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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
This well-meaning book ends up distorting the Holocaust.
Soon there will be no more eyewitnesses. The Holocaust is inexorably moving from personal testimony to textual narrative.
Survivors, those who clung to life no matter how unbearable so that they could confirm the unimaginable and attest to the unbelievable, are harder to find after more than half a century. It is the written word that will have to substitute for the heart-rending tales of woe shared by those who endured hell on earth. That is, after all, all that will remain of six million victims.
Holocaust authors have a daunting responsibility. They must speak for those who cannot, but whose suffering demands to be remembered and whose deaths cry out for posthumous meaning. Their task transcends the mere recording of history. It is nothing less than a sacred mission. Holocaust literature, like the biblical admonition to remember the crimes of Amalek, deservedly rises to the level of the holy.
For that reason I admire anyone who is courageous enough to attempt to deal with the subject. No, there will never be too many books about this dreadful period we would rather forget. No, we have no right to ignore the past because it is unpleasant or refuse to let reality intrude on our preference for fun and for laughter. And John Boyne is to be commended for tackling a frightening story that needs to be told to teenagers today in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas -- a fictional account of the Nazi era that uses the powerful device of a tale told from the perspective of its nine year old hero.
I came to this book fully prepared to love it. Although the publisher insists that all reviewers not reveal its story, the back cover promises "As memorable an introduction to the subject as The Diary of Anne Frank." And indeed the writing is gripping. The style, sharing with Anne Frank the distinctive voice of youth, is extremely effective. One can readily understand why the book has had such a strong impact on countless readers, become required reading in high school Holocaust courses round the country, and is about to be released as a major motion picture.
And yet...
How should one react to a book that ostensibly seeks to inform while it so blatantly distorts? If it is meant as a way of understanding what actually happened -- and indeed for many students it will be the definitive and perhaps only Holocaust account to which they will be exposed -- how will its inaccuracies affect the way in which readers will remain oblivious to the most important moral message we are to discover in the holocaust's aftermath?
Without giving away the plot, it is enough to tell you that Bruno, the nine-year-old son of the Nazi Commandant at Auschwitz (never identified by that name, but rather as "Out-With" -- a lame pun I think out of place in context) lives within yards of the concentration camp his father oversees and actually believes that its inhabitants who wear striped pajamas -- oh, how lucky, he thinks, to be able to be so comfortably dressed --spend their time on vacation drinking in cafes on the premises while their children are happily playing games all day long even as he envies them their carefree lives and friendships! And, oh yes, this son of a Nazi in the mid 1940's does not know what a Jew is, and whether he is one too! And after a year of surreptitious meetings with a same-aged nine-year-old Jewish boy who somehow manages every day to find time to meet him at an unobserved fence (!) (Note to the reader: There were no nine-year-old Jewish boys in Auschwitz -- the Nazis immediately gassed those not old enough to work) Bruno still doesn't have a clue about what is going on inside this hell -- this after supposedly sharing an intimate friendship with someone surrounded by torture and death every waking moment!
Do you see the most egregious part of this picture? As Elie Wiesel put it, the cruelest lesson of the Holocaust was not man's capacity for inhumanity -- but the far more prevalent and dangerous capacity for indifference. There were millions who knew and did nothing. There were "good people" who watched -- as if passivity in the face of evil was sinless. If there is to be a moral we must exact from the Holocaust it is the "never again" that must henceforth be applied to our cowardice to intervene, our failure to react when evildoers rush in to fill the ethical vacuum.
Yet if we were to believe the premise of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, it was possible to live in the immediate proximity of Auschwitz and simply not know -- the very defense of all those Germans after the war who chose to deny their complicity.
True, Bruno in the story was but a boy. But I have spoken to Auschwitz survivors. They tell me how the stench of burning human flesh and the ashes of corpses from the crematoria filled the air for miles around. The trains traveling with human cargo stacked like cordwood screaming for water as they died standing in their natural wastes without even room to fall to the ground were witnessed throughout every countryside. Nobody, not even little German children who were weaned on hatred of the Jews as subhuman vermin could have been unaware of "The Final Solution." And to suggest that Bruno simply had no idea what was happening in the camp his father directed yards from his home is to allow the myth that those who were not directly involved can claim innocence.
But it's only a fable, a story, and stories don't have to be factually accurate. It's just a naive little boy who makes mistaken assumptions. However that misses the point. This is a story that is supposed to convey truths about one of the most horrendous eras of history. It is meant to lead us to judgments about these events that will determine what lessons we ultimately learn from them.
So what will the students studying this as required reading take away from it? The camps certainly weren't that bad if youngsters like Shmuley, Bruno's friend, were able to walk about freely, have clandestine meetings at a fence (non-electrified, it appears) which even allows for crawling underneath it, never reveals the constant presence of death, and survives without being forced into full-time labor. And as for those people in the striped pajamas -- why if you only saw them from a distance you would never know these weren't happy masqueraders!
My Auschwitz friend read the book at my urging. He wept, and begged me tell everyone that this book is not just a lie and not just a fairytale, but a profanation. No one may dare alter the truths of the Holocaust, no matter how noble his motives.
The Holocaust is simply too grim a subject for Grimm fairytales.
Author Biography:
Rabbi Benjamin Blech is the author of 12 highly acclaimed books, including Understanding Judaism: The basics of Deed and Creed. He is a professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University and the Rabbi Emeritus of Young Israel of Oceanside which he served for 37 years and from which he retired to pursue his interests in writing and lecturing around the globe.
Why Jews don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah
YOU SAY YOU WANT CHANGE? By Frances Bernay-Cohen I can't speak for you, but my grandparents came to the United States to find a refuge from "change." They came to The United States where their basic freedoms were guaranteed by the Constitution; where they could build a future on this solid ground. Whether our forefathers and foremothers came from Europe, Cuba, Asia or Africa, I'm sure you will find some truth in this song. |
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Air France flew from the U.S. to Israel during the early 1950s. They flew Lockheed Constellations and the flying time was 20 hours. This promotional film - in English for an American audience - shows Israel as it was three years after the War of Independence . Please click photo
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Jewish Film Festivals are growing in popularity. Watch local listings for the best cinema of 5769.
Star Shrek 3 -- Hideous but kind-hearted Jewish space ogre and lovely Earth-maidele meet when he beams down from his starship on a fact-finding mission. After beholding the enormous Star of David beneath his spandex uniform, she accepts his proposal and joins him beneath the intergalactic chuppah, to boldly going where no man has gone before. Planes, Trains and Shidduchim -- All Tamara wants to do is get to her niece's bat mitzvah party in Long Island, but a well-intentioned bubbe named Sylvia whom she meets on the plane, insists Tamara take a detour meet her grandson Wacky situations ensue when Sylvia's grandson Herman declares that Tamara is his "basherte." Jewrassic Park -- An innocent outing to the New York Jewish museum takes a terrifying turn when a 19th century Jewish family from Poland steps out from their photograph and relentlessly implores museum visitors to have a nosh and stay for Shabbos. "What, are you in such a hurry?" they ask. An Inconvenient Truth -- Using a Powerpoint presentation, Al Gore traces the problem of melting polar icecaps to areas on Earth where cholent was left cooking for too long. In the process, he also discovers the beauty of Jewish wisdom, converts to Judaism, becomes a chassid and then sees his former running mate in a different light. "Who is he trying to kid? Lieberman's not so frum (religious)." Changeling -- With increasing desperation, a small boy repeatedly tries to make change for his Hanukkah gelt at currency exchange after currency exchange across greater Los Angeles. But no one will accept his heart-wrenching plea to treat the chocolate coins as viable legal tender. My Fair Zaidy: When the Karlinsy family moves Zaidy from Minsk to Iowa City, the neighbors are confused by his requests for a "glezzle tea" and call in noted linguist/anthropologist, Henny Higmans, to intercede when they see him trying to strangle himself with black leather straps attached to little black boxes in the living room. Boychiks N the Hood: A close-knit gang of Brooklyn yeshiva boys resolve the tension in their lives as their paths diverge, with one becoming a commodities broker, another a podiatrist, one a Hollywood producer, and one a ballet dancer who won't perform on the Sabbath. Nightmare on AOL Street: When Nancy Gutstein innocently tries to cancel her internet service, she descends into a horrific battle with a "customer service" representative who refuses to release her from her contract. After four straight days on the phone, she falls asleep and Elijah Krueger appears to her in a dream. He implores her to abandon her quixotic mission and go to shul -- OR ELSE! Sects In the City -- Best friends, Lubavitcher Louis, Ashkenazi Avraham and Bobov Scrap Iron Man -- Tony Shtarker goes valiantly from shtetl to shtetl, wrapped in the bright red hood of a compacted '68 Mustang. He saves his neighbors from Middle-Eastern terrorists in the spare time he can muster after a hard day of collecting old tin cans. Mission: Impossible: Cunning AIPAC members infiltrate the Al Jazeera network and rig the stations to play the Chabad Telethon 24 hours a day -- except on Shabbos. Yeshivah School Musical -- Tzuri, son of the esteemed Cantor Boltonovsky, is the star cantorial student at East Fairfax Yeshivah but he dreams only of Talmudic scholarship. Can Tzuri respectfully side-step his father's dreams and become a rebel Rebbe while his fellow yeshiva bochers dance a frenzied Hora and belt out the hit single, "We're All In Tzitzis Together?" There Won't Be Blood -- A lonely and obsessive Texas trillionaire spends every cent of his fortune in a misbegotten and peculiar bid to take over all the Kosher slaughterhouses in the West. Is he a visionary or a megalomaniacal mashgiach? The Other Boleyn Girl's Sister's Cousin -- During Purim, Skokie Illinois' best King Achashverosh impersonator becomes frustrated when he can't find his own, real-life Queen Esther. That is, until the local matchmaker promises to fix him up with a mysterious young lady from Passaic, New Jersey whose relationships to everyone's cousins, aunts and acquaintances are so tenuous that no one can recall how they actually know her... Hancock -- Whether he's rescuing Hadassah members precariously dangling in the John Hancock building's elevator shaft, or saving bar mitzvah boys from an out-of-control Hebrew School bus, President-Elect Barack Obama strives to safeguard his secret identity as a 10,000-year-old Ethiopian Jew. No Country for Old Men -- Tom Belstein and Llewellyn Mosskowitz, a pair of retired Miami detectives travel to Japan, where they stumble upon a cache of stolen iPods, flat screen TVs, BlackBerries, Xboxes, digital camcorders and other newfangled, technological gizmos that they have no clue how to operate. But when Tom's pacemaker suddenly cuts out, his only chance at survival depends on whether Llewellyn can figure out how to program one of the stolen BlackBerries for the "pacemaker" setting.
Author Biography:
Hundreds of Holocaust survivors never returned to Judaism and joined the Christian clergy.
Jaffa, Israel -- The embossed nameplate on the door of an apartment here a few blocks from the Mediterranean lists two occupants. The English letters identify Grzegorz Pawlowski; the Hebrew, Zvi Griner. Only one man lives in the apartment. Grzegorz Pawlowski is the Polish name that Zvi Griner, a Jew, took while in hiding during the Holocaust. He survived by posing as a Catholic and later decided to become a priest. Like many Jews who accepted -- or in the case of thousands of children during the Shoah, were raised in -- Christianity, Pawlowski says he is both. But as a member of the Christian clergy, his case has special poignancy for the Jewish community, which, more than 60 years after the end of World War II, is still dealing with the losses it suffered during the 12 years of the Third Reich. Today, Pawlowski, who wears a collar and conducts Mass in his Roman Catholic church here, is a stark reminder of one of the realities of the Holocaust. Jewish lives could often find refuge in Christian hands, but their spiritual future was in doubt. Like him, many survived. Like him, many never returned to Judaism. Like him, many, out of belief or gratitude, became priests or nun. Today, many of these men and women have died, the rest are aging, and many have chosen to serve as living bridges between their religion of birth and their religion of choice. An estimated several hundred Jews who are still alive took their Catholic or Protestant vows, especially in Poland, a phenomenon little known and scarcely documented. The number is at least "a couple hundred," says Rabbi Chaskel Besser, a Holocaust survivor who has served as director of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation's activities in Poland and has reconnected "hidden Jews" with their unknown or long-forgotten Jewish roots. Jews in Poland alone talk of several hundred contemporary priests -- and a like number of nuns -- who are Jewish. "This is primarily a Polish story," says Holocaust historian Michael Berenbaum. That's where the most Jews lived before the Holocaust, where the most Catholics honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Gentiles lived during World War II. And outside of Holocaust history circles, it is largely an unknown story. As a hidden cost of the Shoah, these members of the Christian clergy -- many, raised as Christians, probably remain unaware of their Jewish roots -- present a conundrum to Jews who honor the risks taken by Christians in occupied Europe to save Jewish lives, but condemn any attempt to take Jewish souls. Uncounted thousands of Holocaust survivors owed their lives to Christians -- lay believers and members of the clergy -- who joined the ranks of wartime Righteous Gentiles. "There is hardly a Jew who survived," said Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the late, Jewish-born Archbishop of Paris, " who did not, in one way or another, one day or another, receive help from a Catholic or a priest, or from a network connected with Catholicism or Protestantism." Cardinal Lustiger, who spoke Yiddish and had the Kaddish recited at his funeral in 2007, is the best-known Holocaust-era priest who was born Jewish and openly maintained his Jewish identity. Others with similar stories include: • Brother Daniel, the Carmelite monk who was born Oswald Rufeisen in Poland and rescued several Jews from the Nazis. Hidden in a monastery for a year, he converted to Catholicism; his attempt to make aliyah became a test case of Israel's Law of Return. • Israel Zolli, the controversial chief rabbi of Rome during the Nazi occupation who became baptized in 1945 and took the name Eugenio, the original name of Pope Pius XII, whom Zolli credited with saving thousands of Jews under the auspices of the Vatican. • George Pogany, the priest raised by convert parents in prewar Hungary. The story of his twin brother's return to Judaism is told in Eugene Pogany's "In My Brother's Image: Twin Brothers Separated by Faith After the Holocaust" (Penguin Books, 2000). Many of the Jews who survived the Shoah with Christian help were children, given by their parents to Christian families or to convents or monasteries as the Nazi noose tightened. "Most of us came from secular homes," says Nechama Tec, Holocaust survivor and author of a biography of Brother Daniel. "Jewish Orthodox children hardly ever made it to the Christian world." As death at the hands of the Nazis approached, Jewish parents in Nazi Europe faced a crucial decision -- trust their children with Christian friends or strangers, or keep the family intact and likely consign them to death? Rabbis -- notably Ephraim Oshry in the Kovno ghetto, author of "Responsa from the Holocaust" (Judaica Press, 1983) -- had to answer such questions daily. "In the case of uncertainty" -- will the children emerge as Jews? -- "regarding matters of life or death one should be lenient ... and allow parents ... to entrust their infants to non-Jews," Rabbi Oshry wrote. These issues "were examined ... by groups of rabbis who acted as public leadership," according to Esther Farbstein in "Hidden in Thunder: Perspectives on Faith, Halachah and Leadership during the Holocaust" (Mossad Harav Kook, Jerusalem, 2007). Today the Jewish community faces an inevitable question: how do we regard these Jews who forsook, or never knew, their Jewish identities? "Children who didn't know anything [about their true identities] certainly are tinnuk b'nishbah," says Rabbi Yitzchak Guttman, compiler of a recent CD on "Respona of the Holocaust" issued by Israel's Machon Netivei Ha'Halacha, using the Hebrew term for a Jew taken into captivity and raised without a Jewish upbringing. "You can't judge them. Nobody can judge them," says Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. He was saved by a Catholic nanny who had him baptized and raised him as a practicing Catholic. "Had my parents not survived" and reclaimed him, Foxman says, "I wanted to become a priest or the cardinal of Warsaw." Foxman says he doesn't condemn these individuals, but he mourns their loss to the Jewish people. "It's still part of the price of the Shoah that we continue to pay." FROM LUBLIN TO ISRAEL Pawlowski was raised in a "very religious" family. His parents ran a small wood-and-coal trading business. "We celebrated all the holidays. I have very good memories," he says, sitting in the darkened library of the church where he has served since 1970. Jakub Hersch -- Zvi is the Hebrew version of Hersch -- was 8 when the Nazis invaded Poland in September 1939, starting World War II. The Jews of Hersch's shtetl, Zamosc, near Lublin, were herded into a ghetto. His father was taken away for forced labor and did not return. His mother and two sisters were killed near a ravine. The next six years, until the end of the war, were a succession of close calls, betrayals and escapes as he hid on farm after farm in the Polish countryside. At one point, a Jewish boy undercover provided a false baptismal certificate, explaining that "If you want to survive, that's they way to do it," by posing as a Catholic. Hersch's new identity was as Grzegorz Pawlowski. Catholic neighbors in Zamosc taught him Catholic prayers. Homeless at the end of the war, he was placed in a small orphanage run by nuns. At 13, he was baptized. By then, he says, "I believed in it. I didn't remember anything about Judaism." He converted because "I didn't want to be different from the [other, Catholic] kids." Zealous in his adopted faith, he studied for the priesthood; ordained in 1958, he worked in various villages around Lublin. In 1970 he moved to Israel to be near his brother, who had survived the war and lived in Haifa. Pawlowski was assigned to Jaffa, where he served the country's Polish-speaking Catholics. His job does not call on him to bring Jews to Christianity, he says. "I am not a missionary." Pawlowski is a citizen of Israel, his Jewish identity widely known. Sometimes he is invited to synagogue services and Passover seders. His apartment, whose doorpost bears a mezuzah, features photographs of Jesus as a shepherd and of the memorial monument in Poland he and his brother erected for their martyred family members. "I didn't forget" my roots, he says. Pawlowski, 79, who recently marked his 50th year in the priesthood, has arranged to be buried near Zamosc, next to his relatives, when the time comes. A gravestone, inscribed in Hebrew and Polish, already stands in the cemetery. It bears two names: Father Grzegorz Pawlowski. And Jacob Zvi Griner. A longer version of this article originally appeared in The Jewish Week.
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Jan. 6, 2009Barak: Israel is Ready in the NorthBy IsraelNationalNews.com
Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that Israel would be prepared for any emergency on the northern border. Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrallah recently threatened to join the fight with Israel if Israel hit Hamas in Gaza.
Lebanese Information Minister Tarek Mitri said on Monday that Lebanon would not be dragged into war due to Israel's operation in Gaza, adding that there is no evidence that Hizbullah plans to start a war either. Lebanese and United Nations forces were on alert in southern Lebanon Monday to keep Hizbullah terrorists away from the Israeli border.
IDF Trades Heavy Fire with Hamas TerroristsBy Ha’aretz & YnetNews.com
Israel Defense Forces infantry units engaged in heavy exchanges of fire with armed Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip Monday evening. The IDF unleashed massive artillery fire to provide cover for soldiers who are penetrating deeper into the coastal territory.
Israel Air Force war jets on Monday evening struck dozens of southern Gaza tunnels used by Hamas terrorists to smuggle weaponry into the strip from Egypt. The tunnels, along the Philadelphi route which runs parallel to the Gaza-Egypt border, have been a frequent target for Israel Air Force strikes since the start of Operation Cast Lead 10 days ago.
Earlier Monday, an IDF officer and five soldiers sustained light to moderate wounds in clashes between Israeli ground troops and Hamas militants in eastern Gaza, near the border with Israel. Clashes also took place in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, while the Israel Air Force struck some 30 targets overnight.
Channel Two reported on Monday evening that the total number of armed Palestinians killed in gun battles with the IDF reached 100. The IDF said that the targets hit overnight included a mosque used for storing weapons, an underground bunker in Gaza City stocked with explosives which set off secondary explosions, a number of Hamas-operated tunnels near Rafah in the southern Strip, a rocket launcher, four homes of terrorists, and a suspected anti-aircraft missile.
Hamas fired rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at advancing Israeli tanks before dawn. Explosions could be heard in Gaza City as aircraft attacked buildings.
Hamas seems to have intensified its attempts to strike back at the advancing forces, utilizing mortar fire, snipers and booby trapped building and gunmen strapping explosive belts, to that effect IDF sources reported of several cases in which suicide bomber lunged at the troops but failed to detonate. In one case, the soldiers were able to neutralize the explosives and arrest the gunmen. Hamas operatives are also incessantly trying to abduct soldiers.
The IDF's movement through the area, which is riddled with traps, explosive devises, anti-tank weapons and tunnels, is slow and guarded; and they are slowed further by the constant need to neutralize weapons and destroy caches and battle stations.
The IDF divided the Strip into three, making it even harder to move supplies from Gaza's central and southern areas to it north, but the Gaza City warehouses still hold large numbers of weapons – hundreds of long-range Grad rockers that can reach Beersheva, dozens of mid-range Grads capable of hitting Ashkelon and thousands of Kassam rockets. Rocket launching cells have managed to fire some 40 rockets and mortar shells a day at Israel.
Neither the IDF nor the political echelon venture guessing how long the Gaza offensive may last, with careful assessments spanning from several days to several weeks, depending on the progress made in way of a possible ceasefire. The campaign may even be widened further, should the cabinet see fit to do so.
Hamas Claims Victory, Calls to Kill Jewish ChildrenBy IsraelNationalNews.com
Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Az-Zahar claimed victory for Hamas on Monday, saying Hamas had succeeded in “destroying Israel's sense of security” with its rocket attacks. Zahar made his proclamation in video footage sent from a secret hideout, where he is taking shelter in order to avoid being targeted in an IAF strike. Other Hamas leaders have gone into hiding as well.
Zahar directed his message to Hamas' troops, and promised them victory over the IDF. “We must be patient until we are victorious, Allah will help us,” he said. Hundreds of Hamas terrorists have been killed since the “Cast Lead” operation began last week, including 100 since the start of Israel's ground operation, and several of the group's senior leaders have been assassinated. Dozens have been taken prisoner as well.
The Hamas leader called out to murder Israelis and Jews worldwide, including children. “The Israelis have sentenced their children to death... They have legitimized the killing of their people all over the world,” he said. Hamas' platform calls for all Jews to convert to Islam or be killed, based on an Islamic saying (Hadith), and the group has not refrained from targeting children in the past.
Hamas will destroy synagogues and Jewish schools as well, Zahar said, just as Israel destroyed mosques in Gaza. Israel bombed several mosques used to store rockets and ammunition.
Zahar suggested Hamas was prepared to seek a ceasefire, saying Hamas would discuss “whatever is good for our people.” He issued a list of demands, saying any ceasefire must include a complete end to IDF counterterrorism activities, Hamas control of the Gaza coast and the opening of Israeli crossings.
Israel has not offered Hamas a ceasefire, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently said operations in Gaza would continue “until we achieve our goals.”
'Cast Lead' Leaves Phoneless Terrorists ConfusedBy IsraelNationalNews.com
The "Cast Lead" counterterrorist campaign has spread to cyberspace and cell phones, leaving Hamas's terrorist army in confusion, unable to issue and receive orders efficiently. Almost of all of Gaza's cell phone system is out of order, television stations have been hit and the Hamas website is down.
The local phone company Paltel said that 90 percent of Gaza's cellular system is out of order. Compounding the problem is the downing of landlines and the inability of technicians to reach work sites. Switchboards and mobile communications equipment have sustained heavy damage in air raids.
Hamas's leaders, who have been forced underground, have been forced to rely on old-fashioned walkie-talkies to maintain communication with terrorists. Most of the upper echelon orders are coming from Hamas headquarters in Damascus, manned by Khaled Mashaal.
Paltel has warned subscribers that they may be completely cut off from the outside world. Electricity blackouts have made it difficult for the population to receive radio and television programs, and television stations that have not been destroyed by aerial strikes often are not able to broadcast. Paltel said three of its technicians have died or have suffered injuries.
The Hamas website is down after several attempts to put in back on the Internet. Israel previously has hacked other Arab-language sites with messages to the public that it is being exploited by Hamas leaders.
Hamas issued a statement accusing the "The Americans and Zionists" of trying to silence communications. One website that was hacked issued calls for Jihad, the Arabic term for "holy war" on Israel.
Iran: More Than 70,000 Students Register to Become MartyrsBy XinHua
The director of the Public Relations of Iran's Students' Basij (Volunteer) Organization Esmaeel Ahmadi said in Tehran Monday that more than 70,000 students had signed up for martyrdom operations, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"More than 70,000 students from universities throughout Iran have signed up on the list to conduct Esteshhadi (martyrdom seeking) operations (against Israeli troops in Gaza)," Ahmadi said. "The students will act as part of Esteshhadi battalions.”
Iranian hard-line university students, since the start of Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza, have urgently sought the Iranian officials' permission to be deployed to Gaza to fight by the side of Palestinians. To implement this, they have adopted diverse means, including taking sanctuary in Teheran's old Mehrabad airport, staging consecutive rallies and resorting to students' opinions by signing up the list for martyrdom operations.
However, Iran's influential cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday that Gaza does not need soldiers but political, weaponry and propagandistic support. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi on Monday denied that there was anything (like providing weaponry support for Hamas) in Iran's government agenda.
Hamas is strongly backed by Iran which does not recognize Israel as a state of the international community.
Iran’s Horrible, Hidden Agenda in GazaBy Anonymous (Commentary received via e-mail from Emanuel A. Winston)
Absolutely no one has been able to come up with a plausible motivation for Hamas provoking Israel to attack. No one can figure out what Hamas has to gain and its losses are overwhelming.
Some Israeli casualties? Showing they "are tough enough to take it"? Even with their stated goal of destruction of the State of Israel, this is certainly not the way to do it.
The most likely scenario is for a weak Israeli government, under pressure from various world political figures, to call off its offensive at some premature stage, followed by negotiations. These negotiations will lead to the same kind of cold "truce" (Hudna) that there was before.
At some point Hamas - or one of the splinter Islamic organizations, which are effectively controlled by Hamas, will start shooting rockets again. After while, depending on how weak the Israeli leadership is at the time, Israel will be forced to again invade Gaza inflicting significant damage. This could go on indefinitely. Except Hamas could eventually get more powerful rockets, with chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.
Since Hamas sequesters its launching facilities in densely packed residential areas, Israel will be forced to literally level every built up population center in Gaza. But that won’t be enough. Hamas will have hidden rocket launchers in caves. Since the Hamas operatives hide themselves in civilian clothing, Israel will be forced to destroy large portions of the civilian population. The Israeli government, especially the Leftist who control Israel, do not want to do this. They will be forced into it and have no choice if they wish to survive.
Ironically, those very world political figures who are trying to force a premature truce on Israel will share a large measure of blame for what will happen in Gaza. By not giving the Israelis the time and support to complete their work, they virtually guarantee that Israel will have to take catastrophic measures in the future.
Who gains by this horrible scenario?
The Islamic fundamentalists who believe that the large scale destruction of their fellow Muslims is the best way to provoke the coming of their messianic Imam - the Mahdi. Though this belief is rife throughout the Arab world, Iran has the resources to provoke it. They will, no doubt, undertake similar provocative actions through mass-casualty terror attacks against Europe and the United States.
This is why the efforts of the West to negotiate with, or merely change the behavior of the Arab fundamentalists have been so unsuccessful. How do you threaten someone who wants to die?
A Prayer for Every SoldierBy IsraelNationalNews.com
Two modern rabbis are continuing a tradition that Torah sages say dates back to 3,500 years ago, when a person was designated to pray and learn Torah for soldiers sent by Moses to fight the Jews' enemies. Jewish tradition states that King David also continued the practice.
The counterterrorist operation "Cast Lead" is being accompanied by "Operation Tefillah, Torah and Troops," initiated by Rabbi Simcha HaCohen Kook, the chief rabbi of Rehovot, and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, the Bostoner Rebbe who now lives in the Har Nof community of Jerusalem.
In an open letter to Jews, the rabbis "ask soldiers and/or their relatives who would want a 'partner' in Torah and Tefillah [prayer] to e-mail maortlmo@gmail.com or fax 972-8-9450027 and give their Hebrew name and mother's Hebrew name without any other particulars such as family name or other identifying factors."
The rabbis will distribute the names "among those who heed the call to add Torah and Tefillah for the sake of those who find themselves in jeopardy."
The same tradition was put into practice in the Second Lebanon War two years ago, when more than 50,000 people participated in the campaign co-sponsored by National Council of Young Israel. "Every tefillah that is said on behalf of a soldier will make a difference, regardless of where a person may be in religious observance, said Young Israel Executive Vice President Rabbi Pesach Lerner.
"Each soldier who is putting his or her life on the line to defend the land of Israel and safeguard the Jewish nation deserves to have someone praying for their well being and safe return," he added.
To request the name of a soldier by phone or fax, call the National Council of Young Israel at 212-929-1525 x100, or send a fax to 212-727-9526.
Jan. 5, 2009 Cheney: US Didn’t Authorize Gaza InvasionBy VOA News
U.S. Vice president Dick Cheney said the United States did not authorize the Israeli invasion of Gaza, but made clear that the Bush administration was not caught totally by surprise. "They did not seek clearance or approval from us, certainly," said Cheney.
But Cheney told the CBS’ Face the Nation that Israeli leaders had warned they could not sit idly by while Hamas launched rockets into Israel from Gaza
Israeli Soldier Killed as IDF Slices Gaza into ThreeBy Ha’aretz, IsraelNationalNews.com, VOA News & YnetNews.com
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed Sunday and more than 40 were injured during the second day of the ground offensive into the Gaza Strip.
More than 30 Palestinian gunmen have been killed in the fighting, as the IDF moved to encircle Gaza City and its environs. The IDF has already completed the division of the Strip by deploying troops along a direct axis to the beach.
However, Hamas rockets continued to be fired against Israeli towns in the south. At least 45 were launched Sunday, injuring three Israelis.
Staff Sergeant Dvir Emmanueloff, 22, of Givat Ze'ev, became the first IDF fatality since the ground offensive began Saturday night. Emmanueloff was part of a Golani combat engineers unit, and was killed when he was hit by shrapnel in a mortar attack. Another soldier from the same unit suffered serious injuries, probably as a result of sniper fire.
The incident occurred in the morning hours east of Gaza City, in an area that has seen the some of the fiercest fighting during the past 24 hours. In another incident in the same area, an officer and a soldier in the Golani Brigade suffered moderate injuries.
A neighbor said the last contact Emmanueloff had with his family was on Saturday night, when he told his mother he was about to enter Gaza. Hours later, he was killed in action. "He was a wonderful, kind-hearted [and] happy boy," said the neighbor.
A friend of the soldier's, Avichai Peretz, said: "He wasn't eager to go into battle, but he was pleased that he was able to assist in any way that he could." Emmanueloff was laid to rest on Sunday evening at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery. He is survived by his mother, three sisters and a brother.
A Knesset committee on Sunday approved Defense Minister Ehud Barak's request for the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists in light of the ground operation in Gaza that Israel launched on Saturday against Hamas.
Despite approving the measure, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee clarified that not all of the Israel Defense Forces reservists would be called up immediately. It explained that the mobilization would be gradual, and implemented according to necessity.
While the IDF has relied upon reservists as its principal force in past wars, Israel has usually been hesitant to mobilize them due to the damage to the economy that is caused by their absence from the workforce and the high wages they require.
There was considerable criticism of the army over its treatment of reservists during the Second Lebanon War, centering on claims that many of them were sent into battle inadequately equipped and poorly trained.
Since Saturday evening, large infantry and armored units have been in operation in areas around Gaza City. So far the IDF forces have been deployed in fields on the edge of residential areas. Hamas resistance has been limited so far, with its forces avoiding direct confrontation with the soldiers. It seems that the tactics of Hamas are based on concentrating its forces in the densely residential forces where IDF units are not operating.
Along the northern border, forces are on high alert in anticipation of possible rocket attacks from Lebanon. Similar vigilance is being exercised along the border with Egypt.
IDF forces have inserted forces deep in the Gaza Strip along two axes: between the Karni crossing and the beachfront highway, and in the area of Morag, between Khan Yunis and Rafah, in the south, effectively cutting the strip in three. It appears that this is part of an effort to ensure that Hamas is unable to shift reinforcements from Rafah to the area of Gaza City in the north.
Most of the IDF effort is focused on Gaza City, aimed at causing maximum damage to Hamas' ability to respond, and consequently undermine its rule. All movements of IDF ground units are covered by intense artillery and air bombardment.
Since the start of the offensive against Hamas during the past nine days, more than 1,000 targets were attacked from sea and air. Hamas reported Sunday that it had captured two IDF soldiers, but this was denied by the army. Israeli sources said that this is part of the organization's psychological warfare, but the army pointed out that Hamas is eager to capture soldier in order to undermine morale in Israel.
However the army did acknowledge that there might have been an incident in which Hamas gunmen tried to drag a soldier into a tunnel. "Fighting east of Gaza City is complex. We are faced with pretty sophisticated fighters, who set up a complex system of defenses," IDF sources told Ha’aretz.
A Grad rocket hit an Ashdod store Sunday afternoon, lightly wounding a woman and causing serious property damage. Several people were also treated for shock. The blast, which shattered several hours of tense quiet, did not set off a warning siren. In a chicken farm within the Eshkol Regional Council territory, two persons were lightly injured when a Kassam hit.
Also Sunday, 11 rockets hit Sderot and one rocket hit an open area near Ashkelon, causing no injuries or damage. Overall, Ashkelon residents had a relatively quiet day, taking advantage of the break in rocket fire to go outside, doing errands they had put off while the rocket barrage was more intense and enjoying the sunny weather.
The incoming commander of the police force's Southern District, Yohanan Danino, told Ashkelon municipal and police officials during a visit to the city Saturday that they must not let the residents become apathetic to the danger of rocket fire, and should make sure they continue to follow the orders of the Home Front Command.
Israeli Government spokesman Mark Regev said the military operation is not against the people of Gaza, but against Hamas terrorists who threaten southern Israel. "Our sole military goal is to safeguard the people of southern Israel so that one million people no longer have to be on the receiving end of Hamas rockets," said Regev.
Israel said it had no choice but to launch military action after talks with Hamas on extending a ceasefire broke down in December and the terrorists stepped up rocket fire against southern Israel.
Hamas has remained defiant, warning that it would turn Gaza into a graveyard for the Israelis. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has described the Israeli offensive as "brutal aggression," (even though Israel News Faxx reported last week that Abbas had “begged” Israel to intervene in Gaza).
According to tallies by medical officials in Gaza the Palestinian death toll from nine days of Israeli military operations now tops 500, with the number of injured at more than 2,000.
Abu-Obeidah, a spokesman for the terror wing of Hamas, said on Sunday, "Until now, the organization has not used more than five percent of its capabilities," in fighting Israel's counter terror operation in Gaza. He denied Israeli claims that the army killed three Hamas agents during ground fighting on Sunday.
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency/ISA) chief Yuval Diskin told the government Sunday that "there are initial signs that Hamas is becoming less intransigent about the possible ceasefire." He told the weekly cabinet session, "Their leadership is under heavy pressure and wants the Israeli operation halted, while looking for an honorable exit that will not humiliate them."
In an unprecedented radio event, a chapter of Psalms was read aloud during prime-time on Army Radio, on behalf of the war effort.
Broadcasters Kobi Arieli dedicated the psalm to the soldiers in Gaza, and read aloud: "May the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble, may the Name of the God of Yaakov strengthen thee out of Zion...Some trust in chariots, and some in horses - but we will call out in the Name of God. They fall, but we are arisen and stand upright. Save Lord, O King, Who hears on the day that we call."
Arabs React with Anger to Israeli Invasion of GazaBy Edward Yeranian (VOA-Cairo)
Arab satellite television networks are devoting non-stop coverage to Israel's invasion of Gaza, while demonstrations and protests are putting pressure on Arab leaders to react to the invasion.
Top Arab satellite TV networks Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera TV have been running non-stop coverage of Israel's invasion of Gaza, showing images of death and destruction, mixed with martial music.
Egypt and Jordan have officially condemned Israel's invasion of Gaza and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit deplored the failure of the U.N. Security Council to call for a ceasefire, saying that it "gives Israel a green light to continue its invasion."
In Beirut, a crowd of mostly Hizbullah supporters tried to breach barbed wire protecting the U.S. Embassy, but were repelled when police fired teargas.
Fiery rhetoric and angry protests also engulfed other parts of the Middle East, including the Moroccan capital Rabat, Istanbul, Turkey and the Syrian capital Damascus. Riot police dispersed demonstrators in the Algerian capital, Algiers.
Arab League spokesman Hesham Youssef said it is not only the Arab world that is angry over Israel's invasion of Gaza, but also public opinion in many other parts of the world:
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told reporters in New York that "all options are now on the table," referring to diplomatic missions that will get under way, Monday, including visits by French President Nicholas Sarkozy to Israel and the Palestinian territories, and by international special envoy Tony Blair. An emergency Arab summit, he says, may be held, and if all else fails.
Iranians Urge Kids to Fight 'Evil' IsraelBy WorldNetDaily.com
Amid Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza to stop rocket attacks against its civilian population, an Iranian children's TV show taught toddlers to embrace "martyrdom" and hate their Jewish "enemies."
"We all loathe those enemies. We all loathe them. We are furious at them. We identify with the Palestinian children," said the female host of the program on Iran's Channel 1, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI
The host, noting the children were wearing traditional Palestinian kaffiyeh scarves as a sign of solidarity, said the "enemy" was turning "the oppressed children of Gaza into martyrs." (http://www.liveleak.com/e/874_1230714679)
"Except for strolling down the street and looking for a flower to smell, these children didn't do anything," the host said. "They didn't understand what war is. They didn't understand what murder, massacre, and crime are. They didn't understand what evil is. But before they had time to grow up, they got a taste of the enemy's evil."
The TV host asked the Iranian children what they would do if they were in the place of the Palestinian children, "Would we surrender, or would we fight back?" The children replied in unison: "Fight back." A child chimed in: "We would all get together so we could fight. ..." The TV host finished the child's sentence: " ... the enemies and the bad people. That's right; we would struggle against them and fight them."
The host declared she is willing to be a martyr for Islam. "I am willing to sacrifice myself. I am willing to sacrifice my arms, my legs, and all my limbs, my family, and my property, in order to achieve my goals," she said.
Hamas, through its Al-Aqsa TV, has aired similar programs for children in the Palestinian territories. One program featured a Mickey Mouse-knockoff who taught children to fight for Israel's destruction and Islam's domination over the world. In the show's final episode, the mouse was "martyred" by Israel "while defending his land," a teen TV hostess declared.
Israeli Student Team Wants Help Hacking HamasBy IsraelNationalNews.com
A group of Israeli students has decided to fight back against Hamas and to begin taking down websites that support it.
The students explain that as part of Hamas's war against Israel; supporters of the terror group have been busy over the past week hacking pro-Israeli websites. Sites that have been hacked include banks and news websites. The students opened a website called Help Israel Win with the purpose of fighting Hamas with the same weapon.
The most recent victim of the jihadi hacking campaign was the DEBKAfile website which was broken into Saturday night, at about the same time that IDF ground troops entered Gaza. "The attackers tried and failed to block and replace our content," Debka reported when the site came back up on the following day. "We did our utmost to restore service as quickly as possible and return to full operation."
Gal, one of Help Israel Win's managers, told Arutz Sheva that "our purpose is to block the servers upon which Hamas's different websites are stored. For this purpose, a large number of computers need to initiate communication with the enemy websites simultaneously. In this way the sites will be effectively blocked and they will not be accessible through the internet."
An attack upon a website, the students say, can be carried out by having numerous computers enter it simultaneously. In this way the site's operation is slowed down and the server deals exclusively with connection requests, but does not send any information out.
The group asks web users to download a program to their computer and allow it to run. The program will not noticeably slow down the computer hosting it, they promise. By running it, the user helps the effort to block Hamas's websites, they say.
The students' site itself was hacked into earlier Sunday however. The site's operators say that the hackers operated from "hostile countries."
Arutz Sheva noted that installation of the program may not be legal and clarified that it does not encourage people to do so. In addition, because of the site operators' insistence on anonymity, the Arutz Sheva team was unable to verify that the program does not harm the computer it is installed upon.
The students are not alone fighting Hamas in cyberspace. The most famous hacker of jihadi websites is Internet Haganah which claims to have taken down about 730 jihadi sites.
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