Posts by Jaime Ortega aka Arizona.:
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Farhang
Juan! As you know, after the 2002 peace proposal by the then Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the Arab League summit meeting in Beirut and re-endorsed at the Riyadh Summit in 2007, the entire Arab League declared that it would recognize the state of Israel in exchange for her complete withdrawal from the occupied territories (including East Jerusalem), but the Israeli government swiftly rejected it. Incidentally the Islamic Conference Organization, including Iran, has also endorsed that proposal. Iran’s official policy is that it will stand by any decision adopted by the Palestinians. Ironically, Ariel Sharon said that the new plan could not be accepted because it would replace US resolutions 242 and 338, which in fact Israel has no intention of implementing. Even HAMAS has grudgingly recognized Israel.
The founder of HAMAS, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was blown up in his wheelchair after morning prayers in March 2004 together with two bodyguards and nine bystanders, had offered a 100-year truce with Israel. HAMAS military commander Ahmed al-Jabari, who was killed in an Israeli strike as he was riding in a car in Gaza on 14 November 2012, which started the nine-day Israeli war with Gaza, was reportedly considering another long-time truce with Israel. So there has been no shortage of attempts by the Arabs to recognize Israel in return for her withdrawal from the occupied territories but Israel has officially annexed Jerusalem and has no intention of leaving most of the conquered territories.
The offer of money to buy East Jerusalem is a non-starter. However, as you say, now with the Palestinian Authority accepted as an observer member of the UN, it is time for all Arabs – and instead of making belligerent comments Iran should also joint them too – to push for the Arab League plan and for the international community to support them to achieve their goal, to ensure that Israel lives in peace with her neighbors, alongside an independent, viable Palestinian state.
Deadly Blasts in Iraq Targets Shia Muslims
May 18th, 2013
By Jaime Ortega.
A series of blasts have rocked the Iraqi capital and its neighborhood killing many people and wounding dozens – the deadliest wave of violence in eight months.
The news comes after eleven people were killed in series of bomb attacks in Baghdad and Kirkuk – Iraq’s two major cities – on Thursday, as five people were killed after a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at the entrance to a Shiite mosque.
One of the witnesses of the Friday bomb was a local unidentified policemen.
“I saw a bright flash followed by a strong explosion that shook the building. Glass was shattered everywhere, people immediately ran to the scene and started evacuating the wounded and the dead,” the local policeman said.
Hashim Munjiz a college student walking through the area also witness the explosion.
“I was about 30 meters from the first explosion. When the first exploded,” Munjiz said. “I ran to help them, and the second one went off. I saw bodies flying and I had shrapnel in my neck.”
The second bombing, at a funeral south of the capital, killed eight and wounded 11, according to medical sources.
A third attack consisting of two bombs exploded in a commercial area in a mainly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing at least 21 people and wounding 32.
Grocery store owner Hassan Alwan was among the worshippers who attended the Friday prayer in the al-Sariya mosque.
He said he was getting ready to leave after Friday prayers when he heard the explosion, followed a few minutes later by another.
“We rushed into the street and saw people who were killed and wounded, and other worshippers asking for help,” he said. “I do not where the country is headed amid these attacks against both Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq.”
Another explosion struck a cafe in Fallujah, which killed two people and wounded nine.
Tensions have been intensifying since Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect.
The protests, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country’s north on April 23.
Thus far, no group claimed responsibility for the bombings.
the three-day Iraqi death toll to 130, including Shiites at bus stops and outdoor markets in scenes reminiscent of the retaliatory attacks between the Islamic sects that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007.
After the collapse of Saddam Hussein dictatorship, an ethnic dilemma has caused Sunnies, Shiats and kurds to battleground territories causing civil strife.
In 2006, Shiats won the elections, causing hostility between Sunnie Muslims, preventing any outside influences of Iran in Iraq.
Meteor Impacts The Moon
May 18th, 2013By NASA.
The moon has a new hole on its surface thanks to a boulder that slammed into it in March, creating the biggest explosion scientists have seen on the moon since they started monitoring it.
The meteorite crashed on March 17, slamming into the lunar surface at a mind-boggling 56,000 mph and creating a new crater 65 feet wide. The crash sparked a bright flash of light that would have been visible to anyone looking at the moon at the time with the naked eye, NASA scientists say.
Bellow a video giving more details about the violent lunar explosion.
open source video, online video platform, video streaming, video solutions
New EU Budget Makes Dutch Politicians Unhappy
May 16th, 2013
THE HAGUE, May 15 (Xinhua) –Dutch politicians on Wednesday expressed their dissatisfaction about the additional Dutch contribution of up to 500 million euros (644 million U.S. dollars) to the European budget this year.
A compromise has been made on May 6 during the talks between the European Union’s law-making institutions, namely the European Commission, Parliament and the Council of Ministers, that an additional 11.2 billion euros was agreed to throw into this year’s EU budget as part of a wider deal on finances for 2014 to 2020.
According to the compromise, the extra 11.2 billion would be delivered in two tranches, a first tranche of 7.3 billion immediately while a second one of 3.9 billion later in the year.
The Dutch share of contribution of 350 million can rise to half a billion given the total of the two tranches.
During a debate in the Dutch parliament on Wednesday, MPs of the governing parties VVD (Liberals) and PvdA (Labor) said not to accept the deal and asked for research into other solutions. “At this moment we do not agree,” said VVD MP Mark Verheijen. Michiel Servaes of coalition partner PvdA called it “very disappointing” that Brussels needed extra money.
“It’s too easy to just accept this,” Mark said.
“This simply means that we have half a billion less to spend elsewhere and in this time of crisis this is very problematic,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans.
The total amount of 7.3 billion euros represents a rise of 5.5 percent on the original budget of 133 billion euros for this year, bringing overall spending to 140.3 billion euros.
The Netherlands argued a decision on extra money needed was premature, because a deficit is not certain yet. The Netherlands tried to prevent the decision, but could not found a majority. The Scandinavian countries and the United Kingdom were also against the additional contribution.
Despite the protests in the Dutch parliament, Dutch Minister of Finance Jeroen Dijsselbloem stated that there is nothing more to do. “That money will be lost to the EU,” said Dijsselbloem. “There is no space to change the decision. We also benefited sometimes from EU budget changes in recent years and now we don’t.”
Spanish Teenagers Protest Controversial Education Law
May 10th, 2013By Jaime Ortega.
The Spanish Government has postponed giving the green light on Friday to draft an Organic Law to Improve Education Quality (LOMCE), alluding to a lack of close economic aspects that accompanies the laws promoted by the Department of the Minister of Education , Culture and Sports.
The law was initiated by Jose Ignacio Wert, as reported by government sources.
The so-called ‘Wert Law’ has raised strong criticism from many areas in the community of education, and on Thursday, it became manifest by the large protest shown in the streets of major Spanish cities.
The strike has had the support of major unions and associations of parents and students.
In the case the Wert Law does not get reviewed by the Council of Ministers, the bill will not be transferred to the Congress of Deputies, initiating a parliamentary dilemma which will become a controversial dispute after 37 years on Spain’s democracy.
The Government’s aim is that the law is approved by “fall” so that they can fulfill the mandatory ten months to adapt the curriculum to the system on classrooms during 2014/2015, two years after its introduction.
The Congress adopted LOMCE as a piece of legislature on September 21. Since then, the promoter of the bill, Minister Jose Ignacio Wert, met with the board of the educational sector (trade unions) and a few autonomous communities, and submitted the initiative to the counsel of the School Board and the Council of State.
Wert will travel to Congress to find other ways other than those dictated by the law, to ensure education of spanish Castilian in Catalonia, and equal rights for children who are schooled separately.
The bill said “that communities have to financially support the centers who offer education in Castilian and, second, to guarantee by law the right of access to educational equality differentiated in some education centers.”
“It will start a process of reflection to assess whether it is applied to appropriate measures,” said the Secretary of the State of Education, Montserrat Gomendio, after hearing the law.
Another aspect that could be adopted by the Council of Ministers, is the design of courses which are offered as an alternative to religion, and that the opinion of the State Council may be discriminatory for students.
However, the current bill also envisages the disappearance of the current course of Education for Citizenship, which the State Council recommended to keep, but will not be heard in this regard.
“The incorporation or Werts Law includes the change for subject content,” Gomendio said.
The Spanish Supreme Court has amended by the Royal Decree before the start of the courses, to remove references to feelings and emotions, relationships between men and women, social prejudice, racist, xenophobic, or sexist, poverty in the world, the ‘feminization’ of, or exclusive nationalism as current problems among other issues.
Itineraries and weight of the subjects
Among the main novelties of the bill’s policy is the implementation of statewide assessments at the end of education in primary, secondary and high schools, as well as a test in 3rd grade for early detection of learning problems in students.
The Secundary Tittle for Education (ESO) and Baccalaureate tests will be needed to obtain a title to work. But some of the critical sectors called for “revalidation”, to replace the current selectivity, which is a test students must pass to be accepted in college.
In addition, the bill increases the capacity of the Ministry of Education to decide on the common content of class courses, while it gives freedom to schools and autonomies to do the same with external courses not categorized as important. Meanwhile, the workload will increase for subjects like Mathematics and the English Language.
A law of 400 million
As for the cost of the bill, although Wert said the bill would cost “cero”, the implementation and consolidation of such would take about 300 million euros. In January this year, the State addressed the costs to 408 million euros. 23 million in the first year, 130 in the second, and 255 in the third.
But could vary depending on the “success” in terms of drop outs. Both the School Board and the State Council warned of the need to provide sufficient resources to implement Werts Law.
In this regard, the bill provides for the creation LOMCE a Basic Training of two years, which will be compulsory and will replace the Initial Professional Qualification Programmes (PCPI), aimed at teenagers of age 15+. In addition, the Work Force Development Study (FP) will introduce middle grade, oriented professional sectors and facilitate the transition to higher level vocational training.
High School Student Arrested In Tempe For Holding Possession Of IED
May 8th, 2013Jaime Ortega.
Tempe, Arizona — 18-Year-old, Joshua Prater was arrested by Tempe police officers for being in possession of an Improved Explosive Device, otherwise known as (IED).
A woman found the device while she was cleaning a house. She also took several pictures of the bomb and other explosive materials, with her cellphone.
“The unidentified women, spotted what seemed to be an explosive device,” said Sgt, Mike Pooley of the Tempe Police department. ” She headed to the Tempe Fire Station, with the device.”
The bomb was successfully deactivated by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit.
Sgt Pooley said the explosive device could have resulted into “serious harm” and even “caused death” by detonation.
The police will open an investigation to clarify and understand how Prater, was able to obtain the materials that lead to the construction of the bomb.
Some online websites show how to fabricate IED’s explosives, which is commonly used by terrorist cells in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. http://
Prater is senior student at Marcos De Niza, a High School located in the city of Tempe.
Marcos de Niza High school principal, Frank Mirizio, sent a warning to parents and students “At this time, there does not appear to be any threat to the school or any individual.”
“This is an ongoing investigation,” Mirizio said. “We will be taking every precaution necessary to ensure the continued safety of students and staff. School will be held as usual.”
UPDATE:
Tempe Police found a bigger bomb inside the house capable of hurting and causing death.
Sgt. Pooley confirmed a search warrant had been issued to investigate the case in more detail, but doesn’t suspect any outside affiliations.
“We don’t suspect he had affiliations with any terrorist group,” Pooley said. “We believe he acted by himself and its not uncommon to see kids creating these devices for fun.”
Concerns point that Prater manufactured the bomb from online instructional websites.
“That’s what were thinking, that Joshua manufactured the device getting instructions in an online website,” Pooley said.
It raises questions, on the potential threats some of these online websites offer when distributing dangerous information to users without regulation.
Muslim Extremist Urge Muslims To Hack U.S. Drones
May 7th, 2013By Jaime Ortega.
Drone Flying Through Afghanistan.
The first issue published by Azan, a radical Islamic magazine written in English that supports Muslim extremism, global domination, and global Jihad. Stresses the importance to stop worldwide drone strikes, carried under the orders of the U.S. Government.
The unknown author confirms he is a “a terrorist,” and it’s perfectly reasonable to wear his “orange jump suit,” to kill americans.
He makes a call for all terrorist and Muslims to communicate effective ways to hack drone strikes.
“Any opinions, thoughts, ideas and practical implementations to defeat this drone technologymust be communicated to us as early as possible because these would aid the Ummah greatly in its war against the crusader-zionist enemy.”
The author stresses the importance of global Islamic collaboration and asks for unity in exchange of compliant divine rewards.
“It is not only a religious and human duty but also a firm obligation. The Muslims are like one body and if one part gets hurt, all the other parts feel the pain”
“the Muslim who helps a Muslim in a situation when the latter’s respect and honor is violated, then Allah Will Help him when he asks Allah for help. The Muslim is a brother of another Muslim and he saves him from destruction and helps and supports him.”
It also warns all Muslims that might not help share information, about the consequences their actions may lead into.
“The Muslim who does not help another Muslim in a situation where his (the latter’s) respect and honor is violated, then Allah does not Help him when he needs Allah’s Help.”
He also wrote that their mission goes beyond stopping the U.S., destined for world domination, and a Muslim global state.
The author finishes by implying that the U.S. Government is not giving a fair review in what he denotes as violent acts.
“The government says that I was obsessed with violence, obsessed with “killing Americans.” But, as a Muslim living in these times, I can think of a lie no more ironic.”
Israeli forces hold Pal Media cameraman Abdul Ghani Natsheh
May 6th, 2013By Mada.Org.
Palestine— Israeli occupation forces detained a photographer Abdul Ghani Natsheh during his coverage of the visit of the delegation general secretaries of education and culture committees in the National Arab Ibrahim campus on the West Bank city of Hebron.
Natsheh reported to MADA immediately after his release that he went to portray the delegation’s visit, during which an Israeli soldier named Bashtmh verbally assaulted him with abusive words. Natsheh asked the soldier, the reason for the verbal assault and got into a verbal altercation instead.
Natsheh continued his speech, saying: “Then came an officer of occupation army and left me under the sun for an hour and a half. She tried to force me to sign a statement that I did not agree on, and I refused to do so.”
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) condemns the continuing series of violations against Palestinian journalists. And calls on the international community to take a serious and urgent action in order to protect Palestinian journalists and freedom of expression. A right guaranteed for international law and rights.
Why CISPA?
May 6th, 2013
Claude Nougat
The central issue, as I see it, is this: does CISPA contain enough safeguards and limits on how and when the government may monitor a private individual’s Internet browsing information? Now, depending on your political coloring, you may think it does or you may think it does not. Liberals tend to see it as something dangerous for personal privacy and freedom. The internet industry, from Microsoft to Apple, adopt a more practical approach and see it as something useful to alert the US government about internet threats and cyber attacks.
Who’s right? To be honest, I’m not sure. It would require a detailed analysis of the law. It’s probably safe to say that the stalling in adopting the law is a healthy one, it gives more time to reconsider and ponder the question. How it will ultimately work out is difficult to say, but given te strong corporate lobbies in Washington, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the final CISPA that gets promulgated into law will be of the kind that Microsoft and Apple will like…”
Japan Signs Historic Nuclear Deal With Turkey
May 4th, 2013
By Jaime Ortega.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shakes hands with Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (right) after a press conference in Ankara on May 3, 2013.
The Turkish government has signed a deal with a Japanese-French consortium to build a new nuclear power station.
The $USD 22bn contract is Japan’s first bid for an overseas nuclear project since a tsunami wrecked the Fukushima power station.
The deal was signed by visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it would transform relations with Japan into a “strategic partnership.”
“What happened at Fukushima upset all of us. But these things can happen. Life goes on. Successful steps are being taken now with the use of improved technology,” the Turkish prime minister added.
The deal comes as part of renewed efforts to promote Japanese nuclear technologies abroad, despite concerns over safety.
One of the Japanese firms included in the consortium is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the companies behind the Fukushima plant damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Turkey is also prone to earthquakes, and the government cited Japan’s expertise in earthquake protection as one of the factors in signing the deal.
The other firms are Itochu Corporation and French utility group GDF Suez.
Japan is looking to boost exports of its technological expertise as it attempts to increase economic growth and escape two decades of near stagnation.
Fast-growing Turkey, meanwhile, is planning to invest in domestic energy generation to reduce its dependence on imports as the economy expands.
The new nuclear plant will be Turkey’s second. It is currently dependent on imported oil and gas to meet 97% of its energy needs.
Ancient Israel Linked With Japan
May 4th, 2013By Arimasa Kubo.
Many of the traditional ceremonies in Japan and their DNA
indicate that the Lost Tribes of Israel came to ancient Japan.
Japan and Israel karate match up showing friendship
| Dear friends in the world, |
I am a Japanese Christian writer living in Japan. As I study the Bible, I began to realize that many traditional customs and ceremonies in Japanare very similar to the ones of ancient Israel. I considered that perhaps these rituals came from the religion and customs of the Jews and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel who might have come to ancient Japan.
The following sections are concerned with those Japanese traditions which possibly originated from the ancient Israelites.
The reason why I exhibit these on the internet is to enable anyone interested in this subject, especially Jewish friends to become more interested, research it for yourself, and share your findings.
The ancient kingdom of Israel, which consisted of 12 tribes, was in 933 B.C.E. divided into the southern kingdom ofJudahand the northern kingdom of Israel. The 10 tribes out of 12 belonged to the northern kingdom and the rest to the southern kingdom. The descendants from the southern kingdom are called Jews. The people of the northern kingdom were exiledto Assyria in 722 B.C.E. and did not come back to Israel. They are called ”the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” They were scattered to the four corners of the earth. We find the descendants of the Israelites not only in the western world, but also in the eastern world especially along theSilk Road. The following peoples are thought by Jewish scholars to be the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
Yusufzai:
They live in Afghanistan. Yusufzai means children of Joseph. They have customs of ancient Israelites.
Pathans:
They live in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have the customs of circumcision on the 8th day, fringes of robe, Sabbath, Kashrut, Tefilin, etc.
Kashmiri people:
In Kashmir they have the same land names as were in the ancient northern kingdom of Israel. They have the feast of Passover and the legend that they came from Israel.
Knanites:
In India there are people called Knanites, which means people of Canaan. They speak Aramaic and use the Aramaic Bible.
Shinlung tribe (Bnei Menashe)
In Myanmar (Burma) and India live Shinlung tribe, also called Menashe tribe. Menashe is Manasseh, and the Menashe tribe is said to be the descendants from the tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. They have ancient Israeli customs.
Chiang (Qiang or Chiang-Min) tribe:
They live in China and have ancient Israeli customs. They believe in one God and have oral tradition that they came from far west. They say that their ancestor had 12 sons. They have customs of Passover, purification, levirate marriage, etc. as ancient Israelites.
Kaifeng, China:
It is known that there had been a large Jewish community since the time of B.C.E..
Japan:
I am going to discuss this on this website.
The “Suwa-Taisha” shrine
A Japanese Festival Illustrates the Story of Isaac.
In Nagano prefecture, Japan, there is a large Shinto shrine named “Suwa-Taisha” (Shinto is the national traditional religion peculiar to Japan.)
At Suwa-Taisha, the traditional festival called “Ontohsai” is held on April 15 every year (When the Japanese used the lunar calendar it was March-April). This festival illustrates the story of Isaac in chapter 22 of Genesis in the Bible – when Abraham was about to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. The “Ontohsai” festival, held since ancient days, is judged to be the most importantfestival of ”Suwa-Taisha.”
At the back of the shrine “Suwa-Taisha,” there is a mountain called Mt. Moriya (“Moriya-san” in Japanese). The people from the Suwa area call the god of Mt. Moriya ”Moriya no kami,” which means, the “god of Moriya.” This shrine is built to worship the “god of Moriya.”
At the festival, a boy is tied up by a rope to a wooden pillar, and placed on a bamboo carpet. A Shinto priest comes to him preparing a knife, and he cuts a part of the top of the wooden pillar, but then a messenger (another priest) comes there, and the boy is released. This is reminiscent of the Biblical story in whichIsaac was released after an angel came to Abraham.
At this festival, animal sacrifices are also offered. 75 deer are sacrificed, but among them it is believed that there is a deer with its ear split. The deer is considered to be the one God prepared. It could have had some connection with the ram that God prepared and was sacrificed after Isaac was released. Since the ram was caught in the thicket by the horns, the ear might have been split.
The knife and sword used in the “Ontohsai” festival
In ancient time of Japan there were no sheep and it might be the reason why they used deer (deer is Kosher). Even in historic times, people thought that this custom of deer sacrifice was strange, because animal sacrifice is not a Shinto tradition.
A deer with its ears split
People call this festival “the festival for Misakuchi-god”. “Misakuchi” might be “mi-isaku-chi.” “Mi” means “great,” “isaku” is most likely Isaac (the Hebrew word “Yitzhak”), and “chi” is something for the end of the word. It seems that the people of Suwa made Isaac a god, probably by the influence of idol worshipers.
Today, this custom of the boy about to be sacrificed and then released, is no longer practiced, but we can still see the custom of the wooden pillar called “oniye-bashira,” which means, “sacrifice-pillar.”
The “oniye-bashira” on which the boy is supposed to be tied up
Currently, people use stuffed animals instead of performing a real animal sacrifice. Tying a boy along with animal sacrifice was regarded as savage by people of the Meiji-era (about 100 years ago), and those customs were discontinued. However, the festival itself still remains.
The custom of the boy had been maintained until the beginning of Meiji era. Masumi Sugae, who was a Japanese scholar and a travel writer in the Edoera (about 200 years ago), wrote a record of his travels and noted what he saw at Suwa. The record shows the details of “Ontohsai.” It tells that the custom of the boy about to be sacrificed and his ultimate release, as well as animal sacrifices that existed those days. His records are kept at the museum near Suwa-Taisha.
The festival of “Ontohsai” has been maintained by the Moriya family ever since ancient times. The Moriya family thinks of “Moriya-no-kami” (god of Moriya) as their ancestor’s god. They also consider “Mt. Moriya” as their holy place. The name, “Moriya,” could have come from “Moriah” (the Hebrew word “Moriyyah”) of Genesis 22:2, that is today’s Temple Mount ofJerusalem. Among Jews, God of Moriah means the one true God whom the Bible teaches.
The Moriya family has been hosting the festival for 78 generations. And the curator of the museum said to me that the faith in the god of Moriya had existed among the people since the time of B.C.E..
Apparently, no other country but Japanhas a festival illustrating the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. This tradition appears to provide strong evidence that the ancient Israelites came to ancient Japan.
The Crest of the Imperial House of JapanIs the Same As That Found On the Gate of Jerusalem.
The crest of the Imperial House of Japan is a round mark in the shape of a flower with 16 petals. The current shape appears as a chrysanthemum (mum), but scholars say that in ancient times, it appeared similar to a sunflower. The sunflower appearance is the same as the mark at Herod’s gate in Jerusalem. The crest at Herod’s gate also has 16 petals. This crest of the Imperial House of Japan has existed since very ancient times. The same mark as the one at Herod’s gate is found on the relics of Jerusalemfrom the times of the Second Temple, and also on Assyrian relics from the times of B.C.E..
The mark on Herod’s gate at Jerusalem (left) and the crest of the Imperial House of Japan (right)
Japanese Religious Priests “Yamabushi” Put A Black Box on their Foreheads Just As Jews Put A Phylactery on their Foreheads.
“Yamabushi” is a religious man in training unique to Japan. Today, they are thought to belong to Japanese Buddhism. However, Buddhism in China, Korea and India has no such custom. The custom of “yamabushi” existed in Japan before Buddhism was imported into Japan in the seventh century.
On the forehead of “Yamabushi,” he puts a black small box called a “tokin”, which is tied to his head with a black cord. He greatly resembles a Jew putting on a phylactery (black box) on his forehead with a black cord. The size of this black box “tokin” is almost the same as the Jewish phylactery, but its shape is round and flower-like.
A “yamabushi” with a “tokin” blowing a horn
Originally the Jewish phylactery placed on the forehead seems to have come from the forehead “plate” put on the high priest Aaron with a cord (Exodus 28:36-38). It was about 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) in size according to folklore, and some scholars maintain that it was flower-shaped. If so, it was very similar to the shape of the Japanese “tokin” worn by the “yamabushi”.
A Jew with a phylactery blowing a shofar
Israel and Japan are the only two countries that in the world I know of that use of the black forehead box for religious purpose.
Furthermore, the “yamabushi” use a big seashell as a horn. This is very similar to Jews blowing a shofar or ram’s horn. The way it is blown and the sounds of the “yamabushi’s” horn are very similar to those of a shofar. Because there are no sheep in Japan, the “yamabushi” had to use seashell horns instead of rams’ horns.
“Yamabushis” are people who regard mountains as their holy places for religious training. The Israelites also regarded mountains as their holy places. The Ten Commandments of the Torahwere given on Mt. Sinai. Jerusalem is a city on a mountain. Jesus (Yeshua) used to climb up the mountain to pray. His apparent transfiguration also occurred on a mountain.
In Japan, there is the legend of “Tengu” who lives on a mountain and has the figure of a “yamabushi”. He has a pronounced nose and supernatural capabilities. A “ninja”, who was an agent or spy in the old days, while working for his lord, goes to “Tengu” at the mountain to get from him supernatural abilities. “Tengu” gives him a “tora-no-maki” (a scroll of the “tora”) after giving him additional powers. This “scroll of the tora” is regarded as a very important book which is helpful for any crisis. Japanese use this word sometimes in their current lives.
There is no knowledge that a real scroll of a Jewish Torah was ever found in a Japanese historical site. However, it appears this “scroll of the tora” is a derivation of the Jewish Torah.
Japanese “Omikoshi” Resembles the Ark of the Covenant.
In the Bible, in First Chronicles, chapter 15, it is written that David brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord into Jerusalem.
“David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. …Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the singers, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. So all Israelbrought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouts, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps.” (15:25-28)
When I read these passages, I think; “How well does this look like the scene of Japanese people carrying our ‘omikoshi’ during festivals? The shape of the Japanese ‘Omikoshi’ appears similar to the ark of the covenant. Japanese sing and dance in front of it with shouts, and to the sounds of musical instruments. These are quite similar to the customs of ancient Israel.”
Japanese carry the “omikoshi” on their shoulders with poles – usually two poles. So did the ancient Israelites:
“The Levites carried the ark of God with poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 15:15)
The Israeli ark of the covenant had two poles (Exodus 25:10-15).
Some restored models of the ark as it was imagined to be have used two poles on the upper parts of the ark. But the Bible says those poles were to be fastened to the ark by the four rings “on its four feet” (Exodus 25:12). Hence, the poles must have been attached on the bottom of the ark. This is similar to the Japanese “omikoshi.”
The Israeli ark had two statues of gold cherubim on its top. Cherubim are a type of angel, heavenly being having wings like birds. Japanese “omikoshi” also have on its top the gold bird called “Ho-oh” which is an imaginary bird and a mysterious heavenly being.
The entire Israeli ark was overlaid with gold. Japanese “omikoshi” are also overlaid partly and sometimes entirely with gold. The size of an “omikoshi” is almost the same as the Israeli ark. Japanese “omikoshi” could be a remnant of the ark of ancient Israel.
Many Things Concerning the Ark Resemble Japanese Customs.
King David and people of Israelsang and danced to the sounds of musical instruments in front of the ark. We Japanese sing and dance to the sounds of musical instruments in front of “omikoshi” as well.
Several years ago, I saw an American-made movie titled “King David” which was a faithful story of the life of King David. In the movie, David was seen dancing in front of the ark while it was being carried into Jerusalem. I thought: ”If the scenery of Jerusalemwere replaced by Japanese scenery, this scene would be just the same as what can be observed in Japanese festivals.” The atmosphere of the music also resembles the Japanese style. David’s dancing appears similar to Japanese traditional dancing.
At the Shinto shrine festival of “Gion-jinja” in Kyoto, men carry “omikoshi,” then enter a river, and cross it. I can’t help but think this originates from the memory of the Ancient Israelites carrying the ark as they crossed the Jordan river after their exodus from Egypt.
In a Japanese island of the Inland Sea of Seto, the men selected as the carriers of the “omikoshi” stay together at a house for one week before they would carry the “omikoshi.” This is to prevent profaning themselves. Furthermore on the day before they carry “omikoshi,” the men bathe in seawater to sanctify themselves. This is similar to an ancient Israelite custom:
“So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God ofIsrael.” (1 Chronicles 15:14)
The Bible says that after the ark entered Jerusalem and the march was finished, “David distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins” (1 Chronicles 16:3). This is similar to a Japanese custom. Sweetsare distributed to everyone after a Japanese festival. It was a delight during my childhood.
The Robe of Japanese Priests Resembles the Robe of Israeli Priests.
The Bible says that when David brought up the ark into Jerusalem, “David was clothed in a robe of fine linen” (1 Chronicles 15:27). The same was true for the priests and choirs. In the Japanese Bible, this verse is translated into “robe of white linen.”
In ancient Israel, although the high priest wore a colorful robe, ordinary priests wore simple white linen. Priests wore white clothes at holy events. Japanese priests also wear white robes at holy events.
In Ise-jingu, one of the oldest Japanese shrines, all of the priests wear white robes. And in many Japanese Shinto shrines, especially traditional ones, the people wear white robes when they carry the “omikoshi” just like the Israelites did.
Buddhist priests wear luxurious colorful robes. However, in the Japanese Shinto religion, whiteis regarded as the holiest color.
The Emperor of Japan, just after he finishes the ceremony of his accession to the throne, appears alone in front of the Shinto god. When he arrives there, he wears a pure white robe covering his entire body except that his feet are naked. This is similar to the action of Moses and Joshua who removed their sandals in front of God to be in bare feet (Exodus 3:5, Joshua 5:15).
Marvin Tokayer, a rabbi who lived in Japan for 10 years, wrote in his book:
“The linen robes which Japanese Shinto priests wear have the same figure as the white linen robes of the ancient priests of Israel. ”
Japanese Shinto priest in white robe with fringes
The Japanese Shinto priest robe has cords of 20-30 centimeters long (about 10 inches) hung from the corners of the robe. These fringes are similar to those of the ancient Israelites. Deuteronomy 22:12 says:
“make them fringes in the… corners of their garments throughout their generations.”
Fringes (tassels) were a token that a person was an Israelite. In the gospels of the New Testament, it is also written that the Pharisees “make their tassels on their garments long” (Matthew 23:5). A woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage came to Jesus (Yeshua) and touched the “tassel on His coat” (Matthew 9:20, The New Testament: A Translation in the Language of the People, translated by Charles B. Williams).
Imagined pictures of ancient Israeli clothing sometimes do not have fringes. But their robes actually had fringes. The Jewish Tallit (prayer shawl), which the Jews put on when they pray, has fringes in the corners according to tradition.
Japanese Shinto priests wear on their robe a rectangle of cloth from their shoulders to thighs. This is the same as the ephod worn by David:
“David also wore a linen ephod.” (1 Chronicles 15:27)
Although the ephod of the high priest was colorful with jewels, the ordinary priests under him wore the ephods of simple white linen cloth (1 Samuel 22:18). Rabbi Tokayer states that the rectangle of cloth on the robe of Japanese Shinto priest looks very similar to the ephod of theKohen, the Jewish priest.
The Japanese Shinto priest puts a cap on his head just like Israeli priest did (Exodus 29:40). The Japanese priest also puts a sash on his waist. So did the Israeli priest. The clothing of Japanese Shinto priests appears to be similar to the clothing used by ancient Israelites.
Waving the Sheaf of Harvest Is Also the Custom of Japan.
The Jews wave a sheaf of their first fruits of grain seven weeks before Shavuot (Pentecost, Leviticus 23:10-11), They also wave a sheaf of plants at Sukkot (the Feast of Booths, Leviticus 23:40). This has been a tradition since the time of Moses. Ancient Israeli priests also waved a plant branch when he sanctifies someone. David said, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean” [Psalm 51:7(9)]. This is also a traditional Japanese custom.
Shinto priest waving for sanctification
When a Japanese priest sanctifies someone or something, he waves a tree branch. Or he waves a “harainusa,” which is made of a stick and white papers and looks like a plant. Today’s “harainusa” is simplified and made of white papers that are folded in a zigzag pattern like small lightning bolts, but in old days it was a plant branch or cereals.
A Japanese Christian woman acquaintance of mine used to think of this “harainusa” as merely a pagan custom. But she later went to the U.S.A.and had an opportunity to attend a Sukkotceremony. When she saw the Jewish waving of the sheaf of the harvest, she shouted in her heart, “Oh, this is the same as a Japanese priest does! Here lies the home for the Japanese.”
The Structure of the Japanese Shinto Shrine is Similar to God’s Tabernacle of Ancient Israel.
The inside of God’s tabernacle in ancient Israelwas divided into two parts. The first was theHoly Place, and the second was the Holy of Holies. The Japanese Shinto shrine is also dividedinto two parts.
The functions performed in the Japanese shrine are similar to those of the Israeli tabernacle. Japanese pray in front of its Holy Place. They cannot enter inside. Only Shinto priests and special ones can enter. Shinto priest enters the Holy of Holies of the Japanese shrine only at special times. This is similar to the Israeli tabernacle.
The Japanese Holy of Holies is located usually in far west or far north of the shrine. The Israeli Holy of Holies was located in far west of the temple. Shinto’s Holy of Holies is also located on a higher level than the Holy Place, and between them are steps. Scholars state that, in the Israeli temple built by Solomon, the Holy of Holies was on an elevated level as well, and between themthere were steps of about 2.7 meters (9 feet) in width.
Typical Japanese Shinto shrine
In front of a Japanese shrine, there are two statues of lions known as “komainu” that sit on both sides of the approach. They are not idols but guards for the shrine. This was also a custom of ancient Israel. In God’s temple in Israel and in the palace of Solomon, there were statues or relieves of lions (1 Kings 7:36, 10:19).
“Komainu” guards for shrine
In the early history of Japan, there were absolutely no lions. But the statues of lions have been placed in Japanese shrines since ancient times. It has been proven by scholars that statues of lions located in front of Japanese shrines originated from the Middle East.
Located near the entrance of a Japanese shrine is a “temizuya” – a place for worshipers to wash their hands and mouth. They used to wash their feet, too, in old days. This is a similar custom as is found in Jewish synagogues. The ancient tabernacle and temple of Israelalso had a laver for washing hands and feet near the entrances.
In front of a Japanese shrine, there is a gate called the “torii.” The type gate does not exist inChina or in Korea, it is peculiar to Japan. The “torii” gate consists of two vertical pillars and a bar connecting the upper parts. But the oldest form consists of only two vertical pillars and a rope connecting the upper parts. When a Shinto priest bows to the gate, he bows to the two pillars separately. It is assumed that the “torii” gate was originally constructed of only two pillars.
In the Israeli temple, there were two pillars used as a gate (1 Kings 7:21). And according to Joseph Eidelberg, in Aramaic language which ancient Israelites used, the word for gate was “tar’a.” This word might have changed slightly and become the Japanese “torii”.
Some “toriis,” especially of old shrines, are painted red. I can’t help but think this is a picture of the two door posts and the lintel on which the blood of the lamb was put the night before the exodus from Egypt.
In the Japanese Shinto religion, there is a custom to surround a holy place with a rope called the “shimenawa,” which has slips of white papers inserted along the bottom edge of the rope. The “shimenawa” rope is set as the boundary. The Bible says that when Moses was given God’s Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, he “set bounds” (Exodus 19:12) around it for the Israelites not to approach. Although the nature of these “bounds” is not known, ropes might have been used. The Japanese “shimenawa” rope might then be a custom that originates from the time of Moses. The zigzag pattern of white papers inserted along the rope reminds me of the thunders at Mt.Sinai.
The major difference between a Japanese Shinto shrine and the ancient Israeli temple is that the shrine does not have the burning altar for animal sacrifices. I used to wonder why Shinto religion does not have the custom of animal sacrifices if Shinto originated from the religion of ancientIsrael. But then I found the answer in Deuteronomy, chapter 12. Moses commanded the people not to offer any animal sacrifices at any other locations except at specific places in Canaan(12:10-14). Hence, if the Israelites came to ancient Japan, they would not be permitted to offer animal sacrifices.
Shinto shrine is usually built on a mountain or a hill. Almost every mountain in Japan has ashrine, even you find a shrine on top of Mt. Fuji. In ancient Israel, on mountains were usually located worship places called “the high places”. The temple of Jerusalem was built on a mountain (Mt. Moriah). Moses was given the Ten Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai. Itwas thought in Israel that mountain is a place close to God.
Many Shinto shrines are built with the gates in the east and the Holy of Holies in the west as we see in Matsuo grand shrine (Matsuo-taisya) in Kyoto and others. While, others are built with the gates in the south and the Holy of Holies in the north. The reason of building with the gates in the east (and the Holy of Holies in the west) is that the sun comes from the east. The ancient Israeli tabernacle or temple was built with the gate in the east and the Holy of Holies in the west, based on the belief that the glory of God comes from the east.
All Shinto shrines are made of wood. Many parts of the ancient Israeli temple were also made of wood. The Israelites used stones in some places, but walls, floors, ceilings and all of the insides were overlaid with wood (1 Kings 6:9, 15-18), which was cedars from Lebanon (1 Kings 5:6). In Japanthey do not have cedars from Lebanon, so in Shinto shrines they use Hinoki cypress which is hardly eaten by bugs like cedars from Lebanon. The wood of the ancient Israeli temple was all overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:20-30). In Japan the important parts of the main shrine of Ise-jingu, for instance, are overlaid with gold.
Many Japanese Customs Resemble Those of Ancient Israel.
When Japanese people pray in front of the Holy Placeof a Shinto shrine, they firstly ring the golden bell which is hung at the center of the entrance. This was also the custom of the ancientIsrael. The high priest Aaron put “bells of gold” on the hem of his robe. This was so that its sound might be heard and he might not die when ministered there (Exodus 28:33-35).
Golden bell at the entrance of Shinto shrine
Japanese people clap their hands two times when they pray there. This was, in ancient Israel, the custom to mean, “I keep promises.” In the Scriptures, you can find the word which is translated into “pledge.” The original meaning of this word in Hebrew is, “clap his hand” (Ezekiel 17:18, Proverbs 6:1). It seems that the ancient Israelites clapped their hands when they pledged or did something important.
Japanese people bow in front of the shrine before and after clapping their hands and praying. They also perform a bow as a polite greeting when they meet each other. To bow was also the custom of the ancient Israel. Jacob bowed when he was approaching Esau (Genesis 33:3).
Ordinarily, contemporary Jews do not bow. However, they bow when reciting prayers. Modern Ethiopians have the custom of bowing, probably because of the ancient Jews who immigrated toEthiopiain ancient days. The Ethiopian bow is similar to the Japanese bow.
We Japanese have the custom to use salt for sanctification. People sometimes sow salt after an offensive person leaves. When I was watching a TV drama from the times of the Samurai, a woman threw salt on the place where a man she hated left. This custom is the same as that of the ancient Israelites. After Abimelech captured an enemy city, “he sowed it with salt” (Judges 9:45). We Japanese quickly interpret this to mean to cleanse and sanctify the city.
I hear that when Jews move to a new house they sow it with salt to sanctify it and cleanse it. This is true also in Japan. In Japanese-style restaurants, they usually place salt near the entrance. Jews use salt for Kosher meat. All Kosher meat is purified with salt and all meals start with bread and salt.
Japanese people place salt at the entrance of a funeral home. After coming back from a funeral, one has to sprinkle salt on oneself before entering his/her house. It is believed in Shinto that anyone who went to a funeral or touched a dead body had become unclean. Again, this is the same concept as was observed by the ancient Israelites.
Japanese “sumo” wrestler sowing with salt
Japanese “sumo” wrestlers sow the sumo ring with salt before they fight. European or American people wonder why they sow salt. But Rabbi Tokayer wrote that Jews quickly understand its meaning.
Japanese people offer salt every time they perform a religious offering, This is the same custom used by the Israelites:
“With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” (Leviticus 2:13)
Japanese people in old times had the custom of putting some salt into their baby’s first bath. The ancient Israelites washed a newborn baby with water after rubbing the baby softly with salt (Ezekiel 16:4). Sanctification and cleansing with salt and/or water is a common custom among both the Japanese and the ancient Israelites.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the words “clean” and “unclean” often appear. Europeans and Americans are not familiar with this concept, but the Japanese understand it. A central concept of Shinto is to value cleanness and to avoid uncleanness. This concept probably came from ancient Israel.
Similar to Judaism, in Japanese Shinto Religion, There Are No Idols
Buddhist temples have idols which are carved in the shape of Buddha and other gods. Howeverin Japanese Shinto shrines, there are no idols.
In the center of the Holy of Holies of a Shinto shrine, there is a mirror, sword, or pendant. Nevertheless, Shinto believers do not regard these items as their gods. In Shinto, gods are thought to be invisible. The mirror, sword, and pendant are not idols but merely objects to show that it is a holy place where invisible gods come down.
In the ark of the covenant of ancient Israel, there were stone tablets of God’s Ten Commandments, a jar of manna and the rod of Aaron. These were not idols, but objects to show that it was the holy place where the invisible God comes down. The same thing can be said concerning the objects in Japanese shrines.
Old Japanese Words Have Hebrew Origin.
Joseph Eidelberg, a Jew who once came to Japanand remained for years at a Japanese Shinto shrine, wrote a book entitled “The Japanese and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” He wrote that many Japanese words originated from ancient Hebrew. For instance, we Japanese say “hazukashime” to mean disgrace or humiliation. In Hebrew, it is “hadak hashem” (tread down the name; see Job 40:12). The pronunciation and the meaning of both of them are almost the same.
We say “anta” to mean “you,” which is the same in Hebrew. Kings in ancient Japan were calledwith the word “mikoto,” which could be derived from a Hebrew word “malhuto” which means “his kingdom.” The Emperor of Japan is called ”mikado.” This resembles the Hebrew word, “migadol,” which means “the noble.” The ancient Japanese word for an area leader is “agata-nushi;” “agata” is “area” and “nushi” is “leader.” In Hebrew, they are called ”aguda” and “nasi.”
When we Japanese count, “One, two, three… ten,” we sometimes say:
“Hi, fu, mi, yo, itsu, mu, nana, ya, kokono, towo.”
This is a traditional expression, but its meaning is unknown it is thought of as being Japanese.
It has been said that this expression originates from an ancient Japanese Shinto myth. In the myth, the female god, called “Amaterasu,” who manages the world’s sunlight, once hid herself in a heavenly cave, and the world became dark. Then, according to the oldest book of Japanese history, the priest called “Koyane” prayed with words before the cave and in front of the other gods to have “Amaterasu” come out. Although the words said in the prayer are not written, a legend says that these words were, “Hi, fu, mi….”
“Amaterasu” is hiding in a heavenly cave; “Koyane” is praying and “Uzume” is dancing.
Joseph Eidelberg stated that this is a beautiful Hebrew expression, if it is supposed that there were some pronunciation changes throughout history. These words are spelled:
“Hifa mi yotsia ma na’ne ykakhena tavo.”
This means: “The beautiful (Goddess). Who will bring her out? What should we call out (in chorus) to entice her to come?” This surprisingly fits the situation of the myth.
Moreover, we Japanese not only say, “Hi, hu, mi…,” but also say with the same meaning:
“Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yottsu, itsutsu, muttsu, nanatsu, yattsu, kokonotsu, towo.”
Here, “totsu” or “tsu” is put to each of “Hi, hu, mi…” as the last part of the words. But the last “towo” (which means ten) remains the same. “Totsu” could be the Hebrew word “tetse,” which means, “She comes out. “ And ”tsu” may be the Hebrew word “tse” which means “Come out.”
Eidelberg believed that these words were said by the gods who surrounded the priest, “Koyane.”That is, when “Koyane” first says, “Hi,” the surrounding gods add, “totsu” (She comes out) in reply, and secondly, when “Koyane” says, “Fu,” the gods add “totsu” (tatsu), and so on. In this way, it became “Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu….”
However, the last word, “towo,” the priest, “Koyane,” and the surrounding gods said together. If this is the Hebrew word “tavo,” it means, “(She) shall come.” When they say this, the female god, “Amaterasu,” came out.
“Hi, fu, mi…” and “Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu…” later were used as the words to count numbers.
In addition, the name of the priest, “Koyane,” sounds close to a Hebrew word, “kohen,” which means, “a priest.” Eidelberg showed many other examples of Japanese words (several thousand) which appeared to have a Hebrew origin. This does not appear to be accidental.
In ancient Japanese folk songs, many words appear that are not understandable as Japanese. Dr.Eiji Kawamorita considered that many of them are Hebrew. A Japanese folk song in Kumamotoprefecture is sung, “Hallelujah, haliya, haliya, tohse, Yahweh, Yahweh, yoitonnah….” This also sounds as if it is Hebrew.
Similarity Between the Biblical Genealogy and Japanese Mythology
There is a remarkable similarity between the Biblical article and Japanese mythology. A Japanese scholar points out that the stories around Ninigi in the Japanese mythology greatly resemble the stories around Jacob in the Bible.
In the Japanese mythology, the Imperial family of Japanand the nation of Yamato (the Japanese) are descendants from Ninigi, who came from heaven. Ninigi is the ancestor of the tribe of Yamato, or Japanese nation. While Jacob is the ancestor of the Israelites.
In the Japanese mythology, it was not Ninigi who was to come down from heaven, but the other. But when the other was preparing, Ninigi was born and in a result, instead of him, Ninigicame down from heaven and became the ancestor of the Japanese nation. In the same way, according to the Bible, it was Esau, Jacob’s elder brother, who was to become God’s nation but in a result, instead of Esau, God’s blessing for the nation was given to Jacob, and Jacob became the ancestor of the Israelites.
And in the Japanese mythology, after Ninigi came from heaven, he fell in love with a beautiful woman named Konohana-sakuya-hime and tried to marry her. But her father asked him to marry not only her but also her elder sister. However the elder sister was ugly and Ninigi gave her back to her father. In the same way, according to the Bible, Jacob fell in love with beautiful Rachel and tried to marry her (Genesis chapter 29). But her father says to Jacob that he cannot give the younger sister before the elder, so he asked Jacob to marry the elder sister (Leah) also. However the elder sister was not so beautiful, Jacob disliked her. Thus, there is a parallelism between Ninigi and Jacob.
And in the Japanese mythology, Ninigi and his wife Konohana-sakuya-hime bear a child namedYamasachi-hiko. But Yamasachi-hiko is bullied by his elder brother and has to go to the country of a sea god. There Yamasachi-hiko gets a mystic power and troubles the elder brother by giving him famine, but later forgives his sin. In the same way, according to the Bible, Jacob and his wife Rachel bear a child named Joseph. But Joseph is bullied by his elder brothers and had to go to Egypt. There Joseph became the prime minister of Egypt and gets power, and when the elder brothers came to Egypt because of famine, Joseph helped them and forgives their sin. Thus, there is a parallelism between Yamasachi-hiko and Joseph.
Similarity between the biblical genealogy and Japanese mythology
And in the Japanese mythology, Yamasachi-hiko married a daughter of the sea god, and bore a child named Ugaya-fukiaezu. Ugaya-fukiaezu had 4 sons. But his second and third sons were gone to other places. The forth son is emperor Jinmu who conquers the land of Yamato. On this line is the Imperial House of Japan.
While, what is it in the Bible? Joseph married a daughter of a priest in Egypt, and bore Manasseh and Ephraim. Ephraim resembles Ugaya-fukiaezu in the sense that Ephraim had 4 sons, but his second and third sons were killed and died early (1 Chronicles 7:20-27), and a descendant from the forth son was Joshua who conquered the land of Canaan (the land ofIsrael). On the line of Ephraim is the Royal House of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
Thus we find a remarkable similarity between the biblical genealogy and Japanese mythology – between Ninigi and Jacob, Yamasachi-hiko and Joseph, and the Imperial family of Japan and the tribe of Ephraim.
Furthermore, in the Japanese mythology, the heaven is called Hara of Takama (Takama-ga-haraor Takama-no-hara). Ninigi came from there and founded the Japanese nation. Concerning this Hara of Takama, Zen’ichirou Oyabe, a Japanese researcher, thought that this is the city Haraninthe region of Togarmah where Jacob and his ancestors once lived; Jacob lived in Haran ofTogarmah for a while, then came to Canaanand founded the Israeli nation.
Jacob once saw in a dream the angels of God ascending and descending between the heaven and the earth (Genesis 28:12), when Jacob was given a promise of God that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. This was different from Ninigi’s descending from heaven, but resembles it in image.
Thus, except for details, the outline of the Japanese mythology greatly resembles the records of the Bible. It is possible to think that the myths of Kojiki and Nihon-shoki, the Japanese chronicles written in the 8th century, were originally based on Biblical stories but later added with various pagan elements. Even it might be possible to think that the Japanese mythology was originally a kind of genealogy which showed that the Japanese are descendants from Jacob, Joseph, and Ephraim.
Impurity during Menstruation and Bearing Child
The concept of uncleanness during menstruation and bearing child has existed in Japan since ancient times. It has been a custom in Japan since old days that woman during menstruation should not attend holy events at shrine. She could not have sex with her husband and had to shut herself up in a hut (called Gekkei-goya in Japanese), which is built for collaboration use in village, during her menstruation and several days or about 7 days after the menstruation. This custom had been widely seen in Japan until Meiji era (about 100 years ago). After the period of shutting herself up ends, she had to clean herself by natural water as river, spring, or sea. It there is no natural water, it can be done in bathtub.
This resembles ancient Israeli custom very much. In ancient Israel, woman during menstruation could not attend holy events at the temple, had to be apart from her husband, and it was custom to shut herself up in a hut during her menstruation and 7 days after the menstruation (Leviticus 15:19, 28). This shutting herself up was said “to continue in the blood of her purification”, and this was for purification and to make impurity apart from the house or the village.
Menstruation hut used by Falasha, Ethiopian Jews
This remains true even today. There are no sexual relations, for the days of menstruation and an additional 7 days. Then the woman goes to the Mikveh, ritual bath. The water of the Mikvehmust be natural water. There are cases of gathering rainwater and putting it to the Mikvehbathtub. In case of not having enough natural water, water from faucet is added.
Modern people may feel irrational about this concept but women during menstruation or bearing child need rest physically and mentally. Woman herself says that she feels impure in her blood in the period. “To continue in the blood of her purification” refers to this need of rest of her blood.
Not only concerning menstruation, but also the concept concerning bearing child in Japanese Shinto resembles the one of ancient Israel.
A mother who bore a child is regarded unclean in a certain period. This concept is weak amongthe Japanese today, but was very common in old days. The old Shinto book, Engishiki (the 10th century C.E.), set 7 days as a period that she cannot participate in holy events after she bore a child. This resembles an ancient custom of Israel, for the Bible says that when a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be “unclean 7 days”. She shall then “continue in the blood of her purification 33 days”. In the case that she bears a female child, then she shall be “unclean two weeks”, and she shall “continue in the blood of her purification 66 days’” (Leviticus 12:2-5).
In Japan it had been widely seen until Meiji era that woman during pregnancy and after bearing child shut herself up in a hut (called Ubu-goya in Japanese) and lived there. The period was usually during the pregnancy and 30 days or so after she bore a child (The longest case was nearly 100 days). This resembles the custom of ancient Israel.
In ancient Israel, after this period of purification the mother could come to the temple with her child for the first time. Also in the custom of Japanese Shinto, after this period of purification the mother can come to the shrine with her baby. In modern Japan it is generally 32 days (or 31 days) after she bore the baby in case of a male, and 33 days in case of a female.
But when they come to the shrine, it is not the mother who carries the baby. It is a traditional custom that the baby should be carried not by the mother, but usually by the husband’s mother (mother-in-law). This is a remarkable similarity of purity and impurity of the mother, after childbirth, with ancient Israeli custom.
Japanese “Mizura” and Jewish Peyot
The photo below (left) is a statue of an ancient Japanese Samurai found in relics of the late 5th century C.E. in Nara, Japan. This statue shows realistically the ancient Japanese men’s hair stylecalled “mizura,” which hair comes down under his cap and hangs in front of both ears with some curling. This hair style was widely seen among Japanese Samurais, and it was unique to Japan, not the one which came from the cultures of China or Korea.
Ancient Japanese Samurai’s hair style “mizura” (left) and Jewish “peyot” (right)
Is it a mere coincidence that this resembles Jewish “peyot” (payot) very much, which is also ahair style of hanging the hair in front of the ears long with some curling (photo right)? “Peyot” is a unique hair style for Jews and the origin is very old. Leviticus 19:27 of the Bible mentions:
“‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head.”
So, this custom originated from the ancient Israelites. The “peyot” custom of today’s Hasidic Jews is a recovery of this ancient custom. Yemenite Jews have had this custom since ancient times. There is a statue from Syria, which is from the 8th or 9th century B.C.E.. It shows a Hebrew man with peyot and a fringed shawl.
DNA Research on the Japanese and Jews
DNA shows the common ancestry of the Japanese and Jews
Recent DNA researches on Y-chromosome showed that about 40 % of the Japanese have DNA of haplogroup D. Y-chromosome DNA is passed from father to son, and is classified according to genetic features into genetic groups called “haplogroups” from A to T. Only Japanese and Tibetan peoples in the world have haplogroup D at a high frequency. D is rarely found even among the Chinese and Koreans.
According to geneticists, haplogroup D is the compatriot of haplogroup E, which is found in all Jewish groups of the world. Haplogroups D and E were once one and have the common origin, as Wikipedia encyclopedia states:
“Along with haplogroup E, D contains the distinctive YAP polymorphism, which indicates their common ancestry.” [Haplogroup D (Y-DNA)]
According to Family Tree DNA, a DNA test provider, especially E1b1b1 type of haplogroup E is “found in all Jewish populations, from Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Kurdish, Yemen, Samaritan and even among Djerba Jewish groups.” They use this genetic marker to find Jewish descendants.
The Pathans in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who are said to be descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, have haplogroup E remarkably. The Uzbekistan Jews, who are also said to be from the Lost Tribes, have haplogroup E at the frequency of 28 %. The Falasha, Ethiopian Jews, have haplogroup E at 50 %. Haplogroup E is found even among those said to be from the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Haplogroups D and E were once one, but became separate in the Near East. Those who remained in the Near East or went west became Jews, while those who moved east became the Lost Tribes of Israel in the East, including”Israelite Tibetans” and the Japanese.
What I call “Israelite Tibetans” are the Chiang (Qiang) people (southwest China), the Shinlung(Bnei Menashe, northeast India) and the Karen (Myanmar). They all live near Tibet and speak language of Tibet-Burma language group. Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail of Amishav thinks that these tribes are descendants of the Lost Tribes, because they have many ancient Israeli customs. It is noteworthy that especially 23% of the Chiang people have haplogroup D, which came from the common ancestor with E. The Japanese, having haplogroup D also, are closely related to them.
Rabbi Avichail thinks that these Chiang, Shinlung and Karen were once one and the same tribe, because they all once wandered in China, were persecuted by the Chinese and lost the Torah there, having the same legends and customs. It seems that the origins of the Japanese and these Israelite Tibetans were once the same.
Current Jews, both Ashkenazi and Sephardic, mainly have haplogroups J, E and R. It is thoughtthat ancient Jews mainly had haplogroups J and E.
Some people think that especially J was peculiar to original Jews, because about 80% of paternally inherited Cohen families, who are descendants of the High Priest Aaron, belong to J. However, Aaron was a Levite, and J is found among paternal Levites only at a relatively low frequency. The Levites have haplogroup E as other Jews do, and Samaritan Levite priests belong to haplogroup E. For haplogroup E is found in all Jewish groups of the world, E had been a distinctive Jewish haplogroup since before the diaspora of 70 C.E..
Israelites had experienced blood mixing since very early times. The Bible mentions about the exodus from Egypt, ”Many other people who were not Israelites went with them” (Exodus 12:38, New Century Version). Moses many times mentioned about foreigners living among his people. They could become Israelites if circumcised and living as Israelites (Exodus 12:48, etc). There were thussome haplogroups found among ancient Israelites.
However, most of the peoples who are said to be from the Lost Tribes of Israel do not have haplogroup J, including the following peoples:
*Chiang (Qiang, southwest China)
*Bnei Menashe (Shinlung, northeast India)
*Karen (Myanmar)
*Bene Ephraim (South India)
*Beta Israel (Falasha, Ethiopia)
*Bukharan Jews (Persian Jews)
*Igbo Jews (Nigeria)
The Japanese also do not have haplogroup J. It seems that the basic haplogroup of ancient Israelites was haplogroup E or haplogroup DE (ancestor of haplogroups D and E). Today, the Pathans and Uzbekistan Jews, who are the Lost Tribes of Israel living in West Asia or Central Asia, have haplogroup E. While in the East, the Chiang and the Japanese have haplogroup D.
D and E were once one. The Japanese are genetically from the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Midsize Earthquake Is Felt in Pakistan and India
May 1st, 2013By Jaime Ortega.
A medium size magnitude earthquake with a preliminary of 5.7 struck northwest Pakistan and India, according to the US Geological Survey.
The cities affected in Pakistan included Lahore, Peshawar, Jhang, Sargodha, Narowal, Gujrat, Sialkot, Skardu, Chiniot and Kasur.There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties.
“The quake was 10 kms deep and struck at 6:57 GMT about 140 km northeast of Sialkot in Pakistan,” according to the USGS. Powerful, medium size quakes are capable of causing extensive damage.
Pakistan bore the brunt of a powerful quake centred in Iran last month, killing at least 35 people in Pakistan and destroying hundreds of houses.
In Northern India, two persons were killed, and 69, including 32 students, were injured and scores of buildings damaged in Jammu and Kashmir.Twin districts of Kishtwar and Doda in Jammu region were the hardest hit where nearly 400 structures, including schools, hospitals and houses, developed cracks.
The quake in India, measured 5.8 on the Richter scale, struck Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of North India including the national capital and its satellite towns around 12.27 pm.
The tremors of the quake were felt in Punjab and Haryana but there were no immediate reports of any casualty or damage in either of the two states.
In Himachal Pradesh, the shake lasted nearly 30 seconds and was felt from tribal Lahaul and Spiti valley to foothills of Una.
A few houses were damaged in Chamba as frightened people scampered out of their houses on to the streets in the hill state.
The quake was also felt in Kangra, Palampur, Solan, Hamirpur and other places in the state but no one was injured.
The Larger CISPA of the Cyber Security Issue
April 28th, 2013By Jaime Ortega.
Private information computer image
One of the prime tasks of our generation is to set forth new laws that can allow cybersecurity and privacy rights to work together in perfect harmony.
During the Boston Marathon massacre and conveniently under the media radar, a legislation bill passed that could have profound implications for U.S. citizens.
The piece of legislation proposed could be far more controversial than the U.S. PATRIOT Act. Introduced by the Senate, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. The title of the Act stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act.
The PATRIOT ACT is a law used by the Government to fight terrorism threats inside the U.S. But over the decade, the controversial nature of the bill has prevailed latent, as said back in 2007 by Suzanne Spaulding, Fmr. CIA Senior Attorney, “It is inevitable that totally innocent Americans are going to be affected by these programs.”
The National Security Agency has increased its operations inside the U.S. in cooperation with many quasi-private security companies like AEGIS, Sierra GK, Control Risks Group, Stratfor and InfraGard, to expand ‘information awareness’ operations regarding national security within the U.S.
William Weaver, a Fmr. NSA Analyst said, “The average person doesn’t have a concept of the massive capability that is available to the National Security Agency.”
“Forget about the idea of the guy with the earphones on, listening to something. That’s not what happens.” Weaver said. “You know, the calls are being sucked up by the millions. And not just the calls — you’re engaged with data mining.”
Opposite to the nature of ‘data mining’ which clearly violates the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, could cybersecurity just be a good excuse to invade your personal information?
U.S. Internet security experts believe “almost all” powerful institutions in the Nation’s Capital have been penetrated by Chinese “cyber-spies” despite persistent denials by China about such activity.
“I’ve yet to come across a network that hasn’t been breached,” said Shawn Henry, former head of cybersecurity for the FBI and president of another security company, CrowdStrike Services. “It’s like having an invisible man in your room, going through your filing cabinets.”
“The dark secret is there is no such thing as a secure unclassified network,” said James A. Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This is one of the most prominent Washington think-tanks and according to the report has also been hacked in the past.
It’s not just corporations and governments being targeted by foreign intelligence spies, but also higher education institutions.
In a February interview Frank Figliuzzi, Federal Bureau of Investigation assistant director for Counterintelligence stated in the Bureau’s Washington headquarters, “We have intelligence and cases indicating that U.S. universities are indeed a target of foreign intelligence services.”
To confirm the problematic nature of cybersecurity and spying, about a month ago another case of dangerous information sharing was silently overlooked by most media networks.
Benjamin Bishop, 59, was arrested on charges that he communicated U.S. National security secrets to a 27-year-old woman, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China. The charges against Mr. Bishop come against the backdrop of deepening, and increasingly public, U.S. suspicions directed toward China’s government over its knowledge of, or participation in, cyber attacks against the U.S. and American businesses. According to U.S. officials cybersecurity was a topic of discussion in Beijing between U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and China’s new president, Xi Jinping. Over the past six years cybersecurity programs have increased to counterbalance the rapid growth of internet utilities to ploy alongside other controversial bills like the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, (PIPA), introduced unsuccessfully to the Senate on 2012.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, known as CISPA, in a 288-127 vote. The bill would give businesses and the federal government legal protection to share information on cyber threats with each other to enhance the nation’s cybersecurity.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and the committee’s ranking member Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) said that they believe that the nation’s cyber defenses would be best improved through legislation, not White House executive order, and that’s the reason they want to try a second time to get their bill through both houses of Congress.
The bill failed last year in part because it faced strong opposition from civil liberties groups on the grounds that it did not carry strong enough privacy measures.
Noting the high cost of cyber attacks to the U.S. economy and to national security, stronger measures are needed to “enable American companies to defend themselves against these devastating cyberattacks,” Ruppersberger said. “Our bill does just that by permitting the voluntary sharing of critical threat intelligence while preserving important civil liberties.”
“American businesses are under siege,” Rogers said. “We need to provide American companies the information they need to better protect their networks from these dangerous cyber threats. It is time to stop admiring this problem and deal with it immediately. Congress urgently needs to pass our cyber threat information sharing bill to protect our national security, our economy and U.S. jobs.”
But some experts disagree. Joel Dubin, CISSP, an independent computer security consultant specializing in Web and application security is worried about the potential threats involved with granting access to a third-party provider. “Giving any third-party provider access to your company’s systems is a security risk,” Dubin said. ”Even if there’s no malicious intent, or the access is provided for a legitimate business purpose, it should be strictly controlled, if not prohibited.” Dubin says that granting system access to an outsider lowers your security level to that of the external provider. “If they have feeble controls, they become the weakest link in your security chain,” Dublin said. “If a hacker compromises their system, he or she can use that as a backdoor into your network. In parallel, as their risk increases, so does yours.” Key lawmakers suggested that the controversial CISPA, will soon die in the U.S. Senate — just like last year. And so it did. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) who is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee stated he believes “that information sharing is a key component of cybersecurity legislation, but the Senate will not take up CISPA.” But even though the bill was not passed in legislature, it’s not the end of the controversy. In her statement to Computerworld, Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) stated, “We are currently drafting a bipartisan information sharing bill and will proceed as soon as we come to an agreement.” It was thought from a financial view that powerful corporations would support a radical change on cybersecurity laws, because it affected their Business Cycle on the market. But CEO’s supporting the bill have clockwise reasons as presented in the letters below, sent to the House of Representatives back in 2011. Peter M. Cleveland, Vice President of Intel, sent a letter to Chairman Rogers that read, “Our companies are in the forefront of efforts to improve cybersecurity.” “We also understand that governments, business and consumers are facing a cybersecurity threat landscape that has changed fundamentally over this same period,” Cleveland said. In the letter, Cleveland admits the bill would break the constitutional law of privacy. “Countering these increasingly sophisticated threats to networks, intellectual property and privacy requires breaking down the legal and policy barriers that currently impede the sharing of actionable threat information.” But one of the reasons the bill failed to convince the senate was that the cost was too high for lobbyists to pass the bill. According to data from the Sunlight Foundation, “It was an expensive win.” CISPA allies have spent $605 million lobbying for the bill since 2011. A list below, of some of the companies trying to push congress to pass the bill, with rank and expenditure. For more information visit: https://data.sunlightlabs.com/dataset/CISPA-Proponents/p8gn-c3hr
US Chamber of Commerce
$162,800,000
AT&T Inc
$34,260,000
Comcast Corp
$31,880,000
National Cable & Telecommunications Assn
$31,540,000
Boeing Co
$27,910,000
Verizon Communications
$27,705,000
Edison Electric Institute
$22,450,790
Financial Services Roundtable
$13,740,000
US Telecom
$10,640,000
Airlines for America
$9,570,000
Securities Industry & Financial Mkt Assn
$9,410,000
Canadian Electricity Assn
$215,000
Ciena Corp
$210,000
Juniper Networks
$200,000
Technet
$150,000
GridWise Alliance
$100,000
As the analysis of Sunlight Labs demonstrates, pro-CISPA groups spent 140 times as much lobbying Congress as those on the other side of the debate. Furthermore, they have dozens of former Capitol Hill insiders working on their behalf, .
It is curious to note that corporations like Intel that support the bill want to work on behalf of consumers and government to regulate the web from cyber attacks. But back in the 2008 financial bailout, Craig Barrett, chairman of chipmaker Intel was not optimistic when he dropped into Reuters offices in London. “I don’t know what regulation we’ll get but the issue is that people just got over-heated and over-excited and it’s really tough for the government to come in and slap you around and say it’s illegal to get over-heated and excited,” he said. Barrett angered by the proposition of Government intervention Ironically said, “That’s trying to regulate greed and stupidity, which are are two tough things to regulate.” Hypocritical point by Barrett, if one considers he was afraid the government would step in to regulate Intel at a time when regulation against corporate fraud was most needed. So it deems likewise stupid, that Intel wants to regulate the internet because of cybersecurity concerns. The Daily Journalist would also like to include an important point not covered by most media networks that could spark some interest to the reader.
Its interesting to note that Rogers’ wife, Kristi Clemens Rogers, was, until recently, the president and CEO of Aegis LLC, a “security” defense contractor company, whom she helped to secure a $10 billion (with a b) contract with the State Department.
The company describes itself as “a leading private security company, provides government and corporate clients with a full spectrum of intelligence-led, culturally-sensitive security solutions to operational and development challenges around the world.”
It raises questions as to whether Kristi influenced Chairman Rogers to pass the controversial bill in the House of Representatives considering her past with AEGIS.
Rogers accidentally tweeted what he earned from lobbying groups backing his campaign, “House Intelligence Committee received 15 times more from pro-CISPA groups than anti-Cispa orgs.”
Cybersecurity goes beyond consumerism and foreign intelligence, and there should be concerns in connection with a few US corporations, spying on the home front, that might provide vital data to other countries for the sake of profiting. Verint, a leading manufacturer of surveillance technologies, is headquartered in Melville, N.Y., in a small cluster of nondescript buildings that also includes the office of a multinational cosmetics supplier and some electronics companies. Verint sells some of the world’s most sophisticated eavesdropping equipment, creating a line of spy tools designed to help governments and intelligence agencies snoop on communications across an entire country. Verint sells what it calls “monitoring centers” that “enable the interception, monitoring, and analysis of target and mass communications over virtually any network.” These systems are designed to be integrated within a country’s communications infrastructure and are currently used in more than 75 nations. The technology Verint designs is tailored to intercept the phone calls and emails of millions of everyday citizens and store them on vast databases for later analysis. Verint boasts in its marketing materials that its “Vantage” monitoring center enables “nationwide mass interception” and “efficiently collects, analyzes, and exposes threats from billions of communications.” Verint, as other US corporations that work side-by-side with foreign intelligence agencies should be more transparent with the public. They should allow lawyers from the outide to check their books, open records and see private transactions according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); just as CISPA requires citizens to provide their passwords to other corporations for cybersecurity purposes. To share sensitive user information legally, to businesses, is only another way to spy on citizens via opening the front door, instead of the garage door. Despite CISPA’s failure in congress the US already is the most spied upon country in the world
Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Angwin (who’s been one of the best at covering the surveillance state of the US) made a simple observation that puts much of this into context when she said, “the US surveillance regime has more data on the average American than the Stasi ever did on East Germans.”
Civil right groups and privacy advocates fear CISPA would allow government agencies to monitor the activities of ordinary Internet users under the pretext of cybersecurity. The information being gathered could then be used by the military to study civilian behavior.
One of CISPA’s controversial laws is the Civilian Control of Domestic Cyber Programs that allows for pet-corporations to share sensitive information from its users with other corporations, government, and intelligence programs to protect the critical-infrastructure.
One can be certain that sooner or later another controversial bill related to privacy will sprang out from the wallets of lobbyists on Capitol Hill.
Does The Chinese Military Parade Challenge The US Military?
April 23rd, 2013
The Chinese military parade is the largest military force in the world. But just because their military is the biggest, it does not necessarily translate as being the strongest. The People’s Republic of China party dreams of having the strongest military force ever seen in human history, but dreams only translate into illusions when they’re not real.
When the viewers look at the soundtrack of the video they will soon realize it sounds like an American soundtrack. The Chinese uniforms look like U.S. uniforms and so the equipment. China wants to be like the U.S., but does not hold the technological advancements to take it to the next level of military warfare.
China’s industrial production has grown very rapidly, but they’re behind in technology and sophistication. It will take years for their scientists to reproduce some of the weapons the U.S. possesses in secret compounds hidden somewhere in states like Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico or Arizona.
So it’s nice to watch this parade, and remind ourselves that China won’t challenge the U.S. for at least 20 more years. Let’s just hope the U.S. economy does not collapse.
Two Large Explosions in Waco Texas Report Injuries
April 17th, 2013
By Jaime Ortega
WACO, Texas — Local media in Waco, Texas are reporting an explosion with injuries at a fertilizer plant.
Several buildings are reported destroyed. KWTX reports a nursing home was damaged after the explosion just north of Waco.
Local scanner traffic reports multiple structures on fire with many people trapped. A local school football field is being setup as a staging area at 900 North Reagan. Emergency units are also being asked to gather and Haven and Reagan.
It is not clear yet how many people are injured. Evacuations are underway. Residents 65 miles away reported hearing the blast.
Two large explosions at a fertilizer plant in Texas caused numerous injuries and sent flames shooting high into the night sky on Wednesday, authorities say.
Department of Public Safety troopers were using their squad cars to transport those injured by the blast and fire at the plant in West, a community north of Waco, Gayle Scarbrough, a spokeswoman for the department’s Waco office, told television station KWTX. She said six helicopters were also en route to help out.
American Red Cross crews from across Texas are being sent to the site. Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster says her group is working with emergency management officials to find a safe shelter for residents displaced from their homes.
She says teams from Austin to Dallas and elsewhere are being sent to the community.
The blast at West Fertilizer plant, reported shortly before 8 p.m. CT, was confirmed by Waco police dispatch operators. “First responders are dealing with numerous injuries and major damage to structures and vehicles,” Scarbrough said.
Several buildings, some in residential areas, were reported to be burning, others destroyed, and a nearby nursing home was damaged, according to a report from KWTX
.
Initial reports say people are trapped in a nearby nursing home and an apartment building. according to Reuters.
According to scanner traffic, authorities are trying to block drivers from coming into town and evacuations are underway, FOX17 reports.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry released a statement on the blasts late Wednesday: “We are monitoring developments and gathering information as details continue to emerge about this incident. We have also mobilized state resources to help local authorities. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of West, and the first responders on the scene.”
Investigative Report On Venezuela
April 16th, 2013By Jaime Ortega.
Henrique Capriles, after election.
After the death of Hugo Chavez in March, the political party ‘Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela’ (PSUV) was left under significant pressure to substitute Chavez, since he was a remarkable figure for his supporters and allies.
The acting President, and successor of Chavez, Nicolas Maduro had to hold imminent elections after his death, but doubts surrounded his political opponents as to how these elections would prevail.
Candidate and rival, Henrique Capriles, had lots to say after Maduro announced his victory in Venezuela’s RCTV, “If you make that coward proclamation, you are an illegitimate candidate.”
“We got reports that some boxes full with ballots moved from one place to another without explanation,” Capriles said.
Recognizing that Venezuela is in a state of “political crisis” Capriles argued that his wish is that the situation be resolved.
“This struggle has not ended,” Capriles said. “We are not going to recognize a result until each Venezuelan vote is counted,” assuring that Maduro, besides the CNE can ask the recount to assure that no form of manipulation was practiced during cast of ballots.
Maduro, despite Capriles controversial accusations responded, “If I win by one vote, I won.”
In Caracas, troops dispersed a crowd of protesters. Twelve students who protested against Maduro’s election were reportedly injured in Barquisimeto, a city in the middle of the country.
Images spread by Twitter showed injured protesters being carried away. The scale of the unrest as yet is hard to verify.
Maduro initially stated that he was willing to accept a recount. On Monday, however, the council – which is skewed towards the ruling camp – said the result was irreversible and proclaimed Maduro as President that same day. An inauguration is set for 19 April.
With no sign of a recount taking place, the decision has sparked outrage among opposition supporters, not just Capriles.
The European Union (EU) on Monday noted the victory of Maduro, as announced in Venezuela, but stressed the importance of having an acceptable outcome to all parties after the opposition announced to recount the votes.
“It is important that the outcome of an election is accepted by all parties,” said spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic Community Affairs.
“If the National Electoral Council (CNE) decides to ensure trust to its voters, it must show total transparency, especially in view of the low margin victory the results have shown,” the spokeswoman said.
But if the EU is asking for a legitimate recount, Venezuela’s political allies are not interested in an electoral recount that could propose any form of fraudulent result.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Nicolas Maduro on his victory.
Putin expressed his “confidence that under the leadership of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela can continue to strengthen their strategic partnership relations with Russia.”
The Kremlin chief reiterated Russia’s readiness to, “develop a constructive dialogue on the full range of bilateral and international issues in the interest of both countries and their peoples.”
The ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) also congratulated Maduro’s victory.
At a press conference the spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of AAEE, Hua Chunying said, “We respect the choice made by the Venezuelan people and welcome Maduro on his election as President. “ This was said just a few hours after the announcement of the narrow victory of the man Hugo Chavez appointed as his successor.
The White House is not keen in congratulating Chavez’s successor, as the Obama and Bush administrations have never held a healthy relationship with the PSUV.
The US Presidential spokesman, Jay Carney, recalled in a press conference that “the opposition candidate and at least one member of the Electoral Council have called for a review of one hundred percent of the votes.”
Carney said that a step to count is “important, prudent and necessary” to ensure that all Venezuelans have “confidence” in the results coming out of the polls.
“In our opinion, the rush to make a decision under these circumstances would not fit the expectations of Venezuelans for a clear and democratic resolution,” said Carney.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said that the outcome of the elections in Venezuela and the narrow victory of Nicolas Maduro “certifies strong polarization” in the South American country.
Speaking to reporters before attending a luncheon with business leaders organized by the House of Barcelona, Margallo is confident that the election results should be confirmed as soon as possible to maintain the good relations between Spain and Venezuela “whoever the final winner is.”
The President of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, on Monday quickly responded to concerns and criticism from Spain against Venezuelan elections.
“The people spoke as to whom to elect as President, and it was the candidate of the PSUV,” Maduro said.
“The Government of Spain would do well to only deal with their own problems, which equal many,” Cabello said.
Cabello wrote a message on Twitter in which he also noted that “for years this great country (Venezuela) has ceased to be a colony.”
However, Cabello, whom many consider Maduro’s main rival within their own political movement, tweeted, “The results oblige us to make a profound self-criticism.”
Maduro has missed almost 680,000 votes since the election last October in which his predecessor, the late Chavez, claimed a victory over opposition candidate Capriles.
With 99.1% of the votes counted, failing to meet the vote of Venezuelans abroad, Maduro has obtained 50.67% of the vote (7,505,338 votes), compared to 49.07% (7,270,403) of Capriles, so they’re both separated only by 234,935 votes.
The result is a loss of 679,099 votes that would have supported Chavez this time to Capriles. According to the newspaper El Universal, since 2006 the opposition won nearly three million votes going from 4,321,072 votes in 2006 to 7,270,403 this Sunday.
But outside of Maduro’s election, whether fraudulent or not, his connection with the paramilitary FARC could propose a threat to his relationship with neighboring countries like Colombia which has had troubles with the PSUV in the past.
Univision found that Maduro had ties with FARC, ”Maduro had close ties with FARC leaders, in particular with the late commander Raul Reyes and named Chancellor of the FARC, Rodrigo Granda, at least since late 2001 when he was deputy Maduro.”
“The government candidate is mentioned twenty times in a series of messages between different factions of the guerrillas, between 2002 and 2008, according to the computer files of Reyes published in 2011 by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, based in London.”
Maduro’s relation with the FARC could propose a threat to Colombia in an attempt to hold peaceful negotiations with the new Venezuelan leader.
Rodrigo Granda, alias Ricardo Tellez, leader of the (FARC) rejected any difficulty at the table of dialogue between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
“Certainly a win, as expected for Nicolás Maduro, is a guarantee to support the peace process in Colombia, which is a process that favors the whole continent,” said Granda (one of the key negotiators of the FARC) in conversations with the government of President Juan Manuel Santos.
Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, has remain silent on Maduro’s victory. But earlier this year he said, “I hope that if President Chavez dies, Vice President Maduro will maintain the same collaboration that President Chavez gave us to fight against the FARC.”
What happens with FARC will imply collaboration from Venezuela and Colombia in order to maintain stability on the region and prevent guerrillas from expanding further north.
But some fear that the real danger in Venezuela is the struggle between dictatorship and democracy which could lead into civil war.
Capriles said, “the Cuban government will not rule in Venezuela,” and that the Venezuelan people would defend their sovereignty.
Complete Report: Bomb Blast Shocks Boston Marathon
April 15th, 2013Jaime Ortega- Boston.
First bomb Blast.
2:55 PM Eastern time, the first bomb explosion detonated at 653 Boylston Street at the Boston Marathon on the finish line as the crowd was cheering and runners came closer to finishing the last lap of the race.
People standing by the world flags on the right side of Boylston Street at the finish line. started to panic and tried to jump the yellow fences that separate the crosswalk from the road.
A few runners fell to the grown in shock, and received immediate assistance by the Boston medical department.
Five minutes later, another bomb detonated a 100 meters from the first explosion creating another shock wave. A dust cloud from the fire blast filled the air.
Second Explosion.
Witnesses who saw the first explosion thought it came from the fourth floor or from the neighboring trash cans. But after the second blast those watching the event thought it was caused by a terrorist act.
All the windows of the buildings close to the incident were smashed into small fragments by the sound wave injuring people inside their homes. Glass fragments fell from the sky after the explosion sending the debris i all directions.
A runner in the Boston Marathon said, “At first it sounded like a cannon blast, but it felt so strong it literally blew my hat off, I assume some people had severe injuries.”
“They just started bringing people in with no limbs,” said runner Tim Davey, of Richmond, Va. He said he and his wife, Lisa, tried to keep their children’s eyes shielded from the gruesome scene inside a medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners, but “they saw a lot.”
Close to the detonation, The Boston Police department found a man with his shin bone exposed and missing his left leg laying across two corpses.
An African American lady lost her arm and was immediately transported to the hospital after losing a lot of blood.
The pavement was stained in blood and dust. An 8-year-old child was also found dead.
Soon after at 4:25 pm, Eastern Time a fire, and possible explosion, was reported at the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester, Mass. It is being investigated for a potential connection to the blasts that went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday just before 3 pm.
A Boston Police spokesperson told Talking Points Memo on Monday that an explosive device had gone off at the library. This information was later clarified on Twitter by BPD Public Information Bureau Chief Cheryl Fiandaca, who described the incident as “fire related.”
JFK Library.
Thus far the total of the deaths reported is three, and over 120 injuries, some which are in severe condition.
The White House was quick to react to the tragedy, and President Obama held an emergency press conference to speak about the possible outcome.
“We still do not know who did this or why, and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts,” Obama told reporters. “But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this. We will find out who did this, we will find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice.”
A possible suspect is been questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Boston Criminal Division department. The suspect is a 20-year-old Saudi Arabian national but it is unknown if this was a terrorist attack. He also suffered injuries. His affiliation with the terrorist attack is not conclusive.
“There is no suspect,” said Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis. “There are people we’re talking to.”
Professor Robert Pape.
Professor Robert Pape heads the Chicago project on security and terrorism at the University of Chicago.
He stated that if reports are true that investigators have recovered at least one unexploded bomb it could provide a critical break.
“These are the classic signs of a coordinated attack,” Pape says. “It is significant because with all the effort, especially since 9/11, to track materials that go into bomb-making, there’s an extremely good chance they’ll be able to use it. Think of it as the fingerprints from the bomb itself. Not so much the bomb-maker, but the materials, the chemicals that went into the bomb, and to trace it back to find out where the materials came from.”
The head of an extremist Jordanian Muslim Salafi group said early Tuesday that he was “happy to see the horror in America” after the explosions in Boston.
“American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood,” said Mohammad al-Chalabi, who was convicted in an al-Qaida-linked plot to attack U.S. and other Western diplomatic missions in Jordan in 2003.
Homeland Security however does not officially credit any Islamist extremist group to be linked to the attack.
Historically some of the worst atrocities committed on US soil have come from enemies within, and the FBI is also looking at a possible domestic threat.
One example would be Eric Rudolph, 46, who began a campaign of terror with the first of his four bombings targeting Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Thousands of spectators were gathered for a concert when Rudolph planted a pack under a bench containing three pipe bombs surrounded by nails.
Also in the past 4 years, shootings in Virginia Tech, Colorado and the most recently shooting in Connecticut could have the Department of Homeland Security looking at threats within.
Some witnesses who recorded the events captured a curious image of a mysterious man on a roof-top, walking around, looking toward the street where the incident took place. Its is unclear who that man is.
Mysterious man on roof top captures attention.
There is more to come in the next few hours, so keep updating The Daily Journalist, premier report.
Half Machine Half Hero
April 12th, 2013
Tank Man is known in The Chinese Communist Party as Tabu-Man otherwise known as the Unknown Rebel. Till this day, his real name still creates controversy, and what happened to him still remains a mystery. The nickname of the anonymous man who stood in front of a column of Chinese Type 59 tanks the morning after the Chinese military forcibly removed protesters from in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989.
The man achieved widespread international recognition due to the videotape and photographs taken of the incident. Despite his anonymity, he is commonly (though not necessarily correctly) referred to in Chinese as Wang Weilin as dubbed by the Sunday Express magazine.
His heroic last stand reminds us all, that in time of crisis people should fight for what is right, even though everything is against us. For the Chinese youth, his historical figure is helped activist like Ai Weiwei to take a stance against the communist governments oppression on its citizens.
For what the two minutes of the video is worth, they present the controversy that remains a social dilemma and political aptitude till this day. Enjoy the video, because Google and Youtube China have permanently banned his name on the web.
The Palestinian Muslim Student Association Propaganda For Activist Approval
April 11th, 2013By Jaime Ortega.
Picture depicts a false image of Palestinian women suffering. In reality, she was told what to do.
Palestine is often regarded as a victim rather than the perpetrator, but fantasy is often a distorted reality in a culture were fundamentalists promote martyrdom as payback rather than a civic democratic solution.
Zionism is not a great alternative to Islamic fundamentalism either, but most Jews worldwide are secular or atheist and not orthodox in practice.
The Muslim Student Association propaganda advertised in campuses across the U.S. is not a peaceful movement. It is not destined to promote democracy. Its destiny is to wipe out Israel.
The problem is that in the U.S. it’s legal to publicly protest against Israel because the forefathers of the constitution allowed certain rights in order to express the liberties of the oppressed who were under the rule of Christian morality.
This was in contrast to the oppressive Roman Catholic Church that censored freedom of speech in Europe before the Reformation in the late 15th Century, which ended the Pope’s reign.
As a result of the Reformation the ideology of freedom of speech has persisted for the past century. It is only under these criteria that the Muslim Student Association is legally allowed to express its views freely and without confrontation or censorship from civil authorities.
Under Islamic rule-ship (Sharia-Law), westerners living in democratic nations would not be able to express themselves freely without punishment.
It is under the advantage of young Muslims to live in cohesion with gays, Christians, Jews, Mormons, Bahais, Hindus, Buddhist, Zoroastrians, Shintos, Catholics, Jehovah Witness, atheist, agnostics, skeptics, converts, reverts, pagans, activist and other belief systems opposed to their world views to help diversify their narrow outlook on the world; unless they see all other forms of worship and practices, as enemies of Allah and his prophet Muhammad.
If that’s the case, Muslims should not use western infidel media to influence the anti-Israeli propaganda. The Muslim propaganda to diminish Islamic radical views to point a blame finger to Israel’s Zionism should be considered nothing less than sheer hypocrisy.
Young westerners protesting against the nation of Israel and waving the freedom flag alongside Muslim conduits are only promoting a political agenda, but that agenda is based on the premise that Israel does not have the rights to occupy Palestine.
However, the Muslims supporting the young western activist are using that same propaganda as an excuse to propel hatred towards Israel. So Israel sinks inside the depths of the ocean to fulfill their Koranic agenda which is ‘not’ political, but religious.
Lets look at Egypt. The Islamic Brotherhood used the young Egyptian secular activist movement to expel Hosni Mubarak out of power. It worked remarkably well.
But as soon as the secular Egyptian activist celebrated the dethronement of the dictator, they faced a much bigger dilemma! That dilemma was their temporary ally, the Islamic Brotherhood, which wanted to take control of Egypt via-Islam would thus mean going back to a land were theocracy overcomes tyranny.
It’s the same principle used behind protesting alongside young western infidels. And the idea is simple, ‘Let’s take advantage of democracy, and use their system to benefit us, as if we are part of it but never of it.” It’s a painted facade.
Most of the student activists outside the MSA who joined forces to protest against Israel, should underline that its not just a political cause for Muslims, but one sponsored by religion.
Political causes are sometimes indirectly intertwined with religious causes, and it becomes hard to grasp the difference when ideals collide to promote a central stance.
It’s harder to grasp the problem when the public is only focusing on one piece of the cake. But if we are going to be strict with Israel, let’s look at the accusers making the charges.
Muslims should likewise be protesting the historical atrocities committed to western Africans during the Eighteen-Nineteen Century A.C., when Arabic and Berber Muslim traders, exterminated over 100,000,000 African women, destined to sexual slavery. The deaths were a result of crossing the desert without water. That might be the highest massacre on record.
When American activist protest against Israel’s occupation they quickly forget to lead by example, because Americans should likewise give the U.S., back to the Native American Indian tribes they forcefully expelled and murdered. The is of peculiar interest as the original inhabitants now remain secluded in a small reservation known as ‘Navajo Nation’, just about the size of Palestine.
Palestinian children are brainwashed from birth to hate Israel even by means of suicide. Do western activist relief groups support Jihad? So, if they support Jihad and women rights, why worry about Israel’s problems? Let the children of Palestine continue martyrdom as an excuse to fight Israel’s holy war for territory, but protest Israeli occupation because Israel’s final mission is to conquer the world via submission in the name of peace or global jihad. (Joke)
In essence the problem resides when religious cults use democracy for their own agendas. It seems peaceful to the uneducated eye, but it’s a deceiving technique that serves the rules of their own religious basis. This could be Zionism, Mormonism or Islam. The point of the matter is that the same people who accuse Israel of occupation are the ones who believe martyrdom is the way to heaven and don’t apologize for their crimes committed in the West without any apology, justice is truly misrepresented.
Zionism is wrong, but Radical Islam is less sophisticated than Zionism and brutal. Those who follow it should not blame Israel for conquering Palestine. Consider that Muhammad killed and raided villages of ancient idol worshipers who did not agree with his point of view.
Politics does not serve propaganda like religion. Religion is bias to the belief it serves, and activist using Palestine as a role-model for freedom of the media, just feed radical extremist who hide in their ideological paradigm closet that they blame is the west.
The White House Takes North Korea Seriously
April 10th, 2013By Jaime Ortega.
The North Korean threats appear to be serious. The White House believes Pyongyang may launch one of its ballistic missiles at any time since the most recent intelligence reports reveal that the regime is likely to complete the preparations for the final launch soon, according to CNN.
The Obama Administration believes the launch could occur at any moment. As explained by the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, the U.S. government continues to take steps in response to the “war rhetoric” and North Korean actions.
Carney specified that they will continue to relocate missiles around the region as reconnaissance training for both the defense of U.S. and its allies, to assure stability.
“The North Korean statement on advising foreigners to evacuate Seoul is part of useless rhetoric that only serves to heighten tensions. Such rhetoric only furthers to isolate North Korea from the international community,” he said .
Japan has said it is “on high alert” to incase it needs to intercept a missile from the North Korean communist regime. “We are on alert and have deployed our military units, we must be ready and vigilant,” said Shinzo Aba, the Japanese Defense Minister in a press conference.
Just this Tuesday, the commander Samuel Locklear, the highest commander of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, said that North Korea’s threats are “clear” and point in a “direct conflict to U.S. national security and to peace and regional stability,”
Locklear, who appeared Tuesday at a hearing of the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Senate, warned that movements executed in recent weeks by North Korea “underscore the need for effective missile defense”, but was satisfied with the preparation against a possible U.S. attack.
Level ‘very dangerous’
For its part, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has warned that the level of tension on the Korean peninsula is “very dangerous” and a small incident could trigger “an uncontrollable situation.” Ban Ki-moon made the remarks after meeting with the Pope at the Vatican.
“The current level of tension is very dangerous. A small incident, caused by a stone or a wrong judgment can unleash an uncontrollable situation,” said the UN secretary general, who was “very concerned” about the developments in the area. Therefore, Ban urged North Korea to “halt the provocations”.
The secretary general, who was born in South Korea, was in favor of reopening the Kaesong industrial complex, whose activities were suspended with the withdrawal of the 54,000 North Korean workers in the joint force between North and South.
Kaesong Ban described as “greater cooperation project to success” between the two Koreas.
Major defense
United States has strengthened its defense in the Pacific by sending destroyers and missile systems to the increasing threats deliver from North Korea and the rising tensions with China in recent weeks.
U.S. and South Korea believe that North Korea plans to launch a missile around April 15, the birthday of the founder of the North Korean state, Kim Il-sung.
Instead of offering to Buy East Jerusalem, the Arab League should invite Israel to Join It
April 4th, 2013By Juan Cole.
Shaikh Hamad al-Thani, the leader of Qatar, proposed in his speech to the Arab League the creation of a $1 billion fund to preserve the Arab character of East Jerusalem, which is gradually being taken over by Israelis and its Arab inhabitants gradually expelled. Shaikh Hamad offered to put in $250 million to start off the project.
Palestinians reacted skeptically, since Arab League summits have seen many munificent offers of aid to them that never materialized. Qatar has a better track record on such matters, however, and really does have the money.
Qatar has also pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to Palestinians in Gaza, to alleviate the worst effects of the Israeli blockade on its Occupied civilians.
This tendency to try to deal with the Palestinians’ problems by throwing money at them is an improvement on the military flailing about of past decades, which never produced any breakthroughs. But it is no substitute for diplomacy.
What would be really radical would be for the Arab League to recognize Israel inside 1949 borders and invite Israel to join the organization. After all, the vast majority of Israelis are either Jews who had lived in the Arab world or Palestinian-Israelis. There is a better case for Israel than for Somalia. And Egypt and Jordan already have extended that recognition, and Qatar and other states have behind the scenes perfectly correct relations with Israel.
While the Israelis are unlikely to change any policies as a result of such an offer, it would at least begin bringing them into the diplomatic system in the Middle East and would be a means of putting diplomatic pressure on them.
I know, it won’t happen soon. Maybe eventually. But it would be more practical than just promising to pour money into Palestinian areas. That won’t work because the pledges often aren’t fulfilled, and since the Palestinians are stateless, they don’t really have firm property rights, so any new property or refurbished buildings can just be usurped by the Israeli squatters at will.
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Posted in Arab World, Israel/ Palestine | 19 Comments | Print
Is not Saudi cooperation with Israel on Syria and Iran enough? How they will cooperate with anti-Shiite juhadists if they will formally cooperate with Israel?