-----
B"H
OK, this is just getting weirder and weirder. The only explanation I have for this bazaar situation is that Hashm wishes to inform us that the legal lynching is not our imagination, and Hashm wishes for Tzvia to win enough of a settlement for false imprisonment that she can form her own foundation AND live comfortably for the rest of her life.
May it be so!
M
-----
ISRAEL'S JUDICIARY DENIES RESPONSIBILITY FOR JUDGE
www.israeljustice.com/news2.asp?key=110 Date added: 3/11/2008
Jerusalem -- Israel's judiciary system has disassociated itself from the conduct of a Kfar Saba magistrate who sent an 18 year-old Jewish girl to prison for a fourth month despite the recantation of the prosecution's chief witnesses.
The Justice Ministry said it was not responsible for the behavior of Judge Navah Bechor who sent Tzvia Sariel for a fourth month in jail despite the fact that the prosecution's two witnesses refused to identify Sariel as the girl who allegedly assaulted them. The two Arab witnesses also asked the court to withdraw their complaints against Sariel and to release her.
The Justice Ministry's spokesperson's office refused to answer questions about the trial and directed Israeljustice.com to the police prosecutor's office.
"You must refer your questions [about the trial of Tzvia Sariel] to the police spokesperson's office," the Justice Ministry spokesperson's office said, "because the police prosecutor's office and not the state prosecution is conducting the case against Tzvia Sariel."
The police prosecutor's office refused to respond to any questions about the trial.
On March 5, Kfar Saba magistrates Court Judge Nava Bechor ordered Sariel sent for a fourth month to prison despite the lack of prosecution evidence. The judge declared 81 year-old Abdel Baki Shahada Amar a hostile witness after he refused to identify Sariel as the girl who attempted to grab his walking cane until Israeli soldiers intervened to stop the incident. Amar also testified that he had been duped by the police into signing a statement identifying Sariel as the alleged attacker. Amar told the court that he didn't read Arabic and did not know what he was signing.
A second witness, Abdel Karim Hussein, 36, also refused to identify Sariel as the alleged attacker. Hussein asked that his complaints be withdrawn and Sariel be released.
The two Arabs and four other Arabs had been escorted by Civil Administration officials and the army into the West Bank Jewish community of Elon Moreh on December 4, 2007 ostensibly to pick olives but Hussein testified that they had not stepped on that land for 20 years. He said that the Civil Administration had warned them that the Jews would confiscate the land if they didn't accompany them into Elon Moreh, where Sariel lives.
Sariel, one of three girls who yelled at the Arabs to leave and pushed them, refused to identify herself when police arrested her and has refused to recognize the authority of the court and refused to be represented by an attorney.
"She is a captive on the basis of political revenge," attorney Hillel Weiss, empowered by Sariel to read her statement to the court, said. "Not to respect the authority is not a criminal offense. This has become a war of principles and you cannot make this into a life sentence."
Instead, Bechor, who had taken numerous breaks during the hearing, whispered her decision to a court stenographer to delay the trial for another month and send Sariel back to jail. She then fled into chambers.
Earlier, chief police prosecutor Shir Laufer, reportedly asked Ruth Sariel, Tzvia's mother, to sign a release on behalf of her daughter while threatening that the trial would not be concluded that day. This despite the fact that all the prosecution witnesses were present and the trial had already been postponed several times, once due to the illness of the judge and a second time due to the lack of a court intrepreter.
"In a criminal trial, there must be reasonable evidence of the crime, otherwise the defendant should be acquitted," Weiss said.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
PA: Mastermind of Yeshiva Massacre Killed in IDF Raid
B”H
I would suggest they wrap him in pigskin before the bury him, but I wouldn’t want to offend the pig.
M
-----
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125552
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) IDF forces located and killed terrorist Muhammad Shehadeh and three other senior terrorists, aged 35 to 48, in the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Bethlehem Wednesday.
Shehadeh is believed to be the mastermind behind the deadly terror attack on the Merkaz HaRav Kook Yeshiva in Jerusalem a week ago. PA sources claimed Shehade was indeed the terrorist behind the terror, but Israeli security officials flatly denied the claim.
The IDF announced Wednesday that "in a joint IDF and Border Police arrest operation this evening in Bethlehem, Border Police Special Forces identified several Palestinian gunmen in a vehicle. The force fired at them and identified killing four gunmen. An MP5 and two M16 rifles were discovered on their bodies. The four were wanted senior terrorists from the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization."
Muhamad Shehade Abed Ta'amari, 45, was the head of the Islamic Jihad in Bethlehem and was involved in several terrorist attacks in which many Israeli civilians were wounded and killed, including:
November 2, 2000- The car bombing on Shomeron Street in Jerusalem which killed two civilians.
March 27, 2001- The car bombing on Talpiyot Street in Jerusalem in which 5 civilians were wounded.
December 5, 2001- The suicide bombing attack in the Hilton Hotel in Jerusalem in which 6 civilians were wounded.
March 17, 2002- The suicide bombing attack in the French Hill neighborhood in Jerusalem in which 31 civilians were wounded.
April 1, 2002- The shooting attack in the Har Homa neighborhood in Jerusalem in which an IDF soldier was killed.
The three other wanted terrorists, Ahmed Halil Salem Balbul, 48, Imad Hasin Mahmud Camel, 35, and Isa Marzuk Saleh Zuhara, 36, were a part of the Islamic Jihad leadership in Bethlehem and were also involved in extensive terrorist activity from the beginning of the Intifada.
The IDF report did not mention Shehade's role in planning the attack on HaRav Kook yeshiva last Thursday. In the attack, an Israeli Arab resident of the Jabal Mukabar neighborhood in the eastern section of the capital slaughtered seven teenagers and a young adult rabbinic student as they learned Talmud just before the start of a Purim party at the yeshiva. The murderer, Ala Abu Dheim, was killed by an armed part-time student and an off-duty IDF officer who lived nearby.
According to Arab sources, one of the terrorists killed with Shehadeh is reportedly affiliated with Fatah, which is led by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
A PA source said that a large IDF force operated in the center of Bethlehem Wednesday afternoon. Several other Arabs were injured in the IDF raid, according to the source. One of the injured was reportedly Muhammad Balboul, a senior fugitive.
Four Terrorist Murderers Sentenced to Life in Prison
Four fugitive terrorists from the Hevron area were sentenced by the military court at Ofer, in northern Jerusalem to life in prison on Tuesday evening. The four murdered six Jews in a series of deadly attacks.
The terror cell was created by Baher Shakib Awiwi, a clothing vendor, along with Moussa Ibrahim Wazuz, an employee at an office supplies store and Kassem Farid Jaber. A fourth member, Muhammad Julani was recruited later. Each purchased a weapon and trained on his own.
On June 24, 2005 the terrorists murdered Aviad Mantzour and Avichai Levy at a bus stop near Beit haggai, not far from Hevron.
On July 22, 2005 they fired at an IDF force in Hevron. Two soldiers were moderately and lightly wounded. They also killed an Arab bystander.
On October 16, 2005 they murdered three young Jews standing at the Gush Etzion "trampiada" (hitchhiking stop). Matat Rosenfeld Adler and her cousin Kinneret Mandel of Carmel were both murdered as well as 15-year-old Oz Meir of Maon.
On December 16, 2005 the terrorists murdered Yigal Shok of Beit Haggai.
The murderers were arrested by the IDF's elite Duvdevan unit on January 21, 2006.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein has second thoughts about his role in RCA conversions panel
B”H
Somehow Angel and Weiss have become some sort of outlaws, men operating outside the main stream—when they both have been highly respectable rabbis for years and years and years.
Now, it appears that Rabbi Lookstein will be painted with the same brush.
If one doesn’t swallow this tall-tale of risky conversions and accept the bitter pill of the ultra-orthodox rabbinate, even in the name of protecting converts, they are quickly dismissed as “serious” rabbis.
This is the reason for all the silence. One does not want to destroy their reputation by speaking out against a potentially fatal pill for Judaism.
This is a very sad state of affairs. I am proud of Rabbi Lookstein for taking the more difficult road and bringing his concerns to light.
M
-----
A Conversion Critique From Within
Part of the RCA committee on new standards, Haskel Lookstein now says he’s ‘afraid’ of the deal with Chief Rabbinate.
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein: Has second thoughts about his role in RCA conversions panel.
by Debra Nussbaum Cohen
Staff Writer
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a4809/News/New_York.html
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and recently retired head of the Ramaz Jewish day schools on the Upper East Side, is one of Modern Orthodoxy’s elder statesmen. He will soon celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination, but rather than reflecting on his accomplishments with unfettered joy — which include helping between 300 and 400 people convert to Judaism — he is feeling deeply pained about the direction the Orthodox rabbinate is taking when it comes to conversions, and conflicted about his own role in the system.
Rabbi Lookstein was part of the Rabbinical Council of America committee that drafted new guidelines for conversion, which are being called the GPS system, for Geirus [conversion] Policies and Standards. Though unhappy with the direction of the discussions, he was unable to sway other committee members, he says, and now abhors the resulting policy.
He is also one of the 36 Orthodox rabbis currently on the list of clerics who may serve on the religious courts that finalize conversions to Judaism under the GPS system, with the promise that their decisions will be accepted by Israel’s chief rabbinate. (Twelve of the 36 are in the New York area, according to Rabbi Basil Herring, the RCA’s executive vice president, though the full list has not been made public.)
Yet Rabbi Lookstein may remove himself from the list.
“I oppose the system,” said the rabbi, in an interview from Jerusalem, where he was visiting. “I am very much afraid of this system.
“The RCA is making it more difficult for people to convert just as the Chief Rabbinate has made it more difficult for people to convert in Israel. We are replicating their mistakes,” he said.
The new process was developed over the past two years by the RCA and last week ratified by the head of Israel’s rabbinical court system, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, though Rabbi Herring says the plan was developed by his organization alone.
It standardizes and centralizes a process that has traditionally been in the hands of individual rabbis, who shepherded along candidates for conversion and presided over the final step, the actual conversion. Individual rabbis will still mentor and educate potential converts, but a regional religious court — there are currently 15 in the network and more on the way, according to RCA officials — will complete the process, examining the applicant and approving or denying their effort to join the Jewish people.
If they are approved through a GPS-accepted court and judges, then the Israeli chief rabbinate will also accept their conversion, according to the deal between the RCA and Israel.
There were abuses and inconsistencies in U.S. conversions, said RCA leaders. They noted that some Orthodox rabbis felt pressured by congregants to do quickie conversions for gentiles whom their adult children wanted to marry, and there were enough inconsistencies that rabbis felt they could not always trust colleagues’ conversions.
What’s more, the vast majority of the RCA’s membership approved of the agreement, believing that it would be of real benefit to converts, knowing that their status as Jews would be fully accepted should they or their descendants settle in Israel.
In a letter to The Jewish Week (see page 6), two former RCA presidents, Rabbi Kenneth Hain of Lawrence, L.I., and Rabbi Heshie Billet of Woodmere, L.I., note the new agreement is “a responsible halachic plan with clear and flexible guidelines within the framework of halacha for the sole purpose of protecting diaspora converts who wish to move to Israel.” And they question how critics could help converts “avoid the agony of rejection in Israel” without dealing with the Chief Rabbinate’s concerns.
Israel’s chief rabbinate has become increasingly strict in its requirements of someone who wants to convert in the Jewish state, now insisting on a fervently Orthodox level of commitment. If someone wants to marry, he or she must prove that his or her mother’s or grandmother’s Orthodox conversion in the U.S. was kosher, sometimes decades after the fact, leading to burdens so onerous — like finding old documents — that people are often not able to meet them.
The new conversion standards in this country are designed to obviate the domestic and Chief Rabbinate’s challenges, said Rabbi Herring.
Among other things, they require that parents converting an adopted child commit to 12 years of Orthodox day school education for that child, something Rabbi Lookstein finds too strict.
“The consideration seems to be to make sure that nobody enters the Jewish people unless we are absolutely certain of their present and future adherence to the full range of halacha [Jewish law],” says Rabbi Lookstein.
“While I am absolutely in favor of strict standards for conversion, I feel the emphasis ought to be to help people convert and not to put up barriers. I am convinced that the new system is going to create barriers.”
Another rabbi involved with the committee process, who noted that the issue of converting children was the most difficult to hammer out, said that in practical terms the rabbinic judges will show leniency if they see a sincere commitment to raise the child in an active Jewish home.
Rabbi Lookstein also expressed concern that the rabbinic judges could be looking to find reasons to reject a prospective convert rather than welcome her.
“People will have to go before a panel of dayanim [rabbinic judges] who they have never met, in the interest of objectivity, whereas I think the people who do the conversion should be people who are genuinely interested in helping the convert complete the process.
“I don’t consider that to be a lack of objectivity. I consider it to be a manifestation of love and concern. Because the system is being set up in a way like it is in Israel, it will make it more difficult for people to convert in an Orthodox bet din. That’s bad for the conversion candidates, and I think it’s bad for the Jewish people.”
There are cities in the U.S. with several hundred thousand Jews where Orthodox conversions have been centralized for the past few years and despite the size of the populations, fewer than five people become Jewish each year, he said.
The regional religious courts “make it too hard,” said Rabbi Lookstein. “This shows how intimidating the whole process is.”
He worries that the new approach is depersonalizing a spiritually and emotionally complex process.
“I want to be sure that any candidate I want to present for conversion will come before three rabbis who will be welcoming to that candidate rather than challenging, and right now I’m not sure that I can,” he said.
Rabbis in Manhattan have always convened their own panels of judges, he said. There has never before been a regional bet din, “and I’m not sure how that is going to work,” he said.
He hesitates to withdraw from the new system because of the impact it could have on the hundreds of people he has already converted and their descendants.
If he is considered a critic of the establishment, past conversions could be challenged.
“Somebody in Jerusalem might say ‘Lookstein that liberal, that renegade, we can’t rely on his judgment.’ That’s the next step.”
Rabbi Herring said in an interview that only Rabbis Marc Angel and Avi Weiss have spoken out against the accord. “We’ve not heard any dissent from our members, which are over 950. It’s amazing that anything in Jewish life should get this kind of almost unanimous support. When in Jewish life do you have this kind of majority acclamation?”
But according to Rabbi Lookstein, there is a larger group that has not felt comfortable speaking out.
Last year, after sharing his perspective on this issue at an RCA conference, “colleagues came over to encourage me in that point of view but they’re not making any noise,” he said. “There are other rabbis in the RCA who don’t think this is a good idea. They’re just not as vocal as Rabbi Angel and Rabbi Weiss.”
Overall, says Rabbi Lookstein, the new system makes unnecessary demands on potential converts, and discourages them from joining the Jewish people.
“Suddenly we’re worried about all these imperfect converts joining the Jewish people. I’d venture a guess that the most imperfect convert an Orthodox rabbi will convert would probably be far more observant and religious than 90 percent of American Jews. So what are we really afraid of? That we’re watering down the Jewish people?”
.
Somehow Angel and Weiss have become some sort of outlaws, men operating outside the main stream—when they both have been highly respectable rabbis for years and years and years.
Now, it appears that Rabbi Lookstein will be painted with the same brush.
If one doesn’t swallow this tall-tale of risky conversions and accept the bitter pill of the ultra-orthodox rabbinate, even in the name of protecting converts, they are quickly dismissed as “serious” rabbis.
This is the reason for all the silence. One does not want to destroy their reputation by speaking out against a potentially fatal pill for Judaism.
This is a very sad state of affairs. I am proud of Rabbi Lookstein for taking the more difficult road and bringing his concerns to light.
M
-----
A Conversion Critique From Within
Part of the RCA committee on new standards, Haskel Lookstein now says he’s ‘afraid’ of the deal with Chief Rabbinate.
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein: Has second thoughts about his role in RCA conversions panel.
by Debra Nussbaum Cohen
Staff Writer
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a4809/News/New_York.html
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and recently retired head of the Ramaz Jewish day schools on the Upper East Side, is one of Modern Orthodoxy’s elder statesmen. He will soon celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination, but rather than reflecting on his accomplishments with unfettered joy — which include helping between 300 and 400 people convert to Judaism — he is feeling deeply pained about the direction the Orthodox rabbinate is taking when it comes to conversions, and conflicted about his own role in the system.
Rabbi Lookstein was part of the Rabbinical Council of America committee that drafted new guidelines for conversion, which are being called the GPS system, for Geirus [conversion] Policies and Standards. Though unhappy with the direction of the discussions, he was unable to sway other committee members, he says, and now abhors the resulting policy.
He is also one of the 36 Orthodox rabbis currently on the list of clerics who may serve on the religious courts that finalize conversions to Judaism under the GPS system, with the promise that their decisions will be accepted by Israel’s chief rabbinate. (Twelve of the 36 are in the New York area, according to Rabbi Basil Herring, the RCA’s executive vice president, though the full list has not been made public.)
Yet Rabbi Lookstein may remove himself from the list.
“I oppose the system,” said the rabbi, in an interview from Jerusalem, where he was visiting. “I am very much afraid of this system.
“The RCA is making it more difficult for people to convert just as the Chief Rabbinate has made it more difficult for people to convert in Israel. We are replicating their mistakes,” he said.
The new process was developed over the past two years by the RCA and last week ratified by the head of Israel’s rabbinical court system, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, though Rabbi Herring says the plan was developed by his organization alone.
It standardizes and centralizes a process that has traditionally been in the hands of individual rabbis, who shepherded along candidates for conversion and presided over the final step, the actual conversion. Individual rabbis will still mentor and educate potential converts, but a regional religious court — there are currently 15 in the network and more on the way, according to RCA officials — will complete the process, examining the applicant and approving or denying their effort to join the Jewish people.
If they are approved through a GPS-accepted court and judges, then the Israeli chief rabbinate will also accept their conversion, according to the deal between the RCA and Israel.
There were abuses and inconsistencies in U.S. conversions, said RCA leaders. They noted that some Orthodox rabbis felt pressured by congregants to do quickie conversions for gentiles whom their adult children wanted to marry, and there were enough inconsistencies that rabbis felt they could not always trust colleagues’ conversions.
What’s more, the vast majority of the RCA’s membership approved of the agreement, believing that it would be of real benefit to converts, knowing that their status as Jews would be fully accepted should they or their descendants settle in Israel.
In a letter to The Jewish Week (see page 6), two former RCA presidents, Rabbi Kenneth Hain of Lawrence, L.I., and Rabbi Heshie Billet of Woodmere, L.I., note the new agreement is “a responsible halachic plan with clear and flexible guidelines within the framework of halacha for the sole purpose of protecting diaspora converts who wish to move to Israel.” And they question how critics could help converts “avoid the agony of rejection in Israel” without dealing with the Chief Rabbinate’s concerns.
Israel’s chief rabbinate has become increasingly strict in its requirements of someone who wants to convert in the Jewish state, now insisting on a fervently Orthodox level of commitment. If someone wants to marry, he or she must prove that his or her mother’s or grandmother’s Orthodox conversion in the U.S. was kosher, sometimes decades after the fact, leading to burdens so onerous — like finding old documents — that people are often not able to meet them.
The new conversion standards in this country are designed to obviate the domestic and Chief Rabbinate’s challenges, said Rabbi Herring.
Among other things, they require that parents converting an adopted child commit to 12 years of Orthodox day school education for that child, something Rabbi Lookstein finds too strict.
“The consideration seems to be to make sure that nobody enters the Jewish people unless we are absolutely certain of their present and future adherence to the full range of halacha [Jewish law],” says Rabbi Lookstein.
“While I am absolutely in favor of strict standards for conversion, I feel the emphasis ought to be to help people convert and not to put up barriers. I am convinced that the new system is going to create barriers.”
Another rabbi involved with the committee process, who noted that the issue of converting children was the most difficult to hammer out, said that in practical terms the rabbinic judges will show leniency if they see a sincere commitment to raise the child in an active Jewish home.
Rabbi Lookstein also expressed concern that the rabbinic judges could be looking to find reasons to reject a prospective convert rather than welcome her.
“People will have to go before a panel of dayanim [rabbinic judges] who they have never met, in the interest of objectivity, whereas I think the people who do the conversion should be people who are genuinely interested in helping the convert complete the process.
“I don’t consider that to be a lack of objectivity. I consider it to be a manifestation of love and concern. Because the system is being set up in a way like it is in Israel, it will make it more difficult for people to convert in an Orthodox bet din. That’s bad for the conversion candidates, and I think it’s bad for the Jewish people.”
There are cities in the U.S. with several hundred thousand Jews where Orthodox conversions have been centralized for the past few years and despite the size of the populations, fewer than five people become Jewish each year, he said.
The regional religious courts “make it too hard,” said Rabbi Lookstein. “This shows how intimidating the whole process is.”
He worries that the new approach is depersonalizing a spiritually and emotionally complex process.
“I want to be sure that any candidate I want to present for conversion will come before three rabbis who will be welcoming to that candidate rather than challenging, and right now I’m not sure that I can,” he said.
Rabbis in Manhattan have always convened their own panels of judges, he said. There has never before been a regional bet din, “and I’m not sure how that is going to work,” he said.
He hesitates to withdraw from the new system because of the impact it could have on the hundreds of people he has already converted and their descendants.
If he is considered a critic of the establishment, past conversions could be challenged.
“Somebody in Jerusalem might say ‘Lookstein that liberal, that renegade, we can’t rely on his judgment.’ That’s the next step.”
Rabbi Herring said in an interview that only Rabbis Marc Angel and Avi Weiss have spoken out against the accord. “We’ve not heard any dissent from our members, which are over 950. It’s amazing that anything in Jewish life should get this kind of almost unanimous support. When in Jewish life do you have this kind of majority acclamation?”
But according to Rabbi Lookstein, there is a larger group that has not felt comfortable speaking out.
Last year, after sharing his perspective on this issue at an RCA conference, “colleagues came over to encourage me in that point of view but they’re not making any noise,” he said. “There are other rabbis in the RCA who don’t think this is a good idea. They’re just not as vocal as Rabbi Angel and Rabbi Weiss.”
Overall, says Rabbi Lookstein, the new system makes unnecessary demands on potential converts, and discourages them from joining the Jewish people.
“Suddenly we’re worried about all these imperfect converts joining the Jewish people. I’d venture a guess that the most imperfect convert an Orthodox rabbi will convert would probably be far more observant and religious than 90 percent of American Jews. So what are we really afraid of? That we’re watering down the Jewish people?”
.
The Israeli Government Has Lost Its Mind
B”H
What are the idiots in the Israeli government thinking???
Has “multiculturalism” gotten to the point that murder is an acceptable expression of one’s culture? If so, the government is the most racist of all. One who is racist will say, “They are animals, they can’t help but be vicious and murderous. It is in their nature.”
One who is not racist will say, “These are people who are thinking and feeling beings. They are acting in an immoral, unethical, evil way and they must be stopped at all costs. They know better than this, and they should be held accountable for their actions.”
So, we see that the right-wing are not racist, and the left wing are!
Simultaneously, the government must know that it is with population of the land that they will defeat terrorism. For each terrorist act, we must build more towns. If the government takes down a settlement now, they are saying “The terrorism worked! Please give us more.”
This action leads to the death of more Jews.
M
-----
'If Police Don't Dismantle Terrorist Mourning Tent, We Will'
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125503
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Members of the "Jewish Front" say they will arrive at the mourning tent for the terrorist who massacred eight Merkaz HaRav students and will try to dismantle it themselves. The tent is located in Jabal Mukaber, an Arab neighborhood just east of the Jewish neighborhood of Talpiyot Mizrach in the capital. The police are allowing the tent to stand; they were busy last night trying to raze Givat HaOr, outside Beit El, instead.
"Only in Israel could there be a situation where terrorist family members erect a tent to praise and glorify a murderer who perpetrated a massacre against the Jewish Nation," said activist Itamar Ben-Gvir. "Even in Jordan, they didn't allow such a tent. If the police don't do it, then we ourselves will lift the law up from the floor."
Attempt to Destroy Givat HaOr Fails
Last night, just 48 hours after the murderous attack in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook, the police and Border Guard sent forces to perpetrate a violent evacuation of the Givat HaOr (Hill of Light) outpost outside Beit El. They arrested 8 youths, but when they left the area, there were more Jews there than when they started.
Givat HaOr is a group of several old structures from either the Jordanian or British occupation of the area, which has become the site of a new Jewish presence - unauthorized by the government - just outside Beit El. Some 30 people spent this past Sabbath at Givat HaOr, including two families, and more joined them for the Third Meal late in the afternoon.
As dusk fell and the Sabbath ended, a small group of Border Guard police arrived and began arresting some of the people. Their hope that this would lead the rest of them to go quietly was not actualized, however, and the tensions heightened as the Border Guardsmen threatened to use violence and the youths jeered and yelled. The former called for reinforcements, another two dozen policemen soon arrived, and their threats of violence quickly turned into the real thing.
Tuvia Lerner, who photographed much of the event, told Arutz-7, "A Border Guardsman by the name of Yosef Asulin - at least that's what his name tag said - gave a strong blow with his rifle to the back of a boy. Another one, who was not wearing a name tag, strongly hit the hand of someone holding my camera, trying to get him to drop it; he almost succeeded, but I told him I would hold him personally responsible if the camera broke, and he went elsewhere and started acting wildly - giving a very painful knee in the groin to one of the youths..."
The incident continued with the forcible removal of some of the youths, usually four Border Guardsmen to one boy. Many of the girls there yelled at the forces: "Is this what you made Aliyah for? ... You should be ashamed!... [to one who was wearing a yarmulke:] Does your Bible say the same thing as ours?..."
Lerner said that of the eight youths who were more than briefly detained, "five are being held on charges of attacking a Border Guard officer. However, there was only one such officer there, and I was with him the whole time and I saw that he wasn't attacked... Two others were released today [Sunday morning] after they were accused of attacking a policeman. I can testify that this is not true; the police choked one of them from behind, his brother tried to free him - not by attacking the policeman, but by pulling his brother. Then a second policeman joined the fray, and the two boys were arrested."
As the incident progressed, residents from Beit El arrived, in the knowledge that the presence of many people can stop an outpost/community from being destroyed - as occurred in Eish Kodesh last week. "People must realize that Givat HaOr is only one of the places they want to take down," Lerner said. "The Olmert-Livni government wants to take down Givat Assaf and Migron [two strategically-located communities in the near vicinity, with a total of close to 65 families - ed.]. Just as Givat Assaf protects Beit El, Givat HaOr protects Assaf and Migron."
The Givat HaOr and Homesh First organizers call on supporters to return to Givat HaOr as early as Sunday night. "The government has shown its true face," the Homesh First organization announced in a statement, "that while it allows a mourning tent for the perpetrator of a slaughter to function with no problem in Jerusalem, it sends its forces to fight against its own citizens who wish to build the Land."
What are the idiots in the Israeli government thinking???
Has “multiculturalism” gotten to the point that murder is an acceptable expression of one’s culture? If so, the government is the most racist of all. One who is racist will say, “They are animals, they can’t help but be vicious and murderous. It is in their nature.”
One who is not racist will say, “These are people who are thinking and feeling beings. They are acting in an immoral, unethical, evil way and they must be stopped at all costs. They know better than this, and they should be held accountable for their actions.”
So, we see that the right-wing are not racist, and the left wing are!
Simultaneously, the government must know that it is with population of the land that they will defeat terrorism. For each terrorist act, we must build more towns. If the government takes down a settlement now, they are saying “The terrorism worked! Please give us more.”
This action leads to the death of more Jews.
M
-----
'If Police Don't Dismantle Terrorist Mourning Tent, We Will'
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125503
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Members of the "Jewish Front" say they will arrive at the mourning tent for the terrorist who massacred eight Merkaz HaRav students and will try to dismantle it themselves. The tent is located in Jabal Mukaber, an Arab neighborhood just east of the Jewish neighborhood of Talpiyot Mizrach in the capital. The police are allowing the tent to stand; they were busy last night trying to raze Givat HaOr, outside Beit El, instead.
"Only in Israel could there be a situation where terrorist family members erect a tent to praise and glorify a murderer who perpetrated a massacre against the Jewish Nation," said activist Itamar Ben-Gvir. "Even in Jordan, they didn't allow such a tent. If the police don't do it, then we ourselves will lift the law up from the floor."
Attempt to Destroy Givat HaOr Fails
Last night, just 48 hours after the murderous attack in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook, the police and Border Guard sent forces to perpetrate a violent evacuation of the Givat HaOr (Hill of Light) outpost outside Beit El. They arrested 8 youths, but when they left the area, there were more Jews there than when they started.
Givat HaOr is a group of several old structures from either the Jordanian or British occupation of the area, which has become the site of a new Jewish presence - unauthorized by the government - just outside Beit El. Some 30 people spent this past Sabbath at Givat HaOr, including two families, and more joined them for the Third Meal late in the afternoon.
As dusk fell and the Sabbath ended, a small group of Border Guard police arrived and began arresting some of the people. Their hope that this would lead the rest of them to go quietly was not actualized, however, and the tensions heightened as the Border Guardsmen threatened to use violence and the youths jeered and yelled. The former called for reinforcements, another two dozen policemen soon arrived, and their threats of violence quickly turned into the real thing.
Tuvia Lerner, who photographed much of the event, told Arutz-7, "A Border Guardsman by the name of Yosef Asulin - at least that's what his name tag said - gave a strong blow with his rifle to the back of a boy. Another one, who was not wearing a name tag, strongly hit the hand of someone holding my camera, trying to get him to drop it; he almost succeeded, but I told him I would hold him personally responsible if the camera broke, and he went elsewhere and started acting wildly - giving a very painful knee in the groin to one of the youths..."
The incident continued with the forcible removal of some of the youths, usually four Border Guardsmen to one boy. Many of the girls there yelled at the forces: "Is this what you made Aliyah for? ... You should be ashamed!... [to one who was wearing a yarmulke:] Does your Bible say the same thing as ours?..."
Lerner said that of the eight youths who were more than briefly detained, "five are being held on charges of attacking a Border Guard officer. However, there was only one such officer there, and I was with him the whole time and I saw that he wasn't attacked... Two others were released today [Sunday morning] after they were accused of attacking a policeman. I can testify that this is not true; the police choked one of them from behind, his brother tried to free him - not by attacking the policeman, but by pulling his brother. Then a second policeman joined the fray, and the two boys were arrested."
As the incident progressed, residents from Beit El arrived, in the knowledge that the presence of many people can stop an outpost/community from being destroyed - as occurred in Eish Kodesh last week. "People must realize that Givat HaOr is only one of the places they want to take down," Lerner said. "The Olmert-Livni government wants to take down Givat Assaf and Migron [two strategically-located communities in the near vicinity, with a total of close to 65 families - ed.]. Just as Givat Assaf protects Beit El, Givat HaOr protects Assaf and Migron."
The Givat HaOr and Homesh First organizers call on supporters to return to Givat HaOr as early as Sunday night. "The government has shown its true face," the Homesh First organization announced in a statement, "that while it allows a mourning tent for the perpetrator of a slaughter to function with no problem in Jerusalem, it sends its forces to fight against its own citizens who wish to build the Land."
Friday, March 7, 2008
Pray for our loss, Plan for our victory, Never forget
Seven of the ten wounded students remain hospitalized.
The public is asked to pray for the recovery of:
Naftali ben Gila from Sderot
Yonatan ben Avital
Shimon ben Tirza
Nadav ben Hadas
Reuven ben Naomi
Elchanan ben Zehava.
Never Forget:
Doron Mehereta, 26, of Ashdod
Ro'i Rote, 18, of Elkanah in Samaria (Shomron)
Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kokhav HaShachar (Shomron)
Yochai Lipshitz, 18, of the Old City of Jerusalem
Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, of Shilo (Shomron)
Neriah Cohen, 15, of Jerusalem
Segev Pniel Avichayil, 15, of N'vei Daniel in Gush Etzion
Avraham David Moses, 16, of Efrat, Gush Etzion
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Mercaz Harav hit by capital's worst terror attack since April '06
A Palestinian terrorist opened fire at a central Jerusalem yeshiva late Thursday night, killing eight students and wounding 11 others, police and rescue officials said.
The 8:45 p.m. shooting at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood broke a two-year lull in terror in the capital and sent students scurrying for cover from a hail of gunfire - a reported 500-600 bullets - that lasted for several minutes.
"There were horrendous screams of 'Help us! Help us!'" recounted Avrahami Sheinberger of the ZAKA emergency rescue service, one of the first to respond to the scene. "There were bodies strewn all over the floor, at the entrance to the yeshiva, in various rooms and in the library."
As security forces raced to the scene, the gunman fired round after round of ammunition into the library at the seminary, religious Zionism's flagship institution. About 80 students had gathered in the library to celebrate the Hebrew month of Adar II, which begins on Friday evening.
It was not immediately clear, late Thursday night, whether there was a security guard at the entrance to the yeshiva.
Channel 2 reported that the terrorist carried a blue Israeli identity card and came from east Jerusalem.
Initial reports of a second terrorist on the loose proved unfounded, police said.
"We heard shooting and knew that something had happened," recounted Yitzhak Dadon, 40, who studies at the yeshiva. Dadon said he cocked his handgun and went up to the roof of the yeshiva, where he saw the terrorist spraying gunfire indiscriminately at the crowd inside. Dadon said he fired two bullets at the terrorist, who began to stumble.
At the same time, police arrived at the scene and an intense gunfight erupted with the terrorist lasting several minutes, witnesses said. The scent of gunpowder wafted in the air as undercover police stormed the building.
Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Aharon Franco said the terrorist was killed by an IDF officer who lives near the yeshiva and raced to the scene.
Rescue workers recounted a grisly picture of students hiding under desks and locking themselves in classrooms to avoid being caught in the hail of bullets.
Yerach Toker, a paramedic for United Hatzola of Israel, said he saw several dead yeshiva students on the library's floor. "Some of them were still holding sacred Jewish books smeared with blood from which they were learning before they were murdered," he said.
"I heard an explosion and I quickly understood that this was gunfire," said Nuri Davidov, 21. "We hid in a room and, from a window, we could see the terrorist opening fire at other students."
"We had just finished evening prayers and suddenly we heard a burst of gunfire," said Dr. Yitzhak Luber, who was attending a class at the yeshiva. "We all immediately ducked on the floor."
Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said the dead gunman was wearing a vest that at first appeared to be an explosives vest but turned out to be a belt holding extra ammunition.
Outside the yeshiva after the attack, crowds of angry onlookers shouted "Death to Arabs!" as rescue workers rushed the wounded to city hospitals.
Franco said that there was no specific intelligence warning about such an impending attack, although there were general alerts for terrorist attacks in the city.
Police were on heightened alert ahead of Friday prayers on the Temple Mount after a major IDF operation in the Gaza Strip earlier in the week.
Hizbullah's Al-Manar satellite television station announced Thursday that a relatively unknown Israeli Arab group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza was responsible for the shooting attack. "Galilee Freedom Battalions - the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem operation," read the message that flashed across Al-Manar's screen.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was informed of the attack after holding security meetings in Tel Aviv. He spoke immediately after the attack with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, and held consultations with his advisers and security officials.
Lupolianski told Channel 2, "It's very sad tonight in Jerusalem - many people were killed in the heart of Jerusalem."
The Foreign Ministry said the attack would not stop Israel's peace efforts. "Talks will continue," a spokesman said.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack. "The president condemns all attacks that target civilians, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli," the PA said in a statement.
In Gaza City, residents went out into the streets and fired rifles in the air in celebration after hearing news of the attack on the yeshiva.
At Shaare Zedek Medical Center, which is only a few minutes' drive from the yeshiva, the most seriously wounded student - who had bullet holes in many parts of his body - was rushed to the operating room. Spokeswoman Shoham Ruvio said he looked about 18 years old. Two other wounded students were in moderate condition, while four were lightly wounded. The age of the wounded was estimated at 16 to 28.
At Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem, three wounded were received. Two were in serious condition in the trauma room, while one was lightly wounded.
According to eyewitnesses, the students initially thought that the gunfire was fireworks - part of a party underway to celebrate the beginning of Adar II.
The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva is considered the leading national-religious yeshiva in Israel, with hundreds of elite students. Among its thousands of graduates are leading public figures including senior rabbis and IDF officers. It was founded in 1924 by mandatory Palestine's first chief rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook. Its longtime head, Rabbi Avraham Shapira, died in September 2007.
Rabbi David Stav, one of many prominent graduates of the yeshiva, which has produced the bulk of the spiritual leadership of religious Zionism in Israel, said that the attack had been directed at the heart of religious Zionism.
"Mercaz Harav is the flagship of the entire religious Zionist movement," said Stav. "The terrorist targeted a place that symbolizes love for the land of Israel, love for the people of Israel and love for the Torah. No Jewish soul can remain indifferent to the horrible thought that a despicable terrorist attacked a group of young men who were busy studying the holy Torah."
Stav, who has been involved in interfaith dialogue with Israeli Muslim spiritual leaders via an organization called Kedem, said that Thursday night's attack underscores the cruelty and evil of Islamic-inspired terrorism. "Followers of Islam claim they respect the people of the book. But this horrific act proves the emptiness of their claims."
Rabbi David Simhon, the educational director of the yeshiva, said "the people of Israel will not be broken" by attacks such as this.
Matthew Wagner, Judy Siegel and Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204546422275&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Bomb Gaza Now
B"H
They are celebrating in the streets of Gaza right now. Live, on Fox News. I saw them.
Do you think they would do this so openly, so brashly, if we just dropped a bomb on them while they are out in the street?
Maybe we need to put an end to this celebration and all celebrations in the future with a ten ton bunker-blaster.
Look, I'm sick of the sad pictures of the poor "palestinian" children looking so forlorn and sad in some stupid article from YNet. When I see a "Poor palestinian" boy in the street, you know what I see? A future terrorist.
Let's save "humanitarian aid" for those who act human, OK?
Those yeshiva boys were the best of the best. They could have been my sons. A terrorist just stole future Chief Rabbis, future doctors, future inventors . . . these boys weren't fighting a war, they weren't hooligans in the street throwing rocks at passers-by. They were innocent students. Kids.
Please, G-d. Let us not remember these boys for how they died but how they lived, loved, laughed!
Please G-d. Give us our land--every inch, and leaders who know the land is precious and holy and not for sale.
Please G-d. Give the parents of these children strength.
Please G-d. Bring healing to the wounded. May they carry the legacy of their classmates who didn't make it, and may they study and achieve in the name and in the honor of those blessed boys who died.
If you need more convincing, please see this short slide show.
M
They are celebrating in the streets of Gaza right now. Live, on Fox News. I saw them.
Do you think they would do this so openly, so brashly, if we just dropped a bomb on them while they are out in the street?
Maybe we need to put an end to this celebration and all celebrations in the future with a ten ton bunker-blaster.
Look, I'm sick of the sad pictures of the poor "palestinian" children looking so forlorn and sad in some stupid article from YNet. When I see a "Poor palestinian" boy in the street, you know what I see? A future terrorist.
Let's save "humanitarian aid" for those who act human, OK?
Those yeshiva boys were the best of the best. They could have been my sons. A terrorist just stole future Chief Rabbis, future doctors, future inventors . . . these boys weren't fighting a war, they weren't hooligans in the street throwing rocks at passers-by. They were innocent students. Kids.
Please, G-d. Let us not remember these boys for how they died but how they lived, loved, laughed!
Please G-d. Give us our land--every inch, and leaders who know the land is precious and holy and not for sale.
Please G-d. Give the parents of these children strength.
Please G-d. Bring healing to the wounded. May they carry the legacy of their classmates who didn't make it, and may they study and achieve in the name and in the honor of those blessed boys who died.
If you need more convincing, please see this short slide show.
M
Six students hurt, three in very serious condition
Last update - 22:12 06/03/2008
By Jonathan Lis, Yair Ettinger and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/961696.html
At least seven students were killed and six others were wounded Thursday evening when terrorists infiltrated the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem, police said.
Three of the injured were listed as being in very serious condition and taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Karem, while the other four were taken to Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center in the capital. MDA declared the incident a "multiple casualty event."
At least one terrorist infiltrated the yeshiva, possibly armed with an explosive belt, and began firing in every direction.
Yitzhak Danon, a student at the yeshiva, told Channel 2 television that one terrorist entered the seminary's library, and fired for several minutes at students with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Danon said he shot the terrorist twice in the head.
Michael, another student who only gave his first name, said he saw a terrorist enter the complex, and fire for some 10 minutes. "He fired 500-600 bullets," he said, adding that most of those hurt were high school age.
A large number of security and emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene, with some 50 ambulances summoned.
Police and Israel Defense Forces troops were searching the complex in order to determine whether one of the terrorists was still holed up inside the yeshiva, and were also going house to house in the immediate area in search of third terrorist who may have fled.
Police are having a difficult time keeping crowds of onlookers away from the scene, despite concerns there are still explosive belts at the scene that have yet to be neutralized.
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski told Channel 2 television, "It's very sad tonight in Jerusalem - many people were killed in the heart of Jerusalem."
"There was a lot of gunfire and hysteria," a woman who lives across the street from the school told the radio. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
In Gaza, Hamas welcomed the terrorist attack. "We bless the [Jerusalem] operation. It will not be the last," Hamas said in a statement.
In Gaza City, residents went out into the streets and fired rifles in
celebration in the air after hearing news of the attack on the yeshiva.
By Jonathan Lis, Yair Ettinger and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/961696.html
At least seven students were killed and six others were wounded Thursday evening when terrorists infiltrated the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem, police said.
Three of the injured were listed as being in very serious condition and taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Karem, while the other four were taken to Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center in the capital. MDA declared the incident a "multiple casualty event."
At least one terrorist infiltrated the yeshiva, possibly armed with an explosive belt, and began firing in every direction.
Yitzhak Danon, a student at the yeshiva, told Channel 2 television that one terrorist entered the seminary's library, and fired for several minutes at students with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Danon said he shot the terrorist twice in the head.
Michael, another student who only gave his first name, said he saw a terrorist enter the complex, and fire for some 10 minutes. "He fired 500-600 bullets," he said, adding that most of those hurt were high school age.
A large number of security and emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene, with some 50 ambulances summoned.
Police and Israel Defense Forces troops were searching the complex in order to determine whether one of the terrorists was still holed up inside the yeshiva, and were also going house to house in the immediate area in search of third terrorist who may have fled.
Police are having a difficult time keeping crowds of onlookers away from the scene, despite concerns there are still explosive belts at the scene that have yet to be neutralized.
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski told Channel 2 television, "It's very sad tonight in Jerusalem - many people were killed in the heart of Jerusalem."
"There was a lot of gunfire and hysteria," a woman who lives across the street from the school told the radio. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
In Gaza, Hamas welcomed the terrorist attack. "We bless the [Jerusalem] operation. It will not be the last," Hamas said in a statement.
In Gaza City, residents went out into the streets and fired rifles in
celebration in the air after hearing news of the attack on the yeshiva.
Arab Terrorists Attack Jerusalem's Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva: 8 Dead
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125487
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
(IsraelNN.com) Two Arab terrorists infiltrated Jerusalem's Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva at around 8:30 Thursday night and murdered eight Jews. At least six people have been wounded; three are in critical condition and a fourth victim was wounded moderately.
The attackers entered from two separate entrances to the yeshiva and opened fire on the students before one of them was gunned down himself by an armed civilian. Witnesses say that the attack began in the seminary's library.
The second terrorist hid in the yeshiva building, with subsequent reports indicating that the attacker was killed by responding security forces. Police are deployed in the surrounding neighborhood, and scoured the yeshiva and connected buildings. Most students in the building were evacuated after taking cover in the yeshiva's bomb shelter, according to police spokesmen.
Fifty ambulances responded to the scene, which emergency responders have called "a major incident." The injured were evacuated to Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital.
Police forces are on heightened alert throughout the country.
The Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva is located near the entrance to Jerusalem, in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood. The yeshiva, founded by Rabbi Avaraham Yitzhak Kook, is at the heart of the national-religious movement in Israel.
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
(IsraelNN.com) Two Arab terrorists infiltrated Jerusalem's Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva at around 8:30 Thursday night and murdered eight Jews. At least six people have been wounded; three are in critical condition and a fourth victim was wounded moderately.
The attackers entered from two separate entrances to the yeshiva and opened fire on the students before one of them was gunned down himself by an armed civilian. Witnesses say that the attack began in the seminary's library.
The second terrorist hid in the yeshiva building, with subsequent reports indicating that the attacker was killed by responding security forces. Police are deployed in the surrounding neighborhood, and scoured the yeshiva and connected buildings. Most students in the building were evacuated after taking cover in the yeshiva's bomb shelter, according to police spokesmen.
Fifty ambulances responded to the scene, which emergency responders have called "a major incident." The injured were evacuated to Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital.
Police forces are on heightened alert throughout the country.
The Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva is located near the entrance to Jerusalem, in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood. The yeshiva, founded by Rabbi Avaraham Yitzhak Kook, is at the heart of the national-religious movement in Israel.
Judge Keeps Young Girl in Jail Another Month Without Charges
B"H
This is not about what Tzvia did, this is not about who Tzvia is, and this is not about what Tzvia says. This is about what Tzvia represents. She is quickly becoming a rallying point, a political voice, a grave challenge to the legitimacy of of the Israeli [in]justice system. Background
She is one who shows the naked truth about bias in the judiciary against anyone who believes in Torah and the presence of Jewish people on Jewish lands.
The judge could care less whether she said something to an elderly arab. They want to keep her locked up as long as possible to try to break her spirit. They think that if they can break her spirit, they can break the spirits of the other "hilltop youth."
They are very very very wrong. The longer she stays in jail, the more people hear about her and know that justice does not exist for the Torah observant Jews who chose to claim their inheritance--the Land of Israel. The strength of the people of Israel does not come from following the arbitrary laws of a nation that has forgotten who they are, it comes from following the Word of G-d. This is a wellspring that cannot be exhausted, and the spirit of those who keep the Laws of Torah cannot be broken. Greater men than this judge have tried and failed (Thank G-d! Otherwise there would be no Jews left!).
We already know this is a political lynching of an innocent young girl. We already know that, through their own actions, the Israeli justice system have already proven Tzvia's accusations correct.
Let her go, NOW.
And be advised that there are THOUSANDS of Tzvias all over the nation. Israel needs to establish an agreement for alternative sentencing with the new Sanhedrin now. Ignoring this fact and torturing a young girl won't make it go away.
M
-----
ISRAELI JUDGE SENDS JEWISH TEENAGER FOR FOURTH MONTH TO JAIL WITHOUT FORMAL CHARGES
www.israeljustice.com/news2.asp?key=109
Kfar Saba -- An Israeli judge, who refused to issue her ruling publicly, sent a Jewish protester for a fourth month to jail, without formal charges. Judge Nava Bechor sent Tzvia Sariel, 18, back to jail after a hearing in which two key witnesses testified that she was not the alleged assailant of Arabs brought into the West Bank Jewish community of Elon Moreh in December 2007. Instead, Ms. Sariel was kept in jail because according to authorities she refused to cooperate.
"She could be released but she refuses to recognize the authority of the court," Shmuel Meidad, head of the Honeinu Legal Aid Organization said. "This is to teach her to cooperate with the justice system and the authorities."
The police charge sheet stated that on Dec. 4, 2007, Tzvia Sariel and two friends trespassed, assaulted and threatened a group of Arab men who were brought by Israeli authorities into the West Bank Jewish community of Elon Moreh to pick olives. The girls allegedly pushed the Arabs, villagers from neighboring Dir Al Khatab, attempted to grab their walking canes and threatened to throw stones at them if they didn't leave Elon Moreh, where the girls live.
Tzvia refused to cooperate with the police. She refused to identify herself or to be fingerprinted or photographed but she was later forcibly fingerprinted. She also refused a defense attorney. The court then ordered her held in the Neve Tirza prison indefinitely, where she was denied full visitation and telephone privileges and spent time in solitary confinement in an unheated cell in winter.
Two prosecution witnesses, Abdel Karim Hussein, 36, and Abdel Baki Shahada Amar, 81, testified on March 5 at the Kfar Saba Magistrates Court that Tziva was not the girl who allegedly assaulted them in Elon Moreh. "I'm surprised that the girl who made all the problems is not here," Hussein said. "It was the other girl."
Hussein said that Tzvia had yelled at him to leave but she had not pushed him. Hussein also said Tziva had opened the car door as he was leaving but had not tried to grab Amar's cane, who sat next to him.
Hussein, Amar and and five others, aged between 60 to 70, said they were brought to Elon Moreh by the Civil Administration and the army on Dec. 4, 2007 after authorities had told them that they must come to claim their land or the Jewish settlers would take it. Hussein refuted the police charge sheet that they had come to pick olives.
"We had not visited our land for 20 years," Hussein said. "They're all old. They just wanted to see the land."
Amar confirmed that the Civil Adminstration had accompanied the group to the area.
"Without accompaniment, we wouldn't go there," Amar said. "The girls came towards us and they told us to leave saying that the land belongs to Elon Moreh."
Aram, who addressed the court through a translator, then testified that Tzvia had cursed him but when pressed, he retracted the accusation. He said that she only spoke Hebrew and that he did not understand Hebrew and that she had not cursed him. Amar reiterated that she had just said that the land belonged to Elon Moreh and he should leave but he denied that Tzvia had either pushed him or threatened him.
The judge, noticeably annoyed with prosecutor Shir Laufer, said that the entire testimony was chaotic and asked if the witness was confused or had a hearing problem.
Amar said he heard perfectly well and that he was over 80 years old and he refused to lie under oath.
Both Bechor and Laufer questioned Aram about the signed statement he had given to police admiting that Tzvia had tried to grab his cane and threatened to throw stones at him if he didn't leave.
Laufer read the statement to him in Arabic but Amar denied writing the statement. He testified that he barely knew how to write Arabic and that the police officer just told him to sign.
"When the police wrote, I don't know what they wrote," Amar said. "I just signed. They told me to bring my identity card and to sign. The person who wrote my statement in Arabic spoke in Hebrew. I read Arabic but only a little.
Bechor then asked Aram if he had been threatened to change his testimony. Amar said that Civil Administration officials had telephoned him every day to pressure him to testify.
"What am I? a child?" Aram asked. "Am I a lying witness? Civil Administration officials called every hour pressing me to testify. I was scared that they would punish me if I didn't come to testify."
At this point, the judge declared that Aram's testimony was invalid. "I am declaring the witness a hostile witness," Bechor said, "after his testimony essentially differs from his statement."
Bechor took long breaks during the hearing and heard other cases in between although all the remaining prosecution witnesses waited the entire day to testify. Several seconds after hearing a different case, the judge fled from the courtroom without announcing her decision. She whispered to the court stenographer that the next hearing in the case was called for April 3.
"This case has gone on long enough," Laufer complained to a colleague. "The judge should either acquit or convict her [Tzvia]."
Prior to the hearing, Laufer told Ruth Sariel that the proceedings would not be completed that day and advised that she sign a release form for her daughter.
"The judge and the prosecution had already agreed before the hearing not to release Tzvia," Ruth Sariel, who was evicted from the courtroom, said. During the hearing, Tzvia continued to refuse to be represented by an attorney.
"I already said in the previous hearing that everything that goes on here is a crime," Tzvia told Bechor. "I don't even want to enter into discussion with you."
This is not about what Tzvia did, this is not about who Tzvia is, and this is not about what Tzvia says. This is about what Tzvia represents. She is quickly becoming a rallying point, a political voice, a grave challenge to the legitimacy of of the Israeli [in]justice system. Background
She is one who shows the naked truth about bias in the judiciary against anyone who believes in Torah and the presence of Jewish people on Jewish lands.
The judge could care less whether she said something to an elderly arab. They want to keep her locked up as long as possible to try to break her spirit. They think that if they can break her spirit, they can break the spirits of the other "hilltop youth."
They are very very very wrong. The longer she stays in jail, the more people hear about her and know that justice does not exist for the Torah observant Jews who chose to claim their inheritance--the Land of Israel. The strength of the people of Israel does not come from following the arbitrary laws of a nation that has forgotten who they are, it comes from following the Word of G-d. This is a wellspring that cannot be exhausted, and the spirit of those who keep the Laws of Torah cannot be broken. Greater men than this judge have tried and failed (Thank G-d! Otherwise there would be no Jews left!).
We already know this is a political lynching of an innocent young girl. We already know that, through their own actions, the Israeli justice system have already proven Tzvia's accusations correct.
Let her go, NOW.
And be advised that there are THOUSANDS of Tzvias all over the nation. Israel needs to establish an agreement for alternative sentencing with the new Sanhedrin now. Ignoring this fact and torturing a young girl won't make it go away.
M
-----
ISRAELI JUDGE SENDS JEWISH TEENAGER FOR FOURTH MONTH TO JAIL WITHOUT FORMAL CHARGES
www.israeljustice.com/news2.asp?key=109
Kfar Saba -- An Israeli judge, who refused to issue her ruling publicly, sent a Jewish protester for a fourth month to jail, without formal charges. Judge Nava Bechor sent Tzvia Sariel, 18, back to jail after a hearing in which two key witnesses testified that she was not the alleged assailant of Arabs brought into the West Bank Jewish community of Elon Moreh in December 2007. Instead, Ms. Sariel was kept in jail because according to authorities she refused to cooperate.
"She could be released but she refuses to recognize the authority of the court," Shmuel Meidad, head of the Honeinu Legal Aid Organization said. "This is to teach her to cooperate with the justice system and the authorities."
The police charge sheet stated that on Dec. 4, 2007, Tzvia Sariel and two friends trespassed, assaulted and threatened a group of Arab men who were brought by Israeli authorities into the West Bank Jewish community of Elon Moreh to pick olives. The girls allegedly pushed the Arabs, villagers from neighboring Dir Al Khatab, attempted to grab their walking canes and threatened to throw stones at them if they didn't leave Elon Moreh, where the girls live.
Tzvia refused to cooperate with the police. She refused to identify herself or to be fingerprinted or photographed but she was later forcibly fingerprinted. She also refused a defense attorney. The court then ordered her held in the Neve Tirza prison indefinitely, where she was denied full visitation and telephone privileges and spent time in solitary confinement in an unheated cell in winter.
Two prosecution witnesses, Abdel Karim Hussein, 36, and Abdel Baki Shahada Amar, 81, testified on March 5 at the Kfar Saba Magistrates Court that Tziva was not the girl who allegedly assaulted them in Elon Moreh. "I'm surprised that the girl who made all the problems is not here," Hussein said. "It was the other girl."
Hussein said that Tzvia had yelled at him to leave but she had not pushed him. Hussein also said Tziva had opened the car door as he was leaving but had not tried to grab Amar's cane, who sat next to him.
Hussein, Amar and and five others, aged between 60 to 70, said they were brought to Elon Moreh by the Civil Administration and the army on Dec. 4, 2007 after authorities had told them that they must come to claim their land or the Jewish settlers would take it. Hussein refuted the police charge sheet that they had come to pick olives.
"We had not visited our land for 20 years," Hussein said. "They're all old. They just wanted to see the land."
Amar confirmed that the Civil Adminstration had accompanied the group to the area.
"Without accompaniment, we wouldn't go there," Amar said. "The girls came towards us and they told us to leave saying that the land belongs to Elon Moreh."
Aram, who addressed the court through a translator, then testified that Tzvia had cursed him but when pressed, he retracted the accusation. He said that she only spoke Hebrew and that he did not understand Hebrew and that she had not cursed him. Amar reiterated that she had just said that the land belonged to Elon Moreh and he should leave but he denied that Tzvia had either pushed him or threatened him.
The judge, noticeably annoyed with prosecutor Shir Laufer, said that the entire testimony was chaotic and asked if the witness was confused or had a hearing problem.
Amar said he heard perfectly well and that he was over 80 years old and he refused to lie under oath.
Both Bechor and Laufer questioned Aram about the signed statement he had given to police admiting that Tzvia had tried to grab his cane and threatened to throw stones at him if he didn't leave.
Laufer read the statement to him in Arabic but Amar denied writing the statement. He testified that he barely knew how to write Arabic and that the police officer just told him to sign.
"When the police wrote, I don't know what they wrote," Amar said. "I just signed. They told me to bring my identity card and to sign. The person who wrote my statement in Arabic spoke in Hebrew. I read Arabic but only a little.
Bechor then asked Aram if he had been threatened to change his testimony. Amar said that Civil Administration officials had telephoned him every day to pressure him to testify.
"What am I? a child?" Aram asked. "Am I a lying witness? Civil Administration officials called every hour pressing me to testify. I was scared that they would punish me if I didn't come to testify."
At this point, the judge declared that Aram's testimony was invalid. "I am declaring the witness a hostile witness," Bechor said, "after his testimony essentially differs from his statement."
Bechor took long breaks during the hearing and heard other cases in between although all the remaining prosecution witnesses waited the entire day to testify. Several seconds after hearing a different case, the judge fled from the courtroom without announcing her decision. She whispered to the court stenographer that the next hearing in the case was called for April 3.
"This case has gone on long enough," Laufer complained to a colleague. "The judge should either acquit or convict her [Tzvia]."
Prior to the hearing, Laufer told Ruth Sariel that the proceedings would not be completed that day and advised that she sign a release form for her daughter.
"The judge and the prosecution had already agreed before the hearing not to release Tzvia," Ruth Sariel, who was evicted from the courtroom, said. During the hearing, Tzvia continued to refuse to be represented by an attorney.
"I already said in the previous hearing that everything that goes on here is a crime," Tzvia told Bechor. "I don't even want to enter into discussion with you."
Who Hates Israel in the House of Representatives?
B"H
Who hates Israel? Which one of our House of Representatives was the LONE VOTE AGAINST a non-binding resolution condemning rocket attacks against Israel?
Which House member said he was ambivalent about the middle east, who wanted to kill off any monetary assistance to Israel?
The single vote was cast by Ron Paul, Presidental Candidate. Yes, he says he doesn't care about the Arabs either, but when a bunch of hyenas surround your friend, and you say "let them figure it out, I won't get involved," the results are the same as if you had done the harm yourself.
Anti-Semites will find a way to make themselves more socially acceptable any way they can. After all, he is against Israel, not Jews--right?
Yeah, riiiiiiiiiight .
Has he been endorsed by David Duke yet?
M
-----
Party Affiliation Yea Nay Present NV
Democratic 214 4 12
Republican 190 1 7
Independent
TOTALS 404 1 19
Who hates Israel? Which one of our House of Representatives was the LONE VOTE AGAINST a non-binding resolution condemning rocket attacks against Israel?
Which House member said he was ambivalent about the middle east, who wanted to kill off any monetary assistance to Israel?
The single vote was cast by Ron Paul, Presidental Candidate. Yes, he says he doesn't care about the Arabs either, but when a bunch of hyenas surround your friend, and you say "let them figure it out, I won't get involved," the results are the same as if you had done the harm yourself.
Anti-Semites will find a way to make themselves more socially acceptable any way they can. After all, he is against Israel, not Jews--right?
Yeah, riiiiiiiiiight .
Has he been endorsed by David Duke yet?
M
-----
FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 93
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll093.xml
Condemning the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, and for other purposes
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll093.xml
Condemning the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, and for other purposes
Party Affiliation Yea Nay Present NV
Democratic 214 4 12
Republican 190 1 7
Independent
TOTALS 404 1 19
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Standardized Conversion Coming to a Shul Near You
B”H
Wow. This guy seems to think Halacha is just like standardized car parts, or the menu in a fast-food restaurant.
Yup. Just order me up some Judiasm!
What? You want to hold the pickles? Hold the lettuce?
You, perhaps, have a good job that supports your family in a rural county in Nebraska? You use an electric wheelchair to get back and forth to minyan? You live with five gentile roommates in a college dorm and your parents are against your conversion?
Sorry. You can’t be a Jew.
We only convert people who can spend a year in a “Jewish Community,” whom we think will keep Shabbat completely (You might use your wheelchair on Shabbat! It is best you stay non-Jewish), and who will be able to keep kosher in a kosher environment . . .
What? You think Halacha was written with people in mind? Are you crazy??
M
-----
Mar 5, 2008 21:37 | Updated Mar 5, 2008 22:42
Here's our answer to the conversion conundrum
By MOSHE KLETENIK
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204546409821&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
We are all too familiar with the stories. Someone who for his entire life considered himself Jewish is suddenly told by a rabbinical court that his Jewish identity is suspect. A woman adopted and converted as a child is informed that the conversion does not meet halachic standards. Beyond the personal, conversion to Judaism has in recent years been a painful and persistent issue confronting the Jewish world at large. It has pitted Jew against Jew, threatened to weaken Israel-Diaspora relations, caused synagogue and communal strife, and, most importantly, has brought undeserved anguish upon sincere converts and their offspring.
But a significant development, announced last week by the Rabbinical Council of America and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, has the potential to diminish the severity of these problems in several important respects, while still maintaining reasonable halachic conversion standards. In the process these two rabbinic entities have created a model for reasoned cooperation, rather than rancor, in Jewish life.
I am referring to the announcement establishing a North American network of standing regional rabbinical courts for conversion, under the auspices of the Rabbinical Council of America, with the blessing, and endorsement, of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
The network accomplishes multiple goals. First and foremost it ensures that its converts will be assured that their status as Jews will not be questioned in the future, whether in Israel or in other major mainstream Orthodox communities.
In addition it introduces long overdue standardization and comprehensive record-keeping into the conversion process. The courts follow clearly understood policies and practices. Candidates for conversion will know what to expect and what will be expected of them.
There is a reason that RCA rabbis have in overwhelming numbers welcomed the network. It enables them to work in close cooperation with their peers, free of undue pressures, but still allows them to cultivate personal mentoring relationships with the candidates they sponsor. The network has procedures in place to deal with special circumstances including adoption, conversion motivated by marriage, already-married couples or families with non-Jewish spouses and children.
Following conversion, integration of the converts will be facilitated in numerous ways, including standardized documentation, comprehensive databases, information-sharing, and follow-up.
THERE ARE some voices who argue that the network violates local rabbinic independence. Or that it substitutes a bureaucracy for what has been a close rabbinic-lay relationship. It has even been said that the new standards impose unreasonable hardships on converts or that the network is proof of weakness by the modern Orthodox rabbinate.
Such fears, and conclusions, are misplaced.
Every candidate will have the benefit of his or her own rabbinic sponsor as mentor throughout the process. Each court will be made up of qualified local rabbis, many of whom have previously been supervising conversions, but will now through the new network, be formally recognized. What is different is that they will now be acting in partnership with each other and with rabbinic authorities around the Jewish world, and will moreover be able to function with some local flexibility in implementation.
In any case an individual rabbi can still elect to do conversions outside of the national network. Such conversions will not automatically come with the endorsement of the RCA. But that is nothing new. The RCA has not previously given blanket endorsements to the conversions of its members.
As to the standards themselves, I believe that even a cursory review will demonstrate that they echo the consensus of halachic requirements for conversion. No more and no less. True there have been a few rabbinic dissenters in the past as in the present, advocating different halachic conversion criteria. But the overwhelming rabbinic perspective has required, as does the network, genuine commitment to Shabbat, festivals, kashrut, sustained Jewish education of children, and certain fundamental affirmations of faith and practice.
Claims by some outspoken critics that these are extraneous or recent stringencies are incorrect. Worse yet, such critics are publicly undermining a long overdue and eminently reasonable solution that would facilitate the acceptance of such converts into the Jewish people and faith. What reasonable alternative do they propose that will assure converts wide-ranging acceptance for themselves and their children?
AS GUARDIANS of tradition in a time of societal change, Orthodox rabbis are by nature and training surely cautious when it comes to innovations. Yet the overwhelming majority of RCA rabbis and many outside of it have enthusiastically welcomed the creation of a new network, consisting of new as well as established rabbinical courts, new working relationships, utilizing new technologies and new global partnerships.
Why? Because they know that what we have before us is a timely opportunity to foster constructive change that will bring resolution to a festering communal challenge as well as peace of mind to converts and their families. It will hopefully benefit the Jewish people in a manner that is fully in accord with what is both rooted in antiquity and timeless, namely, our sacred Torah and the dynamism of Jewish law.
I certainly hope that these developments will be embraced by the Jewish community with the enthusiasm we feel, and the support that our singular people, and its precious converts, deserve.
The writer is rabbi of the Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath Congregation in Seattle, Washington and Rosh Beth Din, Pacific Northwest Regional Beth Din for Conversion and a member of the [Orthodox] Rabbinical Council of America.
Wow. This guy seems to think Halacha is just like standardized car parts, or the menu in a fast-food restaurant.
Yup. Just order me up some Judiasm!
What? You want to hold the pickles? Hold the lettuce?
You, perhaps, have a good job that supports your family in a rural county in Nebraska? You use an electric wheelchair to get back and forth to minyan? You live with five gentile roommates in a college dorm and your parents are against your conversion?
Sorry. You can’t be a Jew.
We only convert people who can spend a year in a “Jewish Community,” whom we think will keep Shabbat completely (You might use your wheelchair on Shabbat! It is best you stay non-Jewish), and who will be able to keep kosher in a kosher environment . . .
What? You think Halacha was written with people in mind? Are you crazy??
M
-----
Mar 5, 2008 21:37 | Updated Mar 5, 2008 22:42
Here's our answer to the conversion conundrum
By MOSHE KLETENIK
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204546409821&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
We are all too familiar with the stories. Someone who for his entire life considered himself Jewish is suddenly told by a rabbinical court that his Jewish identity is suspect. A woman adopted and converted as a child is informed that the conversion does not meet halachic standards. Beyond the personal, conversion to Judaism has in recent years been a painful and persistent issue confronting the Jewish world at large. It has pitted Jew against Jew, threatened to weaken Israel-Diaspora relations, caused synagogue and communal strife, and, most importantly, has brought undeserved anguish upon sincere converts and their offspring.
But a significant development, announced last week by the Rabbinical Council of America and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, has the potential to diminish the severity of these problems in several important respects, while still maintaining reasonable halachic conversion standards. In the process these two rabbinic entities have created a model for reasoned cooperation, rather than rancor, in Jewish life.
I am referring to the announcement establishing a North American network of standing regional rabbinical courts for conversion, under the auspices of the Rabbinical Council of America, with the blessing, and endorsement, of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
The network accomplishes multiple goals. First and foremost it ensures that its converts will be assured that their status as Jews will not be questioned in the future, whether in Israel or in other major mainstream Orthodox communities.
In addition it introduces long overdue standardization and comprehensive record-keeping into the conversion process. The courts follow clearly understood policies and practices. Candidates for conversion will know what to expect and what will be expected of them.
There is a reason that RCA rabbis have in overwhelming numbers welcomed the network. It enables them to work in close cooperation with their peers, free of undue pressures, but still allows them to cultivate personal mentoring relationships with the candidates they sponsor. The network has procedures in place to deal with special circumstances including adoption, conversion motivated by marriage, already-married couples or families with non-Jewish spouses and children.
Following conversion, integration of the converts will be facilitated in numerous ways, including standardized documentation, comprehensive databases, information-sharing, and follow-up.
THERE ARE some voices who argue that the network violates local rabbinic independence. Or that it substitutes a bureaucracy for what has been a close rabbinic-lay relationship. It has even been said that the new standards impose unreasonable hardships on converts or that the network is proof of weakness by the modern Orthodox rabbinate.
Such fears, and conclusions, are misplaced.
Every candidate will have the benefit of his or her own rabbinic sponsor as mentor throughout the process. Each court will be made up of qualified local rabbis, many of whom have previously been supervising conversions, but will now through the new network, be formally recognized. What is different is that they will now be acting in partnership with each other and with rabbinic authorities around the Jewish world, and will moreover be able to function with some local flexibility in implementation.
In any case an individual rabbi can still elect to do conversions outside of the national network. Such conversions will not automatically come with the endorsement of the RCA. But that is nothing new. The RCA has not previously given blanket endorsements to the conversions of its members.
As to the standards themselves, I believe that even a cursory review will demonstrate that they echo the consensus of halachic requirements for conversion. No more and no less. True there have been a few rabbinic dissenters in the past as in the present, advocating different halachic conversion criteria. But the overwhelming rabbinic perspective has required, as does the network, genuine commitment to Shabbat, festivals, kashrut, sustained Jewish education of children, and certain fundamental affirmations of faith and practice.
Claims by some outspoken critics that these are extraneous or recent stringencies are incorrect. Worse yet, such critics are publicly undermining a long overdue and eminently reasonable solution that would facilitate the acceptance of such converts into the Jewish people and faith. What reasonable alternative do they propose that will assure converts wide-ranging acceptance for themselves and their children?
AS GUARDIANS of tradition in a time of societal change, Orthodox rabbis are by nature and training surely cautious when it comes to innovations. Yet the overwhelming majority of RCA rabbis and many outside of it have enthusiastically welcomed the creation of a new network, consisting of new as well as established rabbinical courts, new working relationships, utilizing new technologies and new global partnerships.
Why? Because they know that what we have before us is a timely opportunity to foster constructive change that will bring resolution to a festering communal challenge as well as peace of mind to converts and their families. It will hopefully benefit the Jewish people in a manner that is fully in accord with what is both rooted in antiquity and timeless, namely, our sacred Torah and the dynamism of Jewish law.
I certainly hope that these developments will be embraced by the Jewish community with the enthusiasm we feel, and the support that our singular people, and its precious converts, deserve.
The writer is rabbi of the Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath Congregation in Seattle, Washington and Rosh Beth Din, Pacific Northwest Regional Beth Din for Conversion and a member of the [Orthodox] Rabbinical Council of America.
When Moderate Terrorists Attack: Idna Shooting
B”H
Boy, I don’t know about you, but I am sure feeling those warm fuzzies from Abbas, aren’t you?
Condi Rice is right—we should just give them all our land. Such nice, sweet, people . . .
M
-----
MDA Paramedic: Idna Shooting Was a Terrorist Attack
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125477
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) A shooting first reported as the result of an argument was actually a terrorist attack, according to a Magen David Adom paramedic who treated a victim at the scene.
Zaki Yahav, the MDA paramedic who treated the Israeli wounded in the attack, told Arutz-7 shortly after the incident that the Israeli and a PA Arab friend were negotiating over the sale of his car when the attack occurred.
"[He] told us that he had come to sell his car at the Idna Junction, about 100 meters from the IDF position in the area," he said, adding that the victim met with his friend, who came to buy the car, at the junction.
"A short time later, a white Subaru Leone car drove by and two people who were inside it opened fire on the man and his [PA Arab] friend," said Yahav. "The man said that his [PA Arab] friend fell apparently after being hit [by a bullet] in the head."
The Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency reported late Wednesday night that the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a terrorist gang that owes its allegiance to Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, had taken responsibility for the attack.
A spokesman for the terrorist gang said that operatives tried to abduct the Israeli victim, but that the IDF prevented the kidnapping. He added that the shooting was in retaliation for recent IDF military activities in Gaza. More than 100 terrorists were killed by IDF soldiers in the course of the recent fighting in Gaza.
The official IDF version of the incident in Idna is different. An army source said earlier in the evening that the Israeli entered the village of Idna and was shot during an argument with one of the local residents. The source said, however, that the IDF was still checking the facts.
The 30-year-old Israeli, whose name was not released, managed to get back into his car and fled to the nearby military checkpoint at Tarkumia in the South Hevron Hills. He was evacuated by IDF helicopter to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital, and his wounds are classified as moderate. His PA Arab friend, Muhammed Nofal, died of his wounds.
Boy, I don’t know about you, but I am sure feeling those warm fuzzies from Abbas, aren’t you?
Condi Rice is right—we should just give them all our land. Such nice, sweet, people . . .
M
-----
MDA Paramedic: Idna Shooting Was a Terrorist Attack
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125477
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) A shooting first reported as the result of an argument was actually a terrorist attack, according to a Magen David Adom paramedic who treated a victim at the scene.
Zaki Yahav, the MDA paramedic who treated the Israeli wounded in the attack, told Arutz-7 shortly after the incident that the Israeli and a PA Arab friend were negotiating over the sale of his car when the attack occurred.
"[He] told us that he had come to sell his car at the Idna Junction, about 100 meters from the IDF position in the area," he said, adding that the victim met with his friend, who came to buy the car, at the junction.
"A short time later, a white Subaru Leone car drove by and two people who were inside it opened fire on the man and his [PA Arab] friend," said Yahav. "The man said that his [PA Arab] friend fell apparently after being hit [by a bullet] in the head."
The Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency reported late Wednesday night that the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a terrorist gang that owes its allegiance to Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, had taken responsibility for the attack.
A spokesman for the terrorist gang said that operatives tried to abduct the Israeli victim, but that the IDF prevented the kidnapping. He added that the shooting was in retaliation for recent IDF military activities in Gaza. More than 100 terrorists were killed by IDF soldiers in the course of the recent fighting in Gaza.
The official IDF version of the incident in Idna is different. An army source said earlier in the evening that the Israeli entered the village of Idna and was shot during an argument with one of the local residents. The source said, however, that the IDF was still checking the facts.
The 30-year-old Israeli, whose name was not released, managed to get back into his car and fled to the nearby military checkpoint at Tarkumia in the South Hevron Hills. He was evacuated by IDF helicopter to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital, and his wounds are classified as moderate. His PA Arab friend, Muhammed Nofal, died of his wounds.
Hawkish Bill to Destroy Hamas Includes Suicide Clause for Israel
B”H
Whoa! Slow down. What does that second paragraph say?
Does it say what I think it says? Does it really say that the Knesset agreed to NEGOTIATE A FINAL STATUS AGREEMENT WITH ABBAS???
Have we all just become the patsies of Abbas again? Has our failed Knesset fallen for the all-too-tiring line that Fatah is the enemy of Hamas? Have we all just been double-crossed by the traitors in the Knesset in the guise of a hawkish bill? Have we just lost Jerusalem and Judea and Sumaria?
I think so.
Here’s that quote (Make sure you look for it when you read the story, it goes by so fast you may not notice it . . .):
The resolution adopted by the cabinet included a decision to destroy the Hamas regime in Gaza, while continuing to negotiate a final status agreement with Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.
OK. Nice that they have decided to destroy Hamas, but did they have to decide to destroy Israel too? Didn’t they notice that Abbas called off peace negotiations WHEN WE ATTACKED HAMAS? Doesn’t that say something, you know, like ABBAS WANTS TO PROTECT HAMAS?????
What part of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend" does the Knesset not understand?
I don’t know about you, but I am completely disgusted.
M
P.S. Where were the Shas weenies and their friends the NRP? I bet they were voting right along with Labor. Maybe they even smiled?
-----
Security Cabinet Decides: End All Rocket Attacks from Gaza
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125476
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) The Security Cabinet decided in a longer-than-usual meeting Wednesday to put an end to the rocket and mortar attacks fired by Gaza terrorists at Israel.
The resolution adopted by the cabinet included a decision to destroy the Hamas regime in Gaza, while continuing to negotiate a final status agreement with Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.
The resolution included a decision to coordinate with Egypt the efforts to topple Hamas. The cabinet also expressed its determination "to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to the extent that the matter depends on Israel."
It is the first time that a formal decision has been taken to completely eradicate missile attacks launched from Gaza.
There were no details on how the IDF would carry out the orders or on what the soldiers will and will not be allowed to do.
More than 180 rockets have been fired at southern Israel in the past seven days, including at least 20 long-range 122 mm Iranian "Grad" missiles.
On Wednesday, Israeli authorities discovered chemicals used for making explosives just one hour after Israel opened up Gaza crossings for shipments of humanitarian goods. The chemicals were discovered in a sealed container and were intended for use in Kassam rockets.
Officials have also noted in the past that much of the "humanitarian aid" sent into to Gaza never reached the residents for whom it was donated. On several occasions, IDF soldiers discovered bomb-making ingredients packed in sacks marked "sugar" and other donated food supplies waiting to pass through the border crossings from Israel into Gaza, most recently on Wednesday.
According to sources in Ramallah, the oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar has been donating millions of dollars per month to help relieve the poverty suffered by Gaza residents – but Hamas operatives have stolen much of it to purchase advanced weaponry.
The aid is reportedly meant to strengthen Abbas, who is considered to be a "moderate" force in PA affairs despite the numerous terror attacks carried out by Fatah's Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group.
The PA population elected the Hamas terrorist organization to lead the government in a landslide victory two years ago, although Abbas, who is leader of the rival Fatah faction, remained as PA Chairman.
The two factions spent more than a year fighting for control of the PA in a bloody civil war that ended in June 2007 with Hamas taking over Gaza. According to the Foreign Ministry, 1,018 rockets and 937 mortar shells have been fired at Sderot and other communities in the western Negev since Hamas conquered Gaza.
Abbas and his Fatah faction retained control over Judea and Samaria, but have been unable, or unwilling, to restrain terrorists in the region from initiating attacks on Israeli civilians.
Whoa! Slow down. What does that second paragraph say?
Does it say what I think it says? Does it really say that the Knesset agreed to NEGOTIATE A FINAL STATUS AGREEMENT WITH ABBAS???
Have we all just become the patsies of Abbas again? Has our failed Knesset fallen for the all-too-tiring line that Fatah is the enemy of Hamas? Have we all just been double-crossed by the traitors in the Knesset in the guise of a hawkish bill? Have we just lost Jerusalem and Judea and Sumaria?
I think so.
Here’s that quote (Make sure you look for it when you read the story, it goes by so fast you may not notice it . . .):
The resolution adopted by the cabinet included a decision to destroy the Hamas regime in Gaza, while continuing to negotiate a final status agreement with Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.
OK. Nice that they have decided to destroy Hamas, but did they have to decide to destroy Israel too? Didn’t they notice that Abbas called off peace negotiations WHEN WE ATTACKED HAMAS? Doesn’t that say something, you know, like ABBAS WANTS TO PROTECT HAMAS?????
What part of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend" does the Knesset not understand?
I don’t know about you, but I am completely disgusted.
M
P.S. Where were the Shas weenies and their friends the NRP? I bet they were voting right along with Labor. Maybe they even smiled?
-----
Security Cabinet Decides: End All Rocket Attacks from Gaza
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125476
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) The Security Cabinet decided in a longer-than-usual meeting Wednesday to put an end to the rocket and mortar attacks fired by Gaza terrorists at Israel.
The resolution adopted by the cabinet included a decision to destroy the Hamas regime in Gaza, while continuing to negotiate a final status agreement with Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.
The resolution included a decision to coordinate with Egypt the efforts to topple Hamas. The cabinet also expressed its determination "to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to the extent that the matter depends on Israel."
It is the first time that a formal decision has been taken to completely eradicate missile attacks launched from Gaza.
There were no details on how the IDF would carry out the orders or on what the soldiers will and will not be allowed to do.
More than 180 rockets have been fired at southern Israel in the past seven days, including at least 20 long-range 122 mm Iranian "Grad" missiles.
On Wednesday, Israeli authorities discovered chemicals used for making explosives just one hour after Israel opened up Gaza crossings for shipments of humanitarian goods. The chemicals were discovered in a sealed container and were intended for use in Kassam rockets.
Officials have also noted in the past that much of the "humanitarian aid" sent into to Gaza never reached the residents for whom it was donated. On several occasions, IDF soldiers discovered bomb-making ingredients packed in sacks marked "sugar" and other donated food supplies waiting to pass through the border crossings from Israel into Gaza, most recently on Wednesday.
According to sources in Ramallah, the oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar has been donating millions of dollars per month to help relieve the poverty suffered by Gaza residents – but Hamas operatives have stolen much of it to purchase advanced weaponry.
The aid is reportedly meant to strengthen Abbas, who is considered to be a "moderate" force in PA affairs despite the numerous terror attacks carried out by Fatah's Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group.
The PA population elected the Hamas terrorist organization to lead the government in a landslide victory two years ago, although Abbas, who is leader of the rival Fatah faction, remained as PA Chairman.
The two factions spent more than a year fighting for control of the PA in a bloody civil war that ended in June 2007 with Hamas taking over Gaza. According to the Foreign Ministry, 1,018 rockets and 937 mortar shells have been fired at Sderot and other communities in the western Negev since Hamas conquered Gaza.
Abbas and his Fatah faction retained control over Judea and Samaria, but have been unable, or unwilling, to restrain terrorists in the region from initiating attacks on Israeli civilians.
Small Jewish Company to Make Cancer Diagnosis Simple & Save Millions of Lives
B"H
Imagine for a moment if all the arabs in Gaza were to turn their creative energies toward growth and life, and away from destruction and death.
Imagine if they had taken the millions of dollars they were given by the world community to educate, nurture, and encourage life-giving technologies and had not used it to sustain terrorism, to nurture hate, and to encourage new weapons technology.
One could say, "They need to protect themselves from oppression and hunger and poverty!" But Israel needs to protect itself constantly, and most of the Jews in Israel have experienced oppression and hunger and poverty first-hand in every nation possible. Yet, Jews continue to work for life. We continue to create beauty and opportunity and beneficial technology.
Perhaps it is because our religion is one that glorifies life and justice.
It is too bad that so many Moslems have chosen to glorify death and hate instead.
Here is a company that, with only five employees, may save millions of lives a year: a Jewish company, an Israeli company.
The difference between life and death, between cancer and health, is a small but significant difference.
M
-----
Red for Cancer, Green for Normal
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125462
by Gil Ronen
(IsraelNN.com) It's simple. In the new cancer test kit developed by Zetiq Technologies, if the cells in a tissue test stain green, they are normal. If they stain red they are cancerous. Dr. Adi Elkeles, CEO of Zetiq, called the test "a very simple discrimination that can be analyzed even by a layman."
"There is a huge need for simple tools that can screen and diagnose all types of cancer," he added. "Early detection can make all the difference between life and death. Hundreds of millions of people will need this technology. It offers a major breakthrough in the field of cancer diagnostics."
The new technology – dubbed CellDetect – uses a metabolic signature, developed using clinical tissue samples, to distinguish between normal and malignant cells.
This is crucial because a large cell population will often contain only a very small number of malignant cells. Using traditional diagnostic techniques these cells are often undetected because they are so scarce in number, or because the distinction between the cells and the background is so minor.
Just five people
The test that could save millions of lives was developed by a company that employs only five people.
Using CellDetect, the difference between malignant and normal cells is clear. "It's like moving from a black and white TV to color," said Ami Eyal, the CEO of parent company Bio-Light Life Science Investments. "We bring a visualization tool into the field that will revolutionize the way people do diagnosis based on looking at cells. You can't miss the cells, they are red."
Another advantage over traditional tests and biopsies, said Elkeles, is the fact that the test can be used to detect a wide range of different cancers, something he claims no other diagnostic tool can do. In addition, it can be used for drug development. "This has great clinical and business value," he told ISRAEL21c.
The test that could save millions of lives was developed by a company that employs only five people, and outsources the rest of its work in Israel and abroad. "We don't need a big infrastructure," explained Elkeles.
Tailoring tests
The company's first application for this platform technology is a diagnostic tool for cervical cancer. About 10,000 women are diagnosed with this disease in the US every year, and about 3,700 women die of it, according to statistics from the National Cervical Cancer Coalition.
"Our technology can stain most, if not all, cancer cells."
Aside from this, the company is working on diagnostic tools for other types of cancer. "Our technology can stain most, if not all, cancer cells," says Elkeles. "We can tailor the right test for different types of cancer."
CellDetect has proven successful in pre-clinical trials. Further clinical trials will begin later this year, though Elkeles declined to give details.
Good for drug scientists too
The company also plans to develop the technology for scientists working in research and drug discovery. For drug discovery purposes, the metabolic signature can be used to detect whether a chemical or biological compound has changed the phenotype of cell lines from cancerous to normal, or vice versa.
Zetiq, which is headquartered in Ramat Gan, was founded six years ago and is based on research by Israeli scientists. The company is now a fully owned subsidiary of Bio-light, a management and holding company specializing in biomedical technologies.
Bio-Light, a Tel Aviv Stock Exchange company, has three other biotech companies in its portfolio - OBEcure, allergica and IOPtima
Imagine for a moment if all the arabs in Gaza were to turn their creative energies toward growth and life, and away from destruction and death.
Imagine if they had taken the millions of dollars they were given by the world community to educate, nurture, and encourage life-giving technologies and had not used it to sustain terrorism, to nurture hate, and to encourage new weapons technology.
One could say, "They need to protect themselves from oppression and hunger and poverty!" But Israel needs to protect itself constantly, and most of the Jews in Israel have experienced oppression and hunger and poverty first-hand in every nation possible. Yet, Jews continue to work for life. We continue to create beauty and opportunity and beneficial technology.
Perhaps it is because our religion is one that glorifies life and justice.
It is too bad that so many Moslems have chosen to glorify death and hate instead.
Here is a company that, with only five employees, may save millions of lives a year: a Jewish company, an Israeli company.
The difference between life and death, between cancer and health, is a small but significant difference.
M
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Red for Cancer, Green for Normal
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125462
by Gil Ronen
(IsraelNN.com) It's simple. In the new cancer test kit developed by Zetiq Technologies, if the cells in a tissue test stain green, they are normal. If they stain red they are cancerous. Dr. Adi Elkeles, CEO of Zetiq, called the test "a very simple discrimination that can be analyzed even by a layman."
"There is a huge need for simple tools that can screen and diagnose all types of cancer," he added. "Early detection can make all the difference between life and death. Hundreds of millions of people will need this technology. It offers a major breakthrough in the field of cancer diagnostics."
The new technology – dubbed CellDetect – uses a metabolic signature, developed using clinical tissue samples, to distinguish between normal and malignant cells.
This is crucial because a large cell population will often contain only a very small number of malignant cells. Using traditional diagnostic techniques these cells are often undetected because they are so scarce in number, or because the distinction between the cells and the background is so minor.
Just five people
The test that could save millions of lives was developed by a company that employs only five people.
Using CellDetect, the difference between malignant and normal cells is clear. "It's like moving from a black and white TV to color," said Ami Eyal, the CEO of parent company Bio-Light Life Science Investments. "We bring a visualization tool into the field that will revolutionize the way people do diagnosis based on looking at cells. You can't miss the cells, they are red."
Another advantage over traditional tests and biopsies, said Elkeles, is the fact that the test can be used to detect a wide range of different cancers, something he claims no other diagnostic tool can do. In addition, it can be used for drug development. "This has great clinical and business value," he told ISRAEL21c.
The test that could save millions of lives was developed by a company that employs only five people, and outsources the rest of its work in Israel and abroad. "We don't need a big infrastructure," explained Elkeles.
Tailoring tests
The company's first application for this platform technology is a diagnostic tool for cervical cancer. About 10,000 women are diagnosed with this disease in the US every year, and about 3,700 women die of it, according to statistics from the National Cervical Cancer Coalition.
"Our technology can stain most, if not all, cancer cells."
Aside from this, the company is working on diagnostic tools for other types of cancer. "Our technology can stain most, if not all, cancer cells," says Elkeles. "We can tailor the right test for different types of cancer."
CellDetect has proven successful in pre-clinical trials. Further clinical trials will begin later this year, though Elkeles declined to give details.
Good for drug scientists too
The company also plans to develop the technology for scientists working in research and drug discovery. For drug discovery purposes, the metabolic signature can be used to detect whether a chemical or biological compound has changed the phenotype of cell lines from cancerous to normal, or vice versa.
Zetiq, which is headquartered in Ramat Gan, was founded six years ago and is based on research by Israeli scientists. The company is now a fully owned subsidiary of Bio-light, a management and holding company specializing in biomedical technologies.
Bio-Light, a Tel Aviv Stock Exchange company, has three other biotech companies in its portfolio - OBEcure, allergica and IOPtima
Liberal Orthodox rabbis starting new 'fellowship' to counter rightward shift
B"H
African American writer, Audre Lorde, wrote " The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," and I fear that she was right.
Will a new organization, even one headed by on of my perennial favorites, Rabbi Angel, keep themselves from slip-sliding ("You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip sliding away . . . ) into the same abyss we've seen the RCA and the chief rabbinate already fall.
Perhaps a more helpful path for the organization might be to move in the direction of opening schools and yeshivot that teach Torah instead of Chumrah, practical knowledge instead of pil-pul, middot instead of conceit.
I don't think these Haradim can be taken down from their arrogant heights quickly or easily. I am afraid one must build up from the bottom and retake the moral heights by inches. In case I'm right, we needed to start yesterday, but now would be better than later.
M
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http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/2008022620080226angleweiss.html
By Ben Harris Published: 02/26/2008
Rabbi Avi Weiss, who is working for the creation of an alternative network of rabbinic courts that would operate on "non-haredi standards."
NEW YORK (JTA) -- To its architects, the agreement reached between the Rabbinical Council of America and the Israeli Chief Rabbinate offers a way out of a long-running dispute over the recognition of conversions performed by American Orthodox rabbis.
But a small group of liberal Orthodox rabbis are unhappy with the deal, which was formally announced Tuesday. They say it represents a broader pattern of what they describe as surrender on the part of the RCA, the primary association of Orthodox rabbis in the United States, to the dictates of a religious establishment in Israel increasingly under the right-wing sway of fervently Orthodox, or haredi, authorities.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Chief Rabbinate approved a list of about 15 RCA rabbinic courts and approximately 40 rabbinic judges whose conversions would be recognized by state authorities in Israel. Courts wishing to be added to the list would need the final approval of Rabbis Hershel Schachter and Mordechai Willig, two leading rabbis at Yeshiva University who some liberal Orthodox figures blame for the school's alleged rightward drift.
"Conversion is just symptomatic of the increasing haredization of the establishment of the Orthodox community," said Marc Angel, the rabbi emeritus of New York's Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. "It's like building higher and higher walls between the Orthodox world and the rest of the world."
It is that belief which, in part, has led Angel and another New York rabbi, Avi Weiss, to move toward the creation of an alternative network of rabbinic courts that would operate on "non-haredi standards." The courts would be associated with a new rabbinic organization that Angel and Weiss are establishing to be known as the Rabbinic Fellowship.
Rabbi Basil Herring, the executive vice president of the RCA, told JTA his organization has not taken a formal position on the fellowship. However, he characterized as "false and misleading" Angel's characterization of the Orthodox rabbinate.
"The standards that have been adopted overwhelmingly by the rank and file and the leadership of the RCA are certainly very mainstream," Herring said. "They reflect standards that have existed not only over the last decades but indeed for centuries. The RCA, if anything, has been very moderate in terms of its expectations of converts."
Motivated by similar concerns about the rightward drift of American Orthodoxy, others have tried -- and failed -- over the past decade to create more liberal Orthodox institutions, including attempts to establish alternate rabbinic courts. But the Angel-Weiss effort is the first to unite a grass-roots association of rabbis with an alternative network of courts and a kind of think tank, the Jewish Institute for Ideas and Ideals.
In October, the fellowship hosted an initial gathering of 33 rabbis -- among them Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, a former New York rabbi and now the spiritual leader of the West Bank town of Efrat, and at least two members of the RCA's executive committee. An inaugural conference is slated for April in West Palm Beach, Fla., that Angel hopes will attract 100 rabbis.
Participants in the October meeting cite a number of motivating factors behind the fellowship. Among them are the desire to resist what Angel calls the "authoritarianism" of the Orthodox rabbinate; to create a "safe space" where rabbis can speak their minds freely; to empower local rabbis to make independent halachic decisions; and to provide some organizational umbrella for graduates of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Weiss' liberal Orthodox seminary.
Chovevei graduates have not been granted membership in the RCA, and Weiss told JTA the seminary withdrew its membership request over a year ago, citing the "arduous" process.
But it is the establishment of the new courts that is likely to generate the most controversy.
Though Weiss and Angel stress that the fellowship is not meant to replace or compete with the RCA -- a body in which both continue to retain membership -- creating new courts most directly infringes on an area where the RCA has long held sway.
"On the issue of the alternative batei din, that does seem to me like more of a direct conflict than fellowship alone," said Rabbi Daniel Cohen of Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford, Conn., and a participant in the October meeting. "That's something that's evolving to be honest. It's unclear where that's going to go."
For its part, the RCA stresses that for innovative legal changes to have any credibility, they must be endorsed by a recognized living halachic luminary, a position Angel derides as a "classic statement of the authoritarianism in Orthodoxy."
Herring also warned that establishing alternate courts can have a negative impact on the very people they are seeking to help -- particularly if, in the case of so-called "chained women" whose husbands refuse them a religious bill of divorce, the woman in question goes on to remarry and bear children.
"What happens if a beit din is not a recognized beit din, without wide acceptance in the Orthodox rabbinic community?" Herring asked. "Has the new beit din helped these women or not helped these women? There is absolutely no question that they have grievously harmed these women."
Weiss and Angel are not the first rabbis to recoil against the perceived rightward drift of Orthodoxy.
In 1997, a group of Orthodox rabbis and laypeople founded Edah, an organization to advance a liberal Orthodox view under the slogan "The Courage to be Modern and Orthodox." The organization folded in 2006 and its director, Rabbi Saul Berman, took a position at Chovevei Torah.
Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future, established in 2005 at the initiative of President Richard Joel, also was seen by some as an attempt to balance the perceived shif of Orthodoxy and the university to the right.
More recently, a group of religious Zionist rabbis in Israel, Tzohar, faced off against the Chief Rabbinate over the use of a religious loophole allowing farmers to work their land during the sabbatical year.
"We're not starting at the end of the process. We're starting with a grass-roots movement," Angel said. "And we're going to do it slowly, methodically, and on very solid halachic grounds.
"We're not interested in making headlines. We're interested in doing that which is correct for the Jewish people."
African American writer, Audre Lorde, wrote " The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," and I fear that she was right.
Will a new organization, even one headed by on of my perennial favorites, Rabbi Angel, keep themselves from slip-sliding ("You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip sliding away . . . ) into the same abyss we've seen the RCA and the chief rabbinate already fall.
Perhaps a more helpful path for the organization might be to move in the direction of opening schools and yeshivot that teach Torah instead of Chumrah, practical knowledge instead of pil-pul, middot instead of conceit.
I don't think these Haradim can be taken down from their arrogant heights quickly or easily. I am afraid one must build up from the bottom and retake the moral heights by inches. In case I'm right, we needed to start yesterday, but now would be better than later.
M
-----
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/2008022620080226angleweiss.html
By Ben Harris Published: 02/26/2008
Rabbi Avi Weiss, who is working for the creation of an alternative network of rabbinic courts that would operate on "non-haredi standards."
NEW YORK (JTA) -- To its architects, the agreement reached between the Rabbinical Council of America and the Israeli Chief Rabbinate offers a way out of a long-running dispute over the recognition of conversions performed by American Orthodox rabbis.
But a small group of liberal Orthodox rabbis are unhappy with the deal, which was formally announced Tuesday. They say it represents a broader pattern of what they describe as surrender on the part of the RCA, the primary association of Orthodox rabbis in the United States, to the dictates of a religious establishment in Israel increasingly under the right-wing sway of fervently Orthodox, or haredi, authorities.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Chief Rabbinate approved a list of about 15 RCA rabbinic courts and approximately 40 rabbinic judges whose conversions would be recognized by state authorities in Israel. Courts wishing to be added to the list would need the final approval of Rabbis Hershel Schachter and Mordechai Willig, two leading rabbis at Yeshiva University who some liberal Orthodox figures blame for the school's alleged rightward drift.
"Conversion is just symptomatic of the increasing haredization of the establishment of the Orthodox community," said Marc Angel, the rabbi emeritus of New York's Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. "It's like building higher and higher walls between the Orthodox world and the rest of the world."
It is that belief which, in part, has led Angel and another New York rabbi, Avi Weiss, to move toward the creation of an alternative network of rabbinic courts that would operate on "non-haredi standards." The courts would be associated with a new rabbinic organization that Angel and Weiss are establishing to be known as the Rabbinic Fellowship.
Rabbi Basil Herring, the executive vice president of the RCA, told JTA his organization has not taken a formal position on the fellowship. However, he characterized as "false and misleading" Angel's characterization of the Orthodox rabbinate.
"The standards that have been adopted overwhelmingly by the rank and file and the leadership of the RCA are certainly very mainstream," Herring said. "They reflect standards that have existed not only over the last decades but indeed for centuries. The RCA, if anything, has been very moderate in terms of its expectations of converts."
Motivated by similar concerns about the rightward drift of American Orthodoxy, others have tried -- and failed -- over the past decade to create more liberal Orthodox institutions, including attempts to establish alternate rabbinic courts. But the Angel-Weiss effort is the first to unite a grass-roots association of rabbis with an alternative network of courts and a kind of think tank, the Jewish Institute for Ideas and Ideals.
In October, the fellowship hosted an initial gathering of 33 rabbis -- among them Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, a former New York rabbi and now the spiritual leader of the West Bank town of Efrat, and at least two members of the RCA's executive committee. An inaugural conference is slated for April in West Palm Beach, Fla., that Angel hopes will attract 100 rabbis.
Participants in the October meeting cite a number of motivating factors behind the fellowship. Among them are the desire to resist what Angel calls the "authoritarianism" of the Orthodox rabbinate; to create a "safe space" where rabbis can speak their minds freely; to empower local rabbis to make independent halachic decisions; and to provide some organizational umbrella for graduates of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Weiss' liberal Orthodox seminary.
Chovevei graduates have not been granted membership in the RCA, and Weiss told JTA the seminary withdrew its membership request over a year ago, citing the "arduous" process.
But it is the establishment of the new courts that is likely to generate the most controversy.
Though Weiss and Angel stress that the fellowship is not meant to replace or compete with the RCA -- a body in which both continue to retain membership -- creating new courts most directly infringes on an area where the RCA has long held sway.
"On the issue of the alternative batei din, that does seem to me like more of a direct conflict than fellowship alone," said Rabbi Daniel Cohen of Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford, Conn., and a participant in the October meeting. "That's something that's evolving to be honest. It's unclear where that's going to go."
For its part, the RCA stresses that for innovative legal changes to have any credibility, they must be endorsed by a recognized living halachic luminary, a position Angel derides as a "classic statement of the authoritarianism in Orthodoxy."
Herring also warned that establishing alternate courts can have a negative impact on the very people they are seeking to help -- particularly if, in the case of so-called "chained women" whose husbands refuse them a religious bill of divorce, the woman in question goes on to remarry and bear children.
"What happens if a beit din is not a recognized beit din, without wide acceptance in the Orthodox rabbinic community?" Herring asked. "Has the new beit din helped these women or not helped these women? There is absolutely no question that they have grievously harmed these women."
Weiss and Angel are not the first rabbis to recoil against the perceived rightward drift of Orthodoxy.
In 1997, a group of Orthodox rabbis and laypeople founded Edah, an organization to advance a liberal Orthodox view under the slogan "The Courage to be Modern and Orthodox." The organization folded in 2006 and its director, Rabbi Saul Berman, took a position at Chovevei Torah.
Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future, established in 2005 at the initiative of President Richard Joel, also was seen by some as an attempt to balance the perceived shif of Orthodoxy and the university to the right.
More recently, a group of religious Zionist rabbis in Israel, Tzohar, faced off against the Chief Rabbinate over the use of a religious loophole allowing farmers to work their land during the sabbatical year.
"We're not starting at the end of the process. We're starting with a grass-roots movement," Angel said. "And we're going to do it slowly, methodically, and on very solid halachic grounds.
"We're not interested in making headlines. We're interested in doing that which is correct for the Jewish people."
'DUNGEONS & DRAGONS' CREATOR 'ROLLS' INTO HEAVEN
B”H
OK, not Jewish, not Israeli, but, I think, an important figure to Jewish geeks everywhere. I don’t know about you, but I played this game with relish (I had a 24th level magic user with psyonic abilities!).
D&D gave birth to all the role-playing games of today’s video world. I am convinced that Tomb Raider, Diablo, Legend of Zelda, Oblivion, Assassin's Creed, etc. would not exist if it weren’t for D&D (We would all probably be playing the closely related but not as addictive “war games” without it!)
I remember sitting for hours with friends, 20-sided dice, and a lot of graph paper in the early eighties. Between D&D and long poker games, I don’t know what I would have done with my time! (Written a novel? Composed a Symphony? . . . )
M
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By TIM PERONE and DAVID K. LI
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052008/news/regionalnews/dungeons__dragons_creator_rolls_into_hea_100524.htm
March 5, 2008 -- Gary Gygax, co-creator of board game Dungeons & Dragons, rolled his last 20-sided die yesterday and passed away to his ultimate castle in the sky.
He was 69.
Gygax had been in failing health for years, and most recently had suffered an abdominal aneurysm.
But the weakened Gygax still enjoyed regular "Dungeon and Dragons" games at his Lake Geneva, Wis., home as recently as January, said his wife, Gail Gygax.
"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."
In 1974, Gygax and Dave Arneson introduced their first edition of D&D - and quickly sold out 1,000 copies.
"Wow, I'm incredibly sad," said D&D enthusiast Jose Nagron at the Midtown game store Compleat Strategist.
Nagron, a 30-year-old elevator porter from the Upper West Side who plays in a weekly D&D game, thanked Gygax for 16 years of fun with friends.
"D&D's a good opportunity to hang out with friends and pass the time," he said.
Rich Armstrong, an analyst for Google, has rolled D&D dice since 1982 and still keeps a 20-sided die on his desk.
"I waited until my fourth date to tell my fiancée I played D&D," said a laughing Armstong, who lives on the Upper East Side. "We took the mockery and nerd-ery as a badge of honor." With Post Wire Services
OK, not Jewish, not Israeli, but, I think, an important figure to Jewish geeks everywhere. I don’t know about you, but I played this game with relish (I had a 24th level magic user with psyonic abilities!).
D&D gave birth to all the role-playing games of today’s video world. I am convinced that Tomb Raider, Diablo, Legend of Zelda, Oblivion, Assassin's Creed, etc. would not exist if it weren’t for D&D (We would all probably be playing the closely related but not as addictive “war games” without it!)
I remember sitting for hours with friends, 20-sided dice, and a lot of graph paper in the early eighties. Between D&D and long poker games, I don’t know what I would have done with my time! (Written a novel? Composed a Symphony? . . . )
M
-----
By TIM PERONE and DAVID K. LI
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052008/news/regionalnews/dungeons__dragons_creator_rolls_into_hea_100524.htm
March 5, 2008 -- Gary Gygax, co-creator of board game Dungeons & Dragons, rolled his last 20-sided die yesterday and passed away to his ultimate castle in the sky.
He was 69.
Gygax had been in failing health for years, and most recently had suffered an abdominal aneurysm.
But the weakened Gygax still enjoyed regular "Dungeon and Dragons" games at his Lake Geneva, Wis., home as recently as January, said his wife, Gail Gygax.
"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."
In 1974, Gygax and Dave Arneson introduced their first edition of D&D - and quickly sold out 1,000 copies.
"Wow, I'm incredibly sad," said D&D enthusiast Jose Nagron at the Midtown game store Compleat Strategist.
Nagron, a 30-year-old elevator porter from the Upper West Side who plays in a weekly D&D game, thanked Gygax for 16 years of fun with friends.
"D&D's a good opportunity to hang out with friends and pass the time," he said.
Rich Armstrong, an analyst for Google, has rolled D&D dice since 1982 and still keeps a 20-sided die on his desk.
"I waited until my fourth date to tell my fiancée I played D&D," said a laughing Armstong, who lives on the Upper East Side. "We took the mockery and nerd-ery as a badge of honor." With Post Wire Services
Oldest Sister of Malakov's Accused Killer Arrested
Update
B"H
I can't imagine the pain of this family. Please continue to pray for her daughter, Michelle.
M
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TWISTED SISTER'S 'THREAT'
By IKIMULISA LIVINGSTON and PERRY CHIARAMONTE
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052008/news/regionalnews/twisted_sisters_threat_100516.htm
March 5, 2008 -- The older sister of a Russian doctor accused of orchestrating the murder of her orthodontist ex-hubby was busted yesterday for allegedly threatening his brother in an attempt to stop him from testifying in the sensational case.
"You do know, if you talk, you will be the next to go," Natella Natanova, 39, allegedly hissed at Gavril Malakov, 34, as the man walked to work at 108th Street and 65th Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens, at 9:50 a.m. Monday.
Malakov promptly informed cops, who busted Natanova yesterday afternoon and charged her with intimidating and tampering with a witness.
Natanova is the sister of Mazoltuv Borukhova, 34, who is charged with hiring a hitman to kill former husband Daniel Malakov.
Borukhova - a well-known internist at North Shore Hospital in Forest Hills - allegedly paid a distant cousin $20,000 to carry out the cold-blooded hit on a Forest Hills playground Oct. 28 in front of the warring couple's 4-year-old daughter.
Borukhova was apparently furious that her ex had gained custody of the child just days before the murder.
Since the slaying, Gavril Malakov has been one of his former sister-in-law's harshest accusers.
After her arrest last month, he told her, "I cannot believe you think America is so stupid, so dumb, that nobody is ever going to get caught."
Natanova, of Rego Park, remained mum as she was led from the 112th Precinct to await her arraignment last night.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, in announcing Natanova's arrest, made reference to her alleged threat to Gavril Malakov by saying, "Prospective witnesses must be protected from outside interference that might affect their testimony."
Natanova faces up to four years behind bars on the charges.
B"H
I can't imagine the pain of this family. Please continue to pray for her daughter, Michelle.
M
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TWISTED SISTER'S 'THREAT'
By IKIMULISA LIVINGSTON and PERRY CHIARAMONTE
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052008/news/regionalnews/twisted_sisters_threat_100516.htm
March 5, 2008 -- The older sister of a Russian doctor accused of orchestrating the murder of her orthodontist ex-hubby was busted yesterday for allegedly threatening his brother in an attempt to stop him from testifying in the sensational case.
"You do know, if you talk, you will be the next to go," Natella Natanova, 39, allegedly hissed at Gavril Malakov, 34, as the man walked to work at 108th Street and 65th Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens, at 9:50 a.m. Monday.
Malakov promptly informed cops, who busted Natanova yesterday afternoon and charged her with intimidating and tampering with a witness.
Natanova is the sister of Mazoltuv Borukhova, 34, who is charged with hiring a hitman to kill former husband Daniel Malakov.
Borukhova - a well-known internist at North Shore Hospital in Forest Hills - allegedly paid a distant cousin $20,000 to carry out the cold-blooded hit on a Forest Hills playground Oct. 28 in front of the warring couple's 4-year-old daughter.
Borukhova was apparently furious that her ex had gained custody of the child just days before the murder.
Since the slaying, Gavril Malakov has been one of his former sister-in-law's harshest accusers.
After her arrest last month, he told her, "I cannot believe you think America is so stupid, so dumb, that nobody is ever going to get caught."
Natanova, of Rego Park, remained mum as she was led from the 112th Precinct to await her arraignment last night.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, in announcing Natanova's arrest, made reference to her alleged threat to Gavril Malakov by saying, "Prospective witnesses must be protected from outside interference that might affect their testimony."
Natanova faces up to four years behind bars on the charges.
Hearing for Teenaged Girl Imprisoned for Nearly Three Months
B”H
G-d bless this girl, and G-d bless her family for raising a girl with the strength of Torah and the land of Israel behind her.
May she cause others to wake from their slumber and demand that Israel return to its roots, to be a Jewish land, to respect Hashm, and to turn its back upon those who would try to destroy our people either through violence, through oppression, or through assimilation.
The youth are a blessing, as they believe in ideals and they strive to make those ideals into the reality of the world.
May she never loose the strength of those ideals and may she live long enough to see Israel restored.
M
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http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125473
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) A hearing is being held this morning (Wednesday) in the Kfar Saba Magistrates Court for 18-year-old Tzviyah Sariel, who has been imprisoned for almost three months. She stands accused of having attacked Arabs who attempted to enter Elon Moreh. In what some call a "cruel" departure from normal practice, she is being held until the end of the legal proceedings against her.
Many of her friends, family and supporters arrived at the courtroom, which was so full that some were forced to remain outside.
Tzviyah and a friend were arrested in December when Arabs tried to enter their community, claiming they wanted to pick olives. Elon Moreh has had a history of problems with its neighboring Arabs, leading to at least five deaths: St.-Sgt. Yaakov Krenchel, 23, a reserve soldier from Nahariya, was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist sniper between Itamar and Elon Moreh, and four members of the Gavish-Kaner families were murdered in their home on the Passover holiday in 2002.
Though Tzviyah's friend was released, Tzviyah herself refused to sign the necessary papers - and has been in prison ever since. She, like others arrested in similar circumstances [click here and here], says she refuses to recognize a non-Torah legal system that aims to prevent Jews from exercising their own rights in the Land of Israel.
To this end, she refuses to be treated like other prisoners, and has been placed in solitary confinement for days at a time - nine days in total - after not agreeing to be strip-searched or stand when prisoners are counted.
Tzviyah is accused of pushing an Arab - but the Arab in question testified only that a girl whom he could not identify tried to take his cane.
"Hiring Lawyers Means Respecting Court's Justice"
"Tzviyah is crying out against the way in which Israel's judicial system uses cruel and unusual punishments against people who protest government policies," writes Moshe Dann, a journalist who has been following the case. Though some in her situation choose to fight from within, by getting a good lawyer and the like, "people like Tzviyah are trying to show that the charges themselves are politically motivated and without merit. Hiring lawyers and fighting in court means accepting the legitimacy of the court and respecting its judgments. They want to show that the judicial system itself is biased and corrupted."
Recently, seven teenaged girls were held in prison for three weeks - arrested for being present at the unauthorized Givat HaOr outpost near Beit El - because they refused to identify themselves.
"The willingness of courts to punish anyone, especially children, [simply] for what they think," Dann writes, "is a chilling indication of how close we are to dictatorship. Forced to suffer jail, they are desperately trying to sound an alarm [that] there's something more important than 'Law and Order' - and it's called morality. As a society, we dare not remain deaf to their pleas."
Civil Administration Stands Accused
Tzviyah is accused of pushing an Arab, who testified on Wednesday only that a girl, whom he could not identify, tried to take his cane. Even more significantly, he said that he and other Arabs did not come to pick olives at all, but rather, "we were told by the Civil Administration officials that if we didn't come, the land would end up in Jewish hands."
Before the hearing began, the prosecutor reportedly approached Tzviyah's mother and asked her, "Perhaps your daughter will agree to sign after all? Because if not, this won't end today..." This, despite the fact that decisions of this nature are generally made by the judge, not the prosecutor.
Tzviyah's mother was removed from the court session after she tried to speak with her daughter.
Volunteer PR Agent
Dudi, a "concerned citizen" who lives in the Galilee, has taken upon himself to be the public relations agent for the Sariel family. Asked why, he told Arutz-7, "I greatly admire the way that Tzviyah has chosen to wage her struggle, and I feel it should be promoted. The State has become disloyal to its own ideals of fairness and democracy, and we need people to stand up and say so openly."
Though there is a chance that Tzviyah will be freed immediately after the hearing, her supporters are not optimistic that she will be anywhere but back in the bare and hostile jail cell in Nvei Tirtzah Women's Prison that has been her home for nearly three months.
G-d bless this girl, and G-d bless her family for raising a girl with the strength of Torah and the land of Israel behind her.
May she cause others to wake from their slumber and demand that Israel return to its roots, to be a Jewish land, to respect Hashm, and to turn its back upon those who would try to destroy our people either through violence, through oppression, or through assimilation.
The youth are a blessing, as they believe in ideals and they strive to make those ideals into the reality of the world.
May she never loose the strength of those ideals and may she live long enough to see Israel restored.
M
-----
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125473
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) A hearing is being held this morning (Wednesday) in the Kfar Saba Magistrates Court for 18-year-old Tzviyah Sariel, who has been imprisoned for almost three months. She stands accused of having attacked Arabs who attempted to enter Elon Moreh. In what some call a "cruel" departure from normal practice, she is being held until the end of the legal proceedings against her.
Many of her friends, family and supporters arrived at the courtroom, which was so full that some were forced to remain outside.
Tzviyah and a friend were arrested in December when Arabs tried to enter their community, claiming they wanted to pick olives. Elon Moreh has had a history of problems with its neighboring Arabs, leading to at least five deaths: St.-Sgt. Yaakov Krenchel, 23, a reserve soldier from Nahariya, was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist sniper between Itamar and Elon Moreh, and four members of the Gavish-Kaner families were murdered in their home on the Passover holiday in 2002.
Though Tzviyah's friend was released, Tzviyah herself refused to sign the necessary papers - and has been in prison ever since. She, like others arrested in similar circumstances [click here and here], says she refuses to recognize a non-Torah legal system that aims to prevent Jews from exercising their own rights in the Land of Israel.
To this end, she refuses to be treated like other prisoners, and has been placed in solitary confinement for days at a time - nine days in total - after not agreeing to be strip-searched or stand when prisoners are counted.
Tzviyah is accused of pushing an Arab - but the Arab in question testified only that a girl whom he could not identify tried to take his cane.
"Hiring Lawyers Means Respecting Court's Justice"
"Tzviyah is crying out against the way in which Israel's judicial system uses cruel and unusual punishments against people who protest government policies," writes Moshe Dann, a journalist who has been following the case. Though some in her situation choose to fight from within, by getting a good lawyer and the like, "people like Tzviyah are trying to show that the charges themselves are politically motivated and without merit. Hiring lawyers and fighting in court means accepting the legitimacy of the court and respecting its judgments. They want to show that the judicial system itself is biased and corrupted."
Recently, seven teenaged girls were held in prison for three weeks - arrested for being present at the unauthorized Givat HaOr outpost near Beit El - because they refused to identify themselves.
"The willingness of courts to punish anyone, especially children, [simply] for what they think," Dann writes, "is a chilling indication of how close we are to dictatorship. Forced to suffer jail, they are desperately trying to sound an alarm [that] there's something more important than 'Law and Order' - and it's called morality. As a society, we dare not remain deaf to their pleas."
Civil Administration Stands Accused
Tzviyah is accused of pushing an Arab, who testified on Wednesday only that a girl, whom he could not identify, tried to take his cane. Even more significantly, he said that he and other Arabs did not come to pick olives at all, but rather, "we were told by the Civil Administration officials that if we didn't come, the land would end up in Jewish hands."
Before the hearing began, the prosecutor reportedly approached Tzviyah's mother and asked her, "Perhaps your daughter will agree to sign after all? Because if not, this won't end today..." This, despite the fact that decisions of this nature are generally made by the judge, not the prosecutor.
Tzviyah's mother was removed from the court session after she tried to speak with her daughter.
Volunteer PR Agent
Dudi, a "concerned citizen" who lives in the Galilee, has taken upon himself to be the public relations agent for the Sariel family. Asked why, he told Arutz-7, "I greatly admire the way that Tzviyah has chosen to wage her struggle, and I feel it should be promoted. The State has become disloyal to its own ideals of fairness and democracy, and we need people to stand up and say so openly."
Though there is a chance that Tzviyah will be freed immediately after the hearing, her supporters are not optimistic that she will be anywhere but back in the bare and hostile jail cell in Nvei Tirtzah Women's Prison that has been her home for nearly three months.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
IDF Stands By as Arabs Rebuild Illegal Structure in Hevron
URGENT CALL FROM KIRYAT ARBA - HEBRON
by Women in Green
At this time, Sunday, March 2, 2008, Arabs are taking over a house in the 'Gibborim" (Heroes) outpost in Kiryat Arba-Hevron.
Background:
Some years ago,the building was built by Arabs without permits or permission, i.e. yet another illegal Arab building.
Since the "Battle of the Heroes", five years ago, the building has been empty.
The "Battle of the Heroes" was waged in an alley close to Kiryat Arba, when Arab terrorists killed twelve soldiers and Kiryat Arba security men, among them the army commander Dror Weinberg, HY"D and the Kiryat Arba head of security Yitzhak Boanish, HY"D.
As a Zionist response, the youth of Kiryat Arba-Hevron set up a synagogue in the patio of that building.
The synagogue was uprooted many times by the security forces.
To our shock and horror, today, Arabs came and started building, closing down the patio with cement to make an additional room to the already illegal house! And instead of them being stopped by the authorities, the security forces (IDF and Israeli police) have received instructions to protect the Arabs and allow them to build!
It is simply u-n-a-c-c-e-p-t-a-b-l-e that at a place where Jews fell, killed by Arabs, the Arabs would be rewarded and allowed to build!!
Not to talk about the fact that over the past few days the Arabs are raising their heads and Jews have been targeted and attacked all over the country - in Sderot, Netivot, Ashkelon by Arab Kassams - and on the roads in Judea and Samaria by Arab stone throwers and Molotov cocktails.
Instead of deterring the Arabs, the Olmert government is rewarding the Arab terrorists.
We must protest this insanity!
What can we do?
1) For those who live in Israel: come tonight, Sunday, at 8:30pm to the Gibborim outpost in Kiryat Arba-Hevron and join the youth who will demonstrate there.
2) For those living in Israel and abroad:
Bombard with phones and faxes:
* the office of the Machat (Commander in Chief in Hebron) whose name is Yehuda Fuchs and demand he immediately stop the illegal and immoral Arab building at the site.
His phone number 972-2-9967200
His fax: 972-2-9967395
Yes, you can send faxes in English, too. Every fax helps. Every phone call helps. Don't bother with emails.
They might tell you that "the land is really Arab land". Even if that were true, which is not proven, that is no reason to let Arabs build there. We Jews have thousands of dunams of Jewish land all over Judea and Samaria, and we are not allowed to build and expand on them. So why are Arabs allowed to?
* the office of Shas Minister Eli Yishai fax 972-2-6662202
or call one of his aids Shlomo Levi 972-50-624-0933
Tell the Shas people that only if they leave the government, this disgrace will be put to an end.
* for those living abroad - call your Congressmen.
Our brother's blood is crying out from the earth.
We cannot stay quiet!
Ruth and Nadia Matar
Women in Green
=============================================
Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org
and click on the Paypal button
To subscribe to the Women in Green list,
please send a blank email message to:
list4-subscribe@womeningreen.org
Check your spam filter for confirmation to reply to
by Women in Green
At this time, Sunday, March 2, 2008, Arabs are taking over a house in the 'Gibborim" (Heroes) outpost in Kiryat Arba-Hevron.
Background:
Some years ago,the building was built by Arabs without permits or permission, i.e. yet another illegal Arab building.
Since the "Battle of the Heroes", five years ago, the building has been empty.
The "Battle of the Heroes" was waged in an alley close to Kiryat Arba, when Arab terrorists killed twelve soldiers and Kiryat Arba security men, among them the army commander Dror Weinberg, HY"D and the Kiryat Arba head of security Yitzhak Boanish, HY"D.
As a Zionist response, the youth of Kiryat Arba-Hevron set up a synagogue in the patio of that building.
The synagogue was uprooted many times by the security forces.
To our shock and horror, today, Arabs came and started building, closing down the patio with cement to make an additional room to the already illegal house! And instead of them being stopped by the authorities, the security forces (IDF and Israeli police) have received instructions to protect the Arabs and allow them to build!
It is simply u-n-a-c-c-e-p-t-a-b-l-e that at a place where Jews fell, killed by Arabs, the Arabs would be rewarded and allowed to build!!
Not to talk about the fact that over the past few days the Arabs are raising their heads and Jews have been targeted and attacked all over the country - in Sderot, Netivot, Ashkelon by Arab Kassams - and on the roads in Judea and Samaria by Arab stone throwers and Molotov cocktails.
Instead of deterring the Arabs, the Olmert government is rewarding the Arab terrorists.
We must protest this insanity!
What can we do?
1) For those who live in Israel: come tonight, Sunday, at 8:30pm to the Gibborim outpost in Kiryat Arba-Hevron and join the youth who will demonstrate there.
2) For those living in Israel and abroad:
Bombard with phones and faxes:
* the office of the Machat (Commander in Chief in Hebron) whose name is Yehuda Fuchs and demand he immediately stop the illegal and immoral Arab building at the site.
His phone number 972-2-9967200
His fax: 972-2-9967395
Yes, you can send faxes in English, too. Every fax helps. Every phone call helps. Don't bother with emails.
They might tell you that "the land is really Arab land". Even if that were true, which is not proven, that is no reason to let Arabs build there. We Jews have thousands of dunams of Jewish land all over Judea and Samaria, and we are not allowed to build and expand on them. So why are Arabs allowed to?
* the office of Shas Minister Eli Yishai fax 972-2-6662202
or call one of his aids Shlomo Levi 972-50-624-0933
Tell the Shas people that only if they leave the government, this disgrace will be put to an end.
* for those living abroad - call your Congressmen.
Our brother's blood is crying out from the earth.
We cannot stay quiet!
Ruth and Nadia Matar
Women in Green
=============================================
Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
and click on the Paypal button
To subscribe to the Women in Green list,
please send a blank email message to:
list4-subscribe@womeningreen.org
Check your spam filter for confirmation to reply to
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