We are forwarding a message received from the UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) which may be of interest: UKLFI and the UK Zionist Federation are organising a special legal tour in Israel from 12-16 February. They have an impressive program (or “programme” as they say over there), including visits to the Knesset, the Supreme Court, Ofer Military Court and Tel Aviv Commercial Court; addresses by the President and by leading Israeli lawyers and activists; examination on the ground of the issues relating to East Jerusalem and West Bank settlements; private guided tours of museums and sites; and more. They are still accepting applications for additional participants. They emphasize that one need not be an attorney to join this tour. They will be staying at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. The cost is £925.00 per person sharing a room, inclusive of half board, but excluding flights. The single room option is £1,220. For a cheaper hotel option please contact the people listed below. They say that the tour will be suitable for participants who keep kosher and Shabbat. (more…)
French President Hollande has just finished his address to the nation on the tragic finale of the new terrorist attacks expressing condolences to the hostage victims at the Parish kosher butcher shop, condemning anti-Semitism, and of course declaring that France’s latest national horror had “nothing to do with Islam.” In fact, there is no evidence at this point that the kosher butcher shop attack was motivated by anti-Semitism other than the fact that the butcher shop was kosher, while every detail of the broader terrorist attack cries out the Islamist motivation. The White House yesterday anticipated Hollande by denouncing the “violence”—er, “terrorism”—by “a few individuals” committing a “senseless” act that of course had nothing to do with Islam. The “New York Times,” on the other hand, admits that there is some sort of connection between the outrage and Islam or at least its coverage of Islam. An editor declares that what the paper sees fit—or not fit—to print in the way of cartoons “is the Muslim family in Brooklyn who reads us and is offended by any depictions he sees of his prophet.” What happened in France has nothing to do with Islam in the same way that Joshua’s attack on Jericho had nothing to do with Moses’ faith, that Pope Urban II’s call in 1095 for a Crusade against Islam had nothing to do with Christianity, and that Aztec human sacrifices on their Temple in Tenochtitlan had nothing to do with their worship of Huitzilopochtli, or that the Thuggee cult in India had nothing to do with Khali. Apparently, history has taught us very little about the dark side that balances the bright side of at least one religion.