Amerisrael

Ironhorse!

Jerusalem Day: Netanyahu Exhibits Fortitude

 

Fortitude: - backbone, refers to the strength of character and resoluteness that permits one to face opposition unflinchingly.

Go Bibi!

During events celebrating the liberation and re-unification of Israel's Capital city of Jerusalem, Prime Minister Netanyahu let the world know--

"Jerusalem will never be divided again."----

This from A7 News:

"Prime Minister Netanyahu declared, "The flag that flies over the Kotel is the Israeli flag... Our holy places, the Temple Mount -- will remain under Israeli sovereignty forever.”

"Between 1949 and 1967, the religious sites in the City, as well as all of Judea and Samaria, had been under the control of Jordan, which forbid entry of Jews to the Western Wall (Kotel) and other holy places, as well as barring Christians from churches. Israel immediately opened all holy sites to all religions after the entire city was re-united in 1967, returning the Old City to Israeli sovereignty after nearly 2,000 years."

In addition, PM Netanyahu, to his credit, has firmly rejected a notion put forward reportedly by Obama, that "UN flags" be flown at the Western Wall.  

Not long after, the clueless dhimmi French regurgitated this:

"The declaration which the Israeli PM  issued yesterday derives from prejudice regarding the final status agreement," -Foreign Ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux.

"In the eyes of France, Jerusalem needs to turn into a capital for two states".

Now hear this:

"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut to pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered against it."-Zechariah12:3 

Under the banner of the UN all nations are politically and diplomatically gathering against Jerusalem and Israel.

And they will suffer great harm and injury to their respective countries because of this.

 

 

 

Biden In Serbia: Bishop Won't Allow Visit To Monastery

VP Joseph Biden is on a tour of the Balkans this week. With stops in Bosnia, Serbia,-- and Serbia's "Kosovo" province, that Islamists have claimed for themselves, with Bush, Obama, and Biden's blessing.

There are protests to Biden's visit.

One political oposition leader said :

"He [Biden] personifies all the crimes committed against Serbia starting with the 1999 bombing to the snatching of Kosovo and Metohija and new crimes that will be committed against Serbia, such as taking Vojvodina and partitioning Serbia into seven regions."-Todorovic

Another said Biden should be taken on a walking tour of all the places destroyed in Belgrade as a result of the NATO bombing. 

The bombing Biden pushed for, as well as former President Bill Clinton.

A Bishop has also decided not to allow Biden to visit the Monastery Deeani.

"The American Vice President Joseph Biden is planning to visit Monastery Deèani on May 21, 2009, as reported by the US Embassy in Priština. "

"His Grace Artemije, Ruling Bishop of the Diocese of Ras and Prizren, has decided not to give his permission for this visit to take place."

"The American Vice President comes to visit Kosovo as an independent state and so confirm the forcible separation of a part of the territory of the sovereign state of Serbia and handing it over to Albanian terrorists, who have committed with impunity numberless crimes against the Serbian people, Serbian property and Serbian religious and cultural heritage. "

"By doing so, does Joseph Biden wish to confirm also that Monastery Deèani in Kosovo-Metohija is an American base like Bondsteel?"

 

The Viable Alternative Peace Plan: The Jerusalem Connection Peace Plan

We are constantly bombarded by rhetoric from clueless politicians and diplomats that the "two-state solution" is the only viable alternative for peace.

That is not only wrong, it also ignores the danger the current two-state non-solution Roadmap policy poses for Israel.

Here is the viable alternative for peace:

The Jerusalem Connection Peace Plan:

The main points:

1. The Covenants of God. The modern State of Israel must be seen as a partial fulfillment of God’s immutable and everlasting covenant promises to provide a national homeland for the Jewish people in anticipation of their ultimate redemption when Messiah comes. (Genesis 15:18; 17:7-8). Thus these promises must be considered valid and relevant for today and foundational to any further discussions. God has a vested interest in Israel and the Jewish people that will not be denied. To deny Providential input into any peace plan involving Israel is to invite rejection and failure at the outset. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”  (Galatians 6:7).

2. The Rule of International Law. The legal validity of the modern state of Israel must be recognized as having been established by international law. This is confirmed by The Balfour Declaration of November 1917, authenticated and formalized by the British Mandate of the League of Nations in July 1922, by the United Nations partition resolution of 1947, by the official recognition of the State of Israel by the United States in May of 1948 and Israel’s admission to the United Nations in 1949. These are facts of history that must permeate any peace plan regardless of revisionist’s attempts to displace, ignore or supersede them.

3. The Dissolution and Containment of Palestinian Terrorists Entities. Israel must assume responsibility for disposing of the Iranian proxies represented in the Palestinian Jihadists including Hizbollah. Moreover, they must not be hindered by the international community from accomplishing this necessary task. Negotiation, unless based on appeasement, is not an option for Jihadists. Nor is deterrence, due to the fanatical death wish that enlivens and emboldens their martyrs’ complex. All Jihadists, Hamas, (violence) Islamic Jihad, (war) Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Hizbollah, including the Palestinian Authority, must be defeated militarily and unconditionally, disarmed and their infrastructure dismantled. Their existence precludes the termination of the conflict. Containment that disallows Jihadist’s functionality is imperative.

4. The Recognition of Jordan as the One and Only Palestinian State. Both Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on separate occasions, “Jordan is Palestine.” This affirmation needs to be revisited and accepted with the strategic cooperation of Jordan whose present population is 70% Palestinian. Fifty percent of those in Gaza and the West Bank have not ruled out a move to another country. Over thirty percent have considered rebuilding their lives in another country, assuming they could achieve a good standard of living in that country. Reluctance on the part of Jordan could be overcome with the help of an international “Marshall Plan” that would establish Jordan as the economic “Wall Street” of the Middle East. Assurances from the international community and the guarantee of military monitors would make this option even more attractive. Those Palestinians who chose to remain in Israel would be given Jordanian citizenship just as they had from 1948 to 1987.

5. The Defunding and Dissolution of UNRWA. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency must be terminated. It serves only to maintain and prolong the refugee status of Palestinians, which in turn seeks to de-legitimize Israel’s right to exist. Rehabilitation or absorption in another country is not even an option for UNWRA. It serves only to exacerbate the plight of the Palestinian people for political and strategic gain. On the other hand, UNHCR (the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) deals with 31.7 million refugees from over 150 countries and has as its primary purpose “to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.” In its efforts to achieve this objective, “UNHCR strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, and to return home voluntarily. By assisting refugees to return to their own country or to settle permanently in another UNHCR also seeks lasting solutions to their plight.” The compassionate and humanitarian solution to the Palestinian refugee problem should be undertaken by UNHCR not UNWRA.

6. The Sovereignty of Israel in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). The British Mandate declared this area to be a part of the National Homeland of the Jewish people. When the Arabs attacked Israel in 1948, Jordan captured and occupied Judea and Samaria until the 1967 war. At that time Israel recaptured that part of its homeland and returned it to the people of Israel. Arab aggression should not be rewarded by turning over this area to the aggressor. Judea and Samaria represent the heartland of Israel land decreed by Divine promise to the Jewish people. The alternative to Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria would be to place them under Palestinian or another Arab country’s authority. This would be a strategic catastrophe of major proportions, since it would seriously threaten Israel’s very existence. Israel should officially and actually annex Judea and Samaria and bring it under the sovereignty of the State of Israel.

 

Zippy Livni , Leftist Appeasers, Make Bogus "One State" Argument

Zippy Livni and like minded leftist appeasers, Israeli and non-Israeli, make the same bogus argument in favor of the non-solution two-state solution:

"The possibility of the establishment of one nation for Israelis and Palestinians, rather than the acceptance of a two-state solution, is a strategic threat to the existence of the Jewish state, opposition chair Tzipi Livni said on Thursday. "

That is a bogus argument.

 Actually, it is the other way around. It is the two-state solution that poses a serious threat and danger to Israel.

Here's why:

They base this argument on a false assumption:

The assumption that if Israel doesn't bend the knee in the gutter of reckless appeasement and allows for "another" Arab "Palestinian" state to be created on Israel's land, then--

in order for Israel to maintain it's democracy, the so-called Palestinians must be made citizens of Israel. Then, as their argument and threat continues, after time, the Arabs will "vote" Israel out of existence.

That is in essence the one-state non-solution threat folks like Condi Rice, Blair, Carter, Livni, and other dhimmi politicians and diplomats make in their zeal to push Israel into appeasement / surrender mode, to bring about the establishment of another Islamist state in the very heart of Israel. Thus dividing and splitting apart the State of Israel.

And it is all rubbish!

Their one-state argument includes the false assumption that the Arabs "must" be made citizens of Israel. Wrong.

As Bibi has said, Israel does not want to "govern over a single Palestinian."

The Arabs have self-autonomy in their "Palestinian Authority" areas. They can vote in "their elections". They have "their" democracy.

And they used it to vote Hamas into power in 2006.

And on the matter of citizenship, the loyalty pledge Avigdor Lieberman and Israel Beytenu advocate sounds like an excellent idea. The new law, if it is ever adapted, would require every person to pledge loyalty to the State of Israel before citizenship could be obtained, and also as a requirement to serve in the Knesset.

An excellent idea especially in light of the following:

"New Balad party MK Haneen Zuabi…has welcomed Iran’s growing influence on Palestinian affairs and praised Iran’s quest for a nuclear weapon as a means of offsetting Israel’s regional military edge."

The constant political spin by anti-Israel diplomats like Tony Blair and Mr. EU Solana, that there is no alternative to the non-solution two-state solution , is pure ridiculous rubbish.

Here is an excellent alternative: The Jerusalem Connection Peace Plan.

Here are the main points:

1. The Covenants of God. The modern State of Israel must be seen as a partial fulfillment of God’s immutable and everlasting covenant promises to provide a national homeland for the Jewish people in anticipation of their ultimate redemption when Messiah comes. (Genesis 15:18; 17:7-8). Thus these promises must be considered valid and relevant for today and foundational to any further discussions. God has a vested interest in Israel and the Jewish people that will not be denied. To deny Providential input into any peace plan involving Israel is to invite rejection and failure at the outset. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”  (Galatians 6:7).

2. The Rule of International Law. The legal validity of the modern state of Israel must be recognized as having been established by international law. This is confirmed by The Balfour Declaration of November 1917, authenticated and formalized by the British Mandate of the League of Nations in July 1922, by the United Nations partition resolution of 1947, by the official recognition of the State of Israel by the United States in May of 1948 and Israel’s admission to the United Nations in 1949. These are facts of history that must permeate any peace plan regardless of revisionist’s attempts to displace, ignore or supersede them.

3. The Dissolution and Containment of Palestinian Terrorists Entities. Israel must assume responsibility for disposing of the Iranian proxies represented in the Palestinian Jihadists including Hizbollah. Moreover, they must not be hindered by the international community from accomplishing this necessary task. Negotiation, unless based on appeasement, is not an option for Jihadists. Nor is deterrence, due to the fanatical death wish that enlivens and emboldens their martyrs’ complex. All Jihadists, Hamas, (violence) Islamic Jihad, (war) Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Hizbollah, including the Palestinian Authority, must be defeated militarily and unconditionally, disarmed and their infrastructure dismantled. Their existence precludes the termination of the conflict. Containment that disallows Jihadist’s functionality is imperative.

4. The Recognition of Jordan as the One and Only Palestinian State. Both Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on separate occasions, “Jordan is Palestine.” This affirmation needs to be revisited and accepted with the strategic cooperation of Jordan whose present population is 70% Palestinian. Fifty percent of those in Gaza and the West Bank have not ruled out a move to another country. Over thirty percent have considered rebuilding their lives in another country, assuming they could achieve a good standard of living in that country. Reluctance on the part of Jordan could be overcome with the help of an international “Marshall Plan” that would establish Jordan as the economic “Wall Street” of the Middle East. Assurances from the international community and the guarantee of military monitors would make this option even more attractive. Those Palestinians who chose to remain in Israel would be given Jordanian citizenship just as they had from 1948 to 1987.

5. The Defunding and Dissolution of UNRWA. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency must be terminated. It serves only to maintain and prolong the refugee status of Palestinians, which in turn seeks to de-legitimize Israel’s right to exist. Rehabilitation or absorption in another country is not even an option for UNWRA. It serves only to exacerbate the plight of the Palestinian people for political and strategic gain. On the other hand, UNHCR (the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) deals with 31.7 million refugees from over 150 countries and has as its primary purpose “to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.” In its efforts to achieve this objective, “UNHCR strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, and to return home voluntarily. By assisting refugees to return to their own country or to settle permanently in another UNHCR also seeks lasting solutions to their plight.” The compassionate and humanitarian solution to the Palestinian refugee problem should be undertaken by UNHCR not UNWRA.

6. The Sovereignty of Israel in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). The British Mandate declared this area to be a part of the National Homeland of the Jewish people. When the Arabs attacked Israel in 1948, Jordan captured and occupied Judea and Samaria until the 1967 war. At that time Israel recaptured that part of its homeland and returned it to the people of Israel. Arab aggression should not be rewarded by turning over this area to the aggressor. Judea and Samaria represent the heartland of Israel land decreed by Divine promise to the Jewish people. The alternative to Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria would be to place them under Palestinian or another Arab country’s authority. This would be a strategic catastrophe of major proportions, since it would seriously threaten Israel’s very existence. Israel should officially and actually annex Judea and Samaria and bring it under the sovereignty of the State of Israel.

See also the Israeli Initative.

 

 

 

The Statute Of Religious Freedom-Jefferson

The Statute of Religious Freedom

[sorry for the camera "flash-back" in the photo]

The Statute of Religious Freedom-by Thomas Jefferson:

---

Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as it was in his Almighty power to do; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time; that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor, whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the instruction of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry; that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which in common with his fellow-citizens he has a natural right; that it tends only to corrupt the principles of that religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them:

Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

And though we well know that this assembly elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act to be irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such act shall be an infringement of natural right.

Visit the Religious Freedom site.

Saudis Lobby For Kosovo Independence: What A Surprise!

What a surprise!-

"Saudi Arabia is leading a campaign to “lobby a meaningful number of recognitions of Kosovo as an independent state” said Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic who is taking part at the Ministerial meeting of the Non Aligned nations in Havana, Cuba.

"We are attempting not to have any new recognitions of Kosovo even though some formidable countries are attempting to achieve that," said Jeremic.

"Saudi Arabia has recently recognized Kosovo as an independent state and some sources say that Kuwait and Bahrain are planing to do the same soon.

In the early 1990s, Saudi officials met the Chief Imam Jakub Selimoski in what was then Yugoslavia, and promised him that Saudis would do everything in their power to make Islamic enclaves in Yugoslavia - Bosnia, Kosovo and Sandzak - independent states."

"Despite the Saudi efforts, Jeremic says that Serbia is enjoying wide support across the world." -read the full article here.

[ Oh really?, certainly not from the EU, UN, or the current government of the U.S.. Lest anyone forget it was our current Secretary of State's husband who pushed for the NATO bombing of Serbia and took the side of the Jihadists against Serbia.]

[In fact, if there is one country in the world the EU and UN loves to hate almost as much as Israel, it is Serbia.]

Of course this all ties in with this:

How European Islam Will Complete The Global Caliphate

Where is Saudi Aid To Victims of the Taliban?-Ehrenfield

 

 

Patton's "Weather Prayer" : What You Didn't See In The Movie

This Thursday, May 7th, is the National Day of Prayer.

In December 1944, the Germans had launched a surprise counter-offensive under the cover of fog, cloud cover, rain, -very foul wheather.

No air-support for U.S. troops was possible. The weather, at that point, was a critical factor.

Patton telephoned the Third Army Chaplain with this request:

"This is General Patton, do you have a good prayer for weather? We must do something about those rains if we are to win the war".

The following is the prayer composed by the Third Army Chaplain and distributed throughout the Third Army:

"Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations."

The True Story of the Patton Prayer- by Msgr. James H. O'neill

Here are some excerpts that give a fascinating account of General Patton's beliefs concerning the power of prayer and the sovereignty of God, that didn't come across in the movie that starred actor George C. Scott:

"Chaplain, I am a strong believer in Prayer. There are three ways that men get what they want; by planning, by working, and by Praying. Any great military operation takes careful planning, or thinking. Then you must have well-trained troops to carry it out: that's working. But between the plan and the operation there is always an unknown. That unknown spells defeat or victory, success or failure. It is the reaction of the actors to the ordeal when it actually comes. Some people call that getting the breaks; I call it God. "

"God has His part, or margin in everything, That's where prayer comes in. Up to now, in the Third Army, God has been very good to us. We have never retreated; we have suffered no defeats, no famine, no epidemics. This is because a lot of people back home are praying for us. We were lucky in Africa, in Sicily, and in Italy. Simply because people prayed."

"But we have to pray for ourselves, too. A good soldier is not made merely by making him think and work. There is something in every soldier that goes deeper than thinking or working--it's his "guts." It is something that he has built in there: it is a world of truth and power that is higher than himself. Great living is not all output of thought and work. A man has to have intake as well. I don't know what you it, but I call it Religion, Prayer, or God."-Patton

He talked about Gideon in the Bible, said that men should pray no matter where they were, in church or out of it, that if they did not pray, sooner or later they would "crack up."

To all this I commented agreement, that one of the major training objectives of my office was to help soldiers recover and make their lives effective in this third realm, prayer. It would do no harm to re-impress this training on chaplains. We had about 486 chaplains in the Third Army at that time, representing 32 denominations. Once the Third Army had become operational, my mode of contact with the chaplains had been chiefly through Training Letters issued from time to time to the Chaplains in the four corps and the 22 to 26 divisions comprising the Third Army. Each treated of a variety of subjects of corrective or training value to a chaplain working with troops in the field. [Patton continued:]"

"I wish you would put out a Training Letter on this subject of Prayer to all the chaplains; write about nothing else, just the importance of prayer.

"Let me see it before you send it. We've got to get not only the chaplains but every man in the Third Army to pray. We must ask God to stop these rains. These rains are that margin that hold defeat or victory. If we all pray, it will be like what Dr. Carrel said [the allusion was to a press quote some days previously when Dr. Alexis Carrel, one of the foremost scientists, described prayer "as one of the most powerful forms of energy man can generate"], it will be like plugging in on a current whose source is in Heaven. I believe that prayer completes that circuit. It is power."-Patton

U.S. Military Destroys Bibles In Afghanistan: What ! ?

The U.S. military has confirmed that it has "destroyed" some Bibles belonging to an American soldier in Afghanistan.

"Reuters News says the Bibles were confiscated and destroyed after Qatar-based Al Jazeer television showed soldiers at a Bible class on a base with a stack of Bibles translated into the local Pashto and Dari languages. "

"The U.S. military forbids its members on active duty -- including those based in places like Afghanistan -- from trying to convert people to another religion."

Even though such efforts can actually save lives by changing "hearts and minds"?

After all, we hear so much about how it is important to change the "hearts and minds" of folks in that part of the world so they will hate us less.

 This works:

"In 1993, Walid studied the Tanach (Jewish Bible) in a challenge to convert his wife to Islam. Six months later, after intense study, Walid realized that everything he had been taught about Jews was a lie. Convinced he was on the side of evil, he became an advocate for his former enemy.

Driven by a deep passion to heal his own soul, and to bring the truth about the Jews and Israel to the world, Walid shed his former life and his work as a software engineer and set out to tirelessly bring the cause of Israel to tens of thousands of people throughout the world: churches and synagogues, civic groups, government leaders and media."-read the rest here.

More here.

The important foundations that must be in place for any true democracy are still a long ways off in Afghanistan.

True freedom of religion and speech serve as important foundations that must be in place for real freedom and democracy. 

The First 100 Years: A Resounding Success, Tel-Aviv-Yafo

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

 

Yafo, or Joppa: An Israeli Hebrew city mentioned serveral times in the Bible. Huram, the King of Tyre, had trees cut down and sent to Jerusalem via the port at Jaffa, [Yafo], for Solomon's use in building the Temple.

Note, the centennial celebrations are to celebrate Tel Aviv-Yafo as the first "modern" Hebrew city, not the first "Hebrew city" in Israel.

In that regard, Jerusalem has been Hebrew and Israeli since David established Israel's capital city there around 1000bc.

From the Israeli site:

"As the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo prepares to mark its 100th anniversary in early April 2009, a wide array of events are being planned for the centennial celebrations, including outdoor festivals, art shows, sporting events, historic exhibitions and numerous community projects, among others. Celebrations will kick-off in early April, marking the date of the city's founding 100 years ago, and continue through 2009."

"Tel Aviv, the first modern Hebrew city, was founded on April 11, 1909. On that day, several dozen families gathered on the sand dunes on the beach outside Yafo to allocate plots of land for a new neighborhood they called Ahuzat Bayit, later known as Tel Aviv. The city expanded rapidly with massive waves of immigration in the 1920s and 30s, also bringing about a boon in Bauhaus-style architecture. Tel Aviv's status as the region's most creative, liberal and tolerant city received was furthered when Yafo joined the municipality in 1949. Throughout the decades, the city has flourished to become Israel’s business and cultural center and has developed a unique atmosphere fusing Mediterranean and urban elements. "

"One hundred years later, the vision of our city's founders - who looked at the sand dunes and saw the potential for a vibrant city - has been realized," says Mayor Ron Huldai. "Tel Aviv-Yafo is a thriving global city that 400,000 residents are proud to call home."