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1. Arutz Shevathon Fundraiser is Live - CALL NOW!
by Eli Stutz
The Arutz Shevathon Fundraiser is live now! Call in with your donation to 1-800-270-4288 or click the banner below and support Arutz Sheva online. Watch your favorite Israel National Radio hosts on live video below.
"I'm very excited at the opportunity to hear from our listeners whom we love so much," said Malkah Fleisher, host of the Eyshet Chayil show on Israel National Radio. "This is the time of year that we get to listen to them, and not just talk."
Tzvi Barish, Arutz Sheva English Internet manager, said, "No matter what amount we raise, this day is a great success for Arutz Sheva. All the show hosts are taking part. I'm psyched."
Yishai Fleisher & Eli Stutz Kicking Off the Broadcast
Here is the schedule for the Shevathon (Eastern Standard Time). Watch out for your favorite hosts and guests and tune in via live video from the Israel National News homepage, or by audio on www.IsraelNationalRadio.com:
07:00 Yishai Fleisher and Eli Stutz, with guests Rabbi Berel Wein and Professor Paul Eidelberg
08:00 Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven, with guests Eve Harrow and MK Danny Danon
09:00 Walter Bingham and Judy Simon, with guests MK Tzipi Hotovelli and Gil Hoffman
10:00 Yishai Fleisher and Ben Bresky, with guests Shlomo Katz and Aaron Klein
11:00 Goel Jasper and Dovid Gantshar, with guest Professor Jan Geliebter
12:00 Rabbi Shimshon Nadel and Yitzchak Hutner, with guests Ketzaleh (MK Yaakov Katz) and Minister Yuli Edelstein
13:00 Jeremy Gimpel and Tamar Yonah, with guests Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis and Doug Hagmann
14:00 Malkah Fleisher and Yishai Fleisher, with guests MK Aryeh Eldad and Nadia Matar
15:00 Tovia Singer and Ari Abramowitz, with guests David Ha'ivri and Andrew Lewis
16:00 Yehudah Hacohen and Tamar Yonah, with guests Shlomo Wollins and Jay Bernstein
17:00 Dovid Willner and Barnea Selavan, with guest Ferme Hassan
18:00 Tamar Yonah and Yishai Fleisher, with guests Gene Gee, Jesse Woodrow, and Yisroel Stefanski
The theme of the Shevathon is Growth, corresponding to the upcoming Tu B'Shvat holiday, which celebrates the Jewish new year for trees. As such, there will be Tu B'Shvat activities conducted live throughout the telethon, and learning about the Jewish aspects of nature and our role in the world. The Shevathon will also focus on Jewish growth in the land of Israel, with special interviews from Jewish communities throughout the land, especially in Judea and Samaria, where Jewish courage and life in the face of obstacles continues to thrive.
The target for the Shevathon is $360,000, which will be used to help Arutz Sheva continue its quality array of news media services, and grow and expand into new horizons. This target number is a multiple of 18, which signifies Life in Jewish tradition. Donors will be able to contribute via the Internet and by phone, with selected donors going on air live with the show hosts. Special prizes will be awarded, which include meeting with favorite show hosts, Israeli artwork, Arutz Sheva T-shirts and hats, and much more.
Arutz Sheva sees its role as an alternative media source as crucial, in a political and media environment that is increasingly hostile to Israel, from the Goldstone report that targeted Israel's right to defend itself, to the daily and ever-intensifying pressure on Israel's leaders to relinquish the Jewish homeland. Arutz Sheva hopes to continue in its mission to bring the truth to light, and to promote the values of Torah, of a strong Israel, and of a proud Jewish people. All this, through up-to-the-minute coverage of the news online, by email, on the radio, and via video.
The phone lines are open now. To support Arutz Sheva, call 1-800-270-4288 from the U.S., Canada, and Israel. Click here to donate online. Arutz Sheva wishes a very happy Tu Bishvat to all its readers and listeners.
2. Canada to Offer Shariah-Compliant Mortgages?
by Hana Levi Julian
Shariah-compliant mortgage banking, in accordance with Islamic religious law, may soon become a reality in Canada, according to a report published Wednesday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The law firm Gowling, Lafleur Henderson LLP, which prepared the report, said it found no legal obstacle to the practice. It added that “given the growth of Islamic financing internationally, it can be expected that international harmonization of IF accounting and reporting... will occur in due course.”
CMHC prefaced its report by saying that it does not plan to offer the shariah-compliant mortgages, nor does it plan to advocate for a change in current legislation. It did, however, recommend that private institutions consider providing the Islamic banking option to those Muslim customers who wish to take advantage of such a service.
According to the 88-page report, Canada's Muslim community is beginning to offer shariah-compliant "mortgage-like products" based on the principle that charging interest on loans is forbidden. A similar principle exists in Jewish Law.
In order to make money, shariah-compliant mortgage firms instead become equity partners in the purchase of a home or building, with monthly “rent” or “profit” being paid to the lender along with the principal.
Canada's Muslim community currently numbers approximately 700,000; at least 5,000 of those who were customers at UM Financial bank in Toronto expressed interest in transferring their existing mortgages once a shariah-compliant mortgage becomes available.
3. Knesset Rejects Bill to Outlaw Islamic Movement
by Gil Ronen
The Knesset plenum rejected Wednesday a bill to outlaw the Islamic Movement which operates inside Israel. The bill was proposed by MKs Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari of the National Union, who said that the Islamic Movement works openly for the destruction of Israel.
"It is no coincidence that the bill comes up on International Holocaust Day,” MK Ben-Ari said in presenting the bill. “As part of the process of drawing lessons from the Holocaust, we have realized that it is imperative that we stop the Holocaust in its initial stages – at the stage of incitement and anti-Semitic ideology which is the foundation upon which the industry of death is built.”
Ben-Ari quoted incendiary statements made by leaders of the Islamic Movement and told the Knesset that they called Jews “bugs, lice, parasites and used other imagery that reminds one of Goebbels' propaganda.”
Ben Ari reminded the MKs of Israel Our Home and the Likud that they promised, before the elections, to outlaw the Islamic Movement.
Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman opposed the bill, however, saying that it was too far-reaching. Coalition MKs, including some from Israel Our Home, opposed the bill and it was voted down.
4. Edelstein Links Nazis and Today’s Iran
by Hillel Fendel
Visiting the Yad Vashem exhibit in the United Nations building in honor of International Holocaust Day, Cabinet Minister Yuli Edelstein compares the Nazis’ “final solution” with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“The same twisted mindset that came up with the concentration camps is operative now in Iran as well to use atomic power to destroy Israel,” Edelstein said at the U.N. ceremony. Diaspora Affairs and Information Minister Edelstein oversees Israel’s public relations and information efforts abroad.
The United Nations and some 20 countries around the world have designated Wednesday, January 27, as International Holocaust Day since 1996. The date was originally commemorated as such in individual countries for having been the anniversary of the Russian liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, and has now been adopted on an international scale.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was also in attendance at the Yad Vashem exhibit, as was Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gabriela Shalev.
The exhibit, a mobile version of the "Architecture of Murder" exhibit in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, shows the plans of the Auschwitz camp that were given to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last August.
“You notice the tremendous detail and complexity in the Auschwitz blueprints,” Edelstein said. “Only a twisted and obsessive mind is able to invest so much time and detail in plans to destroy an entire nation. This happened 60 years ago, but the same obsession is found in the mind of a dictator, Ahmedinajad, who has systematically worked with his government for many years to develop weapons of mass destruction that could be used once again to murder six million Jews.”
“Here in the UN, of all places, we must emphasize the urgency of stopping these evil and threatening plans,” Edelstein exhorted his listeners.
Last year’s Holocaust exhibit at the UN focused on the courageous men and women who helped rescue Jews during World War II, and another previous exhibit, entitled “No Child's Play – Remembrance and Beyond,” zeroed in on children’s lives during the Holocaust.
5. Netanyahu in Auschwitz: Remember Amalek and Trust in IDF
by Gil Ronen
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave a forceful speech interlaced with biblical quotations at the International Holocaust Remembrance Day at Auschwitz Wednesday afternoon, and sent a message to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as well.
After a short introduction in English Netanyahu switched over to Hebrew. He began his speech with the Aramaic words that open the Kaddish prayer – “yitgadal veyitkadash Shmeh Raba” – “may the name of G-d be grow great and be sanctified” - and said that the last words of many of the Jews who were murdered at Auschwitz were the call of “Shema Yisrael” – "Hear O Israel."
He then said that many of the slain must also have uttered another phrase before their death: “Remember what Amalek did to you – do not forget.”
"I came here from Jerusalem to tell you that we will never forget,” he said. “We will always remember what the Nazi Amalek did to us and we will not forget to be alert and ready when a new Amalek appears on the stage of history and threatens to destroy the Jews once again. And we will not make that mistake again, of taking the matter lightly and thinking that the threats are empty, or that the Holocaust denials are empty words. We will not forget and we will always remember to stand guard.”
Only the IDF guarantees survival
"The lesson of the Holocaust is that murderous evil must be stopped as early as possible when it is still in its early phases and cannot yet realize its intentions,” Netanyahu said, in a clear allusion to Iran's nuclear threats. “This lesson must be internalized by all the world's enlightened nations. We, the Jewish people, internalized it well, after losing one third of our nation on the blood-soaked earth of Europe. We learned that we must be prepared to defend ourselves. We have learned that the only guarantee for the survival of our nation is a strong Israel and its army – the Israel Defense Force. We learned that we must alert the nations of the world and be prepared to defend ourselves.”
“From this place I vow, as the head of the State of the Jews: never again will we let the machine of evil cut off the life of our nation. Never again.”
There was some clapping of hands after the more forceful parts of Netanyahu's speech. As the television calera panned across the dignitaries' seats, Netanyahu's wife Sarah could be seen, stern faced and nodding in emphatic agreement with the speech.
While never mentioning Iran, Netanyahu's speech was undoubtedly meant to be understood as a vow that Israel would use force if it had to, to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon.
6. ‘Goodwill’ Measures Led to More Crime, Terror, Says Police Chief
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The government’s continuing “goodwill” measures to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas caused an increase in rock-throwing terrorist attacks on Jews, traffic accidents and crime, Police Commissioner David Cohen said Wednesday. He pointed out that he is not interfering with government policy decisions but simply was presenting the facts.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, under pressure from the Obama administration, has removed more than 150 checkpoints and roadblocks and reduced army patrols. The American government wants more of them taken away to help coax Abbas back to discussions on transforming the PA into a full-fledged state with its capital in Jerusalem.
The police chief said that in the last six months of 2009, the number of rock attacks in Judea and Samaria increased dramatically.
Arabs throw rocks at Jewish motorists with the intent of causing fatal accidents. Rock throwing attacks have become daily occurrences on Judea and Samaria roads in the past three months. Sometimes the rocks themselves cause injury: one small child was wounded last week when a rock crashed through a windshield.
Last month, a rabbi in Samaria was murdered by terrorists from Shechem several days after Barak ordered a roadblock to be removed. The IDF denied there was any connection between the roadblock's removal and the murder.
Many of the assaults with rocks and firebombs have occurred on Highway 60, connecting Jerusalem and Kiryat Arba-Hevron, where major checkpoints have been removed. The checkpoints often enabled policemen and soldiers to catch Arab drivers with stolen vehicles or driving them without a license.
7. Kenyan Delegation Visits Sderot to Study Counter-Terrorism
by Malkah Fleisher
As the Somali Islamic terror organization al-Shabaab threatens to attack Kenya's capital city of Nairobi, a delegation of parliamentarians, security officials, and diplomats from that African country arrived in Israel this week to learn about standing up to radical Islamic terror, as reported by Sderot Media Center.
Al-Shabaab's website this week featured a video of terrorists chanting in Swahili, "We will reach Nairobi. When we arrive, we will hit until we kill." Recent violent demonstrations in Kenya followed a governmental decision to deport Jamaican Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Faisal, who has spent time in jail in Britain for urging Muslims to engage in holy war, or jihad, against Westerners, Hindus, and Jews. Six people were killed in riots, including a police officer.
Radical Islam has swept Kenya's northeastern neighbor, Somalia, where the imposition of harsh Islamic Sharia law has been urged and where the international Al-Qaeda terrorist group has set up shop.
In Sderot
The Kenyan delegation toured the southern city of Sderot on Tuesday to gain an in-depth look at the Jewish State's anti-terror security measures. Sderot Regional Security Chief Kobi Harush
briefed the group about measures taken by the Israeli government to protect Sderot and regional towns from rocket attacks, including the provision of bomb shelters and early warning systems.
Harush said it is important to provide shelter everywhere, because rockets can fall anywhere, at any time. He also said civilian cooperation and compliance is crucial to enforcing security.
Sderot Media Center's Yaakov Shrybman also addressed the group. He warned them that rocket terrorism might be employed by Somali radicals to terrorize Kenyan cities. "As we know, terrorism is not a localized virus," said Shrybman. "The rocket threat faced by us here on the Gaza border in Sderot is one that may potentially be faced by innocent civilians around the world."
Members of the delegation said they had "a lot to learn" from their trip.
