Archive for August, 2009

On Thursday, August 20th, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the terrorist who had been convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, resulting in the death of 270 people, was returned to Libya as a free man, receiving a hero's welcome. As the murderer descended from the plane to a cheering crowd in Tripoli, some even threw flower... »

Throughout Jewish history, some of us have been prone to suspend our critical judgment and believe in false messiahs.  Many of us, after all, followed Shabtai  Zvi, the 17th century rabbi and self-declared (and ultimately false) messiah. Unfortunately, our recent history is no better. So many of us suspended critical thinking and skepticism and believed in PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, the... »

Sarah's article (available here under the title "Freedom of the City,") was selected as a Washington Jewish Weekly's Editorial. If you missed it earlier, go ahead and catch it there now. Way to go... »

On September 10, 2009, on the eve of the anniversary of that fateful day eight years ago when 3,000 Americans had lost their lives, EMET will once again be hosting a seminar entitled: The Saudi Penetration into America's National Infrastructure. This star-studded conference will be held from one p.m. to four p.m. in the Congressional Auditorium in the New... »

The freedom of the city is not negotiable. We cannot negotiate with those who say, "What's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable." U.S. President John F. Kennedy, addressing a concerned nation during the Berlin Crisis 48 summers ago, spoke those words in standing firm against Soviet designs on the city. The speaker could just as sensibly be Israel's Prime Minister... »

Daniel Pipes on the difference between Shariah law, and other religious law (particularly Jewish Halakha): Those of us who argue against Shariah are sometimes asked why Islamic law poses a problem when modern Western societies long ago accommodated Halakha, or Jewish law. In fact, this was one of the main talking points of those who argued that Shariah should become an... »

I do not generally use this space for spiritual musings. However, this past Thursday marked Tisha B’Av, the ninth of the Jewish month of Av. This is a date on the Jewish calendar that my people commemorate not only the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE and the Second Temple in 70 CE, which marks the beginning of... »