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1. Arab Nation Seizes N. Korean Arms Headed for Iran
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean weapons and ammunition to Iran, the Financial Times reported. The seizure is the first time a country has acted on United Nations sanctions against North Korea, and the move also reflects fears among Arabs that Iran will dominate the Muslim world with nuclear capability.
Evidence has surfaced in the past two years of increased ties between North Korea and Iran, both of which are feared by the Western world as trying to become nuclear powers.
The U.N. imposed sanctions on North Korea in attempt to prevent the country from exporting weapons to fund its nuclear weapon program. The UAE reportedly seized the weapons several weeks ago, finding 10 containers of rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition that were camouflaged as “machine parts.”
A diplomat of a country that is a member of the U.N. sanctions committee said that weapons were ordered by an Iranian company with links to the Revolutionary Guard. The exact location of the seizure was not disclosed except that it was not in the port of Dubai.
A United States navy destroyer in June followed a North Korean ship suspected of carrying arms, and the vessel turned back instead of continuing on course. Another ship was intercepted by India earlier this month, but an investigation of the contents of the shipment has not been completed.
2. Israel: UN Covers for Iran Nuclear Ambitions
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Foreign Ministry on Saturday criticized the latest United Nations report on Iran’s nuclear program as begin too soft on the Islamic Republic for its failure to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Tehran was happy with the report and said it proves its nuclear intentions are peaceful.
The report is the last one to be issued by IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei, an Egyptian who frequently has been criticized by Israel for not disclosing information that implicates Iran and for opposing an attack on the country.
ElBaradei earlier this year told The New York Times, “Israel would be utterly crazy to attack Iran."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the latest report “does not reflect all the information available to the IAEA regarding Iran's efforts to progress with its military program, as well as its ongoing concealment and deception efforts.”
To read the rest of the important story, click here!
3. IDF Bombs Northern Gaza Tunnel Following Kassam Attack
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Israel Air Force successfully targeted a tunnel leading from the northern Gaza Strip towards the Western Negev after midnight Saturday. The tunnel was intended to be used for an infiltration to execute a terrorist attack against Israeli citizens or IDF soldiers, military spokesmen said.
The IDF confirmed that the smuggling tunnel hidden within a Gaza home was destroyed. The IAF bombers safely returned to their base.
The tunnel was dug from underneath a building located 1.5 kilometers (approximately one mile) away from the security barrier. The attack was in response to a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza on the morning of the Sabbath, but the army did not explain why it waited until the rocket attack before bombing the smuggling tunnel.
The Kassam rocket was fired earlier in the day at the Sdot Negev region near northern Gaza crossings. The missile exploded in an open area, and no injuries or damage were reported.
At least 234 rockets and mortars have hit Israel since the end of Operation Cast Lead last January. Terrorists have escalated attacks over the past week, breaking a silence that had prevailed for several weeks.
Israel media generally have played down the attacks unless they cause damage or injuries.
Palestinian Authority media have increasingly reported false accounts of supposed Israeli incursions into Gaza. IDF spokesmen thoroughly dismissed Thursday’s account by the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency that Navy ships beheaded an Arab fisherman with artillery fire following a mortar shell attack and sniper fire at Israeli soldiers patrolling near Gaza crossings.
Incitement against Israel in PA media continues to be common despite the American Roadmap that specifically calls for the PA to halt provocations to violence and hatred.
South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu told Ma'an this week that Israel must talk with Hamas because "you don't make peace with friends; you negotiate with those who are regarded as pariahs.”
Elsewhere in Gaza, two bombs were set off at a Hamas prison and at the Gaza home of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who has not entered the area since the military coup in which the Hamas terrorist organization seized total control of the region two years ago.
No injuries were reported in the blasts.
Tutu also said that he previously has told de facto Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh that rocket attacks on Israel are violations of ”the right to life.”
4. IAF Adding Firepower to Helicopter Fleet
by Zalman Nelson
Looking to bolster its air support capabilities for possible future operations in Lebanon and Gaza, the Israel Air Force (IAF) has begun testing Black Hawk utility helicopters upgraded with offensive air-to-surface missile launchers and a rapid-fire cannon.
The tests are only meant to assess the possibility of upgrades, according to sources quoted by The Jerusalem Post, and there is no plan at this stage to equip the IAF's entire Black Hawk fleet with offensive capabilities. The air force currently has several dozen Black Hawk helicopters – called Yanshuf – which it began receiving in the 1990s.
The helicopter upgrade efforts represent a joint project with the U.S.-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation – the chopper’s manufacturer – and several local defense contractors. Originally designed in the 1970s as a utility tactical transport aircraft for the United States Air Force, the Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter that can carry a squad of a dozen troops with equipment or carry over one ton of equipment.
They were first used in combat by the IAF in April 1996 during operation "Grapes of Wrath" against Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon.
The IAF is also engaged in advanced negotiations with defense manufacturer Boeing to upgrade at least six of its old "A" model Apache attack helicopters to the "D" model Longbow version which features an above-rotor advanced radar system that shares targeting data with other Longbows.
According to foreign sources quoted in the report, Israel has 37 of the "A" model Apaches and 11 Longbows. Three Apache helicopters, including one Longbow, were lost during the Second Lebanon War due to a midair collision and a case of rotor malfunction.
IAF reportedly has plans to establish a second squadron of Apache Longbows in the next 10 years.
5. Beach Killers Indicted for Murder, Failure to Aid
by Maayana Miskin
Seven members of a gang that savagely lynched a Jewish man in Tel Aviv earlier this month have been indicted. Three were charged with aggravated assault and murder.
Another four have been charged with failure to prevent a crime and failure to provide assistance, under the “Do not stand idly by your brother's blood” law, which requires witnesses to a crime to help the victim if possible.
An eighth person who was present at the time of the crime – a 17-year-old girl from Petach Tikva – will not be charged. The girl was the first to give testimony to police, and has stated that she attempted to prevent the slaying.
Two of the three murder suspects have been identified as Jamal Adav and Abdel Rahman Addas of the Israeli-Arab town of Jaljulya. Along with a minor, also from Jaljulya, they are accused of beating Leonard (Arik) Karp to death and of injuring his wife and daughter.
The vicious assault began as the Karp family was attempting to leave the beach following suggestive remarks directed at the two women.
While Adav, Addas and the unidentified minor were assaulting Karp, the remaining members of the group stood by and did not intervene, according to the indictment. The entire group had been drinking.
The gang ran away after hearing people approaching the area, leaving Karp to die. They continued to a nearby park, where they spent the rest of the night drinking and dancing.
It was not clear from the indictment how Karp's body reached the water. By the time his wife and daughter returned with police, Karp had disappeared. His body was found in the water the next day.
6. Shomron: We'll be Glad to Take Ethiopian Kids from Petach Tikva
by Maayana Miskin and Gil Ronen
The Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council and the community of Peduel offered Friday to absorb Ethiopian-Jewish children from Petach Tikva in their schools. The offer is an attempt to resolve an emotional dispute between Petach Tikva schools and government officials regarding the fate of the students.
Shomron Regional Council Head Gershon Mesika explained: “We in the Shomron absorbed quite a few families of Ethiopian immigrants in the past few years and we are proud of this. We will be very happy to absorb the students from the Ethiopian community who, like the resettlers of Judea and Samaria, risked their lives in making Aliyah from Ethiopia to Israel. The residents of Shomron are always volunteering for national and social assignments and we will be glad to do so for this pleasant mission too,” Mesika said.
"In the communities of Peduel and Yakir,” Mesika added, “there are religious state schools that – like all of the Shomron's educational institutions – are among the best in Israel, from an educational-professional point of view and from a Torah point of view. In addition, the Shomron communities are but 'a touch away' from central Israel. Peduel and Yakir are less than 15 minutes' drive from Petach Tikva,” he noted.
Educator and former Bnei Akiva official Yonah Goodman, who is a spokesman for Peduel, said: “we are ready to absorb the Ethiopian-immigrant pupils in the community's school, and we will be happy and proud if it does indeed happen. I hope that the Ministry of Education consents to our offer.”
Kids have Nowhere to go
Emotions are running high in Petach Tikva over the question of where 50 young schoolchildren from Ethiopia should learn during the coming school year. With just days to go before the year begins, the children have been left with nowhere to go.
The children, along with their families, underwent a formal conversion to Judaism (giyur l'chumra) as part of their aliyah (immigration) process. As converts, the parents vowed to keep Jewish law, and to send their children to religious schools.
However, the religious schools in Petach Tikva say they are not equipped to deal with the heavy influx of new immigrants, and have refused to accept the would-be students in an attempt to force the city to help them bear the burden of large-scale absorption. Members of the Parent-Teacher Forum in the city's religious Zionist schools say that the state-religious schools, which serve approximately 10 percent of Petah Tikva's children, are being expected to absorb more than 90 percent of the new immigrants – and are not being given the proper resources to do so.
While several dozen soon to be first-grade students from Ethiopia have enrolled in the religious-Zionist schools, dozens of older children were refused admittance.
School officials say the new immigrants are significantly behind their Israeli-born peers in language and math skills, and require extra assistance in order to close the gaps. Officials proposed separate classes for students from Ethiopia, in which students would be taught material that their Israeli counterparts have already covered, but the proposal was rejected by the Education Ministry, which said the separate classes would constitute racial discrimination.
The schools in question are not part of the public school system, but receive state and municipal funding. Their principals insist that as semi-private institutions, they have the right to set criteria for admittance that include academic ability and religious observance, while city officials insist that as institutions that receive public funding, they have the obligation to take part in the absorption of new immigrants.
'Racism, Plain and Simple'
While school officials argued that their stance was based solely on the difficulties of absorbing students with a weak academic background, Ethiopian activists in Petach Tikva and elsewhere accused the schools of using academics as an excuse for racism. The decision not to enlist the Ethiopian-Israeli students is “racism, plain and simple,” said Dani Kassahun, who heads a coalition of Ethiopian-Israeli organizations.
Kassahun called on the Education Ministry and the city of Petah Tikva to use forceful measures to solve the problem. If the schools refuse to accept new immigrants, then the schools should be closed, he said.
The Israeli Association for Ethiopian Jews has turned to Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger, asking them to assist the children. The children and their families underwent a conversion process supervised by Israel's rabbinate, the group noted, asking, “Are these children not good enough to learn in any religious or hareidi school in Petach Tikva?”
Peres, Livni Slam Schools
President Shimon Peres and opposition leader Tzipi Livni have joined those criticizing the schools for their failure to absorb the new pupils. Livni called the schools' actions “unacceptable,” while Peres called on young activists to “go to Petach Tikva and protest.”
"If I were in your place, I'd get on a bus and go straight to Petach Tikva to protest against those who oppose the absorption of Ethiopian students in three local schools,” he told a gathering of young leaders in Kfar Maccabiah on Thursday. The schools' refusal to accept the students is “a disgrace that no Israeli can accept,” he said.
The schools later responded to Peres, and invited the president to come visit on the first day of classes next week, “where he will see that in our schools there are students of Ethiopian origin... From there, we recommend that the honorable president continue on to 40 other schools in Petach Tikva, where he won't see a single immigrant from Ethiopia.”
7. Travel: Gush Etzion, Holy Land Heartland
by Shalom Pollack
It’s hard to choose the one place that can win the title of the most dramatic site in the Land of Israel over the last two thousands years. One strong candidate could be Gush Etzion, located between Jerusalem and Hevron. The heartland of the Holy Land, Gush Etzion is a hilly area in the middle of Judea, scattered between colorful fertile valleys and gorges.
Today the greater Gush Etzion area is home to a growing populace of over 60,000 Jews. This area has not seen this number of its sons and daughters since the great revolts against Rome when they were expelled.
Gush Etzion was the birthplace of the Biblical Binyamin (Benjamin), the son of Yaakov (Jacob) and Rachel and King David. After Ezra and Nehemiah led the Jews back from Babylonian exile 2,400 years ago, they rebuilt their homes in the heartland.
Goats and sheep frolic in the Judean hills
Courtesy, Ministry of Tourism
Crucial to Jerusalem’s Defense
It was here that the great showdown with the Greek empire took place. The rulers of ancient Greece declared that its Jewish residents must adopt Greek practices. The Greeks wouldn’t tolerate “anti-social and dangerous ideas” like the belief in one G-d, the Sabbath day of rest – even for slaves and cattle. Judaism’s stance on preserving life for sickly infants or the elderly was looked at as obsolete and dangerous. However, loyal Jews felt otherwise.
And so the family of the Maccabees raised the banner of revolt. “Those who are for G-d, come with me!” was the battle cry of an irregular band of farmers and patriots set off to defeat Greece. They did. That is the story of Chanukah.
During one of the more crucial battles in the heart of what is today Gush Etzion, Elazar the Maccabee noted that the enemy’s lead elephant was carrying the general. Breaking ranks, he rushed the elephant and speared him from his soft underbelly. The general was killed along with our hero - and blunted the Greek attack.
Jerusalem was saved.
Yes, it was all about Jerusalem. Gush Etzion lies on the “Road of the Patriarchs” between Jerusalem and Hevron. Jerusalem cannot be taken from the south as long as the Gush Etzion area holds.
Herodian, Herod's man-made mountain refuge
Courtesy, Ministry of Tourism
Which brings us to the modern era.
As the ingathering of the exiles began to trickle from the four corners of the world as the Prophets promised, the ancient, craggy soil began to respond to the love and care of her long lost sons and daughters. The land once again blossomed.
In 1922, the village of Migdal Eder was established by Yemenite Jews who made the three-month journey home by foot from the end of the southern Arabian peninsula. The holy soil responded - but the Arabs were not happy about the return of the rightful heirs and forced them out during the bloody 1929 country-wide riots.
The Jews were not discouraged. They returned in 1935. Shmuel Yosef Holtzman, a citrus grower, bought land in the area and rebuilt. In Yiddish, holtz means wood, which is eitz in Hebrew, the namesake of the area’s modern towns.
The area was flourishing until the next wave of Arab pogroms once again forced out the Jews. However, the Jews did not despair.
In 1942 as their Jewish brothers in Europe were being butchered, other young Jews were preparing for a Jewish future in the Jewish homeland. Kibbutz Kfar Etzion was established by a group of Jewish youth on land purchased by the Jewish National Fund. In 1945, Masuot Yitzchak was established. In 1946, Ein Tzurim and in 1947 young socialist-Zionist pioneers joined their religious brothers and sisters in the nearby Kibbutz Revadim. The hills were coming alive again. Nothing could stop these young starry eyed idealists now. They were building a country for the Holocaust survivors and for the returning exiles the world over.
In 1947, the ruling British decided to call it quits and leave pre-state Palestine. They could not quell the resolute revolt of the Irgun and Lechi Jewish underground groups that waged war against the 100,000 British occupation army. Finally the British buckled and announced the end of their occupation of Palestine (the Land of Israel).
On November 29, 1947 the U.N. voted to partition western Israel into two states: One Jewish, another Arab (the British had already established what became Jordan in 1922) Although an earlier proposal offered more land to the Jews, the Children of Israel nevertheless accepted the offer.
However, the Arabs weren’t interested in borders. There could not be a Jewish state, no matter how tiny. Period. The four fledgling Gush Etzion towns found themselves cut-off and threatened by both the local Arab mobs and the Jordanian army. The residents took a vote. It was decided that despite the slim chances of survival they would stay and fight. The children and mothers were evacuated, while the men remained. They felt that their fight was crucial to the struggle for Jerusalem.
The Arabs cut off all the roads. Convoys were attacked and casualties mounted. In one famous battle, a convoy of 51 vehicles made it to the Gush with supplies but was delayed in its departure due to a stubborn prize-breeding bull that refused to get onto the truck. The Arabs were waiting on the road just outside Bethlehem along the way to Jerusalem. The lead truck was stopped by a road block and the men and women took refuge in a small stone building off the road. For 30 hours the Arabs kept up their attack. As the number of Jewish wounded and dead mounted, the “neutral” British refused to intervene. The Jews eventually agreed to hand over all their vehicles and weapons to the Arabs in exchange for a British safe escort.
For years I have traveled along that road and stopped to explain to visitors about the famous stone house with the memorial plaque outside. That was before the Oslo Accords of 1993, before this area was given to the Palestinian Authority. After the Oslo agreement, I noticed that the sign disappeared. Then the building was gone. What battle? What history? Were the Jews ever there at all? I eventually noticed near the former battle site a 30 foot-high granite stone map of the Land of Israel from the river to the sea draped in the flag colors of the Palestine Liberation Organization. So much for the two-state solution....
In a desperate attempt to supply the beleaguered, valiant villages, 35 students volunteered to carry supplies. They walked the entire night through the Judean hills. Towards morning, within site of Gush Etzion, they were observed by an Arab shepherd but took no action against him. There fateful inaction was a fatal mistake.
The Arab shepherd subsequently alerted the villages in the area and hundreds of shrieking armed Arabs descended on the tiny band. They fought to the last man atop a small hill. When the battle ended, the Jews’ bodies were beyond recognition.
Out of ammunition and short on supplies, the Arabs swarmed the settlements. The Jordanian army joined the attack, assuring an Arab victory.
A very well-armed force ten times the size of its 530 defenders defeated them, killing 157 Jews. Another 128 of them were massacred after surrendering. Gush Etzion fell for the third time. David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister said, “If there is a Jewish Jerusalem today, we owe it to the defenders of Gush Etzion.” Its defenders bought the valuable time needed.
In the ensuing years, the orphans and survivors would look longingly at the lone oak tree seen from far. A symbol of what was. Who dreamed that it could be again?
Kfar Etzion's "loan oak"
Wikimedia Commons
But it was not over yet. “Many are my thoughts, but G-d’s Will shall prevail.”(Proverbs)
In 1967, the Arabs launched attacks on Israel and in the miraculous Six Day War. Her sons returned to Gush Etzion for a fourth time.
Modern city of Efrat
David Bogner/Wikipedia
Today the “Gush” has expanded its original size by 20 times. From four tiny settlements hugging the land for dear life, there are 15 towns and villages – 60,000 strong and growing. Gush Etzion offers its visitors history, archeology, wine tasting, nature hikes, and fruit picking. A “must see” is the dramatic audio-visual presentation of the Jewish struggle to hold onto the Gush between 1947 and 1948 at Kfar Etzion. To tour the show, you must make reservations at 02-993-5160.
The residents of Gush Etzion hope that they are here to stay.
Shalom Pollack is a veteran Israel tour guide, who guides and plans tours for families and groups. He also writes and lectures on Israel and will be on a lecture tour in the US this coming October-November. Pollack recently produced a DVD, "Israel - Ancient Roots, Modern Miracle.” Clips can be seen on his website, www.shalompollacktours.co.il
