tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29730497209886497832024-03-19T06:00:24.263+02:00Lost Tribe Of Lebanonlost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-89288903782023081172010-07-08T22:35:00.001+03:002010-07-08T22:38:18.273+03:00SICKENING: "I Like the Germans Because They Burned the Jews"<strong>Followig are excerpts from an interview with former Lebanese minister Wiam Wahhab, which aired on Al-Jadid/New TV on July 4, 2010:</strong><br /><br /><em>Interviewer: Who do you support [in the World Cup]?<br />Wiam Wahhab: My children and I supported Brazil.<br />Interviewer: Me too.<br />Wiam Wahhab: Brasil lost. My wife supports Germany. We drive the kids mad. Now I am supporting Argentina.<br />Interviewer: You have become subordinate to your wife when it comes to soccer?<br />Wiam Wahhab: No. I support Germany in politics and Brazil in soccer. I like the way Brazil plays. But I like the Germans because they hate the Jews and they burned them. </em><br /><em></em><br />...<br /><br />Good luck community of Magen Abraham...lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-10003025008782561712009-08-16T09:22:00.003+03:002009-08-16T09:28:45.688+03:00Beirut's oldest synagogue may be about to come back to life<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBcMfooGa2BfW4uXg1hZhOHuT8Xrcok_PRWJcsWXZduV2a05Cj9CR7lIdgWix1kRAkqclDogfUpuXGXAEpY_yKkJ-X3ChKGj-BnVF54ZdCLbCosmgRUuw1A4YyteWoQUDBXBJ0X3HHnF_1/s1600-h/magen+restauration.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370444128308697314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 248px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 160px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBcMfooGa2BfW4uXg1hZhOHuT8Xrcok_PRWJcsWXZduV2a05Cj9CR7lIdgWix1kRAkqclDogfUpuXGXAEpY_yKkJ-X3ChKGj-BnVF54ZdCLbCosmgRUuw1A4YyteWoQUDBXBJ0X3HHnF_1/s320/magen+restauration.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>For the last 10 days, the residents of a central Beirut neighborhood have been awakened by the sounds of hammering and heavy drilling. Just a few hundred meters from Sarayya al-Hukumi - the Lebanese parliament building - a synagogue is being resurrected. </div><br /><div>From dawn to dusk, dozens of laborers, many of them Shi'ites from southern Lebanon, are toiling amid the ruins of the once-magnificent Magen Avraham - the oldest synagogue in the Lebanese capital.<br />The renovations began last week and will continue for at least a year - provided the Lebanese Jewish Community Council, responsible for the restoration, can raise enough funds to complete the million dollar project. Its Web site reports that the Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District (Solidere) is contributing $150,000. Aside from that, it will be relying on donations.<br />According to the Lebanese daily As-Safir, the renovations were supposed to have started in 2006 but were postponed due to that summer's Second Lebanon War. Earlier, the assassinated ex-prime-minister Rafik al-Hariri had reportedly attempted to rebuild the synagogue.<br />Magen Avraham was named after Moise Abraham Sasson, a wealthy Jew from Calcutta who donated money for its construction in 1926. During the chaos of the Lebanese civil war between 1975 and 1990, it lay in ruins as the Jewish presence in the country rapidly diminished. There are no more then 200 Jews living in Lebanon today - the last remnants of a vanishing community.<br />Before the civil war, approximately 22,000 Jews lived in Lebanon and owned 18 synagogues, of which Magen Avraham was the jewel. It served as an important religious and communal center for Lebanese Jews, and was considered to be one of the most beautiful in the whole region. </div><br /><div>During World War II, the synagogue became a center of underground Zionist activity and even a temporary shelter for new immigrants who stopped in Beirut on their way to Palestine. But in the civil war, all worship there ceased and the holy books were shipped out of the country. Since then, Lebanese Jews have had to pray in their own homes.<br />The abandoned building was saved from demolition, as it was classified a historic site. The company responsible for the restoration of downtown Beirut, Solidere, had decided that it was up to each religious sect to restore its own places of worship. The Lebanese government's recent decision to allow the Jewish community to rebuild the synagogue was met with a rare display of consensus among the rival Lebanese parties, including Hizbullah, the Lebanese LBC TV station reported.<br />A resident of of the Beirut suburb Ain Saade, who spoke to The Jerusalem Post on condition of anonymity, said that "the start of the restoration has a beautiful and meaningful symbolism. The synagogue represents an important part of Lebanon's heritage and society. The restoration of the Magen Avraham is an historic event in terms of reviving the existence of a whole community that Lebanon missed for years without even noticing. I congratulate the Jews of Lebanon. I think Lebanese from all religions and sects welcome this project."<br />This week, some Lebanese newspapers and television stations reported that Magen Avraham would not serve as a synagogue in the future, and would probably become a public museum. However, the Community Council has denied this. The council states on its Web site that "there is a rumor that the synagogue was going to be made into a museum. It's untrue as the synagogue was and will remain at the heart of the Lebanese Jewish community's religious practices and social-communal activities." </div><div> </div><div>The Jerusalem Post</div><div>Aug 13, 2009 21:36</div>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-5528165390997258522009-08-13T12:19:00.002+03:002009-08-13T12:54:47.677+03:00Renovation Of Magen Abraham Synagogue<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBD7apZfSx1xsVfxDXMBx6SzwIclFxPGFeJoq3Ko07EfSclgb9sF6RFYR-ojsgeCK7oc82GiNzoZoKhZRIxGNFPrzsYVrvrO8-erpWj3DzhJ_xdGuDe96OPWoTvSZMcEMBQvfmFq0CBsnf/s1600-h/magen.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369383144108764018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 206px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBD7apZfSx1xsVfxDXMBx6SzwIclFxPGFeJoq3Ko07EfSclgb9sF6RFYR-ojsgeCK7oc82GiNzoZoKhZRIxGNFPrzsYVrvrO8-erpWj3DzhJ_xdGuDe96OPWoTvSZMcEMBQvfmFq0CBsnf/s320/magen.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">La plus grande synagogue du Liban sort de l’oubli</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span></strong>Des arcades frappées de l'étoile de David, des inscriptions en hébreu enfouies depuis 30 ans : la synagogue Magen Abraham, l'un des derniers vestiges juifs du Liban, est en pleine rénovation, tout un symbole pour une communauté tombée dans l'oubli, raconte Rana Moussaoui, dans un reportage de l'AFP.Au cœur de Beyrouth, la porte rouillée du temple autrefois dissimulée sous une végétation abondante s'offre désormais aux yeux des curieux, et le toit qui était à moitié couvert de briques a été mis à nu. Des ouvriers ont dégagé l'entrée, ravalé les murs et s'attellent à enlever les monticules de remblai de-ci, de-là. À droite, l'ancien bureau du dernier rabbin, qui a quitté le pays en 1977, après le début de la guerre civile. Au centre, l'entrée qui mène à l'intérieur du temple, où se dressent actuellement de nombreux échafaudages adossés aux arcades.<br /><br />« Nous sommes exaltés », confie Isaac Arazi, président du Conseil communal juif au Liban. « Nous espérons que cette initiative fera en sorte que la communauté grandisse de nouveau », affirme-t-il.La communauté juive, dont la religion est reconnue comme l'une des 18 confessions au Liban et dont la présence dans le pays remonte à 2 000 ans, s'est réduite au fil des ans. Elle est passée de 22 000 âmes avant la guerre civile à quelque 300 personnes actuellement, selon des estimations non officielles. C'est après l'invasion israélienne du Liban en 1982 que sa présence a considérablement diminué, dans un pays où l'amalgame entre Juifs et Israéliens est courant.Mais la rénovation de Magen Abraham, l'une des plus grandes synagogues du monde arabe, vient redonner espoir à ceux pour qui le Liban reste leur patrie. « Nous nous attendons à ce que les travaux soient terminés dans un an ou 15 mois », souligne M. Arazi, ajoutant : « Si tout se passe bien. » Le Conseil communal juif, qui lance un appel aux dons, se charge de la plus grande partie du financement des travaux qui « vont coûter pas moins d'un million de dollars ». Certains juifs libanais expatriés y contribuent. « Nous voulons la restaurer telle qu'elle était, avec tous les meubles, les tapis et les lustres d'antan », assure M. Arazi.La synagogue Magen Abraham, inaugurée en 1926 dans le secteur de Wadi Abou Jmil, surnommé anciennement « Wadi al-Yahoud » (vallée des Juifs), était devenue un lieu de désolation. Tout a été pillé pendant la guerre : les bancs, les vitres, les dalles et même l'imposant autel en marbre qui trônait au centre. « Nous voudrions bien que ceux qui les ont volés les restituent, car ce sont des choses qui datent de 80 ans », plaide M. Arazi. Des slogans politiques gribouillés sur les arcades et à l'entrée par des miliciens lors de la guerre civile témoignent de l'époque où le temple a été pris sous le feu des violents combats au centre de la capitale.Le responsable de la communauté révèle que l'autre vestige israélite de la capitale, le cimetière juif, va être également rénové. « Les travaux vont commencer en principe la semaine prochaine », dit-il. Les autres synagogues du pays, comme celles de Saïda (Sud) ou d'Aley (sud-est de Beyrouth), où existe le plus ancien temple (1870), devraient également être remises en état, mais après la fin des travaux de Magen Abraham.Selon M. Arazi, aucune communauté religieuse et aucun parti politique, y compris le Hezbollah, n'ont exprimé de réserves concernant le projet initial. Le lieu de culte, toutefois, est sous étroite surveillance, notamment policière.<br /><br />L'Orient Le Jour<br />jeudi 13 août 2009lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-54579756185715987082009-05-26T21:06:00.000+03:002009-05-26T21:08:45.283+03:00Shula CohenShula Cohen , the true story of a Jewish Lebanese woman living, in the 1940s, in Wadi Abu-Jmil, an area in Beirut that used to gather a big community of Lebanese Jews.<br /><br />For those of you who never heard of her, Shula Cohen was born in Jerusalem; at seventeen she married a wealthy Beirut merchant, with whom she raised seven children. She became a spy for Israel in Beirut, where her acceptance in Lebanese / Syrian social circles gave her unprecedented access to secret intelligence information.<br /><br />It started in 1947, on the eve of Israel's war of Independence, when she stumbled on some military intelligence and sent it on to Israel. Immediately, the nascent intelligence services tapped her to smuggle Jewish refugees from Syria across the Lebanese border.<br />Shula helped thousands of Jews from Syria and Iraq come through Lebanon to Israel. She found escape routes for them by land, sea and air.<br /><br />In the 1950s, she organized a spy ring based in a Beirut nightclub (Rambo Club), and obtained for the Mossad secret Lebanese and Syrian documents.<br /><br />She was able to work for fourteen years before she was caught<br /><br />Shula was arrested and convicted by the Lebanese government in the late 1950s, she spent seven years in prison –where she was repeatedly tortured- and was released in 1967, following the Six Day War as part of a prisoner's exchange.<br /><br />Amazing that a movie, entitled “<strong>Shula Cohen, The pearl</strong>”, was playing in cinema theatres in Lebanon.<br /><br />The reason they allowed it to play is that it distorts the truth and presents Shula as a prostitute/Madam/spy, who slept with high government officials, who gave away young girls to trap important Lebanese personalities; and who smuggled Jewish thieves into Israel.<br /><br />Because of course, when Jews escape pogroms, it can’t be only to save their lives. In the narrow minded Lebanese mentality, they must be guilty of something. In the movie, the Lebanese Jews are accused of stealing and embezzling money, while escaping; and they are accused of doing a huge damage to the Lebanese economy (!).<br />In fact, the money they took along was only theirs and their only asset while they left behind lands and houses.<br /><br />Shula, at the end of the “movie” is shown in prison, as a privileged convict.<br />The torture scenes are omitted.<br /><br />Needless to specify that it is an amateur movie with a horrible music background. Costumes are catastrophic. Even the wig of the main actress is of a cheap halloween costume standard.<br />The acting is a disaster.<br /><br />This cheap amateur movie was in cinema theatres in Lebanon, while Waltz with Bachir, who has been nominated and has won several important awards, has been banned…lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-717783025727608382009-04-29T20:52:00.002+03:002009-04-29T21:02:51.653+03:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7SsNH1YDbC34Ga5eKnB_mvhq9av2iKneaXcjiYTGDMkgm74M-cflPcDUIKXxllLQkyijh0IdhYlLe31LieaueF1zayfeZapBz_n6ozSOGXT19dK3SpRf3fDrjxOQ-U8V7PoEEivUUC3X/s1600-h/seder2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330173365852350146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7SsNH1YDbC34Ga5eKnB_mvhq9av2iKneaXcjiYTGDMkgm74M-cflPcDUIKXxllLQkyijh0IdhYlLe31LieaueF1zayfeZapBz_n6ozSOGXT19dK3SpRf3fDrjxOQ-U8V7PoEEivUUC3X/s320/seder2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Posting my Passover Seder a bit late...</div><div>Thank you Qawer for the Matsot :)</div>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-18610003295770777022009-02-27T20:10:00.002+02:002009-02-27T20:21:52.625+02:00Waltz With BashirWaltz with Bashir. by Ari Folman<br /><br />Because it is forbidden, here in Lebanon, it is more sought-after and therefore one can find it almost everywhere...<br /><br />I saw it the first time in Paris.<br /><br />After watching it again, a few days ago, I wondered what got the Christian militias to commit this act. What pushed them to this horror. Why did they choose these victims in specific.<br />I googled.<br />From one info to another, from one site to another, I found myself reading on other horrible massacres.<br /><br />Why haven’t I ever heard of these massacres? Why was it always about Sabra and Chatila?<br /><br />What about the Karantina and Tel el Zaatar massacre (perpetrated on Palestinian camps too), and what about the Dammour massacre, Dahr al-Wahsh, and October the 13th?<br />In the name of which selective morality of the Arab press and European press did these other massacres-in which the Israelis had nothing to do- been ignored?<br /><br />Even when Israelis are mere observer and not directly implicated in a massacre, they are highly judged. This is to confirm their moral superiority, and the high expectation from the public opinion.<br /><br />But when arabs kill arabs, no one interferes. It is normal. And amnesia hits the press…<br />Lebanese kill Lebanese, Syrians kill Lebanese, Syrians kill Syrians, Hamas kills Fatah… This, is tolerated. No one asks questions about it. It is in history books.<br /><br />But Sabra and Chatila is still commemorated in Lebanon.<br />Go figure.<br /><br />During the Gaza offensive, at least 620 people were brutally massacred in Congo with axes, bats and machetes in less than three weeks between December and January. Most of them women and children.<br />Has anyone heard of this? Or the third world doesn’t count…<br />Africans kill Africans. The world’s attention was too busy judging and focusing on Israelis…lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-66838934101750708252008-12-25T19:53:00.002+02:002008-12-25T20:10:05.372+02:00Reality hurtsIs he saying, in other words, "forget about it?"<br /><br />That's depressing, hopeless but then again, maybe realistic...<br /><br />Please follow the link below.It was broadcasted on CNN on the 21st of December. It's about Lebanon's lost community.<br /><br /><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/12/21/perry.lebanon.jews.cnn">http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/12/21/perry.lebanon.jews.cnn</a>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-89911400963555771562008-12-25T11:12:00.003+02:002008-12-25T11:20:52.645+02:00Another candle...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjezGZ4fVNk-e7P7ig9WDx91oeQtb0ZsVPj-4LX11bEQ568iqMnsQ8FFEn-KHsViMZKuV_FmyhmbKpjukV-BnTIo04JemiE14E6ppPAo_Fzdtr-ltEoctnisinQJ-uaP14X9Z3673_sr-Zo/s1600-h/channuka4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283653966879846514" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjezGZ4fVNk-e7P7ig9WDx91oeQtb0ZsVPj-4LX11bEQ568iqMnsQ8FFEn-KHsViMZKuV_FmyhmbKpjukV-BnTIo04JemiE14E6ppPAo_Fzdtr-ltEoctnisinQJ-uaP14X9Z3673_sr-Zo/s200/channuka4.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Another candle and the world becomes brighter...</div>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-77790772512294056262008-12-23T19:16:00.007+02:002008-12-24T12:57:19.348+02:00Thank you<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVlbtB4SF5-UeDTB-tbYpLZF8Gf6GZZpLrKsGmKGLj-hiWxjn0Lkd3PlQescqkryH7-ZzsntRVxwNVPjuSqiMdLpeSHyjqHdnqZBZIw5R0BUWRpza4yIzvkVBL4pKG08VZXiqWCEJ4fu1p/s1600-h/photo+chanukka2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283035962893574434" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVlbtB4SF5-UeDTB-tbYpLZF8Gf6GZZpLrKsGmKGLj-hiWxjn0Lkd3PlQescqkryH7-ZzsntRVxwNVPjuSqiMdLpeSHyjqHdnqZBZIw5R0BUWRpza4yIzvkVBL4pKG08VZXiqWCEJ4fu1p/s200/photo+chanukka2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>I’m grateful to my Lubavitch friend who is full of ideas and resources, and who watches out that I’m not being cut out of the rest of the world. </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Thanks to him and to the Chabad mouvement that organised the event, I had the chance to watch, live via internet, a public lighting for Channuka, on Sunday and Yesterday. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br />And for that, I would really like to thank all the Chabad movement, and all it has done and is still doing all over the world, for Jews worldwide, reaching out to them even in the darkest corners of the world…<br /><br /></div><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiYge9Ia_Xzq4zdLOaI8yhpPRTGBBD0AlY6tuqIp2Una5G17YR0SKzHdy9M0JgU-UWaKCHd1bniOWRVmbYV3-6cmH_qGDHwKuEDomYTWYPKDP1kHM7bqNzEsWv7tWPKX0A0C3GmFzFI7SX/s1600-h/photochanukka3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283036191164327202" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiYge9Ia_Xzq4zdLOaI8yhpPRTGBBD0AlY6tuqIp2Una5G17YR0SKzHdy9M0JgU-UWaKCHd1bniOWRVmbYV3-6cmH_qGDHwKuEDomYTWYPKDP1kHM7bqNzEsWv7tWPKX0A0C3GmFzFI7SX/s200/photochanukka3.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Keep on lighting the world.</div>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-49235089460378189712008-12-21T20:13:00.002+02:002008-12-21T20:28:03.896+02:00Chag Sameach<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj59cD8DAQ-EYUFh5O-HQvNNQLm4hPktF3GXp2tYIe554BE9CDLkdsq7-kaOTl9YPeKdCjI6Q58_kmDzoG9nuxJNxCyTL4lu5bIe3UOqBA6dfdpoX7cZP_CV5pNJItGF3ifdI7ETCThvqHa/s1600-h/photo.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282311668918199922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj59cD8DAQ-EYUFh5O-HQvNNQLm4hPktF3GXp2tYIe554BE9CDLkdsq7-kaOTl9YPeKdCjI6Q58_kmDzoG9nuxJNxCyTL4lu5bIe3UOqBA6dfdpoX7cZP_CV5pNJItGF3ifdI7ETCThvqHa/s400/photo.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>I love Hannuka.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>This is the Hannukia I found in the attic of my grandmother.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>It was about time it came out of the darkness...</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Have a brilliant Hannuka</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-73795532261855645492008-12-18T18:21:00.003+02:002008-12-18T18:37:34.315+02:00Incitement to ViolenceOn any ordered merchandise coming from outside Lebanon, the following must be mentionned -on the packaging and invoices- in order to let the goods enter the country:<br /><br /><em>"We declare that goods are not from Israeli origin, have not been imported from Israel and do not contain any Israeli material."</em><br /><br />I can only shake my head in disbelief.<br /><br />We are a long long way from peace...lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-90749443126315809222008-12-14T17:39:00.007+02:002008-12-14T18:29:09.355+02:00ComparisonSo why are the Muslims so powerless... Here are some <strong>figures and Facts</strong> that speak for themselves:<br /><br /><strong>Extracts of speech by Hafez A.B Mohamed: Director-General, Al Baraka Bank, South Africa </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Demographics:</strong><br /><br />World Jewish Population. 14 million<br /><br />Distribution:<br />7m in America<br />5m in Asia<br />2m in Europe<br />100 thousand in Africa<br /><br />World Muslim Population: 1.5 billion<br /><br />Distribution:<br /><br />I billion in Asia/Mid-East<br />400 m in Africa<br />44 m in Europe<br />6 m in the Americas<br /><br />Every fifth human being is a Muslim.<br />For every single Hindu there are two Muslims.<br />For every Buddhist there are two Muslims.<br />For every Jew there are 107 Muslims.<br /><br />Yet the 14 million Jews are more powerful than the entire 1.5 billion Muslims, Why?<br />Here are some of the reasons.<br /><br /><strong>Movers of Current History</strong><br /><br />Albert Einstein Jewish<br />Sigmund Freud Jewish<br />Karl Marx Jewish<br />Paul Samuelson Jewish<br />Milton Friedman Jewish<br /><br /><strong>Medical Milestones</strong><br /><br />Vaccinating Needle: Benjamin Ruben Jewish<br />Polio Vaccine: Jonas Salk Jewish<br />Leukemia Drug: Gertrude Elion Jewish<br />Hepatitis B: Baruch Blumberg Jewish<br />Syphilis Drug: Paul Ehrlich Jewish<br />Neuro muscular: Elie Metchnikoff Jewish<br />Endocrinology: Andrew Schally Jewish<br />Cognitive therapy: Aaron Beck Jewish<br />Contraceptive Pill: Gregory Pincus Jewish<br />Understanding of Human Eye: G. Wald Jewish<br />Embryology: Stanley Cohen Jewish<br />Kidney Dialysis: Willem Kloffcame Jewish<br /><br /><strong>Nobel Prize Winners</strong><br /><br />In the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 180 Nobel prizes whilst 1.5 billion Muslims have contributed only 3 Nobel winners<br /><br /><strong>Inventions that changed History</strong><br /><br />Micro- Processing Chip: Stanley Mezor Jewish<br />Nuclear Chain Reactor: Leo Sziland Jewish<br />Optical Fibre Cable: Peter Schultz Jewish<br />Traffic Lights: Charles Adler Jewish<br />Stainless Steel: Benno Strauss Jewish<br />Sound Movies: Isador Kisee Jewish T<br />elephone Microphone: Emile Berliner Jewish<br />Video Tape Recorder: Charles Ginsburg Jewish<br /><br /><strong>Influential Global Business</strong><br /><br />Polo Ralph Lauren Jewish<br />Coca Cola Jewish<br />Levi’s Jeans Levi Strauss Jewish<br />Starbuck’s Howard Schultz Jewish<br />Google Sergey Brin Jewish<br />Dell Computors Michael Dell Jewish<br />Oracle Larry Ellison Jewish<br />DKNY Donna Karan Jewish<br />Baskin & Robbins Irv Robbins Jewish<br />Dunkin Donuts Bill Rosenberg Jewish<br /><br /><strong>Influential Intellectuals/ Politicians</strong><br /><br />Henry Kissinger , US Sec of State Jewish<br />Richard Levin, President Yale University Jewish<br />Alan Greenspan , US Federal Reserve Jewish<br />Joseph Lieberman Jewish<br />Madeleine Albright , US Sec of State Jewish<br />Casper Weinberger , US Sec of Defense Jewish<br />Maxim Litvinov , USSR Foreign Minister Jewish<br />David Marshal , Singapore Chief Minister Jewish<br />Isaacs Isaacs, Gov-Gen Australia Jewish<br />Benjamin Disraeli, British Statesman Jewish<br />Yevgeny Primakov, Russian PM Jewish<br />Barry Goldwater , US Politician Jewish<br />Jorge Sampaio, President Portugal Jewish<br />Herb Gray, Canadian Dep-PM Jewish<br />Pierre Mendes, French PM Jewish<br />Michael Howard, British Home Sec. Jewish<br />Bruno Kriesky, Austrian Chancellor Jewish<br />Robert Rubin , US Sec of Treasury Jewish<br />Global Media Influentials Wolf Blitzer, CNN Jewish<br />Barbara Walters ABC News Jewish<br />Eugene Meyer , Washington Post Jewish<br />Henry Grunwald, Time Magazine Jewish<br />Katherine Graham , Washington Post Jewish<br />Joseph Lelyyeld, New York Times Jewish<br />Max Frankel, New York Times Jewish<br /><br /><strong>Global Philanthropists</strong><br /><br />George Soros Jewish<br />Waltewr Annenberg Jewish<br /><br /><strong>Olympic Gold Medalists</strong><br /><br />Mark Spitz 7 Gold Medals Jewish<br />Krayzelburg Jewish<br />Boris Becker Jewish<br /><em></em><br /><em><strong>Conclusion </strong></em><br /><em></em><br /><em>The Muslim World lacks the capacity to produce knowledge. Muslim World is failing to diffuse knowledge. Muslim World is failing to apply knowledge. </em><br /><em></em><br /><em>"My Advice:Please educate yourself and your children. always promote education, don't compromise on it, don't ignore your children's slightest misguidance from education"</em>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-50522256267828704052008-10-15T20:47:00.002+03:002008-10-15T20:52:36.492+03:00PrejudiceI had a prejudice about how Ali would be like: a popular ahmadinejad, a narrow minded, macho guy…. I was wrong.<br />But then again, doesn’t everyone have prejudices?<br />When I was in Paris and talked Arabic on the phone, people looked at me in surprise: how come this not-arab-looking woman speak Arabic?<br />I went to a shop, and directly identified the owner as a Jewish guy by the mezuzah at the door. He immediately identified me as Lebanese.<br />He said it was my accent (which is funny because Lebanese tell me I don’t sound Lebanese because of my accent!)<br />And he said something like “ There are nice Christian Lebanese who come here” then he realized he might have slip out: I could’ve been a Muslim Lebanese….<br />I deliberately said, in a detached way: “it’s ok, no harm done. I’m not a Muslim anyway. I’m Jewish” and I entered the dressing room to try on the dress that I was holding.<br />The man was astonished. He literally followed me inside, and almost opened the curtain of the dressing room:<br />“which family?” <br />I said: “….., originally from Baghdad”<br />He asked a million questions.<br />Before I left (I took the dress as a gift to my mom) he gave me a leaflet of the Parasha of the week and the candle lighting times in Paris for Shabbat (the same day)<br />“Shabbat shalom” and I answered “Shabbat shalom”.<br />Waw. This is what I call Freedom.lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-46658309033039572452008-10-15T20:32:00.002+03:002008-12-18T18:16:16.119+02:00Dinner with AliLast week I was in Paris.<br />I love the month of tishrei in Paris.<br />I came back on Sunday night, after missing my flight and having a hard time getting finally on a plane to come back home on time for work on Monday…<br />Monday, I was just off work, at 8 pm, when a friend called.<br />I was feeling like a zombie and I was dreaming of sleeping.<br />But what this friend proposed was tempting:<br />Having dinner (sushi, mmmm) with him and a friend of his, in visit to Lebanon.<br />The friend is Iranian. Ali.<br />I liked the combination. Why not: A Lebanese Jew and an Iranian Muslim at a Japanese dinner.<br /><br />The guy turned out to be the grand son of someone very important who was very close to the shah of Iran. His family has been in exile since he was 3 years.<br />We talked about exile and about feeling “rootless”.<br />We had a lot in common: The frustration, the injustice, the feeling of wanting to do something and to feel hopeless and useless.<br />He despises the extremist regime in Iran, Hezbollah and all that happened to his country, a country he has never been to, a country that they stole from him, a country that he doesn’t even bear the passport, despite being the descent of one of the most know family there (there are mountains there called after them…)<br />The guy is educated, very charismatic, speaks fluently many languages and is very open minded.<br />With people like that, I thought, (just a thought that vanished just as the person faded out of sight) that there might, there could be a glimpse of hope. Hope of peace.<br />Ok, time to wake up.<br />Anyway, I always appreciate meeting interesting people like that.<br />Ali looked human.<br />Before separating, we hugged like long time friends.<br />The next day he went back to his exile in Europe.lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-64914886497062234222008-09-27T20:11:00.001+03:002008-09-27T20:14:21.406+03:00A Palestinian IftarA few days ago, I was invited at an “iftar”.<br />An iftar is the meal that muslims have after fasting the whole day, during the month of Ramadan.<br />The guy is half Druze and half Christian. His wife is Muslim Palestinian. She comes from a very wealthy family, and has always lived between London and Lebanon.<br />During all the dinner, she insisted about all the dishes being purely Palestinian.<br />At a point of the conversations, she mentioned she took Hebrew courses. When asked why, she said that one must know the language of his enemies.<br />I wonder how the world could ever get better with people, so called educated, being so narrow minded and intolerant.<br />Why should I be tolerant enough to go to an iftar? Because after all, I respect any religion, as long as it worships the same G-od.<br /><br />Our host continued judging the people who “don’t respect the fast of muslims by eating in front of them”.<br />It seems that in Saudi Arabia and other “fanatic” muslim countries, eating in public during the month of Ramadan is a sin, and one could get jailed for that.<br />So much for tolerance.<br />And then they wonder why in France they don’t allow young muslim girls to wear the hijab at school. They want to be intolerant at the max and expect to profit from the democracy of other countries to do what they will never accept from other religions in their countries.<br /><br />Eating in front of a person who is fasting must not be a temptation. Women fast and prepare meals for the night. Although they are hungry too, they are not tempted.<br />Fasting is a personal choice. In other religions, people fast by conviction and not by force. We cannot force our beliefs on others.<br />I don’t think that at Kippur, in Israel, it is forbidden for people to eat in public at the risk of being jailed…<br />This is the big difference. Respect.lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-12504503485739621012008-09-21T20:12:00.002+03:002008-09-21T20:19:13.236+03:00Renovating Magen Abraham...News about rebuilding the Magen Abraham Synagogue are being spread.<br />I’m getting calls from friends in Europe informing me about the news.<br />It is already in newspapers here in Lebanon. Friday I read it in the French newspaper, L’Orient Le Jour.<br /><br />Now that the Lebanese government has given its consent, and the Hezbollah has “agreed”, and that there is a beginning of a funding, the process of rebuilding of the Magen Abraham Synagogue has begun, and this might be as early as October.<br />The cost of the renovation is estimated at 1 million dollars. 40 000$ have already been collected. Apparently Solidere(the Lebanese joint-stock company in charge of planning and redeveloping Beirut central district), is going to fund some 100 000$ (as it has done to all the worship places that needed restoration).<br />It seems the Safra family (of Edmond Safra, National Bank of New York) is going to participate also, as well as 2 banks whose founders are Jews of Lebanese origins.<br /><br />This is wonderful news. But I am really pessimistic about it…<br />If Hezbollah has given its ok, do they realize that Lebanese Jews might not be against Israel, like they want us to be? Can they tolerate that? Or would we be charged of treason?<br />Does any Jew feel safe enough in Lebanon to go and pray at the synagogue (would we find a rabbi?)? Would we live our Judaism in the open and therefore risk our life and the lives of our family because of some extremist groups like hezbollah or the PSNP (Syrian national socialist party) who are the equivalent of the nazis?<br /><br />When, in 2006, the incidents of the caricatures of Mohammad occurred in Denmark, Muslims went into Christian resident areas in Beirut (Ashrafieh) and sabotaged homes, cars and burned down the embassy along with a few office buildings around it.<br />Can we afford taking the risk of living on the edge?<br />If anything happens in the world between Jews and Muslims or between Israel and other arab countries(which is frequent), will they take it out on the minority of Jews who dared come out of the dark?…<br />The answer is obvious.lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-80554585785668089492008-09-17T20:34:00.004+03:002008-09-17T20:54:02.186+03:00A Kosher list...I have sent a link of a youtube video, taken from a fellow blogger, ( <a href="http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=wU221GA5-u8">http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=wU221GA5-u8</a> ), to many of my lebanese friends...<br />It's about boycotting Israeli products and inventions, which are countless...<br /><br />"Propaganda!" said most of the people who have received it.<br />Only a few were impressed by all the Israeli and Jewish inventions.<br /><br />As for me, I thank the anti Semitics that made a list of Israeli and Jewish products available to boycott… now I know I should only shop from it…lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-83454103797040322812008-09-12T15:32:00.003+03:002008-09-12T15:35:33.697+03:00Homemade lebanese khallot<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDcQtG0RUxKfbWzHcpj5XKxLoEJfohNYij2ynZn_nbpTnmW8jUDrHBtzEWo4ei2S3qpwG_3OVwHxvASUJaeSU61m5pHla0MJnYFpg9p0853B9fM2xW285p3BNna36YU_IPPJGA0EY0OjGa/s1600-h/6+branches+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245112072337914610" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDcQtG0RUxKfbWzHcpj5XKxLoEJfohNYij2ynZn_nbpTnmW8jUDrHBtzEWo4ei2S3qpwG_3OVwHxvASUJaeSU61m5pHla0MJnYFpg9p0853B9fM2xW285p3BNna36YU_IPPJGA0EY0OjGa/s200/6+branches+2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><div></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Baking challah fills home with a festive aroma, and making homemade khallot gives home an extra dose of spirit. here is my khallot. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>( iknow i know, looks like a granny's blog... but i like it that way)<br /><br /><br />Shabbat Shalom.</div>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-51219615380600320302008-09-11T00:02:00.003+03:002008-09-11T00:24:26.368+03:006 days a week blessings...I was surfing on the internet when a brilliant idea came to me... why don't I check if I can download a Hebrew course application on my iphone...?<br />and while searching for that, I discovered that an application called iBlessing exists! and that i can have my own blessing phone with "Mode ani" and "shema" and a touch-to-choose the category of food for the blessing over food...<br /><br />And don't you just love the add of this application:<br /><strong><blockquote><strong>Finally a religious device with buttons that doesn''t explode!</strong></blockquote></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong></strong>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-64204667588359370152008-09-09T00:58:00.001+03:002008-09-09T01:01:26.887+03:00Community Of Magen AbrahamMagen-Abraham was the main and largest synagogue of the Jewish community of Beirut. It is the the only one of 18 city centre synagogues to be saved. The synagogue was inaugurated in 1926 after years of delay caused by the First World War.<br /><br /><blockquote><em>The Magen-Abraham synagogue was considered as one of the fanciest in the whole<br />East. Its activity attracted many people for praying. A youth choir was founded,<br />and on Saturdays, hundreds of people came to hear the choir singing. In addition<br />to religious services, the synagogue was used for cultural and intellectual<br />activities, weddings, and other festive events. Twice a year, in Passover and<br />Sukkot, the heads of the religious communities in Lebanon were invited to join<br />the ceremony. During the 1940s, the synagogue was used as a center for<br />underground Zionist activities. Many of the illegal migrants who arrived in<br />Beirut on their way to Israel were put temporarily in the building. Youth and<br />little children were housed in the synagogue's compound before taken to Israel.<br />The vitality of the synagogue waned with the decline of the entire community. As<br />Jews left Lebanon (particularly after the Civil War in 1975) in increasing<br />numbers, it became harder to gather a minyan for prayer. In 1982, the synagogue<br />was plundered and later efforts of Lebanese Jews to renovate and preserve the<br />building were unsuccessful.<br /></em></blockquote><br />During the Lebanese civil war, the synagogue was looted and sacked by fighters and turned into a dispensary by the Amal militia. The Torah scrolls were transferred to Lebanese synagogues abroad. Now the roof has collapsed, the plants have completely taken over the site and the building is in desperate need of repair.<br />Since the end of the seventies, the community has not had a rabbi. There is no place to buy locally produced kosher. There are no Jewish schools to teach children prayer and Hebrew.<br /><br />The flourishing community was of an estimated 14 000 (some even say 30 000), and it could trace its roots back to 1000BC. Today, it is estimated at less than a hundred. But then again it is almost impossible to know the true figures as it is impossible to identify its members. They keep their religious identity a secret and pass along as Christians or Muslims, for fear of persecutions from other sects, like the PSNP (Syrian national socialist party) or the Hezbollah, who openly wish to eradicate Zionism and Judaism.<br /><br />The Jews are one of the 18 religious groups officially recognized in Lebanon. A 2004 report said one out of 5 000 Jewish Lebanese citizen registered to vote in municipal elections. Most of those registered are believed to be dead or to have fled the country.lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-77144106457156615952008-09-07T21:11:00.002+03:002008-09-07T21:26:03.633+03:00She Never Asked...When Ariel (a good friend that I met through the internet) and I discovered we both had Iraqi origins, and that both our grandmothers were from Baghdad, we were astonished. I live in Lebanon, and he lives in Israel (virtually, a Jupiter and Mars distance) and our grandparents could’ve been neighbors!<br />Thanks to Ariel, I discovered that my favorite dish (a dish that no one in my circle of friends has ever heard of, made from Hallumi cheese and red lentils) is Iraqi and not Turkish, like my mother pretended.<br />I wonder if it was a deliberate attempt to muffle everything related to my grandmother’s origins…?<br /><br />My mother doesn’t want to get into all of this. She will defend the Jews from all her heart, but for some reason, never felt attached to all this. As if the battle was never hers.<br />When I first started showing some interest for Judaism, we had strong clashes. We still have, especially on politics.<br />She never asked my grandmother questions about her origins or about Judaism. So today, when my grandmother was recounting to me how they used to buy kosher meat from a butcher in Beirut, and how they used to have Shabbat lunch altogether with her family even after she got married to my grandfather (who isn’t jewish), my mother discovered her early Jewish life. She used to eat only kosher meat, and she used to observe Shabbat!<br />“You never asked!” said my grandmother…lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-66955196109444822042008-09-03T23:09:00.003+03:002008-09-08T01:06:20.922+03:00A Story From My ChildhoodHere is a story that happened in 82:<br />A few weeks before the IDF entered Beirut, my grand father’s (mother’s side) house was attacked by a Palestinian gang. We never knew who spread the word about my grand mother, but somehow they knew she was Jewish.<br />We used to live in the building facing theirs.<br />I can never forget the screaming, both of my grand father and from the attackers.<br />They were shooting at the apartment from everywhere: the main door, from the street on the living room side and the street from the kitchen side.<br />If it hadn’t been for a well connected neighbor, my grand parents would have been dead.<br />Then a few weeks later Israeli soldiers were walking those same streets. I never really asked how they got to my grand mother, but they did and she told them what happened…<br />They gathered all the men of the neighborhood, made them stand in line and asked my grand father to identify the attackers. (because when the neighbor interfered, my grand father had the occasion to see their faces, and they were actually adolescent/young men, most of them the neighborhood kids)<br />I was too young to understand the situation, but I remember my mother explaining to me that the bad guys are being caught. Those soldiers were my heroes.<br />My grand mother didn’t want anything bad to happen to the “kids”, and forgave them. Maybe she was thinking that from there on she was going to be safe.<br />She still lives in that same apartment.lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-2285188744123693972008-09-03T00:02:00.008+03:002008-09-03T00:23:41.710+03:00Pleading For My LandFor those of you who never read or heard it-because it was in french- here is a "poem" of Herbert Pagani. I translated it -as good as i know how.<br />Just Wonderful.<br /><br /><strong><em>11th of November 1975<br /></em></strong><br />Yesterday I was in the subway when I heard two ladies say :<br />“Did you see those Jews with their stories at the UN, those trouble-makers!”<br /><br />It’s true.<br />We are trouble-makers.<br />It’s been centuries that we’ve been harassing the world… It’s in our nature!<br />Abraham with his unique G’od,<br />Moses with his Tables Of The Law,<br />Jesus with his other cheek, always ready for the other slap.<br />Then Freud, Marx, Einstein,<br />they were all annoyers, revolutionists, enemies of the Order.<br /><br />Why?<br /><br />Because no Order, whatever the century, could satisfy them,<br />given that they were always excluded from it.<br /><br />To reassess, to see ahead,<br />change the world to change destiny,<br />this was the fate of my Ancestors.<br />This is the reason why all supporters of all implemented orders hate them.<br /><br />The anti-Semite of the right blames the Jews to have provoked the bolchevist revolution,<br />It’s true. There were a lot, back in 1917.<br />The anti-Semite of the left blames the Jews of being the owners of Manhattan.<br />It’s true, there is a lot of Jewish capitalists.<br /><br />The reason is simple:<br />Religion, culture, and the revolutionary ideal from one side,<br />wallets and banks on the other side,<br />are the only transportable valuables, the only homeland to those who don’t have a homeland.<br /><br />And now, that it exists,<br />the anti-Semitism is being reborn from its ashes<br />–sorry! From our ashes-<br />and it is called anti-Zionism.<br />It was applied to individuals, now it applies to a nation.<br /><br />Israel is a ghetto, and Jerusalem is Warsaw<br /><br />…the Nazis who besiege us talk Arabic<br />And if their sickle is disguised in a crescent,<br />it’s to better trick the Left, all around the world.<br /><br />I, a Jewish left-winger, don’t give a damn about a left<br />that wants to liberate men at the expense of other men,<br />because I am precisely of those.<br /><br />All right for class war,<br />but I’m also for the right of being different.<br />If the left wants to include me in, it can’t ignore my problem.<br /><br />And my problem is that since the roman deportations,<br />in the 1st century after Jesus Christ,<br />we have been, everywhere, cursed, banished, stalked, betrayed, denounced, crushed, despoiled, burnt and converted by force.<br /><br />Why?<br /><br />Because our religion,<br />which is our culture was dangerous.<br />Yes, dangerous!<br /><br />A few examples…<br /><br />Judaism was the first to establish Shabbat, day of the Lord, an obligatory, weekly day of rest.<br />Imagine the “joy” of the pharaohs, always a pyramid too late!<br /><br />Judaism forbade slavery.<br />Can you imagine the reaction of the Romans,<br />antiquity’s most important wholesalers of free working force!<br /><br />It is written in the Bible: “Land doesn’t belong to men, it belongs to G’od”<br />From this results the law of the land which automatically reassesses the ownership of the land every 49 years.<br />Can you imagine the effect of such a law on the popes of the Middle Ages and the empire-builders of the Renaissance!<br /><br />It was important that people didn’t know…<br /><br />So they began by forbidding the Bible,<br />then there were the disparagements,<br />walls of calumny that became walls of stones, and that they called ghettos.<br />Then there was the Inquisition, the pyres, and later the yellow stars.<br />Auschwitz is only an industrial example of the genocide, but there were thousands other handcrafted genocides.<br />I could spend three days only naming the Spanish, Russian, polish and North African pogroms.<br /><br />Fleeing, running away, moving, the Jew has been everywhere… and he is from nowhere.<br /><br />We are amongst the countries, like a child in public assistance:<br />I don’t want to be adopted anymore.<br />I don’t want my life to depend on my owner’s moods.<br />I don’t want to be a citizen-tenant.<br />I’ve had enough of knocking on History’s doors and to await the “come in”.<br />I’m Coming in and I’m yelling!<br />I’m home on earth and on earth I have my land.<br />It has been promised to me, and the promise will be kept.<br /><br />What is Zionism ?<br /><br />It can be defined in one simple sentence:<br /><br />“Next Year Jerusalem”<br /><br />No, it is not a Club-Med motto.<br />It is written in the Bible.<br />The best selling and the most wrongly read book in the world.<br />And this prayer became a scream, a cry of 2000 years,<br />And the father of Christopher Colombus,<br />Of Kafka,<br />Of Proust,<br />Of Chagall,<br />Of Marx,<br />Of Einstein,<br />and even Of Mr Kissinger,<br />repeated this phrase, this cry, at least once a year, at Pessah.<br /><br />So is Zionism racism?<br />Make me laugh!<br />Is “sweet France, dear country of my childhood” a racist anthem?<br /><br />Zionism is the name of a liberation combat.<br /><br />Each one has got his “Jews” in this world:<br />The French have the Bretons, the Occitans, the Corsicans, the immigrant workers.<br />The Italians have their Sicilians,<br />The Yankees, their blacks,<br />The Spanish, their Basques.<br /><br />Us, we are the Jews of ALL<br /><br />And to those who’ll tell me: « but the palestinians ? »<br />I say” “I’m a Palestinian of 2000 years.<br />I’m the oldest oppressed of the world”<br /><br />I’ll debate with them but I will never give up my place.<br />There is space for two people and two nations.<br />The borders must be defined together.<br />But the existence of one country can’t by any means exclude the existence of the other,<br />and the political options of a government have never reassessed the existence of any nation.<br /><br />So why Israel ?<br /><br />When Israel will be out of danger,<br />I will choose amongst the Jews and my arab neighbors, who is my brothers-in-thoughts.<br /><br />Today, I am united with all my alike, even with those I hate, against this big insurmountable enemy: RACISM<br /><br />Descartes was wrong:<br />“I think therefore I am” means nothing.<br />It has been 5000 years that we have been thinking and we still don’t exist.<br /><br />“I fight therefore I am”<br /><br /><strong>Herbert Pagani</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4p9zl_herbert-pagani-plaidoyer-pour-ma-te_music">http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4p9zl_herbert-pagani-plaidoyer-pour-ma-te_music</a>lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-89232328424391682442008-08-29T21:04:00.001+03:002008-08-29T21:06:46.206+03:00"Hava Nagila" made in LebanonA few months ago, I was invited to dinner at a friend’s house. We were a bunch of good friends who often gather on week-ends instead of hanging out in night clubs.<br />After dinner, I proposed to one of the guest, a very dear doctor friend, to play the piano.<br /><br />Before I go on with my story I would like to elaborate on this guy: When we first started meeting at diner parties or in restaurants we had always the same political point of views. One evening, the discussion was about Israel. Of course there were the attackers who would love to see the Jewish state vanish forever, and me, backed up by my Dr friend, who defended it with all the passion I had in me.<br /><br />I was really happy that evening to find someone as fervent as I am. When I questioned him about his enthusiasm, he said that he admires the Jewish people for their strength and their determination. He is even working on signing a petition to renovate the Lebanese synagogue. I was startled. I had to tell him about me. And I did.<br />Since that day, we have a special complicity.<br /><br />So that evening, I asked my Dr friend to play the piano. He decided that he will play a song for each one of us to sing along. There was the “lullaby” to the sleepy friend, Madonna’s “material girl” for the fashion victim etc… then came my turn. He winked and played “hava nagila” and he sang along. I laughed nervously. No one understood what it was. Then he switched to “hatikva”. He didn’t know the words but played it till the end. I sang in my heart. It was a very moving moment.lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973049720988649783.post-39651115580720901552008-08-21T21:51:00.002+03:002008-08-21T21:55:06.522+03:00Fashion Kills...My entourage is a “jet-set”, “high society” one. And when there is jet-set, there is fashion.<br />I mean I consider myself as a fashion addict. But never a fashion victim…<br />What is wrong with all these girls, walking around with Palestinian scarves? The kaffiyeh comes now in different colors: blue, red, mauve, pink… does anyone understand the meaning of these scarves? Do they know what they are wearing? the symbole of it? Or is it a feature of the high society, to be brainless?<br />Never a fashion victim….lost tribe of lebanonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06388136768412830524noreply@blogger.com0