Religious Jews are in a good position, I think, to understand Islamic scholarship on the text of the Koran. Some of it is reminiscent of the Jewish style of commentary. Commentary on the Koran is called tafsir and the most important tafsir is that of Ibn Kathir. Kind of like "the Rashi" of Koranic exegesis - but even more authoritative.

With that in mind, let's look at some Koran verses with their tafsir of Ibn Kathir.

The Koran, Al-Tawba, verses 29-30 says:

(29) "Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth among the People of the Scripture, [fight] until they pay the jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." (30) "And the Jews say:
"Fight against those who believe not in Allah..." -- The Koran
Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!"

Ibn Kathir comments: "This honorable verse (29) was revealed with the order to fight the People of the Book, after the pagans were defeated, the people entered Allah's religion in large numbers, and the Arabian Peninsula was secured under the Muslims' control. Allah commanded His Messenger to fight the People of the Scriptures, Jews and Christians, on the ninth year of Hijrah, and he prepared his army to fight the Romans and called the people to Jihad announcing his intent and destination."

The Koran, Al-Tawba, verse 5 says:

"So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."

Ibn Kathir explains that "slay the idolaters wherever you find them" means "on the earth in general... executing some and keeping some as prisoners." The Koran's exhortation "and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in every ambush," is saying, "Do not wait until you find them. Rather, seek and besiege them in their areas and forts, gather intelligence about them in the various roads and fairways so that what is made wide looks ever smaller to them. This way, they will have no choice, but to die or embrace Islam," according to Ibn Kathir.

And then Ibn Kathir clarifies further our understanding of Islam: "These verses allowed fighting people unless, and until, they embrace Islam and implement its rulings and obligations." But Ibn Kathir does not depend on his own interpretation alone, he quotes the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as recorded in the most accepted book of Hadith (Islam's collection of Muhammad's instructions and personal example): "Ibn Umar said that the Messenger of Allah said, 'I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establish the prayer and pay the poor-tax.'"

Ibn Kathir says that Koran 9:5 is called "The Verse of the Sword" and that it "abrogated every agreement of peace between the Prophet and any idolater, every treaty, and every term." He quotes from another section of the Hadith saying, "No idolater had any more treaty or promise of safety ever since [this verse] was revealed."

Now, bearing all this in mind, along with the fact that Hamas is an Islamic fundamentalist movement whose members consider the Koran their constitution, some simple questions present themselves:

Who in their right mind would sign any deal, of any kind, with any of them?

Researched, compiled and presented by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

Here are 100% true and unbiased facts about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas:

Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005 and gave the Arabs there autonomy
Hamas' stated manifesto is the destruction of the State of Israel

Israel has given Gaza thousands of tons of humanitarian aid since disengaging from Gaza in 2005
Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israel since its disengagement from Gaza in 2005

Hamas fires rockets at civilian population centers with the intent to kill or wound civilians
Israel attacks Hamas terrorists and attempts to minimize civilian casualties

Israel is a democracy
Hamas siezed control of Gaza through a military coup

Hamas executes Gazans it accuses of collaborating with Israel
Israel does not employ the death penalty, even against terrorists

Hamas is holding Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as captive and refuses to allow the Red Cross to visit him
Israel allows the Red Cross to visit all prisoners in Israeli jails

Israel instructs civilians to stay in bomb shelters for their protection
Hamas uses civilians, including women and children, as human shields

Whose side are you on?

"Everyone has a right to their own opinion but nobody has a right to their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

The new Christian calendar year is as good an opportunity as any to review the history of Palestine from the civil calendar year 1 through the end of 2008 CE.

From 1 to 136 CE the people of Judea - called "Jews" in modern English - struggled on and off against imperial rule of their nation by the Romans. Jewish sovereignty in what the Romans later renamed "Palaestina" was finally destroyed with the crushing of the Bar Kochva Revolt.

In 351 CE the Roman Empire, morphed into the Christian Byzantine Empire, moves its center to Turkey and the regime continues to rule Judea/Palestine.

614 CE: Persians conquer "Palestine" under Chosroes.
628 CE: The Byzantines reconquer the region.
635 CE: Muslim imperialists from the Arabian peninsula conquer "Palestine".
661 CE: Omayyad Empire rules "Palestine" from Syria.
750 CE: Abbassid Empire of Baghdad takes over.
878 CE: A Turk from Egypt conquers "Palestine".
904 CE: The Abbassid Empire returns.
934 CE: Egyptians (eventually including the Fatimids) take over "Palestine" from the Abbassid regime.
1070 CE: Seljuk Turks conquer "Palestine".
1099 CE: European Crusaders conquer Jerusalem; their reign continues in parts of "Palestine" until 1291.

During the Crusader rule, in 1187 CE, the Kurdish leader Saleh a-Din (Saladin) of Damascus captures Jerusalem and most of "Palestine".

Even the Mongolians get into the act and in 1244 CE Genghis Khan inspires a successful invasion of "Palestine", parts of which they hold until Mameluk Sultans of Egypt defeat the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260. In 1299-1303 CE there was another Mongol invasion.

In 1517 CE the Turkish Ottoman Empire takes over "Palestine".

From 1799 through 1840 CE, "Palestine" saw French and Egyptian conquerors, until Turkish rule was restored. That is, until World War I and the final dissolution of the Turkish Empire in 1918. "Palestine" is taken over by the British Empire.

In 1946 CE, the British see to the establishment of the kingdom of Transjordan (later, Jordan) on 70% of "Palestine" as they received it. Transjordan is handed to a prince from the Arabian peninsula.

1,948 years from our historical starting point, Judea (still for some reason called "Palestine", as per the long-dead Roman Empire) reverts to the Jews. They decide to call their reconstituted commonwealth "Israel", rather than Judea. Perhaps because the heartland of Judea only returned to Jewish hands in 1967 CE.

1994 CE: Israel hands over parts of "Palestine" to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), headed by an Egyptian named Yasser Arafat.
2005 CE: Israel removes all the Jews from the Gaza region of "Palestine" and hands it over to the PLO.
2006 CE: The Iranian-backed, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Hamas takes over the Gaza region of "Palestine" from the PLO.

That's it, more or less. I believe there are three important points to note when perusing this timeline:

a) there never was any sovereign political entity or regime known as "Palestine" anywhere;

b) the Jews are the only rulers in the entire litany above for whom the Land of Israel ("Palestine") was also their sole national homeland;

c) the main reason there are Arabs currently residing in "Palestine" is that Arab imperialists invaded and instituted a "belligerent occupation of Palestine" (as it might be called today) in the early 600s.

But don't bother trying to show this to your self-proclaimed "anti-Zionist" acquaintances. Their standard reply is that it doesn't matter, none of it, which is the adult equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and saying, "Nah-nah! I can't hear you!"

Researched, compiled and presented by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

In the wake of the start of the Chanukah War this Saturday, Libyan ruler Moammar Kaddafi recommended that the Arab League withdraw what the world press is calling its "peace initiative" with Israel. According to Kaddafi, there is no reason for an initiative when "Arabs are the only ones striving for peace."

Allow me to reply to the Supreme Leader, Col. Kaddafi:

"The Arabs are completely useless. We must not waste time. The Arabs are through. Tomorrow, Asia will establish great unions and Africa is already united - and where are you, Arab?"

Now, before B'tzelem or Meretz reports me for racism or incitement, let me make a preemptive strike (do we do that anymore?) by noting that the above statement is not my own creation. Col. Kaddafi said that in October of 2003. Here's a bit more:

"There are nations to which I did an injustice and I apologize for this. I brought Mauritania, Djibouti, Somalia and the Comoro Islands into the Arab League, and I tried to bring in Eritrea. But now I cannot speak with Eritrea. Look what an injustice I did them. I brought them into a failed nation, a failed regime, and failed people...."

Another interesting factoid is that the Arab "peace initiative" that Kaddafi wants to withdraw was first proposed in 2002. Then came Kaddafi's anti-Arab diatribe. Now he wants the Jews to give in to those self-same "useless" and "failed people". What am I missing?

Researched, compiled and presented by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz