Yael Zoldan
On Shavuos she lit the candles. So many candles, melting into wax puddles in their flimsy silver tins. The small flames were a thin pale blue like the veins on the back of her hand. To me they were nameless and faceless, just empty heat and flickering light. But not to her.
To her those candles were people. They were family. Sometimes whole families, who had worked and struggled and lived and died. Aunts and uncles. And cousins, with whom she had played and shared and fought and laughed. To her this was a sacred duty, this remembrance.
In the cozy cheerful kitchen, cheesecakes cooled on the counter and blintzes fried happily in the pan. But here in the cool darkness of the dining room at the long mahogany table my grandmother sat to talk. Her hands shook slightly in her lap, but her voice when she spoke was steady.
“You know, for the Hungarian Jews, Shavuos is special. But not special good, special bad. You understand why? Because that is the day we arrived. Over there. In Auschwitz.” She said that when she got to the barracks, dazed and confused, the Blockaltester told her roughly, “Remember good ...   more »

    JERUSALEM, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday that Israel is likely to launch act against Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip before ceasefire agreement can be reached.
    Barak made the remarks during a tour to Kibbutz Nir Oz, where a51-year-old Israeli man was killed earlier in the day by a mortar shell fired from the nearby Gaza Strip.
    "The military operation is closer than ever, and it will precede the cease-fire," Barak was quoted by the website of local daily Yedioth Ahronoth as saying, "We are nearing the day of reckoning in the Gaza Strip, in which we will decide whether to goin the direction of an agreement of calm or a wide military operation."
    Israeli Finance Minister Roni Bar-On had called for a military action to Gaza to solve the problem, according to Israel Radio.
    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to convene his security cabinet to discuss the situation in Gaza.
    Earlier in the afternoon, an Israeli man was killed and four other people were wounded when Palestinian militants in Gaza Stripfired a mortar shell into Kibbutz Nir Oz in the western Negev.
    Hamas' ...   more »

Gil Hoffman
"We will rule the country for a very, very long time," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday in a phone call from Washington to a Kadima rally in Tirat Carmel.
"I know that your backing is the basis of Kadima's strength. Not the pressures and not the intimidation but the real power of Kadima members, whose strength is spread across the country and who want a united and unified party that will lead Israel," he told supporters.
Nevertheless, Olmert's optimism appeared to be misplaced, since Labor Party ministers earlier warned that their faction would support a bill to disperse the Knesset and set a November date for the next general elections if Kadima does not initiate primaries to replace Olmert.
The seven ministers issued the threat at Labor's headquarters in Tel Aviv's Hatikva quarter. Labor secretary-general Eitan Cabel went a step further and said Labor would support elections if Kadima did not set a date for a primary by the end of July
Likud MK Silvan Shalom intends to bring his bill to a preliminary reading at the Knesset on June 18. It would then have to pass three more times in the Knesset plenum and once in ...   more »

Israel will attack Iran if it doesn't abandon its nuclear program, a Cabinet minister hoping to replace embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted Friday as saying.
Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz also said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "will disappear before Israel does," the Yediot Ahronot daily reported. Ahmadinejad has called repeatedly for Israel's destruction.
Mofaz's spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the remarks, which were much more explicit than anything Olmert himself has said. Olmert has gone no further than hinting that Israel was prepared to use force against Iranian nuclear facilities, saying only Tuesday that "the Iranian threat must be stopped by all means. "
According to the newspaper report, Mofaz — a former chief of staff and defense minister — has concluded that international sanctions haven't curbed Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
"If Iran continues its nuclear arms program — we will attack it," the newspaper quoted Mofaz as saying. "The sanctions aren't effective. There will be no choice but to attack Iran to halt the Iranian nuclear program."
There is a precedent for Israeli military action: In 1981, Israeli planes destroyed an unfinished Iraqi reactor.
An Israeli military strike against Iran would have U.S. backing, ...   more »

There are well over a billion Muslims in the world today, and the numbers keep growing. Islamic is not only prospering in Middle East countries, but in the West as well. Muslim neighborhoods have sprouted up across mainland Europe and the UK, as well as in the good old United States – parts of the world considered predominantly Christian.
Should Christians be concerned? Certainly. Christians should be more concerned, perhaps, that too many Christian churches are weak and worldly and full of mushy, lifeless messages. If the Western Church were full of the Spirit of God and gushing life, there would be little to draw people to Islam.
Both Christianity and Islam, however, are missionary religions. Christian missionaries and evangelists spread the Good News that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and Muslims spread Islam. Yet, if people decide they want to leave Christianity, they are free to go. Jesus never chased people down and forced them to follow him. Judgment might await unbelievers, but believers do not pick up stones to hasten the journey. In fact, many Christians pray desperately for their loved ones who walk away from Christ, waiting with hope for the prodigal's safe return.
Leaving Islam, ...   more »

By Chuck Baldwin
Back on June 6, 1994, I was privileged to be invited to speak at the
50th anniversary of D-Day celebration at the National Cemetery, Naval
Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Today's column is an edited copy of
that address.
If December 7, 1941, was the day that would live in infamy then June
6, 1944, was the day that would live in infinity. On this date fifty
years ago the invasion of France by Allied Forces began under the code
name, "Operation Overlord." A phalanx of ships totaling more than
5,000--of more than 100 different varieties--and 2,300 transport
planes carried more than 300,000 men into the greatest military
invasion in the history of the world. By July 4, nearly one million
soldiers had landed. They were met by 30 infantry divisions and 10
tank divisions of Hitler's best. At stake was the fate of the war in
Europe and the fate of freedom for the world. It was the German Field
Marshal, Erwin Rommel, who predicted that, "For the Allies, as well as
Germany, it will be the longest day." How right he was. By the end of
those twenty-four hours over 2,500 allied soldiers and sailors had ...   more »

Senior Israeli official says war with Iran may be "unvoidable." Meanwhile, Olmert's government on verge of collapse.
By Joel C. Rosenberg
 (Washington, D.C., June 6, 2008) -- Using some of his most apocalyptic rhetoric yet, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is vowing that the United States and Israel will soon be "annihilated," even as he refuses to abandon Iran's nuclear program.
Marking the 19th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, Ahmadinejad said: "Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started."
He also insisted that "I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene."
Are Israeli leaders thus planning to launch a massive air attack on Iran before the end of the year, or even before new national elections in Israel which may take place as early as November? Or are they trying to persuade the U.S. to do it before President Bush leaves office? Perhaps both. Which underscores the point I've been making for some ...   more »

Newsmax Magazine's blockbuster issue has major cover stories, including an exclusive special report by Newsmax contributing editor and Iran expert Kenneth R. Timmerman, "Six Days to War," which lays out the scenario likely to unfold if the U.S. and Iran go to war.
In Timmerman's report you'll find out why "Six Days to War" could happen sooner than you think — as many American assets are already "in position" for an attack.
Timmerman also details the deadliness and unintended consequences of a U.S. attack against an increasingly militant Iran.
That attack could come sooner than you think.
As the Bush administration ratchets up the pressure, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs says the military option is still on the table and warns Iran that the U.S. can launch massive strikes using Navy and Air power.
The new American commander in the region, Gen. David Petraeus, has also told Congress that Iran is supporting Iraqi insurgents killing Americans. President Bush said in a White House address that Iran, along with al-Qaida, are "two of the greatest threats to America."
Timmerman's report on the looming war with Iran is based on sources including top Israeli intelligence officers, military and political leaders interviewed ...   more »

Former Jew claims if people refused to accept deity, 'it would be a better world'
"Don't believe in God?" a bright blue billboard with images of puffy white clouds asks. "You are not alone."
The 20-by-60-foot sign alongside I-95 was designed by a group of area atheists as an invitation to join the Greater Philadelphia Coalition of Reason, or PhillyCoR, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
"If you don't ... [h]undreds of thousands of your neighbors in the Delaware Valley feel the same as you do," the organization's website declares.
Steve Rade, president of Wireless Accessories, Inc., gave the $22,500 to fund the billboard May 1, and he plans to keep it there until the end of August.
"Our mission is not to convince fundamentalists to change their position," Rade said. "What we want to do is give people questioning their beliefs a place to go for more information and to meet like-minded people."
PhillyCoR describes itself as a "joint effort to help you connect to local freethought and humanist groups near you; to provide you with information and a sense of community; to give you a way to combine your voice with others who are ready to move society forward."
Rade ...   more »

by Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene
The world economy is suffering from high inflation, stemming from overly expansionary monetary policy in the United States, as indicated by negative real interest rates and the rapidly depreciating dollar. Low interest rates discourage savings, reduce bond yields and cause investors to seek higher yields in speculative commodities and foreign currency markets. Consequently, energy and food prices have exploded to levels threatening social and economic upheavals.
Oil prices, by climbing from US$20 a barrel in 2001 to $135 barrel in May this year, illustrate the extent of the dollar's depreciation and interest rates distortions. Whereas a $100 bill would have bought five barrels of oil in 2001, now it buys only 0.74 barrel, losing approximately 85% of its real value.
Inflation imposes a heavy tax burden on dollar holders, cuts
disproportionately the real incomes of workers and pensioners, redistributes wealth in favor of debtors at the expense of creditors, and stifles economic growth.
Given that the US dollar accounted for 41% of total international reserves at the end of 2007, (against 17% for euros), its fast depreciation makes it a risky asset for holders and could lead to a run from the dollar toward ...   more »