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1. Obama’s Sound of Silence All but Buries Appeal for Pollard
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Phone calls flooded the White House, Israel’s Ambassador Michael Oren appealed to the State Department, and hundreds protested at the American embassy in Tel Aviv, but U.S. President Barack Obama remains silent as Jonathan Pollard remains in jail hours before his father is to be buried.
A switchboard operator at the White House on Sunday morning – shortly after midnight in Washington – said that “no one is available to take a message for president” until the morning, about two hours before Prof. Morris Pollard is to be buried in the Midwestern state of Indiana.
His son Jonathan has languished in American prisons for more than 25 years as he continues to serve a life sentence for the offense of passing on classified information for Israel, a crime that normally carries no more than four years in jail.
The Obama administration has been ominously silent on increasing calls from American officials, including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, to free Pollard. Evidence has mounted that his trial was all but fair, and the extraordinary harsh sentence has been criticized by Congressman and former members of American Cabinets.
Pollard’s father, who died Saturday at the age of 95 in the city of South Bend, was a professor and award-winning microbiologist at the University of Notre Dame for five decades. He is to be buried at 10 a.m. (6 p.m. in Israel).
He was allowed to speak to his father shortly before he died, but the United States did not answer humanitarian appeals to allow Jonathan to visit his father while he was still alive.
Last January, Prof. Pollard told the South Bend Tribune, “I can hope that justice will prevail” and that his son be released before his father’s death. He said, "It's such an overwhelming miscarriage of justice that I keep waking up fighting with people.”
It appears that the Obama administration also is denying Jonathan Pollard the merit of attending the final resting place of his father.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Phone calls flooded the White House, Israel’s Ambassador Michael Oren appealed to the State Department, and hundreds protested at the American embassy in Tel Aviv, but U.S. President Barack Obama remains silent as Jonathan Pollard remains in jail hours before his father is to be buried.
A switchboard operator at the White House on Sunday morning – shortly after midnight in Washington – said that “no one is available to take a message for president” until the morning, about two hours before Prof. Morris Pollard is to be buried in the Midwestern state of Indiana.
His son Jonathan has languished in American prisons for more than 25 years as he continues to serve a life sentence for the offense of passing on classified information for Israel, a crime that normally carries no more than four years in jail.
The Obama administration has been ominously silent on increasing calls from American officials, including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, to free Pollard. Evidence has mounted that his trial was all but fair, and the extraordinary harsh sentence has been criticized by Congressman and former members of American Cabinets.
Pollard’s father, who died Saturday at the age of 95 in the city of South Bend, was a professor and award-winning microbiologist at the University of Notre Dame for five decades. He is to be buried at 10 a.m. (6 p.m. in Israel).
He was allowed to speak to his father shortly before he died, but the United States did not answer humanitarian appeals to allow Jonathan to visit his father while he was still alive.
Last January, Prof. Pollard told the South Bend Tribune, “I can hope that justice will prevail” and that his son be released before his father’s death. He said, "It's such an overwhelming miscarriage of justice that I keep waking up fighting with people.”
It appears that the Obama administration also is denying Jonathan Pollard the merit of attending the final resting place of his father.
Comment on this story
2. Residents Recall Tragedy: 'The Blast Occured as I Recited Shema'
by Elad Benari & Yoni Kempinski
Residents of the city of Netanya, still shaken from Thursday night’s explosion that rocked a building in the city and killed four, recalled on Sunday their experiences of the explosion.
Email readers click here and scroll down to view video.
Eric, a resident of the building which exploded, said: “On Thursday night I was reciting the Sh'ma before bedtime. At the same moment the explosion occurred. Everything shook, it was like an earthquake. There was dust everywhere. Everything was white. We were all in shock.”
He recalled that earlier in the day, “There was a gas leak, and we called the gas company several times. They said they would come and I don’t even know if they did anything. Look at the results. Everything was destroyed.”
Three of the four victims of the explosion were Rivka Masihid, age 17, Rivka Durai, age 18, and Stacey Brook, age 17. The three girls were olot (new immigrants) from France who had taken part in a Chabad program to hand out Shabbat candles to Netanya’s residents. After they finished handing out candles, the three girls had entered the coffee shop in the building shortly before the explosion.
“The French girls hand out candles every Thursday,” recalled Ada Hadad, a resident of the neighborhood. “They sat here, a few of the girls, half of them went to the coffee shop and the others didn’t want to come along with them. As the girls stepped towards the coffee shop, all of a sudden… boom! It was unbelievable.”
The fourth victim of the explosion was Mohammed Abu Ata, age 28, a resident of Wadi Ara. Police arrested two men in relation to the gas explosion, which injured 88 people. One of the men, Yisrael Daniel, is a technician with the PazGaz Gas Company, who police say inspected the building’s gas tanks mere hours before the deadly blast. Police interviewed his superiors as well.
The second man, Rami Gueta, was seen in the vicinity of the building and later arrested on suspicion of metal theft before the blast. He was initially released, but arrested again after the blast.
“There’s a big problem in Israel: the gas balloons all stand outside with no protection,” said Eric. “They should have put up a fence with a lock that no one can even put a finger in there, not that anyone can go in there and do what they want. Where’s the responsibility?”
Comment on this story
by Elad Benari & Yoni Kempinski
Residents of the city of Netanya, still shaken from Thursday night’s explosion that rocked a building in the city and killed four, recalled on Sunday their experiences of the explosion.
Email readers click here and scroll down to view video.
Eric, a resident of the building which exploded, said: “On Thursday night I was reciting the Sh'ma before bedtime. At the same moment the explosion occurred. Everything shook, it was like an earthquake. There was dust everywhere. Everything was white. We were all in shock.”
He recalled that earlier in the day, “There was a gas leak, and we called the gas company several times. They said they would come and I don’t even know if they did anything. Look at the results. Everything was destroyed.”
Three of the four victims of the explosion were Rivka Masihid, age 17, Rivka Durai, age 18, and Stacey Brook, age 17. The three girls were olot (new immigrants) from France who had taken part in a Chabad program to hand out Shabbat candles to Netanya’s residents. After they finished handing out candles, the three girls had entered the coffee shop in the building shortly before the explosion.
“The French girls hand out candles every Thursday,” recalled Ada Hadad, a resident of the neighborhood. “They sat here, a few of the girls, half of them went to the coffee shop and the others didn’t want to come along with them. As the girls stepped towards the coffee shop, all of a sudden… boom! It was unbelievable.”
The fourth victim of the explosion was Mohammed Abu Ata, age 28, a resident of Wadi Ara. Police arrested two men in relation to the gas explosion, which injured 88 people. One of the men, Yisrael Daniel, is a technician with the PazGaz Gas Company, who police say inspected the building’s gas tanks mere hours before the deadly blast. Police interviewed his superiors as well.
The second man, Rami Gueta, was seen in the vicinity of the building and later arrested on suspicion of metal theft before the blast. He was initially released, but arrested again after the blast.
“There’s a big problem in Israel: the gas balloons all stand outside with no protection,” said Eric. “They should have put up a fence with a lock that no one can even put a finger in there, not that anyone can go in there and do what they want. Where’s the responsibility?”
Comment on this story
3. Fatah-Hamas Unity Off – For Now
by Elad Benari
Talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah movement, and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal regarding forming a new PA cabinet have been postponed, a Fatah official said Sunday.
AFP reported that Abbas and Mashaal had been scheduled to meet in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss the make-up of an interim government.
The forming of a new government is one of the clauses in the unity pact recently signed by Hamas and Fatah. However, the talks have reportedly stalled on the issue of the identity of the Prime Minister who will head the transitional government.
Abbas has been championing for his current Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, to continue in the role in the interim government as well. Hamas, however, has rejected Fayyad, saying his views are too “moderate.”
Fatah representative Azzam Al-Ahmad made no allusion to these difficulties on Sunday, telling AFP that the delay was simply intended to eventually move the talks forward.
“The meeting has been postponed until a new date is set in the coming days in order to assure the best atmosphere for the successful implementation of the reconciliation agreement,” Al-Ahmad told AFP.
Al-Ahmad later spoke with the PA-based Ma’an news agency, saying that the delay also hoped to “create a better atmosphere for the agreement to go forward.” He noted that the delay would be for “several days.”
Al-Ahmad added that during the interim period, “many contacts [would be] carried out," including a trip by Abbas to Turkey. He said Abbas would visit Turkey on Wednesday, but did not provide additional details on the trip.
Meanwhile, Hamas' Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, played down suggestions that a stalemate had led to the postponement in talks.
In a statement, Haniyeh said, “There is a possibility that the meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Mr Khaled Mashaal, head of the political office of Hamas, will be delayed.”
Haniyeh added the news had come from Mashaal in a phone call and said that “technical issues” had led to the postponement.
“This is a sign of the seriousness of the discussions on the make-up of the government and who will head it,” said Haniyeh.
The news of the delay in the talks comes despite recent reports that Abbas himself would hold the post of Prime Minister in the PA transitional government.
The report said that Fayyad and Haniyeh would be Abbas’ deputies, with Fayyad also assuming the role of Minister of Finance.
PA officials previously announced the transitional government would be made up entirely of independent figures.
Israeli analysts have been highly skeptical of a Fatah-Hamas unity government’s long term viability, saying the divisions between the rival factions may prove too stark to overcome.
Israel denounced the unity agreement, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu saying the agreement was “a tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism.”
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz later announced that due to the Fatah-Hamas unity, the Israeli government would freeze the routine transfer of taxes and fees collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, until the PA proves the money would not go to Hamas and to terrorism.
Steinitz later reversed the decision, saying the PA had clarified the money would not go towards funding terror acts.
Comment on this story
by Elad Benari
Talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah movement, and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal regarding forming a new PA cabinet have been postponed, a Fatah official said Sunday.
AFP reported that Abbas and Mashaal had been scheduled to meet in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss the make-up of an interim government.
The forming of a new government is one of the clauses in the unity pact recently signed by Hamas and Fatah. However, the talks have reportedly stalled on the issue of the identity of the Prime Minister who will head the transitional government.
Abbas has been championing for his current Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, to continue in the role in the interim government as well. Hamas, however, has rejected Fayyad, saying his views are too “moderate.”
Fatah representative Azzam Al-Ahmad made no allusion to these difficulties on Sunday, telling AFP that the delay was simply intended to eventually move the talks forward.
“The meeting has been postponed until a new date is set in the coming days in order to assure the best atmosphere for the successful implementation of the reconciliation agreement,” Al-Ahmad told AFP.
Al-Ahmad later spoke with the PA-based Ma’an news agency, saying that the delay also hoped to “create a better atmosphere for the agreement to go forward.” He noted that the delay would be for “several days.”
Al-Ahmad added that during the interim period, “many contacts [would be] carried out," including a trip by Abbas to Turkey. He said Abbas would visit Turkey on Wednesday, but did not provide additional details on the trip.
Meanwhile, Hamas' Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, played down suggestions that a stalemate had led to the postponement in talks.
In a statement, Haniyeh said, “There is a possibility that the meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Mr Khaled Mashaal, head of the political office of Hamas, will be delayed.”
Haniyeh added the news had come from Mashaal in a phone call and said that “technical issues” had led to the postponement.
“This is a sign of the seriousness of the discussions on the make-up of the government and who will head it,” said Haniyeh.
The news of the delay in the talks comes despite recent reports that Abbas himself would hold the post of Prime Minister in the PA transitional government.
The report said that Fayyad and Haniyeh would be Abbas’ deputies, with Fayyad also assuming the role of Minister of Finance.
PA officials previously announced the transitional government would be made up entirely of independent figures.
Israeli analysts have been highly skeptical of a Fatah-Hamas unity government’s long term viability, saying the divisions between the rival factions may prove too stark to overcome.
Israel denounced the unity agreement, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu saying the agreement was “a tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism.”
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz later announced that due to the Fatah-Hamas unity, the Israeli government would freeze the routine transfer of taxes and fees collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, until the PA proves the money would not go to Hamas and to terrorism.
Steinitz later reversed the decision, saying the PA had clarified the money would not go towards funding terror acts.
Comment on this story
4. The Great Cottage Cheese Protest of 2011 Reaches Knesset
by Hillel Fendel
A Knesset committee will vote today on a request to ask the State Comptroller to investigate Israel’s cottage cheese prices.
The Knesset Control Committee will debate today a proposal to ask State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss to look into the behavior of the price supervisory council, in light of the steep increase in the price of dairy products, and especially that of cottage cheese.
The rise in cottage cheese prices have been in the forefront of the news of late, especially the Globes business newsmagazine, which first brought the issue to the fore. Globes has been strongly pushing a grassroots effort to call a nationwide boycott of cottage cheese, beginning July 1. The Globes website in Hebrew for today, for instance, has five front-page articles on the topic and related issues.
Another Knesset committee, the Economy Committee, called yesterday for an immediate return of cottage cheese prices to government control.
“We want the dairy companies, and others, to make their profits in the merit of growth engines such as initiatives and new ideas,” said Committee Chairman MK Carmel Shama (Likud), and not via price coordination of various types and centralization. This current expensive cost-of-living social crisis demands a long-range solution - but also an immediate one.”
Shama also said that the low official inflation rate is misleading, in that basic staples such as housing, water, gas, and basic foodstuffs have in fact risen by “tens of percentage points.”
Why Now?
A spokesman for Tnuva Dairy Company said that the price of cottage cheese has not risen in six months. So what is all the brouhaha now? That’s precisely what MK Ze’ev Elkin of Likud asked in the Knesset last week, when he noted that the Kadima government removed the price controls from cottage cheese no fewer than three years ago, leading to an immediate jump from 4.82 shekels per 250-gram container to 7.15. It was being sold a month ago at around 6.50-7.50 shekels, but several supermarket chains have lowered the price in recent days because of the boycott call.
The boycott leaders explain that their crusade is not only over cottage cheese, but about food prices in general. “How can it be that in Great Britain, soup nuts made by [Israeli food giant] Osem sell for the equivalent of 9 shekels, while here they cost 16? Why does Osem’s Bamba peanut snack costs half as much there as here?”
A spokesman for the Tara Dairy Company blamed the supermarket chains: “We sell them cottage cheese for 5.52 including VAT; why do they sell it for close to 8 shekels?”
MK Shelly Yechimovitch, who is vying for the leadership of the dwindling Labor Party, said that the cottage cheese boycott is a “cute effort, and the dairy companies should be put in their place. But I have high standards for myself, and I have high standards for the public: Why is that all the grassroots efforts are only for the sake of our own pockets? Why is there no concern about the sale of Machteshim Agan [for instance] to a Chinese company, which will lead to the unemployment of many hundreds of middle class workers?”
Yechimovitch left unclear her reference to “all the grassroots efforts” being for selfish ends. In religious nationalist circles, for example, “all the grassroots efforts” are in fact geared towards national ends, such as not giving up Jerusalem, releasing Jonathan Pollard, against destroying Jewish communities, and the like.
Comment on this story
by Hillel Fendel
A Knesset committee will vote today on a request to ask the State Comptroller to investigate Israel’s cottage cheese prices.
The Knesset Control Committee will debate today a proposal to ask State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss to look into the behavior of the price supervisory council, in light of the steep increase in the price of dairy products, and especially that of cottage cheese.
The rise in cottage cheese prices have been in the forefront of the news of late, especially the Globes business newsmagazine, which first brought the issue to the fore. Globes has been strongly pushing a grassroots effort to call a nationwide boycott of cottage cheese, beginning July 1. The Globes website in Hebrew for today, for instance, has five front-page articles on the topic and related issues.
Another Knesset committee, the Economy Committee, called yesterday for an immediate return of cottage cheese prices to government control.
“We want the dairy companies, and others, to make their profits in the merit of growth engines such as initiatives and new ideas,” said Committee Chairman MK Carmel Shama (Likud), and not via price coordination of various types and centralization. This current expensive cost-of-living social crisis demands a long-range solution - but also an immediate one.”
Shama also said that the low official inflation rate is misleading, in that basic staples such as housing, water, gas, and basic foodstuffs have in fact risen by “tens of percentage points.”
Why Now?
A spokesman for Tnuva Dairy Company said that the price of cottage cheese has not risen in six months. So what is all the brouhaha now? That’s precisely what MK Ze’ev Elkin of Likud asked in the Knesset last week, when he noted that the Kadima government removed the price controls from cottage cheese no fewer than three years ago, leading to an immediate jump from 4.82 shekels per 250-gram container to 7.15. It was being sold a month ago at around 6.50-7.50 shekels, but several supermarket chains have lowered the price in recent days because of the boycott call.
The boycott leaders explain that their crusade is not only over cottage cheese, but about food prices in general. “How can it be that in Great Britain, soup nuts made by [Israeli food giant] Osem sell for the equivalent of 9 shekels, while here they cost 16? Why does Osem’s Bamba peanut snack costs half as much there as here?”
A spokesman for the Tara Dairy Company blamed the supermarket chains: “We sell them cottage cheese for 5.52 including VAT; why do they sell it for close to 8 shekels?”
MK Shelly Yechimovitch, who is vying for the leadership of the dwindling Labor Party, said that the cottage cheese boycott is a “cute effort, and the dairy companies should be put in their place. But I have high standards for myself, and I have high standards for the public: Why is that all the grassroots efforts are only for the sake of our own pockets? Why is there no concern about the sale of Machteshim Agan [for instance] to a Chinese company, which will lead to the unemployment of many hundreds of middle class workers?”
Yechimovitch left unclear her reference to “all the grassroots efforts” being for selfish ends. In religious nationalist circles, for example, “all the grassroots efforts” are in fact geared towards national ends, such as not giving up Jerusalem, releasing Jonathan Pollard, against destroying Jewish communities, and the like.
Comment on this story
5. Declaring Israeli Sovereignty in Yesha: Let the Debate Begin
by David Lev
Most people on the right – in fact, most people in Israel – believe that the only real solution to the security situation is the eventual declaration of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. Even if they say different, says writer Yoel Meltzer. And, he says, he can prove it.
“Ask many Israelis if they believe in the two-state solution, and many will say something to the effect of 'what choice do we have?' But then ask them if they believe an Arab state will survive as a viable, responsible entity that Israel can live with, or if it will deteriorate into another Gaza or south Lebanon, and they will inevitably answer the latter. And then ask them how they reconcile the two opinions.”
They cannot, says Meltzer; when it comes to thinking “outside the box” about Judea and Samaria, Israelis experience a form of cognitive dissonance, he says – or, perhaps more correctly, intellectual paralysis.
Regardless, he says, “it's clear to anyone who thinks about this for even a short whole that we cannot continue this way. And I think the time has come for a real debate on the issue.”
Meltzer hopes to prompt that debate at an event on Monday night, to be held at the OU Israel Center, titled “The Preferred Option: Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.” While Meltzer, a long-time op-ed writer for Arutz 7 and other sites, has some definite ideas on the subject, he does not plan on making what he calls “bombastic statements” about what should or should not be done. And obviously there are many practical questions that need to be explored.
Those questions, and many others, will be discussed by some of Israel's top political thinkers, including former ambassador Yoram Ettinger, Yesha Council Chairman Dani Dayan, Dr. Mordechai Keda of Bar Ilan University, and Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post.
“So far, the question of Jewish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria has been dealt only in certain very select circles. I want to open up the discussion. By bringing together four well-known public figures for one evening, the hope is that other likeminded individuals – whether from the academic world, the media, the business sector, the security establishment, the legal establishment or the political echelon – will be attracted to the initiative in order to participate in future speaking engagements. We need this to be a dialog on a national level.”
This dialog is crucial for Israel's future. “For years the right has been reacting, not leading. We react to circumstances and events, we do not lead them. That needs to change,” Meltzer says.
The current intellectual malaise on the right, Meltzer believes, has resulted in a malaise in the way the country – and the people – are conducting themselves. Seen from this perspective, the disengagement and continued defeatism among Israelis regarding the future establishment of an Arab state in Judea and Samaria is a symptom of this malaise, not a cause – and the malaise must be treated by an honest evaluation of Israel's future in Judea and Samaria.
“Of course there are challenges, but Israelis are ready for them,” says Meltzer. “When I first organized this evening I expected maybe 50 people to attend. But the buzz has been so great about this that I believe we will have a standing room only crowd.”
Monday's event will be conducted in English, but the next one – Meltzer is considering one after the summer – will definitely be held in Hebrew. “The average Israeli must be a part of this discussion, and only with honest input from all those this affects will we be able to forge a dynamic policy.”
That discussion officially opens Monday – with the final result, hopes Meltzer, the forging of an Israeli policy that would absorb Judea and Samaria as the best solution to the country's security problems.
Comment on this story
by David Lev
Most people on the right – in fact, most people in Israel – believe that the only real solution to the security situation is the eventual declaration of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. Even if they say different, says writer Yoel Meltzer. And, he says, he can prove it.
“Ask many Israelis if they believe in the two-state solution, and many will say something to the effect of 'what choice do we have?' But then ask them if they believe an Arab state will survive as a viable, responsible entity that Israel can live with, or if it will deteriorate into another Gaza or south Lebanon, and they will inevitably answer the latter. And then ask them how they reconcile the two opinions.”
They cannot, says Meltzer; when it comes to thinking “outside the box” about Judea and Samaria, Israelis experience a form of cognitive dissonance, he says – or, perhaps more correctly, intellectual paralysis.
Regardless, he says, “it's clear to anyone who thinks about this for even a short whole that we cannot continue this way. And I think the time has come for a real debate on the issue.”
Meltzer hopes to prompt that debate at an event on Monday night, to be held at the OU Israel Center, titled “The Preferred Option: Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.” While Meltzer, a long-time op-ed writer for Arutz 7 and other sites, has some definite ideas on the subject, he does not plan on making what he calls “bombastic statements” about what should or should not be done. And obviously there are many practical questions that need to be explored.
Those questions, and many others, will be discussed by some of Israel's top political thinkers, including former ambassador Yoram Ettinger, Yesha Council Chairman Dani Dayan, Dr. Mordechai Keda of Bar Ilan University, and Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post.
“So far, the question of Jewish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria has been dealt only in certain very select circles. I want to open up the discussion. By bringing together four well-known public figures for one evening, the hope is that other likeminded individuals – whether from the academic world, the media, the business sector, the security establishment, the legal establishment or the political echelon – will be attracted to the initiative in order to participate in future speaking engagements. We need this to be a dialog on a national level.”
This dialog is crucial for Israel's future. “For years the right has been reacting, not leading. We react to circumstances and events, we do not lead them. That needs to change,” Meltzer says.
The current intellectual malaise on the right, Meltzer believes, has resulted in a malaise in the way the country – and the people – are conducting themselves. Seen from this perspective, the disengagement and continued defeatism among Israelis regarding the future establishment of an Arab state in Judea and Samaria is a symptom of this malaise, not a cause – and the malaise must be treated by an honest evaluation of Israel's future in Judea and Samaria.
“Of course there are challenges, but Israelis are ready for them,” says Meltzer. “When I first organized this evening I expected maybe 50 people to attend. But the buzz has been so great about this that I believe we will have a standing room only crowd.”
Monday's event will be conducted in English, but the next one – Meltzer is considering one after the summer – will definitely be held in Hebrew. “The average Israeli must be a part of this discussion, and only with honest input from all those this affects will we be able to forge a dynamic policy.”
That discussion officially opens Monday – with the final result, hopes Meltzer, the forging of an Israeli policy that would absorb Judea and Samaria as the best solution to the country's security problems.
Comment on this story
6. Navy Commander: Flotilla's Goal Is to Fight the IDF
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The goal of the planned “provocative and hateful” flotilla to Gaza is aimed at fighting the IDF and not to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, Navy Commander Vice Admiral Eliezer Meron said Sunday. The Foreign Ministry says that in any event, Gaza is not blockaded.
Turkey has blocked the Mavi Marmara ship, which carried IHH terrorists who clashed with Navy commandos last year, from joining the flotilla, but the remaining nine ships remain a threat, Meron said.
"Allowing ships to sail to Gaza will enable Hamas, a radical terror organization operating under Iran, to arm itself with advanced weaponry and to threaten Israel with rockets and missiles. The goal of the organizers of the flotilla is to clash with soldiers and to create a media provocation and to delegitimize Israel," according to the Navy commander.
The Navy is continuing to prepare for the flotilla, which may carry several legislators and journalists.
The Foreign Ministry has conducted a constant information and diplomatic campaign pointing out that the United Nations has said there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that all merchandise, except weapons and material for weapons, can reach the area via overland routes.
The IDF has enforced a maritime embargo to prevent Hamas and allied terrorists from continuing to smuggle in advanced weapons, explosives and terrorists. Military officials estimate that Hamas already possesses anti-aircraft missiles that can bring down a commercial airline.
The Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center) has played a major part in crippling efforts to test the IDF in the high seas. Threatened lawsuits, citing American laws against aiding and abetting an enemy of a friendly state – Israel – have convinced Lloyds Insurance to cancel coverage of flotilla ships.
Another suit filed last week warns that the ships can be seized for violating U.S. laws on the high seas.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The goal of the planned “provocative and hateful” flotilla to Gaza is aimed at fighting the IDF and not to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, Navy Commander Vice Admiral Eliezer Meron said Sunday. The Foreign Ministry says that in any event, Gaza is not blockaded.
Turkey has blocked the Mavi Marmara ship, which carried IHH terrorists who clashed with Navy commandos last year, from joining the flotilla, but the remaining nine ships remain a threat, Meron said.
"Allowing ships to sail to Gaza will enable Hamas, a radical terror organization operating under Iran, to arm itself with advanced weaponry and to threaten Israel with rockets and missiles. The goal of the organizers of the flotilla is to clash with soldiers and to create a media provocation and to delegitimize Israel," according to the Navy commander.
The Navy is continuing to prepare for the flotilla, which may carry several legislators and journalists.
The Foreign Ministry has conducted a constant information and diplomatic campaign pointing out that the United Nations has said there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that all merchandise, except weapons and material for weapons, can reach the area via overland routes.
The IDF has enforced a maritime embargo to prevent Hamas and allied terrorists from continuing to smuggle in advanced weapons, explosives and terrorists. Military officials estimate that Hamas already possesses anti-aircraft missiles that can bring down a commercial airline.
The Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center) has played a major part in crippling efforts to test the IDF in the high seas. Threatened lawsuits, citing American laws against aiding and abetting an enemy of a friendly state – Israel – have convinced Lloyds Insurance to cancel coverage of flotilla ships.
Another suit filed last week warns that the ships can be seized for violating U.S. laws on the high seas.
Comment on this story
7. Successful Heart Surgery on Rabbi Elyashiv
by Hillel Fendel
Leading Torah giant Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, 101, successfully underwent heart surgery last night, and is expected to return home on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of people around the world recited special prayers for Rabbi Elyashiv –Rabbi Yosef Shalom ben [son of] Chaya Musha – last night. A large prayer service was held at the Western Wall dedicated to the rabbi, who is considered the hareidi-religious world’s leading rabbinic authority.
The three-hour surgery took place in Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, at the hands of vascular surgeon Dr. Daniel Clair, Chairman of the Department of Vascular Surgery at Cleveland Clinic's main campus. Dr. Clair, his team and special equipment were flown in from the United States specially for the operation. He asked for the rabbi’s blessing of success before the operation, and received it.
Rabbi Elyashiv is the grandson of the author of the famous Kabbalistic work Leshem Shvo v’Achlamah. His wife was the daughter of the famed Rabbi Aryeh Levine, and the two were married in 1930 by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook.
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by Hillel Fendel
Leading Torah giant Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, 101, successfully underwent heart surgery last night, and is expected to return home on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of people around the world recited special prayers for Rabbi Elyashiv –Rabbi Yosef Shalom ben [son of] Chaya Musha – last night. A large prayer service was held at the Western Wall dedicated to the rabbi, who is considered the hareidi-religious world’s leading rabbinic authority.
The three-hour surgery took place in Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, at the hands of vascular surgeon Dr. Daniel Clair, Chairman of the Department of Vascular Surgery at Cleveland Clinic's main campus. Dr. Clair, his team and special equipment were flown in from the United States specially for the operation. He asked for the rabbi’s blessing of success before the operation, and received it.
Rabbi Elyashiv is the grandson of the author of the famous Kabbalistic work Leshem Shvo v’Achlamah. His wife was the daughter of the famed Rabbi Aryeh Levine, and the two were married in 1930 by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook.
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8. Illegal Mosque Next to Begin’s Grave
by Gil Ronen
A mosque is being illegally constructed in close proximity to the graves of deceased prime minister Menachem Begin and Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the reviver of spoken Hebrew. Activist Aryeh King has repeatedly asked the Jerusalem Municipality to stop the construction next to the Mount of Olives Cemetery but he says the Municipality is in no hurry to do so.
Arabs began enlarging a small existing mosque last October, King told Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew-language service. In one week’s time, the size of the mosque’s floor had doubled. Complaints were filed with the municipality but the municipality dawdled and the builders added walls. In December the Municipality issued a stop work order, but the Arabs kept on building.
King says work continues on the site, including excavation eight meters deep for an unknown purpose. The Municipality is dragging its feet, says King, now saying that stopping the building of a mosque is “sensitive” and requires legal consultation.
Undeterred, King divulges that he has a surprise in store for the municipality. One of the speakers at the Presidents’ Conference in Jerusalem Monday will raise the subject and show photographs of the site, he reveals. “Things that do not bother the leaders in Israel, bother the leaders of the Jewish people abroad very much,” according to King, who in March accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of dividing Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Municpality has a less-than-stellar record regarding toughness on illegal Arab construction.
Photos by Aryeh King:
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by Gil Ronen
A mosque is being illegally constructed in close proximity to the graves of deceased prime minister Menachem Begin and Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the reviver of spoken Hebrew. Activist Aryeh King has repeatedly asked the Jerusalem Municipality to stop the construction next to the Mount of Olives Cemetery but he says the Municipality is in no hurry to do so.
Arabs began enlarging a small existing mosque last October, King told Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew-language service. In one week’s time, the size of the mosque’s floor had doubled. Complaints were filed with the municipality but the municipality dawdled and the builders added walls. In December the Municipality issued a stop work order, but the Arabs kept on building.
King says work continues on the site, including excavation eight meters deep for an unknown purpose. The Municipality is dragging its feet, says King, now saying that stopping the building of a mosque is “sensitive” and requires legal consultation.
Undeterred, King divulges that he has a surprise in store for the municipality. One of the speakers at the Presidents’ Conference in Jerusalem Monday will raise the subject and show photographs of the site, he reveals. “Things that do not bother the leaders in Israel, bother the leaders of the Jewish people abroad very much,” according to King, who in March accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of dividing Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Municpality has a less-than-stellar record regarding toughness on illegal Arab construction.
Photos by Aryeh King:
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