RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/5545/features/the-first-war-of-national-liberation-2/

The first Book of Maccabees describes the military victory that became part of the story of Hanukkah. But the book did not enter the Jewish scriptural canon, and the rabbinic Hanukkah focuses not on the Maccabees’ military achievement but on the eight-day miracle of the oil. There are differing theories of why the narrative of the holiday changed so dramatically. One view calls attention to the surprisingly contemporary character of the Maccabees’ revolt. Their uprising—in its underlying aim, its particular triggering event, its strategic and tactical methods, and its political complications—can lay claim to being the first war of national liberation. Reprinted here, from Jewish Ideas Daily, is Diana Muir Appelbaum’s account of why the Book of Maccabees is so modern and so dangerous. —The Editors

This is the 2,179th anniversary of the world’s first war of national liberation. There have been many since. To a surprising extent, such wars have followed the pattern first established by the Maccabees. They, like later heads of independence movements, were leaders of a people conquered and occupied by a great empire. They fought to claim the right of national self-determination.

Resentment of foreign rule may simmer for a long time, but war is often remembered as beginning in a dramatic incident. In Switzerland, this memory belongs to William Tell. He was the national hero who in 1307 refused to bow to a hat belonging to the Hapsburg governor, which was set on a tall pole in the center of Altdorf for the sole purpose of forcing Swiss freemen to genuflect to it. Tell’s defiance sparked the fight for Swiss independence.

The story about Tell may be true, but it was not recorded until the 1560s. The Jewish “William Tell” moment occurred in the Year 167 B.C.E., when a priest named Matityahu (Mattathias) refused an order to make a sacrifice to a Greek god. Matityahu’s story is better documented than Tell’s, since it comes from the Book of First Maccabees (not the later II, III, and IV Maccabees), a text actually written in the Maccabean period.

At the time, the wealthy and powerful Jewish residents of Jerusalem had made a “covenant with the Gentiles”: They followed Hellenistic ways, had their circumcisions surgically effaced, and built a Greek gymnasium for training in Hellenistic sports, literature, ethics, and philosophy. But the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes upset the equilibrium, ordering that Jewish texts be destroyed and Jews forced to eat pork and break the Sabbath.

Matityahu, with his sons, fled Jerusalem for his ancestral village of Modi’in. There, a Seleucid officer ordered him to make a public sacrifice to Zeus. Matityahu refused. “I and my sons and our kinsmen,” he said, “shall follow the covenant of our fathers.”

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/truth-human-nature-and-the-american-way

This past November 27, 2012, the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) held its annual forum, titled “The Price of Greatness: The Next Four Years of U.S. Foreign Policy”, at the Newseum’s Knight Conference Center in Washington, DC. Comments during forum panels there by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) once again evoked questions concerning a proper understanding between America’s ideals of liberty and intervention abroad in their name. Such longstanding issues are no less important today in light of a United States that has led several military intervention coalitions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and, Libya in the past decade. These exercises in regime change/nation-building sought to counter multiple, often interrelated, threats in majority-Muslim countries with the exportation of, if not mature free societies, then at least indigenous regimes at peace with their local populations and the world. Current events in Syria and Iran continue to hold forth the distinct prospect of the United States and its allies becoming involved in additional interventions of varying natures in Dar al-Islam in the years to come. Questions concerning the proper use of power to promote peace and prosperity in America and abroad already present at the United States founding era have not lost any relevance in the ensuing decades.

FPI’s mission statement on its website advocates an “active U.S. foreign policy committed to robust support for democratic allies, human rights,” a “strong American military”, and “strengthening America’s global economic competitiveness.” Less favorably, the left-wing Sourcewatch and Right Web (the latter produced by the Institute for Policy Studies or IPS) websites describe FPI along with its 2009 founder William Kristol with the dreaded “neoconservative” moniker. As Right Web with its mission of “Tracking militarists’ efforts to influence U.S. foreign policy” editorializes, neoconservatives like Kristol support an “aggressive U.S. security posture” entailing American intervention in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. As the American Conservative criticizes from quarters on the political right with a well-known analogy, FPI sees the United States as the proverbial “world’s policeman.”

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/historys-dark-chapter-retold The year is 1946. The Second World War is over and much of Europe is a wasteland. Millions of displaced persons roam the ravaged landscape in the wake of the German Nazi devastation. Millions more are dead but none of the citizens of Europe have suffered disproportionally more than its Jewish remnant. At the […]

http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/335377 Who is worse: President Mohamed Morsi, the elected Islamist seeking to apply Islamic law in Egypt, or President Hosni Mubarak, the former dictator ousted for trying to start a dynasty? More broadly, will a liberal, democratic order more likely emerge under Islamist ideologues who prevail through the ballot box or from greedy dictators with […]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/further-proof-the-nobel-peace-prize-is-a-perverse-joke Just what is the Nobel Peace Prize committee up to? In giving the prize to the European Union (EU) the Norwegians comprising the decision making committee made themselves a laughing stock… again. In what sense, is this regional union an avatar for peace? This decision is comparable to giving an award to a committee […]

What Republicans Are Too Scared To Say — on The Glazov Gang
by Jamie Glazov
Josh Brewster, Dwight Schultz and Tommi Trudeau shed light on the GOP’s self-destructive fears.
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/jamie-glazov/hillary-says-israelis-lack-empathy-toward-palestinians-on-the-glazov-gang/

Excerpts: ‘Do Not Discuss Religion’

Below, read excerpts from “Insider Threats – Afghanistan: Observations, Insights, and Lessons,” a draft handbook prepared for U.S. and coalition forces serving in Afghanistan:

Green-on-blue incidents provoke a crisis of confidence and trust among [coalition forces] working with [Afghan troops]. As a means of illuminating this insider threat, those [coalition] personnel working on Security Force Assistance Teams during 2012 that live alongside and mentor [Afghan security forces] have about 200 times the risk of being murdered by an [Afghan security force] member than a U.S. police officer has of being murdered in the line of duty by a perpetrator.

* * *Preventive tools:

Understand that they may have poor conflict resolution skills and that insults cause irrational escalation of force.
Do not discuss religion

* * *Cultural Awareness:

Flashpoints/Grievances Some U.S. Troops Have Reported Regarding Afghanistan National Security Forces:

To better prepare [coalition forces] for the psychologically challenging conditions in Afghanistan, familiarize yourself with the following stressors some U.S. troops have reported concerning [Afghan security forces] behavior during previous deployments. Bear in mind that not all [coalition] troops have reported such experiences or beliefs.

Some ANSF are profoundly dishonest and have no personal integrity
ANSF do not buy-into war effort; far too many are gutless in combat
Incompetent, ignorant and basically stupid

Bottom line: Troops may experience social-cultural shock and/or discomfort when interacting with [Afghan security forces]. Better situational awareness/understanding of Afghan culture will help better prepare [coalition forces] to more effectively partner and to avoid cultural conflict that can lead towards green-on-blue violence.

* * *Etiquette Violations Best Avoided by [coalition forces] Taboo conversation topics include:

Anything related to Islam
Mention of any other religion and/or spirituality
Debating the war
Making derogatory comments about the Taliban
Advocating women’s rights and equality
Directing any criticism towards Afghans
Mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct

Bottom line: Try to avoid highly charged and emotional issues

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324024004578171561230647852.html?KEYWORDS=DION+NISSENBAUM

WASHINGTON—American soldiers should brace for a “social-cultural shock” when meeting Afghan soldiers and avoid potentially fatal confrontations by steering clear of subjects including women’s rights, religion and Taliban misdeeds, according to a controversial draft of a military handbook being prepared for troops heading to the region.The proposed Army handbook suggests that Western ignorance of Afghan culture, not Taliban infiltration, has helped drive the recent spike in deadly attacks by Afghan soldiers against the coalition forces.

“Many of the confrontations occur because of [coalition] ignorance of, or lack of empathy for, Muslim and/or Afghan cultural norms, resulting in a violent reaction from the [Afghan security force] member,” according to the draft handbook prepared by Army researchers.

The 75-page manual, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, is part of a continuing effort by the U.S. military to combat a rise in attacks by Afghan security forces aimed at coalition troops.

But it has drawn criticism from U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, the top military commander in Afghanistan, who aides said hasn’t—and wouldn’t—endorse the manual as written. Gen. Allen also rejected a proposed foreword that Army officials drafted in his name.

“Gen. Allen did not author, nor does he intend to provide, a foreword,” said Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. “He does not approve of its contents.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324024004578170023901240846.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

Mr. Barkat is the mayor of Jerusalem.

When a capital city with a growing population needs to expand, why does that set off international alarms?

Israel’s government is under heavy criticism for recently approving building permits in what the international community calls “the settlements.” Yet places like Ramat Shlomo, Gilo and Givat Ha’matos are well within the municipal borders of Jerusalem, and the virgin hills of “E-1″—between the city of Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim—have over three millennia of deep Jewish roots. Here in Jerusalem, we stand saddened and appalled by the European Union ministers who condemn these construction projects while ignoring calls from the leader of Hamas for the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel.

When the people of Israel left Egypt and came to this region 3,500 years ago, each of the 12 tribes received a piece of land on which they built their cities and developed their ways of life. The exception to the rule was the holy city of Jerusalem, which wasn’t divided or given to any of the tribes. Jerusalem served all 12 Jewish tribes equally, as it did the people of other faiths who came to worship here.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3494/obstacle-to-peace Why should any country sign an agreement if it will just be invalidated a few years later? Iran is building nuclear weapons, Syria is slaughtering its citizens, Libya is being taken over by al-Qaeda, Egypt is threatened with another Pharaoh, Turkey is working toward rebuilding the Ottoman Empire, and Christians are being massacred in […]