Free Republic

Like so many of my Israeli friends, I too have been disappointed with the pope's visit to Jerusalem this week, and not just because of the road closures and traffic snarls. No, the big disappointment is over the message delivered by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Yad Vashem - the most important leg of his Holy Land pilgrimage, from a Jewish perspective. His background as a conscript in the Hitler Youth and German army in World War II demanded something more personal and contrite from this particular pontiff. It was not enough to just say he was grateful...

The captain of a commuter plane that crashed Feb. 12 near Buffalo, N.Y., had flunked numerous flight tests during his career and was never adequately taught how to respond to the emergency that led to the airplane’s fatal descent, according to people close to the investigation, The Wall Street Journal reports. All 49 people aboard were killed, as well as one person in a house below, when the plane crashed just a few miles short of the Buffalo airport en route from Newark, N.J. The Bombardier Q400 turboprop in the crash, which will be the subject of a National Transportation...

Father Romuald-Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel didn't know he was born Jewish until 12 years after he became a priest. Now he wants to move to Israel. Photo: Courtesy The 78-year-old Holocaust survivor says Mass and tends to the other spiritual needs of the small Polish-speaking community in Jaffa. He also fasts on Yom Kippur and plans to be buried in a Jewish cemetery in his native Poland. He has asked the chief rabbi of Poland to say Kaddish at his funeral. His gravestone is already in the cemetery in Izbica where his mother and sisters were murdered. Pawlowski was born a Jew....

Here's something that has gotten lost in the drive to institute universal health insurance: Health insurance doesn't automatically lead to health care. And with more and more doctors dropping out of one insurance plan or another, especially government plans, there is no guarantee that you will be able to see a physician no matter what coverage you have.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's harsh criticism of Israel's plan to continue building in east Jerusalem met with little panic and no formal response on Sunday, a sign - one government source said - that with less than five months to the US elections, "it is not that important what she says anymore." "Comments that in the past would have set everybody abuzz, are not making much waves today," the source said. He attributed this both to the waning days of George W. Bush's administration, and a growing realization that the chances of finalizing any "shelf agreement" with the...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's persistent building of Jewish homes on disputed land undermines the U.S.-backed attempt to write an Israeli-Palestinian peace draft this year and invites questions about Israel's motives, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday. Using exceptionally harsh language, the visiting U.S. envoy said Israel must understand the pall its actions cast over talks and on the confidence of the United States, European nations and others that Israel is bargaining in good faith. She said the Jewish state has apparently picked up the pace of housing expansion since President Bush inaugurated negotiations with a splashy summit at Annapolis,...

With the confirmation of nearly $20 billion in new orders from customers in the Middle East, as well as a $10 billion deal with US Airways, Airbus looked to be flying high at the prestigious Paris air show on Monday. And with American rival Boeing comparatively stalled for takeoff, adding only $3.6 billion to its order book, has the European planemaker finally got the lift it's been waiting for? After a year of withdrawn orders and delivery delays, there was renewed confidence from the Middle East in Airbus' A380 double-decker "superjumbo" at the air show. Qatar Airways added three extra...

Pakistani-Born Pilot Sues JetBlue, Claiming Racial Discrimination NEW YORK (AP) -- A Pakistani-born pilot is suing JetBlue Airways Corp. for discrimination, claiming the airline rescinded a job offer and told him it was because of his background. Faisal Baig, a U.S. citizen who was raised in Yonkers, claims in the suit that an airline manager told him in March that he was a "security risk." According to the suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Baig asked, "Are you saying that you are not hiring me because of my name or my religion? ...

The Year in Hatred: Virulent Anti-US Cartoons from the PA Press 20:06 Dec 18, '05 / 17 Kislev 5766 By Scott Shiloh It was a banner year in the PA press for pernicious material attacking the U.S. led coalition in Iraq. A selection of poltical cartoons, inciting against U.S. forces in Iraq, are reproduced here. Before the Iraq war, the Palestinian Authority was one of Saddam Hussein’s staunchest allies. Since the United States led coalition toppled Saddam’s regime, the PA media regularly publishes material supporting the Iraqi insurgents, calling for killing American soldiers fighting in Iraq. Ironically, the Bush Administration,...

U.S. Violates Ban Against Funding Hamas 00:15 Dec 18, '05 / 17 Kislev 5766 By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu The American government's Agency for International Development has given the Hamas-controlled village of Bani Suhaila $392,000 for road projects, according to Middle East Newsline. It quoted the mayor of the town, where Hamas won 12 out of 13 seats in recent local elections, that he expects more projects for funding. Last May, David Satterfield, number two man in the State Department's Near Eastern Affairs bureau, declared that the Bush administration "will neither recognize nor engage with" Hamas or Hizbollah members who are...

If for no one else, here's a prayer for a Bush win - for our heroes in the military. http://www.gcsdistributing.com/UntilThenA.htm

Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” Genesis 18:32The ancient sages marveled at the exchange where Abraham argued for the pagans of Sodom and Gomorrah. What is about praying about the pagan culture around us that brings blessing upon us? Hidden within the account of the ‘for the sake of ten’ is a truth that defines who the ‘us’ is. We are the 'righteous'.For thousands of years, observant Jews have believed they...

Jets' tiny scratches get national attentionBoeing and the FAA are studying whether the marks are a sign of a major problem.By Leslie Miller Associated Press Posted on Thu, Oct. 28, 2004 WASHINGTON Boeing Co., working with federal safety officials, is investigating tiny scratches on some older-model planes to see whether the marks are evidence of a potentially dangerous problem with the jets' outer shells. The scratches, or scribe marks, occur when a plane is prepared for repainting, Boeing spokesman Jim Proulx said. Workers scrape off a sealant used on the joints that hold together sections of the aircraft's aluminum skin,...

New Georgia Flag Won't Whistle Dixie ATLANTA, April 4, 2003 The proposed Georgia state flag (AP) The new design comes from an unlikely corner, Rep. Bobby Franklin, a conservative Republican. He was once a strong supporter of the Confederate battle emblem, but has changed his mind. The current Georgia state flag, adopted in 2001, sharply reduced the size of the Confederate emblem. (AP) After months of debating Georgia's flag, state lawmakers struck a surprise compromise Friday — an entirely new flag that echoes an old Confederate flag but does not include the divisive Dixie battle emblem.

There has never been a war with such a high level of disinformation about what exactly is happening on the battlefield as the present conflict in Iraq, according to Israeli researchers and senior military officers. Former Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin Shahak, and Major Generals (res.) Yossi Peled and Ilan Biran, Brigadier General (res.) Avigdor Kahalani and Professor Martin van Creveld, are almost all in agreement on another point: Contrary to the sense that has been created in the last few days, including in the media, there have not been any particularly tough battles in Iraq so far, and the...

Here is a partial list of passengers on Air Midwest Flight 5481 (crashed 1/8/03 in Charlotte, NC): Albury, Caitlin West Palm Beach, Fla. Albury, Robin West Palm Beach, Fla. Congdon, Mark Baltimore, Md. Coyner, Keith Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Demartino, Forrest Dayton, Ohio Dubois, Sylvain Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Fonte, Richard E. Jacksonville, N.C. Gibbs, Jonathan (First Officer) Charlotte, N.C. Krassas, Steven J. Richmond, Va. Leslie, Katie (Captain) Charlotte, N.C. Spiak, Joseph M. Boston Sylvia, Ralph Richmond, Va.