1. Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, Sep. 24, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2002 / Tishrei 18, 5763
HEVRON CELEBRATES UNDETERRED
Despite a deadly attack in Hevron yesterday evening, in which Arab gunmen murdered Jerusalem resident and father of seven Shlomo Yitchak Shapira, 48, thousands of Israelis from communities near and far arrived in the ancient Jewish city to partake in the scheduled Sukkot holiday celebrations. Hevron spokeswoman Orit Struck told Arutz Sheva's Haggai Segal that people began pouring in en masse over two hours prior to a free concert by world renounced Chasidic singer Mordechai Ben-David. Visitors also gathered to partake in prayers at the Ma'arat HaMachpela (Cave of the Patriarchs). Struck added that the large attendance proves that despite the terror, Israelis were undeterred from showing their support for the residents of Hevron.
In yesterday's incident, Shapira was gunned down on the outskirts of Hevron's Casba (market) adjacent to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. He was laid to rest in Jerusalem's Har Menuchot Cemetery last night. Shapira's sons Yehudah, 18, Pinchas, 12, and Yehoshua (ben Rivka) were wounded in the attack. Yeshoshua is listed in serious condition with gunshot wounds to the stomach and pelvic area. He underwent emergency surgery last night, which lasted for over 11 hours. His older siblings are listed as light-to-moderate.
IRAQ HAS PLANS TO LAUNCH WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
This morning British Prime Minister Tony Blair released a 55-page dossier revealing that Iraq has the ability--and is planning--to launch long-range missiles armed with chemical and biological warheads against its enemies. The report shows that included in his arsenal are 20 al-Hussein missiles with a range of 650 kilometers (about 400 miles). Such missiles would have the ability to reach countries throughout the entire Middle East.
The dossier states that Iraq could launch missiles within an hour of receiving a green light from Saddam Hussein. The report also says that Hussein is actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons. It points to Iraqi efforts to purchase mass quantities of uranium from an unidentified country in Africa. "I am in no doubt that the threat is serious and current, that he [Hussein] has made progress on (weapons of mass destruction), and that he has to be stopped," Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an introduction to the dossier. He added that if Hussein refuses to allow the United Nations to return to Iraq to dismantle his weapons, the world community will be forced to act. This afternoon Blair presented his findings to the British Parliament.
UN SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS ISRAEL
The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution late last night condemning Israel and demanding that IDF troops pull back from Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound. The United States abstained in the voting and called the resolution one-sided. provocation, incitement and destruction..."
KATZAV HOPES TEMPLE MOUNT WILL BE RE-OPENED TO JEWS
In an exclusive interview from the Presidential Sukkah in Jerusalem, Israeli President Moshe Katzav told Arutz Sheva's Uzi Baruch this morning that he is hopeful that the Temple Mount will be re-opened to Jewish visitors in the near future. "We have a serious, soulful, historical, and religious connection to the Temple Mount… No one can deny that the Temple Mount is the holiest site in all of Judaism." Katzav recommended that a solution be implemented similar to the arrangement at Hevron's Ma'arat HaMachpela (Cave of the Patriarchs) where prayer times are coordinated between Jewish and Muslim religious officials.
JERUSALEM MARCHERS TAKE TO STREETS
Despite a terror alert in the capital about 12,000 people took part in the annual Sukkot holiday march through the streets of Jerusalem today. The marchers divided into three walking groups and headed out in different directions throughout the city. They then gathered in Gan Sacher (Sacher Park) at 1 PM and proceeded in union to the Old City's Jaffa gate where the event concluded. Arutz Sheva's Haggai Seri joined the walkers in Gan Sacher. He said, "despite the terror alert --as well as the heat-- the mood was joyous and festive.
TERROR-FIGHTING DOG TO ARRIVE IN ISRAEL
A collie named Chachi, who was involved in search and rescue operations at the World Trade Center following the September 11 attacks, is being sent to Israel to help guard Jewish communities in Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) from terrorist infiltrations. The dog was donated to the Jewish Legion--an organization that defends the Jews of Israel by a Long Island, New York Fire Department--and subsequently slated to be brought to Israel. Chachi is currently finishing up her training in preparation for her important mission.
IN BRIEF
This morning dozens of women from the town of Shilo and nearby communities took over an empty house along Route 60 in the village of Luban el-Sharqiya for the fourth time in the past month. The women are demanding that the house be torn down. The location was used as a sniper's next to target Jewish vehicles on the highway below. It is believed that Arab gunmen used the building as cover when they shot and killed Eli residents Avi and Avital Vilensky.
2. Sadam (Sodom?) Hussein Report
From: imra@netvision.net.il
JINSA Report
September 24, 2002
Number 281
The Brits Make the Case (Part I)
With the publication of "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment
of the British Government" (9/24), the evidence is plain and willful
ignorance remains the world's last excuse for not dealing with Iraq. The
report is admittedly not easy to read, but the concerns of professionals in
the field are compelling.
In the years following the war, UNSCOM and the IAEA "surveyed 1,015 sites in
Iraq, carrying out 272 separate inspections. Despite Iraqi obstruction and
intimidation, UN inspectors uncovered details of chemical, biological,
nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Major UNSCOM/IAEA achievements
included:
* Destruction of 40,000 munitions for chemical weapons, 2,610 tons of
chemical precursors and 411 tons of chemical warfare agent;
etc.
* Removal and destruction of the infrastructure for the nuclear weapons
program, including the al-Athir weaponisation/testing facility."
But, there have been no UN-mandated weapons inspections in Iraq since 1998,
etc.
The Brits Make the Case (Part II)
The Assessment of the British Government" concludes that:
* Iraq has a useable chemical and biological weapons capability,
* Iraq can deliver chemical and biological agents using an extensive range
of artillery shells, free-fall bombs, sprayers and ballistic missiles;
* Iraq made extensive use of artillery munitions filled with chemical agents
during the Iran-Iraq War.
* It is probable that Iraq retains a capability for aerosol dispersal of both
chemical and biological agents over a large area.
* Iraq possesses extended-range versions of the SCUD ballistic missile in
breach of UNSCR 687, which are capable of reaching Cyprus, Eastern Turkey,
Tehran and Israel. It is also developing longer-range ballistic missiles;
* Iraq told UNSCOM that it filled warheads with anthrax, botulinum toxin and
aflatoxin.
* Iraq's current military planning specifically envisages the use of
chemical and biological weapons; Iraq's military forces are able to use
chemical and biological weapons, with command, control and logistical
arrangements in place. (They) are able to deploy these weapons within 45
minutes of a decision to do so;
* Iraq is already taking steps to conceal and disperse sensitive equipment
and documentation in advance of the return of inspectors; Iraq's chemical,
biological, nuclear and ballistic missiles programs are well-funded.
3.Arutz-7 News: Wednesday, Sep. 25, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, Sep. 25, 2002 / Tishrei 19, 5763
MORE THAN HALF IN P.A. SUPPORT SUICIDE ATTACKS
A recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO) reveals that 51.3% of Arabs in Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) and Jerusalem are in favor of murderous suicide attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers in pre-1967 Israel. 45.4% of those surveyed feel that the PLO-initiated Oslo War should continue. In addition, 71.8% feel that Palestinians should support Iraq as they did in 1991, if the United States strikes it again. 1,085 Arab adults participated in the random sample survey.
US AMBASSADOR PAYS HOLIDAY VISIT TO RABBIS, AND MORE
Ambassador Dan Kurtzer, saying that the Sukkot holiday is a time for him to visit "Torah giants," called on three rabbis in their Sukkahs last night: Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party; the Belzer leader, Rabbi Yisachar Dov Rokach; and Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv, leader of the hareidi yeshiva world. Rabbi Rokach said that the U.S. support for Israel is "not a simple matter, and it stems from Divine Providence..."
OVER 35 HINDUS AND CHRISTIANS KILLED IN TWO MOSLEM ATTACKS
At least 30 Hindu worshippers, including four children, were shot dead last night when two assailants opened fire inside a packed temple in the city of Gandhinagar in India. Indian government officials believe that the attack was carried out by a Pakistani Muslim terror organization. In February, Muslims in Gujarat set fire to a train carrying Hindu activists, killing 59.
Just several hours after yesterday's attack, two Muslim gunmen entered the offices of a Christian welfare organization in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, bound and gagged seven workers, and executed them. This incident was the latest in a series of attacks on Christian and Western targets in Pakistan since President Gen. Pervez Musharraf aligned his government with the U.S. global war on terror. A Moslem organization is also suspected of exploding a carbomb in Karachi a few months ago that killed 11 French engineers.
Jerusalem News-122
Contents:
1. Arutz-7 News: Thursday, Sep. 26, 2002
WORSHIPPERS PRAY AT JOSEPH'S TOMB
WATER WOES
2.Terror shooting outside Hebron
3. Arutz-7 News Friday, Sep. 27, 2002
LAND OF ISRAEL KEEPS GROWING
RELIGIOUS ZIONIST LEADER ZERACH WARHAFTIG, 96
DOUBLE HOLIDAY TONIGHT
4. Israeli forces operating inside Iraq,
5. The US and Israel maintain arsenals as a defensive deterrent.
1. Arutz-7 News: Thursday, Sep. 26, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Thursday, Sept. 26, 2002 / Tishrei 20, 5763
*********************
WORSHIPPERS PRAY AT JOSEPH'S TOMB
For the second time in two year, the IDF allowed a Jewish group to pray at Joseph's Tomb in the PLO-controlled town of Shechem. It happened last night when a group of Shomron residents, mostly women, arrived at the holy site, under the protection of Israeli soldiers. A different Patriarch is "invited" into the Sukkah on each of the seven nights of the Sukkot holiday, and last night was Joseph's turn, thus rendering last night's visit to Joseph's Tomb particularly appropriate. The army is considering allowing another visit tonight for the mini-holiday of Hoshana Rabbah. Almost two weeks ago, on the eve of the Yom Kippur holiday, 78 Jews were given entry to the tomb.
WATER WOES
Lebanese drawing of Wazani River waters, which stream into the Israel-bound Hatzbani River, could begin as early as next week. The Lebanese have completed placing the appropriate piping, and construction of the water-pumping installation was expected to begin today. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, visiting the north yesterday, said that the new plant will take 10% of the water bound for Israel. Agriculture Minister Shalom Simchon echoed previous remarks by Prime Minister Sharon, saying that Israel could not accept Lebanon's diversion of the water.
2.Terror shooting outside Hebron
News from Hebron
The Hebron Press Office Thursday September 26, 2002
Terror shooting outside Hebron
This evening at 8:00 a family from the Beit Hagai community, about 10 kilometers south of Hebron, was ambushed at the "sheep junction" while driving in their car, not far from the community. All four people in the car, father, mother and two children, including a 6 week old baby were wounded. Their injuries have been listed as "light." All were struck by bullet fragments. The baby was struck in the head and the mother in the back. All were taken to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital in Jerusalem. The baby girl is being treated in the trauma unit and is reported to be fully conscious.
Security forces found bullet cartridges from a 5.56 automatic rifle not far from the scene of the shooting.
3. Arutz-7 News Friday, Sep. 27, 2002
LAND OF ISRAEL KEEPS GROWING
HaGefen, the newest neighborhood of the Judea city of Beitar Illit, was dedicated yesterday. It boasts 1,150 housing units, half of which are already occupied. The hareidi city is situated in western Gush Etzion, and already has 21,000 residents.
In yet another display of growth in the Land of Israel yesterday, the new community of Migron (Samuel I 14,2; Isaiah 10, 28) celebrated its launching in the Binyamin region, roughly between Psagot and Michmash, on the road to Beit El and Ofrah. Its first families arrived six months ago, and it today boasts 30 families and five singles, as well as a fledgling nursery and daycare center. Hundreds of people came to celebrate with the residents yesterday, in a program featuring the introduction of a new Torah scroll, lectures, and entertainment for children.
RELIGIOUS ZIONIST LEADER ZERACH WARHAFTIG, 96
In the Sanhedria Cemetery in Jerusalem an hour later, Rabbi Dr. Zerach Warhaftig, one of the historic leaders of the modern Religious Zionist movement and a signer of Israel's Declaration of Independence, was buried after he passed away last night at the age of 96.
The National Religious Party's official mourning announcement eulogized him as follows: "Leader of Religious Zionism, man of great achievements, whose life was dedicated to Torah, the Nation of Israel and the Land of Israel; saved thousands of Holocaust refugees and brought them to the Land of Israel; a member of [pre-State governing bodies] Vaad HaLeumi (National Board) and Provisional State Council; representative of Religious Zionism in the Knesset from its first day until 1977; served as Religious Affairs Minister [for many years], author of many books on Jewish Law and Torah thoughts; Israel Prize winner for life achievements."
Warhaftig studied law in the University of Warsaw, served as a Jewish Agency official in Poland, escaped to Lithuania with his wife Naomi when World War II broke out, and from there supervised the rescue of many Jews. His most notable project during that period was the transfer of thousands of Jews, including the entire Mirrer Yeshiva, via Russia to Japan and China, and afterwards to what later became Israel. Holland and Japan provided him with the necessary visas. Warhaftig himself settled in Jerusalem in 1947.
Over 1,000 people attended the funeral, including many Knesset Members and rank-and-file of the National Religious Party. Eulogizers were Bar Ilan University President Prof. Moshe Kaveh; the deceased's three sons, including Rabbi Itamar Warhaftig of Bar Ilan University and Rabbi Yaakov Warhaftig of Har Nof; a granddaughter of the deceased; Bnei Akiva Yeshivot head Rabbi Chaim Druckman; and NRP leader Effie Eitam. They all noted his total devotion to Torah study. Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau said late last night, "Zerach was the among the last of the generation of those who established the State. He was a great bridge between the Holocaust and the Rebirth, a Torah scholar… His contribution to the establishment of infrastructure for religious life in Israel was critical..."
DOUBLE HOLIDAY TONIGHT
Jews in Israel and throughout the world celebrated the mini-holiday of Hoshana Rabbah today, in which we are offered a "last chance" to atone for sins and request a blessed year. The double holiday of Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah is celebrated tonight and tomorrow (in Israel; elsewhere, it is divided into two days). The packed day marks the end of the current holiday season, and includes the beginning of prayers for rain, celebrations of the completion of the annual public Torah reading cycle, singing and dancing with Torah scrolls in synagogues and public squares, flags and sweets for children, Yizkor memorial prayers, and more.
4. Israeli forces operating inside Iraq,
Subject: Report: Israeli forces operating inside Iraq, hunting missiles
Report: Israeli forces operating inside Iraq, hunting missiles
By Ha'aretz Service 28 September 2002
Israeli special forces are operating inside western Iraq, pinpointing
locations where Iraqi missile launchers might be positioned, the Jane's
Foreign Report newsletter said in its latest issue.
The newsletter said the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit was ordered into
Iraq "to find and identify places used by, or likely to be used by, Iraqi
Scud missile launchers."
"Our information is that neither Israel nor the United States have a clue
about what, if anything, Saddam Hussein is hiding," the newsletter said.
"It was this ignorance that persuaded the (Israeli) prime minister, Ariel
Sharon, to assign the Sayeret Matkal to a job that is sensitive and
dangerous," it said.
During the 1991 Gulf war Iraq fired a total of 39 Scud missiles over Jordan
into Israel. A decade earlier Israeli warplanes had intervened to bomb and
destroy an Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
Jane's Foreign Report said there were only certain locations from where
Iraq's remaining Scud missiles could be launched at Israeli targets, given
their limited range.
"Matkal's mission is to detect early preparations," it said, adding: "The
Israelis believe the Iraqis have hidden their Scud launchers with great
care."
5. The US and Israel maintain arsenals as a defensive deterrent.
From: mma <mma2@gmx.net>
Subject: I agree with Saudi Arabia
I whole hearty agree with the prince that the US does in fact have a double
standard regarding WMD. The question is why.
The US and Israel maintain arsenals as a defensive deterrent. The Arabs have
declared in public, through their government media that they wish to develop
WMD in order to destroy the infidel in mass (aka, any non moslem). This is a
major difference regarding the world view of the two sides of the so-called
double standard.
12:47 Sep-26-02, 20 Tishrei 5763
Saudi Arabia: US has Double Standard for WMD The Saudi Interior Minister,
Prince Naeff, said today that while the US will go the ends of the earth to
prevent Iraq and other Arab states from acquiring weapons of mass
destruction, the US has spared no expense on it's own nuclear weapons
inventory, and has allowed Israel to possess nuclear weapons for decades
Shalom from Ma'alh Michmas located in the Peaceful Hills of Suburban
Jerusalem,
Menachem
Jerusalem News-123
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 21:01:57 -0500
From: Richard Levy <rslevy@uic.edu>
Subject: New Saudi Blood Libel [Lerner]
Sender: H-NET History of Antisemitism List <H-ANTISEMITISM@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
X-Sender: rslevy@mailserv.uic.edu
Approved-by: Richard Levy <rslevy@UIC.EDU>
To: H-ANTISEMITISM@H-NET.MSU.EDU
Reply-to: H-NET History of Antisemitism List <H-ANTISEMITISM@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1
Delivered-to: H-Antisemitism@h-net.msu.edu
From: Berel Dov Lerner [bd-lerner@hotmail.com]
In a recent article published in the Saudi state controlled daily
Al-Jazirah, columnist Dr. Muhammad bin S'ad Al-Shwey'ir, a past advisor to
former Saudi mufti Sheikh Abdallah bin Baz and editor-in-chief of the
Islamic Research periodical published by the Islamic Clerics Association of
Saudi Arabia, wrote that Jews use human blood for their holiday
celebrations. See:
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD42102
Jerusalem News-124
Contents:
1. [Voice Of Judea] Israel News
WANTED TERRORISTS WALK FREE
- St.-Sgt. Ari Weiss, 21- murdered
Cleveland man defends Israeli West Bank town ]
2. Mukata should have been bombed from the air
3. Iraq's Jews,
4.The Mukata withdrawal was Sharon's Goat
5. Mexican Aztlan Jew-haters
6. Arutz-7 News: Monday, Sept. 30, 2002
POLICE TOOK ACTION IN TEMPLE MOUNT
SHARON MEETS WITH RUSSIAN LEADER
IRAQ AND IRAN FINANCING PLO TERROR
7. Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002
THINNING OUT TERRORIST INFRASTRUCTURES - A RESULT OF THE ABORTED SIEGE?
FALLEN SOLDIER TO BE BURIED TODAY
BUSH AND CONGRESS DIFFER OVER JERUSALEM
NO QUESTIONS ASKED
8. Chaim Sidman: European Consistency
1. [Voice Of Judea] Israel News
Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 00:15:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: Owner - Voice Of Judea <VOJ@Judea.org>
WANTED TERRORISTS WALK FREE
Israeli media reports that wanted Arab terrorists were seen leaving
Arafat's Headquarters in Ramalah after Israel caved in to US demands to
retreat form the area surrounding the terrorist headquarters. Sharon
explained that he had no choice but to capitulate to the American
pressure. The Americans made it clear to Israel that Israeli action
against Arab terrorists would make it difficult for the US to establish
a wide coalition of Arab and European support against Iraq.
- St.-Sgt. Ari Weiss, 21- murdered 30 Sept. 2002 in Nablus
The IDF Spokesperson has released for publication that St.-Sgt. Ari Weiss,
21- was murdered 30 Sept. 2002 in Nablus by terrorist fire.
Only a few days ago, his mother published a story in the Jerusalem Post
about how she collected food in Raanana to feed her sons unit over the
holidays. For the recent story visit
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=
Cleveland man defends Israeli West Bank town
International group of volunteers seeks to thwart terrorist attacks
Here is an article that just ran in the Chattanooga Times Free Press about
one of the group here in Cleveland.
By Randall Higgins Cleveland Bureau
CLEVELAND, Tenn. A Cleveland man has joined an international group of
volunteers to defend Israeli settlements from terrorist attacks.
Joel Swafford, who is not Jewish, is a member of a volunteer group
called the Jewish Legion. Mr. Swafford, 34, works with a dog specially
trained for tracking and bomb detection.
"It is something he has really wanted to do, Faye Swafford said about
her sons volunteer work. Mr. Swafford, she said, is friends with people
who put him in touch with settlers in the West Bank.
Her son talked about joining the Jewish Legion for a year,
Mrs. Swafford said, before signing on for six months. Although he arrived
in the country only recently, she said, already there is talk of his
staying longer.
Once a week, she said, Mr. Swafford calls home.
"I worry about him, but he seems so happy, she said. "I asked him if he
really wanted to do this and he said Yeah, I do. The people are so
cool. Mr. Swaffords 15-year-old daughter is staying with Mrs. Swafford
here.
Jack Saunders, a member of a local group called Bnai Noach, said the
Jewish Legion is a group of Jews and non-Jews who organized to guard
Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Of Bnai Noach, he said, "We basically adhere to somewhat of the Jewish
beliefs. We are in contact with rabbis constantly, and we look to them as
a source of information. Of course, Joel is a part of that. Many Israelis
are hesitant to use trained dogs as part of their defense, Mr. Saunders
said, because of the association with German concentration camps in World
War II. The Jewish Legion, he said, takes on that role to save lives and
secure the settlement towns.
"Joel had some experience with dogs and said he would be interested in
going, Mr. Saunders said.
There is no government connection to the organization, Mr. Saunders
said.
www.JewishLegion.net.
Mr. Swafford is in a settlement called Tapuach, about five miles from
Shechem, Mr. Saunders said. Because it sits on a major supply route, he
said, the location would be critical should there be a war with Iraq or
Jordan.
2. Herut Chairman MK Kleiner: Mukata should have been bombed from the air
American style
Sun, 29 Sep 2002 05:15:21 -0400
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Aaron Lerner Date: 29 September 2002
The following is IMRA's translation of a press release issued by Herut
Chairman MK Michael Kleiner:
Herut Chairman MK Kleiner said in the wake of the Government decision to
withdraw from the Mukata that the operation at the Mukata was a stupid
publicity stunt meant to degrade the Palestinians and allow the Israeli
public to blow off steam after the Allenby attack. "The Mukata should have
been bombed from the air a long time ago to be finished once and for all
with Arafat and the wanted terrorists who are with him."
According to Kleiner, the Government of Israel consistently declines to bomb
targets from the air, as the Americans do before a land invasion to prepare
the area and limit loss of life.
3. Iraq's Jews,
To: kulanu-l@ube.ubalt.edu
The Jerusalem Post, September 29, 2002
Iraq's Jews, Once Numerous, Dwindle to 38 in Baghdad
by Michael Freund
Only a few dozen Jews remain in Iraq, and most of them are elderly,
Mordechai Ben-Porat, chairman of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in
Or Yehuda, told The Jerusalem Post Thursday.
According to Ben-Porat, some 150 Iraqi Jews have managed to leave the
country in the past five years, leaving just 38 Jews in Baghdad, and a
handful in the Kurdish-controlled northern areas of the country.
The average age of the community is about 50 years old, with just two or
three young people left, he said. The last two Jews who lived in the
southern city of Basra left for Baghdad two years ago, he added.
Iraqi Jewry was once one of the largest and most prominent Jewish
communities in the Middle East. But after the establishment of the State
of Israel, more than 120,000 Iraqi Jews made aliya in the 1950s in a
clandestine operation dubbed "Operation Ezra and Nehemiah."
Whereas Baghdad once had 53 active synagogues, only one remains open,
where the Jewish community gathers every Saturday night for evening
prayers and the havdala service to mark the end of Shabbat, Ben-Porat
said.
He said although the late 1960s and early 1970s were not easy for the
Jews of Iraq, Saddam Hussein's regime in recent years has "shown
fairness toward the Jewish community." In the past decade, the Iraqi
government has refurbished the tombs of Ezekiel the Prophet and Ezra the
Scribe, which are also considered sacred by Muslims, he said.
"Saddam ordered that guards be placed at the holy sites, and upon his
instructions, the tomb of Jonah the Prophet was also renovated in the
North of the country," Ben-Porat said.
He said the Jewish community "has a lot of buildings and assets, and
earns rental income from them, which it uses to assist members of the
remaining community."
"In a decade from now, I don't believe there will be any Jews left in
Iraq," Ben-Porat said.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid
4.The Mukata withdrawal was Sharon's Goat
Background update: The Mukata withdrawal was Sharon's Goat
Aaron Lerner Date: 30 September 2002
The IDF's activities are not making headlines today - but they appear to be
continuing unabated as IDF operations captured terrorists in both the West
Bank and Gaza Strip last night .
It may very well remain for the historians to argue if the Mukata operation
was planned from the start as "Sharon's goat" (see yesterday's background
item repeated below) or if this is another case that Sharon's toast landed
butter-side-up, but the operative result remains:
+ It is recognized that Sharon faced scathing domestic criticism (and this
less than two weeks before a Likud meeting in which he has to contend with
Netanyahu) for dropping the siege on Arafat's Ramallah headquarters
(Mukata). Even Russian President Putin recognized Sharon's sacrifice in his
welcoming remarks in Moscow today.
+ Since the loss of face was so clearly also a personal sacrifice by Sharon,
the magnitude of the action can be readily appreciated even by leaders who
do not appreciate or understand the pressures faced by a democratic leader
in general or an Israeli leader in particular.
+ After having made such a great national and personal sacrifice, the United
States will find it very difficult to press Sharon to make further
concessions to Israel's security before the Iraqi campaign goes underway -
and they will be able to readily explain this limitation to potential Arab
allies.
Call it foresight, divine providence, or just dumb luck, the important thing
now is for the security operations to continue in earnest to prevent the
Palestinians from acting as Saddam's surrogate force in the coming battle.
Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
5. Mexican Aztlan Jew-haters
Subject: Headlines & Quotes from www.aztlan.net
To: delowe <delowe@netvision.net.il>
For your information, below you will find a number of quotations and
headlines (in bold letters) taken directly from the curent Aztlan
website. Aztlan is a movement that claims the area today known as
California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Nevada should be returned
to Mexico. They refer to the people involved as "La Raza" giving them
a common identity they otherwise might not have. It is not clear to me
why they have taken such an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel stand. Some
people have suggested to me that I should not give them publicity, but
I think that it is important for all to know what is out there and
being said about us. It is especially important as many 'liberals'
have taken this cause to their hearts. I'm not suggesting it is not an
important issue, but rather that one must be very careful of whom one
associates with under such circumstances. The leaders of this
organization all appear to be U.S. citizens of Mexican origin who have
secured their educations at universities in California. Jack
"We have learned that Jews are very treacherous, sneaky and masters of
deception."
"The murderous rampage of the Zionist army in Palestine..."
A ZioNazi Genocide of the Palestinian People
"La Voz de Aztlan knows that there is a lot of fear among many U.S.
and Mexican journalists to write any article that questions the racist
Zionist policies of Israel against the Palestinians."
etc.
6. Arutz-7 News: Monday, Sept. 30, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, Sep. 30, 2002 / Tishrei 24, 5763
POLICE TOOK ACTION IN TEMPLE MOUNT
It was learned today that an Israel Police contingent entered the Temple Mount a month ago and destroyed an illegal flooring installed by the Moslem authorities. The Arabs did not disrupt the police work.
The information on the illegal Moslem construction in Judaism's holiest site was obtained by the Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities, which passed it on to the Ministry of Public Security. The Committee is also that which publicized the news of the police action today. It did so in order to refute those who claim that Israeli action to repair the bulging Southern Wall will be met by Moslem violence. Part of the Southern Wall of the Mount is burgeoning outward near its eastern edge - a result of the illegal Muslim construction works in the Solomon's Stables area of the Temple Mount. Archaeologists fear that the wall is liable to collapse if remedial action is not taken.
In a related item, Chaim Klein assumed the post of Director-General of the Public Security Ministry today. Klein, formerly the head of the Israel Police Intelligence Section, recently told a group of Public Security Ministry officials that despite Moslem objections and threats, there is no reason not to open the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors. The holy site has been closed to Jews since the beginning of the Oslo War two years ago.
SHARON MEETS WITH RUSSIAN LEADER
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with Russian President Vladimir Putin this afternoon in Moscow. Sharon once again raised Israel's request that Russia halt its supply of nuclear technology to Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Iraq, as well as arms sales to Syria. Sharon will also meet with the leaders of Russian Jewish community during his two-day visit to Russia.
IRAQ AND IRAN FINANCING PLO TERROR
CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes, in its season premiere last night, ran a segment on Israel's findings linking PLO terrorism to Iran and Iraq. Israeli intelligence officials said that proof that Iraq and Iran are secretly financing and directing Palestinian acts of terrorism against Israel was found in official Palestinian Authority documents seized from Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound several months ago.
7. Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002 / Tishrei 25, 5763
THINNING OUT TERRORIST INFRASTRUCTURES - A RESULT OF THE ABORTED SIEGE?
IDF forces arrested no fewer than 32 wanted Arab terrorists in the northern Shomron last night. Troops carried out many raids on terrorist targets in villages between Shechem and Jenin over the night, and arrested another five in the Hevron area this morning. Army sources say that the recent ban on the "neighbor routine" - in which a suspect's neighbor is told to convince the latter to give himself up - has actually facilitated arrests. This is because larger forces arrive in the area of the suspect's house, leading family members themselves to convince the suspect to surrender so that the house will not be demolished or damaged.
While much of the media coverage of Israel these days is focused on what is broadly perceived as Israel's "ill-advised" siege on the Mukata and its sudden egg-on-its-face reversal forced by UN and US pressure, this may not really be the true story. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is widely portrayed as having lost much political stock because of his "collapse" in the face of outside pressures. The New York Times, for instance, in today's edition - two days after the end of the siege - quotes Israeli government ministers and military officials criticizing the "hasty" and "not thought out" decision to besiege Arafat's compound. A HaAretz columnist wrote yesterday that "the political and defense establishment in Israel completely failed in evaluating the interests and positions of the American administration."
Yet behind the scenes, it could be that the "now-you-see-it, now-you-don't" siege has had quite a different effect - and brought Israel some surprising benefits. Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA <http://www.imra.org.il> is optimistic that the U.S. will be hesitant to apply further pressures on Israel in the near future, that the "personal sacrifice" Sharon made will be recognized by other leaders, and most importantly, that Israel's military can continue other aspects of its anti-terrorist campaign without fear of criticism. The arrest of almost 40 terrorists since yesterday appears to be proof that this is the case. "Call it foresight, divine providence, or just dumb luck," Lerner writes, "the important thing now is for the security operations to continue in earnest to prevent the Palestinians from acting as Saddam's surrogate force in the coming battle."
FALLEN SOLDIER TO BE BURIED TODAY
St.-Sgt. Ari Weiss, 21, who was killed during fierce gunbattles in Shechem yesterday afternoon, will be buried this afternoon in Raanana. Arab gunmen opened fire at the troops while the latter were on a routine patrol in the area. Another soldier wounded in the incident is still hospitalized in serious condition in Tel HaShomer. The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the shooting. The IDF placed a curfew on the city of Shechem, and Col. Noam Tivon, the commander of the Nachal Battalion that carried out the mission, said that there is no doubt that the IDF will emerge victorious in the Shechem campaign.
Ari Weiss immigrated with his family from the U.S. to Israel eleven years ago. Just two weeks ago, following a short telephone call between Ari and his mother in which she learned that her son and his comrades-in-arms didn't have a whole lot of food, Mrs. Weiss spontaneously organized a "food drive" for the 35 soldiers of Ari's unit. Provisions for 35 were donated by Raanana shops selling shwarma, groceries, baked goods, and more, and the entire Weiss family took part in getting the victuals to the unit. "Everyone made it so easy," Mrs. Weiss told The Jerusalem Post shortly afterwards. "Israelis are always put down as being rude, and here I didn't even have to finish my request in my lame language, and [the shop owners] already understood what I wanted to say and were asking, 'How many?'" Ari himself said, "Everyone was really thankful and gobbled it up... I was smiling because I saw how my mother had organized it, and that meant more than the food itself."
BUSH AND CONGRESS DIFFER OVER JERUSALEM
US President George Bush has signed a Congress-approved resolution calling for the United States to officially recognize Jerusalem as the Jewish State's legitimate capital. Bush says, however, that his administration's policy toward Jerusalem will remain unchanged. In the words of his press secretary, the resolution's Jerusalem provisions are "advisory, not mandatory." As such, Bush has no plans to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as urged by the bill.
Congress passed the Jerusalem addendum last week as part of the government's Foreign Relations Authorization Act for the year 2003. The resolution states, inter alia, that official US government documents that list country's capitals will have to identify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A second provision stipulates that US citizens born in Jerusalem may request that "Israel" be included as their country of birth. Until now, only "Jerusalem" appeared - as if the city were a separate independent entity.
NO QUESTIONS ASKED
Today marks the beginning of a month-long IDF campaign in which citizens may return army equipment in their possession - without being questioned as to how they happen to have it. The citizens need not even identify themselves.
The first hours of the campaign already turned up some interesting results: A 50-year-old woman from Maalot returned two fragmentation grenades she had held for some 25 years. She explained that she kept them as protection against terrorists. It will be recalled that in 1974, terrorists attacked a school in Maalot, killing 21 junior high school students and three adults. In November 1999, a similar "no questions asked" campaign retrieved a large amount of uniforms, guns, bullets, grenades, electronic equipment - and even a large naval commando rubber dinghy.
8. Chaim Sidman: European Consistency
From: Chaim Sidman <yogurtwhip@hotmail.com>
Funny people, the Europeans, my paternal grandfather used to joke.
When I left it in 1937, there was graffiti on the walls everywhere: "Jews,go to Palestine".
And now when I visit a European capital, the graffiti says "Jews, get out of Palestine".
Have they no memory, the Europeans?
Jerusalem News-125
Contents:
1. Inquiry into Jenin
2. Arutz-7 News: Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002
SENATE EXPECTED TO SUPPORT BUSH
SHILO RESIDENTS WANT SAFETY
HOLOCAUST-LOOTED WORKS OF ART
1. Inquiry into Jenin
source: imra
Inquiry into the Death of 13 IDF Soldiers in the Jenin Refugee Camp:
Main Points
IDF Spokesperson 2 October 2002.
The battle, one of many conducted in the framework of operation "Defensive Shield"across Palestinian
cities and villages, took place in the Jenin refugee camp on 9 April 2002.
The IDF launched operation "Defensive Shield" following a series of terror
attacks inside Israel,designed to kill and injure Israeli civilians and IDF
soldiers, and culminating in the suicide attack on the Park Hotel in Netanya
on 27 March 2002, which claimed the lives of 29 Israelis.
Between September 2000, the beginning of the conflict, and April 2002 when
operation "Defensive Shield" was launched, 389 Israelis were killed in
numerous terrorist attacks.
Due to the multitude of tasks initiated during operation "Defensive Shield,"
reserve soldiers were mobilized in order to support the regular forces.
At the time, Jenin was known as the "Capital of Terror" and used as a base
for terrorist factions and attacks. The fighting in the city of Jenin and
its adjacent refugee camp persisted for ten days, from 3-12 April. By the
end of April 12, the predefined targets were occupied, many explosives
laboratories and weapon-manufacturing workshops were exposed, and numerous
armed Palestinians were detained. Twenty-three out of the thirty IDF
soldiers killed during operation "Defensive Shield" fell in the battle of
Jenin.
During early morning hours of Tuesday, 9 April 2002, the eighth day of the
fighting in the Jenin refugee camp, a reserve reconnaissance force
encountered an ambush. Palestinian terrorists holed up in nearby buildings
attacked the force using explosive charges and gunfire.
The reserve force, later joined by other forces, was engaged in battle for
an hour and a half before gaining control over the compound and evacuating
the casualties.
Following is an alphabetical list of the 13 IDF soldiers who fell in the
battle:
Company Sgt. Maj. Ronen Al-Shochat
Regimental Sgt. Maj. Tiran Arzi
Cpt. Coby Azoulay
Company Sgt. Maj. Eyal Azouri
Cpt. Dror Bar
Company Sgt. Maj. Amit Busidan
Company Sgt. Maj. Menashe Chava
Maj. Oded Golomb
Regimental Sgt. Maj. Yoram Levi
Company Sgt. Maj. Shmuel Dan Mayzalsh
Regimental Sgt. Maj. Avner Yaskov
Lt. Eyal Yoel
Company Sgt. Maj. Eyal Zimmerman
The report of the inquiry into the operation stated that the forces that had
participated in the battle, specifically the reserve force in question, had
undergone the training required for such fighting and were fit to carry out
their task. Furthermore, the report states that the equipment supplied to
the soldiers was in good working order.
However, the report also highlighted several flaws:
+Some of the force's intelligence aids had not been kept up to date
+The number of Palestinian terrorists present in the compound was
underestimated
+Coordination between the commanders in the field was deficient, causing
uncertainty as to the exact position of the forces
+Movement and medical care of the injured was administered in the absence of
sufficient protection
+Forces were deployed in a constricted area, without proper distance between
each of the soldiers.
The GOC Central Command at the time of the operation, Maj. Gen. Yitzhak
Eitan, emphasized that the soldiers completed their task to the full,
dealing a heavy blow to the Jenin refugee camp's terrorist infrastructure,
one of the West Bank's most murderous terrorist centers. The goal, he said,
was achieved by the soldier's determination and willingness to make
sacrifices. They fought fiercely, but nevertheless adhered to the IDF's
moral codes and values. He concluded that the soldiers deserve every credit
for the job they had done,.
Closing the report, Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon,
stressed that the division that had been sent to fight in Jenin was
operationally fit and able to perform its task.
He added that the forces completed their mission despite the heavy cost of
the battle. The Chief of Staff applauded the willingness of the division's
reservists to volunteer and the morality of the soldiers and commanders
alike. He praised the soldiers' determined, mission-driven acts of heroism,
pointing out that they were conducted in the midst of an intensely complex
battle.
Operational inquiries into other events in Jenin are still underway and
their conclusions will be delivered to the families upon completion.
The IDF extends its condolences to the bereaved families who lost their
loved ones in this hard battle.
--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il
For free regular subscription:
Subscribe at no charge: imra-subscribe@imra.org.il
2. Arutz-7 News: Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002 / Tishrei 27, 5763
SENATE EXPECTED TO SUPPORT BUSH
The US Senate will begin debating a resolution today that would grant US President George Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq. A bi-partisan House delegation supported a similar resolution yesterday, but it is open to various interpretations. Some Republicans say it gives the president the power to launch a strike on Baghdad without the support of the United Nations Security Council, but some Democrats say that Bush must exhaust all UN diplomatic avenues before using the force.
British Prime Minister Blair said today that UN-mandated inspection checks must also include Saddam's palaces and the like: "It's not enough to have access to 99% of Iraq, if the weapons of mass-destruction are hidden in the other 1%." A suicide terrorist from an organization associated with Al Qaeda killed an American soldier and two civilians in the Philippines yesterday.
SHILO RESIDENTS WANT SAFETY
Residents of the Shilo and neighboring towns refuse to give up. After being turned down several times in their demand to have an abandoned Arab house destroyed - the building from which Avi Vilansky and his wife Avital were shot and murdered by Palestinian terrorists two months ago - they staged yet another protest at the building this morning. The structure stands in Luban a-Sharkiye alongside Route 60, just north of Shilo and south of Tapuach.
HOLOCAUST-LOOTED WORKS OF ART
Former Finance Minister Yaakov Ne'eman will head the campaign to have works of art and Judaica that were stolen during the Holocaust returned to the Jewish people. The Jewish Congress has allocated a half-million dollars to gather information to this end. Congress Chairman Israel Singer says that more than 200,000 works of art are now known to have been stolen from Jews during the Holocaust, as well as hundreds of thousands of books. Jewish Agency Chairman Salai Meridor said last night, "This is not about money, but about the very spirit of the Jewish People - Torah scrolls, Torah scroll crowns, parochot [Holy Ark coverings], and talitot [prayer shawls]." The British Museum acknowledged this week the "compelling nature" of a claim by a Jewish family that four paintings in the museum were stolen from their home.
Jerusalem News-126
Contents:
1. Arutz-7 News Brief: Friday, Oct. 4, 2002
P.A. BIRTH RATE DOWN
ARAB LAWYER'S CAR: A REAL STEAL
TZFAT RABBI TO BE INVESTIGATED
2. Police storm Temple Mount after worshippers throw stones
3. INSIDE IRAQ, AND THE GERMAN CONNECTION
1. Arutz-7 News Brief: Friday, Oct. 4, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Friday, Oct. 4, 2002 / Tishrei 28, 5763
P.A. BIRTH RATE DOWN
The Oslo War has had far-ranging demographic effects on the Arab population of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The Palestinian Authority Statistical Office shows that the birth rate has dropped 18% in the past two years - from 7 births per woman in the previous decade to 5.75 births since the beginning of 2001. Marriage rates, too, have dropped almost 4%. Some 3.3 million Arabs live in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and 60% of them have lost half their income over the past two years.
An army vehicle was damaged late this morning when an Arab-placed bomb exploded under it near Kfar Aza, just east of the Gaza Strip. No one was hurt... Jewish motorists traveling in the Shomron near Yakir Junction were targeted by Arab stone-throwers earlier this afternoon. There were no reports of injuries...
Police forces burst into the Temple Mount this afternoon after a mob of Arabs threw rocks at a police contingent stationed near the Western Wall. Quiet was achieved after a short while, and the police began withdrawing.
ARAB LAWYER'S CAR: A REAL STEAL
An Arab lawyer from Ramallah who arrived at the Beit El Military Court last night to represent Arab terrorists was found to be driving an Israeli car stolen last year from Maaleh Adumim. During the ensuing interrogation, he said that he suspected it was stolen because of the low price he paid - 6,000 shekels (roughly $1,300). He will now have to find his own lawyer?
TZFAT RABBI TO BE INVESTIGATED
Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein has instructed the police to launch an investigation against Tzfat (Safed) Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu - on charges of anti-Arab incitement. Following the suicide bus bombing attack two months ago at Meiron, near Tzfat, and in the wake of reports that an Arab doctor in the local hospital initially refused to treat Jewish victims, Rabbi Eliyahu said that the hospital should not hire Arab doctors without checking them. The hospital later said that the doctor did not refuse to treat the patients, but Rabbi Eliyahu said he heard the contrary from several eyewitnesses; he called for a full-scale inquiry into the incident.
Furthermore, after it was learned that two Arab students of a Tzfat college were told about the impending attack but did not inform the police, Rabbi Eliyahu called on the school to close its doors to Arabs. The attack itself, it was later revealed, was planned and executed by Israeli-Arab citizens. Rabbi Eliyahu, son of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, said today that he does not retract his statements, nor will he be intimidated. He added that free speech is permitted in the State of Israel.
2.
w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m
Friday
Police storm Temple Mount after worshippers throw stones
Jerusalem police stormed the Temple Mount, after dozens of Palestinian worshippers threw stones at the officers stationed meters away from the Western Wall plaza, following Friday prayers.
According to police sources, no injuries were sustained and no damage was caused during the incident, and worshippers were allowed to leave the Temple Mount. Police continued to keep a large presence in and around the Temple Mount, however, to ensure that order was maintained.
Police used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the Palestinians. According to Palestinian sources, there were some 5,000 worshippers on the Mount at the time.
The sources added that after prayers, most of the worshippers left the Temple Mount, but some 150 stayed behind, inside the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Police said about 30 Palestinian youths began throwing stones at police stationed at the entrance of a pathway leading from the side of the plaza up to the Temple Mount compound.
"It was thought they were intending to throw rocks into the plaza where (Jewish) worshippers were, so police entered the (Temple Mount) compound and fired a few stun grenades," a spokesman said.
3. INSIDE IRAQ, AND THE GERMAN CONNECTION
From: ISRAEL ALIVE <Israelalive@IsraelAlive.org>
Subject: INSIDE IRAQ, AND THE GERMAN CONNECTION
IsraelAlive
action@IsraelAlive.org
Interview / Vicious circles closing in
By Micha Odenheimer- h a a r e t z d a i l y
A journalist, human rights activist and intellectual, Thomas von der Osten-Sacken is considered one of Germany's leading authorities on human rights in Iraq. He began traveling to Iraq in 1991, when he spent eight months doing humanitarian work in the southern part of the country just after Saddam Hussein crushed the Shi'ite uprising there. In 1992, Von der Osten-Sacken co-founded an aid and advocacy organization called Wadi, operating in Iraqi Kurdistan - the semi-autonomous safe haven carved out for Kurdish refugees after the Gulf War - and on behalf of Iraqi refugees in Germany. He spends part of each year in Kurdistan where Wadi has founded the first shelter there for women in distress and is also involved in helping the local government reform the prison system that has been left over from Iraqi rule. In Germany, Wadi advises Iraqi opposition groups and works closely with the Coalition for a Dem.
This interview was conducted with him earlier this week.
When did you first realize that the Iraqi regime was not just another Middle East dictatorship?
Von der Osten-Sacken: "When I first came to Iraq, I very quickly realized that I could not compare the situation there to other Middle Eastern countries I had been in, like Syria, Jordan or Egypt. This country was hell. We were the only Europeans in a city called Amara in the Shi'ite area of southern Iraq near Basra, and we arrived just a few weeks after the uprising had been crushed. There was a belt of tanks around the city. The majority of buildings were burned out. There was no food in the market. There was also a terrible degree of malnourishment there.
"People in Iraq won't talk freely, because they are terrified that their friends are working for one of Saddam's nine horrible security services. Because of this atmosphere, it took us three or four months to learn some details about the uprising. The Iraqis made people lie down in the streets and then buried them alive under asphalt. They killed everyone who looked a little religious, because this was a Shi'ite area. It was forbidden to take the corpses from the street. All in all, 60,000 or 70,000 people were killed in this area in 1991.
"The first thing that was done after the uprising was crushed was to repaint the pictures of Saddam Hussein. People had riddled them with bullets. Not one had been left. We were shocked at how neglected the south was, with open sewage systems, even though it is rich in oil. Saddam said before smashing the uprising that these Shi'ites were dirty people, not really Iraqis. We left there in October '91 when we felt we could not continue our work without unintentionally helping the government."
What was the atmosphere like in Baghdad then?
"Baghdad was 300 kilometers away, and we went quite often - for a good dinner, to have a meeting with another organization or even to make a phone call to Germany. The fear in Iraq, a BBC reporter said recently, is so palpable you can eat it. It's really indescribable. Syria is a dictatorship, but the fear and control in Iraq reaches into your living room. If there is no picture of Saddam Hussein in your living room, you might be arrested. There is no privacy. The Iraqi government considers everything political. In Syria, as long as you are not a member of the opposition, you can relax. You know you will not be harmed. But in Iraq, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, you may be arrested, tortured, killed."
You have said that estimates are that Saddam has killed approximately one million of his own citizens since 1979.
"Yes, that would include Kurds, Shi'ites, Christians and Sunnis. There were two huge massacres. There was the so-called Anfal campaign against the Kurds at the end of the 1980s when 4,000 villages were destroyed, and about 100,000 to 150,000 persons were killed, some with poison gas. Up to a million people were sent into internal exile. The other big massacre was in the south in the 1990s, where the regime has killed about 300,000 Shi'ites in the last 10 years. In addition, there have been enormous massacres against communists over the past two decades.
"The estimate of one million killed only includes civilians. A million Iraqi soldiers were killed in the Iran-Iraq war. A half-million Iraqis died of hunger or disease because of sanctions on Iraq, and more were killed in the Gulf War. Some 1.5 to two million people have been internally displaced, and 4.5 million Iraqi refugees are scattered across the globe. Ten percent of the Iraqi population has been killed or deported during the rule of Saddam Hussein. That is the essence of his regime. It is not an accident. It is systematic."
What is the ideology behind Saddam Hussein's regime?
"The Ba'ath ideology mixes pan-Arabism with admiration of Mussolini and Hitler, some ideas of state socialism and the notion of an Arab supremacy which will be realized after the Arabs have liberated themselves from foreign - that means mainly Jewish - influence and British and American imperialism. Ba'athism is strongly anti-communist and anti-imperialist, and it is anti- Semitic from its beginning. Everything in Iraq is explained through this huge conspiracy theory against the Arabs, in general, and Iraq, in particular. Iraq is thought to be the greatest Arab nation and the natural leader of Arab unity."
So Iraq sees itself as the center of the Arab world?
"Yes, the leader of Arab unity. Saddam Hussein dreams of ruling a united Arab nation that would become a superpower confronting East and West. Iraqi children are taught in kindergarten that they have to be strong Arab fighters."
Is Iraqi Ba'athism Islamist?
"Pan-Arabism has always said that Mohammed is the forefather of pan-Arabism and that Islam was spoiled when it crossed the borders of the Arab world to Iran and Turkey. The task now is to `re-animate' the real Islam that was taught by Mohammed as an Arab ideology. Especially during the Iran-Iraq war, when Iraq had to face the Iranian revolution, they loaded their own ideology with Islamic content. The Iranians and the Zionists, they said, are part of a 2,000-year-old plot to smash Iraq and divide the Arabs. `We are fighting for the real Islam' the regime said, not the kind of spoiled Islam that Iran represents. I think it was a mistake for the Americans to believe, as they did, that Iraq was a stronghold against Islam."
What kind of influence does Saddam have in the Arab street, and what kind of affect could it have to topple him?
"The most regressive and dangerous elements in the Arab and Islamic world depend on Saddam Hussein. Really toppling Saddam Hussein means uprooting the Ba'ath regime, with the help of the Iraqi people. This would give the final blow to pan-Arabism in the Middle East. Syria and a lot of very radical factions in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and the Gulf states would be affected. These factions look up to Saddam Hussein as a pan-Arabist, anti-imperialist hero - although he is anti-imperialist in the tradition of the Nazis, not the left. Also, Saddam is financing organizations like the Arab Liberation Front in Palestine, which is a Ba'ath organization. He is paying the families of suicide attackers. He is directly and indirectly responsible for a lot of terrorism in the Middle East."
What is the attitude toward Israel and the United States in liberated Kurdistan?
"The United States created the safe haven in 1991 not for the Kurds, but to protect Iran and Turkey from the influx of refugees. Still, people know that they are protected by the U.S. and they have a positive attitude toward it. I spent September 11, 2001 in Kurdistan in front of the television and the next day, I crossed through Syria to Jordan. In Syria, people told me that it was a conspiracy against the Arabs, but in Kurdistan, people were deeply shocked and sorry for the victims of the World Trade Center attack.
"In regard to Israel, it's astonishing: The Kurds were all taught in Iraqi schools that the Jews and Israel are the main enemy, blood-suckers, part of a huge conspiracy, but I did not find any real anti-Israel sentiments. Critics of the occupation, of the settlements, yes, there are some, and I think that is legitimate, but no anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. In fact, people in Kurdistan are now starting to reflect on the mass immigration of Kurdish Jews in the 1950s when 99 percent of the Jewish community left mostly to Israel. Many times, I heard Kurds saying that it was sad that this living together with Jews had stopped, and that the Jewish heritage of Kurdistan should be kept alive.
What do you think drives German policy against U.S. intervention in Iraq?
"Germany gains very good material benefit from Iraq. One should not forget that German technology enabled Iraq to enlarge the range of the Scud missiles so that they could reach Israel, that without German assistance, Iraq would not have been able to gas Iranian soldiers or its own people in Kurdistan or to threaten Israel. So there are deep relations. Iran, Libya and Syria, but especially Iraq, have this relationship with Germany. German policy has always put its eggs in Saddam's basket and gained from trade with Iraq, especially after '91 when America and England were out of Iraq.
"Also, ideology is important, especially at such times as during the last election campaign when the Social Democrats start to play on the anti-American piano. There are very close ties between a certain German ideology dating back to the 19th century, running through World War I and escalating in World War II with the Nazis and continuing afterward, which has close ties to pan-Arabism. One that shares the same enemies: America, the Jews, Israel. Anti-American and anti-Israel resentments are very strong in Germany and they have become stronger since 1989.
"Saddam Hussein is not usually seen in Germany as a horrible dictator murdering his own people. People blame the sanctions and not him, and people blame the Israeli occupation for the whole situation in the Middle East, not Palestinian terrorists or Saddam for continually destabilizing the region. Also, since 1945, many Germans have very strong anti-war feelings, especially if these wars are conducted by the United States. The majority of people opposed the second part of the Gulf War; there were tremendous demonstrations against it. Now this opposition is stronger, because Germany is stronger.
"Germany is now conducting its own independent foreign policy, which in the last two to four years, has become simply to contrast itself to the U.S. If the U.S. is supporting a government, we should support the opposition to this government. In the Middle East, there is an attempt to tighten relations with Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinians and Iraq. Also, the Germans are quite afraid of the archives in Baghdad and what they tell about the poison gas and other weapons deals that were made between Iraq and a lot of German enterprises."
So both the left and the right in Germany have strong anti-American feeling?
"Anti-American and anti-Israeli-anti-Semitic. At the moment, you can hardly distinguish between the very far right wing and the very far left wing. The far right openly supports Saddam Hussein, saying that he is fighting the Jews and the Americans and thus supporting the German battle. And certain left-wingers from an orthodox left-wing tradition think that Saddam Hussein is anti-imperialist, anti-globalization, that he is fighting for the rights of the Arabs to self-determination. Others on the left say that Saddam may be horrible, but another American war will not solve any problems. The war will just help Israel's interest, so we should oppose it. This is also the governmental policy at the moment."
The European and Third World left have developed an ideology that unites anti-globalization, anti-Americanism, anti-Israel feeling and, to a certain extent, anti-Semitism. What is the internal logic behind this combination?
"This is not a very new phenomenon. In the German left, these attitudes existed during the 1920s with the idea of `a shortened anti-capitalism' that distinguished very sharply between financial capital and productive capital, and demonized financial capital. This idea was later adapted by the Nazis, and is in itself anti-Semitic because Jews are identified with the circulation sphere - with banks. Whoever does not criticize capitalism in a Marxist way, but criticizes only the surface [aspects] of capitalism - the huge banks or the monopoly capitalists - is automatically using an anti-Semitic phraseology, even if he is not speaking about Jews or Israel. This is what some of the anti-globalization rhetoric is about.
"These associations are so deeply written inside European and especially German history, that you can be anti-Semitic without even mentioning Jews. This way of thinking was kept alive in certain Leninist groups and in the far right wing in the '60s and '70s, and now it is more or less unfolding in the mainstream movements. It is always a question of whether these resentments, which are quite common, are taboo or whether the government is signaling that they can be voiced. Until 1989, anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism were taboo in Germany. These views found space on the left and on the far right. In the middle of society, they were hidden in the signals and phrases communicated in the subtext. Now, due to the new international constellation, the taboo has broken down and these ideas can be found in the mainstream.
"So you have more or less the same idea that you had since the '20s: There is a global struggle pitting the `good' people who are fighting against colonialization against a conspiracy between the huge American trusts, banks and the Jews, which wants to force the world to adapt a universal capitalism. The Jews were also accused then of being the purveyors of the global communist principle, but since 1989, that has been forgotten. These old ideas were re-animated now due to the ethnic conflicts in the Balkans and the conflict in the Middle East, and especially since September 11, when the focus has been on the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel, and the conflict between Iraq on one side and the U.S. and Britain on the other."
"In extremis, you have a constellation that reminds one of the '30s. On the one hand, you have Britain, the U.S. and Israel - the Jews are always in the metaphysical center of these conflicts. This side is fighting for a capitalistic Western ideology. Then you have these National Socialist, self-determination ideas, which are always led by the Germans. In 1939, the Germans said that they were fighting universal capitalism and for self-determination in the Third World. They had a very anti-colonialist phraseology. You can find the same words and the same phrases as are being used today in the '40s when the Germans were supporting India's and the Arabs' revolt against the British. Even France is again in the same position - supporting Britain and the U.S. half-heartedly.
"Ten years ago, everyone thought Germany was a close ally of the U.S., supporting its policy. But no. In this conflict, Germany is signaling that it is standing on the other side. Everywhere in the Middle East, in the Syrian press, in the Hezbollah press, in the Baghdadi press, Germany is being praised for taking the same side they did 50 years ago. So people understand what the Germans are doing. And I think that that is quite interesting - and quite horrifying."
Jerusalem News-127
Contents:
1. When free speech turns hateful By MARGARET WENTE
2. Arutz-7 News: Sunday, Oct. 6, 2002
PM SHARON INVITED TO WHITE HOUSE
3. Iraq's French connection.
1. When free speech turns hateful
By MARGARET WENTE
(Extracts)
Laurie Zoloth was a classic campus activist.
Politically, she calls herself a progressive Democrat.
Anti-Semitism in America, she always thought, was a thing of the past.
She doesn't think so any more.
On April 9, Holocaust Memorial Day, pro-Palestinian groups on campus
held an anti-Israel rally on the university's Malcolm X Plaza. "They
called for a one-state solution," she says. "An imam gave a very
anti-Semitic speech. He told Jews they should go back to Germany,
because 'they know how to hook you up.' " Nine hundred people marched
across campus chanting slogans and waving banners. The rally was
advertised by flyers posted all over campus. They featured a picture
of a baby and the caption "Palestinian Children Meat -- Slaughtered
According to Jewish Rites under American Licence."
"Hundreds of faculty walked by them," she recalls, "and no one defaced
them or tore them to shreds." After the rally, the dean of student
affairs called the event "very empowering" because nobody was
arrested.
On May 7, Prof. Zoloth, who is chair of the university's Jewish
Studies Program, joined a rally on the same plaza to demonstrate in
support of Israel. All the signs and slogans stressed peace. "Peace,
we want peace," the demonstrators chanted. But things turned ugly when
they were besieged by screaming counterdemonstrators hurling threats
and demanding that they take down their Israeli flags.
"Hitler should have finished the job!" someone yelled. One Jewish
student was spat on. The city police were summoned to protect the
demonstrators and eventually escort them to safety.
What disturbed Prof. Zoloth even more was the aftermath.
Prof. Zoloth now believes not only that anti-Semitism in America is
alive and well, but that it is being sanctioned by a significant
minority of the intellectual elite. She's not alone. A growing number
of people argue that the violent demonstration at Concordia in
Montreal and the hatefest at SFS are the outgrowth of years of
reflexive Israel-bashing, which has grown unchallenged and unchecked.
They think that free speech has become an excuse for hate speech, and
that anti-Zionism has curdled into anti-Semitism.
Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, describes himself as a
secular Jew who has always been impatient with people who detect
anti-Semitism in every slight or insult. Two weeks ago, he gave a
speech at Harvard's Memorial Church that he intended as a wake-up call
for academia. "Serious and thoughtful people are advocating and taking
actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect, if not their intent,"
he said.
He talked about how Israel is singled out by antiglobalization
protesters and regarded as a unique aggressor among nations. He also
rejected a petition (signed by dozens of Harvard faculty) calling for
Harvard to shed its investments in businesses with ties to Israel.
Similar petitions are being circulated on almost every major campus in
the United States.
2. Arutz-7 News: Sunday, Oct. 6, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Sunday, October 6, 2002 / Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan 5763
PM SHARON INVITED TO WHITE HOUSE
US President Bush has invited Prime Minister Sharon to visit the White House next week - which some see as yet another signal that an American attack on Iraq is not far off. The two leaders are expected to discuss the upcoming American assault against Saddam Hussein, as well as the American desire for quiet on the Israeli-Palestinian front in the days and weeks leading up to it.
There have been reports of US pressure on Israel to maintain a low profile on the Iraqi issue, so as not to harm coalition-building efforts in anticipation of a strike on Baghdad. The US was reportedly upset that Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said publicly last week that the American attack may occur in November. Prime Minister Sharon, at the weekly Cabinet meeting this morning, told his ministers to keep quiet on Israel's retaliation strategies in the event that Iraq launches a missile attack on the Jewish State.
President Bush will make his case for a regime change in Iraq when he addresses his citizens on national television tomorrow night. "War with Iraq is liable to become inevitable if Iraq does not disarm in accordance with the UN resolutions," Bush said last night.
3. Iraq's French connection.
Date: Sun, 06 Oct 2002 15:31:14 -0400
From: imra@netvision.net.il
EXCERPTS:
BAGHDAD - France, ... one of the biggest obstacles to US plans to strike
Iraq, today enjoys real technical, scientific and cultural cooperation with
Baghdad.
[IMRA: Not new. The French built the nuclear station Israel destroyed.}
. . .
The French cultural centre is the sole Western institute still open in the
Iraqi capital after 12 years of international sanctions.
Language classes are over-subscribed and all 850 places taken this term,
notes deputy head Marie Paule Garcon.
The centre boasts a cinema club and brings French artists to Baghdad ...
But cooperation is broadest on the scientific and technical levels,
especially at universities.
"There is huge demand for technical cooperation," admitted the French
embassy's cooperation attache Christian Couturaud.
"University employees, white collar workers and [Iraqi] companies who are
English-speaking in line with tradition here, all come to us because they
feel we are the only window open on to the Western world," he said.
. . .
In 1990, just before Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Baghdad government sent 2,000
students to France.
. . .
Couturaud said he found French private companies willing to help fund
training for Iraqi specialists.
"French firms answered positively, thinking at the back of their minds that
the people they train will help to buy French products when the Iraqi market
reopens."
. . .
France sends about 40 missions of one or two people to Iraq each year,
particularly oil experts. A large number of Iraqis have passed through the
French Petroleum Institute.
4. Arutz-7 News: Monday, Oct. 7, 2002
4. Arutz-7 News: Monday, Oct. 7, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, Oct. 7, 2002 / Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan 5763
-MANY ARMED TERRORISTS AND 1-2 CIVILIANS KILLED IN GAZA
Fourteen Arabs - all of whom except for one or two were armed terrorists - were killed over the night in an Israeli offensive in Gaza. The IDF raid followed yet another Arab rocket attack on a Gush Katif community last night; no one was hurt in that incident. Despite IDF explanations that the forces fired at terrorists who were shooting at them, many media reports emphasized that the Israelis fired into "a crowd" and killed a woman and a child. The IDF says that the only civilian killed in the attack was the mother of one of the terrorists. Hamas vows to avenge the act, and says that Israeli civilians must be shot down in retaliation.
MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union), a resident of Gush Katif, said afterwards:
"Today's activity was designed to liquidate terrorists. All those who were killed today were armed and were attempting to thwart the IDF mission - except for one person, who was the mother of one of the terrorists, and she was killed while attempting to protect him. This offensive should silence all those who wish to run away from [i.e., dismantle communities in] Gush Katif, because it is the Jewish communities spread out over Gaza that enable the IDF to be there and carry out missions that protect all Israeli citizens from the murderous Palestinian terrorism. I can assure you that the mortar shells that will be fired at our communities in retaliation for this offensive will not deter us, and we will continue to remain here in order to continue protecting all the citizens of Israel."
The IDF's anti-terror offensive began shortly after midnight, when IDF troops, armor, and engineering corps, backed by combat helicopters, entered a Khan Yunis neighborhood - a Hamas terrorist stronghold - near the Jewish community of Ganei Tal. The goal was the arrest of terrorists, but in the process, the forces discovered and blew up a small arsenal of mortar shells, and arrested a man carrying a bomb in his coat pocket. The Israelis were fired upon and were greeted with some explosions, but no one was hurt. At one point, around 4 AM, Hamas terrorists went out to the streets and began firing at the IDF forces near one of the mosques used for terrorist gatherings. A helicopter then fired a missile into the attacking mob. Arab "eye-witnesses" describe the incident as a "massacre," but fail to note that the mob was engaged in attacking Israelis when they were fired upon.
COMMENTS ON THE RAID
Brig.-Gen. Yisrael Ziv, local IDF commander in Gaza, said that the mission was critical in "showing once again that there is no terrorist stronghold that is exempt from our forces' activities. Most of the mortar shells over the past weeks and months, as well as the attempts to infiltrate the Jewish communities, originated from the neighborhood that we targeted today."
Opposition head MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz) criticized the Israeli action because of the killing of "innocent civilians," while MK Michael Kleiner (Herut) said that the pilot who fired the missile should receive a medal for preventing casualties to the IDF force. Minister of Infrastructures Effie Eitam, speaking on Arutz-7, said: "Nothing went wrong. We have reached the point where Gaza, too, is no longer a safe haven for terrorists. We won't hit Arafat himself, in deference to the American war plans in Iraq, but under no circumstances will we give up our war against the terrorist infrastructures."
PA senior Saeb Erekat, ignoring the anti-terrorist nature of Israel's raid, called upon the international community to "protect the Palestinians," and said that Israel was carrying out "war crimes" in order to thwart the European Union's "efforts to revive the peace process." The EU's Javier Solana is to meet with Yasser Arafat today in Ramallah, despite Israel's objections; it is not clear how the meeting might "revive the peace process," as Israel does not consider Arafat a legitimate negotiating partner.
Shortly afterwards, a leading PA policeman, Rajeh Abu Lihya, was shot and killed by masked men in Gaza City. The Palestinian Authority blamed Hamas, and soon afterwards a gun battle erupted between PA police and members of the Hamas military wing, in which two Arabs were killed. Quiet has not yet been restored to the area.
SOLANA IN TOWN
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana was scheduled to meet with PLO leader Yasser Arafat today in what's left of the latter's Ramallah compound. Solana plans to discuss the recent proposal for peace concocted by the "Madrid Quartet," a delegation representing the US, EU, UN, and Russia.
Yesterday, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer attempted to discourage Solana from meeting Arafat, but to no avail. Ben-Eliezer told the EU representative that Arafat was thwarting serious reforms within the Palestinian Authority. Solana is also planning to meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this evening.
LEBANESE ABOUT TO DRAW WATER
Israel waits with tension as the Lebanese prepare to begin drawing water from the Wazani River with the new installation they completed last month. The Wazani spills into the Hatzbani River, a significant water source for Israel. Diplomatic sources say that Israel will have no choice but to respond militarily, although Prime Minister Sharon is currently not in favor of such a response.
Jerusalem News-128
Contents:
1. German student ignorance of Holocaust
2. Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002
TWO SERIOUSLY WOUNDED IN DRIVE-BY ATTACK
PM SHARON: WE'LL CONTINUE TO DEFEND OURSELVES
BELGIUM APOLOGIZES
3. Charles Jacobs "Why Israel and not Sudan..."
1. German student ignorance of Holocaust
The following article in the German daily taz notes that a study done in 2000 reveals that 86 percent of high school students and 43 percent of those who pass the 'Abitur' (baccalaureat) do not know anything about the extermination of Jews [during the Hitler regime]. So much for 'poor' German youngsters being unfairly weighed down by guilt!
Here is the link to the complete article: http://www.taz.de/pt/2002/09/05/a0264.nf/text
2. Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002 / Cheshvan 2, 5763
TWO SERIOUSLY WOUNDED IN DRIVE-BY ATTACK
Two Israelis are in critical or serious condition after Arab terrorists shot them as they were driving southeast of Hevron late this morning near the hostile village of Yata. Two other passengers were hurt less seriously. Army forces entered Yata in search of the murderers. The drive-by attack occurred at the same Zif Junction at which Yossi and Chana Dickstein and their son Shuva'el were murdered on July 26 (leaving nine orphans), together with Elazar Liebovitz. Two other fatal roadside or drive-by shootings have occurred on Yesha roads since then, claiming the lives of Avi and Avital Vilensky, the 16th husband-and-wife couple to fall victim to Palestinian terrorists since Sept. 2000, two months ago, and of Yosef Ajami, a 36-year-old father of four, three weeks ago.
Later this afternoon, Palestinian gunmen fired at homes in Admot Yeshai (Tel Romeida) in the Hevron Jewish Community. One home sustained damage. The IDF has begun bringing in forces to the hills overlooking the Jewish areas.
PM SHARON: WE'LL CONTINUE TO DEFEND OURSELVES
Hamas-Fatah violence in Gaza continues, and five Hamas members have been killed since yesterday. Hamas grenades landed atop a PA police station early this afternoon. Military correspondent Yinon Magal said that contrary to reports that yesterday's Hamas murder of a leading PA policeman was perpetrated by an individual seeking personal vengeance, "it's really a fight between Fatah and Hamas for control and power in Gaza... The riots afterwards were also quite organized and serious."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that the IDF operation in Khan Yunis the night before last was "successful" - though he is sorry about the civilians who were killed during its course. Of the 14 dead, 12 were engaged in attacking the Israeli forces, and the other two were the mother of one of the 12 and a boy. The incident occurred shortly before 4 AM in Hamas-stronghold neighborhood of the Gaza Strip city.
This was the 16th such anti-terror mission in Gaza in the past month, according to correspondent Magal. "It's become quite routine," he told Arutz-7 today. "The forces enter, look for weapons and terrorists, try to engage terrorists and smash them, and then leave. They didn't catch the two they wanted or much weaponry in this past mission, but they did get a lot of terrorists…"
Prime Minister Sharon told the European Union's Javier Solana last night that Israel would continue to take such action against Gaza terrorists and terrorist infrastructures. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the U.S. is "most concerned" over the killing of civilians, though he added that Israel has the right to defend itself. Some observers hearing these words recalled recent U.S. bombings in Afghanistan in which many civilians were killed.
BELGIUM APOLOGIZES
Sixty years after deporting 35,000 Jews - half its population - to German gas chambers, Belgium has apologized. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt issued the official apology in front of hundreds of people during a ceremony yesterday at the site of the first Belgian railway deportations. "There were too many collaborators in Belgium," Verhofstadt said. "We should have the courage to say it, to acknowledge it and to bear it."
Dr. Avi Becker, secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, attributed the apology to a recently released report on Belgian collaboration with the Nazis. The report "revealed to the Belgians that they were not innocent of collaboration or of taking Jewish property," he said. Becker believes that because many citizens refused to collaborate with the Nazis and helped save of Belgium's Jews, "the Belgians had a very positive self-image and found it difficult to accept that they too had numerous collaborators." Belgium has signed several agreements in the past few years to provide compensation for Jewish property stolen during and after the Holocaust.
3. Charles Jacobs "Why Israel and not Sudan..."
From: EleanaBenador1@aol.com
***************************************
Why Israel and not Sudan, is singled out
By Charles Jacobs, 10/5/2002
ARVARD PRESIDENT Lawrence Summers recently criticized those on his campus who speak in the name of human rights but selectively censure Israel while ignoring much greater problems in the Middle East. He described the divestment campaign against Israel on his campus as anti-Semitic ''in effect if not intent.'' But human rights (and media) attention is often disproportionate to the severity or urgency of human conflicts. What determines their focus is not mainly anti-Semitism. Nor is it the level of horror. It is the racial, religious, and cultural character of the perpetrators, not the victims, that determines the response of Westerners. An instructive case is Sudan. Atrocities there exceed every other world horror. For 10 years the blacks of South Sudan have been victims of a....
Do rights activists and editorialists care more for Palestinians than for blacks? Surely not. It is the nature of the conflict, I propose, not the level of horror, that determines the response of Westerners.
In Khartoum, a Taliban-like Muslim regime is waging a self-declared jihad on African Christians and followers of tribal faiths in South Sudan. Non-Arab African Muslims are also targeted for devastation. Two million people have been killed - more than in Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, and Burundi combined. Tens of thousands have been displaced, and 100,000, according to the US Committee on Refugees, forcibly starved.
Western lack of interest is all the more stunning as Khartoum's onslaught has rekindled the trade in black slaves, halted (mostly) a century ago by the British abolitionists. Arab militias storm African villages, kill the men, and enslave the women and children. Accounts by journalists and others depict the horror. In these pogroms, after the men are slaughtered, the women, girls, and boys are gang raped - or they have their throats slit for resisting. The terrorized survivors are marched northward and distributed to Arab masters, the women to become concubines, the girls domestics, the boys goat herders.
It is hard to explain why victims of slavery and slaughter are virtually ignored by American progressives. How can it be that there is no storm of indignation at Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch, which, though they rushed to Jenin to investigate false reports of Jews massacring Arabs, care so much less about Arab-occupied Juba, South Sudan's black capital? How can it be that they have not raised the roof about Khartoum's black slaves? Neither has there been a concerted effort by the press to pressure American administrations to intervene. Nor has the socialist left spoken of liberating the slaves or protecting black villages from pogroms, even though Wall Street helps bankroll Khartoum's oil business, which finances the slaughter.
What is this silence about? Surely it is not because we don't care about blacks. Progressives champion oppressed black peoples daily. My hypothesis is this: to predict what the human rights community (and the media) focus on, look not at the oppressed; look instead at the party seen as the oppressor. Imagine the media coverage and the rights groups' reaction if it were ''whites'' enslaving blacks in Sudan. Having the ''right'' oppressor would change everything.
Alternatively, imagine the ''wrong'' oppressor: Suppose that Arabs, not Jews, shot Palestinians in revolt. In 1970 (''Black September''), Jordan murdered tens of thousands of Palestinians in two days, yet we saw no divestment campaigns, and we wouldn't today. This selectivity (at least in the United States, does not come from the hatred of Jews. It is '' a human rights complex '' - and is not hard to understand. The human rights community, composed mostly of compassionate white people, feels a special duty to protest evil done by those who are like ''us.''
''Not in my name'' is the worthy response of moral people. South African whites could not be allowed to represent ''us.'' But when we see evil done by ''others,'' we tend to shy away. Though we claim to have a single standard for all human conduct, we don't. We fear the charge of hypocrisy: We Westerners after all, had slaves. We napalmed Vietnam. We live on Native American land. Who are we to judge ''others?'' And so we don't stand for all of humanity.
The biggest victims of this complex are not the Jews who are obsessively criticized but the victims of genocide, enslavement, religious persecution, and ethnic cleansing who are murderously ignored: the Christian slaves of Sudan, the Muslim slaves of Mauritania, the Tibetans, the Kurds, the Christians in Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt.
Charles Jacobs is president of the American Anti-Slavery Group.
http://www.benadorassociates.com/
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/278/oped/Why_Israel_and_not_Sudan_is_singled_out+.shtml
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Jerusalem News-129
Contents:
1. Arutz-7 News: Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2002
AMERICAN JEWISH POPULATION DROPPING
ISRAELI CHUTE FOR TALL BUILDINGS
2. More equality [for Arabs] in Israel than in Europe
3. Achievements and Shortcomings of PM Sharon
4. Herbert Zweibon:The Rise of Christian Support for Israel
1. Arutz-7 News: Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2002 / Cheshvan 3, 5763
AMERICAN JEWISH POPULATION DROPPING
The 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey shows that there are fewer Jews living in the United States than there were ten years ago. The Jewish population of the U.S. now stands at 5.2 million, the survey shows, compared to 5.5 million a decade earlier. The study also reveals that the American Jewish community has aged. The median age for American Jews has risen from 37 to 41, while the proportion of children in the Jewish community has dropped from 21 to 19 percent.
[Brit-Am comment: Other information, however, suggests that the Jewish population in the USA is slightly rising.
The number of people who considered themselves not technically Jewish but "Jewish connected" was more than
13 million].
ISRAELI CHUTE FOR TALL BUILDINGS
Israel21C reports that an Israeli company has designed a chute it hopes will save people caught in tall buildings in the event of a fire, earthquake or other disaster. The giant yellow slide was unveiled in Washington, D.C., last week by Tel Aviv-based Advanced Modular Evacuation Systems, headed by Israeli entrepreneur Eli Nir. Work on the chute was begun well before 9-11, but was spurred on by that calamity when people caught on high floors could not be saved.
The chute is packaged into a relatively small container, which is fitted into the walls of buildings. Fire-resistant, it is supported by springs and cables that coil around the shaft, and is triggered either manually or by a fire alarm. Company officials explained that to deploy the system, a spring ejects and unfolds the chute to ground level, where it must be anchored. Fifteen people per minute can escape safely, protected from heat, smoke, fire and hazardous debris. Acceleration down the chute, although rapid, is controlled through a series of "steps" every five floors. At the final stage of descent, the chute flattens its trajectory, allowing for a sharp deceleration and an easy stop on the landing pad.
Each system can be custom-designed and installed within six months, on both old and new buildings. Company officials said the system, which has already undergone more than 100 successful tests, would be on the market by spring.
2. More equality [for Arabs] in Israel than in Europe
Date: Wed, 09 Oct 2002 18:49:26 -0400
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: More equality in Israel than in Europe
More equality in Israel than in Europe
By Amnon Rubinstein Ha'aretz 9 October 2002
The gap between the rich and relatively advanced State of Israel and the
lagging Arab world has much increased (the Arab states are at the bottom of
the United Nations' Human Development Index, behind South American,
Caribbean, and Southeast Asian countries) and is liable to be another
obstacle in the future of relationships between Jews and Arabs in the Middle
East. In Israel itself, however, despite the events of the last two years,
equality between Jews and Muslims has grown in many aspects. Data from the
health authorities, at least, attest to a better situation than in Western
countries.
The data from the health authorities are most important because they measure
not only the welfare of society but also its relations to the minorities
living within it and because the right to health, which is one of the human
rights, is actually the right to life and is of utmost importance. The UN,
therefore, also views the data on infant mortality - perhaps the most
important indicator for measuring public health - as the most important
component of the Human Development Index. Infant mortality indexes are also
considered the most reliable and can be compared internationally.
In Israel, there are gaps between the infant mortality rates among Jews and
among Muslim Arabs. In 2001, the infant mortality rate among Arabs was 7.6
per thousand live births (Muslim Arabs, 8.2; Christian Arabs 2.6; Druze,
4.7), while among Jews it was 4.1. This is a substantial gap, which the
Health Ministry explains is caused mainly by marriages between close
relatives. It is worth noting, however, that the gaps in this area are
shrinking at a truly impressive rate. During the years 1955-59, the infant
mortality rate among Muslims was 60.6 per thousand - while among Jews it was
38.8 per thousand (take note, you who miss "the good old Israel"). The
relationship between the two sets of figures may not have changed much, but
the massive drop in infant mortality in the Muslim sector also brought this
sector closer to Western rates.
An even more important fact is that the infant mortality gaps in Israel are
lower than between Muslim minorities living in some Western countries and
those of the local population. Researchers from the International
Organization for Migration, based in Geneva, published data on these rates
for the first time in 2000. In France, for example, the rate of stillbirths
per thousand live births was 8 among the French and 13 among Arabs from
North Africa. The mortality rates for babies up to one week old were 6 and
15 respectively. This means that the fetal and early infancy deaths among
Arabs are more than twice that among the French majority.
In rich and developed France, the infant mortality rates among Arabs (most
of whom speak the language of the country, and some of whom are already
second, third and fourth generation natives of France) are not only much
higher than in Israel - the gap between the minority and the majority there
is considerably larger than in "racist Israel." These numbers speak for
Israel more than dozens of anti-Semitic articles and anti-Israel
resolutions.
In general the gaps in infant mortality rates between majorities and
minorities - even when there is no national conflict between them - are
higher even in the richest of countries. In Switzerland, the infant
mortality rates per thousand for Swiss and Turks are 8.2 and 12.3,
respectively. In Britain, 7.8 and 5.6 (English and Pakistanis). The
situation is worst in the United States, where the rate for whites is 8.5
and for blacks, an astounding 21.3.
Against this background, it seems Israel's accomplishments are great,
considering this is a country less wealthy than those mentioned above and
one under conditions of severe national conflict between the majority and
the minority. We must not suffice with this achievement. On the contrary, it
proves that even under such conditions, Israel can reach full equality in
every aspect of life between members of the Jewish majority and the national
Arab minority.
3. Achievements and Shortcomings of PM Sharon
DEBKA-Net-Weekly
http://www.debka.com/
> To: admin@debka.com
> Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 11:33 PM
> Subject: Issue 79
> DEBKA-Net-Weekly
> Intelligence - Terror - Mid East - Islam - International Conflicts - Security - Political Analysis
DEBKAfile offers here an interim summing up of Sharon's gains and losses in his 19 months in office:
Strategic gains:
a.. He turned the 1993 Oslo Peace Framework accords into a dead letter.
b.. He shook Yasser Arafat's infallibility as sole Palestinian leader and undermined his international standing.
c.. He snapped the conduit Arafat and the Palestinian Authority had maintained with Washington.
d.. He undid the Palestinian Authority as the sole central government for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
e.. He seriously reduced the Fatah and its Tanzim militia.
f.. He broke up the Palestinian security and intelligence arms, including Jibril Rajoub's preventive security service and Muhammed al-Hindi's general security service.
g.. He wiped out the West Bank terrorist strongholds of the Tanzim, Force 17, the Hamas and the Jihad Islami.
h.. It is a little known fact that the IDF smashed al Qaeda bases and an important Hizballah center on the West Bank in the course of the decisive battle it fought in the Jenin refugee camp on April 13, 2002.
Diplomatic gains:
a.. He forged an exceptionally harmonious political and military partnership between Jerusalem and Washington and a high degree of understanding with the Oval Office.
b.. He deactivated Arafat's deep and massive support in the European community and extinguished the EU's tireless attempts to force on Israel arrangements contrary to its interests, like imported international peacekeepers.
c.. He stripped Arafat of unquestioning support from Cairo.
d.. He removed the Saudi peace plan from the international agenda, exposing it as a PR exercise that did not spring from the brain of the peace campaigner Crown Prince Abdullah but from the offices of two Washington DC public relations firms.
Shortcomings:
The Palestinian front: Yasser Arafat still calls the shots in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Palestinian communities elsewhere. Sharon missed four opportunities for bringing about his final exit, the first, when he took office in March 2001; second, after the Tel Aviv disco teenage massacre in June 2001; third, after the Passover murders at the Park Hotel, Netanya, in March 2002; fourth, after the Hebrew University, Mount Scopus attack in August 2002, when five Americans lost their lives.
Until now, Sharon consistently drew back from inflicting the death blow on the Palestinian terrorist high command and the Fatah suicide arm, the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. One consequence of leaving them at liberty until now was to effectively grant the Iraqi military intelligence cells operating under the al Aqsa Brigades umbrella full license.
It is no wonder that Palestinian terrorism continues unabated however much steel Sharon piles on the lower ranks.
Finally, Sharon has never come to grips with the Hizballah's cross-border threat from Lebanon, nor taken action against the Palestinian Fronts and Islamic groups based in Damascus.
4. Herbert Zweibon:The Rise of Christian Support for Israel
Date: Mon, 07 Oct 2002 17:49:23 -0500
From: voicesunited@israelunitycoalition.com
Subject: The Rise of Christian Support for Israel
National Unity Coalition for Israel
3965 W. 83rd St. #292 Shawnee Mission, KS 66208
Phone: 913-432-7900 voicesunited@israelunitycoalition.com
Web: http://www.israelunitycoalition.com
The Rise of Christian Support for Israel
Herbert Zweibon
Outpost: Americans for a Safe Israel - September 30, 2002The October 11 "Christians for Israel" rally in Washington, D.C. will send this powerful and much-needed message to President Bush: your core constituency demands that you stop promoting the creation of a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
Although the president's rhetoric has often (but not always) been strongly pro-Israel, and although he has rightly refused to meet with arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat, the Bush administration's policy still has defined a goal more extreme than any previous administration: the establishment of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state along Israel's 1967 border. Mr. Bush's pro-Israel words keep Israel's supporters at bay, while the State Department continues guiding American foreign policy in the same pro-Arab direction it has always counseled.
None of this sits well with the millions of conservative Christian voters in the American heartland, who constitute the base of the Republican Party's electoral support. Supporting Israel is a crucial element of their religious beliefs. They consider the Bible the Word of God. They look at the Jews as the Bible describes them, as God's Chosen People.
There are, of course, many perfectly good, non-theological reasons to back Israel. It shares America's democratic and humanitarian values. It is America's only reliable partner in the Middle East. It is America's most important ally in the war against terrorism. But no motive for supporting Israel is more unyielding than a theological motive. The Bible is unchanging. Believers will not bend their beliefs in response to political calculations or media reports. Conservative Christians have thus become the Jewish State's most steadfast supporters.
Conservative Christian support for Israel first came to public attention in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Two factors converged: as the Rev. Jerry Falwell began organizing the Moral Majority, Israel was naturally at the top of its agenda; and as the Carter administration's pressure on Israel intensified, Christians were outraged and vigorously protested.
The surge of Christian support for Israel during the past year has been widely noted by the media. A recent front-page story in the Wall Street Journal was headlined "How Israel Became a Favorite Cause of Christian Right." A "Sixty Minutes" segment in early October is scheduled to focus on Christian support for Israel, with evangelical pro-Israel activist Ed McAteer as one of the main interviewees. Even the far-left magazine Mother Jones recently published a feature story on the subject.
The unprecedented terrorist war waged by the Palestinians against Israel has galvanized large numbers of conservative Christians to take an active role in pro-Israel lobbying, letter-writing, and rallies. The October rally, organized by the Christian Coalition under its new president, Roberta Combs, will provide a vivid demonstration of the large numbers of Christians who are deeply concerned over the Bush administration's plan to reward Palestinian terror with a sovereign state.
Christians will turn out in force for the rally, and they can expect widespread appreciation from the American Jewish community. Most grassroots Jews are deeply grateful to Christian conservatives for helping Israel in its time of need. The fact that many Jews -- given the large proportion of liberals among them -- disagree with Christian conservatives on certain domestic issues is now widely regarded as irrelevant. Only a handful of diehard Jewish liberals continue to make the absurd argument that Jews should reject conservative Christian friendship for Israel because of disagreements on other issues.
At a time when Israelis are being murdered almost daily, and when Israel is in danger of being forced back to the pre-1967 "Auschwitz lines," the pro-Israel community needs -- and has deep appreciation for -- its friends in the evangelical Christian community.
Herbert Zweibon is chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel. Who We Are: National Unity Coalition for IsraelFounded in 1991, we are the largest worldwide coalition of Jewish and Christian organizations, with more than 200 groups representing millions of people dedicated to Israel. Though we have many different backgrounds, we have one common goal: A Safe and Secure Israel.
Israel is not just a Jewish issue. Millions of Christians resolutely endorse the principle of peace with security for the state of Israel. Because we work closely together and speak with a united voice, our message is being heard!
Jerusalem News-130
Contents:
1. American Christians and support for Israel
2. Arutz-7 News: Thursday, Oct. 10, 2002
SUICIDE BUS-BOMBER MURDERS ONE
ISRAELI WINS NOBEL PRIZE
U.S. SENATOR: HAMAS AND HIZBULLAH ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN IRAQ
MILITARY OPTION IN LEBANON
RECORD REGISTRATION AT MACHON MEIR
3. George K. Bernstein: Thank God for the Evangelical Christians
Evangelical Christian Support is Crucial in the Battle to Preserve Israel
1. American Christians and support for Israel
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 03:42:33 -0400
New Poll: American Christians and support for Israel
http://www.standforisrael.org/index.cfm?FuseAction=Articles.Home&Article_id=
by The Tarrance Group
To: Stand for Israel
(a project of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews)
From: Ed Goeas & William Stewart
Subject: American Christians and support for Israel
This research project was designed to fulfill two main objectives: [a] to
determine the extent to which different subgroups of the U.S. population
support Israel as well as the basis for this support; and [b] to determine
whether or not evangelical Christians share common values and opinions with
Jews, and vice versa.
The key findings
• A majority (54%) of Americans indicates that it supports Israel and its
policies and actions towards Palestinian terrorism; just 29% are opposed.
The most commonly cited reasons as to why Americans support Israel is
because the two countries share common values and enjoy friendly relations.
• While it comes as no surprise that Jews are the most unified in their
support towards Israel (85%), it is surprising that Democrats and liberals
two groups with which Jews are typically aligned are far less likely to
share the same opinion. Support for Israel stands at 46% among Democrats and
45% among self-identified liberals, while among Republicans and
self-identified conservatives this figure reaches 67% and 61%, respectively.
• This survey also finds that evangelical Christians who frequently attend
religious services are among those most supportive of Israel. Fully 62% of
conservative Christians say they support Israel and its policies and actions
towards Palestinian terrorism, and among conservative Christian men this
figure jumps to 77%. Even among other major religious groups like Catholics
and Protestants support for Israel still exceeds 50%.
• Evangelicals are most likely to indicate they support Israel because of
the strong relationship that Israel has developed with the United States
24% point to the fact that Israel is a democracy that values self-government
and freedom and another 19% support Israel because it is an important and
longstanding ally to our country in the war against terrorism.
• Contrary to conventional wisdom, a minority of evangelicals cites their
theological belief as the reason why they support Israel. Thirty-five
percent (35%) of evangelicals say they support Israel because it is the
place prophesized for the Second Coming of Christ in the New Testament.
While this may be important to some, theological reasoning is not the
dominant factor in most evangelical?s decision to support Israel. Still,
there is no evidence in this survey to suggest that entire groups of people
aside from Jews support or oppose Israel and its policies and actions
against Palestinian terrorism because of their religious beliefs.
• In response to a more in-depth follow-up question regarding the specific
theological reason why one supports Israel, 59% of conservative Christians
point to reasons related to the Biblical promise to bless Israel and the
Jewish people. Only 28% of conservative Christians cite reasons related to
end times as the main theological reason why they support Israel. This is a
sharp departure from the caricature often painted of conservative Christian
support for Israel as based solely on the Second Coming of Christ. Moreover,
as seen among conservative Christians, roughly two-in-three Jews (62%) also
point to God's covenant to the Jewish people as the number one theological
reason why they support Israel.
• One thing this survey does reveal about those individuals who are
"anti-Israel" is that three-quarters of them (76%) believe that the Israelis
and the Palestinians are equally to blame for the current conflict. Overall,
just 38% of Americans lay blame solely on Yasser Arafat and the
Palestinians; however, this figure climbs is notably higher among both
conservative Christians and Jews (47% and 67%, respectively).
• When comparing other survey responses among conservative Christians and
Jews, there is plenty of evidence in this survey to show that these two
groups in fact share similar opinions and viewpoints on many issues,
especially when it comes to Israel. The big difference is that many
conservative Christians would speculate that their opinions and values are
similar to those held by Jews, but Jews are far less likely to accept the
notion that their opinions and values are similar to those held by
evangelicals.
• On the issue of whether or not conservative Christians believe they share
the same viewpoint as Jews when it comes to the issue of Israel and its
current struggle against Palestine, 67% indicate that they believe their
viewpoint is similar. However, when asking Jews whether or not they share
the same viewpoint as fundamentalist and evangelical Christians on the issue
of Israel, only 49% indicate that they believe that their viewpoint is
similar. This is an important disparity because it demonstrates that
conservative Christians here in the U.S. think they are on the same page as
the Jews when it comes to the issue of Israel, but the Jews just don't see
it the same way.
• Despite the fact that 53% of Jews would agree with the statement that
fundamentalist and evangelical Christians are strong supporters of Israel,
Jews continue to harbor a certain degree of skepticism towards the
evangelical Christian community. Jews also reject the notion that
conservative Christians seek to create a Christian nation by a margin of
two-to-one, thus suggesting that dialogue between these two groups is
possible.
II. Other major findings from this survey
• Four-out-of-five adults (80%) agree that enemies of the United States,
like Saddam Hussein and Al Queda, are also enemies of Israel. Agreement with
this statement exceeds 75% among nearly every major demographic group.
• Nearly three-in-five Americans (59%) say they favor U.S. military action
against Iraq; 39% oppose such action. conservative Christians are among
those most in favor of U.S. military action against Iraq (69%), as are
Republicans (80%) and men (65%). In contrast, Democrats and self-identified
liberals are essentially evenly divided on this issue.
• This survey finds that George W. Bush is making real progress in appealing
to the Jewish community. A clear majority of Jews (81%) see Bush as a strong
supporter of Israel, and 46% say they would be more likely to vote for him
based on the way he has been handling the war on terrorism. His job approval
and image ratings are also quite strong among Jews given the fact that over
60% of this population identify themselves as Democrat and fewer than 20%
voted for Bush in 2000. Fully 43% approve of the job Bush is doing as
President and 53% have a favorable impression of him. The bottom line is
that Bush appears to making some significant inroads with this heavily
Democratic group, something that could have an impact on the next two
election cycles.
III. Conclusion
• Conservative Christians are strongly supportive of Israel, an opinion that
is driven more because of the strong relationship that Israel has with the
United States than theological reasons. And it?s not just the evangelicals
themselves telling us that they stand for Israel, other groups namely Jews
also acknowledge that they believe evangelicals are supportive of Israel.
Indeed, this survey demonstrates that Christians and Jews share similar
values, especially on the key issue of the conflict in Israel. Certainly the
door is open for these two groups to engage in dialogue.
2. Arutz-7 News: Thursday, Oct. 10, 2002
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Thursday, Oct. 10, 2002 / Cheshvan 4, 5763
SUICIDE BUS-BOMBER MURDERS ONE
A grandmother from Ramat Gan was killed this morning in a suicide-bomber terrorist attack - but it could have been many times worse.
Shortly before 8 AM near Ramat Gan, a crowded Dan Company #87 bus stopped to pick up passengers on the Geha Highway opposite Bar-Ilan University, when an Arab passenger trying to board through the back door slipped and fell outside. As the bus began to pull away, several passengers yelled to the driver that someone had fallen. He stopped the bus and, together with another man, went to attend to the fallen would-be passenger - but they soon saw that he was aiming to be more than just another rider. The two caught a glimpse of wires wrapped around the Arab's body, and realized that he was a suicide terrorist wearing an explosives belt.
They quickly grabbed the murderer's arms to prevent him from detonating the device, and yelled to the passengers to get off the bus. When the bus was cleared of people, the two men let go of the terrorist and started running. Seconds later, the bomber got up, ran about 30 meters towards a group of people and detonated his explosives - killing Saadah Aharon, 71, of Ramat Gan, and lightly wounding 11 others. They were transported to nearby hospitals, where nine of them still remain.
Mrs. Aharon left three children and 15 grandchildren. "She was the ultimate in vitality, the ultimate in giving, the ultimate in warmth," one relative said. "A real woman of valor, whose grandchildren loved her very much..." She will be buried this evening in Rosh Ha'Ayin.
Based on the distance the murderer's organs flew as a result of the blast, police say that the powerful explosive, which contained metal balls, would have been catastrophic had it been detonated on board the bus.
After the rescue work had been completed, several dozen people arrived on the scene carrying signs that read, "Revenge and Death Sentences for Terrorists." Police finally came and removed them from the highway.\
ISRAELI WINS NOBEL PRIZE
Israeli citizen and Princeton University professor Daniel Kahneman yesterday became the first Israeli to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. The Nobel Committee chose to honor Kahneman for his unique achievement in applying psychological theories to economic principles. Kahneman becomes the fifth Israeli Nobel Laureate since the founding of the state. The others were Shmuel Yosef Agnon (literature), and Prime Ministers Begin, Rabin and Peres (peace).
At least two other Israelis (David Grossman and Amos Oz) hoped that they might also be chosen for the Nobel Prize today, but in the end it was Imre Kertesz, a Hungarian Jew who survived Auschwitz, who was picked to receive the Literature Prize. He was recognized for his writing that "upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history." Kertesz, who spent a year as a teenager in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, wrote several books about Holocaust-related themes. "For him," the Prize-awarding Swedish Academy declared about Kertesz, "Auschwitz is not an exceptional occurrence. It is the ultimate truth about human degradation in modern experience.''
U.S. SENATOR: HAMAS AND HIZBULLAH ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN IRAQ
US Senator Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said yesterday that Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad have sleeper agents in the United States and pose an immediate danger to America and its citizens. International affairs correspondent Michael Freund reports that in a speech to the Senate, Graham said, "I am concerned by those who see only one evil. I urge my colleagues to open their eyes to the much larger array of lethal, more violent range of foes that are prepared to assault us here at home."
MILITARY OPTION IN LEBANON
"If Israel continues to practice restraint in the face of the Lebanese water-pumping, this will deal yet another blow to Israel's deterrence ability." So warned top IDF leaders last night in a meeting with government leaders. They were referring to the new southern Lebanese water pumping station, which is scheduled to start regular operations next week. The new installation, only about a mile from the Israeli border, will draw water from the Wazani River, which pours into one of Israel's main water sources, the Hatzbani River. Prime Minister Sharon is said to agree with the military warning, yet feels that the American mediation efforts must be given another few days to succeed.
RECORD REGISTRATION AT MACHON MEIR
Rabbi Dov Begun, founder and Rosh Yeshiva of the Meir Institute for Jewish Studies, talked with Arutz-7 today about the yeshiva's record registration this year of 300 students. Known as the flagship of religious-Zionist institutions for the newly-religious, the yeshiva - known as Machon Meir - "has students from all walks of life: Kibbutzim and moshavim, academia, 'regular' people - and just last week, we opened a new French-speaking division... Last year we had 'only' 200 students, and this year we had to turn some away; many are still waiting in line..."
Asked how he explained the phenomenon, Rabbi Begun said,
"Over the past few years, we have seen a great awakening of Jews in Israel, and in the Diaspora as well, looking for their roots... You see this throughout the whole country: Compare Eilat of 30 years ago to now, when you can barely find a bomb shelter that doesn't have a synagogue. [Ed. note: Makeshift synagogues in Israel often start out in underground bomb shelters until more permanent quarters can be found.] The prophet Ezekiel says that when we return to the Land of Israel, there will first be a religious crisis, but then 'I will sprinkle pure water on them, I will give them a new heart, etc.' We are in the beginning of a period not only of a return to Zion, but also of a return to the Torah... It's more than just a phenomenon of 'returnees to Judaism;' you now see so many people who used to be so far from tradition but who are now returning to synagogues, to Jewish holidays and customs..."
3. George K. Bernstein: Thank God for the Evangelical Christians
Evangelical Christian Support is Crucial in the Battle to Preserve Israel
National Unity Coalition for Israel
Web: http://www.israelunitycoalition.com
WUST AM, Jewish Community Program - October 06, 2002
Here's the weekly talk I gave last Sunday.
George
------------------
Good Afternoon.
Thank God for the evangelical Christians.
With the exception of a few Jewish organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America and Americans for a Safe Israel, evangelical Christian groups, such as the Christian Coalition of America, the Christian Friends of Israel and CIPAC [Ed.: the Australian based Christians' Israel Public Action Campaign], are Israel's most loyal supporters in the United States.
I am not troubled by their Messianic beliefs involving Jerusalem. When the Messiah comes, it will be time enough to speculate on Israel's future. Right now, I'm worried about Israel's survival - today and tomorrow.
Well before the Oslo Accords, fringe groups, such as Peace Now and Tikkun, pressured Israel to surrender Judea, Samaria and Gaza and supported the establishment of another Palestinian State. Some of their spokesmen likened Israel to apartheid South Africa.
With the advent of Oslo, most of the American rabbinate, Jewish organizations and Jewish members of the media joined the "peace at any price" movement and tried to make pariahs of those who opposed appeasement and defended Israel's historical rights.
They argued that if only the Jewish State would retreat to pre-67 borders, share Jerusalem, create another Palestinian State, recognize a right of return for Arab refugees and not respond to the murder of its innocents, it would be loved by the world and find peace with its Arab brothers.
The folly of these American Jews was exceeded only by that of the Israeli fantasists who negotiated Oslo, armed the Arab enemy, and ceded sacred and strategically essential land to a proven group of anti-semitic murderers and terrorists.
These American Jews welcomed Arafat and his henchmen in their sy