Tag: France

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As the World Changes, When it Comes to “Palestine” France Remains the Same

With Donald Trump and other leaders hinting at other options in regard to solving the Israel-Arab conflict, the French as always are trying to stand out as the single most anti-Semitic and anti-Israel country.  This should not be a surprise.  After all, during World War 2 while the Danes hid their Jewish citizens from the Nazis, the French gladly handed the Jews among them over. In today’s France 154 French parliament members have signed on to a letter directed at French President Francois Hollande, calling on him to recognize the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign state. This is a country that is being swallowed up by radical Islam and whose President has a 4% approval rating precisely because of the threat of radical Islam against the French his policies created.

The text of the letter states:

“France must demonstrate its determination to break the deadlock on the conflict by solemnly reaffirming, in the name of the inalienable right of self-determination, that the Palestinian people are entitled to a State,” the joint letter to Hollande reads.

“Mr. President, show yourself up to the challenge and do not miss this rendezvous with history, recognizing the State of Palestine now.”

Of course, the French can do what they want.  They always have.  This time though, the world really doesn’t care what they say.

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Piercing the Darkness of France at the End of Days

Three Decades ago the seventh and last Lubavitcher Rebbe told us that Tzarfat(France) would be the last home base of the Evil Inclination at the End of Days when the 70 nations of the world would unite against us to divide the Land of Israel as mentioned in Zecharia 14 and Yo’el 3 and 4.  In both Zecharia and Yo’el, the language is that “all” the nations or “all 70” nations from the Tower of Bavel would unite to divide Yerushalayim (in the case of Zecharia) and all of the Land of Israel (in the case of Yo’el 4).  And the language in both cases is TO DIVIDE.  He said this based on Bereishit 28:14 which says that while HaShem appeared before Ya’akov Avinu after Ya’akov had his dream of a ladder with angels ascending and descending, HaShem told him:  יד  וְהָיָה זַרְעֲךָ כַּעֲפַר הָאָרֶץ, וּפָרַצְתָּ יָמָּה וָקֵדְמָה וְצָפֹנָה וָנֶגְבָּה; וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ כָּל-מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה, וּבְזַרְעֶךָ. 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  From this we see that at the End of Days, while not in our ancient past, Ya’akov seed would Ufaratzta, a double entendre which can mean “to pierce or burst through” or “to spread out”. that is that the Messianic Era would erupt on the world scene through as veil of darkness and would encompass the entire planet by bursting through the last great darkness of our world of lies!  And when would this occur?   Well we see from the verb Ufaratzta (וּפָרַצְתָּ) that first we remove the Vav which turns a past tense verb into a future tense verb leaving us with (פָרַצְתָּ).  Then we juggle those same letters around a bit and we get the name Tzarfat (צרפת).  Now according to the Lubavitcher Rebbe from this we learn that at the time the light of Mashiach bursts through the darkness of this present World of Lies, the 70 nations who yearn to divide the Land of Israel at the End of Days will try to execute their evil plan from Tzarfat!  (Remember that the Gematriah of Gog UMagog (גוג ומגוג) is 70.)  And 70 nations DID gather in Tzarfat on January 15th, 2017 (17th of Tevet 5777) for this purpose precisely 271 days, the length of an ideal pregnancy, before the end of Chag Sukkot 5778!  If Kislev had had 30 days as it usually does, then the 271st day would have been Hoshana Rabbah itself!  But this year because of a necessary tweak in the Jewish calendar, Kislev only had 29 days JUST so that next Yom Kippur would not fall on a Motzei Shabbat so that we would not have two days in a row of total Issur Melachah (when all creative work is forbidden for 48 hours including not being able to cook).  Notice that the the molad for Shevat was less than two hours before the beginning of Rosh Chodesh Shevat here in Israel.  It was at 5:36pm while sunset on Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Shevat was around 7:10 pm.  Surely a new moon would not have been seen in ancient times on the night of this past Rosh Chodesh, but this was done this way by those who inter-calculated the calendar in the Fourth Century just so that the following Yom Kippur would not fall on Motzei Shabbat. If Rosh Chodesh Shevat and later Rosh Chodesh Tishrei 5778 were to be declared solely from spotting the nascent crescent New Moon, Rosh Chodesh would be the following day in Tishrei, Rosh HaShanah 5778, making the 1st of Tishrei on a Friday instead of a Thursday.  So it is easy to see that in Shamayim this Paris Pieces Conference was PRECISELY 271 days prior to and including Hoshana Rabbah 5778, the length of an ideal pregnancy in the Talmud in Niddah.

This story, though, of France as a nation of debased prostitution in the bedroom and in the halls of international diplomacy does not have a recent beginning.  It goes back to the beginning of the 70 nations.  We read from Bereishit 10 that Yafeth’s son Gomer had three children: Ashkenaz, Rifat, and Togarmah.  It is an accepted mesorah that Ashkenaz is Germany, and many think that Togarmah is Turkey. But what about Rifat?  Rifat is the progenitor of ancient France which at its inception was a Celtic nation, only later to become a Romance nation after Caesar’s invasion of Gaul.  The name for Rifat in Sefer Ovadia is Tzarfat which is Rifat with a Tzadee added to the front of his name.  To understand why he may have added that tzadee, an explanation will follow later in this post, but before there was Tzarfat (צרפת), there was Rifat (רִיפַת) without the initial tzadee.  Now these Celts from Tzarfat migrated up into England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, but they got their start in the heart of France.  So a study of Celtic immediately tells you that Celtic is a Germanic (or Gomeric) language which fits our profile.  And as we know from Sefer Yechezkel, Rifat as one of the 70 original nations will gleefully join, the invasion of Israel lead by Meshech and Tuval as it says in Yechezkel 38:6:    גֹּמֶר, וְכָל-אֲגַפֶּיהָ–בֵּית תּוֹגַרְמָה, יַרְכְּתֵי צָפוֹן וְאֶת-כָּל-אֲגַפָּיו; עַמִּים רַבִּים, אִתָּךְ. Gomer, and all his bands (that is including Rifat and Ashkenaz); the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his bands; even many peoples with thee.  

Looking at the original name for the French nation, the actual origin of the name screams for an interpretation.  The name Rifat is part of the Hebrew verb conjugation group called Binyan Pi’el (פיעל) with a Yud between the first and second letter of the root.  Binyan Pi’el is always active voice and unlike the basic binyan Pa’al (פעל), Pi’el with a Yud almost always has a direct object as an object that is acted upon even if the object being acted upon is only implied and not mentioned.  For instance, one can say that I sat or I sat down (ישבתי), Yashavti.  Notice the sentence “I sat.” or “I sat down.” does not have a noun after the verb which is a direct object and that you can say that sentence without the listener asking for that direct object.  This is often the case with Binyan Pa’al even though Binyan Pa’al may or may not act on a direct object.  It can go either way.  One can say “I wrote” (Katavti) or “I wrote the book” (Katavti et HaSefer.), same verb with or without a direct object.  Yet, with Pi’el, the verb usually begs for the need for a direct object.  Getting back to the Yud Shin Vet shoresh (in Pi’el), Yishavti ( יישבתי) means “I settled” which is very similar to “I sat down” except that I sat down does not have a direct object while to say “I settled” begs the listener to ask, “You settled what?”  The answer would then be, (יישבתי את היישוב), I settled the yishuv or from another Pi’el word (קיימתי את היישוב) (Qiyamti eth haYishuv.)”I maintained the settlement.”  In both cases a direct object is called for by the conjugation of the verb in Binyan Pi’el.  So getting back to our name Rifat, we see that Rifat (ריפת) before it became Tzarfat (צרפת) is a word in the Pi’el conjugation of the root (רפת).  A Refet is a cow barn, a place where one houses cows and a place where one milks cows too.  So our implacable enemy at the End of Days is an ancient Dairy Farmer!  From his name we see that he works long hours in cow barns.  Now for those of us who only drink Cholov Yisrael here in Eretz Yisrael and in places where it is readily available such as on the East Coast of the US or in Chicago, we really don’t know if the French dairymen mix some of their cow milk with milk from horses or pigs, but at least the “face” that they show the world is that they are dairy farmers EVEN onto this present day.  Notice that number One and Two in the world in dairy production are Canada at number One and France at number Two.  Canada would of course be number One because in addition to their large French province, Quebec, their dairy production is supplemented by all their English speaking provinces in a much larger land mass than France or Quebec alone.  Yet, the French are STILL number Two in the world while Canada with Quebec included is at number One at dairy farming and dairy product production.  From this we see that Rifat IS still a dairyman even to this present day.  (In the previous post at the End of Comments on that post, I discussed why this might be important for those who can begin to put this post together with that comment.  I don’t want to discuss it here.)

 Yet, the French have another national character trait which personifies who they are as a nation.  The French have always been a nation whose pre-eminent feature is Zenut (not just in the bedroom but in the world of adopting the mores of others in order to be loved by them).  So when Julius Caesar showed up in this land of the Celts, they easily disposed of their Gomeric language, and they instituted a new Romance language just so that their culture would now be palatable in Rome.  Time and time again the French would repeat this pattern of easily surrendering their ancient heritage to the heritage of others in order to be loved by them.  This character trait or lack of character of the French nation would in a basic sense become characteristic of who they really are.  So in addition to being whores in the bedroom, they became the whores in the halls of international diplomacy too.  Yet, since Ancient France was really Rifat, how did they appear later with a Tzadee in front of their name?  In short, how did Rifat become TzaRfat??
For this we need to venture forth to Rav Matis Weinberg’s Sefer on Chanukah where he discusses the difference between Yawan (יון} and Tzion (ציון).  Notice that the only difference between Yawan and Tzion is the tzadee or the Tzaddik.  Yawan and Tzion are very very similar in so many ways.   When Noach sent the dove forth from the ark it was a male dove which is usually known as a ben Yonah in Hebrew (בן יונה), he was sending forth into the world two nations, Yawan and Yisrael.  But in reality Yonah is the female of that species and usually represents Yisrael.  Truncating off of Yonah its femine Hey gives us Yon (יון).  Now from this we see that the male of the species is Yawan!.  Now, Mashiach ben David, as opposed to Mashiach ben Yosef who represents all of Yisrael, the Yonah, physically at least, is also the male aspect of the Good inclination and is also represented by the exact same letters that represent Yawan and are also pronounced Yon (יון)!!  But Mashiach ben David is called a ben Yonah because he comes out of the Tribes of Yisrael who are called Yonah.  Now it is said about Greece and Yisrael,  They had their sages, and Yisrael had their sages.  They have eternity (Netzach), and so does Yisrael.  They believed that the greatest fruits of Man come from Wisdom and Reason.  So does Yisrael.  The similarities between Yawan and Yisrael run very very deep and are easily confused as a first impression by a perfunctory glance at the two civilizations.  From Shir haShirim (the Song of Songs) we see that HaShem recognizes the Equal Beauty of both Yawan and Yisrael, one from Yefeth and the other from Shem:
טו  הִנָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי, הִנָּךְ יָפָה עֵינַיִךְ יוֹנִים. 15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; Your eyes are as two doves.

The difference between the two nations lies in what comes next after Noach sent forth the dove a second time (not the perfunctory first time), the dove who represents both civilizations. from the Ark.  So first he sent forth the dove and it returned to the Ark because it could not find rest for its feet.  Then Seven Days later ON THE 8TH DAY, he sent forth the dove a second time…. And lo and behold the dove returns  לְעֵת עֶרֶב towards evening whose gematriah is 772, the first full year after Minchah Gedolah of the 6th Millennium (after 12:30pm on the Cosmic Clock), the year 5772, which is towards evening with an olive branch in his mouth.  This olive branch, of course, is a remez to Chanukah and how the difference between Israel and the nations of the world is the difference between the natural order in the number 7 and the transcendent or sanctified order in the number 8.  Even the word for oil Shemen refers to the number 8 or Shmonah!  And while other kosher oils that can be used to light Shabbat candles also attach the physical world to the transcendent world, Olive oil bypasses all spiritual intermediaries and attaches us to G-d’s Throne of Glory.  Also the laws of the Torah that most bothered the Greeks were the laws that pointed to Israel as The transcendent, peculiar nation of the world.  From Brit Milah on the 8th day, to determining actual dates by spotting and sanctifying the New Moon and thereby determining destiny for such and such day of a particular month, Antiochus IV sought to forbid such activity.  The Greeks were a nation infatuated with the number 7 and the natural order especially after their desire for idolatry was removed from the world by the Men of the Great Assembly before Alexander the Great went forth to Hellenize the world (7 Wonders of the World or 7 notes in a musical scale aka the 7 Sephirot of the animal soul which they called the Music of the Spheres).  They despised the one nation that was commanded to serve a G-d who transcended nature itself. And by forcing Nature upon the nation that is commanded to serve a transcendent G-d,  that nation had no choice but to break the chains of the Hellenistic culture that tried to enslave its soul.

וַתָּבֹא אֵלָיו הַיּוֹנָה לְעֵת עֶרֶב, וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה-זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ; וַיֵּדַע נֹחַ, כִּי-קַלּוּ הַמַּיִם מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ. 11 And the dove came in to him at eventide;and lo in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

And just PRIOR to sending forth the dove the first time we read:

וַיְשַׁלַּח, אֶת-הָעֹרֵב; וַיֵּצֵא יָצוֹא וָשׁוֹב, עַד-יְבֹשֶׁת הַמַּיִם מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ.  7 And he sent forth a raven (or crow), and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

So in verse 7 we learn that first Noach sent forth the menuval or reprobate bird representing the most morally debased nations of the world as represented by the Oreiv (the Raven or the Crow).  These nations accuse even Noach of having relations with their mate (the female raven) because they would have relations with Noach’s wife if they could have the opportunity.   Then according to Rashi, Noach waited 7 days to send forth the Dove who represents both Yawan and Israel because both are without blemish. As it says, in the Zohar 237a on the verse from BaMidbar 19:2 dealing with the red heifer:

ב  זֹאת חֻקַּת הַתּוֹרָה, אֲשֶׁר-צִוָּה יְהוָה לֵאמֹר:  דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה תְּמִימָה אֲשֶׁר אֵין-בָּהּ מוּם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-עָלָה עָלֶיהָ, עֹל. 2 This is the statute of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer, faultless, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.

The Zohar states that this is Yawan who is close to the path of emunah (but not there yet).  What the Zohar seems to be saying is that Yawan, more than any Noachide nation, has the potential to keep the 7 Noachide Laws.  This is the difference between the reprobate bird (our raven in the Flood account) and the dove who is released seven days later.  With their infatuation with the number 7 and the laws of nature, one might think that this would be second nature to the Greeks, but it isn’t, of course. Free will is a second nature, but choosing the Yetzer HaTov is NOT a foregone conclusion.  It is so much easier just to morally follow the other nations of the world that you are Hellenizing because of your conquest.  And that is precisely what ancient Greece did.  Because they had no Tzadee attached to the name Yawan, there was no guarantee for them to choose the harder path of righteousness.   So ancient Greece fell away, and only the Dove who attaches the tzadee or righteousness to its national destiny gets to turn the Yon (יון) the male dove released by Noach into (ציון) Tzion.  From Tzion the Torah will go forth, and the World of the L-rd from Yerushalayim!

So the French seeing all this and knowing their antecedents (since they are from Yafeth like Yawan is) on the Ark of Noach, see all this and decide that they too want to be tzaddikim!!  But their definition of a tzaddik is NOT to follow the commands of their Creator.  Remember the French have a national tendency far more than the Greeks to adopt the culture of the nations of the world in order to be loved by them.  That is really the essence of their evil inclination, and they seem more adept at doing that than every other nation.  So, presto!, they decide to determine their own definition of their righteousness by how beloved they are!!  And in that merit of being beloved by so many nations (70 it seems), they get to add a tzadee to their name!!  So from working in the Refet, as a milk producer, suddenly they are instantly a tzaddik!!….in their own minds of course.  Remember in the 18th Century, there were two Revolutions for spreading democracy to Mankind:  The American Revolution which predicated their revolution on making a this worldly covenant with the Creator of the Universe and the French Revolution who simply believed in their motto:  Liberté, égalité, fraternité  (We are all free.  We are all equal [not because we are created equal but because where we must end up must be equal.] We are all brothers.) Notice that by not predicating their revolution on a barometer of Noachide righteousness attached to their Creator, the French Revolution was doomed from the start.  And the American Revolution?  Well it just produced the greatest self-generated noble experiment in human history at least for serving G-d for reward in Olam HaZeh.  American national service to G-d may not be for Olam HaBa, but it is not America that is the Eternal nation in Olam HaBa anyway.  That distinction belongs to Israel.  But as a Noachide nation, at least America got the Olam HaZeh interaction with G-d down pat.  In contrast, the French Revolution internally was a disaster, but in their intense desire to be loved by the world, they continued to apply those disastrous principles to the world in which they excelled, the World of International Diplomacy.  So now at the end of history when 2/3rds of the people in all nations have reached a level of putrid reprobation, the spiritual level of the raven on the Ark, the French have become the focal point of uniting the debased values of the 70 nations of the world and pointing at G-d’s chosen nation claiming to be more righteous than we are by virtue of how beloved they are amongst those 70 debased nations. In this way, France is the last seat of the Evil Inclination at the End of Days.

Note: None of the above is meant to imply that all Frenchmen are steeped in the immoral value of diplomatic prostitution.  While the tendency of that French nation IS precisely that, individuals are often better than the cultural tendency of the nation that they are a part of.  And while the peak of the bell curve in France is toward this bad character trait, the range of individuals at the base of any bell curve is far greater than the differences between nations as represented by where the peaks of the curve are in comparison with the peaks of the curves of other nations.  And French Jews?:  Obviously, the less French you are in this horrible character trait of desiring to be loved by a fallen world, that some have absorbed over this long exile, the more likely that none of this applies to you.

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Eric Zemmour: Israel to Help the French Army Ethnically Cleanse Muslims from France

According to the Daily Mail, controversial political commentator Eric Zemmour claims the French Army is busy hashing out a secret plan with the help of Israeli Army “specialists” to cleanse France of its Muslim population.

“The plan is already in the pipeline, it is called Operation Brambles. It was developed with the help of Israeli army specialists who have passed on to their French colleagues their experience of Gaza. Everybody is talking about the comparison,” Zemmour was quoted as saying.

Of course Zemmour, who has been convicted for racist statements in the past gave no real evidence to the plot, which remains very far-fetched. That being said, as radical Islam penetrates deeper into France and other western European countries, reactionary forces will continue to grow and threaten to push back on the Islamic takeover of Europe.

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Israel Protesting France’s Support For Terrorism

In response to a recent terror attack in a French church, Prime Minister Netanyahu sent his condolences to France during today’s Cabinet meeting. He then pointed out that evidence shows France is one of several European nations providing monetary support to organizations and NGO’s that incite terror and boycotts against Israel.

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said last week that there is a need for a “thorough review to form a new relationship with French Islam” and that France will take up measures to stop foreign aid to mosques as a new step in the fight against Islamic terror. This is hypocrisy at its best when we find that France is interested in curbing Islamic terror locally but is not hesitant to support Islamic terror in Israel.

“Terror is terror in all places, and incitement is incitement all over the world,” Netanyahu said. “I heard about a discussion that took place last week in the French government about preventing foreign money from organizations that harm French citizens. That sounds familiar to us. We are also concerned about these types of contribution to organizations that reject Israel’s existence.”

This is even more absurd when we find that France need Israel’s help in stopping terror attacks.

Last week, the Israeli Ambassador to France condemned the French initiative to grant honorary citizenship to Marwan Barghouti, a known terrorist responsible for hundreds of deaths.

The questions stands: What does France stand for? Why are they openly supporting terrorism in their own country and abroad?

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The West Can Stop Terror By Learning From Israel’s Security Experience

As the number of terror attacks by Muslim extremists in Western countries surges, countries such as France are looking to Israel for help in curbing terror attacks.

While the enemies of Israel and the West have different names, the underlying theme of the terror attacks is martyrdom or Jihad in the name of Allah and Islam. ISIS and Al-Qaeda want to rid the world of infidels, Jews and Christians, while Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authority want to rid of Israel with the same goal as ISIS.

In a report by the Institute for National Security Studies, the point is made that France’s measures to combat terrorism, though numerous, have not been very effective in restoring calm in the country. Some of these measures include increased surveillance of Muslim radicals, telephone hotlines to report radicalized individuals, formation of intelligence units, deployment of police reserve units and even joining the US in the fight against ISIS in the Middle East.

“France considers Israel an important partner in the fight against Salafi jihadist terrorism, and sent a parliamentary delegation to Israel to learn from its experience,” says the report. “Israel’s professional, decades-long experience in fighting terrorism and the deep friendship between Israel and France obligate Israel to offer France assistance – to the extent requested – to fight their common enemy… The grave security situation in France may serve to shift public sentiments in France, and make the French more attentive to Israel’s concerns and security requirements in any future agreement with the Palestinians.”

How can Israel help?

Israel has been facing terror attacks ever since and even before it became the State of Israel. The recent terror wave in Israel which began in October 2015, has seen a steady decline thanks to increased security efforts and setting up an alert system to track down terrorists before they attack.

Arutz Sheva reported that this alert system was developed and based on an extensive analysis of terrorists since October. Police and the IDF saw a trend in the type of people committing these terror attacks. “The military’s analysis of attackers shows that most have been 24 or younger, and some 90 percent were male. Among the first 80 to 90 attackers from October to January, suicide was among the motives for around 40 percent.

Surveillance and monitoring is not enough to deter an attack. There is a cultural and social problem that needs to be addressed in many European countries. The analyses that Israel performs after an attack, along with technology to narrow down social media chatter, and campaigns to convince young people not to become radicalized and carry out attacks are all part of an effective counter-terrorism initiative. Intelligence units in Israel are known to be one of the best in the world and can probably help Western countries on deeper strategies to prevent future terror attacks.

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Europe is Not Israel

(Originally published on Israel Hayom)

“France must live with terrorism,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after the massive terrorist ‎attack in Nice last week. Understandably, his statement infuriated the French, who took to social ‎media to express their opprobrium.‎

And French President Francois Hollande, sounding almost as if he was being forced to speak, said, “We cannot deny that it was a terrorist ‎attack.”‎

After the massive Islamic State attacks in Paris in November 2015, political leaders proclaimed ‎themselves “shocked.” Whether this shock was feigned or genuine, at least they made a point, pitiful ‎as it was, of pretending that these massive terrorist attacks were something extraordinary that did not ‎have a habitual place in Europe.

Valls’ resigned declaration of tired surrender after the Nice attack, on the other hand, ‎amounts to the waving of a white flag in submission to the jihadis and is an indication that France ‎has little will to fight.‎

Valls and Hollande sounded like bewildered children at the helm of a ship that they are too ‎clueless to navigate. Imagine Winston Churchill declaring, “Britain must live with ‎Nazism.” ‎

Under its current government, France has busied itself with meddling in Israeli affairs ‎and organizing Middle East peace conferences, instead of spending every waking moment ensuring ‎the proper protection of its own population. It is not ready to fight against the jihad that has been ‎launched against it.

One major factor in this is that its elites blame France.‎ French Ambassador to the U.S. Gerard Araud, for example, wrote on Twitter: “Why is France ‎targeted? History (former colonial power), geography (proximity), first Muslim community of Arab ‎origin sensitive to M.E. issues.”‎

In other words: Colonialism and Middle Eastern “issues” — a diplomatic euphemism for the Israeli-Arab conflict — ‎are to blame, not the Muslims who commit the atrocities and certainly not Islam. A ‎Twitter user from India responded to Araud: “We Indians have been colonized by all European powers ‎including your country. Ever heard of Indian terrorists? Shame on you.” Indeed.‎

One of the best indicators of how massive terrorist attacks have become the “new normal” is the financial markets, famously and hysterically sensitive as they are. One ‎observer concluded after the Nice attack, “Gold is down and the euro is up. Financial markets ‎don’t care because it’s no longer an extraordinary event. Even European travel stocks and French hotel ‎stocks are only down a couple of percent. Because continued terror attacks for years are already ‘priced ‎in.’ According to the stock market, France has now become Israel.”‎

The sentiment that France and Europe have “now become Israel” has become something of a trend on ‎social media in the wake of Nice. But it is very far from the truth.‎

Europe is a dying continent, one that is walking toward its own cultural suicide with eyes wide shut. ‎In Europe, self-loathing began to gain ground over most traditional Judeo-Christian ‎values as long as a century ago. We see the results of that long process today: Official Europe does not ‎believe in anything. The main European project in recent history has as its goal only a vague ‎multiculturalism and the working toward “an ever closer union,” a self-referential and self-serving ‎empty shell of a vision. Ostensibly, the EU was meant to prevent future wars in Europe, but while ‎Europe has lost its taste for war, war — now in jihad style — has not lost interest in ‎Europe. The problem is that Europe cannot fight jihadis — people who believe so strongly in their ‎cause that they will die for it — if it believes in nothing, least of all the legitimacy of its own fight against ‎them. This will not change, regardless how many reservist forces France now calls up to help ‎protect the country. The fight becomes especially tricky, tragicomically so, when it is fought while ‎intensely fearing the causing of any offence.‎

In contrast, Israel is a vibrant place of almost endless faith. Not just in the traditional and religious ‎sense but a general and secular faith in the worth and the future of the country pervades Israeli ‎society. Israel believes in itself and is more than willing to fight for itself, and this belief manifests itself in ‎myriad ways, not only in its military prowess and in the countless innovations for which it has become ‎so famous, but in its celebrations of its Jewish past, present and future at every given ‎opportunity. It is also evident in the high birth rate in the country, while Europeans are not having enough children to maintain their own populations.

Israel may be located in a neighborhood that is full of enemies and terrorists, but Israel is also ‎committed to dealing with those security issues, whatever it takes. Israel is here to stay, ‎and Israelis are determined to keep it that way, never even contemplating resigning themselves to whatever ‎malignant plans others may have in store for them.‎

No, Europe is not Israel. Not even close.

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Headlines: PA Rejects Peace Talks, Female Terrorist Killed, Lebanon Watchtowers

The Palestinians on Monday rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to hold direct talks in Paris under the auspices of the French government.
[The Jerusalem Post]

 

Female Terrorist Killed in Stabbing Attack North of Jerusalem
[The Jewish Press]

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu meets with French Prime Minister Valls
[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

 

Northern Israeli residents are worried about new observation posts built by the Lebanese Army which have sprung up along the border.
[The Jewish Press]

 

The “Chevron shooter,” IDF soldier Elor Azaria, pleaded innocent on Monday to the charge of manslaughter in the shooting of a Palestinian disarmed terrorist, Abdel Fatal al-Sharif, on March 24, immediately following an attack on security forces.
[Hamodia]

 

Hamas says it will execute 13 men convicted of murder — in public — in a manner similar to that of Da’esh (ISIS).
[The Jewish Press]

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Did France Get The Memo?

Imagine this news story:

“Last week, Israel convened representatives of 20 countries from across the world for an international conference to discuss what to do about the escalating security situation in France.

“‘Israel has no vested interest but is deeply convinced that if we don’t want to let the ideas of the Islamic State group prosper in this region, we must do something,’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said when asked why he was pushing for the conference despite France’s vehement protests. Netanyahu put special emphasis on the fact that ‘the international community feels there is an urgent need to find a solution to the spread of Islamic State in Europe, especially in France, which has the largest Jewish population on the continent.’

“‘We are not giving up, and neither are our partners,’ said the Israeli prime minister.

“Discussions at the meeting will be based on a new groundbreaking peace proposal under which France will give up large swathes of the south of France as well as the entire Ile-de-France in return for a permanent peace agreement with Islamic State in order to create ‘a just solution’ to the conflict. An Islamic State spokesman told reporters that unlike the French, they welcome the Israeli initiative.

“‘We wish Israel and its efforts success because the Israeli efforts are the only ones on the ground now, and could eventually result in giving the political process a good push forward at this stage,’ the Islamic State spokesman said.

“‘The aim of the conference is to prepare an international summit in the second half of 2016, which would include French leaders and leaders of Islamic State. The second conference would take place ‘sometime in the fall,’ said a spokesman for Netanyahu.”

Of course, the above scenario is fake. I have produced it here merely to make a point. Israel is not convening any conferences on the future of France, nor is it meddling in its affairs. There is a principle of international law called sovereignty, but in France and the rest of the European Union, that principle has been gradually usurped by a new principle, that of supra-nationalism.

Unfortunately, and despite the fact that Israel is not a member of the European Union, France and company appear to be unrelenting believers in the extension of this principle all the way across the Mediterranean to the Middle East.

What is not fake, however, is that this exact scenario is indeed taking place, but instead of Israel hosting a conference about France’s out-of-control problems with Islamist terrorism, which are indeed affecting French Jews in the most appalling ways, France is hosting a conference about the future of Israel’s territorial borders.

Thus, despite Israel’s protests, France has convened an international conference for May 30, consisting of ministers from 20 different countries who will presume to lord it over Israel’s future. Clearly, France and company did not get the memo about decolonization, or rather France and company seem just fine with exhibiting colonial behavior toward only one nation in the entire world, namely obstinate Israel, which still refuses to dance to the tune of the Europeans.

While the aim of the French initiative is to “encourage” bilateral negotiations, let no one be fooled: This is really about pushing an agenda down Israel’s throat, namely that of the 2002 Saudi peace initiative, which asks nothing less than Israel’s withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines and a “just” solution to the refugee issue without specifying what that means.

In other words, the initiative makes very serious demands on Israel concerning its existential issues, while being extremely shady on what Israel is supposed to receive in return. Also why drag this long-dead rabbit out of the old hat now, when the Palestinians have shown no sign whatsoever of letting up in the terror war against Israeli civilians and soldiers through ramming, stabbing and shooting attacks? All this conference does is reward terrorism.

What is, of course, conspicuous, is the timing. It is scheduled at a time when Europe is coming apart at the seams with the terror threat from Islamic State and the infighting in the European Union between the European Commission and the central and Eastern European members of the EU, whom the EU’s executive branch is threatening with huge fines for each migrant that these countries refuse to receive.

One cannot help but think that Israel, once more, is proving to be a very useful diversion (and scapegoat) for all the unrelated problems of the Western world.

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Headlines: Meir Ettinger to Be Freed, Illegal Arab Buildings Demolished, 900 Million NIS to Bedouins

Right-wing Jewish activist, Meir Ettinger, imprisoned for months without charge won’t have his detention extended and will be freed in two weeks.
[Arutz Sheva]

 

Police oversee demolition of two illegal Arab buildings in Jerusalem Walls National Park in City of David.
[Arutz Sheva]

 

France agreed to delay the May 30th launch of its new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative until some time this summer to allow for the US to attend.
[The Jerusalem Post]

 

Despite promises, Israel continues to return the bodies of terrorists killed during attacks, including terrorists who resided inside of Israel.
[Arutz Sheva]

 

A ministerial committee, headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and charged with handling government policy vis-à-vis the country’s Arab population, approved a massive spending plan targeting the Bedouin sector to the tune of 900 million shekels.
[Arutz Sheva]

 

A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas offered to begin secret, direct talks with Israel aimed at bringing about a two-state solution.
[Times of Israel]

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Headlines: Israel Memorial Day, Fighter Jets Attack Hezbollah, Bomb Attack on IDF

Israel observes Yom Hazikaron, its Memorial Day, to honor 23,477 fallen soldiers and citizens who died as victims of terror.
[The Jewish press]

 

86-year-old relives horror on Jerusalem promenade, when terrorists pounced on her friends, and Arab workers refused to help.
[Arutz Sheva]

 

Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck a weapons convoy headed into the hands of Hezbollah fighters in Syria. The attack allegedly occurred on the Syrian-Lebanese border earlier in the afternoon and struck a number of vital positions important to the terror organization.
[The Jerusalem Post]

 

An IDF officer and a second soldier were wounded Tuesday night in a quadruple bomb attack at the Hizme checkpoint, while an hour later five more bombs were defused by IDF sappers.
[The Jewish Press]

 

French PM Manuel Valls will visit Israel and the PA this month in a bid to engineer a peace deal based on a two-state solution.
[Arutz Sheva]