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Feb. 8, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Lofty ideals must be followed with grounded applications

Clifford D. May: Letter from the West Bank
Steve Rothaus: Judge OKs plan for gay man, lesbian couple to be on girl's birth certificate
Gloria Goodale: States consider drone bans: Overreaction or crucial for privacy rights?
Environmental Nutrition Editors: Don't buy the aloe vera juice hype
Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Harvard Experts: Regular exercise pumps up memory, too
Erik Lacitis: Vanity plates: Some take too much license
The Kosher Gourmet by Susie Middleton: Broccoflower, Carrot and Leek Ragout with Thyme, Orange and Tapenade is a delightful and satisfying melange of veggies, herbs and aromatics
Feb. 6, 2013

Nara Schoenberg: The other in-law problem

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. : A see-no-jihadist for the CIA
Kristen Chick: Ahmadinejad visits Cairo: How sect tempers Islamist ties between Egypt, Iran
Roger Simon: Ed Koch's lucky corner
Heron Marquez Estrada: Robot-building sports on a roll
Patrick G. Dean, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: How to restore body's ability to secrete insulin
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: 3 prostate-protecting diet tips
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen 7 principles for to help you make the best soup ever in a slow cooker
Feb. 4, 2013

Jonathan Tobin: Can Jewish Groups Speak Out on Hagel?

David Wren: Findings of government study, released 3 days before Newtown shooting, at odds with gun-control crusaders
Kristen Chick: Tahrir becomes terrifying, tainted
Curtis Tate and Greg Gordon: US keeps building new highways while letting old ones crumble
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to hear case on arrests, DNA
Harvard Health Letters: Neck and shoulder pain? Know what it means and what to do
Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D.: Eat your way to preventing age-related muscle loss
The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington Baked Pears in Red Wine and Port Wine Glaze: A festive winter dessert
Feb. 1, 2013

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: Redemption

Clifford D. May Home, bloody, home
Christa Case Bryant andNicholas Blanford Why despite Syria's allies warning of retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, the threats are likely hollow
Rick Armon, Ed Meyer and Phil Trexler Ex-police captain cleared by DNA test is freed after nearly 15 years
Harvard Health Letters: Could it by your thyroid?
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: When 'healthy food' isn't
Sue Zeidler: Coke ad racist? Arab-American groups want to yank Super Bowl ad (INCLUDES VIDEO)
The Kosher Gourmet by Nealey Dozier The secret of this soup is the garnish
January 30, 2013

Allan Chernoff: Celebrating 'Back from the Dead Day'

America isn't a religious country? Don't tell Superbowl fans!
Mark Clayton Cybercrime takedown!
Germany remembers Hitler rise to power
Israel salutes U. N. --- with the one finger salute
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Get cookin' with heart-healthy fats
Ballot riles Guinness World Records
The Kosher Gourmet by Elizabeth Passarella Potato, Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin
January 28, 2013

Nancy Youssef: And Democracy for all? Two years on, Egypt remains in state of chaos

Fred Weir: Putin: West is fomenting jihadi 'blowback'
Meredith Cohn: Implantable pain disk may help those with cancer
Michael Craig Miller, M.D. : Ask the Harvard Experts: Are there drugs to help control binge eating?
David Ovalle Use of controversial 'brain mapping' technology stymied
Jane Stancill: Professor's logic class has 180,000 friends
David Clark Scott Lego Racism?
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali The celebrated chef introduces us to PANZEROTTI PUGLIESI, cheese-stuffed pastry from Italy's south


Jewish World Review January 21, 2008 / 14 Shevat 5768

To face this rising threat, Israel must look in the mirror

By Richard Z. Chesnoff


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | As President Bush returns from the Mideast, he and all those who hope for a strong and secure Israel should wake up to an unpleasant reality: The biggest danger to Israel's future may not come from Hamas rockets or even Iranian nuclear yearnings. It could be from Israel's own, increasingly restive, Arab minority.


More than 20% of the Jewish state's 7.2 million citizens are Israeli Arabs — Muslims, Christians and Druze, descendants of the approximately 180,000 Palestinian Arabs who chose not to become refugees during Israel's 1948 War of Independence but stayed and cast their lot in with the Jewish state.


Over the past 60 years, Israeli Arabs have grown and prospered like the state itself. Indeed, their population growth rate outstrips that of Jews.


It is probably no coincidence that a nationalist and Islamic militancy is spreading among many of them that now ominously demands not only cultural, but even political separation from the Jewish state.


No, the lives of Israeli Arabs have not always been easy. Their loyalties suspect in the early days of the state, they were once subject to security restrictions. Nor have their economic fortunes always been equal. Aside from election time — when Israeli politicians scrounged for their votes — Israeli Arab public works have rarely been as strongly supported as those of Israeli Jews.


Still, to appreciate how well Israeli Arabs live now, one need only look at how their once-dusty towns sprinkling the Galilee and the Ara Valley are now sprawling communities of brand-new villas and two-car families. Israeli Arabs have superb medical care, and their children have a wealth of educational opportunities. They vote, have Arab members of parliament, Arab judges and now even an Arab member of Israel's cabinet.


For some, however, that's not enough. Israeli Arabs can often be heard repeating the Arab world's renewed anti-Zionist mantra — that Israel has no right to be a "Jewish state," despite the fact that countless Arab and other nations consider themselves to be Islamic states.


Indeed, during the war against Hezbollah in 2006, some openly demonstrated against their country — and for the terrorist group.


Just this month, an Israeli Arab anti-Zionist group called for a boycott of American Jewish groups that contribute to the social and economic betterment of Israeli Arab communities. Their twisted reasoning: These American groups favor a "Jewish state of Israel." One group of Israeli Arab activists publicly denounced the boycott call as self-defeating — but most kept silent.


New York recently hosted an event dubbed "The Other Israel Film Festival," which showcased productions by and about Israeli Arabs. Some, like "The Syrian Bride," were excellent cinema. But almost all of the films I saw revealed a split personality. Their mentaliyut (as they put it in the Hebrew that sprinkles their Arabic) was Israeli (modern, liberal, open-minded), their sympathies Arab. "We are caught between two worlds," one Palestinian director told me.


That may be so — but it does not give them a right to deny Israel's very raison d'etre — its unique status as the world's only Jewish state.


Indeed, there are few greater examples of political chutzpah than the worldwide Arab claim that while at least a dozen sprawling states declare themselves officially Islamic and even some European nations are formally "Christian," the Jews — a nation and culture as well as a faith — have no right to a state, no matter how small it is.


Israeli Arabs have every right to maintain their own minority community — and participate fully in Israeli life — but they must accept the basic concept of Israeli Jewishness. The alternative is to consider moving elsewhere, perhaps to the future independent Palestine.

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CHESNOFF'S LATEST
The Arrogance of the French  

Sean Hannity
This book will open your eyes!

Bill O'Reilly
Why do the French hate America? Richard Chesnoff has figured it out and informs us with entertaining clarity.

Dennis Miller
France sucks, but this book doesn't.

Michael Barone, Co-author, The Almanac of American Politics
Americans-and the French-will learn a lot from this book.

Clifford D. May, President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Richard Z. Chesnoff insightfully-and entertainingly-explores America's most dysfunctional relationship with America's least reliable ally.

Sales help fund JWR.



JWR contributor and veteran journalist Richard Z. Chesnoff is a contributing correspondent at US News & World Report, a columnist at the NY Daily News and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Demoracies. A two-time winner of the Overseas Press Club Award and a recipient of the National Press Club Award, he was formerly executive editor of Newsweek International. His latest book, is "The Arrogance of the French: Why They Can't Stand Us & Why The Feeling Is Mutual". (Click on cover above to purchase. Sales help fund JWR. )

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© 2008, Richard Z. Chesnoff

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