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Sept. 5, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: What does 'doing the right thing' entail?

Caroline B. Glick: The master strategist

Sept. 4, 2008

Ron Kampeas: Biden, Palin take lead in clash on Mideast issues

Bruce Dancis: With humor as their weapon, the Three Stooges took on Hitler

Sept. 3, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: Productive school years don't just happen

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Quick lamb stew serves up flavors of India

Sept. 2, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Costly Advice

Caroline B. Glick: Calling Israel's bluff

JWisdom: Wandering in Wonder by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

August 29, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: 20/20 sightlessness

Caroline B. Glick: When history is not repeated

JWisdom: Blessed or Cursed: It's Really Up to You by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 28, 2008

Steve Lipman: A Comeback for the 'Jewish Jordan'

Jeffrey Weiss: Researcher reports 'intriguing' diabetes breakthrough

August 27, 2008

Rabbi Zecharya Greenwald: Removing the perfectionist's mask

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Nunn: Summer harvest linguine

JWisdom:: The Missing Link in Spiritual Life by Rabbi David Aaron

August 26, 2008

Yaffa Ganz: Grandma gets lessons in staying cool

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: The Dems' 'soft' jihadist

JWisdom:: Today: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Plague of indifference

August 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: A friend is bearing a silly grudge from a supposed wrong. What recourse do I have?

Daniel Pipes: Barack Obama through Muslim Eyes

JWisdom:: The knowledge you need to overcome your insecurities by Malka Schulman

August 22, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Life's essential ingredient

Caroline B. Glick: Dominos anyone?

JWisdom:: Actually, Do Sweat the Small Stuff! by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 21, 2008

Today in Biblical History by Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Popularization of Kabbalah: 20 Menachem-Av 1558 CE

Jonathan Rosenblum: Lessons from the Beyond

JWisdom: : The Olympian within is rooting for you -- yes, you! –- to go for the gold

August 20, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Misleading Platform Platitudes

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Chicken Salad with Asian Dressing

JWisdom: The Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith: America's Defense of the Jews --- Until WWII by Rabbi Nosson Scherman

August 19, 2008

Dennis Prager: If the Almighty doesn't exist

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Obama's Islamist problem has nothing to do with his upbringing

JWisdom: Think your life is messed up? by Rabbi David Aaron

August 18, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Business with Friends

Diana West: Roars About Russia, Bare Whispers About Islam

JWisdom: Relationship agony: The real cause by Malka Schulman

August 15, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: To love the Divine

Caroline B. Glick: Georgia, Israel, and the nature of man

JWisdom: The Truly Righteous Don't Demand Entitlements by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 14, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Confessions of broken spirit

Libby Lazewnik: The Numbers Game

JWisdom: Six Questions You'll Be Asked in Heaven? - Uh - Let's Just Take One for Now! by Gavriel Aryeh Sanders

August 13, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Georgia should be on their minds

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Go Greek: Pair flavorful lamb kebabs with a hearty salad

JWisdom: Human hybrids aren't science fiction by Rabbi David Aaron

August 12, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bless us

Daniel Pipes: The West's Islamist Infiltrators

JWisdom: From Sadness to Gladness: The Route from Tisha b'Av to Rosh Hashana by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

August 11, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: A Jewish view on fair pricing

Caroline B. Glick: Ignoring failure in Gaza

JWisdom: 'Communication' Is Not The Answer! by Malka Schulman

August 7, 2008

Rabbi David Gutterman: A Continuing Story With a Sustaining Goal

Rabbi Berel Wein: Mourning and morning

JWisdom: Yes, we are still in exile by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 6, 2008

David Ashenfelter: Government made military engineer's life a living hell because of his faith, Defense Department report documents

Jonathan Tobin: Speak the Truth; Defeat the Lies

JWisdom: Jewish Spirituality: Fusion or Confusion? by Rabbi David Aaron

August 5, 2008

Chris Leppek: Church/state wall beginning to crumble?

Paul Greenberg: Exit Olmert (no encore, please)

JWisdom: Serenity: Make the commitment by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin (Read by Gavriel Sanders)

August 4, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Am I taking advantage of another's psychological quirk?

Andrew Silow-Carroll: A black and a Jew walk into the White House…

JWisdom: The Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith: Edward R. Morrow visits the ‘living dead’ by Rabbi Nosson Scherman

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review June 24, 2003 / 24 Sivan, 5763

THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES

By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com | One year ago today, George W. Bush strode into the White House Rose Garden to unveil what he called a "vision" for Mideast peace. At the time, the June 24, 2002 address garnered wide attention for the willingness it formally expressed -- for the first time by any U.S. President -- to recognize a Palestinian state. Ever since then, proponents of such a state have been working assiduously to water down, ignore and, if possible, eliminate the important caveats Mr. Bush made clear would have to be satisfied before he would support its establishment.

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The anniversary of the vision speech is an appropriate moment to reflect on both the current status and abiding salience in particular of three of these caveats. They exemplify the President's original determination to ensure that a new state of Palestine would not simply amount to a new terrorist-sponsoring nation in a region still populated by too many of them.

  • On June 24th last year, Mr. Bush declared: "Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership, so that a Palestinian state can be born. I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror."

    This was a stunning, yet absolutely sensible, precondition. The President had, from the beginning of his administration, understood that the old Palestinian leadership under Yasser Arafat was part of the problem, not the solution. In insisting that a new leadership -- uncompromised by terror and enjoying a popular mandate -- precede a new state, Mr. Bush recognized that only if the Palestinian people wanted an end to terror and true peace with Israel would these goals be achieved.

    In the intervening months, though, the President was prevailed upon to declare Yasser Arafat's right-hand man for forty years, Mahmoud Abbas, the "new and different" leadership he had in mind. He has legitimated him with a summit meeting and pledged inestimable support, both politically, financially and in the ominous rebuilding of Palestinian "security" forces -- even though Abbas was not popularly elected and has acknowledged the obvious: Arafat remains in control.

  • A year ago, President Bush said: "Today, Palestinian authorities are encouraging, not opposing, terrorism. This is unacceptable. And the United States will not support the establishment of a Palestinian state until its leaders engage in a sustained fight against the terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure."

    Over the past twelve months, President Bush has embraced a "road map" that ostensibly implements his vision for Mideast peace. Nowhere is the difference between the original plan and the so-called implementation more stark, however, than with respect to the precondition that Palestinian terror must be dismantled before the U.S. would "support" (let alone recognize) a new state. According to the road map, the United States is committed to endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state -- starting with something called "provisional boundaries" by the end of this year -- even if the Palestinian leadership continues to refuse to fight terrorists.

  • Last year, the President declared: "I've said in the past that nations are either with us or against us in the war on terror. To be counted on the side of peace, nations must act. Every leader actually committed to peace will end incitement to violence in official media, and publicly denounce homicide bombings."

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Today, official incitement in support of anti-Israeli and anti-Western terror continues in virtually every Arab capital except, notably, in Baghdad. In particular, Arafat's Palestinian Authority (PA) persists in its use of maps, television and radio broadcasts and print media that conveys the proto-government's abiding determination to "liberate" all of "Palestine" -- including the land Israel "occupied" before the 1967 Six Day War.

(W)E-THE PEOPLE
Let your voice be heard! To express your concerns about the administration's plan for the Holy Land, you may contact

President George W. Bush by fax: (202) 456-2461, (Andrew Card, Chief of Staff) or by e-mail.

Dr. Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor, FAX (202) 456-2883, PHONE (202) 456-9491

Mr. Elliot Abrams, the Director for Near East and North African Affairs, at FAX (202) 456-9120, and by phone through his secretary Joanna, (202) 456-9121

Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000 or by e-mail form: http://www.defenselink.mil/

Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1010 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1010 or by e-mail form http://www.defenselink.mil

The Bush Administration has been reduced to accepting as sufficient mumbled denunciations in English by Abbas of continuing Palestinian terror attacks. Lest the road map come a cropper, however, the U.S. government is ignoring the fact that those who perpetrate these "homicide bombings" (even ones that kill American citizens) continue to be lionized in Arabic via PA outlets as "martyrs."

Interestingly, the results of a new national opinion poll performed by Luntz Research Companies for the Center for Security Policy shows very strong popular support for each of these visionary Bush caveats. By a 61% to 21% margin, the American people do not think Mahmoud Abbas represents new Palestinian leadership untainted by terror. 73% agree (46% "strongly") with the precondition that the Palestinian terror infrastructure must be dismantled; only 18% disagree. And 73% think it "fair" for Israel to insist that Palestinian incitement against it must stop before there can be any hope for a true peace. Only 16% think such insistence to be "unfair." Such sentiments are even more pronounced among Christian conservatives central to Mr. Bush's political base. (The results of this poll can be viewed at [site].)

George W. Bush's success as president to date has been rooted in his firm attachment to clear principles. One of the most important of these has been that terror against free peoples is terror; it will be fought everywhere and not rewarded. The road map has already proven a futile and potentially dangerous diversion from that path.

Before more damage is done to the coherence and integrity of U.S. policy in the war on terror, to the prospects for realizing a genuine and durable Mideast peace and perhaps to the Bush presidency itself, a course correction is required that moves once again in the direction laid out by the President a year ago today.

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JWR contributor Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. acted as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy during the Reagan Administration, following four years of service as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy. He was a professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee under the chairmanship of the late Senator John Tower, and a national security legislative aide to the late Senator Henry M. Jackson. He currently heads the Center for Security Policy. Click here to comment on this column.

© 2003, Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.