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1. Five Katyusha Rockets Hit Eilat
by Maayana Miskin
Five Katyusha rockets hit the city of Eilat on Monday morning. According to police, two exploded in open areas and three fell into the sea. No injuries were reported.
Residents of the city reported hearing loud blasts at approximately 8 a.m.
Jordanian officials reported that a rocket hit Aqaba as well, exploding next to a local hotel. Four people were wounded.
Israel has asked Egyptian official to help determine the source of the rocket fire. The rocket fire is suspected to have been carried out by terrorists in Sinai, though other possibilities are being examined as well.
Rockets were fired at Eilat three and a half months ago. One landed in the sea, and one hit the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
Click here for more on the terror threat on the city of Eilat.
2. Eilat Under Two-Pronged Attack
by Hillel Fendel
The southern port city of Eilat, once thought to be practically extra-territorial in terms of security and demographic dangers, now finds itself under a two-pronged attack from foreign infiltrators and terrorist rockets.
Meir Yitzchak Halevy, mayor of Israel’s tourism capital, told Arutz-7 today that despite the rockets or katyushas fired on Eilat this morning, “The routine of daily life continues. We have received tens of thousands of tourists this year, and we are ready for more. I call upon Israelis to come and visit us, and we will welcome you happily.”
Asked if it is the great concentration of tourists that might be making Eilat such an inviting target for Arab terrorists either in the Sinai or Jordan, Halevy said, “Hostile anti-Israel elements have always wanted to target life in this area, and even in [the neighboring Jordanian city of] Aqaba, and the best way to respond to them is by not giving them what they want. Those responsible for security must respond with a strong hand, tourists will come, and we in Eilat will live our lives.”
Asked if there had been any warning prior to the rockets, “We received our warning three and a half months ago in the form of rockets on Eilat.”
On April 22 of this year, two or three explosions were heard in Eilat and Aqaba; it was originally thought that missiles had been over-shot from Egyptian territory, but a Jordanian security source soon announced that the rockets had been under-shot from within Jordanian territory, falling in Aqaba, short of their target of Eilat.
This morning's rockets are believed to have been fired from the Sinai, though Egypt has denied this. It has been learned that of the four people wounded in Aqaba, one has died. No one was hurt by the rockets that landed in Israel.
In February 1968, and again in December 2005, Eilat was shelled by Jordanian Katyusha rockets, while in August 1969, Egyptians fired rockets at the city.
Mayor Halevy said that a fence must be built nearby between Eilat and Sinai, “in order to prevent hostile infiltrations, and of course a demand must be made upon Egypt to take stronger action against rocket-firing terrorist elements.”
Infiltrators from Africa, mostly Eritrea and Sudan, have snuck into Israel, mostly into Eilat and Arad, in recent years, causing a minor crime wave in Eilat. It has been estimated that the new arrivals comprise over 10% of the city’s population. MK Yaakov Katz (National Union), Chairman of the Knesset Committee for Foreign Workers, has demanded that the Cabinet give final approval to the construction of a fence between Israel and the Sinai, but the decision has not yet been made.
Terrorist attacks have claimed Jewish lives in Eilat. In November 1990, some 20 kilometers north of Eilat, an Egyptian soldier opened fire at a group of Israelis, murdering four. In May 1992, two Arabs who swam to Israel from Aqaba killed a guard at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in southern Eilat. On Jan. 29, 2007, a Palestinian suicide terrorist detonated himself inside a bakery in the city, killing three. PA television shows for children often refer to Israeli-built cities such as Eilat and Ashkelon as “Palestinian.”
3. US: We Have an Iran Strike Plan
by Elad Benari
The US military announced on Sunday that it has a plan in place to strike Iran should the need arise to do so.
During an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US, said that although he believes that a military strike on Iran would have serious effects on the Middle East, the risk of Iran's developing a nuclear weapon is also unacceptable.
"I think the military options have been on the table and remain on the table. It's one of the options that the president has. Again, I hope we don't get to that, but it's an important option and it's one that's well understood," said Mullen.
In response to Mullen’s words, Yadollah Javani, the deputy head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, said that Iran will make the Persian Gulf region unsafe for all if it is attacked by the US over its nuclear program.
Speaking to Iran’s IRNA news agency, Javani said: "If the Americans make the slightest mistake, the security of the region will be endangered. Security in the Persian Gulf should be for all or none. The Persian Gulf is a strategic region and if it is endangered they (Americans) will suffer losses and our response will be firm. We will defend ourselves if America or Israel resort to any hostile measures against our vital values.”
At the end of June, the US Senate voted to approve new, tougher sanctions on Iran. The new sanctions penalize companies that sell gasoline to Iran or that do business with the Revolutionary Guard Corp and are the most comprehensive ones to have been approved to date.
The US vote followed an approval earlier in June by the United Nations' Security Council of a fourth round of sanctions against the Iran. In response to the sanctions, Iran threatened "reciprocal measures" against countries who voted in favor of the sanctions. These countries include China and Russia, both of whom have invested and assisted Iran with billions of dollars of investments in the country’s nuclear program, yet still voted in favor of sanctions after being assured by the US that their ability to trade with Iran would not be curtailed.
To date the sanctions appear to be working. According to a recent shipping document seen by a Reuters reporter, only three cargoes of gasoline reached Iran in July, while Iran usually requires 11 to 13 cargoes of gasoline a month during the summer months. The drop in imports was reported to be as a result of the sanctions which are causing ships carrying fuel to Iran to be diverted.
4. "Rivers of Babylon" Ban Tops Chart of PA's Israel Denial
by Hillel Fendel
The Zionist Organization of America has issued a list of recent examples of Palestinian de-legitimization of Israel, topped by the PA demand not to sound the song “Rivers of Babylon.”
Ever since the Palestinian Authority’s inception in 1994, the ZOA states, it “has sought to deny and erase all Jewish connection with the land of Israel, including even Jerusalem.” This was made starkly clear once again with the PA’s recent edict against hearing the song “Rivers of Babylon,” which, based on Psalms 137, sums up the Jewish People’s yearning to return to its homeland, Zion.
The ban was particularly ironic in that the organizers of the Palestinian International Festival had invited well-known disco group Boney M to perform in Ramallah – yet leave out "Rivers of Babylon", one of its top songs.
Recent examples of the PA’s de-legitimization of Israel, denial of Jewish rights and connection to Israel and falsification of Jewish history include these:
** Oft-repeated claims that the Western Wall, the last vestige of the Holy Temples, has no Jewish significance. The official PA website has said that “all historic studies and archeological excavations have failed to find any proof” that the Wall was part of the Temple, and the PA sounded a call that Israeli politicians not be allowed to even touch the Western Wall. A top advisor to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas said that the Western Wall is “part of Islamic heritage that cannot be given up, and it must be under Muslim control.”
** The pursuit of international boycotts against Israel in various areas, including even entertainment. In recent months, the Pixies and Elvis Costello, among others, have folded in the face of the pressure, canceling scheduled concerts in Israel. Other artists, such as Sir Paul McCartney and Elton John, have ignored calls to boycott Israel.
** Jarid al-Kidwa, a Palestinian historian said in a PA media broadcast, “The stories of the Torah and the Bible did not take place in the Land of Israel – they occurred in the Arabian peninsula, primarily in Yemen.”
** Walid M. Awad, Director of Foreign Publications for the PLO’s Palestine Ministry of Information: “Jerusalem was never a Jewish city.”
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein summed up the issue, saying, “The Palestinian eliminationist ideology demands that the truth of Jewish history be utterly erased from the biblical land of Israel, in order to further demonize Israel as illegal interlopers... Thus, while speaking to Western audiences, Mahmoud Abbas and Salaam Fayyad might rarely – and only rarely – go through the motions of claiming to acknowledge the rights of Jews to live in Israel within the pre-1967 borders or in a future Palestinian state – they have pointedly refused ever to accept Israel as a Jewish state, and daily tell their people that Jews are usurpers. This message is relentlessly reiterated in the PA, media, mosques, schools and youth camps. It is a major factor in continuing Palestinian non-acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state and thus in the absence of peace… It is vital that the U.S. and Israel both insist on an end to this Palestinian propaganda of denial and falsification and make further aid and negotiations to the PA conditional on its termination. To do otherwise is to ensure the prolongation of the Arab war on Israel.”
5. Democratic Congressman Fires Aide for ‘Jewish Money’ Leak
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Democrats, already fighting against a backlash that threatens U.S. President Barack Obama’s Congressional majority, suffered another setback with the leak of GOP “Jewish money” donations.
New York Congressman Mika McMahon fired his communications director Jennifer Nelson after she leaked a list of donations of “Jewish money” for Republican challenger and former FBI agent Michael Grimm. The Anti-Defamation League praised the dismissal.
Nelson’s intention apparently was to show that Grimm has little financial support from the Jewish community in Staten Island, but releasing the list provided political fodder for Grimm and damaged McMahon.
Nelson gave the list to the Jewish Observer and was quoted by the newspaper as saying, "Where is Grimm's money coming from? There is a lot of Jewish money, a lot of money from people in Florida and Manhattan, retirees."
McMahon, trying to minimize the political fallout, told the Politco.com website, “I was outraged by these unfortunate remarks which were unauthorized and are in no way indicative of my beliefs or of my campaign,” McMahon said.
Grimm took advantage of the political goof and told the conservative Red State website, “I was speechless at first, because the idea that something like this could happen in 2010 on this level as U.S. Congressman? It was beyond disturbing. It is nothing less than outrageous. Especially for someone like me. I'm a combat veteran... these are the things exactly that I fought for, for the liberty and freedoms that I think at this point in our lives and as Americans, we would be much further down the road.
"I don't think of my donors based on their ethnicity or their religion," he added. "They're American patriots."
The embarrassing incident earned Grimm an immediate endorsement on Facebook from Sarah Palin, a front-running candidate for the Republican party’s bid in 2012 to unseat U.S. President Barack Obama. The GOP McCain-Palin ticket won McMahon’s district in the 2008 election.
Jim Geraghty of the National Review wrote, "Let's assume, for the moment, that McMahon's campaign is not a hotbed of anti-Semitism, a benefit of the doubt that he has not yet earned. At best, this suggests his operation is riven with folks who have the worst of an Al Davis ‘just win, baby’ mentality; it's not that they hate Jews, mind you, but they thought this would be a good way to somehow hurt his opponent and appeal to the anti-Semitism of others. It's not that he sought to foster suspicion and hatred of Jews, mind you, merely that he sought to profit from it politically."
Red State’s Moe Lane added, “You would think that if McMahon wanted to prove that Grimm was getting mostly out-of-district money, he’d pass out a list of Grimm’s out-of-district donors. Not a list of Grimm’s Jewish donors."
6. Controversial Hareidi-IDF Rule Changed Quietly
by Maayana Miskin
The government has changed rules regarding military service in order to allow hareidi-religious men to opt out of military service at age 22, not age 26. The change was made quietly in a meeting two weeks ago, and revealed to the public Sunday.
Until now, the Tal Law has allowed hareidi-religious young men to opt out of military service while studying Torah full time. When they reached the age of 22, they could choose to take part in a shortened military service or, if the army gave its permission, to participate in civilian service instead.
The army generally allowed young men to choose civilian service over military service at age 22 only if they were married with a child, while those who were married without children or unmarried were expected to enlist in the IDF if they were not yet 26 years old.
The new regulations will allow hareidi-religious men to choose civilian service beginning at age 22 regardless of their family status. A second recommended change, which would have seen hareidi-religious men released from any form of service by age 25, was removed from the agenda.
Officials in charge of civil service volunteer organizations have begun preparing for an expected significant increase in the number of volunteers.
The decision is expected to save the government money. Many hareidi-religious soldiers have wives and children, and so receive a significantly higher IDF salary than do unmarried soldiers.
The decision was met with criticism from some. The Hadush organization, the name of which is the Hebrew acronym for “Freedom, Religious, Equality,” stated that the change dealt a blow to the principle of equality, by creating different service requirements for hareidi-religious men and others.
7. NBA Player Not as Jewish as Believed
by Elad Benari
NBA fans have been buzzing over the past several days following reports about NBA star Amar'e Stoudemire supposedly being Jewish.
Stoudemire, who has just been signed to the New York Knicks, arrived in Israel last Wednesday for a week long visit to learn about the country and explore its religions, after he supposedly discovered his Jewish roots. During the week Stoudemire was updating his fans via Twitter regarding his new found religion and trip. On Wednesday afternoon, he wrote: "Jerusalem is a beautiful city, I'm at a cafe eating a late lunch. I'm learning Hebrew by the min. Keep up !! Shalom." However, despite the great excitement over the latest Jewish NBA star, his agent Happy Walters clarified during an interview on FanHouse.com that Stoudemire is “not Jewish, it's all getting blown a little bit out of proportion. His mother says there's some Jewish blood on her side, but Amar'e is just a total student of history and had been planning a trip to Israel for awhile. Is it possible [that he's Jewish]? Maybe. We're going to do some research, but I don't know where that will go."
Walters explained that Stoudemire’s mother, Carrie, has "mentioned that somewhere back in her lineage there might be some Jewish roots". However, he added, Stoudemire was not raised Jewish nor is his first name, Amar'e, derived from any Hebrew words as has been speculated. He added that “it's a stretch to call him Jewish at this point."
Regarding Stoudemire’s trip to Israel, Walters said that Stoudemire is planning to visit several Jewish and Christian holy sites while in Israel, including Jesus' birthplace in Bethlehem, the Kotel, and Massada.
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