USA: Homeland Security report sparks uproar

USA: Homeland Security report sparks uproar

A Department of Homeland Security report warning of possible radicalization of right-wing extremists rubs US conservatives the wrong way. The report released last week by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis suggested that concerns over illegal immigration, abortion, increasing federal power and restrictions on firearms could lead to acts of violence.Click

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Jewellery Robbery in Store in Karachi Pakistan

Bank Robbery in Habib Bank Karachi Pakistan

Board of Karachi fails to curb cheating in Secondary School

Muslim Commerical Bank ATM Roberry in Karachi (Latest Video)]

See All Shocking Video's Only On .. 

Don't Forget to SHARE with your Friends :-)

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Taliban flogging girl in Swat

Taliban flogging girl in Swat

MINGORA. A footage appears to show a 17-year-old girl being beaten in public by Taliban in Pakistan’s northwestern region of Swat.DCO Swat has claimed that the flogging incident was occurred before a peace deal between the government and the militants.Click here For The Video

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Zionists: We hate you because you are evil, not because you are Jewish

I have been under fire of late from two diametrically opposite quarters. First, the fanatical, self-worshiping Zionists who think that non-Jewish suffering should never ever be compared with Jewish suffering. Click here For Details

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Palestinians hopeful reconciliation talks will end national rift

Palestinians at home and in the Diaspora are hoping that the Egyptian-sponsored national reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo will succeed in ending the rift between the two largest Palestinian national movements.

The Palestinian national cause has suffered immensely as a result of the enduring crisis as the apartheid Israeli regime sought relentlessly to utilize internal Palestinian divisions to consolidate its repression and escalate its crimes against the Palestinian people.

Moreover, Israel took advantage of the internal power struggle to build and expand Jewish settlements, especially in Jerusalem where the Zionist occupation authorities are planning to destroy an entire Palestinian neighbourhood as part of a master plan to ethnically cleanse the city of its Arab inhabitants.

The national reconciliation talks started formally in Cairo on Wednesday, 25 February, with a “preparatory meeting” involving two delegations representing Fatah and Hamas. The Hamas delegation was led by Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a high-ranking Hamas leader from the Gaza Strip. Ahmed Qurei’, Chief Palestinian negotiator and former Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister headed the Fatah delegation, which also included Fatah parliamentarian, Azzam al-Ahmed.

Following the initial meeting, al-Zahar and al-Ahmed pointed out in a joint peace conference that the meeting was positive.

The two revealed that both movements agreed to take a number of confidence-building measures, including putting an end to politically motivated arrests, releasing a significant number of political prisoners and terminating incitement and media attacks.

The two movements also pointed out that five committees were formed with the task of carrying out what was agreed upon.

Al-Zahar said that as many as 400 Hamas members and supporters were being incarcerated in the West Bank, adding that of those 80 had been freed.

Al-Ahmed revealed that Hamas had lifted house arrests imposed on a number of Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip. He added that “good will” was the main guarantee for the success of the internal dialogue and for confronting the Israeli aggression.

Al-Ahmed also revealed that the two sides agreed to form a government of national reconciliation.

In a press release, the two delegations said, “We have come to Cairo in order to end the rift and effect a final agreement to restore national unity.”

Asked if the prospective reconciliation agreement would involve recognition by Hamas of Israel, al-Zahar said, “We will not recognize Israel, period.”

He added that “the objective circumstances were now more adequate and more conducive to effecting a successful dialogue.”

Favourable international atmosphere

The national reconciliation talks in Cairo are taking place under relatively favourable conditions, at least as far as Hamas is concerned.

Israel, in collusion with the United States and a number of regional players, had been making strenuous efforts to destroy or at least seriously weaken Hamas, but to no avail.

In the last week of December, the Israeli army carried out a genocidal blitzkrieg against Gaza, killing and maiming as many as 7,000 people, mostly innocent civilians, including more than 370 children. Moreover, the Nazi-like onslaught utterly destroyed the bulk of the civilian infrastructure, including thousands of homes, apartment buildings, mosques, schools, and public buildings.

Israel and the Bush administration—which enthusiastically backed the criminal onslaught—had hoped that the overwhelming invasion and the indiscriminate death and terror meted out to the Gaza civilians would prompt the masses to turn against Hamas.

Some influential Fatah leaders in Ramallah are also believed to have colluded with Israel during the 22-day offensive in the hope of bringing down the elected Hamas government.

However, all these designs utterly failed and Hamas emerged from the one-sided war politically stronger and far more popular than before the war.

This apparently played a significant role in getting Fatah and the American-backed Palestinian Authority to abandon their erstwhile plans to topple Hamas and re-conquer the coastal enclave.

More to the point, two years of draconian measures against the Hamas government, including an extremely harsh blockade that effectively pushed the Gaza Strip to the brink of disaster failed to make Hamas cave in, which also convinced the international community that it was inescapable to talk with Hamas.

This impression gained momentum and became apparent especially after the departure of the Bush administration and the advent of the Obama administration, with the latter signaling that it wouldn’t stand in the way of a Palestinian national unity government comprising Hamas and Fatah.

In recent weeks, there have been many signs indicating that the West, especially the European Union, may be on its way to initiating contacts with Hamas.

On Wednesday, 25 February, a group of former peace negotiators urged the world community to engage Hamas, saying the policy of shunning and boycotting the Islamic liberation movement was “futile.”

“The policy of isolating Hamas cannot bring about stability. As former peace negotiators, we believe it is of vital importance to abandon the failed policy of isolation and to involve Hamas in the political process,” the group said in a letter published in the British newspaper, the Times on 26 February.

The letter said the futility of the policy had been demonstrated by the recent Israeli blitz against Gaza, as well as the tight blockade of Gaza and the boycott of Hamas.

“Whether we like it or not, Hamas will not go away. Since its victory in democratic elections in 2006, Hamas has sustained its support in Palestinian society despite attempts to destroy it through economic blockades, political boycotts and military incursions.”

The letter was signed by several former negotiators, including former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, former United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Alvaro de Soto, former leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party of Northern Ireland John Hume, as well as former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami.

Earlier, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was quoted as saying that talking to Hamas was “the right thing to do.”

The increasing international propensity to talk with Hamas has undoubtedly caused a lot of bitterness and anger within Israeli political circles.

On Thursday, 26 February, the right-wing Israeli newspaper, the Jerusalem Post, quoted an advisor to the Prime Minister-designate as urging U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to boycott a prospective Palestinian national unity government that includes Hamas and Fatah.

Zalman Shuval, a right-wing extremist and proponent of apartheid, said Israel would try to convince the Obama administration to refrain from encouraging other countries to recognize Hamas.

“We shall try to convince our American friends that this is not something that would help the peace process, and that it would only make it easier for all sorts of other players—the Europeans and the Russians—to deal with Hamas.” 

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'I saw the lust to kill in his eyes'

A terrorist attack which left 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ dead and a 7-year-old boy wounded ended Thursday after a Bat Ayin resident who saw the younger boy running from the terrorist stepped in and disarmed the man.

"I saw a boy, aged 7 or 8, running past my house, and then I saw a 20-year-old man running after him," Avinoam Maimon told Channel 10. "I approached him, and he turned to me and tried to attack me with the axe."

"I grabbed his hand, we struggled, and I yelled for people to call for help and the police," he continued.

"At a certain point, I managed to wrest the axe from his hand," Avinoam said. "I was on the ground, and that was when the man managed to escape."

"I heard a little later that somebody tried to shoot him but missed," he said. "I saw in his eyes the lust to kill. I didn't see what happened before I got outside, but I saw the wounded boy screaming, yelling to his mother that he was hurt."

The terrorist was still at large, as security forces set up a series of roadblocks around the West Bank.

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Girl, 7, becomes radio agony aunt

A "straight talking" schoolgirl has become a popular agony aunt at the age of seven after she called her local radio station and advised a listener who wanted to abandon her boyfriend.
The radio station was so impressed which the advice that the caller should go bowling with friends and drink a mug of milk that Elaina Smith has been given a weekly slot to give tips to adult listeners.

She has tackled problems ranging from how to abandon boyfriends, relationship breakdown, and smelly brothers.

She said: "I used to want to be a vet when I was younger, but now I want to be on the radio.

"I really enjoy it and tell my friends about it at school. I say whatever comes into my head and people like what I say."

Elaina, from Coventry, West Midlands, appears on Mercia FM's breakfast show and helps listeners who write to her each week.

The breakfast show host Andy Goulding said: "The advice Elaina offers is laid-back and honest. We have been inundated with people emailing us with their problems since she has been on our show.

"Within a minute of us broadcasting her first slot a woman in hospital phoned in saying how much she enjoyed hearing the little girl's voice. It really cheered her up."

When one listener wrote to Elaina asking how she could find a boyfriend, she replied: "Shake your booty on the dance floor and listen to High School Musical."

A girl caller, who asked what she should do about her lazy older brother, was told: "Tell him to get a job and stop watching Loose Women (the television programme."

Elaina's mother Karen Harris, 31, a customer service employee, said her daughter was "full of confidence and the advice just comes off the top of her head. She absolutely loves it and I see a future for her in radio."

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Liz Hurley: My husband is amazing and my marriage is fine

Liz Hurley has dismissed reports of an impending marriage split from Arun Nayar as "absolute nonsense".

The model and actress praised her "amazing" husband as she launched her latest business venture, a beachwear boutique in a discount shopping centre.

Liz Hurley and husband Arun Nayar Photo: GETTY

The model and actress praised her "amazing" hus

She served customers at the Elizabeth Hurley Beach Boutique in Bicester Village whilst Nayar watched from the sidelines.

Responding to the rumours about the state of their marriage, Hurley said: "It's absolute nonsense that we're getting divorced. Arun has been amazing helping us get the new shop together. He's been in charge of all the geek stuff like stock-keeping systems. He's been involved with the business from day one."

She told the Evening Standard: "We're working like dogs and always have done. I've yet to meet a successful business person who lounges around and I've learnt from their example."

The shop stocks Hurley's own swimwear collection, which she launched in 2005.

Hurley, 43, covered up in a kaftan and her trademark white jeans for the launch, while models posed in pink bikinis. However, she insisted that women of any age can look good in a bikini, citing last summer's pictures of Dame Helen Mirren on holiday in Italy. "Look at Helen Mirren. She looked amazing in that bikini shot and it was the right bikini for her. It didn't look too skimpy and the top supported her properly."

Staying in a shape after 40 is an ongoing challenge, the Estee Lauder model admitted. "It's not easy, believe me. I live full-time in the country now and try to walk or run with the dogs every day. I have four labradors who are all a lot fitter than me."

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G-20 pumps $1 trillion into beating recession

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Leaders attending the G-20 summit in London Thursday laid out a raft of measures they said would shorten recession and save jobs.

Gordon Brown outlines the measures agreed at the G-20 summit in London.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said an additional $1 trillion was agreed -- most of it going to the International Monetary Fund.

He said: "We have reached a new consensus we tackle global action together. We will do what is necessary to restore growth and jobs."

There had been concerns that a rift was opening up between the approach being championed by the U.S. and Britain and that favored by France and Germany.

Brown, who chaired the summit, said at the closing news conference: "There's no quick fixes but we can shorten the recession and save jobs ... and prevent a crisis such as this ever happening again.

The U.S. and Britain wanted countries to agree to more economic stimulus ahead of new rules for the banking system.

France and Germany wanted the rules first -- and tougher ones than initially suggested -- and remained resistant to pumping more money into their economies.

Brown said the final deal included agreement on tighter regulation of hedge funds, tax havens and the banking system.

"The banking secrecy of the past must come to an end," said Brown. "We are engaging in a deep process of restructuring our financial system for the future."

The leaders of France and Germany, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, declared the day before the summit that tighter regulation of hedge funds and tax havens was a "non-negotiable" goal of the summit.

As the G-20 deal was finalized, leaders said they wanted to find ways to stabilize financial markets throughout the world and pull the world out of a deepening recession.

Fact Box

This week's London Summit brings together the leaders of the world's 20 largest economic powers, known as the Group of 20, to discuss the global financial crisis and decide new measures to set the world on a more stable economic footing.

They sat at the table Thursday for their first session with several targets in their sights, including tax havens and protectionism.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso backed up calls for a firm stand on tax havens.

"We have to be clear that those that want to keep shadow banking systems that are kind of underground (with) clandestine finances have to suffer sanctions, because it's once again a problem of confidence," Barroso said.

"We are for open economies and open markets, but open economies and open markets have to respect some rules." Watch, is the recession global »

Britain pushed for the same regulation of banks and financial institutions that operate in a "shadow banking world," Mandelson said. He said an international body should oversee the regulation.

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Counterpoint: Five gradations of stupidity

Some policies enacted by our many governments defy logic. They can only be characterized as policies of stupidity, particularly since they all will reap harsh domestic and international repercussions. More than the policies making no sense, there seems to be no redeeming value to them. It is as if arbitrariness is the new ideological guide for decision-making.
An Arab shows his Israeli ID...

An Arab shows his Israeli ID card at a checkpoint.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

Our leaders cannot see the forest through the trees. Simply, there is no correlation between cause and effect. Below are five gradations of stupidity that can be attributed to our governments.

1) No sooner does US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrive in the country than she admonishes Israel for its plan to destroy 80 Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem - in Silwan, the City of David. The government's claim is that the houses were built without permits - never mind that many have been standing since before the state was established. Of course, it is virtually impossible for a Palestinian to secure a building license.

The real cause of the demolition orders has little to do with legalities, but rather with the fact that the government wants to create a "green space" in place of the houses, where it intends to open an archeological site. The settler organization, Elad, with financial backing from Bingo magnate Irving Moscowitz, is navigating the process, making wild claims that it has purchased many of the homes. The members of Elad pose as concerned citizens, protecting the national interest in conducting archeological excavations. The ultimate goal of these far-out religious Jews is to "Judaize" the capital.

The complete foolishness of the government and the Jerusalem municipality to uproot so many Palestinians from their homes - in the heart of east Jerusalem - is beyond measure. The entire international community will rightfully come down on us, and we will have no defense. And one can imagine what riots will follow on the part of Palestinians - riots that such an inane policy invites.

2) Then there is the idiocy of the punitive and unnecessary checkpoints, roadblocks and inner barriers/walls/fences within the Palestinian Authority - all of which suggest a commitment to irrationality.

While there is little debate that the security barrier has helped to reduce suicide bombings, the route of the barrier is most certainly problematic because of its expropriation of Palestinian land. Nevertheless, few Israelis object to the checkpoints and roadblocks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (although many of them are administered in a needlessly inhumane way), because they are necessary, especially since we still face a real threat of terror.

However, there is a network of roadblocks and checkpoints and interior walls within the West Bank that are rarely discussed in the public forum, which place unbearable hardships upon the Palestinians. Having little security value, these interior obstacles are ostensibly set up to protect settlers going to and from their settlements. But they are already protected by a separate road system. That these barriers limit the freedom of movement of so many to guarantee the freedom of movement of so few lacks any measure of reasonableness.

Israel is basically imprisoning a people, not only making it virtually impossible for Palestinians to travel from one village to the next, but also cutting off access to their land and their livelihood - again all in violation of international agreements to which the government is committed.

3) Another act of imbecility is the expansion of existing settlements, the refusal to destroy illegal ones (unlike the government's eagerness to destroy those homes in Silwan), and the actual building of new settlements.

If one wants to thwart a two-state solution, all one has to do is continue confiscating Palestinian land and building Jewish communities throughout the West Bank - with separate roads leading to them - so that the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state would be impossible. And, once again, the world, including our greatest ally America, will condemn us for violating agreements we have signed, as well as stalling the peace process.

4) And, if the above three acts are not sufficient to indicate the insanity of our political thought process, there is the utterly absurd policy surrounding the monitoring of the border crossings into Gaza. While one should be concerned about arms smuggling, to decide one day that blankets are considered legitimate humanitarian aid, but not sheets, that toothpaste satisfies the criteria for needed hygiene, but not toothbrushes, staggers the imagination.

Despite the justification of the war in Gaza, Israel has been taking a beating in the international community. Hypocrisy seems to rule the nations of the world, but that has little to do with providing an unhindered flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. After all, how many times did we hear our leaders proclaim that we are not fighting the Gazan people, but their leaders, Hamas? So what is the sense here, especially since we are not using the well-worn argument that we are closing the borders to punish Hamas for the continued firing of rockets?

5) The last area of mischievous nonsense, which goes far beyond inanity, is the construction of the alleged Museum of Tolerance on top of an Arab graveyard. Recently, I visited the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. While the museum places special emphasis on the Nazi persecution and eventual slaughter of the Jews of Europe, it also addresses bigotry and genocide in today's world. It seems that those behind erecting Israel's supposed Museum of Tolerance have little understanding of what the museum should represent.

Jews throughout the world are the first ones to cry anti-Semitism when a Jewish graveyard is defaced. The sacred Mount of Olives cemetery was partly destroyed by the Jordanians during their occupation of the West Bank from 1948 until 1967, and the headstones of many graves were used in the foundation of the Seven Arches Hotel. We were justifiably outraged by this blatant act of disrespect.

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Fundamentally Freund: The first rabbi of the Americas

Saturday, April 4, marks the 316th anniversary of the passing of a seminal figure in the history of American Jewry.

And while Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca's name may not sound familiar to many contemporary North and South American Jews, the heroic example he set of fighting for religious liberty while simultaneously defending the integrity of Judaism remains compellingly relevant.

Indeed, as much of Diaspora Jewry struggles to walk the fine line between fidelity to tradition and openness to modernity, it is worth recalling the tenacity and resolve of this very special personality.

Da Fonseca was born in 1605 in the town of Castro d'Aire in Portugal to a family of Anousim (whom historians refer to by the derogatory term Marranos). His ancestors had been Jews who were forcibly converted to Catholicism yet continued to practice Judaism in secret, risking the ire of the Inquisition and its henchmen.

As the Church intensified its efforts to hunt down and persecute crypto-Jews, da Fonseca's family decided to flee Portugal. After a brief stay in France, they made their way to Amsterdam, where the young boy and his loved ones openly returned to Judaism.

Da Fonseca proved to be a prodigy, and by the age of 21 was appointed to serve as the hacham, or spiritual leader, of one of Amsterdam's three synagogues. But it was some 15 years later, in 1642, that he took the fateful, and somewhat perilous, decision to accept the post of rabbi in a community on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

THE PORT CITY of Recife, in northeastern Brazil's Pernambuco state, had recently been captured from Portuguese colonizers by the Dutch. The town's 600 Jews, most of whom were Sephardim of Portuguese origin, invited Da Fonseca to serve as leader of their community.

Bravely choosing to leave behind his highly regarded position in Holland for the uncertainties of life in the New World, da Fonseca made the voyage and assumed the post of hacham of the Kahal Zur Israel synagogue. He thus became the first appointed rabbi of the Americas.

The community thrived under his leadership, but just four years later, the Portuguese army attacked Recife in an effort to recapture the city. It offered the Jews protection if they agreed not to take part in the fighting, but da Fonseca and the community would hear none of it.

Acutely aware of Portugal's intolerance toward the Jews, which contrasted sharply with the relative freedom they enjoyed under Dutch rule, Recife's rabbi and his flock chose to play an active part in the city's defense, courageously siding with the cause of religious liberty. For most of the next decade, while the Portuguese besieged Recife, the Jews took part in the fierce fighting, and da Fonseca led public prayers on behalf of the resistance.

In a Hebrew poem that he later penned, the rabbi wrote that "many of the Jewish immigrants were killed by the enemy; many died of starvation. Those who were accustomed to delicacies were glad to be able to satisfy their hunger with dry bread; soon they could not obtain even this. They were in want of everything and were preserved alive as if by a miracle."

According to the American Jewish Historical Society, it is the oldest known Hebrew text written in America.

FINALLY, IN 1654, the Dutch surrendered, and the Jews were forced to leave Brazil. The rabbi and most of his congregants headed back to Holland, but a boat carrying 24 of them was blown off course and ended up in New Amsterdam (later New York), making them the first Jews to settle in North America.

Back in Amsterdam, da Fonseca resumed his post as hacham, and was appointed to serve on the city's Beit Din (rabbinical court). It was there, shortly afterward, that he took part in the sharp controversy surrounding philosopher Baruch Spinoza.

After Spinoza had provoked widespread anger in the Jewish community over his views on various subjects such as the eternity of the soul and the nature of God's existence, a writ of excommunication against him was read out publicly on July 24, 1656, from the pulpit of Amsterdam's Talmud Torah synagogue. Among those who consented to the ban on Spinoza was da Fonseca.

Modern philosophers, of course, consider Spinoza as something of a hero, hailing him as one of the people who laid the foundations for rationalism, the Enlightenment and biblical criticism. Naturally, they view his excommunication with derision and contempt.

How, then, are we to reconcile da Fonseca's participation in the ban, particularly in light of his previously forthright stance on behalf of religious freedom? The answer, I think, is really quite simple, and can be summed up in a single word, one which carries within it the secret to Jewish survival in the Diaspora: boundaries.

When it came to preserving a level playing field for all religions in an open society, da Fonseca was a forceful advocate. He understood that freedom to practice one's faith was in everyone's collective interest, including of course the Jews. But when Judaism and its fundamental beliefs came under attack from within, he was no less vigorous in manning the barricades and defending the faith. Because he knew just as well that without a firm anchor, Jews could easily sail off course and assimilate.

In other words, open boundaries are key as a basic ground rule for society, but strict boundaries are essential to preserving a faith community. You simply cannot have it any other way. So as important as it may be nowadays to fight for civil rights in the public sphere, it is no less crucial to strengthen the ramparts that keep us Jewish.

Centuries later, it is a lesson that the Jews of America would do well to learn from their first spiritual leader, Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca.
May his memory be for a blessing.

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Rosner's Domain: Palestine can be just like the Solomon Islands!

One can't write an article titled Who Gets a State? without reffering to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. And indeed, Stephen Krasner of Stanford, in a post for the newly redesigned Foreign Affairs has something to say about our little problem:

Palestine faces an even bigger challenge to achieving sovereignty. Once again, however, the problems preventing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict relate not to population size or geography, but to the political interests of key actors. One crucial issue is security. Regardless of the demarcation of borders, Israel will reject any agreement that does not allow for Israeli or third-party authority over security operations inside Palestine. A recognized Palestinian state would thus not enjoy complete autonomy.
Several precedents exist for such nested security arrangements. France has responsibility for Monaco's defense, and France and Spain share responsibility for Andorra's. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, led by Australia, oversees the judiciary and police there, and the United States has full authority over the defense and security arrangements of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. In the nineteenth century, political entities whose security was controlled by outside actors would have been called protectorates; in the twenty-first century, they can be accepted as fully recognized sovereign states.

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Rosner's Domain: Radical? extreme? can't see it

My short comment on Netanyahu's speech to the Knesset yesterday was posted here.

One line: As I was listening to his speech, I was amazed that there are people still portraying his message as “extreme” or “radical.” It could be safely characterized as mainstream. Any supporters drawn to a bolder, more revolutionary, Netanyahu might have been disappointed.

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Turkey, Israel to hold joint exercises

Israel will take part in a joint naval exercise with Turkey this summer despite months of tense relations between Jerusalem and Ankara.Israel Navy gunships.

Israel Navy gunships.

Defense officials said the Israel Navy would allocate at least one missile ship to participate in a search-and-rescue exercise in the Mediterranean Sea in July. Other NATO member countries are expected to join the drill.

The Israeli and Turkish navies have enjoyed years of strong ties and participate annually in joint maneuvers throughout the region.

While there was never a real fear that this year's exercise would be canceled, the possibility was raised due to the strained relations between Turkey and Israel since Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan castigated Israel during Operation Cast Lead, defense officials said.

OC Ground Forces Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi also raised Ankara's ire in February when he told a conference of IDF officers at the National Defense College that Erdogan needed to look in the mirror before criticizing Israel.

Mizrahi said Turkey was not in a position to condemn Israeli actions in Gaza when it stations troops in northern Cyprus and massacred Armenians during World War I.

Mizrahi's comments followed Erdogan's harsh criticism of Israel at the World Economic Forum in Davos during a panel with President Shimon Peres.

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Ashdod girl nearly drowns in breath-holding contest

A 12-year-old Ashdod girl who has been a trained swimmer since the age of five was successfully revived last week after apparently being bumped underwater while competing against other girls in holding her breath during a supervised lesson.

She has now been discharged in good health after two days in intensive care at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.

Esther Ori reportedly lay on the bottom of the pool for about 70 seconds before other girls noticed her and her trainer dove in to pull her out. But the trainer couldn't open her mouth, as it was locked shut due to a vacuum phenomenon.

A Magen David Adom paramedic was called and managed to open her mouth by force and rushed her to the hospital.

Esther said later that she thinks she was bumped unintentionally in the back by another swimmer, but doctors did not find any sign of this.

The girl consciously dived deeper, but then lost consciousness and dropped to the bottom, the hospital said.

In the emergency room, the doctors found that water had entered her lungs and her oxygen level was low.

As they treated her with oxygen and conducted constant tests, her condition improved and she was transferred to the pediatrics department.

Tabachnik added that the phenomenon of near-drowning in children by trying to reach the limits in holding their breath is dangerous.

However, "deaths are very rare when such a competition is held, as trainers watch them carefully," he said.          

Dr. Alvin Tabachnik, head of pediatric intensive care, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that the case could have been fatal, but he did not regard the incident as involving negligence.

It is quite common for swimming class participants to hold their breath as much as they can to show they are the best, but rare for such an incident of near drowning to occur.

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The American Jewish Committee deserves better leadership

If ever an issue begged for the intervention of a Jewish organization of international stature, it was the Mohamed al Dura affair. This notorious blood libel accused Israeli soldiers of shooting to death an Arab boy in Gaza on September 30, 2000. Though the event was actually a staged hoax, it was broadcast the same day on French public television station, France 2. Mohamed al Dura became an icon for all Muslim children. The story triggered rioting, terrorism and mayhem throughout the Muslim world; unleashed the Second Intifada; was the pretext for Daniel Pearl's beheading, and was referenced in Osama bin Laden's recruitment tapes prior to 9/11.

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Giving the Diaspora a say

Article's topics: Diaspora, Peace Process

One of the most intractable issues facing Israel, its government and general public is the real nature of the relationship with the Diaspora. Is this a relationship of reciprocal, mutually benefitting and interdependent interests? Is it a vital relationship without which neither could realize their respective and most basic endeavors? Or alternatively, could each exist independently and follow its own narrow interests? These questions are challenging and touch upon the very nature of the linkage between State of Israel and the Jewish people in the Diaspora.

One delicate yet vital component of this relationship that repeatedly threatens to cast a schism between the two, is the ongoing peace-negotiating process on issues of central concern to Judaism - specifically concerning the fate of Jerusalem and withdrawal from territory.

During the few instances in which the negotiating process has shown some hope of progress, these heavily emotive issues inevitably arise. In 2005 in the context of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the Orthodox Union of America went as far as to announce that it would no longer desist from expressing positions opposed to those of Israel's government when it believed this was called for.

Later, prior to the Annapolis peace talks on November 27, 2007, Agudath Israel of America, at its national convention, passed a resolution stating that Israel should not surrender any part of Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty and that America's government should not pressure it into doing so. It even dispatched officials to meet with high-ranking members of the Bush administration to press the case, claiming that "the issue of Jerusalem is one that is sui generis: It stands on its own. It is the heart of Eretz Yisrael."

At the same time, a grouping of representatives from Orthodox Jewish and Christian organizations, including Agudath Israel, the National Council of Young Israel, Christians United for Israel, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Coordinating Council for Jerusalem, met with president George W. Bush's national security adviser and other senior White House officials and voiced their movements' opposition to future Israeli concessions in Jerusalem, demanding that American Jews should have a say in any discussion about dividing Jerusalem. The Orthodox Union issued an unequivocal statement that all the Jews in the world had a share in "the holy city of Jerusalem" and that its partition was a move the Israeli government should not agree to.

The powerful Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also reaffirmed its support for "a united Jerusalem as Israel's eternal, sovereign capital" - a statement that was later criticized by the leader of the US Reform movement, who stated that "The Jewish community in the US... mustn't tell the Israeli government not to compromise on the issue of Jerusalem."

These statements were countered in no less an unequivocal manner by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert claiming that "the government of Israel has a sovereign right to negotiate anything on behalf of Israel."

The president of the World Jewish Congress even published an open letter to Prime Minister Olmert on January 3, 2008 stating that "Jerusalem has been both the capital of Israel and the capital of the entire Jewish people for 3,000 years. While recognizing Israel's inherent prerogatives as a sovereign state, it is inconceivable that any changes in the status of our Holy City will be implemented without giving the Jewish people, as a whole, a voice in the decision."

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The Amish get a hamish welcome

The city's ultra-Orthodox Jews took the Pennsylvania Amish on a walking tour of their world Tuesday, saying their communities are naturally drawn to each other with a commitment to simpler lifestyles.Anna Stoltzfus, left, talks...

Anna Stoltzfus, left, talks with her husband Matthew Stolzfus in front of a portrait of the late Lubavitcher Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, while taking a tour at a museum Tuesday in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
Photo: AP

Dozens of Amish residents from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, toured a Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn's Crown Heights to learn more about their culture.

Rabbi Beryl Epstein called the experience "living Judaism."

"It's reinforcing to the Amish community to see us Jews living the way the Bible says Jews are supposed to live, and have lived since the time of Moses and Abraham," said Yisroel Ber Kaplan, program director for the Chassidic Discovery Center in Brooklyn. "The Amish are also living their lives as the Bible speaks to them."

The neighborhood is home to an ultra-Orthodox Lubavitcher sect born about 200 years ago in Russia.

Today's Lubavitchers wear the black hats and beards of their 18th-century forebears, speak Yiddish and refrain from turning on electricity or driving cars on the Sabbath.
Ephraim Zook, center, of...

Ephraim Zook, center, of Lancaster County, Penn. talks with Aaron Ross, right, while touring a Hasidic neighborhood Tuesday.
Photo: AP

The Amish get around in a horse and buggy, living off the land.

However, both groups use one modern amenity - cell phones that kept ringing as they wandered through Crown Heights. And the Hasids ironically operate the famed B&H electronics retail store in Manhattan that serves customers from around the world.

At a workshop where a young man was touching up a Torah, a scroll of the holiest Jewish writings, Epstein told the group how a Jew in wartime Germany had rescued the sacred scroll by wrapping it around his midriff under his clothes as he fled to safety.

The Amish listened, commenting to one another in Pennsylvania Dutch, a dialect of the German of their ancestors.

When Epstein, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., had first greeted the Amish with the Yiddish "Zei gazunt!" - "be healthy" - they understood. After all, the expression is derived from the German phrase "sei gesund."

As the two groups walked side by side on Brooklyn streets, Crown Heights residents did double-takes; the Amish could be mistaken for Lubavitchers at a quick glance. But their hats are more square and their ruddy complexions from working outdoors contrast with the pale faces of the studious, urban Lubavitchers.

Hasidic children in Crown Heights begin their formal schooling at age 3, and by age 5 are studying many hours a day. At the headquarters on Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway each day, dozens of men gather to pore over religious books, with little boys dashing around as their fathers fervently debate fine points of the texts - sometimes sounding more like spirited poker players than religious faithful.

John Lapp and his wife, Priscilla, brought their three children on the tour. John Lapp said the ties to the communities might be more surface than substance.

"In some things we are alike, like our clothing and our traditional beliefs," he said. Priscilla Lapp added, "And in some things we are not. The biggest thing is that Jesus is our savior."

The groups also toured a Jewish library and a "matzo factory," where round, unleavened bread was being made for the Passover holiday.

There, a cross-cultural misunderstanding caused one of the Jewish men to look at the Amish, and ask, repeatedly, "Are you from Uzbekistan?"

An Amish man, also confused, asked, "Afghanistan?"

Finally, as they were leaving, another Amish man announced to the matzo-makers: "We're from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania!"

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Analysis: Arab summit in Qatar - a demonstration of weakness

The yearly gathering of Arab leaders which took place this week in Doha was supposed to be a summit of reconciliation; instead it laid bare the depth of the chasm in the Arab world, which was revealed in all its helplessness.Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi...

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi speaks during the opening session of the Arab Summit in Doha, Qatar, Monday.
Photo: AP
SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World

Scheduled to run for two days - March 30 and 31 - it closed its doors at the end of the first day.

It had become clear to the participants that they were going nowhere: so profound were the differences of opinion that there was no point of going on and no hope of reaching a consensus.

Saudi King Abdullah did meet during the summit with Moammar Gadhafi after an estrangement of six years but that was a very small step which had no impact on the overall picture.

The closing communiqué paid lip service to the very few points of agreement between the participants and did not even try to touch on any of the issues that were on the agenda.

First and foremost among those issues was the Iranian question.

Iran's subversive activities know no boundaries and impact all Arab countries to such an extent that they are threatening the stability of the region.

The pursuit of nuclear capability by the Teheran's Ayatollahs is felt as a clear and present threat and pushes Arab countries on the path to a nuclear development of their own, the cost of which they will find difficult to bear.

And if that was not enough, Iran has launched an all out effort to promote Shia Islam in predominantly Sunni countries, endangering the homogeneity of the traditionally conservative society of those countries.

This has led Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to lash out publicly against these attempts on a number of occasions over the past few months.

Morocco went further and cut off diplomatic relations with Iran over the same issue. Sheikh Qardawi, considered as the leading religious authority of the Muslim Brothers launched a scathing attack on Iran.

This did not deter Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas from carrying out Iran's bidding.

Syria shows no sign of considering severing its strategic ties to that country in spite of the blandishments of the French president, and those of the newly elected American president. Hizbullah refuses to lay down its weapons and threatens Lebanon's stability. Hamas has dealt a mortal blow to the Palestinian cause since its brutal takeover of Gaza, and blocks the establishment of a united Palestinian front to negotiate with Israel while unsettling Egypt.

As for Iran, it is still holding the three islands in the Persian Gulf it wrested away from the United Emirates in 1971 and is reinforcing its grasp by building there and reinforcing its military presence. A high ranking Iranian official stated recently that Bahrain is an Iranian province, provoking such an uproar that President Mubarak made an unscheduled visit to affirm his support to "Arab Bahrain.

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Ten feared dead, six missing after helicopter crashes in North Sea

Ten people are feared dead and six missing after their helicopter ditched in the North Sea on its return from an oil platform.ixteen people - 14 oil workers and two crew - were on board the Bond Super Puma helicopter when it came down 35 miles from the mainland at Crimond, between Fraserburgh and Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, just before 2pm.The workers were on their way back from the BP-operated Miller oil and gas field when the helicopter's pilot issued a mayday near Peterhead and the craft, operated on behalf of BP, ditched into the water.

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