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"Eretz Yisrael L'Am Yisrael!"
[The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel!]
A weekly review and analysis of news and events relating to Israel and the Jewish people.
Week Ending: May 7, 2005/28 Nisan 5765
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A weekly summary of news and events concerning Israel and the Jewish people.
"When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel." Deuteronomy 32:8
[+] UPDATED ARTICLES/COMMENTARIES ON OUR WEB SITE: :: APOCALYPSE NOW http://www.shamar.org/emet/analysis/apocalypse_now.htm
There have been two major stages in modern Israel's development: Construction - the building of the State; and Destruction - the tearing down of the state. This is a brief analysis of these significant stages.
[+] THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS:
:: IDF STEPPING UP FIGHT AGAINST 'SETTLERS': The IDF has begun to funnel increasing resources to monitor, gather evidence against, and arrest residents of Judea and Samaria who protest the relocation of 8,500 Jews from Gaza, security sources said last Sunday. A five year veteran of the Givat Ronen outpost Ben Shahar believes that the IDF and police are over-publicizing the anti-relocation activities partly to offset "the growing refusal movement," which is centered in Elon Moreh. IDF officers now say they know where the demonstrators live, they know their names, but making a case against them stick is another matter; a preemptive move on them is out of the question. [Jerusalem Post]
:: POLICE COMPLETE PREPARATIONS FOR GAZA EXPULSION/RELOCATION: In preparation for the relocation of Jews from Gaza this summer, police have recently completed an extensive intelligence-gathering operation and have mapped out the communities scheduled to be abandoned in extremely precise detail. Each Gush Katif settlement has been split into several sections, according to a system largely based on neighborhoods within the communities. Each house has been given a code number, and police have gathered detailed information about each home: how many children live there, what car the parents drive, whether handicapped people live there and whether the family has lost a loved one in a terror attack. Police have acquired equipment valued at tens of millions of shekels to evacuate the residents, from hydrolic cranes to special containers which can be air-lifted to transport police to rooftops of homes, where residents are expected to make a stand to defend their homes. Police expect that synagogues and community centers would serve as the residents main centers of resistance, the fortresses from which they will stage their resistance. Police also expect there to be massive disruptions of order mainly within the Green Line during the evacuation. Police were making special preparations in Jerusalem near government buildings and the Temple Mount and in Tel Aviv near the offices of the Defense Ministry.
Meanwhile, the IDF's champion hand-to-hand combat instructor - Corporal Idan (his last name cannot be published at this time) - refuses to train soldiers in martial arts against Jews during the relocation from Gaza and the northern Shomron - and was sacked as an instructor. Friends of his told the YEDIOT ACHARONOT newspaper that he was asked recently to give a martial arts course to Givati troops. He expressed reservations, asking his commanders whether the training had anything to do with this summer's withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria. He was assured it did not, and accepted the task. Once he began preparing to teach the course, though, he was told to show the soldiers what to do when attacked by "a settler with a knife" and other such situations. He then realized that the training would, in fact, be used against those opposing the relocation. Corporal Idan told his commanders that he refused "to train soldiers against Jews." He demanded that soldiers in his course sign a declaration promising not to use the training against Jews, under penalty of imprisonment. His superiors did not go along with this demand, and he said he would be willing to stand trial in an IDF court to defend his position. Thousands of IDF soldiers and officers have already signed declarations that they will refuse to take part in the uprooting of Jewish towns.
In addition, the security establishment has requested that ZAKA, the organization that ensures proper burial and collection of human tissues after terror attacks, participate in exhuming the graves of those buried in Gush Katif. ZAKA refused the request and also decided to discontinue its work with the traffic police, which the organization fears will free up officers to participate in this Summer's expulsion of Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria. "There is no chance that we will have anything to do with this," ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav said. "I was one of the founders of the Hatzala emergency response team in Gush Katif. I am a part of the place. How can I take part in an act like this?" [Jerusalem Post, Arutz Sheva, ZAKA]
"Do we not all have one father? Has not one G-d created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?" (Malachi 2:10)
:: GAZA: AN OCCUPIED TERRITORY OR LAND OF ISRAEL?
Fact: Gaza and Tiberias substituted Jerusalem during 135-600 AD - as a pilgrimage site - following Jerusalem's decimation by Rome.
Fact: The Castil family headed a large contingent of Jewish refugees from Spain (1492), who bolstered the Gaza Jewish community. The traveler Ovadia of Bartenura documented the 1488 Gaza Jewish community.
Fact: The known travelers Georgio Gucci (1384) and Meshulam of Voltera (1481) praised Gaza's Jewish community for its wine production and wealth.
Fact: The Ottoman Empire facilitated settlement of Jews in Gaza.
Fact: The Gaza synagogue was located on the hilltop, which is currently named by Arabs, Khart Al-Yahood (the Jewish neighborhood). The synagogue was destroyed, in 1831, by Egypt's Ibrahim Pasha.
Fact: Rome's Constantinus The Great failed to convert and uproot Gaza's Jewish community (4th century).
Fact: Gaza's Jewish community was uprooted during the 1929 anti-Jewish riots, which annihilated the Jewish community of Hebron.
Fact: In October 1946, Kfar Darom (a current settlement in the Gaza Strip) and ten other Jewish communities were established, in order to avert the British plan of disengaging the Negev from the Jewish State.
Fact: Kfar Darom was established on the site of the 3rd-4th century Talmudic Jewish town of Kfar Darom. The Jewish farmer, Tuvia Miller, planted an orchard in Kfar Darom, which was destroyed during the 1936-39 anti-Jewish pogroms. The newly established 1946 Kfar Darom was uprooted following the 1948 Egyptian military invasion. Would the 1967 rebuilt Kfar Darom be uprooted by the Jewish State? [CFOIC]
:: 'PALESTINIANS' FIRE MISSILES AT SCHOOL BUS: On Friday morning 'Palestinians' fired an anti-tank rocket at a school bus carrying children outside the southern Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom, shaking the fragile lull in violence. The rocket failed to hit the bus.
'Palestinian' terrorists fired four Qassam rockets at Sderot in the predawn Friday. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said that several people had been treated for shock. Three of the rockets landed in an open field. One hit a building in the center of the Negev town, which was empty at the time due to renovation works. A mortar shell also hit a Gush Katif settlement. No damage or casualties were reported. The Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees, affiliated with Abu Mazen's Fatah organization, claimed responsibility for the shelling of Sderot. In general, there has been an increase in recent weeks of over 300% in Gaza-based attacks aimed at civilian and military targets throughout Gaza and southern Green Line Israel.
Meanwhile, 'Palestinian' police, enforcing a ceasefire with Israel, arrested two men from a suspected Hamas rocket squad but freed the terrorists soon after, officials said on Tuesday. Political sources in Jerusalem said the PA/PLO had widely publicized the arrest in an effort to prove it was taking actions against terrorism. However, after Hamas threatened violent retaliation, the prisoners were quietly released.
In a related matter, the Palestinian Authority reiterated Wednesday it had no intention of disarming terrorists despite constant Israeli calls for such a move and a recent pledge to crack down on unlicensed weapons. [Ha'aretz, AP, Arutz Sheva, Reuters, Israeli Consulate]
:: RESTRAINTS PUT ON BUSH FUNDING OF PLO: The United States Congress imposed tight restrictions on aid to the 'Palestinians' last week. In the emergency spending bill that lawmakers completed late Tuesday, the White House had sought $200 million "to support 'Palestinian' political, economic, and security reforms," as the president said in his February State of the Union address. But the fine print of the document gives $50 million of that money directly to Israel to build terminals for people and goods at checkpoints surrounding 'Palestinian' areas. Another $2 million for 'Palestinian' health care will be provided to Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, while the allocation of the rest of the money is tightly prescribed. The bill makes it difficult for the White House to give any of the aid directly to the Palestinian Authority, President Bush had planned in an effort to prop up PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas. Instead, the assistance must be funneled through nongo vernmental organizations. While in theory the White House could impose some sort of waiver on the restrictions to direct aid (as the President has done numerous times in the past), a congressional official said the State Department had assured lawmakers that Bush would not seek that authority. [Washington Post]
:: WEAPONS BUILD-UP CONTINUES IN THE AREA: Russian President Vladimir Putin explained last week that Russia plans to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and give 50 armored vehicles and two helicopters to the PA/PLO.
The Israel Air Force has quietly expressed frustration over its decision to accept a U.S.-origin radar for the new F-16I multi-role fighter. Defense officials and military sources said the choice of Northrop Grumman's AN/APG-68[V]9 synthetic-aperture multi-mode radar has dismayed both the service and the Defense Ministry. They said an evaluation by Israeli air force pilots of the U.S. radar showed it to be inferior to an indigenous Israeli radar designed by Elta Electronic Industries. Israeli pilots flew the F-16I in test flights in 2003 in the United States. "This was the most political decision ever made by the air force and we'll be paying for this for years to come," a senior officer said. The military sources said the Defense Ministry agreed to a U.S. radar as part of the request for 102 F-16 Block 50 aircraft from the United States in 1999. The U.S. Defense Department refused to allow Israel to install the Elta SAR radar on the F-16, the staple of NATO air forces.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates this week took delivery of the most advanced F-16 ever produced. The first batch of US-built 80 F-16 "Block 60" fighters landed at an official, but quiet ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Neither the US nor the UAE announced the delivery. But reports from AFP as well as the UAE's KHALEEJ TIMES said the event took place on Tuesday and was attended by Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan. They did not specify the number of planes received. The UAE is paying $6.4 billion for the 80 jets, produced by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin at its plant in Fort Worth, Texas. These F-16s are more advanced than the newest Israeli F-16 I "Block 50+" and even any US F-16 model. It is one of the few weapon systems in the hands of an Arab state qualitatively superior to that in the Israeli arsenal. The delivery to the UAE marks the first time the US allowed its sale outside of NATO countries. [Arutz Sheva, MENL, Jerusalem Post]
:: ANTI-SEMITISM HITS 15-YEAR HIGH: A Tel Aviv university study released this week reveals that 2004 was marked by a drastic increase in anti-Semitic incidents, with the number of violent activities reaching its highest level since 1989, YNET reported. Most violent incidents were recorded in France, Britain, Canada, and Russia. The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States rose by 17 percent in 2004. The recent wave of anti-Semitism started in October 2000, the start of the five-year-old Oslo War. [Israel Consulate, YNET]
:: ISRAEL REMEMBERS THE SIX MILLION: In observance of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Israelis paused to observe a moment of silence Thursday at 10 a.m. as the traditional siren blared across the country, YNET reported. Later, thousands laid wreaths at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, in a ceremony attended by Israeli leaders, Holocaust survivors, and students. The ceremony was followed by the reading of Holocaust victims' names.
"The war made it clear that almost everybody agreed that the Jews had no right to live. That goes straight to the bone. Other people have some choice of options – their attention is solicited by this issue or that, and being besieged by issues they make their choices according to their inclinations. But for "the chosen" there is no choice. Such a volume of hatred and denial of the right to live has never been heard or felt, and the will that willed their death was confirmed and justified by a vast collective agreement that the world would be improved by their disappearance and their extinction." Saul Bellow, Ravelstein, 2000
[Editor's note: It must be remembered that it has now been proven that every nation knew what Hitler was doing but none made any attempt to stop it. How can we today contemplate if G-d will judge a nation for this sin or that sin when surely He must have began that judgment, for the most part, over sixty years ago? Look at the state of the world since WWII: rebellion has increased, as has all types of sin; the murder of unborn humans has been legalized in many countries; homosexuality has also been, or is in the process of being, legalized in many places around the world; witchcraft is freely embraced by the world (many nations are, in fact, directly governed by it); the world economy continues on a downward spiral; wars and conflicts have increased; natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanos) have increased tremendously; wild fires have broken out all over the world. Is that not judgment? But soon ... the Messiah!] [Israel Consulate, Jerusalem Post]
:: TOURISM CONTINUES TO INCREASE: According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics and Ministry of Tourism, first quarter tourist arrivals jumped 25 per cent over the same period last year. Significant increases in tourists were registered from Britain, Germany, the U.S., France, Italy and other countries. According to CBI and Ministry of Tourism statistics, 91,400 tourists entered Israel from the United States in the first quarter of 2005, a 25 per cent increase over the same period last year. 32,600 arrived from Britain, a nine per cent rise. Other increases were registered from Germany (22,000 tourists, a 47 per cent rise), France (58,000 tourists, a 25 per cent rise) and Italy (11,300 tourists arrived, a 42 per cent increase). Ten thousand Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish visitors entered Israel, jumping 31 per cent; 8,100 tourists entered the country from Korea, one quarter more than during 2004 and 58 per cent more than in 2000. Thanks to the resumption of charter flights and an agreement between the Ministry of Tourism and tourism operator Genesis, the number of tourists from Portugal leaped 114 per cent. Tourism Minister Abraham Hirchson noted that more tourists visited Israel in spite of high airfares and a lack of seats. [Ministry of Tourism Spokesman's Office]
:: A JERUSALEM INSIGHT:A WHISPER OF GLORY: On a trip to Poland with Rabbi Mordechai Elon several years ago, my son and his classmates produced a movie describing their trek into the abandoned valleys of death. Their voyage was focused on the death and the destruction but it also attempted to relive the lives, dreams and culture of a thousand years of Jewish communal life in Poland.
There are several minutes in that film that will be forever etched in my mind, and on this Holocaust Remembrance Day I feel a need to recount those minutes again.
I watched the video and saw their arrival in the Maidanek concentration camp. They entered the gas chambers and huddled together because of the cold temperatures, but mainly because of that inescapable chill that was clutching at their souls. They stood listening to one of the Holocaust survivors that had volunteered to come with them on their trip from Israel. At one point in the description the guide asked them to look up at the ceiling.
The concrete was streaked with swatches of a bluish tinge. The guide explained that the bluish streaks were the remnant of the poisonous Xyklon-B gas that snuffed out the lives of so many men women and children. He continued to describe how every year a group of Polish Christians would come and try to whitewash the ceiling. Yet their efforts proved to be fruitless as the blue singed testimony would always return. The blue color was all that remained of those horrific moments and it would not be covered.
I thought of those horrifying moments and the terror and the cries. I thought about the prayers in that darkened cell. I suddenly realized that the bluish tinge was not what was left over of the Xyklon gas. It was what remained of their prayers.
The prayer that filled that horrific chamber was the Shma prayer, "Hear O Israel HaShem our G-d HaShem is one". It is this same prayer that had risen and rent the heavens so many other times in the history of this people. It was a prayer uttered in the torture chambers of the inquisition, and during the pogroms of the crusades and in the massacre of the Jewish community in Hebron. It was the last words of a father and little son as they lay dying on the floor of the Sbarro restaurant after a 'Palestinian' terror attack.
It is a prayer that declares for all Eternity that faith cannot be bludgeoned, burned or gassed into oblivion. Faith lasts forever.
The last paragraph of the Shma (Numbers 15) describes the string of Tchellet that was added to the fringes of the tallit: "put with the fringe of each corner a thread of Tchellet/blue" (Numbers 15:38). This color would remind us of another blue color, the color of the Divine Throne of Glory, "And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a blue sapphire stone" (Ezekiel 1:26).
The last prayer in that horrible concrete room was the Shma and it was the Shma that left that bluish tinge not the gas. Their collective prayers left an imprint of Tchellet on the ceiling as their prayers rose unto the Throne of Glory. That is where their prayers and their souls reside together with six million others, never to be forgotten.
The bluish tinge in Maidanek is but a whisper of Glory. Yet it is also a constant reminder of Divine promises that will yet be fulfilled. As we all stand under the Tchellet skies in Gush Katif, the Shomron, Jerusalem and throughout this great land we will utter that prayer in faith, strength, and rejoicing. [Moshe Kempinski http://www.shorashim2u.net]
Emet News Service is a weekly summary of news and events concerning Israel and the Jewish people. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Address them to:
Lee Underwood, Editor
leeu@shamar.org
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