the Israeli Presidency

The system could also be good for America.

A U.S. Show of Force

The latest as I write this:

The United States is deploying an amphibious assault ship with about 1000 marines off the coast of Libya in case the US embassy has to be evacuated, a US defence official says.

The USS Bataan was to be in the area "in a matter of days," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, on Tuesday (local time).

The move was described as "precautionary" in case conditions in Libya, where militia battles have plunged the country into anarchy, worsen and require the embassy's evacuation. The State Department said last week the embassy in Tripoli was operating normally despite an offensive launched against Islamist militias by a dissident general, Khalifa Haftar.

In addition to the 1000 marines on board, the Bataan is equipped with several helicopters.

Read more:

The EuroVote

According to International Business Times:

EU Elections: Anti-Immigrant Wave Sweeps Europe

"The far-right National Front has topped polls in France as countries across Europe have turned to extremist and anti-EU parties.
The National Front led by Marine Le Pen has taken its largest share of the vote in its 40-year history with 25 percent of the votes, according to pollsters. The anti-immigration party has pledged to drastically cut immigration and reduce the influence of Islam. President Hollande's Socialist Party has been edged out into third place garnering just 13 percent of the vote." Read more:

Jewish Funders

Funding

For many years, Dry Bones was funded by an American Philanthropist.
He preferred to remain anonymous, and he funded our operation because he believed in what Dry Bones is and does.
Hint: he was not Sheldon Adelson and certainly not George Soros!
He kept Dry Bones and the blog going with a monthly stipend and by covering our expenses. * * * A few years ago this dear man passed away, but Dry Bones has become what it is today largely because of the support that this philanthropist provided.
If there is another angel philanthropist out there who understands and agrees with the Dry Bones attempt to make the world a better place, fight antisemitism, and express a Zionist love of Israel, please contact us.

Attacks on Jews in Europe

According to Arutz Sheva:

Belgian Jews Blame Rampant Anti-Semitism for Shooting Attack
Is Anti-Semitism becoming a distinctly European phenomenon?
Locals say yes - and so does the ADL.
"Belgium's Jewish community is reeling from Saturday night's horrific shooting attack at the Jewish Museum, which left a museum employee and two Israeli tourists dead and other critically injured.
Locals say that the attack, rather than a shock, is the direct outcome of growing tolerance for anti-Semitism in Belgium.
"Anti-Semitism has grown. We see it on TV, in the media and in our newspapers," Betty Dan, director of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in Belgium, told Walla! News Sunday.
"It is always against Israel and Jews," she lamented. "All the articles we see about what is happening in this country [to us] are always negative."
"All the politicians now say this is a tragedy, but we are not naive," she continued, stating that politicians "have not done anything" to stop anti-Semitism." Read more:

Academic Weakness

According to the Times of Israel:

BDS: Seeking Human Rights or Silencing the Truth?
"The current approach to fight Israel with economic boycotts is not a new phenomenon. Arab League official Mohamad Ali Allouba Pasha made the purpose of these boycotts clear in 1964: “[Israel] is not an easy thing to destroy by military means. But there is a force which is not steel and fire, with the aid of which we can win, namely, the economic boycott." Read more:

American Isolationism

Hang onto your hats, we're in for a wild ride in a post-American leadership world.

The Pope's Visit

According to the Jerusalem Post:

Pope Francis's Jerusalem itinerary: Down to the minute
24-hour visit to the capital on May 25 has been planned by the Vatican to fit in a plethora of visits to landmarks, religious institutions and private meetings.
Pope Francis’s historic 24-hour visit to the capital on May 25 has been planned to the minute by the Vatican, with nothing left to chance Indeed, his itinerary has been streamlined to fit in a plethora of visits to national landmarks, religious institutions and private meetings within a very short time frame, before he returns to Rome Monday evening. For an hour-by-hour account of his journey to the Holy Land click on MORE.

Israel's Christian Community

Non-Jewish Israelis in the army of Israel:

"Since 1956 all male Druze (at their request), in Israel, must complete mandatory military service upon reaching the age of majority, while females do not. The same mandatory conscription law has applied to male Circassians since 1958. The conscription rate among the Druze is particularly high. Overall, 83% of Druze males are recruited to the army, of which 60% serve in combat units - The Bedouin have volunteered to the Israeli Army since the early days of statehood. The IDF maintains an all-Bedouin combat battalion and a reconnaissance regiment with several hundred Bedouin soldiers and officers." -- See more

Question: If Christians from Syria, Iraq, and Libya are called "Christian Arabs", why aren't Jews from those countries called "Jewish Arabs?"

Bonei Zion Award

Above, the Award Ceremony

Below, intro from the Official Program:

The Nefesh B'Nefesh Bonei Zion Prize was established in September 2013 in order to formally recognize the achievements of outstanding Olim from English speaking countries and their contribution to the State of Israel.

As Aliyah from Western countries continues to increase, English speaking Olim are making a remarkable impact on the Jewish State - Economically, socially, and culturally- contributing to Israeli Society in all fields of endeavor. These awards represent an expression of support for Olim whose contribution has helped better Israel in a meaningful way, and acknowledges those who encapsulate the spirit of modern-day Zionism by contributing in a significant way towards developing the State of Israel.

Below, The program entry about the Prize I was awarded
(Hint: It wasn't for Sports)

Yaakov Kirschen
Cartoonist "Dry Bones"
Culture, Sports and Arts:" Yaakov Kirschen (USA, 1971), Creator of “Dry Bones”. Since its inception in the Jerusalem Post in 1973, Kirschen’s beloved comic strip “Dry Bones” has provided a quintessentially Zionist, satirical and unique view of Israel to the world. Kirschen’s work speaks to Anglo Jews around the globe and has spread a deeper and stronger feeling for Israel and Zionism."

* * *

Below: a shot of yours truly and the LSW (Long Suffering Wife) who is holding the Bonei Zion Prize. We're at the Knesset, shortly after the award ceremony.

Some Links:
http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/NBN-awards-outstanding-olim-at-Knesset-352427

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/inaugural-bonei-zion-prize-awarded-in-knesset-ceremony/2014/05/15/

http://www.timesofisrael.com/western-immigrants-honored-at-knesset-award-ceremony/

Lag Ba'Omer

The scene depicted in the cartoon will take place tomorrow night after the Sabbath ends and the bonfires of the Lag Ba'Omer holiday light up the sky.

Viral Antisemitism

The Dry Bones Project

We've set up a tax deductible (U.S.)project which offers creative Dry Bones answers to the challenge of viral antisemitism.
To see some of what the Dry Bones Project has done and is doing please click on Secretcodeshiddenwar.com

For more details on what else the Dry Bones Project is doing and how to support our work please click on http://drybonesproject.com/

Being Normal

We should be better than to sink to the level of "normal" countries.

the breaking story:

Court convicts former PM Olmert in Holyland graft trial
For first time in history, ex-PM convicted of taking bribes.
Judge claims Olmert 'lied in court,' after new info given in high-profile case -more

Media Popularity

Yup.
They just love the story of the "Bad Jews."

America's Blame Game

Israeli Official Slams Indyk's 'Hypocrisy'

A senior Israeli official has accused U.S. mediator Martin Indyk of “hypocrisy” in the wake of his comments blaming Israeli “settlement activity” for causing peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to fail.
The official, who spoke to Reuters on Friday, said Indyk had known construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem would continue during the discussions...

Indyk, who spoke Thursday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, insisted that both sides were guilty of bad faith and "not serious" about peace.
However, he also lay harsh blame on Israel's "settlements" for the failure of peace talks, claiming they had torpedoed negotiations on purpose.
“I can tell you first hand that that [announcing more building] had a very damaging effect, and by the way it was intended to have that damaging effect,” he said. “The promoters of the settlement activity are the ones who were adamantly opposed to the negotiations even though they were in a government that was committed to the negotiations.”
“Rampant settlement activity – especially in the midst of negotiations – doesn’t just undermine Palestinian trust in the purpose of the negotiations; it can undermine Israel’s Jewish future,” Indyk charged . “If this continues, it could mortally wound the idea of Israel as a Jewish state – and that would be a tragedy of historic proportions.”-more

the American Flaw

A favorite quote of mine:

"Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing
...after they have exhausted all other possibilities."

-Winston Churchil

face it

According to Time:

More Than 11 Million Young People Have Fled Facebook Since 2011

Skeptics of Facebook’s business model have long pointed to anecdotal evidence that the social network is losing its luster with teens as evidence that the firm will ultimately be unable to justify its $140 billion valuation. Indeed, even Facebook itself admitted last fall that it had lost younger users. “We did see a decrease in [teenage] daily users [during the quarter], especially younger teens,” Facebook chief financial officer David Ebersman said during a call with analysts.

But it’s always been difficult to gauge exactly what the magnitude of this lost interest has been. On Wednesday, the digital consultancy iStrategy Labs released a study that draws from Facebook’s Social Advertising platform to glean exactly how many young users have left the social network in recent years. The resulting estimates are pretty staggering. According to iStrategy, Facebook has 4,292,080 fewer high-school aged users and 6,948,848 college-aged users than it did in 2011. -more

Better Search Results

According to Reuters:

Google Unveils Email Scanning Practices in New Terms of Service
April 14, 2014
Google Inc updated its terms of service on Monday, informing users that their incoming and outgoing emails are automatically analyzed by software to create targeted ads.

The revisions more explicitly spell out the manner in which Google software scans users' emails, both when messages are stored on Google's servers and when they are in transit, a controversial practice that has been at the heart of litigation.

Last month, a U.S. judge decided not to combine several lawsuits that accused Google of violating the privacy rights of hundreds of millions of email users into a single class action.

Users of Google's Gmail email service have accused the company of violating federal and state privacy and wiretapping laws by scanning their messages so it could compile secret profiles and target advertising. Google has argued that users implicitly consented to its activity, recognizing it as part of the email delivery process. -more

Israel at 66!

This coming week we'll be celebrating Israel's 66th Birthday!

Happy Israel Day!

Understanding the Ukraine Conflict

Today's cartoon is an explanation of what's happening that no one else will tell you. We live in a media-run world which tells you who is good and who is bad.