Jews of America Fight Back

Jabotinsky Speaks to Jewish Youth
in America
Tells Them to " Fight Back"
Against Anti-Semites
The year was 1940 and Zev Vladmir Jabotinsky founder and head of the Jewish Self-Defense Organization was speaking to Jewish studentshigh school and college age at a meeting of his fighting Zionist youth group Betar. At this meeting somewhere in New York City he calls for the Jewish youth present to physically as well join with his planned Jewish Army that would fight Hitler and the nazis. He also blasts those Jewish students who would not fight back.He also defends his groups wearing paramilitary uniform (and training Jewish youth with weapons), and he blasts communism and the anti-war movement of that time which amazingly enough had Jewish pascifists who like today with Iraq-War opposed going to war,even against a Hitler.He reminds his youthful followers to ignore those in the Jewish community who had condemned their militant fight against Jew-Haters, and strong belief in Jews learning to shoot as to fight the enemies of Jews. This was a major undertaking of Jabotinsky, both in America and Europe, and he wrote an different article saying as much called "Jewish Youth Learn to Shoot !" He also made gun training and boxing , military styhle training a major part of his program at the very armed training camp he died at.His movement had such training camps all over Europe, and pre-state Israel.He advocated Jews moving en masse to Israel so as to avoid getting slaughtered by various anti-semities. He also preached and practiced setting up various self-defense groups to protect Jews world wide from atttack. The Jews were split about his message, as divided as they are today about ours the JDO.
Now we will roll back to Jabotinsky’s speech ( excerpt)
" Soon after the last war the following incident occured in one of the East European Universities. A group of anti-semitic students caught a Jewish girl student and played
ball with her, pushing her from one to another. When I heard of it, for a whole month afterwards I anxiously awaited news from that university; as it has many Jewish male students, I was for some news about some broken heads. But there were no heads broken.That was a sample of the ghetto mentality which makes us wish for the creation of a new Jewish mentality__I almost prepared to say, a new psychological race of Jews whose main features will be pride."
　
　
　
　
JDO Speaks at Jewish Youth Conference
At Columbia University under the pathetic misdirection of one Rabbi Charles Sheer Jewish students had actually been beaten by a pro-PLO Arab Nazi group that broke up a pro-Israel gathering of Jewish students. Jews were badly beaten and "proudly" refused to defend other Jews or themselves. Recently the same thing happened on other campuses as well.
Speech by JDO National Director to Jewish Youth
" Recently Jews were beaten in Fransisco State by a vicious collection of Jew-Haters that ran the gammut from an Islamic terrorist group, Farrakhan’s men, and assorted Jew-Haters. It was called a pogrom by those Jews who were beaten bloody during a once a year Holocaust memorial. Jews were told that " we wil kill you Jews in a new Holocaust (Heaven Forbid) and as always the Jews found out that campus security had done a disappearing act. Now, we waited to hear some good news. Good news like the Jews marching real angry and breaking up the meetings of the assorted Jew-Haters in that campus who made a fetish of beating Jewish women professors and students. We didn’t hear such good news. We waited for other good news of Jewish students on that college and others setting up kickboxing classes, and security training, so that could protect all Jewish meetings from attack. Well it did not happen.When Jews were beaten at Columbia several years ago at a pro-Israel meeting and there too the Jews were beaten bloody. Now who preached to the Jews not to protect each other or themselves ? None other than a certain Rabbi there who wanted us Jews to "look good by refusing to defend ourselves !
Meanwhile, it was one Jewish group that showed up at Columbia a month later to make sure that when an Israeli government representative spoke at the next Jewish student meeting no Jew-Hating Arab Nazis would lay a hand on the head of one Jew. JDO flyers put out around the campus the same way the Irgun did in itsa day warned very specifically what JDO fighters would do to any anti-semites that tried attacking Jews a second time. JDO brought its biggest men, to guard the Jews. The Columbia Spectator campus newspaper reported that the head of the anti-semitic PLO club on campus said it was afraid to show up where JDO would go,and was going to stay far away from the Jewish student gathering.Now young Jews here today must think what would Black students do if the KKK dared to show their faces to atttack a Black student meeting ? Would the Black students break the racists terrorists of the Klan in half physically ? Of course because the Black students are proud of who they are, have self-respect and would never let some campus misleader tell them to let themselves get stepped on . We Jews must learn from that. We must be proud to be Jews, and we must be proud of our G-D given land of Israel and stand with it. We must avoid the coming anti-semitic storm by emigrating to Israel. In the meantime we must battle all the assorted Jew-Haters by training in guns, karate, self-defense. We must form JDO chapters all across the country to really protect Jews from attacks from neo-nazis, KKK, as well as Farrakhans group of violent Jew-Haters. Do you got what it takes to join JDO, come to our (legal) free gun classes and protect Jews everywhere ? Do you see that the head of the neo-nazis just recently won an election to the Louisiana State Senate ?
　
　
There used to be a time that JDO speakers would list election primaries that neo-nazis and KKK had won. We would list neo-nazi pigs who had racked up huge election totals with names like Covington,Metzger,and Carlson. Then we would ask the audience" but what will you do when the Nazis actually win an election ?" Some Jews would agree that its possible, others would guarantee " it will never happen".
Well, we can change the question around now that Nazi Duke just won. " What are you going to do now that the Nazis just won an election ?" When the founder of the Jewish Self-Defense Organization traveled to speak to Geman Jews in 1929 in Germany he openly predicted that the small Nazi Party and Hitler would evetually come to power democratically and would then make a Holocaust against Jews . When Jabotinsky predicted this ever "mainstream" Jewish organization both in Europe and America condemned him and his fighting Jewish group as paranoid alarmsits.They NY Times in a notorious editorial in 1929 wrote that Hitler and his thousand members would never come to power, and that they were worthy of being ignored. And so we Jews paid a price for that ignorance, Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, Dachau, Never Again ! You young Jews here today must and shall step forward ! You have 2 choices. You can be part of JDO and really stand up againt the worsst Jew-Haters living in America, with rallies, demonstrations, self-defense, that means to physically guard Jewih places from attacl. Or you can listen to the "voices of appeasement and apathy" telling you everything is allright when it isn’t !
I always wondered what made those Jews in Europe think that Jabotinsky was a "alarmist " or "radical extremist" for predicting a Holocaust and telling Jews to arm long before it. What did those "it can’t happen here " type of Jews say when they were finally getting rounded up for the death camps. Well at a Jabotinsky memorial at which Menachem Begin former Irgun commander spoke on 1960 he said " and when those Jews who had closed their ears to your ( Jabotinsky’s ) warnings came face to face with the Nazi monsters a cry suddenly went up as had never been heard before why o why didn’t we listen to Jabotinsky?" And we at JDO do not want to do anything but our utmost to prevent a repeat of those horrible days of Jewish blood being spilled like water : and if we fail will Jews after being attacked seriously here cry out why o why didn’t we listen to the JDO and fight the neo-nazis and other Jew-Jaters like Farrkakhan, and Sharpton early on." Jewish Youth Take Jewish History into Your Hands and do everything to stop that terrible scenario. Don’t wait for a disaster to start training for one. Jewish history is loaded with Jews denying there was a danger and then getting wiped out in various attacks. Now, we want to be absolutely clear the Jews are NOT a collection of cowards. But you can help us make every one of your fellow Jews safe and secure ! Join us today, so there won’t be a tragedy tommorow !
　Taken from the JDO

Jewish Defense Organization blasts Neturei Karta

Below is an article about what the JDO did against the Neturrei Karta traitors who hugged and
met with the "Hitler of Iran" Ahamdinejad at the "Holocaust is a Jewish Lie" convention meeting
the neturei Karta flew to Tehran Iran.
JERUSALEM POST
US Orthodox slam Natorei Karta Holocaust conference attendanceMichal Lando, THE
JERUSALEM POST The participation of the Natorei Karta in a Holocaust denial
conference held in Teheran last month, continues to draw the ire of Jews, but particularly that of
the haredim who feel their credibility and image was threatened by the actions of the small
anti-Zionist group. The latest show of opposition came Sunday when hundreds of Jews, mostly
Orthodox, protested in Monsey, NY, where the Natorei Karta have one of their headquarters.
Organized by a militant Jewish group, the Jewish Defense Organization (JDO) that holds training
sessions to teach Jews how to defend themselves against anti-Semitism, the protest was held
outside the Natorei Karta headquarters and home of Rabbi Dovid Weiss who recently returned
from the conference in Teheran. Weiss was one of several members of the group who attended
the conference hosted by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Weiss would not comment
on the protest, and told The Jerusalem Post that he has a policy of not speaking to "Zionist
newspapers." The protest was one part of a larger campaign, called "Operation Screwball," by the
JDO to ostracize the Natorei Karta. The JDO Web site now features photos of several members
of the sect with their telephone numbers and addresses, in an attempt to encourage harassment.
The group, is calling on synagogues and Jewish businesses in Monsey to deny entrance to or
association with the group's members. "We want them fired from their jobs and run out of
Monsey," said Mordechai Levy, the national director of the JDO. Protesters at Sunday's
gathering, who came from Brooklyn, New Jersey and other parts of the New York metro area,
carried signs that read "Natorei Karta U R Traitors."
　 written by the JDO

More Terror

The Yeshanews.com website has prepared a detailed summary of 'Palestinian' terrorism against Israelis in the first six months of 2010. The picture is not as serene as a quick, occasional glance at daily newspapers, or even a detailed perusal thereof, might provide.

In short, five people -- a civilian Thai worker, a policeman and three soldiers -- were murdered, and a soldier was killed by friendly fire. Two Israelis were critically wounded, nine were moderately wounded, and 232 were lightly hurt in terror attacks or while fighting against terrorists.

A total of 139 rockets were fired during the six months, while 130 Arabs were apprehended with knives, of whom 22 admitted intending to perpetrate a terror attack. There were 60 shooting attacks, bombs, missiles fired, and attempted infiltrations at the Gaza border fence.

There were three documented attacks in which Arab drivers attempted to run down Israelis in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem; four people were lightly hurt. Other such attacks have been suspected, but as yet not proven.

Thirty-eight bombs were discovered throughout Judea and Samaria, while 218 people were hurt in rock attacks and Arab violence, including 56 civilians, among them three children.

Over this period, the Israel Air force attacked eight arms tunnels, a weapons factory, four terror bases, four munitions storage areas, and three terrorist cells engaged in shooting rockets. A total of 12 terrorists were killed and one was critically wounded. The Israeli marines killed six terrorists planning an attack from the sea, and altogether three terrorist infiltrations were prevented.

At least six incidents of vandalism against cemeteries have been documented, including three against the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hevron and the destruction of 23 gravestones on the Mt. of Olives.

(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Self Hating Jews who Lie

One must not speak ill of the dead, but the lies and fabrications Naieem Giladi spread while he was alive - he died in March 2010 - will live on unless they are challenged. Here's my attempt to rebut some of Giladi's claims published byThe Link in its April-May 1998 issue, found on an Islamic site.Naieem Giladi was born in Baghdad and joined the Zionist underground as a teenager. He was jailed by the Iraqis for smuggling Jews out to Iran, arriving in Israel in May 1950. Something happened to turn Giladi against Israel, and he became active in fighting racism in Israeli society, joining the 1970s social protest movement, the Black Panthers. Becoming a US citizen in the 1980s, Giladi self-published Ben Gurion's scandals blaming 'cruel Zionism' for scaring Jews, who were otherwise content living in Arab countries, into leaving Iraq. His claim that Zionist agents set off bombs became a staple of anti-Zionist propaganda.Early on in the interview, Giladi gives a potted history of the Jews of the region. "Although Jews like other minorities in what became Iraq, experienced periods of oppression and discrimination depending on the rulers of the period, their general trajectory over two-and-a-half millennia was upward,"he writes.In fact Jewish fortunes waxed and waned through the ages, through invasion, plague and flood, and the period in the 19th century, before the dawn of the colonial period, was probably the darkest."About 125,000 Jews left Iraq for Israel in the late 1940s and into 1952, most because they had been lied to and put into a panic by what I came to learn were Zionist bombs", Giladi claims.The bombs Giladi refers to date back to April 1950, but Jews were leaving illegally at a rate of 1,000 a month in 1949. Jews fled because they were being persecuted, because of the execution of the anti-Zionist Jew Shafik Ades in September 1948, because they were sacked from the Civil Service, because they could not enrol in universities and colleges, because they could not travel, because money was being extorted from them, because they were being arbitrarily arrested and unfairly singled out as Zionists. Above all, they feared the outbreak of another Farhud pogrom.According to Giladi, 'The principal interest Israel had in Jews from Islamic countries was as a supply of cheap labour, especially the farm work that was beneath the urbanised Eastern European Jews": this assertion is contradicted by the fact that the kibbutz farm movement was established by Eastern European Jews. It was the Iraqi Jews who were urbanised, resettling in the towns of the centre of Israel.Undeniably, there was discrimination against Jews from Arab countries and other newcomers in Israel. But most of the feelings of bitterness were caused by the inability of the state to adequately provide for the half million immigrants that were absorbed soon after its creation, including Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab countries. The new state had no money. Many of the immigrant had no marketable skills. Some had never seen a flush toilet or a cooking stove and didn't know how to use them. A vast absorption program was needed, but there were not even adequate funds for housing. New immigrants were housed in tents, and later in small communities of poorly built prefabricated houses - "ma'abarot".Giladi then charges Israel with using bacteriological warfare to rid itself of as many Palestinians as possible. Jews poisoning Gentile wells - where have we heard that libel before? The source of Giladi's allegations is apparently an account by the controversial 'historian' Uri Milshtain, who made the fantastical claim that Israel poisoned the wells in all Arab towns. Two members of the Haganah dressed as Arabs apparently crossed into Gaza to put two cans of bacteria, typhus and dysentery in the water supply. According to one Israeli scholar, they added oil, not bacteria. There was a typhus epidemic in the town of Acco before it fell in May 1948, but it is thought to have broken out after the electricity supply was disconnected and the water supply cut off. The Arabs re-opened disused wells and this might have caused the epidemic.The decisive incident that turned Giladi against Israel was when he was sent to Room no 8: the department of Jews from Islamic Countries at the headquarters of the Mapai party. He brands it 'a Negroes department'. (Thousands of Arabic-speaking Jews went into intelligence - was that stereotyping or segregation, or Israel just making the best use of talent available to the state?)The scenario that Israel discriminated against its citizens from Islamic countries requires a whitewashing of Arab antisemitism. ("We Jews from Islamic lands did not leave our ancestral homes because of any natural enmity between Jews and Muslims".) We get it here in Giladi's account of the 1941 Farhud in which 180 Jews were murdered. "The riots were most likely stirred up by the British in collusion with a pro-British Iraqi leadership", he claims.While the British were indeed guilty of failing to stop the two-day killing spree of June 1941, they were not guilty of starting the trouble, as Giladi claims. So keen is Giladi to exonerate the Iraqis from blame that Giladi does not even mention the pro-Nazi sympathies of Rashid Ali al-Gilani, who engineered a coup in May 1941 with the support of Hitler's ally, the Palestinian Mufti of Jerusalem, and military help from the Axis. At the time the British were engaged in a fight for control over Iraq. They had bigger fish to fry - fighting Axis bombers, bombing Iraqi forces, securing the Iraqi oilfields and protecting their own civilians - than than to stir up riots against the Jews.Giladi's story of how the British sent in the Ghurkas to loot a Jewish district in Basra has no basis in fact. For the entire month that they were in power, Rashid al-Gilani and his pro-Nazi cohorts taunted the Jews with incitement, sporadic attacks, and a plan to deport them to camps in the desert. The tension was such that the Jews were advised not to leave their homes on the eve of the riot.Giladi presents Jews uniting with Muslims to defend themselves against rioters in Baghdad. While the British could be faulted for letting the violence go unchecked for two days, Giladi turns the facts on their head by making the Arab rioters, many of them armed, into co-victims - when they were the looters, murderers and rapists (although some Muslim neighbours did save Jews). Giladi's fantasy, supported by some mysterious Armenian eye-witness, that British agent provocateurs were being treated in the Baghdad hospital alongside Jewish riot victims, strains credulity. Rashid Ali having fled, the British army was camped outside Baghdad, under express orders not to escort the returning Regent into the city. What really happened in the Baghdad hospital was that Jewish women were threatened with rape and wounded Jews threatened by Iraqi soldier patients - to the point where they had to be taken to the Jewish hospital for their own safety.Around 12,000 Jews or ten percent had escaped illegally through Iran by the time the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said decided to legalise Jewish emigration in March 1950 (tempted by the prospect of the spoliation of Jewish property), on condition the Jews renounced their Iraqi citizenship. A year later, the Iraqi government passed a second law confiscating Jewish property.At first the Zionist movement hesitated to encourage Jews from registering to leave, fearing it was a government trap. It was too dangerous for Jews to leave via Iran, and arrangements for the airlift to Israel (at first via Cyprus) were not in place until about six weeks later.When it comes to the notorious 'Zionist bombs', Giladi - who was not in Iraq at the time - gets his chronology all wrong: he claims the first bomb went off in March 1950 in the American Cultural Centre and Library. In fact this bombing took place in 1951 and injured four. The bombs at the Lawi automobile company and the Stanley Shashoua showroom went off in June 1951, and not in 1950, as Giladi claims. Neither caused any casualties. All these incidents had no bearing on the emigration as they occurred after the deadline for registration had expired in March.Giladi does get the date of the only fatal bombing right - that of 14 January 1951 at the Massouda Shemtov synagogue, an emigration registration centre, where a bus full of passengers was waiting to leave for the airport. Aside from the dubious benefit to the Zionist movement of bombing Jews who were already leaving, or registering to leave Iraq, there is evidence linking the Istiklal nationalist party to this bombing and the type of grenades used to the police. The Muslim peddlars in front of the synagogue mysteriously vanished moments before the explosion, which killed two children and an adult.An Israeli commission of inquiry in 1960 cleared Mordechai Ben Porat, the Zionist movement leader, of any involvement. Ben Porat argues that the bombs coincided with other political events in Iraq. "Iraqi Jews registered for emigration at such a rapid pace that no elements whatsoever, and certainly not the Zionist movement, or Israel, had any reason to accelerate emigration by reverting to such inane acts as that of using explosives," Ben Porat writes in his memoir To Baghdad and Back. In fact the Jewish Agency in Israel was pleading for the emigration to slow down, as Israel, already dealing with an influx of Rumanian Jews, did not have the ability to absorb the Iraqi Jews in any great numbers. "We don't even have tents. If they come, they'd have to live on the street," Levi Eshkol, treasurer of the Jewish Agency, told the Zionist emissary Shlomo Hillel.The two Zionist activists arrested and hanged in January 1952 by the Iraqi authorities were never charged with the synagogue bombing, as Giladi alleges. By the time of the incident, 100,000 Jews - the vast majority - had relinquished their Iraqi citizenship in anticipation of their exit; Iraq's gates would slam firmly shut two months later.

Kyrgyzstan Jews Pitching In to Help Violence-Torn Region

MoscowJTA Wire Service
The Jewish community of Bishkek is helping to deliver humanitarian aid to the south of Kyrgyzstan for those who are caught up in the ethnic rioting taking place there. “We have raised money to buy 30 sacks of flour and 15 sacks of rice,” the head of the Bishkek Jewish community, Boris Shapiro, told JTA this week. “The assembly of the Peoples of Kyrgyzstan, in which our community takes part, is sending a truck with these and other sacks of food to the Fergana Valley. This aid is meant not only for Jews but for all the people suffering there.” Ethnic rioting in the country’s south between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks has led to the death of at least 170 people and 1,800 injuries, according to reports, though the death toll could be much higher. In addition, at least 100,000 people have been displaced. About 70 Jews live in four cities in the conflict area, mostly pensioners living alone. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee says it has expanded its services—including providing extra food and medicine—to the region’s Jews and continues its daily monitoring of their safety. The head of the Bishkek Chesed center, Alla Volkovich, keeps in constant contact with 20 families in the south by telephone. Volkovich says they are safe enough, though most are afraid to leave their homes. No anti-Semitic incidents have been reported since the beginning of the conflict. No Jews from the Fergana Valley have tried to escape from the conflict zone, Volkovich says, “and now it’s practically impossible.” “The border with Uzbekistan is closed, and Bishkek is 600 kilometers [about 375 miles] away. This is too far, and a dangerous road.” Hopefully the violence has peaked, Shapiro said. “I witnessed a very similar conflict in the same area 20 years ago, when I was deputy minister of public health,” he recalled. “As far as I can see, the situation is more or less under control by now.” Upheaval in Kyrgyzstan in April resulted in a new government, bringing anxiety to the 1,500-member Jewish community. The protests were accompanied by an attack on the Bishkek synagogue and the appearance of an anti-Semitic banner near the presidential palace. It was ordered to be removed by the head of the provisional government, Rosa Otunbaeva. JDC’s long-term support for the Jewish community in Kyrgyzstan, an estimated 1,300 people, includes the local Chesed welfare center in Bishkek, which provides food, medicine and home care to the community. Additionally, JDC supports a Jewish library, a program for family education, as well as other aid and Jewish renewal programs for elderly and children at risk.
Israel, Vatican Closer to Resolving Differences
Israel and the Vatican appear to have moved closer to resolving financial and other outstanding issues that have clouded bilateral relations for years. A plenary session of the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the two states took place Tuesday at the Vatican. A statement said the plenary “welcomed the progress” accomplished by the commission’s working committee and had “agreed on the next steps towards conclusion of the Agreement.” It said the meeting took place in “an atmosphere of mutual understanding.” Israel and the Vatican signed an agreement establishing diplomatic relations at the end of 1993, but several financial issues, including tax exemptions and property rights for the Church, have remained unresolved despite years of fitful negotiations. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon headed the Israeli delegation at Tuesday’s meeting. Ayalon arrived in Rome Monday at the start of an official visit to the Vatican, Italy and France. An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement said one of Ayalon’s aims was to appeal for the implementation of national and European sanctions against Iran. EU Asked to Intervene in Dutch Anti-Semitism
In the wake of the desecration of a 280-year-old synagogue and other recent anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands, a Jewish group has asked the European Union to intervene. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, in a letter issued Tuesday to EU Foreign Minister Baroness Catherine Ashton, requested the EU’s “intervention to investigate the rampant epidemic in anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands,” due in part to the current “political vacuum in the Netherlands following General Election.” “In addition to the synagogue desecrated with red spray-paint late last month, a commemoration ceremony for the last transport of 3,000 Jewish children deported to their death was disrupted by passing bikers shouting ‘Heil Hitler’ during the mourners’ Kaddish prayer; Hyves, known as the Dutch Facebook, has postings rife with calls ‘to murder all Jews’ and for ‘Adolf Hitler to finish the job’; the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel in the Hague reported receiving phone messages calling for ‘many gas chambers to be built’; and children from the Rosh Pina Jewish elementary school were continually abused during an organized walk through south Amsterdam,” in recent weeks, according to the letter from Shimon Samuels, the center’s director for international relations. Anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands reportedly grew by 64 percent in 2009, the center said. Anti-Semitism increased in the year 2009 throughout the world, according to reports. The center urged Ashton “to condemn such incidents and the climate they portend, to take measures to investigate their origin and to impress upon the, as yet, unformed new Dutch government, its responsibilities to the entire European Union to contain a scourge that will not end with the Jews.”

Koranic Attitudes on Jews

Quotes from the Qu'ran and Hadith about Jews, Jerusalem and Israel
As an introduction, it should be noted that in general the Qu'ran and Hadith make a distinction between "Children of Israel" and "Jews". This distinction reflects the history of those two terms.
The term "Israel" or "Children of Israel" refers to the twelve sons of Jacob and their descendants. Jews almost never referred to themselves collectively as "Jews" until after the 13th century. In the Bible, Prayer Book and Talmud they call themselves "Children of Israel", "Children of Jacob", "Israel", etc. but never "Jews". The word "Jews" derives from the Roman term "Judea" which described roughly the area allocated to the tribe of Judah including Jerusalem. More specifically it refers to the militant zealots who fought against Rome. According to Josephus, these zealots belonged to a Temple Cult at odds with the Rabbinical Jewish authorities, and a portion of which were Idumean converts to Judaism. In this sense the "Jews" or more properly "Judeans" meant militants. New Testament references to "Jews" follow this pattern, for example Jesus was labeled as "King of the Jews", i.e. "King of the militants", not "King of Israel". After the Islamic conquest "Children of Israel" came to imply the Jewish people who kept the Divinely given commandments, and the "Jews" as those who abandoned or rejected them. Borrowing from European anti-Semitic literature, modern Islamists have stressed only the latter stereotype of evil "Jews".

The Qiyamah, Yawmul Deen, (which is also known as the Day of Judgment, Day of Gathering, Day of Meeting God, the Resurrection, and The Great Announcement), is a major theme (and promise), addressed not only in the Qur’an, but also in other religious Scriptures. Though opinions may differ on specifics, there is a more widely spread consensus, that it is connected to a time of momentous upheaval and calamity and, to The End of the World.

This event that has traditionally been linked to the Day of Judgment, both in the Judeo-Christian traditions and in the Qur’an, is the Return of the Children of Israel to the Holy Land.

Qur'an 17:104 : And We said unto the Children of Israel after him: Dwell in the land; but when the promise of the Hereafter (wa3’dul akhirati) cometh to pass We shall bring you as a crowd gathered out of various nations.
Qur'an 59:2 : He it is Who caused those who disbelieved of the followers of the Book (Jews) to go forth from their homes (leave their exile) till the first gathering (Li awalil hashr) you did not think that they would go forth, while they were certain that their fortresses would defend them against Allah; but Allah came to them whence they did not expect, and cast terror into their hearts; they demolished their houses with their own hands and the hands of the believers; therefore take a lesson, O you who have eyes!

Qur'an 17:4 : And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Scripture: Ye verily will experience corruption (exile) in the earth twice, but Ye will then after (thumma) ascend (ta’lunna) to a great height (or station).

Also according to the Qur'an, Allah chose the Children of Israel above all the nations
O Children of Israel! call to mind the (special) favour which I bestowed upon you, and fulfil your covenant with Me as I fulfil My Covenant with you, and fear none but Me. [Qur'an, sura 2:40]
Children of Israel! call to mind the (special) favour which I bestowed upon you, and that I preferred you to all other nations (for My Message). [Qur'an, sura 2:47]

And remember We took your covenant and We raised above you Mount (Sinai) : (Saying): "Hold firmly to what We have given you and bring (ever) to remembrance what is therein: Perchance ye may fear Allah." [Qur'an, sura 2:63]

"We [Allah] made a covenant with you [Children of Israel] and raised the Mount [Sinai] above you, saying: 'Grasp fervently [the Torah] what We [Allah] have given you, and bear in minds its precepts, that you may guard yourselves against evil'". [Qur'an, sura 2:65]

And remember We [Allah] made a covenant with the Children of Israel (to this effect): Worship none but Allah; treat with kindness your parents and kindred, and orphans and those in need; speak fair to the people; be steadfast in prayer; and practise regular charity. Then did ye turn back, except a few among you, and ye backslide (even now). [Qur'an, sura 2:83]

After this it is ye, the same people, who slay among yourselves, and banish a party of you from their homes; assist (Their enemies) against them, in guilt and rancour; and if they come to you as captives, ye ransom them, though it was not lawful for you to banish them. Then is it only a part of the Book that ye believe in, and do ye reject the rest? but what is the reward for those among you who behave like this but disgrace in this life?- and on the Day of Judgment they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty. For Allah is not unmindful of what ye do.[Qur'an, sura 2:85]

We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of messengers; We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you a messenger with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are puffed up with pride?- Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay! [Qur'an, sura 2:87]

Those to whom We [Allah] have sent the Book [Torah] study it as it should be studied: They are the ones that believe therein: [Qur'an, sura 2:121]

O Children of Israel! call to mind the special favour which I bestowed upon you, and that I preferred you to all others nations (for My Message).[Qur'an, sura 2:122]

"When God made a covenant with those [the Children of Israel] to whom the Scriptures were given He said: 'Proclaim these to mankind and do not suppress them'". [Qur'an, sura 3:187, "The 'Imrans"]

"God made a covenant with the Israelites and raised among them twelve chieftains [the princes of the twelve tribes of the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel]". [Qur'an, sura 5:12, "The Table"]

"Bear in mind the words of Moses to his people [the Children of Israel]. He said: 'Remember, my people, the favour which God has bestowed upon you. He [Allah] has raised up prophets among you, made you kings, and given you that [the Torah and the Land of Israel] which He has given to no other nation. Enter, my people, the holy land [of Israel] which God has assigned for you. Do not turn back, and thus lose all'". [Qur'an, sura 5:20, "The Table"]

"We [Allah] made a covenant with the Israelites and sent forth apostles among them". [Qur'an, sura 5:70, "The Table"]

"We [Allah] divided them [the Children of Israel] into twelve tribes, each a whole community". [Qur'an, sura 7:159, "The Heights"]

"We [Allah] sent forth Moses with Our signs, saying: 'Lead your people [the Children of Israel] out of the darkness into the light, and remind them of God's favours'. Surely in this there are signs for every steadfast, thankful man. Moses said to his people [the Children of Israel]: 'Remember God's goodness to you when He delivered you from Pharoah's nation, who had oppressed you cruelly, slaughtering your sons and sparing only your daughters. Surely that was a grevious trial by your Lord. For He had declared: 'If you give thanks, I will bestow abundance upon you: but if you deny My favours, My punishment is terrible indeed'". [Qur'an, sura 14:6-7, "Abraham"]

"But it was Our [Allah's] will to favour those [the Children of Israel] who were oppressed in the land [of Egypt] and to make them leaders among men, to bestow on them a noble heritage and to give them power in the land [of Egypt]; and to inflict on Pharoah, Haman and their warriors the very scourge they [the Egyptians] dreaded".[Qur'an, sura 28:3, "The Story"]

"We [Allah] gave the Book [Torah] to Moses (never doubt that you will meet him) and made it a guide for the Israelites. And when they grew steadfast and firmly believed in Our revelations, We appointed leaders from among them who gave guidance at Our bidding. On the Day of Resurrection your Lord will resolve their differences for them". [Qur'an, sura 32:22, "Adoration"]

"We [Allah] gave the Book [Torah] to the Israelites and bestowed on them wisdom and prophethood. We provided them with wholesome things and exalted them above the nations".[Qur'an, sura 45:17, "Kneeling"]

"We sent forth Noah and Abraham and bestowed on their offspring [the Children of Israel] prophethood and the Scriptures [Torah]". [Qur'an, sura 57:26, "Iron"]

The Qur'an gives reproof and condemnation to the "Yahudis", meaning the Jews (or the more accurate term Judeans), and specifically the miltiant inhabitants of Medina.
Ignominy shall be their portion [the Jews'] wheresoever they are found... They have incurred anger from their Lord, and wretchedness is laid upon them... because they disbelieve the revelations of Allah and slew the Prophets wrongfully... because they were rebellious and used to transgress. [Surah 111, v. 112]
And thou wilt find them [the Jews] the greediest of mankind....[Surah 11, v. 96]
Evil is that for which they sell their souls... For disbelievers is a terrible doom.[Surah II, v. 90]

Taste ye [Jews] the punishment of burning.[Surah III, v. 18 1]

Proclaim a woeful punishment to those that hoard up gold and silver.... Their treasures shall be heated in the dres of Hell, and their foreheads, sides and backs branded with them. . . . 'Taste then the punishment which is your due. [Surah IX, v. 35]

"They [the Jews] are the heirs of Hell.... They will spare no pains to corrupt you. They desire nothing but your ruin. Their hatred is clear from what they say ... When evil befalls you they rejoice." Ibid. [Surah 111, v. 117-120]

Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment.[Surah IV, v. 56]

Because of the wrongdoing of the Jews.... And of their taking usury ... and of their devouring people's wealth by false pretenses. We have prepared for those of them who disbelieve a painful doom.[Surah IV, v. 160, 161]

Allah hath cursed them [the Jews] for their disbelief.[Surah IV, v. 46]

They [the Jews] will spare no pains to corrupt you. They desire nothing but your ruin. Their hatred is clear from what they say, but more violent is the hatred which their breasts conceal.[Surah III, v. 117-120]

In truth the disbelievers are an open enemy to you.[Surah IV, v. 101]

And thou seest [Jews and Christians] vying one with another in sin and transgression and their devouring of illicit gain. Verily evil is what they do. Why do not the rabbis and the priests forbid their evilspeaking and their devouring of illicit gain? .... evil is their handiwork.[Surah V, v. 62, 63]

O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for friends. [Surah V, v. 51]

The most vehement of mankind in hostility [are] the Jews and the idolators.[Surah V, v. 82]

Fight against such of those [Jews and Christians] ... until they pay for the tribute readily, being brought low.[Surah IX, v. 29]

Allah fighteth against them [the Jews]. How perverse they are![Surah IX, v. 30]

Believers, many are the rabbis and the monks who defraud men of their possessions... Proclaim a woeful punishment to those that hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in Allah's cause.... their treasures shall be heated in the fire of Hell.... [Surah IX, v. 26-34]

They [the Jews] spread evil in the land .... [Surah V, v. 62-66]

[The Jews] knowingly perverted [the word of Allah], know of nothing except lies ... commit evil and become engrossed in sin. [Surah II, v. 71-85]


Early Hadith say that the Dajjal (Anti-Christ) will have 70,000 Jewish followers from Iran

The Killing of Dajjal (anti-Christ) and the Victory of the Muslims:

After the completion of congregational dawn prayers, Jesus will open the door behind him where Dajjal accompanied by 70,000 Yahudis (Jews) will be. He will indicate with his hand to move away between himself (Jesus) and Dajjal. Dajjal will then see Jesus. At that time every unbeliever on whom the breath of Jesus will reach, will die. His breath will reach up to the distance of his eyesight. The Muslims will then come down from the mountains and break loose on the army of Dajjal. There will be war, Dajjal will retreat, and Jesus will pursue Dajjal. Jesus will have two flexible swords and one shield with him and with these he will kill Dajjal at the Gate of Hudd. He willl show the Muslims the blood of Dajjal which will get on his shield. Eventually the Yahudis (Jews) will be selected and killed. The swine will be killed and the cross broken. People will revert to Islam. Wars will end, and people will return to their respective countries. One Jamaat (group) of Muslims will remain in his service and companionship.
Later Hadiths (appearing in the 1930s and 1940s under the influence of Hajj Amin Husseini) indicated the Messiah that all Jews wait for is the Dajjal, and "The resurrection of the dead will not come until the Muslims will war with the Jews and the Muslims will kill (exterminate) them."
This page was produced by Joseph E. Katz
Middle Eastern Political and Religious History Analyst
Brooklyn, New York

The Qur'an says that Allah gave the Land of Israel to the Jews and will restore them to it at the end of days

What the Qur'an Really Says
by Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi
THE QUR'AN SAYS:

"To Moses We [Allah] gave nine clear signs. Ask the Israelites how he [Moses] first appeared amongst them. Pharoah said to him: 'Moses, I can see that you are bewitched.' 'You know full well,' he [Moses] replied, 'that none but the Lord of the heavens and the earth has revealed these visible signs. Pharoah, you are doomed.'"
"Pharoah sought to scare them [the Israelites] out of the land [of Israel]: but We [Allah] drowned him [Pharoah] together with all who were with him. Then We [Allah] said to the Israelites: 'Dwell in this land [the Land of Israel]. When the promise of the hereafter [End of Days] comes to be fulfilled, We [Allah] shall assemble you [the Israelites] all together [in the Land of Israel]."

"We [Allah] have revealed the Qur'an with the truth, and with the truth it has come down. We have sent you [Muhammed] forth only to proclaim good news and to give warning."

[Qur'an, "Night Journey," chapter 17:100-104]

SHAYKH PROF. PALAZZI COMMENTS:
God wanted to give Avraham a double blessing, through Ishmael and through Isaac, and ordered that Ishmael's descendents should live in the desert of Arabia and Isaac's in Canaan.

The Qur'an recognizes the Land of Israel as the heritage of the Jews and it explains that, before the Last Judgment, Jews will return to dwell there. This prophecy has already been fulfilled.

MUSLIMS MUST RECOGNIZE THE STATE OF ISRAEL AS A JEWISH STATE

Is there any fundamental reason which prohibits Muslims from recognizing Israel as a friendly State?

I realize that a negative answer to the above question is taken for granted by popular opinion. My approach, however, is not based on popular opinion or the current political situation, but on a theological analysis of authentic Islamic sources.

Viewing the Jewish return to Israel as a Western invasion and Zionists as recent colonizers is new. It has no basis in authentic Islamic faith. According to the Qur'an, no person, people or religious community can claim a permanent right of possession over any territory. The Earth belongs exclusively to God, and He is free to entrust sovereignty over land to whomever He likes for whatever time period that He chooses.

"Say: 'O God, King of the kingdom (1), Thou givest the kingdom to whom Thou pleasest, and Thou strippest off the kingdom from whom Thou pleasest; Thou endowest with honour whom Thou pleasest, and Thou bringest low whom Thou pleasest: all the best is in Thy hand. Verily, Thou hast power over all things.'"(2) [Qur'an 3:26]
From the above Qur'anic verse we deduce a basic principle of the Monotheistic philosophy of history: God chooses as He likes in the relationship between peoples and countries. Sometimes He gives a land to a people, and sometimes He takes His possession back and gives it to another people.
In general, we can say that He gives as a reward for faithfulness and takes back as a punishment for wickedness, but this rule does not permit us to say that God's ways are always plain and clear to our eyes, since His secrets are inaccessible to the human intellect.

Using Islam as a basis for preventing Arabs from recognizing any sovereign right of Jews over the Land of Israel is new. Such beliefs are not found in classical Islamic sources.

Concluding that anti-Zionism is the logical outgrowth of Islamic faith is wrong. This conclusion represents the false transformation of Islam from a religion into a secularized ideology.

Such a false transformation of Islam was in fact made by the late Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini. He is the one person most responsible, both morally and materially, for the repeated Arab defeats in their conflict with the Jews in Israel.

Husseni not only incited Arabs against Jews. He also encouraged the torture and murder of all Arabs who correctly understood that Arab cooperation with Jews was a precious opportunity for the development of the Land of Israel. Husseini ended his woeful life by putting his perverted religious teachings at the service of the evil and pagan Nazis.

After Husseini came Jamal al-Din 'Abd al-Nasser. Nasser based his policy on Pan-Arabism, hatred and contempt for Jews, and an alliance with the atheistic Soviet Union. Nasser's terrible choices were critical factors in maintaining Arab backwardness. Fortunately, most of Nasser's mistakes were afterward corrected by the martyr Anwar Sadat. (3)

After the defeat of Nasserianism, Islamic fundamentalist movements made anti-Zionism the primary feature of their propaganda. They presented the negation of any Jewish rights to the Land of Israel as rooted in authentic Islam and derived from authentic Islamic religious principles.

THE LAND OF ISRAEL IN QUR'ANIC EXEGESIS

The fundamentalist Muslim program to use Islam as an instrument for political warfare against Jews finds a major obstacle in the Qur'an itself. Both the Bible and the Qur'an state quite clearly that the right of the Israelites to the Land of Israel does not depend on conquest and colonization. This right flows from the will of almighty God Himself.

Both the Jewish and Islamic Scriptures teach that God, through His chosen servant Moses, decided to free the offspring of Jacob from slavery in Egypt and to constitute them as heirs of the Promised Land. Whoever claims that Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel is something new and rooted in human politics denies divine revelation and divine prophecy as explicitly expressed in our Holy Books (the Bible and Koran).

The Qur'an relates the words by which Moses ordered the Israelites to conquer the Land:

"And [remember] when Moses said to his people: 'O my people, call in remembrance the favour of God unto you, when he produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave to you what He had not given to any other among the peoples. O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin.'" [Qur'an 5:20-21]
Moreover - and those who try to use Islam as a weapon against Israel always conveniently ignore this point - the Holy Qur'an explicitly refers to the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel before the Last Judgment - where it says: "And thereafter We [Allah] said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, we will gather you together in a mingled crowd.'" [Qur'an 17:104]
Therefore, from an Islamic point of view, there is NO fundamental reason which prohibits Muslims from recognizing Israel as a friendly State.

ISLAM AND NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ISLAMIC STATES AND THE JEWISH STATE

PLO documents can in no way be regarded as Islamic. The PLO leaders are a gang of criminals and thieves, and Arabs will be the main victims of any supposed "Palestinian State" under their leadership.

I do not believe that Islam is the factor preventing normalization between Arabs and the State of Israel. The real problem is that members of the ruling classes in Arab countries believe their authority and power would be threatned by democracy, modernization, and education in the Arab world. They use a distorted interpretation of Islam as a political tool, and unfortunately the majority of uneducated Arabs believe their poisonous propaganda.

I believe that we must return to the time when Islam was in the vanguard of scientific progress and interfaith dialogue. Instead of false "leaders" such as Qadhafi, Saddam Hussein, Arafat [el-Husseini] or Yasin, we Muslims again need true leaders such as al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd and Ibn Khaldum.

King Faysal of Iraq said: "The Arabs, and particularly the educated ones among them, must look at the Zionist movement with the deepest sympathy."

Tragically, true leaders such as Faysal were silenced, and fanatics such as Haj Amin al-Husseini prevailed.

The evil consequences of the victory of fanaticism are clear for all to see: Jews expelled from Arab countries where the lived in peace for over one thousand years, "Palestinian" refugees, terrorism, etc. To avoid future mistakes, we must learn from our past ones.

Unfortunately, there are Arabs who believe that they must fight against Israel until they completely destroy it (a tragedy which I do not believe the God of Israel will ever permit to happen - Never again!).

Unfortunately, there are also naive and foolish Israelis who believe, incredibly to me, that they will achieve "peace" with their Arab neighbours by giving the murderer "Arafat" [el-Husseini] a State, an army, etc. This is insane. You Jews are supposedly famous for your intelligence. How can some of your "leaders" be so stupid?

From the perspective of the natural world, I am not optimistic about what the future holds. However, from the supernatural perspective of faith, we who believe in God must face the future with a positive attitude.

We must have faith that we will see the day when real peace and prosperity - which can only be based on true faith in God and His Word (the Bible and Rabbinic Tradition for you; the Bible, Qur'an and Authentic Islamic Tradition for us) - will spread throughout the world. Meanwhile, we must work together to prepare for a better future.

MUSLIMS MUST RECOGNIZE JEWISH SOVEREIGNTY OVER JERUSALEM

From an Islamic point of view, is there any fundamental reason which prohibits Muslims from recognizing Jerusalem both as an Islamic Holy Place and as the capital of the State of Israel?

I realize that a negative answer to the above question is taken for granted by popular opinion. My approach, however, is not based on popular opinion or the current political situation, but on a theological analysis of authentic Islamic sources.

JERUSALEM IN THE QUR'AN

The most common argument against Muslim acknowledgment of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem is that, since al-Quds [Jerusalem] (4) is a Holy Place for Muslims, Muslims cannot accept that it is ruled by non-Muslims, because such acceptance amounts to a betrayal of Islam.

Before expressing our point of view on this question, we must reflect upon the reason for which Jerusalem and Masjid al-Aqsa [the Al Aksa mosque] hold such a sacred position in Islamic faith.

As is well known, the inclusion of Jerusalem among Islamic holy places derives from al-Mi'raj, the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammed to heaven. The Ascension began at the Rock, usually identified by Muslim scholars as the Foundation Stone of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem referred to in Jewish sources.

Recalling this link requires us to admit that there is no connection between al-Miraj [the Ascension] and Muslim sovereign rights over Jerusalem since, in the time that al-Miraj took place, the City was not under Islamic, but under Byzantine administration. Moreover, the Qur'an expressly recognizes that Jerusalem plays for Jews the same role that Mecca does for Muslims.

We read:

"...They would not follow thy direction of prayer (qiblah), nor art thou to follow their direction of prayer; nor indeed will they follow each other's direction of prayer..." (5)
All Qur'anic commentators explain that "thy qiblah" [direction of prayer for Muslims] is clearly the Ka'bah of Mecca, while "their qiblah" [direction of prayer for Jews] refers to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
To quote only one of the most important Muslim commentators, we read in Qadn Baydawn's Commentary:

"Verily, in their prayers Jews orientate themselves toward the Rock (sakhrah), while Christians orientate themselves eastwards..." (6)
In complete opposition to what "Islamic" fundamentalists continuously claim, the Book of Islam [the Qur'an] - as we have just now seen - recognizes Jerusalem as the Jewish direction of prayer.
Some Muslim commentators also quote the Book of Daniel (7) as a proof for this.

After reviewing the relevant Qur'anic passages concerning this matter, I conclude that, as no one denies Muslims complete sovereignty over Mecca, from an Islamic point of view - despite opposing, groundless claims - there is no reason for Muslims to deny the State of Israel - which is a JEWISH state - complete sovereignty over Jerusalem.

ISLAMIC HOLY PLACES

Anti-Jewish sentiments expressed by Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East are, in fact, not religious in nature, but, rather, political. The best proof of this is in the fact that Islamic anti-Judaism is quite recent.

Omar ended the Roman ban that prevented Jews to enter Jerusalem, the Ummayad caliphs in Cordoba built a synagogue for Maimonides, and Salahu-d-Din, after defeating the Crusaders, wrote to the Jewish leaders, "Your exile is over. Whoever wants to come back is welcome."

The late King Faysal of Iraq openly expressed his sympathy for the Zionist movement, while King Abdullah of Jordan was compelled to wage war against Israel by the other Arab leaders.

Recently, the Resident Arab ["Palestinian"] Wakf has made pronouncements, such as that the Western Wall (Kotel) is not a Jewish shrine, but, rather, the wall to which the Prophet's [steed] was tethered, or, at best, the wall surrounding the Muslim Mosque. The Wakf has also stated that all of Hebron should be turned over to the Resident Arab ["Palestinian"] Authority, and that Jews would be forbidden to pray in the Cave of the Patriarchs.

These kinds of declarations by the PLO gangsters are ridiculous and absurd.

The Kotel was effectively, according to the Islamic tradition, the place where al-Buraq [the Prophet's steed] was tethered, but it was already an existing part of the Herodian structure. Muslims have never prayed close to it, and it has never had a special relevance in Islam. On the contrary, everyone knows how important it is for Jewish worshippers.

Apart from Mecca, no Islamic holy place is off-limits for non-Muslims. Historical sources say that the Prophet Muhammad entertained a delegation of Christians from Najran in the Mosque of Medina, and permitted them to celebrate a mass inside the Mosque, notwithstanding the fact that Christian rites can include words that are against Islam [such as stating that Jesus is God].

There is nothing in Jewish worship that can be offensive for Muslims, and nothing in Islamic Law prevents Jews to pray on Haram al-Sharif/Har Habayyit (the Temple Mount), in the Cave of Machpela or in any other place that is regarded as holy by Muslims.

Every time I meet those who say otherwise, I ask them to identify a single authoritative Islamic source as legal proof of their claim. None of them has ever answered such a request of mine.

NOTES:

1. The original Arabic word we translated as "kingdom" is mulk, from a Semitic root m-l-k, that is common to both Arabic and Hebrew. According to Islamic theological terminology, the three synonyms for "kingdom" are mulk, malakut and jabarut. They refer respectively to the physical, psychic and spiritual levels of existence. Of course, G-d can be called King of all of them; if here only mulk is quoted, it depends on the fact that this verse directly concerns the earthly domain. To denote a kingdom in the secular and political sense, Arabic commonly uses another derived form, that is mamlakah.

2. Koran 3:26. For typographical reasons, it is not possible to reproduce here the original Arabic text of the Koran, which must nevertheless be understood as quoted. As well here as in other Koranic quotations, the English translation of the meaning of Koranic words from Arabic is my own, but based on the most authoritative English commentaries, such as M. Marmaduke Pickthall's "The Meaning of The Glorious Koran" (Beirut 1973), 'A. Yusuf 'Ali, "The Holy Koran - Text, Translation and Commentary" (Maryland 1983) and A. 'A. Maududi "The Holy Koran - Text, Translation and Brief Notes" (Lahore 1986).

3. In using the term "martyr" I do not simply refer to one who lost his life for a good cause. I give a precise translation of the Arabic word "shahid," which identifies a "martyr" in the strictly religious sense; that is to say, someone who spent his life serving the cause of G-d. Since making peace with former enemies is an explicit Koranic order (see Koran 8:61), and since, according to Islam, Peace is G-d Himself, any believer who is killed because of his search for Peace must be understood as a religious martyr. The same considerations clearly apply to Yitzhak Rabin. 4. Arabic name of Jerusalem, from the root q-d-s, meaning "holiness". It is an abridged form of Bayt al-maqdis, "the sanctified House" or "the House of the Sanctuary", an exact equivalent of the Hebrew Beth ha-mikdash. The name originally referred only to the Temple Mount, and was afterward extended to the City as a whole. This extension of meaning became common among Arabs from the tenth century C.E. onwards. Earlier Islamic sources use the name Iliyia, an adaptation to Arabic pronounciation of the Roman name Aelia.

5. Koran 2:145.

6. M. Shaykh Zadeh Hashiyaah 'ali Tafsir al-Qadn al-Baydawn (Istanbul 1979), Vol. 1, p. 456.

7. Daniel 6:10

***********************************

Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi has been a lecturer in the Department of the History of Religion at the University of Velletri (Rome, Italy).

In 1987, after completing his secular and religious education in Rome and Cairo, he was asked to serve as an Imam (spiritual leader) for the Italian Islamic Community. In addition to numerous Masters Degrees, Prof. Palazzi hold a Ph.D in Islamic Sciences by decree of the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In 1989 he was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Muslim Association (AMI) and afterward elected its Secretary General.

In 1991 he was asked to act as Director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community (ICCII), with a program based on the development of Islamic education in Italy, refutation of fundamentalism and fanaticism, and deep involvement in inter-religious dialogue, especially with Jews and Christians.

In 1997, Prof. Palazzi's essay entitled "The Jewish-Moslem Dialogue and the Question of Jerusalem" was published by the Institute of the World Jewish Congress.

In 1997, Prof. Palazzi joined the International Council of the Root & Branch Association.

In 1998, Prof. Palazzi and Dr. Asher Eder (Jerusalem, Israel) co-founded the Islam-Israel Fellowship, which promotes a positive Muslim attitude towards Jews and Israel based on what Prof. Palazzi believes are the authentic teachings of Muhammed as expressed in the Koran and Hadith (Muslim Oral Tradition). Prof. Palazzi serves as Muslim Co-Chairman of the Fellowship. Dr. Eder serves as the Jewish Co-Chairman.

This page was produced by Joseph E. Katz
Middle Eastern Political and Religious History Analyst
Brooklyn, New York

American Muslim speaks out on ACT

Mosque unbecoming
By M. ZUHDI JASSER

Last Updated: 4:35 AM, May 24, 2010

Posted: 2:06 AM, May 24, 2010

In the 1960s, my parents left their despotic motherland of Syria for the promise of genuine liberty and religious freedom in America. In the decades since, we have led the construction of a number of mosques in the towns where we lived.

Some went up without challenge from the local community, but others met with palpable local discontent. In those cases, the law and the natural American affinity for religious freedom eventually paved the way to the ribbon cutting.

These were all humble mosques, funded locally by our congregations. It's plain the planned "Ground Zero mosque" is something very different. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, his wife, Daisy Khan, and an investor intend to build "Cordoba House," an ostentatious $100 million, 13-story Muslim community center including a gym, a swimming pool, a performance-arts facility and a mosque.

My first concern is whether the financing truly represents the local American Muslim community or comes with strings from foreign Islamists. But that is far from my last concern.

I am an American Muslim dedicated to defeating the ideology that fuels global Islamist terror -- political Islam. And I don't see such a "center" actually fighting terrorism or being a very "positive" addition near Ground Zero, no matter how well intentioned.

To put it bluntly, Ground Zero is the one place in America where Muslims should think less about teaching Islam and "our good side" and more about being American and fulfilling our responsibilities to confront the ideology of our enemies.

Khan and Rauf avoid discourse on reform and political Islam. Instead, they simply give us the familiar, too vague condemnation of "extremism and violence." They seem to conveniently view 9/11, al Qaeda and every manifestation of militant Islamism as simply a public-relations problem for "Muslims in the West." Imam Rauf has even gone so far as to bizarrely say that the 9/11 terrorists were "not Muslims."

As controversy over the project has become heated, Rauf's Web site has scrubbed the term "mosque" in exchange for "center" -- again missing the boat of why so many Americans are offended. (Meanwhile, the plans of another local Islamic group to rebuild near Ground Zero only added to the quandary.)

This is not about the building of a mosque or a religious facility. It is not about religious freedom. This is about a deep, soulful understanding of what happened to our country on 9/11.

When Americans are attacked, they come together as one, under one flag, under one law against a common enemy that we are not afraid to identify. Religious freedom is central to our nation - and that is why the location of this project is so misguided. Ground Zero is purely about being American. It can never be about being Muslim.

The World Trade Center site represents Ground Zero in America's war against radical Islamists who seek to destroy the American way of life. It is not ground zero of a cultural exchange.

We American Muslims cannot merely passively avoid Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots. We need to ask ourselves: Are we Americans who happen to be Muslim or Muslims blindly demanding to be American?

American Muslims will be better served if this project is built further away from Ground Zero and focuses on leading a reform effort. If we help build anything at the WTC site itself, it should be timeless memorials to all those who lost their lives on 9/11 -- memorials blind to faith, race, creed or national origin.

On Sept. 12, 2001, I was first an American. When those planes hit the World Trade Center, they hit at the core of my being as an American. The attack on my faith by the terrorists was secondary to their attack on my homeland.

We need to focus our efforts more transparently on teaching Muslim youth that the American concepts of liberty and freedom are preferable to sharia and the Islamic state. American Muslims represent the best opportunity to fight Islamist radicalization not because we understand Islam but because we have experienced and understood what American liberty provides to the Muslim experience.

Americans must always remember the horrors of 9/11 and must be vigilant in not allowing political Islam to wear down the principles that built our country.

This center is trying to change the narrative of 9/11 -- to diminish what happened at Ground Zero. That can only weaken us against the very real threat of Islamist radicalization.

M. Zuhdi Jasser is president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and a former US Navy lieutenant commander. zuhdi@aifdemocracy.org

Beyond Iran Sanctions, Plans B, C, D and

...

By DAVID E. SANGER

WASHINGTON — No one in the Obama White House believes that, by themselves, the newest rounds of sanctions against Iran’s military-run businesses, its shipping lines and its financial institutions will force Tehran to halt its 20-year-long drive for a nuclear capability.

So what, exactly, does President Obama plan to do if, as everyone expects, these sanctions fail, just as the previous three did?

There is a Plan B — actually, a Plan B, C, and D — parts of which are already unfolding across the Persian Gulf. The administration does not talk about them much, at least publicly, but they include old-style military containment and an operation known informally at the C.I.A. as the Braindrain Project to lure away Iran’s nuclear talent. By all accounts, Mr. Obama has ramped up a Bush-era covert program to undermine Iran’s nuclear weapons infrastructure, and he has made quiet diplomatic use of Israel’s lurking threat to take military action if diplomacy and pressure fail.

But ask the designers and executors of these programs what they all add up to, and the answer inevitably boils down to “not enough.” Taken together, officials say, they may slow Iran’s progress toward a nuclear weapon, which has already run into far greater technical slowdowns than anyone expected. If the pressure builds, Iran might be driven to the negotiating table, which it has avoided since Mr. Obama came to office offering “engagement.”

But even Mr. Obama, in his more-in-sadness-than-anger description on Wednesday of why diplomacy has so far yielded nothing, conceded “we know that the Iranian government will not change its behavior overnight” and went on to describe how instead the sanctions would create “growing costs.”

That assessment sounds like the now-familiar combination of pragmatism and patience that Mr. Obama has tried to make the hallmark of his approach to foreign policy. But in the case of Iran, he is running up against ticking clocks. As Mr. Obama noted in April, once Iran passes a certain point, it may be impossible to know when it has taken the last steps to manufacture a weapon.

On Thursday, Iran responded to the new sanctions by threatening to further cloak its nuclear program from international oversight by revising its relationship with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog. State-run Press TV quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of national security and foreign policy in the Iranian Parliament, as saying that legislators would meet Sunday to “push for legislation to reduce” Iran’s relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Some top officials in the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies say they wonder whether the White House has truly grappled with the question of how far Iran can be permitted to go, and what kind of risks Mr. Obama is willing to take beyond sanctions.

“It’s not the kind of question you win many points asking,” said one senior official who participated in many of the debates over Mr. Obama’s options, “because once you draw a line in the sand, you have to decide how you are going to act when the Iranians step over it.”

The need to confront those decisions appeared to be the underlying message of a secret memorandum Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates sent to the White House in January, in which he posed questions about tactics and strategy presupposing that the fourth round of sanctions would be insufficient. Though Mr. Gates said later that the memorandum was a routine effort to look ahead, some officials interpreted it as an effort to force a debate on the hardest questions.

Sanctions are a tempting tool for any president. They impose more pain than doing nothing or issuing ritual diplomatic condemnations, and they stop well short of military confrontation. Unfortunately, when it comes to stopping countries from getting the bomb, history suggests they are rarely effective.

Washington swore for years it would stop India and Pakistan from joining the nuclear club and briefly turned off aid to them. Today it works secretly with Pakistan to secure its arsenal and has signed a treaty with India permitting it to buy nuclear material.

North Korea has been under sanctions for years and is broke to boot; that did not stop it from conducting two crude nuclear tests. While some countries have been persuaded to give up their weapons or weapons dreams — South Africa, Libya, South Korea among them — the conditions were radically different than they are in the case of Iran.

“The sanctions as configured now are not going to have any appreciable impact on Iran,” said Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who tracked nuclear programs around the world for the C.I.A. and the Energy Department before moving to Harvard two years ago. “It’s not going to do it. And the reality is that there isn’t a more viable military option.”

Mr. Obama’s aides say they know sanctions are a limited tool and that military options are the last and the riskiest choices, so they have reached for others.

American-controlled antimissile systems have been quietly placed in Arab states around the Persian Gulf. This is classic containment, but it is of little use against the nuclear program. While Iran has a growing conventional missile arsenal, intelligence experts believe it will be years before it could make a nuclear weapon that could fit atop a missile. Their fear instead is a weapon that could be handed off to Hamas or Hezbollah in a truck, a threat against which the antimissile systems are of no use.

The administration has continued to support Iran’s opposition groups, but treading carefully for fear of appearing to meddle in internal Iranian politics. On Thursday, Senator John McCain argued anew for regime change, but he was careful to say it had to be “peaceful change, chosen by and led by the people of Iran.” That is the kind of change whose timing no White House can control.

The Braindrain program has lured defectors out of the country, sometimes with laptops full of data about Iran’s progress. One of the most recent defectors showed up on YouTube in recent days, first claiming that he had been kidnapped, then that he was simply a student studying in the United States. There is little doubt he was part of the program, but many questions remain about how much he knew and how it could help the United States. “The big effect is psychological,” one former intelligence official said. “It tells the Iranians we are inside their program.”

So does the covert effort to make equipment fail, which is believed to have had some successes. But, like sanctions, this effort is unlikely to do more than delay the day of reckoning, unless Mr. Obama gets lucky.

Alan Cowell contributed reporting from Paris.

The Prophet Mohammed, a Jewish pseudo-Messiah

By Joseph Katz

In order to fully appreciate the events of today, it is essential to understand the events surrounding the founding of Islam and the work of the Prophet. Although Islam was created with lofty spiritual aims, and has grown to be the inspiration of millions of worshippers worldwide, one must remember it was originally formed within the context of direct battle against "the West", in the form of the Roman Empire.

It was also done, as recorded with much detail in the Qur'an, within the context of the destruction of the largely Jewish kingdom of Arabia. The Himyarite Kingdom had replaced the previous kingdom of Sabea or "Sheba" as mentioned in the Bible . It had existed for hundreds of years and encompassed a great portion of what is today Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It was made up of refugees from the Roman conquest of Israel during the 1st and 2nd centuries CE and descendants of converts.

The context of the formation of Islam is important to understand, because it is makes it possible for its adherents to interpret Islam today either as "a war against greed, immorality and idolatry; a battle between good and evil" - or as "a war on Jews and Christians, and a battle between East and West" - depending on which historical facts you choose to emphasize. In any event, the concept of a literal, physical battle exists throughout.

The Prophet Muhammad, one of the most influential religious and military leaders in history, was born in Mecca around 570 CE. His father died before he was born, and Muhammad was put under the care of his grandfather, head of the prestigious Hashim clan. His mother died when he was six, and his grandfather when he was eight, leaving him under the care of his uncle Abu Talib, the new head of the clan. When he was 25, Muhammad married a wealthy widow 15 years his senior. He lived the next 15 years as a merchant, and came into contact with many Jewish merchants and landowners. The Prophet and his wife gave birth to six children: two sons, who died in childhood, and four daughters.

From time to time, Muhammad spent time in a cave in Mount Hira north of Mecca. Around 610 CE, he had a vision in which he heard the voice of a majestic being, later identified as the angel Gabriel, say to him, "You are the Messenger of God." Thus began a lifetime of religious revelations, which he and others collected as the Qur'an, or Koran. Muhammad regarded himself as the last prophet of the Judaic-Christian tradition. He adopted aspects of these older religions' theologies while introducing new doctrines, although the Judaism and Christianity he knew differed from the religions we know today.

The Jewish Kingdom of Arabia was caught in the middle between Rome and Persia during their frequent wars. The leadership of Himyar traditionally sided with Persia, yet Rome also tried to court the Jewish Kingdom. In 438 CE, the Roman Empress Eudocia removed the ban on Jews' praying at the Temple site, and the heads of the Jewish Community in Galilee issued a call "to the great and mighty people of the Jews" which began: "Know that the end of the exile of our people has come!" The Roman Emperor Julian, as part of his apostasy and an attempt to sway the Jewish Kingdom of Arabia away from Persia, in 464 CE announced his intention of rebuilding the Temple. All this enflamed Jewish nationalism, but the courting was short lived, and was followed by religious backlash and persecution.

Rome began to get the upper hand against Persia, partly due to sense of unity engendered by Christianity being declared and enforced as the official religion. Persia followed Rome's example, and the Mazdakites tried to create a universal faith for the Persian empire. Jews were no longer safe in either the Roman or Persian empires. Denied the opportunity for self defense, the Jewish Exilarch Mar Zutra declared a Jewish State in Babylon (Iraq). The Jewish Himyarite Kingdom in Arabia, under the Rabbinite King Dhu Nuwas, also tried to create a Jewish Kingdom from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. These short lived revolts were crushed. The persecutions increased and dreams of Jewish restoration began to take on a Messianic fervor.

When usurper Phocas murdered Roman Emperor Maurice in 608 CE, Rome was in disarray. Egypt under Heraclius revolted against Rome. Persia saw this as an opportunity to conquer Egypt. To assist in their dreams of conquest the Persians made an alliance with the Jews. In 614 CE, Jewish Exilarch Nehemiah ben Hushiel was made governor of Jerusalem. Within months he was killed by a mob and Christians revolted against Persian rule. Jews and Persians fought side by side and for nineteen days sacked the city. Not intending for it to go this far, the Persian King Khosrau ordered the Jews to leave the city, and appointed a Christian governor to appease the Romans. The Persians succeeded to conquer Egypt, but the war began to turn against them.

Abandoned by the Persians, in 619 CE, up to 20,000 unprotected Jewish troops were slaughtered outside the Golden Gate. In Arabia this was called the "year of sorrow". Shortly after this the Prophet traveled to Taif to call on the people there to hear his message. After being rejected he received a vision of Jewish Jinn (spirits), perhaps referring to the souls of the slaughtered Jewish troops, who eagerly accepted his message. In 622 CE, the Prophet was invited to Yathrib by Jews. The Prophet's arrival was announced from the rooftops by a Jew.

With the death of Nehemiah ben Hushiel, the Judaic nation tried to grapple with the meaning of these events in terms of their literary heritage. According to Jewish tradition, the Messiah of Joseph would die. So Nehemiah must have been the Messiah of Joseph. This meant that the King Messiah was sure to follow. However, before the King Messiah would appear, he would be preceded by Elijah the Prophet. Their leaders said "A Prophet is about to arise; his time draws near. We shall follow him; and then we shall slay [our enemies] with [divine] slaughter…" As the common people became aware of the Prophet, "they spoke one to another – surely know that is the same Prophet whom the Jews warn us about."

Modern research¹ has indicated that Muhammad initially took on himself many aspects of Rabbinic Judaism, like Dhu Nuwas before him. It is known that Muhammad required that his followers keep kosher and the fast of Yom Kippur, circumcise and pray facing Jerusalem. Muhammad's militant monotheistic religion was called Islam, meaning "surrender [to God]," and its followers were Muslims, meaning "those who have surrendered." His inspired teachings would bring unity to the Arabian peninsula, an event that had sweeping consequences for the rest of the world. In the Qur'an it is recorded that the native Jewish Priests rejected his claim, and Muhammad in turn renounced them for deserting him. Later many Jewish laws were changed, Muhammad requested that his followers pray towards Mecca, and a new religion was created.

At Medina, Muhammad overthrew the ruling Jewish elite, confiscated Jewish land, built a theocratic state, and led raids on trading caravans from Mecca. Attempts by Meccan armies to defeat the Muslim forces failed. The local Jewish Priests sided with the enemy and Arab hostility against the Jews began to show itself. The Jewish Priestly tribes of Bani Nadhir and Qainuqa' were expelled. At the instigation of an increasing number of Christian converts to Islam, an Islamic army exterminated the Jewish community of Quraiza. As a result of the Prophet Muhammad's resentment, the Qur'an itself contains many of hostile denunciations of Jews and bitter attacks upon the Jewish tradition, which undoubtedly have colored the beliefs of religious Muslims down to the present.

Muhammad later become more conciliatory to Mecca, and in 629 he was allowed to lead a pilgrimage there in exchange for a peace treaty. Shortly after, Muhammad denounced the treaty. In January 630, he returned to his birthplace with 10,000 men, and the Meccans were forced to swear allegiance to its Muslim conquerors and accept the new religion. He was now the strongest man in Arabia. During the next few years, most of the peninsula's disparate Arab tribes were conquered, and came to him to ask for alliance and to convert to his religion. By his death, on June 8, 632, Muhammad was the effectively ruler of most of Arabia, and his rapidly growing empire was poised for expansion into Christian Syria and Persia (Iraq & Iran).

Omar, the caliph who succeeded Muhammad, was said to have delineated in his Charter of Omar the twelve laws under which a dhimmi, or non-Muslim, was allowed to exist as a "nonbeliever" among "believers." The Charter codified the conditions of life for Jews under Islam -- a life which was forfeited if the dhimmi broke this law. Among the restrictions of the Charter: Jews were forbidden to touch the Qur'an; forced to wear a distinctive (sometimes dark blue or black) habit with sash; compelled to wear a yellow piece of cloth as a badge (blue for Christians); not allowed to perform their religious practices in public; not allowed to own a horse, because horses were deemed noble; not permitted to drink wine in public; and required to bury their dead without letting their grief be heard by the Muslims.

Within 20 years, the exhausted Roman (Byzantine) and Persian empires had fallen to the prophet's successors, and during the next two centuries vast Arab conquests and forced conversions continued. The Islamic empire grew into one of the largest the world has ever seen, stretching from India, across the Middle East and Africa, and up through Western Europe's Iberian peninsula in what is now Spain.

According to Bernard Lewis, "the extermination of the Jewish Priests of Quraiza was followed by an attack on the Jewish oasis of Khaibar." Messengers of Muhammad were sent to the Jews who had escaped to the safety and comfort of Khaibar, "inviting" Usayr (Asher), the Jewish "war chief," to visit Medina to negotiate a peace treaty. Usayr set off with thirty companions and a Muslim escort. Suspecting no foul play, the Priests went unarmed. On the way, the Muslims turned upon the defenseless delegation, killing all but one who managed to escape; "War is deception," according to an oft-quoted saying of the Prophet.

The late historian Itzhak Ben-Zvi, said "... the extermination of the two Arabian-Jewish tribes by the mass massacre of their men, women and children, was a tragedy for which no parallel can be found in Jewish history until our own day [century]...." The slaughter of Arabian Jews and the expropriation of their property became Allah's will. This became framed as policy in the the Qur'an, "... some you slew and others you took captive. He [Allah] made you masters of their [the Jews'] land, their houses and their goods, and of yet another land [Khaibar] on which you had never set foot before. Truly, Allah has power over all things." Surah 33, v. 26-32, Dawood translation.

Guillaume reports that the anti-Jewish attack at Khaibar was fiercely fought off, but "though the inhabitants fought more bravely here than elsewhere, outnumbered and caught off their guard, they were defeated." Those who somehow survived constituted the formula for Islam's future successes. Some of the Jews, "non-Muslims" or infidels, "retained their land," at least until Muslims could be recruited in sufficient numbers to replace the Jews. Meanwhile, the Arabian Jews paid a fifty-percent "tribute," or tax, for the "protection" of the new plunderers. As Bernard Lewis writes, "The Muslim victory in Khaibar marked the first contact between the Muslim state and a conquered non-Muslim people and formed the basis for later dealings of the same type."

The spread of Islam continued after the fragmentation of the Arab empire, and many societies in Africa and Asia adopted Muhammad's religion. Today, Islam is the world's second-largest religion.

Sources
Joan Peters: From Time Immemorial
Bernard Lewis: The Middle East, a Brief History
Samuel Katz: Battleground
Efraim Karsh: Empires of the Sand, The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East
Ben-Sasson: A History of the Jewish People Haim H.
Norman A. Stillman: Jews of Arab Lands a History and Source Book"
"The History Channnel"

Jewish forms of Government: the interplay of "Church and State"

by Professor Paul Eidelberg

Introduction

Although many of the framers of the American Constitution were not devout, their political mentality was shaped in universities whose curriculum was based very much on Jewish ideas. Accordingly, this essay will be divided into three parts. The first part will show how Judaism, in particular the Five Books of Moses, influenced higher education in 17th and 18th century America. The second part will examine the institutions prescribed in the American Constitution and show their roots in Jewish laws and principles.

A. Historical Background.[1]

1. No nation has been more profoundly influenced by the “Old Testament” than America. Many of America’s early statesmen and educators were schooled in Hebraic civilization. The second president of the United States, John Adams, a Harvard graduate, had this to say of the Jewish people:

The Jews have done more to civilize men than any other nation…. They are the most glorious Nation that ever inhabited the earth. The Romans and their Empire were but a bauble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the Globe and have influenced the affairs of Mankind more, and more happily than any other Nation, ancient or modern.[2]

2. The curriculum at Harvard, like those of other early American colleges and universities, was designed by learned and liberal men of “Old Testament” persuasion. Harvard president Increase Mather (1685-1701) was an ardent Hebraist (as were his predecessors, Henry Dunster and Charles Chauncey). Mather’s writings contain numerous quotations from the Talmud as well as from the works of Saadia Gaon, Rashi, Maimonides and other classic Jewish commentators.

3. Yale University president Ezra Stiles readily discoursed with visiting rabbinical authorities on the Mishna and Talmud. At his first public commencement at Yale (1781), Stiles delivered an oration on Hebrew literature written originally in Hebrew. Hebrew and the study of Hebraic laws and institutions were an integral part of Yale’s as well as of Harvard’s curriculum.

4. Much the same may be said of King’s College (later Columbia University), William and Mary, Rutgers, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Brown University. Hebrew learning was then deemed a basic element of liberal education. Samuel Johnson, first president of King’s College (1754-1763), expressed the intellectual attitude of his age when he referred to Hebrew as “essential to a gentleman’s education.”

5. This attitude was not merely academic. On May 31, 1775, almost on the eve of the American Revolution, Harvard president Samuel Langdon, addressing the Congress of Massachusetts Bay, declared: “Every nation, when able and agreed, has a right to set up over itself any form of government which to it may appear most conducive to its common welfare. The civil polity of Israel is doubtless an excellent general model” (emphasis added).

6. The Higher Law doctrine of the Declaration of Independence is rooted in the Torah, which proclaims “The Laws of Nature and Nature’s God," and appeals to the “Supreme Judge" and “Providence." Even though Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, was no admirer of the Hebrew Bible, he nonetheless framed the Declaration with a view to galvanizing a bible-reading public in support of the American Revolution

7. During the colonial and constitution-making period, the Americans, especially the Puritans, adopted and adapted various Hebraic laws for their own governance. The legislation of New Haven, for example, was based on the premise that “the judicial laws of God, as they were delivered by Moses, and as they are a fence to the moral law, being neither … ceremonial, nor ha[ving] any reference to Canaan, shall … generally bind all offenders, till they be branched out into particulars hereafter." Thirty-eight of seventy-nine statutes in the New Haven Code of 1665 derived their authority from the Hebrew Bible. The laws of Massachusetts were based on the same premise.

8. The fifteen Capital Laws of New England included the “Seven Noahide Laws” of the Torah, or what may be termed the seven universal laws of morality. Six prohibit idolatry, blasphemy, murder, robbery, adultery, and cruelty to animals, while the seventh requires the establishment of courts of justice. Such courts are obviously essential to any society based on the primacy of reason or persuasion rather than passion or intimidation.

9. The seven universal laws of morality (together with their particular branches) comprised a “genial orthodoxy. This genial orthodoxy transcends whatever social or economic distinctions exist among men: it holds all men equal before the law. By so doing it places constraints on governors and governors alike and thereby habituated Americans to the rule of law. As a further consequence, this ancient Hebraic orthodoxy dissolved or subordinated many ethnic differences among immigrants in the new world. It moderated the demands of various groups, helped coordinate their diverse interests and talents, and thereby contributed to America’s growth and prosperity.

10. Now, without minimizing the influence of such philosophers as Locke and Montesquieu on the framers of the American Constitution, I believe America may rightly be deemed the first and only nation that was explicitly founded on the Seven Noahide Laws of the Torah. Indeed, the legislation of the several states comprising the Federal Union embodied these laws—including the prohibitions against blasphemy and adultery—well into the nineteenth century. It should also be noted that the constitutions of eleven of the original thirteen states made provision for religious education. Some even had religious qualifications for office.

B. The Institutions Prescribed by the American Constitution

1. The House of Representatives represents 435 districts of the United States, where the people of each district elect one person to represent their views and interests. The idea of district elections is implicit in the Torah. “Select for yourselves men who are wise, understanding, and known to your tribes and I will appoint them as your leaders" (Deut. 1:13). The word “election" obviously comes from the word “elect," and the “elect" means men of high intellectual and moral character.

a. Exodus 18:19 states: “… seek out from among all the people men with leadership ability, God-fearing men–men of truth who hate injustice." Similar qualifications are prescribed in the original constitutions Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. This is what the word “election" means. It is not a democratic but an aristocratic term!

b. So, each tribe must select the best men to be their representatives. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch comments that “each tribe (shevet) is to choose out of its own midst men whose character can only be known by their lives [hence whose character] is known only to those who have associated with them." This is the biblical source of residential requirements for Representatives and Senators in the United States. Also, what is here called a shevet was called a district (pelech) after the Second Temple.[3]

c. Moreover, the idea of district elections conforms to the Jewish law of “agency" (Kiddushin 59a). This law synthesizes the “delegate" and “trustee" concept of representation prevalent in the non-Jewish democratic world. Whereas the delegate concept binds a representative to the instructions of his constituents, the trustee concept allows him to judge whether adherence to these instructions, when additional knowledge or new circumstances intervene, will harm his constituents’ immediate and/or long-term interests.

d. Finally, it is a principle of Jewish law that “No legislation should be imposed on the public unless the majority can conform to it" (Avoda Zara 36a). This obviously requires legislators to consider or consult the opinions of their constituents. Hence representative democracy can be readily assimilated to Judaism simply by adding that representatives must be “men who are wise, and understanding." This would make for a “high-toned" or aristocratic democracy, or a universal aristocracy. (Bear in mind that Israel is supposed to be a “Nation of Kohanim," meaning a nation of noblemen.)

2. The Senate. The Senate represents the 50 states of the Federal Union; it therefore represents the Federal principle. But the idea of federalism goes back to the Torah and the twelve tribes. Each tribe had its own distinct identity, its own governor and its own judicial system.

3. The Presidency. Unlike Israel, which has a Plural Executive or Cabinet consisting of a prime minister and other ministers representing different political parties in the Knesset, the United States has a Unitary Executive, namely, the President. Of course the President has a Cabinet, but its members cannot hold any other office and they are wholly responsible to the President, not to any political party.

a. Now it so happens that a Unitary Executive is a Torah principle! Thus, when Moses told Joshua to consult theelders when he was about to lead the Jews across the Jordan, God countermanded Moses: there can only be one leader in a generation. And if you look at tractate Sanhedrin 8a, you will see that Jewish law opposes collective leadership. Nor is this all.

b. Just as a President of the United States must be a native-born American and not a naturalized citizen, so a king of Israel must be born of a Jewish mother and not a ger or convert.

4. The Supreme Court. Just as the American Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the American Constitution, so the Great Sanhedrin is the final interpreter of the Jewish Constitution, the Torah.

So we see that the American Constitution was very much rooted in Jewish principles. Now let us consider the importance of these principles in America’s war against international terrorism.


***********

[1] This section of this essay is based on Abraham Katsh, The Biblical Heritage of American Democracy (New York: KTAV, 1977).

[2] Cited in Pathways to the Torah (Jerusalem: Aish HaTorah Publications, 1988), p. A6.2.

[3] Unlike Israel, 74 nations have district elections for the lower or only branch of the legislature. In Israel the entire country constitutes a single district, in which parties compete on the basis of proportional representation. For a detailed analysis of Israel’s political system, see Paul Eidelberg, Jewish Statesmanship: Lest Israel Fall (Jerusalem: Foundation for Constitutional Democracy, 2000).

Source: The Foundation for Constitutional Democracy (in Israel)

Source: The Jewish Encyclopedia

This page was produced by Joseph E. Katz
Middle Eastern Political and Religious History Analyst
Brooklyn, New York