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1. Could Israel Face 'Third Intifada'?
by Maayana Miskin
MK Moshe Matalon of Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) warned Monday night that Israel could be facing a “third Intifada,” as evidenced by recent violence in Jerusalem. “The government of Israel must use a heavy and uncompromising hand against inciters and rioters in Jerusalem,” he said.
Matalon called to take action against Sheikh Raed Salah in particular. Sheikh Salah, a leader of the Islamic Movement, has accused Israel of planning to destroy the Al Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount.
"Send the arch-inciter, Sheikh Raed Salah, to his followers in Gaza,” Matalon said. Israel must “terminate the Third Intifada with prejudice,” he concluded.
Riots continued in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem on Monday as Muslim leaders and the Palestinian Authority called to “protect Al-Aksa” and “prevent the Judaization of Jerusalem.” Several rioters have been arrested for allegedly attacking police officers and Jewish civilians with stones.
Police revealed Monday that wheelbarrows filled with heavy stones of the type used recently by Muslim Temple Mount rioters were found hidden on the Temple Mount the day before. The discovery indicates that the “spontaneous” Temple Mount riots were planned in advance, police hinted.
'Second Intifada' and the Temple Mount
Palestinian Authority Arabs term the bloody years-long terror war that began in 2000 “the Second Intifada” or “the Al-Aksa Intifada.” Many claim that the fighting, which included hundreds of suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians, began when then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount.
Sharon's visit was followed by Muslim riots calling to “protect Al-Aksa.” Several Palestinian Authority Arabs were killed while clashing with police and soldiers during the violent riots.
Israel rejects claims that Sharon's visit sparked a “spontaneous uprising” that led to the terror war. “It is clear that the current wave of Palestinian terrorism, which began in the wake of the Camp David summit failure, has nothing to do with a spontaneous Palestinian action to 'resist the occupation.' The Palestinian leadership had taken a strategic decision to abandon the path to peace and to use violence as their primary tactic for advancing their agenda,” says a government statement on the violence.
'Third Intifada' fears From August
Fears that the PA would begin inciting towards a “third intifada” surfaced in August, as the Fatah party that rules the PA met in Bethlehem and called for “resistance” against Israel. The Fatah conference delegates included several arch-terrorists.
The virulent rhetoric heard at the conference led former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Avi Dichter, now a politician with Kadima, to warn that another bloody terrorist war could be on the horizon.
PA officials also warned of a “third Intifada.” In September, the PA official in charge of the “settlement portfolio,” Shassan Daghlas, told Xinhua that Jewish growth in Judea and Samaria could lead to “a popular uprising against Israel,” while PA-based expert Abdel Hantash told the news agency that “The chances of the eruption of another Palestinian popular Intifada against Israel are high.”
2. Jewish Purchases in Jerusalem Have PA Concerned
by Hillel Fendel
Jewish efforts and successes in spurring on the historic process of the national return to Jerusalem have the Palestinian Authority concerned.
Speaking on Yemenite Television this week, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas said that while Israel and “world Zionism” act every day to “Judaize” the city, Arab efforts to make the city Arab are “paltry.” Long known by his nom de guerre Abu Mazen, Abbas provided financing for the terrorist attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.
Though he compared the current Arab efforts with the “billions” that Jews are spending on behalf of the Holy City, Abbas also hinted that Arabs are not doing enough militarily for Jerusalem.
“The Palestinians are working and are getting killed,” he said. “The second intifada erupted because of [former Prime Minister Arie Sharon’s visit to [the Temple Moun and the desecration of the mosque, and it lasted seven years. This time, therefore, the matter of Jerusalem requires a much greater effort, something much more practical. It’s not enough to talk about Jerusalem in books, nor to give sermons in mosques; there is a need to work for her.”
In fact, Jews from throughout the world are taking part in keeping Jerusalem safe for the Jewish People and Israel. The Ohr Sameach yeshiva, for instance, is planning a new campus in Nachalat Shimon, a newly renewed Jewish neighborhood just northeast of the famous Me’ah She’arim quarter. Efforts – usually expensive ones - are constantly underway not only to develop, renovate, and zone properties in the neighborhood, but mainly to eject illegal Arab squatters who live there.
Slightly to the south, in Musrara (Morashah), just outside Damascus Gate, similar efforts are underway. Four Jewish families currently live there, and if the efforts are successful, more will soon be on their way.
The Jerusalem Capital Development Foundation, actively and financially dedicated to reclaiming and strengthening the Jewish presence in historic Jerusalem, is among the organizations that, inter alia, conducts tours around eastern Jerusalem. The tours feature the various Jewish projects in the area, as well as explanations of the issues at hand – with an emphasis on the dangers of another division of Jerusalem.
Yeshivat Beit Orot, Jerusalem’s first hesder yeshiva, also conducts tours of the in-the-news areas of the Holy City. Beit Orot, located in a critically strategic area between Mt. of Olives and Mt. Scopus, is also at the forefront of the pioneering development efforts in historic Jerusalem.
The Ateret Cohanim Association, which already owns 20 properties in what is known as the Moslem Quarter of the Old City, has operative plans to purchase six more. Some 900 Jews currently live in the Old City – not including the Jewish Quarter – and the purchase of these properties will increase the number to 1,000.
3. Heavy Security for Jerusalem March
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Heavy security blankets the capital Tuesday to protect thousands of marchers and onlookers taking part in the annual Jerusalem March and related public festivities. More generally, the city is filled with tourists from around the world this week, in Israel for the week-long Sukkot holiday.
Approximately 20,000 police officers and Border Guardsmen have been deployed throughout the city, all along the parade route as well as in potential trouble spots. Recent organized rioting and attacks by Arabs in Jerusalem and its environs have led to a heightened alert level in the city, as well as measures intended to curtail potential violence incited during Muslim prayers in the Temple Mount mosques.
Several tens of thousands of people are taking part in the Jerusalem March, sponsored and organized by City Hall, with thousands of others joining the festivities at the capital's Sacher Park. Early estimates indicated that about 70,000 people will join in the day's events.
The marchers included groups representing public bodies, large trade organizations, soldiers from various IDF battalions, representatives of other security forces and first-responders. The event included flag performers and dance troupes, as well. Jerusalemites with no organizational affiliation also took part, as did a large delegation of Christian Zionists. A performance competition was also held at points along the march route among many of the organized groups, divided into three divisions - men's teams, women's teams and mixed teams.
In addition, the municipality arranged for guides from the Parks and Nature Authority to be stationed along the march routes. The guides provided detailed explanations of the areas the marchers passed through, as well as stories for children.
The Jerusalem marchers converged on Sacher Park from two directions. One group, taking a 12-kilometer route, came from Ammunition Hill and passed through the eastern Jerusalem village of Silwan (Shiloach), with its Biblical-era archaeology revealing the ruins of what appears to be Jerusalem of King David's era. No unusual incidents were reported under the heavy security. A second group took a route that was half as long and passed through the neighborhood of Abu Tor.
A second parade will set out from the park through downtown Jerusalem at around 3:00 p.m. The second half of the Jerusalem March will be officially initiated by Mayor Nir Barkat. That parade will include dance troupes and performers, as well as stands and activities for children all along the route.
The Jerusalem march has been heavily promoted among Christian Zionists as the high-point of a week-long event sponsored by the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem, self-described as the world's largest Christian Zionist organization, since 1980. The ICEJ calls its celebration "the vanguard event within Israel for the worldwide Christian Zionist movement." Regularly attended by tens of thousands of Christians from around the world, it is said to be "Israel's largest annual tourism event."
4. Italian FM: We Will Help You Combat Goldstone's Report
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin on Monday that his country is prepared to defend the Israeli position rejecting the United Nation's Goldstone Report, which accused Israel of war crimes.
Italy will also do all in its power, according to Frattini, to protect Israeli interests within Europe. He expressed optimism over what he sees as "movement" and "understanding" in the Arab world that the time has come for normalization with Israel.
Knesset Member Rivlin met with Frattini in Rome, after having prayed at the city's synagogue and visited the communal sukkah (booth for dwelling during Sukkot). He was joined by the Israeli ambassador to Italy and by the Chief Rabbi of Rome.
"A large segment of the Israeli public is prepared for concessions in exchange for a political settlement, but not for fantasies," Rivlin told Frattini during their meeting. "The evacuation of the Gaza Strip brought about the creation of a difficult front in the south, in which the rocket fire on the citizens of Israel increased. After eight years of restraint, we fought back, and we absorbed a harsh attack in the Goldstone Report. It is an intolerable situation in which we are unable to defend ourselves - on the one hand we are called upon to reach understandings with the Palestinians, but we are not supposed to militarily handle the possible outcomes of compromises."
Rivlin said that the two nations, Jews and Arabs, were "destined to live together. Peace will come only if Israel's security is assured. The way in which the Palestinians interpret Israeli agreement to a Palestinian state is mistaken. There cannot be reciprocity between the states due to the tight geographical proximity and the area needed for Israeli security. The establishment of a Palestinian state based on reciprocity will endanger the existence of Israel and we cannot allow that to happen."
The Likud MK also emphasized that the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are not an obstacle to peace. The significance of a freeze in construction, Rivlin explained, is the elimination of Jewish life in Judea and Samaria, areas with "strategic importance" for the State of Israel.
The Italian Foreign Minister expressed understanding for the Israeli position, as expressed by Rivlin, regarding the status of Jerusalem. Rivlin had detailed for the Foreign Minister how a redivision of the city is physically unrealistic and that attempting to do so is likely to give the conflict permanence, rather than resolve it.
MK Rivlin called Foreign Minister Frattini "a true friend of Israel," noting that he stood by Israel at its most difficult moments. Frattini expressed understanding of Israel's strategic and security considerations in the conversation with the Knesset Speaker.
Also taking part in the Monday meeting were the Italian Ambassador to Israel and the Israeli Ambassador to Italy.
Tomorrow, Frattini is slated to meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The two are expected to discuss economic issues and Italian assistance in PA infrastructure investment. MK Rivlin will be meeting with leaders in the Italian senate on Tuesday.
5. Riots in Jerusalem Guided by Global Jihad
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Amnon Lin, a former Knesset Member and authority on the Middle East, told Israel National News' Hebrew-language radio that a segment of the Arab-Israeli community is taking its orders from global jihadist organizations, such as Hizbullah and Hamas.
"We need to get used to the idea that today, among Arab Israelis, there is a very extremist group - led by the Islamic Movement, Raed Salah, Kamal Khatib and others - who maintain very close relations with organizations in the Islamic movement outside Israel, be it Hamas, the Hizbullah or other elements, such as Ikhwan Al-Muslimoon - the Muslim Brotherhood. Israeli Arabs no longer live on an isolated island," Lin explained.
Connections between Israeli Arabs and Islamist groups worldwide, Lin said, are by way of the Internet, telephone, through the mass media, and more. This facilitates events such as the pre-planned rioting in Jerusalem this week, which can be essentially orchestrated from afar.
"Nowadays," Lin told Arutz Sheva, "Arab Israelis have many methods by which to receive guidance, and even orders and instructions, that 'you must do such-and-such' and thus place the struggle for Jerusalem - that is, the battle for the Temple Mount - at the center."
Asked by the interviewer if this constitutes, in effect, an operational arm within Israel of the global jihadist movements, Lin replied: "I am certain that [the Islamist leadership in Israe is an operational arm that acts in full coordination with the leadership of the Hamas groups or of Hizbullah. It is all networked by the extremist fundamentalist Islamic movement."
INN: "If so, then we have to treat it like a spy network, because we are a country that has to deal with existential threats."
Lin: "I don't think you or I need to encourage the security services. They do their job well."
Asked if he sees the justice system at fault for the growth of Islamic fundamentalist activity, Lin replied that, in his estimation, the legal penalties for terrorist activities are not sufficient to deter those who want to attack innocent Jews.
"The only thing that surprises me," added Lin, "is that we, Jews in the State of Israel, apparently have not yet learned, and are not investigating or aspiring to learn well, the sad truth that describes the situation among the Arab Israelis - [that they a not separate from the general Arab public or from the Islamic fundamentalist public in the Arab countries."
Amnon Lin, a graduate of the Shomer HaTza'ir Kibbutz movement in pre-state Israel, started his political career as in the mainstream socialist Mapai party led by David Ben-Gurion. Lin was responsible for Mapai party activities among the Israeli Arab sector in the 1950s and '60s. By the 1970s, Lin had switched parties and joined the Likud under Menachem Begin. Then, due to local political issues in his hometown of Haifa in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lin rejoined the left-wing Labor party, Mapai's successor. His last term in the Knesset ended in 1988.
Lin has published several publications and many articles dealing with the Arab refugees of 1948, the Arab states, politics in the Arab Israeli community, as well as on the future of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
6. Israelis Come Up With 2 New Ways to Produce Electricity
by Hillel Fendel
Two new Israeli methods for the production of electricity are on the table: Car-travel on highways, and a micro-turbine home system.
A group of investors succeeded on Monday in producing electricity from the travel of cars along a highway. The experiment was carried out on Route 4, between Haifa and Tel Aviv, and has already elicited great interest in the Israeli and international scientific communities.
The investors have begun talks to install their technology on various highways throughout Israel. Prof. Chaim Abramovitch, chairman of the new company, told Army Radio that his system could provide the electricity needs of thousands of homes each year.
In addition, scientists from Ariel University in Samaria and a Russian research center in St. Petersburg have developed an environmentally-friendly home system that produces heat and electricity. The system is based on a ceramic gas micro-turbine. Israel’s Chief Scientist has dedicated a half-million dollars towards the project, which will be built and marketed by the CMT start-up company under the auspices of the LN Innovative Technologies Center in Haifa.
Metal turbines are limited in the amount of heat and electricity they can produce by the temperatures they can attain. The new turbine, fashioned out of ceramics and with a unique spiral canal structure inside the rotor, can reach higher temperatures than the metal one.
The turbine can be attached to a home’s existing gas and electric infrastructures, producing a free unit of electricity for every three units of heat. This enables the homeowner to receive both electricity and heat for the price of just the heat.
7. New Shar'iah Charity Fund: Underwriting Radical Islam?
by Hana Levi Julian
A new global Islamic charity fund set to launch in early 2010 may become the vehicle to support something entirely different, according to Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, who warned that the new charity must be watched carefully.
In an exclusive interview Monday with Israel National News, Jasser expressed deep concern that the World Zakat Fund, established in part by the Malaysian government, may be "nothing more than a ruse to give transnational Islamist movements and their controlling Muslim theocrats an economic power base."
The new fund will collect donations from the 2.5 percent "zakat" set aside under Shar'iah law by observant Muslims who have the wherewithal to save money. According to a statement released to the media, it is the first Islamic charity fund ever to be established.
The fund is hoping to raise nearly a billion dollars by the end of its first year. Humayon Dar, CEO of BMB Islamic, the Shar'iah adviser to the fund, said last week that donors have made soft commitments of approximately $50 million thus far.
That could grow to as much as $10 billion within the first decade, however: Dar estimated there are some 40,000 high-net-worth Muslims in the Middle East alone, including 400 billionaires. He added that between $20 billion to $30 billion in zakat is distributed in the Muslim world each year.
'Giving the Fox the Keys to the Henhouse'
Jasser told INN that he believes the fund would simply serve to consolidate financial power "in vast orders of magnitude" and then hand it over to the member nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
These are countries that have refused to abide by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, he pointed out, "and do not adhere to the same standards of human rights as Western nations."
Moreover, he said, "As far as I know, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mohamed Mahathir, has never retracted his comment from 2002 where he stated, 'A universal Islamic banking system is a jihad worth pursuing to abolish this slavery [to the Wes.'"
Giving OIC nations the collective ability to determine the distribution of "Muslim charity," he said, is "the epitome of giving the 'fox the keys to the henhouse.'"
'Benign Distribution of Funds by Radical Islamists?'
It is not yet clear where and how the funds from the new charity will be distributed, Jasser noted. "At this point, the effort is in its infancy, and the important details of where their monies will go is unknown."
However, he said, the controlling members of the fund's Shar'iah finance board merit some concern:
Dr. Ali al-Quradaghi is a member of the European Council of Fatwa Research, and a colleague of the global spiritual guide of the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Yusuf Qaradawi, who has sanctioned terrorist activity in Israel and Iraq. Qaradawi has also called for the murder of Muslim apostates, and has expressed the intention of replacing Western capitalism with "integrated Islamic philosophy."
Syria's Abdul Sattar Abu Guddah, is closely affiliated with Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usmani, who has been removed from numerous boards of Western banks, according to Jasser. Abu Guddah was on the board of the al-Baraka Bank, which was implicated in the financing of the 9/11 al-Qaeda terrorist attack on the United States. The allegations against the bank were later dismissed.
Abdul-aziz Fawzan Saleh Al-Fawzan is a Saudi Arabia-based Wahabi Islamist whom Jasser calls "a self-proclaimed hater of Christians."
In addition, the management board of BMB Islamic includes three members who hail from the International Islamic University in Pakistan. Jasser noted that in a seminar held recently by the university on Israel and Gaza, "The speaker provided an interpretation of the Koran, Chapter 5, which is anti-Semitic and incites violence."
University president Anwar Siddiqui led a discussion at the same conference with a panel of radical Islamists, Jasser said, "who called for the Islamic state in Gaza and the West Bank and for a boycott of America and Israel," among others.
"I cannot imagine how individuals as radical as this are going to distribute billions in funds in a 'benign' method globally," he said pointedly.
