Ari Bussel

Passover - Easter, 2017

A mother walking with two daughter stops me this morning: “Do you know what time the stores open today? Will they be open at all?” It is Easter Sunday, and we are the only ones on Rodeo Drive, likely the most known street in Beverly Hills and one of the most iconic shopping destinations in the world.

The Water Ambassadors

Agriculture and water played a pivotal role in Biblical history, to such an extent that Jewish people still bless G-d every day, “He who returns the wind and brings down the rain” or “He who brings down the early morning dew” depending on the time of the year. Without water, the Land of Milk and Honey would become barren and dry, its trees would wither, its future in doubt.

Too Evil to Fail?

“Daesh is on our border; they are here with their ideology; and they are looking to find a suitable platform to establish their base. Therefore, we must prevent a collapse here, because the alternative is anarchy, violence and terrorism.” Major General Majid Faraj, head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, in an interview with Defense News. Those who remember the self-made financial crisis of 2008-2009, would also remember that the top banks – Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, Wells Fargo – were to be safeguarded as “too big to fail.”

The Youth Intifada

"We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it." William Faulkner Now we have a name for it: The Youth Intifada. And I thought it was the Jerusalem (Al Aqsa) Intifada, since the perpetrators are all from Jerusalem and claim to themselves and the world they are protecting the Al Aqsa mosque.

Terror in Israel

Three police officers were severely wounded at a stabbing attack in the Old City in Jerusalem just now. The terrorist was killed.

No Place is Safe

Most of us were not in Europe in the 1930s. My parents and grandparents were. Most of them did not survive. My grandmother, for instance, left one day, never to return. Her mother went after her and she also did not return.

A Blood Sacrifice

Three times a year a Jewish person is commanded to appear before the Lord at a place of His choosing. “And they shall not appear before the Lord empty,” we are told in Deuteronomy 16:16.

Capitulation

“I am going to write,” said my mother with utter determination, a clear indication that the situation reached dire proportions. I can sit and write, but for my mother the mere suggestion is a burden, thus a sign of the desperation of our times.

Too Little, Too Late

Like flowers after the first rain, there are signs Israel is waking up in the face of the strongest resurgence of anti-Semitism in the past eighty years.

Meddling at the Pond

Jeffery Goldberg at the Atlantic describes the relationship between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu as one of “mutual loathing.” I will grant the feeling on the President’s part, although Netanyahu feels the heat, but does not reciprocate. Netanyahu has a country to run, and issues for him are not personal.

Peaceniks – Where are You Now?

When three Israeli youths were kidnapped, Israel should have stood as one. A prayer vigil at the Western Wall, the holiest place in the world for Jews, was very well attended. Religious Jews (primarily “knitted yarmulkes,” Modern Orthodox) and “Settlers” (residents of Judea and Samaria) were present, but mainstream (secular) Israelis were noticeably absent.

An Easter Message from Israel

Dear Friends, While we, the Saturday People, celebrate Passover, you, the Sunday People, are celebrating Easter. At sunset, as Easter Sunday ends, the last day of our Passover holiday this year begins.

Lonely at the Top

I remember the look of then Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu at an underground command and control center in a city in Southern Israel crammed with foreign correspondents, when I introduced myself before asking my question, “Ari Bussel, Muslim World Today.”

It is a Very Sad Day

To all our friends and readers

May this year be one of peace prosperity, health and happiness to you and yours May we see an end to the conflicts that divide us and a new beginning for peaceful solutions Shana Tova U'Metuka - a good and sweet new year Ari and Norma Early morning in Los Angeles, the birds and the bees, urban nature and an old man walking to the Synagogue as he has done every single day for decades. Determination, devotion and a hand of a Palm Tree, flowering, full of fruits, as are our hopes - those of the Jewish People - for a better, peaceful year

Israel Walking to the Gallows

We sit at a Jewish or Arab film festival, or at a "pro-Israel, pro-peace" or "free Palestine, end the Occupation" event and watch a full feature film about the Occupation Army, the 21st Century manifestation of Nazis (i.e. Israelis). They are building a wall around Palestinians towns, uprooting their olive tree groves, purposely detaining them and denying them movement, treating them as sub-humans while catching their young males to harvest their organs.

Arab Spring:  Coming to Free Jerusalem

Tahrir Square, Egypt. The message this week: Coming to free Jerusalem from the Jews Finally, not only a free and independent Palestine is awaiting us in September, but also millions are promising to walk onto the tiny Jewish state, from Egypt in the South, Syria in the North East to possibly Lebanon in the North. For the moment, Jordan’s majority of Palestinians is quiet, but that can change without notice.

Kept in a Cage

We sat in the community room at a major LA shopping center. Over sixty people gathered on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to hear two members of the Flotillas to Palestine.

Brotherly Love & Israel’s Redemption

“And what does the Lord God require of you? But just to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 Jewish People are often called the “Chosen People.” They, alone of all people, are held to a higher standard, for they are the People of God. The world loves to hate Israel and the Jewish People, but the world continues to demand more of Israel, much more than it demands of itself. While the world uses an electron microscope to judge at everything Israel does, the expectation of “a higher standard” seems to be shared by all.

Al Qaeda is to the USA what the PA is to Israel

As we get close to the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the United States, imagine a movement here in the USA, with strong and insistent global backing, demanding the United States apologize to all Muslims. That we also sacrifice four million of our own people, as Al Qaeda’s goal is to avenge the death of four million Muslims it claims the United States has murdered, and pay restitution to the Muslims as the Germans did for Holocaust survivors.