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1. Rallies in Israel, LA for Shooting Victims
by Maayana Miskin
Hundreds of Jewish residents of the Hevron region marched Friday to the scene of the fatal terrorist attack in which four residents of Beit Chaggai were shot and murdered. A rally was held at the scene, at which rabbis from the region addressed the crowd.
“Following the terrible desecration of G-d's name caused by the attack on Jews as they travelled through our land, we will all go out and march to strengthen our faith and our presence in the land,” organizers of the march said as they set out.
Dozens of young participants took the opportunity to dismantle pipes that were attached to Israeli water lines by Palestinian Authority Arabs in an attempt to siphon water destined for Jewish towns. PA Arab towns in the region have their own water supply, but water thieves actively target Jews in the region nonetheless.
On Thursday, hundreds of residents of Beit Chaggai and the greater Hevron region took part in building a new residential home in Beit Chaggai, in memory of those slain by terrorists two days earlier. The construction was carried out despite a government-ordered Judea and Samaria building freeze.
Har Hevron regional council head Tzviki Bar-Chai spoke at the construction site, saying, “We are here to tell those who seek to destroy us that in place of bloodshed, we will increase life. That is the Zionist response to terrorism, to the wickedness of those who get up each morning and plot to murder us.”
“This is how Tel Chai, Kiryat Shemonah, Mishmar Hashiva and Yad Hashlosha were built,” he added, naming Israeli towns dedicated to the memory of victims of Arab terrorism.
Jews in Los Angeles rallied in memory of the shooting victims as well. A Thursday rally was organized by the Jewish Defense Force, a pro-Israel group that has previously rallied in support of Israeli counter-terror operations, and took place.in front of the Los Angeles Israeli Consulate from 3 until 8pm. Teenagers gathered and held signs and posters with pictures of the four victims and lit four memorial candles.
As cars passed by the memorial they showed their support by honking and cheering, many people came to pay their respects and supported the effort. One of the teens present, who asked to remain anonymous, wrote INN:
" A message that was being delivered at the memorial was the fact that if the Arabs in Judea and Shomron really want peace they why the killing? If this was carried out by extremists trying to disrupt the peace talks, then how will Abbas and the theoretical new Arab state treat the Jews within its borders? Will the Jews within this new state be granted citizenship or will they be slaughtered? This murder near Hevron affects the peace talks more that some initially thought, it raises questions that are crucial if the Jewish people are being asked to give up a chunk of the most important regions of our homeland and trust the leaders of a future Arab state. One question that i am curious about is are the plans that the Jews currently there be forced to leave if a new state is established and if yes then how come? Why will Jews have to leave in the first place? For what reason, could it be that this new state might have a problem with Jews living within its borders and in turn do so because it is anti-Jewish? I think this is a great question that arises from this tragedy. How will Jewish citizens in the so called state of "Palestine" be treated if even treated at all."
On Tuesday, PA terrorists opened fire on Jews from Beit Chaggai as they drove on a nearby road. After forcing the car to a stop, the terrorists approached the vehicle and shot their victims at close range, murdering four and wounding two more. The victims were Yitzchak and Talia Imes, Kokhava Even-Chaim, and Avishai Schindler.
2. Israeli Girl Suffers Head Wound from Heavy Stone in Rock Attack
by Maayana Miskin and Elad Benari
Terrorists wounded an Israeli girl, a resident of Har Bracha, on Thursday night in a rock attack near the Tapuach junction in Samaria.
According to reports, the girl was travelling with her parents in the family vehicle when Arabs threw stones towards the vehicle near Kfar Haras. The girl was hit in the head by a heavy stone in the attack. Her parents continued to drive until the Tapuach junction where she was given initial treatment.
The victim was taken to the Schneider Children's Hospital in Petach Tikvah. Her condition was defined as moderate, meaning that doctors do not currently fear for her life but that there is a risk of permanent handicap.
IDF soldiers are searching for the perpetrators.
Earlier in the evening an Israeli man reported that terrorists fired on his car as he drove near the town of Ofra, north of Jerusalem. IDF soldiers investigated and said the sounds the man heard were caused by fireworks, not gunshots.
The Thursday night rock attack took place shortly after Jewish civilian residents of Judea and Samaria began patrolling local roads as part of a campaign to improve safety.
3. More Israel-PA Talks in Two Weeks
by Maayana Miskin
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet every two weeks to continue negotiations for the creation of a PA state. The next meeting will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on September 14 and 15.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell plan to attend the Sharm el-Sheikh talks.
Netanyahu and Abbas met Thursday to begin U.S.-backed direct negotiations. The two held a closed-door meeting lasting two hours. According to Mitchell, the two agreed to come to an agreement within a year.
Prior to the meeting, both spoke at a news conference with U.S. President Obama, Jordan's King Abdullah, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Netanyahu called for “a secure and durable peace,” adding, “We don't seek a brief interlude between two wars. We don't seek a temporary respite between outbursts of terror. We seek a peace that will end the conflict between us once and for all.”
Creating peace will mean “an historic compromise,” he said.
Netanyahu warned against a peace deal that does not guarantee security. “We left Lebanon, and we got terror. We left Gaza, and we got terror once again. We want to ensure that territory we'll concede will not be turned into a third Iranian-sponsored terror enclave aimed at the heart of Israel – and may I add, also aimed at every one of us sitting on this stage,” he said.
Netanyahu has spoken of territorial compromise and said that reaching a deal would require “painful concessions” from both sides. He has not ruled out the possibility of a national referendum on any proposed accord with the PA.
His speech and that of Abbas promoted peace, but appeared to indicate possible points of contention. While Netanyahu spoke of security and of the need to fight terrorism, Abbas called again on Israel to freeze construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu has said that the current Judea and Samaria construction freeze will not be extended after it ends on September 26.
Abbas also mentioned “the release of all our prisoners” as a vital part of a peace deal. Thousands of PA Arabs convicted of terrorism are imprisoned in Israel, including many convicted of murder. The PA has a minister, Issa Karake, whose job it is to support the prisoners and their families, and the PA provides its prisoners – including terrorist killers – with monthly stipends.
“It is time to end the occupation that started in 1967... The Palestinian people who insist on the rights and freedom and independence are most in need for justice, security, and peace, because they are the victim, the ones that were harmed the most from this violence,” Abbas stated.
As talks continue, Abbas will need to contend with serious opposition from within the PA. Several minority PA parties have opposed negotiations with Israel, as has Hamas, which won a majority in the PA parliament in the last elections. As Abbas and Netanyahu met Thursday, Hamas posted threats on its website, saying it plans to carry out terrorist attacks in major Israeli cities as well as in Judea and Samaria.
4. Settlers Say: Give Us Back Our Guns, Now!
by Gil Ronen
If ever there was a populace that deserved to carry guns for self-protection, the Jews of Judea and Samaria would appear to be it. However, the government heaps obstacles on Jews who wish to pack pistols. The Human Rights in Judea and Samaria organization and the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel are trying to do something about this, following the murderous attack Tuesday which killed Yitzchak Imes and three others (four, including an unborn infant). Imes's gun license had been taken away by police and he was left defenseless when terrorists struck.
In a letter to Attorney General Weinstein, Nachi Eyal, CEO of the Legal Forum, wrote in a letter to to the Attorney General that "it is hard to shake off the impression that had his license not been suspended, Yitzhak Imes, his wife Talia, and their two passengers, might still be alive today."
In April Attorney, Yitzchak Bam, a member of the Legal Forum and a personal friend of Imes, appealed the suspension of Imes' firearms license. By law, Attorney Bam should have received a response to his appeal within 45 days. However, when Yitzchak Imes was murdered on August 31, the authorities had not yet answered as to why his license was still suspended.
According to the Human Rights in Judea and Samaria non-profit organization (NPO), numerous other residents of Judea and Samaria are forced to travel on the roads without guns, because of restrictive government policies that assume residents accused of violence are are guilty until proven innocent. With terror attacks on the rise again, the NPO said, the matter is an urgent one.
The NPO sent a letter to Interior Minister Eli Yishai Thursday, focusing on the case of Uri Amseli, a resident of Kiryat Arba whose gun was taken away from him. Amseli's lawyer, Attorney Naftali Wurtzberg, stated in an attached letter that Amseli is a combat soldier who is a member of the Kiryat Arba first-response platoon, who received a commendation for his heroism in the battle in which Hevron commander Col. Dror Weinberg was killed, along with 11 others, in late 2002.
Wurtzberg said that all of Amseli's attempts to regain his gun license have sunk in the mire of bureaucracy. Amseli has repeatedly petitioned the courts to give him back his gun, which Wurtzberg says was taken away without a clear reason.
In a previous letter to the Minister of Interior and to the Minister of Public Security, Yitzchak Aharonovich, Human Rights in Judea and Samaria chairperson Orit Strook demanded that the police change its policy of taking away a gun license immediately after a criminal complaint is lodged against a person, instead of waiting for the proceedings to end. “The Judea and Samaria regions are saturated with Palestinian weapons,” she wrote. “There has been no corresponding effort to collect weapons from the Palestinian population in these areas.”
Following Strook's letter, Minister of Interior Eli Yishai instructed the Head of Population Administration to ease the issuing of gun permits to residents of Judea and Samaria.
Israeli policy favored the granting of gun licenses in the first decades of the country's existence, as part of a general national posture of deterrence. Since the early 1980s, however, the issuing of gun licenses has been restricted for residents of Judea and Samaria and for Israelis in general. The Ministry of Justice's 1982 Karp Commission determined that Jews in Judea and Samaria were given too much freedom to carry and use guns.
Subsequent committees curtailed the issuing of gun permits in general. Using inflated statistics regarding domestic violence, prominent leftist-feminist legislators like former MK Zehava Galon of Meretz contended that Israeli men were not to be trusted with guns, which they might use to kill their wives.
5. Study: US Jews Still Support Israel
by Elad Benari
A new study in the US shows that American Jews are still attached to Israel,
“Still Connected: American Jewish Attitudes About Israel” is the title of the study, which was published in August by the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Jewish Studies at Brandeis University. Authored by Theodore Sasson, Benjamin Phillips, Charles Kadushin, and Leonard Saxe, it is based on a survey which was conducted among 1,200 individuals who were identified as Jewish in a large national panel.
The study was done in response to suggestions by some media outlets that younger American Jews were being alienated from Israel due to factors such as the flotilla incident and the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
The study, however, found that 63 percent of American Jews still feel connected to Israel, and 75 percent said that caring about Israel is a significant part of their Jewish identity. This connection is true for both younger and older respondents.
In fact, no relation was found between political views and the strength of the attachment to Israel.
The survey also dealt with the US support for Israel, and found that 52 percent of respondents characterized the current level of US support for Israel as "about right", 39 percent felt US support was too little, and only 9 percent said it was too much.
In regards to the May 31 flotilla incident, 61 percent of respondents blamed “pro-Palestinian activists” for the incident, and only 10 percent blamed Israel.The study also finds that direct experience with Israel affects younger Jews’ relationship to the country. Young adults who participated in a Birthright Israel trip were more likely to say they felt very connected to Israel, as were those who had visited Israel in any capacity.
6. Reaching Out to the Needy on Rosh Hashanah
by Maayana Miskin
A variety of Israeli organizations are working overtime this week and next to provide all families, including the needy, with a festive Rosh Hashanah.
The Hazon Yeshaya organization plans to provide food packages to 12,000 families, in addition to giving premade meals to many more who cannot cook food for themselves. In order to get the packages out before the holiday, which begins next Wednesday night, the group is getting help from teams of volunteers.
A heterogeneous group will donate its time to the project. Among the volunteers are IDF soldiers, yeshiva students, Birthright Israel participants, and employees from the Jerusalem court system.
The packages include special Rosh Hashanah foods such as honey, honey cake and grape juice as well as fruits and vegetables and other basics.
Hazon Yeshaya was founded by Abraham Israel, a wealthy businessman who himself experienced poverty and hunger as a child, after he and his family were forced from their homes in Egypt because they were Jewish.
Many other groups plan to help the poor over the holidays as well. Yad Eliezer plans to distribute 12,000 food packages, and to support widows and orphans in particular through a special fund. The Ohr Meir & Bracha Terror Victims Support Center will distribute holiday food to hundreds of families devastated by terrorism. The Jaffa Institute in the Tel Aviv area will include gift certificates to grocery stores along with its usual packages of staple foods for the needy, allowing recipients to buy meat and dairy products in honor of the holidays.
7. NY Demo: 'Peace, Peace, but There Is No Peace'
by Fern Sidman, INN NY Correspondent
Dozens of Jewish supporters of Israel gathered across the street from the Israeli Consulate in New York City, on Thursday evening, September 2nd, to call upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "just say no to demands for more concessions from Israel that will continue to endanger the lives of Jews throughout Israel." Organized by Helen Freedman of Americans For A Safe Israel, the demonstration came at the end of the first round of direct peace talks between Prime Minister Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama at the White House.
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Abbas and Netanyahu met for 90 minutes, with the two leaders pledging to work together to maintain security and reiterating their goal of a two-state solution. The three-way meeting was "long and productive," Mr Mitchell said, adding the leaders pledged to work in "good faith" and with "seriousness of purpose." He said Mr. Netanyahu and Mr Abbas then went off on their own for a one-on-one meeting, which may be designed to build trust between the two leaders. There were no notetakers or translators in either of the meetings.
The US sponsored peace talks come on the heels of the heinous murder of four Jews in the Hebron region on August 31st. Talya and Yitzchok Imas, Kochava Even-Chaim and Avishai Shindler were gunned down in cold blood by Hamas terrorists at the Bani Naim junction just south of Hebron. This was followed by yet another drive-by shooting on Route 60 between the Rimonim Junction and the Jewish community of Kochav HaShachar in the Binyamin region of Samaria that left Rabbi Moshe Moreno and his wife Shira moderately wounded. A Fatah cell calling itself the Al-Namir cells of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack as did Hamas.
"It's all very well for the 'Quartet' led by President Obama to decide that 'peace' must come to the Israeli-Arab situation within the next year, but what are the Arabs saying? And what are they doing? Where is the control of anti-Israel terror and incitement", said AFSI coordinator Helen Freedman. Hold aloft Israeli flags and signs saying, "No Negotiations With Terrorists: Just Say No", "Bibi: Trust in Hashem, Not Them" and "No Palestinian State", the demonstrators braved the oppressive 97 degree New York City heat as they chanted, "Jewish blood is not cheap" and "They kill and we build".
"We need a president that understands the ideology of radical Islam" declared Madeline Brooks, the Manhattan chapter head of ACT for America, as she addressed the demonstrators. "These four innocent Jews were tragically murdered because there were no security checkpoints and that was ordered at the behest of President Obama. We need to seize the moment to educate our fellow citizens about the pernicious nature of jihad", she said.
Also addressing the gathering was New York radio personality and long time Jewish activist, Charlie Bernhaut who said, "If you want to see a real terrorist up close, just look at Mahmoud Abbas. His links with Palestinian terrorist organizations are numerous and legendary. He is a Holocaust denier and rabid Jew hater. Clearly, the creation of a Palestinian state will represent an existential threat to Israel's survival because it will become a terrorist state under the leadership of Hamas."
Susan Kone, a GOP candidate for the congressional seat in New York's 8th district said, "There is never a justification for the intentional murder of innocents and my deepest sympathies go to the families of the four Jews who were murdered by Hamas terrorists. These purported peace talks in Washington should not be taking place at this juncture because Israel cannot make peace with those whose ideology is predicated on wanton murder."
"Why can't we have a prime minister of Israel who is proud of being a Jew and who has a sense of honor?", said Rabbi David Algaze of Forest Hills, Queens. "Who even entertains the notion of proposing territorial compromise and the division of the holy city of Jerusalem when four precious Jewish lives have been snuffed out?" he continued. Concluding on a sober note, he intoned, "No appeasements, no negotiations, no peace with those who seek our destruction and no to charades orchestrated by Washington."
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| Peres Tells Pope: Abbas is Serious About Peace |
