In a previous article I pointed out that Jewish control of the Temple Mount, Israel’s holiest site, is a fundamental precondition of uncontested Jewish control of Jerusalem and, eventually, of Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel. Moreover, Jewish control over the Temple Mount will restore to the Jewish people the esteem of the nations and enable Israel to fulfill its historical mission: to declare from Jerusalem—from Zion—G‑d’s sovereignty in the world.

It needs to be emphasized that the first concern of any statesman worthy of the name is national unity. But that is precisely what the Temple symbolizes for the Jewish people. Let us recur to Joshua Berman’s The Temple, to clarify the Temple’s vital significance. (more…)

Transcript of the Eidelberg Report, Israel National Radio, August 13, 2007.

As is widely known, democracy had its origin in classical Athens. What could be more democratic than an Assembly whose members are chosen by lot? And yet, to be a member of the Athenian Assembly one had to an Athenian—a person exhibited loyalty to Athenian beliefs and values. If Israel was ruled by Athenian standards, there would be no Arab members in the Knesset.

Nor would Israel have a Supreme Court that fosters sexual perversions and pornography. The Athenian attitude toward sexuality was very different from that which prevails in democracies today. (more…)

Professor Hillel Weiss, who teaches Jewish literature at Bar-Ilan University, was present at eviction of two Jewish families from Hevron’s Shalhevet neighborhood on August 7. A cameraman witnessed a private exchange the professor had with the Hevron Brigade Commander Yehuda Fuchs, and asked the professor what they spoke about. “I said I hoped his mother will be bereaved, his wife will be a widow and his children orphans,” Weiss responded.

The reporter, employed by Ynet, distributed the video to all of Israel’s news channels.

More or less ignored was the fact that Professor Weiss made the statements while watching his daughter, son-in-law and their six kids forcibly evicted from their home in Hevron’s old marketplace. (more…)

It’s time for substantive dialogue and positive solutions—this is one of the finest presentations you may have seen or heard.

P. Eidelberg

August 11, 2007

Dear Paul,

I want to share with you some thoughts about my speech at the National Press Club this week.

I used the speech to talk about how our current political system is broken. Stymied by negative attack ads, blind partisanship and 30-second sound-bites, our presidential debates do not allow for serious dialogue. (more…)

Thirteen years ago, more precisely on August 5, 1994, I published an article entitled “Profile Without Courage.” The article contrasts the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to Yasser Arafat’s calling for a jihad against Jerusalem while referring to the Israel-PLO Agreement as a “temporary” affair. Here is what I wrote, in part:

“Only the benighted were surprised by Arafat’s brazen violation of that agreement, which requires the PLO to renounce terrorism and recognize the State of Israel. Now, what would a courageous and honorable Prime Minister do in response to Arafat’s war cry? This and only this: He would renounce his Government’s agreement with the PLO as no longer binding and resign. Unsurprisingly, Rabin did nothing more than blink…. (more…)

בס"ד

חוסר התועלת בניהול משא ומתן עם מוסלמים

פרופ’ פול איידלברג

מאז ומתמיד טענתי כי ניהול משא ומתן עם מוסלמים הנו עיסוק עקר וחסר תועלת, וכי המושג של "פתרון קונפליקטים" בו עוסקות פקולטות למדעי המדינה בארצות הברית, באירופה ובישראל, הנו מושג זר ומוזר למנטליות האיסלמית.

גרגורי מ. דיוויס מגיע למסקנה זהה בספרו הנקרא "מלחמתו של האיסלם בעולם" (2006). הוא מנתח את שלושת המקורות של האיסלם – הקוראן, ה"סירה" (חייו של מוחמד), וה"חדית" (מנהגיו של מוחמד) – ומוכיח כי העימות הקיים בין האיסלם למערב הוא בלתי-פתיר.

“In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man.” These words of Rabbi Hillel apply to a nation no less than to an individual. They apply especially to Israel, to the Jewish people who, for 2,000 years, have been vilified, persecuted, and decimated by the nations of this world.

Israel is alone. Consider her present situation. Democratic America, like democratic Europe, is committed to a Palestinian state—an inevitable Arab dictatorship on Israel’s doorstep. Democratic America, like democratic Europe, is bent on forcing Israel back to her indefensible 1949 borders. Democratic America and democratic Europe are supplying Islamic dictatorships with sophisticated military equipment, which can only facilitate the demise of “democratic” Israel. (more…)

Dear friends and hasty detractors:

Those of us who see and feel the widespread disregard of America’s founding principles; those of us who have striven so hard and so long to restore the American political tradition; and those of us who have read Samuel Huntington’s recent book, Who Are We?—yes, we were dismayed by the new one dollar coins, and we reacted accordingly. Now we are informed of the following:

“An unknown number of new George Washington dollar coins were mistakenly [sic] struck without their edge inscriptions, including ‘In God We Trust.’” (more…)

[Editor’s note: Thanks to Paul Lightfoot for pointing out that the U.S. Mint is inscribing “In God We Trust” on the edge of the new coin. See The United States Mint Presidential $1 Coin Program for more information.]

Authorship unknown.

It’s gone!!

You guessed it—“In God We Trust” is gone!!! (more…)

We know—never mind the number—we know what Olmert and his minions are up to. We know they would rather be ruled by Arabs than by real Jews, faithful Jews, Jews of the Covenant. We know about the double treachery of the Olmerts, the Baraks, the Livnis, the Tamirs, and the other Peresites who hate that Covenant.

We know why they have given away Jewish land to our enemies, why they refrain from destroying our enemies, why they have emasculated our army, why they have sapped the will of our people to prevent the impending disaster. They do not want the Jewish people to rise, rebel, and eliminate the enemy within—Israel’s own government! (more…)

Transcript of the Eidelberg Report, Israel National Radio, August 6, 2007

1. We need to publicize the idea that Jewish control of Israel’s holiest site, the Temple Mount—on which stood the Beit HaMikdash and the Great Sanhedrin—is the key to uncontested Jewish control of Jerusalem and the restoration of Jewish national honor. Once Jews maintain unequivocal control of the Temple Mount, the United States and other nations will move their embassies to Jerusalem.

2. Conversely, so long as Arabs control the Temple Mount, gentile nations will despise Israel and kowtow to the Arabs. Arab control of the Temple Mount not only exposes Jewish weakness, but increases Arab arrogance and even incites Arab violence. (more…)

Having seen how democracy degrades love, it must now be stressed that this applies only to contemporary or normless democracy as opposed to classical or normative democracy.

Although both normative and normless democracy emphasizes freedom and equality as basic principles, normative democracy derives these principles from the Genesis account of man’s creation in the image of God. As a consequence, freedom and equality in normative democracy have rational and moral constraints.

This is not the case of normless democracy, (more…)

In his op-ed piece [below], “The Looming Haredi Disaster” (The Jerusalem Post, August 1, 2007), Isi Leibler, who supported “disengagement,” has the audacity to bemoan the Haredim for their “anti-Zionism”!

Leibler’s article reveals many gaps in his knowledge of Haredi society, of Torah Judaism, and of Jewish history. A member of our Foundation for Constitutional Democracy pointed out the following shortcomings in Leibler’s article: (more…)

For more than a century, writers have said, with Nietzsche, “never has the world been so lacking in love.” Of course, there are many kinds of love.

It was once though that no love is higher than the love of God. But as Nietzsche had Zarathustra say, “God is dead.” Today, atheism flourishes in the book market. One can even hear politicians in “Christian” America spout atheism—all the more so among politicians in post-Christian Europe.

This suggests that atheism thrives most in democracies, i.e., in egalitarian societies. The Union Soviet, a tyranny, boasted of its egalitarianism. (more…)

Friends:

Extreme situations, such as that now confronting Israel, require extreme measures. This is why I wrote “The IDF: A Politician’s Army.” Israel faces the threat of Total Annihilation from Iran, or piecemeal destruction from Hamas and Fatah, either one of which may obtain more lethal weapons.

Israel’s present government is utterly incapable of dealing with this threat. (more…)