Thousands of Texas Christians Rally in Support of Israel

Thousands of Texas Christians Rally in Support of Israel

Thousands of Christian Zionists gathered at a Texas megachurch on Sunday night to rally in support for Israel.

 

By Rachel Hirshfeld, Israel National News 

First Publish: 11/1/2012

PM Netanyahu speaks at CUFI event

 

Thousands of Christian Zionists gathered at a Texas megachurch on Sunday night to rally in support for Israel, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Pastor John Hagee, noted television evangelist and founder of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), organized the event and reaffirmed the organization’s belief that the defense of Israel as a Jewish homeland and a strong U.S.-Israel bond provides the world with the greatest chance at peace and stability in the Middle East.

“The day America turns its back on Israel, that day God will turn his back on the United States of America,” Hagee told the audience.

With more than one million members, CUFI is America’s largest pro-Israel organization, according to its website.

Sunday’s “Night to Honor Israel”, which brought together rabbis, Christian ministers and Israeli representatives, marked the 31st year the event was held at San Antonio’s Cornerstone Church.
Some waved American and Israeli flags while listening to speeches, singing songs and reciting prayers.

There was also frequent cheering and clapping as the noted speakers rejecting candidates for U.S. office who have not held Israel's enemies-- most notably Iran-- accountable for seeking the destruction of the Jewish state.

The event raised nearly $3 million to support Jewish and Israeli charities.

“Such donations and commitment to seek favorable political leadership are reasons to hope,” said Meir Shlomo, consul general of Israel to the Southwest.

“We all know you have our back covered,” he said, prompting a prolonged standing ovation.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161601

Wings of the Dove’ brings Ethiopia’s Jews to Israel

Wings of the Dove’ brings Ethiopia’s Jews to Israel

 

By AVI HOFFMAN , Jerusalem Post

10/30/2012

237 Jews land in Tel Aviv from Addis Ababa, part of an operation that will bring the last of Ethiopia's Jews to Israel.

Photo: Benjamin Rutland

 

ADDIS ABABA – “I have waited for this happy moment for eight years,” says Fasil Yehunye as he helps his family pack their meager belongings in their crowded one-room abode just prior to emigrating from Gondar, Ethiopia, to Israel.

Yehunye was one of 237 Jews who landed Monday morning in Tel Aviv on a special charter flight from Addis Ababa, part of an operation called “Wings of the Dove,” billed as finally bringing to Israel the very last remnant of the Jews in Ethiopia.

This was the largest single group of immigrants to land in Israel in the last two years, following a government decision in November 2010 to authorize the aliya of the almost 8,000 Jews left in the African country.

The Jewish Agency was tasked with carrying out the government’s decree and senior Jewish Agency official Asher Fentahun Seyum was sent in to do the job. Seyum went to work with energy and skill and in less than two years set up an operation that brought 6,000 Gondar Jews to Israel.

Seyum pledges to “close shop” when the remaining 1,800 left in Gondar are settled in Israel – within a year.

The vexed question of what to do with thousands of others who consider themselves Jews but were not on the government list, remains unanswered.

This reporter, who was brought to Gondar to meet some of the olim as they prepared to leave Ethiopia, was dismayed at their appalling living conditions.

Yehunye, 38; his wife, Femiz; and their five children were housed in a single room in a mud hut. Cooking was done outside on open wood fires and there was no evidence of sanitary facilities.

Their son Getaheh, 17, told me that the family had left their village eight years before and eked out a meager existence, helped by food handouts from the Jewish Agency, Keren Yedidut and other charities.

However, their educational and religious needs were supported by a school and community center set up by the Jewish Agency. The potential immigrants had to make their own accommodation arrangements, as there was no central housing facility.

The contrast between the demeanor and outward appearance of the immigrants in their Gondar hovels and on their arrival in Israel was striking. In Gondar, their clothing was poor and often torn; some went barefoot or else wore cheap plastic footwear. In readiness for their move to Israel, they dressed themselves in Shabbat finery and they seemed more cheerful, if a little apprehensive at the sounds and sights of modern Israel, compared to decrepit Gondar.

Moshe Bahta, director of the Ibim absorption center where the new immigrants will be housed for the next two years, noted that their homes were going to be much more comfortable than in Gondar, with several rooms for each family and health, educational and social facilities on hand.

Ibim is close to Sderot and well within the range of rockets and mortars from Gaza. However, Bahta said none of the immigrants were fazed when he explained the safety procedures to be followed when “Color Red” announcements and sirens warn of an impending rocket attack.

 

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=289747

 

 

Rachel's Tomb -- 3,600 Years Ago

Rachel's Tomb --
We Present a Special Album of Pictures to Commemorate the Death of the Matriarch Rachel about 3,600 Years Ago

Expanded version of a November 2011 posting. Updated with newly found pictures.

At least 100,000 Jews -- mostly women -- are expected to visit Rachel's Tomb later this week. The burial site, located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, has been venerated by Jews for centuries. 

"And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Efrat, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day."  Genesis 35:19-20 

 

"30 men ('3 minyans') from a Jerusalem old age home praying for
the well-being of friends and donors and other brethren from the
House of Israel in the Diaspora next to the gravestone of Mother
Rachel of blessed memory." (Stephanie Comfort -- Jewish
Postcard Collection)

Saturday, the 11th of Cheshvan in the Hebrew calendar, is traditionally observed as Rachel's yahrzeit -- anniversary of her death some 3,600 years ago.  Rachel's husband Jacob buried her on the side of the road, and according to the prophet Jeremiah, Rachel later wept as "her children" were exiled from the land of Israel.  Rachel is considered a special figure for prayers and entreaties.

In 1622 the Ottoman governor of Jerusalem permitted Jews to build walls and a dome over the grave.  [For historical background on Rachel's grave see Nadav Shragai.]


Rachel's Tomb (circa 1890-1900) (Credit: Library of Congress,
Detroit Publishing Co. photochrom color)





All photos are from the American Colony collection in the Library of Congress unless otherwise credited.

Visitors to Rachel's Tomb (circa 1910). Note the carriages in
the background and  Jewish pilgrims under the tree (see
enlargement below). (Oregon State University collection)

For several hundred years a local Bedouin tribe, the Ta'amra, and local Arabs demanded protection money from Jews going to Rachel's grave.  In the 18th and 19th century the Arabs built a cemetery around three sides of the shrine in the belief that the proximity of the deceased to the grave of a holy person -- even a Jew -- would bestow blessings on the deceased in the world to come.  Muslims even prepared bodies for burial at Rachel's grave.

In the 1830s, Jews received a firman [decree] from Ottoman authorities recognizing the Jewish character of the site and ordering a stop to the abuse of Jews there.  In 1841, Sir Moses Montefiore secured permission from the Ottoman authority to build an anteroom for Jewish worshippers.  During the 1929 Muslim attacks on the Jews of Palestine, the Muslim religious council, the Waqf, demanded the site.

Jewish pilgrim
in picture above

For 19 years of Jordanian rule on the West Bank (1948-1967), Rachel's Tomb was off limits to Jews.  After the 1967 war, Israel reclaimed control of the site.  In 1996 and during the Palestinian intifada in 2000-2001 Rachel's Tomb was the target of numerous attacks.  The Israeli army built walls to protect worshippers and their access to the site.

Rachel's Tomb 1895



Rachel's Tomb 1898

Rachel's tomb (circa late 19th century) by Adrien Bonfils,
son of pioneer photographer Félix Bonfils (Credit:
 George Eastman House collection)  See also here

Rachel's Tomb (1891) (credit: New
Boston Fine and Rare Books)

  

Students from Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Jerusalem praying inside
Rachel's Tomb (Circa early 20th Century)
(Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

   

Rachel's Tomb (1908) (Credit: Omaha
 Public Library)



Students from the Gymnasia visiting Rachel's Tomb. Presumably, the school is
the Gymnasia HaIvrit Herzliya, the first Hebrew high school in Palestine, founded
in 1905. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, circa early 20th Century)

Aerial photograph of Rachel's Tomb (1931)

 British (Scot) soldiers stopping Arab in
weapons search, Rachel's Tomb 1936 



In October 2010, UNESCO declared that the holy site was also the Bilal bin Rabah mosque and objected to Israeli "unilateral actions" at the shrine.  Bilal bin Rabah was Mohammed's Ethiopian slave and muzzein who died and was buried in Damascus.  The claim that the site was a mosque was first made in 1996.

 

http://www.israeldailypicture.com/

 

 

Israel’s Battle Against Suicide Terror, and Why It’s Not Over Yet

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 |  Elizabeth Blade 

Israel Today magazine

 

 

 

A recent escalation in Palestinian terror has some officials worried, though it still pales in comparison to the days of daily suicide bombings during the second Intifada. But as Israeli and foreign experts told us, the mentality and drive to commit suicide bombings remains, and the phenomenon could resurface.

“Many terrorists confessed to me that [Israel's] security fence has been hindering their efforts,” world-renowned criminologist Dr. Anat Berko, author of the book “The Smarter Bomb: Women and Children as Suicide Bombers”, told Israel Today. "They [the Palestinians] still have a culture that encourages kids to become martyrs rather than doctors or lawyers."

Dr. Reuven Paz, a former head of the research department at the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), added: “One of the most interesting phenomena in Palestinian suicide bombings is that people were often recruited (or volunteered) just a couple of days before the operation,” busting the myth of intensive camp training and stressing that the society played a pivotal role in shaping the psyche of the future “martyrs”.

Unfortunately, that society is still encouraging "martyrdom" among its younger generations.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23451/Default.aspx

Egyptian president prays for Jews' demise

Tuesday, October 23, 2012 |  Ryan Jones 

Israel Today magazine 

 

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi

While the mainstream media over the past week provided extensive coverage of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's cordial diplomatic letter to his Israeli counterpart, an incident that demonstrated where the Egyptian leader's heart truly lies regarding the Jews received much less attention.

It must first be noted that Morsi's letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres, in which he called the Israeli a "great friend," was simply in keeping with diplomatic protocol, though even that was too much for many Egyptians.

Members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood were incensed by the gracious language used in asking the Israeli president to accept Egypt's new ambassador.

But if there were any questions over whether Morsi was turning his back on the Brotherhood's traditional hatred of Israel and the Jews, those were quickly put to rest by video footage taken at a Cairo mosque last weekend showing Morsi piously agreeing with the preacher's prayers for Allah to "destroy the Jews."

"Oh Allah, absolve us of our sins, strengthen us, and grant us victory over the infidels," prayed cleric Futouh Abd Al-Nabi. "Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, disperse them, rend them asunder. Oh Allah, demonstrate Your might and greatness upon them."

During the prayer, Morsi was shown kneeling, eyes closed, hands raised, mouthing the word "amen" to each of the cleric's requests.

One can only imagine the international reaction to an Israeli leader saying "amen" in agreement with a rabbi's prayers for God to visit destruction upon the Arabs.

Watch the video:

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23448/Default.aspx

World's oldest survivor of Auschwitz death camp dies at the age of 108

World's oldest survivor of Auschwitz death camp dies at the age of 108

Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland –  The oldest known survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp — a teacher who gave lessons in defiance of his native Poland's Nazi occupiers — has died at the age of 108, an official said Monday.

Antoni Dobrowolski died Sunday in the northwestern Polish town of Debno, according to Jaroslaw Mensfelt, a spokesman at the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum.

After invading Poland in 1939, sparking World War II, the Germans banned anything beyond four years of elementary education in a bid to crush Polish culture and the country's intelligentsia. The Germans considered the Poles inferior beings, and the education policy was part of a plan to use Poles as a "slave race."

An underground effort by Poles to continue to teach children immediately emerged, with those caught punished by being sent to concentration camps or prisons. Dobrowolski was among the Poles engaged in the underground effort, and he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz in June 1942.
"Auschwitz was worse than Dante's hell," he recalled in a video made when he was 103.

Dobrowolski, who was born Oct. 8, 1904 in Wolborz, Poland, was later moved to the concentration camps of Gross-Rosen and Sachsenhausen, according to the Auschwitz memorial museum in southern Poland.

After the war, he moved to Debno, where he worked as a Polish-language teacher and as principal at an elementary school and later at a high school for many years.

He will be buried in Debno on Wednesday.

At least 1.1 million people were killed by the Germans at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Most of the victims were Jews, but many non-Jewish Poles, Roma and others were also killed there.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10/22/world-oldest-survivor-auschwitz-death-camp-dies-at-age-108/#ixzz2A2yfxxXc

Netanyahu to Europe: Jerusalem is ours!

Netanyahu to Europe: Jerusalem is ours!

Sunday, October 21, 2012 | Ryan Jones

Israel Today magazine

 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rebuffed European criticism over the construction of new housing units in a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem, insisting that the Holy City belongs to the Jews.

Last week, Israel's Interior Ministry approved the construction of 800 new apartments in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. Gilo is home to tens of thousands of Israeli Jews, and new construction there is by no means out of the ordinary.

But Britain, France and the European Union immediately took advantage of the opportunity to again express their displeasure with Jewish sovereignty over the entirety of Jerusalem, calling those few new apartments an "obstacle to peace."

Netanyahu said the world can call it whatever it wants, but his government will not "impose any restrictions on construction in Jerusalem."

The Israeli leader added that Jerusalem "is our capital" and the Jewish nation has a connection to Jerusalem that is as "ancient and powerful" as the connections Europeans have to their respective capitals.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23444/Default.aspx

Yaakov Shwekey - Cry No More, ירושלים Jerusalem

Twitter Agrees to Remove Anti-Semitic Posts

Twitter Agrees to Remove Anti-Semitic Posts

Twitter agrees to remove anti-Semitic posts in France, a day after blocking a neo-Nazi account in Germany.

 

By Elad Benari, Canada

Israel National News

First Publish: 10/19/2012

 

 

A day after saying it blocked a neo-Nazi account in Germany in a global first, Twitter on Friday agreed to remove anti-Semitic posts in France, a lawyer said, according to AFP.

The company did not immediately confirm the move, but the lawyer for a French Jewish student union said that after it threatened legal action, Twitter agreed to take down many of the offending tweets that have recently flooded the site.

UEJF lawyer Stephane Lilti said after a meeting with Twitter's lawyer in France that his client had scored an "important victory" over the micro-blogging site.

The student union on Thursday threatened to seek an injunction against Twitter to try to make it remove the offending tweets which proliferated in France with the hashtag #unbonjuif (#AGoodJew).

The tag has been one of the top trending words on French-language tweets and is often followed by comments such as: "#AGoodJew is a dead Jew".

UEJF leader Jonathan Hayoun welcomed Twitter's "swift reaction in removing racist and anti-Semitic tweets that we had pointed out to them."

Earlier this week, anti-racist groups MRAP and SOS Racisme joined the CRIF, the umbrella group representing French Jewish communities, in denouncing the hateful messages and vowing to sue those sending anti-Semitic tweets.

MRAP said in a statement that Twitter should "take the appropriate measures" to end what it called a "flood of anti-Semitism" and said it was proposing to meet with executives from the firm.

The reported deal with Twitter comes a week after France's SPCJ Jewish security watchdog said anti-Semitic acts surged by 45 percent since the start of the year and were given new impetus by attacks by terrorist Mohamed Merah, who went on a shooting rampage in March in and around the southern city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, three Jewish children and three French paratroopers before being shot dead in a police siege.

On Thursday, Twitter said it had blocked a neo-Nazi group's account at the request of German police.
The move was the first time that the U.S. firm had applied a policy known as "country-withheld content" which allows it to block an account at the request of state authorities.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161118
 

Netanyahu under pressure regarding Israel's biblical heartland

Netanyahu under pressure regarding Israel's biblical heartland

Friday, October 19, 2012 | Ryan Jones, Israel Today magazine

 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself under increasing pressure both for and against adopting a recent study concluding that the Jews have a legal and historical right to resettle Judea and Samaria.

Judea and Samaria are, of course, the biblical heartland of ancient Israel, a region central to the Jewish faith and heritage in this land. But it is also what the world calls the "West Bank" and what the Palestinian Arabs claim as their own independent state, which they insist must be Judenrein - free of Jews.

The international community has for the most part sided with the Arab position,and been harshly critical of the several hundred thousand Jews who have made their homes in Judea and Samaria over the past 35 years. These Jewish "settlers" are often labeled an obstacle to peace for daring to rebuild the cities and villages of their forefathers.

During the summer, Netanyahu commissioned a panel of jurists, including one who had been involved in formulating the so-called "Oslo Accords", to produce a study on the legality of Jewish settlement activity in Judea and Samaria.

Drawing on "international, Jordanian, Israeli and even Ottoman laws" the Levy Committee concluded that "from the point of view of international law, the classical laws of 'occupation' as set out in the relevant international conventions cannot be considered applicable to the unique and sui generis historic and legal circumstances of Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria, over the course of decades."

The Geneva Conventions define "military occupation" as the seizing of another nation's land, and the fact is that no nation legally controlled Judea and Samaria following the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which itself had ruled the area for over five centuries.

Additionally, the Jews cannot be considered an outside force in Judea and Samaria, but rather the historic founders of the territory as a unified nation-state. Jewish archeological finds dating back millennia abound in the "West Bank."

Right-wing Israeli lawmakers have been angered by Netanyahu's subsequent reluctance to adopt the Levy Committee's report. Voice of Israel Radio reported this week that with early elections looming, Netanyahu will now recommend that the government adopt part of the report.

Netanyahu still will not throw his weight behind increased Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, but does support those parts of the Levy report that call for an end to discrimination against the "settlers" and for Israel to reject the world's description of the Jewish presence in these areas as "occupation."

Israeli lawmaker Yisrael Katz (Likud) said Netanyahu is doing the right thing, and that his position will "deliver a clear message to residents of Judea and Samaria that they can live a normal life like everyone else in the country."

Not everyone was pleased by the decision.

Opposition leader Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) appealed to Israel's attorney general to stop Netanyahu from adopting the report, arguing that doing so would obligate the next government to adhere to its findings, which left-wing Israelis reject. Mofaz said that with elections just months away (January 22), now is not the time to be making such controversial policy decisions.

Mofaz's Kadima Party was in power prior to Netanyahu's election victory less than four years ago, and was keen to surrender large swaths of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians and to uproot the Jews living there.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23441/Default.aspx


 

A Cave under the Temple Mount's Foundation Stone?

A Cave under the Temple Mount's Foundation Stone?
More Mysteries Documented in Ancient Pictures

 

 

Descent under the "great rock" on Mt. Moriah (under the Dome of the Rock).
Woodcut in explorer Col Charles Wilson's book, Picturesque Palestine, Sinai
and Egypt. (1881, New York Public Library)

For centuries, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem has been the focus of worshippers, scholars and explorers.

But few archaeologists have explored history's secrets hidden in the caves, tunnels and cisterns beneath the Hiram el-Sharif -- controlled by the Muslim Waqf.

Interior of Mosque of Omar (Dome of the Rock) and the
Foundation Stone. (circa 1870, Bonfils, Library of Congress)
See also photo from American Colony Collection (circa 1900).
According to Jewish tradition the stone was the site for Abraham's
"binding of Isaac" and the location of the Temples' Holy of Holies.
Muslims believe it was from where Muhammad ascended to heaven.

The Israel Daily Picture site provided last week photos from the Library of Congress archives taken after a 1927 earthquake destroyed parts of the el-Aqsa mosque.

We were very curious when we discovered additional photos in the American Colony and Felix Bonfils collections showing the entrance to a cave beneath the "foundation stone" (even hashtiya in Jewish tradition) on which the Jewish Temples and the Mosque of Omar* were built.

The Temple Institute in Jerusalem provided details on the cave:

Beneath the rock is a hewn cave [some claim the cave is natural] seven-by-seven meters wide. In the cave's ceiling is a hole approximately half-a-meter in diameter, a sort of chimney going up.

Entrance to the staircase to the cave beneath the Foundation
Stone (Bonfils, circa 1870). See also American Colony photo



"Solomon's Prayer Place" can be
seen in the above woodcut to
the left of the staircase

A feature in National Geographic suggested that the beneath the cave may be another chamber hiding the Ark of the Covenant: "Knocking on the floor of the cave under the Muslim Dome of the Rock shrine elicits a resounding hollow echo, [but] no one has ever seen this alleged chamber....Famed 19th-century British explorers Charles Wilson and Sir Charles Warren could neither prove nor disprove the existence of a hollow chamber below the cave. They believed the sound reportedly heard by visitors was simply an echo in a small fissure beneath the floor."

The cave under the Foundation Stone today (with permission
of Ron Peled, All About Jerusalem)

 

The American Colony photos include a picture taken in the cave captioned "Solomon's prayer place under rock of Mosque of Omar [i.e., Dome of the Rock]." The prayer niche is more likely an ancient Muslim Mihrab pointing to Mecca.

*According to National Geographic, "the dome, called Qubbat as-Sakhrah in Arabic, is not a mosque. Rather, it is a shrine built over the rock."

 

 

 

 http://www.israeldailypicture.com/2012/10/a-ave-under-temple-mounts-foundation.html?

Billy Graham Ad Encourages Voting Biblical Values

CBNNews.com

October 19, 2012

 

The latest version of Adobe Flash Player is required to watch this video. Please click on the link below to download the latest version. Thanks!

 

 

Rev. Billy Graham is encouraging people to vote based on biblical values, in a full page ad in Thursday's Wall Street Journal.

"We are at a crossroads and there are profound moral issues at stake," Graham said in the ad. "I strongly urge you to vote for candidates who support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and woman, protect the sanctity of life, and defend our religious freedoms."
 

"The legacy we leave behind for our children, grandchildren and this great nation is crucial," he continues. "As I approach my 94th birthday, I realize this election could be my last. I believe it is vitally important that we cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel."
 

Graham also urged voters to pray that America remains one nation under God.
 

Political experts say a push to support biblical principles usually appeals to the Republican party. But it's unlikely to sway voters who already have their minds made up.
 

"I personally am a Christian and like to vote based on my spiritual beliefs and values, and I would tend to vote for a candidate that values that as well," Romney supporter Tom Duzan said.
 

"You're being very sneaky and insidious about endorsing a candidate without saying the actual words," Emery Anderson, an Obama supporter, said.
 

During the next few weeks Graham's ad will run in USA Today and several other newspapers in as many as a dozen states.

 

Video:  http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/October/Billy-Graham-Ad-Encourages-Voting-Biblical-Values/

Middle East Update - Dov in Jerusalem

Largest US-Israel missile defense drill to kick off

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, Jerusalem Post

10/17/2012

Patriot, Iron Dome, Arrow missile defense shields to be tested; forces to simulate Unmanned Aerial Vehicle intrusion.

Photo: REUTERS/Havakuk Levison

US military forces have begun arriving in Israel to take part in the largest joint missile defense exercise of its kind, which will begin next week.

One thousand American soldiers will arrive on Israeli territory and a further 2,000 US troops in Europe and the United States will take part via remote defense computing systems. An equal number of Israeli soldiers will be involved.

During the drill, named Austere Challenge 12, Israeli air defense systems, such as the Iron Dome anti-rocket shield and Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile batteries, will be deployed, as well as US and Israeli Patriot batteries. American naval ships carrying the Aegis combat system, which can intercept missiles, will take part, and at least one US Navy ship will dock at Haifa.

The IDF and the US military’s European Command will set up missile defense batteries across Israel. Most of the drill will involve computer simulations of incoming rockets, though in the last stage, a Patriot will be fired at a mock enemy projectile.

“Anyone can take away any message they want from this,” said the IDF’s Brig.-Gen. Nitzan Nuriel, who is heading the Israeli side of the exercise. “The fact that we are working together is a strong message by itself.”
Nuriel defined a successful program as “the interception of all incoming missiles to reduce damage to Israeli infrastructure.”

US Air Force Lt.-Gen. Craig Franklin – the senior American officer in Israel for the exercise – said Washington will be spending $30 million on the drill. Nuriel said Israel would be spending the same amount.
“This is a defensive exercise for missile-defense capabilities in Israel,” Franklin said. He stressed that the drill had no relation to any real world events. “It’s not there to send a message, but to prove a defensive missile capability for Israel,” Franklin said.

All threats to the Israeli home front would be included in scenarios, from long and short-range ballistic missiles to rockets and mortars, he added.

“It’s to prove defense interoperability between our two nations.”

Nuriel said scenarios would include missile attacks from multiple fronts involving more than one salvo per day.

“We need [the soldiers] to work at a high tempo, to prepare them for real scenarios if they are coming,” he said.

Nuriel confirmed that the air defense forces would also practice dealing with the threat of a hostile drone, such as the one sent by Hezbollah into Israeli airspace earlier this month.

A senior Israeli defense source added that the scenarios took “near and far threats” into consideration.
“When we look at the cooperation among our enemies, we understand that our national home front has turned into a target. A joint drill significantly strengthens our operational capabilities,” the source said.
“We welcome our American partners to Israel,” he added.

Throughout the exercise, military traffic on the country’s roads will be greater than usual, and some disruptions could occur to civilian traffic due to army convoys.

Earlier this week, Air Force chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel appointed a new head to the Air Defense Command this week.

Brig.-Gen. Shahar Shohat replaced Brig.-Gen. Doron Gavish after the latter completed his term as head of the force.

“The combination of new regimes and terror organizations armed with advanced weaponry, which were once reserved for militaries alone, creates a threat to the heart of our state and way of life,” Eshel warned during the ceremony.

“The Air Defense Command has a vital role in all of the components that make up [our] security concept – defense capabilities together with attack components enable victory,” he said.

Gavish noted that Israeli air defenses intercepted 109 enemy rockets fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip in recent years.

“This is a first-time operational achievement on a global scale,” he said.

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=288275

Catholics from Nigeria, Poland Among Top Tourists to Israel

Catholics from Nigeria, Poland Among Top Tourists to Israel

A study released by the Tourism Ministry contained some surprises as to who comes to Israel to visit, and why

 

By David Lev, Israel National News 

First Publish: 10/18/2012

Airplane landing at Ben Gurion - illustrative

 

 

With all the places in the world for Western tourists to visit, why choose Israel?

A study released by the Tourism Ministry indicates that for many people, it's the positive experience friends and relatives had in a previous visit to Israel. When asked about what the most influential factor was in their decision to visit Israel, 49% answered family and friends, while only 20% attributed the decision to the recommendations of a travel agent.

The results, said Minister of Tourism, Stas Misezhnikov, “strengthen the basic assumption behind the new campaign “Invite a Friend”, in which friends and family are the main factor in deciding on a visit to Israel. Everyone can be part of this effort to bring tourists to Israel and thereby contribute to the economy, job creation and Israel’s image in the world.”

The Ministry started the campaign last year, and the study released Thursday was part of the annual accounting of the tourism industry in Israel. The data were part of the recently-published 2011 Inbound Tourism Survey reveals new statistics related to the characteristics of incoming tourists to Israel.  The survey was carried out by the Tourism Ministry among 25,000 families (representing about 42,000 people) and is a representative sample of the survey population.

According to the survey, the average length of time for a tourist to stay in Israel (among those staying for up to 30 days) is 8.2 nights, a slight increase over 2010. Most tourists stay in hotels or vacation resorts (71%), accounting for the majority of their spending in the country. On average, a tourist to Israel spends $1,497, the survey said.

The largest number of people visiting Israel are not Jewish, but Christian; and the largest number of Christians coming to Israel are Catholic, not fundamentalist Protestants. Fifty eight percent of visitors in 2011 were Christian, while only 25% were Jewish; 1% were Moslem. Among the Christians, 52% were Catholic, and 21% Protestants.

The highest proportion of Christian tourists came from Nigeria, Poland, Portugal and Italy, while for Jewish tourists, the largest proportion based on Jewish population in the respective countries were from France, Argentina, Belgium and England.

Most of the tourists arriving in Israel were between the ages of 25-44 (41%), with 12% of all tourists from the younger age groups. 22% of all tourists are aged 55 and over, particularly those arriving from Portugal and Austria or those arriving for pilgrimage purposes.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161073

The 2 Spies: Ein Gedi

Ein Gedi - David's Falls

The 2 Spies: Ein Gedi: One of The 2 Spies went hiking on Yom Rishon (Sunday) As long as I have lived here I have never hiked Nahal David ( Ein Gedi). Not sure why ...

http://the2spies.blogspot.co.il/2012/10/ein-gedi.html



 

Ukraine Unveils $60 Million Jewish Center, Holocaust Memorial

Ukraine Unveils $60 Million Jewish Center, Holocaust Memorial

Some 300 guests and dignitaries marked the grand opening of Jewish Community Center and Holocaust Museum in the Ukraine.

 

By Rachel Hirshfeld, Israel National News

First Publish: 10/17/2012

A visitor looks at an exhibition at the holocaust museum in newly opened Jewish Menorah Center

Reuters

 

 

Some 300 guests and dignitaries attended a ceremony on Tuesday in advance of the grand opening of the Menorah Jewish Community Center and Holocaust Museum in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.

The complex hosts an Institute for Jewish Culture and a gallery that features photographs of 40 major synagogues in Dnipropetrovsk before the Nazi occupation, as well as video footage about the Holocaust.

The ceremony was attended by, Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein; Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk Shmuel Kaminezki, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the CIS Lev Leviev, and, Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Lubavitch World Headquarters.

Edelstein praised efforts to revive Jewish heritage and culture in Dnipropetrovsk.

"The real achievement will be when we get here in a year from now, in two years from now, and we will see this place full of kids, full of different Jewish activities, full of different organizations working here," Edelstein said. "I think that this will be the real answer to what Nazis and communists tried to do to Jewish communities in the Ukraine and in the former Soviet Union."

The seven-tower, twenty-story museum and center multiplex, which was built at an estimated $60 million, will officially open Oct. 21
.
The opening exhibition, “Wanderings of the Children of Israel,” will elucidate the story of the Jewish Diaspora in Ukraine by artists from Ukraine, Germany and Israel.

According to museum organizer and curator Marina Shelest, the exhibition’s theme of Jewish wandering is essential to the story of its featured artists.

"Wanderings, voluntary or forced, are the biography of every Jew, and the artists that are represented in this show are no exception,” she said, according to Lubavitch.com.

While the center will help fill the spiritual and physical needs of Dnepropetrovsk’s 50,000 Jews and the broader Jewish community, the Holocaust memorial will serve as an important educational medium, teaching visitors about the region’s Jewish history.

In a 2008 interview with Lubavitch.com, Zelig Brez, executive director of the Jewish Community of Dnepropetrovsk, expressed his excitement for the role the museum will play for the entire population of Dnepropetrovsk. “The [museum] ... plays an important role in the development of the entire city. Today’s generation [of Ukrainians] has a very limited understanding of the Holocaust, and we must change that,” she said.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161023

U.S. and Israel Sign Telecommunications Trade Agreement

U.S. and Israel Sign Telecommunications Trade Agreement

The U.S. and Israel signed a trade agreement that is designed to stimulate trade between the two countries.

 

By Rachel Hirshfeld

First Publish: 10/16/2012, Israel National News

hand shake (illustrative)

Reuters

 

The United States and Israel signed a trade agreement on Monday that is designed to stimulate trade between the two countries and make it easier for American companies to export telecommunications equipment to Israel, The Hill reported.

The agreement aims to streamline the process used by American and Israeli companies to certify that their telecommunications equipment meets the technical requirements and regulations set by each country.

As a result of the agreement, American-produced telecommunications equipment can enter the Israeli market if a recognized U.S. laboratory has deemed that the product meets the Israeli technical requirements, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

Israeli regulators will honor the tests performed by recognized U.S. laboratories, "rather than requiring additional testing by Israeli laboratories," USTR said, according to The Hill.

U.S. authorities, in turn, will accept the tests performed by recognized Israeli laboratories.

“This agreement will save American manufacturers money and time," Miriam Sapiro, deputy U.S. trade representative, said in a statement. "It will facilitate trade by allowing for product testing and certification only once, in the United States, prior to exporting the product to Israel."

Sapiro and Shalom Simhon, the Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour, signed the agreement on Monday. It will go into effect after the U.S. and Israel "have completed all internal legal requirements," according to USTR.

The agreement upholds the Federal Communication Commission's authority to set the technical and safety requirements for the U.S. market.

Trade between the U.S. and Israel totaled over $31 billion in 2011, according to USTR.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/160971

America: No Jews in Judea and Samaria

America: No Jews in Judea and Samaria

Tuesday, October 16, 2012 | Ryan Jones

Israel Today magazine

The Obama Administration on Tuesday reiterated its position that Jews must not be allowed to build and live on their ancient biblical heartland for the sake of peace in the region.

Speaking before the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Susan Rice stated that the White House "does not accept the legitimacy of Israeli settlement activity [sic], and will continue to oppose any efforts to legalize [Jewish] outposts."

Though technically the territories of Judea and Samaria are disputed, the US and other Western powers set no such limits on the Arab population's rampant construction.

Rice went on to suggest that the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, which the world calls "the West Bank," is a detriment to the international community's plan to solve the conflict by birthing a Palestinian Arab state.

Some Israelis are concerned that an Obama win in the upcoming US presidential election will result in significantly increased pressure on Israel to meet Arab demands.

Many of the same Israelis have been urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to quickly adopt a legal study that he commissioned that justifies the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.

"After years in which, unfortunately, a question mark hovered over the question of the right of the state of Israel to settle in Judea and Samaria, a panel of senior jurists...determined that Israelis have a legal right to settle [there]," Erdan was quoted as saying by Israel National News. "Let us not leave this report in the desk drawer."

Erdan was referring to the Levy Committee that Netanyahu himself established to look into the legality of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria under international law.

The committee was comprised of three senior Israeli jurists, including an international law expert who was party to the formulation of the "Oslo Accords."

The committee made public its findings early in July, noting that the standard accusation that Israel is militarily occupying Judea and Samaria is inaccurate under international law.

"Our basic conclusion is that from the point of view of international law, the classical laws of 'occupation' as set out in the relevant international conventions cannot be considered applicable to the unique and sui generis historic and legal circumstances of Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria, over the course of decades," the judges wrote.

In other words, the Geneva Conventions define "military occupation" as the seizing of another nation's land, and the fact is that no nation legally controlled Judea and Samaria following the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which itself had ruled the area for over five centuries.

Additionally, the Jews cannot be considered an outside force in Judea and Samaria, but rather the historic founders of the territory as a unified nation-state. Jewish archeological finds dating back millennia abound in the "West Bank."

The committee based its findings on "international, Jordanian, Israeli and even Ottoman laws," all of which led to one inescapable truth: "Israelis have the legal right to settle in Judea and Samaria and the establishment of settlements cannot, in and of itself, be considered to be illegal."

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23433/Default.aspx

Mitt Romney meets with Rev. Billy Graham

By Kasie Hunt on October 11, 2012

BusinessWeek

 

Mitt Romney, Billy Graham, Franklin Graham

 

 

MONTREAT, N.C. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is visiting the Rev. Billy Graham at Graham's home in North Carolina.

Romney on Thursday went to see Graham and his son, Franklin, at the elderly evangelist's mountaintop home near Asheville while in the area for a campaign event. The 93-year-old Graham is in frail health.

Romney told the Grahams that, quote, "prayer is the most helpful thing you can do for me."
The Republican nominee has faced some difficulty making inroads with evangelical voters, in part because some believe his Mormon faith means he is not a Christian.

Romney also once supported abortion rights, and raised questions again this week when he told a newspaper he would not pursue abortion-related legislation as president. He later said he would be, quote, "a pro-life president."

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-10-11/mitt-romney-meets-with-rev-dot-billy-graham

Messianic responses to Church vandalism in Israel

Messianic responses to Church vandalism in Israel

Thursday, October 11, 2012 | 

David Lazarus, Israel Today magazine

 

 

A right-wing religious group has left it’s mark once again on a Jerusalem church. “Jesus, son of a bitch” was found on the front door of the Franciscan monastery on Mount Zion less than a month after the same group vandalized the Latrun Monastery. Some Christians in Israel are getting concerned.

Similar acts of vandalism have occurred around the country by the group known as “price tag” gang, but only recently did they begin to target churches. The group from Judea and Samaria are known to be frustrated with government policies in the disputed territories. In July 2008, a small group of settlers refused to allow the Israeli army to tear down their illegal outpost. After a violent struggle with soldiers, the group sprayed the label “price tag” on IDF bases. They want people to understand that there will be a “price to pay” for uprooting Jewish settlers from the area.

The group has also been responsible for acts of violence against Arabs. These have come in response to Arab attacks on Jews, particularly in Judea and Samaria. For years Jewish settlers have expressed their frustration with the lack of army protection and poor security in in the area. The price-tag group felt it was time to take matters into their own hands and committed a number of violent attacks on Arabs and vandalized mosques.

Since January of this year the group has been targeting churches, including a Baptist Church and Orthodox and Catholic church properties around Jerusalem. The motivation for these attacks is unclear. Most likely the group are trying to draw attention to themselves by stirring up religious tensions in the city. This kind of vandalism provokes strong reactions.

The Vatican’s top official in Israel, Rev. Peirbattista Pizzaballa, called the attack a result of Israel’s derogatory attitude towards Christians. “When you say Christianity to Israelis they immediately think of the Holocaust and Inquisition,” he said. Though Israeli Shimon Peres immediately condemned the attacks and police are searching for the perpetrators, church officials have said Israel is not doing enough.

A Franciscan representative in Jerusalem said that Israel must do more to eliminate the “price tag” phenomenon. "The attempts to damage monasteries and the spray-painting of inflammatory graffiti against Christianity, which have occurred repeatedly recently, are an insult to the hundreds of millions of Christian faithful throughout the world, and the State of Israel cannot allow such grave acts to occur," he said, according to a recent statement published in Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

Messianic Jews in Israel also responded to the incidents. “It is true that our government is not protecting the settlers,” said a Messianic leader in Jerusalem. “People are frustrated and angry, but these acts of vandalism on the church are crude and childish,” he said, noting that “these are minor provocations from a tiny group only looking for attention.” One expert said that the graffiti was clearly the handwriting of a very young person.

Some Messianics are more concerned about the price tag group targeting churches. “Our young people are not taught to respect minorities,” said a Messianic youth leader, “especially in some of our right-wing religious schools. Some of these religious schools are not under supervision from the government.”

“It is time the Israelis understand that the Church is no longer our enemy,” said Yaacov, a Messianic Jewish leader at “Yad b’Yad,” the German and Israeli youth exchange program. “The days of the Inquisition and Crusaders were a long time ago. It is time we break down the old prejudices between Christians and Jews. Targeting Jerusalem churches with anti-Christian graffiti is foolish but it does stir up these old wounds.”

While Christian churches in Israel enjoy a privileged status, tensions still exist, and groups like the “price tag” gang easily exploit these tensions to their own advantage. As one Messianic leader suggested, it would be better to simply ignore these childish provocations. “The more attention we give them,” he said, “the more harm they can cause.”

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23426/Default.aspx?ref=newsletter-20121011