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1. No Change on Jerusalem Policy Despite US Pressure
by Maayana Miskin
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office said Friday that Israel will not change its policy vis-a-vis Jerusalem despite United States pressure. Netanyahu returned Thursday from a round of meetings in the US during which he was asked to restrict the construction of housing for Jews in parts of the capital city. Right wing MK's and groups are making efforts to show Netanyahu that mainstream Israel is with him on this issue.
Most Israeli mainstream media, however, described the meetings as a failure. The US hoped to talk Netanyahu into making major concessions to the Palestinian Authority, but Netanyahu refused to concede and said he would discuss the matter with his mini-Cabinet of seven senior ministers.
The prime minister is to meet with the seven ministers on Friday to discuss the outcome of his talk with Obama, and to submit America's demands for their consideration.
Obama pushed Netanyahu to agree to extend the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria, to release hundreds of terrorists affiliated with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah organization, and to deny Jews the right to build in parts of Jerusalem that were under Jordanian control between the years 1948 and 1967.
Obama Criticized over 'US-Engineered Deadlock'
Obama's attempt to win Israeli concessions was criticized in America as well as in Israel. The Washington Post published an editorial this week terming the deadlock between Israel and the PA as “a US-engineered deadlock.”
Author Jackson Diehl noted that each of Obama's demands on Israel led to Abbas declaring that the PA will not begin negotiating with Israel if the demand is not met. “How could he do otherwise?” Diehl asked. “The Palestinian leader cannot be less pro-Palestinian than the White House.”
In addition to reducing the PA leadership's willingness to hold talks, Obama “has added more poison to a U.S.-Israeli relationship that already was at its lowest point in two decades,” Diehl continued.
"Netanyahu is being treated as if he were an unsavory Third World dictator, needed for strategic reasons but conspicuously held at arms length. That is something the rest of the world will be quick to notice and respond to,” he said. “Just like the Palestinians, European governments cannot be more friendly to an Israeli leader than the United States. Would Britain have expelled a senior Israeli diplomat Tuesday because of a flap over forged passports if there were no daylight between Obama and Netanyahu? Maybe not.”
2. Activists: Bibi, Stand Strong
by Maayana Miskin
As Netanyahu returned to Jerusalem, activists stood on the light-rail bridge at the entrance to the city and waved signs supporting the prime minister in the face of American pressure. Banners proclaimed “Obama, No You Can't,” and “We will Safeguard Jerusalem.”
Activists, members of the Zionist student movement Im Tirtzu, explained, "We came here tonight to welcome Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and to support him and the cabinet in face of the pressure from America, and the chutzpa of US President Obama, who is basically asking Israel to sacrifice its greatest national interests.”
A second organization, Matot Arim (Cities Task Force), turned to Netanyahu's mini-Cabinet in the hopes of convincing the ministers not to cave under US pressure. The group sent letters to four of the seven senior ministers, Minster of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Internal Affairs Minister Eli Yishai, and Minister Ze'ev Begin.
"Four are always the majority out of seven,” Matot Arim reminded the ministers. “This mathematical fact means that if each one of you stands firm and does not fold – then all seven will, by necessity, make the right decisions, and the government of Israel and the state of Israel as a whole will not fold.”
“On the eve of the festival of freedom,” the group said, minister should tell Obama “that the people of Israel gained their freedom thousands of years ago, and will not agree to give it up.”
3. Mayor Barkat: Netanyahu Protected Jerusalem in Washington
by Gil Ronen
Mayor Nir Barkat of Jerusalem said Thursday that construction in all parts of the city will continue and expressed his support for the Prime Minister for standing up to US President Barack Obama's pressure on the matter. Obama wanted Israel to freeze construction projects for Jews in the eastern part of the city while allowing projects for Arabs to progress without hindrance.
Speaking at the municipal council meeting, Barkat said: “I want to express my support for the Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who protected Jerusalem during his visit to Washington.”
"I also want to utilize the podium of the municipal council to make clear to our important ally, the United States, that construction in Jerusalem will continue,” he said. “There is no freeze in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a developing city, it has needs and we will continue to build in its eastern and western sides, for all of its inhabitants, Jews and Arabs,” he added.
1/3 of homes – for Arabs
The city – founded as the Jewish capital by King David, 3,000 years ago – is currently using a zoning plan that has taken shape over the past decade, Barkat explained. The plan calls for about 50,000 housing units to be built throughout the city, in both its eastern and western sides. One third of the units are intended for the Arab sector and two-thirds for the Jewish sector – a reflection of the sectors' relative sizes.
"Some of the plans were approved in the past and some will be brought for approval in the coming years in the local and district committees,” he clarified. The construction is being carried out in order to stop the emigration of young people from the city by making housing affordable for them, and to enable natural growth for the general public, Barkat said.
Prime Minister Netanyahu arrived in Ben Gurion National Airport Thursday evening and will convene the seven-minister inner forum at 9:00 PM. He will update the ministers about the US's demands and inform them of his reply to the Obama administration.
4. Petraeus Confirms INN's Report: "I Never Blamed Israel"
by Maayana Miskin
United States General David Petraeus, head of U.S.Central Command (CENTCOM) whose area of responsibility includes Afghanistan and Iraq, set the record straight Wednesday regarding his statements about the Israeli-Arab conflict. In a talk given at St. Anselm College, Petraeus said that recent reports claiming he had blamed Israel for US military deaths were erroneous.
INN had reported on March 18th that the rumors that the general had blamed Israel were based on an article by Yasser Arafat's former advisor, Mark Perry, on Foreign Policy's website, and were not credible. INN had surmised that this was a pro-Arab attempt to cause American citizens to resent Israel. INN staff also consulted the security think tank, JINSA, at the time, who confirmed that the rumors were baseless. INN's article refuted all three items attributed to Petraeus, also quoting Commentary's article on the subject..
Ynet and JPost, among others, reported the rumors as true and they dominated the web for days. One week later, on Thursday, March 25, the conservative website Spectator reported that "Petraeus poured cold water on the controversy, explaining in detail why 'all three items...were wrong'."
Petraeus had been quoted as attributing American military deaths to the perception of America as pro-Israel, based on statements allegedly included in a report given to the US Senate. The claim that he blamed support for Israel for American deaths was completely false, he said. “There is no mention of lives anywhere in [the report]... It doesn't say that at all,” he stated.
Petraeus told his audience that he had already contacted IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, whom he referred to as “Gabi,” to clarify the matter.
Taken out of context
“The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests,” Petraeus was quoted as saying. “Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the [Middle East] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world.” Perry wrote that the general had sent a report to the White House on the issue.
The quotes were taken out of context, Petraeus said. The statements were not remarks he made at a Senate hearing, as implied, but rather, were taken from a 56-page report submitted to the Senate's Armed Services Committee. He never sent a report to the White House.
In addition, he said, the statements did not reflect America's view of the Israel-Arab conflict, but only addressed the perception of the conflict in the Arab world. “We noted in there that there was a perception at times that America sides with Israel and so forth. And that is a perception... I don't think that's disputable,” he said.
The report submitted to the senate also noted other influences on the region, such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's Holocaust denial, he noted.
According to a third rumor, Petraeus had asked that Judea, Samaria and Gaza be added to his terrain as leader of the Central Command, which covers most of the Middle East. That rumor was “flat wrong,” the general said.
Military commanders regularly examine the borders of each area of responsibility, he explained, but he never requested responsibility for Israel.
5. PA Wants Israel to OK Dead Sea Tourist Scheme
by Gil Ronen
The Palestinian Authority has asked Israel for permission to build a huge tourist haven on the shore of the Dead Sea, according to reports in Persian Gulf press. If approved, the project would give the Arab entity a solid foothold in the Jordan Valley region, considered critical for Israel's security even by many centrists. Netanyahu has said that the IDF would have to be stationed along this area even in the event of a Palestinian state.
The plan calls for a $1.4 billion investment in a tourist resort project on the Dead Sea shore and another $700 million investment in the creation of an Arab city south of Jericho. Most of the area that the PA is requesting is currently under full Israeli control and not in the area controlled by the PA, giving rise to speculation that the desire for annexation of Israeli controlled land is behind the plan.
The Oman Times said that Israel's Defense Ministry confirmed that a request of this nature was filed by the PA. PA sources said that they doubted whether Israel would respond positively.
The Palestinian Investment Fund, which is behind the plan, said that economic projects being advanced with Israel do not replace the diplomatic moves, but offer the necessary economic infrastructure for a future PA state.
6. 'Tel Aviv Waking Up to Illegal Entrant Danger'
by Maayana Miskin
Tel Aviv activist Oren Zargari spoke to Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language news service this week following a brutal anti-Semitic attack on Saturday. Zargari said that the city is beginning to wake up to the danger posed by illegal foreign workers and other illegal entrants.
Those living in southern Tel Aviv are dealing first-hand with the problems caused by a massive influx of foreigners, and have long understood the importance of dealing with the issue, Zargari said. However, he said, now the traditionally leftist residents of northern Tel Aviv “are starting to understand” as well.
Tel Aviv has experienced a rise in violent crime, perpetrated largely by illegal entrants from Sudan and Eritrea. On Saturday night, an elderly Jewish resident of the city was viciously attacked by Sudanese men as he left synagogue. The men, who voiced anti-Semitic insults during the attack, stopped beating their victim only after they were spotted by police.
Lobby for Transfer of Illegals
Zargari has founded the Lobby for the Transfer of Illegal Foreigners, and has organized several protests in southern Tel Aviv in support of removing illegal entrants from the city. The Lobby calls for both illegal entrants from Egypt and foreign workers who have overstayed their visas to be returned to their countries of origin.
While not all foreign workers are violent, illegal entrants in general are behind a massive increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Tel Aviv, as well as a rise in the number of sexual assaults on young Israeli women, Zargari said. In addition, he said, illegal workers take jobs that would otherwise go to Israeli citizens.
The Lobby is tackling a problem that city officials and police have failed to deal with, he said. Zargari said he has “no idea why” the city of Tel Aviv has not done more to handle the problems caused by illegal workers.
Zargari has called on those leftist residents of northern Tel Aviv who still insist that foreign workers and illegal entrants be allowed to remain in the country to take foreigners into their own neighborhoods. “Since they are so worried about [foreign workers], since they are such moral people acting in the name of justice, let them take them,” he said.
7. Dr. Clara Hammer, Jerusalem's 'Chicken Lady,' Dies at 100
by Maayana Miskin and Hillel Fendel
The colorful and vibrant Chaya (Clara) Hammer, a long-time popular teacher who was most recently known for the "chicken fund" she ran single-handedly on behalf of needy families in Jerusalem, passed away in Jerusalem on Thursday night. She was just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday.
She was commonly known as “the chicken lady,” because her fund was based on distributing free chickens each week to hundreds of families. She went on to provide some $10,000 worth of meat each week practically up until her death; the fund is now run by one of her great-granddaughters.
Dr. Hammer, who received an honorary "doctorate in kindness" from Yeshiva University a number of years ago, will be buried on Friday at 1 p.m. at Beit HaHesped in Givat Sha'ul, Jerusalem. She is survived by her three daughters, nine grandchildren, over 35 great-grandchildren, and some 40 great-great-grandchildren.
In an interview with Aish HaTorah in 2008, Dr. Hammer recalled her own experience with hunger. After she was captured as a young girl with her family while crossing the border between Romania and Russia, the family was put in jail for seven weeks and given very little food. "I have never, never, never forgotten that,” she recounted to Aish. “What it means to be hungry. What it means to cry, 'I want another piece of bread' and the mother says, 'I'm sorry, I don't have.'”
From jail, the family moved to the Land of Israel, but was forced to leave their home in Haifa for the United States after about a year when Clara's mother took ill.
Chaya married Efraim Hammer at a young age, having met him at an event whose themes of Torah, Zionism, and the Hebrew language were to shape their shared lives together for the next several decades. Mrs. Hammer was known as an especially gifted and lively teacher; teachers in the Kingsway Jewish Center in New York City were approved only after passing through her class.
The Hammers lived in Pittsburgh, New York, and finally in Los Angeles, where they were instrumental in founding the area's first Orthodox synagogue and mikvah. "Their devotion to keeping the Sabbath and building Jewish life under difficult conditions was legendary," a grandson-in-law said.
In 1969 she and her husband finally fulfilled a life-long dream and made Aliyah (immigrated) to Israel. They lived, for the rest of their lives, in the first building to be built in Jerusalem's then-new Ramat Eshkol neighborhood; shiva will be observed in that home beginning Saturday night, but will be abbreviated by the onset of the Pesach holiday.
The Hammers were followed later on Aliyah by their three daughters and their families.
Chaya often recounted how one Friday, almost 30 years ago, she was buying meat at her local butcher and noticed a young girl receiving scraps of bone and fat. When she commented to the butcher, he explained that the girl's father was disabled and unable to work, the family was very poor, and the bone and thistle would be mixed in a soup to provide a bit of nutrition.
Mrs. Hammer immediately told the butcher to give the girl two chickens and a pound of chopped meat every week, and to charge it to her account. She then began to tell friends and family about the needy families in her community, and started to gather funds for chicken for a growing number of families.
By 2008, she was providing chicken to more than 120 families a week. She also looked for other ways to help the families, such as by providing school supplies or clothing, and reached out to families in other cities as well.
In addition to the YU honorary doctorate, Mrs. Hammer received many awards, including Yakirat Yerushalayim and Eishet Chayil, and was a leading member in Emunah Women, Hadassah, Bikur Cholim, the League for Special Children, and more. She founded the flourishing Bracha chapter of Emunah in Jerusalem for English speakers.
