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1. Ship of Jewish Leftists Sets Sail for Gaza
by Gil Ronen
A ship carrying Jewish left-wing activists from around the world set sail from Cyprus at noon Sunday, and is headed to Gaza, carrying what activists say are humanitarian supplies.
Among the passengers are Yonatan Shapiro, a former IDF helicopter pilot who co-signed a letter by IDF reservists who refused to serve in missions that targeted terrorists in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, for fear of killing civilians. Shapiro also recently vandalized the Warsaw Ghetto memorial with graffiti comparing the ghetto to Gaza.
Shapiro said that the goal of the ship is to “break the siege on Gaza” and transfer equipment and humanitarian supplies. He stressed that they would not enter a confrontation with the IDF even if the IDF stops them from reaching Gaza.
Among other activists on board are a Holocaust survivor, Julie Moskowitz, and Rami Elhanan, who lost his daughter in an Arab terror attack.
Israel's position is that those who wish to transfer supplies to Gaza by land are allowed to do so using Israeli and Egyptian crossings. Only weapons and dual-purpose goods are barred. However, no supplies may be shipped by sea due to concerns that Hamas and other Gaza terrorist groups would take advantage of such a sea route, if opened, to import weapons that would be used against Israel.
Jews in Israel have grown increasingly nationalistic in the last two decades, after the granting of autonomy to Arabs within the Land of Israel resulted in a wave of unprecedently barbaric Muslim attacks that have killed and maimed many thousands. However, some Israeli Jews still hold leftist views and see Israel as the aggressor in the conflict.
Outside Israel, too, right-wing Jews are increasingly critical of Jewish leftism regarding Islamism. Conservative writer David Horowitz recently called liberal Jews who support Islamists "Jews for Cutting Their Own Heads Off" and blogger Don Feder called liberal jews "Temple Beit Meshuga," (beit meshugaim means "insane asylum" in Hebrew).
2. Priestly Blessing in Pictures
by Maayana Miskin
Members of the Biblical priestly class, Kohanim, blessed tens of thousands of worshipers at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Sunday morning. The entire Kotel plaza filled with Jews seeking their blessing, and many more crowded balconies and streets overlooking the Wall.
The Kohanim blessed the crowd twice, once during the Shacharit (morning) service and again during Mussaf.
Kohanim are those related by direct patrilineal descent from the first High Priest of the Jewish people, Aharon, the brother of Moshe (Moses) . They blessed the congregants using the three Torah verses traditionally recited by Kohanim during the time of the First and Second Temples (Numbers 6:24-26).
In Israel, the blessing is recited daily, while in the Diaspora it is only said on festival days. The mass blessing performed at the Kotel happens twice a year, during the festivals of Passover and Sukkot.
When prayers concluded, the two Chief Rabbis of Israel and the Rabbi of the Kotel greeted visitors in a sukkah set up for the occasion. The Kotel tunnels were open, but due to the popularity of the tour, only those who reserved a spot in advance were able to enter.
3. 'Motive for Murder at Uman was Anti-Semitism'
by Gil Ronen
Shmuel Tuboul, the Jewish man who was stabbed to death in Uman, Ukraine, was murdered because he was a Jew, and anyone saying otherwise is misleading the public, according to Manny Schwartz, an old acquaintance of the Tuboul family. In an interview with Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language radio newsmagazine, Schwartz stated: “Even if the authorities in the Ukraine try to hide this, he was killed because of his Judaism.”
Schwartz said Tuboul's appearance was obviously Jewish: he had a large kippah, long peyos (earlocks) and a beard. He noted that the murder occurred when the festivities marking the 200th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Nachman reached peak pitch. "Shmuel went to his family-owned grocery store to get a drink for celebrating. He heard the noise of fighting outside and saw youths throwing stones at the car. He went out to them and summoned his brother Raphael. They thought that the attackers wanted to steal the car. He offered them money but to no avail. They tried to make the attackers flee. Then one of [the attackers] stabbed Shmuel twice directly in the heart.”
Schwartz added that the Jews who live in Uman are “well aware of the locals' character” and that they have solved numerous incidents of violence by paying money “so as not to raise the flames.” In this case, he said, there was no way of talking to the attackers, who had come to kill Jews and not for any other reason. "They did not take the wallet nor the cell phone," he noted. "There's no other reason. It was murder for murder's sake. All the circumstances indicate that the murder was because he was Jewish."
Asked if the hassidim at Uman are organizing for some kind of revenge, Schwartz said all the Jews' resources are now directed to returning of the victim's body to Israel for burial. "We do not want to create animosity with the neighbors," he said, but added that he expects local authorities to come up with a deterrent against the anti-Semites, by increasing police presence or some other means.
4. Abbas Steps Up Rhetoric as Bulldozers Prepare to Roar
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas raised the volume Saturday in his diplomatic campaign to pressure Israel to extend the building freeze, hours before bulldozers are preparing to mark the end of the moratorium Sunday.
“Israel must choose between peace and the continuation of settlements," Abbas said in his address to the U.N. General Assembly. He added a long list of complaints against Israel, claiming that the IDF has destroyed one-quarter of the homes and Gaza and that its counterterrorist maneuvers have put most Gaza residents out of work.
Signaling a move towards reaching an agreement with Hamas, the rival to his Fatah party, Abbas called for Israel to remove all restrictions on the flow of goods and merchandise into Gaza. The partial embargo, which does not include most commercial goods, is designed to prevent further smuggling of advanced weapons and terrorists for the Hamas terrorist organization, which heads a de facto government in Gaza.
His insistence for Israel’s extending the 10-month building freeze received more support from U.S. President Barack Obama, who told the United Nations, “We believe that the moratorium should be extended.” Trying to prevent a Palestinian Authority walkout on the American attempts to continue direct talks between the PA and Israel, President Obama added. “We also believe that talks should press on until complete."
The government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is trying to play down the end of the moratorium, which nationalists will celebrate on Sunday with several high-profile events where cornerstones will be laid for new homes.
One government official told Reuters that the Prime Minister is in contact with international leaders, who are conducting “intensive efforts to find a mutually agreed compromise to the issue of the moratorium ending.” The official added, "If this is going to work, it must be a two-way street. It also has to be said that the plan for building in the West Bank [Judea and Samaria]in the coming year is so modest that in no way would they impact on the parameters for a peace deal."
Cabinet Minister Benny Begin, a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party, told TIME magazine that Israel is “going through the motions” even though it is apparent that the Palestinian Authority is not sincere in its claim that it only wants part of what is now Israel.
Begin also pointed out that there is no point in talking with Abbas about a new PA state that includes Gaza, where the Hamas terrorist organization threw Abbas and his Fatah party out of control more than three years ago in a bloody militia war.
5. Secret is Out: Pro-PA Billionaire George Soros Funds J Street
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Pro-Palestinian Authority billionaire George Soros, who once said Israeli and American policies fuel anti-Semitism, helps fund the J Street lobby that is sympathetic to Hamas, The Washington Times revealed Saturday. Soros never was a supporter of Zionist activities, and a biography of him states that Judaism “did not express itself in a sense of tribal loyalty that would have led him to support Israel."
He has long been rumored to be behind the left-wing political lobby, but J Street previously denied that he contributed money to the group until now.
"George Soros very publicly stated his decision not to be engaged in J Street when it was launched — precisely out of fear that his involvement would be used against the organization,” the J Street website stated before The Times questioned it about Soros. The site immediately was changed to read, "J Street has said it doesn’t receive money from George Soros, but now news reports indicate that he has in fact contributed."
Times’ reporter Eli Lake said that the newspaper obtained tax forms revealing that Soros and his two children gave J Street nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
Soros originally helped found J Street as an alternative lobby to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), whose pro-Israel polices angered him. He contributed heavily in an attempt to defeat President Bush when he ran for re-election in 2004, telling The New York Times that getting rid of Bush was the "central focus of my life" and "a matter of life and death."
Soros was a strong supporter of President Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, and the president has included J Street officials frequently in White House consultations, trying to promote the political lobby as representing American Jews.
J Street promotes itself as a “pro-Israel and pro-peace lobby. It favors including Hamas in the “peace process. The former founder of a Hamas-linked charity recently attended a J Street event in Florida and was welcomed by applause.
Soros, who was born in Hungary, and whose family changed its name from Schwartz to Soros in order to escape growing anti-Semitism. made a fortune on currency speculation.
He has contributed billions of dollars to charities, none of which are Zionist and almost all of which are non-Jewish. His financial contributions have been aimed at promoting democracy, particularly to the former Soviet bloc and to black students and to fight poverty in South Africa.
He told a Jewish audience in New York City in 2003, "There is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The policies of the Bush administration and the Sharon administration contribute to that. It's not specifically anti-Semitism, but it does manifest itself in anti-Semitism as well. I'm critical of those policies.
"If we change that direction, then anti-Semitism also will diminish. I can't see how one could confront it directly… I'm also very concerned about my own role because the new anti-Semitism holds that the Jews rule the world... As an unintended consequence of my actions... I also contribute to that image.”
He later denied that he blamed Jews or Israel for anti-Semitism but maintained, “I do believe that attitudes toward Israel are influenced by Israel's policies, and attitudes toward the Jewish community are influenced by the pro-Israel lobby's success in suppressing divergent views.”
6. Hamas: Gaza 'Fisherman' Killed by Israeli Navy
by Chana Ya'ar
The Hamas terrorist rulers of Gaza claimed over the weekend that Israel's Navy killed a local fisherman after he attempted to sail past the government's maritime blockade of the region.
The 20-year-old man was identified by medical personnel at Kamal Udwan Hospital in Jabaliya as Mohammad Bakhr, according to media reports. A separate report by the Palestinian Authority-linked Ma'an news agency, quoting hospital spokesman Adham Abu Selmieyah, identified him as Mansour Baker.
The incident allegedly took place near the As-Sudanieyah area, along the northern Gaza coast, medics said.
An IDF spokesperson explained that Bakhr was in restricted waters and heading towards Israel: “We fired warning shots to turn him back, and when he did not respond, we fired at the boat. We are checking the claim that there was a casualty.”
The boat was ordered to return to the three-nautical-mile (5 km) fishing limit, and according to Ma'an, the IDF spokesperson said the boat returned to the region after the shots were fired.
Israel has often explained that its navy is forced to patrol the Gaza coast to prevent terrorists from smuggling weapons, explosives and other contraband into the region.
7. Breslover Chassid Murdered Near Rabbi Nachman's Tomb in Uman
by Chana Ya'ar
On the 200th anniversary of the death of Rabbi Nachman, founder of the Breslov Chassidic movement, the fourth day of Sukkot, a young follower about to start a new life instead was murdered by Ukrainians in Uman.
The 19-year-old Israeli, Shmuel Tuvol, had come with his brother Refoel to pray at the grave of his Rebbe, whose leadership to this day continues to guide the Chassidic sect.
The two brothers were staying at a home owned by their family in Kiryat Breslov in Uman, near Rabbi Nachman's tomb, when three Ukrainians began hurling rocks at the victim's car. Shmuel called Refael to help him as he was being pelted with stones, but suddenly found himself stabbed in the chest.
“Refael, they stabbed me in the heart!,” he cried out to his brother, according to a report on the Hareidi site Chaderei Hareidim. The last words he heard his brother say before he lapsed into unconsciousness were: “I'm dying . . .”
Rushing to his aid, Shmuel's brother Refael was also attacked by the gang who beat him severely with a shovel. The three thugs also tried to stab the young Chassid, using the weapon they had used to murder his brother. Despite his injuries, Refael managed to wrest the shovel away, and knocked the knife out of their hands. As they fled, he called for help.
Shmuel was pronounced dead on the operating table after he and his brother were rushed to the local hospital. Refael suffered wounds to the mouth and legs.
Two of the three attackers also later showed up at the hospital, seeking assistance for injuries suffered in the struggle. Because doctors had been updated about the incident, the police were immediately called, and the suspects were arrested.
A delegation comprised of ZAKA's Ukraine director, Rabbi Yaakov Zilberman, and Kiev Chief Rabbi Moshe Reuven Asman immediately came to the hospital to ensure there would be no desecration of Tuvol's body. Authorities are working to return the victim to Israel for burial. The police chief of Uman also opened an investigation into the murder, and vowed to apprehend the third killer.
Each year, thousands of Breslov Chassidim make an annual pilgrimage to Uman to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, the great-grandson of the Ba'al Shem Tov (founder of the Chassidic movement).
No More Uman
Two years ago, Jewish teachers in the Ukraine were attacked by anti-Semites who beat with metal rods while screaming, “Kikes, leave Ukraine!” Less than a month before, a Ukrainian politician had also reportedly called for a “purge of Jews” who he said had “seized power” in Ukraine.
A number of Israeli rabbis oppose traveling to Uman for the Jewish holidays in the Hebrew month of Tishrei, contending it is forbidden to quit the Holy Land for the Diaspora during such holy days.
Moreover, at least one group of Breslov Chassidim, however, decided this year not to make the traditional annual trip to Uman.
Instead, the Chassidim visited the tomb of Rabbi Yisrael Oddesser, a student of Rabbi Nachman, who according to the group's tradition, was considered the spiritual descendant of the Rebbe.
Uman is irrelevant, according to the group, which quotes Rabbi Nachman as saying, “Wherever I go, I'm going to the Land of Israel.”
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