Monthly Archives: June 2012

The Opening Of Jihad On US Soil…By Adina Kutnicki

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Originally published in Arutz 7, Israel National News
By:Adina Kutnicki
Published: Friday, November 25, 2005 10:14 AM
The logical conclusion that Rabbi Kahane’s supporters drew from his murder was crystal clear. Strangely, it coincided with the assessment of the Islamic jihad: if they can eliminate a problematic “radical” rabbi on US soil and get away with it, then the hitherto invincible and impenetrable US would become open for their jihad.

Ever since the horrific public assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane at the Marriott Hotel in New York City in 1990, there has been a small, yet vocal group of individuals trying to get certain US authorities – both state and federal – to pay attention to his murder. Their many entreaties both for personal justice and for a wider investigation fell on deaf ears. Nonetheless, the ramifications from the inaction of these US authorities can no longer be ignored.
This small group’s personal pain at the rabbi’s cold-blooded assassination fueled their initial anguished pleas. However, there was much more underlying their silenced screams. Just as surely as night follows day, they were convinced about one glaring aspect of Rabbi Kahane’s murder: it was the opening salvo by Islamic terrorists in their ongoing war against the US, perpetrated on US soil. Previously, during the 1970s and the 1980s, the Islamists shot several devastating hits aimed at US interests overseas. Not this time.

The logical conclusion that Rabbi Kahane’s supporters drew from his murder was crystal clear. Strangely, it coincided with the assessment of the Islamic jihad: if they can eliminate a problematic “radical” rabbi (their first victim of choice) on US soil and get away with it, then the hitherto invincible and impenetrable US would become open for their jihad.

The Islamists counted on the US authorities turning a blind eye to their intentions; and their assumptions proved demonstrably and deadly accurate.

Rabbi Kahane’s assassin was an Egyptian named El-Said Nosair. Soon after the murder, the investigating authorities found among Nosair’s belongings many boxes of Arabic writings, which for years were inexplicably not translated. Unbelievably, they included detailed plans for the upcoming 1993 World Trade Center bombings. In addition, Nosair was also a protege of Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman, the internationally infamous “blind sheikh” from a Jersey City mosque, convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Furthermore, the gun used to kill Rabbi Kahane was given to him by Wadith El-Hage, a member of Al-Qaeda, who was convicted for the 1998 US embassy bombings. Significantly, in March 1997, an Egyptian Muslim opened fire at more than a dozen people who were congregated on the rooftop of the Empire State Building for a sightseeing visit. Three years later, in the fall of 2000, the USS Cole was attacked, albeit overseas. The nexus to this Islamic hydra was growing exponentially (the above are only some examples of their lethal attacks on US soil and US interests overseas), yet US investigative authorities kept undeniably missing the links. The catastrophic attacks of September 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the US Pentagon were a direct culmination of their blindness.

However, from day one after Rabbi Kahane’s murder, his supporters besieged US authorities to view it as an Islamic act of jihad. But to no avail. Coincidentally, Rabbi Kahane’s personal lawyer, Mr. Shannon Taylor, was also at his side when he was gunned down. In fact, he collapsed at Mr. Taylor’s feet. He never imagined that the camera he brought along to take pictures of the gathering at the Marriott Hotel would later be used to take photos of a dying Rabbi Kahane. These pictures were taken to compile evidence for eventual prosecutorial purposes. In fact, these same images were the ones which circulated all over the world right after the murder.

Immediately, Mr. Taylor approached the local New York office of the FBI and the US Attorney General’s office with sources of information. Acclaimed terror investigator Steve Emerson produced a documentary, Jihad in America, that exposed that the FBI had buried moles and spies deep within some of the Islamic terror cells. However, no tangible results on Rabbi Kahane’s murder were forthcoming from the FBI. Coincidentally, Mr. Taylor had the occasion to speak with the newly retired CIA head, William Sessions. Mr. Taylor was flabbergasted to learn that Mr. Sessions never saw the crime scene picturestaken of Rabbi Kahane’s murder. This should have been the first order of business, to hand over the pictures to the head of the CIA. After all, that was a logical conclusion to make when Islamic terrorists were being pursued. What was later revealed, though, managed to fill in the blanks as to why no results were forthcoming in Rabbi Kahane’s assassination investigation.

In a nutshell, the FBI was not only taken off Rabbi Kahane’s case, but all Islamic “infiltrating” was halted. President Clinton ordered the CIA, and the CIA then demanded that the FBI cease and desist. The Congress also put the squeeze on the FBI. Why? The true motives are anyone’s guess. However, from 1990 until the 1993 first World Trade Center bombing, these groups were not monitored.

Fifteen years after Rabbi Kahane’s murder, National Geographic, much to their credit, finally connected the most undeniable and intrinsic dot in their very well-documented four-part series entitled Inside 9/11. The focus of their documentary was on a timeline of the Islamic jihad against the US. Lo and behold, they concluded, much like Kahane’s supporters, that Rabbi Kahane’s assassination was the opening of jihad on US soil. This documentary was deemed so important and so relevant that it was made available free of charge to those areas that do not have access to the National Geographic cable channel.

One needn’t be a cynic or a conspiracy theorist to make one salient observation: Kahane’s murder (that of an often-maligned rabbi, deemed a “radical” and a “racist”), and the lack of a proper investigation into its cause, was of very little import to most. This was especially the case in the non-Jewish communities, and, to a certain extent, in the Jewish communities both in the US and in Israel.

Imagine that. It took fifteen years, and thousands of deaths, to finally point out what should have been obvious to all. That is, that the opening shot fired by the Islamic jihadis on US soil was Rabbi Kahane’s assassination, and that the jihad is ongoing – with no end in sight.

Countless lives could have been spared if the investigation into Rabbi Kahane’s murder had been given the priority and attention it deserved. It most assuredly would have led investigators to an overarching Islamic jihad plot against the US. Now that the politically incorrect blinders have been taken off, we can only hope and pray that the US authorities will pursue in earnest the Islamic jihadis, regardless of who is killed, and despite where the investigation leads them.

May Rabbi Kahane’s memory be for a blessing.

Teenage Murders Shock Israelis, Many Seek Answers…By Adina Kutnicki

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Originally published in Arutz 7, Israel National News
By:Adina Kutnicki
Published: Friday, May 11, 2012 7:12 AM
Although one youngster may be more inclined towards hi-jinks than another, what separates them from a stone cold murderer?

A recent spate of shockingly brutal murders in Israel, committed by teens, has shaken the nation. Government officials, media pundits, communal leaders and terrified parents have been asking similar questions-what is happening to our youth, and what can be done to prevent such senseless tragedies?

Hebrew and English headlines, such as, ‘Rehovot teen stabbed to death near home’, May 6, 2012, encapsulates the above anxiety. “A 17 year old boy was stabbed to death in Rehovot early on Sunday marking the 5th violent death in a wave of homicides in recent days……..many youths walk around in groups and many are armed with knives. The victim’s father is a Senior Officer in the IDF”.  In their reactions, law and government officials stated their concern about the rise in the partaking of alcoholic beverages among youths.

Clearly alarm bells are ringing, regarding the nexus between teenage homicides and substance abuse, yet life-saving questions remain unasked. What happens after the shock wears off, will parental/communal ‘business as usual’ attitudes prevail? In other words, will fingers continue to point towards the general, yet away from the specific?

More specifically, will the growing homicide phenomenon among teens become subsumed by the usual culprits and scapegoats, namely, a society increasingly infused with materialism, hedonism and secular pursuits, sans brass tack remedies?

While the above is indeed valid for another discussion, it fails to address the deep seeded crisis at hand. One only has to ask the next logical question-despite crass materialism and a veering away from spiritual roots, how does one make the quantum leap to murder? One can’t. One may become a slave to material acquisitions, and all that it entails, but committing murder is hardly a next step.

Therefore, something much more odious appears at play, (not in every circumstance, but in a preponderance of similar events) as such, the community at large has to be willing to explore other options, however uncomfortable they may be.

Consequently, a starting point should be the following-although one youngster may be more inclined towards hi-jinks than another, what separates them from a stone cold murderer? Does a teenager just wake up one morning, with a plan to commit murder at the most opportune time? It happens, but very rarely. In this regard,

Dr Seenefazel, a clinical senior lecturer in forensic psychiatry and forensic psychiatrist at the University of Oxford, does not even mention some very real peer pressures, (in addition to certain vacuous/offensive outer trappings of today’s youth) and also chooses not to highlight otherwise substantive mental issues. “The relationship between violent crime and serious mental illness can be explained by alcohol and substance abuse, the contribution of the illness is minimal”.

In furtherance of the above hypothesis, the World Health Organization (WHO) elucidates, “Harmful and hazardous alcohol use are risk factors both for being victimized and perpetrating youth violence, sexual aggression, and assaults occurring in the streets, bars and nightclubs……the consequences can be devastating.

“Across the world an average of 565 young people aged 10 to 29 die every day through interpersonal violence, with males at greater risk. The impact of youth violence reaches all sectors of society, placing huge strains on public services and damaging communities. Reducing harmful alcohol use and violence among young people should thus be considered a priority for policy makers”.

Developing efficacious remedies is a daunting challenge, nonetheless short cuts are not an option, and failure to do so will consequently cost many more lives Therefore, an honest assessment is urgently required, one which will draw the crystal clear connection between parental substance abuse, hence delineating the direct impact it has on adolescents they are raising. Said awareness, duly incorporated into communal- related health, educational, public awareness forums will finally revamp society’s relationship-or lack thereof-to the chronically addicted and the havoc they wreck, not as a punitive measure, but as a life-saving one.


Adolescents who use substances are more likely to have poor academic performance and to be involved in criminal activities.
Obviously, a parent’s social drinking, conducted within a responsible manner, is not at issue. However, as evidenced through my op-ed at The Jewish Press (December 16, 2011), ‘Alcoholism:The Wreckage In Its Wake’, a strong causal relationship links parental substance abuse, coupled with an enabling environment, to familial and societal human wreckage.

Most significantly, the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, tackles this toxic issue head on. Among many other red flags, the agency concludes, “Adolescents whose parents have SUDs (substance use disorders) are more likely to develop SUDs themselves. Some adolescents mimic behaviors they see in their families, including ineffective coping behaviors, such as using alcohol and drugs. Many of these children are victims of violence.

“It is hypothesized that substance abuse is a coping mechanism for such traumatic events. Moreover, adolescents who use substances are more likely to have poor academic performance and to be involved in criminal activities. The longer children are exposed to parental SUD, the more serious the negative consequences”.

Whereas substance abuse is an ‘equal opportunity’ affliction, it stands to reason that adolescents from affluent families, as opposed to those from hard scrabble backgrounds, are better equipped to hide their scars. Coming from families that appear intact, yet are broken at their core, they suffer behind closed doors, as their ‘functional SUD’ goes about their business. On the other hand, the adolescent suffering financial hardship too, is often visible as a ‘kid at risk’, yet few care/dare to intervene.

In its essence, whether teen homicide occurs in Israel or in the diaspora, this much is painfully clear-the death and destruction, wrecked through communal inaction, will continue to grow.

To wit, how many dead teens will it take before communities deal with the issue at its root, instead of allowing it to fester, only to revisit it when the next headline explodes?

The Hunt Continues…By Adina Kutnicki

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http://honenu.org/articles/the-hunt-continues/

September 2011

by Adina Kutnicki

Yisca Weiss in custody

Under extreme pressure from the left wing media, Israeli police continue to arrest Jewish nationalists with little or no evidence. Even though most charges are eventually dropped, the detainees face difficult conditions in prison cells and interrogation rooms.

Recent cases highlight this travesty. Over the last two weeks, four young women, including two minors, were arrested on suspicion of setting fire to an Arab’s vehicle in Hevron. The police admitted in court their evidence was weak. As a result the women were released without charges. The case against the minors has not been concluded.

On June 13, about 100 police raided the town of Yitzhar in the Shomron region to arrestfour residents for incitement. Four computers were confiscated including two belonging to Honenu.

Over 100 police raid Yitzhar in the early morning hours.

The raid comes less than 24 hours after Hakol HaYehudi news site publicized an internal IDF letter. It quoted commander Nitzan Alon urging low level commanders to target soldiers who strongly identify with the settlement movement in order to distance them from certain activities. “Freedom of expression is under attack,” cried out the defendants.

Elchanan Gruner, the website operator of two nationalist organizations, HaKol HaYehudi and HONENU, was also suspected of setting fire to the vehicle of the Police Commander of the Binyamin region during the destruction of Alei Ayin. The only evidence the police presented was circumstantial-a picture from the organization’s camera of the burning car from several hundred meters. It was not even clear who took the picture. “For this and the incitement charge,” Elchanan exclaimed, ” I was arrested 3 separate times, spending a total of 75 hours in detention.” Eventually he was released along with the others due to a lack of valid evidence.

Conditions at interrogation centers-even against minors-are excessively harsh. “Suspects are tied to chairs, exposed to extreme hot and cold conditions, blinding lights, plus other measures,” said Honenu attorney Adi Kedar.

Considering all the time and resources expended on the above, one hopes that there remains enough manpower and resolve to tackle Israel’s vital security issues.

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The Bitter Fruits Of Disengagement…By Adina Kutnicki

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Originally published in The Jewish Press, reprinted at HONENU Legal Defense Organization

http://honenu.org/articles/the-bitter-fruits-of-disengagement/

By: Adina Kutnicki, Contributor: Shalom Pollack

(Aug. 19, ’11) Few events in Israel’s recent history sear the Jewish soul as did the destruction of 25 thriving Jewish communities in Gush Katif and the northern Shomron, as ordered by the Sharon-Olmert government. The sixth anniversary of what is referred to as the ‘disengagement’ of August 2005 now looms over Israel’s collective conscience.

In a move that set Jew against Jew, the IDF was used to engineer the expulsion of more than 8,600 people from their homes. Gush Katif residents watched in horror as the living were dragged from their homes and the burial places of the dead were desecrated. Later, 26 synagogues were burned by Arab mobs.

The destruction itself took place over 10 days, but the physical and mental preparations occupied many months beforehand. Three years later, in August 2008, a report entitledThe Mental Preparation for the Disengagement and its Aftermath in the IDF would shed light on the intense preparations that took place – http://www.eish-l.org/downloads/MentalPreparation.pdf.

The authors call the disengagement “a precise operation” performed with seven levels of security that took 18 months to plan.

“To execute robotic responses [by IDF soldiers] in a precision-like fashion, southern military commander Dan Harel appointed a team of psychologists to ‘transform’ the soldiers’ thought processes,” write authors Ruth Eisikowitch, Dr. Gadi Eshel, Dr Amira Dor, Boaz Haetzni, Attorney Aviad Visoli, Dr. Rachel Tassa and Dr. Moshe Leibler.

The report describes a series of psychological exercises “planned to ‘release’ the soldiers from their conscience by carrying out exercises in emotional disconnect.” The psychologists’ notes on those exercises are detailed in the journal Military Psychology (No. 5, December 2006).

The report is consistent with the recollections of Rachel Saperstein, a former resident of Neve Dekalim. When soldiers arrived the night before the expulsion, she tried to engage them in conversation, she said, only to find that they refused to talk to her or even to look at her. “The IDF turned them into robots,” she said.

Army officials were not the only ones dealing with the disengagement months before it took place. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to take part in hundreds of protests, determined to make their voices heard. Such a volume of public protest was striking, and many would suffer for it. Some 7,000 Jews were arrested for their participation.

* * *

This meant, among other things, much added strain on Honenu. As Israel’s only legal defense organization representing Jews like the arrested protesters, Honenu needed more manpower to continue its work.

As the number of volunteers grew, the group became better able to meet the growing demand for its services. Its pool of on-call lawyers swelled to 60; the 24-hour-hotlines were now manned by a full office of volunteers. It was just in time, too. Reports of new civil rights violations seemed to be coming in around the clock.

A particularly poignant Honenu case from the summer of 2005 is that of Beit El resident Chaya Belogorodsky, then 14 years old. Her drama began when she took part in a non-violent demonstration against the expulsion. After watching two friends get arrested, she walked over to the police van to see how they were faring. As she stood nearby, a police officer told her to leave. When Belogorodsky replied that she was permitted by law to stand on the sidewalk, she was arrested for insulting a police officer.

The nightmare was now in full swing. Belogorodsky was placed in solitary confinement for four days. A hole in the ground served as a toilet; there was no shower, no toilet paper, no running water. She was also not permitted visits or phone calls. On Shabbat, the guards shut off the lights, guessing correctly that, as a religious Jew, she would not turn them back on. Belogorodsky spent that Shabbat in the dark. Because of the lack of kashrut supervision, she also avoided most of the food served. The “system” tried to break the spirits of hundreds of youngsters like her, aiming to discourage others from future protests.

When the four days had ended, Belogorodsky was moved to a regular prison cell. She was now granted one hour each day outside her cell for exercise and phone calls home. Her family was permitted a 30-minute visit once a week. Older girls in prison on similar charges were strip-searched after every family visit, ostensibly so prison authorities could find hidden drugs.

Belogorodsky’s father called Honenu. The prosecution wanted her remanded until trial, which at that point could have been months away. Honenu’s lawyers took the case to the Supreme
Court, where Judge Ayala Procaccia, a strong advocate for government crackdown on dissenters, accepted the prosecution’s arguments that teenage Belogorodsky was an “ideologically motivated criminal” who could negatively influence others even in house arrest. The prosecution was willing to allow her to be released to a kibbutz, saying that it would be a “good educational experience for her.” Belogorodsky and her parents refused on religious grounds.

As Belogorodsky’s days in jail grew to 40, public pressure on the State intensified. Eventually, the justice system relented and allowed her to return home. Belogorodsky’s father credits Honenu with extricating her from the nightmare.

* * *

Akiva Vitkin’s story also began at a non-violent protest. As the 19-year old sat in the streets of Ramat Gan protesting the expulsion, three police officers sat on top of him and pretended to handcuff him. Tuvia Lerner of National News Network had stopped his car nearby and caught the incident on film.

“Another police officer approached Akiva from behind, leaned towards his head, stuck his fingers in Akiva’s nostrils and pulled violently upwards and backwards,” Lerner recalls. “Akiva was dragged to a police car while he was bleeding from his mouth, nose and eyes.”

At the Ramat Gan police station afterwards, Vitkin was taken into a room where a witness observed four policemen beating him with their fists and knocking him to the floor before the door was closed. Akiva emerged with his face swollen and bloody, barely able to walk.

Belogorodsky and Vitkin are not alone. Their stories are recorded among dozens of others in a 60-page report entitled Israeli Government Violations of Disengagement Opponents’ Civil Rights. The devastating indictment against the Israeli leadership documents 165 cases of unlawful use of pretrial detention, declared immunity for police brutality, false arrest, torture, and use of General Security Services (GSS) for cases of unarmed civil disobedience.

The report is authored by Dr. Yitzhak Klein, director of the Israel Policy Center; Shmuel Meidad, founder and director of Honenu, and attorney Itzhak Baum. It can be downloaded in full from Honenu’s home page at www.honenu.org.

* * *

Looking back six years later, we know all too well who truly benefited from the disengagement: Hamas.

The destruction of Gush Katif as a Jewish area led directly to its takeover by Hamas, a terrorist group that promises in its charter to eliminate Israel. These six years have seen countless rockets and missiles fired across the border into Israel – rockets that have killed, wounded, damaged property and instilled fear.

These are the fruits of the ‘disengagement’.

Alcoholism:The Wreckage In Its Wake…By Adina Kutnicki

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Originally published in The Jewish Press
By:Adina Kutnicki
December 18th, 2011
Daily newspapers in Israel have recently included an uptick in drunk driving related articles, invariably detailing the horrific carnage left in their wake. Various editorials have attempted to tackle the devastating effects of drunk driving, albeit leaving out its most basic element-the disease of alcoholism, the precursor to drunk driving.

In fact, as recently as October 16, 2011, the Jerusalem Post penned a blaring editorial, Halting drunk driving? The impetus for this particular article was the culmination of several shocking deaths caused by hit and run drivers, where the underlying subtext involved alcohol and drug abuse.

Most notably the high profile death of the son of retired deputy president of the Supreme Court, Justice Cheshin, was caused by a drunk driver in June 2010. The equally horrendous death of Tel Aviv resident, 25 year old Lee Zeitouni, in September of 2011, more than likely involved substance abuse. Tragically, there are far too many cases to enumerate – all around the world – however, most have one common thread-the link of alcohol or drugs, or the toxic mix of both.

While it is essential to be exposed to such articles, most of them unfortunately miss their intrinsic target. Approaching the issue from the back-end, by attempting to halt drunk driving through a system like “Good Fellas” (where a chauffeur is called and drives the impaired driver home in their own car) or “Designated Driver” (where one person in the group does not drink) should be viewed as a quick fix and a band-aid approach. As for the various alert systems which can now be installed in cars, they too are adjunct “therapies” to a very lethal societal problem. What they all have in common is that they not only miss the mark, but in a very real sense whistle past the graveyard.

As is most always the case, it takes mangled body parts to garner the reader’s attention. In this regard, it is imperative for people, wherever they reside, whatever their background, to grasp the basic dynamics of the disease of alcoholism.

In its essence, the wreckage laid bare on all our roads, due to this insidious disease, is basically a final stop (hopefully) for the alcoholic, a point in which their disease can no longer be ignored, nor hidden behind closed (family) doors. In light of the above, it is incumbent upon members of our communities to ask the salient questions. First and foremost, what are the loved ones of the alcoholic doing, or not doing, in relation to the addict in their midst? Do they believe someone just wakes up one morning, decides to play Russian roulette with a tonnage of metal, throwing caution to the wind, thereby, driving under the influence? Hardly. These are the absolute actions of an alcoholic or drug abuser.

Unless one is an island onto oneself, most alcoholics have families. They may have spouses, siblings, children and extended family. Most significantly, to make any headway in halting drunk driving, the concept of co-dependency/enabling (a topic which is for the most part unexplored, especially by those most in need) must be better understood.

At its core, according to Petros Levounis, MD, MA, Director, The Addiction Institute of New York and chief of Addiction Psychiatry of St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals in NYC, there are several main components to enabling. They include:

· Covering up – providing alibis, making excuses, or taking over someone’s responsibilities, rationalizing or minimizing the addiction.

· Controlling – trying to take responsibility for the person’s addiction by throwing out the alcohol or drugs or cutting off the supply.

· Removing consequences – bailing the person out of jail or giving him or her money.

Specifically within many traditional Jewish circles, the stigma attached to addiction (whether alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling) often serves as the excuse needed to cover up the addiction, by both the addict and their enablers. The perceived shame in asking for help often outweighs the devastating effects caused by the addiction – a truly circular pattern, a dance/marriage of sorts between the addict and their enablers.

It is this “shame-based” behavior which fosters a double crisis. So much effort is expended on covering up the addiction, it leaves precious energy, time and finances to address the dependency, thus freeing the addict of their addiction, allowing their family to become whole again.

The cycle of co-dependency must be broken in order to beat back this ever-increasing scourge within our communities. The wreckage left in its wake is not only found in the twisted metal on our roads and the bloodied bodies, whether maimed or killed. It is in the devastation left behind – the widows/widowers, the orphans, the siblings, the parents, plus all their shattered hopes and dreams.

No one should be foolish enough to expect the addict to gauge when they have caused too much suffering to themselves or their loved ones. They are in no condition to do so. Therefore, it is morally incumbent upon their sober loved ones to lead the charge, finally breaking the chains of co-dependency. They must state convincingly, clearly and lovingly – ENOUGH! Either the alcohol or the family. It can no longer be both.

Post-Zionist Academics Further Israel’s Delegitimization…By Adina Kutnicki

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Originally published in The Jewish Press

By: Adina Kutnicki

http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/post-zionist-academics-further-israels-delegitimization/2012/02/08/

February 10, 2012

Aside from the obvious looming dangers associated with a nuclear-armed Iran as well as attendant regional menaces, there exists an equally explosive strategic threat to Israel emanating from the country’s post-Zionist and anti-Zionist circles.

Those ideological forces dominate a large swathe of Israel’s media outlets, diplomatic corps, legal system, cultural institutions and, most important, universities. A significant element of teaching and research, housed within the social sciences and humanities faculties, is demonstrably post- and anti-Zionist in contents and outlook.

A Hebrew University Law School syllabus typifies the post- and anti-Zionist agenda:

The course will focus on the controlling techniques that were generated by the Israeli occupation in the territories. We will study the historic sources of these techniques and will attempt to place them within the colonialist context, especially that of the British and French.

In addition to Prof. Yehouda Shenhav, attorney Michael Sfard will oversee the course as a guest lecturer and as legal advisor to the Yesh Din NGO Volunteers for Human Rights. Twice a month students will participate in activities within the framework of Yesh Din’s Monitoring the Military Courts Project and with Machsom Watch’s District Coordination and Liaison Aid Project.

By the school’s own description, the course (paralleling many others) serves not as an academic exercise but rather as deliberate brainwashing by leftist/Arabist-focused partisans with the collusion and funding of hostile NGOs.

Because a significant number of future Israeli leaders will be the products of leftist social sciences and humanities departments, the pernicious effects of such schooling are long range in nature.

Most significantly, their deleterious effects include the undermining of pro-Israel hasbara efforts.

For example, a recently released report by Jean Glavary, a Socialist member of the French parliament, accused Israel of using water as a weapon of oppression and apartheid against the Palestinians. Despite the fact that the “water weapon” had already been utilized by Amnesty International, Israeli diplomats and elected officials were caught unawares, forced to play defense rather than offense. Although they denied all the charges contained in the French report, the damaging slander had already spread like wildfire all over the world.

It is becoming increasingly clear that without the proper educational background it is difficult if not impossible for Israeli spokesmen to defend against the ongoing international delegitimization of Israel.

One of the antidotes to this depressing and dangerous state of affairs exists within the framework of Dr. Martin Sherman’s Israel Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), a U.S. non-profit 501c3 tax-exempt entity found online atwww.martinsherman.net.

Dr. Sherman has long understood the use of water as a propagandistic weapon of choice in the Middle East. His book The Politics of Water in the Middle East: An Israeli Perspective on the Hydro-Political Aspects of the Conflictwas a focal point at a Jerusalem Summit forum in response to Amnesty International’s apartheid claims.

This is the kind of effort needed to effectively debunk the arguments of post- and anti-Zionist academics and enable students to intelligently and independently assess the issues.

Just as a competent general would never send his troops into battle without the necessary equipment, Israel cannot continue to allow its resident post- and anti-Zionists to indoctrinate the next generation of leaders, schooling them under faulty and dangerous constructs.

Adina Kutnicki comments on Israel-related issues for various media outlets and regularly writes on behalf of the Honenu Legal Defense Organization for The Jewish Press. She made aliyah in 2008.

The Paradox of Israeli Politics:Vote Right, Get Left… By Adina Kutnicki

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Originally published in American Thinker

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/06/the_paradox_of_israeli_politics_vote_right_get_left.html

June 3, 2012

By:Adina Kutnicki

Many supporters of Israel are continually bedeviled by a glaring contradiction within Israeli politics.  How can it be, regardless of which party wins the election, that leftist policies are invariably implemented?

As a backgrounder, from 1977 to date (excluding an eight-year period), Likud won elections based upon a platform of a “Greater Israel.”  That being the case, nevertheless, it was under Likud PM Menachem Begin whereby the entire Sinai was relinquished.  While there are too many substantive examples to enumerate, essentially proving that leftist policies continually supplant right-wing Likud electoral platforms, two stand out as “poster children” and therefore warrant special attention.

Likud’s Ariel Sharon was elected on February 6, 2001 by a landslide margin, defeating Labor’s PM Ehud Barak 62.4% to 37.6%.  Sharon’s win should have handed him a wide berth to govern from the right, regardless of outside pressures.  (It behooves mentioning that Israel’s structural deficiencies, due to proportional representation and fixed party lists — as opposed to truly democratic constituency elections — vitiates democratic electoral outcomes.  Professor Paul Eidelberg elucidates the prescriptive polices required to achieve said reforms at his policy institute, the Israel-America Renaissance Institute.)  However, policies of appeasement were in full swing during Sharon’s first year.  This was especially ironic, particularly since the well-known hawkish general — nicknamed “the bulldozer” — was nowhere to be found as his politician counterpart “fought” Arab terror.  Moreover, there were higher casualties from Arab terror attacks during Sharon’s first year in office than in previous combined years.  It wasn’t until the bodies started piling up, coupled with a hue and cry from the general public, that Operation Defensive Shield was finally belatedly launched on March 29, 2002.

Similarly, Sharon, paradoxically dubbed the “settlement builder,” executed the wholesale expulsion/destruction of the once-glorious Gush Katif “settlement” enterprise, as well as that of communities in the northern Shomron.  The expulsion/destruction took place despite a Likud-led referendum (due to massive nationalist outcry) which squashed any mandate to push forward with “disengagement.”  Even though Sharon promised to abide by the referendum, he did no such thing.

How can this be?  How can an overwhelming majority of the electorate’s voice be negated, thus allowing the left to rule, regardless of the majority’s wishes?

Briefly, according to Dr. Martin Sherman (an eminent Israeli political scientist and the founder of The Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies) in “Who really runs Israel?” (Ynet, 4/21/2010), “[a]lthough the right wing consistently wins elections, it never really gets into power. It is a phenomenon that can only be explained by the existence of some influence extraneous to the political system that imposes policy outcomes that diverge radically from those that should be expected from regular operation of political routine.”

Furthermore, few understand the “unholy alliance” among Israel’s civil society (funded and fueled by foreign NGOs), AKA its ruling elites, and their pernicious affect upon Israel’s policy outcomes.  They operate with impunity inside media, legal, diplomatic, and cultural institutions, mainly schooled by post-/anti-Zionist academics headquartered within social sciences/humanities departments.  The above unelected functionaries act as cheerleaders/disseminators for rulings imposed (or about to be) by a predisposed leftist, pro-Arab court system.  In turn, pressure is exerted upon the political leadership to execute their dictates.  Indeed, Israel’s court system has supplanted its legislature.

The toxic mixture of civil society elites servicing unelected Supreme Court justices (they choose their own replacements) led to the following recent — out of volumes of others — pro-Arab ruling.

According to Moshe Dann (a Ph.D. historian) in his op-ed “Who makes the law?” at the Jerusalem Post (March 28, 2012):

Once again former chief justice Dorit Beinisch and a few of her colleagues have usurped the role and powers of the legislature and sought to create new law. The same tactic of appealing directly to the Supreme Court which does not examine evidence has used in legal disputes over contested areas such as Migron. But in Lessans’ case (a dispute over the ownership of dunams in Kedumim, located in the Shomron) the court went beyond deciding on a specific place and issued a discriminatory edict. The justices did not rule on who owns the land since the Arab claimants clearly do not. They ruled on who did not own the land, namely Michael Lessans, because, according to the court, the right to acquire land by chazaka does not apply to Jews. (Holy smokes) This ruling should send shivers down the spine of everyone who respects the rule of law.

Due to the above, and to so much more, it is overwhelmingly the case that Israel’s policy-making and electoral systems (one piggybacking upon the other) must be overhauled.  It is no doubt a Herculean task.  Nevertheless, instead of lamenting that nothing can be done, all supporters of Israel must shoulder the burden.  In fact, as referenced herein, there are two core policy institutes ready to fix Israel’s broken system.

An accurate articulation, coupled with nation-saving policy strategies, can be found at Dr. Sherman’s policy institute.  In tandem, mandatory changes to Israel’s electoral system (its structural flaws) are requisitely addressed by Professor Paul Eidelberg’s institute.

If all lovers of Zion become involved — in whatever way possible with both of these institutes — Israel’s policies will consequently reflect the will of its majority, Zionist citizens — ushering in a true Jewish democracy.

Adina Kutnicki has lived in Israel since 2008.  She is a political commentator on Zionist and conservative-related issues at various media outlets.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/06/the_paradox_of_israeli_politics_vote_right_get_left.html#ixzz1yXNKpKdZ

ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION ORDERS AGAINST JEWISH NATIONALISTS…By Adina Kutnicki

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Originally published in Freeman Center For Strategic Studies: http://www.freeman.org/serendipity/index.php?/archives/475-ADMINISTRATIVE-DETENTION-ORDERS-AGAINS-JEWISH-NATIONALISTS.html

By:Adina Kutnicki
September 26, 2011

(Editor’s Note: The author variously uses the terms GSS [General Security Services], Shin Bet, Shabak, ISA [Israel Security Agency]. They are all names for Israel’s internal security service.]

In western democracies, a person’s home is considered his castle. Therefore, if a government banishes a citizen from his home, the act must be based on a judicious interpretation of the law. The detainee must present a clear and present danger.

Chief Justice Aharon Barak, previous president of the Supreme Court, underscored his belief in this principle, albeit not from a perspective which protects the rights of Jewish nationalists. On July 15, 2002, Justice Barak ruled in the Ajuri case: ”Our point of departure is that in principle removing a person from his dwelling place and forcibly moving him someplace else causes serious harm to his self respect, his freedom, and his possessions. A person’s home is not only a roof over his head, it is the means for establishing his physical and social relationships. A number of a person’s basic human rights are harmed when he is forcibly removed to another place , even if such a move does not involve an international crossing.” Tragically, his legal opinion was rendered in relation to the protection of the civil and human rights of terrorists! The security services recommended their expulsion from Nablus to Gaza, and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the terrorists.

Even the pro-Arab B’tselem human rights organization is unhappy about administrative detention/expulsion orders, stating: “Undoubtedly the state should act determinedly against ‘settlers’ who harm Palestinians and their property, but the way to achieve this is via criminal proceedings and not administrative orders that are based on confidential information.”

Few outside Israel’s nationalist sector recognize that these orders, which obviate due process and were held over from the British Mandate era, have been quietly resurrected and expanded in recent years. Currently, administrative detention is pursued under Order Number 1591, updated in 2007. It empowers military commanders in Judea and Samaria to detain a person for a maximum of six months when there is a “reasonable basis for believing that the security of the region or public security necessitates.” The order may be extended for an additional six months, with no maximum cumulative period specified. Within eight days a detainee must be brought before a military judge. Hearings in both the lower and appellate court are held in camera. The judge is not bound by the regular rules of evidence. A judge may admit evidence without revealing that evidence to the detainee’s representative.When dealing with Arabs residing in Judea and Samaria–many overtly belligerent to Israel– orders of administrative detention become a powerful weapon in the arsenal of the security forces. But they are abused when they are used as a political tool to silence Jewish nationalists. Political science professor and expert on international law Louis Rene Beres writes: “The point of these orders, of course, has been to quash anti-government dissent in various West Bank (Judea/Samaria) Jewish communities. In issuing these orders, the IDF generally works together with ISS [Israel Security Services] or the Shin Bet. Designated recipients are not informed as to the precise reason for the orders, nor have they any formal right of appeal.” A nation which takes pride in its adherence to basic democratic principles–the protection of its citizens’ civil/human rights– can ill afford to enact orders which are in direct contravention of these rights.Administrative detention/expulsion orders aim to achieve political results under the guise of national security interests. Right wing nationalists are opposed to the leadership’s policy of “land for peace.” Living in Judea and Samaria, they literally stand guard over Israel’s heartland. Their presence is an obstacle to creating a Palestinian controlled (terror) state. Detention/expulsion orders are used to intimidate, frustrate and hamper Jewish patriots. The orders are specifically referred to as Harchakah Minhalit (administrative removal).

Once they set their sights on a Jewish nationalist target, the Israel Security Agency utilizes a variety of methods. It may move the process forward quickly by citing ‘information’ which requires immediate detention or expulsion. Gleaned mostly through unsubstantiated intel in the first place, (which is often fabricated) the cases rarely lead to formal indictments, with many charges quietly dropped. Sometimes, they dangle incentives before those identified as more likely to succumb to pressure. For instance, they may offer to pay for everyday necessities to ease a family’s financial burdens. Lately the security services have employed a new tool of harassment–arresting those who come home after midnight!

The deleterious and human costs of banishment from one’s family cannot be underestimated. Many families lose their sole support and struggle financially and emotionally for months on end. These orders are designed to break the internal fortitude of the detainees and their families.

Following are just a few examples of cases (there were many more) from the first two weeks of August 2011 that lawyers from the organization Honenu have been called upon to defend. (Honenu is the go-to address for those ensnared by these orders, cherry picked from the dustbin of pre-state history.)

On August 2, hundreds of police and GSS agents raided Yitzhar and other local communities in Judea and Samaria. They distributed Administrative Detention orders, barring residents from either entering or staying in Judea and Samaria. Five days later, Calev Blanc, one of those exiled, was arrested while driving on Highway 4. Detectives took him away without detailing the reason and without showing him an arrest warrant. On the same day, a yeshiva student in Yitzhar, without warning, was arrested at the gate of his school by special police forces, again with no reason given. Later on that same day, Honenu attorney Adi Kedar reported that two detainees were being held at the GSS interrogating facilities in Petah Tikvah, subject to humiliating conditions, on a par with those reserved for hardened terrorists. They were separated from each other and held in tiny cells with no bed or toilet.

Three days later, a 6:30 a.m., a policeman from the Ariel station arrived at the home of Itamar resident Daniel Ben-Avraham and delivered a summons for “a discussion at the GSS facility in Petah Tikvah”. When he arrived at GSS headquarters his interrogator hinted that if Ben-Avraham incriminated Calev Blanc, then the interrogators would help him enlist in the IDF, as well as ‘assist’ him with other matters. Ben-Avraham refused to cooperate. Obviously, Calev Blanc was identified as a higher value target, whereas Ben-Avraham, just as clearly, was singled out as a more pliable subject.

Twenty-six year old Akiva HaCohen and his wife Ayelet, the parents of four and expecting another child, cannot escape the grip of the security services. The security services have targeted Akiva since his mid-teens. He entered their radar for the ‘crime’ of placing nationalist posters within Judea and Samaria and has been harassed ever since. Over the last decade he has been given administrative detention orders numerous times and banished from Judea and Samaria for months on end. He has never been brought before a court of law, given specific reasons for his expulsion, nor charged with any crimes. In August the security services came to his home in Yitzhar–at 4:30 a.m.– to advise him of another administrative detention decree again without specific reason or charge. As a result, Akiva has to deal with the disruption in his life, find another apartment for himself and his family, and find a way to absorb the additional costs since must continue to pay the mortgage on his newly built home in Yitzhar. Furthermore, he now has to pay an unexpected salary to a manager to tend his wheat farm and vineyard.

One administrative order upon another, the Shin Bet hopes to break the spirits of those believing in Jewish rights to Judea and Samaria. Supreme Court Judge, Ayala Procaccia, a vociferous advocate for government crackdown on nationalist dissenters, coined the term an ‘ideologically motivated criminal.’ In this anti-democratic perspective, to have nationalist beliefs is to be a criminal. Until the harassment and persecution for ‘thought crimes’ itself becomes illegal, nationalist Jews will be unable to live freely as Jews in the Jewish homeland.

While the mistreatment of Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, more often than not, stems from administrative detention arrests, this is not exclusively so, as the case of Chaim Perlman illustrates. Perlman, age 30, was arrested on July 14, 2010. He later charged that he was handcuffed for 18 hours a day during his 31 day interrogation. Finally the court accepted Honenu’s arguments and forced Perlman’s release to house arrest. Judge Nachum Sternlicht stated, “I haven’t seen any evidence that could serve to convict Perlman.” Undeterred, agents brought Perlman to an identification line up where his Honenu appointed lawyer was not allowed to be present. Incredibly, twelve years after the alleged crime, an Arab was suddenly found to pick Perlman out of a line up. Mercifully, the authorities nonetheless lost their case and Perlman was released. The Shin Bet wanted revenge on Perlman because one of their most unsavory techniques had backfired. Perlman, who had been hired by the Shabak to provoke conflict with the Arabs, had ideas of his own. He taped over 20 hours of discussion with his handlers as they pressured him to commit crimes against Arabs. Presumably, their intention was to incite the general public against the supposedly out-of-control settler community.

These are just a tiny sampling of the trials and tribulations suffered by countless Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria because of their vocal efforts to save the Jewish heartland. One cannot help but wonder what would their fate would be without the immediate capable assistance and intervention of Honenu’s legal defense association. For further information about Honenu go to its website, http://www.honenu.org. For those who would like to hear more about the association, spokesman Shalom Pollack is currently scheduling his next series of programs for the US in November.

Israel’s Hero, My Hero…By Adina Kutnicki

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Originally published in Arutz 7 – Israel National News: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8469

By:Adina Kutnicki
Published: Monday, December 29, 2008 11:50 PM
While all lovers of Zion anxiously scan the news regarding the IAF’s ‘shock and awe’ operation against Hamas, those who received the shocking news of Tsafrir Ronen’s untimely and very sudden death this very same weekend could not help but be shaken to the core of their souls.

While every death deeply affects family and friends, few of those deaths can be described as a monumental loss for Zion. The passing of Tsafrir Ronen – a stalwart, non-intimidated defender of Zion – will surely register as such when the history of modern Israel is told in full.

As a former sayeret matkal (General Staff Reconnaissance Unit) commando, a prolific documentary filmmaker and a founder of the Nahalal Forum, to name a few of his accomplishments, Tsafrir was a totally devoted defender of the land and people of Israel. An individual with great vision and a sweeping understanding of Jewish history, he knew instinctively that the war being waged against Israel had many dimensions. As a warrior he understood well the military dynamics, but it was his visceral and incisive understanding of the media war being waged against us that caused him to stand head and shoulders above the rest.

To that end, he decided to direct all his passions and energies – through the use of his extensive knowledge of the media – to save Israel both from its external foes and internal ones. As the ex-CEO of the Israel History Channel, he knew what needed to be done media-wise. Constructively, he put his vision to work by creating the conceptual and business underpinnings for Israel World Television, the first pro-Israel satellite channelto be broadcast worldwide, providing for 24/7 coverage, FOX News-like.

He assembled an all-star lineup of backers, which included major players in the Israeli and worldwide business scene, coupled with a roster of the most astute political thinkers on the Israeli landscape today. Most importantly, he had the backing of Natan Sharansky, a man of worldwide respect as a champion of freedom. What his diverse group of supporters had in common was the intrinsic understanding that Israel is losing the battle on the media front and that we are at an existential crossroads. They all believed that Tsafrir had the integrity, vision and expertise to lead the charge.

The sudden loss of this wonderful, humble man is first and foremost a devastating one for his loving and supportive wife Judy and their ‘three blondinas’, the pet name he had for his three beautiful, blond-haired daughters. They were his pride and joy. On a personal level, I will miss my best friend in Israel, a man I considered my blood brother, with whom I worked side by side to support him in his mission and vision.

On a national level, his loss will most likely be appreciated when history is written. In the same manner that few understood the profound essence of all of Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s efforts for our homeland while he was alive, so too will Tsafrir’s undertakings resonate in future generations. I suspect that he will be the model that future generations of Zionists will emulate when his activities on behalf of Zion become more widely known.

Rest in peace my dear friend. May your memory be for a blessing.

With eternal friendship.