Historic Day

The Official "Israel at 70" Mug!

May 14 is the 70th anniversary of Israel's Declaration of Independence.
Excitement is growing! The US embassy will open in Jerusalem, soon to be followed by the embassies of other countries!!
A truly historic day and year!!
This collectible commemorative treasure celebrates the occasion!

The mugs cost $15.39 each.
They are large (11 Oz) ceramic mugs with big, comfortable easy-grip handles. The mugs are dishwasher and microwave safe.

If you don't get one now, you'll be kicking yourself for years to come.
Don't miss this opportunity!

To see the other side of the mug (or perhaps buy one) just click on the photo.

$15.39 gets you this Dry Bones Commemorative Mug
Click for a larger (15 Oz) mug priced at $19.95

April's Arab Summit: A surprise for PLO, Jordan and Israel

Analysis by David Singer

The 29th Arab Summit - concluded in Dhahran on 15 April - has presented President Trump with a wonderful opportunity to circumvent the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO) refusal to consider Trump’s eagerly-awaited proposals to end the Arab-Jewish conflict.

Conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain and Sudan received scant attention - the Summit’s final communiqué declaring::

“We reaffirm that the Palestine Cause is the entire Arab nation's main priority, stressing the Arab identity of occupied East Al-Quds as the capital of the State of Palestine.”

Using the term “Palestine Cause” rather than “Palestinian cause” indicates the Arab world now intends focusing on recovering territory lost in the 1967 Six Day War without necessarily creating another Palestinian Arab state – in addition to Jordan - in former Palestine.

The communique further reinforced this interpretation when adding:

“The conflict could be ended through a two-state solution that guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders of 4 July 1967 with East Al-Quds as its capital.”

Using the words “could be ended” rather than “can only be ended”  is highly significant in the context of this long-running conflict where every word uttered is invariably scrutinised and analysed in great detail.

The Summit’s declared “two-state solution” - pressed for the last 25 years by the PLO and the Arab League and endorsed by the United Nations and the European Union as the only solution to end the Arab-Jewish conflict – is now being seen by the Arab world as just one possible solution.

The Dhahran Communique downgraded the PLO’s sole-spokesman status:

“We consider the Jordanian authorities as the only body in charge of the administration, maintenance and access to Al-Aqsa Mosque”.

This unequivocal Arab endorsement of Jordan challenges the PLO having any future control or influence in the most sensitive area of crucial concern to the Islamic world in Jerusalem - the Moslem holy sites.

Jordan has maintained its presence in Jerusalem as Islamic Holy Shrines Custodian for the last 24 years as a result of the 1994 Peace Agreement between Jordan and Israel – article 9 declaring:

“1.​ Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.

 2.​ In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.

3. ​The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.”

The Washington Declaration - signed by His Majesty King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at the White House on July 25, 1994 in the presence of President Clinton - formally ended the 46-year state of war between Jordan and Israel.

The Washington Declaration is testament to America’s role as the only power possessing  the prestige and clout to change Arab and Jewish perceptions on resolving their long-running conflict.

 Jordan’s special role in Jerusalem recognised by the Summit closely follows PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s recent assertion that Jordanians and Palestinians are indeed one people.

Resolving the “Palestine Cause” remains more easily achievable in negotiations between Israel and Jordan within the framework of their existing peace treaty - rather than resuming fruitless negotiations pursued over the last 25 years between Israel and the PLO.

Ending the 100 years old “Palestine Curse” which has so terribly afflicted both Jews and Arabs could well be within Trump’s grasp thanks to the Dhahran Summit.

German Kippah Rallies

According to the Times of Israel: German Jews, non-Jews hold kippah-wearing protest against wave of anti-Semitism2,000 march in German cities a day after Jewish leader warns against wearing religious symbols for fear of attack; one small protest cancelled after participants assaulted/BERLIN, Germany — non-Jewish Germans joined with Jews wearing kippahs at several protests across Germany on Wednesday in a sign of solidarity after a spate of shocking anti-Semitic incidents, raising pointed questions about Berlin’s ability to protect its burgeoning Jewish community seven decades after the Holocaust.
One day after the head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, warned against wearing religious symbols on city streets for fear of attack, some 150 protesters came to a rally in the eastern German city of Erfurt and hundreds more were expected later in the day in Berlin, Cologne and Potsdam.
“We must never allow anti-Semitism to become commonplace in Germany again,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told the daily Tagesspiegel ahead of a “Berlin Wears Kippa” event where Jews and non-Jews will wear the traditional skullcap in a shared show of defiance.
More than 2,000 people — Jews, Christians, Muslims and atheists — put on kippas in a show of solidarity in Berlin.
The yarmulkes were of all varieties — silky and knitted, leathery, embroidered and patterned. Holding them so the wind wouldn’t blow them away, both men and women cheered when Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller told them, “Today, we all wear kippa. Today, Berlin is wearing kippa.”
Jewish community leaders said it was the biggest such display in public since before World War II.
Elard Zuehlke, a 26-year-old non-Jewish Berliner, said he came to the rally in front of the city’s synagogue on Fasanenstrasse because “it cannot be that in Germany there is any kind of anti-Semitism — not in schools, not in public, not at work, not in politics, nowhere.”
“This cannot be happening. Germany has to live up to its special responsibility,” he said.
Reinhard Borgmann, a 65-year-old Jew who lost several great-uncles in the Holocaust and whose mother only survived because she hid from the Nazis, said he was pleased that dozens of organizations had turned out to support the demonstration.
“As Jews, we want to be able to move freely, whether with kippa or without,” Borgmann said. “We want to be able to practice religion in peace and not be discriminated against and not live in fear. And this event tonight is a sign and an important one.”
One small Berlin rally was called off by its three members when angry counter-protesters shouted “terrorists”, spat at participants and snatched away an Israeli flag, organizers said.
Police said the tiny demonstration in Neukoelln district, the heart of the capital’s Muslim community, ended early after the trio were shouted down by “loud and emotional” opponents and feared for their safety.
The rally was cancelled after just 15 minutes, said Levi Salomon of the Jewish Forum for Democracy and Anti-Semitism in an emailed statement that included video footage of a young man snatching an Israeli flag and running off, and of another spitting at a demonstrator.
Germany, which has been rocked by a series of ugly anti-Semitic incidents, on Wednesday saw a series of rallies with hundreds of marchers in various cities to show solidarity with Jews.
The rallies come a week after a 19-year-old Syrian refugee attacked two young men wearing kippahs in a trendy district of the capital, shouting “yahudi” — Jew in Arabic — and lashing out at his victim with a belt.
MORE

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Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman starred in a 2010 film called Black Swan.

Shame on Natalie Portman

by Ronn Torossian (Arutz Sheva)

Israeli born Actress Natalie Portman today announced she would not take part in the prize ceremony for the Genesis Prize, slated to be held in Israel in June 2018. The Genesis Prize Foundation, which awards what it calls the “Jewish Nobel,” had previously named Ms. Portman this year’s awardee, until she notified Genesis that“ recent events in Israel have been extremely distressing to her and she does not feel comfortable participating in any public events in Israel” and that “she cannot in good conscience move forward with the ceremony.”

 The Genesis Prize Foundation cancelled the prize ceremony, saying that its organizers “fear that Ms. Portman’s decision will cause our philanthropic initiative to be politicized, something we have worked hard for the past five years to avoid.” Shame on Natalie Portman for bowing to those who boycott Israel. Israel’s Culture Minister Miri Regev hit it right on the head noting that,“ …Natalie Portman fell into the hands of the BDS supporters. Portman, a Jewish actress born in Israel, joins those who tell the successful, wondrous founding of the State of Israel as 'a tale of darkness and darkness.'

 Sane people must agree with Hillel Neuer of UN Watch who told Portman that “If 30,000 rioters were at your borders ; approaching your family in Los Feliz, and they were orchestrated by a terror group that advocates the murder of all Jews, I believe you would 'in good consicience' support officers doing their best to protect you.” Israel is the only real democracy in the Middle East, where all religions are protected, where women have equal rights. Israel is a beacon of light.
Shame on Natalie Portman for standing against Israel.
The Genesis Prize “honors individuals who serve as an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through their outstanding professional achievement along with their commitment to Jewish values and the Jewish people.” They must revoke their decision to award her the prize immediately.

Shame on Natalie Portman

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Being "Fashionable" at Barnard College

Delegitimizing Israel is quite fashionable in academia these days, and the women of Barnard College do want to be fashionable.

According to the Forward:

One Of The Most Jewish Colleges In The Country Just Voted For BDS By Nearly 2-1 Margin

Students at Barnard College, the elite women’s school in New York City, voted this week to ask the university administration to divest from eight companies that do business in Israel.

The referendum, which was written by students from Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, listed ways that companies like Hyundai, Boeing and the Israeli national water carrier Mekorot allegedly violate international law, before asking whether the student government should encourage Barnard to divest from companies that “profit from or engage in the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.”

The 64%-36% victory for the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign came at what Hillel International describes as the most heavily Jewish school in the country that is not officially Jewish. There are approximately 850 Jewish students at Barnard out of a total undergraduate population of around 2,500. Some 1,153 participated in the vote.

more:

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The whole world is NOT against us!
There's you.
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Hamas Attacks

Hamas is organizing "human wave"attacks against us.
If Gazans get killed, they win.
If Israelis get killed they win.
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Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Independence Day, Nakba Day

Seventy years ago David Ben-Gurion publicly read aloud Israel's Declaration of Independence.
According to the Gregorian calendar, that day was May 14, 1948.
According to the Jewish calendar that day was the fifth day of the month of Iyar in the year 5708.

Israel's national holiday of Yom Ha'atzmaut (Day of Independence) is celebrated each year on the fifth day of the month of Iyar.
This year, in 2018, that day begins on the evening of Tuesday April 18 and continues through Wednesday April 19.

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NOTE: The U.S. State Department's official statement announcing the U.S. Embassy's move to Jerusalem read, "In May, the United States plans to open a new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. The opening will coincide with Israel's 70th anniversary."

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NOTE: Palestinian Arabs who are grumpy and anti-Israeli, observe "Nakba Day" (Nakba means catastrophe) on May 15, the first day of the new state's existence.

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No matter which day you'll be observing, you'll want an Official Dry Bones Jerusalem/Israel Day Mug!
This collectible commemorative treasure celebrates  the declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's Eternal Capital City AND our observance  of Israel's 70th year of Independence! 
Please note: we will NOT be issuing a Nakba Day Mug

The mugs cost $15.39 each.
They are large (11 Oz) ceramic mugs with big, comfortable easy-grip handles. The mugs are dishwasher and microwave safe.
If you don't get one now, you'll be kicking yourself for years to come.
Don't miss this opportunity!

To see the other side of the mug (or perhaps buy one) just click on the photo.

$15.39 gets you this Dry Bones Commemorative Mug
Click for a larger (15 Oz) mug priced at $19.95

Israel's 70th

The Official Dry Bones Jerusalem/Israel Day Mug!

This collectible commemorative treasure celebrates  the declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's Eternal Capital City AND our observance  of Israel's 70th Independence Day! 
The mugs cost $15.39 each.
They are large (11 Oz) ceramic mugs with big, comfortable easy-grip handles. The mugs are dishwasher and microwave safe.

If you don't get one now, you'll be kicking yourself for years to come.
Don't miss this opportunity!

To see the other side of the mug (or perhaps buy one) just click on the photo.

$15.39 gets you this Dry Bones Commemorative Mug
Click for a larger (15 Oz) mug priced at $19.95

We Must Not Forget

The background of today's image is the blue striped pajama cloth uniform for prisoners at concentration camps.

In 2018 Yom HaShoah begins in the evening of Wednesday, April 11 and ends in the evening of Thursday, April 12.

Yom HaShoah

The background of today's image is the New York Times May 7 1943 report of the Warsaw Uprising.

The Jewish holiday of Yom HaShoah ( Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day) is a national day of commemoration in Israel, on which the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and the Jewish resistance to the Nazis are memorialized.

In Israel, it is a national memorial day. On the evening which begins the observance, there is a state ceremony at the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes Authority, Yad Vashem. At 10am on the day of Yom HaShoah, air-raid sirens are sounded and people across the country stop what they are doing and stand at attention in respect of the fallen.. Places of public entertainment are closed and flags on public buildings are flown at half mast.

The original proposal was to hold Yom HaShoah on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the date of the Warsaw ghetto uprising (April 19, 1943), but this was problematic because the 14th of Nisan is the day immediately before Passover. The date was therefore moved to the 27th of Nisan, which is eight days before Yom Ha'atzma'ut,(Israeli Independence Day)

In 2018 Yom HaShoah begins in the evening of Wednesday, April 11 and ends in the evening of Thursday, April 12.

The Jordanian Option

Jordan considers replacing PLO as Israel’s negotiating partner

By

David Singer

Two recent events confirm that Jordan is seriously considering replacing the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as Israel’s negotiating partner to resolve the allocation of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) between Israel and Jordan:

1.       The ending of a 9 months diplomatic impasse between Jordan and Israel following Jordan’s acceptance of Amir Weissbrod as Israel’s new ambassador to Jordan.

Jordan’s approval came after the two countries agreed to end their standoff following the shooting deaths of two Jordanians in the Israeli Embassy compound by an Israeli security guard who Israel alleged opened fire in self-defence after one of the men tried to stab him.

Weissbrod will replace former Ambassador - Einat Schlein – who had hurriedly left Amman last July following this incident.

Restoration of full diplomatic ties will facilitate Israel and Jordan’s ability to amicably resolve the division of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) between their two respective states within the framework of their existing 1994 Peace Treaty – ending a long-running border dispute dating back to 1922.

2.       The publication by the Jordan Times on 31 March of an article by Jordanian journalist Nermeen Murad headlined “Should Jordan claim the West Bank on our behalf? An old yet new question”

The Jordan Times is published by the Jordan Press Foundation – in which the Government owned Social Security Investment Fund has a majority stake.

The provocative headline suggests the Government could be flying a trial balloon to gauge public opinion should Jordan decide to negotiate with Israel.

Murad opines:

“Did the Arab world and the Palestinian leadership make a strategic mistake when they kick started a political process that drove Jordan to the 1988 decision to sever legal and administrative ties with the West Bank? That step has long been seen to have, perhaps irreversibly, removed Jordan from the table of any serious negotiations for a final resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based in a “land for peace” formula.” 

Murad argues:

“I believe that it can be credibly argued that it was a strategic mistake to focus Arab and Palestinian effort solely on creating an alternate and less legally legitimate claimant to the West Bank, regardless of how nationalistic and symbolic it was to have a Palestinian body representing Palestinian rights, instead of focusing on claiming the land itself as the most pressing priority — even if only for purely tactical considerations.

Murad then concludes:

“.. it appears that the decision to squeeze Jordan out and undermine the legal opportunity that Jordan had to reclaim the West Bank back in the 1970s, is a relevant and important starting point in our review of our past strategies and a critical ingredient in our discussions of a way forward towards a solution.” 

Jordan’s long-abandoned West Bank claims could be resurrected following the PLO committing  political suicide by refusing to have anything further to do with President Trump’s soon-to-be-released “ultimate deal”.

Trump’s deal will be still-born if no Arab negotiating partner is prepared to sit down with Israel.

In 1988 the PLO could justifiably claim to be the sole spokesman for the Gazan and West Bank Arab populations. Hamas – founded only in 1987 – never represented any challenge to the PLO then. However in 2018 the PLO sole-spokesman claim has been completely undermined by Hamas - which itself has governed Gaza with disastrous results since 2007.

 

Both organisations continue to fail to reconcile their differences, engage in on-going internecine conflict and refuse to give their long-suffering populations any say in their own future.

Jordan appears to be readying itself to jump on the Trump bandwagon - leaving the PLO and Hamas behind battering themselves into political irrelevance.

The Answer

They use different names in different places. But they are all the same. They call themselves Hamas, Islamic Jihad, ISIS, The Moslem Brotherhood, Boko Haram, Al-Shabab, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Abu Sayaf, etc. They and their crazed Lone Wolf followers around the world are driven to attack and destroy us.
If you are a Jew, or a Christian, or a modern secularist, you and your community are their target.
What is it that they want to destroy?
What is it that unites us?
"Trees, the Green Testament" answers those questions.
It reminds us of who we are and what they want to destroy.


You can get your copy of "Trees, the Green Testament"
at http://amazon.com/author/kirschen
or order your copies directly from us (for me to autograph and for the LSW (Long Suffering Wife) to then shlep to the post office to mail to you). http://store.drybones.com/

Trees makes a wonderful gift, an inspiring read, and comes with our love and best wishes.
BTW, for info on how to make a donation click on http://mrdrybones.com/365

Endangered Species

The world is apathetic to the terrible and ongoing genocide of Christians in Africa and across the Middle East.
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Please consider making a donation to the Dry Bones Project so that we can continue doing our cartoons.
Check out how by clicking on drybonesproject.com/365

Don't Miss This!

The Official Dry Bones Jerusalem Mug!

This collectible commemorative treasure celebrates  the declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's Eternal Capital City and our observance  of Israel's 70th Independence Day! 
The mugs cost $15.39 each.
They are large (11 Oz) ceramic mugs with big, comfortable easy-grip handles. The mugs are dishwasher and microwave safe.

If you don't get one now, you'll be kicking yourself for years to come.
Don't miss this opportunity!

To see the other side of the mug (or perhaps buy one) just click on the photo.

$15.39 gets you this Dry Bones Commemorative Mug
Click for a larger (15 Oz) mug priced at $19.95

Mad Dog and The Devil

Mattis-Bolton accord can sway Trump to dump PLO for Jordan

By

David Singer

President Trump’s possible call for Jordan to replace the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as Israel’s negotiating partner under Trump’s soon-to-be-released “ultimate deal” will be considerably strengthened if Trump’s newly-appointed National Security Adviser - John Bolton - and Secretary of Defense - James “Mad Dog” Mattis - concur on such a move.

Bolton has supported this strategy since 2009– telling Eric Shawn on 21 January 2018:

“I hope at some point the Administration recognizes and perhaps it is already quietly – that the two-state solution isn’t going anywhere. If anything I would say to King Abdullah of Jordan – “Be prepared to reassert Jordanian sovereignty over part of the West Bank – negotiate with Israel”. I think that’s a far better outcome than the continued pursuit of a mythical – I believe – unattainable viable Palestinian state”

Mattis has favoured the Obama-Kerry strategy – pointing out to the Aspen Security Forum in July 2013:

“We have got to find a way to make the two-state solution that Democrat and Republican administrations have supported, we’ve got to get there. And the chances for it, as the king of Jordan has pointed out, are starting to ebb because of the settlements and where they’re at, are going to make it impossible to maintain the two-state option.”

Mattis further reasoned:

“I paid a military security price every day as the commander of CentCom because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel and that moderates all the moderate Arabs who want to be with us, because they can’t come out publicly in support of people who don’t show respect for the Arab Palestinians. So he [Secretary of State John Kerry] is right on target with what he’s doing. And I just hope the protagonists want peace and a two-state solution as much as he does.”

Kerry however failed miserably – being unable to get the PLO back to the negotiating table after a PLO walk-out in April 2014 following nine months of unsuccessful negotiations on proposals specifically formulated by Kerry to resolve the long-running conflict.

Today:

·         Moderate Arabs – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman - have come out publicly - joining Jordan and Egypt in meeting with Israel in the White House – without PLO participation - to discuss Gaza’s deteriorating situation.

·         The PLO refuses to resume negotiations with Israel on the two-state solution:  creating a second Arab State – in addition to Jordan – in the territory covered by the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

·         The PLO will no longer accept America as sole mediator and is demanding an international conference be convened by mid-2018

The media have castigated Trump for appointing Bolton – typified by highly-credentialed columnist George Will claiming:

“Bolton will soon be the second-most dangerous American.”

Yet Will himself had written in the Washington Post on 17 April 1987:

“May 14 will be the 30^th Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, June 6 will be the 20^th anniversary of the Six Day War. The West Bank has been held by Israel longer than it had been held by Jordan, the 1967 aggressor, which ever since has presented itself as the aggrieved party. Today, as every day since 1948, the key to peace is direct negotiations between Jordan and Israel, not a committee”

Mattis’s jocular remarks on meeting Bolton at the Pentagon - caught in an off-microphone exchange – signals Mattis could have already changed his thinking:

"I heard you're actually the devil incarnate and I wanted to meet you,"

A Mattis-Bolton accord on Jordan replacing the PLO in future negotiations with Israel will undoubtedly reinforce Trump’s preparedness to make this long-overdue call.

[Author’s note: The cartoon - commissioned exclusively for this article – is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators -  whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades]

optimism, pessimism

I've always decribed myself as being a short term pessimist and long term optimist, but lately I'm becoming more optimistic.
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Gaza Command

And the world condemns us.
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The whole world is NOT against us!
There's you.
Please consider making a donation to the Dry Bones Project so that we can continue doing our cartoons.
Check out how by clicking on drybonesproject.com/365