 | ||
 |         |  |
 | ||
| MP3 Radio | Website News Briefs: | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
 |  |
1. Netanyahu at Merkaz HaRav Jerusalem Day Celebration
by INN Staff
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attended the annual Jerusalem Day celebration at the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem. In his speech, which was accompanied by applause whenever he talked about Jerusalem, Netanyahu stressed the importance of Jerusalem and the unbroken connection of the Jewish people to the city, quoting the verse from Isaiah 62: "For Zion's sake I will not be silent and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still, until her righteousness emerges as a shining light and her salvation burns like a torch".
To the Yeshiva head, Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, who encouraged him to be strong in facing the pressure of other nations and be strengthened by the support he sees at the yeshiva, the PM answered: "Don't worry about me. I am strong, strong enough. I am grateful for your support and your desire to strengthen me, but it is not necessary. We come from the same roots. My grandfather was a close friend of Rabbi Kook, for whom the yeshiva is named. After all, our past is what molds our future. Let us strengthen one another."
The Prime Minister continued: "The battle for Jerusalem is a battle for truth. With us is someone who was with me this evening and asked to come here with me, Professor Alan Dershowitz, who fights for our truth, our way of life, and is himself a yeshiva graduate." After the ensuing applause, the PM continued:
"There can be no justice without truth and if there is a perversion of justice vis a vis our city and nation, it means the truth has been perverted, because the truth is that Jerusalem is our city and we never compromised on that," he said, "not after the destruction of the First Holy Temple, nor after the destruction of the Second. We were a majority in the city until the 9th century and we returned 2000 years later and witnessed the city's destruction once again.
There is no other nation that feels this deeply about a city. Yet there is no other nation that has allowed such complete freedom of worship to other religions in this city. We will continue to build Jerusalem, a city that is full of life."
The packed audience, including hundreds on the street outside the yeshiva who watched the event on a large screen, burst into applause and song.
Since the first year of Jerusalem's liberation and reunification 43 years ago, the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva holds a major event on the eve of Jerusalem Day. The Chief Rabbis, other prominent rabbis, Mayor, Ministers, MK's and other public figures attend the evening. At the end of the speeches and song, the entire yeshiva sings and dances its way to the Western Wall in the middle of the night.
The Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rav Sheer Yashuv Cohen, described the first minutes at the Western Wall in 1967 when a jeep carrying his father, the Nazir Hayerushalmi (ascetic Rabbi) and Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook zt"l rushed to the wall and Rabbi Goren zt"l blew the shofar there for the first time. Former MK Chanan Porat, who was in the paratroop corps and took part in the liberation of Jerusalem, told how religious and non religious soldiers shouted the "Shma Yisrael" (Hear O Israel) prayer at the wall..
The Speaker of the Knesset, MK Ruby Rivlin spoke at the start of the event, saying "Over the last year, Jerusalem has lost many supporters. It worries me that Jerusalem Day is becoming a holiday for the knitted skullcap crowd alone. Today, some Zionist political parties who spoke of united Jerusalem until a short while ago, are now seeing the city as a problem and obstacle to our continued existence here. The same politicians who voted laws protecting Jerusalem into effect are now looking for loopholes in those same laws that will allow them to raise their hand against Jerusalem.
"Today, Jerusalem doesn't know who is on her side and who is against her, who are her builders and who are her looters, who is truly faithful to her and who is just using her for his own ends."
"Today it is clear that a unified Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty is not a given. We have reached the stage where the world claims that we have stolen the city and wants us to turn the clock back 43 years. It is clearer than ever that a people whose loyalty is fickle will find that its existence is limited, G-d forbid. Zionism without Zion, without Jerusalem, is an empty shell. Our ability to withstand attacks on Jerusalem depends a great deal on our resolve and patience, on our ability to bide our time until the sword that is drawn over the city is removed."
2. Jerusalem Day is Day of Remembrance for Ethiopian Jews
by Hana Levi Julian
Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Unification Day – is the day Ethiopian immigrants memorialize the thousands who died or were killed on the their trek through the Sudan to reach the planes that would bring them to Israel in Operation Moses, the first aliyah from Ethiopia.
“Decades ago, [they] left their homes in the dead of night. They went to the Land of Israel. They went to Jerusalem. They organized secretly, in small groups, left all their belongings behind, and began their own exodus to Jerusalem,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu noted Wednesday in special greetings on the holiday.
For Ethiopian Jewry, Jerusalem, rather than the entire State of Israel, was all they dreamed of throughout their years in exile. But for this particular population, isolated as it was from the rest of the world, Israel's capital was more of a spiritual dream city rather than a real city.
“They marched for long weeks, sometimes longer, with babies on their backs, children holding their grandparents' hands. They went north, toward the horizon, in the direction of the Land of Israel.
“They suffered from hunger. They were robbed and attacked,” Netanyahu added. “The story of the Ethiopian community's desire to return to Jerusalem is the essence of our people's dreams and prayers.”
Some 4,000 Ethiopian Jews died trying to reach the “Promised Land,” according to Avraham Edga, who in 2000 wrote (in Hebrew) a book called “The Journey to the Dream.” Edga himself was one of those who trudged through the desert sands to reach the mechanical silver birds that would wing them away to the city they always dreamed of.
Renowned author Eli Wiesel praised the book and its author in a statement proudly displayed on the tome's back cover: “You are a living example of a Jew who returns to his homeland and draws from it deep and powerful spiritual strength.”
Setting Jerusalem Day as the day of remembrance for those who died trying to reach Israel, said Netanyahu, made sense. “This is the day our capital was liberated from the yoke of foreign occupation, the day on which we were united with the eternal city of the Jewish People.
"No day is more fitting for us to remember the members of the community who perished en route to Jerusalem, those who so much believed in the dream – to the point that they were ready to die for it.”
3. Obama Calls Abbas, Sets Ground Rules
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama has put Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on equal diplomatic footing with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, calling him on the phone setting ground rules for “proximity talks” and inviting him to the White House.
No specific date was set for Abbas to visit, but PA leaders previously have said that it will take place this month.
President Obama has phoned Prime Minister Netanyahu several times, once two months ago to deliver a barrage of condemnation on Israel’s allowing construction for Jews in what it refers to as United Jerusalem. He called a second time two weeks ago with a more relaxed conversation intended to lower the tension that has existed between the two leaders.
It was Abbas’ turn on Tuesday, with the president issuing a formal invitation for him to visit the White House and setting down ground rules for the American-mediated talks between the PA and Israel. The Obama government has dubbed the discussions “proximity talks” in an apparent attempt to avoid reference to the failure of the two sides to sit down in the same room.
President Obama “congratulated” Abbas on the start of the talks, reiterated his support for establishing to PA as an independent country and called on him to “do everything he can to prevent acts of incitement or delegitimization of Israel.”
The PA already is obligated by the now-obsolete American Roadmap plan to stop incitement, and doing so was a condition for negotiations to continue. However, then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice skipped over the Roadmap conditions and commitments for prior to advancing the idea of a PA state. The Palestrina Media Watch NGO has provided almost daily evidence of continuing anti-Israel propaganda throughout the PA society, including textbooks and sermons that identify all of Israel as “Palestine.”
President Obama also has laid out ground rules aimed at preventing PA and Israel from accusing each other for any failure in the talks. “The President confirmed his intention to hold both sides accountable for actions that undermine trust during the talks,” according to a White House statement.
The phone conversation was not the first time President Obama called Abbas. After his inauguration more than a year ago, the president’s spokesmen said that Abbas was the first foreign leader he called in his aim to fulfill a promise of “ushering in a new era of peace.”
4. Jordan Launches Campaign: 'No Zionist Enemy Products'
by Hillel Fendel
It's not only the Palestinian Authority, and it's not only against the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Jordan, too, has quasi-officially announced a boycott on all Israeli-made products.
Doron Paskin, head of research at Info-Prod Research, reports for Calcalist that the campaign is headed by Jordan's trade unions, whose leaders held a press conference on Monday to announce the boycott. Dr. Ahmed Armouti, chairman of the Trade Unions Organization, said that the campaign was conceived to mark 62 years since what Arabs call the Naqba [Catastrophe], otherwise known as Israel's independence.
In addition to the dissemination of lists of Israeli-made products so that simple Jordanians can know what not to buy, a mass burning will be held this Saturday. Fruits and vegetables from Israel will be collected from the market in Jordan's capital Amman and will be publicly burnt. The event is being organized by a body called the Committee to Make War on Normalization [with Israel].
Two of the largest traders in the Amman market have already announced their intention to stop buying from Israel, Paskin reports.
It was explained at the press conference that the boycott violates no Jordanian laws.
Jordan and Israel have officially been at peace since they signed a peace treaty in 1994. Prior to that, Jordan warred with Israel in 1948, launched many fedayeen (terrorist) attacks in the following years, and then attacked Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967 – when it lost Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to Israel.
Jordan sat out the Yom Kippur War, and friendly ties ultimately developed between its leader King Hussein and Israeli governments. Hussein died five years after signing the peace treaty with Yitzchak Rabin in 1994. His son and successor, Abdullah is not enthusiastic about the peace with Israel; he told The Wall Street Journal last month that Jordan was better off economically before it made peace with Israel.
PA Continues its Boycott Efforts
At the same time, the Palestinian Authority is continuing its campaign to boycott Israeli-made goods from Judea and Samaria – in violation of the Oslo Agreement. In addition, it has added all Israeli-made goods to its list of "products to be avoided." A gathering was held in a Ramallah suburb this past week honoring volunteers who raise awareness in the PA public regarding the "importance" of spurning the Israeli-made goods. High school and college students are being trained throughout the PA-controlled areas to engage in such activities.
5. Jordan Valley Jews Fight Bedouin Encroachment
by Hillel Fendel
The problem of Bedouin encroachment on state-owned lands may have met a partial solution; Jewish residents brought about an evacuation of one new encampment.
It occurred in Maskiyot, in the Jordan Valley, this week, where a dozen families of the now-destroyed Gush Katif neighborhood Shirat HaYam now reside. Yossi Hazut, head of the town secretariat, told Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew newsmagazine what happened:
“The Bedouin are taking over lands in many places, and no one is doing anything about it,” Hazut said. “In our area, families from Shechem and Tubas constantly come here and set up camp. Even when we turn to the courts, they don’t do anything, thus giving the Bedouin more strength.”
“A few days ago,” Hazut recounted, “a Bedouin family came to the entrance junction to our community and camped out there. We refused to accept this, and within a short time of their arrival, we set up our own camp in the same place. Haaretz reporter Amira Hass wrote that the Bedouin had been there for many years, but the family was unable to produce even one piece of evidence to that effect. Maybe they’ve been in Shechem or Tubas for many years, but in Maskiyot they’ve only been for maybe a day and a half.”
“Before setting up tent there, we turned to the authorities, but we receive no response. So we decided to take action against this ‘fresh infiltration.’
“We set up our camp, with three families and a few supporters, just about five meters away from the Bedouin. A policeman came and told us to leave because it wouldn’t help anyway. We stayed firm and said that we would leave when the Bedouin leave.
“For about three days there was a standoff, with no violence. But on the fourth day, about 200 Arabs from other places came by, led by the head governor of Tubas, and the picture changed drastically. They came with PLO flags, clubs, rocks and metal poles, and when the European and PA press came, they tried to take apart our encampment. One of them tried to choke me, another one of us got punched in the eye. Only when a patrol of soldiers came by and cocked their guns did it end.”
But just barely. As Hazut explained, “It was terribly frustrating to see a soldier telling an Arab to move, and he answers, ‘Don’t want to, what are you going to do, shoot me?’ Are we sovereign here or not?”
In the end, after five days of protest, police came and took apart both encampments – which the Jews see as a victory. “Yes, Bedouin are taking over in many places,” Hazut says, “but what we profited is that the Jews of the Jordan Valley have raised their heads. This story has reverberated widely. People are beginning to understand finally that we can do something, even if it has a price. In nearby communities, people are beginning to think that maybe each town can deal with ‘its’ Bedouin. We have breathed some new life, and that’s what’s important. We’re beginning to be viewed as ‘crazies,’ in the positive sense. So perhaps we’re not crazy enough, but we have taken one step and we will continue from here…”
6. World Follows Israel's State-of-the-Art Transportation Survey
by Hillel Fendel
Governments around the world are closely following Israel's Transportation Ministry, checking to see how its newly-invented pocket GPS loggers will help predict the country's future transportation needs.
The Ministry is currently conducting an 18-month survey, checking citizens' travel habits in real-time using pocket GPS (Global Positioning System) recorders invented specifically for this purpose. The survey will ultimately cover some 5 percent of the population, in different parts of the country at different times. The objective is to amass a data bank of travel statistics, which will pave the way for solidly-based educated decisions on issues such as new roads and highways, light railways, bicycle lanes and the like.
A Light Unto the Nations
Yehoshua Birotker, Director of Transportation Planning for the Jerusalem Municipality, said that many governments are closely following the use of the new GPS loggers: "This is something that is totally new in the world of transportation surveys. People are generally asked to write down where they went, or try to reconstruct their day later, but they are very prone to forgetting. This GPS is a totally new concept, and all state governments in the United States are interested in what we are doing and waiting for our results. In Europe as well: There was a convention in Belgium several months ago, where our new system was discussed. We are definitely a 'light unto the nations' in this area."
This writer was introduced to the project when a young Transportation Ministry surveyor named Ariel knocked on his door one day last week. "You have been chosen in a random manner to take part in Israel's real-time transportation survey," he dryly announced. To sweeten the pot, he added, my family and I would be compensated for our time with free trips to the zoo or the like - but he could have saved himself the trouble: my curiosity had been sparked.
After asking where we work or study, how we get there (car/bus/bicycle/walking or other), where we have traveled recently and the like, and after assuring complete confidentiality, Ariel explained the crux of the matter. Showing me a square black box about the size of a packet of 3" diskettes, he said, "The Transportation Ministry has designed this special GPS unit, which not only tracks and records where you are at any given moment and for how long, but it also guesses whether you arrived there by car or by walking."
I and all the over-15-year-olds in my household were to wear or carry the box on our person for a given 24-hour period. Turning it on required only pressing a button and exposing it to the sky; from then on, it was to work on its own.
Ariel was anxious to impress me with what he expected the survey to do, and told me that based on the results of the previous survey 12 years ago, the number of cars predicted to use the new Route 9 bypassing northwestern Jerusalem daily between 7 and 8 a.m. was roughly 1,200, very close to the actual number that currently use it. Birotker later confirmed that the predictions were, in fact, impressively accurate.
Ariel learned this and other information, including how to operate the GSS loggers, as well as download, edit and process its information, in an eight-day course provided by the Transportation Ministry. The course dealt with Jerusalem geography, traffic problems and solutions, urban planning, and the like.
Birutker explained that every major transportation project is implemented only after checking a number of factors, such as savings in time, air pollution, buses that will have to be added or removed, parking places that will have to be added or removed, car accidents, and more. "We can say roughly that if the sum total of the savings is a certain factor more than the cost of the project, it will be approved," Birutker said. "Each aspect is checked carefully by engineers, urban and traffic planners, economists. Even so, certain items, such as safety, are very hard to quantify."
I told our surveyor that our family was not very representative of a "traveling" family, as those members who live at home spend most of their time within a few hundred meters of home, at work, play or school. He explained, however, that the "wonders of statistics" can deal with such cases, and that "everything evens out at the end."
As it turned out, we in fact made our mark on one extreme of the statistical spectrum – namely, the other extreme. It turned out that the day chosen as our "survey day" saw us travel over an hour away to a family celebration, our car suffer two minor "disabilities" and delays, and a detour in the "wrong" direction to help some passengers make up for a missed bus.
This presented our GPS loggers with a challenge, but they met it bravely – as we saw the next day when Ariel returned to download the information and "finesse" it. This process, in fact, took more time than we had expected.
"Looks like you traveled across half the country," he said, observing the route drawn by the logger on its computerized map. "And what's this?" he asked, pointing to a 14-minute stop at a particular spot along the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. After trying to reconstruct our journey, I remembered: "Right, that's where the car overheated and we spent a few minutes re-watering the radiator," I said, impressed with the program's recall (and mine).
True, it thought we were in Beit Hilkiyah when really we had stopped in Yad Binyamin, less than a mile away. But mistakes like that appeared to be rare, and were more than compensated for by some of the program's impressive capabilities. For instance, when Ariel asked where I was for about 40 minutes that morning, and I told him it was our local synagogue, he entered the information – which then appeared automatically in the listing of my 20-minute stop at the same place later that evening.
After a few more minutes of coordinating our family members and other passengers, and who went where when, the information was saved, on its way to central processing by the Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan team. The hope is that it will result in new and effective ways to get around, in light of traffic jams that, as of now, appear to increase in direct proportion to the number of new roads.
7. Dershowitz: Israel's Problem is Jews from 'Planet Chomsky'
by Gil Ronen
Noted lawyer and Israel advocate Professor Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday that Israel's biggest problem are Israel-bashing Jews like Norman Finkelstein and Gilad Atzmon. He said some people live on what he calls “Planet Chomsky” -- a reference to the Jewish ultra-leftist MIT professor who has met Hizbullah's leader Nasrallah.
Dershowitz explained that Israel's Arab enemies employ a “dead baby strategy.” They want to induce Israel to kill as many Arab babies as possible so that they can use the photos of the babies in their propaganda.
Dershowitz spoke during a Tel Aviv University symposium titled "Delegitimization of Israel as a Strategic Threat.”
