Apartheid in Israel

There have been many furious anti-Israel claims by many of the HOIZS- Hater Of Israel and Zionism - all those pseudo intelligentsia who jump up and down, scream, rant and rave and froth at the month against Israel. Who say Israel and in particular Jewish Israelis are practicing Apartheid. What is overlooked in all these accusations of "Apartheid" is the right of the Jewish people to a land that historically was ours from 3800 years ago. That our Jewish ancestors were forced to flee this land that was once ours. Many Jews tried to stay but they were either massacred or forcibly converted. Despite the various hardships many Jews did come back over the years and resettled our homeland. In many cases the history of the Jewish people and the legality of our existence here has been questioned, erased or negated by those who wish to ignore historical fact. The map of Akko below from the Franciscan Brothers Order website does not even acknowledge the existence of a Jewish Quarter or the existence of the RaMCHaL's synagogue.

Here is a recent case of this Arab practice of Apartheid and erasing of the Jewish presence in our land. This news item is from today's -February 27th, 2014, article in the Ynet "Yediot HaZafon" entitled Arabs in Acre are opening an opposition against the Judaization of the Old City.
According to an article in today's paper by the staff reporter Yaffa Baranes, the Arabs in Akko (Acre) are demonstrating and organizing against what they call the "Judaization" of the Old City. Meetings have been recently held by public officials from Arab factions who have decided to support the fight against the sale of properties to parties intending to "Judaize" the Old City. The Rabbi for the district and the City of Akko Rabbi Yashir stated: "There is no reason why anyone should want to refuse a Jew who wants to buy an apartment"

Representatives of the Arab public" decided to hang signs on the properties and houses in the old town which state in three languages ​​- Arabic, Hebrew and English - "(This) home is not for sale." This step is a continuation of the protest against the plans of certain residents to sell assets to Jewish religious associations in the ancient -once all Jewish Harat al-Yahud, the Jewish quarter adjacent to the synagogue of the RaMCHaL הרמח"ל  before it was razed by the city's Bedouin ruler Daher el-Omar in 1758, who built a mosque on top of it. In its place, the Jews of Akko received a small building north of the mosque which still functions as a synagogue and bears the name of the Ramchal"

The chairperson for "Hadash" -the Israeli Arab Communist Party, Ahmad Odeh, said at the recently held meeting with public representatives from the Arab factions against the posting of a tender to sale the " Khan al Umdan"-)The Khan al-Umdan (Arabic: خان العمدان‎: "Caravanserai of the Pillars" or "Inn of the Columns", also known as Khán-i-'Avámid) is the largest and best preserved khan in Israel. Located in the Old City of Acre, it is one of the prominent projects constructed during the rule of Ahmed Jezzar Pasha in the Ottoman era.)

The Arab factions lead by Ahmad Odeh of the Israeli Arab Communist Party, decided to support the fight against the sale of assets as defined radical elements who intend to Judaize the Old City . Still mean Jewish organizations who get apartments in the old town.

Representatives gather every two weeks , including council members, heads of the Waqf and sheikhs to discuss matters relating to the Arabs of the city. The meetings are not political , and purpose - to handle and solve problems of Arab residents . The meetings are usually held at the community center or the central mosque , al-Jazzar . " Over ten years ago I argued that there is a trend to Judaize the Old City ," said Odeh .

"Fortunately, in recent weeks have understood representatives of the Arab population trend is growing stronger , and so it was decided to unite in order to defeat it. Decided to take steps overt and covert , the fame can ruin them. We have no intention to upset anyone. We only want to hold on to homes and our assets . Were born and grew up in the city. We All in all for ourselves. interests factors that may harm the delicate coexistence in the city, and it is not possible to us."

The Rabbi for the district and the City of Akko Rabbi Joseph Yashar, recently criticized Odeh stressing that Oded is openly inciting against Jews who want to live there .

Rabbi Yashar, "Just as the Arabs are allowed to buy homes anywhere, they wish and no one refuses them. Than justifiably there is no reason to refuse Jews who wants to buy an apartment anywhere in the city. I do not understand what the problem is . If we had come and "God forbid" incite against Arabs and did not allow them to buy homes, there would be a literal war here. We wish to live here in coexistence. Just as the Arabs are allowed to freely buy apartments, than why should Jews not be allowed to buy?"

HaRaMCHaL הרמח"ל

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known by the Hebrew acronym RaMCHaL הרמח"ל,   Padua, Italy 1707 – 16 May 1746, Acre (26 Iyar 5506)), was a prominent Italian Jewish rabbi, kabbalist, and philosopher. His magnum opus was the Mesillat Yesharim "Path of the Righteous" (1740), perhaps the most important Jewish ethical text of the post-Middle Ages period. It is essentially an ethical treatise but with certain mystical underpinnings. Rabbi Luzzato wrote Mesillat Yesharim as a dialogue between a hakham (wise man) and a hasid (pious person).  The book is a work on a "Beraita" or "Beraisa", a tradition in the Jewish oral law not incorporated in the Mishnah, associated with the sage Pinchas ben-Yair, whose list goes in order of accomplishment: "Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair said: Torah leads to watchfulness; Watchfulness leads to alacrity; Alacrity leads to cleanliness; Cleanliness leads to abstention; Abstention leads to purity; Purity leads to piety; Piety leads to humility; Humility leads to fear of sin; Fear of sin leads to holiness; Holiness leads to prophecy; Prophecy leads to the resurrection of the dead". The book presents a step-by-step process by which every person can overcome the inclination to sin and might eventually experience a divine inspiration similar to prophecy. Another prominent work, Derekh Hashem (The Way of God) is a philosophical text about God's purpose in Creation, justice, and ethics. The same concepts are discussed in a shorter book called Maamar HaIkarim (the English translation of this book is now available on the Web). Da'at Tevunot also found its existence in the Dutch city as the missing link between rationality and Kabbalah, a dialogue between the intellect and the soul. On the other hand, Derech Tevunoth introduces the logic which structures Talmudic debates as a means to understanding the world around us. Rabbi Luzzatto left Amsterdam for the Holy Land in 1743, settling in Acre. Three years later, he and his family died in a plague.

One major rabbinic contemporary who praised Luzzatto's writing was Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, the Vilna Gaon (1720–1797), who was considered to be the most authoritative Torah sage of the modern era as well as a great kabbalist himself. He was reputed to have said after reading the Mesillat Yesharim, that were Luzzatto still alive, that he would have walked from Vilna to learn at Luzzatto's feet; He stated that having read the work, the first eight chapters contained not a superfluous word. This is considered to be one of the highest praises that one sage can grant another.