Gaza to Katrina – A Devastating Two Weeks

↑ Motek ↓

Wed, Aug 31 2005, 10:26 am

Quote:

Here are some appalling parallels that need to be considered as we all pray into this situation.

* Recent comments over the past hours on the FOX NEWS Channel eerily parallel what has just happened in Gaza. One commentator referred to the inhabitants of New Orleans and said, "It must be an emotional experience to walk away from their houses and not know if they will be able to live in them again." That is exactly what has transpired here this past week for Gaza's Jewish population.

* Another commentator said that most of all the wooden structures in New Orleans will be destroyed. Nearly all of the structures in Gaza's Jewish communities and farms have been destroyed.

* Ivor Van Heeden, deputy director of Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center, recently said on FOX that there is a high probability that the hurricane will loosen many of the coffins in New Orleans and that corpses will be loosened and moved from their resting places. One of the three top items on Israel's news tonight was the forced removal of Jewish graves from the Gaza Strip and the transportation of the corpses for reburial in other parts of Israel.

* Whereas Gaza was placed under a state of emergency as its 8,000 residents were evacuated, now New Orleans has been given orders for a mandatory evacuation of nearly 500,000 people.

* Whereas many Israeli Jews from Gaza are in temporary refugee camps and tent cities, there is talk of up to one million refugees needing to be settled in temporary camps in the Louisiana and Mississippi area.

http://www.watch.org/showart.p.....cat=1

↑ Motek ↓

Thu, Sep 01 2005, 6:51 pm

thanks baby's mom Smile

that other thread is a hodgepodge of stuff, wish it was sorted out ...

sampling of eight "record-size" natural events, which occurred when the United States asked Israel to give up its land for peace, as documented in John McTernan's book, "God's Final Warning to America".

Quote:

Eight Major "Acts Of God" That Coincided With The Timing of US Pressure On Israel To Give Up Land

October 30, 1991: President George Bush opens the Madrid Conference with an initiative for a Middle East peace plan involving Israel's land. On the same day, an extremely rare storm forms off the coast of Nova Scotia. (It was eventually tagged "The Perfect Storm," and a book and movie were made about it.) Record-setting 100-foot waves form at sea and pound the New England Coast, even causing heavy damage to President Bush's home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

August 23, 1992: The Madrid Conference moves to Washington D.C. and the peace talks resume, lasting four days. On that same day, Hurricane Andrew -- the worst natural disaster ever to hit America -- produces an estimated $30 billion in damage and leaves 180,000 homeless in Florida.

January 16, 1994: President Clinton meets with Syria's President Hafez el-Assad in Geneva. They talk about a peace agreement with Israel that includes giving up the Golan Heights. Less than 24 hours later, a powerful 6.9 earthquake rocks Southern California. This quake, centered in Northridge, is the second most destructive natural disaster to hit the United States, behind Hurricane Andrew.

March 1 to April 1997: The combination of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat touring America and Clinton rebuking Israel for not giving away her land for peace coincide with some of the worst tornadoes and flooding in US history. On the very day Arafat lands in America, powerful tornadoes devastate huge sections of the nation, ripping across Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee. Arafat's American tour also coincides with the storms in the Dakotas, which result in the worst flooding of this century, in addition to weeks of major storms throughout the Midwest. Arafat finishes his tour and leaves the US and the storms stop.

January 21, 1998: Netanyahu meets with President Clinton at the White House and is coldly received. Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refuse to have lunch with him. Shortly afterwards that day, the Monica Lewinsky scandal breaks into the mass media and begins to occupy a major portion of Clinton's time.

September 27-28, 1998: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright works on the final details of an agreement in which Israel will give up 13 percent of Yesha. The same day Hurricane Georges slams into the Gulf Coast with 110 mph winds and gusts up to 175. The hurricane hits the coast and stalls. On September 28, Clinton meets with Arafat and Netanyahu at the White House to finalize the land deal. Later, Arafat addresses the United Nations about declaring an independent Palestinian state by May 1999, while Hurricane Georges pounds the Gulf Coast causing $1 billion in damage. At the exact time Arafat departs the US the storm begins to dissipate.

October 15-22, 1998: On October 15, 1998, Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the Wye River Plantation in Maryland, to continue the talks which ended on September 28. The talks are scheduled to last five days with the focus on Israel giving up 13 percent of Yesha. The talks are extended and conclude on October 23. On October 17, awesome rains and tornadoes hit southern Texas. The San Antonio area is deluged with 20 inches of rain in one day. The rains and floods in Texas continue until October 22 and then subside. The floods ravage 25 percent of Texas and leave over one billion dollars in damage. On October 21, Clinton declares this section of Texas a major disaster area.

May 3, 1999: This is the same day in Israel that Yasser Arafat is scheduled to declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. The declaration is postponed to December 1999 at the request of President Clinton, whose letter to Arafat encourages him for his "aspirations for his own land." He also writes that the Palestinians have a right to "determine their own future on their own land," and that they deserve to "live free, today, tomorrow and forever." That same day, starting at 4:47 pm CDT, the most powerful tornado storm system ever to hit the United States sweeps across Oklahoma and Kansas. The winds are clocked at 316 mph the fastest wind speed ever recorded.

now KATif - KATrina can be added to the list

↑ Motek ↓

Sun, Sep 04 2005, 6:19 pm

The Hand of G-d that brought the flood
Thursday, September 01, 2005

Tropical Depression 10 formed on August 13, Erev Tisha Ba'av. As the Jews who were loyal to their G-d, their people and their land prayed and fasted, meteorologists watched it unconcerned. They reassured the public that the storm would go north of them. Hurricanes very rarely go south.

As the preparations were underway by the Sharon regime to evict the Jews from their land and an army of expellers were assembled, the storm built. As the Bush administration and its Arab allies relished the first of many surrenders of Israel to the enemy, the storm grew.

Motzei Tisha Ba'av, the date set for the expulsion of Jews from their homes across Gush Katif, came and the storm seemed to fade away. Meteorologists were certain it was no further threat much like the people of Gush Katif. Day after day families were evicted from their homes, crying children sent out into tent cities, mothers and fathers forced into buses and denied sanitary facilities.

On August 23 Israel completed the planned expulsions at Homesh and Sa-Nur. The gates were battered down by soldiers waving clubs and the doors of homes shattered. Limor Har-Melech, whose husband Shuli was killed by terrorists three years ago moved from one group of soldiers to another, preaching, crying and begging, to no avail.

George W. Bush congratulated Sharon for this act of ethnic cleansing on that same day and committing to in his own words, "rebuild the settlements for Gaza -- for the people of Gaza." Meaning that the destroyed towns would be rebuilt for the terrorists who with the aid of his efforts to secure them a state would now settle there.

On August 23, Tropical Depression 10 merged with another disturbance and became Tropical Depression 12. Air Force Reserve squadron planes began flying through the eye every three hours, moving 105 miles from one end of the storm to the other, dropping cylinders that took snapshots of the storm as they fell 2,000 feet per minute.

On August 24th, the State Department warned Israel against extending the security fence to Maaleh Adumim and warned against any further 'settlement activity.' On the 24th Katrina was upgraded to a tropical storm and turned west, instead of going north as hurricanes usually do, defying the natural weather systems. On the next day Katrina made landfall for the first time in Florida killing eleven and cutting power off to millions.

On August 27th, Bush delivered a radio address to the nation celebrating the deportation of thousands of Jews. On August 27th Katrina became a Category 3 storm with winds of over 145 miles an hour. That same day Bush had to declare a State of Emergency in Louisiana.

On August 28th emboldened by Israel's retreat for the first time in a long time terrorists carried out a successful suicide bombing. On August 28th, Sharon defied the decision of the Rabbis and stated that the synagogues left behind would be demolished and a decision was finalized on uprooting the graves of the dead. On August 28th Katrina was declared a Category 4 storm and mayor of New Orleans called for the evacuation of the city.

Soon familiar scenes were being reenacted. An evacuation that was poorly managed was scheduled resulting in chaos and misery. Evacuees were sent to hotels only to be forced to leave shortly. Belongings were left behind and lawlessness and looting broke out combined with police incompetence. As in Gush Katif and Homesh, residents were being pulled from rooftops. Fires burned in the streets of New Orleans as they had in the streets of the expelled towns.

Graves had to be dug up as they had in Gush Katif and homes were destroyed. The oil refineries of the oil industry that has caused America to sell out Israel to the Arabs were severely incapacitated. As a casino had been planned to be constructed on the ruins of Gush Katif, the Mississippi gambling industry was shattered.

On August 30th Sharon declared that yet more towns would be evacuated in the West Bank at an unspecified date. On August 30th the levees broke flooding most of New Orleans and rendering the city uninhabitable. It was not the weakest levees that broke but the section that had been repaired and worked on the most as if to say that it did not break because it was weak but because a higher force willed it. As the last of those expelled departed from their tent city in Tel Aviv they had been expelled from, the complete evacuation of New Orleans was declared.

As it had been declared that no Jew would remain in Gush Katif and it would be given over to murderers and thieves, so too no one will be permitted to remain in New Orleans and it has been given over into the hands of looters and armed gunmen. It is said that it will be months before New Orleans is rebuilt, while others debate if it is worth rebuilding at all.

Who would have said a month ago that a major American city would lie empty and in ruins? Who would have believed it possible? What greater warning could there be than for a city on the southern coast of the United States to be rendered an uninhabited wasteland full of demolished buildings and human jackals picking among its ruins after towns in Israel were rendered into uninhabited wastelands with terrorists and thieves picking among their ruins.

Many wish to call what has happened and what is happening, a 'Mikra', a chance happening. Yet Tanach tells us that there cannot be a catastrophe in a city unless Hashem wills it. Still others have protested that G-d does not behave in this way. In Yirmiyahu 18:8-9 we see otherwise.

"At one instant I may speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it. but if that nation turn from their evil, because of which I have spoken against it, I repent of the evil that I thought to do unto it."

It is incumbent on us to recognize and investigate the ways and doings of G-d. Those who argue that we should class all events as unknowable are ignoring the fact that G-d sends warnings. The goal of those warnings is to bring people to repentance and change. Not merely Jews but non-Jews as well. Does he mean these warnings not to be understood? Does he mean us to simply dismiss them as unknowable?

In the absence of living prophets we may not be certain of things but is it incumbent on us to explore and to try to understand the ways of G-d and when messages are being sent, we may not ignore them either. By ignoring the warnings, we are ignoring G-d. Ignoring the warnings that are received will only cause the next warning to be more severe. If we do not recognize that Yad Hashem, the Hand of G-d did this we are denying the role of G-d in this world and it will be affirmed till we can deny it no longer.

The NOAA/ National Weather Service has raised the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season outlook warning that the bulk of this season's storms are still to come.

(author unknown)

↑ Motek ↓

Mon, Sep 05 2005, 6:49 pm

Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director International Christian Zionist Center, had this to say about the connection of Katrina and Gaza:

"God’s answer was shocking in its severity. The same scenes the whole world had been watching just barely a week before were now again before our eyes, this time however not in Israel’s Gush Katif, but in Louisiana’s New Orleans and other parts of the United States: People driven from their homes – put in buses to be brought to hotels or other places of assembling – just as a few days ago, under pressure and to words of praise from President Bush and his Secretary of State, Israelis had been cruelly uprooted from their own homes and livelihood and put on buses. Who can deny the parallel and the finger of G-d in all this, of Him Who says through His Word that ‘He who touches you, Israel, touches the apple of His Eye’?

Gershon Salomon of the Temple Mount Faithful spoke in Houston recently to a large crowd of over 200 Christian Zionists and a few Jews. When he mentioned the connection between Gaza and Katrina, there was loud applause. This was a group of people who voted for Bush and are among the most patriotic Americans. But they saw G-d's hand in the disaster in New Orleans. I don’t believe that the people who draw this connection are exploitative or opportunistic. They are quite sincere and G-d fearing people. It seems that there is a division of opinion on the connection similar to that between those who believe in Darwin’s evolution and those who believe in creationism or intelligent divine design.

from an article by Bernard J. Shapiro, Executive Director of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies and the editor of its monthly Internet magazine, The Maccabean Online.

↑ Motek ↓

Mon, Sep 26 2005, 1:04 pm

found this posted anonymously by a history teacher

First, a sample of the many promises in the Bible:

Genesis 12:1-3 "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great: and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

Genesis 26:4 [To Isaac] "... and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."Genesis 28:14 [To Jacob] "... and in thee and thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Numbers 24:9 [To the nation of Israel as a whole] "... Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee."

Now the history:

(Historical information gleaned the high school history textbook, World History: Connections to Today, published by Prentice Hall, 1997. A few other details gleaned from The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910, World Book Encyclopedia, and others are common knowledge. It should be recognized that at times, prevailing sentiment among people can be different from the leaders' and this perhaps can cause some apparent exception to the rule (or apparent delay), but the rule is very remarkable in its consistency. It sort of jumped out at me as I read the history book.)

The rise of the Roman Empire was associated with a toleration of the Jewish faith, excusing them from worshipping Roman gods and allowing them to live in their land.

From the time that the Romans destroyed the temple and expelled the Jews from the land of Israel, they suffered cruel and insane emperors with a few exceptions until the Empire could not deal with its problems any longer and fell to the Germanic tribes.

The Catholic Encyclopedia specifically says that the Byzantine Empire at times blessed the Jews and other times cursed them, however, I have not yet found full details and years. They lasted a long time, with continual loss of territory and power until the final collapse in 1452 to the Ottoman Muslim Turks (You'll never guess what those Muslims did. See below.).

1000-1300 Jews were welcomed into Muslim-controlled Spain, and given responsible posts in the government.

This was Spain's golden age of philosophy with Muslim scholars such as Avarroes and Jewish scholars such as Mamonides.

1290 Jews were expelled from England after a growing antipathy towards them, but welcomed into Poland.

1347-1350 The Black Death (spread by fleas) killed one fourth of Europe's population and the Jews were blamed for it by many.

1394 Jews were expelled from France, and welcomed into Germany.

During this century, Cracow, Poland became the cultural center of Europe with the leading university of Europe.

France and England became entangled in the Hundred Years War, 1337-1453.
In Germany, Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440 and began spreading the Bible throughout Europe.

1492 / 1497 Spain, then Portugal, expelled all non-Catholics, especially Jews, although some of the rulers afterward were from Jews who converted to Catholicism. The Jews were officially welcomed into the Muslim Ottoman Empire with a letter asking the Jews to "bring your blessing"!! They also were welcomed into Italy and Holland, although in Italy they were required to live in Jewish ghettos.

This was the middle of the Italian renaissance, in the middle of the lives of Michelangelo (1475-1564), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), and Raphael (1483-1520),

In Holland, this was the time of Erasmus and the spreading of the Bible.

Christopher Columbus took Jews with him on his voyages of discovery.

1588 The Spanish Sea power was broken as their Armada was destroyed in a freak storm and by the skill of the English navy. The English antipathy toward the Jews was reversing in England. This was the Elizabethan age of England, the time of Shakespeare, when religious toleration and prosperity grew in England.

Meanwhile the Portuguese lost their world trading empire to the Dutch, starting with the "Happy Return" of the first Dutch trading fleet. The Dutch were the only ones allowed to trade with Japan and the Far East.

The Ottoman Muslims enjoyed their "Golden Age", famous for their inventions and compilation of scientific advances, including Algebra and a vaccine against rabies.

1530-1550? The 150-year welcome for Jews in Germany came to an abrupt end as Martin Luther (1483-1546) changed from a friendly attitude to frustration and a call for Jews to be expelled and their property seized. Ironically, his archenemy, Pope Paul IV, at the same time, also joined in a call for Jews to be expelled from Catholic Germany.

1618-1648 The Thirty Years War tore Germany apart into 360 small rival kingdoms and spread suffering, famine, torture, and death throughout Germany. Germany lost around half of its men, mostly those in their reproductive years and a church leader called for surviving German men to take two wives to avoid the extinction of the German people.

Many Jews escaped to Eastern Europe and Russia. 1682-1796 was the time of the great expansion of Russia under Peter the Great and Catherine the Great.

1652 England , under Oliver Cromwell, officially welcomed Jews back in.

England became a leader in first the scientific revolution, then the industrial revolution, with scientists such as Isaac Newton (who published his Principia in 1687) and Robert Boyle, then many others later such as James Watt, Eli Whitney and George Stephenson.

1763 The first Jewish synagogue was founded in North America

1776 With the financial aid of a Jew, Haym Solomon, and the sacrifice of many Jews who fought in the Revolutionary War, the United States of America was founded.

1812 Under Napoleon, restrictions against Jews were abolished in France and Germany.

In the 1800's anti-Jewish feeling began to rise in Russia and many Jews emigrated to Germany, America, and other places. (I was told that at this time Germany also became anti-semit toward the Jews and caused many to leave. My family left Germany at this time and came to the US.)(Shalhevet)

1868-1880 Under Queen Victoria, laws requiring government officials to be members of the Church of England were repealed, allowing a Jew, Benjamin Disraeli, to become prime minister. [Strictly speaking this is inaccurate, Disraeli had been converted to Christianity as a child along with other members of his family-editor]

The British Empire expanded world-wide.

1871 Germany reunited under Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm after several hundred years of division. Germany then invented the gasoline engine and the automobile (by Karl Benz in 1885) and became an industrial giant and a world power.

1880-1914 Russia initiated pogroms against Jewish communities, killing and expelling many Jews who escaped to Germany, America and other places.

↑ Motek ↓

Sun, Oct 02 2005, 12:33 pm

(cont. from previous post)

1917 Czar Nicholas was forced to abdicate and was killed in the Communist Revolution. Russia gave up WWI, losing territory in the agreement.
The same year, Britain signed the Balfour Declaration, in favor of a homeland for Israel. Britain and the U.S. then won WWI and Britain and France were given control of the Middle East, Britain having authority over the land of Palestine.

1920-1940 Anti-Jewish sentiment rose in Germany, Italy and Poland. The NAZIs came to power with the goal of destroying the Jews. Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi and other Jewish scientists were taken by the U.S. as refugees from Germany and Italy.

1945 The U. S. and Britain won WWII, stopped the Jewish holocaust and the U.S. began a phenomenal technological development. Russia allowed Jewish scientists to work in the Soviet Union and also began to advance technologically.

The Scandinavian countries, famous for saving Jews from the NAZIs, also prospered greatly in peace.

1947 Britain was afraid to take a stand for the Jews in Palestine because of the Muslims and turned the country over to the U.N.
The same year, Britain lost India as a colony.

1948 The U.S. sponsored the nation Israel under the U.N. and the modern state of Israel was born. Britain lost Burma and Ceylon. The U.S. added territories and Alaska and Hawaii as states.

1950-1961 Britain lost almost all of the rest of its colonies around the world.
The U.S. continued its growth in technology and power. The U.S. supplied (and received) military technology and equipment to Israel.

Russia supplied military technology to Israel's enemies. Israel defeated the technology and Russia lost its technological advantage.

1978 The U.S. pressured Israel to give back the Sinai to Egypt in the Camp David accords. President Carter had the Hostage Crisis and lost the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan.
Steel factories and other industries shut down. Inflation and other economic problems become rampant. The U.S. lost more industry and technological advantage.

1980 and afterward Germany expressed repentance for the Holocaust. German young people went to Israel to care for elderly Jews. Germany was reunited in 1989.

1991 The U.S. helped save Israel from Saddam Hussein's weapons, including a one-kilometer long gun based on NAZI technology. However, the president George Bush began to put pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Muslims. He lost the 1992 election to Bill Clinton.

The Secretary of the U.S. Treasury under Clinton was a Jew, Robert Rubin. The U.S. enjoyed a better economy until the end of Clinton's presidency neared. (I am well aware that many of George Bush's policies were apparently responsible for the economic well being of the Clinton years. This is not about analyzing specific immediate causes. It is about the blessing of G-d, who can use any cause He wishes.)

The second George Bush has made it a stated goal to achieve a Palestinian State during his administration, requiring Israel to return the territories conquered in the 1967 six-day war, apparently thinking that it will result in peace, although the fundamentalist Muslims have made it clear that the only acceptable option to them is to control the whole land of Israel.

2000 U.S. economy began to turn down, accentuated by the World Trade Center destruction

2002 U.S. attacked Afghanistan and Iraq.

2003 The "Road Map to peace" signed requiring Israel to give back land for a Palestinian state.

2005 The United States pressured Israel to follow the "road map" and give up the Gaza strip. This went into effect August 15, 2005.

2006 ???

Now my (the history teacher's) conclusions and comments:

Each of these historical developments has individual and local causes and associated events, such as wise or foolish decisions and the morality of society and countries' leaders. However, the common factor in all of them is too clear and pervasive to be just a coincidence. It must be that G-d permits those other factors based on His promise to Abram and the blessing or cursing that the country deserves. It is clear evidence to me that the declaration of G-d is true. Now, if some weird guy with side curls comes up and says he is a Jew, should we not be on the safe side and bless him, rather than bet on a wild notion that he is really an imposter from Esau and risk the wrath of G-d by cursing him?

Dare we make some predictions for the future based on this? There are different degrees of cursing and blessing and, at times, there is a kind of mixed bag. The U.S. certainly is not expelling Jews or severely persecuting them. However, we do have a lesson from the Camp David fiasco as to what to expect next from the road map fiasco. The U.S. has had economic trouble and seems to be on an upturn. However, I, just from the records above, say that the U.S. economy is headed for the pits. There will be blame thrown right and left and economic and political talk, but the Bible and history tell us the real reason. May G-d have mercy on the U.S.