Beginning Of The End?

Myriads at Western Wall Praying Against Annapolis Concessions

(IsraelNN.com) An estimated 25,000 people took part in a mass prayer service at the Western Wall against the Israeli government's positions at the Annapolis summit.

The prayer service (video) was followed by a massive protest, co-sponsored by the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria (Yesha), near the Prime Minister's residence. The protest is entitled, "It Will Blow Up in Our Face."

Once again.

At the time of the Western Wall prayer vigil, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was meeting in Washington with U.S. President George Bush in preparation for the Annapolis summit on Tuesday.

The front line of religious-Zionist rabbis, led by Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Mordechai Eliyahu, called for the public to attend the Western Wall prayers. MK Uri Ariel (National Union party), among those who initiated the prayer service, said, "It is critical for us to offer prayer to our Father in Heaven when the Prime Minister wants to sell our national homeland. We are here [at the Wall] to say that we trust in G-d, and that Olmert has no mandate to give up Jerusalem."

Another organizer, Rafi Atiyah, told Arutz-7's Chizky Ezra, "The feeling of despair that has overtaken some of the public has not escaped the eyes of the rabbis who called for the prayer service. But while this feeling can lead to a dead end and to a sense of helplessness, it can also be an opening for a new type of genuine and mature turn to G-d; to a taking of responsibility from a new, pure angle. It could be that out of this tiredness, we will come to the realization that it's not we who control the situation. We sometimes think that if we act, protest, settle the Land, teach, and do all sorts of things, that everything will be OK.

"But today, we are coming to the Western Wall with humility, awe, and serene faith. We return the ball that has been repressed in our hearts for the past two-plus years, and that is threatening to choke us, to our Father in Heaven. We plead with Him that He will show us the way, and that we can be partners with Him in our Redemption. We want to work with Him, to sanctify His Name."

Via Arutz-7/IsraelNationalNews.com

Our friend, Carl in Jerusalem, provides excellent analysis of the demise of the Bush Doctrine and pressure being exerted upon Israel to commit suicide.

During the run up to the Annapolis Conference, it has always had the appearance of being nothing more than Munich redux.

As such, too busy laughing his ass off, Reinhard Heydrich was unavailable for comment.

Also at A Tangled Web

Rice Punches Back at Boxer

Say what you want about Condi Rice and her job performance, but the contemptible Barbara Boxer went so far overboard and deserves all the scorn she is getting. Friday, Rice and the White House fired back.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday challenged Sen. Barbara Boxer's claim that she can't make effective decisions about sending U.S. troops to war because she's not a mother.

"I thought single women had come further than that," Rice said. "The only question is, 'Are you making good decisions because you have kids?' "

Boxer, in a venomous tirade during a tense Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Thursday, told Rice she couldn't understand the "price" of war - a shot at the fact the nation's top diplomat has never married and has no children.

"You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family," Boxer (D-Calif.) fumed.

Boxer's comments stunned the committee room and one GOP staffer likened her to a "bad actor at a high-school play."

The White House yesterday joined Rice in blasting back with both barrels.

President Bush's spokesman Tony Snow slammed Boxer's rant as an "outrage" and called it a "great leap backward for feminism."

"Here you got a professional woman, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Barbara Boxer is sort of throwing little jabs because Condi doesn't have children, as if that means that she doesn't understand the concerns of parents," Snow said.

"I don't know if she was intentionally that tacky, but I do think it's outrageous," Snow told Fox News Channel.

Rice said she was initially confused by Boxer's broadside.

"I guess that means I don't have kids, is that the purpose of that? I assume," Rice told Fox News Channel.

A defiant Boxer yesterday refused to apologize.

"I spoke the truth at the committee hearing, which is that neither Secretary Rice nor I have family members that will pay the price for this escalation," Boxer insisted in a statement.

Democrats never apologize. They just get nastier.

Personally, I believe Boxer has problem with a strong, attractive African-American woman being her intellectual superior.

Remarkably, the New York Times failed to even mention the story Friday. Just reverse the roles and see if they'd ignore it. Doubtful.