the Western democratic values, Jews and Christians) in the most effective and potent manner.

The Palestinians will ask the UN at the end of this month to recognize their independence in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war with Jordan. A Palestinian move which will probably result in the UN embracing them as a "nonmember observer state." The measure is expected to pass overwhelmingly in the UN General Assembly.

The UN assembly's decisions are not legally binding, so the vote will be largely symbolic. But the Palestinians hope the measure will increase the already considerable pressure on Israel to withdraw from occupied territories and add leverage should peace talks resume. The Palestinians have refused direct negotiations with Israel and the land that they are claiming was Jordan before 1967. There was never a Palestinian entity or state.

The Website www.UNPalestineVote.com provides a YouTube video illustrating historical fact and presents propaganda being disseminated by Iran, Syria, Turkey and other Islamic states interested in completely destroying the Jewish, democratic state.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated that: "Israel seeks a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. In fact, there’s an axiom built in what I just said because the only peace that will be achieved, will be a peace through direct negotiations. Peace cannot be imposed from the outside and it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties, direct negotiations without preconditions. I’m prepared to begin those negotiations immediately."

Netanyahu added: "The Palestinians now want to avoid these direct negotiations by taking another detour – that is by going to the United Nations. None of these efforts will advance peace. I think that, in a peculiar way, they will set back peace, and might set it back for years. This is why I call on President Abbas to resume direct peace negotiations right now, without any preconditions. I can invite him here. I can make a security nightmare for my security people, but I’ll go to Ramallah or to Brussels, but I think this is the place where we should go right now, and ultimately this is the only way that peace will be achieved."

The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in Israel by the Leyden Digital PR SEO New Media Group - Israel, New York, Hartford.

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ISRAEL NEWS AGENCY

Editor's Notes: Caging the Tiger - Censoring Incitement from Larry Derfner

2011-09-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

Editor's Notes: Caging the tiger

By STEVE LINDE

The Jerusalem Post
09/02/2011 16:58

Larry Derfner crossed the line into territory of hate speechwhen in a personal blog last week he sought to justify Palestinian terrorism.

Talkbacks (54)

In one of my first columns as editor-in-chief (“Halting the hatred,” July 22), I urged The Jerusalem Post’s journalists and contributors to be more sensitive when it comes toreporting and commenting on potentially inflammatory topics in the news.

“We at the Post believe that hate speech harms the civil discourse in Israel, and in my opinion, it poses a real danger to the country’s very existence as a democratic Jewish state,” I wrote.

Larry Derfner, a veteran journalist who penned a weekly column and reported for ourMagazine, crossed the line into the territory of hate speech when in a personal blog last week he sought to justify Palestinian terrorism against Israelis.

His egregious posting came in response to the August 18 terrorist murder of Israeli citizens on the Egyptian border.

“Whoever the Palestinians were who killed the eight Israelis near Eilat last week, however vile their ideology was, they were justified to attack,” Derfner wrote. “Palestinians have the right to resist – to use violence against Israelis, even to kill Israelis.”

These comments are exceptionally offensive to most Israelis, and especially hurtful to those who have been victims of terror. They endorse and encourage, if not incite and inflame, terrorism against Israel.

When Derfner asked that we run the piece in the Post, we rejected it and dissociated ourselves completely from his comments, to which we object in the strongest possible terms.

Even though his column did not appear in the paper, we came to the conclusion that we could no longer provide a stage to someone who openly promulgates such venomous views.

Derfner later wrote an apology that we chose not to run. In it, he expresses deep regret for his blog post, saying: “My intention was to shock people into recognition, but I ended up shocking many of them into revulsion, and twisting what I wanted to say into something I didn’t and don’t mean at all.

“I regret what I wrote [last] Sunday. I apologize to everyone who was offended by it, and I apologize to my countrymen. The post is no longer on my blog; I’ve taken it down.”

The substance of Derfner’s apology itself was not convincing. He used ludicrous logic to defend his position, repeating the same obscene sentiments that made many readers sick to their stomachs in the first place.

He had meant, he said, “to shock Israelis and friends of Israel into seeing how badly we’re hurting the Palestinians by denying them independence: It’s so bad that it’s helping drive them to try to kill us.”

If you saw Oren Kessler’s article in the paper this week about the anti-Israel coverage in the Arab media following the attacks on the southern border, you may have noticed that their commentaries were not significantly different from Derfner’s.

Abdel Bari Atwan, editor-inchief of the London-based pan- Arab daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote that Israel bore direct responsibility for the terrorist attack on its soil.

“This attack put the spotlight back on the most important struggle – that for the honor of the Arab and Islamic nation,” Atwan argued. “Resistance is a legitimate right as long as land is occupied and the people and holy places are humiliated.”

Derfner’s blog later appeared on a Hamas website, giving succor to Israel’s enemies.

By trying to rationalize the murder of his fellow Jews by terrorists, Derfner – who has always been the consummate journalist for the Post – went beyond the pale. Consequently we terminated his employment.

The move, I stress, had nothing to do with threats to cancel subscriptions or advertisements; it was an editorial decision taken on moral grounds. While politically independent, thePost is a quintessentially Zionist newspaper priding itself on its patriotism and credibility, as well as its balanced reporting and diverse commentaries.

We are certainly not silencing the Left, and will continue to feature columnists of all political stripes. Freedom of speech has its limits, however, and Derfner clearly overstepped them.

Derfner is a fine writer but a loose cannon. His column in the Post was titled “Rattling the Cage.” There is a huge difference between rattling the bars and letting the tiger out.

11 Months ..... Since I Have Seen My Children - Can You Help?

2011-09-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

September 2011 ....... Nothing can tear the heart more so than to be separated from your own children.

It started with an ex-wife using a small amount of child support payments (she earns 2.5 million dollars a year) and false charges of child abuse to keep me away from one of my children. And ends with a brother, Brian Leyden in Kings Point, New York who controls my Trust, enough monies to solve all past debts and being able to get on with my life.

I am now seeking an Israeli attorney to represent me in Israel and an attorney in New York.

I am also seeking an Israeli psychologist who practices in New York to document the suffering that I am going through as my Trust states that my "well being" and "protection" come first and foremost.

If you have names of attorneys and Israeli psychologists practicing in New York - please write to: IsraelMarketing @ Gmail.com

Thank you ..... and my children thank you!

Women's Rights Push Dads Aside

2011-09-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

Women's rights push dads aside

JEREMY SAMMUT
From:The Australian
September 03, 2011 12:00AM

IT is hard to fathom that the law would exclude a loving father from the life of his child on social policy grounds. Yet this is what occurred recently in NSW when a non-biological lesbian mother successfully applied to have the name of the father, a sperm donor, struck off the birth certificate of his IVF-conceived 10-year-old daughter and replaced with her own.

This kind of court decision, however, will come as little surprise to many dads, all too familiar with the operation of family law in Australia. Usually women's rights trump the needs of fathers and children, as is again being demonstrated by the Gillard government's changes to the Family Law Act, which will make it easier for separated mothers to exclude fathers from children's lives.

Gay rights are being given priority as well. Ironically, however, the landmark birth certificate decision, which has been hailed as a victory for same-sex parenting, is undermining the arguments for gay marriage by ignoring the important role of fathers in rearing children.

Separated fathers wishing to maintain a meaningful relationship with their children have long felt the deck was stacked against them. The best outcome most could hope for was to be allowed to see their children every second weekend and half the school holidays.

If a mother were determined to end all contact with the children's father, a nightmare awaited. As detailed in John Hirst's groundbreaking 2005 Quarterly Essay, Kangaroo Court: Family Law in Australia, the legal tactic employed was to make false accusations of child sexual assault against the father. Based on unproven allegations of abuse, the Family Court would decide that a child could be at risk of harm and withdraw the father's limited access visits.

The Family Court denied a bias towards women. Its former chief justice, Alistair Nicholson, constantly claimed that the best interest of the child was paramount.

Yet there is little doubt that women's rights were prioritised over those of fathers and children.

This situation started to change in 2006 due to the Howard government's family law reforms. The Family Law Act was amended to introduce a rebuttal presumption of equal shared parental responsibility, which required parents to consult with each other and reach agreement about important issues in the child's life. Provided there was no evidence of domestic violence, child abuse or ongoing conflict, the court was required to consider equal shared parental responsibility and, if granted, then consider ordering equal parenting time or at least substantial and significant time for fathers.

Since 2007, militant single-mother groups, abetted by sympathetic lawyers and academics, have been lobbying federal Labor to water down the Howard reforms.

The anti-shared parenting campaigners claim that women and children are being forced to have contact with violent and abusive fathers. At least six reviews have been commissioned to prove this "fact", yet none of the subsequent reports contain hard evidence that rebuttable shared parenting is exposing women and children to harm.

The Gillard government has got around this by deciding to redefine family violence. The Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011 has expanded the definition to include psychological harm, financial abuse and other threatening behaviour that controls, coerces or causes fear. Significantly, the government has ruled out requiring that fear of family violence be "reasonable".

Based on past experience in the Family Court, the expanded definition will create a new and open-ended legal means by which good fathers are banished from the lives of their children. There also no longer will be any penalty (no cost orders) for knowingly making false allegations, and the friendly parent provisions, requiring parents to be supportive of each other's role in their children's lives, will be substantially diminished.

The amending bill is due to be read for third time in the Senate in coming weeks and will pass on the votes of Labor and Greens senators. Complaints about the kangaroo justice dished out to fathers in the Family Court used to be the No 1 source of complaints to the offices of MPs. MPs should prepare themselves for a repeat when the new laws start making children fatherless.

Meanwhile, the social policy goal of advancing same-sex parental rights is also being used to justify denying children the right to know their fathers. However, the disregard shown for the interests of children is backfiring and proving the validity of the arguments of opponents of gay marriage.

The case for marriage equality is based on the obvious truth that homosexuals have loving relationships that, it is claimed, deserve official recognition. In other words, marriage should be opened up to include same-sex couples willing and able to live up to the meaning of marriage. There is an inherently conservative hue to this argument.

The case against gay marriage is that marriage establishes the right environment for the rearing of children by a mother and father. Gay activists respond that same-sex couples can be good parents. Critics who point out that children in same-sex families may forgo, to their detriment, the care of a mother or father are branded homophobic. By ignoring the substantive point, the welfare of children is set aside in favour of advancing the right of homosexuals and lesbians to be parents.

This is the disturbing significance of the controversial NSW birth certificate decision. That no gay spokesperson has expressed concern for the father and child stolen from each other speaks volumes about their priorities. Traditionalists have long argued in defence of marriage that the institution is fundamentally about the rights of children and that advocates of gay marriage just don't get this. Based on the "sperm donor dad" case, they appear to have a point.

Jeremy Sammut is a research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies.

Having Dad Around Can Make Children Smart ..... posted by Joel Leyden

2011-08-31T23:51:00.000-07:00

31 Aug 2011 The Gazette

By RENÉ BRUEMMER THE GAZETTE rbruemmer@montrealgazette.com

Having Dad Around Can Make Kids Smart

Involved fathers influence their children’s intellectual abilities and emotional well-being

“Kids whose fathers were active had fewer behavioural problems.”
STUDY’S LEAD AUTHOR ERIN POUGNET

to success?

Fathers who are actively involved with their children. René Bruemmer reports on a long-term study out of Concordia University. Fathers who are actively involved in raising their children – whether or not they live with them – can have a large influence on their intellectual abilities and emotional well-being, according to a new research study from Concordia University.

The long-term study, published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, found that the children of fathers who were hands-on and used positive parenting skills tended to have fewer behavioural problems and do better on intelligence tests.

“Compared with other children with absentee dads, kids whose fathers were active parents in early and middle childhood had fewer behaviour problems and higher intellectual abilities as they grew older – even among socio-economically atrisk families,” said Erin Pougnet, a PhD candidate in Concordia’s department of psychology and a member of the Centre for Research in Human Development (CRDH), who was lead author on the study.

“Regardless of whether fathers live with their children, fathers who displayed positive parenting skills were more likely to have emotionally well-adjusted children and children who are better problem solvers later on,” Pougnet said.

Researchers emphasized this didn’t mean the children of single mothers were at a disadvantage, however.

“While our study examined the important role dads play in the development of their children, kids don’t necessarily do poorly without their fathers,” said co-author Lisa A. Serbin, a professor in Concordia’s department of psychology.

“Mothers and other caregivers are also important. No doubt fathers have a major impact, but there are definitely many alternative ways to raise a healthy child. Some kids with no contact with fathers, or with distant dads, do well intellectually and emotionally.”

Researchers looked at 138 children and their families from innercity neighbourhoods in Montreal. The children were evaluated at the ages of 3 to 5 in the early 2000s, and again when they were between 9 and 13. The children completed intelligence tests and their mothers filled out questionnaires about their home environment and couple conflict. All the children were recruited from the larger Concordia Longitudinal Risk Research Project, an intergenerational study started in 1976.

School teachers were also interviewed, to give a more objective assessment of the children’s behaviour.

After accounting for factors such as income, home life and parents’ education level, the study found children who had involved fathers were more likely to score higher on problem-solving tasks and had decreased emotional problems such as sadness, social withdrawal and anxiety in school. Girls were the most affected by absentee fathers.

“Girls whose fathers were absent during their middle childhood (between 9 and 13) had significantly higher levels of emotional problems at school than girls whose fathers were present,” Pougnet said. She noted that other factors linked to parental absence, like a lack of support or discipline, could also play a role in behaviour issues.

Positive parenting skills include setting limits, using rewards and consequences to structure behaviour as opposed to constantly punishing, and allowing enough free rein so kids feel free to explore and learn in a protected environment.

The findings were considered especially relevant for Quebec, where biological fathers are not present in households in 22 per cent of families as compared with 13 per cent in all of Canada, according to Statistics Canada.

Programs that encourage increased contact between fathers and their children should be expanded, the study’s authors noted, including parental leave and parenting classes.
More aid for single mothers or young families that are often stressed by financial and time constraints, making it harder to be a positive parent, are also needed, as well as a greater focus on highquality daycare, where children can also receive positive stimulation, Serbin said.

The paper, Fathers’ Influence on Children’s Cognitive and Behavioural Functioning, was co-written by Pougnet, Serbin, Dale M. Stack and Alex E. Schwartzman of Concordia.

Iran Begins Moving Nuclear Centrifuges to Underground Site

2011-08-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

Iran Begins Moving Nuclear Centrifuges to Underground Site

August 22, 2011 ..... Iran says it has started moving machines used to enrich nuclear fuel to an underground site that was secret until 2009.

Iranian nuclear energy chief Fereidoun Abbasi told state television Monday the centrifuges are being transferred from Iran's Natanz nuclear site to the Fordo facility near the city of Qom.

Abbasi announced plans for the transfer in June, saying the work would be done under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran only revealed the existence of the facility – a mountain bunker – in 2009, after Western intelligence agencies detected it and said it was evidence of covert nuclear work.

Western nations have imposed a series of sanctions on Iran in an attempt to force it to halt enrichment, a process that can make weapons-grade material if done at a much higher level.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says it is enriching uranium for electricity production and medical applications.

As Jews In Israel Are Murdered, Reminiscent Of Nazi Era, Media Turns Blind Eye To Terrorism

2011-08-21T23:47:00.000-07:00

As Jews In Israel Are Murdered, Reminiscent Of Nazi Era,
Media Turns Blind Eye To Terrorism

2digg

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel --- August 21, 2011 .... Not since the Nazi era of the late 1930's and early 1940's, has the world media turned a blind eye to Jews being murdered. After a bloody series of well coordinated, barbaric terror attacks near Eilat, Israel by Islamic extremists which claimed the lives of 8 Israelis, the world media was mostly silent. Not a word could be found on the front page of USAToday.

Many other newspapers and Internet news sites had the story buried on page 5, 6 or 12. One must credit a few papers for calling the terrorists - terrorists, rather than militants or gunmen, as terrorists are responsible for shooting down civilians.

The New York Times carried a highly distorted fact claiming that Israel "ignited" the violence by responding to a Palestinian terror attack!

As for Reuters and AP - they did their job. They got the news out. But the Western media simply chose to ignore it.

Yes, the terror attacks took place last Thursday, as the Dow Jones, NYSE and NASDAQ were taking another financial dive. So at the very least, we could expect the murder of innocent Jews in Israel to take second story - even third. But no, this was too outside the comfort zone of many editors.
Happening in a place too far away from the sex scandals of Dunkin Donuts, polluted beaches killing birds in California, Katy Perry finding it hard to be a vegetarian or the latest musical concerts in sleepy Tanglewood, Mass.

What happened?

Eight people were murdered and at least 40 people were wounded Thursday 20 kilometers north of the southern Israel city of Eilat, close to the border with Egypt.

The first attack which took place around 12 P.M., was a drive-by shooting targeting an Israel bus traveling from Be'er Sheva to Eilat, Israel.

Immediately afterward, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ran to the scene and were confronted with several bombs that were detonated alongside an IDF vehicle.

At around 12:35 p.m., a mortar rocket was fired from Egypt to Israel. Then around 1:10 P.M., an Islamic terrorist unit fired an anti-tank missile at a private vehicle, wounding seven Jews. They could have been Christian or Muslim. For terrorists - there is no difference.

Minutes later, another group of Islamic terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at a private vehicle, murdering six.

Just some Jews with bullets in their chests. Blood pouring out next to their family and friends. Is this news?

Israel then takes immediate action to defend herself by making pinpoint, surgical strikes in Gaza against those who planned the attack. Many believed that it was Al Qaeda seeking revenge for the death Osama bin-Laden by US special forces. All the same, the terrorists who were killed were then placed on the same page as the Jewish victims, creating for a perverted editorial balance. Providing the illusion of a tit for tat.

Over 80 rockets were then launched on Friday by Islamic terrorists in Gaza against civilians in Israel. One man was murdered, many injured, a synagogue was destroyed and thousands of Israel children took to spending their weekend in air raid shelters.

Where is the global media?

What nation would sustain over 80 rockets falling on New York, London, Paris, Rome, Toronto, Istanbul, Tokyo, Sao Paolo or Beijing?

Who is to blame for the global media ignoring genocide in Israel but providing banner headlines to "peace flotillas" trying to reach Gaza?

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs does the best they can. They are under staffed, under paid and do not work on weekends as the religious parties would be down their necks. The IDF spokesperson department does a fine job, but again, hand tied due to a lack of manpower and resources.

I point my finger at US clergy.
American Rabbis and priests who don't look further than 50 miles from where they live. They are the messengers of peace and security. They are the ones whose very job is to inform their communities as to what is happening in the Holy Land. They are the ones who need to be on the telephone with newspaper, Internet, radio and telephone editors asking where is the news of the terror attacks in Israel? They are the ones who need to be on Internet social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook getting the news out.

I point my finger at US and Europe editors, who forget that if Israel goes down, we all go down. That Israel is nothing less than democracy and freedom on the front line. And if we lose that front line, we will all be living under Islamic Sharia law.

Israel President Shimon Peres tried to comfort the Jewish nation: "We are currently facing a difficult test. But this is not the first time and our people know how to unite at such times. Our southern communities are being tested by fire, night and day, and are acting quietly, in a disciplined manner and without hysteria. I salute the residents for their fortitude and am certain that they also know that the IDF will know how to deal with the threat. Even though we are not eager for war, we will defend our citizens seriously and responsibly."

Peres and many others see Islamic Jihad and Hamas trying to break the Israel peace with Egypt. But again where is the foreign media on reporting that Israel is doing all that it can to maintain peace under lethal fire?

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the terror attacks by stating: "If the terrorist organizations believe that they can attack our citizens and get away with it, they will soon learn how wrong they are. We will exact a price, a very heavy price."

If the international media has failed us once again, this is small in comparison to the actions or lack of actions by the UN.

The United Nations has decided that it will not condemn the terror attacks near Eilat after Lebanon's representative rejected the measure.
Lebanon's representative to the UN Security Council said it would endorse a condemnation of the attacks only if the council were to condemn Israel as well, for killing the terrorists who planned the massacre.

“It is outrageous that the Security Council did not clearly condemn the deliberate and appalling murder of many innocent Israeli civilians, which occurred yesterday in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks,” said Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor.

“The U.N. Secretary General condemned it, the Americans condemned it, the European Union condemned it, yet the bottom line is that the Security Council again failed as a body,” Prosor accused. “Every time an issue pertains to Israel, we see deafening silence. They become blind and deaf.”

“It is no coincidence that Lebanon, the only member of the Security Council that obstructed this statement, is itself dominated by a terrorist organization.”

During the dark days of Nazi Germany as Jews walked into gas chambers, US media either ignored these reports or found it outside their comfort zones. Today, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the governments of Syria and Iran have replaced the Nazis.

Where is the outcry?

A Condolence Page for the Jewish victims of the Eilat, Israel terror attack has been created on Facebook.
Please enter, sign your name and share. Ask your local media to add their names as well.

VIDEO: Where Arab, Islamic Terrorism And Hate Originates

2011-07-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Islamic terrorism against the West and Israel has its roots in deflecting away from poverty and a lack of basic human rights in several Arab oil rich nations to creating democratic, peace loving Israel as the enemy. This is a war of Islamic Jihad - to murder and blame all those who are not Muslim - to murder and blame the "Infidels" - the Jews and Christians for all of the domestic problems in Iran, Syria, Libya, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Israel Deputy FM Ayalon Describes Facts About the West Bank In YouTube Video

2011-07-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

Israel Deputy FM Ayalon Describes Facts About the West Bank
In YouTube Video

1digg

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel --- July 19, 2011 .... Israel Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon released a new media video describing the historical facts of the Israel Palestinian conflict in a concise, easy to follow video on YouTube. The video explains where the terms "West Bank", "Occupied territories" and "1967 Borders" originated and how they are incorrectly used and applied.

Ayalon explains that the idea behind the video is to disseminate Israel's long-standing but neglected public affairs position, in a creative way, to address the Palestinian attempt to have a unilaterally-declared state recognized. In addition, when direct negotiations will restart the historical context should be well known to the interested general public, diplomats and media to provide a greater understanding of the current situation.

"For too many years, our public diplomacy has been mainly based on a 'peace narrative', where Israeli officials talk about how much we are willing to concede for peace, while the Palestinian public diplomacy is all about supposed rights and international law," Ayalon told the Israel News Agency.

"It is time for Israel to return to 'rights based diplomacy' and address the facts, rights, history and international law which are little known but give a dramatically different perspective to what is currently accepted."

"Israel's case is harder to make in an era where context, background and history are less important than an image or a headline. Social media in general and YouTube in particular are major battlegrounds in the clash of narratives and public diplomacy. It is vital that a strong rights-based Israel presence is seen and heard, especially for the social networking YouTube demographics who are more interested in easy to digest explanations."

The video produced in English includes translations in numerous languages including Arabic, Spanish, French, Russian and German. The video is also being shown in hundreds of schools and educational centers worldwide as part of their curriculum on the Israel Palestine conflict.

The video was produced for the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with StandWithUs, an international organization dedicated to Israel education worldwide, by filmmaker Shlomo Blass of Rogatka Ltd and directed by internationally-renowned director Ashley Lazarus.

Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon has an extremely successful record in social media with tens of thousands of followers across the globe. He has consistently been recognized as one of the leading politicians globally utilizing social media by Foreign Policy and Dimpool, a web-based diplomatic analysis center. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/20/the_fp_twitterati_100
http://www.dimpool.com/dimpool-analysis/2011/05/the-most-succesful-politicians-on-the-internet-top-4/

You can follow the Israel Deputy Foreign Minister on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+

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Gaza Freedom Flotilla Establishes Information Websites

2011-06-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Gaza Freedom Flotilla Establishes Information Websites

There is food in Gaza, but no democracy.

1digg

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel ---- June 28, 2011 .... The organizers of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla have established two Websites to provide information and daily updates to the media and the general public.

The Gaza Flotilla Website is located at GazaFreedomFlotilla.com and the Justice For Gaza information Website is located at: JusticeForGaza.com

Sources tell the Israel News Agency that the organizers of the second Gaza flotilla who come from Iran, Syria, Turkey, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, IHH, Qatar, Libya, Free Gaza Movement (FGM), European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG), US Boat to Gaza, Muslim Brotherhood, were never told that the International Red Cross has declared that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

There is a humanitarian crisis in Syria and Libya, where thousands who have raised their voices for democracy, have been murdered by the dictatorships there. There is a humanitarian crisis in Haiti and in the Sudan - where children are starving to death!

Furthermore, the UN (United Nations) the US, the EU (European Union) and several Western and Eastern democratic nations have voiced opposition to the mission of the Gaza flotilla, namely breaking an internationally legal, military blockade which was created to prevent weapons from getting into the hand of Hamas.

Also - there is no siege. Thousands of tons of food and medical supplies come into Gaza on UN trucks from Israel every day. And the Egyptian border is wide open.

All the same, the flotilla organizers claim that 10 of the planned 15 ships have already been acquired (Hürriyet, June 19; Agence France-Presse and The Toronto Star, June 20, 2011). In reality, the number of boats now available to the organizers may be smaller. According to the various announcements, there will be 500 to 600 passengers and the flotilla will set sail from Greece on June 28. Some of the delegations (from the United States and Canada, for instance) flew to the region to join the ships anchored there (the Canadian delegation arrived in Greece on June 20). Some of the delegations were supposed to receive training in "passive resistance" tactics in view of possible scenarios for the flotilla.

But again, why is there a "flotilla"?

This "peaceful, humanitarian, freedom flotilla" has absolutely nothing to do with peace, humanity or freedom!

Hamas which rules Gaza has declared that they do not want peace with Israel.

They would rather launch rockets and missiles into civilian towns and cities in Israel.
Why?

Are there Israel troops in Gaza?

Only those kidnapped by Hamas. So why then does Hamas want to destroy Israel?

It's called Islamic Jihad or holy war against Jews and Christians.

Why is there a flotilla sailing to Gaza?

Because dictatorial Arab Islamic states want the world media to focus on democratic Israel and not their own totalitarian nations i.e. - Syria, Iran, Libya - where poverty is rampant and a total lack of human rights exists. Where there is no freedom of the press, where women are treated as second class camels and gays and lesbians are murdered.

The Gaza Flotilla is pure Hollywood. Bad Hollywood. A perverted show to take our minds off the starving in Africa and the oppressed in the Middle East who wish for democracy.

In Israel, we have a different kind of Hollywood, a good Hollywood where Sir Paul McCarthy, Paul Simon, Shakira, Elton John, Madonna, Metallica, Paul Anka, Rod Stewart and others who come to perform to bring people together. The Gaza Hate Flotilla is designed to divide people and create tension, if not even war.

One can ask: "Why does Madonna and Shakira perform in Israel but not in Gaza?"

Because Hamas would not allow Madonna, Shakira or any other entertainer to speak and dress freely. Madonna and Shakira would be stoned to death if they performed in Islamic Hamas ruled Gaza!

So let's take a few oil rich Arab nations which pay for the show, professional PR firms such as Fenton Communications to get the word out and some very naive activists who do not read newspapers and take the part of actors.

These activists may see this as a romantic adventure. The rest of the world sees it as a tragedy.

IDF sources are now saying that new intelligence information obtained in recent days shows that the "peaceful" activists of the Gaza flotilla who plan to break Israel’s sea blockade over the Gaza Strip later this week plan to kill IDF soldiers who board their ships.

According to the information obtained by the IDF, some of the participants have prepared sacks with sulfur, which they plan to pour on the soldiers as they board the vessels.

“This is a chemical weapon, and if poured on a soldier it can paralyze him,” an IDF source told the Israel News Agency. “If the sulfur is then lit on fire, the soldier will light up like a torch.”

Peace?

For the so called peace, freedom and humanity in the flotilla does not exist when confronting a navy from a democratic state that has every right to defend herself from bombs and missiles which are being smuggled into Gaza to murder Jewish children. These so called peace activists should be volunteering to feed children in Haiti - not trying to divert media attention away from Syria, Libya and Iran.

These activists should be addressing Hamas and its fund raiser Iran in calling for freedom and democracy in Gaza.
The food, water and medicine is there.
It is the truth and democracy that is missing.

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Howard Jacobson: Why Alice Walker shouldn't sail to Gaza

2011-06-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

Howard Jacobson: Why Alice Walker shouldn't sail to Gaza

By Howard Jacobson, Special to CNN

June 24, 2011 -- Updated 1108 GMT (1908 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

British Jewish author Howard Jacobson on Alice Walker's decision to join flotilla to Gaza
Walker fails to give a single convincing reason for joining flotilla, says Jacobson
Jacobson: If the blockade is lifted there is a fear that more lethal weapons will be acquired
As a writer, Alice Walker must understand the symbolic significance of words, he says

Editor's note: Award-winning British Jewish writer of "The Finkler Question," Howard Jacobson writes a response toAlice Walker's decision to support and join an international flotilla of boats sailing to Gaza to challenge Israel's blockade of the territory. He explains why he thinks her actions will not help the situation.

It should not need arguing, this late in the ethical history of mankind, that good people can do great harm. One of the finest and funniest novels ever written -- Don Quixote -- charts the damage left in the wake of a man who would make the world a better place.

Human beings are seldom more dangerous than when they are sentimentally overcome by the goodness of their own intentions. That Alice Walker believes it is right to join the Freedom Flotilla II to Gaza I do not have the slightest doubt. But beyond associating her decision with Gandhi, Martin Luther King and very nearly, when she talks about the preciousness of children, Jesus Christ, she fails to give a single convincing reason for it.

"One child must never be set above another child," she says. A sentiment that will find an echo in every heart. But how does it justify the flotilla? Gaza is under siege, Israelis will tell you, because weapons are fired from it into Israel, threatening the lives of Israeli children. If the blockade is lifted there is a fear that more lethal and far-reaching weapons will be acquired, and the lives of more Israeli children endangered.

You may want to argue that had Gaza been treated differently it would have responded differently, but if the aim of the flotilla is to ensure that one child will not be set above another it is hard to see how challenging the blockade will achieve it. All an Israeli parent will see is a highly charged emotionalism disguising an action that, by its very partiality, chooses the Palestinian child over the Israeli.

Human beings are seldom more dangerous than when they are sentimentally overcome by the goodness of their own intentions.
--Howard Jacobson

The boat on which Alice Walker will be traveling is called The Audacity of Hope. Forgive me for seeing a measure of self- importance in that reference. It will be carrying, Alice Walker tells us, "Letters expressing solidarity and love." Not, presumably, for Israeli children. Perhaps it is thought that Israeli children are the recipients of enough love already. So what about solidarity? It is meant to sound innocuous. "That is all."

Alice Walker makes plain, "its cargo will be carrying." But what will these letters of solidarity be expressing solidarity with? Solidarity is a political term implying commonality of interest or aspiration. So what interest or aspiration do Alice Walker and her fellow travelers share with the people of Gaza? A desire for freedom? Well we all aspire to that. A longing to live in peace?

If they have such a longing we must be solid with them in that too, though the firing of rockets from Gaza is not, on the face of it, an expression of such a longing. And what about the declared hostility of Hamas to the very existence of Israel? Hamas, we are often told, is the elected government of Gaza, a government that fairly represents the wishes of its people. In which case we must assume that Hamas's implacable hostility towards Israel fairly represents the implacable hostility felt by the people of Gaza. Are Alice Walker's letters of love and 'solidarity' solid with the people of Gaza in that hostility?

"If the Israeli military attacks us, it will be as if they attacked the mailman," she says. Wrong on a thousand counts. As a writer, Alice Walker must understand the symbolic significance of words. The cargo is a cargo of intention. It is freighted with political sympathy and attitude. It means to blunder into where it isn't safe, clothed in the make-believe garments of the unworldly, speaking of children and speaking like children, half inviting a violence which can then be presented as a slaughter of the innocents.

The flotilla is engaged in an entirely political act ... to call it by any other name is the grossest hypocrisy
--Howard Jacobson

RELATED TOPICS

Even before the deed, Alice Walker has her language of outraged moral purity prepared -- "but if they insist on attacking us, wounding us, even murdering us..." The Israeli response is thus already an act of unprovoked murder, no matter that the flotilla is by its very essence a provocation. Whatever its cargo, by luring the Israeli military into action which can be represented as brutal, the flotilla is engaged in an entirely political act. To call it by any other name is the grossest hypocrisy.

Alice Walker might be feeling good about herself, but by giving the Palestinians the same old false comfort we've been doling out for more than half a century, and by allowing the Israelis to dismiss it as yet another act of misguided and uncomprehending adventurism -- further evidence that its fears go unheeded - her political gesture only worsens the situation. The parties to this conflict need to be brought together not divided: but those who speak disingenuously of love will engender only further hatred.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Howard Jacobson.

Israel PM Vows to End Jailed Terrorists’ Privileges

2011-06-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

Israel PM vows to end jailed terrorists’ privileges

By HERB KEINON AND TOVAH LAZAROFF
06/23/2011 22:51

Noam Schalit asks why it took Israeli governments five years to make move; Hamas rejects Red Cross call for sign of life.

Talkbacks (37)

Israel will revoke benefits and privileges from “terrorists” sitting in its jails in response to Hamas’s refusal to let the International Red Cross visit kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a dramatic announcement Thursday night.

He was speaking two days before the fifth anniversary of Schalit’s kidnapping by Hamas on the Israeli side of the Gaza border on June 26, 2006.

RELATED:
The Gilad Schalit test
Hamas, Gilad Schalit and the Problem of Evil

A Netanyahu spokesman would not clarify which prisoners the prime minister had in mind, but it was broadly assumed that he was referring to Palestinians convicted or being held on terror-related charges or suspicions.

Gilad’s father Noam said in response, “We want to know why Israeli governments waited five years [to take such a step], during which time Gilad languished in a Hamas jail.”

Speaking at the closing event at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said that as a result of Hamas’s renewed declaration Thursday that it won’t allow a Red Cross visit, “I have decided to change Israel’s policy toward terrorists sitting in Israeli jails.”

Earlier in the day the International Committee of the Red Cross had called on Hamas to provide some proof that Schalit, now 24, is alive, as there has been no sign of life in over two years. It also called on Hamas to allow it to visit Schalit.

For several weeks a legal team inside the Prime Minister’s Office has been trying to come up with an initiative to impose harsher prison conditions that would hold up before any appeals to the High Court of Justice.

A number of more stringent measures are under discussion, which are expected to cause a great deal of anger among the prisoners, butthey have not yet been revealed.

In his speech Thursday night, Netanyahu said that while he was committed to upholding Israeli and international law and conventions, “we are not committed to anything beyond that. As such, the exaggeratedly good conditions in the Israeli jails will end.”

Netanyahu said that a number of steps would be taken, which he didn’t spell out in their entirety. However, one example, he said, was that he was stopping the “absurd practice” of allowing “murderers in jail” to sign up for advanced academic degrees.

“There will be no more masters [degrees] for murder, or doctors of terror,” he said, to loud applause and cheers from the conference attendees. “That party is over.”

“I believe that if we all place public, political and public diplomacy pressure on Hamas, we will advance Gilad’s release,” Netanyahu said.

He praised the leaders of the US, France, Britain and Italy, who in recent days demanded that Hamas let the Red Cross visit Schalit.

Earlier in the day ICRC Director-General Yves Daccord said, “The Schalit family have the right under international humanitarian law to be in contact with their son.”

“The total absence of information concerning Mr. Schalit is completely unacceptable,” Daccord said.

“Because there has been no sign of life from Mr. Schalit for almost two years, the ICRC is now demanding that Hamas prove that he is alive,” he said.

“Hamas has an obligation under international humanitarian law to protect Mr.

Schalit’s life, to treat him humanely and to let him have contact with his family,” Daccord said.

In rejecting the ICRC call, Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan told news agencies, “The ICRC should have talked about the suffering of 7,000 Palestinian prisoners inside Israel.”

Dozens of families of the Palestinian prisoners threw eggs and stones at the ICRC headquarters in Gaza City Thursday, damaging a guard’s cabin during a protest against the ICRC demand to visit Schalit.

Vice-President of the French Senate Monique Papon announced on Thursday that she supports the efforts to secure Schalit’s release.

“Our thoughts are with his family,” Papon told a Knesset delegation in France.

MK Daniel Ben-Simon (Labor) said this was the first time Schalit was discussed by the French Senate.

MKs Carmel Shama-Hacohen (Likud), Anastasia Michaeli (Israel Beiteinu) and Ronit Tirosh (Kadima) also visited the Senate with Ben-Simon.

In New York, in a briefing to the United Nations Security Council, B. Lynn Pascoe, under-secretary for political affairs, said, “We urge humanitarian access and his immediate release, and hope that prisoner exchange efforts bear fruit. This would impact favorably on the situation of several thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israel and the broader political atmosphere.

UNSCO uses its contacts with all parties to support efforts in this regard.”

In Israel this weekend, members of Schalit’s family as well as their friends and supporters plan to rally on his behalf at a number of events.

On Friday evening there will be a rally in front of Netanyahu’s Caesarea home.

On Saturday, there will be a noon rally at Kerem Shalom, close to the spot where Schalit was kidnapped.

Starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, celebrities, actors and politicians will participate in a 24-hour event, in which one by one they will enter a cell which has been built in Herzliya. Each one will sit alone for an hour in the cell in solidarity with Schalit. Among the participants is former hostage Hezi Shai.

On Thursday, Gilad’s parents Aviva and Noam went to Haifa to watch their oldest son Yoel graduate from the Technion.

Lahav Harkov and Reuters contributed to this report.

IDF Holds 5 Day Drill Simulating Mass Missile Attacks Across Israel

2011-06-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

Published 08:44 19.06.11
Latest update 08:44 19.06.11

IDF holds drill simulating mass missile attacks across Israel

Home Front Command launches fifth major drill to prepare civilians in case of attack; sirens to sound across country on Wednesday, when citizens will be requested to retreat to nearby shelters.

By HaaretzTags: IDF Gaza rockets Hamas Green Line Hezbollah Iran Syria

Municipalities, government offices, schools and kindergartens are to practice evacuating their buildings. Rescue services will also practice the evacuation of a geriatric hospital near Tel Aviv and of a factory housing hazardous materials.

On Wednesday, all of Israel's 7.7 million citizens will be asked to participate. Sirens are scheduled to sound twice across the country, in the morning and in the evening, and residents have been asked to rush to protected rooms and shelters, where they are to stay for 10 minutes.

Israel has been holding similar nation-wide drills over the past five years, in response to critics who said the government and the Israeli military's Home Front Command had been ill-prepared for the 2006 Second Lebanon War, in which the radical Shiite Hezbollah movement fired thousands of missiles at northern Israel during 33 days of heavy combat.

"The national exercise is aimed at preparing for extremely severe and tough scenarios," Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Israel Radio.

Israel's "power of deterrence" and its ability "to deal a tough blow" would make anyone think twice before pondering an attack against it, he warned, but added that his country "must be prepared, also for difficult scenarios" in which hundreds of missiles hit the country at the same time.

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IDF Holds 5 Day Drill Simulating Mass Missile Attacks Across Israel

IDF holds drill simulating mass missile attacks across Israel

Home Front Command launches fifth major drill to prepare civilians in case of attack; sirens to sound across country on Wednesday, when citizens will be requested to retreat to nearby shelters.