Tuesday 19 June 2007

The Jewish State


You can hear some strange opinions in Israel. Among the stranger that I’ve heard recently is the theory of the mixed multitude, as follows: When the Israelites fled Egypt, it is believed that certain Egyptians and others were amongst them. This “mixed multitude” thus contained non-Jews, and it is held by some that the descendents of these non-Jews are still living amongst the Jewish people – an infiltration of Goyim has polluted the purity of the Jewish nation. Which means that some of the world’s Jews are – God forbid! – not Jewish. Oi vay! Shame, shame, shame upon them...(read on here)

Monday 18 June 2007

Hilltop Youth


Standing precariously close to the edge of the mountain, the two boys gazed down at the town below them as they waved their outsized flags with pride. But they weren’t a couple of valiant explorers who had successfully scaled a previously unconquered peak, and they weren’t inviting the villagers below to share their sense of jubilation. What they were, instead, were two religious settler youths who’d come back to the abandoned settlement of Homesh and were taunting the townspeople below with the Star of David. Why? To, in their words, “show them that we’re back – and that we’re not going anywhere”... (read on at commentisfree)

Jacob and Esau


“I feel we are part of the Bible. It’s a very spiritual experience.”

Daniella Weiss, the mayor of Kedumim, sees her West Bank settlement as central to the Jewish people’s return to the Holy Land. On the wall behind her hangs a familiar looking landscape, but I find myself disorientated as I gaze at the unrecognisable and rather bizarre marble structure in the foreground. After a few seconds I realise that this is the imagined Jerusalem of the future – complete with a rebuilt Temple where the Al-Aqsa Mosque now stands. It is an emphatic illustration of Daniella’s vision, which is apparently one step closer to being realised, now that the Jewish people have returned to Judea and Samaria...
(read on at commentisfree)