FREEMAN CENTER BLOG

YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:28:29 -0500

YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE
by Jack Berger
Member of the Board of Directors
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
October 17, 2011

You are standing today, all of you (all generations) before Hashem, your G-d, from the heads of your tribes, your elders your children from the (highest) in society to the drawer of your water, for you to pass into the covenant Hashem, your G-d in order to establish you today as a people to Him and that He will be a G-d to you I call on heaven and earth today to bear witness against you. I have placed life and death before you, a blessing and a curse, you shall choose life so that you will live to dwell on the land that I swore to your forefathers (to your fathers and grandfathers) and to Abraham, Isaac and to Jacob. (Deut. 29-30)

Looking at the world today I think back to the words of Charles Dickens, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us When I first read those words in high school, I believed that they were far removed from the rest of my life. America was in a simpler place. My only serious question was why wouldnt Sandy Koufax pitch the first game of the World Series after all was Yom Kippur really that big a deal and it wasnt like he wore a kippah and kept kosher. It was a time when questions hadnt been asked yet and didnt need to be answered. Today has caught up with yesterday.

For me, years before my Bar Mitzvah, I remember the words on our Day of Atonement. Words when secular Jewish friends of mine only came to synagogue one day a year would show up on Yom Kippur to hear who will live and who will die The profundity of that one line and its finite reality, its focus, its simple yet unambiguous statement is a statement that few Jews can turn away from or forget. The gift we have been given is the gift of time money comes, money goes, our days are moments as part of an eternity that we are only blessed to know for a very short time.

Continue reading "YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE"

ISRAEL'S CHARACTER FLAWED LEADERSHIP

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:24:57 -0500

ISRAEL'S CHARACTER FLAWED LEADERSHIP
by David Basch
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
October 16, 20011

"The Arabs do indeed believe in a policy of decisive defeat
of Israel. What is more, unlike Israel, the Arabs have the
manpower and the religious ideology to weather the war
of attrition that Boobi acquiesces in...."

At every stage of the conflict -- except for times before election --
Boobi Netanyahu has shown in his important acts that he is a true
believer in the Arabs as partners to Israel's ultimate peace.

Note that before every election Israelis heard Boobi's silver tongue
going on record as backing uncompromising, hard line programs
to beat back the designs of the Arab enemy. Yet, when in office, he
consistently betrayed these right wing preferments.

Continue reading "ISRAEL'S CHARACTER FLAWED LEADERSHIP"

ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION ORDERS AGAINS JEWISH NATIONALISTS

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:03:56 -0500

ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION ORDERS AGAINS JEWISH NATIONALISTS
by ADINA KUTNICKI
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
September 26, 2011

(Editors Note: The author variously uses the terms GSS [General Security Services], Shin Bet, Shabak, ISA [Israel Security Agency]. They are all names for Israels internal security service.]

In western democracies, a persons home is considered his castle. Therefore, if a government banishes a citizen from his home, the act must be based on a judicious interpretation of the law. The detainee must present a clear and present danger.

Chief Justice Aharon Barak, previous president of the Supreme Court, underscored his belief in this principle, albeit not from a perspective which protects the rights of Jewish nationalists. On July 15, 2002, Justice Barak ruled in the Ajuri case: Our point of departure is that in principle removing a person from his dwelling place and forcibly moving him someplace else causes serious harm to his self respect, his freedom, and his possessions. A persons home is not only a roof over his head, it is the means for establishing his physical and social relationships. A number of a persons basic human rights are harmed when he is forcibly removed to another place , even if such a move does not involve an international crossing. Tragically, his legal opinion was rendered in relation to the protection of the civil and human rights of terrorists! The security services recommended their expulsion from Nablus to Gaza, and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the terrorists.

Even the pro-Arab Btselem human rights organization is unhappy about administrative detention/expulsion orders, stating: Undoubtedly the state should act determinedly against settlers who harm Palestinians and their property, but the way to achieve this is via criminal proceedings and not administrative orders that are based on confidential information.

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NEW YEAR'S GREETING SHANA TOVA 5772

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:18:21 -0500

NEW YEAR'S GREETING SHANA TOVA 5772
By Bernard J. Shapiro
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
September 22, 2011

My Dear Subscribers and Lovers of Zion,

Another year has passed and we find Israel in a more perilous situation than any year since the War of Independence. The Israel Defense Forces are powerful and fully capable of destroying all enemies.

But there is a mighty force that prevents the activation of this force to protect the People of Israel. That force is a polititical, media, judicial, secret service, border police and left wing military elite, who have chosen to permit Arab terrorist to gain dominance in our Holy Land. They deliberately prosecute, persecute and destroy the Builders of Zion and turn a blind eye to the pervasive theft of the Land of Israel by terrorists.

When an Arab attacks a Jew, the Jew is prosecuted for defending himself. The Arab goes free to harass, steal and attack more Jews in the future. There is no deterrence. They laugh at the Jews, like the Nazis did during the Holocaust, as they striped them naked and marched them to their death.

I will not be silent as the Israel, we prayed for over 2000 years, is destroyed by week and incompetent leadership. Leadership that has lost the Zionist passion of the Maccabees, Bar Kochba, Ben Gurion, Jabotinzky, Stern and Kahane.

On this Rosh HaShona, may the Almighty give strength to his People Israel and courage to fight for survival, even if everyone in the World is against them. May the friends of the Freeman Center be blessed with Health, Love, Prosperity, Security and Peace.......Bernard

PS. Attached are the Hardback and paper covers (also E-book) of my new book, due out on Amazon before Chanukah and Christmas.

LET'S VOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE!!

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:15:36 -0500

LET'S VOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE!!
By Steven Plaut
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
September 16, 2011

As you know, much of the world is getting ready to recognize a state
for Palestinians in coming days. The US may veto the vote in the
Security Council to set up Palestine in Israeli lands, and then
again maybe it will not veto it. Other countries are going ahead with
plans to vote for Palestine in the General Assembly, to grant
Palestine embassy space, to grant it formal recognition, and so on.

After years of paying lip service to the righteous need for granting
Palestinians a state, Netanyahu and his cowardly crew are scratching
their heads about what to do and how to stop all this. The best Bibi
has come up with is a plan to give a speech in that building on the
East River near 42nd street.

Continue reading "LET'S VOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE!!"

PAYING AN INSTALLMENT ON THE TERRORISM BILL

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:07:23 -0500

PAYING AN INSTALLMENT ON THE TERRORISM BILL
by David Basch
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
August 18, 2011

"Tit for tat responses by Israel -- the standard Israeli response
to attack -- is merely an encouragement of the enemy."

Israel this morning is paying another installment on the bill she
incurred when she surrendered Gaza to the enemy and enabled Gaza to
become a dangerous Arab military base.

This fact needs to be called loudly to the attention of Israelis, who
are among the most liberal, ideologically obsessed persons on earth.
They have all too often followed the rosy line of the leftists that
have led the nation to blunder after blunder, surrendering land,
diplomatic posture, and moral standing. Confidence in the leftist
way should have already been scuttled by its dismal failures.

Continue reading "PAYING AN INSTALLMENT ON THE TERRORISM BILL"

800 POUND GORILLA IN THE ROOM

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:05:47 -0500

800 POUND GORILLA IN THE ROOM
by David Basch
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
June 10, 2011

"Unless Israel's people and government wake up immediately
to the Arab knife being brought ever closer to the Israeli
throat and develop effective tactics for Israel's survival
... through bringing the Arab war deep into enemy strongholds
and denying him the means and the strategic position to
defeat Israel, the dangerous possibilities of Israeli defeat
forever linger. But the needed Israeli action can only be
undertaken when Israel wakes up to the implacable nature of
the enemy, ..."

What supporter of Israel can have confidence in the Jewish State if
up to this date the country refuses to recognize the reality of the
800 pound gorilla in the room, that the Arab goal is to destroy
Israel?

In that context, it is evident that the Arab enemy uses negotiations
only as a means to further that deadly goal. That enemy tactic has
worked splendidly for the Arabs, giving them a steady stream of step
by step Israeli surrenders without the Arabs themselves having to make
a single concession to Israel.

It is not reassuring to contemplate that Israel remains in a perpetual
strategic fog, unable to recognize the deadly aim of its Arab
adversary. Failing to recognize this, Israel continually rejects
decisive action against the enemy since it fears an angry Arab
reaction that will foreclose what is the delusional possibility of a
peace agreement.

Continue reading "800 POUND GORILLA IN THE ROOM"

LEARNING FROM THE PAST

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Fri, 13 May 2011 12:05:05 -0500

LEARNING FROM THE PAST
by David Bash
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
May 13, 2011

"Has Israel at this point gone over the edge, beyond
recouping the conditions of "secure and recognized
borders" agreed to in UN Resolution 242,...?"

Shimon Peres demonstrates that political views are more related to
character than to facts. Given a personal character obsessed to be
more righteous than any biblical divinity, the resulting views are
correspondingly bizarre, going against necessities for defense and
long term self preservation. That is the lesson we may learn from
Peres's career. to prove this, just check out Peres's views as revealed
in a recent interview in the Jerusalem Post.

Continue reading "LEARNING FROM THE PAST"

ISRAEL INDEPENDENCE AFTER 63 YEARS

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Mon, 09 May 2011 09:38:50 -0500

ISRAEL INDEPENDENCE AFTER 63 YEARS
by Bernard J. Shapiro
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
May 9, 2011

No one should fool themselves into thinking that giving the Arabs of Judea and Samaria Jordanian citizenship would solve anything in the long run. Jordan is not as friendly (population wise) as we are led to believe. Though the government is helpful and friendly, that could change in the blink of an eye. Should American troops leave Iraq and it falls to Iran, the consequences would be severe for Israel. With Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza under Iranian control, it could easily extend its reach to Jordan and the Judean-Samarian ridge overlooking Israel's vulnerable coast.

My Bottom Line (Conclusion)

Israel's central problem is psychological and no amount of beautiful rhetoric and wonderful proposals can change that.

When will the Nationalist Camp realize that we are "at war already" with the PLO/Hamas/Hezbollah supporting tyranny (the LEFT) that rules Israel? At what point will Israelis realize that the CIVIL WAR they fear, IS ALREADY TAKING PLACE AND THEY ARE LOSING? When will the true Zionists take over Israel and rid the country of the Arab and Jewish traitors.

After 2000 years of homelessness, we are privaliged in this generation to see a new and productive Jewish State. Why do we let these evildoers threaten to take it from our hands.

Continue reading "ISRAEL INDEPENDENCE AFTER 63 YEARS"

FREEMAN CENTER DISGUSTED AT BIBI GROVELING BEFORE ANTI-SEMITES OF EUROPE

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Thu, 05 May 2011 13:02:21 -0500

FREEMAN CENTER DISGUSTED AT BIBI GROVELING BEFORE ANTI-SEMITES OF EUROPE
by Bernard J. Shapiro
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
May 5, 2011

When I founded the Freeman Center back in 1992, I gave a copy of Bibi's book, A PLACE AMONG THE NATIONS, everyone joining. I was very impressed at the clear understanding of history and the Jewish place in it. I especially appreciated the chapter on Czechoslovakia and how it related to the current Arab-Israeli issues.

Now, we see the pitiful image of Israel's PM running after the princes of Europe hat in hand. Does he have no pride? Does he not know how powerful Israel is really? Has he not read the articles of Paul Eidelberg and Yoram Ettinger broadcast here for the world to see?

Despite protestations of Israel's Supreme Court of the Arab People (and not Jews), there is NO SUCH THING AS INTERNATIONAL LAW!!! The only thing that has ever mattered in world history is POWER. Machiavelli knew it. So did Lao Tsu, Muhammed, Pol Pot, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Mao, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin.

Power can be used for good or evil. The defense of Israel and the Jewish People is the most righteous use of power in the course of human history.

Continue reading "FREEMAN CENTER DISGUSTED AT BIBI GROVELING BEFORE ANTI-SEMITES OF EUROPE"

THINGS TO COME? WILL ISRAEL SURVIVE?

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:48:32 -0500

THINGS TO COME? WILL ISRAEL SURVIVE?
by David Basch
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
May 4, 2011

"To the clear eyed, two states living peacefully
side-by-side in what has been Israeli controlled
Mandate of Palestine territories has been a figment
of the imagination. The Arabs had wanted a new
state only as a stop-gap on the way to the elimination
of Israel...."

"One must live in dread of the proposals that Netanyahu
will be presenting to the US Congress in days ahead."

What I think I see developing before my eyes is the birth of a new
Arab state on Israel's lands. Israel's Leftists and their
collaborators -- which include Netanyahu -- will at long last be
achieving their dream. Once upon a time they had dreamed of a Jewish
state living in safety and security on their ancestral lands, but,
this in the last decades, this had given way to their powerful and
exciting dream of a new Arab state.

Continue reading "THINGS TO COME? WILL ISRAEL SURVIVE?"

DANGEROUS MYTHS THAT REMAIN

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:55:14 -0500

DANGEROUS MYTHS THAT REMAIN
by David Basch
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
April 27, 2011

"How anyone can conclude that carving out an Arab nation
from the unalloted lands of the Mandate of Palestine that Israel
today controls is a recipe for peace is every bit as nonsensical
as the other theory that Palestine is the core problem of the
Middle East region...."

"Who in his right mind thinks that surrendering nationhood to the
Palestinian Arabs would end the many decades of Arab strife? "

"I do not know what Dr. Asa Kasher smokes but, if we analyze his
view, he has no basis for concluding that the Arabs that Israel
confronted in 1948 have a right to a state...."

Continue reading "DANGEROUS MYTHS THAT REMAIN"

SATIRE - PEACE AT LAST

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:22:29 -0500

SATIRE - PEACE AT LAST
by Steven Plaut
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
April 28, 2011

It was in the year 2013. The Israelis at long last gave up their
attempts to resist the pressures of the world. Their newly elected
national unity government approved the plan. The Palestinians, led by
a coalition of the PLO and the Hamas, had already earlier announced
the creation of a Palestinian state. Israels Left had been holding
weekly protests in support of Palestinian statehood. When the UN had
officially and unanimously called for such a state, even the United
States of Barack Obama voted in favor.

The national unity government of Israel announced that Israel was
willing to accept the unanimous UN proposal for peace, supported by
every single country in the world. Israel would return to its
pre-1967 borders, remove all Jewish settlements from the territories
of the new state of Palestine, recognize Palestine, and grant
Palestine all of East Jerusalem, that is, all of the city located east
of a line running north-south through Zion Square, renamed Martyrs
Square.

Continue reading "SATIRE - PEACE AT LAST"

FATEFUL DECISION COMING FOR ISRAEL

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:40:03 -0500

FATEFUL DECISION COMING
by David Basch
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
April 24, 2011

"The question is whether PM Netanyahu's next proposal
will mark a new direction in negotiation -- one that
walks Israel back from earlier surrender agreements that
should be declared nul and void on grounds of the perfidious
performance of the Arab enemy."

It has been PM Netanyahu's unhappy lot that he has been the one called
on to make fateful decisions for Israel and the Jewish people. Maybe
that statment should be corrected that it is Israel and the Jewish
people's unhappy lot that it is he that is called on to decide these
issues for them. Reflecting on what has happened, he has not done well
for them.

One need only recall that in his first term as PM, elected to stand
fast on behalf of Israel against the Oslo process that was delivering
Israel into the hands of those that sought to destroy the nation, he
failed to stop it in its tracks and even expanded it by contributing
the early surrender of additional large portions of Hebron to the
Arabs. A decade later, after running on another right wing program, he
became the first Israeli leader to subscibe to a Palestinian State.
Leading up to this, he was also for the surrender of Gaza, the very
surrender that brought Israel's southern cities under Arab
bombardment.
Continue reading "FATEFUL DECISION COMING FOR ISRAEL"

DEFENSE VS. OFFENSE - BARAK VS. SHAPIRO

nospam@example.com (Freeman Center For Strategic Studies) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 10:39:13 -0500

They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth... ...Plato
"The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see." ... Ayn Rand
======================

TWO ARTICLES: DEFENSE VS. OFFENSE

DM EHUD BARAK VS. BERNARD J. SHAPIRO

Barak has raised the idea of a separation between the PA and Israel. It is not a new idea and as far back as 1995 I explained why it won't work. Here is that article. Today in 2011 his big "idea" is missile shields. They won't work either. Anit-missiles systems are very expensive and the terrorists can keep producing thousands of cheap missiles to overwhelm them.

SEPARATION & SECURITY FENCES

The Primary Fallacy
By Bernard J. Shapiro (1995)
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
The Maccabean Online

The idea of separation has much appeal to an Israeli population feeling threat0ened daily by hostile Arabs. The Israeli government recently advanced an elaborate plan to construct hi-tech fences and new military checkpoints between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank in an effort to reduce the risk of militant violence. Israeli security officials brought the plan before the Knesset a day after Islamic extremists opened fire on an Israeli bus near the West Bank town of Hebron, killing two Jewish settlers and wounding five. The separation plan involves building extensive fences, other barriers and restricting Palestinian access into Israel through eight to ten crossings points.

The border would be heavily patrolled by Israeli soldiers and police. Cost estimates range from $300 million to $500 million. An economic report on the draft plan said the cost would be too high and separation would lead to political and economic instability in the PLO areas, perhaps intensifying the danger of attacks from opponents of the Israeli-PLO peace process. Analysts such as Dore Gold, Emanuel Winston and Ze'ev Schiff have discussed many of the reasons why it simply won't work.

For another reason why it is the wrong approach to security, it is worth repeating a story I wrote, which appeared in an article entitled, DETERRENCE OR DHIMMIZATION (THE MACCABEAN, January 1995): Back in 1965, in a small meeting room in Tel Aviv, former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan gave a pep talk to a group of RAFI (Rishimat Poalai Israel) volunteers, myself included. At that time, RAFI, a breakaway faction of the Mapai Party, included such notables as former Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and former Defense Minister Shimon Peres. Peres and Dayan had been considered the "hawks" of Mapai and it was no accident that in the 1965 election they supported a strong defense and security policy.

Continue reading "DEFENSE VS. OFFENSE - BARAK VS. SHAPIRO"