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1. Russia Insists Weapons to Syria Will not Reach Terrorists
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Russia has defied Israel and the United States and is going through with its sale of Yakhont cruise anti-ship missiles to Syria that could endanger the Israeli Navy. Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said he rejects fears that Syria, a designated country that supports terror, will allow the missiles to fall into the hands of Hizbullah.
"The United States and Israel ask[ed] us not to supply Syria with Yakhont," he told reporters during a visit to Washington. "But we do not see the concerns expressed by them that these arms will fall into the hands of terrorists.
Hizbullah used advanced Russian anti-tank missiles against Israel in the Second Lebanon War, causing heavy casualties and surprising Israeli intelligence sources that did not know Syria had facilitated their transfer to Hizbullah.
Moscow’s announcement that it will honor its 2007 commitment to sell the missiles represents a failure for Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who early this month flew to Russia to try to stop the deal while also clinching Russian purchases of Israeli unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs).
Serdyukov warmed up to Barak, praising Israeli defense capabilities. “It is very important to us that in the transition to a new image, the Russian armed forces use the experience the Israeli armed forces have and the work they have done,” he told Defense Minister Barak.
He sealed contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars with the defense industry, with which Barak built up strong contacts during his hiatus from politics after his Labor government coalition collapsed and he lost a re-election bid in a landslide victory for Ariel Sharon, who then was head of the Likud party.
Barak told Serdyokuv of his concerns that the Yakhont cruise missile could endanger Israeli navy ships because of their range of 180 miles and their capability of carrying a 400-pound warhead while cruising only several feet above waters, out of the range of most radar systems.
2. Egyptian Newspaper Doctors Photo, Shows Obama Following Mubarak
by Chana Ya'ar
"No surprise" says a part-time Arab blogger who posted an amused tweet midday Friday on the Twitter Internet social networking site, noting a photo editing job by the daily Al-Ahram newspaper, a mouthpiece for the Egyptian government.
The doctored image was a September 1 American government photo of the Middle East leaders who participated in the first session of direct talks at the White House between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
In addition to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, participants included Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, led in formation down a red carpet by U.S. President Barack Obama.
But the Egyptian newspaper didn't play it that way.
In the Al-Ahram edition, published last Tuesday, Mubarak is leading the group, with Obama following, and Netanyahu in the back. Abbas and Abdullah are neck-and-neck, slightly behind Obama and ahead of Netanyahu, with Abbas placed close to center and Abdullah on the edge.
Having seen the original photo posted on the official WhiteHouse.gov website, Wael Khalil decided to post the two side by side. He tracked down photographer Chuck Kennedy's shot, using the Google search engine and posted it together with the Al-Ahram version, then posted a tweet with the link to his blog.
According to CNN, who interviewed the blogger, Khalil was surprised by the bruhaha that ensued.
“This is the Mubarak we know, this is the regime we know,” he told the Atlanta-based news network.
Al-Ahram editor Osama Saraya, meanwhile, caught red-handed, scrambled to contain the damage by immediately writing an op-ed on Friday, explaining the doctored photo was an “expressive” picture showing Egypt's historic role in the peace process.
Egyptian human rights activist and independent newspaper publisher Hisham Qasim had harsh words for the effort, and was blunt about the image of Egypt projected by the photo worldwide. “They are making Mubarak look silly worldwide,” he told CNN. “It has become the joke of journalism.”
3. Fear of Hamas Attack Sparks Egyptian Alert; Top Terrorist Nabbed
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Egypt went on emergency alert after reports of a possible imminent Hamas attack on Israel from the Sinai, where terrorists are suspected of either planning to smuggle missiles or fire those that already have been hidden there. Hamas has increased rocket attacks from Gaza the past couple of weeks in an effort to interrupt talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
The alert follows by several days a rare and urgent warning from the United States of a possible imminent attack on Aqaba, the Jordanian resort city across the water from Eilat.
The Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency said that Egypt announced a state of emergency Saturday and that security forces are combing the Sinai for Hamas terrorists. Last week, Egypt discovered a large cache of weapons in the Sinai, and early last month, six missiles were fired towards Eilat. One of them exploded in Aqaba and killed one person. Five rockets hit the Eilat region but did not cause damage or injuries.
Egypt initially denied and later admitted that the missiles were fired from its territory.
Meanwhile, Hamas intelligence chief Mohammed Dababash was arrested several days ago in Cairo, according to reports published Sunday in Arab media. The arrest strikes a major blow to the terrorist organization and Dababash’s detention may be linked to the attack on Eilat. He also probably possesses information on the imminent attack intelligence officials are trying to avert.
In addition, Dababash is assumed to have been closely involved in the Gaza coup in which the Hamas militia overpowered the forces of the rival Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
He is head of the general security and intelligence branch of the Hamas terrorist organization and is responsible for spy activities. One report said that he was arrested at the Cairo airport before he could continue on his way to Saudi Arabia and Damascus, where he was allegedly scheduled to meet with Hamas officials. Family members said he was returning from a pilgrimage.
Dababash was charged with using falsified travel papers, according to the Associated Press.
4. Yom Kippur Ends, Sukkah Building Begins
by Hillel Fendel
Many hundreds of thousands of Jews spent part or all of the day in synagogues today - and for many of them, the dramatic fast-ending shofar blast was the signal for the fulfillment of additional commandments: The evening Maariv prayer, the Sanctification of the Moon blessing, the Havdalah blessings marking the end of the Sabbath, and a start to building Sukkahs; the holiday of Sukkot begins four nights from now.
Some 180 Hesder yeshivot students spent Yom Kippur in army bases from Mt. Hermon to Eilat, leading the prayers for those soldiers designated to spend the holiday there. It will be recalled that 37 years ago, the Yom Kippur calm in IDF army bases and elsewhere was decimated when the Syrians and Egyptians surprise-attacked Israel in what became the Yom Kippur War.
Many secular-friendly Yom Kippur services were held around the country, courtesy of the Tzohar and Ayelet HaShachar organizations.
Religious Zionist yeshiva students, including a group from the, Merkaz Harav Kook Yeshiva in Jerusalem who went to Kibbutz Degania, and tens of religious Zionist families, left their own synagogues and went to non religious kibbutzim to lead Yom Kippur services. The last few years have seen synagogues being built on many secular kibbutzim, which gave rise to the request for groups who could conduct High Holiday services.
Bus service resumed around the country only an hour after the holiday ended, at 7:30 PM, and Ben Gurion International Airport reopened for travel around the same time. The first international flight took off at 8:30 PM. Train service will resume only after midnight.
Magen David Adom reports treating 2,053 people over the holiday. Two men drowned just before the holiday began, and another man drowned in the Dead Sea this afternoon. 133 women in labor were taken by ambulance to hospitals, and 242 children were hurt when they fell off their bicycles. Bicycle-riding has become a popular pastime on Yom Kippur, when the roads are essentially empty of cars.
5. Pro-Hamas Activists Launch Sea-Land Convoy to Gaza
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Pro-Hamas activists have launched a sea-land convoy to Gaza via Egypt despite Israel’s allowing most items to enter through Gaza crossings. The Viva Palestina 5 convoy was organized by Britain's former Member of Parliament George Galloway, a vocal backer of Hamas who was defeated in a re-election bid several months ago.
International media have focused on the size of the convoy—projected to include 150 vehicles by the time it leaves an Egyptian port for Gaza—and the participation of one activist billed as a “survivor” of the Turkish-sponsored flotilla in late May. Eight Turkish citizens and one other national, all trained by terrorists and at least one of whom was previously involved in terrorist activity, were killed after attacking Israeli Navy commandos who ordered the ship to change its course from Gaza, which is under a maritime embargo.
Kevin Ovenden, who was on the Mavi Mamara ship that was involved in the flotilla clash, told CNN the flotilla mission is “to highlight the siege.”
Israel radically changed its policy on the embargo several months ago. Instead of listing which items are allowed to cross Gaza crossings under Israeli supervision, the government now lists only certain items that would be restricted or banned because they can be used to manufacture rockets or explosives or weapons factories.
The United States has said that the attempts to ship aid directly Gaza are superfluous, and the United Nations has stated that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
However, the flotilla organizers have used the shipment of aid as a means of allowing Hamas to import goods and merchandise without Israeli supervision. Hamas already has smuggled into Gaza hundreds of tons of explosives and thousands of advanced weapons since Israel withdrew its troops and expelled its citizens from the Gaza region in 2005.
6. Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Tauber Dies at 74
by Chana Ya'ar
The Day of Atonement also served as a day of passage this past Shabbat for a renowned Chabad Chassid. Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Tauber, 74, passed away Yom Kippur morning at Sheba Hospital in the Tel HaShomer Medical Center after a long illness.
Born in Austria in 1936, Rabbi Tauber's survival during the Nazi era survival was considered miraculous after he nearly froze to death in the bitterly cold winter as he and his mother fled the Nazi hordes. According to his son Ariel, Tauber's mother became lost while taking a “safe” route to a certain village through a forest. As her little boy began to turn blue from the cold, his mother began to weep, and urged her son to pray with her that the G-d of Avraham and Yitzchak, for whom he was named, would hear their pleas and help them find their way.
“As she was praying, a man walked up, seemingly appearing out of nowhere,” the younger Tauber relates. “When asked where he had come from, and how he had known where they were, he replied that he had 'heard a Jewish mother crying' and came to help.”
The mysterious man had apparently brought with him a blanket, and took a few minutes to rub the little boy's hands and feet until they returned to a normal color. He then gave the amazed mother directions to the village she had been unable to find, wrapped the blanket around her son, and handed the boy to her. As she bent her face to her son to embrace him, she expressed her heartfelt thanks but when she raised her eyes, the mysterious stranger had disappeared, and the forest was still.
“We believe it was Eliyahu HaNavi (Elijah the Prophet) who came to save my father that night,” says the younger Tauber, adding that his father clutched a mezuzah wrapped in a piece of that same blanket as he left this world for the next.
A long-time fundraiser for Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim of Bnei Brak, Rabbi Tauber later tramped for decades through numerous towns and cities in North America and Australia, collecting money for the school's Talmud Torah division.
His tall form and friendly visage was especially well known in the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters of “770” Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, where he often visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of righteous memory.
It was at the Rebbe's behest that Tauber, a Kohen [hereditary priesthood], set forth on his missions; the Rebbe had told him to bless the donors and any others he found who were in need. The Rebbe promised that those blessings would carry the strength of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) of ancient times, and he gave Tauber a special coin to be used as a “kinyon,” or transactional surety, while delivering his blessings.
Rabbi Tauber often said that he never knew what would come out when he began a blessing – and even he was sometimes surprised by the results.
“His brochos [blessings] always came true,” commented Sinai Julian, one of the beneficiaries of Rabbi Tauber's blessings. “I personally know of many; one involves a close friend, who had lost a child in a late stage of pregnancy and who was worried that she would be unable to have more. She became pregnant shortly thereafter with a son, exactly as he said in the blessing. And there were many others that I am not at liberty to disclose.”
Rabbi Tauber was also involved in helping others raise money for various causes, including construction of the mikvah [ritual bathhouse] in Arad.
During his final illness, Chassidim continued to visit the rabbi, singing songs with him in his hospital room. Just three days prior to his death, although he was no longer able to speak, Rabbi Tauber nevertheless roused to the sound of the Chassidic nigunim (songs without words) and briefly was able to sing along with the rabbonim who had come to visit him.
A resident of Bnei Brak, Tauber is survived by his wife, Shulamit, and three grown children – a son, Ariel, and Rachel and Yehudis. May his memory be for a blessing.
7. Clinton Repeats 'Comprehensive Peace' Hopes, Mitchell in Syria
by Maayana Miskin
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeated a call this week for “comprehensive peace” that goes beyond Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Clinton was in Israel for the second round of talks between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
“We believe that it is not only important to pursue the Palestinian- Israeli negotiations but a comprehensive regional peace consistent with the heart of the Arab Israeli peace initiative,” she stated.
U.S. envoy George Mitchell met Thursday with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem. Earlier in the week French envoy Claude Cousseran was in Damascus to meet with Assad and push Israel-Syria peace talks.
Assad expressed skepticism that his country and Israel would reach a deal.
Syria has demanded that Israel hand over the strategic Golan Heights, which were under Syrian control between 1948 and 1967, and have been in Israeli hands since the Six Day War. Israel officially annexed the area in 1981.
Syria has demanded that Israel agree in principle to relinquish the Golan before talks begin, a demand that Israel has rejected. Israeli leaders say Syria must ends its ties with Iran and with PA-based terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
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