Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Sunday, Nov. 13 '16, י"ב בחשון תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. 'I AM A MUSLIM - AND I VOTED FOR TRUMP'
2. ISRAEL PIONEERS 'GREEN' TRANSPORTATION
3. AMONA RESIDENTS PROTEST EXPULSION
4. NETANYAHU TELLS LIKUD: VOTE AGAINST REGULATION LAW
5. 'THE CITY IS DESECRATING JEWISH GRAVES IT SEEKS TO COMMEMORATE'
6. TRUMP EXPECTED TO ANNOUNCE CHIEF OF STAFF
7. LAURA INGRAHAM MAY BE NEXT WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
8. 5 OF LEONARD COHEN'S MOST 'JEWISH' SONGS
1. 'I AM A MUSLIM - AND I VOTED FOR TRUMP'
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2020980]One woman's declaration of support for Donald Trump provides insight into the rationale of the so-called "silent voters" for Donald Trump - those who didn't express their pro-Trump inclinations before the elections but still contributed to Trump's victory at the moment of truth.
Asra Nomani, a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was one such voter. Her vote for Trump is all the more intriguing because she is a Muslim; Trump's declarations that he would ban Muslim immigration fed a perception that a Muslim voting for Trump would be unheard of.
Nomani explained that her reasons for voting for Trump stemmed from a dissatisfaction with Obama's policies - both pertaining to the economy and to the war on terror.
"As a liberal Muslim who has experienced, first-hand, Islamic extremism in this world, I have been opposed to the decision by President Obama and the Democratic Party to tap dance around the 'Islam' in Islamic State," Nomani explained in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, noting that Hillary Clinton seemed to be continuing the "Obama dance" with respect to Arab terror.
Nomani said that she made the decision to vote for Trump over Clinton after revelations leaked by Wikileaks that Clinton, as Secretary of State, had received multi-million dollar personal donations from Saudi Arabia and Qatar - despite being aware that those countries were providing "financial and logistic" support to ISIS.
"That poisoned the well for me," Nomani said.
2. ISRAEL PIONEERS 'GREEN' TRANSPORTATION
by Chana Roberts
Israeli Prime Minister BInyamin Netanyahu hosted the fourth annual Fuel Choices Summit, at Habima Theater in Tel Aviv at the beginning of November.
The Fuel Choices Initiative, launched by Israel in 2011 in an an effort to reduce the country's dependence on oil, is now selling an electric smart scooter, which will cost between $3000-5000, depending on battery type.
The scooter does not require a key, connects to users' smartphones, and would allow users to control the scooter simply by stating commands such as "fold" or "open."
CEO of Green Ride Ori Dadoosh told The Media Line, "It's a two-wheeled smart electric scooter that folds form the regular scooter position to a suitcase position so you can take it with you to your office or to a coffee shop."
He also said nearly 50% of the world's population lives in cities with heavy traffic that wastes both time and resources.
The Summit also saw other "smart" products meant to save energy, with a goal of reducing Israel's oil consumption 60% by 2025.
Fuel Choices Initiative Eyal Rosner said, "Current global processes provide an opportunity ripe for change...growing awareness of the...need to reduce reliance on oil as the sole source of energy in transportation...and technological advances that in recent years have gained momentum."
Electric bicycles have also gained popularity, with stores all over the country competing for consumers' business.
Many cities, such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, have opened a city-wide municipal bike rental system, in an effort to encourage residents to bike instead of drive.
3. AMONA RESIDENTS PROTEST EXPULSION
by Eliran Aharon
[video:2020977]
Ofra and Amona residents began "Protest Week" on Sunday morning, with a demonstration to legalize their towns.
The residents do not want a "Band-Aid" fix but rather a general solution that will save the entire town, as well as the nine houses which the Supreme Court has ordered destroyed by February 2017.
The protesters gathered on Sunday morning near Wohl Rose Parj\k, opposite the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem. The families of the residents of the 9 houses in Ofra will pitch tents and camp out there for the entire week, along with the residents themselves.
Ofra's Rabbi Avi Gisser also came to the protest tent and said the government could have saved itself the need for the Regulation Law if they had enacted Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
"Amona and Ofra representatives insist on justice and equality," Rabbi Gisser said, noting that "there is a legal solution in Israeli and international law for situations like these, in which you must not destroy houses. Destroying houses means turning your back on human rights and the Jewish ownership of the Land of Israel."
[video:2020975]
[album:open
4. NETANYAHU TELLS LIKUD: VOTE AGAINST REGULATION LAW
by Uzi Baruch
Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu ordered Likud MKs to oppose the Regulation Law until the Supreme Court rules on whether to give Amona an extension or not.
Amona is set to be destroyed and its residents expelled by the end of December.
On Sunday morning, Arutz Sheva publicized PM Netanyahu's efforts to delay the Knesset's scheduled vote on the Regulation Law. Netanyahu pressured Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, among others, to delay the Regulation Law vote until Monday at least.
An hour ago, Shaked and Bennett told Netanyahu's messengers of their decision not to delay the vote, and announced the vote would take place as scheduled on Sunday, after the regular Knesset meeting.
Last Thursday, Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit said if the Regulation Law passes, there is little chance the Supreme Court will agree to delay Amona's destruction by seven months in order for alternative housing to be built.
Even though the Arab complainants, as well as the Jewish residents, petitioned the Supreme Court last Sunday, the Supreme Court judges had not yet ruled on the matter a week later.
5. 'THE CITY IS DESECRATING JEWISH GRAVES IT SEEKS TO COMMEMORATE'
by JTA
City workers in a Ukraine city suspended their digging at a former Jewish cemetery amid controversy over the unearthing of human remains at the site.
Pieces of skull and limbs were among the bones discovered last week at the Old Jewish Cemetery of Lviv, in western Ukraine, where diggers with heavy machinery excavated a 40-foot trench despite previous objections to the work by some local Jews.
Officials said the dig, which went through without permission from local rabbinical authorities, was necessary to reinforce a damaged exterior wall. But Meylakh Sheykhet, Ukraine's director of the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, disputed the claim.
Sheykhet, who complained to police about the dig, said he believed the work was part of a multi-phase commemoration project that he has fought in court, saying it would damage heritage sites and desecrate burial places needlessly in violation of the principles of halachah, Jewish religious law.
"This dig is as illegal as it is cynical; the city is desecrating Jewish graves it says it wants to commemorate," said Sheykhet, who has collected pieces of bone throughout this week from the heaps of cemetery earth left exposed by the diggers at the site, which is adjacent to what used to be the Jewish hospital in Lviv.
The city, along with the Center for Urban History of East Central Europe there, has announced plans to build a memorial park near the area where the work was taking place. The area is part of a larger Jewish burial place that today mostly lies under a main marketplace built during communist times.
However, the center's director, Sofia Dyak, told JTA on Thursday that the dig was not part of any commemorative project but rather an effort to repair a wall she said was "collapsing." She added the work is legal.
"Before the work started, consultations had to be made" with Lviv Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo Bald, Dyak said. "It was done later, unfortunately."
She said a vice mayor of Lviv was now in contact with Bald.
"On Sunday, Rabbi Bald reburied bones that were found," Dyak wrote in an email. "There are some new remains, and they will be reburied as well. Works proceed in communication with the chief rabbi of Lviv and in consultancy with visiting rabbis."
The plan to build a park near the cemetery is part of a larger commemorative project whose initial phase was unveiled in September with the inauguration of a memorial monument on a part of the former Golden Rose Synagogue complex.
Sheykhet opposed that plan as well and fought it in court, but it proceeded with the support of some Jews in Lviv, including the Chesed-Arieh association.
In 1939, Lviv was home to 110,000 Jews, a third of its total population. It now has 1,200 Jews.
6. TRUMP EXPECTED TO ANNOUNCE CHIEF OF STAFF
by Arutz Sheva Staff
President-elect Donald Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, has told reporters Trump is expected to announce his Chief-of-Staff "imminently."
The two candidates are Steve Bannon, who served as Trump's campaign chairman and is also a conservative media executive, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.
Bannon is known to be encouraging of white-supremacist talk, as well as anti-Semitic. His ex-wife, Mary Piccard, said Bannon "said he doesn't like Jews and that he doesn't like the way they raise their kids to be whiny brats."
Sources say Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner prefer Priebus, while Trump himself prefers Bannon. However, Priebus is favored by Washington lawmakers and may well help Trump in his relations with several important Republicans.
Priebus is also close to both Vice President-elect Mike Pence and to House Speaker Paul Ryan.
In addition, two other possibilities are Kellyanne Conway herself and David Bossie, who served as Trump's deputy campaign manager.
7. LAURA INGRAHAM MAY BE NEXT WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
by Arutz Sheva Staff
President-elect Donald Trump may be considering conservative radio host and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham for the position of White House press secretary.
Ingraham is a defense attorney, and served as a Supreme Court law clerk. She also played a central role in Trump's election campaign, helping Trump express criticism of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, as well as using her popularity to gain him supporters and give him a voice.
Ingraham has also stated that she does not see Jews as a minority. In May 2016, she "forgot" on Twitter that Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was actually Jewish, writing, "Now, what if Bernie were a minority?" and then correcting herself with, "..you're reminding me. Bernie is a minority. He's Jewish....I don't think of Jewish people as minorities...."
She also seems to support Israel, telling Fox News in February 2015 that she "thinks Israel has become for the left the new South Africa....in the 1980s, it was the divestment movement from South Africa....and now it's divest from Israel. Israel is the less, you know favorite, you know, whipping post of fury and anger and outrage...if Israel's an ally of the United States, Israel must be bad because the United States is bad.
According to The Hill, "Selecting Ingraham would send a signal that Trump has no interest in softening his relationships with the Republican leaders in Washington, D.C."
Ingraham has admitted to interest in the role, but refused to comment on the rumors.
8. 5 OF LEONARD COHEN'S MOST 'JEWISH' SONGS
by Ben Sales
JTA - Leonard Cohen, whose death was announced last Thursday, was one of the most explicitly Jewish popular songwriters since the ancient King David, whose Psalms he expertly imitated over a five-decade career.
Cohen was the grandson of two distinguished Canadian rabbis, one of whom helped found many of Montreal's central Jewish and Zionist institutions. The other, who wrote a thesaurus of the Talmud, was known as "Sar HaDikdukim," the Prince of Grammarians.
Even as a practicing Buddhist, Cohen never stopped thinking of himself as a Jew, telling an interviewer, "I'm not looking for new religion. I'm quite happy with the old one, with Judaism." But he was ecumenical in his range of subjects and references. Cohen's first hit, "Suzanne," speaks of perhaps the most famous Jew, Jesus, saying, "he himself was broken, long before the sky would open. Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone."
Cohen, himself a master of language, saturated his lyrics with the Biblical imagery and Jewish liturgy he knew intimately. His songs adapted well known Jewish prayers and retold Judaism's central stories. Here are five of his most Jewish songs:
Hallelujah
Cohen's most famous song, covered dozens of times, is an explicit allusion to the Psalms and stories from the Jewish prophets, from King David to Samson. The song opens:
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
The second verse melds two Biblical stories. It opens telling the story of David seeing Batsheva, his future wife, bathing on a rooftop, and ends with imagery of her tying him down and cutting his hair — an allusion to Samson and Delilah.
Who By Fire
Another of Cohen's most well-known songs, "Who By Fire" is an adaptation of "Unetaneh Tokef," the central High Holiday prayer. The prayer's verses narrate the Day of Judgment, describing the various ways people will live, die, succeed and suffer over the coming year. Cohen adapts the language almost word-for-word:
And who by fire, who by water
who in the sunshine, who in the night time
who by high ordeal, who by common trial
who in your merry, merry month of May
who by very slow decay
and who shall I say is calling?
You Want It Darker
One of Cohen's last songs, "You Want It Darker," was released two months ago, and in it, Cohen talks about preparing for death. The very Jewish lyrics include a chorus where Cohen says, "Hineni, I'm ready my Lord." Hineni, Hebrew for "here I am," is the word Abraham uses to respond to God when called to sacrifice Isaac, as well as the name of a prayer of preparation and humility, addressed to God, chanted by the cantor on Rosh Hashanah. And a recurring verse echoes the language of the Kaddish, the mourner's prayer.
Magnified, sanctified be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified in the human frame
A million candles burning for a help that never came
You want it darker, we kill the flame.
The Story of Isaac
One of Cohen's more obscure songs is a retelling of the sacrifice of Isaac. Speaking from Isaac's perspective, the song questions the morality of the story:
You who stand above them now
Your hatchets blunt and bloody
You were not there before
When I lay upon a mountain
And my father's hand was trembling
With the beauty of the word.
And if you call me brother now
Forgive me if I inquire
Just according to whose plan
When it all comes down to dust
I will kill you if I must
I will help you if I can.
If It Be Your Will
This song's title is a translation of "Ken Yehi Ratzon," a Hebrew liturgical phrase directed to God. The song is also addressed to God, and includes lyrics evoking imagery from Kabbalat Shabbat, the Friday evening prayer service welcoming Shabbat, of nature rejoicing:
If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice.
We'll miss you, Leonard.
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