Over
five centuries after the famed explorer's death, historians are taking a
fresh look at what motivated Christopher Columbus to make his voyage
across the Atlantic
-- and how his faith may have played into those motivations...
They
believe he was a Marrano, or a Jew who pretended to be a Catholic to
avoid religious persecution. These historians also theorize that Columbus
' main goal in life was to liberate Jerusalem
from Muslim control, and that he decided to take his historic quest to North America in order to find a new homeland for Jews who had been forced out of
Spain...
While these claims may be difficult to verify, the new portrait of Columbus
painted by these scholars adds a complicated layer to the already convoluted sentiment toward the famed explorer...
Columbus
' voyage was not, as is commonly advertised, funded by the deep pockets
of Queen Isabella, but rather by two Jewish Conversos and another
prominent Jew. Louis de Santangel and Gabriel Sanchez advanced an
interest free loan of 17,000 ducats from their own pockets to help pay
for the voyage, as did Don Isaac Abrabanel, rabbi and Jewish statesman.
Indeed, the first two letters
Columbus
sent back from his journey were not to Ferdinand and Isabella, but to
Santangel and Sanchez, thanking them for their support and telling them
what he had found...
Columbus
' will contained five provisions that some scholars believe to be
evidence of the explorer's true faith. Two of his wishes - tithe
one-tenth of his income to the poor and provide an anonymous dowry for
poor girls - are part of Jewish customs. He also decreed to give money
to a Jew who lived at the entrance of the Lisbon Jewish Quarter.
(Spanish Catholics of the time of the Inquisition would not do this for
Jews or Marranos - "pigs" - Jewish converts! Spaniards hated Jews, but
despised Jewish converts into Christianity.)
Food for Thought by Steven Shamrak
In
Australia, most of the people and politicians deeply care, at least
pretend to care, for the rights of the native people - Aborigines,
especially for their spiritual connection to the land. Most of the same
Australians do not care or
arrogantly reject
and are dismissive of the historic and spiritual connection of Jewish
people to Eretz-Israel, the Land of Israel! Do you observe the same
anti-Semitic pattern of hypocrisy in your country?
Is Israel
the Only Culprit?
"Israel
is the first, the main and the only culprit in the assassination of
Yasser Arafat," said Fatah Central Committee Tawfiq Tirawi who heads the
PA commission of inquiry into the Arafat's death. A Swiss investigation
found high-levels of radioactive polonium on the former Palestinian
leader's remains.
(What about Abbas, whose personal fortune is estimated more than $100M,
since he took over after Arafat's death? How about his 'beloved wife',
who lives in luxury in Paris
? And who administered polonium in Ramallah headquarters? Did they want to hide his AIDS problem? Why was he moved to France
- the country is renowned for its privacy laws?)
On Friday the first baby was born at the IDF field hospital set up the day before in the Philippines
. The field hospital includes x-ray and delivery rooms. (Israel-
'friendly' international press does not report this!)
Since the IDF delegation delegation -
234 Israeli doctors, nurses and paramedics - to the Philippines
landed last Thursday, the unit has treated over 370 wounded - 150 of them children - in a hospital in the city of Bogo
. (What have Arabs/Muslims done, beside the terror acts, to help others in time of need?)
During
their two-day visit to Cairo Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and
Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu will finalize an advanced Russian
weaponry deal for the Egyptian army.
Egypt
will receive a double-layered system for defensive and offensive needs:
a shield against stealth airplane, drone and cruise missile attack, as
well as missiles able to reach any part of the
Middle East. The Russian Navy may gain Mediterranean port facilities and a foothold opposite the Saudi coast. (
Egypt will spend 4 billion dollars on advanced Russian weapons. It does not need the
US financial aid!)
The Lebanese foreign minister Mansour accuses Israel
of
stationing "very sophisticated espionage devices" that enable it to "tap
into both wired and wireless communication networks." Mansour said
lawmakers in his country are planning to draft a complaint against Israel
to the UN Security Council for breaking international norms. (What norm? Has the UNSC criticized the US
for spying on allies?)
Egyptian
lawyers have filed criminal terrorism charges in the International
Criminal Court against President Obama in addition to the criminal
terrorism charges previously filed in Egyptian courts against the
president's half-brother Malik Obama. Malik Obama is a person of
interest in
Egypt for his alleged management of funds for a terrorist organization based in neighbouring
Sudan. President Obama is charged with crimes against humanity for his support of the Muslim Brotherhood in
Egypt. (Predictably,
this is not main-stream news! So-called free democratic media is not
interested in and does not investigate any allegations made against
Barack Obama.)
Ultimatum: Cancel
Building or Peace Talks Over
The PA president Mahmoud Abbas delivered an ultimatum on Tuesday, saying that unless Israel
cancels tenders announced earlier Tuesday on 20,000 new homes in Judea and
Samaria he would end the ongoing peace talks. (
Israel needs to issue its own ultimatum - "Recognise the Jewish state, stop terror or Peace Talks Over!")
Israel halts plans to build homes in Judea
and Samaria
. Israeli PM says plans caused "unnecessary conflict" with international community and potentially hindered Iran talks. (Where
Israel is concerned, there will always be conflict with the international community!)
Venom of Enemies' Hate
A PA minister for Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Habbash, has accused Israel
of
poisoning former PLO leader Yasser Arafat in the same way Jews "poisoned
Prophet Muhammad." Habbash repeated the charge that Jews had poisoned
Prophet Muhammad: "When the prophet was dying, he told Aisha (his wife):
'I feel the pain of the poison I ate in Khaibar (a Jewish town)'"
(The Prophet slaughtered Jews of Medina after they gave him shelter and
saved him and his followers from Arabs of Mecca. Well done if they did
avenge their brothers and sisters! I wonder - where did Jews of Khaibar
get Polonium? :)
Usual 'Peace Negotiation' Blackmail Game
The
PA negotiating team has resigned and will not participate in peace
talks with the Israelis. Ending the talks would be a blow to efforts by
the Obama administration to get long-stalled discussions back on track. (Arabs, fake Palestinians, do not want peace with
Israel. They make the
US exert pressure on
Israel to get more concessions, and escalate terror later!)
Quotes of the Week:
"If
we had to turn to a military option, because we are left no other
option, we must show the world we have exhausted every possible remedy
and opportunity."
- US Secretary of State John Kerry - Translation: Delay military option for as long as possible and say "it is too late, we can't do anything about it now" - after Iran
has assembled and tested its nuclear bomb!
by Anne Bayefsky
On October 29, 2013
, Israel
ended 18 months of non-participation with UN human rights mechanisms
that are dedicated to its demonization and defeat. The surrender spawned
victory laps by the UN, the State Department and bigots in foreign
ministries across Europe...
At every session of the UN Human Rights Council, 192 countries divide
into five regional groups, meeting out of the public eye to share
information, negotiate and assign jobs and resources - 192 of 193 UN
members, because Israel is excluded. Even non-UN members such as the
Palestinian Authority are allowed to attend regional group meetings.
The regional group to which Israel
most naturally belongs is the geographically disparate Western European and Others Group (WEOG). But WEOG - which includes Germany
and the United States - refuses
Israel equal admission...
There is no human rights explanation for the Human Rights Council's conduct towards Israel
. It denounces Israel
alone in over a third of all its resolutions, and has never once condemned the likes of
China,
Russia or
Saudi Arabia...
Now, Western governments could refuse to legitimize the body that sponsors this constant barrage of inequality directed at Israel
both before and after October 29. They could at least have ended the exclusion of Israel
from WEOG. Instead, they demanded that Israel
legitimize the "universality" fraud for a day.
As
it played out, countries lined up to denounce "Judaization" (the foul
presence of a Jew on Arab-claimed land), make wild accusations about
torture and systematic cruelty to children, and repeat the old
Zionism-is-racism canard of a Jewish state with a racist constitution...
If Israel
had insisted on genuine equal treatment, it would have done the real victims of human rights a favour. Absent American support, Israel
's Prime Minister succumbed to the mob.
1. The United States
and Israel
lost their voting rights at the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) a week ago after suspending funding
to the organization in 2011 when it admitted "Palestine
" as a member. In a controversial decision, UNESCO accepted the PA as a
member in October of 2011, after 107 members voted in favour of the
motion. Only 14 nations voted against, including the United States
, Canada,
Germany and Israel
. (Anti-Israel
feeling is so strong among international bigots that UNESCO is even
willing to lose its major financial contributor - US!)
2. The UN General Assembly elected 14 new members to the 47-seat Geneva-based Human Rights Council. Among new members are China
, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, Vietnam
and Cuba
. This election undermines the rights watchdog's credibility. (Is it really possible to undermine UN credibility? Does it have one?)
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