Dear Pastors:
From the News this morning we learn of a CLASH at the Al-Aqsa compound yonder in Jerusalem is going to wind up!
Clashes as Israeli soldiers storm Al-Aqsa compound
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemns "attack" on Al-Aqsa following clashes at one of Islam's holiest sites.
Clashes have erupted after a number of Israeli soldiers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, police and witnesses said.
The presidency strongly condemns the attack by the occupier's military and police against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the aggression against the faithful who were there.
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The Israeli security personnel used tear gas and stun grenades, as they entered the compound to arrest what they called Palestinian "stone throwers".
Omar Kiswani, the manager of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Al Jazeera that 80 "Jewish settlers" protected by the Israeli police, attacked the mosque when confronted by Palestinian volunteer guards. [The derogatory term “settlers” is used by all over there against the Jews.]
A statement issued by the Israeli police said that "masked protesters who were inside the mosque threw stones and fireworks at police".
A Muslim witness accused police of entering the mosque and causing damage, saying prayer mats were partially burned.
Clashes later continued outside the mosque complex, with police firing tear gas and stun grenades.
Israeli security forces closed the mosque's compound to worshippers following the clashes that come just hours before the start of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called an "attack" by Israeli authorities.
"The presidency strongly condemns the attack by the occupier's military and police against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the aggression against the faithful who were there," a statement from his office said.
Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for Israeli police, said that the Israeli police received intelligence in the morning about the possible disturbances at Al-Aqsa Mosque that would involve explosive devices as well as stones thrown at Jewish visitors.
"…[O]ur police officers entered the area, I am talking about the Temple Mount area only, and shut the front doors of the Al-Aqsa Mosque to prevent those riots from overflowing onto the Temple Mount area.
Who provoked the clashes at Al-Aqsa?
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"Our police units took the situation under control from 20 to 25 minutes only using stun grenades, non-lethal weapons only to make sure that situation remained calm."
Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, said that the Israeli police were being dishonest.
"The Israeli police are lying, they have lied before and they are lying again," he said.
"I think what happened today is an act of aggression on the part of the Israeli army," he said, adding that right-wing Jewish settlers provoked Palestinians when they entered the mosque.
"This is unacceptable."
The disturbances came with tensions running high after Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon last week banned two Muslim groups from entering the mosque compound - Islam's third holiest site.
Israel seized East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, in the Six Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.
Pastors, as I read about the Jews and this Al-Aqsa disturbance this Monday morning, I am glad to see that Defense Minister Moshe “Boogie” Ya’alon is involved. What America needs in this “Wild-Donkey-Replacement-Doctrine-Reject” war against both the Jews, and free people world-wide, is someone like DOUGLAS BADER of WWII fame. There is a book out on his life entitled REACH FOR THE SKY! IT IS A GOOD READ ABOUT SOMEONE WHO WAS “ALL-MAN!”
Douglas Bader was born in London, England on February 21, 1910. The son of civil engineer Frederick Bader and his wife Jessie, Douglas spent his first two years with relatives on the Isle of Man as his father had to return to work in India. Joining his parents at age two, the family returned to Britain a year later and settled in London. With the outbreak of World War I, Bader's father left for military service.
Though he survived the war, he was wounded in 1917 and died of complications in 1922. Re-marrying, Bader's mother had little time for him and he was sent to Saint Edward's School.
Excelling at sports, Bader proved an unruly student. In 1923, he was introduced to aviation while visiting his aunt who was engaged to Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant Cyril Burge. Interested in flying, he returned to school and improved his grades. This resulted in an offer of admission to Cambridge, but he was unable to attend when his mother claimed she lacked the money to pay tuition. At this time, Burge also informed Bader of six annual prize cadetships offered by RAF Cranwell. Applying, he placed fifth and was admitted to the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1928.
Flying came easier to Bader than studying and flew his first solo on February 19, 1929 after just 11 hours and 15 minutes of flight time. Commissioned as a pilot officer on July 26, 1930, he received an assignment to No. 23 Squadron at Kenley. Flying Bristol Bulldogs, the squadron was under orders to avoid aerobatics and stunts at less than 2,000 ft. of altitude.
Bader, as well as other pilots in the squadron, repeated flaunted this regulation. On December 14, 1931, while at the Reading Aero Club, he attempted a series of low altitude stunts over Woodley Field. In the course of these, his left wing hit the ground causing a severe crash. Immediately taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital, Bader survived but had both his legs amputated, one above the knee, the other below. Recovering through 1932, he met his future wife, Thelma Edwards, and was fitted with artificial legs. That June, Bader returned to service and passed the required flight tests.
His return to RAF flying proved short-lived when he was medically discharged in April 1933. Leaving the service, he took a job with the Asiatic Petroleum Company (now Shell) and married Edwards. As the political situation in Europe deteriorated in the late 1930s, Bader continually requested positions with the Air Ministry. With the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, he was finally asked to a selection board meeting at Adastral House. Though he was initially only offered ground positions, intervention from Halahan secured him an assessment at the Central Flying School.
Quickly proving his skill, he was permitted to move through refresher training later that fall. In January 1940, Bader was assigned to No. 19 Squadron and began flying the Supermarine Spitfire. Through the spring, he flew with the squadron learning formations and fighting tactics. Impressing Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, commander No. 12 Group, he was moved to No. 222 Squadron and promoted to flight lieutenant. That May, with Allied defeat in France looming, Bader flew in support of the Dunkirk Evacuation. On June 1, he scored his first kill, a Messerschmitt Bf 109, over Dunkirk.
With the conclusion of these operations, Bader was promoted to Squadron Leader and given command of No. 232 Squadron. Largely composed of Canadians and flying the Hawker Hurricane, it had taken heavy losses during the Battle of France. Quickly earning his men's trust, Bader rebuilt the squadron and it re-entered operations on July 9, just in time for the Battle of Britain. Two days later, he scored his first kill with the squadron when he downed a Dornier Do 17 off the Norfolk coast. As the battle intensified, he continued to add to his total as No. 232 engaged the Germans.
On September 14, Bader received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his performance through the late summer. As the fighting progressed, he became an outspoken advocate for Leigh-Mallory's "Big Wing" tactics which called for massed attacks by at least three squadrons. Flying from farther north, Bader often found himself leading large groups fighters into battles over southeastern Britain. This approach was countered by Air Vice Marshal Keith Park's 11 Group in the southeast which generally committed squadrons individually in an effort to conserve strength.
On December 12, Bader was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts during the Battle of Britain. In the course of the fighting, No. 262 Squadron downed 62 enemy aircraft. Assigned to Tangmere in March 1941, he was promoted to wing commander and given Nos. 145, 610, and 616 Squadrons. Returning to the Spitfire, Bader began conducting offensive fighter sweeps and escort missions over the Continent. Flying through the summer, Bader continued to add to his tally with his primary prey being Bf 109s. Awarded a bar for his DSO on July 2, he pushed for additional sorties over occupied Europe.
Though his wing was tired, Leigh-Mallory allowed Bader a free hand rather than anger his star ace. On August 9, Bader engaged a group of Bf 109s over northern France. In the engagement, his Spitfire was hit with the rear of the aircraft breaking away. Though he believed it was the result of a mid-air collision, more recent scholarship indicates that his downing may have been at German hands or due to friendly fire. In the course of exiting the aircraft, Bader lost one of his artificial legs. Captured by German forces, he was treated with great respect due to his accomplishments. At the time of his capture, Bader's score stood at 22 kills and six probables.
After his capture, Bader was entertained by noted German ace Adolf Galland. In a sign of respect, Galland arranged to have the British airdrop a replacement leg for Bader. Hospitalized in St. Omer after his capture, Bader attempted to escape and nearly did so until a French informer alerted the Germans.
The story of his escape strikes ole jav as very funny! He tied sheets together and let himself down from the third floor of the hospital where he was being held. When he moved away from where he had come down his two artificial legs started “making a clacking noise as he walked.”
As soon as he got through the gate out of this compound he saw the glowing end of a cigarette in the mouth of the son of the French Couple who tried to effect his escape. He stumped across the road and the cigarette moved, converging on him.
It came to his side with a dark shadow behind it that whispered urgently “Dooglass?” in a strong French accent. “Oui,” he said, and the shape took his right arm and they moved off down the street. The town was like a tomb in which his artificial legs were making an unholy clatter, echoing in the darkness. Bader could not see, but the silent shape seemed to know by instinct. They stumbled on, with his “legs making all the racket they could.”
After a few minutes Bader though “how funny it was,” [a sense of humor will always help you,] walking after curfew in German-occupied St. Omer arm-in-arm with a stranger he had never seen, with all the racket of his clattering legs.
He began to giggle as the Frenchman began muttering to him: “C’est bon. C’est magnifigque Ah, les sales Boches.” The Frenchman said “Ssh! Ssh!” but that only made him giggle more. He tried to stop. He couldn’t, and the more he tried, the more he giggled as his “strained nerves took control.”
Then, lo and behold, the Frenchman starts to giggle and Bader told later how grotesque it was, the two of them giggling and clattering down the street, which then grew into loud laughter mingled with “terror inside” that certainly the German Occupiers would hear. Slowly, he said, his pent-up emotion washed away and the laughter subsided into suppressed sniggers that he was finally able to stop.
They made it to the Frenchman’s folk’s house, where, in the shed behind the house, the Boches re-captured Douglas Bader.
Believing it his duty to cause trouble for the enemy even as a POW, Bader attempted several escapes during the course of his imprisonment. These led to one German commandant threatening to take his legs and ultimately to his transfer to the famous Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle.
Bader remained at Colditz until liberated by the US First Army in April 1945. Returning to Britain, he was given the honor of leading a victory flyover of London in June. Returning to active duty, he briefly oversaw the Fighter Leader's School before taking an assignment to lead the North Weald sector of No. 11 Group. Considered out of date by many of the younger officers, he was never comfortable and elected to leave the RAF in June 1946 for a job with Royal Dutch Shell.
Named Chairman of Shell Aircraft Ltd., Bader was free to keep flying and travelled extensively. A popular speaker, he continued advocating for aviation even after his retirement in 1969. Somewhat controversial in his older age for his outspoken conservative political positions, he remained friendly with former foes such as Galland. A tireless advocate for the disabled, he was knighted for his services in this area in 1976.
When the film Reach for the Sky [Bader’s Story,] was released, people associated Bader with the quiet and amiable personality of actor Kenneth More who played Bader in the film. Bader recognised that the producers had deleted all those habits he displayed when on operations, particularly his prolific use of bad language. Bader once said, "[they] still think [I'm] the dashing chap Kenneth More was". Bader's more controversial traits were touched upon by Brickhill in the book Reach for the Sky. Nevertheless, he was received as a legendary figure by the wider public, who closely identified him as a leader of The Few in the Battle of Britain.
Never a person to hide his opinions, Bader also became controversial for his political interventions. A staunch conservative with traditional Victorian values, his trenchantly-expressed views on such subjects as juvenile delinquency, apartheid and Rhodesia's defiance of the Commonwealth (he was a strong supporter of Ian Smith's white minority regime) attracted much criticism. During the Suez Crisis, Bader travelled to New Zealand. Some of the more recent African Commonwealth countries had been critical of British military intervention; he replied that they could "bloody well climb back up their trees". During a trip to South Africa in November 1965, Bader said that if he had been in Rhodesia when it made its declaration of independence he "would have had serious thoughts about changing my citizenship".
Later, Bader also wrote the foreword to Hans-Ulrich Rudel's biography Stuka Pilot. Even when it emerged that Rudel was a fervent supporter of the Nazi Party, Bader refused to admit that prior knowledge would have changed his mind about his contribution.
In the late 1960s Bader was interviewed on television and his comments provoked controversy. During the interview he expressed a desire to be Prime Minister, and listed some controversial proposals should the opportunity ever arise:
- Withdraw sanctions from Rhodesia so negotiations could take place without pressure.
- Stop immigration into Britain immediately until the "situation had been examined".
- Reintroduce the death penalty for murder.
- Ban betting shops, "They breed protection rackets. That's why we're getting like Chicago in the '20s".
Bader was known, at times, to be head-strong, blunt, and unsophisticated when he made his opinion known. During one visit to Munich, Germany, as a guest of Adolf Galland, he walked into a room full of ex-Luftwaffe pilots and said, "My God, I had no idea we left so many of you b……s alive". He also used the phrase to describe the Trades Union Congress during economic and social unrest in the 1970s. Later, he suggested that Britons in support of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament were a "rabble" and should be deported.
Though in declining health, he continued to pursue an exhausting schedule. Bader died of a heart attack on September 5, 1982 after a dinner in honor of Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris.
BRETHREN, WE HAVE TOO MANY “SUCK-UPS” IN OUR HIGHER RANKING OFFICERS, IN ALL BRANCHES OF THE SERVICE, I THINK. THEY TELL BHO WHAT HE WANTS TO HEAR RATHER THAN WHAT HE NEEDS TO HEAR. MAY THE LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS HELP US IN THIS GREAT HOUR OF NEED. MY PRAYER IS THAT THE LORD GOD WOULD GIVE US A MILITARY MAN WITH THE TRAITS OF DOUGLAS BADER!
PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM!
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
