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1. Evidence Mounts of Iran ‘Laughing All the Way to Nuclear Power’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The United Nations nuclear inspection agency, IAEA, is beefing up attempts to force Iran to cooperate at the same time it is expected to report Iran has installed 350 new centrifuges since May.
The new centrifuges are in addition to a previously-reported 1,000 that have been installed, part of Iran’s plan to have 3,000 centrifuges working.
Newspapers from Pakistan to the United States reported Wednesday that the French news agency AFP quoted diplomats in Vienna that the IAEA will issue a report on Friday detailing Iran’s nuclear progress at the Fordow facility, buried deep underground in order to protect it from a bombing attack.
The nuclear site is enriching uranium to a concentration of 20 percent, far below the 90 percent grade needed for a nuclear bomb but easily upgraded to that level.
Iran continues to insist it is developing its nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes, but Ahmadinejad's recent reiteration that Israel must be annihilated could be used by the Islamic Republic as reasoning that striking Israel with a nuclear warhead is part of its homemade “peace process.”
The IAEA reputedly is establishing a new “Task Force” to get tough with Iran, which so far has succeeded to dodge nuclear inspectors.
Western dependence on diplomacy and sanctions has not convinced Israel that anything except military action can stop Iran, but even the IAEA has shown signs of giving up on Iran.
Last week, it was reported that Iran has “sanitized” a nuclear research facility at a military to the point that it may be too late to inspect it.
Ahmadinejad has been deploying the same tactic for more than two years of negotiating with the IAEA, agreeing to terms and then negotiating again, allowing the continuation of unsupervised nuclear development towards what the West says is Iran’s objective of reaching the capability of manufacturing and delivering a nuclear warhead.
This week, Iran is hosting the Non-Aligned Movement, which is being attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
"Our enrichment activities will never stop and we are justified in carrying them out, and we will continue to do so under IAEA supervision," Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said before the summit.
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The United Nations nuclear inspection agency, IAEA, is beefing up attempts to force Iran to cooperate at the same time it is expected to report Iran has installed 350 new centrifuges since May.
The new centrifuges are in addition to a previously-reported 1,000 that have been installed, part of Iran’s plan to have 3,000 centrifuges working.
Newspapers from Pakistan to the United States reported Wednesday that the French news agency AFP quoted diplomats in Vienna that the IAEA will issue a report on Friday detailing Iran’s nuclear progress at the Fordow facility, buried deep underground in order to protect it from a bombing attack.
The nuclear site is enriching uranium to a concentration of 20 percent, far below the 90 percent grade needed for a nuclear bomb but easily upgraded to that level.
Iran continues to insist it is developing its nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes, but Ahmadinejad's recent reiteration that Israel must be annihilated could be used by the Islamic Republic as reasoning that striking Israel with a nuclear warhead is part of its homemade “peace process.”
The IAEA reputedly is establishing a new “Task Force” to get tough with Iran, which so far has succeeded to dodge nuclear inspectors.
Western dependence on diplomacy and sanctions has not convinced Israel that anything except military action can stop Iran, but even the IAEA has shown signs of giving up on Iran.
Last week, it was reported that Iran has “sanitized” a nuclear research facility at a military to the point that it may be too late to inspect it.
Ahmadinejad has been deploying the same tactic for more than two years of negotiating with the IAEA, agreeing to terms and then negotiating again, allowing the continuation of unsupervised nuclear development towards what the West says is Iran’s objective of reaching the capability of manufacturing and delivering a nuclear warhead.
This week, Iran is hosting the Non-Aligned Movement, which is being attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
"Our enrichment activities will never stop and we are justified in carrying them out, and we will continue to do so under IAEA supervision," Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said before the summit.
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2. Jerusalem Highway Work Yields Stone Age Discovery
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Archeologists have discovered Stone Age figurines in excavations carried out prior to work to widen the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.
Two figurines, which experts claim are 9,500 years old, were found in the Tel Motza area less than five miles south of Jerusalem. They are images of a ram and a wild bovine and point to the existence of a cultic belief in the region in the New Stone Age, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“The figurines were found near a large round building whose foundations were built of fieldstones and upper parts of the walls were apparently made of mud brick," said directors of the excavation Anna Eirikh and Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily.
The first figurine, in the shape of a ram with twisted horns, was fashioned from limestone and is approximately 15 cm (6 inches) in size. The sculpting precisely depicts details of the animal’s image, and the head and the horns protrude in front of the body, and their proportions are extremely accurate, the archaeologists said.
The body was made smooth and the legs of the figurine were incised in order to distinguish them from the rest of the body.
The second figurine, which was fashioned on hard smoothed dolomite, is an abstract design but appears to depict a large animal with prominent horns that separate the elongated body from the head. The horns emerge from the middle of the head sideward and resemble those of a wild bovine or buffalo.
During the New Stone Age period, “Transition began from nomadism, based on hunting and gathering, to sedentary life, based on farming and grazing,” Dr. Khalaily said. “It was at this time that mankind began to inhabit permanent settlements and started building settlements that extended across a large area.
“In several sites that were exposed in our region remains were discovered indicating preliminary architectural planning of those same settlements and complex engineering capabilities including the construction of two story houses,” he added.
He said the discovery reveals the religious life and beliefs of Neolithic society.
“It is known that hunting was the major activity in this period,” he said. “Presumably, the figurines served as good-luck statues for ensuring the success of the hunt and might have been the focus of a traditional ceremony the hunters performed before going out into the field to pursue their prey.”
Another theory presented by archaeologist Eirikh links the figurines from Motza to the process of animal domestication, such as the wild bovine and different species of wild goat.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Archeologists have discovered Stone Age figurines in excavations carried out prior to work to widen the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.
Two figurines, which experts claim are 9,500 years old, were found in the Tel Motza area less than five miles south of Jerusalem. They are images of a ram and a wild bovine and point to the existence of a cultic belief in the region in the New Stone Age, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“The figurines were found near a large round building whose foundations were built of fieldstones and upper parts of the walls were apparently made of mud brick," said directors of the excavation Anna Eirikh and Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily.
The first figurine, in the shape of a ram with twisted horns, was fashioned from limestone and is approximately 15 cm (6 inches) in size. The sculpting precisely depicts details of the animal’s image, and the head and the horns protrude in front of the body, and their proportions are extremely accurate, the archaeologists said.
The body was made smooth and the legs of the figurine were incised in order to distinguish them from the rest of the body.
The second figurine, which was fashioned on hard smoothed dolomite, is an abstract design but appears to depict a large animal with prominent horns that separate the elongated body from the head. The horns emerge from the middle of the head sideward and resemble those of a wild bovine or buffalo.
During the New Stone Age period, “Transition began from nomadism, based on hunting and gathering, to sedentary life, based on farming and grazing,” Dr. Khalaily said. “It was at this time that mankind began to inhabit permanent settlements and started building settlements that extended across a large area.
“In several sites that were exposed in our region remains were discovered indicating preliminary architectural planning of those same settlements and complex engineering capabilities including the construction of two story houses,” he added.
He said the discovery reveals the religious life and beliefs of Neolithic society.
“It is known that hunting was the major activity in this period,” he said. “Presumably, the figurines served as good-luck statues for ensuring the success of the hunt and might have been the focus of a traditional ceremony the hunters performed before going out into the field to pursue their prey.”
Another theory presented by archaeologist Eirikh links the figurines from Motza to the process of animal domestication, such as the wild bovine and different species of wild goat.
Comment on this story
3. Egypt Kills 11 Sinai Terrorists
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Egyptian soldiers killed 11 terrorists in the Sinai and confiscated weapons, according to Egyptian television, quoted by Voice of Israel government radio.
The report, which also stated that 23 terrorists were captured, along with Israeli-made ammunition, was confirmed by the defense ministry. Only one day earlier, an Egyptian newspaper reported that President Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood party, secured a ceasefire agreement with terrorist leaders.
Cairo said Wednesday it will escalate its war on terror in the Sinai Peninsula, where Bedouin, Hamas and Al Qaeda-linked terrorists have exploited a vacuum of power and taken control of large areas.
After terrorists killed 16 Egyptian border guards in early August, Egypt began moving in tanks and aircraft, in violation of the 1979 Peace Treaty with Israel that prohibits a military buildup in the Sinai without Israeli approval.
Morsi has insisted that the deployment is in Israel’s interest because it is aimed at terrorists and not at a future military attack on Israel, which has bitter memories of the 1973 Yom Kippur War when Egypt rolled its tanks into the Sinai and southern Israel while Syria attacked from the north.
The Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel from Gaza on the west to Eilat on the east, is fertile ground for Bedouin terrorists, many of whom have aligned with Hamas and Al Qaeda cells. They have been a source of smuggling of drugs, terrorists, weapons and migrant workers from Africa.
One tribe was reported to have handed over to the Egyptian army a large cache of weapons and ammunition on Sunday. The size of the arsenal in the Sinai was indicated by the Egyptian Interior Ministry’s announcement that it has seized more than 20,000 weapons over the past several months.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Egyptian soldiers killed 11 terrorists in the Sinai and confiscated weapons, according to Egyptian television, quoted by Voice of Israel government radio.
The report, which also stated that 23 terrorists were captured, along with Israeli-made ammunition, was confirmed by the defense ministry. Only one day earlier, an Egyptian newspaper reported that President Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood party, secured a ceasefire agreement with terrorist leaders.
Cairo said Wednesday it will escalate its war on terror in the Sinai Peninsula, where Bedouin, Hamas and Al Qaeda-linked terrorists have exploited a vacuum of power and taken control of large areas.
After terrorists killed 16 Egyptian border guards in early August, Egypt began moving in tanks and aircraft, in violation of the 1979 Peace Treaty with Israel that prohibits a military buildup in the Sinai without Israeli approval.
Morsi has insisted that the deployment is in Israel’s interest because it is aimed at terrorists and not at a future military attack on Israel, which has bitter memories of the 1973 Yom Kippur War when Egypt rolled its tanks into the Sinai and southern Israel while Syria attacked from the north.
The Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel from Gaza on the west to Eilat on the east, is fertile ground for Bedouin terrorists, many of whom have aligned with Hamas and Al Qaeda cells. They have been a source of smuggling of drugs, terrorists, weapons and migrant workers from Africa.
One tribe was reported to have handed over to the Egyptian army a large cache of weapons and ammunition on Sunday. The size of the arsenal in the Sinai was indicated by the Egyptian Interior Ministry’s announcement that it has seized more than 20,000 weapons over the past several months.
More on this topic
EXPOSED: Egypt & Syria, Kidnappings & Death - Lieberman to Morsi: Peace is Not Abstract Ideal, Visit Jerusalem
- Morsi to Visit Iran 'for the Syrian People'
- Podcast: Egyptian Crucifixions: Fact or Fiction?
- Egypt Rejected U.S. Demand to Fire on Iranian Ship in Suez
- Egypt: 76 Convicted in Attack on Israeli Embassy
Comment on this story
4. US ‘Responds’ to Iran with Second Warship in Gulf
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
“When the world calls, we have to respond,” U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told sailors before a second American aircraft carrier headed for the Persian Gulf this week. The urgency of the United States to boost its defenses in the Gulf was indicated by its recalling the sailors early from leave to board the ship for the Middle East, four months ahead of schedule.
The USS John C. Stennis, which can carry 90 warplanes, is heading to the Gulf as Iran continues to challenge the world by advancing its unsupervised nuclear program.
The USS Stennis will join the U.S. Enterprise Strike Group and poses a strong deterrence to any Iranian plans to try to block the Gulf or to attack commercial oil tankers. The Strike Group includes a guided missile cruiser and four guided missile destroyers.
"It's tough," Panetta told sailors before they left port. "We're asking an awful lot of each of you. And frankly, you are the best I have -- and when the world calls, we have to respond."
“Obviously Iran is one of those threats that we have to be able to focus on and make sure that we’re prepared to deal with any threats that could emerge out of Iran,” Panetta told reporters.
The Obama administration, which previously has said that solving the Palestinian Authority demand for independence is the key to peace for the entire Middle East region, has increasingly shown signs that reflect Israel’s warnings that the regime in Tehran is dead set to fulfill its stated intention to annihilate Israel, leaving the United States without a committed democratic ally in the region.
"The very existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to humankind and an affront to all world nations," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech this month. "Confronting Zionists will also pave the way for saving the whole humankind from exploitation, depravity and misery."
The beefed up American naval presence in the Gulf parallels concerns in Israel that sanctions may be hurting the Iranian economy but are not enough to stop Tehran’s drive for nuclear capability.
The American-backed sanctions include numerous loopholes that have enabled countries such as Japan and North Korea to continue importing oil from Iran, which depends on the black gold for most of its foreign exchange earnings.
The U.S. State Dept. continues to push for diplomacy to convince Ahmadinejad to pressure him to allow full inspection of its nuclear facilities by United Nations inspectors.
“We are focused on combining diplomacy and pressure, trying to get Iran to be serious at the negotiating table and we are in full consultations with the Israelis about the picture that we see, and we will continue to make those points clear,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said last week.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
“When the world calls, we have to respond,” U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told sailors before a second American aircraft carrier headed for the Persian Gulf this week. The urgency of the United States to boost its defenses in the Gulf was indicated by its recalling the sailors early from leave to board the ship for the Middle East, four months ahead of schedule.
The USS John C. Stennis, which can carry 90 warplanes, is heading to the Gulf as Iran continues to challenge the world by advancing its unsupervised nuclear program.
The USS Stennis will join the U.S. Enterprise Strike Group and poses a strong deterrence to any Iranian plans to try to block the Gulf or to attack commercial oil tankers. The Strike Group includes a guided missile cruiser and four guided missile destroyers.
"It's tough," Panetta told sailors before they left port. "We're asking an awful lot of each of you. And frankly, you are the best I have -- and when the world calls, we have to respond."
“Obviously Iran is one of those threats that we have to be able to focus on and make sure that we’re prepared to deal with any threats that could emerge out of Iran,” Panetta told reporters.
The Obama administration, which previously has said that solving the Palestinian Authority demand for independence is the key to peace for the entire Middle East region, has increasingly shown signs that reflect Israel’s warnings that the regime in Tehran is dead set to fulfill its stated intention to annihilate Israel, leaving the United States without a committed democratic ally in the region.
"The very existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to humankind and an affront to all world nations," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech this month. "Confronting Zionists will also pave the way for saving the whole humankind from exploitation, depravity and misery."
The beefed up American naval presence in the Gulf parallels concerns in Israel that sanctions may be hurting the Iranian economy but are not enough to stop Tehran’s drive for nuclear capability.
The American-backed sanctions include numerous loopholes that have enabled countries such as Japan and North Korea to continue importing oil from Iran, which depends on the black gold for most of its foreign exchange earnings.
The U.S. State Dept. continues to push for diplomacy to convince Ahmadinejad to pressure him to allow full inspection of its nuclear facilities by United Nations inspectors.
“We are focused on combining diplomacy and pressure, trying to get Iran to be serious at the negotiating table and we are in full consultations with the Israelis about the picture that we see, and we will continue to make those points clear,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said last week.
More on this topic
- Iranian War Threat Chasing Away Foreign Investors
- US ‘Assures Israel’ By Helping Egypt Combat Sinai Terror
- Dempsey, Panetta Play Down Israeli Strike in Iran
- US Destroyer Collides w/ Oil Tanker in Persian Gulf
- Panetta’s Visit Sealed F-35 War Plane Sale to Israel
- Panetta to Netanyahu: We Won't Let Iran Acquire Nukes
Comment on this story
5. New Site Brings Zionism to the YouTube Generation
by David Lev
Many people who love Israel freely use the term “Zionist” to describe themselves. But how many know what Zionism is really all about?
Not too many, according to David Isaac, of the web site Zionism 101. The current state of Zionist education – i.e. the teaching of the principles of Zionism, why there was a Zionist movement, what the various leaders of the movement represented, etc. - is woefully poor, and much of it has to do with the fact that even though the Zionist movement has progressed since its beginnings some 100 years ago, its “interface” to the public has lagged.
“A high level of Zionist knowledge among Jews and Christians is rare. Most don’t have even a rudimentary knowledge of the modern Zionist movement,” Isaac said.
Unfortunately, the Internet has not helped matters, said Isaac – with the same old-fashioned approach being transferred from the printed page to cyberspace. “The sites I've seen on Zionism are rather poor, very text-heavy, not very attractive,” Isaac said.
If there's one thing educators have learned, it's that students would much rather watch a movie than read a book – so Isaac, in an attempt to reach more people with the message of what Zionism is all about, has been developing a site called Zionism 101, which includes YouTube-style videos that make it easy to understand what the movement is all about.
The site is organized according to courses – 20 of them, on topics including Founding Fathers (with videos on Theodor Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, and others), the origins of Zionism, movements in the Jewish world that attempted to supplant or replace Zionism, the Mandatory period in the Land of Israel, Christian Zionism, US-Israel relations, the story of Israel's wars, the search for peace, and much more. The site is completely free (you just have to register), and most of the videos are just 5-10 minutes long. (The longest one currently on the site is about 20 minutes.)
The films are built from authentic period footage and photographs, offering students a window into the past. All films are original to the site, and are supplemented by timelines, selected writings and a bibliography for those who wish to extend their knowledge.
The site is great not only for those getting an “elementary education” in Zionism, Isaac said, but also for those who already know what Zionism is all about. “While Zionism 101 is primarily for those who want to learn the basics, more knowledgeable students will also find the site valuable as there are many details to the Zionist struggle known only by a few,” he said.
Isaac, executive director of Zionism 101, is an Assistant Editor at a national newspaper and has been working on Zionism 101 for several years, inspired by his good friend Herbert Zweibon, who passed away in 2011. Zweibon headed the Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI) organization, which tirelessly lobbied for Israeli security and worked to keep alive the legacy of Ze'ev Jabotinsky revisionist Zionist views.
Comment on this story
by David Lev
Many people who love Israel freely use the term “Zionist” to describe themselves. But how many know what Zionism is really all about?
Not too many, according to David Isaac, of the web site Zionism 101. The current state of Zionist education – i.e. the teaching of the principles of Zionism, why there was a Zionist movement, what the various leaders of the movement represented, etc. - is woefully poor, and much of it has to do with the fact that even though the Zionist movement has progressed since its beginnings some 100 years ago, its “interface” to the public has lagged.
“A high level of Zionist knowledge among Jews and Christians is rare. Most don’t have even a rudimentary knowledge of the modern Zionist movement,” Isaac said.
Unfortunately, the Internet has not helped matters, said Isaac – with the same old-fashioned approach being transferred from the printed page to cyberspace. “The sites I've seen on Zionism are rather poor, very text-heavy, not very attractive,” Isaac said.
If there's one thing educators have learned, it's that students would much rather watch a movie than read a book – so Isaac, in an attempt to reach more people with the message of what Zionism is all about, has been developing a site called Zionism 101, which includes YouTube-style videos that make it easy to understand what the movement is all about.
The site is organized according to courses – 20 of them, on topics including Founding Fathers (with videos on Theodor Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, and others), the origins of Zionism, movements in the Jewish world that attempted to supplant or replace Zionism, the Mandatory period in the Land of Israel, Christian Zionism, US-Israel relations, the story of Israel's wars, the search for peace, and much more. The site is completely free (you just have to register), and most of the videos are just 5-10 minutes long. (The longest one currently on the site is about 20 minutes.)
The films are built from authentic period footage and photographs, offering students a window into the past. All films are original to the site, and are supplemented by timelines, selected writings and a bibliography for those who wish to extend their knowledge.
The site is great not only for those getting an “elementary education” in Zionism, Isaac said, but also for those who already know what Zionism is all about. “While Zionism 101 is primarily for those who want to learn the basics, more knowledgeable students will also find the site valuable as there are many details to the Zionist struggle known only by a few,” he said.
Isaac, executive director of Zionism 101, is an Assistant Editor at a national newspaper and has been working on Zionism 101 for several years, inspired by his good friend Herbert Zweibon, who passed away in 2011. Zweibon headed the Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI) organization, which tirelessly lobbied for Israeli security and worked to keep alive the legacy of Ze'ev Jabotinsky revisionist Zionist views.
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- Ahmadinejad’s 'Most Anti-Semitic Speech Yet'
- Iranian Official: Beware of US-Israeli Plots
Comment on this story
6. Iran Confirms Revolutionary Guards in Syria
by Chana Ya'ar
Iran has publicly confirmed that its government has sent elite Revolutionary Guards to support the troops of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country's civil war.
Commander Gneral Salar Abnoush told a group of volunteer trainees during a speech delivered Monday, “We are involved in fighting every aspect of a war – a military one in Syria, and a cultural one as well.”
His remarks, reported by the Daneshjoo News Agency, made it clear Iran has committed its military might to aiding government troops in clashes with rebels in Syria's savage civil war.
"Today, Syria is resisting as our front's surrogate, and we all have a responsibility to support it and not to let the line fall,” said Mullah Hussein Taeb, according to the Iranian semi-official FARS news agency. It was Taeb, “No. 2” to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini and Revolutionary Guards' intelligence head, who was responsible for squelching the anti-government protests in Iran in 2009.
Up to this point, analysts were only certain that Iran had been sending tactical and financial support. It was also known that Syrian cyber police were being trained by Iranian experts.
Iranian opposition groups said that one of the Iranians that were kidnapped in Syria earlier this month was a senior officer in Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The general, Abd a-Din Huram, was one of 48 Iranians captured by Syrian rebels. According to the opposition groups, Huram is responsible for Revolutionary Guard operations in the Azerbaijan region of Iran. The rebels holding the Iranians threatened to execute them unless the Syrian government freed hundreds of prisoners.
Comment on this story
by Chana Ya'ar
Iran has publicly confirmed that its government has sent elite Revolutionary Guards to support the troops of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country's civil war.
Commander Gneral Salar Abnoush told a group of volunteer trainees during a speech delivered Monday, “We are involved in fighting every aspect of a war – a military one in Syria, and a cultural one as well.”
His remarks, reported by the Daneshjoo News Agency, made it clear Iran has committed its military might to aiding government troops in clashes with rebels in Syria's savage civil war.
"Today, Syria is resisting as our front's surrogate, and we all have a responsibility to support it and not to let the line fall,” said Mullah Hussein Taeb, according to the Iranian semi-official FARS news agency. It was Taeb, “No. 2” to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini and Revolutionary Guards' intelligence head, who was responsible for squelching the anti-government protests in Iran in 2009.
Up to this point, analysts were only certain that Iran had been sending tactical and financial support. It was also known that Syrian cyber police were being trained by Iranian experts.
Iranian opposition groups said that one of the Iranians that were kidnapped in Syria earlier this month was a senior officer in Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The general, Abd a-Din Huram, was one of 48 Iranians captured by Syrian rebels. According to the opposition groups, Huram is responsible for Revolutionary Guard operations in the Azerbaijan region of Iran. The rebels holding the Iranians threatened to execute them unless the Syrian government freed hundreds of prisoners.
More on this topic
Comment on this story
7. IDF Investigates Alleged ‘Price Tag’ Arson near Ramallah
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The IDF and police are investigating alleged price tag arson at an Arab village near Ramallah and the Jewish town of Beit El overnight Tuesday.
One car was destroyed after being set on fire, and the vandals left hate messages in Hebrew, stating “Death to Arabs,” Migron Price Tag” and “Freedom for Our Homeland.”
Most previous “price tag” attacks of alleged vengeance against Arabs for terrorism or government expulsion of Jews have remained unsolved and without indictments, leading some nationalists to charge that the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet)’s Jewish Division has carried out the attacks in order to incite the public against the Jewish residents of the area.
Arabs at the Arab village of Jilazun, north of Ramallah, told Israeli soldiers that a group of Jews from Judea and Samaria set a vehicle on fire and tried to torch two other vehicles before leaving the area.
Another arson incident was reported two nights ago, and both the IDF and the Palestinian Authority have said they are expecting violence against Arabs because of the government’s failure to uphold a previous promise to support 17 families in the Jewish community of Migron, who face expulsion despite proven legal purchase of the land from alleged Palestinian Authority Arab owners.
A similar incident occurred near Hevron.
The High Court on Tuesday heard a petition from the families but did not issue a ruling on the appeal of the expulsion, which under a previous court order is to be carried out by the end of the week.
The court also discussed an appeal from another 33 Migron families who said that the expulsion date should be postponed because the government has not completed the construction of alternative housing at nearby Givat HaYekev.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The IDF and police are investigating alleged price tag arson at an Arab village near Ramallah and the Jewish town of Beit El overnight Tuesday.
One car was destroyed after being set on fire, and the vandals left hate messages in Hebrew, stating “Death to Arabs,” Migron Price Tag” and “Freedom for Our Homeland.”
Most previous “price tag” attacks of alleged vengeance against Arabs for terrorism or government expulsion of Jews have remained unsolved and without indictments, leading some nationalists to charge that the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet)’s Jewish Division has carried out the attacks in order to incite the public against the Jewish residents of the area.
Arabs at the Arab village of Jilazun, north of Ramallah, told Israeli soldiers that a group of Jews from Judea and Samaria set a vehicle on fire and tried to torch two other vehicles before leaving the area.
Another arson incident was reported two nights ago, and both the IDF and the Palestinian Authority have said they are expecting violence against Arabs because of the government’s failure to uphold a previous promise to support 17 families in the Jewish community of Migron, who face expulsion despite proven legal purchase of the land from alleged Palestinian Authority Arab owners.
A similar incident occurred near Hevron.
The High Court on Tuesday heard a petition from the families but did not issue a ruling on the appeal of the expulsion, which under a previous court order is to be carried out by the end of the week.
The court also discussed an appeal from another 33 Migron families who said that the expulsion date should be postponed because the government has not completed the construction of alternative housing at nearby Givat HaYekev.
More on this topic
Comment on this story
8. Turkey Backs Jews against German Circumcision Ban
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Turkey’s European Union minister has swayed from Ankara’s anti-Semitic stance to fight the ban on religious circumcision in a German province. Turkish media have published and telecast numerous anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic films and programs since the "flotilla clash" between the IDF and Turkish IHH terrorists two years ago.
A Cologne judge imposed the ban several weeks after a four-year-old Muslim child was hospitalized for excessive bleeding after circumcision, a rite practiced by Muslims as well as Jews, so that Turkey's defense of circumcision is not surprising.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to back legislation to circumvent the court ban, which was based on the claim that circumcision should not be performed on a baby or small boy because it is deemed a violent act while he is not at the age when he can object.
Turkey's EU Minister Egemen Bağış wrote in a German newspaper Tuesday that the court ban “gravely contradicts the legally protected right to the free practice of religion,” the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported. He called the court decision a “danger to liberty.”
The newspaper reported out that the German postal service is, by coincidence, planning to issue a new stamp next month referring to the fact that Jesus underwent circumcision when he was eight days old, the age at which the ancient commandment in the Bible is carried out unless there are medical reasons for a delay. In Jewish practice, the baby is checked before circumcision can take place, and in addition to satisfactory health, must be above a certain weight.
Bağış wrote in Süddeutsche Zeitung that if the entire country of Germany were to ban circumcision, it would affect 5 million Muslims living there. “This is about freedom of conscience and that can’t be curtailed by courts,” Bağış said. However, he noted that rabbis have called the ban the “most serious intrusion into Jewish life since the Holocaust.”
He added, “Describing circumcision as an injury is a sign of huge cultural and historical ignorance.”
Israel’s Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger, during a visit the past week to Germany to try to persuade leaders to overrule the ban, said that the Cologne judge who banned circumcision, was not anti-Semitic, but simply was uninformed “or perhaps silly.”
It appears to be only a matter of time before Germany passes legislation to protect religious circumcision, Merkel said last month. “I do not want Germany to be the only country in the world where Jews cannot perform their rites.”
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Turkey’s European Union minister has swayed from Ankara’s anti-Semitic stance to fight the ban on religious circumcision in a German province. Turkish media have published and telecast numerous anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic films and programs since the "flotilla clash" between the IDF and Turkish IHH terrorists two years ago.
A Cologne judge imposed the ban several weeks after a four-year-old Muslim child was hospitalized for excessive bleeding after circumcision, a rite practiced by Muslims as well as Jews, so that Turkey's defense of circumcision is not surprising.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to back legislation to circumvent the court ban, which was based on the claim that circumcision should not be performed on a baby or small boy because it is deemed a violent act while he is not at the age when he can object.
Turkey's EU Minister Egemen Bağış wrote in a German newspaper Tuesday that the court ban “gravely contradicts the legally protected right to the free practice of religion,” the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported. He called the court decision a “danger to liberty.”
The newspaper reported out that the German postal service is, by coincidence, planning to issue a new stamp next month referring to the fact that Jesus underwent circumcision when he was eight days old, the age at which the ancient commandment in the Bible is carried out unless there are medical reasons for a delay. In Jewish practice, the baby is checked before circumcision can take place, and in addition to satisfactory health, must be above a certain weight.
Bağış wrote in Süddeutsche Zeitung that if the entire country of Germany were to ban circumcision, it would affect 5 million Muslims living there. “This is about freedom of conscience and that can’t be curtailed by courts,” Bağış said. However, he noted that rabbis have called the ban the “most serious intrusion into Jewish life since the Holocaust.”
He added, “Describing circumcision as an injury is a sign of huge cultural and historical ignorance.”
Israel’s Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger, during a visit the past week to Germany to try to persuade leaders to overrule the ban, said that the Cologne judge who banned circumcision, was not anti-Semitic, but simply was uninformed “or perhaps silly.”
It appears to be only a matter of time before Germany passes legislation to protect religious circumcision, Merkel said last month. “I do not want Germany to be the only country in the world where Jews cannot perform their rites.”
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