>
>
>
>
>1. Why Yonaton Can't Read?
>
> Israel is currently in the process of transforming the "People of
>the Book" into the People who can't read a book. A few days ago we
reported
>to you the findings of a study that found that 35% of Israeli seventh
>graders cannot read properly, up from 19% in 1991. (My guess is that for
>Knesset Members it is closer to 100%.)
> But there is now more information on the reason for this.
>It seems that Israel is a captive of the same idiotic education fads that
>have destroyed so much of the American school system.
>America is unique in having the world's very best university system and at
>the very same time the very worst public school system in the
industrialized
>world. The main reason for this is that the universities compete against
>each other, whereas the school system is dominated by the public school
>monopolies, in turn controlled by the Teachers' Unions. Where merit is not
>rewarded and achievement and performance do not count.
>Curiously one of the main cannons in the Teacher Union arsenal used AGAINST
>school choice and vouchers is the bogeyman that privatized schools might be
>prone to teaching "fads", fashionable but unfounded teaching subjects and
>methods. The great irony here is that the truth is precisely the OPPOSITE
>case, diametrically so. The public schools are where PC fads and other
wacky
>fashions infiltrate readily. Parents in private schools can prevent
>introduction of PC wackiness, but not in public schools, where parent
voices
>count for squat.
>There are myriad such fads, probably the worst of which has been the cult
of
>self-esteem. Which holds that building self-esteem is the main way to get
>school children to learn. Stroking their egos and developing their
>self-indulgence. Not the self-esteem and satisfaction that are based on
>REWARD for actual achievement, but rather are its REPLACEMENT, compensation
>for LACK of achievement. And of course we all know that minority children
>are especially in need of stroking their self-esteem. Except that studies
>show black children in the US have the highest self-esteem and Asian
>children the lowest, and by Jiminy I do not think it is cause the Asian
kids
>can't read.
>Now all these fads tend to be imported into Israel. "Enlightened" Israelis
>seem incapable of resisting a furry PC fad, from homosexuality to
>environmentalism-via-blocking-all-highway-construction.
>One of the most harmful of such fads is "whole language". The idea is that
>instead of teaching kids to read via the old boring way of phonics and
>drilling, they are invited to immerse themselves directly into the
>wonderfulness of complete prose and paragraphs and are expected to conjure
>up reading skills, magically. I suppose it is the reading skill equivalent
>to certain methods of teaching music.
>And it does not work.
>US schools have been abandoning it in droves, but it is still as popular as
>sliced Challah in Israeli schools. California was the leading advocate of
>"whole language" in the 1980s and is now near the bottom of the scale of US
>states in reading achievement. Recently California, Massachusetts,
>Connecticut and a few others have passed laws outlawing it or at least
>requiring it be balanced with phonics. Israeli professors have been
signing
>petitions and lobbying to get rid of it. These include some, like Prof. of
>Education Iris Levine at Tel Aviv University, who advocated the
introduction
>of "whole language" in the past. Dr. Micah Razael of Bar Illan
University
>predicts that by 2047, no Israeli children at ALL will be able to read (if
>present trends continue, I guess).
>SO if Israeli schools can't teach kids how to read, what ARE they teaching?
>Well we know the answer to that. They are teaching that Zionism was a
>racist colonialist movement, that Jews mistreated Arabs, that the creation
>of Israel was a "catastrophe" for the Arabs, that the Arabs wanted peace
all
>along but the cussed Jews refused, that the Holocaust was where Gypsies,
>homosexuals and Jews got killed, and of course they learn about every
>incident where Jews ever harmed Arab civilians and they learn the poems of
>Palestinian terrorist Darwish.
>3. Hil Can't Win With the Jews
>By Sidney Zion
> New York Dailey News
>July 18, 2000
>
> If the Jews confuse First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, you
>can't
> hardly blame the poor girl. They love her in Tel Aviv, but
>she
>gets
> the fisheye in New York - and that's on a good day.
> She kisses Suha Arafat, and the Israelis throw flowers in
>her
>path,
> whereas there are certain sections of Brooklyn that her
>Secret Service agents won't enter.
> She was pilloried for advocating a Palestinian state when
>that
>was
> the sub rosa position of the Israeli government. Now that
>it's
>the
> official position, she keeps getting reminded of it here,
>not
>for
> her prescience, but as proof of her pro-Palestinian,
>anti-Israel bias.
> President Clinton is for a Palestinian state as much as Ehud
>Barak
> is, but he doesn't say so. The Jews of New York understand
>this,
>but
> they still love Bill. If they could, they'd vote for him
>again,
> despite that he daily kisses a very different cheek of Suha
>Arafat's
> husband.
> And today, there are Jews here who are outraged over the
>accusation
> by a Baptist that 26 years ago Hillary called him a "f-----g
>Jew
> bastard." This guy is not half the Jew that John the Baptist
>was -
> his paternal grandmother was Jewish, which would not qualify
>him
> under Israel's Law of Return, though he'd have made the cut
>at
> Auschwitz. But by laying this one on Hillary, he sure rates
>the
>F
> and the B words.
> Bill Clinton, the only witness who could testify for Hillary
>in
>that
> 1974 engagement on the night Bill lost his first campaign
>for
> Congress, called the Daily News on Sunday to deny the "Jew
>bastard"
> story. Which, of course, was the pure definition of "leading
>with
> your chin." Bill Clinton as truth-teller, as character
>witness?
> But what's a guy to do when his wife is jammed up? Sometimes
>you
> have to lie to your wife, sometimes you have to lie for your
>wife.
> The GOP impeached him for lying about Monica Lewinsky, which
>was
> nothing worse than lying to Hillary. And now they claim he
>lies
>to
> protect Hillary in her Senate race against Rep. Rick Lazio.
> If he lied about Lewinsky, why wouldn't he lie now? And if
>he
>didn't
> lie now, what kind of husband would he be? If he didn't
>speak now - forget about truth or lies - Hillary is dead in the water. She
>has been campaigning for a year, and she still can't get the polls to give
>her over half the Jewish vote.
>The
> general rule of thumb is that a Democrat must get close to
>two-thirds of the city Jews to overcome goyim in the suburbs and upstate.
> Imagine if Bill hadn't called The News, hadn't defended
>Hillary.
>The
> media would take this as acceptance, that the President
>agreed
>that
> his Hillary, not yet then his wife, threw out in passion an
>anti-Semitic canard.
> Bill did what he had to do, but this does not mean that he
>wasn't
> telling the truth. And who cares? I only care that Hillary
>goes along with Bill in his electric move to go along with Barak, who wants
>only to go along with Arafat.
> The only thing missing from Bill's defense of Hillary was
>what I
> think he really meant: "Some of my best friends are Jew
>bastards."
> At least his advisers who sit at his table in Camp David.
> With the future of the Jewish state at stake, Bill Clinton
>loves
> Yasser Arafat. Ehud Barak loves Yasser Arafat. The four Jews
>who
>sit
> with Clinton love Yasser Arafat.
> The New York Jews love all but Arafat and Hillary Rodham
>Clinton.
> If you confuse the Jews ... maybe you lose.
> Original Publication Date: 7/18/00
>
>
>
>
>2.
> > >
> > >Whose Jerusalem?
> > >
> > >
> > >By Daniel Pipes
> > >The Jerusalem Post
> > >Wednesday, July 19 2000
> > >
> > >(July 19) - With final-status talks between Israel and
>the Palestinians
> > >underway, Jerusalem is finally in play. At base, the
>argument here
> >consists
> > >of an argument between Jews and Moslems over who has the
>older, better
> > >documented, and deeper ties to the Holy City.
> > >
> > >A cursory review of the facts shows that there is not
>much of a contest.
> > >
> > >Jerusalem has a unique importance to Jews. It has a
>unique place in
> >Jewish
> > >law and a pervasive presence in the Jewish religion. Jews
>pray toward
> > >Jerusalem, mourn the destruction of their Temple there,
>and wishfully
> >repeat
> > >the phrase "Next year in Jerusalem." It is the only
>capital of the Jewish
> > >state, ancient or modern.
> > >
> > >In contrast, Jerusalem has a distinctly secondary place
>for Moslems. It
> >is
> > >not once mentioned in the Koran or in the liturgy. The
>Prophet Mohammed
> >never
> > >went to the city, nor did he have ties to it. Jerusalem
>never has served
> >as
> > >the capital of any polity, and has never been an Islamic
>cultural center.
> > >
> > >Rather, Mecca is the "Jerusalem" of Islam. That is where
>Moslems believe
> >that
> > >Abraham nearly sacrificed Ishmael; where Mohammed lived
>most of his life;
> >and
> > >where the key events of Islam took place. Moslems pray in
>its direction
> >five
> > >times each day and it is where non-Moslems are forbidden
>to set foot.
> > >
> > >Jerusalem being of minor importance to Islam, why do
>Moslems nowadays
> >insist
> > >that the city is more important to them than to Jews? The
>answer has to
> >do
> > >with politics. Moslems take religious interest in
>Jerusalem when it
> >serves
> > >practical interests. When those concerns lapse, so does
>the standing of
> > >Jerusalem. This pattern has recurred at least five times
>over 14
> >centuries.
> > >
> > >The Prophet. When Mohammed sought to convert the Jews in
>the 620s C.E.,
> >he
> > >adopted several Jewish-style practices - a Yom
>Kippur-like fast, a
> > >synagogue-like place of worship, kosher-style food
>restrictions - and
> >also
> > >tachanun-like prayers while facing Jerusalem. But when
>most Jews rejected
> > >Mohammed's overtures, the Koran changed the prayer
>direction to Mecca and
> > >Jerusalem lost importance for Moslems.
> > >
> > >The Umayyad Dynasty. Jerusalem regained stature a few
>decades later when
> > >rulers of the Umayyad dynasty sought ways to enhance the
>importance of
> >their
> > >territories. One way was by building two monumental
>religious structures
> >in
> > >Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock in 691 and Al-Aqsa Mosque
>in 715.
> > >
> > >Then the Umayyads did something tricky: The Koran states
>that God took
> > >Mohammed "by night from the sacred mosque in Mecca to the
>furthest
> >(al-aqsa)
> > >place of worship." When this passage was revealed (about
>621), "furthest
> > >place of worship" was a turn of phrase, not a specific
>place. Decades
> >later,
> > >the Umayyads built a mosque in Jerusalem and called it
>Al-Aqsa. Moslems
> >since
> > >then understand the passage about the "furthest place of
>worship" as
> > >referring to Jerusalem.
> > >
> > >But when the Umayyads fell in 750, Jerusalem lapsed into
>near obscurity.
> > >
> > >The Crusades. The Crusader conquest of Jerusalem in 1099
>evinced little
> > >Moslem reaction at first. Then, as a Moslem
>counter-crusade developed, so
> >did
> > >a whole literature extolling the virtues of Jerusalem. As
>a result, at
> >about
> > >this time Jerusalem came to be seen as Islam's third most
>holy city.
> > >
> > >Then, safely back in Moslem hands in 1187, the city
>lapsed into its usual
> > >obscurity. The population declined, even the defensive
>walls fell.
> > >
> > >The British conquest. Only when British troops reached
>Jerusalem in 1917,
> >did
> > >Moslems reawaken to the city's importance. Palestinian
>leaders made
> >Jerusalem
> > >a centerpiece of their campaign against Zionism.
> > >
> > >When the Jordanians won the old city in 1948, Moslems
>predictably lost
> > >interest again in Jerusalem. It reverted to a provincial
>backwater,
> > >deliberately degraded by the Jordanians in favor of
>Amman, their capital.
> > >
> > >Taking out a bank loan, subscribing to telephone service,
>or registering
> >a
> > >postal package required a trip to Amman. Jordanian radio
>transmitted the
> > >Friday sermon not from Al-Aqsa but from a minor mosque in
>Amman.
> >Jerusalem
> > >also fell off the Arab diplomatic map: the PLO covenant
>of 1964 did not
> > >mention it. No Arab leader (other than King Hussein, and
>he rarely)
> >visited
> > >there.
> > >
> > >The Israeli conquest. When Israel captured the city in
>June 1967, Moslem
> > >interest in Jerusalem again surged. The 1968 PLO covenant
>mentioned
> >Jerusalem
> > >by name. Revolutionary Iran created a Jerusalem Day and
>placed the city
> >on
> > >bank notes. Money flooded into the city to build it up.
> > >
> > >Thus have politics, more than religious sentiments,
>driven Moslem
> >interest
> >in
> > >Jerusalem through history.
> > >
> > >
> > > The writer is director of the Philadelphia-based
>Middle East Forum.
> > >
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