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Israeli Report Update - 7-19
![[Untitled]](http://image.wetpaint.com/image/1/MK0PgfKHqmBqpqetzQP8ow183822/GW500H375 "[Untitled]")
7-19
1. Netanyahu: Jerusalem is Ours, Not Up for Debate
by Maayana Miskin
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a sharp response Sunday to United States pressure to stop Jews from building in parts of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinian Authority. Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem is “not up for debate,” Netanyahu said, and Jews are permitted to build in any part of the capital city, as are Arabs.
Netanyahu implied that the U.S. request was racist, saying before the weekly Cabinet meeting, “Imagine what would happen if Jews were forbidden to live or to buy apartments in certain parts of London, New York, Paris or Rome. There would be an international outcry."
"All the more, we cannot to a decree like this regarding Jerusalem,” he said.
Over the weekend, the U.S. State Department summoned Israeli envoy Michael Oren and demanded that Israel halt construction of Jewish homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, near the ancient grave of Shimon HaTzaddik (Simon the Just). The property on which the homes are to be built has been owned by Jewish activist Dr. Irving Moskowitz for more than 20 years.
Oren told U.S. officials that Israel would not agree to stop building in the area.
Israel annexed Sheikh Jarrah and other Jerusalem neighborhoods following the Six Day War, in which the city was reunified after 19 years of Jordanian rule in the eastern half of the city. While Israel has maintained sovereignty in the capital city for more than 40 years, the Palestinian Authority continues to demand all areas controlled by Jordan in the 1950s.
The United States, along with most of the world, has refused to recognize Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem in deference to the PA. The American embassy is located in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem, and American citizens born in Jerusalem may not list “Israel” as their country of birth on their American documents.
Israeli Muslim Children told Jerusalem Occupied, Raise Millions for Al Aksa
While Israeli leaders proclaim Jerusalem to be the unified capital of Israel, Israeli Muslim leaders teach their children that Jerusalem is rightfully Arab and Muslim. On Saturday, the Islamic Movement bussed thousands of Israeli Arab Muslim children to the Al Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount, where they heard speeches referring to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem as areas “occupied” by Israel.
"We must remove the occupying forces from the mosque, and from all of Jerusalem,” said Sheikh Khamel Khatib, a senior Islamic Movement leader.
The children brought money which they had gathered throughout the year on behalf of the Islamic Movement. Donations came to roughly 3 million shekels, which Islamic Movement leaders said would be used for the Al Aksa Mosque and Islamic Movement institutions.
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2. Reclaiming Jewish Property in Jerusalem
by Hillel Fendel
With the Obama administration turning the corkscrews upon Israeli sovereignty in its capital, the spotlight focuses once again on the growing Jewish presence in neighborhoods such as Shimon HaTzaddik. Arab squatters face eviction this week.
The U.S. State Department has made an unprecedented demand upon its ally Israel to stop lawful construction in its capital – specifically, at a property owned by activist Dr. Irving Moskowitz in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The municipal housing plan calls for the site of the Shepherd Hotel to become a 20-unit apartment complex.Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other government ministers have categorically rebuffed the American ultimatum, as did Ambassador Michael Oren when he was called to the State Department to hear the U.S. demand.
Arabs in Shimon HaTzaddik Face Eviction
Just below the hotel, seven Jewish families and an all-day Torah-study program, known as a Kollel, are trying to renew the old Jewish neighborhood of Shimon HaTzaddik. Several Arab families that have squatted on the property since Jordan took control of eastern Jerusalem in 1948 continue to refuse to leave – and face possible eviction this week.
The area, where Simon the Just and elders of the Sanhedrin were buried over 2,000 years ago, was a thriving Jewish community from 1895 until 1948, when it was evacuated by the British army during the Arab riots preceding the War of Independence. When Israel returned to all of Jerusalem in 1967, Arabs were living there – and appeared to be heading for Jewish obsolescence. However, one day in 1998, a young man named Yair Lieberman happened on the site, looking for the grave of Simon the Just – and found one of four synagogues that had been in operation there several decades earlier.
The inscription above the door clearly identifies the synagogue, and the hollow where the Holy Ark had been was also clear to the eye. Amazingly, the Arab living next door had just completed digging foundations, planning to annex the synagogue structure to his own home.
Just in time, Lieberman informed then-MK Benny Elon of his find. Elon contacted the official owners of the property, the Jerusalem Community Council, and they authorized to take over the property in its name. Elon arrived with several dozen activists, and not without Arab opposition and even violence, they ultimately succeeded in renewing the synagogue’s Jewish past.
Today, a Kollel operates on the site, and seven Jewish families live there. Some 20 Arab families live there as well, and have been faced with several eviction orders – most of which have been resisted in one way or another. This week, the date set by a court two months ago for an eviction, Israeli justice will be tested once again: Will the homes be emptied to make room for the Jewish owners to move in or not?
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by Hillel Fendel
With the Obama administration turning the corkscrews upon Israeli sovereignty in its capital, the spotlight focuses once again on the growing Jewish presence in neighborhoods such as Shimon HaTzaddik. Arab squatters face eviction this week.
The U.S. State Department has made an unprecedented demand upon its ally Israel to stop lawful construction in its capital – specifically, at a property owned by activist Dr. Irving Moskowitz in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The municipal housing plan calls for the site of the Shepherd Hotel to become a 20-unit apartment complex.Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other government ministers have categorically rebuffed the American ultimatum, as did Ambassador Michael Oren when he was called to the State Department to hear the U.S. demand.
Arabs in Shimon HaTzaddik Face Eviction
Just below the hotel, seven Jewish families and an all-day Torah-study program, known as a Kollel, are trying to renew the old Jewish neighborhood of Shimon HaTzaddik. Several Arab families that have squatted on the property since Jordan took control of eastern Jerusalem in 1948 continue to refuse to leave – and face possible eviction this week.
The area, where Simon the Just and elders of the Sanhedrin were buried over 2,000 years ago, was a thriving Jewish community from 1895 until 1948, when it was evacuated by the British army during the Arab riots preceding the War of Independence. When Israel returned to all of Jerusalem in 1967, Arabs were living there – and appeared to be heading for Jewish obsolescence. However, one day in 1998, a young man named Yair Lieberman happened on the site, looking for the grave of Simon the Just – and found one of four synagogues that had been in operation there several decades earlier.
The inscription above the door clearly identifies the synagogue, and the hollow where the Holy Ark had been was also clear to the eye. Amazingly, the Arab living next door had just completed digging foundations, planning to annex the synagogue structure to his own home.
Just in time, Lieberman informed then-MK Benny Elon of his find. Elon contacted the official owners of the property, the Jerusalem Community Council, and they authorized to take over the property in its name. Elon arrived with several dozen activists, and not without Arab opposition and even violence, they ultimately succeeded in renewing the synagogue’s Jewish past.
Today, a Kollel operates on the site, and seven Jewish families live there. Some 20 Arab families live there as well, and have been faced with several eviction orders – most of which have been resisted in one way or another. This week, the date set by a court two months ago for an eviction, Israeli justice will be tested once again: Will the homes be emptied to make room for the Jewish owners to move in or not?
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3. PA Drifting into Two States
by Hillel Fendel
Fatah-Hamas negotiations at an impasse, Abbas accused of ousting PLO veterans, January elections thus appear unlikely. Two states for one (PA) people?
Egyptian-brokered talks between Hamas and Fatah for a unified Palestinian Authority government have broken down, and some say they will not be renewed in the near future. Egypt blames both sides, though attributes more responsibility for the impasse to Fatah, led by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Egypt announced on Sunday, however, that it still hopes to have an agreement finalized by August 25.
Fatah and Hamas fought a short war in 2007, by the end of which Hamas had taken over control of Gaza. The Palestinian Authority has since then functioned as two entities from many standpoints: Hamastan in Gaza, and Fatahland in Judea/Samaria. The most recent battle between forces of the two sides resulted in six dead in the Fatah-controlled city of Kalkilye: two Hamas terrorists, three Fatah security men, and a bystander.
Fatah currently demands that Hamas allow 15,000 Fatah security forces to return to Gaza. Hamas refuses, though it says it will consider allowing them to return gradually. Hamas, for its part, demands that the current term of the PA legislature – in which Hamas has a majority, but which has been all but neutralized for the past two years – be extended.
Accusation: You Tried to Kill Us
In addition, a top Hamas leader, Mahmoud a-Zahar, said on Friday that Hamas forces had uncovered a Fatah plan to kill Hamas leaders. A-Zahar was speaking at a Gaza mosque during Friday prayers.
Another factor in the equation is last week’s decision by Abbas to close down the Al-Jazeera TV station in Ramallah. Abbas did not like Al-Jazeera’s repeated broadcast of accusations that Abbas had had a hand in the death of PLO founder Yasser Arafat.
Arab affairs expert Yoni Ben-Menachem told Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine that Farouk Kadoumi, who leveled the accusations against Abbas, “apparently felt threatened by Abbas’ decision to convene a Fatah conference next month that will replace the old guard with younger faces such as Marwan Barghouti [imprisoned in Israel for five murder convictions – ed, Hussein A-Sheikh, and Muhammed Dahlan.”
Saudi Paper Critical of Abbas
The Saudi newspaper A-Sharq al-Aussat expressed criticism of Abbas for this move – and for setting the agenda of the upcoming conference to deal more with building up the PA and less with fighting Israel. The paper says that the internal Fatah split is likely to cost it its preeminence and influence within the Palestinian Authority.
More Violence Predicted
“I foresee the breakout of more violence between Fatah and Hamas in the coming weeks,” Ben-Menachem predicted. “As it appears now, the conflict between them is far from over.”
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by Hillel Fendel
Fatah-Hamas negotiations at an impasse, Abbas accused of ousting PLO veterans, January elections thus appear unlikely. Two states for one (PA) people?
Egyptian-brokered talks between Hamas and Fatah for a unified Palestinian Authority government have broken down, and some say they will not be renewed in the near future. Egypt blames both sides, though attributes more responsibility for the impasse to Fatah, led by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Egypt announced on Sunday, however, that it still hopes to have an agreement finalized by August 25.
Fatah and Hamas fought a short war in 2007, by the end of which Hamas had taken over control of Gaza. The Palestinian Authority has since then functioned as two entities from many standpoints: Hamastan in Gaza, and Fatahland in Judea/Samaria. The most recent battle between forces of the two sides resulted in six dead in the Fatah-controlled city of Kalkilye: two Hamas terrorists, three Fatah security men, and a bystander.
Fatah currently demands that Hamas allow 15,000 Fatah security forces to return to Gaza. Hamas refuses, though it says it will consider allowing them to return gradually. Hamas, for its part, demands that the current term of the PA legislature – in which Hamas has a majority, but which has been all but neutralized for the past two years – be extended.
Accusation: You Tried to Kill Us
In addition, a top Hamas leader, Mahmoud a-Zahar, said on Friday that Hamas forces had uncovered a Fatah plan to kill Hamas leaders. A-Zahar was speaking at a Gaza mosque during Friday prayers.
Another factor in the equation is last week’s decision by Abbas to close down the Al-Jazeera TV station in Ramallah. Abbas did not like Al-Jazeera’s repeated broadcast of accusations that Abbas had had a hand in the death of PLO founder Yasser Arafat.
Arab affairs expert Yoni Ben-Menachem told Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine that Farouk Kadoumi, who leveled the accusations against Abbas, “apparently felt threatened by Abbas’ decision to convene a Fatah conference next month that will replace the old guard with younger faces such as Marwan Barghouti [imprisoned in Israel for five murder convictions – ed, Hussein A-Sheikh, and Muhammed Dahlan.”
Saudi Paper Critical of Abbas
The Saudi newspaper A-Sharq al-Aussat expressed criticism of Abbas for this move – and for setting the agenda of the upcoming conference to deal more with building up the PA and less with fighting Israel. The paper says that the internal Fatah split is likely to cost it its preeminence and influence within the Palestinian Authority.
More Violence Predicted
“I foresee the breakout of more violence between Fatah and Hamas in the coming weeks,” Ben-Menachem predicted. “As it appears now, the conflict between them is far from over.”
Comment on this story
4. Fischer: Israel One of World’s Safest Places for Investors
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Israel remained relatively free from severe damage in the worldwide financial crisis and stands to be one of the world’s safest places for investors, Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer told Fox News.
He took partial credit for Israel’s economic stability, noting that his massive purchase of dollars in the past year along with the government’s spending limitations helped avert a serious crisis. The economy is in a recession and thousands of people are out of work, but recovery appears to be around the corner.
Major Tel Aviv Stock Exchange indexes still are 30 percent higher than they were five years ago while American shares generally have lost value.
“I feel much, much better that if there’s any [futu crisis, we are in a very strong position, much stronger than a year ago, because of our currency purchases,” Fischer told Fox.
The Standard & Poor financial services company affirmed Israel’s stability last week and retained the government’s “double A” bond rating. Its conclusion partly “rests on Israel's proven economic resilience in the past, including the bust of the technology boom, the second Intifada, and the incursions in South Lebanon and in Gaza all during the past decade,” S&P reported.
“Israel also draws credit strength from its relationship with the U.S., which recently extended its loan guaranteed program, under which there remains $3.8 billion available, until 2011/2012," according to S&P. Italso expects “that Israel and the world community will confront Iran over its nuclear program solely in the diplomatic realm.”
It predicts that the recession will end this year and that growth in 2010 will be about 1 percent. Finance Ministry economists estimate that the economywill continue to grow at the same rate for each of the next five years, adding approximately 2,000 jobs every year.
Fischer said that the central bank continues to focus on price stability, with the consumer price index remaining below the maximum target of 3 percent.
He noted that several foreign companies, such as Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have recently opened production and development centers in the Jewish state.
Israel is “a safe place to invest,” Fischer stated. “Americans tend to be very concerned about pictures on TV of the violence. In terms of capital investment, exporting and importing, that part of business is relatively easy. [Israel ha a highly-skilled work force that’s highly motivated. It’s an exciting place, but most impressive is the talent and the interesting people.”
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Israel remained relatively free from severe damage in the worldwide financial crisis and stands to be one of the world’s safest places for investors, Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer told Fox News.
He took partial credit for Israel’s economic stability, noting that his massive purchase of dollars in the past year along with the government’s spending limitations helped avert a serious crisis. The economy is in a recession and thousands of people are out of work, but recovery appears to be around the corner.
Major Tel Aviv Stock Exchange indexes still are 30 percent higher than they were five years ago while American shares generally have lost value.
“I feel much, much better that if there’s any [futu crisis, we are in a very strong position, much stronger than a year ago, because of our currency purchases,” Fischer told Fox.
The Standard & Poor financial services company affirmed Israel’s stability last week and retained the government’s “double A” bond rating. Its conclusion partly “rests on Israel's proven economic resilience in the past, including the bust of the technology boom, the second Intifada, and the incursions in South Lebanon and in Gaza all during the past decade,” S&P reported.
“Israel also draws credit strength from its relationship with the U.S., which recently extended its loan guaranteed program, under which there remains $3.8 billion available, until 2011/2012," according to S&P. Italso expects “that Israel and the world community will confront Iran over its nuclear program solely in the diplomatic realm.”
It predicts that the recession will end this year and that growth in 2010 will be about 1 percent. Finance Ministry economists estimate that the economywill continue to grow at the same rate for each of the next five years, adding approximately 2,000 jobs every year.
Fischer said that the central bank continues to focus on price stability, with the consumer price index remaining below the maximum target of 3 percent.
He noted that several foreign companies, such as Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have recently opened production and development centers in the Jewish state.
Israel is “a safe place to invest,” Fischer stated. “Americans tend to be very concerned about pictures on TV of the violence. In terms of capital investment, exporting and importing, that part of business is relatively easy. [Israel ha a highly-skilled work force that’s highly motivated. It’s an exciting place, but most impressive is the talent and the interesting people.”
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5. Lebanese Infiltrate Israel with Hizbullah Flags
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Fifteen Lebanese crossed freely into Israeli territory shortly after noon Friday and raised Hizbullah and Lebanese flags before turning back after Israeli soldiers spotted them. No shots were fired because the civilians appeared to be unarmed and were mostly women and children, an IDF spokesman said.
The incident occurred less than three miles east of Rajar, a village in disputed territory located near Har Dov, on the western edgeof the Hermon Mountain.
The Times of Oman claimed that the infiltrators were “protestors” who “briefly took over an unmanned Israeli observation post." The IDF told Israel National News that the group of Lebanese reached an area where the army previously had placed several cement blocks that may have been occasionally used as a lookout point but were never an established post.
The Times also quoted a French news agency as sayingthat Israel had set up the alleged observation post earlier in the week. It added that three Israeli tanks arrived at the scene and that soldiers removed the flags. The IDF said it could not confirm or deny that tanks reached the area.
Israel said that the infiltration was a severe violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, whichended the Second Lebanon War three years ago.
In a separate incident, 14 soldiers of the United Nations Interim Forces (UNIFIL) were lightly wounded on Saturday when Lebanese in a village near the border prevented them from searching a suspected Hizbullah weapons depot that exploded earlier in the week. Several UNIFIL vehicles, including an ambulance, sustained damage.
Ammunition in an abandoned house approximately 12 miles north of the Israeli border exploded on Tuesday, in what UNIFIL said was a “serious violation" of Resolution 1701. The Kuwaiti newspaper A Siyassa reported that the explosion killed a number of Hizbullah terrorists and involved a secret outpost and not an abandoned building.
The newspaper said that weapons at the location included anti-tank missiles and anti-tank mines. The IDF on Wednesday released video footage showing an explosion in a house, in which there were several holes the size of Katyusha rockets.
Gabriella Shalev, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, formally complained to the U.N. that the explosions prove continued Hizbullah violations of the ceasefire resolution. She also charged that the Lebanese army helped prevent UNIFIL soldiers from entering the area until Hizbullah could remove evidence.
In addition to the two incidents, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Friday that Israel is a “racist state.” He spoke one year after Israeli agreed to return to Lebanon child killer Samir Kuntar and several Hizbullah terrorists in return for the bodies of soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were kidnapped and killed at the outset of the Second Lebanon War.
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Fifteen Lebanese crossed freely into Israeli territory shortly after noon Friday and raised Hizbullah and Lebanese flags before turning back after Israeli soldiers spotted them. No shots were fired because the civilians appeared to be unarmed and were mostly women and children, an IDF spokesman said.
The incident occurred less than three miles east of Rajar, a village in disputed territory located near Har Dov, on the western edgeof the Hermon Mountain.
The Times of Oman claimed that the infiltrators were “protestors” who “briefly took over an unmanned Israeli observation post." The IDF told Israel National News that the group of Lebanese reached an area where the army previously had placed several cement blocks that may have been occasionally used as a lookout point but were never an established post.
The Times also quoted a French news agency as sayingthat Israel had set up the alleged observation post earlier in the week. It added that three Israeli tanks arrived at the scene and that soldiers removed the flags. The IDF said it could not confirm or deny that tanks reached the area.
Israel said that the infiltration was a severe violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, whichended the Second Lebanon War three years ago.
In a separate incident, 14 soldiers of the United Nations Interim Forces (UNIFIL) were lightly wounded on Saturday when Lebanese in a village near the border prevented them from searching a suspected Hizbullah weapons depot that exploded earlier in the week. Several UNIFIL vehicles, including an ambulance, sustained damage.
Ammunition in an abandoned house approximately 12 miles north of the Israeli border exploded on Tuesday, in what UNIFIL said was a “serious violation" of Resolution 1701. The Kuwaiti newspaper A Siyassa reported that the explosion killed a number of Hizbullah terrorists and involved a secret outpost and not an abandoned building.
The newspaper said that weapons at the location included anti-tank missiles and anti-tank mines. The IDF on Wednesday released video footage showing an explosion in a house, in which there were several holes the size of Katyusha rockets.
Gabriella Shalev, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, formally complained to the U.N. that the explosions prove continued Hizbullah violations of the ceasefire resolution. She also charged that the Lebanese army helped prevent UNIFIL soldiers from entering the area until Hizbullah could remove evidence.
In addition to the two incidents, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Friday that Israel is a “racist state.” He spoke one year after Israeli agreed to return to Lebanon child killer Samir Kuntar and several Hizbullah terrorists in return for the bodies of soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were kidnapped and killed at the outset of the Second Lebanon War.
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6. Olmert to Obama: Get Off Israel’s Case
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama is making a big mistake by insisting that Israel freeze all building for Jews in Judea and Samaria, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wrote Friday in the Washington Post, considered one of the most influential American newspapers.
In his opinion article, which in effect was an open letter to the president, Olmert reminded the American government that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and that its friendship with the United States is one of the country’s “greatest strategic asserts.”
The former Prime Minister wrote that the Annapolis, Maryland Middle East conference in the Middle East in November, 2007 was based on previous agreements with the Bush administration that Jewish population centers in Judea and Samaria would remain part of the State of Israel in any agreement establishing a Palestinian Authority state.
“During the run-up to Annapolis and in meetings there, I elaborated to the U.S. administration and the Palestinian leadership that Israel would continue to build in the settlements in accordance with the above criteria," Olmert wrote. "Let me be clear: Without those understandings, the Annapolis process would not have taken on any form. Therefore, the focus on settlement construction now is not useful.
“The issue of settlement construction commands the agenda between the United States and Israel. This is a mistake that serves neither the process with the Palestinians nor relations between Israel and the Arab world. Moreover, it has the potential to greatly shake U.S.-Israeli relations.”
Olmert noted that a total building freeze is “impossible to completely enforce” and would not help security for Arabs or Jews.
“Only a political process that demands courageous decisions from leaders on both sides will bring a solution to the issue of settlements,” he added.
Referring to his own offers for a new PA state, he declared that the U.S. should investigate “why the Palestinian leadership did not accept the far-reaching and unprecedented proposal I offered them. My proposal included a solution to all outstanding issues: territorial compromise, security arrangements, Jerusalem and refugees. It would be worth exploring the reasons that the Palestinians rejected my offer and preferred, instead, to drag their feet, avoiding real decisions.”
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama is making a big mistake by insisting that Israel freeze all building for Jews in Judea and Samaria, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wrote Friday in the Washington Post, considered one of the most influential American newspapers.
In his opinion article, which in effect was an open letter to the president, Olmert reminded the American government that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and that its friendship with the United States is one of the country’s “greatest strategic asserts.”
The former Prime Minister wrote that the Annapolis, Maryland Middle East conference in the Middle East in November, 2007 was based on previous agreements with the Bush administration that Jewish population centers in Judea and Samaria would remain part of the State of Israel in any agreement establishing a Palestinian Authority state.
“During the run-up to Annapolis and in meetings there, I elaborated to the U.S. administration and the Palestinian leadership that Israel would continue to build in the settlements in accordance with the above criteria," Olmert wrote. "Let me be clear: Without those understandings, the Annapolis process would not have taken on any form. Therefore, the focus on settlement construction now is not useful.
“The issue of settlement construction commands the agenda between the United States and Israel. This is a mistake that serves neither the process with the Palestinians nor relations between Israel and the Arab world. Moreover, it has the potential to greatly shake U.S.-Israeli relations.”
Olmert noted that a total building freeze is “impossible to completely enforce” and would not help security for Arabs or Jews.
“Only a political process that demands courageous decisions from leaders on both sides will bring a solution to the issue of settlements,” he added.
Referring to his own offers for a new PA state, he declared that the U.S. should investigate “why the Palestinian leadership did not accept the far-reaching and unprecedented proposal I offered them. My proposal included a solution to all outstanding issues: territorial compromise, security arrangements, Jerusalem and refugees. It would be worth exploring the reasons that the Palestinians rejected my offer and preferred, instead, to drag their feet, avoiding real decisions.”
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7. "Garbage Power" to Turn on the Lights at Sharon Park
by David Lev
The largest and most ambitious "green" project in Israel – and ranking up with the top urban reclamation projects worldwide – gets a huge boost Sunday night, when the lighting system at Sharon Park will be turned on for the first time. But the lights won't use power from the electrical grid. The system will instead be powered by the recycled trash upon which Sharon Park is being built, with bio-gasses that have been festering on the site for decades to be used to power the lights.
Sharon Park (Hiriya)
Israel news photo: ayalon-park.org.il/Eng
Development at Sharon Park, also known as the former site of the Hiriya Dump, has been underway since 2007. At 8,000 dunams, it is the largest urban green space in the country, and one of the largest in the world. Current estimates say the park will be completed only between 2015 and 2020, but various sections of the park, including the Menachem Begin Park section, have been opening slowly as development continues. Visitors can already hike or ride bikes on several footpaths and bikepaths, and a recycling museum and a small zoo are also currentlyopen.
As befits what has turned into a worldwide symbol of urban land reclamation, the power used for the lighting system at the park will be generated by recycled garbage at the site, using the methane and other greenhouse gases generated by decomposition of the site's trash.
Attending the Sunday eve ceremony will be Environment Minister Gilad Arden, municipal officials from Tel Aviv and surrounding suburbs – and members of Ariel Sharon's family. Although Sharon is still alive (but comatose), government officials in 2007 decided to name the park after the former Prime Minister anyway, because the project was "very close to his heart," Omri Sharon said in an interview in 2007, when work on the park first began.
Biking in Sharon Park (Hiriya)
Israel news photo: ayalon-park.org.il/Eng
Hiriya was used as a dump between 1952 and 1998, and grew to encompass 112 acres, with its centerpiece a "garbage mountain" that reached 200 feet at its highest, with some 565 million cubic feet of garbage slowly decomposing underneath.
The park itself is also being developed with trash, which is being converted into mulch after recycling (and the removal of all dangerous components). According to officials in the Dan Region, the park will eventually save the Israel tens of millions of shekels, as hard-to-dispose-of items, such as building materials, will be recycled into sidewalks, pathways, and buildings in the park.
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7-17a1. Mass Protest Planned Against Jewish Nation's Land Sale
by Hillel Fendel
A major protest in Jerusalem, and at 50 junctions around the country, is planned for Sunday, against the government’s plan to sell state-owned land to the highest bidder.The initiative is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, just a day before the Knesset is to vote on the plan. A protest march will begin at 4 PM at Mt. Herzl and wind its way towards the Knesset, while at the same time, protest vigils will be held at major intersections around the country. A demonstration will be held at 5:30 PM at the Rose Garden outside the Knesset.
The bill is supported by the government coalition, and it appears that it will be passed by majority vote. However, several MKs in some of the coalition parties are adamantly against it, and the Labor Party as a whole might abstain or vote against. The Jewish Home, too, is against.
Wall-to-Wall Opposition
A broad coalition of left-wing and nationalist organizations is behind the opposition to the plan. Under the banner, “Reforms to the Israel Land Administration – Yes! Privatization of State Lands – No!” the groups wish to prevail upon the Knesset Members at the last minute not to vote away the nation’s ownership of its lands.
The Knesset is set to vote on Monday for a land-reform package that includes the privatization and sale of up to 800,000 dunams (800 square kilometers) of land in Israel. Half this amount is built-up land that will go to those living in the apartments built there, while the rest could come from almost anywhere else around the country. Land to be sold must have an existing building/zoning plan, cannot be sold in parcels larger than 16 dunams (4 acres), and cannot be sold to foreign residents.
Easily-Detourable Obstacles
Opponents say that foreigners, real estate tycoons and others can easily get around the above restrictions. In addition, they say, the fact that the sale has been restricted to the specified amounts is merely temporary, and the moment the State decides it must sell more, it will simply pass another law.
Jewish Law
Former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has ruled that since the Jubilee year laws are not in force, neither is the ban on sales. Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, however, says the plan is forbidden by Jewish Law for a different reason: the Biblical ban on selling the land to foreigners.
Proponents of the bill say it will bring down apartment prices for young couples, while opponents say it will drive prices up.
The opposition campaign is entitled with the Biblical verse “The Land must not be sold forever,” and in fact concentrates on the fact that national land must not pass into private hands.
The umbrella group running the opposition states, “Our objective is to fight the intention to pass the ownership of lands owned by the State of Israel into private hands… The privatization of our lands has fateful ramifications for the future of the Jewish nation and Israeli society from every standpoint: nationally, socially, economically, and environmentally. This would be the largest privatization revolution since the founding of the State… In the past, in the 50’s, a similar plan was stopped, and we must now do it again.”
Among the groups involved in the protest are: Freedom for Israel, HaShomer HaTza’ir (Young Guard), Immigrants Camps, The Social-Democratic Task Force, Working and Studying Youth, Professors for a Strong Israel, the Movement to Preserve National Lands, the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, Bina Educational Institute for Jewish Identity and Israeli Culture, Im Tirtzu, and Hebrew Nature.
2. Labor Party Charter May Block Land Privatization Bill
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
A land-reform bill that would lead to the transfer of nearly 200,000 acres of state land to private ownership is facing a new challenge. The Labor party's internal court is expected to rule on Sunday whether or not the party's charter mandates that Labor MKs oppose such land privatization initiatives. The head of the Struggle Against the Land Reform Bill organization, Pesach Hausfetter, initiated an appeal with the Labor party's internal court system on Wednesday, requesting that the party's Knesset members be barred from voting in favor of the bill. According to Hausfetter, a member of the Labor party himself, the movement's foundational charter prohibits the transfer of state lands into private hands. Furthermore, the land privatization issue was never raised for debate and decision in any general Labor party forum. The article in the charter referred to in Hausfetter's appeal is Article 6, subsection 7, titled "Settlement". The article states, in part: "The Israeli Labor party will work towards achieving the following goals.... implementing the principle of national ownership of state-owned land...." The anti-land reform activists further note the charter mandates that all party members are obligated to act in accordance with the party's principles, as expressed in the charter itself. If the anti-land reform movement's arguments are accepted, the Labor party court will have the option of issuing an injunction preventing the party's 13 Knesset representatives, including government ministers, from voting in favor of the bill in its final readings on Monday. The Labor faction leaders have thus far supported the land reform bill, which is a key element in the privatization policies pushed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The loss of Labor party support for the bill may lead to a sharp political confrontation within the coalition, especially if Netanyahu is unable to get the necessary Knesset votes for the legislation on Monday. Current Israeli law permits the conversion of a total of 200,000 dunams of state land (about 50,000 acres) to private ownership. The new legislation, if passed, would allow the privatization of 4 percent of state-owned land. Over 90 percent of all the land in Israel is defined as "state land", including properties currently managed by the Jewish National Fund. 3. Kassam Attack in Western Negev
by Maayana Miskin
Gaza terrorists fired a short-range “Kassam” rocket on southern Israel on Thursday night. The rocket hit a field in the Sdot Negev region, causing no injuries.The attack was the first of its kind in several weeks. Rocket attacks from Gaza have been relatively infrequent since the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead earlier this year.
On Wednesday, President Shimon Peres met with residents of a Gaza-area kibbutz (cooperative community). Residents told the president that this summer, for the first time in years, children are able to play outdoors, and are not restricted to taking part in activities held in or near bomb shelters.
Also Wednesday, the new anti-ballistic defense system Iron Dome passed a series of live tests. The system is designed to protect civilians from short-range rocket attacks such as those favored by Gaza terrorists.
The system succeeded in demolishing a test rocket in mid-air.
The Iron Dome system is expected to intercept and destroy rockets fired from 3-72 kilometers (2-45) miles away. The system will be used against short and medium-range rockets and mortar shells. Previous rocket defense systems have focused on taking own larger, long-range rockets.
4. Yesha Tensions: Fear of Destruction, Hit-and-Run Accusations
by Hillel Fendel
Tensions between Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria (Yesha) and the government continue to run high. Stop-work orders have been issued issued, there are fears of imminent evictions and destruction in Samaria, and a suspected hit-and-run case was reported near Shilo.
At Havat Gilad (Gilad Farm), one of the highest-profile outpost neighborhoods on the Netanyahu-Barak government’s chopping block, the Civil Administration issued 14 stop-work orders against ongoing construction on Wednesday. Just a few days earlier, police issued orders to take down 11 buildings in Havat Gilad and other Jewish communities in the Shomron.
Havat Gilad, between Kedumim and Yitzhar, was violently destroyed in the past, but was rebuilt and now houses 20 families and a yeshiva. It is one of two neighborhoods named for Gilad Zar, a regional security officer who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in May 2001. The other one is Ramat Gilad, near Karnei Shomron.
Special Eviction Unit in Training
Daniella Weiss, a former mayor of Kedumim, says, “There is a perpetual fear that there could be an eviction at any time. We have stepped up our scouting array… On the one hand, nothing specific is happening on the ground, but on the other hand, we know that a special IDF unit has been established for the purpose of evicting outpost residents, and they are training towards this end.”
Regarding the stop-work orders, Weiss told Israel National News, “This is a psychological trick, and also a way of heading off any legal claims that we might have later; they’ll say that they gave all the required legal notices before carrying out the destruction and expulsion.”
Resident Accuses Official of Hit-and-Run
Meanwhile, further south, in Adei Ad near Shilo, a resident says he was run over and abandoned by a Civil Administration inspector. The suspect was arrested but later released, causing a storm of protest.
The incident occurred three days ago, when Gilad Pollack said he tried to write down the license plate number of a Civil Adminstration official whom he saw trying to remove a generator from a building. Pollack said the man had arrived to distribute orders informing residents of upcoming destructions of illegal structures. “I tried to take a picture of him, but he knocked down my camera” Pollack said. “Finally I was able to photograph him, and then I tried to write down his license number. While I was doing that, he stepped on the gas and ran me down. I fell on the ground, and he escaped. I was treated in a hospital, and filed a police complaint.”
The alleged perpetrator was found, arrested, and released on bail the same day.
MK Ariel Protests
MK Uri Ariel has protested the quick release to Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonvitch: “I ask you to please look into why someone who was arrested for running someone over and abandoning an injured person should be immediately released with no restrictions… One who receives authority from the law enforcement bodies and abuses it without humanity must be distanced from his position immediately.”
MK Ariel asked Aharonovitch for complete data on the amount of hit-and-run suspects throughout the country who are released immediately after questioning and without restrictions.
The Civil Administration says the claim that its employee ran down a resident is baseless, and that its purpose is merely to “malign the Civil Administration inspectors who are busy day and night enforcing the law.” The Administration accuses the residents of having “found a new system – filing false police complaints – to impede the law enforcement work.”
5. J'lem Riots Continue, 10 Injured, Electric Repairs Cancelled
by Maayana Miskin
Riots continued for a second day on Thursday in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Mea Shearim and Geula. Several people were injured, most of them municipal workers. One worker required hospital treatment.The Electric Company has announced that its workers will not be sent to the area until the situation is under control.
The Jerusalem municipality cut services to the area on Wednesday due to fears that its workers would be targeted in the violent protests. On Thursday those fears were realized as demonstrators smashed windows at one local social services office and pelted a second with stones.
No injuries were reported, but property damage was caused in the assault.
Welfare Minister Itzchak Herzog denounced the incident, and called on leaders in the hareidi-religious community to restrain protestors. “Whoever did this hurt their own community first and foremost,” he said.
Most of the damage done in the riots has been done to local property, including the two welfare offices and several dozen garbage bins, most of which were set on fire or used to block roads. In addition, at least two vehicles belonging to the municipality were damaged.
Demonstrators have blocked roads and set fire to garbage on dozens of occasions. More than two dozen protestors have been arrested.
Many residents of Geula and Mea Shearim expressed anger over the riots on Thursday. Some said they feared to step into the streets, while others complained that garbage fires had created heavy clouds of foul-smelling smoke that have caused breathing difficulties in the area.
Police Charge Obstruction of Justice
The latest round of Jerusalem riots began over the case of a young hareidi-religious mother who is suspected of harming her young son due to a psychological condition. The woman was arrested earlier this week.
Police said Thursday that the woman would remain under arrest for the time being, despite calls to release her to house arrest. Investigators expressed concern that if the woman were to be released from jail, she could be smuggled out of the country.
Police officials charged that the Mea Shearim riots were part of a larger attempt, led by a handful of individuals, to obstruct justice in the case. A group of members of the Toldot Aharon sect to which the woman and her family belong have instigated the riots and threatened doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, where the allegations first came to light, police said.
Doctors say the woman's young son was severely underweight due to her actions. The child remains at the hospital, under guard, and doctors say he is now gaining weight and his condition is improving.
However, members of Toldot Aharon and the hareidi-religious Eida Hareidit dispute the doctors' version of events, and say the mother has been falsely charged. Her child suffers from real, lifelong health problems, they say, and his poor condition is a result of his illness, which was exacerbated by the treatment he received at Hadassah Ein Karem following a misdiagnosis.
6. IDF: Mistakes Made in Ben-Ari Arrest
by Maayana Miskin
IDF and police officials appeared before Members of Knesset on Thursday to discuss the arrest of MK Ben-Ari of the Ichud Leumi (National Union) in early June. Military spokesmen admitted that mistakes were made during the arrest, and explained that new procedures would be put into place in order to prevent such incidents in the future.Ben-Ari was arrested as he stood on an IDF jeep in which several Jewish youths were being detained and demanded to know why the youths had been arrested. The MK was arrested despite reminding officers several times that he has parliamentary immunity.
[weJew:4631]
Video: Violent arrest of Knesset member Ben Ari documented on video [begins at 2:20 minute mark]
MKs were shown a video of Ben-Ari's behavior and the subsequent arrest. The footage aroused criticism of police among those present.
MK David Rotem of Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) said the videos showed that the IDF and police had become politicized forces. “Their entire thought process is political,” he accused.
MKs Uri Ariel and Aryeh Eldad of the Ichud Leumi called on police to investigate the incident. The video proves that a statement issued shortly after the incident, in which police claimed that Ben-Ari had never been arrested, was false, said Eldad.
Criticism was heard from MK Yariv Levin (Likud), MK Nissim Zeev (Shas), and MK Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home) as well. Orlev said that while he and Ben-Ari have often publicly disagreed, he still strongly opposes the behavior exhibited by police in Yitzhar. He expressed hope that the incident would lead to positive change.
Police responded by assuring the MKs that in the future, soldiers would be instructed regarding MKs' rights. “There were things that should have been done differently in the case of Ben-Ari; we find this incident dissatisfactory,” one official said.
Ben-Ari was present at the hearing as well. “I have no intent of undermining the IDF or police, but they must understand that they are not above the law,” he said. “They must respect MKs who are performing their duty.
"All I wanted was to know why Border Police were using force against children from Yitzhar, why they were handcuffed illegally. That's what started the whole fuss,” Ben-Ari said.
MK Zeev Elkin concluded the meeting by saying that the videos showed serious foul-ups from both police and the IDF. The Knesset will ask both bodies to investigate the incident and report back with their findings, he said.
7. Indictment Filed in Rishon Tours; Olmert to Skip Hearing
by Maayana Miskin
Prosecutors have indicted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's travel coordinator, Rachael Raz-Risbi, on charges linked to the Rishon Tours affair. Raz-Risbi was the first to be indicted in the case.The affair involves allegations that Olmert double and triple billed for trips with the help of Raz-Risbi and top aide Shula Zaken, pocketing the extra funds to use for non-business travel. The former PM is accused of stealing more than $92,000.
Raz-Risbi is accused of fraud and breach of trust. The indictment included a list of trips for which Olmert, Zaken and Raz-Risbi allegedly double-billed, and the organizations targeted to pay for trips, including the March of the Living, Yad Vashem and the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers.
Shortly after the indictment was filed, Olmert's attorneys sent a letter to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz informing him that Olmert would not attend a hearing scheduled for later in the month. The hearing was meant to give Olmert a final chance to protest his innocence prior to indictment.
The attorneys said that Raz-Risbi's indictment proved that prosecutors have already decided to charge Olmert, making the hearing irrelevant. Prosecutors “are not even attempting to keep up appearances” by refraining from accusing Olmert prior to the indictment, they said.
"In these circumstances, when you have violated Mr. Olmert's right to a meaningful hearing, we will not appear for a hearing in the matter of 'Rishon Tours.' You keep doing as you please, and Mr. Olmert maintains the rights stemming from the fact that you have violated his right to the mandatory hearing,” they concluded.
8. Ketzaleh: Two Parties Must Unite and Grow to 15 Seats
by Hillel Fendel
MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) says new elections are closer than thought, and that the Knesset’s two national-religious parties must unite beforehand. Both parties are headed by freshman Knesset Members: The National Union, with four MKs, by Ketzaleh, and the 3-MK Jewish Home – the successor to the National Religious Party – is led by Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkovitz.The Jewish Home is a member of the coalition, and Hershkovitz is Minister of Science. The National Union conducted coalition negotiations with the Likud, but was not invited into the government by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, most likely because of the National Union’s more hard-line stance on Land of Israel issues.
Katz met on Wednesday evening with National Union activists in the Knesset, and told them, “Like in the Israel Defense Forces, the first thing we have to do is to define the objective.”
The central objective as we approach the next Knesset elections, he said, “is to unite with the Jewish Home and grow into a party that has 15 Knesset Members and will be the determining factor in forming a government coalition.”
“I meet frequently with Minister Hershkovitz,” Katz said, “and with MKs Orlev and Orbach, and with Nissan Slomiansky [slated to enter the Knesset in the near future, in place of Herskovitz, if a law is passed ensuring that the latter can return to the Knesset if he leaves the Cabinet – ed.], and we discuss this matter.”
“What we have to do,” he said, “is to formulate an agreement wherein each party retains its own character, but seeks the support of the entire public together… If Netanyahu was able to grow from 12 seats to 27, then we can grow fro 7 to 15.”
Katz explained why he believes elections are closer than popularly thought: “Netanyahu has given up the main asset for which he was elected – the Land of Isael. He has essentially declared publicly that everything he promised before the elections was nothing but a lie. He told us, ‘It’s either Bibi [Netanyahu] or Tzipi [Livni of Kadima], but in the end, he brought us to ‘either Tzipi or Tzipi.’ It’s just a matter of time before he gives up on Jerusalem as well, and this will lead to new elections.”
The two parties attempted to unite before the previous elections, but the venture did not work. Four of the top six candidates chosen to head the united list were identified with the NRP side, only one incumbent National Union MK (Uri Ariel) was chosen to the top 10, and the National Union camp did not feel that the list would take a sufficiently strong stance on Land of Israel matters.
When Ariel resigned from the united list, the National Union quickly regrouped, choosing Katz as its leader, followed by then-MKs Ariel and Aryeh Eldad, and Jewish Front representative Dr. Michael Ben-Ari.
7-16b
1. Israel to Hit Iran 'as Part of Deal including Yesha Evictions'
by Gil Ronen
As two Israeli missile-class warships joined a navy submarine in the Red Sea, an Israeli defense source made it clear that the moves are intended as a threatening message to Iran.
“This is preparation that should be taken seriously,” the unnamed source told the London Times. “Israel is investing time in preparing itself for the complexity of an attack on Iran.”
“These maneuvers are a message to Iran that Israel will follow up on its threats,” he emphasized.
The exercises “come at a time when Western diplomats are offering support for an Israeli strike on Iran in return for Israeli concessions on the formation of a Palestinian state,” the Times said. It quoted an nanonymous British official as saying that if the deal completed, it would make an Israeli strike on Iran realistic “within the year.”
Diplomats said that Israel had offered concessions “on settlement policy, Palestinian land claims and issues with neighboring Arab states, to facilitate a possible strike on Iran. “ A senior European diplomat, also unnamed, said that “Israel has chosen to place the Iranian threat over its settlements.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a news conference Wednesday that the ships passed through the canal with Egypt’s permission, and that “ships may pass through the canal as long as they do not threaten the country which controls the canal.” He noted that the international agreements regulating which ships may pass through the Suez Canal date back to 1888.
The two Saar-class ships, INS Eilat and INS Chanit, sailed into the Red Sea Wednesday in what was the report described as “a clear signal that Israel was able to put its strike force within range of Iran at short notice.”
Ten days earlier, a Dolphin-class submarine with nuclear-missile strike capabilities passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea as well. Later reports said it, too, was accompanied by two Israeli missile boats – meaning that four missile boats have now crossed the canal. Israel has six Dolphin-class submarines, three of which are believed to carry nuclear missiles, the Times said.
Later this month, the Israel Air Force will hold long-range exercises in the U.S. and will test a missile defense shield at a U.S. missile range in the Pacific Ocean.
While local Israeli media have played up alleged tensions between Egypt and Israel over past statements by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Times report says that Israel “has strengthened ties with Arab nations who also fear a nuclear-armed Iran” and quotes an Israeli diplomat who said that relations with Egypt, in particular, have grown increasingly strong this year over the “shared mutual distrust of Iran.”
The report estimates that Israel’s missile-equipped submarines and its fleet of advanced aircraft could simultaneously strike at more than a dozen nuclear-related targets in Iran.
The Arrow interceptor system that will be tested in the Pacific is designed to defend Israel from ballistic missile attacks by Iran and Syria. According to Lt.-Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, Director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, this month’s test will be against a target with a range of more than 1,000km. This range is too long for testing in the eastern Mediterranean, where Israel held its previous tests of the Arrow.
The Israeli Air Force, meanwhile, will send F16C fighter jets to participate in exercises at Nellis Air Force base in Nevada later this month, and Israeli C130 Hercules transport aircraft will participate in the Rodeo 2009 competition at the McChord Air Force base in Washington.
“It is not by chance that Israel is drilling long-range maneuvers in a public way. This is not a secret operation. This is something that has been published and which will showcase Israel’s abilities,” an Israeli defense official said.
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2. War Hero Maj. Roi Klein's Home is on the Chopping Block
by Maayana Miskin
On Monday, the High Court ruled in favor of the far-left organizations Peace Now and Yesh Din and ordered that 11 homes in the Samaria town of Eli be torn down. One of the homes in question belongs to IDF Major Roi Klein, whowas killedin the Second Lebanon War when he jumped on a live hand grenade thrown by Hizbullah forces, in orderto save his soldiers.
Maj. Klein's last words, his soldiers later said, were"Shema Yisrael."
[weJe Email readers, click here to view the video report.
The Klein family home is located in the Hayovel neighborhood of Eli. The neighborhood received government support and services over the course of more than a decade, but never received official authorization.
Peace Now claims that some houses were built on Arab-owned land. According to residents of Eli, a part of one building does extend onto Arab land, but the other homes in the neighborhood, including the Klein family residence, were built entirely on state land.
Klein's final act of bravery led the state to posthumously award him the Medal of Valor, the IDF's highest honor. Klein was the first to be awarded the medal in more than 30 years.
Klein's widow, Sarah, declined to respond to the High Court decision that could leave her and her two young children with no home. Neighbors described the news as “a harsh blow,” particularly in light of the fact that it came almost exactly three years after Roey's death, and shortly before a scheduled IDF memorial ceremony in his honor.
'Will Your Hand not Tremble?'
Following the ruling, the Land of Israel Legal Forum sent an emotional appeal to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, calling on him to honor Major Klein by authorizing his family's home and making it legal. “Will your hand, as that responsible for destroying the home of this hero of Israel, not tremble as you sign the demolition order?” asked Forum chairman Nachi Eyal.
"With your signature, you could turn his home 'legal,' but you refuse... The law does not require you to destroy the home of a hero of Israel who gave his life for his people,” the letter continued. “If there is any legal way to prevent this travesty, you must make use of it.”
When he gave his life, Klein became a national symbol of bravery and sacrifice, Eyal noted. If Barak allows the Klein family home to be destroyed, “the message sent will be disastrous, for both civilians and soldiers,” he warned.
"If there remains any significance to 'our duty to the fallen' – now is the time to prove it,” he concluded.
Comment on this story
by Maayana Miskin
On Monday, the High Court ruled in favor of the far-left organizations Peace Now and Yesh Din and ordered that 11 homes in the Samaria town of Eli be torn down. One of the homes in question belongs to IDF Major Roi Klein, whowas killedin the Second Lebanon War when he jumped on a live hand grenade thrown by Hizbullah forces, in orderto save his soldiers.
Maj. Klein's last words, his soldiers later said, were"Shema Yisrael."
[weJe Email readers, click here to view the video report.
The Klein family home is located in the Hayovel neighborhood of Eli. The neighborhood received government support and services over the course of more than a decade, but never received official authorization.
Peace Now claims that some houses were built on Arab-owned land. According to residents of Eli, a part of one building does extend onto Arab land, but the other homes in the neighborhood, including the Klein family residence, were built entirely on state land.
Klein's final act of bravery led the state to posthumously award him the Medal of Valor, the IDF's highest honor. Klein was the first to be awarded the medal in more than 30 years.
Klein's widow, Sarah, declined to respond to the High Court decision that could leave her and her two young children with no home. Neighbors described the news as “a harsh blow,” particularly in light of the fact that it came almost exactly three years after Roey's death, and shortly before a scheduled IDF memorial ceremony in his honor.
'Will Your Hand not Tremble?'
Following the ruling, the Land of Israel Legal Forum sent an emotional appeal to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, calling on him to honor Major Klein by authorizing his family's home and making it legal. “Will your hand, as that responsible for destroying the home of this hero of Israel, not tremble as you sign the demolition order?” asked Forum chairman Nachi Eyal.
"With your signature, you could turn his home 'legal,' but you refuse... The law does not require you to destroy the home of a hero of Israel who gave his life for his people,” the letter continued. “If there is any legal way to prevent this travesty, you must make use of it.”
When he gave his life, Klein became a national symbol of bravery and sacrifice, Eyal noted. If Barak allows the Klein family home to be destroyed, “the message sent will be disastrous, for both civilians and soldiers,” he warned.
"If there remains any significance to 'our duty to the fallen' – now is the time to prove it,” he concluded.
Comment on this story
3. 150 New Immigrants Arrive Straight from Sao Paulo
by Hana Levi Julian
For the first time, a special direct El Al flight from São Paulo, Brazil brought 150 new immigrants to the Jewish State on Wednesday.
The flight was madepossible as a result of the opening of direct El Al flights from Brazil to Israel last month. Most other airlines fly the route with a stopover on the way,for a trip that can last up to 15 hours or more.
Bringing the new "Latin American-Israelis" home was Javier Ruben, who himself had served as a Jewish Agency emissary to Latin America from 1999 to 2002. Little did Ruben realize, as he encouraged Jews on the South American continent to make Aliyah, that in less than a decade he would personally be flying them home.
The number of Latin American immigrants to Israel is growing, according to the Jewish Agency, which said in a statement that it expects the numbers to rise by some 15 percent -- compared to the 2008 statistics -- by summer's end.
The group includes a particularly distinguished personality: among the new immigrants is the former Chief Rabbi of Uruguay, Rabbi Moti Ma'aravi.
Also on the flight were dozens of young people headed for Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem, a special program for college graduates, and a group of young immigrants planning to attend the Jewish Agency's kibbutz ulpan program at Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael. Others will be absorbed in various locations around the country.
The flight, organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel, arrived just three days before the anniversary of the July 18,1994 terrorist attack on the Jewish community headquarters in Argentina.
All of the new immigrants will be welcomed by the Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Places, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, at a special ceremony on Thursday afternoon.
Comment on this story
by Hana Levi Julian
For the first time, a special direct El Al flight from São Paulo, Brazil brought 150 new immigrants to the Jewish State on Wednesday.
The flight was madepossible as a result of the opening of direct El Al flights from Brazil to Israel last month. Most other airlines fly the route with a stopover on the way,for a trip that can last up to 15 hours or more.
Bringing the new "Latin American-Israelis" home was Javier Ruben, who himself had served as a Jewish Agency emissary to Latin America from 1999 to 2002. Little did Ruben realize, as he encouraged Jews on the South American continent to make Aliyah, that in less than a decade he would personally be flying them home.
The number of Latin American immigrants to Israel is growing, according to the Jewish Agency, which said in a statement that it expects the numbers to rise by some 15 percent -- compared to the 2008 statistics -- by summer's end.
The group includes a particularly distinguished personality: among the new immigrants is the former Chief Rabbi of Uruguay, Rabbi Moti Ma'aravi.
Also on the flight were dozens of young people headed for Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem, a special program for college graduates, and a group of young immigrants planning to attend the Jewish Agency's kibbutz ulpan program at Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael. Others will be absorbed in various locations around the country.
The flight, organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel, arrived just three days before the anniversary of the July 18,1994 terrorist attack on the Jewish community headquarters in Argentina.
All of the new immigrants will be welcomed by the Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Places, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, at a special ceremony on Thursday afternoon.
Comment on this story
4. ‘Iron Dome’ Hits the Target
by Avraham Zuroff
Israel's new anti-ballistic defense system, designed to protect civilians against terrorist rocket fire from Gaza, passed series of live tests on Wednesday.
A defense official explained that the test of the Iron Dome defense system marked the first time that the system tested a mid-air deception of a target rocket, which was completely destroyed.
Iron Dome works by intercepting medium-range Katyusha rockets as well as the shorter, homemade Kassam rockets and mortar shellsfired by Gaza terrorists. It uses a small kinetic missile interceptor called the “Tamir.” The anti-ballistic sytem is expected to intercept rockets between the ranges of 2-45 miles (3-72 km).
Defense Minister Ehud Barak is pleased with the continued successful testing of Iron Dome. Barak said that the multi-tiered defense system is a national strategic goal for the State of Israel.
Barak said the Iron Dome’s successful implementation will allow the IDF to fulfill its obligations to protect Israeli citizens in the best way possible. The Ministry’s director general, Pinchas Buchris, hailed the successful testing of Iron Dome performed this week as a milestone in the development of the system against ballistic threats. Defense Ministry officials said that the trials complete a series of preparations for the Israel Air Force, and are being run according to schedule.
Developed under contract by Israel Military Industry’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the $300 million system which was tested at the Ramon Air Force Base in southern Israel will reportedly be ready for operation by 2010.
It is meant to become part of a multi-layered defense system aimed at protectingGaza Belt residents from shelling by Gaza terrorists, and residents in northern Israel from rocket attacks fired by Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon.
The system might also be used to protect the rest of Israel from longer range attacks launched against the Jewish state from Syria or Iran. Israel has asked the United States to foot the bill for approximately 65 percent of the development costs for the project.
Palestinian Authority terrorists have launched more than 4,000 Kassam rockets at southern Israel since the Disengagement from Gaza in August 2005.
Residents in the north suffered a similar number of rocket attacks, with more than 4,000 Katyusha missiles fired by Hizbullah terrorists at Israeli communities as far south as Afula during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Comment on this story
by Avraham Zuroff
Israel's new anti-ballistic defense system, designed to protect civilians against terrorist rocket fire from Gaza, passed series of live tests on Wednesday.
A defense official explained that the test of the Iron Dome defense system marked the first time that the system tested a mid-air deception of a target rocket, which was completely destroyed.
Iron Dome works by intercepting medium-range Katyusha rockets as well as the shorter, homemade Kassam rockets and mortar shellsfired by Gaza terrorists. It uses a small kinetic missile interceptor called the “Tamir.” The anti-ballistic sytem is expected to intercept rockets between the ranges of 2-45 miles (3-72 km).
Defense Minister Ehud Barak is pleased with the continued successful testing of Iron Dome. Barak said that the multi-tiered defense system is a national strategic goal for the State of Israel.
Barak said the Iron Dome’s successful implementation will allow the IDF to fulfill its obligations to protect Israeli citizens in the best way possible. The Ministry’s director general, Pinchas Buchris, hailed the successful testing of Iron Dome performed this week as a milestone in the development of the system against ballistic threats. Defense Ministry officials said that the trials complete a series of preparations for the Israel Air Force, and are being run according to schedule.
Developed under contract by Israel Military Industry’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the $300 million system which was tested at the Ramon Air Force Base in southern Israel will reportedly be ready for operation by 2010.
It is meant to become part of a multi-layered defense system aimed at protectingGaza Belt residents from shelling by Gaza terrorists, and residents in northern Israel from rocket attacks fired by Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon.
The system might also be used to protect the rest of Israel from longer range attacks launched against the Jewish state from Syria or Iran. Israel has asked the United States to foot the bill for approximately 65 percent of the development costs for the project.
Palestinian Authority terrorists have launched more than 4,000 Kassam rockets at southern Israel since the Disengagement from Gaza in August 2005.
Residents in the north suffered a similar number of rocket attacks, with more than 4,000 Katyusha missiles fired by Hizbullah terrorists at Israeli communities as far south as Afula during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Comment on this story
5. Clinton Warns Iran: Talk Now or Face New Penalties
by Gil Ronen
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran that it has only limited time to sit down and talk to the Obama administration about its nuclear program or face new penalties and isolation.
In a major foreign policy address Wednesday, Clinton said the time for Iran to respond to America's overture is now, and that "the opportunity will not remain open indefinitely."
Clinton also used the relatively harsh language that the Obama administration has adopted since Iran’s violent crackdown on protesters following the disputed election there last month. She accused Iran of using "deplorable and unacceptable" actions to put down the street protests which erupted after the poll results were published.
Clinton added that neither she nor President Barack Obama harbor illusions about the nature of the Iranian regime but that they believe that direct talks are the best way to get the government there to change its policies.
The statements were part of a major policy address that Clinton delivered Wednesday at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. The speech highlighted the concept of "smart power" along with danger of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the threats posed by Iran and North Korea, and the need for Middle East peace.
On Thursday she will be taking off for India and Thailand, following four weeks of relative inaction, after she fell and injured her elbow.
Yisrael Hayom reported on Wednesday that U.S. special Middle East envoy George Mitchell has decided to postpone his upcoming trip to Israel until he sees Arab peace gestures. "Yesterday it was made known that [US special Middle Eas envoy George Mitchell's visit to Israel was postponed to the end of the month as he is also waiting for gestures from the Arab world,” said the report.
“Originally the envoy was supposed to come for a visit this week or next week - but yesterday the Americans announced that the visit would only take place at the end off the month," the paper added.
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by Gil Ronen
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran that it has only limited time to sit down and talk to the Obama administration about its nuclear program or face new penalties and isolation.
In a major foreign policy address Wednesday, Clinton said the time for Iran to respond to America's overture is now, and that "the opportunity will not remain open indefinitely."
Clinton also used the relatively harsh language that the Obama administration has adopted since Iran’s violent crackdown on protesters following the disputed election there last month. She accused Iran of using "deplorable and unacceptable" actions to put down the street protests which erupted after the poll results were published.
Clinton added that neither she nor President Barack Obama harbor illusions about the nature of the Iranian regime but that they believe that direct talks are the best way to get the government there to change its policies.
The statements were part of a major policy address that Clinton delivered Wednesday at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. The speech highlighted the concept of "smart power" along with danger of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the threats posed by Iran and North Korea, and the need for Middle East peace.
On Thursday she will be taking off for India and Thailand, following four weeks of relative inaction, after she fell and injured her elbow.
Yisrael Hayom reported on Wednesday that U.S. special Middle East envoy George Mitchell has decided to postpone his upcoming trip to Israel until he sees Arab peace gestures. "Yesterday it was made known that [US special Middle Eas envoy George Mitchell's visit to Israel was postponed to the end of the month as he is also waiting for gestures from the Arab world,” said the report.
“Originally the envoy was supposed to come for a visit this week or next week - but yesterday the Americans announced that the visit would only take place at the end off the month," the paper added.
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6. Israel is Set Fiscally Through 2010
by Hillel Fendel
The Knesset passed Israel’s first two-year budget on Wednesday night, a 616-billion shekel affair, by a majority reflecting the coalition-opposition margin.
The budget stands at 316.5 billion shekels for 2009, and 325.2 billion for 2010. Passage of the two-year budget obviates the need to go through the tiring and arduous budget-passing process once again in the very near future for 2010, and grants fiscal stability during financially precarious times.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, for whom the passage of the budget is a personal accomplishment, praised it as “important economically, in that it backs our financial program designed to deal with the crisis, and is also super-social.” He noted that stipends for the elderly and families with 3-4 children will be increased, and that the subsidized medicines basket will be increased by some 400 million shekels.
Government employees’ salaries, a permanent fixture in the national budget, cost some 100 billion shekels yearly, while some 75 billion shekels are needed to pay for the deficit. Education – nursery through university – is budgeted at nearly 20 billion shekels a year, and defense and security needs cost us close to 50 billion shekels. Approximately 38 billion shekels are budgeted for welfare needs, including the government’s share in National Insurance payments as well as allowances and subsidies for basic foodstuffs (1.5 billion). In addition, some 16-18 billion shekels go towards health services. (Figures supplied by Tzvi Lavi of Ynet.)
Yesha Suffers Discrimination
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said that he is gravely disappointed that the “right-wing, nationalist government has passed a budget that is so discriminatory against the residents of Judea and Samaria (Yesha).” He noted, for instance, that while farmers in the rest of Israel pay water rates that are 1/5 those of regular consumers, “Yesha farms such as our wineries have to pay regular water rates – five times more than other farmers. Another example: We must provide security for our communities, but when we ask for money to reinforce buses or vans for special education, we are told that there is no budget.”
“We pay our debts like everyone else, but we don’t share in the privileges,” Ariel said. He acknowledged, however,that in terms of building classrooms and school transportation, there is no discrimination.
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by Hillel Fendel
The Knesset passed Israel’s first two-year budget on Wednesday night, a 616-billion shekel affair, by a majority reflecting the coalition-opposition margin.
The budget stands at 316.5 billion shekels for 2009, and 325.2 billion for 2010. Passage of the two-year budget obviates the need to go through the tiring and arduous budget-passing process once again in the very near future for 2010, and grants fiscal stability during financially precarious times.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, for whom the passage of the budget is a personal accomplishment, praised it as “important economically, in that it backs our financial program designed to deal with the crisis, and is also super-social.” He noted that stipends for the elderly and families with 3-4 children will be increased, and that the subsidized medicines basket will be increased by some 400 million shekels.
Government employees’ salaries, a permanent fixture in the national budget, cost some 100 billion shekels yearly, while some 75 billion shekels are needed to pay for the deficit. Education – nursery through university – is budgeted at nearly 20 billion shekels a year, and defense and security needs cost us close to 50 billion shekels. Approximately 38 billion shekels are budgeted for welfare needs, including the government’s share in National Insurance payments as well as allowances and subsidies for basic foodstuffs (1.5 billion). In addition, some 16-18 billion shekels go towards health services. (Figures supplied by Tzvi Lavi of Ynet.)
Yesha Suffers Discrimination
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said that he is gravely disappointed that the “right-wing, nationalist government has passed a budget that is so discriminatory against the residents of Judea and Samaria (Yesha).” He noted, for instance, that while farmers in the rest of Israel pay water rates that are 1/5 those of regular consumers, “Yesha farms such as our wineries have to pay regular water rates – five times more than other farmers. Another example: We must provide security for our communities, but when we ask for money to reinforce buses or vans for special education, we are told that there is no budget.”
“We pay our debts like everyone else, but we don’t share in the privileges,” Ariel said. He acknowledged, however,that in terms of building classrooms and school transportation, there is no discrimination.
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7. Righteous Gentile Honored for Saving 3 Jews
by Yehudah Lev Kay
Righteous gentile Dragoljub Trajkovic was posthumously honored Wednesday for saving the lives of three Jews during the Holocaust. The ceremony took place at the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.
Trajkovic’s daughter Nada accepted a medal and certificate of honor on behalf of her father, who passed away 20 years ago. Also present were descendants of the Unger family Trajkovic saved in Serbia during the Holocaust.
Nada Trajkovic accepts certificate of honor(photo: Yossi Ben David, Yad Vashem)
Trajkovic joins a list of over 22,700 individuals who have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations and whose names are inscribed on a memorial wallin Yad Vashem. He saved Margita Unger and her two children, Olga and Timohar, from almost certain death in the Nazi concentration camps.
Margita and Marcel Unger and their children Olgag and Timohar lived in Banat, in the former Yugoslvaia, until August 1941 when they were deported to the nearby city of Belgrade. A short time later Marcel was taken to the Topovske Supe concentration camp and his family would never hear from him again.
10,000 out of Belgrade’s 12,000 Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
In October of the same year, Trajkovic, a railway employee whose wife was a relative of the Ungers, heard the remaining Jews in Belgrade were to be deported to the Sajmiste concentration camp. On the day of the deportation, he took the three remaining Ungers into his house.
Not long afterwards, Travkovic felt that the Ungers were in danger and decided to obtain forged identity papers for them. He moved the Ungers to a nearby farm and paid the farmers to hide the mother and daughters and provide for all their needs. They remained at the farm until the end of the war.
Nada Trajkovic by her father's name (Yossi Ben David, Yad Vashem)
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7-16
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
How West Bank Jews are defying Obama!
Name new housing project in biblical territory after president
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
 President Obama meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the Oval Office May 28 |
JERUSALEM – Activists here have launched a campaign using Barack Obama's name to construct Jewish housing projects on West Bank hilltops in defiance of the U.S. president's demands for a halt to all Jewish building in the strategic territory.
"Mr. President, your policy that aims to destroy the Jewish communities of Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem will no longer go unchallenged," states a press release from the Obama Hilltop Project. "We aim to rally the worldwide pro-Israel community to support the rebirth of these communities and counter your unjust, illegal policies."
The goal is to increase the Jewish presence in the West Bank, beginning with the re-establishment of the town of Homesh, which was one of four Jewish communities evacuated by Israel during the country's 2005 retreat from the Gaza Strip.
Critics pointed out the West Bank evacuations served no practical purpose other than to send a signal to West Bank Jews they might be next on the chopping block. Homesh was not taken over by the Palestinians, and the Israeli army continued to operate there. Indeed, the Israeli court system recently has ruled Jews can still be present in Homesh, leading to the establishment there of a Torah center.
Now activists are looking for donations of any amount to help them expand Homesh, including a new hilltop community to be named after Obama.
Get the latest book from the man who talks to terrorists – Aaron Klein's "The Late Great State of Israel," from the author of "Schmoozing With Terrorists."
The letter states: "Mr. President, your current foreign policy contradicts the most sacred values of the Jewish Nation. It is written in our holy Torah, 'The Lord your God will bring you into the land that your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors." (Deuteronomy, 26:3-5). Good people throughout the world will continue to support Jewish building and growth in all parts of our sacred land of Israel."
The effort is being supported by multiple organizations, including Shalom International, the Jewish community of Hebron and the Homesh First Movement.
"We are aware of the fact that Obama is very interested in the issue of our presence in Judea and Samaria. So we will call a hilltop there in the name of Obama in his honor," David Ha'Ivri, a spokesman for the West Bank's regional Jewish council, told WND.
The Obama administration recently demanded Israel halt all settlement activity, including natural growth, in apparent abrogation of a deal made by President Bush to allow for natural growth.
The deal was forged just prior to Israel's 2005 retreat from the Gaza Strip. It was confirmed by Sharon aide Dov Weissglas in 2005 and in a Wall Street Journal column last week by Elliott Abrams, a former deputy national security adviser to Bush who reportedly negotiated the arrangement. The deal was in line with an official letter from Bush the year before stating Israel cannot be expected to withdraw from the entire West Bank and that the Jewish state would retain major settlement blocs there.
The West Bank borders major Israeli cities and is within rocket-firing range of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport.
Military strategists long have estimated Israel must maintain the West Bank to defend itself from any ground invasion. Terrorist groups have warned if Israel withdraws, they will launch rockets from the West Bank into Israeli cities.
Many villages in the West Bank, which Israelis commonly refer to as the "biblical heartland," are mentioned throughout the Torah.
The book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring. He later was buried in Hebron.
The nearby town of Beit El, anciently called Bethel, meaning "house of God," is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory.
And in Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested in Shiloh, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt.
7-15
Jerusalem Named #17 Best Tourist City
by Hillel Fendel 
An annual poll by the Travel and Leisure Magazine has named Jerusalem its17th top city for tourists throughout the world – ahead of Los Angeles, Paris, and more.
In its 14th annual survey of the best cities around the world to visit, the magazine ranked Jerusalem number 17, ahead of London and most American cities. In the United States, only New York and San Francisco place ahead of Judaism’s holiest city.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat released a statement Wednesday thanking Travel and Leisure for its contest. He noted that the award comes in recognition of the tremendous efforts that his office and Israel’s Ministry of Tourism are making on behalf of Jerusalem’s tourism infrastructures and marketing efforts.
"Jerusalem is a special place to more than 3.4 billion people of faith from around the world,” Barak said, “and my vision is to open up Jerusalem for everyone to enjoy.” He said his goal is to increase tourists to the city fivefold, from this year’s number oftwo million to 10 million each year.
In first place on the list was the relatively unfamiliar city of Udaipur, India. This year’s survey marked the first time that results were included from readers in South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, Australia and New Zealand, Turkey and Mexico.
Behind Udaipur on the list are Capetown, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Chiang Mai (Thailand), Florence (Italy), Luang Prabang (Laos), New York, Rome and San Francisco.
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2. Saga Ends: Shai Dromi Acquitted of Manslaughter
by Hillel Fendel
Shai Dromi, a Negev farmer who shot and killed a Bedouin thief in January 2007, has been acquitted of manslaughter charges.
The ruling was handed down Wednesday morning in the Be’er Sheva District Court by a majority vote. He was convicted, however, on charges of illegal possession of weapons.
Dromi owns a small farm in the Negev outside Meitar, northeast of Be'er Sheva and just south of the southern border of Judea and the Hevron area. The area is constantly plagued by Bedouin thieves, with long-standing complaints by residents about police helplessness. Dromi shot at thieves in the middle of the night after seeing that his dog had been poisoned and was dying in front of his eyes, wounding two men; one of them bled to death, though Dromi said he tried to administer first-aid.
The case attracted national attention, and even led to the passage of a bill known as the Dromi Law, proposed the day Dromi was arrested by then-MK Yisrael Katz, who is now Transportation Minister. The law states that all opposition by a person to one who breaks into his home or property is considered self-defense. Katz, a former Agriculture Minister, lives in the agricultural Moshav Kfar Achim, near Kiryat Malachi, an area that has also been plagued by Bedouin thievery.
At his trial, Dromi, who had had a horse and tractor stolen and several dogs killed in the few months prior to the incident, testified as follows: “I awoke at 3 AM to the barking of the guard dog that I acquired after my dogs were poisoned. Even though I was incredibly tired, I got out of bed and walked around the house. After I went back to bed, I again heard the dog barking irregularly. I went out with my weapon and didn’t see anything. I kept walking around [the perimeter of m sheep pen, and noticed large metal wire-cutters. I panicked. I realized there were men around me.”
Noting that he was so frightened that his bladder failed him, he continued, “I heard a crash from the direction of the sheep pen. I saw four men in front of me all of a sudden. I called out to them and tried to shoot in the air, but my gun did not fire. They yelled something at me, I didn’t understand what. I felt them closing in on me. I tried to see what was wrong with my weapon and then the bullet fired… One of the four was holding a large knife or pruning shears over his head. After the first shot, I fired five more shots at the lower parts of their bodies. My life was in danger and I shot in order to chase them away.”
Dromi was kept in prison for a month immediately following the incident, and was prevented from returning to his farm for a long while afterwards.
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by Hillel Fendel
Shai Dromi, a Negev farmer who shot and killed a Bedouin thief in January 2007, has been acquitted of manslaughter charges.
The ruling was handed down Wednesday morning in the Be’er Sheva District Court by a majority vote. He was convicted, however, on charges of illegal possession of weapons.
Dromi owns a small farm in the Negev outside Meitar, northeast of Be'er Sheva and just south of the southern border of Judea and the Hevron area. The area is constantly plagued by Bedouin thieves, with long-standing complaints by residents about police helplessness. Dromi shot at thieves in the middle of the night after seeing that his dog had been poisoned and was dying in front of his eyes, wounding two men; one of them bled to death, though Dromi said he tried to administer first-aid.
The case attracted national attention, and even led to the passage of a bill known as the Dromi Law, proposed the day Dromi was arrested by then-MK Yisrael Katz, who is now Transportation Minister. The law states that all opposition by a person to one who breaks into his home or property is considered self-defense. Katz, a former Agriculture Minister, lives in the agricultural Moshav Kfar Achim, near Kiryat Malachi, an area that has also been plagued by Bedouin thievery.
At his trial, Dromi, who had had a horse and tractor stolen and several dogs killed in the few months prior to the incident, testified as follows: “I awoke at 3 AM to the barking of the guard dog that I acquired after my dogs were poisoned. Even though I was incredibly tired, I got out of bed and walked around the house. After I went back to bed, I again heard the dog barking irregularly. I went out with my weapon and didn’t see anything. I kept walking around [the perimeter of m sheep pen, and noticed large metal wire-cutters. I panicked. I realized there were men around me.”
Noting that he was so frightened that his bladder failed him, he continued, “I heard a crash from the direction of the sheep pen. I saw four men in front of me all of a sudden. I called out to them and tried to shoot in the air, but my gun did not fire. They yelled something at me, I didn’t understand what. I felt them closing in on me. I tried to see what was wrong with my weapon and then the bullet fired… One of the four was holding a large knife or pruning shears over his head. After the first shot, I fired five more shots at the lower parts of their bodies. My life was in danger and I shot in order to chase them away.”
Dromi was kept in prison for a month immediately following the incident, and was prevented from returning to his farm for a long while afterwards.
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3. Israel Selling Nearly 10K Acres of Land
by Hillel Fendel
The land reform bill has passed a special Knesset subcommittee vote, and is to be voted on this coming Monday. Nearly 10,000 acres will be sold.
A special subcommittee was formed specifically for the purpose of passing the land reform package, under the auspices of the Economics Committee, and is chaired by freshman Likud MK Carmel Shama.
Marathon Subcommittee Sessions
The bill was separated from the Financial Arrangements Law, under which there would have been little or no debate before being summarily passed in the framework of this week’s Budget and Arrangements Laws votes. Opponents of the bill hoped that this would enable a thorough debate on the bill. In the end, however, Shama managed to conduct two long committee sessions, ending around midnight on Sunday, with the proposal passed and readied for its final readings in the Knesset next week.
MK Shelly Yechimovitch (Labor), a strong opponent of privatization in general and of thisbill in particular,lamented that "such a fundamental matter was rammed through" with such a paucity of public debate.
Major Changes in the Proposed Bill
The reform underwent several major changes in the subcommittee debate, though it is still a major achievement for its main proponent, privatization supporter Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.The most significant change is that land sales will be limited to 800,000 dunams (800 square kilometers), less thansix percent of the original amount.
This area “includes all built-up areas,” Shama explained, “excluding shopping malls, large business centers, gas stations, and public buildings. These are all the areas that the State wants to deal with individually.”
It is estimated that some 860,000 apartments are built on 400,000 dunams (400 square kilometers), and these will automatically pass to the ownership of those who are currently officially leasing them from the Israel Lands Authority. In addition, land sales will be permitted in parcels of up to 16 square kilometers each, up to a ceiling of another 400,000 dunams.
An aide to MK Shama explained that foreigners will not be permitted to buy. In any event, he said, responding to opponents, “the present situation, where land is leased and not sold, is no less attractive to foreign investors and real estate tycoons than when the land will be sold to them. Not once in history has it happened that a leaser of land was ever thrown off it, such that owning it will not make a difference.”
Automatic Acquisition
Those who live in private houses on land that was leased from the State for 99 years, as has been the custom in most of Israel, will acquire the land in exchange for a one-time payment of 31% of its value. Those who live in leased apartments will automatically acquire these homes at no extra charge.
According to another change made in the reform package, moshavim and kibbutzim residents will also become the owners of their plots automatically. Speaking with Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine, Shama took credit for this change, saying, “I promised that our brothers the farmers would not remain step-children of the State, but would rather be able to enjoy the benefits of the land which they earned with blood, sweat and tears.”
Green Involvement
Yet another change in the proposed law is that environmentalist groups will be involved in land sale decisions. The Ministry of the Environment will have a representative on the board of Lands Authority that will replace the existing Israel Lands Administration, and a representative of environmentalist groups will have a permanent observer. In addition,one percentof the Authority’s income or NIS 50 million, whichever is higher, will be invested each year in a “Green Fund” on behalf of environmentalist interests.
In addition, only land that is zoned or planned will be able to be sold. The purpose of this restriction is to try to ensure a “slow” rate of sale of lands.
Another change is that the entire program is subject to the negotiated consent of the 700 workers of the to-be-nullified Israel Lands Authority, many of whom fear that the new law will cost them their jobs.
Opposition is Still Strong
MKs such as Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), Shelly Yechimovitch (Labor) and others still object to the law, however. Orlev said the Land of Israel should not be sold, period. He is backed up by a Halakhic [Jewish lega opinion issued this week by Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger stating that it is forbidden to enable the Land of Israel to be sold permanently to foreigners.
Uri Bank, of the National Union party, said that though public pressure led to the placing of a limit in the current bill, “this leaves a breach for enabling the sale of more and more land in the future. It could very well be that once these 800,000 dunams are sold, the Knesset will be asked to approve another 800,000.”
“In the past,” Bank said, “when the Jubilee was in force and land was never sold for more than 49 years at a time, privatization was not a bad idea. But now we have no Jubilee; why should the Land of Israel be divided into privately-owned pieces? Not to mention that Arab interests can easily form straw companies to buy up the Land of Israel.”
Comment on this story
by Hillel Fendel
The land reform bill has passed a special Knesset subcommittee vote, and is to be voted on this coming Monday. Nearly 10,000 acres will be sold.
A special subcommittee was formed specifically for the purpose of passing the land reform package, under the auspices of the Economics Committee, and is chaired by freshman Likud MK Carmel Shama.
Marathon Subcommittee Sessions
The bill was separated from the Financial Arrangements Law, under which there would have been little or no debate before being summarily passed in the framework of this week’s Budget and Arrangements Laws votes. Opponents of the bill hoped that this would enable a thorough debate on the bill. In the end, however, Shama managed to conduct two long committee sessions, ending around midnight on Sunday, with the proposal passed and readied for its final readings in the Knesset next week.
MK Shelly Yechimovitch (Labor), a strong opponent of privatization in general and of thisbill in particular,lamented that "such a fundamental matter was rammed through" with such a paucity of public debate.
Major Changes in the Proposed Bill
The reform underwent several major changes in the subcommittee debate, though it is still a major achievement for its main proponent, privatization supporter Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.The most significant change is that land sales will be limited to 800,000 dunams (800 square kilometers), less thansix percent of the original amount.
This area “includes all built-up areas,” Shama explained, “excluding shopping malls, large business centers, gas stations, and public buildings. These are all the areas that the State wants to deal with individually.”
It is estimated that some 860,000 apartments are built on 400,000 dunams (400 square kilometers), and these will automatically pass to the ownership of those who are currently officially leasing them from the Israel Lands Authority. In addition, land sales will be permitted in parcels of up to 16 square kilometers each, up to a ceiling of another 400,000 dunams.
An aide to MK Shama explained that foreigners will not be permitted to buy. In any event, he said, responding to opponents, “the present situation, where land is leased and not sold, is no less attractive to foreign investors and real estate tycoons than when the land will be sold to them. Not once in history has it happened that a leaser of land was ever thrown off it, such that owning it will not make a difference.”
Automatic Acquisition
Those who live in private houses on land that was leased from the State for 99 years, as has been the custom in most of Israel, will acquire the land in exchange for a one-time payment of 31% of its value. Those who live in leased apartments will automatically acquire these homes at no extra charge.
According to another change made in the reform package, moshavim and kibbutzim residents will also become the owners of their plots automatically. Speaking with Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine, Shama took credit for this change, saying, “I promised that our brothers the farmers would not remain step-children of the State, but would rather be able to enjoy the benefits of the land which they earned with blood, sweat and tears.”
Green Involvement
Yet another change in the proposed law is that environmentalist groups will be involved in land sale decisions. The Ministry of the Environment will have a representative on the board of Lands Authority that will replace the existing Israel Lands Administration, and a representative of environmentalist groups will have a permanent observer. In addition,one percentof the Authority’s income or NIS 50 million, whichever is higher, will be invested each year in a “Green Fund” on behalf of environmentalist interests.
In addition, only land that is zoned or planned will be able to be sold. The purpose of this restriction is to try to ensure a “slow” rate of sale of lands.
Another change is that the entire program is subject to the negotiated consent of the 700 workers of the to-be-nullified Israel Lands Authority, many of whom fear that the new law will cost them their jobs.
Opposition is Still Strong
MKs such as Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), Shelly Yechimovitch (Labor) and others still object to the law, however. Orlev said the Land of Israel should not be sold, period. He is backed up by a Halakhic [Jewish lega opinion issued this week by Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger stating that it is forbidden to enable the Land of Israel to be sold permanently to foreigners.
Uri Bank, of the National Union party, said that though public pressure led to the placing of a limit in the current bill, “this leaves a breach for enabling the sale of more and more land in the future. It could very well be that once these 800,000 dunams are sold, the Knesset will be asked to approve another 800,000.”
“In the past,” Bank said, “when the Jubilee was in force and land was never sold for more than 49 years at a time, privatization was not a bad idea. But now we have no Jubilee; why should the Land of Israel be divided into privately-owned pieces? Not to mention that Arab interests can easily form straw companies to buy up the Land of Israel.”
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4. Arabs Protest Plan to Standardize Road Signs
by Zalman Nelson
Israeli towns are often still identified with the Arabic names used before the 1948 war
In an attempt to create uniformity in road signs, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz recently ordered the implementation of a project to adjust English and Arabic versions of city, town and village names to a direct transliteration of Hebrew.
Road signs in Israel are presently written in Hebrew, English, and Arabic, and feature the names used by each language. Jerusalem, for example, is indentified as “Yerushalaim” in Hebrew, "Jerusalem" in English and “Al Quds” in Arabic. In addition, a wide variety of English and Arabic spellings can be found throughout the country, which Ministry officials say “reflect the vast changes and development in Israel's highways.”
Caesarea, for example, appears as Caesarea, Qesarya, Qesariyya and Ceysaria.
In the works for over a year, the new signs would still feature Hebrew, English and Arabic, but rely exclusively on Hebrew transliteration. In all three languages, for instance,Jerusalem will be Yerushalayim, Natzrat for Nazareth, Kesariya for Caesarea, and Yafo for Jaffa.
According to Yeshaayahu Ronen, head of the Transportation Planning Department at the ministry, the inconsistency presents difficulties to tourists and drivers.
"The lack of uniform spelling on signs has been a problem for those speaking foreign languages, citizens and tourists alike," he said. "It impairs drivers' ability to find their way, and we have decided to follow many other countries around the world and make the transliteration of all names correspond directly with Hebrew."
Under the project, Ronen's department was authorized by Katz to decide which signs would be replaced. More than 2,000 names are expected to be adjusted.
While announcing the new policy, Katz identified one of the causes for the lack of uniformity. "On Palestinian maps, Israeli towns are often still identified with the Arabic names used before the 1948 war" when Israel was created, he said. Following the War of Independence in 1948, Israel renamed many areas with Hebrew names, often of biblical origin.
Announcement Was Misunderstood
Several media outlets wrongly reported Katz’s announcement as a decision to completely remove English and Arabic from all signs, and serving to rebut Arab resistance to use Hebrew names for some Israeli towns.
AFP tied the announcement to Israeli elections earlier this year which “brought a right-wing coalition to power that includes the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home) party, which has demanded Israel's Arab minority demonstrate greater loyalty to the Jewish state.”
Katz’s above quote concerning Arabs continuing to use pre-1948 names was taken to mean that the new policy “is a tit-for-tat against Palestinians who do not use the Hebrew name when referring to certain Israeli towns.”
Arab Knesset Members expressed their outrage over the move.
"Al-Quds will remain Al-Quds and Shfaram will remain Shefa-'Amr," said MK Ahmad Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al). "Minister Katz is mistaken if he thinks that changing a few words can erase the existence of the Arab people or their connection to Israel. This is a blatant attempt at harming the Arabic language and everything it represents."
The decision is too far-reaching, argued Hadash party chairman Mohammad Barakeh. "Yisrael Katz is merely the transportation minister and it appears that the power went to his head… I hereby inform him that he cannot change the nature of a place. Yisrael Katz will come and go but Shefa-'Amr is here to stay."
Comment on this story
by Zalman Nelson
Israeli towns are often still identified with the Arabic names used before the 1948 war
In an attempt to create uniformity in road signs, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz recently ordered the implementation of a project to adjust English and Arabic versions of city, town and village names to a direct transliteration of Hebrew. Road signs in Israel are presently written in Hebrew, English, and Arabic, and feature the names used by each language. Jerusalem, for example, is indentified as “Yerushalaim” in Hebrew, "Jerusalem" in English and “Al Quds” in Arabic. In addition, a wide variety of English and Arabic spellings can be found throughout the country, which Ministry officials say “reflect the vast changes and development in Israel's highways.”
Caesarea, for example, appears as Caesarea, Qesarya, Qesariyya and Ceysaria.
In the works for over a year, the new signs would still feature Hebrew, English and Arabic, but rely exclusively on Hebrew transliteration. In all three languages, for instance,Jerusalem will be Yerushalayim, Natzrat for Nazareth, Kesariya for Caesarea, and Yafo for Jaffa.
According to Yeshaayahu Ronen, head of the Transportation Planning Department at the ministry, the inconsistency presents difficulties to tourists and drivers.
"The lack of uniform spelling on signs has been a problem for those speaking foreign languages, citizens and tourists alike," he said. "It impairs drivers' ability to find their way, and we have decided to follow many other countries around the world and make the transliteration of all names correspond directly with Hebrew."
Under the project, Ronen's department was authorized by Katz to decide which signs would be replaced. More than 2,000 names are expected to be adjusted.
While announcing the new policy, Katz identified one of the causes for the lack of uniformity. "On Palestinian maps, Israeli towns are often still identified with the Arabic names used before the 1948 war" when Israel was created, he said. Following the War of Independence in 1948, Israel renamed many areas with Hebrew names, often of biblical origin.
Announcement Was Misunderstood
Several media outlets wrongly reported Katz’s announcement as a decision to completely remove English and Arabic from all signs, and serving to rebut Arab resistance to use Hebrew names for some Israeli towns.
AFP tied the announcement to Israeli elections earlier this year which “brought a right-wing coalition to power that includes the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home) party, which has demanded Israel's Arab minority demonstrate greater loyalty to the Jewish state.”
Katz’s above quote concerning Arabs continuing to use pre-1948 names was taken to mean that the new policy “is a tit-for-tat against Palestinians who do not use the Hebrew name when referring to certain Israeli towns.”
Arab Knesset Members expressed their outrage over the move.
"Al-Quds will remain Al-Quds and Shfaram will remain Shefa-'Amr," said MK Ahmad Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al). "Minister Katz is mistaken if he thinks that changing a few words can erase the existence of the Arab people or their connection to Israel. This is a blatant attempt at harming the Arabic language and everything it represents."
The decision is too far-reaching, argued Hadash party chairman Mohammad Barakeh. "Yisrael Katz is merely the transportation minister and it appears that the power went to his head… I hereby inform him that he cannot change the nature of a place. Yisrael Katz will come and go but Shefa-'Amr is here to stay."
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5. Israeli Warships Sail Through Suez Canal
by Hana Levi Julian
Two Israeli warships reportedly passed through the Suez Canal Tuesday in what is seen as an unusual show of cooperation between Egypt and the Jewish State, according to Arab news media.
The report has not been officially confirmed by the IDF. However, in what appeared to be confirmation by Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Ghet told journalists that the crossings were legitimate in accordance with an agreement between the countries.
The Hanit and the Eilat, both Sa’ar-5 class Navy torpedo boats, traveled from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, allegedly to beef up Israel’s military presence there.
The Eilat is the second ship of that name; the first was a destroyer sunk by Egypt shortly after the 1967 Six Day War. Forty-seven Israeli sailors died in the attack.
The Hanit had already made the trip through the Suez, according to the AFP news agency, which reported the vessel had crossed through the Canal in each direction in June.
Several weeks ago, an Israeli Dolphin-class submarine also traveled through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and back, escorted by Egyptian navy vessels. It was the first such drill for the German-made secret vessel, defense sources confirmed to the Reuters news agency, despite a later denial by an Egyptian security officer who said the voyagehad nevertaken place.IDF Army Radio quoted the officer as saying, “Egypt does not allow Israeli warships to enter our territory.”
Usually Israeli ships and submarines travel around the Horn of Africa in order to reach the Red Sea, where an Iranian ship loaded with weapons was sunk a few months ago. More than 100 arms smugglers on board the vessel, which was headed for Gaza, were killed in the attack reportedly carried out by Israel.
The recent voyage of the Dolphin was intended by both Israel and Egypt as a message to Iran, which has continued it nuclear development activitiesin the face ofa ban by the United Nations Security Council.
Intelligence reports indicate that Iran is intent upon building a nuclear weapon, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has in the past year repeatedly threatened to attack the State of Israel. Any nuclear attack on the Jewish State would affect neighboring nations as well.
Until now, Israeli naval vessels have previously avoided the Suez Canal, and some media pundits have speculated that military intelligence has tried to avoid Egyptian detection of alleged nuclear warheads aboard the ships.
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by Hana Levi Julian
Two Israeli warships reportedly passed through the Suez Canal Tuesday in what is seen as an unusual show of cooperation between Egypt and the Jewish State, according to Arab news media.
The report has not been officially confirmed by the IDF. However, in what appeared to be confirmation by Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Ghet told journalists that the crossings were legitimate in accordance with an agreement between the countries.
The Hanit and the Eilat, both Sa’ar-5 class Navy torpedo boats, traveled from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, allegedly to beef up Israel’s military presence there.
The Eilat is the second ship of that name; the first was a destroyer sunk by Egypt shortly after the 1967 Six Day War. Forty-seven Israeli sailors died in the attack.
The Hanit had already made the trip through the Suez, according to the AFP news agency, which reported the vessel had crossed through the Canal in each direction in June.
Several weeks ago, an Israeli Dolphin-class submarine also traveled through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and back, escorted by Egyptian navy vessels. It was the first such drill for the German-made secret vessel, defense sources confirmed to the Reuters news agency, despite a later denial by an Egyptian security officer who said the voyagehad nevertaken place.IDF Army Radio quoted the officer as saying, “Egypt does not allow Israeli warships to enter our territory.”
Usually Israeli ships and submarines travel around the Horn of Africa in order to reach the Red Sea, where an Iranian ship loaded with weapons was sunk a few months ago. More than 100 arms smugglers on board the vessel, which was headed for Gaza, were killed in the attack reportedly carried out by Israel.
The recent voyage of the Dolphin was intended by both Israel and Egypt as a message to Iran, which has continued it nuclear development activitiesin the face ofa ban by the United Nations Security Council.
Intelligence reports indicate that Iran is intent upon building a nuclear weapon, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has in the past year repeatedly threatened to attack the State of Israel. Any nuclear attack on the Jewish State would affect neighboring nations as well.
Until now, Israeli naval vessels have previously avoided the Suez Canal, and some media pundits have speculated that military intelligence has tried to avoid Egyptian detection of alleged nuclear warheads aboard the ships.
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6. PLO Leader: Mahmoud Abbas Helped Kill Arafat
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Farouk al-Kaddoumi, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization leader, claims that Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas was directly involved in the murder of former PA chairman and terrorist leader Yasser Arafat. Fatah leaders in the PA said the charges were politically motivated lies.
Kaddoumi, the head of the PLO's political office and the formal chairman of Fatah, told a press conference on Monday that he had protocols from a 2004 meeting between Israeli, American and PA representatives that clearly indicate a plan to poison Arafat. According to Kaddoumi, it was not only Abbas who was involved from the PA side, but former Gaza strongman Muhammad Dahlan as well. Before the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Dahlan served as the head of the PA's secret police and preventative security forces in the Gaza region.
Arafat died in November 2004 after a brief but intense illness,during whichhe was transported to France for emergency treatment. The cause of his death was never made public, but speculation ranged from assassination to liver failure to AIDS.
Long rivalry
Kaddoumi is a long-time rival of the PA leadership, as he was one of the only top Fatah-affiliated terror leaders who rejected Arafat's Oslo Accords with Israel. He refused to join the PLO leadership when it moved to the newly established PA territory in 1994 and remained in Tunisia, where the PLO was headquartered after Israel drove the terror organization out of Lebanon in 1982. Abbas has made sweeping efforts to neutralize Kaddoumi's power within Fatah and the PLO, although Kaddoumi formally retains his senior political offices.
"Kaddoumi's statements were false, full of contradictions and have no relation to reality," declared the Fatah terrorist organization in acommunique issued Tuesday by its central committee. "In his statements, Kaddoumi is trying to create an absurd situation, one of vengeance within the Palestinian society, and his words are very dangerous."
The statement charged that Kaddoumi's objective in presenting his claims in a public forum was "to break up the sixth [Fata conference which is to be held in Bethlehem next month."
Kaddoumi objects to holding the conference in Bethlehem, preferring one of the Arab states. He may be seeking a forum where he will have greater influence than Abbas, such as Syria, where Kaddoumi is a frequent guest and referred to as the head of the "Palestinian movement". Additionally, holding the event under PA jurisdiction would entail his recognition of the Abbas regime, which he opposes.
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by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Farouk al-Kaddoumi, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization leader, claims that Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas was directly involved in the murder of former PA chairman and terrorist leader Yasser Arafat. Fatah leaders in the PA said the charges were politically motivated lies.
Kaddoumi, the head of the PLO's political office and the formal chairman of Fatah, told a press conference on Monday that he had protocols from a 2004 meeting between Israeli, American and PA representatives that clearly indicate a plan to poison Arafat. According to Kaddoumi, it was not only Abbas who was involved from the PA side, but former Gaza strongman Muhammad Dahlan as well. Before the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Dahlan served as the head of the PA's secret police and preventative security forces in the Gaza region.
Arafat died in November 2004 after a brief but intense illness,during whichhe was transported to France for emergency treatment. The cause of his death was never made public, but speculation ranged from assassination to liver failure to AIDS.
Long rivalry
Kaddoumi is a long-time rival of the PA leadership, as he was one of the only top Fatah-affiliated terror leaders who rejected Arafat's Oslo Accords with Israel. He refused to join the PLO leadership when it moved to the newly established PA territory in 1994 and remained in Tunisia, where the PLO was headquartered after Israel drove the terror organization out of Lebanon in 1982. Abbas has made sweeping efforts to neutralize Kaddoumi's power within Fatah and the PLO, although Kaddoumi formally retains his senior political offices.
"Kaddoumi's statements were false, full of contradictions and have no relation to reality," declared the Fatah terrorist organization in acommunique issued Tuesday by its central committee. "In his statements, Kaddoumi is trying to create an absurd situation, one of vengeance within the Palestinian society, and his words are very dangerous."
The statement charged that Kaddoumi's objective in presenting his claims in a public forum was "to break up the sixth [Fata conference which is to be held in Bethlehem next month."
Kaddoumi objects to holding the conference in Bethlehem, preferring one of the Arab states. He may be seeking a forum where he will have greater influence than Abbas, such as Syria, where Kaddoumi is a frequent guest and referred to as the head of the "Palestinian movement". Additionally, holding the event under PA jurisdiction would entail his recognition of the Abbas regime, which he opposes.
Comment on this story
7. ‘Stunning’ Art School Exhibit Opens in Jerusalem
by Yehudah Lev Kay
The annual student exhibit at the Oman religious art school opened Monday night to rave reviews. The exhibition, which is free of charge, will remain open for the next two weeks.
"Boy by Fire", Oil on Canvas, on Display at Oman (More Pictures Below)
Oman, which in Hebrew means “artist”, is an art school for religious women which offers courses in general art, metal working, jewelry making, photography, ceramics, culinary arts, and art education. At the end of each academic year, students display their work at the school’s campus in Jerusalem.
“I think the exhibit is absolutely stunning,” Adam Cohen said, who came to see his wife’s work. “I’m very impressed the work here was produced by art students.”
Art displays were stretched over numerous halls at the exhibition, accompanied by delicious refreshments provided by students of culinary arts at the school.
Dorit Leibowtiz, an Oman administrator, explained the school's focus. “Our program provides a unique framework for religious women to study art,” she said. “We try to concentrate not only on art for art’s sake but also on the practical side of working in an art-related field.”
Students at Oman generallystudy three half-days a week over the course of two years. “The format allows us to work and take care of our families besides studying art,” Oman student Adina Lev-Tzion said.
The exhibit remains open until July 23, Sunday through Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. and again from 5:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. Oman is located at 5 Zichron Yaakov Street, in the Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Photo of Tree Reflected in Puddle (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Culinary Delights (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Cake Made by Culinary Students (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Candle Holder (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Jewelry (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Globe with Torah Scroll Inside, Painting in Background
Ceramic Sandal (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Ceramic Pot and Pomegranate (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Comment on this story
by Yehudah Lev Kay
The annual student exhibit at the Oman religious art school opened Monday night to rave reviews. The exhibition, which is free of charge, will remain open for the next two weeks.
"Boy by Fire", Oil on Canvas, on Display at Oman (More Pictures Below)
Oman, which in Hebrew means “artist”, is an art school for religious women which offers courses in general art, metal working, jewelry making, photography, ceramics, culinary arts, and art education. At the end of each academic year, students display their work at the school’s campus in Jerusalem.
“I think the exhibit is absolutely stunning,” Adam Cohen said, who came to see his wife’s work. “I’m very impressed the work here was produced by art students.”
Art displays were stretched over numerous halls at the exhibition, accompanied by delicious refreshments provided by students of culinary arts at the school.
Dorit Leibowtiz, an Oman administrator, explained the school's focus. “Our program provides a unique framework for religious women to study art,” she said. “We try to concentrate not only on art for art’s sake but also on the practical side of working in an art-related field.”
Students at Oman generallystudy three half-days a week over the course of two years. “The format allows us to work and take care of our families besides studying art,” Oman student Adina Lev-Tzion said.
The exhibit remains open until July 23, Sunday through Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. and again from 5:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. Oman is located at 5 Zichron Yaakov Street, in the Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Photo of Tree Reflected in Puddle (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Culinary Delights (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Cake Made by Culinary Students (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Candle Holder (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Jewelry (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Globe with Torah Scroll Inside, Painting in Background
Ceramic Sandal (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Ceramic Pot and Pomegranate (Photo: Yehudah Lev Kay)
Comment on this story
7-14
1. Court Orders Arab Squatters Off Jerusalem Property
by Hillel Fendel
Yitzchak Herskovitz, 78, has won a critical battle in his 16-year legal struggle to regain control of his property from Arab squatters in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem District Court ruled in his favor that the contested property, in southern Jerusalem’s Givat HaMatos neighborhood, in fact belongs to him.
Herskovitz must now begin the complex process of having the illegal trespassers removed from the site. It appears clear that the police will have to be involved, and/or that the squatters will appeal the ruling yet again.
“In the current climate of tensions surrounding the hesitation to destroy illegal Arab structures and evacuate Arab squatters,” said a source close to the case, “it is hard to be optimistic that this case will end very soon."
The Case Began in 1993
The saga began in 1993, when Herskovitz filed suit in the Jerusalem Magistrates Court against an Arab clan, the Tsalah family, who was living on his land near the Beit Tsafafa and Gilo neighborhoods of Jerusalem. After more than a decade, Herskovitz won the case; the Arabs appealed the ruling and lost again, and the squatters were to have been evicted.
But the Arabs then took the initiative, and sued Herskovitz, claiming ownership of the property and thus delaying the eviction. After 18 months, they abruptly withdrew their case; Herskovitz says this was purely a “stalling maneuver.”
A month or two later, before the police had a chance to carry out the eviction orders, the third trial in the series began, with the Arabs once again filing an ownership suit in the District Court. That trial finally ended in April of this year, and its final ruling has now been handed down: victory for Herskovitz.
Police Delay
“One of the things that bothers me,” the feisty and colorful Herskovitz told Israel National News, “is that the police, by stalling and not carrying out the eviction orders at various opportunities, enabled this whole thing to be dragged out for so long. For instance, in 2008, they could have evicted the Arab squatters, in accordance with court order, but did not – and instead asked for an extension of a few months!”
Expedition Request Worked
Several weeks ago, Herskovitz filed a request to expedite the final ruling. He wrote that at the “ripe young age” of 78, and not in the best of health, and after 16 years of what he calls “legal shenanigans by those who stole my property,” he deserves to have the ruling hurried up.
Herskovitz further wrote that the squatters “withdrew their original court suit only in order to re-file it again later, for the purpose of dragging out the process for many years. This was carried out in bad faith and with bad intentions, and expresses their lack of respect to the judicial process. They knowingly and frequently perjured themselves, out of scorn to the court and to my rights, and sensing that they are immune to punishment.”
The request concludes by asking for expedition of the final ruling, "lestI miss the opportunity to use and enjoy my property forever.”
The request appears to have done the job, as the ruling need not have been issued before April of next year.
At the same time, Herskovitz is attempting to collect on a previous ruling that was handed down in his favor – a requirement that the squatters pay him rent while the case is being processed.The squatters have not paid for seven months, however, Herskowitz said.
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2. Obama: ‘Never Forget’ Applies to Slavery and Holocaust
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama said in a CNN interview to be broadcast Monday that the legacy of slavery in the United States, like the Holocaust, “Is one of those that you don’t forget about. “I think it's important that the way we think about it, the way it's taught, is not one in which there's simply a victim and a victimizer, and that's the end of the story," he added.
The interview on the “Anderson Cooper: 360” program was taped in Ghana, a former slave trading center and President Obama's destinationthis past weekend.
Obama also that a slave dungeon that he visited during his visit was “reminiscent of the trip I took to Buchenwald." He explained that the dungeon, like the Nazi death camp, "reminds us of the capacity of human beings to commit great evil.”
He has mentioned the Holocaust several times in different contexts since taking office. In his “reaching out to the Muslim world” speech in Cairo last month, President Obama aggravated many Jews by stating that the State of Israel was re-established because of the Holocaust, and despite it.
He also mentioned the situation of Arabs in Gaza immediately after recalling the Holocaust and those who deny it. “Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust … Six million Jews were killed…,” the president declared.
He then immediately continued, “On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people -- Muslims and Christians -- have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they've endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations -- large and small -- that come with occupation.”
Many Jewish spokesmen also criticized President Obama for simply stating that Jews were “killed” in the Holocaust and for not recalling the routine extermination in death marches where Jews died of starvation, gas chambers and daily shootings.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama said in a CNN interview to be broadcast Monday that the legacy of slavery in the United States, like the Holocaust, “Is one of those that you don’t forget about. “I think it's important that the way we think about it, the way it's taught, is not one in which there's simply a victim and a victimizer, and that's the end of the story," he added.
The interview on the “Anderson Cooper: 360” program was taped in Ghana, a former slave trading center and President Obama's destinationthis past weekend.
Obama also that a slave dungeon that he visited during his visit was “reminiscent of the trip I took to Buchenwald." He explained that the dungeon, like the Nazi death camp, "reminds us of the capacity of human beings to commit great evil.”
He has mentioned the Holocaust several times in different contexts since taking office. In his “reaching out to the Muslim world” speech in Cairo last month, President Obama aggravated many Jews by stating that the State of Israel was re-established because of the Holocaust, and despite it.
He also mentioned the situation of Arabs in Gaza immediately after recalling the Holocaust and those who deny it. “Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust … Six million Jews were killed…,” the president declared.
He then immediately continued, “On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people -- Muslims and Christians -- have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they've endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations -- large and small -- that come with occupation.”
Many Jewish spokesmen also criticized President Obama for simply stating that Jews were “killed” in the Holocaust and for not recalling the routine extermination in death marches where Jews died of starvation, gas chambers and daily shootings.
Comment on this story
3. French Court Okays Appeal in Paris Murder Case
by Maayana Miskin
Fourteen of those convicted in the brutal slaying of young French Jew Ilan Halimi will face an appeal for increased jail terms. The appeal was granted following intervention from Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.
Some French jurists protested the move, and accused Alliot-Marie of giving in to political pressure.
A court had sentencedtwo people who took part in holding Halimi captive and torturing him to between 15 and 18 years in prison, while a woman who lured Halimi to within kidnappers' reach was sentenced to nine years. Prosecutors had requested that the attackers be sentenced to 20 and 12 years respectively.
Severalmembers of the gang that carried out the murder were sentenced to as few as six months in prison.
French Jews demonstrated Monday against the verdict, and demanded a public retrial. The original trial was closed to journalists because some of the defendants were minors.
The gang, which called itself “The Barbarians,” was convicted of viciously torturing Halimi over the course of more than three weeks after kidnapping him for ransom. Despite his family's willingness to pay the ransom, the gang continued to hold Halimi hostage and subject him to torture, eventually setting him on fire and then abandoning him outdoors.
Twenty-three year old Halimi was discovered by passersby, but died of his critical wounds on the way to the hospital. Doctors found that Halimi had been repeated stabbed and burnt, and at the time of his death was missing one ear and one toe and had burns on 80 percent of his body.
A court ruled that the murder was motivated at least in part by anti-Semitism. The killing was orchestrated by Youssouf Fofana, who shouted Islamist slogans during his trial. Fofana received a life sentence with no chance of parole before 22 years, the maximum under French law.
Comment on this story
by Maayana Miskin
Fourteen of those convicted in the brutal slaying of young French Jew Ilan Halimi will face an appeal for increased jail terms. The appeal was granted following intervention from Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.
Some French jurists protested the move, and accused Alliot-Marie of giving in to political pressure.
A court had sentencedtwo people who took part in holding Halimi captive and torturing him to between 15 and 18 years in prison, while a woman who lured Halimi to within kidnappers' reach was sentenced to nine years. Prosecutors had requested that the attackers be sentenced to 20 and 12 years respectively.
Severalmembers of the gang that carried out the murder were sentenced to as few as six months in prison.
French Jews demonstrated Monday against the verdict, and demanded a public retrial. The original trial was closed to journalists because some of the defendants were minors.
The gang, which called itself “The Barbarians,” was convicted of viciously torturing Halimi over the course of more than three weeks after kidnapping him for ransom. Despite his family's willingness to pay the ransom, the gang continued to hold Halimi hostage and subject him to torture, eventually setting him on fire and then abandoning him outdoors.
Twenty-three year old Halimi was discovered by passersby, but died of his critical wounds on the way to the hospital. Doctors found that Halimi had been repeated stabbed and burnt, and at the time of his death was missing one ear and one toe and had burns on 80 percent of his body.
A court ruled that the murder was motivated at least in part by anti-Semitism. The killing was orchestrated by Youssouf Fofana, who shouted Islamist slogans during his trial. Fofana received a life sentence with no chance of parole before 22 years, the maximum under French law.
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4. Israel ‘Destroyed’ Gaza Hospital that Never Existed
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Another anti-Israeli campaign, this time charging that the IDF destroyed a Christian hospital in Gaza earlier this year, has gone up in smoke following an investigation by the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA). One question remains: what was supposed to happen with the $1.67 million raised for “rebuilding” the hospital?
Several months ago a fundraising campaign was conducted in Greece, with a star-studded telethon for the hospitals that Israel allegedly “destroyed with their bombs” during the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign from last December through mid-January.
The JTA revealed that the supposed hospital was not on United Nations and Red Crescent Society lists of damaged structures. Officials of non-government groups (NGOs) in Gaza told the American Jewish news network that only one Christian hospital was used during the campaign and that it did not sustain any damage.
When questioned, the Greek television station that broadcast the telethon said it was only responsible for providing the airtime and that the government and a trade union were behind the campaign. The union referred the JTA to the government.
The Greek ambassador in Israel in turn referred the JTA to the Greek consulate in Jerusalem.
After the investigation began, a financial newspaper in Greece published a small article that “a project is being sought in Gaza to be financed by the money" that was raised in the February telethon.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Another anti-Israeli campaign, this time charging that the IDF destroyed a Christian hospital in Gaza earlier this year, has gone up in smoke following an investigation by the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA). One question remains: what was supposed to happen with the $1.67 million raised for “rebuilding” the hospital?
Several months ago a fundraising campaign was conducted in Greece, with a star-studded telethon for the hospitals that Israel allegedly “destroyed with their bombs” during the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign from last December through mid-January.
The JTA revealed that the supposed hospital was not on United Nations and Red Crescent Society lists of damaged structures. Officials of non-government groups (NGOs) in Gaza told the American Jewish news network that only one Christian hospital was used during the campaign and that it did not sustain any damage.
When questioned, the Greek television station that broadcast the telethon said it was only responsible for providing the airtime and that the government and a trade union were behind the campaign. The union referred the JTA to the government.
The Greek ambassador in Israel in turn referred the JTA to the Greek consulate in Jerusalem.
After the investigation began, a financial newspaper in Greece published a small article that “a project is being sought in Gaza to be financed by the money" that was raised in the February telethon.
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5. Gov't Ordered to Hurry Yesha Outpost Demolitions
by Hana Levi Julian
A panel of judges headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch has ordered the government to set a timetable for the expulsion of Jewish residents of 18 buildings in Judea and Samaria. The court gave the State four more months in which to come up with a plan for the evacuation.
The ruling, handed down Monday morning, stated that “under these circumstances… the state should have carried out the warrants [ordering the destruction of the building or at the very least, produce an abiding timetable, as part of its basic duty to uphold the law.”
The decision came in response to a petition filed four years ago by the leftist Peace Now organization, which had protested the construction of the buildings in thebudding community of Haresha and the neighborhood of HaYoval in the community of Eli. Peace Now’s stated objective is the removal of every trace of Jewish presence from Judea and Samaria. Both Haresha and Yuval are considered “illegal settlements” by leftists, but are also on the list of communities headed for the government chopping block.
“More than four years have passed since the petition was submitted; the State’s consistent stance from early on in the discussion of the petition has been that the buildings were built illegally, some on private land. A demolition warrant regarding the buildings was issued back in 2005,” the ruling continued.
Nevertheless, the panel decided to allow an additional four months for discussion with the Jewish residents of the buildings, noting that “the tenants have their own arguments and it is undeniable that hearings of all parties involved should be held prior to demolition.”
The judges also praised the State for wanting to avoid an ugly expulsion scene and seek a more amicable solution with the residents.
In February 2006, the Olmert administration ordered the Israel Police to demolish nine buildings in Amona, 12 miles north of Jerusalem. The forcible evacuation of young Jewish protesters at the site sent more than 200 people to hospitals and permanently traumatized dozens of youths.It was also caught on film, leading to later lawsuits and a permanent record of government violence against the Jews of Judea and Samaria.
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by Hana Levi Julian
A panel of judges headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch has ordered the government to set a timetable for the expulsion of Jewish residents of 18 buildings in Judea and Samaria. The court gave the State four more months in which to come up with a plan for the evacuation.
The ruling, handed down Monday morning, stated that “under these circumstances… the state should have carried out the warrants [ordering the destruction of the building or at the very least, produce an abiding timetable, as part of its basic duty to uphold the law.”
The decision came in response to a petition filed four years ago by the leftist Peace Now organization, which had protested the construction of the buildings in thebudding community of Haresha and the neighborhood of HaYoval in the community of Eli. Peace Now’s stated objective is the removal of every trace of Jewish presence from Judea and Samaria. Both Haresha and Yuval are considered “illegal settlements” by leftists, but are also on the list of communities headed for the government chopping block.
“More than four years have passed since the petition was submitted; the State’s consistent stance from early on in the discussion of the petition has been that the buildings were built illegally, some on private land. A demolition warrant regarding the buildings was issued back in 2005,” the ruling continued.
Nevertheless, the panel decided to allow an additional four months for discussion with the Jewish residents of the buildings, noting that “the tenants have their own arguments and it is undeniable that hearings of all parties involved should be held prior to demolition.”
The judges also praised the State for wanting to avoid an ugly expulsion scene and seek a more amicable solution with the residents.
In February 2006, the Olmert administration ordered the Israel Police to demolish nine buildings in Amona, 12 miles north of Jerusalem. The forcible evacuation of young Jewish protesters at the site sent more than 200 people to hospitals and permanently traumatized dozens of youths.It was also caught on film, leading to later lawsuits and a permanent record of government violence against the Jews of Judea and Samaria.
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6. Holocaust Survivor Receives Doctorate at 81
by Baruch Gordon
At the age of 81, Eliezer Schwartz has come full circle. Once a young forced laborer in the Nazi concentration camps, he has now received a doctorate from the University of Haifa for his study of "Forced Laborers in the Third Reich."
"At 16, I was taken to Auschwitz and then moved from camp to camp for a year, until the end of the war. After liberation, I returned to my hometown in Hungary, but I saw that no other members of my family had returned, so I decided to emigrate to Israel," he related.
Israel news photo: Eliezer Schwartz receives his doctorate from Haifa University
In 1947, at 19, he landed in Israel. Another 57 years would pass before he would complete his doctorate study. Before doing so, he had to build a family, find work and, of course, complete his bachelor's and master's degrees. He completed his bachelor's degree at the age of 45. He acquired two master's degrees: one in sociology and anthropology and another in his work field of urban planning.
When Schwartz retired at 75, his grandchildren advised him to fill his time by dedicating himself to writing a doctoral thesis. Years passed and technology developed, but this did not deter him. "It went by smoothly. I had no problem becoming accustomed with the changes," he said.
He set about his doctorate with a scientific and composed approach. "I cut myself off completely from my personal and emotional story. I forced myself to," Schwartz explained. But he still used his past for the sake of his professional work. "For example, I worked in the adaptation of mines for underground industries. I labored there. I have first-hand familiarity with the topic and how the process was managed. It is a source of information that no other historian has access to."
One of the conclusions that he proposes in his thesis is that many elements of construction in Nazi Germany were carried out unprofessionally. "To understand how a people that was considered meticulous and precise did such clumsy work, you will have to read the full study," he suggested.
Comment on this story
by Baruch Gordon
At the age of 81, Eliezer Schwartz has come full circle. Once a young forced laborer in the Nazi concentration camps, he has now received a doctorate from the University of Haifa for his study of "Forced Laborers in the Third Reich."
"At 16, I was taken to Auschwitz and then moved from camp to camp for a year, until the end of the war. After liberation, I returned to my hometown in Hungary, but I saw that no other members of my family had returned, so I decided to emigrate to Israel," he related.
Israel news photo: Eliezer Schwartz receives his doctorate from Haifa University
In 1947, at 19, he landed in Israel. Another 57 years would pass before he would complete his doctorate study. Before doing so, he had to build a family, find work and, of course, complete his bachelor's and master's degrees. He completed his bachelor's degree at the age of 45. He acquired two master's degrees: one in sociology and anthropology and another in his work field of urban planning.
When Schwartz retired at 75, his grandchildren advised him to fill his time by dedicating himself to writing a doctoral thesis. Years passed and technology developed, but this did not deter him. "It went by smoothly. I had no problem becoming accustomed with the changes," he said.
He set about his doctorate with a scientific and composed approach. "I cut myself off completely from my personal and emotional story. I forced myself to," Schwartz explained. But he still used his past for the sake of his professional work. "For example, I worked in the adaptation of mines for underground industries. I labored there. I have first-hand familiarity with the topic and how the process was managed. It is a source of information that no other historian has access to."
One of the conclusions that he proposes in his thesis is that many elements of construction in Nazi Germany were carried out unprofessionally. "To understand how a people that was considered meticulous and precise did such clumsy work, you will have to read the full study," he suggested.
Comment on this story
7. Israeli, African MDs Circumcise to Combat AIDs
by Yehudah Lev Kay
A group of Senegalese doctorsis leaving Israel Monday after spending a week learning with Israeli physicians the intricacies of performing circumcision on adult males. A joint group of Senegalese and Israeli doctors will now travel to several locations in Africa to perform the procedure in an attempt to reduce the amount of HIV infections on the continent.
Study Session (Israel news photo: Jerusalem AIDS project, Israel)
While in the country, the Senegalese doctors visited Israeli hospitals where adult male circumcision is performed and learned about traditional ritual circumcision in Jewish communities. In addition, they participated in simulated training of the procedure at the Tel HaShomer hospital on an anatomically accurate model, which was developed by Professor Yoram Mor and Doctor Yaron Munz of the Israel Center for Medical Simulation and the Israeli Urology Association.
The unique program has been named the Operation-Abraham Collaborative, in recognition of the biblical Abraham who was commanded by G-d to perform the first circumcisions in history on himself and the members of his household. Also collaborating on the project are Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Asaf Haroffe Hospital, The Israeli Association for Pediatric Surgery, and the Jerusalem AIDS project.
Israeli doctors have rich experience circumcising adult males, performing almost 100,000 operations yearly on new immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union. Religious restrictions or lack of knowledge in those countriesprevented many Jewish boys from receiving a ritual circumcision at the traditional age of eight days.
Senegalese physicians also are quite skilled in circumcisingbecausethe predominantly Muslim country has a high percentage of circumcision and a low percentage of AIDs. They will join the Israeli physicians in circumcising in other parts of Africa where HIV infection is more prevalent and circumcision rates are lower.
Numerous studies have shown that male circumcision reduces the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, foremost among them AIDs. Several studies done in Africa over the past decade have shown that circumcision results in a 50-60 percent reduction of HIV infection.
In 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS decided that male circumcision should be recommended for the worldwide prevention of AIDS. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made similar recommendations. Uganda inaugurated a program to circumcise males to prevent HIV infection earlier this month.
Israel first sent doctors to Swaziland, South Africa in 2007 in a highly successful program to teach local doctorsto perform circumcisions to combat AIDs.
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7-13
1. Fatah Official: “Our Goal is Not Peace, but Rather Palestine”
by Hillel Fendel
"Our goal has never been peace,” says a Fatah official in a PA TV panel. “Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine" – meaning the conquest of Israel.
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), directed by Itamar Marcus, reports on a panel discussion on a television program of the Fatah organization broadcast this past week. Headed by Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah is considered the more moderate wing of the Palestinian Authority, comparedwith Hamas.
The panel discussion shows that in actuality, Fatah is no less firm than Hamas in seeking the goal of Israel’s destruction. Kifah Radaydeh, the deputy head of the Jerusalem chapter of Fatah, says openly that the PA will resume violence and terror against Israel when Fatah is "capable," and "according to what seems right."
"It has been said that we are negotiating for peace,” she further stated, “but our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine."
Radaydeh is considered a “promising and rising young force” in Fatah, according to a PMW source, “and this report will likely give her extra prominence. But we have to publicize her words in order that the truth about the PA and Fatah be known.”
PMW was established in 1996 to “gain an understanding of Palestinian society through the monitoring of the Palestinian Arabic language media and schoolbooks,” its website states. The organization “analyzes Palestinian Authority culture and society from numerous perspectives, including studies on summer camps, poetry, schoolbooks, religious ideology, crossword puzzles, and more. [It play the critical role of documenting the contradictions between the image the Palestinians present to the world in English and the messages to their own people in Arabic.”
Click here to see the broadcast.
Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, writing this latest PMW report, emphasize that when Fatah refers to "Palestine," as when Radaydeh says the “goal is Palestine,” the reference is to all of Israel. As proof, it is noted that the Fatah flag still shows the map of Israel under rifles.
In addition, Fatah MP Najat Abu Bakr said in a PA TV interview last year that Fatah's goal remains the destruction of Israel, but that their political plan is to focus on returning to the 1967 borders. "It doesn't mean that we don't want the 1948 borders,” Abu Bakr said, referring to all of Israel,” but rather that “our current political program is to say that we want the 1967 borders."
Just four months ago, senior PA official Mohammed Dahlan stressed that Fatah adamantly refuses to recognize Israel, and that even the Palestinian Authority’s recognition is only for the sake of receiving foreign aid:
"…the Fatah movement does not recognize Israel, even today... [such recognition i required of the government but not of the Fatah, so that this government will be able to offer the necessary assistance, to carry out the necessary reconstruction, to offer assistance to the sick, to bring relief to needy families... This can be dealt with [onl by a government that has relations with the international community, one that is acceptable to the international community, in order that we can work together and benefit from the international community."
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2. Germany Charges Demjanjuk: 27,900 Counts of Accessory to Murder
by Hana Levi Julian
State prosecutors representing the government of Germany have formally charged 89-year-old John Demjanjuk with 27,900 counts of accessory to murder for his alleged role as a Nazi guard at the Sobibor death camp during World War II.
Sobibor was located in Nazi-occupied Poland.
There have been prior attempts to charge John Demjanjuk with Nazi war crimes; he once faced an Israeli courtroom as the suspected Ivan the Terrible, amurderousSS guard at the Treblinka and Sobibor death camps during 1942-1943.He was later acquitted on the charges of being the particularly savage Ivan, but now faces charges of being a Nazi guard of a different identity.
Demjanjuk claims he is innocent and that the case against him is one of mistaken identity. Born in the Ukraine, he claims he was a Red Army soldier who was captured by the Germans and spent the war as a POW (prisoner of war).
The evidence obtained by the United States Justice Department appears otherwise: among the documentsit presentedis a photo ID that shows Demjanjuk was a guard at Sobibor. The ID also reveals that he was credentialed at Trawniki, a special SS training facility for Nazi personnel that was located in German-occupied Poland.
Demjanjuk arrived in Germany in May after years of fighting extradition procedures in the United States, where hehad immigrated following the war. A federal judge in Cleveland, Ohio cleared the retired auto workerfor deportation several weeks ago.
“This is obviously an important step forward,” commented the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s top Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff, in response to Germany’s submission of formal charges.
“We hope that the trial itself will be expedited so that justice will be achieved and he can be given the appropriate punishment,” Zuroff said. “The effort to bring Demjanjuk to justice sends a very powerful message that the passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrator.”
His attorneys have tried to delay and even altogether avoid having Demjanjuk face a German judge, claiming he was too frail. But doctors earlier this month determined that he was fit to stand trial, provided that the proceedings are limited to two 90-minute sessions per day.
Charges of accessory to murder in Germany carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, and if convicted, Demjanjuk could conceivably receive consecutive sentences that would total thousands of years – well past the length of whatever life the elderly suspected Nazi has left.
It is not yet clear when the trial will begin.
Comment on this story
by Hana Levi Julian
State prosecutors representing the government of Germany have formally charged 89-year-old John Demjanjuk with 27,900 counts of accessory to murder for his alleged role as a Nazi guard at the Sobibor death camp during World War II.
Sobibor was located in Nazi-occupied Poland.
There have been prior attempts to charge John Demjanjuk with Nazi war crimes; he once faced an Israeli courtroom as the suspected Ivan the Terrible, amurderousSS guard at the Treblinka and Sobibor death camps during 1942-1943.He was later acquitted on the charges of being the particularly savage Ivan, but now faces charges of being a Nazi guard of a different identity.
Demjanjuk claims he is innocent and that the case against him is one of mistaken identity. Born in the Ukraine, he claims he was a Red Army soldier who was captured by the Germans and spent the war as a POW (prisoner of war).
The evidence obtained by the United States Justice Department appears otherwise: among the documentsit presentedis a photo ID that shows Demjanjuk was a guard at Sobibor. The ID also reveals that he was credentialed at Trawniki, a special SS training facility for Nazi personnel that was located in German-occupied Poland.
Demjanjuk arrived in Germany in May after years of fighting extradition procedures in the United States, where hehad immigrated following the war. A federal judge in Cleveland, Ohio cleared the retired auto workerfor deportation several weeks ago.
“This is obviously an important step forward,” commented the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s top Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff, in response to Germany’s submission of formal charges.
“We hope that the trial itself will be expedited so that justice will be achieved and he can be given the appropriate punishment,” Zuroff said. “The effort to bring Demjanjuk to justice sends a very powerful message that the passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrator.”
His attorneys have tried to delay and even altogether avoid having Demjanjuk face a German judge, claiming he was too frail. But doctors earlier this month determined that he was fit to stand trial, provided that the proceedings are limited to two 90-minute sessions per day.
Charges of accessory to murder in Germany carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, and if convicted, Demjanjuk could conceivably receive consecutive sentences that would total thousands of years – well past the length of whatever life the elderly suspected Nazi has left.
It is not yet clear when the trial will begin.
Comment on this story
3. Obama Reaches Out to Jews, Excludes Pro-Yesha Zionists
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama, worried over increasing criticism from Jewish supporters because of soft talk on Iran and a tough stance against Jews in Judea and Samaria, has invited Jewish leaders for a talk Monday. Among those attending is the strongly dovish J Street lobby. The president excluded the strongly nationalist National Council of Young Israel (YI) and Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), sources told Israel National News.
“After his return from Africa this weekend, Obama will be receiving a delegation of American Jewish community leaders Monday afternoon,” Ben Smith of Politco.com reported. “Israel and Iran are likely to be on the agenda,” he added.
Dr. Aaron Lerner, head of Independent Media Review Analysis (IMRA), said that a National Council of Young Israel (YI) official told him that the strongly pro-Israel organization was not among those on the invitation list. Dr. Lerner added. "It follows that Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) isn’t in.”
Both organizations are strong backers of a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria and oppose American attempts to force Israel to expel its 300,000 residents in order to allow the establishment of a Palestinian Authority state in their place.
Monday’s chat between the president and Jewish leaders will include the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations, the umbrella group for 51 Jewish groups. However, President Obama also has invited leaders of several individual groups, such as Hadassah, the American Jewish Committee and American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as well as J Street.
The meeting comes one month after President Obama’s “reaching out to the Muslim world speech” in Cairo, when he called Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria “settlements” that are “illegitimate.”
Coupled with the Obama administration’s continuing attempts to engage Iran in diplomacy and its refusal to encourage demonstrators protesting the alleged rigged elections in the recent president elections in Iran, the administration’s forceful campaign against Judea and Samaria has worried many mainstream American Jews.
American Jewry contributed huge amounts of money to the president’s and local Democratic party campaigns last year, and their influence has been largely felt through the upstart Jerusalem Street lobby, heavily funded by billionaire George Soros, who opposes a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.
Most of President Obama's Jewish advisors, including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, are veterans of the Clinton-Oslo talks era, and have encouraged the president’s unprecedented statements calling for a total surrender of Judea and Samaria to the PA.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama, worried over increasing criticism from Jewish supporters because of soft talk on Iran and a tough stance against Jews in Judea and Samaria, has invited Jewish leaders for a talk Monday. Among those attending is the strongly dovish J Street lobby. The president excluded the strongly nationalist National Council of Young Israel (YI) and Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), sources told Israel National News.
“After his return from Africa this weekend, Obama will be receiving a delegation of American Jewish community leaders Monday afternoon,” Ben Smith of Politco.com reported. “Israel and Iran are likely to be on the agenda,” he added.
Dr. Aaron Lerner, head of Independent Media Review Analysis (IMRA), said that a National Council of Young Israel (YI) official told him that the strongly pro-Israel organization was not among those on the invitation list. Dr. Lerner added. "It follows that Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) isn’t in.”
Both organizations are strong backers of a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria and oppose American attempts to force Israel to expel its 300,000 residents in order to allow the establishment of a Palestinian Authority state in their place.
Monday’s chat between the president and Jewish leaders will include the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations, the umbrella group for 51 Jewish groups. However, President Obama also has invited leaders of several individual groups, such as Hadassah, the American Jewish Committee and American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as well as J Street.
The meeting comes one month after President Obama’s “reaching out to the Muslim world speech” in Cairo, when he called Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria “settlements” that are “illegitimate.”
Coupled with the Obama administration’s continuing attempts to engage Iran in diplomacy and its refusal to encourage demonstrators protesting the alleged rigged elections in the recent president elections in Iran, the administration’s forceful campaign against Judea and Samaria has worried many mainstream American Jews.
American Jewry contributed huge amounts of money to the president’s and local Democratic party campaigns last year, and their influence has been largely felt through the upstart Jerusalem Street lobby, heavily funded by billionaire George Soros, who opposes a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.
Most of President Obama's Jewish advisors, including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, are veterans of the Clinton-Oslo talks era, and have encouraged the president’s unprecedented statements calling for a total surrender of Judea and Samaria to the PA.
Comment on this story
4. Chief Rabbi: Land Reform Violates Jewish Law
by Hillel Fendel
Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has weighed in with a lengthy opinion sharply negating Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s proposed land privatization scheme – but is it too little, too late?
Netanyahu is strongly pushing his land-reform program, a package that enjoys wide support as a means of reducing the seemingly-endless bureaucracy that has overtaken any aspect of life having to do with purchasing, selling, leasing or building on land in Israel.
However, one important aspect is the subject of strong opposition – namely, his intention to privatize land owned by the Jewish nationand make it available for sale to private elements.
At the behest of MK Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), Rabbi Metzger prepared a detailed, 20-page Halakhic [Jewish lega opinion, in which he wrote that Netanyahu’s reforms “violate the Torah’s commandments that ‘the Land must never be sold forever’ and ‘not to allow foreign elements to gain proprietorship over the Land.’”
After going into the precise Halakhic categorizations of resident Muslims, Christians, idol-worshipers and friendly foreigners known as “gerei toshav,” Rabbi Metzger writes, “Our country is still in a state of war, and we must therefore fear that hostile elements might seek to take advantage of the opportunity to buy lands privately, and will offer very high prices – something that will sorely test Jewish land-owners [Jews who currently lease land from the State – ed. Economic elements from enemy countries are likely to help [Ara purchasers… This reform could lead, Heaven forbid, to the sale of parts of our Land to hostile foreigners.”
MK Orlev said in response, “It turns out that selling state-owned lands is not only an abuse of national treasures, as well as Zionist and national wantonness, but is also unacceptable from a Halakhic and Jewish standpoint.”
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, a member of the board of “Hebrew Nature,” an organization that promotes Jewish-environmentalist responsibility in Israel, wrote a recent article entitled, “They’re Selling Us.” Rabbi Cherlow wrote that what he calls the “great robbery of Jewish lands” will “endanger the character of the Jewish State, return us to the days of feudalism, and will subjugate the future of open areas to narrow economic interests.”
The land-reform package is included in the Likud’s coalition agreements with the Shas and Jewish Home parties. However, while Shas is hesitant to break this agreement, the Jewish Home is not, and has been working strongly against it.The United Torah Judaism party tends to favor it in the hope that it will ease the housing crunch for young hareidi-religious couples.
“The only hope, in terms of Shas,” says a leading opponent of the plan, “is to have Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef come out against it. However, he has already said that one of the major objections – that the land may not be sold forever – does not apply when the Jubilee laws are not in effect, such as nowadays. But he has yet to explain his position on the prohibition of lo techanem‘ - Do not allow them proprietorship over the Land.’”
Regarding the six MKs of the UTJ party, the source said, “It is hoped that Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the leading hareidi Torah authority, will somehow be approached on this issue and issue a ruling on the gravity of the Biblical ban lo techanem.”
"Throwing Out National Lands Together with Bureacracy"
Uri Bank, a Knesset candidate in the last elections, represents the National Union party on the board of directors of the Jewish National Fund and is a leading opponent of the land reform. “All agree on the need for a major reform in the Israel Lands Authority (ILA),” Bank told Israel National News. “Unfortunately, Netanyahu feels that this means not only doing away with the ILA, but also privatizing the 80% of the country’s land that is controlled by the ILA.”
Adi Arbel, of The Institute for Zionist Strategies, explained that the immediate effect of such a change would be that “whoever is currently leasing any land from the ILA would become, after paying a certain amount, the immediate owners of the land. This means, first and foremost, churches and the land that they lease in built-up areas such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.”
Strong Left-Wing Opposition
Bank noted that the opposition is across-the-board: “MKs such as Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) of the National Union, Orlev, Danny Danon of the Likud, Shelly Yechimovitch of the left flank of Labor, Chaim Oron of Meretz, and even Arab MKs, are all against the plan.” Asked why the left-wing opposes the plan, Bank explained, “They are against privatization in general, fearing that real estate sharks and foreign or local millionaires will buy up the land, thus hurting the little guy and forcing prices sky-high. If land is privatized, the average young couple in Israel will simply not be able to purchase an apartment.”
Vote is Scheduled for Next Week
The Knesset vote is scheduled for a week from now, after the vote on the national budget this week. “This was our only achievement so far,” Bank said, “having it separated from the budget deliberations. But I don’t know if that will help us so much…”
There is yet a chance that the vote will be further delayed, however. It is connected to the fact that the government is trying to have the Jewish National Fund's city lands included in the deal by “trading” Negev lands for the urban areas.Though the JNF board approved the deal by a 15-6 vote, three court cases are currently pending against this deal. Bank, Arbel and the others hope that the government will not want to pass the law without being sure that the JNF lands are included.
Coins in the Blue and White Boxes
Trying to do his part to ensure that Jewish national lands remain Jewish, Bank is opposing the JNF trade from within – and from without; he has filed one of the suits against it: “We have the historic responsibility of preserving our national lands and keeping them Jewish. These lands were bought by the Jewish people, individually and collectively, by the pennies and dimes that Jews around theworld placed in their little blue-and-white boxes over the past century.” Specifically about the proposed trade, Bank says, “We don’t have the moral right to trade top-quality city land for low-quality Negev land; it might bring cash now, but in the end, we will lose.”
Supreme Court Option
Opponents of the privatization of the Jewish Nation’s holdings in the Land of Israel also say that if they fail and the law is passed, they will file a suit in the Supreme Court to the effect that the law voids a constitutional-type Basic Law regarding nationally-owned lands.
Comment on this story
by Hillel Fendel
Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has weighed in with a lengthy opinion sharply negating Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s proposed land privatization scheme – but is it too little, too late?
Netanyahu is strongly pushing his land-reform program, a package that enjoys wide support as a means of reducing the seemingly-endless bureaucracy that has overtaken any aspect of life having to do with purchasing, selling, leasing or building on land in Israel.
However, one important aspect is the subject of strong opposition – namely, his intention to privatize land owned by the Jewish nationand make it available for sale to private elements.
At the behest of MK Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), Rabbi Metzger prepared a detailed, 20-page Halakhic [Jewish lega opinion, in which he wrote that Netanyahu’s reforms “violate the Torah’s commandments that ‘the Land must never be sold forever’ and ‘not to allow foreign elements to gain proprietorship over the Land.’”
After going into the precise Halakhic categorizations of resident Muslims, Christians, idol-worshipers and friendly foreigners known as “gerei toshav,” Rabbi Metzger writes, “Our country is still in a state of war, and we must therefore fear that hostile elements might seek to take advantage of the opportunity to buy lands privately, and will offer very high prices – something that will sorely test Jewish land-owners [Jews who currently lease land from the State – ed. Economic elements from enemy countries are likely to help [Ara purchasers… This reform could lead, Heaven forbid, to the sale of parts of our Land to hostile foreigners.”
MK Orlev said in response, “It turns out that selling state-owned lands is not only an abuse of national treasures, as well as Zionist and national wantonness, but is also unacceptable from a Halakhic and Jewish standpoint.”
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, a member of the board of “Hebrew Nature,” an organization that promotes Jewish-environmentalist responsibility in Israel, wrote a recent article entitled, “They’re Selling Us.” Rabbi Cherlow wrote that what he calls the “great robbery of Jewish lands” will “endanger the character of the Jewish State, return us to the days of feudalism, and will subjugate the future of open areas to narrow economic interests.”
The land-reform package is included in the Likud’s coalition agreements with the Shas and Jewish Home parties. However, while Shas is hesitant to break this agreement, the Jewish Home is not, and has been working strongly against it.The United Torah Judaism party tends to favor it in the hope that it will ease the housing crunch for young hareidi-religious couples.
“The only hope, in terms of Shas,” says a leading opponent of the plan, “is to have Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef come out against it. However, he has already said that one of the major objections – that the land may not be sold forever – does not apply when the Jubilee laws are not in effect, such as nowadays. But he has yet to explain his position on the prohibition of lo techanem‘ - Do not allow them proprietorship over the Land.’”
Regarding the six MKs of the UTJ party, the source said, “It is hoped that Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the leading hareidi Torah authority, will somehow be approached on this issue and issue a ruling on the gravity of the Biblical ban lo techanem.”
"Throwing Out National Lands Together with Bureacracy"
Uri Bank, a Knesset candidate in the last elections, represents the National Union party on the board of directors of the Jewish National Fund and is a leading opponent of the land reform. “All agree on the need for a major reform in the Israel Lands Authority (ILA),” Bank told Israel National News. “Unfortunately, Netanyahu feels that this means not only doing away with the ILA, but also privatizing the 80% of the country’s land that is controlled by the ILA.”
Adi Arbel, of The Institute for Zionist Strategies, explained that the immediate effect of such a change would be that “whoever is currently leasing any land from the ILA would become, after paying a certain amount, the immediate owners of the land. This means, first and foremost, churches and the land that they lease in built-up areas such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.”
Strong Left-Wing Opposition
Bank noted that the opposition is across-the-board: “MKs such as Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) of the National Union, Orlev, Danny Danon of the Likud, Shelly Yechimovitch of the left flank of Labor, Chaim Oron of Meretz, and even Arab MKs, are all against the plan.” Asked why the left-wing opposes the plan, Bank explained, “They are against privatization in general, fearing that real estate sharks and foreign or local millionaires will buy up the land, thus hurting the little guy and forcing prices sky-high. If land is privatized, the average young couple in Israel will simply not be able to purchase an apartment.”
Vote is Scheduled for Next Week
The Knesset vote is scheduled for a week from now, after the vote on the national budget this week. “This was our only achievement so far,” Bank said, “having it separated from the budget deliberations. But I don’t know if that will help us so much…”
There is yet a chance that the vote will be further delayed, however. It is connected to the fact that the government is trying to have the Jewish National Fund's city lands included in the deal by “trading” Negev lands for the urban areas.Though the JNF board approved the deal by a 15-6 vote, three court cases are currently pending against this deal. Bank, Arbel and the others hope that the government will not want to pass the law without being sure that the JNF lands are included.
Coins in the Blue and White Boxes
Trying to do his part to ensure that Jewish national lands remain Jewish, Bank is opposing the JNF trade from within – and from without; he has filed one of the suits against it: “We have the historic responsibility of preserving our national lands and keeping them Jewish. These lands were bought by the Jewish people, individually and collectively, by the pennies and dimes that Jews around theworld placed in their little blue-and-white boxes over the past century.” Specifically about the proposed trade, Bank says, “We don’t have the moral right to trade top-quality city land for low-quality Negev land; it might bring cash now, but in the end, we will lose.”
Supreme Court Option
Opponents of the privatization of the Jewish Nation’s holdings in the Land of Israel also say that if they fail and the law is passed, they will file a suit in the Supreme Court to the effect that the law voids a constitutional-type Basic Law regarding nationally-owned lands.
Comment on this story
5. PM: ‘Right of Return' Means Letting Arabs Destroy Israel
by Gil Ronen
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Arab countries and the Palestinian Authoritymust renounce their demand for the “right of return,”which heexplained reflects a will to destroy Israel after signing a peace accord with it.
“They must renounce, once and for all, the demand to settle the descendants of the refugees and to take over Israel’s territory piecemeal after obtaining a peace treaty,” Netanyahu warned.
He was speaking at the official state memorial for modern Zionism’s central visionary, Binyamin Zev Herzl, who died 105 years ago.Fifteen members of Herzl’s family attended, as did President Shimon Peres, other dignitaries, soldiers and Jewish and Arab youths.
The Prime Minister added: “I yearn for the day that the Palestinian leaders face their people and say these clear words: ‘We have had enough of this conflict. We, the Palestinians, recognize the right of the Jewish people to a country of its own on this land. We will live beside you in true peace.”
“Once these things are said, a window – even a huge opening – will be opened to peace,” he said.
[weJe
Video: Harvard Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz explains why Israel doesn't need to open its doors to Arabs who fled in 1948 [starts @45 second mar
The "right of return" is a claim made by the Arab nations that Arab residents of Israel who were driven out of their homes in the course of the 1948 Independence War should be allowed to return. But as Michell G. Bard in his work Myths & Facts documents,many Arabsleft by choice prefering to adhere to promises of the invading Arab armies that if they evacuated their homes, they would return after the war to their own homes as well as those of their Jewish neighbors:
The beginning of the Arab exodus [from Israe can be traced to the weeks immediately following the announcement of the UN partition resolution. By the end of January 1948, the exodus was so alarming, the Palestine Arab Higher Committee asked neighboring Arab countries to refuse visas to these [Ara refugees and to seal their borders against them.
Contemporary press reports of major battles in which large numbers of Arabs fled conspicuously fail to mention any forcible expulsion by the Jewish forces. The Arabs are usually described as "fleeing" or "evacuating" their homes.
"The Arab States encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies," according to the Jordanian newspaper Filastin (February 19, 1949). One refugee quoted in the Jordan newspaper, Ad Difaa (September 6, 1954), said: "The Arab government told us: Get out so that we can get in. So we got out, but they did not get in."
Israel consistently sought a solution to the refugee problem, but could not simply agree to allow all Palestinians to return.
No nation, regardless of past rights and wrongs, could contemplate taking in a fifth-column of such a size. And fifth-column it would be — people nurtured for 20 years [in in hatred of and totally dedicated to its destruction.
The readmission of the refugees would be the equivalent to the admission to the U.S. of nearly 70,000,000 sworn enemies of the nation.Matt Zeiderman contributed to this report.
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by Gil Ronen
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Arab countries and the Palestinian Authoritymust renounce their demand for the “right of return,”which heexplained reflects a will to destroy Israel after signing a peace accord with it.
“They must renounce, once and for all, the demand to settle the descendants of the refugees and to take over Israel’s territory piecemeal after obtaining a peace treaty,” Netanyahu warned.
He was speaking at the official state memorial for modern Zionism’s central visionary, Binyamin Zev Herzl, who died 105 years ago.Fifteen members of Herzl’s family attended, as did President Shimon Peres, other dignitaries, soldiers and Jewish and Arab youths.
The Prime Minister added: “I yearn for the day that the Palestinian leaders face their people and say these clear words: ‘We have had enough of this conflict. We, the Palestinians, recognize the right of the Jewish people to a country of its own on this land. We will live beside you in true peace.”
“Once these things are said, a window – even a huge opening – will be opened to peace,” he said.
[weJe
Video: Harvard Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz explains why Israel doesn't need to open its doors to Arabs who fled in 1948 [starts @45 second mar
The "right of return" is a claim made by the Arab nations that Arab residents of Israel who were driven out of their homes in the course of the 1948 Independence War should be allowed to return. But as Michell G. Bard in his work Myths & Facts documents,many Arabsleft by choice prefering to adhere to promises of the invading Arab armies that if they evacuated their homes, they would return after the war to their own homes as well as those of their Jewish neighbors:
The beginning of the Arab exodus [from Israe can be traced to the weeks immediately following the announcement of the UN partition resolution. By the end of January 1948, the exodus was so alarming, the Palestine Arab Higher Committee asked neighboring Arab countries to refuse visas to these [Ara refugees and to seal their borders against them.
Contemporary press reports of major battles in which large numbers of Arabs fled conspicuously fail to mention any forcible expulsion by the Jewish forces. The Arabs are usually described as "fleeing" or "evacuating" their homes.
"The Arab States encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies," according to the Jordanian newspaper Filastin (February 19, 1949). One refugee quoted in the Jordan newspaper, Ad Difaa (September 6, 1954), said: "The Arab government told us: Get out so that we can get in. So we got out, but they did not get in."
Israel consistently sought a solution to the refugee problem, but could not simply agree to allow all Palestinians to return.
No nation, regardless of past rights and wrongs, could contemplate taking in a fifth-column of such a size. And fifth-column it would be — people nurtured for 20 years [in in hatred of and totally dedicated to its destruction.
The readmission of the refugees would be the equivalent to the admission to the U.S. of nearly 70,000,000 sworn enemies of the nation.Matt Zeiderman contributed to this report.
Comment on this story
6. Government Decides Against Internet Filtering Law
by Gil Ronen
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted against a bill proposed by Shas MK Amnon Cohen and supported by the previous Communications Minister, Ariel Atias (also from Shas), which would have made it mandatory for internet service providers (ISPs) to offer filtered internet as a default package to home consumers.
The 17th Knesset passed the bill in its first reading in February 2008, but for the 18th Knesset to vote on it, a decision by the ministerial committee was needed.
The ministerial committee voted 7:1 against the bill. This means that the government will not sponsor the bill and it is unlikely to be approved by the Knesset.
According to the bill, ISPs would have to install site filters against violent and sexually explicit content on their servers and a home user would have to specifically request that the filter be disabled in order to be able to access such content. Another option would involve installation of filtering software on the home user’s computer.
The bill was discussed in the Knesset’s Finance Committee a year ago, and the committee decided to establish a public commission that would determine what content is improper and damaging, in order to instruct the ISPswhat to filter.
Communications Minister Moshe Cachlon opposed the bill. He said that there are several problems with it, including the lack of a technological solution for ISP-level filtering. He also noted that if the law is implemented, the ISPs will have a list of the users who choose not to install the filter – and that this list constitutes an invasion of privacy. Cachlon said that he favors a solution whereby ISPs would offer their clients free filtering software.
'Like Iran and North Korea'
Minister Michael Eitan said that “we have to stand alongside the western countries that deal with the dangers posed by the internet through education and empowerment, and not through heavy-handed means of censorship that are common in countries like Iran, North Korea and China.”
The disappointed MK Cohen explained that “besides the great quantity of important knowledge that is on the Internet, it is also a tool for destruction of souls.”
“Our role is to protect the next generation of the Nation of Israel,” he added. Cohen noted a survey that found that 70 percent of youths visit sites that their parents do not know about, and estimated that many from the remaining 30 percent are ashamed to admit that they do so too.
Cohen rejected the claim that parents should be trusted to protect their children. “It’s like the seat belt law,” he said. “In that case, no one says ‘trust the parents.’ Parents know that they need to educate but the lawmaker mandates protection of children nonetheless.”
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by Gil Ronen
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted against a bill proposed by Shas MK Amnon Cohen and supported by the previous Communications Minister, Ariel Atias (also from Shas), which would have made it mandatory for internet service providers (ISPs) to offer filtered internet as a default package to home consumers.
The 17th Knesset passed the bill in its first reading in February 2008, but for the 18th Knesset to vote on it, a decision by the ministerial committee was needed.
The ministerial committee voted 7:1 against the bill. This means that the government will not sponsor the bill and it is unlikely to be approved by the Knesset.
According to the bill, ISPs would have to install site filters against violent and sexually explicit content on their servers and a home user would have to specifically request that the filter be disabled in order to be able to access such content. Another option would involve installation of filtering software on the home user’s computer.
The bill was discussed in the Knesset’s Finance Committee a year ago, and the committee decided to establish a public commission that would determine what content is improper and damaging, in order to instruct the ISPswhat to filter.
Communications Minister Moshe Cachlon opposed the bill. He said that there are several problems with it, including the lack of a technological solution for ISP-level filtering. He also noted that if the law is implemented, the ISPs will have a list of the users who choose not to install the filter – and that this list constitutes an invasion of privacy. Cachlon said that he favors a solution whereby ISPs would offer their clients free filtering software.
'Like Iran and North Korea'
Minister Michael Eitan said that “we have to stand alongside the western countries that deal with the dangers posed by the internet through education and empowerment, and not through heavy-handed means of censorship that are common in countries like Iran, North Korea and China.”
The disappointed MK Cohen explained that “besides the great quantity of important knowledge that is on the Internet, it is also a tool for destruction of souls.”
“Our role is to protect the next generation of the Nation of Israel,” he added. Cohen noted a survey that found that 70 percent of youths visit sites that their parents do not know about, and estimated that many from the remaining 30 percent are ashamed to admit that they do so too.
Cohen rejected the claim that parents should be trusted to protect their children. “It’s like the seat belt law,” he said. “In that case, no one says ‘trust the parents.’ Parents know that they need to educate but the lawmaker mandates protection of children nonetheless.”
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7. Britain Punishes Israel for Anti-Hamas Offensive
by Hillel Fendel
Prodded by Parliament Members and Amnesty International, Britain will “punish” Israel for its anti-Hamas offensive of earlier this year by withholding spare gunship parts.
At the end of a three-month government review of all defense exports to Israel – 182 in number – the British government has decided to cancel five of the licenses. All the canceled contracts involve spare parts for guns on Sa'ar 4.5 warships.
The review followed the publication by Amnesty International in February detailing the use of drones supplied by Britain to Israel in Israeli targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders in Gaza. The ultimate decision to embargo arms, however, did not include the drones.
An official explanatory announcement by the British Embassy in Tel Aviv stated that the embargo was related to Israel’s counter-terrorism offensive in Gaza of this past January, known as Operation Cast Lead.. “U.K. equipment was not exported for specific use in Operation Cast Lead,” the embassy stated. “We do not grant export licenses where there is a clear risk that arms will be used for external aggression or internal repression.”
The embassy both defended and criticized Israel, concluding, “Israel has the right to defend itself and faces real security threats. This said, we consistently urge Israel to act with restraint, and supported the EU Presidency statement that called the Israeli actions during operation Cast Lead 'disproportionate.'"
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Voice of Israel Radio that he was not concerned by the decision: "We've had many embargoes in the past... We can manage.” Foreign Ministry officials said that only a small percentage of Israel's defense-related imports come from Britain.
Just two years ago, in August 2007, Britain announced it was placing stricter limits on arms sales to Israel, citing fears that the exports would upset regional stability or would be used in violation of human rights.
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7-12
1. PA: No Peace Without Yesha Construction Freeze
by Yehudah Lev Kay
Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that no discussions between the PA and Israel couldbegin without a complete construction freeze in Judea and Samaria. Erekat was responding to a call earlier in the morning by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to start peace talks.
“There can be no compromises on construction,” Erekat said. “If Israel is allowed to build 1,000 or 2,000 housing units it will lead the PA and the Arab nations to believe the U.S. government cannot convince the Israeli government to stop building.”
Netanyahu offered during the weekly cabinet meetingto meet with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. “There is no reason why I should not meet with the chairman of the Palestinian Authority anywhere in Israel in order to get the diplomatic process going,” he said. Netanyahu suggested that the next meeting be held in Be'er Sheva, known as the "capital of the south," since the Cabinet met there this week to show solidarity with the region.
Abbas told an Egyptian newspaper Saturday that peace would only be possible if the PA would receive 100 percent of the territory over the Green Line, the right of Arab refugees to return to Israel, and territorial contiguity between Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
The PA chairman added that he sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama detailing his demands. He asked the American administration to pressure Israel to cease construction in Judea and Samaria and base future negotiations between Israel and the PA on the Saudi Arabia peace initiative, which Israel has repeatedly refused to accept.
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2. Netanyahu to Abbas: Meet Anywhere You Want
by Hillel Fendel
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, holding his weekly Cabinet meeting in the Negev, has invited PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to meet with him “anywhere - even right here in Be'er Sheva."
“There is no reason why I should not meet with the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority anywhere in Israel in order to get the diplomatic process going, and it could even be right here in Be’er Sheva,” Netanyahu said. This is the first time that he has made a public invitation of this nature.
Netanyahu noted that almost exactly 30 years ago, in late 1979, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat held their historic first meeting in Be’er Sheva – a meeting that led to the signing of a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.
“I call upon the leaders of the Palestinians and the Arab nations: Let’s meet, let’s cooperate,” he said.
The Cabinet meeting is being held in the municipal offices of the city known as the “capital of the Negev” in order to emphasize the government’s commitment to developing the region. Silvan Shalom, the Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee, said at the start of the meeting, “Our goal is to bring 300,000 new residents to the Negev in the coming decade, and to this end we are working on infrastructures and more."
Minister Shalom, of the Likud, said he is working with settlement groups for the purpose of starting new towns in the arid region. “The question is how determined we are on this matter,” he qualified.
One project underway is a plan for a new stadium in Be’er Sheva.
Minister of Industry and Trade Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor), said, “The high unemployment rate in Be’er Sheva – 11%, as opposed to the national average of 7.2%, requires us as a government and me as Minister of Industry, to place a special emphasis on the Negev and specifically on Be’er Sheva.”
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by Hillel Fendel
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, holding his weekly Cabinet meeting in the Negev, has invited PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to meet with him “anywhere - even right here in Be'er Sheva."
“There is no reason why I should not meet with the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority anywhere in Israel in order to get the diplomatic process going, and it could even be right here in Be’er Sheva,” Netanyahu said. This is the first time that he has made a public invitation of this nature.
Netanyahu noted that almost exactly 30 years ago, in late 1979, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat held their historic first meeting in Be’er Sheva – a meeting that led to the signing of a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.
“I call upon the leaders of the Palestinians and the Arab nations: Let’s meet, let’s cooperate,” he said.
The Cabinet meeting is being held in the municipal offices of the city known as the “capital of the Negev” in order to emphasize the government’s commitment to developing the region. Silvan Shalom, the Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee, said at the start of the meeting, “Our goal is to bring 300,000 new residents to the Negev in the coming decade, and to this end we are working on infrastructures and more."
Minister Shalom, of the Likud, said he is working with settlement groups for the purpose of starting new towns in the arid region. “The question is how determined we are on this matter,” he qualified.
One project underway is a plan for a new stadium in Be’er Sheva.
Minister of Industry and Trade Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor), said, “The high unemployment rate in Be’er Sheva – 11%, as opposed to the national average of 7.2%, requires us as a government and me as Minister of Industry, to place a special emphasis on the Negev and specifically on Be’er Sheva.”
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3. Police: More Yesha Expulsions On the Way
by Yehudah Lev Kay
On Sunday morning, the police said they have plans to take down 11 buildings in Judea and Samaria. The announcement came less than a week after Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned he would take down 23 outposts.
“Israel is demonstrating a will to meet the U.S. demands [to freeze construction in Judea and Sama,” Barak said last week after meeting with U.S. envoy George Mitchell in London. The only concrete step the Defense Minister mentioned was “evacuating 23 outposts over the next few weeks and months.”
The police did not take long to implement Barak’s policy in the field, and sent a letter to Samaria Council head Gershon Mesika warning him to take down 11 unauthorized buildings in several communities by Sunday, after which the police would do so themselves.
The 11 buildings are structures built in existing communities and outpostsincludingYitzhar, Havat Gilad, Har Bracha, Havot Yair, Itamar, and Mevo Dotan. In some cases, the buildings are nothing more than a ritual bath or a man-made pool, but in others they are residences.
“Ever since this government was established, the situation on the ground in Judea and Samaria has only gotten worse,” said Yossi Dagan, spokesman for the Samaria Council. “The Defense Ministry led by Ehud Barak is acting like an extension of the U.S. State Department and has not ceased to chase after the communities in Judea and Samaria and their residents.”
Activists on the ground report that the police have formed a new unit to deal exclusively with evacuations in Judea and Samaria. The force, which is composed of Border Guard police officers, regular police officers, elite police forces, and mounted units, recently trained for evacuation scenarios in the IDF Adam facility near Modi’in.
“The police are planning on starting with these 11 small sites in existing communities and then moving on to bigger evacuations,” said Akiva HaCohen, a Samaria activist. “This new unit has nothing to do with defense and nothing to do with terror. It was created exclusively to destroy Jewish sites in Judea and Samaria.”
MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) condemned the police’s decision to destroy structures in Judea and Samaria. “The police should focus first on the thousands of illegal Arab structures in the Negev and the Galilee,” he said on Army Radio. “I call on every family in Judea and Samaria to have another child this year,” he said, “and in 50 years there will be 1,000,000 people in Yesha.”
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by Yehudah Lev Kay
On Sunday morning, the police said they have plans to take down 11 buildings in Judea and Samaria. The announcement came less than a week after Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned he would take down 23 outposts.
“Israel is demonstrating a will to meet the U.S. demands [to freeze construction in Judea and Sama,” Barak said last week after meeting with U.S. envoy George Mitchell in London. The only concrete step the Defense Minister mentioned was “evacuating 23 outposts over the next few weeks and months.”
The police did not take long to implement Barak’s policy in the field, and sent a letter to Samaria Council head Gershon Mesika warning him to take down 11 unauthorized buildings in several communities by Sunday, after which the police would do so themselves.
The 11 buildings are structures built in existing communities and outpostsincludingYitzhar, Havat Gilad, Har Bracha, Havot Yair, Itamar, and Mevo Dotan. In some cases, the buildings are nothing more than a ritual bath or a man-made pool, but in others they are residences.
“Ever since this government was established, the situation on the ground in Judea and Samaria has only gotten worse,” said Yossi Dagan, spokesman for the Samaria Council. “The Defense Ministry led by Ehud Barak is acting like an extension of the U.S. State Department and has not ceased to chase after the communities in Judea and Samaria and their residents.”
Activists on the ground report that the police have formed a new unit to deal exclusively with evacuations in Judea and Samaria. The force, which is composed of Border Guard police officers, regular police officers, elite police forces, and mounted units, recently trained for evacuation scenarios in the IDF Adam facility near Modi’in.
“The police are planning on starting with these 11 small sites in existing communities and then moving on to bigger evacuations,” said Akiva HaCohen, a Samaria activist. “This new unit has nothing to do with defense and nothing to do with terror. It was created exclusively to destroy Jewish sites in Judea and Samaria.”
MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) condemned the police’s decision to destroy structures in Judea and Samaria. “The police should focus first on the thousands of illegal Arab structures in the Negev and the Galilee,” he said on Army Radio. “I call on every family in Judea and Samaria to have another child this year,” he said, “and in 50 years there will be 1,000,000 people in Yesha.”
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4. Illegal Arab Building in Israel's South
by IsraelNN Staff
[weJe
While many in Israel are happy to call for the destruction of Jewish towns, both legaland unauthorized, few are willing to address the massive illegal Arab construction. But the National Union party went on a tour of Israel's south in an attempt to reverse this situation.
Email readers: click here to view the video report.
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by IsraelNN Staff
[weJe
While many in Israel are happy to call for the destruction of Jewish towns, both legaland unauthorized, few are willing to address the massive illegal Arab construction. But the National Union party went on a tour of Israel's south in an attempt to reverse this situation.
Email readers: click here to view the video report.
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5. Will Obama Accept Syria’s Invitation?
by Avraham Zuroff
U.S. President Barack Obama stated that the United States and Syria began diplomatic contacts between them. However, he emphasized that he expects a long way ahead for the two countries. In an interview on the British Sky News TV channel to be broadcast Sunday, Obama didn’t explicitly state whether he would accept an invitation from Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.
When asked whether he would accept Assad’s invitation for face-to-face negotiations, Obama said, “Well, you know I think that we've started to see some diplomatic contacts between the United States and Syria. There are aspects of Syrian behavior that trouble us and, you know, we think that there is a way that Syria can be much more constructive on a whole host of these issues.” The U.S. President continued, “But, as you know, I'm a believer in engagement and my hope is that we can continue to see progress on that front.”
The Syrian leader stated earlier this month that he would welcome Obama in Syria to discuss Middle East issues. “We would like to welcome him in Syria, definitely. I am very clear about this,” Assad told Sky News.
The change in Washington’s tone towards Syria occurred last month when the United States said that they would send an ambassador to Damascus. The move was an about-face from former President George W. Bush’s cancellation of diplomatic relations after they alleged that Syria was involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
A year ago Sunday, Assad said he would not meet with then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, even though both of them attended a French-supported Mediterranean Union summit. At the time, Turkey was brokering talks between Israel and Syria. Assad said that direct talks between Syria and Israel would not be possible during the Bush administration since Bush “was not interested” in seeing Israel and Syria make a deal.
Comment on this story
by Avraham Zuroff
U.S. President Barack Obama stated that the United States and Syria began diplomatic contacts between them. However, he emphasized that he expects a long way ahead for the two countries. In an interview on the British Sky News TV channel to be broadcast Sunday, Obama didn’t explicitly state whether he would accept an invitation from Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.
When asked whether he would accept Assad’s invitation for face-to-face negotiations, Obama said, “Well, you know I think that we've started to see some diplomatic contacts between the United States and Syria. There are aspects of Syrian behavior that trouble us and, you know, we think that there is a way that Syria can be much more constructive on a whole host of these issues.” The U.S. President continued, “But, as you know, I'm a believer in engagement and my hope is that we can continue to see progress on that front.”
The Syrian leader stated earlier this month that he would welcome Obama in Syria to discuss Middle East issues. “We would like to welcome him in Syria, definitely. I am very clear about this,” Assad told Sky News.
The change in Washington’s tone towards Syria occurred last month when the United States said that they would send an ambassador to Damascus. The move was an about-face from former President George W. Bush’s cancellation of diplomatic relations after they alleged that Syria was involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
A year ago Sunday, Assad said he would not meet with then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, even though both of them attended a French-supported Mediterranean Union summit. At the time, Turkey was brokering talks between Israel and Syria. Assad said that direct talks between Syria and Israel would not be possible during the Bush administration since Bush “was not interested” in seeing Israel and Syria make a deal.
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6. Hamas: Shalit's Fate Unknown
by Maayana Miskin
Most Hamas leaders, in what may a continuation of psychological warfare, claim that they have no idea where kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is or what his condition is, senior Hamas terrorist Osama al-Muzeinideclared Friday. “We don't know if he is wounded, alive or dead,” he said.
Muzeini told the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Aharonot that only a select few members of the Hamas military leadership have information regarding Shalit. Other senior members of the group are not allowed contact with the kidnapped soldier for security reasons, he explained.
Muzeini is the group's official head of the “Shalit portfolio.”
His statements were made in part as a response to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who recently told President Shimon Peres that Shalit is in good condition. Mubarak's assurance “was public relations more than a statement based on true information,” Muzeini said.
Shalit's fate will be revealed only if and when Israel agrees to meet Hamas' conditions and carry out a prisoner swap, he continued. Hamas has demanded that Israel release all female terrorists in Israeli prisons and more than 1,000 male terrorists, many of them senior Hamas members guilty of multiple counts of murder.
Muzeini denied reports that Shalit's release is near. Such reports are “Zionist psychological warfare,” he charged.
Hamas has refused to alter its demands in any way. In the meantime, it has held Shalit incommunicado, and has not provided visits with the Red Cross or other such groups as required by international law. It frequently has used Shalit's captivity as a tool to stir up emotions among the soldier's family, which along with media have conducted several campaigns to try to free hundreds of terrorists in exchange for him.
Talks to Resume?
While Hamas insisted that it would not negotiate its terms, Egyptian officials announced that negotiations would resume in the near future. Egyptian-mediated talks for Shalit's release took place, unsuccessfully, under former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government.
Officials told the pan-Arab daily Al Hayyat that talks for Shalit's release would restart soon. Senior Israeli defense official Amos Gilad discussed the matter in a recent meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, they said.
Comment on this story
by Maayana Miskin
Most Hamas leaders, in what may a continuation of psychological warfare, claim that they have no idea where kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is or what his condition is, senior Hamas terrorist Osama al-Muzeinideclared Friday. “We don't know if he is wounded, alive or dead,” he said.
Muzeini told the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Aharonot that only a select few members of the Hamas military leadership have information regarding Shalit. Other senior members of the group are not allowed contact with the kidnapped soldier for security reasons, he explained.
Muzeini is the group's official head of the “Shalit portfolio.”
His statements were made in part as a response to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who recently told President Shimon Peres that Shalit is in good condition. Mubarak's assurance “was public relations more than a statement based on true information,” Muzeini said.
Shalit's fate will be revealed only if and when Israel agrees to meet Hamas' conditions and carry out a prisoner swap, he continued. Hamas has demanded that Israel release all female terrorists in Israeli prisons and more than 1,000 male terrorists, many of them senior Hamas members guilty of multiple counts of murder.
Muzeini denied reports that Shalit's release is near. Such reports are “Zionist psychological warfare,” he charged.
Hamas has refused to alter its demands in any way. In the meantime, it has held Shalit incommunicado, and has not provided visits with the Red Cross or other such groups as required by international law. It frequently has used Shalit's captivity as a tool to stir up emotions among the soldier's family, which along with media have conducted several campaigns to try to free hundreds of terrorists in exchange for him.
Talks to Resume?
While Hamas insisted that it would not negotiate its terms, Egyptian officials announced that negotiations would resume in the near future. Egyptian-mediated talks for Shalit's release took place, unsuccessfully, under former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government.
Officials told the pan-Arab daily Al Hayyat that talks for Shalit's release would restart soon. Senior Israeli defense official Amos Gilad discussed the matter in a recent meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, they said.
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7. Combat Kashrut Supervisors Board Navy Boats
by Gil Ronen
They are ready to fight the enemy at sea but usually content themselves with waging war on ‘treif’ foodstuffs and unclean kitchens. They are the Navy’s new combat kashrut supervisors, and they can now be found on the decks of the IDF’s missile boats.
IDF magazine BaMachaneh reported that the Navy has begin the process of stationing kashrut supervisors on its missile boats, and that all of them are required to have a combat-grade physical profile. They will be treated as combat soldiers and will receive combat certificates in the course of their service.
“Until now, the supervisors mostly did their work when the ships were at the port,” explained Navy Rabbi Benayahu Jamus. “But there is a need for constant supervision, and the move is a great advantage.”
Oven-refrigerators
The Navy is also looking into the possibility of installing combined oven-refrigerators in the vessels that carry out routine security patrols. The device is a refrigerator that can turn into an oven at a pre-set hour. It is currently primarily in use in hotels, and if it is modified and installed in ships, it will make it possible for religious sailors to eat warm food on the Sabbath.
Until now, religious sailors solved the problem of warming food on Sabbath by leaving an oven turned on at a low setting throughout the Sabbath.
“For years it has been known that mitzvah-keeping soldiers cannot eat warm food on Sabbath during a voyage,” a Rabbinate official said. “If the oven-fridge is approved for use, it will be turned on and programmed before the Sabbath and thus the soldiers will have no reason to carry out any cooking over the weekend.”
In recent weeks, the Navy has begun handing out coupons for 100 shekels ($25 dollars) to sailors who serve aboard the security patrol boats on Sabbaths, to use for purchasing salads and processed meat products at food chains. Sailors on “vessels that go out to sea on Sabbath can use the coupon to diversify the foodstuffs at their disposal over the weekend,” Rabbi Jamus explained. “That way the soldiers will not have to spend their own money for this purpose.”
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7-10-09
Today in Jewish History
Golden Calf Destroyed (Tammuz 18, 1313 BCE)
Moses destroyed the Golden Calf, and re-ascended Mount Sinai to plead G-d's forgiveness for the Jewish people. (Exodus 32:20)
7-9
1. US Denies Report of Compromise on Homes for Jews in Yesha
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The U.S. State Department Wednesday denied a report in the Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper that U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell agreed to Israel’s building 2,500 new homes for Jews living in Judea and Samaria in return for a subsequent temporary freeze on further construction.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters at the daily press briefing in Washington that the report in Maariv of a compromise “is inaccurate.” Maariv did not cite sources for its report.
“What I can say is that Senator Mitchell and Defense Minister Barak did have good, productive discussions, but our position has not changed,” Kelly stated. “Our bottom line is the same; it has not changed, and that’s that all parties in the region have to honor their obligations. And you know what our position is regarding settlements. This activity has to stop. This is laid out in the Roadmap. So the reports aren’t accurate."
Kelly also said that no date set has been set for discussions between U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who called off a planned meeting last month because of the gap in positionsbetween the U.S. and Israel. The Netanyahu administrationrejects clamping a total freeze on building for Jews in Judea and Samaria.
Several days after the meeting was called off, Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke with Mitchell during a trip to Washington and both men met again this past Monday in London. Israel’s Hebrew-language newspapers and political leaders have reported contradictory results of the meeting. Mitchell is expected to return to Israel in the next two weeks, but Kelly said he did not know if he would meet with the Prime Minister.
If the Maariv report is true, and Israel will agree to a temporary building freeze in return for the immediate construction of 2,500 housing units, it is questionable whether the Palestinian Authority would accept it. The PA and the Arab world have made it clear that there will be no return to negotiations with Israel without total acceptance of their demands for an Israeli commitment to end a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.
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2. G-8 Leaders Give Iran a September Deadline
by Avraham Zuroff
If there is no progress by then we will have to take decisions.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking on behalf of leaders at the G-8 conference in Italy,gave Iran a September deadline to begin negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program. However, he did not specify what measures would be taken to halt Iran's unsupervised nuclear development.
Sarkozy said that the world leaders will re-evaluate their relationship with Iran at their next meeting in the United States on September 24. “If there is no progress by then we will have to take decisions,” Sarkozy said.
Iran has refused todiscussits nuclear program, whichit claims is only for peaceful purposes.
The G-8 said in a separate statement that they are obligated to find a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “We hope that Iran will take advantage of this opportunity to give diplomacy a chance to solve the debate regarding the nuclear issue,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, we are still concerned about the dangers regarding the proliferation of nuclear weaponry that comes after Iran’s nuclear program.”
The English-language Arab newspaper, Al Jazeera made no mention of the deadline to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions. It instead focused on the leaders’ discussion of the global economic crisis.
The G-8 leaders also expressed their sorrow over the violence that the Iranian regime has taken in suppressing demonstrators after the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who remains committed to developing Iran’s nuclear program. The leaders also condemned Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial.
US Sending Mixed Messages
Zigzag messages from U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden about a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities are meant to “distinguish” the two countries, national security adviser Uzi Arad said Wednesday. "My understanding of what Biden said is that the second part is the interesting part - not that Israel is sovereign to act, but that he said the United States acts differently. Essentially, he distinguished himself" from Israel, Arad said.
"What was important for him was to transmit to the Iranians that we, the United States, are different." Obama's quick response, said Arad, was an attempt to clarify that the U.S. was still interested in dialogue despite Iran's protester crackdown following the disputed presidential election. According to Arad, there was no attempt by the U.S. to suggest it would give a green light to an Israeli offensive. Israel's right to make its own defense decisions is a right that "the United States cannot take away from Israel, and doesn't try to," stated Arad.
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by Avraham Zuroff
If there is no progress by then we will have to take decisions.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking on behalf of leaders at the G-8 conference in Italy,gave Iran a September deadline to begin negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program. However, he did not specify what measures would be taken to halt Iran's unsupervised nuclear development.Sarkozy said that the world leaders will re-evaluate their relationship with Iran at their next meeting in the United States on September 24. “If there is no progress by then we will have to take decisions,” Sarkozy said.
Iran has refused todiscussits nuclear program, whichit claims is only for peaceful purposes.
The G-8 said in a separate statement that they are obligated to find a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “We hope that Iran will take advantage of this opportunity to give diplomacy a chance to solve the debate regarding the nuclear issue,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, we are still concerned about the dangers regarding the proliferation of nuclear weaponry that comes after Iran’s nuclear program.”
The English-language Arab newspaper, Al Jazeera made no mention of the deadline to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions. It instead focused on the leaders’ discussion of the global economic crisis.
The G-8 leaders also expressed their sorrow over the violence that the Iranian regime has taken in suppressing demonstrators after the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who remains committed to developing Iran’s nuclear program. The leaders also condemned Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial.
US Sending Mixed Messages
Zigzag messages from U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden about a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities are meant to “distinguish” the two countries, national security adviser Uzi Arad said Wednesday. "My understanding of what Biden said is that the second part is the interesting part - not that Israel is sovereign to act, but that he said the United States acts differently. Essentially, he distinguished himself" from Israel, Arad said.
"What was important for him was to transmit to the Iranians that we, the United States, are different." Obama's quick response, said Arad, was an attempt to clarify that the U.S. was still interested in dialogue despite Iran's protester crackdown following the disputed presidential election. According to Arad, there was no attempt by the U.S. to suggest it would give a green light to an Israeli offensive. Israel's right to make its own defense decisions is a right that "the United States cannot take away from Israel, and doesn't try to," stated Arad.
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3. EU Apologizes for Anti-Yesha Remarks
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The European Union has apologized to Israel for accusing the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria of causing economic strangulation for Arabs. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has accepted the apology.
"This press release that was issued by the technical office of the commission does not use wording that reflects the views of the European Commission or Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner," her spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman added that the EU is “concerned about the negative effect that settlement policy has on the economic life of Palestinians” but admitted, “the wording chosen in that statement does take it out of context. In our view the reality is much more complex.”
The statement earlier this weekblamed the existence of Jewish communities for being the root cause of economic problems for Arabs and for the Palestinian Authority to be virtually totally dependent on EU handouts. The accusations made no mention of the state of the thriving Arab economy before the first and second Intifadas, when Israelis freely shopped in Arab villages and thousands of Arabs worked for Jewish contractors.
The accusations by the EU commission set off a storm of protests by nationalists in Israel and prompted the Foreign Ministry to recall Ramiro Cibrian Uzal, the head of Israel’s EU delegation.
The Foreign Ministry pointed out that the EU report “ignores the fact that the issue of settlements has been agreed by the parties to be addressed in parallel with the fulfillment of other obligations -- including Palestinian security obligations” and implied that security precautions in Judea and Samaria are “unnecessary and even illegal, alongside a total failure to recognize that it is the continued activity of Palestinian terrorist groups which makes such measures an unfortunate necessity.”
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The European Union has apologized to Israel for accusing the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria of causing economic strangulation for Arabs. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has accepted the apology.
"This press release that was issued by the technical office of the commission does not use wording that reflects the views of the European Commission or Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner," her spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman added that the EU is “concerned about the negative effect that settlement policy has on the economic life of Palestinians” but admitted, “the wording chosen in that statement does take it out of context. In our view the reality is much more complex.”
The statement earlier this weekblamed the existence of Jewish communities for being the root cause of economic problems for Arabs and for the Palestinian Authority to be virtually totally dependent on EU handouts. The accusations made no mention of the state of the thriving Arab economy before the first and second Intifadas, when Israelis freely shopped in Arab villages and thousands of Arabs worked for Jewish contractors.
The accusations by the EU commission set off a storm of protests by nationalists in Israel and prompted the Foreign Ministry to recall Ramiro Cibrian Uzal, the head of Israel’s EU delegation.
The Foreign Ministry pointed out that the EU report “ignores the fact that the issue of settlements has been agreed by the parties to be addressed in parallel with the fulfillment of other obligations -- including Palestinian security obligations” and implied that security precautions in Judea and Samaria are “unnecessary and even illegal, alongside a total failure to recognize that it is the continued activity of Palestinian terrorist groups which makes such measures an unfortunate necessity.”
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4. Taxi Driver Death Was a Terrorist Murder
by Hillel Fendel
Just a day after it was announced that terrorism had dropped considerably and that not one Jew had been killed or wounded in the entire month of June, the Shabak (General Security Service) announced that the murder of a taxi driver two months ago in central Israel was a terrorist crime.
Shortly after the victim’s body was found in an orchard near Gan Yavneh, just outside Ashdod, on May 11, an IDF force arrested his murderers: two 22-year-old Arabs from the north Samaria-area village of Arana. A third accomplice has not yet been caught.
The two confessed that they crossed illegally into pre-1967 Israel for the purpose of a robbery, but that in the course of robbing the driver, they decided to murder him as well. One of the terrorists explained that this was in revenge for the killing of his cousin – an Islamic Jihad terrorist who had been involved in arranging suicide attacks and was killed when the IDF tried to arrest him.
One of the arrested murderers was also found to have been involved in several terrorist shootings at Israeli targets in the past.He further confessed that he and his fellow terrorists planned to kidnap a Jew to use as a hostage in the event that one of them would be arrested. In addition, he said he planned other attacks, including the murder or abduction of a soldier, placing bombs along IDF routes, manufacturing bombs, and more.
The victim, Gregory Rabinovitch, 56, was survived by his wife, daughter, and son-in-law Hanokh Pe’er.“Gregory never fought with anyone,” Pe’er said at the time, “and never insulted anyone... He refused to take Arabs, even if they offered to pay him three times the price.” The exception that he made to this apparent rule cost him his life.
Fifteen Israelis have been killed in terrorist attacks or in battle with terrorists since the beginning of 2009. These include two civilians, including a 16-year-old murdered by an axe-wielding Arab, two policemen murdered in a Jordan Valley roadside attack, and 11 soldiers, nine of whom were killed during the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza at the beginning of the year.
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by Hillel Fendel
Just a day after it was announced that terrorism had dropped considerably and that not one Jew had been killed or wounded in the entire month of June, the Shabak (General Security Service) announced that the murder of a taxi driver two months ago in central Israel was a terrorist crime.
Shortly after the victim’s body was found in an orchard near Gan Yavneh, just outside Ashdod, on May 11, an IDF force arrested his murderers: two 22-year-old Arabs from the north Samaria-area village of Arana. A third accomplice has not yet been caught.
The two confessed that they crossed illegally into pre-1967 Israel for the purpose of a robbery, but that in the course of robbing the driver, they decided to murder him as well. One of the terrorists explained that this was in revenge for the killing of his cousin – an Islamic Jihad terrorist who had been involved in arranging suicide attacks and was killed when the IDF tried to arrest him.
One of the arrested murderers was also found to have been involved in several terrorist shootings at Israeli targets in the past.He further confessed that he and his fellow terrorists planned to kidnap a Jew to use as a hostage in the event that one of them would be arrested. In addition, he said he planned other attacks, including the murder or abduction of a soldier, placing bombs along IDF routes, manufacturing bombs, and more.
The victim, Gregory Rabinovitch, 56, was survived by his wife, daughter, and son-in-law Hanokh Pe’er.“Gregory never fought with anyone,” Pe’er said at the time, “and never insulted anyone... He refused to take Arabs, even if they offered to pay him three times the price.” The exception that he made to this apparent rule cost him his life.
Fifteen Israelis have been killed in terrorist attacks or in battle with terrorists since the beginning of 2009. These include two civilians, including a 16-year-old murdered by an axe-wielding Arab, two policemen murdered in a Jordan Valley roadside attack, and 11 soldiers, nine of whom were killed during the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza at the beginning of the year.
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5. Feeling the Aliyah
by Rachel Abrams
This past Monday, July 6th, Nefesh B'Nefesh welcomed the first Aliyah flight of 2009 at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. Some 232 Jews, including families and singles, were greeted by flags, families and inspirational speakers, including Natan Sharansky, newly-appointed chairman of the Jewish Agency. Israel National Radio's Yishai Fleisher caught up with a few families and individuals who wanted to share their stories.
Can't see video? Click here.
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Sharansky and Rabbi Joshua Fass
Natan Sharansky, who sat in Soviet prison for nine years because of his desire to live in Israel,welcomed those making Aliyah as the chairman of the Jewish Agency for the first time on Monday.In his poignant speech, Sharansky explained why each greeting at Ben Gurion airport is emotional:
"I am coming because I want again and again [ enjoy that moment that I once enjoyed when I made my Aliyah. And I felt that all the people of Israel, all of you were with me at that moment. I want to feel it again… All of us are so excited and so happy you came. Each of you is finishing this 2,000-year-old journey and is now coming home." Sharansky is originally from the Ukraine, and his appreciation for the choice of each Jew to make the journey to Israel is apparent.
by Rachel Abrams
This past Monday, July 6th, Nefesh B'Nefesh welcomed the first Aliyah flight of 2009 at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. Some 232 Jews, including families and singles, were greeted by flags, families and inspirational speakers, including Natan Sharansky, newly-appointed chairman of the Jewish Agency. Israel National Radio's Yishai Fleisher caught up with a few families and individuals who wanted to share their stories.
Can't see video? Click here.
Sharansky and Rabbi Joshua Fass
Natan Sharansky, who sat in Soviet prison for nine years because of his desire to live in Israel,welcomed those making Aliyah as the chairman of the Jewish Agency for the first time on Monday.In his poignant speech, Sharansky explained why each greeting at Ben Gurion airport is emotional:
"I am coming because I want again and again [ enjoy that moment that I once enjoyed when I made my Aliyah. And I felt that all the people of Israel, all of you were with me at that moment. I want to feel it again… All of us are so excited and so happy you came. Each of you is finishing this 2,000-year-old journey and is now coming home." Sharansky is originally from the Ukraine, and his appreciation for the choice of each Jew to make the journey to Israel is apparent.
6. Hebrew U Admits Female Students Harassed by Local Arabs
by Gil Ronen
Female students at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University have complained of repeated sexual harassment by Arabs from nearby Isawiya.
Talia Dekel, a student of political science and Middle Eastern studies and an activistin neo-Zionist student movement Im Tirtzu,told Israel National News, “We’ve specifically heard of female students who are being harassed both verbally and sometimes physically on their way to and from the dorms, and in the daytime on Shabbat when there are less people around,” she said. “Usually there is no one there to stop them. It’s just out of luck that nothing serious has happened. I heard of two cases in the last two or three months, of young boys aged 15 or 16 from the nearby village of Isawiya coming up behind girls who went jogging and grabbing them from behind.”
The university acknowledges that a “serious problem” exists and initial steps have been taken by Hebrew U. and the Jerusalem municipality to increase security, including beefed up patrols and the installation of security lighting last week. The Community Administration of French Hill also confirmed the pattern of Arab harassment, both sexual
The university acknowledges that a “serious problem” exists.
and non-sexual.
The only official body that does not seem to believe that a real problem exists is the police – who say that only three such complaints were filed in the course of the past year.
The Maariv-NRG website reported about the harassment phenomenon Wednesday – a fact that is news in itself, according to Erez Tadmor, Directorof Im Tirtzu, which has been gaining strength on Israeli campuses. “Reports about Arab sexual harassment are not considered ‘politically correct’ and are thus not reported until something very serious happens,” Tadmor explained.
A repeated pattern
Shlomo Levi, who headed the Hebrew University’s Student Union until recently, said that the phenomenon is “not marginal or transitory,” but rather “a repeated pattern of harassment and of disruption of the daily routines of the students, on a daily basis.”
“There is no reason why students should feel fear or concern on their way from the university,” he added.
The area which students fear most is Churchill Avenue, which leads to the university, and the nearby parking lots, which are dark and largely deserted at night.
Student fought off attackers
Gili, a student at the Bezalel art academy, recently left the campus at a late evening hour and headed towards her dormitory apartment. When she reached the square next to the English cemetery, she said, she was attacked by two Arab youths who she believes came from Isawiya, but managed to fight them off and escape.
Shachar, a male student at the Faculty of the Humanities, told of suffering an unprovoked attack when he left the faculty at around 10 p.m. one night with a friend. On their way to his car, they passed by three Arab youths who were playing in the parking lot. When they got into the car, a rock smashed through the window and hit Shachar’s friend.
Michal, another humanities student, said that she was followed by a group of Arab youths who whistled at her and offered to “come sleep in bed with us.”
Yochanan Bechler of the French Hill Community Administration said that the problem has existed for years and that not just students are affected. “There were female high school students who also complained of verbal harassment,” he said. “It is all because the neighborhood is very open, so people from the entire area, including eastern Jerusalem, come here to sit in the coffee shops." Bechler said that police are very active in the area, but perhaps not active enoug
“Im Tirtzu has been calling for the establishment of a civilian guard made up of volunteers from the university to escort the girls to and from the dorms."
h.
“Im Tirtzu has been calling for the establishment of a civilian guard in coordination with the police, made up of volunteers from the university to escort the girls to and from the dorms,” Dekel explained.
Dekel added that Im Tirtzu has been accused of raising the issue out of political considerations. “You are not supposed to talk about it,” she explained, “because the [harasser are coming from a certain sector. People have been saying ‘you are only [talking abou it because they are Arabs.’ I am offended by that,” she said.
Lighting installed
Jerusalem Councilor Yakir Segev, who holds the municipality’s Eastern Jerusalem portfolio, said Tuesday that he has succeeded in causing the police and university security to beef up their presence near the university in the evening hours, and that lighting was installed last week along the path next to the cemetery.
“In the future,” he said, “the sidewalks and fences in the area will be set up in a way that ensures safe passage for the female students.”
Hebrew University said that the university management “is aware of the severity of the problem and has met with the student representatives to think of solutions for preventing harassment and helping the female students. At the same time, the university’s security department decided to initiate evening patrols to the deter the harassers and increase the feeling of security.”
The Jerusalem Police said that the police receive “full and good cooperation from the university management and the community administration in the neighborhood… and this activity has brought about meaningful results.”
The police said they received only three complaints regarding harassment in the area over the last year, and the harassers have already been captured.
The woman who was attacked in Jerusalem Tuesday night (Israelnewsphoto-- IsraelNN TV screenshot)
Attack in Jerusalem
An Arab attacked a Jewish woman in central Jerusalem late Tuesday night, but he escaped after she put up a struggle. The woman told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news service that she had returned from a late-night restaurant outing with her friends at 1:30 a.m. and sensed that she was being followed when she was climbing the stairs to her apartment.
As she was closing the door to the apartment, an Arab man tried to force his way in. She struggled with him, sensing that he was about to kill or rape her,and in the end hegrabbed only her bag and a necklace and escaped.He was later arrested.
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by Gil Ronen
Female students at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University have complained of repeated sexual harassment by Arabs from nearby Isawiya.
Talia Dekel, a student of political science and Middle Eastern studies and an activistin neo-Zionist student movement Im Tirtzu,told Israel National News, “We’ve specifically heard of female students who are being harassed both verbally and sometimes physically on their way to and from the dorms, and in the daytime on Shabbat when there are less people around,” she said. “Usually there is no one there to stop them. It’s just out of luck that nothing serious has happened. I heard of two cases in the last two or three months, of young boys aged 15 or 16 from the nearby village of Isawiya coming up behind girls who went jogging and grabbing them from behind.”
The university acknowledges that a “serious problem” exists and initial steps have been taken by Hebrew U. and the Jerusalem municipality to increase security, including beefed up patrols and the installation of security lighting last week. The Community Administration of French Hill also confirmed the pattern of Arab harassment, both sexual
The university acknowledges that a “serious problem” exists.
and non-sexual.The only official body that does not seem to believe that a real problem exists is the police – who say that only three such complaints were filed in the course of the past year.
The Maariv-NRG website reported about the harassment phenomenon Wednesday – a fact that is news in itself, according to Erez Tadmor, Directorof Im Tirtzu, which has been gaining strength on Israeli campuses. “Reports about Arab sexual harassment are not considered ‘politically correct’ and are thus not reported until something very serious happens,” Tadmor explained.
A repeated pattern
Shlomo Levi, who headed the Hebrew University’s Student Union until recently, said that the phenomenon is “not marginal or transitory,” but rather “a repeated pattern of harassment and of disruption of the daily routines of the students, on a daily basis.”
“There is no reason why students should feel fear or concern on their way from the university,” he added.
The area which students fear most is Churchill Avenue, which leads to the university, and the nearby parking lots, which are dark and largely deserted at night.
Student fought off attackers
Gili, a student at the Bezalel art academy, recently left the campus at a late evening hour and headed towards her dormitory apartment. When she reached the square next to the English cemetery, she said, she was attacked by two Arab youths who she believes came from Isawiya, but managed to fight them off and escape.
Shachar, a male student at the Faculty of the Humanities, told of suffering an unprovoked attack when he left the faculty at around 10 p.m. one night with a friend. On their way to his car, they passed by three Arab youths who were playing in the parking lot. When they got into the car, a rock smashed through the window and hit Shachar’s friend.
Michal, another humanities student, said that she was followed by a group of Arab youths who whistled at her and offered to “come sleep in bed with us.”
Yochanan Bechler of the French Hill Community Administration said that the problem has existed for years and that not just students are affected. “There were female high school students who also complained of verbal harassment,” he said. “It is all because the neighborhood is very open, so people from the entire area, including eastern Jerusalem, come here to sit in the coffee shops." Bechler said that police are very active in the area, but perhaps not active enoug
“Im Tirtzu has been calling for the establishment of a civilian guard made up of volunteers from the university to escort the girls to and from the dorms."
h.“Im Tirtzu has been calling for the establishment of a civilian guard in coordination with the police, made up of volunteers from the university to escort the girls to and from the dorms,” Dekel explained.
Dekel added that Im Tirtzu has been accused of raising the issue out of political considerations. “You are not supposed to talk about it,” she explained, “because the [harasser are coming from a certain sector. People have been saying ‘you are only [talking abou it because they are Arabs.’ I am offended by that,” she said.
Lighting installed
Jerusalem Councilor Yakir Segev, who holds the municipality’s Eastern Jerusalem portfolio, said Tuesday that he has succeeded in causing the police and university security to beef up their presence near the university in the evening hours, and that lighting was installed last week along the path next to the cemetery.
“In the future,” he said, “the sidewalks and fences in the area will be set up in a way that ensures safe passage for the female students.”
Hebrew University said that the university management “is aware of the severity of the problem and has met with the student representatives to think of solutions for preventing harassment and helping the female students. At the same time, the university’s security department decided to initiate evening patrols to the deter the harassers and increase the feeling of security.”
The Jerusalem Police said that the police receive “full and good cooperation from the university management and the community administration in the neighborhood… and this activity has brought about meaningful results.”
The police said they received only three complaints regarding harassment in the area over the last year, and the harassers have already been captured.
The woman who was attacked in Jerusalem Tuesday night (Israelnewsphoto-- IsraelNN TV screenshot)
Attack in Jerusalem
An Arab attacked a Jewish woman in central Jerusalem late Tuesday night, but he escaped after she put up a struggle. The woman told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news service that she had returned from a late-night restaurant outing with her friends at 1:30 a.m. and sensed that she was being followed when she was climbing the stairs to her apartment.
As she was closing the door to the apartment, an Arab man tried to force his way in. She struggled with him, sensing that he was about to kill or rape her,and in the end hegrabbed only her bag and a necklace and escaped.He was later arrested.
Comment on this story
7. Jews Fast, Mourn on 17th Day of Tammuz
by Hillel Fendel
The "Three Weeks" of gradually-increasing mourning over the destruction of the Holy Temples and Israel's exile begins Thursday with the fast of the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz. This is the day on which Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces breached the walls of Jerusalem, after many months of siege, on their way to destroying the Holy Temple.
The Three Weeks end on the 9th of Av - Tisha B'Av - the date on which both the First and Second Temples were destroyed, roughly 2,500 and 2,000 years ago, respectively.
The 17th of Tammuz marks other calamities in Jewish history as well. It is the date on which Moses, having descended from Mount Sinai and seeing the people sinning with the Golden Calf, broke the first set of Ten Commandments.In addition, the priests of the First Temple era were forced on this day - a year before the Temple's destruction - to stop offering the daily sacrifice due to the shortage of sheep.
The Talmud also teaches that on this date some decades earlier, the evil King Menasheh had an idol placed in the Temple's Holy Sanctuary.Later, during Second Temple times, a Roman general placed an idol in the same place and publicly burned the Torah.
The fast ends at 8:10 PM, but other mourning customs, such as no weddings or haircuts, continue untilthe morning after Tisha B'Av.
Like other fast days, the morning prayers include special selichot prayers, mourning our losses and asking for forgiveness. Excerpts from the selichot of the 17th of Tammuz:
"We rebelled against Him Who dwells in heaven, therefore we were scattered in all directions... We acted rebelliously before Thee with slandering tongues, therefore our tongues were made to learn to utter lamentation... The tempest-tossed afflicted people were utterly broken up and dispersed; the dry land becamea boat wrecked for lack of a captain; she received [punishmen for her sins with principal and double interest, with mourning and moaning... Their adversaries assailed them on that day and... drove the nation like a chased gazelle, and there was none that sought to protect it... Turn to us, O Thou that dwellest on high, gather our dispersed from the four corners of the earth. Say to Zion, Arise! And we shall arise. Convert the 17th of Tammuz into a day of salvation and comfort." (translation by Rev. Abraham Isaac Jacob Rosenfeld)
Click here to read articles on the Three Weeks.
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7-8
1. Israel Slams EU for Claiming Settlements ‘Strangle PA Economy’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Foreign Ministry has strongly criticized the European Union for charging that Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are “strangling the Palestinian Authority economy" and turning the PAinto a welfare state.
The EU’s accusations were “completely unfounded,” the Foreign Ministry said, and prompted Senior Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Rafael Barak, to summon the head of the EU delegation to Israel, Ambassador Ramiro Cibrian Uzal.
“Political statements of this nature clearly fall outside the mandate of the ECTAO office in question, which is charged with a purely technical role in the channeling of assistance,” Barak said. “Even more troubling is the technical assistant's implication that Israeli security measures in the West Bank are unnecessary and even illegal, alongside a total failure to recognize that it is the continued activity of Palestinian terrorist groups which makes such measures an unfortunate necessity.”
He pointed out the EU criticism level against Israel ignored Israel’s destruction of dozens of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and the expulsion of more than 10,000 Jews.
“The statement also chose to ignore the recent improvements in the…economy. Recent World Bank, IMF and Palestinian Ministry of Finance data point to significant improvement of the Palestinian economy, even during the current global financial crisis,” Barak added. “Indeed, official Palestinian data indicates that the West Bank has shown economic growth rates of five to seven percentin 2008.
“Ultimately, a vibrant, stable economy will be achieved through the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the PA. In the meantime, the European technical assistant would do well to concentrate his efforts on the tasks for which he is responsible, instead of making unfounded accusations against Israel.”
The Arab economy in Judea, Samaria and Gaza grew at an unprecedented rate from 1967, when the areas were restored to Israel during the Six Day War, until the Intifada (Arab uprising), guided by the late PLO chieftain Yasser Arafat. The ensuing Oslo War, also known as the Second Intifada, further crippled the Arab economy after Jewish employers and consumers were unable to work with Arabs without facing the risk of a terrorist attack.
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2. Israeli Economy a Draw for North American Immigrants
by Rachel Abrams
The ideological bottom line may remain the same, but those looking to Aliyah may finally have large financial incentives to cross the ocean.
"For the first time in history, the Israeli economy is looking better than the American economy", says Danny Oberman, executive vice president of operations at Nefesh B'Nefesh. A leading organization which finds and assists Jews wishing to make Aliyah [immigration to Israe, the group has reported an average of 25 new inquiries each day from people looking to begin the application process. "We are seeing an unprecedented level of interest from North America," says Oberman, "and it's not just people who have lost their jobs but people who don't see a serious upside in the near future."
Click here to hear interview with Oberman.
For young singles and couples, the advantages afforded by Israel's current economic edge are especially appealing. The job market is wider for recent university graduates, and families with young children can find more affordable Jewish or college education in Israel than back in the U.S. and Canada. Israeli health insurance, free for between the first six to 12 months for new arrivals and amounting to $50 to $100 a month after that, is also a cheaper option than many health insurance plans in the U.S.
Immigrants also are given a discount on car purchases and are eligible for free education if they are under the age of 27. For those generating income from overseas, no taxes are taken for the first 10 years of residence. These lower costs, combined with an overly burdened and strained American economy, are enticing more North American Jews than ever to emigrate.
In 2008, Nefesh B'Nefesh reported that 3,000 immigrants to Israel were from North America. This year, the organization is expecting upwards of 4,000.
"What we're seeing is…people who had considered Aliyah, people who had visited Israel in the past, people who had a connection, but who stayed in North America because they were doing well; they were comfortable," says Oberman. Now, however, with Israel faring considerably better in the global economic crisis, families are in a better position than before to line up their ideological and fiduciary concerns.
"Anybody who has visited here has seen that the opportunities here, and the ways kids are brought up and the social environment is different than North America. It's a healthy environment… For anyone who's looking for a different set of values, Israel's definitely an option."
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by Rachel Abrams
The ideological bottom line may remain the same, but those looking to Aliyah may finally have large financial incentives to cross the ocean.
"For the first time in history, the Israeli economy is looking better than the American economy", says Danny Oberman, executive vice president of operations at Nefesh B'Nefesh. A leading organization which finds and assists Jews wishing to make Aliyah [immigration to Israe, the group has reported an average of 25 new inquiries each day from people looking to begin the application process. "We are seeing an unprecedented level of interest from North America," says Oberman, "and it's not just people who have lost their jobs but people who don't see a serious upside in the near future."
Click here to hear interview with Oberman.
For young singles and couples, the advantages afforded by Israel's current economic edge are especially appealing. The job market is wider for recent university graduates, and families with young children can find more affordable Jewish or college education in Israel than back in the U.S. and Canada. Israeli health insurance, free for between the first six to 12 months for new arrivals and amounting to $50 to $100 a month after that, is also a cheaper option than many health insurance plans in the U.S.
Immigrants also are given a discount on car purchases and are eligible for free education if they are under the age of 27. For those generating income from overseas, no taxes are taken for the first 10 years of residence. These lower costs, combined with an overly burdened and strained American economy, are enticing more North American Jews than ever to emigrate.
In 2008, Nefesh B'Nefesh reported that 3,000 immigrants to Israel were from North America. This year, the organization is expecting upwards of 4,000.
"What we're seeing is…people who had considered Aliyah, people who had visited Israel in the past, people who had a connection, but who stayed in North America because they were doing well; they were comfortable," says Oberman. Now, however, with Israel faring considerably better in the global economic crisis, families are in a better position than before to line up their ideological and fiduciary concerns.
"Anybody who has visited here has seen that the opportunities here, and the ways kids are brought up and the social environment is different than North America. It's a healthy environment… For anyone who's looking for a different set of values, Israel's definitely an option."
Comment on this story
3. Clinton: US to Call for Stricter Iran Sanctions If Talks Fail
by Maayana Miskin
The United States will call for “even stricter” sanctionsagainst Iran if diplomacy fails, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a television interview with Globovisionbroadcast late on Tuesday. Clinton said America's goal would be “to try to change the behavior of the regime.”
America opposes business ties that strengthen the Iranian regime, but will not reject all trade with the country at this time. “We would never tell another country, 'You cannot do business with the regime of Iran in order to figure out ways of helping to change their behavior,' she continued. "But we think it is not in the best interests of the world to be doing business with Iran to promote the regime. That is not smart.”
While stating that America is “willing to engage” with Iran for the time being, Clinton expressed some pessimism at the chances of changing the situation through dialogue. “We understand that, given the problems Iran has just demonstrated, [engagemen might not be possible,” she said. However, she did not give a deadline for attempts to pursue engagement over sanctions.
Her announcement follows reports that America and Russia plan to oppose the imposition of further sanctions on Iran at this week's G8 Summit.
Clintonfocused on Iran's nuclear program in particular, telling herinterviewer that the program could be “very destabilizing in the Middle East and beyond.” She also mentioned Iranian support for terrorism.
Iran argues that its nuclear program is meant for civilian energy only. However, the regime has raised concerns with statements threatening Israel and American targets in the Middle East, and it has caused further worry through its rejection of international observation of its nuclear facilities.
Clinton also criticized the Iranian regime for harsh actions taken against peaceful protestors following the disputed presidential elections. “We have seen in the last weeks that Iran has not respected its own democracy,” she said.
Police and pro-government militias are accused of murdering several supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi and using other brutal tactics, including arrest and torture, against thousands whose oppose the current regime. Moussavi's supporters have accused Iran's mullahs of rigging the presidential election in favor of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
America is not interested in promoting a regime that is being rejected by much of the people it leads, Clinton explained.
Mullen: Iranian Nukes would be “Very Destabilizing”
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned against the possibility of Iranian nuclear arms on Tuesday as well. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mullen said that if Iran were to develop nuclear capability “it will be very destabilizing.”
Iran is “very focused” on proceeding with its nuclear program, he warned.
While warning against the possibility of a nuclear Iran, Mullen expressed concern over the possibility of a pre-emptive strike as well. An attack on Iran could also serve to destabilize the region, he said, explaining, “there are unintended consequences that are very difficult to predict in a very volatile, highly volatile part of the world.”
Mullen recommended diplomatic pressure as a method of dealing with the threat of Iranian nuclear arms, but warned that “the time window is closing.” Iran could be just one year away from obtaining nuclear arms, he said.
Red Light, Green Light?
American leaders have focused on Iran and its nuclear program this week, sending often-conflicting messages. On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden appeared to “green light” a pre-emptive Israeli strike on Iran, saying three times that Israel was free to do what it needed to do.
However, the United States Department of State quickly announced that Biden's statements did not apply a “green light,” saying, “We are certainly not going to give a green light to any kind of military strike, but Israel is a sovereign country and we're not going to dictate its actions.”
On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama came out with a stronger statement against Israeli action on Iran, saying America had “absolutely not” given the green light to a strike, and adding, “We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try to resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East.”
Comment on this story
by Maayana Miskin
The United States will call for “even stricter” sanctionsagainst Iran if diplomacy fails, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a television interview with Globovisionbroadcast late on Tuesday. Clinton said America's goal would be “to try to change the behavior of the regime.”
America opposes business ties that strengthen the Iranian regime, but will not reject all trade with the country at this time. “We would never tell another country, 'You cannot do business with the regime of Iran in order to figure out ways of helping to change their behavior,' she continued. "But we think it is not in the best interests of the world to be doing business with Iran to promote the regime. That is not smart.”
While stating that America is “willing to engage” with Iran for the time being, Clinton expressed some pessimism at the chances of changing the situation through dialogue. “We understand that, given the problems Iran has just demonstrated, [engagemen might not be possible,” she said. However, she did not give a deadline for attempts to pursue engagement over sanctions.
Her announcement follows reports that America and Russia plan to oppose the imposition of further sanctions on Iran at this week's G8 Summit.
Clintonfocused on Iran's nuclear program in particular, telling herinterviewer that the program could be “very destabilizing in the Middle East and beyond.” She also mentioned Iranian support for terrorism.
Iran argues that its nuclear program is meant for civilian energy only. However, the regime has raised concerns with statements threatening Israel and American targets in the Middle East, and it has caused further worry through its rejection of international observation of its nuclear facilities.
Clinton also criticized the Iranian regime for harsh actions taken against peaceful protestors following the disputed presidential elections. “We have seen in the last weeks that Iran has not respected its own democracy,” she said.
Police and pro-government militias are accused of murdering several supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi and using other brutal tactics, including arrest and torture, against thousands whose oppose the current regime. Moussavi's supporters have accused Iran's mullahs of rigging the presidential election in favor of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
America is not interested in promoting a regime that is being rejected by much of the people it leads, Clinton explained.
Mullen: Iranian Nukes would be “Very Destabilizing”
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned against the possibility of Iranian nuclear arms on Tuesday as well. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mullen said that if Iran were to develop nuclear capability “it will be very destabilizing.”
Iran is “very focused” on proceeding with its nuclear program, he warned.
While warning against the possibility of a nuclear Iran, Mullen expressed concern over the possibility of a pre-emptive strike as well. An attack on Iran could also serve to destabilize the region, he said, explaining, “there are unintended consequences that are very difficult to predict in a very volatile, highly volatile part of the world.”
Mullen recommended diplomatic pressure as a method of dealing with the threat of Iranian nuclear arms, but warned that “the time window is closing.” Iran could be just one year away from obtaining nuclear arms, he said.
Red Light, Green Light?
American leaders have focused on Iran and its nuclear program this week, sending often-conflicting messages. On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden appeared to “green light” a pre-emptive Israeli strike on Iran, saying three times that Israel was free to do what it needed to do.
However, the United States Department of State quickly announced that Biden's statements did not apply a “green light,” saying, “We are certainly not going to give a green light to any kind of military strike, but Israel is a sovereign country and we're not going to dictate its actions.”
On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama came out with a stronger statement against Israeli action on Iran, saying America had “absolutely not” given the green light to a strike, and adding, “We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try to resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East.”
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4. Syria Forfeits Golan on a Silver Platter: Make it Gold
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem sarcastically agreed with President Shimon Peres’s statement Monday that Israel will not hand over the strategic Golan Heights to Damascus on a “silver platter.” He responded Tuesday morning that “silver” was not good enough and demanded, "We want to receive theGolan on a gold platter.”
His comments have sent the prospects of a rapprochement with Syria further back in the deep freeze as Syria increasingly hardens its stand in tandem with overtures from the Obama administration to make it part of the peace process.
U.S. President Barack Obama has sent two senior officials to Damascus this year to sound out Syria, which officially is on the American “blacklist” of countries that support terror.
Muallem said the new American position is good but took the opportunity to throw all the blame on Israel for lack of progress. “There is an opportunity to achieve peace, but Israel is dragging it out too much. We must complete the indirect talks with Israel before we get to direct talks," he said the morning after President Peres met with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Syrian President Bashar Assad revealed last year, in almost simultaneous statements, that the two countries have been carrying on indirect talks, mediated by Turkey, for more than a year.
Indirect negotiations stopped after Olmert’s government was shaken by a long string of criminal investigations against him and the resulting instability in his government. His successor, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, has gone on record several times as saying that the Golan is not negotiable, but Olmert also made the same statement as recently as three years ago.
Assad occasionally has said he was setting no pre-conditions for a peace accord with Israel but more often has stated that it is a foregone conclusion that Israel relinquish the water-rich area, where Jews comprise approximately 50 percent of the population of 40,000.
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem sarcastically agreed with President Shimon Peres’s statement Monday that Israel will not hand over the strategic Golan Heights to Damascus on a “silver platter.” He responded Tuesday morning that “silver” was not good enough and demanded, "We want to receive theGolan on a gold platter.”
His comments have sent the prospects of a rapprochement with Syria further back in the deep freeze as Syria increasingly hardens its stand in tandem with overtures from the Obama administration to make it part of the peace process.
U.S. President Barack Obama has sent two senior officials to Damascus this year to sound out Syria, which officially is on the American “blacklist” of countries that support terror.
Muallem said the new American position is good but took the opportunity to throw all the blame on Israel for lack of progress. “There is an opportunity to achieve peace, but Israel is dragging it out too much. We must complete the indirect talks with Israel before we get to direct talks," he said the morning after President Peres met with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Syrian President Bashar Assad revealed last year, in almost simultaneous statements, that the two countries have been carrying on indirect talks, mediated by Turkey, for more than a year.
Indirect negotiations stopped after Olmert’s government was shaken by a long string of criminal investigations against him and the resulting instability in his government. His successor, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, has gone on record several times as saying that the Golan is not negotiable, but Olmert also made the same statement as recently as three years ago.
Assad occasionally has said he was setting no pre-conditions for a peace accord with Israel but more often has stated that it is a foregone conclusion that Israel relinquish the water-rich area, where Jews comprise approximately 50 percent of the population of 40,000.
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5. Blue and White Gas: Israel to be Self-Sufficient for 20 Years
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
New estimates of natural gas reserves recently discovered off the Mediterranean Coast near Haifa will allow Israel to be self-sufficient in energy for two decades, according to Yitzchak Tshuva, one of the investors in the project. “Israel today is independent – completely independent with blue and white [Israeli- energy,” said Tshuva, chief executive office of Delek Energy.
The Tamar 2 drilling, 3.5 miles north of the Tamar 1 site that was discovered in April, indicates the reserves are 26 percent larger than previously estimated. Noble Energy, the largest participant in the project, said that appraisals confirmed the quality of the gas and “have reduced the uncertainty in previous resource estimates.” The gas reserves are in addition to the Dalit gas field discovered off the Hadera coast, south of Haifa, earlier this year.
"With drilling at Tamar and Dalit, we have already confirmed a very substantial amount of natural gas resources, perhaps over two decades of future supply based on projected needs,” said Charles D. Davidson, Noble's chairman and chief executive officer. “We are moving forward with development plans focused on bringing the first phase of production to the Israeli shores by 2012."
Income from the gas might reach as much as $30 billion instead of the $20 billion that was estimated in April. Development costs for bringing the gas online are projected at $1.5-$3 billion.
Self-sufficiency would significantly strengthen the shekel as well as create jobs.
Noble Energy has a 36 percent working interest in the project. Other participants are Isramco Negev 2 with 28.75 percent, Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration with 15.625 percent each, and Dor Gas Exploration with the remaining four percent.
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
New estimates of natural gas reserves recently discovered off the Mediterranean Coast near Haifa will allow Israel to be self-sufficient in energy for two decades, according to Yitzchak Tshuva, one of the investors in the project. “Israel today is independent – completely independent with blue and white [Israeli- energy,” said Tshuva, chief executive office of Delek Energy.
The Tamar 2 drilling, 3.5 miles north of the Tamar 1 site that was discovered in April, indicates the reserves are 26 percent larger than previously estimated. Noble Energy, the largest participant in the project, said that appraisals confirmed the quality of the gas and “have reduced the uncertainty in previous resource estimates.” The gas reserves are in addition to the Dalit gas field discovered off the Hadera coast, south of Haifa, earlier this year.
"With drilling at Tamar and Dalit, we have already confirmed a very substantial amount of natural gas resources, perhaps over two decades of future supply based on projected needs,” said Charles D. Davidson, Noble's chairman and chief executive officer. “We are moving forward with development plans focused on bringing the first phase of production to the Israeli shores by 2012."
Income from the gas might reach as much as $30 billion instead of the $20 billion that was estimated in April. Development costs for bringing the gas online are projected at $1.5-$3 billion.
Self-sufficiency would significantly strengthen the shekel as well as create jobs.
Noble Energy has a 36 percent working interest in the project. Other participants are Isramco Negev 2 with 28.75 percent, Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration with 15.625 percent each, and Dor Gas Exploration with the remaining four percent.
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6. British Police fear Massive Neo-Nazi Attack
by Maayana Miskin
British police issued public warnings this week about the possibility of a major neo-Nazi terrorist attack in England. Various extremist groups are suspected of plotting attacks in order to fuel tensions between different racial and religious groups.
Muslims and Jews are among the groups that have been warned to be on the alert. Several ethnic and religious minorities also could be at risk, senior police officials say.
Neo-Nazis “are not choosy about which community” they target, explained Commander Shaun Sawyer of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command (SO15). Whichever group they target, they will hope to cause serious injury or loss of life, he said.
Police believe British neo-Nazi groups are more likely to target Muslims than Jews, whosecommunities have reported an increase in the frequency of neo-Nazi style attacks on their institutions in recent years.
The warnings were issued shortly after police announced that they had uncovered a major extremist network. Officers in a counter-terrorism unit found that a group of far-right extremists had access to 80 bombs and hundreds of other weapons. Dozens were questioned in connection to the affair, which police believe involved a plot to bomb mosques.
Senior police detectives said departments would need to channel more funds towards preventing neo-Nazi attacks. The money is likely to come from funding currently used to monitor Islamic extremism, although detectives warned that Muslim terrorist groups remain a threat as well.
"The big bad wolf is still the Al-Qaeda threat,” said senior police official Norman Bettison. “But my people are knocking over right-wing extremists quite regularly.”
Comment on this story
by Maayana Miskin
British police issued public warnings this week about the possibility of a major neo-Nazi terrorist attack in England. Various extremist groups are suspected of plotting attacks in order to fuel tensions between different racial and religious groups.
Muslims and Jews are among the groups that have been warned to be on the alert. Several ethnic and religious minorities also could be at risk, senior police officials say.
Neo-Nazis “are not choosy about which community” they target, explained Commander Shaun Sawyer of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command (SO15). Whichever group they target, they will hope to cause serious injury or loss of life, he said.
Police believe British neo-Nazi groups are more likely to target Muslims than Jews, whosecommunities have reported an increase in the frequency of neo-Nazi style attacks on their institutions in recent years.
The warnings were issued shortly after police announced that they had uncovered a major extremist network. Officers in a counter-terrorism unit found that a group of far-right extremists had access to 80 bombs and hundreds of other weapons. Dozens were questioned in connection to the affair, which police believe involved a plot to bomb mosques.
Senior police detectives said departments would need to channel more funds towards preventing neo-Nazi attacks. The money is likely to come from funding currently used to monitor Islamic extremism, although detectives warned that Muslim terrorist groups remain a threat as well.
"The big bad wolf is still the Al-Qaeda threat,” said senior police official Norman Bettison. “But my people are knocking over right-wing extremists quite regularly.”
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7. Rabbinate Confronted With 60 Missionary Converts
by Hillel Fendel
The Chief Rabbinate has been given a list of more than 60 recent converts to Judaism who continue to believe in Jesus – and are active missionaries.
Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz, chairman and founder of the anti-missionary and anti-assimilation Yad L’Achim organization, met in recent days with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and provided him with the list. Rabbi Amar was reportedly “shocked” at seeing that the Chief Rabbinate had authorized the conversions.
An immediate solution was found for the future, however. Rabbi Lifshitz presented Rabbi Amar with a list of 17 questions that should be asked of any prospective convert. Under the assumption that the missionaries will either not lie straight out, or that the specific questions will help detect the lies, it is hoped that missionaries will be spotted and weeded out from the conversion rolls.
Yad L’Achim had prepared the list of names, ID numbers and addresses ofmore than60 people who were active in missionary groups before, during and after their long conversion process to Judaism. The "converts" were then accepted as members of religious communities, and their children were accepted into religious schools.
The meeting between the two rabbis was held in advance of the anticipated Aliyah [immigration to Israe of many Bnei Menashe members to Israel, amongst whom it is suspected are a significant number of missionaries. The questions to be asked of them will enable weeding themout whileresulting in thelegitimization of the conversion of the remaining members.
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7-7
1. PA Chief Abbas: We Left Galilee on Our Own
by Hillel Fendel
Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas says the Arabs of the Galilee city of Tzfat left in 1948 not because they were driven out, but on their own volition.
Many biographies of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas imply that his family became “refugees” because of the War of Independence in 1948. For instance, a BBC profile on Abbas when he succeeded Yasser Arafat as PLO chairman in 2005 writes, “In the light of his origins in Safed in Galilee - in what is now northern Israel - he is said to hold strong views about the right of return of Palestinian refugees.” Answers.com states, “As a result of the Arab-Israel War of 1948, he became a refugee.” Wikipedia articles on the topic say the same – all giving the impression that the Abbas family was driven out and became homeless.
It is notable that the Abbas family moved back to Damascus, as that is likely the place where it had originated less than 90 years earlier.
However, Abbas himself – co-founder of Fatah with Arafat, and known as Abu Mazen - now tells a different story. Speaking with Al-Palestinia TV on Monday, Abbas admitted that his family was not expelled or driven out, but rather left for fear that the Jews might take revenge for the slaughter of 20 Jews in the city during the Arab pogroms of 19 years earlier.
In the words of Abbas:
“I am among those who were born in the city of Tzfat (Safed). We were a family of means. I studied in elementary school, and then came the naqba [calamity, namely, the founding of the State of Israel – ed. At night, we left by foot from Tzfat, to the Jordan River, where we remained for a month. Then we went to Damascus, and then to our relatives in Jordan, and then we settled in Damascus.
“My father had money, and he spent his money systematically, and after a year, the money ran out and we began to work.
“The people’s basic motives brought them to run away for their lives and with their property. These [motive were very important, for they feared the violence of the Zionist terrorist organizations – and especially those of us from Tzfat felt that there was an old desire for revenge from the rebellion of 1929, and this was in the memory of our families and parents.”
The “rebellion” Abbas referred to was a series of brutal Arab attacks on Jewish towns in the summer of 1929. Nearly 70 Jews were slaughtered in their homes in Hevron, 20 in Tzfat, 17 in Jerusalem, and others were murdered in Motza, Kfar Uriah and Tel Aviv.
The memory of the slaughter, Abbas said, “brought [our familie to understand that the military balance had changed, and that [ no longer had military forces in their real meaning. There were only young people who fought, and there was an initial action. They felt that the balance of power had collapsed and they therefore decided to leave. The entire city was abandoned based on this thought – the thought of their property and saving themselves.”
Return to Roots - in Damascus
It is notable that the Abbas family moved back to Damascus, as that is likely the place where it had originated less than 90 years earlier. Joan Peters, in her scholarly work “From Time Immemorial” on the Arab population of Israel, writes that in 1860, “Algerian tribes moved from Damascus en masse to Safed.” She notes that the Muslims in the city were mostly descended from Moorish settlers and from Kurds – more evidence negating the claim that the Arabs in the Land of Israel had been there “from time immemorial.”
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2. US, Russia Oppose G8 Sanctions on Iran
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Both Russia and the United States are likely to oppose the imposition of further political or economic sanctions on Iran at this week's G8 Summit. This, despite pressure from other G8 nations to punish Tehran for its violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at home, as well as to influence its nuclear development policy.
The summit starts Wednesday in L'Aquila, Italy.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Italy's Rai television station on Saturday, "If I understand correctly, the United States would like to establish more open and more direct relations with Iran. We support this choice. It would be counter-productive to resort to other sanctions." He added that additional sanctions imposed by G8 nations would most likely fail and would inflame tensions with the Islamic Republic.
Parallel with the Russian president's statements, unidentified U.S. officials were cited by Haaretz on Saturday as agreeing that tougher sanctions would push Iran away from dialogue with the United Nations over its nuclear program. The American officials said that the situation in Iran will be the leading agenda item at the meeting of the G8 nations - the U.S., Russia, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.
Despite the opposition of Russia and the U.S., Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed confidence early last week that the G8 would agree to impose harsher sanctions on the Islamic Republic. He said that he reached that conclusion after discussing the matter with other G8 leaders.
The European Union and the U.S. already have some sanctions on Iran in place. Certain Iranian officials are barred from the EU, while the U.S. prohibits large-scale trade with the Islamic Republic. Harsher international pressure on the Khamenei regime, if adopted, could include preventing energy companies from continuing to do business in Iran, either as purchasers of the nation's oil or as gasoline exporters.
Comment on this story
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Both Russia and the United States are likely to oppose the imposition of further political or economic sanctions on Iran at this week's G8 Summit. This, despite pressure from other G8 nations to punish Tehran for its violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at home, as well as to influence its nuclear development policy.
The summit starts Wednesday in L'Aquila, Italy.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Italy's Rai television station on Saturday, "If I understand correctly, the United States would like to establish more open and more direct relations with Iran. We support this choice. It would be counter-productive to resort to other sanctions." He added that additional sanctions imposed by G8 nations would most likely fail and would inflame tensions with the Islamic Republic.
Parallel with the Russian president's statements, unidentified U.S. officials were cited by Haaretz on Saturday as agreeing that tougher sanctions would push Iran away from dialogue with the United Nations over its nuclear program. The American officials said that the situation in Iran will be the leading agenda item at the meeting of the G8 nations - the U.S., Russia, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.
Despite the opposition of Russia and the U.S., Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed confidence early last week that the G8 would agree to impose harsher sanctions on the Islamic Republic. He said that he reached that conclusion after discussing the matter with other G8 leaders.
The European Union and the U.S. already have some sanctions on Iran in place. Certain Iranian officials are barred from the EU, while the U.S. prohibits large-scale trade with the Islamic Republic. Harsher international pressure on the Khamenei regime, if adopted, could include preventing energy companies from continuing to do business in Iran, either as purchasers of the nation's oil or as gasoline exporters.
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3. Europeans Affiliated With Al-Qaeda Were Trained by PA Factions
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Several Europeans, involved in an Egypt-based terror cell affiliated with al-Qaeda, received training in Gaza by Palestinian Authority factions. The cell was plotting to bomb energy pipelines between Israel and Egypt, as well as to carry out
Europeans in the terror cell reportedly underwent arms and explosives training by Palestinian Authority factions in Gaza.
surveillance of Israeli traffic through the Suez Canal. An Egyptianpolice investigation also revealed the flow of al-Qaeda funds from Gaza to Egypt.
According to a report by the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masri Al-Youm, an ongoing investigation into the February 22, 2009, bombing in the Al-Hussein Square in Cairo turned up startling evidence of al-Qaeda's connections in Gaza and of the group's operations in Egypt. Accused by police of perpetrating the attack at the popular tourist spot, which killed a French girl and injured two dozen others, are three Belgians, a man from France, another from the United Kingdom, two brothers from the PA and five Egyptians.
Several of the Europeans in the terror cell reportedly underwent arms and explosives training by Palestinian Authority factions in Gaza, where they also received funding. After making their way into Egypt and joining the Arab cell members, according to police, the group perpetrated the Cairo bombing and was planning to attack Israeli targets in Egypt.
The two brothers in the cell, Hisham and Ahmed Abd El-Rahman Khalil al-Saie from Gaza, were under the direct command of a fugitive Egyptian al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist currently living in the PA. The al-Saie brothers were instructed to head an operation to bomb energy pipelines between Egypt and Israel, as well as to provide reconnaissance intelligence for a future maritime attack on Israeli traffic through the Suez Canal.
The al-Saies infiltrated Egypt through one of the many smuggling tunnels connecting the Hamas regime and the Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian police seized weapons, explosives, anti-tank rockets, car bombs and explosive belts belonging to the busted terror cell from houses in a village in northern Sinai.
In addition to the operational details, the Al-Masri Al-Youm report revealed, police learned how al-Qaeda in Gaza has been able to transfer funds into Egypt. The French citizen accused in the Cairo bombing investigation allegedly also handled smuggling cash to the Egyptian wife of the fugitive al-Qaeda operative currently in Gaza.
Egyptian police are investigating whether the cell currently under investigation was also somehow related to al-Qaeda bombings of Sinai resorts in 2005 and 2006.
Comment on this story
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Several Europeans, involved in an Egypt-based terror cell affiliated with al-Qaeda, received training in Gaza by Palestinian Authority factions. The cell was plotting to bomb energy pipelines between Israel and Egypt, as well as to carry out
Europeans in the terror cell reportedly underwent arms and explosives training by Palestinian Authority factions in Gaza.
surveillance of Israeli traffic through the Suez Canal. An Egyptianpolice investigation also revealed the flow of al-Qaeda funds from Gaza to Egypt. According to a report by the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masri Al-Youm, an ongoing investigation into the February 22, 2009, bombing in the Al-Hussein Square in Cairo turned up startling evidence of al-Qaeda's connections in Gaza and of the group's operations in Egypt. Accused by police of perpetrating the attack at the popular tourist spot, which killed a French girl and injured two dozen others, are three Belgians, a man from France, another from the United Kingdom, two brothers from the PA and five Egyptians.
Several of the Europeans in the terror cell reportedly underwent arms and explosives training by Palestinian Authority factions in Gaza, where they also received funding. After making their way into Egypt and joining the Arab cell members, according to police, the group perpetrated the Cairo bombing and was planning to attack Israeli targets in Egypt.
The two brothers in the cell, Hisham and Ahmed Abd El-Rahman Khalil al-Saie from Gaza, were under the direct command of a fugitive Egyptian al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist currently living in the PA. The al-Saie brothers were instructed to head an operation to bomb energy pipelines between Egypt and Israel, as well as to provide reconnaissance intelligence for a future maritime attack on Israeli traffic through the Suez Canal.
The al-Saies infiltrated Egypt through one of the many smuggling tunnels connecting the Hamas regime and the Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian police seized weapons, explosives, anti-tank rockets, car bombs and explosive belts belonging to the busted terror cell from houses in a village in northern Sinai.
In addition to the operational details, the Al-Masri Al-Youm report revealed, police learned how al-Qaeda in Gaza has been able to transfer funds into Egypt. The French citizen accused in the Cairo bombing investigation allegedly also handled smuggling cash to the Egyptian wife of the fugitive al-Qaeda operative currently in Gaza.
Egyptian police are investigating whether the cell currently under investigation was also somehow related to al-Qaeda bombings of Sinai resorts in 2005 and 2006.
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4. Migron: Our Fate Isn't for Court to Decide
by Maayana Miskin
Residents of Migron responded Monday to a High Court case debating their future by rejecting the court's right to be involved in the matter. “The future of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria should not be decided in this court or any other,” they said.
Recent lawsuits involving Migron and other established Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria -- such as Ofra, Beit El and Neve Tzuf – are aimed at determining political issues in court, they warned. Such suits “have become a standard method used by the extreme Left with the goal of destroying Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria,” they said.
If a debate over Jewish life in Judea and Samaria is to take place, they said, “its place is with the Israeli public.” The legal system is not the place to decide political and diplomatic policy, they argued.
The suit against Migron was brought by the leftist group Peace Now, which argues that the land on which Migron was built belongs to Arabs living in a nearby town. Residents of Migron say Peace Now's claims are false.
A separate legal battle involving the ownership of the land is taking place outside the High Court. Migron representatives have asked the High Court to withhold judgment until the question of ownership is resolved.
Peace Now and similar organizations have called for Migron to be destroyed in any case, as it is located in an area claimed by the Palestinian Authority as part of a future Arab state, and has not received official government authorization.
Besides debating the court's jurisdiction, residents offered arguments in defense of their right to remain in their current homes:
“We, the residents of Migron, say once again that our settlement in Migron stems from the people of Israel's right to settle in its land as part of the process of the return to Zion, by the power of our historic and moral right.
"We were sent to this place ten years ago by representatives of the state of Israel responsible for settlement, in order to establish a community on a barren, rocky hilltop that had never been worked. We did not disinherit anyone from their land.
"Due to this fact, we are not prepared to accept any proposal or agreement involving evacuation or moving the community to another part of the land of Israel.”
The Yesha (Judea and Samaria) Council and the Defense Ministry have agreed that Migron will be destroyed in exchange for the construction of 1,450 housing units in the nearby community of Adam, a larger Samaria town. Only 50 houses will be built in the first stage of construction; they will be offered to the more than 40 families living in Migron.
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by Maayana Miskin
Residents of Migron responded Monday to a High Court case debating their future by rejecting the court's right to be involved in the matter. “The future of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria should not be decided in this court or any other,” they said.
Recent lawsuits involving Migron and other established Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria -- such as Ofra, Beit El and Neve Tzuf – are aimed at determining political issues in court, they warned. Such suits “have become a standard method used by the extreme Left with the goal of destroying Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria,” they said.
If a debate over Jewish life in Judea and Samaria is to take place, they said, “its place is with the Israeli public.” The legal system is not the place to decide political and diplomatic policy, they argued.
The suit against Migron was brought by the leftist group Peace Now, which argues that the land on which Migron was built belongs to Arabs living in a nearby town. Residents of Migron say Peace Now's claims are false.
A separate legal battle involving the ownership of the land is taking place outside the High Court. Migron representatives have asked the High Court to withhold judgment until the question of ownership is resolved.
Peace Now and similar organizations have called for Migron to be destroyed in any case, as it is located in an area claimed by the Palestinian Authority as part of a future Arab state, and has not received official government authorization.
Besides debating the court's jurisdiction, residents offered arguments in defense of their right to remain in their current homes:
“We, the residents of Migron, say once again that our settlement in Migron stems from the people of Israel's right to settle in its land as part of the process of the return to Zion, by the power of our historic and moral right.
"We were sent to this place ten years ago by representatives of the state of Israel responsible for settlement, in order to establish a community on a barren, rocky hilltop that had never been worked. We did not disinherit anyone from their land.
"Due to this fact, we are not prepared to accept any proposal or agreement involving evacuation or moving the community to another part of the land of Israel.”
The Yesha (Judea and Samaria) Council and the Defense Ministry have agreed that Migron will be destroyed in exchange for the construction of 1,450 housing units in the nearby community of Adam, a larger Samaria town. Only 50 houses will be built in the first stage of construction; they will be offered to the more than 40 families living in Migron.
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5. Terrorist Grandmother Convicted for Bombing Plot
by Maayana Miskin
A female terrorist from Gaza was convicted Monday by the Be'er Sheva District Court for her role in plotting a double suicide-bombing attack. The woman, Fatma Hassan Zeck, planned a two-pronged attack in Tel Aviv and Netanya. She planned to commit one bombing herself, while the other was to be carried out by her niece.
The court convicted Zeck for attempted murder, membership in a terrorist organization, illegal military training, and weapons-related crimes.
Zeck, 41, is a mother to nine children and has one grandchild. She was pregnant with her ninth child when she attempted to carry out an attack on behalf of Islamic Jihad two years ago; the child was born in an Israeli prison several months after she was caught.
Zeck worked with her niece Roda Ibrahim Habib, a mother of four. While Zeck worked for Islamic Jihad in Gaza for years, investigators believe Habib came up with the plan to commit an attack.
The two managed to obtain false documents stating that Habib was permitted to travel to Ramallah for urgent medical checks, with Zeck traveling along as her escort. From there, the women planned to infiltrate central Israel.
Plot foiled
An Islamic Jihad operative was to meet the women in either Ramallah or Be'er Sheva to give them the bombing belts they would use in the attack. However, the two were arrested immediately upon leaving Gaza based on intelligence information, and the plot was foiled.
Prior to departing Gaza, Habib and Zeck took part in a traditional pre-attack picture taking ceremony, in which both were photographed while holding guns, pistols, grenades and a copy of the Koran. The two bid farewell to their families in videotaped messages.
They were joined by Zeck's then-19 year old son, himself an Islamic Jihad terrorist.
Despite the videos and other evidence against the two women, Zeck's attorney argued that the court could not prove that Zeck intended to carry out the bombing in actuality, as “there were many unknown stops in her journey to commit the attack,” and when she was caught, she had only just begun her path.
The court rejected that argument, and ruled that Zeck's intention to commit the attack was clear.
Comment on this story
by Maayana Miskin
A female terrorist from Gaza was convicted Monday by the Be'er Sheva District Court for her role in plotting a double suicide-bombing attack. The woman, Fatma Hassan Zeck, planned a two-pronged attack in Tel Aviv and Netanya. She planned to commit one bombing herself, while the other was to be carried out by her niece.
The court convicted Zeck for attempted murder, membership in a terrorist organization, illegal military training, and weapons-related crimes.
Zeck, 41, is a mother to nine children and has one grandchild. She was pregnant with her ninth child when she attempted to carry out an attack on behalf of Islamic Jihad two years ago; the child was born in an Israeli prison several months after she was caught.
Zeck worked with her niece Roda Ibrahim Habib, a mother of four. While Zeck worked for Islamic Jihad in Gaza for years, investigators believe Habib came up with the plan to commit an attack.
The two managed to obtain false documents stating that Habib was permitted to travel to Ramallah for urgent medical checks, with Zeck traveling along as her escort. From there, the women planned to infiltrate central Israel.
Plot foiled
An Islamic Jihad operative was to meet the women in either Ramallah or Be'er Sheva to give them the bombing belts they would use in the attack. However, the two were arrested immediately upon leaving Gaza based on intelligence information, and the plot was foiled.
Prior to departing Gaza, Habib and Zeck took part in a traditional pre-attack picture taking ceremony, in which both were photographed while holding guns, pistols, grenades and a copy of the Koran. The two bid farewell to their families in videotaped messages.
They were joined by Zeck's then-19 year old son, himself an Islamic Jihad terrorist.
Despite the videos and other evidence against the two women, Zeck's attorney argued that the court could not prove that Zeck intended to carry out the bombing in actuality, as “there were many unknown stops in her journey to commit the attack,” and when she was caught, she had only just begun her path.
The court rejected that argument, and ruled that Zeck's intention to commit the attack was clear.
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6. Tel Aviv Univ. Research: CellPhone Towers Can Predict Next Flood
by Baruch Gordon
Researchers from Tel Aviv University say they have found a novel and reliable way to help predict the intensity of the next big flood, using common cell phone towers across the United States. Their model, which analyzes cell phone signals, adds a critical component to weather forecasting never before available.
“By monitoring the specific and fluctuating atmospheric moisture around cell phone towers throughout America, we can cheaply, effectively and reliably provide a more accurate ‘critical moisture distribution’ level for fine-tuning model predictions of big floods,” says Prof. Pinhas Alpert, a geophysicist and head of Tel Aviv University’s Porter School for Environmental Education.
Information the weather man can use
Cell phone towers emit radio waves that are diminished by moisture in the air, a factor that can be used to improve model warnings on flood levels. In addition, the researchers measured the rainfall distributions and were able to accurately estimate the size of impending floods before they struck. This was demonstrated in post-analysis of two case-studies of floods in the Judean Desert in Israel, where cell phone towers ― and flash floods ― are abundant.
Using real data measurements collected from the towers, the researchers demonstrated how microwave links in a cellular network correlated with surface station humidity measurements. The data provided by cell phone towers is the missing link weather forecasters need to improve the accuracy of flood forecasting. The microwave data used in this study was supplied by two cellular providers Cellcom and Pelephone in Israel.
Can my cellular device save lives?
“Our method provides reliable measurement of moisture fields near the flood zone for the first time,” notes Prof. Alpert, who also works with NASA on developing models to study global warming weather patterns. This new tool, he says, can add to the bigger picture of understanding climate change patterns in general.
“Accurate predictions of flooding were difficult before because there haven’t been enough reliable measurements of moisture fields in remote locations,” Prof. Alpert adds. Using the signals collected from cell phone towers as they communicate with base stations and our handsets, weather forecasters will now have a crucial missing piece of information for flood prediction that they never had before. It will permit forecasters and residents alike to more accurately gauge the danger they face from an impending flood.
Because hundreds of thousands of cell phone towers are already in place, the Tel Aviv University invention can be adopted quickly. And cell phone companies are already collecting the data anyway, as Americans continue to ramp up their minutes of call time every month.
Prof. Alpert and his co-researchers Prof. Hagit Messer Yaron and doctoral fellow Noam David reported on their research in the April 2009 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
Comment on this story
by Baruch Gordon
Researchers from Tel Aviv University say they have found a novel and reliable way to help predict the intensity of the next big flood, using common cell phone towers across the United States. Their model, which analyzes cell phone signals, adds a critical component to weather forecasting never before available.
“By monitoring the specific and fluctuating atmospheric moisture around cell phone towers throughout America, we can cheaply, effectively and reliably provide a more accurate ‘critical moisture distribution’ level for fine-tuning model predictions of big floods,” says Prof. Pinhas Alpert, a geophysicist and head of Tel Aviv University’s Porter School for Environmental Education.
Information the weather man can use
Cell phone towers emit radio waves that are diminished by moisture in the air, a factor that can be used to improve model warnings on flood levels. In addition, the researchers measured the rainfall distributions and were able to accurately estimate the size of impending floods before they struck. This was demonstrated in post-analysis of two case-studies of floods in the Judean Desert in Israel, where cell phone towers ― and flash floods ― are abundant.
Using real data measurements collected from the towers, the researchers demonstrated how microwave links in a cellular network correlated with surface station humidity measurements. The data provided by cell phone towers is the missing link weather forecasters need to improve the accuracy of flood forecasting. The microwave data used in this study was supplied by two cellular providers Cellcom and Pelephone in Israel.
Can my cellular device save lives?
“Our method provides reliable measurement of moisture fields near the flood zone for the first time,” notes Prof. Alpert, who also works with NASA on developing models to study global warming weather patterns. This new tool, he says, can add to the bigger picture of understanding climate change patterns in general.
“Accurate predictions of flooding were difficult before because there haven’t been enough reliable measurements of moisture fields in remote locations,” Prof. Alpert adds. Using the signals collected from cell phone towers as they communicate with base stations and our handsets, weather forecasters will now have a crucial missing piece of information for flood prediction that they never had before. It will permit forecasters and residents alike to more accurately gauge the danger they face from an impending flood.
Because hundreds of thousands of cell phone towers are already in place, the Tel Aviv University invention can be adopted quickly. And cell phone companies are already collecting the data anyway, as Americans continue to ramp up their minutes of call time every month.
Prof. Alpert and his co-researchers Prof. Hagit Messer Yaron and doctoral fellow Noam David reported on their research in the April 2009 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
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7. IDF Widows Can Remarry Freely
by Hillel Fendel
IDF widows will be able to remarry without fear of losing their IDF pensions, according to a legislative proposal just approved bya ministerial committee.
After a long public and internal Knesset struggle, the widows of IDF soldiers need no longer choose between remarrying – formally or otherwise – and retaining a major source of support.
Mualem: “Stop asking how much it will cost, but rather, What does the State of Israel want to happen with IDF widows?"
The widows of terrorism victims are not included in the new amendment at present.The law will be amended to state that even remarried widows will be considered family members of the deceased and eligible for state-sponsored pension funds. However, the Finance Ministry and government officials still insist that only part of the full pension be paid, and the matter will be debated in the coming days and weeks.
MK Uri Ariel (National Union), who co-sponsored the bill, said on Sunday, “The ministerial committee for legislation has proven that aside from maintaining the budget framework, the State has a heart, as well as a moral and humane obligation to the widows of the fallen who wish to open a new chapter in their lives.”
Rabbis' Positions
At least one rabbi was willing to take a large chance and officiate at the weddings of IDF widows without informing the authorities. Though he did not wish to identify himself, he said that he could not turn his back on the plight of women who had to choose between remaining unmarried and becoming totally dependent on their new husband.
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, on the other hand, a prominent spokesman for the religious-Zionist Tzohar Rabbis Organization, said he could not justify clandestine weddings of this nature, but said that the law must be changed. He said that a compromise would be the preferred method, wherein the widows continue to receive part of their IDF pensions upon remarrying.
Shuli Mualem
Former Jewish Home-party Knesset candidate Shuli Mualem has been a prominent activist on behalf of the change in the law. Her first husband, Lt.-Col. Moshe Mualem, was the highest-ranking victim of the helicopter crash in 1997 in which over 70 soldiers and officers were killed. Two and a half years later, she decided to pick up the pieces of her life and remarry – and demonstratively did not register the marriage with the Interior Ministry. As in other cases, the Defense Ministry turned a blind eye and continued to pay her pension, but at the same time she continued to fight for the law to be changed.
“The essential change that I want to bring about is to stop asking how much it will cost,” Mualem wrote this week, “but rather, ‘What does the State of Israel want to happen with IDF widows?’ When they tell us, ‘With their deaths, they commanded us to live,’ do they mean only for themselves but not for the widows?”
The amended bill passed itspreliminary reading in the previous Knesset, and must now pass three additional stages before becoming law. Decisions of the previous Knesset must be ratified, it must be debated in a Knesset committee, and it must pass its final readings in the Knesset.
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7-6
1. Pentagon Halts Israeli Fighter Jet Bid, US a Rival on Tender
by Malkah Fleisher
Ascandal has arisen out of the United States military establishment after Pentagon pressure on Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to withdraw from a massive aircraft tender for the Indian Air Force leaves competingAmerican aerospace companies in prime position to win it.
On the table: a $12 billion Indian Ministry of Defense tender for 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) for the Indian Air Force.
In a bid to win the tender, IAI was offered a partnership with Sweden's Saab AB to jointly develop an advanced model of the JAS-39 Gripen jet fighter. Israel was to build the electronic systems for the craft, including communications, electronic warfare and radar systems.
The Pentagon contacted Israel's Ministry of Defense, ordering them to force IAI out of contention, citing concerns that Israel would integrate American technology into the fighter jets.
However, two of the remaining four bidders are American companies, leaving Israeli officials speculating that the actual reason for the demand was America's interest in winning the bid without having to compete by lowering prices, according to Israeli officials quoted in Israeli media
Lockheed Martin's F-16 and Boeing's F-18 Hornet are still in the running, as well as Russia's MiG-35 and the UK's BAE Eurofighter.
The United States has a history of intervening to thwart Israeli military contracts, to America's benefit.Last summer, Israel's defense establishment backed down from a $500 million Turkish tank tenderin ordernot to compete with the Americans.
In 2006, the IAI lost a $2 billion South Korean Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) tender after the US imposed technological and commercial restrictions, which prevented Israel from meeting the terms of the tender.
In 2003, the US opposed a $1 billion AWACS contract between Israel and India, citing India's stance against the US war in Iraq.The US offered Israel $1 billion in US military goods to back down from the agreement. However, Israeli officials speculated that the US may have opposed the deal for commercial reasons.
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2. Peres to Assad: Choose Between Golan and Iran
by Zalman Nelson
The strategic Golan Heights is negotiable, but Israel will not hand it over to Syria while it continues its ties with Iran and its proxy Hizbullah terror group, President Shimon Peres told visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday.
"Assad must make a strategic choice. There is no way that Assad will get territorial concessions from Israel while at the same time maintaining ties with Hizbullah and Iran in a package deal," said Peres.
Steinmeier is on a 40-hour trip to Jerusalem, Damascus and Beirut as part of an effort to persuade neighboring Arab states to take a more active role in diplomatic efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian Authority conflict. He said that he considered maintaining Israel's security a precondition, and that it is Europe's job to boost the moderate forces in the Middle East.
"[Syrian President Basha Assad must understand that he will have to sit at the negotiations table if he wants real peace. He should not depend on mediators; he should sit at the table without any preconditions," said Peres when asked if he had a message for Assad.
"If Hizbullah wants to be Iran's missile carrier against Israel – we cannot allow that," added Peres, whose bold policy statements are more typically heard from the prime minister or cabinet members who determine the Israeli government’s policies.
Discussion of the Golan Heights follows threats last month from a Syriangroup to take back the area by force if a peace agreement involving its return is not reached.The "Syrian Committee for the Freedom of the Golan" said it would take steps to regain control of the territory, and it accused Israel of not showing a willingness to achieve peace or to return whatit called "Syrian land."
Syria controlled the Golan Heights frm 1948-1967and used the area to terrorize Israeli civilians in the Hula Valley below. Israel turned back invading Syrian troops and restored the area to the Jewish stateduring the 1967 Six-Day War. Following the surprise Israeli pre-emptive attack and Arab defeat in 1973, Syria signed a disengagement agreement that left the Golan in Israel's hands.
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by Zalman Nelson
The strategic Golan Heights is negotiable, but Israel will not hand it over to Syria while it continues its ties with Iran and its proxy Hizbullah terror group, President Shimon Peres told visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday.
"Assad must make a strategic choice. There is no way that Assad will get territorial concessions from Israel while at the same time maintaining ties with Hizbullah and Iran in a package deal," said Peres.
Steinmeier is on a 40-hour trip to Jerusalem, Damascus and Beirut as part of an effort to persuade neighboring Arab states to take a more active role in diplomatic efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian Authority conflict. He said that he considered maintaining Israel's security a precondition, and that it is Europe's job to boost the moderate forces in the Middle East.
"[Syrian President Basha Assad must understand that he will have to sit at the negotiations table if he wants real peace. He should not depend on mediators; he should sit at the table without any preconditions," said Peres when asked if he had a message for Assad.
"If Hizbullah wants to be Iran's missile carrier against Israel – we cannot allow that," added Peres, whose bold policy statements are more typically heard from the prime minister or cabinet members who determine the Israeli government’s policies.
Discussion of the Golan Heights follows threats last month from a Syriangroup to take back the area by force if a peace agreement involving its return is not reached.The "Syrian Committee for the Freedom of the Golan" said it would take steps to regain control of the territory, and it accused Israel of not showing a willingness to achieve peace or to return whatit called "Syrian land."
Syria controlled the Golan Heights frm 1948-1967and used the area to terrorize Israeli civilians in the Hula Valley below. Israel turned back invading Syrian troops and restored the area to the Jewish stateduring the 1967 Six-Day War. Following the surprise Israeli pre-emptive attack and Arab defeat in 1973, Syria signed a disengagement agreement that left the Golan in Israel's hands.
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3. Second Temple Stone Quarry Discovered
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Archaeologists have discovered a quarter-acre (one dunam) quarry in Jerusalem that apparently was the source for mammoth stones used by Herod to build the Second Temple. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)discovered the quarry prior to the planned construction of apartment buildings on Shmuel HaNavi Street.
The ancient quarry dates back 2,030 years, according to excavation director Dr. Ofer Sion. The immense size of the stones, which measure up to three meters long and two meters high and wide, “indicates it was highly likely that the large stones that were quarried at the site were destined for use in the construction of Herod’s magnificent projects in Jerusalem, including the Temple walls,” he said.
He also estimated that a large work force among Herod's estimated 10,000 laborers produced the stones by creating detachment channels with the use of a one-pound chisel. “After the channels were formed, the stones were severed from the bedrock using hammers and chisels,” Dr. Sion explained.
“We know from historical sources that in order to build the Temple and other projects which Herod constructed, such as his palace, hundreds of thousands of various size stones were required – most of them weighing between two and five tons each”, said the director of the excavation. “The dimensions of the stones that were produced in the quarry...are suitable for the Temple walls."
“The massive quarrying effort, on the order of hundreds of thousands of stones, lowered the topography of Jerusalem in the vicinity of the Old City," Dr. Sion said. "Today, with the exposure of this quarry, the intensity of the building projects as described in the historical sources can be proven… It is clear that Herod began quarrying closest to the Temple and worked away from it: first he exploited the stone on the nearby ridges and subsequently he moved on to quarry in more distant regions.”
Dr. Sion described the ancient “high-tech method of removing and transporting the stones on rolling wooden fixtures, some of which were pulled by camels."
Other artifacts discovered at the site include metal plates, referred to in the Talmud and which were used as fulcrums to sever the stones from the bedrock, as well as coins and pottery shards from the end of the Second Temple period in the first century, before the beginning of the non-Jewish calendar.
More than 60 people worked on the dig, which lasted approximately two weeks.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Archaeologists have discovered a quarter-acre (one dunam) quarry in Jerusalem that apparently was the source for mammoth stones used by Herod to build the Second Temple. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)discovered the quarry prior to the planned construction of apartment buildings on Shmuel HaNavi Street.
The ancient quarry dates back 2,030 years, according to excavation director Dr. Ofer Sion. The immense size of the stones, which measure up to three meters long and two meters high and wide, “indicates it was highly likely that the large stones that were quarried at the site were destined for use in the construction of Herod’s magnificent projects in Jerusalem, including the Temple walls,” he said.
He also estimated that a large work force among Herod's estimated 10,000 laborers produced the stones by creating detachment channels with the use of a one-pound chisel. “After the channels were formed, the stones were severed from the bedrock using hammers and chisels,” Dr. Sion explained.
“We know from historical sources that in order to build the Temple and other projects which Herod constructed, such as his palace, hundreds of thousands of various size stones were required – most of them weighing between two and five tons each”, said the director of the excavation. “The dimensions of the stones that were produced in the quarry...are suitable for the Temple walls."
“The massive quarrying effort, on the order of hundreds of thousands of stones, lowered the topography of Jerusalem in the vicinity of the Old City," Dr. Sion said. "Today, with the exposure of this quarry, the intensity of the building projects as described in the historical sources can be proven… It is clear that Herod began quarrying closest to the Temple and worked away from it: first he exploited the stone on the nearby ridges and subsequently he moved on to quarry in more distant regions.”
Dr. Sion described the ancient “high-tech method of removing and transporting the stones on rolling wooden fixtures, some of which were pulled by camels."
Other artifacts discovered at the site include metal plates, referred to in the Talmud and which were used as fulcrums to sever the stones from the bedrock, as well as coins and pottery shards from the end of the Second Temple period in the first century, before the beginning of the non-Jewish calendar.
More than 60 people worked on the dig, which lasted approximately two weeks.
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4. Israeli Company Develops 'Billion Dollar' Medical Info Patch
by David Shamah
If the wearer's condition deteriorates to a point where he or she enters the "danger zone," the patch alerts the cell phone to send out an SMS or other message to medical personnel.An Israeli company has sold a one-third interest in a medical device it developed to a British-Taiwanese company for $370 million – making the total value of SafeSky's LifeKeeper Patch over $1 billion.
The deal, between SafeSky and Micro-Star International (MSI), is one of the biggest ever in relative terms for an Israeli hi-tech industry. SafeSky will retain 67% of the ownership of the patch, and MSI has an option to purchase a bigger share later on – at five times the price it paid this week.
The LifeKeeper Patch, not much bigger than a shekel coin, contains a microprocessor which can read information about the wearer's medical state – recording data such as body temperature, heart rate and rhythms, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. When the patch is worn, the information is transmitted via Bluetooth to a cell phone, where an application records the information.
The phone program evaluates the data, and if the information being recorded indicates that that wearer is in danger of a heart attack or stroke, it can send an emergency message out to doctors or emergency services, who can then locate the wearer using the phone's GPS capabilities.
The LifePatch, which was developed by SafeSky co-owner Arik Klein, is considered a revolutionary "teletherapy" device. Itcontains a number of important advancements, company CEO Dr. Gabi Picker told reporters – among them its ability to determine blood sugar levels without the need for invasive blood tests, a boon for diabetes sufferers. In essence, he says, the patch contains a "mini-lab" where information about the wearer's condition is constantly evaluated.
If the wearer's condition deteriorates to a point where he or she enters the "danger zone," the patch alerts the cell phone to send out an SMS or other message to medical personnel – thus allowing doctors to take full advantage of the "golden hour," the period immediately after a medical event or injury where critical care can do the most good.
According to Picker, both Klein and his partner, Dr. Amos Bouchnik – all of them dentists – have been working on the patch for eight years, and while SafeSky has developed prototypes, it has not yet produced a commercial version of the product, which is where the partnership with MSI comes in. SafeSky will continue to develop applications to allow the patch to be used in a number of medical scenarios. In addition, he said, the company has not sought venture capital or other investment money, because Klein and Bouchnik were concentrating on developing the algorithms for the software that runs the patch.
SafeSky, headquartered in Tel Aviv's Ramat HaChayal hi-tech area, is not just a medical device company, said Picker; the company has about 20 other patents andis in the process of making deals on as well. Among those patents, he said, is a better solar panel, which can collect 100 times more energy than panels currently in use.
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by David Shamah
If the wearer's condition deteriorates to a point where he or she enters the "danger zone," the patch alerts the cell phone to send out an SMS or other message to medical personnel.
An Israeli company has sold a one-third interest in a medical device it developed to a British-Taiwanese company for $370 million – making the total value of SafeSky's LifeKeeper Patch over $1 billion. The deal, between SafeSky and Micro-Star International (MSI), is one of the biggest ever in relative terms for an Israeli hi-tech industry. SafeSky will retain 67% of the ownership of the patch, and MSI has an option to purchase a bigger share later on – at five times the price it paid this week.
The LifeKeeper Patch, not much bigger than a shekel coin, contains a microprocessor which can read information about the wearer's medical state – recording data such as body temperature, heart rate and rhythms, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. When the patch is worn, the information is transmitted via Bluetooth to a cell phone, where an application records the information.
The phone program evaluates the data, and if the information being recorded indicates that that wearer is in danger of a heart attack or stroke, it can send an emergency message out to doctors or emergency services, who can then locate the wearer using the phone's GPS capabilities.
The LifePatch, which was developed by SafeSky co-owner Arik Klein, is considered a revolutionary "teletherapy" device. Itcontains a number of important advancements, company CEO Dr. Gabi Picker told reporters – among them its ability to determine blood sugar levels without the need for invasive blood tests, a boon for diabetes sufferers. In essence, he says, the patch contains a "mini-lab" where information about the wearer's condition is constantly evaluated.
If the wearer's condition deteriorates to a point where he or she enters the "danger zone," the patch alerts the cell phone to send out an SMS or other message to medical personnel – thus allowing doctors to take full advantage of the "golden hour," the period immediately after a medical event or injury where critical care can do the most good.
According to Picker, both Klein and his partner, Dr. Amos Bouchnik – all of them dentists – have been working on the patch for eight years, and while SafeSky has developed prototypes, it has not yet produced a commercial version of the product, which is where the partnership with MSI comes in. SafeSky will continue to develop applications to allow the patch to be used in a number of medical scenarios. In addition, he said, the company has not sought venture capital or other investment money, because Klein and Bouchnik were concentrating on developing the algorithms for the software that runs the patch.
SafeSky, headquartered in Tel Aviv's Ramat HaChayal hi-tech area, is not just a medical device company, said Picker; the company has about 20 other patents andis in the process of making deals on as well. Among those patents, he said, is a better solar panel, which can collect 100 times more energy than panels currently in use.
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5. New Israeli Consulate in China To Boost Partnership, Prosperity
by Malkah Fleisher
Israel looks forward to stronger ties with China's prosperous southern manufacturing region, inaugurating a new Israeli consulate in Guangzhou, capital of the flourishing Guangdong province. Having begun operations in March, the new consulate is Israel's third in the country, with Shanghai and Hong Kong branches already serving Israelis living and traveling in Asia.
The Guangzhou consulate will serve the Guangdong, Hainan and Fujian provinces, as well as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Opportunities for cooperation are most prevalent in the areas of water recycling and agriculture, as well as clean energy and computer and mobile phone technologies, according to Consul General in Guangzhou Avraham Nir. Guangdong province, one of China's most prosperous regions, is increasingly focused on hi-tech and "green" practices, said Nir.
The Consul General told the China Daily newspaper that Israel was recently named the world's most efficient recycled water user by the United Nations.He also noted that many of the computer and mobile phone technologies in use today were invented in Israel, making a partnership between the Jewish State and the economic giant a natural one for both parties.
Even prior to the new partnership, trade between Israel and Guangdong province was $1.3 billion in 2007, a quarter of all trade between Israel and China.
Guangzhou, the third largest metropolis in China, is also home to a successful Chabad house, which frequently provides services to Jewish businessmen attracted by the large Canton business fair held annually in the city.According to Chabad emissary Rabbi Eliyahu Rozenberg, there are an estimated 200 local Jews residing in the area. While some non-Jews, often wives of Jewish men who came to the region, have expressed an interest in converting to Judaism, Chinese anti-proselytizing laws have prevented Chabad from performing conversions.
Guangzhou is currently the sister city of many international cities, including Los Angeles, Dubai, Durban, Bristol, Lyon, and Sydney.
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by Malkah Fleisher
Israel looks forward to stronger ties with China's prosperous southern manufacturing region, inaugurating a new Israeli consulate in Guangzhou, capital of the flourishing Guangdong province. Having begun operations in March, the new consulate is Israel's third in the country, with Shanghai and Hong Kong branches already serving Israelis living and traveling in Asia.
The Guangzhou consulate will serve the Guangdong, Hainan and Fujian provinces, as well as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Opportunities for cooperation are most prevalent in the areas of water recycling and agriculture, as well as clean energy and computer and mobile phone technologies, according to Consul General in Guangzhou Avraham Nir. Guangdong province, one of China's most prosperous regions, is increasingly focused on hi-tech and "green" practices, said Nir.
The Consul General told the China Daily newspaper that Israel was recently named the world's most efficient recycled water user by the United Nations.He also noted that many of the computer and mobile phone technologies in use today were invented in Israel, making a partnership between the Jewish State and the economic giant a natural one for both parties.
Even prior to the new partnership, trade between Israel and Guangdong province was $1.3 billion in 2007, a quarter of all trade between Israel and China.
Guangzhou, the third largest metropolis in China, is also home to a successful Chabad house, which frequently provides services to Jewish businessmen attracted by the large Canton business fair held annually in the city.According to Chabad emissary Rabbi Eliyahu Rozenberg, there are an estimated 200 local Jews residing in the area. While some non-Jews, often wives of Jewish men who came to the region, have expressed an interest in converting to Judaism, Chinese anti-proselytizing laws have prevented Chabad from performing conversions.
Guangzhou is currently the sister city of many international cities, including Los Angeles, Dubai, Durban, Bristol, Lyon, and Sydney.
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6. Iran 'Ready to Respond' to Israeli Attack
by Yehudah Lev Kay
Iranian parliamentary official Alaeddin Broujerdi said Monday that his country is ready to take “real and decisive” action in response to an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities. He spoke out while attending a summit in Tokyo.
“Both the U.S. and Israel are aware of the consequences of an erroneous decision,” Broujerdi said. “I believe our response will be real and decisive.”
The Iranian’s comments came a day after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said his country would not stand in Israel’s way if it decided to attack. “We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do,” he said.
Recent reports of preparations for a pre-emptive stikein Iran have comein thewake of growing doubts that the Obama administration's diplomatic arm-twisiting and economic sanctions can convince Iran not to enrich uranium and use it for a nuclear weapon.
John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in the WashingtonPost last week that America's attempts are doomed to failure and that an Israeli strike on Iran is the only hope to stop Tehran from becoming a nuclear threat to the entire Western world.
Concerning Iran's internal affairs, Iran's Broujerdi defended his country’s crackdown on protestors over the contested Iranian presidential election results, sayingthe police acted to maintain order. “There is no confusion,” he said. “It is now a totally peaceful situation in Iran.”
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by Yehudah Lev Kay
Iranian parliamentary official Alaeddin Broujerdi said Monday that his country is ready to take “real and decisive” action in response to an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities. He spoke out while attending a summit in Tokyo.
“Both the U.S. and Israel are aware of the consequences of an erroneous decision,” Broujerdi said. “I believe our response will be real and decisive.”
The Iranian’s comments came a day after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said his country would not stand in Israel’s way if it decided to attack. “We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do,” he said.
Recent reports of preparations for a pre-emptive stikein Iran have comein thewake of growing doubts that the Obama administration's diplomatic arm-twisiting and economic sanctions can convince Iran not to enrich uranium and use it for a nuclear weapon.
John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in the WashingtonPost last week that America's attempts are doomed to failure and that an Israeli strike on Iran is the only hope to stop Tehran from becoming a nuclear threat to the entire Western world.
Concerning Iran's internal affairs, Iran's Broujerdi defended his country’s crackdown on protestors over the contested Iranian presidential election results, sayingthe police acted to maintain order. “There is no confusion,” he said. “It is now a totally peaceful situation in Iran.”
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7. 'Run, Hadji, Run' Fireworks Blows Up in Wisconsin
by Malkah Fleisher
AUnited Statesfireworks retailer in Wisconsinis pulling a fireworks product off its shelves after Muslim activists decriedit as "derogatory".
Wisconsin-based news site Pioneer Press said a "local shopper" from nearby Minnesota found the "Run, Hadji, Run" firework on the shelves of fireworks store Fireworks City in Baldwin, Wisconsin, and contacted the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).[weJe
Email readers: Click here to view the video report
The packaging of "Run Hadji Run", an aerial strobe firework produced in China and imported by Red Rhino Fireworks, depicts a group appearing to be Arabs on camelback, overshadowed by an overhead stealth bomber. On another side of the wrapper, an angry Uncle Sam yanks the beard of a dark man in flowing attire bearing a strong resemblance to Osama bin Laden.
"Hadji" is an Arabic term for someone who has made the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, but CAIR says it also "has often been used as a derogatory term by US soldiers during the Iraq War."
When CAIR contacted the retailer and asked that they pull the product from the shelves, the store management consented.
CAIR has also asked Red Rhino Fireworks to take similar action. They have also demanded that Red Rhino apologize to the Muslim and Arab community.
Red Rhino's president, Steve Hauser, says the company hasn't offered th at firework for sale in years.
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7-5
1. Saudis Would Allow Israel to Attack Iran
by Avraham Zuroff
Saudi Arabia would turnthe other cheek and allow Israel touse its airspace to attack Iran, London’s Sunday Times reports. According to the report, Mossad chief Meir Dagan has told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that Syria has hinted to the move.
“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israel air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source stated.
“The Saudis are very concerned about an Iranian nuclear bomb, even more that the Israelis,” a former Israeli intelligence head stated.
John Bolton, the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., said that it was logical that Saudi Arabia would privately agree. “None of them would say anything about it publicly, but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success,” Bolton told several Arab leaders in the Gulf. “To this day, the Israelis haven’t admitted the specifics, but there’s one less nuclear facility in Syria,” Bolton added, referring to Israel’s attack on a Syrian nuclear site in 2007.
Bolton said that the Arab countries would publicly condemn Israel at the U.N. but would breathe easier if the Iranian nuclear threat would be eliminated.
Several media sources reported Friday that an Israeli Dolphin submarine passed through the Suez Canal on its way to the Red Sea last month as part of a naval exercise. Israeli security officials told the Reuters news agency that the exercise was done as part of testing Israel’s strategy in light of the Iranian nuclear threat. Egypt denied the reports.
Two weeks ago, IDF Commander in Chief Gabi Ashkenazi related to Israel’s possibly striking Iran and announced that Iran’s re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad requires Israel to keep all its options open. “His severe expression regarding his desire to attack the State of Israel, and the constant allowance of Iran to acquire non-conventional weaponry, requires us to keep the army posted and prepared and the air force ready and sharp like a razor. Our obligation as an army is to put all the options on the table and to be prepared to deal with any threat for near and afar,” Ashkenazi said at an air force graduation course.
Foreign media reported that Israel is performing military maneuvers to prepare for a possible strike on Iran, while Iran is making defensive plans. Among the exercises was an Israeli long-distance refueling in flight to the Straits of Gibraltar and Iran’s employing an anti-ballistic battery a half year ago.
Michael Oren, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, said Friday that Israel could be wiped off the map in seconds if Iran were to make a nuclear strike against Israel. “This is a regime that’s willing to kill its own citizens; it will certainly have no compunctions killing other people in the region, Jews and Sunni Arabs alike,” Oren told journalist Jeffrey Goldberg at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.
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2. Netanyahu, First Time: '2-State Solution'
by Maayana Miskin
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu discussed his government's first 100 days in power on Sunday, and touted the “two-state solution” as an accomplishment. “We have brought about national agreement on the concept of two states for two peoples for the first time,” he said.
Netanyahu credited his government with giving “real meaning” to the concept of “two states for two peoples” by insisting that Israel retain its status as a Jewish state under any agreement aimed at creating a demilitarized Arab state in Judea and Samaria.
The speech was the first time Netanyahu has used the term “two states for two peoples.” Three weeks earlier he made headlines by using the phrase “Palestinian state” for the first time.
The prime minister repeated his conditions for the implementation of a “two state solution,” saying, “The Palestinians will need to recognize the state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, and the refugee problem will be solved outside Israel's borders. Israel needs, and will get, defensible borders and the complete demilitarization of the Palestinian territory.”
PA Rejects
The Palestinian Authority has rejected all of Netanyahu's conditions, and continues to insist that Arab “refugees” descended from those who fled pre-state Israel in the 1940s be allowed to “return” to Israel. Millions of foreign Arabs currently consider themselves “Palestinian refugees.”
The PA refuses to recognize Israel as Jewish, fearing that such recognition would be taken as denying foreign Arabs the possibility of immigrating to Israel and becoming the demographic majority.
Other Accomplishments: Economy, Calm in South
Netanyahu also claimed the relative calm in Israel's south as one of his government's accomplishments. Operation Cast Lead, conducted shortly before his government took office, created a basis for calm, he said, emphasizing that the actions taken over the past three months preserved the calm.
Israel has maintained its gains in Cast Lead by responding to every single shooting from Gaza, he explained.
The prime minister claimed accomplishments in the financial realm as well. His government has achieved “national economic unity” and stands to pass Israel's first two-year budget, a step he said “is a component of stability in an atmosphere of instability.”
The government has more plans for economic reform, including a proposal to ease building laws, he added.
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by Maayana Miskin
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu discussed his government's first 100 days in power on Sunday, and touted the “two-state solution” as an accomplishment. “We have brought about national agreement on the concept of two states for two peoples for the first time,” he said.
Netanyahu credited his government with giving “real meaning” to the concept of “two states for two peoples” by insisting that Israel retain its status as a Jewish state under any agreement aimed at creating a demilitarized Arab state in Judea and Samaria.
The speech was the first time Netanyahu has used the term “two states for two peoples.” Three weeks earlier he made headlines by using the phrase “Palestinian state” for the first time.
The prime minister repeated his conditions for the implementation of a “two state solution,” saying, “The Palestinians will need to recognize the state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, and the refugee problem will be solved outside Israel's borders. Israel needs, and will get, defensible borders and the complete demilitarization of the Palestinian territory.”
PA Rejects
The Palestinian Authority has rejected all of Netanyahu's conditions, and continues to insist that Arab “refugees” descended from those who fled pre-state Israel in the 1940s be allowed to “return” to Israel. Millions of foreign Arabs currently consider themselves “Palestinian refugees.”
The PA refuses to recognize Israel as Jewish, fearing that such recognition would be taken as denying foreign Arabs the possibility of immigrating to Israel and becoming the demographic majority.
Other Accomplishments: Economy, Calm in South
Netanyahu also claimed the relative calm in Israel's south as one of his government's accomplishments. Operation Cast Lead, conducted shortly before his government took office, created a basis for calm, he said, emphasizing that the actions taken over the past three months preserved the calm.
Israel has maintained its gains in Cast Lead by responding to every single shooting from Gaza, he explained.
The prime minister claimed accomplishments in the financial realm as well. His government has achieved “national economic unity” and stands to pass Israel's first two-year budget, a step he said “is a component of stability in an atmosphere of instability.”
The government has more plans for economic reform, including a proposal to ease building laws, he added.
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3. Obama Turns to Pope to Back Mideast Plan
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama is turning to the Pope to back his vision of a new Arab state on all of Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. The president told the Catholic Italian newspaper Avvenire, one week before a scheduled meeting with the Pope in Italy, “It [the Middle Eas is a subject I am keen to discuss with the pope. I think he will share my approach."
President Obama has dug in his heels in insisting that Israel stop all building for Jews in Judea and Samaria, and the State Department has indicated that the ban should include all of Jerusalem that was restored to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.
However, the president maintained that the United States should not impose on Israel and the Palestinian Authority a solution to the differences between them. "What the United States can do, without imposing a solution, is to hold a mirror up to both of the parties to show them the consequences of their actions," he told the newspaper.
"On one hand, it is not just Israel's fault," President Obama added, pointing out that the Arab world needs to understand that “the Jewish state has security needs like any country.” His use of theterm “Jewish state” and not “Israel" may have been a hint that the PA must accept Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s demand for the same recognition.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria have demanded that Prime Minister Netanyahu meet with them immediately over the issue of construction for Judea and Samaria, where they said “not even one construction plan has been approved in Judea and Samaria inseveral months.”
Council chairman Danny Dayanpointed out in a letter to thePrime Minister, “The government under your leadership embarked on its term in office with the declared intention of returning Jewish settlement to a path of development."
Dayan wants the meeting before Defense Minister Ehud Barak flies to London to talk with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Monday for the second time in a week.
The Obama administration is asking Arab governments ifthey would agree to ease sanctions against Israel in return for a freeze on Jewish building in Judea and Samaria, according to Reuters. The Arab world so far has expressed no interest in taking up President Obama on his proposal in his speech in Cairo last June, when he urged Arab countries to allow Israel’s El Al Airlines to fly over their skies.
Another idea to tempt Israel into freezing all building is to convince Arab governments to abandon their policy of blocking Israeli-registered cellular phones on Arab networks.
However, President Obama faces stiff opposition from Arabs to make any concessions before Israel completely surrenders all of Judea and Samaria. "The Arabs ... are saying they don't want to pay for something twice," according to an unnamed diplomat quoted by Reuters. "It would be hard for them to give up something when building work was still continuing on existing settlement projects.”
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama is turning to the Pope to back his vision of a new Arab state on all of Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. The president told the Catholic Italian newspaper Avvenire, one week before a scheduled meeting with the Pope in Italy, “It [the Middle Eas is a subject I am keen to discuss with the pope. I think he will share my approach."
President Obama has dug in his heels in insisting that Israel stop all building for Jews in Judea and Samaria, and the State Department has indicated that the ban should include all of Jerusalem that was restored to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.
However, the president maintained that the United States should not impose on Israel and the Palestinian Authority a solution to the differences between them. "What the United States can do, without imposing a solution, is to hold a mirror up to both of the parties to show them the consequences of their actions," he told the newspaper.
"On one hand, it is not just Israel's fault," President Obama added, pointing out that the Arab world needs to understand that “the Jewish state has security needs like any country.” His use of theterm “Jewish state” and not “Israel" may have been a hint that the PA must accept Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s demand for the same recognition.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria have demanded that Prime Minister Netanyahu meet with them immediately over the issue of construction for Judea and Samaria, where they said “not even one construction plan has been approved in Judea and Samaria inseveral months.”
Council chairman Danny Dayanpointed out in a letter to thePrime Minister, “The government under your leadership embarked on its term in office with the declared intention of returning Jewish settlement to a path of development."
Dayan wants the meeting before Defense Minister Ehud Barak flies to London to talk with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Monday for the second time in a week.
The Obama administration is asking Arab governments ifthey would agree to ease sanctions against Israel in return for a freeze on Jewish building in Judea and Samaria, according to Reuters. The Arab world so far has expressed no interest in taking up President Obama on his proposal in his speech in Cairo last June, when he urged Arab countries to allow Israel’s El Al Airlines to fly over their skies.
Another idea to tempt Israel into freezing all building is to convince Arab governments to abandon their policy of blocking Israeli-registered cellular phones on Arab networks.
However, President Obama faces stiff opposition from Arabs to make any concessions before Israel completely surrenders all of Judea and Samaria. "The Arabs ... are saying they don't want to pay for something twice," according to an unnamed diplomat quoted by Reuters. "It would be hard for them to give up something when building work was still continuing on existing settlement projects.”
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4. Bill Proposal to Nix Family Visits to Hamas Terrorists Postponed
by Maayana Miskin
A ministerial committee announced Sunday that it would not discuss a bill known as the “Shalit Bill” as previously scheduled, due to the fact that senior defense officials have not yet decided their position on the issue. The hearing has been postponed indefinitely. It had earlier been reported that many ministers supported the bill.
The Shalit Bill would limit the visits enjoyed by terrorists affiliated with an organization that is holding a citizen or resident of Israel captive. Such terrorists would be allowed to see only their lawyers and representatives of the Red Cross until the organization to which they belong releases its hostage.
Currently, Hamas terrorists enjoy the benefits given to other prisoners in Israel, including regular visits with their families. Kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was taken hostage three years ago, has not been permitted any visits, including those required under international law.
"It makes no sense that while Gilad Shalit is captive and receives no visits, not even from the Red Cross, Hamas terrorists in Israel get VIP treatment,” explains MK Danny Danon (Likud), who initiated the bill.
Hamas: No Change in Demands
On Saturday, Hamas leaders announced that their demands for Shalit's release remain unchanged. The group is demanding that Israel release approximately 1,400 terrorists, including the following: 1,000 terrorists serving long prison sentences for attacks on Israel, all members of the Hamas parliament currently being detained for their affiliation with the group, all female terrorists in Israeli prisons and all minors being held for terror-related offenses.
In a television interview in Gaza, senior Hamas member Osama al-Mazini said the group's demands “depend on our brave prisoners.” Hamas has no intention of reducing its demands in any way, he said.
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by Maayana Miskin
A ministerial committee announced Sunday that it would not discuss a bill known as the “Shalit Bill” as previously scheduled, due to the fact that senior defense officials have not yet decided their position on the issue. The hearing has been postponed indefinitely. It had earlier been reported that many ministers supported the bill.
The Shalit Bill would limit the visits enjoyed by terrorists affiliated with an organization that is holding a citizen or resident of Israel captive. Such terrorists would be allowed to see only their lawyers and representatives of the Red Cross until the organization to which they belong releases its hostage.
Currently, Hamas terrorists enjoy the benefits given to other prisoners in Israel, including regular visits with their families. Kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was taken hostage three years ago, has not been permitted any visits, including those required under international law.
"It makes no sense that while Gilad Shalit is captive and receives no visits, not even from the Red Cross, Hamas terrorists in Israel get VIP treatment,” explains MK Danny Danon (Likud), who initiated the bill.
Hamas: No Change in Demands
On Saturday, Hamas leaders announced that their demands for Shalit's release remain unchanged. The group is demanding that Israel release approximately 1,400 terrorists, including the following: 1,000 terrorists serving long prison sentences for attacks on Israel, all members of the Hamas parliament currently being detained for their affiliation with the group, all female terrorists in Israeli prisons and all minors being held for terror-related offenses.
In a television interview in Gaza, senior Hamas member Osama al-Mazini said the group's demands “depend on our brave prisoners.” Hamas has no intention of reducing its demands in any way, he said.
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5. Nationalist Camp Opposition A-Forming
by Hillel Fendel
MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) says he has begun to work to coalesce a nationalist-camp opposition, based on Likud, religious and hareidi-religious MKs, to stand against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s freeze on construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.
“I plan to dedicate the coming months towards the creation of a bloc,” Katz said Sunday, “comprised of the religious and hareidi parties, together with as many loyal Likud ministers and MKs as possible. The goal is to build a large opposition to Binyamin Netanyahu from within the coalition.”
Emphasis on Hareidim
“The emphasis will be placed on the hareidi public,” Katz said, “which has been very hurt from Netanyahu’s decision to cave in to Obama and Sarkozy.”
Katz has often criticized the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, “which remain in the coalition and allow Netanyahu to rule, even though their constituents are crying out for inexpensive housing in places like Beitar Illit, Modiin Illit, and elsewhere... Unlike the nationalist-religious public, whose young couples often move into caravans, hareidi newly-weds move into new apartments - and there are none to be had."
The National Union is working on Likud members as well, organizing teams of prominent figures, including former generals, writers, and others, to visit Likud chapters around the country. The goal is to arouse the latent support for the Land of Israel that Likud members are famous for and have them act against Netanyahu’s turnabout from the positions he took during the election campaign.
Six Months
“I estimate that it will take about a half-year until everyone realizes the need to replace Netanyahu as Likud head and Prime Minister,” Katz says.
Yesha Council Wants Meeting with Netanyahu
Meanwhile, the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria has asked for an “urgent meeting” with Netanyahu. In a letter to Netanyahu, the Council writes of a “worrisome erosion in Israel’s position on construction, such as a ‘temporary’ freeze, building only in built-up areas, or in blocs, or for natural growth, etc. Defense Minister Barak even went so far as to speak openly about holding off on new projects, and even said that your own position is not far from a total cessation on new construction.”
“We are in the midst of a total freeze, for all intents and purposes,” the Council’s letter states. “Not one new construction project has been approved in Judea and Samaria for several months. The government that you head declared clearly that it would put Jewish settlement back on the path of growth and development. This is the promise of most of the parties in your government, as well as your personal promise.”
Defense Minister Ehud Barak is set to meet with US envoy George Mitchell in London on Sunday. Israel has not yet formally agreed to a construction freeze, temporary or otherwise, but Barak is reported to be planning to tell him Israel’s conditions for such a freeze. If the US provides guarantees and the Arab nations begin normalizing relations with Israel, Barak will agree to a construction freeze, the reports say.
The Yesha Council asks that Netanyahu schedule the desired meeting with it “before Mitchell arrives in Israel. Our people work on this matter day in and day out, are expert in the details, and lead the large Yesha public. A meeting to discuss the future of the Yesha settlement enterprise is crucial.”
Comment on this story
by Hillel Fendel
MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) says he has begun to work to coalesce a nationalist-camp opposition, based on Likud, religious and hareidi-religious MKs, to stand against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s freeze on construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.
“I plan to dedicate the coming months towards the creation of a bloc,” Katz said Sunday, “comprised of the religious and hareidi parties, together with as many loyal Likud ministers and MKs as possible. The goal is to build a large opposition to Binyamin Netanyahu from within the coalition.”
Emphasis on Hareidim
“The emphasis will be placed on the hareidi public,” Katz said, “which has been very hurt from Netanyahu’s decision to cave in to Obama and Sarkozy.”
Katz has often criticized the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, “which remain in the coalition and allow Netanyahu to rule, even though their constituents are crying out for inexpensive housing in places like Beitar Illit, Modiin Illit, and elsewhere... Unlike the nationalist-religious public, whose young couples often move into caravans, hareidi newly-weds move into new apartments - and there are none to be had."
The National Union is working on Likud members as well, organizing teams of prominent figures, including former generals, writers, and others, to visit Likud chapters around the country. The goal is to arouse the latent support for the Land of Israel that Likud members are famous for and have them act against Netanyahu’s turnabout from the positions he took during the election campaign.
Six Months
“I estimate that it will take about a half-year until everyone realizes the need to replace Netanyahu as Likud head and Prime Minister,” Katz says.
Yesha Council Wants Meeting with Netanyahu
Meanwhile, the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria has asked for an “urgent meeting” with Netanyahu. In a letter to Netanyahu, the Council writes of a “worrisome erosion in Israel’s position on construction, such as a ‘temporary’ freeze, building only in built-up areas, or in blocs, or for natural growth, etc. Defense Minister Barak even went so far as to speak openly about holding off on new projects, and even said that your own position is not far from a total cessation on new construction.”
“We are in the midst of a total freeze, for all intents and purposes,” the Council’s letter states. “Not one new construction project has been approved in Judea and Samaria for several months. The government that you head declared clearly that it would put Jewish settlement back on the path of growth and development. This is the promise of most of the parties in your government, as well as your personal promise.”
Defense Minister Ehud Barak is set to meet with US envoy George Mitchell in London on Sunday. Israel has not yet formally agreed to a construction freeze, temporary or otherwise, but Barak is reported to be planning to tell him Israel’s conditions for such a freeze. If the US provides guarantees and the Arab nations begin normalizing relations with Israel, Barak will agree to a construction freeze, the reports say.
The Yesha Council asks that Netanyahu schedule the desired meeting with it “before Mitchell arrives in Israel. Our people work on this matter day in and day out, are expert in the details, and lead the large Yesha public. A meeting to discuss the future of the Yesha settlement enterprise is crucial.”
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6. Sharansky Welcomes 75 New Immigrants from Ethiopia
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Former Prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky made his official debut as head of the Jewish Agency this week by welcoming 75 new immigrants from Ethiopia at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem.
Sharansky and new Israeli
The new Israelis, who were presented by Sharansky with identity cards, are staying in absorption centers in Be’er Sheva and Tzfat to learn Hebrew, Jewish tradition and Israeli culture to help them make new lives in the country. Several of them will be reunited with family members who moved to the Jewish state years ago.
Sharansky, whofounded theYisrael B’Aliyah party and who was a minister in three governments, was sworn in last month as head of the Jewish Agency after a dispute between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who nominated him, and directors of the quasi-governmental organization.
Diaspora Jews, most of them from the United States, accepted a compromise plan whereby Sharansky will not serve as chairman of the World Zionist Organization, a position traditionally held by the head of the Jewish Agency.
Picture: Sasson Tiram/Jewish Agency
After taking up his new post,Sharansky said he will concentrate on Jewish education in the Diaspora, where the level of Jewish identity has been decreasing,because “when more than 90 percent of the world's Jews live either in Israel, America, France…, you cannot encourage people to make aliyah if they don't have a strong [Jewis identity.”
The Jewish Agency estimates that aliyah from North American will increase by 15 percent this year, following a new trend inthe past years of a renewal of interest among North Americansin moving to Israel. The Agency hosted farewell receptions in New York Washington, Boston, and San Francisco last monthfor members of the communities who will be immigrating to Israel this summer, and similar events will be held this month in Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto.
“These are people who always had the dream of making aliyah, and if they have to start now from the beginning, they want build their lives in Israel,” said Liran Avisar, head of the Jewish Agency Aliyah delegation to North America.
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Former Prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky made his official debut as head of the Jewish Agency this week by welcoming 75 new immigrants from Ethiopia at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem.
Sharansky and new Israeli
The new Israelis, who were presented by Sharansky with identity cards, are staying in absorption centers in Be’er Sheva and Tzfat to learn Hebrew, Jewish tradition and Israeli culture to help them make new lives in the country. Several of them will be reunited with family members who moved to the Jewish state years ago.Sharansky, whofounded theYisrael B’Aliyah party and who was a minister in three governments, was sworn in last month as head of the Jewish Agency after a dispute between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who nominated him, and directors of the quasi-governmental organization.
Diaspora Jews, most of them from the United States, accepted a compromise plan whereby Sharansky will not serve as chairman of the World Zionist Organization, a position traditionally held by the head of the Jewish Agency.
Picture: Sasson Tiram/Jewish Agency
After taking up his new post,Sharansky said he will concentrate on Jewish education in the Diaspora, where the level of Jewish identity has been decreasing,because “when more than 90 percent of the world's Jews live either in Israel, America, France…, you cannot encourage people to make aliyah if they don't have a strong [Jewis identity.”
The Jewish Agency estimates that aliyah from North American will increase by 15 percent this year, following a new trend inthe past years of a renewal of interest among North Americansin moving to Israel. The Agency hosted farewell receptions in New York Washington, Boston, and San Francisco last monthfor members of the communities who will be immigrating to Israel this summer, and similar events will be held this month in Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto.
“These are people who always had the dream of making aliyah, and if they have to start now from the beginning, they want build their lives in Israel,” said Liran Avisar, head of the Jewish Agency Aliyah delegation to North America.
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7. Report: Gaza Religious Police Now Official
by Maayana Miskin
A violent group calling itself “The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” has carried out attacks in Gaza since shortly after Hamas took over the area in mid-2007. Now a female Arab journalist reports that the “unaffiliated” group is clearly an official branch of Hamas, charged with enforcing the group's strict interpretation of Islamic law.
The journalist, Asma abu-Ghul, told Al-Arabiya that she was stopped by the committee's policemen at the beach. Ghul said she was detained for allegedly laughing too loudly and appearing in public with uncovered hair.
The “prevention of vice” police body reports directly to Hamas's Ministry of Waqf Affairs, Ghul said. The force is increasingly visible on the streets of Gaza, she reported, and its officers patrol public beaches and parks as well as businesses such as restaurants and coffee shops.
Hamas Denies Connection
Hamas officials admit that Hamas police patrol beaches and may tell women who they believe are dressed immodestly to go elsewhere. However, Hamas has not claimed any affiliation to the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, and has refused to even admit that the group exists.
The committee lists its goal as hunting down “slaves of the devil who commit blasphemy.” Its first public act, in late 2007, was to beat a local singer for giving a concert. Soon afterwards, members of the group carried out a vicious assault on two residents of southern Gaza accused of “disrespect for Allah.”
A similarly-named group exists in Saudi Arabia as an official government body. The Saudi Arabia organization is tasked with enforcing religious laws, such as ensuring that men and women who are not immediate family members do not interact and maintaining Islamic dress codes.
Police forces responsible for enforcing Islamic law exist in other Muslim states as well, among them Afghanistan and Iran.
Hamas Funds Koran Studies, Supports Covering Girls' Hair
Hamas recently announced that it would cut its employees' salaries by 1% in order to finance Koran studies in Gaza. Former Hamas terrorists and those imprisoned in Israel report that Koran study centers are often the place where young boys in Gaza are first recruited to Islamic terrorist groups.
Last year, the group officially adopted the traditional Muslim criminal code, which includes penalties such as lashes, amputation and crucifixion.
According to the Jerusalem Post, residents of Gaza believe Hamas plans to make hair covering mandatory for all girls in school in the near future. The requirement would affect girls as young as age five.
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by Maayana Miskin
A violent group calling itself “The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” has carried out attacks in Gaza since shortly after Hamas took over the area in mid-2007. Now a female Arab journalist reports that the “unaffiliated” group is clearly an official branch of Hamas, charged with enforcing the group's strict interpretation of Islamic law.
The journalist, Asma abu-Ghul, told Al-Arabiya that she was stopped by the committee's policemen at the beach. Ghul said she was detained for allegedly laughing too loudly and appearing in public with uncovered hair.
The “prevention of vice” police body reports directly to Hamas's Ministry of Waqf Affairs, Ghul said. The force is increasingly visible on the streets of Gaza, she reported, and its officers patrol public beaches and parks as well as businesses such as restaurants and coffee shops.
Hamas Denies Connection
Hamas officials admit that Hamas police patrol beaches and may tell women who they believe are dressed immodestly to go elsewhere. However, Hamas has not claimed any affiliation to the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, and has refused to even admit that the group exists.
The committee lists its goal as hunting down “slaves of the devil who commit blasphemy.” Its first public act, in late 2007, was to beat a local singer for giving a concert. Soon afterwards, members of the group carried out a vicious assault on two residents of southern Gaza accused of “disrespect for Allah.”
A similarly-named group exists in Saudi Arabia as an official government body. The Saudi Arabia organization is tasked with enforcing religious laws, such as ensuring that men and women who are not immediate family members do not interact and maintaining Islamic dress codes.
Police forces responsible for enforcing Islamic law exist in other Muslim states as well, among them Afghanistan and Iran.
Hamas Funds Koran Studies, Supports Covering Girls' Hair
Hamas recently announced that it would cut its employees' salaries by 1% in order to finance Koran studies in Gaza. Former Hamas terrorists and those imprisoned in Israel report that Koran study centers are often the place where young boys in Gaza are first recruited to Islamic terrorist groups.
Last year, the group officially adopted the traditional Muslim criminal code, which includes penalties such as lashes, amputation and crucifixion.
According to the Jerusalem Post, residents of Gaza believe Hamas plans to make hair covering mandatory for all girls in school in the near future. The requirement would affect girls as young as age five.
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7-3
1. Iranian Expert: Obama Leading to Calamity
by Hillel Fendel
by Hillel Fendel
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