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1. Arab Threats Close Temple Mount
by Hillel Fendel
The Temple Mount is closed to both Arabs and Jews, though many of the latter wished to visit the site in honor of the Sukkot holiday. North of the holy site, at the Lion’s Gate, some 250 Arabs rioted and hurled rocks and bottles at police. One policeman was lightly injured, and some arrests were made.
The site – the holiest site in Judaism – was closed by police after Islamic clerics called upon Arabs to “come and defend the Mount.” The threat alone was enough to have the police do the job for them; the area was cordoned off and a helicopter was seen hovering above the Temple Mount.
A group of Arabs from central Israel was arrested on their way to Jerusalem.
Jewish activists on behalf of the Temple Mount protested peacefully against the closure in the area of the Mugrabi Gate, at the Western Wall plaza. “This is chutzpah and total surrender to Arab incitement,” they said. Large police and Border Guard forces are deployed around them as well.
A week ago, on the eve of Yom Kippur, 12 police officers were injured in riots instigated by the Waqf [Muslim Trust that runs the Temple Moun.
Yehuda Glick, a leading Temple Mount activist, noted, “The police fulfilled the Arabs’ desire to keep the Jews away. They learned that if they throw rocks, then the Jews are prevented from coming. After last week’s incident, the Temple Mount was closed to Jews, but Arabs were allowed in freely.”
2. Sukkot Celebration at Shdema
by Hana Levi Julian
A new photography exhibition documenting the aliyah and activity at Shdema by photographers Gemma Blech, Rivka Ryback and Avigail Browning became the centerpiece of a holiday afternoon at the site on Sunday. The opening of the exhibition, sponsored by the Committee for a Jewish Shdema, began with a musical celebration of "Songs of Eretz Israel" performed by Musa Berlin and his band. Children found inflatables and other activities to hold their interest, while adults had the opportunity to browse through booths offering various foods, arts and crafts. An open sukkah was available as well.
Greetings to guests were delivered by Rabbi Dov Lior, the Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hevron, Likud coalition chairman and Knesset Member Ze'ev Elkin, and Shaul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. IDF Col. (res.) Moshe Peled delivered an address on Settlement and Security, and Rabbi Yosef Mendelovitch will describe the exciting story of the aliyah itself to Shdema.
The event was to conclude with festive Simchat Beit HaSho'eva dancing with the Me'Shir Band of Benzi Thee and Avi Schmell.
Shdema, located between Jerusalem and eastern Gush Etzion, was the site of a Hasmonean fortress 2,000 years ago, served as a Jordanian army base between 1948 and 1967, and was an IDF base until two years ago...
To read the rest of this story, click here!
3. US: 'Don't Go to Jerusalem's Old City During Sukkot!'
by Hana Levi Julian
American officials have warned U.S. citizens not to enter Jerusalem's Old City during the week-long holiday of Sukkot, when celebrations are at their height and numerous activities for families and children are offered almost around the clock.
The warning by the U.S. State Department, issued on Friday, names Monday in particular as a day to avoid the spiritual heart of Israel's capital city -- the day when the Kohanim, or Jewish priestly class -- bless the People of Israel at the Kotel (Western Wall).
Thousands of Kohanim, Jewish men descended from members of the priestly class in the House of Israel, gather three times each year to perform the Birkat HaKohanim blessing on each festival day during which Jewish pilgrims are enjoined to "go up" to Jerusalem.
"The final two of the local autumn holidays, Sukkot and Simhat Torah, will be celebrated this weekend and next. American citizens should avoid the Old City for one week. Vehicle traffic in and around the Old City will be restricted by the Israeli National Police (INP)," reads the Warden Message from the U.S. State Department, dated October 2.
"Monday, October 5, is expected to draw the largest crowds due to the annual pilgrimage by Jewish worshipers who will assemble at the Western Wall for special prayers. Additionally, political and religious tensions are expected to be high in the areas immediately adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound throughout this period. A large police presence in the area may provoke spontaneous violence in the form of civil unrest and police actions," the warning continues.
Just such a scenario almost became a reality Sunday morning, when Fatah-linked Islamic clerics on the Temple Mount issued a public call for Arabs to "come and defend the Mount."
The threat prompted Israeli police to cordon off the site in order to prevent a riot similar to the one ignited one week ago. Last Sunday, on the eve of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, Arab worshipers started hurling rocks when Jews arrived on the Mount -- the holiest site in Judaism -- to prepare for the holiday. Four people, including two police officers, were wounded.
The warning concludes by informing readers that "the crowded environment could result in an uptick in criminal activity to include pickpockets, physical assaults and other crimes. American citizens should avoid crowds and walking or driving around the Old City. Carry a mobile phone and stay cognizant of your surroundings," the wary American is told.
As elsewhere on its site, the State Department failed to point out that the presence of the Israel Police is required in order to secure the safety of other people in the area -- tourists in the Old City, the Western Wall plaza and on the Temple Mount, as well as Jewish worshipers at the Wall.
A constant security presence has been necessary due to the long history of violence perpetrated by Arab worshippers at the mosque, a fact omitted by the State Department.
Moreover, in one alert posted on the State Department site, the U.S. government actually implies that it is the IDF that Americans must fear:
"American citizens have been seriously injured in demonstrations that have turned violent," U.S. citizens are warned. "Demonstrations can be particularly dangerous in areas such as checkpoints, settlements, military areas, and major thoroughfares where protesters are likely to encounter Israeli security forces."
The State Department has maintained a standard warning on its site against visiting Jerusalem. The warning, updated in August, "urges American citizens to remain vigilant while traveling through Jerusalem, especially within the commercial and downtown areas of West Jerusalem and the city center."
The Old City, it adds, is entirely off-limits to U.S. government personnel and their families after dark and "between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Fridays," when it is noted that "Spontaneous or planned protests within the Old City are possible, especially after Friday prayers. Some of these protests have led to violent clashes."
As in its other numerous warnings, the State Department carefully avoids publicizing the fact that the warning refers to the potential for violence by Arab worshippers, who pray on Fridays between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
4. 'Israel Knows Exactly Where Shalit is Held'
by Zalman Nelson
Israel knows exactly where kidnapped IDF St. Sgt. Gilad Shalit is being held captive and has the location under constant surveillance, according to a senior Israeli defense official quoted in a report published over the weekend by Arabic international daily A-sharq al-Awsat.
The fear that Shalit might get hurt or killed is preventing the launching of an operation to storm the location, said the report. In addition, Hamas is aware that Israel knows Shalit’s location and has responded by surrounding the area with explosives in a 400-500 meter radius and issued a directive to kill the soldier if Israel attacks.
"We knew exactly about the secret Iranian nuclear reactor in Qom before any Western intelligence body, and we knew about the Syrian reactor. Is it possible that we wouldn't know where Shalit is?" allegedly challenged former senior military members - who prefer a military operation to free Shalit - during an informal discussion on prisoner exchange talks.
"We don't want to repeat what happened with the attempted evacuation of captured soldier Nachshon Wachsman," A-sharq al-Awsat reported their military source as responding. Wachsman was kidnapped near his home by Hamas in 1994 and held near Ramallah until he was killed by his captors during an Israeli rescue attempt. The commander of the Israeli rescue force was also killed.
Following Friday’s completion of a swap of 20 female Palestinian Authority convicted terrorist prisoners for a recent videotape of Shalit, Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said that Shalit will be “set free within weeks or two months at most.” The tape-prisoner exchange is believed to be the first stage in a larger collective effort by Israel, Hamas and German mediators.
In an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel, Zahar said “Hamas wants to wrap up negotiations as soon as possible."
5. Israel Responds to Attack, Demolishes Gaza Weapons Plant
by Maayana Miskin
The air force demolished a weapons factory in Gaza on Saturday. The strike took place outside Gaza City. In addition, IAF planes hit two smuggling tunnels between southern Gaza and Egypt, destroying them.
No casualties were reported.
The strikes followed two rocket attacks from Gaza on Friday morning. Gaza terrorists fired on the Shaar Hanegev region. No injuries were reported in the attack.
A second attack took place several hours later. Again, no injuries were reported.
Shortly before the second attack Israel's delegation to the United Nations complained to the UN Security Council over increasingly frequent attacks from Gaza. Several months after the Cast Lead counterterror offensive, during which Gaza terrorists largely refrained from attacks on Israeli civilians, attacks have picked up in frequency.
Gaza terrorists fired 13 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel in September, the Israeli delegation reported. In addition, terrorists made several attempts to infiltrate the western Negev.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, called on the UN to condemn the assaults. She warned that if the attacks continue, Israel will be forced to act in self-defense.
6. Sderot Mayor to Goldstone: You Were Silent for Eight Years
by Gil Ronen and Maayana Miskin
David Buskila, the mayor of Sderot, sent a personal letter this weekend to the head of the United Nations committee of inquiry on the war in Gaza, Judge Richard Goldstone. In the missive, Buskila protested against the UN's silence – and Goldstone's – in the years leading up to the Gaza operation.
The world, the UN, and Goldstone had eight years in which to protest the rocket attacks on Sderot and other towns in southern Israel, Buskila said. Instead, they said nothing while Hamas repeatedly attacked.
“The world was silent, and so were you. You were silent at the sight of our children's bodies, you were silent in the face of their fear, you were silent when each of the 8,000 Kassam rockets hit our city,” Buskila accused.
"Your silence was frightening. It was reminiscent of times past,” he continued.
Buskila recalled the youngest victims of the years-long assault on Sderot: three-year-old Afik Ohayon, two-year-old Dorit Enso, and four-year-old Yuval Ababa. “The blood of the children whose lives were cut short calls out from the ground,” he told Goldstone. “There is no atonement and no forgiveness for the blood of a small child whose in his short stay on earth had not yet learned of hatred and war.”
Buskila told Goldstone that his concern extended to children in Gaza as well. “I am pained and sorry for each Palestinian child who was killed. The suffering of Palestinian civilians pains me,” he said.
However, he said, Israel was not to blame for Gaza residents' pain.
"Let us not ignore the facts – the suffering of Sderot and its children, and likewise the suffering of Gaza' residents, are on the shoulders and the conscience of Hamas's leaders and the leaders of fundamentalist Islam,” he continued, “those who make war crimes their life's work, and who are not party to the norms of the Western world.”
7. Last of the Warsaw Ghetto Rebels Dies at 90
by Maayana Miskin
A few minutes before the holiday of Sukkot was ushered in with the sunset that brought the Sabbath on Friday evening, an historical era drew to a close. Marek Edelman, the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, passed away at the age of 90. Edelman died at the home of family friends in Poland.
After fighting the Nazis during the Holocaust, both during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and a later revolt in the city of Warsaw, Edelman spent decades fighting the communist regime in Poland while working as a cardiologist in a hospital in Lodz.
He earned Poland's highest civilian honor, the Order of the White Eagle, for his lifetime struggle for human rights. He was also given the French Legion of Honor.
Israel's Foreign Ministry released a statement honoring Edelman. “The Jewish people and the State of Israel mourn the death of the last leader of the Warsaw Ghetto revolt. Marek Edelman was one of the leaders of the heroic rebellion of the ghetto's Jews against the Germans, a rebellion that restored human dignity during the dark days of the Holocaust,” the statement said.
The Warsaw Ghetto uprising took place in April, 1943 as the Nazis began to liquidate the ghetto and send its roughly 60,000 inhabitants to death camps. Hundreds of young Jews with few weapons resisted the Nazi soldiers and managed to inflict heavy damage. After two and a half weeks the Nazis gave up on house-to-house fighting and ended the resistance by setting fire to the ghetto.
Edelman was among a small group that managed to escape through the city's sewer system. He fled to beyond the ghetto walls and continued his resistance activities from within Warsaw.
After the war, Edelman returned each year to pay his respects at the Warsaw monument to the ghetto fighters. He called on the world to remember them, and to honor their fight for human freedom.
In an interview with AFP in 2007, Edelman explained that the ghetto fighters were not trying to save their own lives. “We knew we were going to die,” he said, “Just like all the others who were sent to Treblinka. But it was easier to die fighting than in a gas chamber.”
Edelman expressed respect in that interview for those who were murdered without the chance to fight back. “Their death was far more heroic. We didn't know when we would take a bullet. They had to deal with certain death,” he said.
Edelman is survived by his children Aleksander and Anna, and grandchildren Tomek and Liza.