March 28, 2011
Dr. Yossi Ben-Aharon
Former Chief of Staff
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir
Dear Yossi:
It was so good to see you, and to meet the Bride of your youth at the "Boogie Banquet" back in February at the Jerusalem Ramada. My heart went back with fondness to having met you in Washington, D.C., in April 2005 when we were lobbying Congress to try to keep Condi’s Road Map plan from disengaging those twenty-five communities in Gaza and the Shomron. You are a dear friend and I want you to know that.
I'm writing from my Motor Home parked behind Commonwealth Baptist College in Lexington, Ky. Yesterday, the L-d G-d of the Hebrews privileged me to preach to Pastor Anhuar Palacio’s Clays Mill Road Baptist Church, a Spanish Church, which meet here in the facilities of CBC. The L-d allowed me the privilege of answering questions about the "Greater-Than" religion of the Ishmaelites and their "unholy book" for about an hour and half last evening. I was amazed, at how these, just common, ordinary Spanish folks, most from Mexico, could ask the questions they did last night. Consequently, I feel impressed to send you, as well as all of my mailing lists, some thoughts about "THE GOD OF THE CHRISTIAN AND THE JEW" as compared to the "greater-than-false-god, allah," of the Ishmaelites.
When the Holy Bible, in your Jewish Tanach, the Old Testament, tells of the birth of Abraham’s son, it declares in Genesis 16:12, "And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." In the Hebrew, as you well know, Yossi, the word is stronger than the language of our King James Bible, which, the Lord knows, I am not correcting. It says "Pere’ Adam." That means a "wild-ass" man." Not in regards to "backside," but in regards to "action." Ishmael was a "wild-donkey" man.
Our world today, Yossi, some approximate six to seven Billion people, is comprised of, let's say, one Billion followers of the god "allah," and five to six Billion "non-Muslims." Our world, however, is locked in a "life and death struggle" with the Religion of Islam, and as recent publicity shows concerning the acquisition of space for the Mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn., the "overwhelming majority" of Americans don’t have a clue as to what the Muslims are up to.
The religion, said by its adherents to be "greater than" either of the two religions of Jehovah God, the Religion of Judaism, and the Religions of Christianity, is not only fighting with the Jews and Christians, but they have an ongoing battle with the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Animists, and the Blacks in Africa [witness all those Christian churches just burned a few days ago in Eithiopia by Muslims]. Muslims will continue to slaughter the Hindus, Buddhists, Animist, and black Africans, and then it will be Muslims fighting fellow Muslims! Shiites against the Sunnis! Sunnis against the Sunnis! And then it will be Shiites against Shiites and Sunnis against Sunnis - "his hand against every man, and every man’s hand against his hand."
The Bible tells us of the sons of Ishamel in Gen. 25:13, "And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,
15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:
16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.
17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.
The Holy Bible, your Tanach, tells us of Abraham, the "stranger," the "sojourner," who bought the Cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah in, in Genesis 23.
Gen. 23:1, "And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.
2 And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,
4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,
6 Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.
8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you.
10 And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
11 Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.
12 And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land.
13 And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.
14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,
15 My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
17 And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure
18 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth."
Interestingly, Yossi, the Cave of Machpelah is not mentioned in the unholy Qur’an. Jerusalem is not mentioned either in the Qur’an, nor is the Temple Mount. Abraham and Sarah are buried there. [We visited the Cave of Machpelah during the day of Feb. 21st of this year.] Isaac and Rebekkah are buried there. Jacob and Leah are buried there. Rachel is buried near Bethlehem.
Niether Ishmael, Esau, nor any of their sons, nor any of the many wives they had — none of them are buried in Machpelah. And Machpelah, as I said, is not mentioned in the Qur’an.
THE GOD OF THE CHRISTIAN AND THE JEW DOESN’T HATE THE MUSLIMS. Jer. 31:1, "At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
2 Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." [In the Hebrew, as you well know Yossi, the language is that the God of Love, Jehovah God, has drawn "all people - Jew and Gentile" from afar. And, the language says it was "with lovingkindness" Jehovah God "extended lovingkindness" unto all people, but, especially the Everlasting Covenanted people, the sons and daughters of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.]
Our Christian Scriptures, Yossi, bears out the same truth for it says there in 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." When one discusses with a Muslim their "idea" of Mohammed’s plan of salvation, the answer is always "if ‘allah’ wills." I thank God that the God of the Jew and the God of the Christian is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
Shimon Erem is a part of the Israeli Christian Nexus in California. I am sure that you know him. On that web site you will find Jews saying "you can’t trust Vineyard, he will tell you Jeshua is Messiah." I have been writing and saying that ever since I got involved in trying to keep that little land of Palestine for the Jews. Yes, Yossi, your Bible, the Tanach, the Old Testament, does say also in Jeremiah: Jer. 31:31, "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
But, that isn’t my word. It is the WORD of the LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS, JEHOVAH GOD.
The Muslims live in chains of slavery just as the Germans lived in chains to the Nazis. The Muslims live in chains of slavery just as the Russians lived in chains of slavery first, to Lenin, and then next, to Stalin. The Muslims live in chains of slavery just as the Chinese, the North Koreans, the North Vietamese, the Cambodians, the Laotians — all ---- lived in chains of slavery to the International Communists. We believe however, as our Bible teaches, "...And ye shall know the TRUTH and the TRUTH shall make you free."
THE GOD OF THE CHRISTIAN AND THE JEW IS THE GOD OF CREATION AND LIFE.
Ge 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. {life: Heb. a living soul}
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. "
Gen. 2:18, "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."
The God of the Christian and of the Jew is not like the False god of Islam, "allah." Allah is a god of destruction, slaughter and death. Allah is the ‘god’of the homicide bomber. Allah is the "god" of throat slitting; witness Rabbi Fogel and his family in Itamar recently. "Allah" is the ‘god" of the 9/11 hijackers. Those nineteen hijackers as they hijacked airplanes crashed them into the Twin Towers screaming as loud as they could "allahu akbar. Allahu akbar." That is not "God is great" as the Politically Correct news media would have us to believe. No Sir! It is "allah, the sword god, the war god, the moon god — is greater! Greater? Greater than whom? Of course, in their religion, their ‘false god’ allah is greater than our GOD, JEHOVAH GOD!
5/6th of the world’s population is scheduled to either be subjugated, or slain by the 1/6th of the world’s population, followers of "allah." And, in that lubricious world —lewd as with the smoothing of lubricated with oil— women are only like "cows," —chattel, to be used and then discarded. [While visiting Ma’aleh Adumim in February, I left our fellas there, and took a cab back to the Ramada. The driver, an Israeli Arab, asked me right off, "How many sons do you have." I said "four." He said, "I have twenty." "Oh," I said, "but how many wives do you have." He said proudly, "I have four permanent ones and I’ve had six temporary ones." I said, "Well, our average is better. One wife for four sons beats ten wives for twenty sons." But, he still had to be "greater" than I was, in the birthing of sons. [Thank God for the preservation of the "home unit" by the Jews, and we know we Christians owe you Jews for that preservation.]
In 558 AD, during Mohammed’s camel caravan days in the Arabian desert, Jibril, that ‘genie’ who supposedly is Gabriel [Qur’an - Jinn,] told Mohammed that the Meccans could continue to worship the sun god and star god, along with the 357 other pagan gods. But, the capricious god ‘allah’ abolished the sun and star gods, along with those other 357 pagan gods in 570 AD and said, "Now boys, ‘allah,’ the "greater-than" god is the only god we can now worship. Thank God, our Bible teaches, "Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today and forever." And, of course Yossi, that holds true for Jehovah God, who hasn’t changed his mind about anything.
THE GOD OF THE JEW AND THE CHRISTIAN IS A "COVENANT-KEEPING GOD."
My departed-to-heaven friend, Dr. Joe Boyd, formerly an All American Football Player who carried Texas A & M to their only National Championship in 1939, used to always quote Ezekiel 16:60 relative to the Jews. Eze. 16:60, "Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant." Joe would say, "God loved the Jews so much that HE made an everlasting covenant with the Jew."
"Allah," the fase god, the moon god, the sword god, the war god, the "greater-than" god, is a "covenant-breaking-god." In 570 AD, Mohammed’s genie, Jibril, changed his mind, and "allah" said, "I am the only god you can now worship." The sun god, the star god, and those 357 gods are now out, and "I," the "greater-than" god am the only god "in."
THE GOD OF THE JEW AND THE CHRISTIAN IS A "GOD OF TRUTH."
Our Scriptures declare plainly in Joh. 4:23, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
The "allah" worshippers say that Jehovah God is a wimpy God; a sissy God; a God of love; a God of peace; a God of Salvation; a God of Refuge!
But, Yossi, our God, Jehovah God, is a God of Revealed Truth, so that from the least unto the greatest, from the poorest unto the richest, from the youngest unto the eldest — ALL, ALL, ALL — anywhere, anytime, anybody — ALL can draw near to Jehovah God, and get to know HIM.
But, "allah, the moon god, the war god, the sword god, the destroying god, the homicide bomber god, the throat slitting god, the "blow-up-the-buses god"—watch out Wally Beebee, watch out Jim Vineyard, watch out Sam Fugate, watch out Bobby Roberson, watch out Jeff Fugate— for from Minarets all over America, five times a day, goes out that call to prayer, "allahu akbar- allahu akbar - allahu akbar - allahu akbar- allahu akbar," or, "allah is greater!" Greater than whom? Greater than Jehovah God.
Yossi, I shall give you one last passage of scripture, and one final thought, and then this long letter will be done! Gen. 6:9, "These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."
In closing, let's just look at that one word I’ve shaded, which is very descriptive of the false religion of the false god "allah." In English the word is "violence." In Hebrew the word is Hamas and means "utter and evil violence." In Arabic the "word" is "Hamas" also and means "hero," "strong," "daring." In the West Bank I don’t know how many pictures I have of the West Bank martyrs, whom the followers of the false god "allah" have up on light poles, believing that those "Hamas" freedom fighters, as they call them, are heroes, and that they all went to "allah’s paradise" and received 72 dark eyed virgins.
Yossi, pray for me that my health, nor my financial needs will not prevent me from carrying on for the Jews.
I remain, sincerely and gratefully, for that day the L-D G-D of the Hebrews allowed my path to cross with that of yours.
Your Yedid and Chaver,
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Letter to Dr. Gadi Eshel
March 24, 2011,
Dr. Gadi Eshel
Dear Gadi:
As I write these lines I am in my Vehicle being drive by Warren Garraway, whom you met at the "Boogie Banquet" Feb. 21st at the Jerusalem Ramada. We are on our way back to Kentucky, where we were with Jeff Harris at Elizabethtown last Saturday and Sunday. One of our Deacon’s wives, Cleota Johnston, Bill’s wife, went to be with the LORD last Friday evening, and we had to drive home Sunday night. The L-d allowed me to preach the Funeral this past Tuesday. Two of Cleota’s kin, a niece, and the niece’s grown son, trusted the L-D as their saviour at the funeral. Warren and Jeff both met you Feb. 21st. They were impressed with the number of "Tank Kills" your 155 Paladin Battalion made during the Yom Kippur war of 1973. Gadi, I praise the L-d for the day that HE allowed my path to cross with that of yours, A JEW who is a REAL JEW! I really like "real" people, not those who are a "charade," or a "sham."
On page seven of the USA TODAY is the story of yesterday’s bombing at the Bus Station in Jerusalem and it tells of the sixty year old woman who was killed. It tells in there how "The Popular Resistance Committees, a Gaza terror group, cheered the bombing, calling it a "natural response to the enemy’s crimes." GADI, my yedid, count me on the "side" of the Jews, for as Orde Wingate said, in 1938, at Chaim Sturman’s dinner in his behalf after his wounding at Dabbiyura, "God has given it to us to slay the enemies of the Jews. For the enemies of the Jews are the enemies of all mankind."
I can remember Gadi, as the 2nd Lebanon War [the "Three Weeks of Mourning War"] was ending in 2006, that the first round was concluded in an interlude. It was merely an introduction to the preface to the prologue. In 2006 your enemies, the Ishmaelites, were preparing for another war, and yet another one, after that one. For the last so many years, Gadi, your nation’s determination, its strength, and its faith in "the justice of its path" had all been eroded by the crazy idea of "peace" and the "new Middle East." What the Orientalists have attempted to do is turn separate Israel from every strategic asset still in Israel’s possession and turn it into a hostage in the hands of Hamas’ Qasams and Hizbullah’s Katyushas.
As I knew back then Gadi, Israel must prepare "the front and the rear" and rearrange its national priorities, – elevating security from fifth place to first; because, the war will surely come – and faster than the Jewish people think. The Shiites in Lebanon, armed by their Iranian and Syrian patrons, were resupplied with anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles and more accurate long-and medium-range missiles. Hizbullah did not abandon even one position in southern Lebanon, but continued to upgrade and dig deeper bunkers before IDF eyes and cameras with the knowledge of the Israeli Government. That ludicrous "Condi-UN" document gave the Shiites a better opportunity to entrench 700 meters from Israel’s northern border.
As I wrote then, and still believe today, Gadi, "There is No Peace. There is No New Middle East." To the contrary, the old, medieval Middle East still lives; a Middle East inundated by fanatical Islam, zealous, combative, messianic [sic,] apocalyptic, led in the spirit of clerics filled with hatred for anything not Muslim, by political minions, whose declared air is the restoration of the Caliphate and world domination.
This Islamic zealotry envelops large populations and speaks to the masses in a language that they enjoy hearing. There is no point in engaging in armchair psychological analysis of the reasons for this. In this regard, Gadi, what is TRUTH as I wrote in late February? There are facts that speak for themselves!
It is Islam, Gadi, that has placed shedding blood, especially Jewish blood, as a supreme value and terrorism as a mode of operation. "Slaughter the Jews" is their oldest slogan.
Terrorism appeared as a very effective tool among the first Muslims and it has accompanied their history with various degrees of intensity. Sometimes it is the terrorism of a small group or the initiative of individuals and sometimes it is organized terrorism, but it always rests on education and indoctrination.
The Shiite Hasision from the 11th to the 13th centuries gave their name to the European languages in the term "assassin" in order to describe one who murders from an ambush; a hired killer. The modern day Muslim assassins, like the medieval Hasision, undergo an extended process of indoctrination and rejoice in being martyrs and reaching paradise quickly.
In medieval times, it was only the suicide martyrs themselves who underwent indoctrination; today the entire Muslim public undergoes indoctrination. It is accomplished by every possible means: By preachers in the mosques, electronic and print media, teachers, authors and artists, playwrights, actors and singers as well as in school books. The thrust of the Muslim propaganda is directed against the Jews. The martyrdom is first and foremost a jihad weapon against them.
Israel's Destruction is Islamic Peace!
That is why all spokesmen for this deep-rooted Islam say that there is not nor will there be peace in the Middle East as long as an independent Jewish state in which Jews have rights equal to the rights of the Moslems exists. There is not nor will there be peace in the Middle East until the demolition of the Jewish state, destruction of most of its Jewish residents and transformation of Palestine into an integral part of the Muslim world – Pax Islamica – Islamic peace.
The concept of peace in the vision of the prophets of Israel, about which the various "now" groups in Israel, including some of the country’s leaders, have fantasized for three generations and more, and yet it does not exist in the Islamic perception. Peace exists only in a World of Islam ruled by Muslims. (Civil wars in Islam are internal matters, misunderstandings that happen in every good family.) Everything located outside of the World of Islam is characterized as "House of War", meaning the area against which Islam is obligated to wage war until its annexation to the world of Islam. Every territory that ever was Muslim is sacred, waqf, to Islam and no one has the right to relinquish it. And even if it is conquered by enemies of Islam it does not lose its Islamic status and it is incumbent upon the Muslims – an obligation that will never cease – to restore it to Islamic rule. The State of Israel exists on Islamic waqf land. It is an unnatural situation, which cannot and must not persist.
We have arrived at the end of the era of bogus "peace". All that remains is the era of war in the past, present and future and it is that alone for which preparations must be made. The Jewish population does not go to war gladly; it prefers even a flicker of calm over war; it prefers to go to bed with "A Star is Born" and fall asleep to the cooing of the dove of peace. That is why it is surprised to awaken to the sound of exploding missiles.
In positioning war as the only existing alternative in this part of the world, the public justifiably asks, how long? And the answer is: Until the Muslims lose all hope to liquidate the Jewish state, which means forever. The Arabs and Islam in general can never come to terms with the fact that a billion and a half Moslems, who control huge resources, cannot eliminate six million Jews crowded into a 50-kilometer wide death trap. This reality offends the Muslims’ honor, angers them and continually ignites in them feelings of revenge. This is the true reality with which youmust live and anyone unwilling to deal with it does not belong in the Middle East – the old, cruel Middle East.
Therefore, Gadi, My Jewish Yedid and Chaver, on Interstate 64, heading into Southern Indiana, the state of Purdue University where you received your Doctorate in Engineering, and from there on into Kentucky, I write "exhorting" you to keep your voice active on the Political scene in Israel attempting to persuade those in places of leadership that Israel must keep up "its guard" if it hopes to continue as a nation! "Exhortation," as you know Gadi, is one of my few gifts, and according to the Bride of my Youth, she applauds what I do in trying to "Exhort the Israelis to maintain a strong Israel."
I remain, sincerely and gratefully, your dutiful yedid and obedient chaver,
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
PS Health Issues? Still the same! However, the L-d G-d of the Hebrews allows me to cripple on, having left at five am yesterday morning, arriving [here in Lexington] last evening about 11:30, getting set up and reading a bit in my Bible, talking to the Bride of my youth, then I was able to sleep almost five hours, so, am up, having coffee, waiting to teach US HISTORY in Dr. Paul Jorgenson’s US History Class, and the preach in Chapel at Commonwealth Baptist College. I am to preach this morning on the World Wide Struggle free people find themselves in, with the adherents of the "Stronger Than [false] [god- allah" whereby 1/6th of the world’s population plan either to subjugate or slit the throats of the other 5/6th of the world’s population.
Dr. Gadi Eshel
Dear Gadi:
As I write these lines I am in my Vehicle being drive by Warren Garraway, whom you met at the "Boogie Banquet" Feb. 21st at the Jerusalem Ramada. We are on our way back to Kentucky, where we were with Jeff Harris at Elizabethtown last Saturday and Sunday. One of our Deacon’s wives, Cleota Johnston, Bill’s wife, went to be with the LORD last Friday evening, and we had to drive home Sunday night. The L-d allowed me to preach the Funeral this past Tuesday. Two of Cleota’s kin, a niece, and the niece’s grown son, trusted the L-D as their saviour at the funeral. Warren and Jeff both met you Feb. 21st. They were impressed with the number of "Tank Kills" your 155 Paladin Battalion made during the Yom Kippur war of 1973. Gadi, I praise the L-d for the day that HE allowed my path to cross with that of yours, A JEW who is a REAL JEW! I really like "real" people, not those who are a "charade," or a "sham."
On page seven of the USA TODAY is the story of yesterday’s bombing at the Bus Station in Jerusalem and it tells of the sixty year old woman who was killed. It tells in there how "The Popular Resistance Committees, a Gaza terror group, cheered the bombing, calling it a "natural response to the enemy’s crimes." GADI, my yedid, count me on the "side" of the Jews, for as Orde Wingate said, in 1938, at Chaim Sturman’s dinner in his behalf after his wounding at Dabbiyura, "God has given it to us to slay the enemies of the Jews. For the enemies of the Jews are the enemies of all mankind."
I can remember Gadi, as the 2nd Lebanon War [the "Three Weeks of Mourning War"] was ending in 2006, that the first round was concluded in an interlude. It was merely an introduction to the preface to the prologue. In 2006 your enemies, the Ishmaelites, were preparing for another war, and yet another one, after that one. For the last so many years, Gadi, your nation’s determination, its strength, and its faith in "the justice of its path" had all been eroded by the crazy idea of "peace" and the "new Middle East." What the Orientalists have attempted to do is turn separate Israel from every strategic asset still in Israel’s possession and turn it into a hostage in the hands of Hamas’ Qasams and Hizbullah’s Katyushas.
As I knew back then Gadi, Israel must prepare "the front and the rear" and rearrange its national priorities, – elevating security from fifth place to first; because, the war will surely come – and faster than the Jewish people think. The Shiites in Lebanon, armed by their Iranian and Syrian patrons, were resupplied with anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles and more accurate long-and medium-range missiles. Hizbullah did not abandon even one position in southern Lebanon, but continued to upgrade and dig deeper bunkers before IDF eyes and cameras with the knowledge of the Israeli Government. That ludicrous "Condi-UN" document gave the Shiites a better opportunity to entrench 700 meters from Israel’s northern border.
As I wrote then, and still believe today, Gadi, "There is No Peace. There is No New Middle East." To the contrary, the old, medieval Middle East still lives; a Middle East inundated by fanatical Islam, zealous, combative, messianic [sic,] apocalyptic, led in the spirit of clerics filled with hatred for anything not Muslim, by political minions, whose declared air is the restoration of the Caliphate and world domination.
This Islamic zealotry envelops large populations and speaks to the masses in a language that they enjoy hearing. There is no point in engaging in armchair psychological analysis of the reasons for this. In this regard, Gadi, what is TRUTH as I wrote in late February? There are facts that speak for themselves!
It is Islam, Gadi, that has placed shedding blood, especially Jewish blood, as a supreme value and terrorism as a mode of operation. "Slaughter the Jews" is their oldest slogan.
Terrorism appeared as a very effective tool among the first Muslims and it has accompanied their history with various degrees of intensity. Sometimes it is the terrorism of a small group or the initiative of individuals and sometimes it is organized terrorism, but it always rests on education and indoctrination.
The Shiite Hasision from the 11th to the 13th centuries gave their name to the European languages in the term "assassin" in order to describe one who murders from an ambush; a hired killer. The modern day Muslim assassins, like the medieval Hasision, undergo an extended process of indoctrination and rejoice in being martyrs and reaching paradise quickly.
In medieval times, it was only the suicide martyrs themselves who underwent indoctrination; today the entire Muslim public undergoes indoctrination. It is accomplished by every possible means: By preachers in the mosques, electronic and print media, teachers, authors and artists, playwrights, actors and singers as well as in school books. The thrust of the Muslim propaganda is directed against the Jews. The martyrdom is first and foremost a jihad weapon against them.
Israel's Destruction is Islamic Peace!
That is why all spokesmen for this deep-rooted Islam say that there is not nor will there be peace in the Middle East as long as an independent Jewish state in which Jews have rights equal to the rights of the Moslems exists. There is not nor will there be peace in the Middle East until the demolition of the Jewish state, destruction of most of its Jewish residents and transformation of Palestine into an integral part of the Muslim world – Pax Islamica – Islamic peace.
The concept of peace in the vision of the prophets of Israel, about which the various "now" groups in Israel, including some of the country’s leaders, have fantasized for three generations and more, and yet it does not exist in the Islamic perception. Peace exists only in a World of Islam ruled by Muslims. (Civil wars in Islam are internal matters, misunderstandings that happen in every good family.) Everything located outside of the World of Islam is characterized as "House of War", meaning the area against which Islam is obligated to wage war until its annexation to the world of Islam. Every territory that ever was Muslim is sacred, waqf, to Islam and no one has the right to relinquish it. And even if it is conquered by enemies of Islam it does not lose its Islamic status and it is incumbent upon the Muslims – an obligation that will never cease – to restore it to Islamic rule. The State of Israel exists on Islamic waqf land. It is an unnatural situation, which cannot and must not persist.
We have arrived at the end of the era of bogus "peace". All that remains is the era of war in the past, present and future and it is that alone for which preparations must be made. The Jewish population does not go to war gladly; it prefers even a flicker of calm over war; it prefers to go to bed with "A Star is Born" and fall asleep to the cooing of the dove of peace. That is why it is surprised to awaken to the sound of exploding missiles.
In positioning war as the only existing alternative in this part of the world, the public justifiably asks, how long? And the answer is: Until the Muslims lose all hope to liquidate the Jewish state, which means forever. The Arabs and Islam in general can never come to terms with the fact that a billion and a half Moslems, who control huge resources, cannot eliminate six million Jews crowded into a 50-kilometer wide death trap. This reality offends the Muslims’ honor, angers them and continually ignites in them feelings of revenge. This is the true reality with which youmust live and anyone unwilling to deal with it does not belong in the Middle East – the old, cruel Middle East.
Therefore, Gadi, My Jewish Yedid and Chaver, on Interstate 64, heading into Southern Indiana, the state of Purdue University where you received your Doctorate in Engineering, and from there on into Kentucky, I write "exhorting" you to keep your voice active on the Political scene in Israel attempting to persuade those in places of leadership that Israel must keep up "its guard" if it hopes to continue as a nation! "Exhortation," as you know Gadi, is one of my few gifts, and according to the Bride of my Youth, she applauds what I do in trying to "Exhort the Israelis to maintain a strong Israel."
I remain, sincerely and gratefully, your dutiful yedid and obedient chaver,
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
PS Health Issues? Still the same! However, the L-d G-d of the Hebrews allows me to cripple on, having left at five am yesterday morning, arriving [here in Lexington] last evening about 11:30, getting set up and reading a bit in my Bible, talking to the Bride of my youth, then I was able to sleep almost five hours, so, am up, having coffee, waiting to teach US HISTORY in Dr. Paul Jorgenson’s US History Class, and the preach in Chapel at Commonwealth Baptist College. I am to preach this morning on the World Wide Struggle free people find themselves in, with the adherents of the "Stronger Than [false] [god- allah" whereby 1/6th of the world’s population plan either to subjugate or slit the throats of the other 5/6th of the world’s population.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Photos of Israel Trip Ready to View
3/8/2011
Dear Pastors,
Please be advised that you may access some highlight photos of this last trip we took to Israel, Feb. 13th-23rd 2011. They are posted on my web page at this link:
http://www.yedidimofisrael.com/?page_id=9
These are not all the photos, this is Part I of the trip. Stand by for Part 2.
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
JAV:rar
Dear Pastors,
Please be advised that you may access some highlight photos of this last trip we took to Israel, Feb. 13th-23rd 2011. They are posted on my web page at this link:
http://www.yedidimofisrael.com/?page_id=9
These are not all the photos, this is Part I of the trip. Stand by for Part 2.
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
JAV:rar
Friday, February 25, 2011
Home from Israel
February 25, 2011
Dear Pastors:
On our last evening in Israel, Sgt. Major Itzik and Sgt. Major Yossi, of Givati Brigade, called wanting to have supper with us. So we had to make a hurried up trip to Ashdod to eat with them. The meal for my "unescorted Football Players" and I, cost over 2900 shekels, and at about 3.40 per $ I was out some change, but the LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS WILL reward me even though "I had to pay" then. HE is the one who said in Luke 10, "Whatsoever thou spendest more, I will repay thee, when I come again."
As my unescorted football players sang in that restaurant, "God is sooo good. He answers prayer. He is coming again." I am just "fool enough" to believe that.
Harvey Douglen, the owner of the Ramada-Jerusalem (you ought stay there anytime you visit Jerusalem — just mention my name when booking your hotel, and book directly with Harvey) provided a nice suite for me, where at one time during the visit, we had 17 Jews in that room listening to this ole man blather! The suite has a Jacuzzi in it. It is deep. I was in such a hurry to shower before heading to that Ashdod meeting, I realized I was washing my hair "with my glasses on," and then, when stepping out of the tub, my right foot missed my bath mat, and that slick tile floor put me on my backside. My first thought was, "I ought to sue Harvey for this." Then, GOD told me, "Jimbo, you can’t sue a Jew." HE didn’t even have to quote Gen. 12:3 to me. I immediately thought of the curse of it!
But, the fall really hurt me. I may have broken a bone in my right wrist and one in my right leg. Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I’m just too old to fall like that. Or maybe, I am really a "sissy", and, as my wife would say, "When he was born, his big brothers didn’t want a sissy baby brother, and he has pretended for almost 71 years he is not a sissy, and so he got to believing it." Maybe I no longer believe I am not a sissy, and so really I am!
I feel like former professional football player, 295 lb Paul Blair has been blocking on me, and Reggie White, whose picture is up in the Ramada, has been tackling me, so, after going to bed at 10 pm and getting up at 1:30 am last night, I am hurting. It is now 5:50 am and I have already written a long letter.
I will tell you this, I haven’t laughed as much on any trip as I did this one. Those HAC fellers came with some questions about some JAV stories of my time there in Hammond, Indiana as an Associate Pastor to Jack Hyles, FBC, Hammond, and Executive VP of Hyles Anderson College, in which the renditions have made me as tall as that feller in Tulsa said, "I saw Jesus last night, and he was 918 feet tall," back yonder when I first came to OKC, Oral Roberts! Ole JAV ain’t 918 feet tall. But, I really got a bang out of correcting those stories and bringing me down to a fat 5' 8" in height.
Justin, one of our black, deaf, OBC boys made friends with a Jewish lady named Lori, on the plane going over. She was putting on a wedding for someone at the Hotel while we were there. The day and time came for the wedding, with Justin tapping my shoulder three times to get my attention, telling me, "It is time!" and so I sent Jason Engelman (whom I call "bird legs") with Justin to find Lori’s wedding.
Jason came back in a little bit and said "We found her. It is wild over there." I said, "Jason, don’t use the word "wild," just say unique. They are Jews." So, I took former NYC cop Morty Dzikansky, his wife Merlyn, and their 11 year old Zach, and their twin son and daughter and off we went to the wedding.
On arrival, there is this attractive, fortyish, Jewish lady, Lori, breaking our "no touch" OBC rule with her arm around Justin’s shoulder. He seemed to be enjoying all the attention. Fellers, that lady Lori’s smile is a lesson to all we Independent Baptist Pastors. She smiles as well as does Arieh Eldad’s wife. He is a member of the Knesset and lives in Kfar Adumim.
(The Deaf fellers with me pulled a "gotcha" on me the other day. They had someone come tell me Justin had swiped a real, live bullet from one of the IDF sites we had visited. So, my irascibleness boiled over immediately and I stormed down the hall to the connecting rooms where them deaf fellers were staying. I walked in, and gave Justin one of my "meanest looks," which the Bride of my youth doesn’t like for me to display, "Boilingly asking, Where in God’s dear name did you get that bullet?" He looks at me with his "scaredest look" put on his face, and then slowly holds up an 8 x 10 piece of paper with "GOTCHA" printed on it."
So, solemnly I said, "Fellers, you are going to begin to learn now why you should never "mess" with "a messer!")
(Brother Boykin is our Asst. Bus Director at WHBC. He had made for me a pen out of a 30.06 bullet. The pen has a plastic top. The bottom is the metal bullet. TSA found my two live bullets in my beret on arrival at TSA on the 13th. But, security here, Israeli security in Newark, in Tel Aviv, and again TSA in Newark on the way home never found the 30.06 pen bullet, which I found in my Givati Fleece jacket yesterday. TSA is really protecting us! Feel safe when you travel. A "feeling" is all you have!)
Well, lo and behold, while we are talking with Lori, up waltzes a New Jersey Jewish lady, who knows Merlyn. Morty and family go to meet that family. I went to meet the Ramada Rabi, who has a son named Immanuel (just think about that) who, when I met him, was a Paratrooper, and is now a boxer.
Immanuel, the ex-paratrooper, present boxer, came to our suite, for me to give him several of the Football Booklets I had prepared. He is a better Jew than Morty for he wouldn’t ride in the non-shabbat elevator up to our 8th floor. Morty would and did with me punch the floor number for our room.]
Well, in our suite, we wound up with a passel of Jews in there that evening. I gave them the "ole jav" rendition of present day events, which the lady from NJ’s dad held a different view than I. I said, "I hope you are right and I am wrong." Well, lo and behold, he was right, and ole JAV was wrong. It isn’t the first time.
One of our "unescorted football players" asked the question, "Dr. Vineyard, (making me feel important) How do you make all these contacts with Jews?" Morty’s wife, Merlyn, pops up and says, "I shall tell you. Preacher (Morty and her call me that) is an opportunist." (I do hope she meant it in the "good sense" and I hope I have enough sense to keep that opportunism in the good sense, for I know some, who are opportunist and do take advantage of all the people I know in Israel, for the "mooching opportunist’s" benefits and that of the moocher’s family.)
Katyusha rockets fell around Beersheva and in the Negev the other day. We had gotten out Dodge before they fell and were in no danger. The press and even some of our fellers call them GRAD rockets in error. Them "ain’t" (thats Texas talk) GRADS. Them are Katyushas. The UN settlement of the 2006 2nd Lebanon War ruled that the Palestinians could have no more KATYUSHAS. So they simply renamed them GRADS. But, call them what you may, they are still KATYUSHAS.
(I know a feller, a Preacher, who acts like he is tough. He could whip me in a heartbeat — if he could keep my hands from getting at his throat. He probably weighs close to 300 lbs. I have told him on several occasions, "I would like very much to see your reaction when a Katyusha fell nearby.")
One of my other "real laughs" on this trip was in our suite, I think, on the last day. I was giving the "unescorted football players" one of my many lectures. We were all serious. Now, get this picture. I am sitting at the end of a large football shaped table. Dr. Brian Korner is immediately to my left. Tony Beaudry, former Professional wrestler, 6'5", 250 lbs of bad due is to his left. Dr. Jeff Harris, former All State Kentucky Football Player, now Baptist Preacher in Elizabethown is to his left. Oscar, who is a Peruvian Christian now in a Baptist Church in Tulsa, and an American Airline Pilot, a Mexican American is to his left. Warren Garraway, retired New York State Engineer, called now as a Soul Winning Evangelist is to his left, and then our son John is on their left.
Dr. Bruce Engelman is at the other end of the table. On my right is David Sloan, and then some OBC fellers and some HAC fellers. Over at the other end of the suite is a "bar." And it’s a bar like you’d see in a BAR. Behind the bar is a feller who inadvertently puts his weight on the top shelf underneath the bar.
IT FALLS TO THE SHELF BENEATH IT WITH A LOUD BANG. I bet (if I was a gambler) that Bruce Engelman shot six inches up out of his chair. Just about everyone in the room jumped. I am not a jumper, and do not jump at such noises. If it's gonna kill you, you are just wasting energy to jump. BUT, I SURE DID LAUGH!
The Givati Brigade is having their "thing" for the 197 families of their KILLED IN ACTION soldiers June 23rd, 24th and 25th. THEY HAVE ASKED FOR OUR HELP AGAIN. I haven’t promised them anything. But, I am going to try to raise the $30,000 they’ve asked me to help with. If you could help with that, Checks should be made out to Yedidim of Israel and sent to 5517 NW 23rd St., OKC, Ok, 73127, with the memo stating "June Givati KIA thing."
The Givati Brigade gets all these families together and tries to help them "feel good" for three days in lieu of the sacrifice their families have made in having a son Killed in Action! Some of you fellers don’t like my doing that, but, that's OK, I am a giver and not a taker, and so I enjoy it, and I think my Heavenly Father is pleased with it. If HE AIN’T, it won’t be a "hair off your leg," but it shall be off mine.
Our son John stayed with our son Tom while in OKC. Tom took him to the Airport early this morning. I called him a while ago. He gave Boogie a USC Leather Jacket the other night at the "Boogie Banquet." Someone climbed my case about calling it the "Boogie Banquet" telling me I ought be more respectful of the Vice Prime Minister of all Israel. I retorted in my best "smart alec" way, "I was being respectful in "huggin him whilst he was a huggin me" the other night. He and some others call me Jimbo. I call him Boogie. When they feed me they can call it a "Jimbo Banquet." When I feed him I shall call it a "Boogie Banquet." Anyway, John’s words on the phone this morning was, "Be sure to tell Boogie I want a picture of him wearing that USC jacket." He wants to show it off (that's what my wife says I do) to some of his USC friends.
So, maybe, Anat, Boogie’s Chief of Staff, who reads my (Will Rogers type)"writ," will read these lines, take his picture, and email it to me. Ifn she don’t, I suppose I shall have to email John a Picture of he and Boogie holding the jacket. That will then have to suffice till I get down to Boogie’s Kibbutz to help out with him when he does his milking chores, at which time I shall say, "Hey Boogie, my buddy, could I persuade you to put that Jacket on Johnny gave you from USC and let me take your picture?"
Beit Kobi needs 150,000 shekels for operating expenses. Beit Kobi is a "Home away from Home for IDF soldiers" who have no home in Israel. If you could help with that, you can either send the money to me, or send it directly to Beit Kobi. You can google them up. I told Aviva I would go to work on that. Dr. Garry Way’s church has probably helped both Beit Kobi and Givati more than any other church in America. Maybe they will be able to help again. I sure hope so.
Well, it is now 7:00 am. I need go out and visit with the Bride of my youth, my Precious Dawga Jo!
I remain, sincerely and gratefully, your dutiful friend and obedient servant,
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
Dear Pastors:
On our last evening in Israel, Sgt. Major Itzik and Sgt. Major Yossi, of Givati Brigade, called wanting to have supper with us. So we had to make a hurried up trip to Ashdod to eat with them. The meal for my "unescorted Football Players" and I, cost over 2900 shekels, and at about 3.40 per $ I was out some change, but the LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS WILL reward me even though "I had to pay" then. HE is the one who said in Luke 10, "Whatsoever thou spendest more, I will repay thee, when I come again."
As my unescorted football players sang in that restaurant, "God is sooo good. He answers prayer. He is coming again." I am just "fool enough" to believe that.
Harvey Douglen, the owner of the Ramada-Jerusalem (you ought stay there anytime you visit Jerusalem — just mention my name when booking your hotel, and book directly with Harvey) provided a nice suite for me, where at one time during the visit, we had 17 Jews in that room listening to this ole man blather! The suite has a Jacuzzi in it. It is deep. I was in such a hurry to shower before heading to that Ashdod meeting, I realized I was washing my hair "with my glasses on," and then, when stepping out of the tub, my right foot missed my bath mat, and that slick tile floor put me on my backside. My first thought was, "I ought to sue Harvey for this." Then, GOD told me, "Jimbo, you can’t sue a Jew." HE didn’t even have to quote Gen. 12:3 to me. I immediately thought of the curse of it!
But, the fall really hurt me. I may have broken a bone in my right wrist and one in my right leg. Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I’m just too old to fall like that. Or maybe, I am really a "sissy", and, as my wife would say, "When he was born, his big brothers didn’t want a sissy baby brother, and he has pretended for almost 71 years he is not a sissy, and so he got to believing it." Maybe I no longer believe I am not a sissy, and so really I am!
I feel like former professional football player, 295 lb Paul Blair has been blocking on me, and Reggie White, whose picture is up in the Ramada, has been tackling me, so, after going to bed at 10 pm and getting up at 1:30 am last night, I am hurting. It is now 5:50 am and I have already written a long letter.
I will tell you this, I haven’t laughed as much on any trip as I did this one. Those HAC fellers came with some questions about some JAV stories of my time there in Hammond, Indiana as an Associate Pastor to Jack Hyles, FBC, Hammond, and Executive VP of Hyles Anderson College, in which the renditions have made me as tall as that feller in Tulsa said, "I saw Jesus last night, and he was 918 feet tall," back yonder when I first came to OKC, Oral Roberts! Ole JAV ain’t 918 feet tall. But, I really got a bang out of correcting those stories and bringing me down to a fat 5' 8" in height.
Justin, one of our black, deaf, OBC boys made friends with a Jewish lady named Lori, on the plane going over. She was putting on a wedding for someone at the Hotel while we were there. The day and time came for the wedding, with Justin tapping my shoulder three times to get my attention, telling me, "It is time!" and so I sent Jason Engelman (whom I call "bird legs") with Justin to find Lori’s wedding.
Jason came back in a little bit and said "We found her. It is wild over there." I said, "Jason, don’t use the word "wild," just say unique. They are Jews." So, I took former NYC cop Morty Dzikansky, his wife Merlyn, and their 11 year old Zach, and their twin son and daughter and off we went to the wedding.
On arrival, there is this attractive, fortyish, Jewish lady, Lori, breaking our "no touch" OBC rule with her arm around Justin’s shoulder. He seemed to be enjoying all the attention. Fellers, that lady Lori’s smile is a lesson to all we Independent Baptist Pastors. She smiles as well as does Arieh Eldad’s wife. He is a member of the Knesset and lives in Kfar Adumim.
(The Deaf fellers with me pulled a "gotcha" on me the other day. They had someone come tell me Justin had swiped a real, live bullet from one of the IDF sites we had visited. So, my irascibleness boiled over immediately and I stormed down the hall to the connecting rooms where them deaf fellers were staying. I walked in, and gave Justin one of my "meanest looks," which the Bride of my youth doesn’t like for me to display, "Boilingly asking, Where in God’s dear name did you get that bullet?" He looks at me with his "scaredest look" put on his face, and then slowly holds up an 8 x 10 piece of paper with "GOTCHA" printed on it."
So, solemnly I said, "Fellers, you are going to begin to learn now why you should never "mess" with "a messer!")
(Brother Boykin is our Asst. Bus Director at WHBC. He had made for me a pen out of a 30.06 bullet. The pen has a plastic top. The bottom is the metal bullet. TSA found my two live bullets in my beret on arrival at TSA on the 13th. But, security here, Israeli security in Newark, in Tel Aviv, and again TSA in Newark on the way home never found the 30.06 pen bullet, which I found in my Givati Fleece jacket yesterday. TSA is really protecting us! Feel safe when you travel. A "feeling" is all you have!)
Well, lo and behold, while we are talking with Lori, up waltzes a New Jersey Jewish lady, who knows Merlyn. Morty and family go to meet that family. I went to meet the Ramada Rabi, who has a son named Immanuel (just think about that) who, when I met him, was a Paratrooper, and is now a boxer.
Immanuel, the ex-paratrooper, present boxer, came to our suite, for me to give him several of the Football Booklets I had prepared. He is a better Jew than Morty for he wouldn’t ride in the non-shabbat elevator up to our 8th floor. Morty would and did with me punch the floor number for our room.]
Well, in our suite, we wound up with a passel of Jews in there that evening. I gave them the "ole jav" rendition of present day events, which the lady from NJ’s dad held a different view than I. I said, "I hope you are right and I am wrong." Well, lo and behold, he was right, and ole JAV was wrong. It isn’t the first time.
One of our "unescorted football players" asked the question, "Dr. Vineyard, (making me feel important) How do you make all these contacts with Jews?" Morty’s wife, Merlyn, pops up and says, "I shall tell you. Preacher (Morty and her call me that) is an opportunist." (I do hope she meant it in the "good sense" and I hope I have enough sense to keep that opportunism in the good sense, for I know some, who are opportunist and do take advantage of all the people I know in Israel, for the "mooching opportunist’s" benefits and that of the moocher’s family.)
Katyusha rockets fell around Beersheva and in the Negev the other day. We had gotten out Dodge before they fell and were in no danger. The press and even some of our fellers call them GRAD rockets in error. Them "ain’t" (thats Texas talk) GRADS. Them are Katyushas. The UN settlement of the 2006 2nd Lebanon War ruled that the Palestinians could have no more KATYUSHAS. So they simply renamed them GRADS. But, call them what you may, they are still KATYUSHAS.
(I know a feller, a Preacher, who acts like he is tough. He could whip me in a heartbeat — if he could keep my hands from getting at his throat. He probably weighs close to 300 lbs. I have told him on several occasions, "I would like very much to see your reaction when a Katyusha fell nearby.")
One of my other "real laughs" on this trip was in our suite, I think, on the last day. I was giving the "unescorted football players" one of my many lectures. We were all serious. Now, get this picture. I am sitting at the end of a large football shaped table. Dr. Brian Korner is immediately to my left. Tony Beaudry, former Professional wrestler, 6'5", 250 lbs of bad due is to his left. Dr. Jeff Harris, former All State Kentucky Football Player, now Baptist Preacher in Elizabethown is to his left. Oscar, who is a Peruvian Christian now in a Baptist Church in Tulsa, and an American Airline Pilot, a Mexican American is to his left. Warren Garraway, retired New York State Engineer, called now as a Soul Winning Evangelist is to his left, and then our son John is on their left.
Dr. Bruce Engelman is at the other end of the table. On my right is David Sloan, and then some OBC fellers and some HAC fellers. Over at the other end of the suite is a "bar." And it’s a bar like you’d see in a BAR. Behind the bar is a feller who inadvertently puts his weight on the top shelf underneath the bar.
IT FALLS TO THE SHELF BENEATH IT WITH A LOUD BANG. I bet (if I was a gambler) that Bruce Engelman shot six inches up out of his chair. Just about everyone in the room jumped. I am not a jumper, and do not jump at such noises. If it's gonna kill you, you are just wasting energy to jump. BUT, I SURE DID LAUGH!
The Givati Brigade is having their "thing" for the 197 families of their KILLED IN ACTION soldiers June 23rd, 24th and 25th. THEY HAVE ASKED FOR OUR HELP AGAIN. I haven’t promised them anything. But, I am going to try to raise the $30,000 they’ve asked me to help with. If you could help with that, Checks should be made out to Yedidim of Israel and sent to 5517 NW 23rd St., OKC, Ok, 73127, with the memo stating "June Givati KIA thing."
The Givati Brigade gets all these families together and tries to help them "feel good" for three days in lieu of the sacrifice their families have made in having a son Killed in Action! Some of you fellers don’t like my doing that, but, that's OK, I am a giver and not a taker, and so I enjoy it, and I think my Heavenly Father is pleased with it. If HE AIN’T, it won’t be a "hair off your leg," but it shall be off mine.
Our son John stayed with our son Tom while in OKC. Tom took him to the Airport early this morning. I called him a while ago. He gave Boogie a USC Leather Jacket the other night at the "Boogie Banquet." Someone climbed my case about calling it the "Boogie Banquet" telling me I ought be more respectful of the Vice Prime Minister of all Israel. I retorted in my best "smart alec" way, "I was being respectful in "huggin him whilst he was a huggin me" the other night. He and some others call me Jimbo. I call him Boogie. When they feed me they can call it a "Jimbo Banquet." When I feed him I shall call it a "Boogie Banquet." Anyway, John’s words on the phone this morning was, "Be sure to tell Boogie I want a picture of him wearing that USC jacket." He wants to show it off (that's what my wife says I do) to some of his USC friends.
So, maybe, Anat, Boogie’s Chief of Staff, who reads my (Will Rogers type)"writ," will read these lines, take his picture, and email it to me. Ifn she don’t, I suppose I shall have to email John a Picture of he and Boogie holding the jacket. That will then have to suffice till I get down to Boogie’s Kibbutz to help out with him when he does his milking chores, at which time I shall say, "Hey Boogie, my buddy, could I persuade you to put that Jacket on Johnny gave you from USC and let me take your picture?"
Beit Kobi needs 150,000 shekels for operating expenses. Beit Kobi is a "Home away from Home for IDF soldiers" who have no home in Israel. If you could help with that, you can either send the money to me, or send it directly to Beit Kobi. You can google them up. I told Aviva I would go to work on that. Dr. Garry Way’s church has probably helped both Beit Kobi and Givati more than any other church in America. Maybe they will be able to help again. I sure hope so.
Well, it is now 7:00 am. I need go out and visit with the Bride of my youth, my Precious Dawga Jo!
I remain, sincerely and gratefully, your dutiful friend and obedient servant,
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
Monday, February 21, 2011
More Updates from Israel
February 19, 2011
Dear Pastors:
From the beautiful Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem, Israel, where all "future events" will end up with this city as the center-piece, I write on this beautiful Saturday morning looking out over the City of Zion.
At a wedding of a Jewish Bride and Jewish Groom, the Hebrews have a custom in which they use the passage of Scripture from Psalms 137, breaking a glass, and making "holy vows" not to forget Zion. I wish you could have been here yesterday to hear Meryl Dzikansky’s explanation of the "wedding ceremony." I thought as she was explaining, ole hell-deserving sinner Jim Vineyard is heading also to a Wedding Supper one of these days, which, from Scripture, I simply call the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb."
Ps. 137:1, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land?
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."
For you dear ones which have helped to make this trip a reality, I just wish you could be here to hear these football players sing, "O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."
There is so much going on over here at this time, it is mind-boggling just trying to keep one’s mind in gear long enough to comprehend each and every thing. Events haven’t played out exactly as I would have had them to, but, I learned back there in July of 1967 when our second son Lorne Matthew, 3-1/2 years old, died during a simple tonsillectomy, I had to get my calendar fixed on God’s calendar.
As Omar, who we now call "Fast Freddy," (his time in the forty yard dash is 3.4 seconds – or, at least that's what he told me on the plane) and Jason, both found last fall as their dear mothers were escorted from this realm through the glories of heaven —GOD’S CALENDAR is the one we must "attune" our affections and attentions on!
NEWS FROM HERE:
The 25 generals now ruling Egypt believe the tide of international acclaim for the youthful, pro-democratic popular revolution that swept Hosni Mubarak out of office will also keep them in power for at least the next two years.
My intel sources in Washington and Cairo report exclusively that the supreme military council sent a message in no-nonsense terms to President Barack Obama and his administration Monday, Feb. 14 – their fourth day in power - laying out their six-point plan for the coming year and their expectations of Washington:
1. The military regime is committed to meeting Washington and the opposition's demands for a transition to democratic government. However, there should be no misunderstandings between Cairo and Washington: Before approaching that point, the military rulers need time to bring stability to Egypt and thoroughly study the steps necessary for reaching that objective.
2. A period of at least a year to two years - and perhaps more - is cited in the message.
Washington is advised to ignore last weekend's military bulletins promising a transition period of six months to a general election. There would be no election after six months, said the generals – or at any time before they feel the political and economic situation in the country is steady and a new constitution is formulated.
On this point, the Egyptian officers were brutally clear, say our sources. Without those pre-conditions, democracy would be of "no real value," they stressed, adding, "It would be complete madness to run for early elections… "
But, as I see it from here in Jerusalem, The generals will create a mechanism to keep them in control!
3. What would not be madness?
The officers explained elections cannot take place before the ruling National Democratic Party through which Mubarak ruled Egypt is overhauled and rebuilt from the bottom up. Friday, February 11, shortly before Mubarak's ouster became final, the military sacked the party secretary, Hossam Badrawi, just a few days after he was installed by Egypt's intelligence overlord, Gen. Omar Suleiman, who was then vice president.
The other generals want a military council consensus on this key appointment - not just one voice.
4. The Egyptian generals went on to warn President Obama that without an orderly, controlled transition to a stable government "anything could happen in Egypt, including events whose outcome no one can imagine."On this point, the generals were sending Washington a double message, sources say:
In the first place, they do not see the High Army Council role as technical - merely to oversee the writing of a new constitution, set the scene for a democratic election and then retire, leaving the rival political parties to vie for votes and the winners to run the country.
On no account, will the military rulers let this process go forward before they have put a strong political mechanism in place to guarantee the army's continued control over governance.
Never! say the Egyptian military to US on Muslim Brotherhood in government!
In the second place, the generals, like Mubarak and his predecessors, strongly object to raising the highly-organized Muslim Brotherhood to a role in government, thereby drawing the lines of the first major rift between the military junta in Cairo and the Obama administration in Washington.
Egypt's military rulers made this point very forcefully in their first message to the US, our Cairo sources report, because they were shocked and exasperated by the testimony given by James Clapper, Director of US National Intelligence to the House Intelligence Committee last Thursday, February 10, in response to a question about the Brothers from Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican from North Carolina.
"The term Muslim Brotherhood … is an umbrella term for a variety of movements," Clapper said. "… in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam. They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera… In other countries, there are also chapters or franchises of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally."
And ole JAV states unequivocally, "What an out of tune sap-sucker the ‘obamessiah’s’ Director of US National Intelligence is!"
This followed an article published in the Washington Post on February 3, under the headline "US Reexamining its Relationship with Muslim Brotherhood Opposition Group."
Clapper Thursday, Feb. 17, partly corrected his first briefing, admitting there was a wider range of opinion within the Brotherhood than he had represented - especially on the merits of preserving peace with Israel.
The WP article quoted Emile Nakhleh, a former CIA official who directed the agency's program for analyzing political Islam, who said: "If we are truly going to engage with the 99 percent of Muslims who do not support terrorism or violence, then we've got to engage indigenous groups, including Islamic political parties."
Although the Brotherhood is Egypt's best-organized opposition group, with an active charitable arm that dispenses social services nationwide, Nakhleh said it would not necessarily win a majority of votes in an open election. "They would be a hefty minority," he said, predicting that it would receive support from about 25 to 30 percent of the Egyptian population.
But, the question is, "Does the Brotherhood sees its chance to break into government?"
Egypt's generals inferred from what they were hearing that the Obama administration had departed from traditional US opposition to a role in government for the Muslim Brotherhood and decided to push for one in the post-Mubarak era.
Remember now, the Generals have just watched our "obamessiah" through Mubarak under the bus!
The army chiefs felt it important, therefore, to make Washington understand from the very outset that co-opting the Brotherhood to a future administration in Cairo was totally unacceptable to them.
Meanwhile, Brotherhood tacticians were encouraged by the signals from Washington.
Mohammed Mursi, a member of the group's political bureau, announced Tuesday, Feb. 15: "The Muslim Brotherhood believes in the freedom to form parties and is therefore determined to have its own political party."
This reversed their assertions in the course of the Egyptian uprising that they would neither put up a candidate for the presidency nor stand for election as a party. Under Mubarak they were banned but broadly tolerated.
Not any more: Mursi explained that the old constitution barred the establishment of any parties unless sanctioned by the ruling National Democratic Party. The regime which made those rules is gone.
5. Regarding the way Washington handled itself during the uprising, the generals wrote in their message: "In order to avoid such mistakes as happened during the last month, we propose" an American-Egyptian mechanism for coordinating future steps. Now, because of American "Flip-Flopping" Egypt's generals face must face US with good will and caution!
My Intel sources say that one of the highest-ranking officers of the High Army Council commented in a private conversation with fellow officers this week: "We don't want President Obama to keep breathing down our necks as he did in the past month. We also need to avoid falling into the mistakes he made - and will continue to make."
6. Even before this mechanism is in place, the generals made a gesture of good faith and willingness to cooperate with Washington – for as long as they are backed by the US: They duly notified the Obama administration of plans to keep two Mubarak-appointees in place - Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdi – while replacing at least half of the cabinet, including Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Abul-Gheit.
A new information minister would also be appointed to deal with the Egyptian media.
And so, the Ishamelites continue to "stir the pot" all over the Mid-East. I am told by my ex-Military friends here in Israel, folks who retired with high rank from the IDF, THAT the IDF has had to busy themselves greatly this past week "preparing rapid response teams" to expected "Cairo-style" West Bank demonstrations, which, in my opinion, will have the collective support of the idiots as clapper in the Obama administration.
The American government continues to send the wrong message to Israel’s enemies.
Washington should be saying right now that Israel is the US’s only stable, dependable and democratic ally in the fast-destabilizing Middle East.
In a worrying move this week, the US, through its Ambassador to the UN Susan E. Rice, reportedly informed Arab governments and the Palestinians that it would support a statement by the president of the UN Security Council censuring Israel for "settlement activity."
The US reportedly agreed to back a statement that "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, which is a serious obstacle to the peace process." According to news reports, the US also agreed to consider supporting a UN Security Council visit to the Middle East, the first since 1979, and to commit to supporting strong language criticizing Israel’s settlement policies in a future statement by the Middle East Quartet.
The Palestinians, however, were unwilling to budge on their demand that settlements be labeled "illegal" in a Security Council resolution, and are pushing to have the council vote on Friday. Barring a compromise, the Obama administration must now contemplate the prospect of using its veto power in the council for the first time. But even if the Palestinian resolution is vetoed by the US in the end, damage has already been done.
THERE ARE those who would play down the importance of Rice’s reported offer. It is no secret that the US views settlements as an obstacle to peace. The Obama administration even attempted, unsuccessfully, to introduce a complete building freeze in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem as a condition for the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians last year. Furthermore, a statement by the president of the Security Council is a declarative act that would have no substantive impact on Israeli policy.
Besides, if the US vetoes the Palestinian-pushed Security Council resolution as expected, that would be more than it did during the Carter administration. In March 1979, the UN Security Council passed resolution 446, stating that "the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East." The US abstained in that vote.
Yet the reported US willingness to diverge from what Israel regards as its interests and to cave in partially to Palestinian demands to censure Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East, contrasts sharply with its stated willingness to "engage" with, rather than punish, its enemies.
Just last month, for instance, the US appointed a new ambassador to Syria, a country that backs both terrorist insurgents killing American troops in Iraq, and Hezbollah, the terrorist organization responsible, among other outrages, for the deaths of 241 American soldiers in Lebanon in October 1983.
Washington should be saying right now that Israel is the US’s only stable, dependable and democratic ally in the fast-destabilizing Middle East.
THE MESSAGE that Washington should be sending out right now is that Israel is the US’s only stable, dependable and democratic ally in the fast-destabilizing Middle East.
I want to thank, once again, all of you who supported this trip, and I want to ask each of you to pray that these HYLES ANDERSON FELLAS will get the remaining "almost $5000" in to me "machen schnell" from what they still owe on the trip for Tuesday evening I shall have to have those monies in hand.
I remain, sincerely and gratefully, your dutiful friend and obedient servant,
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
Dear Pastors:
From the beautiful Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem, Israel, where all "future events" will end up with this city as the center-piece, I write on this beautiful Saturday morning looking out over the City of Zion.
At a wedding of a Jewish Bride and Jewish Groom, the Hebrews have a custom in which they use the passage of Scripture from Psalms 137, breaking a glass, and making "holy vows" not to forget Zion. I wish you could have been here yesterday to hear Meryl Dzikansky’s explanation of the "wedding ceremony." I thought as she was explaining, ole hell-deserving sinner Jim Vineyard is heading also to a Wedding Supper one of these days, which, from Scripture, I simply call the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb."
Ps. 137:1, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land?
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."
For you dear ones which have helped to make this trip a reality, I just wish you could be here to hear these football players sing, "O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."
There is so much going on over here at this time, it is mind-boggling just trying to keep one’s mind in gear long enough to comprehend each and every thing. Events haven’t played out exactly as I would have had them to, but, I learned back there in July of 1967 when our second son Lorne Matthew, 3-1/2 years old, died during a simple tonsillectomy, I had to get my calendar fixed on God’s calendar.
As Omar, who we now call "Fast Freddy," (his time in the forty yard dash is 3.4 seconds – or, at least that's what he told me on the plane) and Jason, both found last fall as their dear mothers were escorted from this realm through the glories of heaven —GOD’S CALENDAR is the one we must "attune" our affections and attentions on!
NEWS FROM HERE:
The 25 generals now ruling Egypt believe the tide of international acclaim for the youthful, pro-democratic popular revolution that swept Hosni Mubarak out of office will also keep them in power for at least the next two years.
My intel sources in Washington and Cairo report exclusively that the supreme military council sent a message in no-nonsense terms to President Barack Obama and his administration Monday, Feb. 14 – their fourth day in power - laying out their six-point plan for the coming year and their expectations of Washington:
1. The military regime is committed to meeting Washington and the opposition's demands for a transition to democratic government. However, there should be no misunderstandings between Cairo and Washington: Before approaching that point, the military rulers need time to bring stability to Egypt and thoroughly study the steps necessary for reaching that objective.
2. A period of at least a year to two years - and perhaps more - is cited in the message.
Washington is advised to ignore last weekend's military bulletins promising a transition period of six months to a general election. There would be no election after six months, said the generals – or at any time before they feel the political and economic situation in the country is steady and a new constitution is formulated.
On this point, the Egyptian officers were brutally clear, say our sources. Without those pre-conditions, democracy would be of "no real value," they stressed, adding, "It would be complete madness to run for early elections… "
But, as I see it from here in Jerusalem, The generals will create a mechanism to keep them in control!
3. What would not be madness?
The officers explained elections cannot take place before the ruling National Democratic Party through which Mubarak ruled Egypt is overhauled and rebuilt from the bottom up. Friday, February 11, shortly before Mubarak's ouster became final, the military sacked the party secretary, Hossam Badrawi, just a few days after he was installed by Egypt's intelligence overlord, Gen. Omar Suleiman, who was then vice president.
The other generals want a military council consensus on this key appointment - not just one voice.
4. The Egyptian generals went on to warn President Obama that without an orderly, controlled transition to a stable government "anything could happen in Egypt, including events whose outcome no one can imagine."On this point, the generals were sending Washington a double message, sources say:
In the first place, they do not see the High Army Council role as technical - merely to oversee the writing of a new constitution, set the scene for a democratic election and then retire, leaving the rival political parties to vie for votes and the winners to run the country.
On no account, will the military rulers let this process go forward before they have put a strong political mechanism in place to guarantee the army's continued control over governance.
Never! say the Egyptian military to US on Muslim Brotherhood in government!
In the second place, the generals, like Mubarak and his predecessors, strongly object to raising the highly-organized Muslim Brotherhood to a role in government, thereby drawing the lines of the first major rift between the military junta in Cairo and the Obama administration in Washington.
Egypt's military rulers made this point very forcefully in their first message to the US, our Cairo sources report, because they were shocked and exasperated by the testimony given by James Clapper, Director of US National Intelligence to the House Intelligence Committee last Thursday, February 10, in response to a question about the Brothers from Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican from North Carolina.
"The term Muslim Brotherhood … is an umbrella term for a variety of movements," Clapper said. "… in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam. They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera… In other countries, there are also chapters or franchises of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally."
And ole JAV states unequivocally, "What an out of tune sap-sucker the ‘obamessiah’s’ Director of US National Intelligence is!"
This followed an article published in the Washington Post on February 3, under the headline "US Reexamining its Relationship with Muslim Brotherhood Opposition Group."
Clapper Thursday, Feb. 17, partly corrected his first briefing, admitting there was a wider range of opinion within the Brotherhood than he had represented - especially on the merits of preserving peace with Israel.
The WP article quoted Emile Nakhleh, a former CIA official who directed the agency's program for analyzing political Islam, who said: "If we are truly going to engage with the 99 percent of Muslims who do not support terrorism or violence, then we've got to engage indigenous groups, including Islamic political parties."
Although the Brotherhood is Egypt's best-organized opposition group, with an active charitable arm that dispenses social services nationwide, Nakhleh said it would not necessarily win a majority of votes in an open election. "They would be a hefty minority," he said, predicting that it would receive support from about 25 to 30 percent of the Egyptian population.
But, the question is, "Does the Brotherhood sees its chance to break into government?"
Egypt's generals inferred from what they were hearing that the Obama administration had departed from traditional US opposition to a role in government for the Muslim Brotherhood and decided to push for one in the post-Mubarak era.
Remember now, the Generals have just watched our "obamessiah" through Mubarak under the bus!
The army chiefs felt it important, therefore, to make Washington understand from the very outset that co-opting the Brotherhood to a future administration in Cairo was totally unacceptable to them.
Meanwhile, Brotherhood tacticians were encouraged by the signals from Washington.
Mohammed Mursi, a member of the group's political bureau, announced Tuesday, Feb. 15: "The Muslim Brotherhood believes in the freedom to form parties and is therefore determined to have its own political party."
This reversed their assertions in the course of the Egyptian uprising that they would neither put up a candidate for the presidency nor stand for election as a party. Under Mubarak they were banned but broadly tolerated.
Not any more: Mursi explained that the old constitution barred the establishment of any parties unless sanctioned by the ruling National Democratic Party. The regime which made those rules is gone.
5. Regarding the way Washington handled itself during the uprising, the generals wrote in their message: "In order to avoid such mistakes as happened during the last month, we propose" an American-Egyptian mechanism for coordinating future steps. Now, because of American "Flip-Flopping" Egypt's generals face must face US with good will and caution!
My Intel sources say that one of the highest-ranking officers of the High Army Council commented in a private conversation with fellow officers this week: "We don't want President Obama to keep breathing down our necks as he did in the past month. We also need to avoid falling into the mistakes he made - and will continue to make."
6. Even before this mechanism is in place, the generals made a gesture of good faith and willingness to cooperate with Washington – for as long as they are backed by the US: They duly notified the Obama administration of plans to keep two Mubarak-appointees in place - Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdi – while replacing at least half of the cabinet, including Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Abul-Gheit.
A new information minister would also be appointed to deal with the Egyptian media.
And so, the Ishamelites continue to "stir the pot" all over the Mid-East. I am told by my ex-Military friends here in Israel, folks who retired with high rank from the IDF, THAT the IDF has had to busy themselves greatly this past week "preparing rapid response teams" to expected "Cairo-style" West Bank demonstrations, which, in my opinion, will have the collective support of the idiots as clapper in the Obama administration.
The American government continues to send the wrong message to Israel’s enemies.
Washington should be saying right now that Israel is the US’s only stable, dependable and democratic ally in the fast-destabilizing Middle East.
In a worrying move this week, the US, through its Ambassador to the UN Susan E. Rice, reportedly informed Arab governments and the Palestinians that it would support a statement by the president of the UN Security Council censuring Israel for "settlement activity."
The US reportedly agreed to back a statement that "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, which is a serious obstacle to the peace process." According to news reports, the US also agreed to consider supporting a UN Security Council visit to the Middle East, the first since 1979, and to commit to supporting strong language criticizing Israel’s settlement policies in a future statement by the Middle East Quartet.
The Palestinians, however, were unwilling to budge on their demand that settlements be labeled "illegal" in a Security Council resolution, and are pushing to have the council vote on Friday. Barring a compromise, the Obama administration must now contemplate the prospect of using its veto power in the council for the first time. But even if the Palestinian resolution is vetoed by the US in the end, damage has already been done.
THERE ARE those who would play down the importance of Rice’s reported offer. It is no secret that the US views settlements as an obstacle to peace. The Obama administration even attempted, unsuccessfully, to introduce a complete building freeze in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem as a condition for the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians last year. Furthermore, a statement by the president of the Security Council is a declarative act that would have no substantive impact on Israeli policy.
Besides, if the US vetoes the Palestinian-pushed Security Council resolution as expected, that would be more than it did during the Carter administration. In March 1979, the UN Security Council passed resolution 446, stating that "the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East." The US abstained in that vote.
Yet the reported US willingness to diverge from what Israel regards as its interests and to cave in partially to Palestinian demands to censure Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East, contrasts sharply with its stated willingness to "engage" with, rather than punish, its enemies.
Just last month, for instance, the US appointed a new ambassador to Syria, a country that backs both terrorist insurgents killing American troops in Iraq, and Hezbollah, the terrorist organization responsible, among other outrages, for the deaths of 241 American soldiers in Lebanon in October 1983.
Washington should be saying right now that Israel is the US’s only stable, dependable and democratic ally in the fast-destabilizing Middle East.
THE MESSAGE that Washington should be sending out right now is that Israel is the US’s only stable, dependable and democratic ally in the fast-destabilizing Middle East.
I want to thank, once again, all of you who supported this trip, and I want to ask each of you to pray that these HYLES ANDERSON FELLAS will get the remaining "almost $5000" in to me "machen schnell" from what they still owe on the trip for Tuesday evening I shall have to have those monies in hand.
I remain, sincerely and gratefully, your dutiful friend and obedient servant,
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
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