do you think mordy might one day make aliyah to a settlement?

lol as if - who do u think is running the border?

if you can tell me without googling who ran the border at ballyshannon i'll let you have that point otherwise meh we all have our little local battles i guess

i could've sworn she died like a decade ago

Naturally, I googled. Wtf?!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

if ariel sharon dies within the next 48 hours then YES [X]

if he outlives it then that is a sign that NO [X] the fierce old testament g-d has enough emissaries in israel for the time being

that settles it

lol punz

whats an aliyah to a setetlement... please dont use any fancy jew words when explaining to me

a shtetlment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyTu_ZdcBCo

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/01/29/obituaries/20130129ArielSharonObit-slide-YW1Q/20130129ArielSharonObit-slide-YW1Q-superJumbo.jpg

Sharon talking to Rabin - Peres sitting to the side

the highest income tax rate in israel is 52%, comparable to the netherlands

http://www.timesofisrael.com/2013-record-year-for-tourism-government-says/

http://www.israeldailypicture.com/2014/04/breaking-news-thousands-of-vintage.html

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AMQwnSL7Q4g/Tgq6DmJ6DgI/AAAAAAAABUM/F-8ki3eVmNY/s1600/Jer%2Btitle%2Bpage.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUDaLuwUiX8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUDaLuwUiX8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39W3oCzw4SQ

http://i.imgur.com/U70c7ak.jpg

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/13743/israel-s-navy-transforms-itself-for-21st-century-power-projection

http://www.jpost.com/HttpHandlers/ShowImage.ashx?id=245270&h=236&w=370

lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Class_Championship_Wrestling#Israel_tour

http://online.wsj.com/articles/israel-issues-tenders-for-1-500-new-housing-units-in-west-bank-east-jerusalem-1401991417

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BpZNRyMCIAETZZW.jpg:large

who are they

the middle guy is mick jagger

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BpPDAFJCAAIb5ab.jpg:large

want

http://static.wixstatic.com/media/9b4a09_5ff3ed4485f0422c9d0679e149ffa828.jpg

do you think mordy might one day take aaliyah to a settlement?

people think her death was just a loss to rnb but it was a loss to delightful wordplay also

http://i.imgur.com/1pSCMJK.jpg

wonder if ppl would prfer liberman to bibi

obama has enough trouble with an asperger case, avigdor would alpha the fuck out of him every single time

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/11/10/would_hillary_be_good_for_the_holy_land_obama_israel_bibi

i believe jews should have the right to pray on the temple mount if they want

i know if means nothing but one of this week's terror victims shares the same name as my daughter and it is giving me heartache

http://www.timesofisrael.com/tel-aviv-dubbed-worlds-smartest-city/

Intel to spend $550 million in Israel through 2020
http://www.timesofisrael.com/intel-to-spend-550-million-in-israel-through-2020

that garbage sodastream story is neatly prefigured by this toaster related stramash at the same university two decades ago instigated by race theorist noel ignatiev

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1992/3/18/no-toaster-subsidy-pito-the-editors/

So could it be that Chinese food is a manifestation of Jewish life in America? Lee seems to think so. “I would argue that Chinese food is the ethnic cuisine of American Jews. That, in fact, they identify with it more than they do gefilte fish or all kinds of the Eastern Europe dishes of yore.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/why-american-jews-eat-chinese-food-on-christmas/384011/2/

...

From the early days of Sa
udi–Wahhabi expansion, the crucial element
was to gain submission to the tenets of Wahhabi Islam among the population,
both sedentary and nomadic. This submission led to the creation
of a quasi-tribal confederation with which to conquer further territories in
the absence of an identifiable ‘Sa
udi tribal confederation’.

Wahhabism provided a novel impetus for political centralisation. Expansion
by conquest was the only mechanism that would permit the
emirate to rise above the limited confines of a specific settlement. With
the importance of jihad in Wahhabi teachings, conquests of new territories
became possible. The spread of the Wahhabi da
wa (call), the purification
of Arabia of unorthodox forms of religiosity and the enforcement of the
shari
a among Arabian society were fundamental demands of the Wahhabi
movement. The amir of Dir
iyyah took the Wahhabi reformer, recently
expelled from
Uyaynah, under his wing, and accepted these demands.
Wahhabism impregnated the Sa
udi leadership with a new force, which
proved to be crucial for the consolidation and expansion of Sa
udi rule.

The historical alliance between the Wahhabi religious reformer and the
ruler of Dir
iyyah that was sealed in  set the scene for the emergence of
religious emirate in central Arabia. Without Wahhabism, it is highly unlikely
that Dir
iyyah and its leadership would have assumed much political
significance. There was no tribal confederation to support any expansion
beyond the settlement, and there was also no surplus wealth that would
have allowed Muhammad ibn Sa
ud to assemble a fighting force with which
to conquer other settlements. The settlement itself did not have sufficient
manpower to initiate conquest of other oases or tribal territories.

Most accounts of the success of the Sa
udi–Wahhabi
polity highlight the fact that raids were congruent with
tribal practice, and as such they encouraged tribal confederations to take
part in the expansion of the Sa
udi–Wahhabi realm with the promise
of material rewards.

However, this emphasis completely overlooks the
spiritual dimension, a strong motivating force behind the eager submission
of some sections of the population who had already been timidly
but persistently trying to develop a spirituality deriving from the sim-
ple and austere message of Wahhabism.

Ibn Sa'ud’s indifference towards the Palestinian problem was maintained
until the outbreak of the Second World War. This attitude was summed
up by his famous saying: ‘ahl filis in adra bi shiabiha’ (Palestinians know
better their own valleys).

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-22/israel-gains-as-france-loses-entrepreneurs-among-persecuted-jews.html

Bruce: I grabbed my copy of David Isby’s “Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army” off the shelf and blew the dust off the top. Published in 1981 (London: Jane’s Publishing Co.), it’s the perfect guide to the weapons of this game’s period. There is a separate section on Soviet anti-tank weapons, and covers both first- and second-generation Soviet ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles). The Malyutka is actually the AT-3 Sagger, a first-generation Soviet ATGM. And right on page 151, there is a section on “Countermeasures.”

Soviet first-generation ATGMs are vulnerable to countermeasures. Many of the countermeasures developed by the Israelis during the 1973 War have been adapted and improved by the US, British and other NATO armies.

Yeah, right? Adapted and improved by the good ol’ US of A! Let’s see what we need to do here.

The Israelis discovered that the best countermeasure against Saggers was to destroy or suppress them using combined-arms tactics. They increased their use of artillery against suitcase Sagger gunners, who were without cover. Reorganised to meet the Sagger threat, Israeli armour units now had an even mix of tanks and armoured personnel carriers mounting at least three machine guns. They would advance in a checkerboard formation, tanks and APCs alternating. If heavy ATGM or RPG fire was encountered, the APCs would lead the advance, spraying suppressive machine gun fire while the tanks supported them with high explosive or blinded the enemy with smoke or white phosphorus. If the advance was halted, the infantry would dismount and clear the Saggers out.

Advancing Israeli armour in the later stages of the 1973 War also used the “Sagger watch” technique now adopted by NATO. Each tank and APC would search a key point of terrain where a Sagger might be located. When a Sagger was spotted in flight, the watching vehicle would give a warning to whoever appeared to be the target and would immediately fire in the direction of the Sagger launch, hoping to disturb the gunner’s concentration, make him lose control of the missile and obscure his vision with the dust raised by firing. Meanwhile, the target would take evasive action. Forces advancing against suspected ATGM positions can also use “bounding overwatch,” with half of the force moving while the other half remains in overwatch position, their weapons trained on likely enemy positions.

This stuff is, like, gold! Try to shoot me now, Soviet pinkos! There are like four more paragraphs of protips, but I’ll just finish with this part:

Hull-down tanks can dodge ATGMs spotted in flight by simply reversing down the slope and letting it pass overhead. Even if there is no cover, a tank can still outmanoeuvre a first-generation ATGM. It is difficult for the gunner to correct for sudden, sharp moves by the target, and a turn to the right or left by the target in the last four or five seconds before impact cannot be compensated for, and the missile will go past. Tanks can also dodge these ATGMs by following an erratic, swerving path. None of these first-generation Soviet ATGMs has an autopilot, so the gunner’s natural tendency is to overcorrect while trying to keep the missile on target, and thus to lose control. US Army officers estimate that dodging techniques alone can reduce first-generation ATGM effectiveness by at least 50% and possibly by as much as 70%.

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War the Arab Legion was considered[1] the strongest Arab army involved in the war. Glubb led the Arab Legion across the River Jordan to occupy the West Bank (May 1948). Despite some negotiation and understanding between the Jewish Agency and King Abdullah, severe fighting took place in Kfar Etzion (May 1948), Jerusalem and Latrun (May-July 1948). According to Avi Shlaim,

Rumours that Abdullah was once again in contact with the Jewish leaders further damaged his standing in the Arab world. His many critics suggested that he was prepared to compromise the Arab claim to the whole of Palestine as long as he could acquire part of Palestine for himself. 'The internecine struggles of the Arabs,' reported Glubb, 'are more in the minds of Arab politicians than the struggle against the Jews. Azzam Pasha, the mufti and the Syrian government would sooner see the Jews get the whole of Palestine than that King Abdullah should benefit.' (p. 96)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bagot_Glubb

mordy have you ever read guy gavriel kays 'lions of al-rassan'? if so do you have any thoughts abt it?

i have not, but guy gavriel has been recommended to me in the past. should i read it?

Didn't see the medal match but she was impressive against the Chinese opponent I saw her beat.

i don't know the story behind it but Sae Miyakaya's floor routine was 100% using Kol haolam kulo as music.

https://kavvanah.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/infinite-jihad-rabbi-shagar-on-the-disengagement/

I will try to illustrate the contradiction in the lessons of the war through a discussion regarding who is our enemy.

The Lebanon War was waged against a religious enemy Nasrallah, the Radical Islamic fundamentalist. In this regard, at least externally, we would agree that religious extremism endangers us, being that the secular Arab governments of Jordan and Egypt have signed peace treaties with us.

Yet, conceptualizing the enemy in this way presents a challenge for us, because, as we’ve mentioned above, in the eyes of many secular people, our religious community, at the very least, parts of it, suffers from the same religious extremism. They hold that the resolution to the conflict lies in a movement of secularization that may allow for tolerance and openness, two prerequisites for peace. In truth, those secular pockets of the Arab world are perceived as more moderate and open to the concept of peace.

From this perspective, the connection between the Disengagement and the Lebanon War is the open and inner struggle against secular Israel, which enjoys the support of the secular west in their perceptions of religious extremism.

Yet, it is not so simple to get the full picture here. To wit, for Nasrallah, the state of Israel does not represent a rival religion, but rather the supremely hated secular, colonialist West. As religious people, where do we locate ourselves in all this?

Do we not identify somewhat with Nasrallah’s critiques?

If true, perhaps our enemy is actually secularism? If this is so, the connection between the Disengagement and the war is different. The war is the punishment for the Disengagement. We may rightly ask here if it was not a kind of secular extremism that employed its systems of power against the settlers of Gush Katif and their faith? We may relate to the perpetrators of the Disengagement as agents of a foreign culture ourselves. For many of us, they evince the feeling of “…and we have been exiled from our land and distanced from its [holy] ground”[4] – whether from a practical (the Disengagement) or metaphysical perspective (secularism).

Surely these mixed feelings are quite confusing, and a crucial question that stands before us now is whether the real battle is external – Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, or internal – the struggle against the secular left, and those on the right who have been ensnared in its positions. It is possible that this question stands behind the dispute between the statists (mamlachti’im), who say that we should continue to draft without question and are opposed to disobeying military orders, and those objectors (=sarvanim) who refuse to forget what has happened and for whom joining the army in defense of the state is not automatic.[5]

I think that specifically from this great paradox that a tremendous religious blooming may sprout forth. This contradictory situation is such that on one side Nasrallah depicts a negative, cruel, and perverted religious vision, and yet on the other we stand before a totalizing globalization lacking roots and identity (this too yields tragic results, even if they are generally hidden, and in many ways no less cruel than the fruits of radical religious extremism)

This situation must lead us to a third way, a combination of both messages. We must understand both the failings of secular Israeli culture and the failings of one-dimensional religious fundamentalism that has flourished in our world as well. This will bring us to the ability to transmit a new religious message.

In order to cultivate this message, it is incumbent upon us to break down the dichotomy of choice between warmongering religious extremism and westernizing peace-seeking which is built upon forfeiture of identity and roots. Religious must redeem the message of peace. A new kind of religiosity must develop. On the one hand, rooted in values and on the other hand, prepared to achieve real peace.

To me, it is beyond the shadow of a doubt that at the end we will indeed achieve a ‘religious peace’. This is because the left does not found peace upon deep respect for the religious other, but rather upon a total discount of religion, with the claim that it is the source of the war. The paradox here is that in doing so, the left actually intensifies the conflict. It is specifically here that the Muslim feels threatened, because the peaceniks approach him from the perspective of liberalism and globalization. [The Muslim] senses in this a sophisticated attempt to subjugate his values with western values, including the hegemony of their representative in the region – the State of Israel.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/two-muslim-states-in-africa-send-first-ever-envoys-to-israel/

(senegal and guinea)

Seeding Controversy: Did Israel Invent the Cherry Tomato?
http://www.annawexler.com/uploads/2/0/2/4/20246021/wexler-gastronomica-2016.pdf

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/01/israel-palestinians-us-egypt-saudi-arabia-mahmoud-abbas.html

Meanwhile, some of the ideas that the American team looked into are starting to leak out, explaining why Abbas beat such a hasty exit from the scene. Although they have no formal confirmation, reports about them have started to appear on Al Jazeera's English-language website and various other places. These reports refer mainly to an old plan, already raised a decade ago. Now it seems as if most of the main players in the region, including the US team, are giving this plan another look. This would involve an exchange of territories by three or more parties (perhaps even four or five). What makes it different from prior efforts is that this time, the Egyptians and Saudis are in on it.

At the core of the idea is the creation of a major Sunni-Israel alliance, which would serve as a counterbalance to the victorious Shiite axis, which poses a threat in the north. The basic idea includes an extensive territorial exchange, in which Egypt would cede a piece of the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip. With this, Gaza's territory would extend southward along the seashore, making it three or four times larger than it currently is. This would make it possible to relieve some of the pressure in Gaza, but it would also shift the balance of power between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

According to this plan, the center of power in the future Palestinian state would be in Gaza, expanded toward the north of Sinai, rather than the West Bank. In exchange for the expanded territories that they would receive in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians would give up territories in the West Bank, allowing Israel to annex the settlement blocs along with a generous amount of land around them, thereby maintaining some degree of territorial integrity between the various blocs. At the same time, Israel would give Egypt a narrow strip of territory along the lengthy southern border between the two countries. There is also the possibility that Saudi Arabia and Jordan would also participate in these territorial exchanges, with various ideas proposed.

Maybe there's a better thread for Israel travel talk? couldn't find one...

Aside from reading Catch the Jew, is there anything else I should think about in preparing for my first Israel trip later this year? I'll go for a couple of weeks, mostly in Jerusalem with probably a couple of days in Tel Aviv and in Haifa. It's an academic trip rather than tourism, but there'll be time for sightseeing and obviously eating. Does anyone here have advice on what are good neighborhoods to stay in Jerusalem? I'll want relatively simple access to the Hebrew University, that's my only constraint.

ok I see now that this is on a sub board I've never heard of, so I'll make an ile thread instead

https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/analysis-israel-beats-the-odds-is-safest-corona-country/

Just wait till the conspiracy theory crew hear about this.