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1. Video: Gilo Security Wall Comes Tumbling Down - for Now
by Hezki Ezra & Yoni Kempinski
The IDF has begun removing the wall which was put up in 2001 in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo when it came under intense near-daily rifle attacks from the adjacent Arab neighborhood of Beit Jalla. Israel National News TV was on the scene Sunday and spoke with the IDF representative and local residents.
"We were approached by the Jerusalem municipality, which requested that we remove this wall." explained IDF Home Front Command's Brig. Gen. Chezi Revivo "After a professional assessment of the current situation at the IDF Home Front Command, the Home Front commander issued an order to dismantle this wall."
One of the local residents told Israel National News TV that he is very scared now that the wall is being removed; "It must not be moved now! Do you think that they're not waiting for this? Tomorrow morning there will be firing towards here, and when that happens and someone dies, we'll talk again."
However, the head of the local administration of the neighborhood chose to express complete support in the act: "When the security authorities decided that it was necessary, we were behind them," he said. "When they decide today that it can be removed, then we still back them up and believe in them."
And what will be if, G-d forbid, the attacks are renewed? The IDF will not be putting these cement pieces too far away, in case of need. "We're trying to keep everything in order, according to how it was placed here" explained Birg. Gen. Revivo, "but we of course hope that we won't need to put this puzzle back together."
2. US: $60 Billion Weapons Sale to Saudis Won’t Change Balance
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Saudi Arabia’s shopping list for American-made weapons has swelled to $60 billion, double the amount estimated for the previously announced purchase of 84 F-15 warplanes.
The oil kingdom now is interested in 132 attack helicopters worth another $30 billion, but the Obama administration insists, “The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not affect the basic military balance in the region."
A long-standing American policy has been to maintain a military advantage to Israel, which has been under attack from Arab neighbors in six major wars and prolonged battles since the War of Independence in 1948.
The United States has accepted Israel’s request and declined to sell to Saudi Arabia warplanes equipped with advanced radar systems. But the addition of the attack helicopters has raised the question of the military balance in the Middle East nevertheless: The proposed sale of the choppers includes approximately 70 UH-60 Black Hawk attack helicopters and as many as 60 Longbow Apache attack helicopters.
The American military-industrial complex, a phrase coined by General Dwight D. Eisenhower when he completed his two-term presidency in 1960, will be kept busy with the proposed sales at a time when the American economy faces a possible “double-dip recession.”
The sale of $40 billion in military weapons to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Arab countries, considered by the United States to be allies, was proposed in the Bush administration.
Israel has succeeded in preventing the inclusion of certain advanced systems that military experts said could endanger the Jewish State if they were used against it. The proposed sales to Saudi Arabia might have been the trigger that prompted Defense Minister Ehud Barak Sunday to announce that Israel will buy the new American-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which would help maintain military superiority. The F-35 is far superior to the F-15, according to American defense officials. Years ago, Israel asked the U.S. not to sell F-15s to Saudi Arabia.
As far back as four weeks ago, Israel was reported to be on the verge of announcing the purchase of the F-35s, but no decision has been made, at least not publicly.
The background to the sales is Iran, whose threat to become a nuclear power and dominate the Middle East has made it a common enemy of Saudi Arabia, Israel, and although more distant, the United States.
“To preserve the American-backed regional order, Arab nations expect us to stop the Iranians, a security arrangement that has been clear since the Carter administration,” columnist Lee Smith wrote in the current edition of Newsweek magazine. “What’s new is that if we don’t step up, the Arabs’ unlikeliest ally, Israel, may have to do it.”
3. Rabbis to Assert Torah's Independence Before Police
by Hillel Fendel
An “Independence for Torah” rally-gathering will be held Wednesday in Jerusalem, after police summoned two leading rabbis for questioning for having signed approbations for a Jewish-legal work.
Hundreds of rabbis and Torah leaders from the entire spectrum of the religious-Zionist and hareidi-religious sectors are expected to take part in the protest, which will take place in the Ramada Renaissance Hotel. "Regardless of the content of the book at hand, the nation of Torah scholars' independence to express their opinions in matters of Torah cannot be agreed to under any circumstances," the organizers state.
The rally is being held a week after Rabbi Dov Lior, the Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hevron, and Rabbi Yaakov Yosef were summoned by police for questioning regarding their approbations for a Torah work entitled “Torah HaMelekh” (the Torah of the King). The work’s author, Rabbi Yitzchak Shapira, was arrested in his home in the middle of the night two weeks ago, and was released several hours later. The police confiscated 33 copies of the book from his home, and another copy during a raid of the publisher’s home in Amona.
In addition, a contributor to the work was also summoned for questioning. Attorney Shai Nitzan of the State Prosecution announced that the investigations will continue.
Rabbis Lior and Yosef refused to show up for the questioning, but their very summons has elicited a storm of protest in the religious world. Dozens of rabbis have signed a proclamation saying, “Our holy Torah is not to be questioned! The attempt to prevent rabbis of Israel from expressing their Torah opinions is very grave, and will not succeed. A regime that acts in this manner joins evil regimes that forbade Torah study and lifted their hand against the Torah of Israel…
"The work Torat HaMelekh explains simple issues such as ‘If one comes to kill you, arise to kill him first,’ and that one many strike out a ‘human shields’ in order to protect our own citizens and soldiers… We call on Jews everywhere to protest this degradation of Torah and to come out against the governmental violence and shutting of mouths. We pray that we will speedily merit the fulfillment of our prayer to restore our judges as of old and raise the horn of the righteous in Jerusalem.”
Among the more than 50 signatories are Rabbi Meir Mazouz, Rabbi She'ar-Yashuv Cohen, Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, Rabbi Yechezkel Yaakobson, Rabbi Shmuel Tal, Rabbi Uri Cohen, Rabbi Yoel Katan, Rabbi Moshe Tzuriel, Rabbi Tzefania Drori, Rabbi Sholom Gold, and many other well-known rabbis.
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, head of the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva movement, has asked Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to revoke the summons to Rabbis Lior and Yosef.
Rabbi Yehuda Mualem, head of the Sephardi-hareidi Yeshivat Porat Yosef is among the rabbis who have expressed support for the Wednesday gathering.
The Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva explains on its website that the work Torah HaMelekh is a “serious Halakhic elucidation according to the time-honored tradition of Torah study, by rabbis who dealt with the matter in great depth, as great rabbis wrote in their approbations… The main subject of the book is the waging of war according to our holy Torah. For instance, the book states that in the event that the enemy uses innocent people as ‘human shields,’ it is permitted and even obligatory to harm them in order to save our citizens or soldiers. Claims that this is a type of incitement are laughable; this is how the eternal Torah guides us in accordance with its rules of ethics."
The yeshiva’s statement adds that Israel’s current legal establishment’s standards of behavior in this field are “distorted to the point that in many cases, soldiers and officers find themselves accused in court after having acted appropriately to defend Israeli lives. This approach has led to the spilling of Jewish blood, of both soldiers and citizens, and therefore it is important to publicize and explain these matters specifically now.”
4. Al Qaeda to Turkey: Break Ties with Israel, Stop Killing Muslims
by Chana Ya'ar
The international Al-Qaeda terrorist organization slammed the Turkish government Sunday for cooperating with the Israel Defense Forces and killing Muslims in Afghanistan. Turkey is a member of NATO, which has sent forces to the area.
“The Turkish government issues statements against Israel, but at the same time commits the same Jewish crimes but against the Muslim mujahedeen in Afghanistan, burning their houses, demolishing their villages and even assuming the leadership of the NATO there,” said Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda second-in-command.
Al-Zawahiri urged Turks in a 20-minute audio message posted on a Muslim extremist website to force their government to break ties with the Jewish State and stop killing Muslims. He also offered his condolences on the deaths of nine Turkish terrorists who clashed with Israeli Navy commandos in May.
The message was intended to reach Muslims outside the Arab world, generally the group's traditional circle of influence.
The Egyptian-born 59-year-old deputy to Osama Bin Laden accused the Turkish government of betraying Palestinian Authority Arabs by showing sympathy through humanitarian aid shipments on one hand, yet cooperating with the IDF on the other, according to the Associated Press, which obtained a translation of the audio tape.
“The Turkish government shows sympathy with the Palestinians through statements or sending some relief aid, but actually it recognizes Israel, engages in trade, carries out military training and shares information with it,” Al-Zawahiri charged.
He also expressed deep regret for the deaths of the nine armed IHH terror activists who attacked Israeli Navy commandos when they boarded a Turkish vessel sent to break Israel's maritime blockade of Gaza. The flotilla clash occurred May 31 on the Mavi Marmara, one of six vessels that purported to bring humanitarian aid to the Hamas terrorist-controlled region. The Mavi Marmara was subsequently found to be carrying no aid at all.
Al-Zawahiri added in his audio message that he blames the United States, Israel and “treacherous Muslim governments” for the “siege” of Gaza.
The Al-Qaeda leader is allegedly a qualified surgeon and was the second and last “emir” of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization, before formally merging the group into Al-Qaeda in 1998.
5. Fatah Turncoats in Gaza Set Up Military Wing Backing Hamas
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Former Fatah leaders in Gaza who backed Hamas in the 2007 militia war now have set up a “military” wing, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. Its researchers believe that “its military activity is supported and directed by Hamas.”
They added, “It is our assessment that, once its policy of terrorist attacks allows it, Hamas may employ military operatives belonging to the Al-Ahrar network as ‘subcontractors for terrorist attack,’ as it formerly did with operatives of other similar terrorist networks.”
The group, which calls itself Al-Ahrar, Arabic for “The Free,” set Israeli and American flags on fire while proclaiming the new military wing at a ceremony featuring the raising of the Turkish flag and a video call of congratulations from a representative of the Turkish IHH organization. The same group’s terror activists assaulted Israel Navy commandos in a May 31 flotilla clash.
The Al-Ahrar group does not recognize Mahmoud Abbas as leader of the Palestinian Authority. At a separate ceremony recently, Al-Ahrar leader Khaled Abu Hilal said that its military wing was “ready to join the ranks of resistance and fight against the occupation.”
6. Sarah Netanyahu Opposes Immigration Decision; Yishai Stands Firm
by Gil Ronen
Despite an appeal from the Prime Minister's wife, Interior Minister Eli Yishai is standing behind the government's decision to repatriate several hundred work-immigrants who entered Israel illegally, and to expel their children along with them.
Sarah Netanyahu wrote Yishai a letter at week's end asking him to reconsider the decision. Addressing the minister as “Dear Eli,” she said that she was writing “as a mother of two young boys and a psychologist in the public sector.”
"From the depth of my heart I ask you to use your authority as per the government's decision,” she wrote, “and allow most of the remaining 400 children to remain in Israel.”
The reference is to 400 Israeli-born children who are to be deported along with their parents and siblings. A ruthless, well-oiled campaign conducted by foreign-funded groups and their numerous supporters in the media has focused solely on the children, as if they are the only ones being deported, and as if their parents do not bear the responsibility for their situation.
At the same time that it decided to expel the familes of the 400 children, the government decided to allow the families of 800 Israeli-born children to remain. Mrs. Netanyahu hinted in her letter that her position on this matter may have softened her husband's heart into allowing the families of the 800 children to remain.
Yishai replied to Mrs. Netanyahu, saying that the families of children who do not match the criteria set by the government for amnesty will be repatriated. He suggested that she file specific complaints regarding families that should not be deported to a committee that deals with such matters.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted toward the end of his term that his wife Aliza influenced his decisions regarding the Palestinian Authority. Mrs. Olmert holds extreme left-wing views.
7. Germany Frees "Brodsky"
by Hillel Fendel
Uri Brodsky, arrested by Poland in June on suspicion of involvement in the killing of Hamas terrorist leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai, landed in Israel Saturday night. He was extradited to Germany in early August on charges of having forged a German passport for the killing, but a German court ordered his release on bail on Friday.
Brodsky is not assumed to be his real name.
The release has made international headlines after the United Arab Emirates announced its “concern” over Germany’s decision to free him. Abdurahim al-Awadhi, assistant to the UAE’s foreign minister for legal affairs, expressed "concern that Brodsky has been released on bail and granted the freedom to return to Israel while the case against him continues.”
The UAE, which borders Saudi Arabia, Oman and the Persian Gulf, even took the diplomatic step of seeking “clarification… from the German government on the Brodsky case… The UAE expects full and close cooperation from the German authorities, and will continue to pursue the matter through diplomatic channels.”
The decision process to extradite Brodsky from Poland to Germany was a protracted one. It is now believed that a secret deal was being reached during that time, according to which Germany would free Brodsky to Israel, but would serve jail time, if sentenced, in Germany. Though the maximum sentence for the charges against him is three years, it is believed that he will be fined and not sentenced to prison.
Mabhouh was wanted by Israel, Egypt and Jordan at the time of his death. He was involved in smuggling weapons and explosives into Gaza, played a key role in forging links between Hamas and Iranian fighters, and played a key role in the infamous kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldiers Ilan Saadon and Avi Sasportas in 1988.
Several countries believe that the Mossad, the Israeli equivalent of the CIA, was behind his killing, though Israel has not accepted responsibility. Dubai police say 26 forged passports were used by various suspects to track and kill Mabhouh. Australia, Britain, France and Ireland have all registered protests against Israel on this matter, though do not appear to have pursued the matter.
In a non-related item, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Washington said at a conference last month, "A military attack on Iran by whomever would be a disaster, but Iran with a nuclear weapon would be a bigger disaster."
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