If you are into building websites.

If you are into building websites and are looking for a low priced hosting account. It seems the best deal out there is from HostGator.com. You can see more about this here. 

Free Haggadot. Happy Pesach

Pesach is coming up this Monday night. If anyone is making a Seder and needs Haggadot, you can get a free PDF Haggadah here.

Happy Pesach to all of Am Yisrael!!!

There is just too much going on for me to keep up!

You may have noticed that I haven't posted for over a week now. This is not because of a lack of things to post about. In fact it is just the opposite! The problem is that I have been much more busy than usual with my work over the last week and probably will continue to be so until Pesach.

I just couldn't let the whole week go by without addressing some of the issues that have come up this week so here it goes.

The Pope is visiting Jerusalem
...and the new mayor Nir Barkat is crossing his legs to keep from peeing himself from excitement. He is going to have the Kotel plaza scrubbed and polished to a shine. He is repaving all of the broken roads leading to the Kotel and the Mount of Olives where the Pope will hold mass. He is also having all beggars removed from the areas where His Evilness will visit.

This is the way that Israelis do things. They don't keep Jerusalem beautiful all year round for the sake of its residents, for the sake of tourism or just for God's sake. But when this scumbag wants to visit, instead of banning him as they should, they go and clean up the city in his honor.

Oops. Iran has enough Uranium for a nuke.
Jews need to get it through their head. Much, if not most of the world hates us! It is a historical fact. There is not a country on Earth where Jews have been and have not been persecuted at one time or another. What more need I say.

We need to stop relying on America as our great savior. They are standing by for years now watching Iran develop a nuke and doing nothing. If we want to have a country and survive we need to make it clear to the whole world that whoever messes with us will be sorry. Israel, one of the smallest nations on the face of the Earth also happens to have one of the strongest militaries on Earth. We need to let people like Ahmedinejad know that we have nuclear weapons and have no problem using them against any nation who's leaders even hint at attacking Israel.

We neeed to project an image of being hyper-sensitive to talk of killing Jews. I propose war against Iran immediately. And not one of these 'we are at war against the government of Iran not the people' kind of wars. There is no place for that. If the people of Iran don't like what their government is doing, let them rise up and stop it as they did only a few decades ago.

All of those Jew haters out there need to know that we don't care if you love us, but if you even look at us the wrong way it is you who will be wiped off the map.

Bibi just wants to be loved

Right after the elections, I wrote about the coalition that I expect Bibi to form. Shortly after that, I wrote that I was very afraid that he was going to go with a 'unity government'.

It is yet to be seen if my prediction was correct (let's all pray that it wasn't). But the events of the last week have proved beyond a doubt that my assessment of the situation was right on. Bibi is scared to death of a right wing government. There is nothing that he fears more, than being held accountable to carry out the right wing rhetoric that he preached during the campaign. He just won't stop kissing up to Tzippy Livni, trying to get her to join a 'unity government'.

The question that nobody asks is, "why?" What on Earth is good about a unity government? The whole point of democracy is that the people determine the path that their nation should take. Sometimes it leans to the left and sometimes to right. In this case the people of Israel elected 65 right wing Knesset members 28 centrists (Kadima) and only 27 leftists (of which 8 are Arab). The clear will of the people is a move to the Right! Yet Bibi, do to his own personal emotional issues, wants a unity government and that seems normal to people.

This essentially means that the people don't have the right to elect a Right-wing government. When companies do this we call it a cartel. When politicians do it we call it "Unity"!

There is so much more that I would like to write about, but I will have to leave it here and get back to work. Please stick with me for the next few weeks while I take care of business here. In the mean time, please remember to interact with the ads on the site if you see one that interests you. That will help my justify the time I am stealing from work.

It's nice to see I'm not the only one who knows that the Catholic Church is evil.

To me it seems obvious that the Catholic Church is an evil institution. I have made this opinion of mine clear in several of my posts. It seems utterly clear to me that our people should not pursue ties with the worldwide mafia that is the Vatican.

Although I am sure that some of my fellow Jewish fanatics would agree with me on this point, I rarely find it expressed in the opinion columns of 'main stream' newspapers and websites. In fact it seems to me that here in Israel the same leftists in the media who are so quick to attack the Jewish religion and religious Jews, are the very first people to advocate for stronger ties with the Vatican. This is something that never ceases to baffle me. I would not say that the world of religious Judaism is free of problems, but, I haven't yet heard of any Chassidic Rebbes ordering their followers to burn people at the stake.

So I was happy to see this article over at YnetNews.com (poorly written as it may be):

A needless relationship
Why do Jews need ties with Vatican when Popes do nothing to curb anti-Semitism?
Noah Klieger

“How wonderful,” it took the Pope “only” a month of hesitation before he declared that one should not be denying the Holocaust, while ruling that British Bishop Richard Williamson should not be reinstated by the Catholic Church. This religious cleric, who belongs to the fanatic Society of St. Pius X, made a name for himself as a serial Holocaust denier and a declared anti-Semite.

Even though the bishop repeated his claim that there were no gas chambers in Auschwitz in the days before he was pardoned by the Pope, after 20 years of excommunication, Benedict XVI saw no reason to annul the pardon. Only the protests led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the Jewish communities of course, “convinced” the Pope to retract. “Bishop Williamson…will have to take his distance, in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion, from his position on the Shoah,” the Vatican said, as if this can erase Williamson’s words and actions.

Please allow me to go back to 1979 and recount my trip with then-Jewish Agency Chairman and World Zionist Organization President Aryeh Dolchin. We travelled to Vienna and Rome, and Dolchin had a meeting scheduled with Pope John Paul II. However, Dolchin called off the meeting after the Pope’s representatives informed him that he will only be received for a few minutes, between one official meeting and another while being led into the palace via a side entrance.

“I represent the Jewish people and my status is no lower than that of the head of the Catholic Church,” he told the Pope’s representatives.

And why am I mentioning the late Dolchin at this time? Because I never understood why we, the Jews, need a relationship with the Pope and his Church. After all, we never benefited in any way from these ties.

Anti-Semitism never ceased
Let’s examine the dry facts: Did Pius XII, the Pope who reigned during Hitler’s rule in Germany and Europe, ever speak out against the extermination of the Jews? Certainly not. He saw nothing, knew nothing, and said nothing. And what did the various Popes who succeeded him do? Did they order all priests to stop their incitement against the Jewish people? Did they forbid various religious clerics, such as Polish Cardinal Jozef Glemp, to spread anti-Semitism? No.

Indeed, about 30 years ago, the Vatican issued a statement absolving Jews from Jesus’ crucifixion – almost 2,000 years after the fact – yet did any Church loyalist conduct himself in line with this declaration? We also had a Pope who made a historic first visit to a synagogue. What a brave step!

The anti-Semitism created, led, and disseminated by Christianity ever since it was established never ceased, and these days it again raises its head. So why do we need ties with the Pope? In any case, God’s representatives on earth, according to the Catholic Church, did nothing and will do nothing significant in order to curb anti-Semitism.

I don't know the author or his views. It seems to me that that article doesn't go far enough in its condemnation of the Catholic Church but it is still refreshing to see someone who is against pandering to the Pope get published at Ynet. It is a step in the right direction.

Just as I feared

Yesterday I posted about how happy I was that I ended up ignoring my own advice and voting Ichud Leumi.

My point was that the numbers worked out in such a way that Bibi would be forced to choose between a right wing coalition or a left wing coalition. If he chooses the right wing, then I am glad that I voted Ichud Leumi because they will keep him honest. If he chooses the left, then I am even more glad that I didn't give my vote to Bibi.

One of my fellow right-wing-fire-breathing-settler bloggers posted twice yesterday regarding the situation. He seemed very convinced that Bibi would choose the right wing option. He even proposed a potential list of ministry portfolios.

I commented on his post, saying that he is getting ahead of himself. It is yet to be seen if Bibi will choose the option of a right wing coalition. He may very well choose a deal with the left. I told him that his portfolio list looked more like a right wing dream team than a realistic prediction.

Unfortunately, I think I may have been correct. Take a look at this article from the Jerusalem Post:

Consensus forming on Likud-led unity gov't with Kadima

This is exactly what I was afraid would happen. Like Moshe Feiglin always says, "In Israel, when you vote for the left, you get left, and when you vote for the right you get more left."

I have a very good friend who is older and wiser than me. I respect his opinion very much. A couple of days before the election, I asked him who he is voting for, he told me that he is not voting. He told me that after many years of experience in this country, he has come to realize that it makes absolutely no difference who you vote for in this country, you always get the agenda of the left wing. Therefore he decided that he doesn't want any part in the process and will be spending his day-off on election day praying and studying Torah. At least that has a chance of helping.

His words hit me very hard. Ultimately, I felt that to not vote at all is still wrong. But I decided to abandon my thoughts of voting Likud for strategic reasons and give my vote to the only party that I at least know I can trust.

I sure am glad now that I didn't vote Likud. My guess is that we are going to see Bibi form the worst kind of government possible. He will use his name as a right-winger to lend strength and authority to the positions and policies of the left. And this is at a time when we have Obama in the White House pushing Israel harder than ever to seal a suicide pact with the Arab world. I never would have forgiven myself if I had lent my vote to that.

I hope that I am wrong, but a rarely am.

In the end, as my friend said, we only have God Himself to rely on.

A very useful election link

Here is a link that is very useful for anyone who wants to understand more about the election results here in Israel.

Politico Detailed Election Results

This site allows you to see election results city by city.  Some of the results are fascinating.

Bibi was right to be afraid.

(First and foremost,  I know all of you are wondering who I voted for in the end.  When it came down to the moment of truth, I couldn't bring myself to vote Likud.  Both my wife and I voted Ichud Leumi.)

The results are pretty much in.  For those of you who don't read Hebrew:

Likud 27

Kadima 28

Labor 13

Israel Beiteinu 15

Shas 15

Meretz 3

United Torah Judaism 5 

Ichud Leumi 4

Jewish Home 3

Ram Tal (Arab) 4

Chadash (Arab) 4

Of course these results are still not entirely final.  There is still about 0.3% of the vote that has not been counted.  This is mostly from Army bases and hospitals.  Those votes have to be counted very carefully to make sure that those people didn't vote once at their regular polling place and then again at the mobile polling place.  Once these results come in, they could be enough to shift any one of the parties at most 1 seat in either direction.

What does all of this mean?  Here's my take.

What it really boils down to is this.  Who is the real Bibi Netanyahu?  

If he is only interested in power, keeping his seat as long as possible, and looking good in the eyes of the world (especially the USA), he will work out some kind of power sharing situation with Kadima, Labor etc.

If he is truly a nationalist who wants to retain all of the Land of Israel without compromise, he will form a right wing/religious coalition.  If he does this, he will have a very stable 65 seats.  

Bibi holds the keys here.  It is next to impossible for Tzippy Livni to form a coalition if Likud refuses to join.  

This makes me very happy that I voted Ichud Leumi in the end and not Likud.  You see, we now have the perfect test scenario to know who is the real Bibi.  If Likud had a clear majority, Bibi would have been able to give in to his bad habit of turning left after he gets elected.  Now he will have to make his intentions clear from the outset.  If he chooses a Right/Religious coalition, then we will know that he meant everything that he said during the campaign.  More importantly, he will have the smaller, more right wing parties like Ichud Leumi, there to hold him to his word.

 

If Bibi chooses to make some kind of deal with the left, it will mean that he never intended to be strong and hold on to our land.  In that case, I will be even more happy that I didn't vote Likud!

When all is said and done. I think that this is the very best result that us right-wing-extremists could have hoped for.  At least there is a descent chance that we are going to get a government made up of parties who's sole thing in common is a desire (albeit to varying degrees) to not give away land to the Arabs.

When all is said and done, Bibi was right to be afraid.  His worst nightmare has come true.  He is not going to be left to do what he feels like.  Whichever path he chooses, he will have a strong babysitter sitting over his head making sure that he sticks to it.   

Let's hope he makes the right choice.