Netanyahu: 'It's our Right to Defend our People'

By Chris Mitchell and Julie Stahl

CBN News Jerusalem Bureau

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israel is mulling stronger military action after a spike in Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on southern Israeli cities.

Part of Israel's preparation is informing the international community what Israelis are facing on a daily basis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefed some 70 foreign ambassadors and diplomats in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, well within range of rockets from the Gaza Strip.

"If an alarm is sounded, all of us have exactly 30 seconds to find shelter," Netanyahu told the diplomats.

The invitation came as more than 120 rockets pummeled southern Israel in a 48-hour period, scoring several direct hits, closing schools, and sending shock waves throughout the south.

"This is the situation in which 1 million Israelis find themselves in," Netanyahu continued. "That's families, old people, children, babies…(who) are targeted on a daily basis by people who took areas that we vacated, that the government of Israel vacated, came in there, and are now hiding behind civilians, while firing on civilians, firing on our children."

The diplomats were shown video of what it's like to run for cover and wait for the explosions.

Since 2001, nearly 13,000 rockets and mortars have landed in Israel, more than 8,000 of them since the government's 2005 pullout from the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu said the situation is unacceptable. "I don't know of any of your governments who could accept such attacks. I don't know of any of the citizens of your cities who could find that acceptable and something that could proceed on a normal basis," he said.

Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said foreign-made rockets with a 30-mile range can hit Israeli cities like Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Beersheva.

"This is made in foreign countries such as Iran and China, and which smuggled in through Rafah crossing, makes its way through Egypt, into Israel, into the Gaza Strip, and then fired directly into the southern part of Israel.

Besides the rockets, Israel often battles the international pressure to exercise restraint, but many Israelis are saying enough is enough.

Netanyahu said Israel would fight for the right to defend its people.

"We'll take whatever action is necessary to put a stop to this. This is not merely our right, it's also our duty, and it's something that I think is understood not only by you, who are here in Ashkelon today, but by any fair-minded person in any fair-minded government in the world. They would understand that it's our right to defend our people, and this is what we shall do," he said.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/November/Netanyahu-Its-our-Right-to-Defend-our-People/

Israel will reenter the Gaza Strip if necessary

Israel will reenter the Gaza Strip if necessary, Barak warns as rocket tally rises over 140

Egyptian-mediated ceasefire takes effect; PM set to meet foreign envoys Monday; defense minister says IDF will deal ‘hard and painful’ blow to Hamas

By Ilan Ben ZionNovember 11, 2012, Times of Israel

 

An Israeli man examines the damage caused to a house in Sderot by a Kassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Sunday (photo credit: Edi Israel/Flash90)

The Israeli military will not hesitate to enter the Gaza Strip in order to strike Hamas and protect Israeli citizens, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday evening, following more than a day of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

The defense minister made it clear that “if we are forced to go back into Gaza in order to deal Hamas a [serious] blow and restore security for all of Israel’s citizens, then we will not hesitate to do so.”

Islamic Jihad reported late Sunday that an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect at 9:30 p.m. local time, however sporadic rocket fire from the Strip continued into the night, with 3 rockets landing in the Shaar Hanegev regional council. No injuries or damage were reported.

 

Barak placed full responsibility for the weekend rocket barrage on Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group-turned-political party that has ruled the Gaza Strip since a violent coup in 2007.

 

“The firing [of rockets] has been relentless today. As far as Israel is concerned, Hamas is responsible for the rocket fire and all other attempts to harm our soldiers and civilians [from Gaza], even when other groups participate. And it is Hamas that will pay the heavy price; a price that will be painful,” Barak warned.

 

“During the last two days, the IDF, upon my instruction, has been evaluating a host of options for harsher responses against Hamas and the other terror organizations in Gaza. We will strike with an ever-growing intensity,” he said, adding, “Hamas and the other terror organizations recognize the capabilities of the IDF.”

 

Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 140 rockets at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Saturday and Sunday.

 

One struck a home in the border town of Sderot and another hit a house in the Shaar Hanegev region. Four Israeli civilians were injured in the two-day rocket barrage.

 

In a related incident, four Israeli soldiers were wounded on Saturday when their jeep was hit by an anti-tank missile.

 

Israeli retaliatory strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip since the escalation began on Saturday have left six Palestinians dead and dozens wounded.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to meet Monday with foreign ambassadors, in what was described as an effort to boost legitimacy and understanding for a possible wider Israeli response to the rocket fire from Gaza. Netanyahu was expected to tell the envoys that their countries would not tolerate the kind of onslaught southern Israel has had to endure.

 

Israel unilaterally removed its citizens and soldiers from Gaza in August of 2005. In response to relentless rocket fire, the IDF launched an air and ground campaign — Operation Cast Lead — into the Hamas-controlled Strip in late-2008.

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-will-reenter-the-gaza-strip-if-necessary-barak-warns/

 

 

Palestinians Escalate Rocket Attacks on Israel

CBNNews.com

Monday, November 12, 2012

 

  

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Palestinians in the Gaza Strip bombarded southern Israel with more than 75 rockets and mortar shells in a 24-hour period. At least eight of them were longer-range missiles.

The Iron Dome anti-missile battery intercepted one missile fired at the coastal city of Ashdod, just north of Ashkelon. Another exploded north of the city, without any injuries or property damage.

 

Three Israelis injured by shrapnel were evacuated to medical centers in Beersheva and Ashkelon, and three others were treated for shock.

 

A factory in Sderot sustained a direct hit for the fourth time. Rockets damaged two vehicles, including a neighborhood patrol car in Sha'ar Hanegev, injuring two men. A third citizen was injured by shrapnel near a school, YNet reported. An electric power pole was also hit.

 

The latest escalation came after terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli army jeep patrolling near the Karni border crossing early Saturday evening, injuring four soldiers, two seriously and two moderately.

 

The more seriously injured were airlifted to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, where both underwent emergency surgery. One remains in critical condition. The other soldiers were transported by ambulance to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.

 

Two Islamist terror groups claimed responsibility for the attack: the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades and the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the "armed" wing of Hamas.

 

Following the attack, Israel Air Force pilots targeted two rocket launch pads, two munitions storage facilities and a weapons manufacturing plant in Gaza, confirming direct hits.

 

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum blamed Israel for the escalation, saying it was tied to upcoming Israeli elections in January.

 

"Our resistance to the occupation and the Zionist soldiers killing our people is legitimate as defense of our families," Barhoum told reporters. "We will not allow Palestinian blood to be the price for electoral and political achievements in Israel."

 

Six Palestinians were killed in the airstrikes, two members of Islamic Jihad, and seven injured, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency, Ma'an, reported.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel "won't sit idly by."

 

"The IDF is operating and will operate in Gaza," Netanyahu told ministers at Sunday morning's cabinet meeting. "The terror organizations are taking tough blows from the IDF, and Israel won't sit idly by," he said. "We are ready to step up our response."

 

Netanyahu also mentioned incidents along the Syrian border, where fighting between the government and rebel forces has spilled over into Israel recently. "We are ready for any development on the Syrian border as well," he said.

 

On Sunday, for the first time since 1973, IDF troops fired warning shots into Syria after a mortar shell hit the Golan Heights.

 

"IDF Forces fired warning shots and relayed a message to the Syrian forces via the United Nations that warns against additional firing," the IDF Spokesman's Office said in a statement. "Additional firing will prompt a quick response."

 

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/November/Palestinians-Escalate-Rocket-Attacks-/

 

Gaza rockets continue; Israelis have had enough

Gaza rockets continue; Israelis have had enough

Monday, November 12, 2012 | Ryan Jones, Israel Today            

 

 

Residents of southern Israel said they have suffered long enough at the hands of Gaza-based terrorists, as a barrage of missiles and mortar shells that began over the weekend continued into Monday morning.

By Monday morning, nearly 150 rockets and mortars had hit communities across southern Israel over a 36-hour period. There was widespread damage, and seven people were physically injured during the attacks, including four soldiers whose patrol vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile.

There was a brief lull on Sunday night, reportedly brokered by Egyptian intelligence, but Palestinian terrorists quickly broke the truce with a medium-range missile that hit just outside a home in the southern Israel town of Netivot as local residents were trepidly preparing their children for the dangerous journey to nearby schools.

"We heard a siren, ran for shelter and then the blast sounded," a Netivot resident told Israel's Ynet news portal about Monday morning's attack. "I don't know how long this will last. It's scary. Kids on their way to school are hysterical, and there's no one to save them."

Local residents told The Jerusalem Post that after 10 years of suffering such attacks they have had enough, and many just want to leave the area, which, of course, is precisely the aim of the terrorists - to drive the Jews of lands they consider to be Muslim territory.

Ruvik Danilovich, the mayor of the large southern town of Beersheva, said that it was time for the government to take decisive action and end what is becoming a war of attrition. Danilovich was scheduled to meet with the heads of other local communities ahead of a meeting on Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Sunday, Netanyahu warned that if the rocket fire did not cease, Israel would up the ante. "The world needs to understand that Israel will not sit idly by in the face of attempts to attack us. We are prepared to intensify the response," said the prime minister.

A similar threat was issued by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and even dovish President Shimon Peres said the "idiotic" rocket fire from Gaza warranted a "swift and strong" response from Israel.
Israeli military officials have been saying for over a month now that another ground invasion of Gaza was only a matter of time, as the only way to truly stop the rocket fire is to root out the terrorists in house-to-house combat.

But many Israelis remain skeptical of their leaders' threats, remembering that the government, fearing international condemnation, typically only takes decisive action when there is a significant Jewish death toll.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23488/Default.aspx?ref=newsletter-20121112

 

Christian pastor: The Church is hopelessly anti-Semitic

Christian pastor: The Church is hopelessly anti-Semitic

Friday, November 09, 2012 | Ryan Jones, Israel Today            

 

At an interfaith conference bringing together Jewish leaders and Protestant Christian pastors outside Jerusalem this week, several of the Christian representatives painted a very worrying picture about the future of relations between Israel and the mainstream Church.

While an estimated tens of millions of individual Christians around the world love and support the Jewish state, many of the mainline Protestant churches have been actively boycotting Israel, encouraging pro-Palestinian activism and demanding that Western governments stop sending aid to Jerusalem.

One of the main Christian representatives at the conference was Rev. Paul Wilkinson, associate minister at Hazel Grove Full Gospel Church in Stockport, England. Over the past few years, Wilkinson has studied up close the phenomenon of what he calls "Christian Palestinianism," a politicized movement that seeks to eliminate Christian support for Israel and transfer it to Palestinian nationalists.

Wilkinson said he is "completely pessimistic in terms of believing that I, we, are going to overturn 2,000 years of erroneous theology that has manifested itself in all kinds of diatribes and anti-Semitic factions" within the Church.

Wilkinson said that what stands behind Christian Palestinianism is classic Replacement Theology, which he called a "Goliath of theology in the church."

Rev. Andrew Love of the United Church of Canada agreed with Wilkinson that exaggerated humanitarian concern for the Palestinian Christians is being as the "rationalization for ultimately what I believe to be anti-Semitic ideas and anti-Semitic policies."

Wilkinson lamented that this hatred for Israel, which harks back to millennia of hatred for the Jews, is rooted "deep in the heart of the Protestant Church," and is unlikely to be uprooted.

The Times of Israel provided a full report of the event, as well as interviews with several of the speakers. Their article on the conference is worth a thorough read.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23483/Default.aspx

8,500-year-old skeletons found in ancient well

By SHARON UDASIN

Jerusalem Post

 

11/08/2012

Skeletal remains of a young woman and older man discovered at the bottom of a Neolithic well in the Jezreel Valley.

Photo: Clara Amit / Israel Antiquities Authority

In a mortal mystery that cannot help but beckon the age-old tragedies of Antigone and Haimon, or Romeo and Juliet, the 8,500-year-old skeletal remains of a young woman and an older man have been discovered at the bottom of a Neolithic well in the Jezreel Valley.

Excavators discovered the well during a dig of the Israel Antiquities Authority at Enot Nisanit in the western Jezreel Valley, which occurred ahead of an enlargement of HaYogev Junction at Road 66 by the National Roads Company. Archeologists are estimating that the well was built approximately 8.500 years ago, and the young woman found at its bottom was around 19 years old, with a man "older than her," according to the Antiquities Authority.

Archeologists are now left to ponder how the man and woman ended up at the bottom of the well – musing about possibilities such as a tragic accident or even a vengeful murder.

“What is clear is that after these unknown individuals fell into the well it was no longer used for the simple reason that the well water was contaminated and was no longer potable," said Yotam Tepper, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The well was connected to an ancient farming settlement, built of stones and bedrock, and at one point residents had used it for their subsistence, Tepper explained. Two capstones to narrow the opening had been set on top of the well, which measures about 8 meters deep and 1.3 meters in diameter, he added.

Many artifacts found in the well, such as flint sickle blades for harvesting, arrow heads and stone implements, are sure indications that the people who quarried it were among the first farmers in the Jezreel Valley, according to Tepper. Other discoveries in the well shaft, like animal bones, charcoal and other organic items, will enable future studies about the domestication of plants and animals, as well as help determine the exact age of the well, he explained.

“The well that was exposed in the Jezreel Valley reflects the impressive quarrying ability of the site’s ancient inhabitants and the extensive knowledge they possessed regarding the local hydrology and geology which enabled them to quarry the limestone bedrock down to the level of the water table," Tepper said. "No doubt the quarrying of the well was a community effort that lasted a long time.”

Dr. Omri Barzilai, head of the Prehistory Branch of the Israel Antiquities Authority, stressed that wells from the Neolithic period are "unique finds in the archeology of Israel, and probably also in the prehistoric world in general."

To date, the two oldest wells in the world have been exposed in Cyprus, indicating the onset of the "domestication phenomenon," according to Barzilai.

"It seems that ancient man tried to devise ways of protecting his drinking water from potential contamination by the animals he raised, and therefore he enclosed the water in places that were not accessible to them," Barzliai said.

Excavators previously exposed a well 1,000 years older than those in Cyprus at the Atlit Yam site in Israel, he explained.

Whether the man and women at the well's bottom were the victims of sparring families, a crime of love, or a simple accident, the well itself will be a valuable tool to examining an ancient civilization.

"The exposure of these wells makes an important contribution to the study of man’s culture and economy in a period when pottery vessels and metallic objects had still not yet been invented," Barzilai said.

http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=291031

Does Obama's Re-Election Spell Trouble for Israel?

By Chris Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief

Thursday, November 08, 2012

 

 

 

JERUSALEM, Israel -- While Americans wonder what President Obama's next term means for them, many Israelis are asking the same question: what impact his re-election will have on America's relationship with its closest Middle East ally?

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Obama and pledged to work together.

"The security relationship between the United States and Israel is rock solid, and I look forward to working with President Obama to further strengthen this relationship," Netanyahu told reporters on Wednesday.

Israeli pollster Mitchell Barak says Israel and its leaders -- who have their own election in January -- will adapt to Obama's victory.

"Israelis and whoever is prime minister -- and it looks like it's going to be Netanyahu -- is going to figure out a way to pragmatically work with Barak Obama knowing that he's in for four years and you just got to work together," Barak told CBN News.

But some Israelis are concerned about the next four years.  

"I think it's a catastrophe for the State of Israel because I don't think we have a friend, and I think in the next four years he's going to show his true colors," Israeli resident Barbara Diamond said.

"And I think what he said and did until now was for his re-election but he has it and he doesn't have to get re-elected so now he's going to be whoever he is," she said.

Others are optimistic.

"I think it's going to be different this time because he's understanding what's going on in the Middle East now better, and I hope he's going to improve his attitude toward Israel," another Israeli resident said.

Obama's re-election will likely affect the biggest issue in the Middle East: a possible Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Some feel with Obama as president, Israel might have to go it alone.

"I just hope whatever decisions have to be made about Iran as far as Israel is concerned are made in Israel and not in Washington," Israeli resident Walter Saltzman said. "Certainly Israel should be ready to go it alone, preferring to work with the U.S., but if necessary Israel will go it alone."

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Congress Yoram Ettinger says another four years of an Obama foreign policy, which avoids confrontation, pleases some Mideast players.

"Egypt is very happy with Obama's victory and you wonder what does that mean when the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational terror organization, is very happy with the re-election of President Obama," Ettinger told CBN News.

"I suspect Putin in Moscow, the Chinese and the Iranians are pretty satisfied with the results of the election," he said.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/November/Does-Obamas-Re-Election-Spell-Trouble-for-Israel/

Israeli officials down, but not out over Obama win

Wednesday, November 07, 2012 |  Ryan Jones

Israel Today magazine  

 

 

Israeli government officials belonging to the ruling right-wing parties had a difficult time hiding their disappointment over Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential election, but remained determined to keep Israel-US ties tight and secure.

Deputy Knesset Speaker Danny Danon, a rising start in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, offered his congratulations to Obama, but said it was important to remember the incumbent American president had not been good to Israel during his first term.

"It is my hope, and that of many Israelis, that the president resets his course relating to Israel and our region for the next four years," Danon said. "Rather than dictating ill-advised policies that endanger the well-being of America's only true ally in the Middle East, now is the time for President Obama to return to the wise and time-honored policy of 'zero daylight' between our respective nations."

Danon said it was long past time for Obama to visit Israel, something he conspicuously avoided during his first term.

Knesset Member Arieh Eldad of the National Union Party insisted Obama was "the most hostile president to Israel in recent decades" and cautioned that his reelection would not bode well for the Jewish state.
Netanyahu himself only thinly veiled his preference for challenger Mitt Romney to win the election in the months leading up to the poll.

But Netanyahu's former bureau chief, Uri Elitzur, wrote that the lack of chemistry between Netanyahu and Obama may not be a bad thing for Israel.

"It is not healthy for Israel to be in a situation in which the president of the United States is hugging our prime minister and pouring love on him," explained Elitzur. "When a big and small figure are good friends, the small one fulfills every request of the big one because it is unpleasant to refuse him."

On the other hand, Elitzur pointed out, "when a big figure and small figure carry out negotiations in an atmosphere of distance and reservations, it is easier for the small figure to take a stand, defer proposals, make conditions and sometimes refuse."

Looking at the recent history of US-Israel relations as regards the peace process, for instance, Elitzur's analysis makes sense.

It was Bill Clinton, who had great chemistry with both Israeli leaders and the public, who hoisted the doomed "Oslo Accords" on the Jewish state, and it was George W. Bush, the Israel-supporting Evangelical Christian, who presided over Israel's ill-fated surrender of the Gaza Strip.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23479/Default.aspx

Lost tribe’s immigration to resume after five years

1,700 members of Bnei Menashe community with possible Jewish roots already in the country; some 7,000-9,000 remain in India and Burma

By Gabe Fisher, Times of Israel

November 6, 2012

Newly arrived Bnei Menashe immigrants at Ben Gurion airport in 2006 (photo credit: Nati Shohat)

 

The government has quietly decided to approve, after a five-year hiatus, continued immigration of the Bnei Menashe, a tribal group based in north-eastern India and in Burma that claims descent from the lost tribe of Menashe.

 

On Tuesday, Army Radio reported that a flight of 274 new immigrants is scheduled to arrive within a few weeks.

About 1,700 members of the tribe already reside in the country, mostly in West Bank settlements, especially in Kiryat Arba. There are an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 Bnei Menashe remaining in India and Burma. In 2005, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar ruled that the tribe had Jewish roots but members must still undergo a conversion process to be eligible to immigrate under the Law of Return.

In 2007, immigration was effectively halted by a change in government policy, which required issues of mass immigration and conversion to be approved by cabinet decision, instead of just the Interior Ministry.

MK Meir Sheetrit (Kadima), who was interior minister in 2007, and who opposes renewed immigration for the community, said Tuesday that it endangered the Jewish identity of the state.

“Apparently, there are those in government who think that if they come to Israel and convert to Judaism, maybe they will vote in future elections,” Sheetrit said in an interview to Army Radio.

MK Otniel Schneller, also of Kadima, argued that the issue is essentially one of family reunification for the community members already residing in the country. “We are a democratic country. A country that considers the importance of humanitarian gestures… they should receive a warm welcome.”

Shavei Israel, a NGO which effectively acts as a liaison between Israel and the Bnei Menashe, will be funding and managing the renewed immigration, according to Army Radio.

Israel last week renewed flights of Falash Mura immigrants from Ethiopia, seeking to bring over the last remnants of the Jewish community there.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/bnei-menashe-immigration-to-resume-after-five-years/

Israelis Favor Romney by a Wide Margin

By Tzippe Barrow

CBN News Internet Producer - Jerusalem

Sunday, November 04, 2012

 

                      Romney & Netanyahu

 

 

JERUSALEM, Israel -- A new poll released Thursday by The Times of Israel revealed that at least 45 percent of Israelis favor Republican candidate Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama.The poll, conducted by Smith Consulting for Israel Radio, showed that 29 percent support Obama.

Meanwhile, a survey by IVoteIsrael, a nonprofit that helps Israelis with dual citizenship vote by absentee ballot, revealed that 85 percent of Israeli-American voters cast their ballot for Romney, while 14.3 percent voted for Obama.

At a press conference Thursday, IVoteIsrael national director Elie Pieprz said some 80,000 American voters from 49 states voted absentee through the organization, which he called "an unprecedented increase in voter participation from the 20,000 or so who voted in 2008."

According to Pieprz, these voters could potentially impact the swing states of Florida and Ohio, with some 7,500 registered in Florida, 3,500 in Ohio and another 3,500 in Pennsylvania.

Nearly half the respondents of the IVoteIsrael survey identified themselves as national religious, while 22 percent described themselves as ultra-Orthodox.

"This is very consistent with what we are anticipating," Abraham Katsman with Republicans Abroad Israel, said, calling the percentage "slightly higher than we expected."

According to Katsman, the survey "probably reflects a stronger enthusiasm on the part of people who are voting either for Romney or against Obama."

But IVoteIsrael's many detractors in the media claim its connection to Jewish philanthropist Ron Lauder, a Republican who supports Romney, proves it's a partisan organization and therefore in violation of its 501(c)(4) status.

Pieprz rejected the allegations outright, saying IVoteIsrael is a service provider, not a clandestine advocacy group.

"The accusation that we're acting secretly [as Republicans] is problematic and disenfranchising people," Pieprz said, adding that IVoteIsrael is "only partisan for Israel," The Jerusalem Post reported.

Meanwhile, Hillel Schenker, acting chairman of Democrats Abroad Israel, told The Times of Israel the representative voter survey was "very slanted and extremely partial."

Schenker accused IVoteIsrael of setting up its polling stations in areas where "mainly Orthodox Jews" reside, such as the Gush Etzion settlement bloc and Jerusalem.

The Times added that "some of its [IVoteIsrael] key staffers have right-wing political backgrounds and the nonprofit behind the campaign has ties to right-leaning U.S.-Jewish billionaire Ronald Lauder."

Lauder, who also serves as president of the World Jewish Congress, has been criticized from both sides of the political spectrum, not the least for his support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his policies, including the controversial two-state solution.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/November/Israelis-Favor-Romney-by-a-Wide-Margin/

Nazi leader’s sister hid Jews near Brussels

By JTA, Jerusalem Post

11/05/2012

Hanna Nadel recalls how she and 2 other Jews were saved during Holocaust by the sister of a Belgian Nazi leader.

Photo: Reuters

The sister of a Belgian Nazi leader hid three Jews in her home near Brussels during the Holocaust, according to one of the survivors.

Hanna Nadel, now 86, said she, her mother and her niece were rescued by M. Cornet, the sister of Leon Degrelle, who as leader of the Belgian Nazi Rexen movement was responsible for deporting Jews to their deaths during the German occupation of Belgium.

Nadel's account, related to the historian Jan Maes, appeared earlier this week in the Belgian-Jewish monthly Joods Actueel.

The three, having escaped deportation orders, wandered with their suitcases around the town of Sint-Genesius Rode, where they happened upon a help wanted sign on Cornet’s door. The mother rang the doorbell and Cornet, without asking many questions, hired the mother as cook and Nadel and her niece to work as chambermaids.

Cornet knew the three women were Jewish and promised them they would survive. Visitors associated with the Flemish Nazi movement would routinely dine at the house; the three Jewish women would hide in the basement. 

Nadel’s mother sometimes would cook gefilte fish, which the lady of the house advertised to her guests as “oriental fish," Nadel recalled.

Nadel immigrated to Israel after the war. Degrelle left for Spain, where he died of old age in 1994, escaping the death sentences that his Nazi associates received back home.

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=290539

Jerusalem Mayor: Let My People Pray

Jerusalem Mayor: Let My People Pray

Jerusalem mayor calls to end discrimination, let Jews pray on the Temple Mount.

 

By Maayana Miskin, Israel National News

First Publish: 11/2/2012

The Temple Mount

 

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has come out against the ongoing discrimination against Jews on the Temple Mount. Jews are prohibited to pray on the Mount, which is the holiest place in the world according to Judaism, and many have even been arrested for moving their lips at the site.

The matter is ultimately in the government’s hands, Barkat said, and not in the hands of Jerusalem leaders. His own opinion is “to let every person pray on the Temple Mount,” he said.

In August MK Aryeh Eldad (Ichud Leumi) proposed a daring solution to the current impasse: split access to the Temple Mount between Jews and Muslims. The approach would allow Jews to pray while avoiding the Temple Mount riots feared by police.

Barkat gave his opinion on the matter while visiting Netiv Meir, a yeshiva high school for religious-Zionist youth.

He also spoke to the young students about leadership, and shared his own life story, which included services in the IDF Paratroopers, years in the business world, and then time in the realm of politics and public service.

In addition, Barkat addressed the issue of selecting a chief rabbi for the city. He noted that he had promised deceased religious-Zionist leader Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu that he would work to get a religious-Zionist rabbi appointed.

However, he said, it appears that a Chief Rabbi will be chosen only after the next mayoral elections, potentially putting the matter outside his influence. “I worked to lay the groundwork for a Zionist rabbi to be chosen, and I hope that will continue,” he said.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161641

 

 

 

The Balfour Declaration Was Issued 95 Years Ago

The Balfour Declaration Was Issued 95 Years Ago --
In 1925 Balfour Arrived to See the Jewish State in Formation
--Updated from last year's posting

Balfour's reception in Tel Aviv (April 1925)

The government of Great Britain issued the Balfour Declaration 95 years ago this week, on November 2, 1917.  The document in effect served as the birth certificate for a Jewish national home.

British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour's declaration was in the form of a letter to a leader of the British Jewish community.  It stated: 

His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. 

Balfour speaking at the founding of Hebrew University.
Behind him sit Chaim Weizmann and Chief
Rabbi Avraham Kook

The British Army had just captured Be’er Sheva (October 31) after months of trying to break through the Ottoman army’s Gaza-Be’er Sheva defense line. The British goal was to push north and capture Jerusalem by Christmas.  

In April 1925, Lord Balfour arrived in Palestine to lay the cornerstone for Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus.  He was received as a hero in Tel Aviv and Rishon LeZion. 

Balfour about to lay the Hebrew
University cornerstone

  

The three British giants of Palestine attending the 1925
opening of Hebrew University, from left to right: Lord Allenby 
(commander of British forces in Palestine 1917), 
Lord Balfour, and Sir Herbert Samuel, first British High
 Commissioner of the Mandate

Balfour visiting "Jewish Colony" 1925

Balfour welcomed by the Rishon LeZion Jewish
community and here



In the Arab community his visit was marked with black flags and a commercial strike.


Arab commercial strike
in reaction to Balfour's visit
(1925)








  


Black flags flying on Arab house
















Would the State of Israel have come into being without the Balfour Declaration in 1917?  Perhaps. The Jews' return to Zion was well under way -- well before the Holocaust. The building of an infrastructure for a state had begun.

But, the Balfour Declaration laid the legal and political foundation for the state's acceptance by the world community, as explained by writer Michael Freund in the Jerusalem Post:

When the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations, approved the Mandate for Palestine in July 1922, it formally incorporated the Balfour Declaration. In the preamble, it stated that, "the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." The Mandate, which was approved by more than 50 member nations, also noted "the historical connections of the Jewish people with Palestine."

Unfortunately, some of the pictures presented here were already in stages of disintegration when they were digitalized by the Library of Congress. They are presented without cropping the damaged sections.

Israelis rooting for Romney

Israelis rooting for Romney days before US election

Thursday, November 01, 2012 |  Ryan Jones, Israel Today magazine 

 

Just days before American voters go to the polls to elect the next US president, Israelis have again voiced loud and clear that they would prefer to see the challenger, Mitt Romney, take up residence in the White House.

A survey conducted on behalf of Israel Radio found that 45 percent of Israelis would choose Romney for president, while only 29 percent would vote for the incumbent, Barack Obama.

The same poll again confirmed that Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to win Israel's upcoming election in January of next year, and many Israelis fear that mounting tensions between their leader and Obama would result in undue American pressure on the Jewish state.

Netanyahu himself has publicly voiced no preference, but the warm way he received Romney in Israel earlier this year and the chemistry between the two men was evidence enough that Netanyahu is hoping for a Romney win as much or more so than his countrymen.

Israel itself has been a major election topic between Romney and Obama, and has featured prominently in televised debates.

While Obama maintains that he has been good and fair to Israel, Romney accuses Obama of "throwing Israel under the bus" in his quest to appease the Muslim world.

Furthermore, Romney has cautioned that if Obama is re-elected, Iran will almost certainly attain nuclear weapons, and that is a message that resonates strongly with Israelis.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23467/Default.aspx

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/