News: Seeing the Unseen

Seeing What Others Do Not Part One

Continuing each Monday an excerpt from my 2001 book:
Be Skeptical
As we consume information, we first need to cultivate a healthy skepticism. Don’t trust or believe something just because you read it in a book, saw it on television, or heard it from an expert who tosses out statistics. Take a few seconds to compare what you hear with what you know. When it comes to data, official statements, assertions, and opinions, it’s hard to beat that old Missouri slogan, “Show me.”
Don’t confuse skepticism with cynicism. I have friends who believe that everything that comes from the major networks is filled with liberal bias, and other friends who think the media is full of “corporate bias.” None of these people are likely to gain a deep understanding of the world around them. If you suspect hidden agendas and dark motives in everything you hear, you’re probably assuming way too much about our information providers.
In my experience, most of the bad information we get comes from people who are inexperienced, who are “innumerate”—that is, illiterate when it comes to numbers—or are just poor observers.

Looking Behind the Headlines

Although I believe our free American press is one of our country’s greatest assets — in fact, one of the world’s greatest assets — it has one inherent problemm as a source of ideas and information. Journalists are normally focused on news, and news is often not very important.
A central truth in the life of a news editor is something called the “news hole.” There are so many pages of newsprint that have to be filled with news each day, so many minutes of radio time, so many hours of television time. No matter what happens in the world, the news hole must be filled. If nothing of note happens, the newspapers and airwaves still have to be filled.
If you watch CNN Headline News (one of my favorite sources of leads for information), you know that it used to place state headlines at the bottom of the screen, rotating through all fifty states. I’m confident that the CNN editors were working hard to pick the most important stories. But on some days, nothing much happens. Consider these headlines, all taken from CNN on the same day (February 21, 2000):
  • Ohio: Springfield auto dealer uses cannon to deal with pesky crow problem
  • Illinois: Proposed Hooters restaurant stirs controversy at Peoria Waterfront
  • Tennessee: State equine population third in nation, after Texas and California
  • Texas: New video cameras installed in 214 cruisers used by Lubbock police
  • Indiana: Evansville to get Doppler radar two years early
  • Alabama: Birmingham man’s unwanted coffin is Goodwill’s strangest donation
Even when the headlines really are important, like “Vicente Fox wins Mexican presidential election,” the big news is often not what follows the page one headline but the story that ran a year earlier, probably buried on page fifteen: “Former Coke executive makes bid for Mexican presidency.” The people who write the news, who live by the daily headlines, naturally tend to focus on the most recent event, when the real story includes events that happened at many times and in many places. It’s often left up to us to piece it together.
When headlines reading “Greyhound declares bankruptcy” appeared some years ago, the real story occurred several years before: “Congress deregulates airlines.” When Boeing took over arch-competitor McDonnell Douglas in the 1990s, much of the real story dated from forty years earlier, when Boeing got its 707 passenger jet into service a year before Douglas launched the DC-8.

Why Does the Israeli Regime Enable Mass Murder of Innocents Worldwide? MONEY

December 12, 1986

When the Carter administration cut off military aid to the rightist regime of Guatemala because it refused to accept human rights requirements, Israel was one of several countries that filled the gap. Today Guatemalan troops wear Israeli uniforms, tote Israeli automatic rifles and conduct counterinsurgency operations learned from Israeli instructors.When the contra rebels in Nicaragua faced a congressionally mandated cutoff of U.S. aid, Israel was one of the countries the CIA turned to. Private Israeli arms merchants — one of whom was later involved in the secret White House arms sales to Iran — sold the contras light arms funneled through Honduras. At around the same time, U.S. and Israeli sources have said, Israel’s government supplied several million dollars in aid to the contras at the behest of CIA Director William J. Casey.

When the United Nations ratified a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa in 1977, Israel was one of the states that quietly defied the ban by maintaining its own pipeline of military equipment to the white-minority government there, according to informed sources here and in South Africa. Last July, South Africa unveiled a new jet fighter bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Israeli Kfir, and an Israeli Cabinet minister privately has confirmed that key parts of the plane are indeed the same.

While Israel publicly has denied involvement in each of the above cases, senior officials privately concede that such deals take place.

The justifications they offer include the need to support friendly regimes in an international climate hostile to Israel; the need to honor requests and aid the interests of the United States, Israel’s chief ally, and the role arms sales can play in providing a form of life insurance for small, vulnerable Jewish communities in Third World states.

But another factor invariably has come to dominate Israel’s decisions about where and to whom it should sell arms: the economic imperative.

Israel’s drive to develop one of the world’s most sophisticated and competitive arms industries compelled it to become a weapons exporter in order to help foot the bill.

And its drive to maintain and constantly improve that industry at a time of economic hardship has pressed the Jewish state to search for new customers and, at times, seek opportunities and take risks that larger and wealthier arms exporters might avoid. “We’re not doing anything different than a dozen other countries I could name,” said a senior Israeli official, who asked not to be identified.

“We just get a lot more scrutiny than the others. The fact is that there’s a highly competitive arms market and either you sell what you can and not ask too many questions about where it’s all going or you lose out.”

Such sales have helped give Israel “global reach” far beyond what a postage stamp-sized nation of 4 million could otherwise expect to wield, says Prof. Aaron Klieman, a Tel Aviv University political scientist and expert on arms sales. “Conventional arms have been converted by Israel into unconventional diplomacy,” he wrote in a recent study.

But critics contend Israel’s reliance on its defense industry has given arms dealers too much power over government policy and tarnished the country’s image.

“The needs of the arms manufacturing establishment dictate much of Israel’s foreign policy,” said Yossi Sarid, a left-wing Knesset deputy who sits on the parliament’s key foreign affairs and defense committee. He called this phenomenon “unfortunate and very dangerous.”

The controversy over Israel’s role in brokering the arms-for-hostages exchange between the United States and Iran — and the disclosures, still denied by officials here, that Israel sold millions of dollars in weapons and spare parts to the Khomeini regime long before the exchange began in 1985 — has focused unusual public attention on a vast part of Israeli society that generally has remained hidden from view. It has exposed a shadowy world of middlemen that the government can use to obscure its role in arms dealings it prefers to conceal.

It has also exposed the cold pragmatism that is at the core of Israel’s arms sales policy.

“If an Iranian regime is friendly, we let them have arms to celebrate the friendship,” said senior statesman Abba Eban, chairman of the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee and a subdued but persistent critic of Israel’s role in the Iran affair. “But if it is hostile, we let them have arms to mitigate the hostility. We end up in a situation where the selling of arms is the only constant.”

Officials here like to emphasize that, compared with the world’s arms giants, Israel is a small fish. It is ranked by experts between ninth and 15th worldwide, depending on the source.

“When it comes to arms sales, you won’t find Israel near the top of any list,” said former defense minister Moshe Arens in an interview before the Iran affair became public.

But a more revealing figure to some analysts is that Israel’s estimated $ 1.2 billion in annual arms sales and security services now amounts to nearly one-fourth of its total industrial exports. The country’s defense industry employs between 140,000 and 200,000 people to make and sell arms — roughly 10 percent of the country’s work force.

In its early days, Israel’s defense industry manufactured light arms and refitted other nations’ aircraft and tanks. But these days Israel is identified more with such “big ticket” items as high-performance aircraft and tanks, missile systems, radar and small naval craft — all of it battle-tested in Arab-Israeli wars.

Lately it has also moved into the business of terrorism control. An estimated 30 private military consulting agencies have sprung up in recent years, manned by former career military officers. The officers retain their commissions while on reserve status and offer services ranging from setting up security systems for hotel chains and supplying bodyguards to VIPs to training police or antiterror units in Third World nations.

Recent incidents have caused embarrassment to the government, including charges in New York that a retired Israeli general was involved in an illegal scheme to peddle $ 2.5 billion worth of warplanes and other military hardware to Iran. Such incidents led Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin earlier this year to issue a new set of regulations tightening restrictions on foreign arms deals.

Nonetheless, industry sources say the pressure to sell abroad has actually increased due to extensive cuts in Israel’s defense budget at a time when the nation is seeking to cure its chronic economic ills through fiscal austerity. One smaller producer of jet engines, Bet Shemesh, is already in receivership and several other defense companies are said to be tottering on the brink.

To make those foreign sales, companies rely upon extensive networks of contact men and go-betweens. Among those middlemen are estimated to be between 700 and 800 former career military officers whose training and work experience qualify them for little else. These are the kind of men the government itself turned to when seeking to forge the Iran connection, and they have been active for many years in Latin America and Africa.

The Israeli connection in Nicaragua dates back nearly 40 years, to the time when the late Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza Garcia provided diplomatic cover for arms smuggling to the Jewish underground in Palestine and a U.N. vote in favor of the creation of the Jewish state.

Israel maintained arms shipments to the regime of Somoza’s beleaguered son and heir, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, long after the United States and many other western nations had ceased. Indeed, a strong warning from the Carter administration compelled Jerusalem to order back to port two shiploads of arms on their way to Somoza in 1979, an event that the deposed dictator later cited as one of the reasons he finally fled the country.

Israel has repeatedly denied any involvement with the contra rebels, although Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has frequently criticized Nicaragua’s Sandinista regime for its support of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Defense Minister Rabin told the Israeli Knesset last week in a carefully worded statement that Israel “does not maintain contacts or ties with the rebels in Nicaragua. Nor does it supply arms from here to them. Israel did not grant permission to any Israeli to assist, supply know-how or sell weapons from Israel to the rebels in Nicaragua.”

But informed sources here contend Israeli shipments to the contras may date back as far as 1982, when the rebels began using large quantities of Soviet-made AK47 automatic rifles said to have been captured by the Israelis in Lebanon. Later shipments reportedly took place in 1984, after a congressional cutoff of aid to the rebels.

The weapons — Soviet-made rocket-propelled grenade launchers and grenades, assault rifles and ammunition — were shipped to the Honduran Army, according to end-user certificates signed by Honduran military officials, copies of which were obtained and published last year by the Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv. The newspaper cited interviews with unnamed arms dealers as saying the weapons ultimately ended up with the contras. One tip-off was that the Honduran Army is not known to use the RPG7 grenade launcher, but the contras are.

The newspaper account, some of which has been confirmed by knowledgeable sources here, names three Israeli middlemen as involved in the contra dealings: Yaacov Nimrodi, Pesah Ben Or and David Marcos Katz.

Nimrodi, a London-based arms dealer who was former military attache at the Israeli Embassy in Iran in the days of the shah, also played a key role in setting up the secret exchange between Washington and Tehran. According to the sources quoted in The Washington Post late last month, shipments of arms to the contras followed the Israeli funding of the rebels at CIA director Casey’s behest in 1984. Nimrodi has refused to comment on his role.

Ben Or, a former Israeli paratrooper who divides his time between Guatemala and Miami, arranged the three shipments that were delivered to the contras via the Honduran Army, according to Maariv. He could not be reached for comment.

Katz, who lives in Mexico City and reportedly specializes in sales of jet fighters, artillery and radar, helped broker another deal with the contras in 1985, according to an unnamed business associate interviewed recently by the Miami Herald. He could not be reached either.

Official sources here have denied that either Ben Or or Katz operate with Israeli government sanction. But both men appear to have acted in semiofficial capacities in previous arms dealings.

Ben Or was a key figure in supplying Israeli arms and military communications equipment to Guatemala after the Carter administration’s cutoff in the late 1970s. Among the equipment he reportedly helped supply were spare parts for Guatemala’s U.S.-made helicopter fleet, a key part of the regime’s war against leftist guerrillas.

Israel contends its arms sales to Guatemala were insignificant. But they were important enough for two senior members of the ruling junta to thank Israel publicly for its support in the early 1980s.

“We went on rather too long selling to Guatemala at a time when other western countries had stopped,” said Abba Eban. “There has to be a point when you decide it’s time to turn off the tap.”

Continue reading…

From The Washington Post, here.

‘Abba, Is There Also a Kosel in America?’

Two Sides of One Land

Feivel A., Ramat Eshkol, Yerushalayim

I grew up in Los Angeles as an ordinary frum kid, no different than many others on the block.

My parents often spoke lovingly and longingly about Eretz Yisroel. We actually visited the Holy Land a few times when I was a child. We spent a summer in Eretz Yisroel and enjoyed it immensely and a year or two later, we spent yet another summer there as well.

My mother’s parents had relatives in Eretz Yisroel. To their great pride, their son, my uncle, made aliyah a few years after his marriage. My parents spoke openly about themselves also wanting to move to Eretz Yisroel, but unfortunately, it never happened – they are still in L.A.!

I was always intrigued by the many books describing Eretz Yisroel and its mekomos hakedoshim. I perceived a certain ancient charm in the pictures of cobblestone streets and dirt roads. When I arrived here for third year bais medrash, I was very excited, and enchanted, by the ruchnius opportunities that seemed to be growing from the trees – the Kosel, the kevarim, the Gedolim. I just couldn’t get enough!

I joined a fairly small yeshiva which was under the leadership of one of the Gedolim. It had a close-knit following of devoted talmidim, many of them yungeleit only a few years older than me. They warmly welcomed me and the rest of the bochurim into their homes. The warmth, the simcha, and the sense of camaraderie was very special. There was an overall feeling that we were part of something. This was my first inspiration, so to speak, to consider establishing my home in Eretz Yisroel. As my years in the yeshiva went on, this sentiment only grew stronger.

When the time came to pursue a shidduch, I considered doing so in Eretz Yisroel. My parents, though, felt that I should return to the States to find a wife, and only afterwards move back to Eretz Yisroel, as a married couple. It’s not that they wanted me to stay in America; they were actually very happy that I wanted to live in Eretz Yisroel.

I then spent a year learning in Lakewood. Although I did enjoy the learning there, I felt very much out of my element. I truly missed Eretz Yisroel and desperately wanted to come back. I even convinced my parents that it would be worth letting me go back to Eretz Yisroel, even if only for an Elul Zman. It was definitely worth it!

While in shidduchim, I did make mention of my special experiences and feelings for Eretz Yisroel. I certainly expressed a desire to live there, but I did not ask for a commitment to live in Eretz Yisroel as a prerequisite or condition for a shidduch. This was under the guidance of my Rosh Yeshiva, who also advised against making long term plans right away. Unfortunately, the girl who would become my wife was given the impression (by some well-meaning individuals) that this was a condition, and that she was indeed signing her life away to living away from her family forever! This backfired many times, over the years. I guess it wasn’t enough just to listen to my Rosh Yeshiva; I should have made sure that everyone else did as well. Ultimately, we married and moved here, taking each year, and each day, one at a time.

For the first three years here as a married couple, we lived in the Yerushalayim neighborhood of Har Nof. The apartments were quite large and comfortable, but from a social aspect, we felt a void. There weren’t too many young couples our age, with children the same ages as our children. We therefore moved to the Sanhedriya / Ramat Eshkol area, and have been living there ever since. In a certain sense, we are now considered part of the ‘older,’ more permanently settled crowd here.

The demographics here in our neighborhood have changed since we arrived. The language on the street is now basically English, and the shuls and ganim (preschools) are filled with Anglos. Although I do enjoy the comfort of having landsmen next door, I miss the nostalgic Israeli charm and simplicity. To begin with, it was that culture that I had felt drawn to, not the one I had grown up with!

Nowadays, it is much simpler to live in Eretz Yisroel. In neighborhoods like mine, your friends and neighbors are all English speakers. Over the past few years new shuls have opened up, led by American rabbonim, which serve the American tzibbur. You can get all the amenities of America here – three bagel stores, ice coffee, Snapple and Gatorade too! – and there are even chadorim and Bais Yaakovs that cater to the English-speaking tzibbur. “For the Americans, by the Americans!” There are surely blessings in this new age, where people can move here while staying very much in their comfort zone, but I do miss the charm, the chein, and the innocence of the other, “authentically Eretz Yisroel,” side.

Our side, though, is also becoming an authentic part of the mosaic that makes up Eretz Yisroel…

 

The Difference

On a recent trip to America, my five-year-old daughter made a comment that seemed to capture the purity and innocence of a child’s perspective. She was enjoying bubby’s pool, going on outings, and having a blast being wined and dined, but she still felt she should ask: “Abba, is there also a Kosel in America?” “No,” I told her, “there is not.” “Is America kadosh like Eretz Yisroel?” “No, it’s not.”

Maybe she’s only five, but she chapped the difference! The mekomos hakedoshim, the sanctity of a land seeped in kedusha – that is what makes Eretz Yisroel special!

מרדכי בן דוד: עוד ישבו זקנים וזקנות ברחובות ירושלים

עוד ישבו

Mar 11, 2019

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מאתר יוטיוב, כאן.

Help Publish Book of Authentic Aliyah Accounts

Book Breaking Stereotypes & Showcasing Opportunities for Frum American Jews in Eretz Yisroel

This is not just about chibas ha’Aretz; it’s about people in today’s day & age who have fulfilled their dream and made the move.

Be a part of this great grassroots movement of frum Jews awakening to (re)discover their very own Homeland.

The manuscript is waiting for YOUR support to turn into a REAL book, and make a REAL impact.

The cost for turning it into a book (edit, copyedit, proofread, cover design, interior layout, printing the first 1000 books, marketing, and shipping to stores around the world, etc. all by a reputable Jewish publisher – Mosaica Press), is about $18,000.

That comes out to $18 for each book. (Subsequent runs – with only printing cost – will be significantly cheaper.)

Add a dedication on the supporters page from sponsorship of 10 books = $180, and up.

Full page dedication, with sponsorship of 60 books = $1,080.

All donations automatically receive TAX-DEDUCTIBLE receipts.

To send in text for a dedication, or for other dedication opportunities available, please contact me at yberman613@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Yoel Berman

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