Rabbi Asher Brander
Upon return from a fundraising trip from America for his Yeshiva, Chachmei Lublin, Rav Meir Schapiro gathered around his students who were eager to comprehend the Jewish mindset of the nyer velt (new world). Rav Meir, related a conversation he had with a baalabos (congregant) who was eager to impress with his piety. "Every day during the Omer, I eat a cheese blintz in anticipation of Shavuot (where the custom is to eat dairy)." Rav Meir was somewhat amused. The pious Jew was not done: "In order to mark the proper day of the Omer, I make sure to eat the commensurate number of blintzes." A bit taken aback, Rav Meir asked: "and what, my friend, happens if you forget to count a day in the Omer?", Our pious fool then responded: "then I eat the appropriate number of blintzes – but without the bracha"
American Jews tend to eat the blintz but often forget to make the bracha. Contrary to popular belief, Shavuot transcends cheesecake, Rosh Hashanah is more than a honey dipped apple; Chanukah is as much a big jelly doughnut and a fried food fest as Judaism is a bagel (with apologies to Sephardim ...   more »

In interview with Israeli-Arab newspaper, Syrian Parliament member says Dimona nuclear reactor within range of Syrian missiles. 'Nothing will stop the Syrian soldier's fervor in this situation,' he says
Roee Nahmias
Syrian MP Dr. Muhammad Habash warned Israel not to attack his country in an interview with the Israeli-Arab news paper Ma'a al-Hadat published on Thursday saying Israel's nuclear reactor might be hit in retaliation in such a situation.     
The Syrian official said that his nation is considering its response in the case of an Israeli attack.
"The prospect that Israel might take some adventurous steps is reasonable to assume. In the last year, the Israelis decided to carry out some risky maneuvers and they were on the losing side and even today there are those that are pushing for war—even though Israel was on the losing side," the Syrian MP said.  
"The possibility that Israel were to infringe upon Syria's sovereignty is a possibility that exists and that we're not ruling out, although at the same time, we are not looking to reach this stage and we do not want to escalate the situation," he said in the interview.
Dr. Habash, one of the more prominent Syrian ...   more »

By Aaron Klein
In breach of multiple U.S. federal laws, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is overseeing the financing and support of international terrorism. Her department's actions have resulted in civilian deaths, and its continued perpetuation of terrorism is bound to kill many more.
On Monday, Rice requested Congress boost aid to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization by another $400 million on top of a $59 million grant she pushed through last April and about $100 million per year provided to Abbas' forces in unregulated shipments of ammunition and high-powered American assault rifles.
A bulk of the proposed new aid package is slated to fund and train Abbas' security forces, particularly his Force 17 presidential guard units and the Preventative Security Services, which serve as Palestinian police officers.
The only problem with this is Fatah's security forces have statistically carried out more terror attacks than any other West Bank terror group.
U.S. policy has long considered Fatah moderate even though its declared military wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, is responsible for more terrorism than Hamas.  
The Brigades, labeled a terrorist organization by the State Department, took credit along with the Islamic Jihad terror group for every ...   more »

A funny thing happened on the way to World War III: The bottom fell out. President Bush was determined to take us there, but, this time, thank God, we found out before the war that he was cooking the intelligence.
The release of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran was a clear repudiation of the Bush White House and a hopeful new chapter for American intelligence agencies. For years, George Bush and Dick Cheney, with ever escalating rhetoric, have been beating the war drums over Iran. In October 2004, Cheney flatly stated: "They have been trying to develop nuclear technology now for some time." And in October 2007, Bush famously warned: "I told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
It was, in so many ways, a re-enactment of the buildup to war in Iraq. Change one letter, from Iraq to Iran, and what we heard from the administration reads exactly the same: They're building nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. We can't let that happen. We must launch a pre-emptive strike to stop 'em. ...   more »

The partisan furor erupting over the selective release of two pages from this year's National Intelligence Estimate report aside, it raises a lot more questions than it answers.
The first question that comes to mind is why? The White House is allegedly "incensed" that those particular pages were declassified and released, and it might even be true.
Or it might not.
Let's look at both arguments. Leaking the NIE report handed all the cards over to Iran, seemingly emasculating the administration's entire Iran foreign policy. The National Intelligence Estimate is highly classified information – for any of the 16 intelligence agencies to leak it is tantamount to treason.
For it to be freely released to the public seems inexplicable.
For four years, the Bush administration has been building a case against Iran's nuclear program. Two years ago, the NIE reported "with high confidence" Iran was moving full steam ahead with a nuclear weapons program. It estimated Iran was only a matter of a few years, if not months, before it would pass the nuclear point of no return.
The leaked portion of this year's NIE says the consensus opinion of the nation's intelligence community is that Iran suspended its nuclear ...   more »