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Sometimes a headline says it all

Ha'aretz: "Hamas: War will settle Jerusalem dispute, not talks"

Temple Mount heating up again

Heavy rioting despoiled the Temple Mount and areas around it over the weekend.

On Thursday, just prior to the latest outbreak of violence, Rabbi Eckstein wrote about how the Mount, "Described by Jewish tradition as God's dwelling place on earth...has today become a pawn used by cynical Palestinian leaders—used not to draw us closer to the Divine, but to inflame passions and foment troubles."

Read the whole piece here.

Major dig planned for Western Wall

Arutz Sheva:

Israel is planning a major archaeological dig under the Western Wall (Kotel) plaza, opposite the Temple Mount, officials announced Thursday. The excavations will create an archaeological park directly underneath the area where worshippers currently stand while praying at the Kotel.

The current prayer area will remain open, supported by pillars, while a new area will be added underneath, at the level at which worshippers at the ancient Temple stood in the past.

The dig may be met with harsh reactions from Muslim and Arab leaders in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, many of whom have accused Israel of attempting to damage the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Jerusalem-area Muslims recently rioted for several days after it was rumored that “Jewish settlers” had planned to pray on the Temple Mount

"Human rights" group's founder zings it for unfair, inaccurate attacks on Israel

Robert Bernstein, the founder of Human Rights Watch, sadly writes in the New York Times that he has to distance himself from the group: HRW used to recognize the differences between open, democratic societies and closed, authoritarian ones, and knew that you cannot compare "abuses" in the two. Now, he says, HRW has cast aside the distinctions it used to make and is making a moral muddle:

Nowhere is this more evident than in its work in the Middle East. The region is populated by authoritarian regimes with appalling human rights records. Yet in recent years Human Rights Watch has written far more condemnations of Israel for violations of international law than of any other country in the region.

Israel, with a population of 7.4 million, is home to at least 80 human rights organizations, a vibrant free press, a democratically elected government, a judiciary that frequently rules against the government, a politically active academia, multiple political parties and, judging by the amount of news coverage, probably more journalists per capita than any other country in the world — many of whom are there expressly to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Meanwhile, the Arab and Iranian regimes rule over some 350 million people, and most remain brutal, closed and autocratic, permitting little or no internal dissent. The plight of their citizens who would most benefit from the kind of attention a large and well-financed international human rights organization can provide is being ignored as Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division prepares report after report on Israel.

Human Rights Watch has lost critical perspective on a conflict in which Israel has been repeatedly attacked by Hamas and Hezbollah, organizations that go after Israeli citizens and use their own people as human shields. These groups are supported by the government of Iran, which has openly declared its intention not just to destroy Israel but to murder Jews everywhere. This incitement to genocide is a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Read it in its entirety here.

What part of "the only democratic state in the region" was unclear?

The BBC is marveling that there are Israeli Arabs in the Israeli army:

The traditional view of the Arab-Israeli conflict is of Jews fighting Muslims. But that image does not always reflect the truth.

In fact, there are thousands of Muslim Bedouin who serve in the Israeli army, or IDF, and even bear arms against their fellow Muslims in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Well, yeah. Israelis are always mentioning that their country is a democracy, and how all of its citizens enjoy equal rights... let's hope BBC news presenters will remember to point this out this next time some charlatan defames Israel as an "apartheid state."

(By the by, Israeli Arabs in the IDF include not just Bedouins, but also Druze and other Muslim and Christian Arabs.)

Col. Richard Kemp defends Israel

Richard Kemp, a British army colonel who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, looks at the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces during Operation Cast Lead and concludes: "The IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare." Watch his entire testimony before the U.N.

Bibi looking to tackle Israel's "brain drain"

A few years ago, economist Omer Moav published a study documenting Israel's "brain drain": the troublingly high rate of Israeli academics--PhDs and other highly educated types--leaving Israel for more lucrative positions abroad.

Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu has announced that he's trying to find ways to draw them back. (He charmingly stated that he plans to "vacuum-suck" them back.)

The problem may not seem severe but Moav showed that the problem is more than a statistical blip: Israel produces top-notch scholars, but loses them to other countries because Israeli universities cannot pay enough to keep them (they also may not offer enough time and resources to compete with conditions abroad).

When the "best and brightest" leave, Israel pays on a number of levels: economically, educationally, and in diminished morale. 

In a 2005 article from Yediot Aharonot on the topic, Prof. Eyal Winter of the Hebrew University described a recent visit to Cornell University in upstate New York: After Winter's lecture, a former student now studying at Cornell invited him to join her for a Rosh Hashana dinner with other Israelis. Winter recalled: 

I thought I was going to meet five or six Israelis, but I was amazed to find about 50 young Israelis in their thirties at the dinner. All of them were staff members at the university, or in the final stages of completing their dissertation, and all of them already had good job offers from leading universities in the U.S.

Netanyahu is proposing the creation of a special fund designed to lure back the top 300 Israeli scientists now doing research abroad.

No big surprise that anti-Israel resolution passes, but some surprise French support

The U.N. Human Rights Council passed the resolution slapping Israel for not cooperating with the Goldstone committee report into the Gaza war, which accuses the Jewish state of all manner of war crimes.

(Among other things, the resolution calls on the UN Security Council to send the matter to the International Criminal Court if Israel doesn't toe their line.)

Interestingly, French delegates joined Israeli efforts to lobby European countries to vote against the report and even tried to get the vote postponed to allow them more time to persuade other countries to vote against it. 

The U.N. Human Rights Council has long been the butt of jokes given its makeup -- last year, its was chaired by the shining exemplar of human rights, Libya. On Friday, among the other pillars of decency and democracy voting to criticize Israel were China, Russia, Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan.

History shows anti-Jewish rumors lead to Palestinian riots

Barry Rubin looks at the historical record and finds that, sadly, some things don't change:

In August 1929, wild rumors that Jews had attacked Arabs, cursed the name of Islam’s founder, and were about to seize the Temple Mount led to inflammatory sermons in mosques, followed by massive Arab riots. More than 105 Jews were killed by Arabs; not a single Arab was killed by a Jew.

The exact same thing happened—albeit with far fewer casualties—in 1996, 2000, 2009, and at several points in between. The pattern tells a great deal about why the conflict doesn’t end and in fact stays a great deal the same.

UK to UN: Feh on Goldstone report

World Jewish Daily reports:

Britain on Thursday became the first Western country on the U.N. Human Rights Council to categorically reject the Goldstone report and any subsequent draft resolution, the Jerusalem Post reports.

"We can not endorse the report and can not vote for the resolution as tabled," diplomats stated while decrying the council's decision to hold a special session on the matter.

Earlier, the Palestinians submitted a five-page draft resolution aimed at condemning Israel for alleged human rights violations during recent clashes, including last winter's Gaza war.

Despite fierce criticism of the largely biased report from both U.S. and Israeli officials, the council is expected to eventually endorse the new resolution.

Read more in the Jerusalem Post.

Only in Israel: With a little help from Israel electric, a bride's wedding day is saved

The charming "Only in Israel" site tells the story of Ruchama Jaffe's imperiled wedding day a few years ago -- when the electric company scheduled a power outage to do some maintenance, which would make it impossible for the family to get ready for the nuptials at home.

Her mother, Bracha, called the power company and explained. Did they laugh? Nope. The manager, called Zion, sent workers out to see if they could keep supplying power to the Jaffe's building while cutting power to all the others in the area. It didn't seem possible.

"Not to worry," he told the mother-of-the-bride the next day. If they couldn't get them power, the electric company would provide them with a room in their building! Mrs. Jaffe asked if he'd ever seen a bride go to her wedding from the Electric Company.

“Actually, it’s happened before," he told her. (Only in Israel.)

In the end, Zion called and said he'd resolved the problem.

Jaffe explains: "So we get up bright and early on Sunday, and lo and behold, there is a generator parked right outside of our building. That’s right – our building  was hooked up to electricity all day from our own private generator while the rest of the neighborhood had a blackout!"

The family sent a hearty thank-you, along with photos of the bride.

Indeed, only in Israel does even the electric company have the opportunity to fulfill the prophetic vision that "there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom." (Jeremiah 33:10-11)

To Ruchama, her now-husband, Moshe, their families -- and the electric company, we wish Mazal tov!

 

(Ruchama Jaffe in her wedding dress with the electric company workers)

Turkish PM: Excluding Israel reflects "the conscience of our people"

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan explains his decision to exclude Israel from a NATO military drill earlier this week:

"There are diplomatic sensitivities in the region which we had to take into consideration... and we took into consideration the conscience of our people ... because our people did not want Israel's participation," he told Al Arabiya television.

Incidentally, take a few minutes to watch a portion of this video (beginning about 39:00) of the Davos World Economic Conference last January. The look on Erdogan's face as Israeli President Shimon Peres gives an eloquent defense of Israel is telling. I believe the expression is, "staring daggers."

Israel's foreign ministry supplies flood aid to West Africa

In addition to its normal obligations, Israel's Foreign Ministry has a special department devoted to international aid. (Don't all governments routinely attacked by the United Nations devote serious resources to providing humanitarian aid and expertise to other countries, regardless of the state of their political relations with them?)

The department, known in Hebrew as "MASHAV"--working together with IFCJ partner organization, the JDC--just sent humanitarian aid to Burkina Faso, the West African state now facing a massive humanitarian crisis following heavy flooding that left hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Israel sent tents, blankets, medicine, and other supplies, including baby food.

Putin in Iran's corner

Russian leader Vladimir Putin made clear today that Iran still has friends and admirers, in spite of a purported international consensus on preventing the Mullah-led regime from going nuclear:

"There is no need to frighten the Iranians," Putin told reporters in Beijing, and, according to this Reuters report, warned "against intimidating Iran" and called discussions of sanctions against Iran are "premature."

Putin's Beijing visit came on the heels of 2 days of meetings in Moscow with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sounds like they weren't the most productive of meetings.

Oops.

NYT: Lebanon: Hezbollah Munitions Cache Explodes

UN to discuss Goldstone report

World Jewish Daily picks up an AP report that the UN is in fact slating a session to discuss the Goldstone commission report, which alleges that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza:

Palestinian officials in recent days successfully lobbied 18 of the 47 council member countries to initiate the discussion, which will focus on claims that both Israel and the P.A. are legally accountable for their respective roles in the war.

Israeli officials have slammed the largely one-sided report, saying that South African judge Richard Goldstone's attempt to morally synthesize both sides' actions based on false and misleading evidence.

"We still think that this report is very dangerous and is disconnected from reality. This report was based almost exclusively on Hamas propaganda," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.

PA: Obama squishy on promises to pressure Israel; Tobin: Nobel committee not.

The Associated Press is reporting that an internal Palestinian Authority document laments that Palestinian hopes in President Obama have "evaporated" following what Palestinians say is the administration's back-tracking on promises to pressure Israel.

Of course, the article noted, that it was "not immediately clear whether the October 12 document reflected Abbas's own views or was intended to be leaked as Fatah's attempt to pressure US President Barack Obama to bear down harder on Israel." Hmm.

Meanwhile, Commentary's Jonathan Tobin wonders whether the President's recently announced Nobel Peace Prize isn't a "down payment" to put more pressure on the Jewish state.

Netanyahu: Don't believe the lies about Temple Mount dig

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a call for sanity:

"There is an extreme minority that has spread lies according to which Israel is planning to conduct excavations beneath the Temple Mount," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said regarding the recent unrest in east Jerusalem.

"I want to make it clear that these are lies, and I call on the majority of Arabs in Israel not to believe these lies," said the PM at the onset of Monday's cabinet meeting, "The vast majority of Israel's Arabs are not being dragged in by these provocations.

"I want to tell the Arab citizens of Israel – those who want to lead normal lives – that you are a part of the State of Israel. The government is working to make certain that you (Arab sector) enjoy full equality in every field, be it education, economy, employment or infrastructure," he said.

How will Ateek respond?

We've spoken before about Naim Ateek, a Palestinian Anglican priest who is also director of the stridently anti-Israel Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. Over at the CAMERA blog, Dexter Van Zile wonders aloud how Ateek may respond to the violence currently taking place on and around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem:

Palestinian leaders are falsely accusing Israel of "besieging" the [Dome of the Rock] mosque. If history is any predictor, this is a prelude to increased violence. What will Ateek do? Will he affirm Palestinian propaganda and incitement? Or will he speak truth to power and condemn leaders in the West Bank for lying about Israel? Will he encourage the Palestinian people to remain calm? Or will he remain silent? If Naim Ateek truly is a man of peace, now is the time for him to step up and tell his Palestinian Muslim brothers and sisters to refrain from violence, not to riot, and to not throw stones at Israelis.

Israeli scientists generate electricity from road traffic

Here's yet another amazing technological innovation from Israel that holds much promise:

Israeli scientists have achieved a breakthrough in alternative energy, by generating electricity from road traffic. The technology was developed by Ra'anana-based start up Innowwattech Ltd., and Israel National Roads Company Ltd. and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology participated in the trial.
Innowwattech says that presents a pioneering invention for "Parasitic Energy harvesting". The trial proved, for the first time in the world, how Israeli technology can generate electricity from generators installed beneath a road's asphalt layer.

(Hat tip: Israel Matzav)

Israeli woman wins Nobel Prize

JPost:

Appearing shell-shocked following her 2009 Nobel Prize for groundbreaking chemistry research, Israeli scientist Ada Yonath told a hastily arranged press conference at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot that in Israel, "celebrities are more important than professors - everybody knows that." However, she added that the world would soon be hearing about a promising new generation of Israeli scientists.

Breaking news: Jews are living in Jerusalem

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is warning the world that Jerusalem is being "Judaized." Apparently, he's riled that Jews are buying properties in the Holy City.

In other world news, reports are coming in that Rome is being Romanized as Romans are buying houses to live in there.

(In all seriousness, many Jerusalemites do lament that too many Jews who live abroad buy vacation properties in Jerusalem and drive up prices in the holy city. But, then, those same Jerusalemites are also aware that the "Judaization" of Jerusalem took place thousands of years ago.)

First-hand photos from Feast of the Tabernacles Jerusalem Parade

SFI friend Matthew Morgenstern, a British-born Israeli who lives in Jerusalem, sent in photos from today's Feast of the Tabernacles Jerusalem Parade.

 
  

Israeli kids watch the parade from their window a few stories above the parade (the bars are protective).

(Thanks, Matthew!)
 

Hamas may station human shields on Gaza border

A particularly macabre and shocking manifestation of Hamas' culture of death:

The IDF is concerned that Hamas is planning to resettle thousands of displaced Gazans in caravans and temporary homes along the border with Israel, defense officials said on Sunday.

The army learned recently of the plan, initiated by Hamas Housing Minister Yousef al-Mansi, under which thousands of Palestinians who are waiting for their homes that were damaged during Operation Cast Lead to be repaired will be housed in temporary structures and caravans along the border with Israel.

The IDF believes that Mansi plans to set up the temporary villages to serve as obstacles in the event that Israel sends ground forces into Gaza. The border villages will also likely serve as cover for tunnels that Hamas will dig under the security fence and into Israel to carry out attacks.

The next time you hear about Israeli officials being sought for prosecution for imagined "war crimes," remember this: Hamas will, without hesitation, place innocent Palestinian men, women, and children in harms' way if it thinks that by doing so it will garner victory on the battlefield, or in the media.

Azerbaijan jails two in plots against Israeli, US embassies

Azerbaijan appears to have foiled an attempt to attack the Israeli and American embassies in Baku, the capital city. Sources say that the plot was an attempt to follow through on promises by Iranian-sponsored terror groups to target Israeli facilities abroad. Two Lebanese and four Azerbaijanis were sentenced to between 12-15 years in prison for the plans.

Azerbaijan is a mainly Muslim country of 8.7 million on the Caspian Sea north of Iran.

Thousands of Christians in Israel for largest solidarity mission

Thousands of Christians from around the world are heading to Jerusalem to participate what may be the largest solidarity mission to Israel, the annual "Feast of Tabernacles" that shows Christian Zionists unequivocally standing  for a united Jerusalem.

Organized by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, participants took part in a weekend at the Dead Sea and will be meeting in Jerusalem this week, culminating in a huge parade through the city's center to show Israelis that Christians from around the world stand with them. 

Mashaal: We'll keep kidnapping Israeli soldiers

Just days after the release of a video showing kidnapped Israeli solider Gilad Shalit, more evidence (as if it was needed) of Hamas' instransigence surfaces:

Hours after Israel released 19 female Palestinian prisoners - an additional prisoner will be released Sunday - in exchange for a video proving captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit was alive, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Friday night threatened to capture more Israeli soldiers in order to win the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

Israel's Sukkot holiday: modern, fun, Biblical festival

 

As Rabbi Eckstein wrote this week, the holiday of Sukkot, which begins tonight, is known as “the time of our happiness” -- and, in Israel, it’s the height of the holiday season (the equivalent of what December is here in the U.S.).

 

Schools, government offices, and many businesses are closed for the week while the whole country marks the holiday: Spending time in their own family sukkah (the hut whose plural form provides the holiday with its name), as well as visiting family and friends, going on day-trips, and taking advantage of the myriad of festivals and special events being mounted around the Holy Land.

 

The holiday’s origins are found in Leviticus 23:42-43, which instructs that “All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt.”

 

One of the three pilgrimage festivals (the others are Passover and Shavuot), Sukkot originally called Jews to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to God and take part in national recognition of His providence. In the two millennia since the destruction of the Temple, Jews have marked Sukkot by “dwelling” in the small huts or booths they build just for the week, along with a special prayers which include the iconic “lulav” (a palm frond combined with branches of myrtle and willow) and “etrog,” a citron, prescribed in Leviticus 23:40 (“On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.”)

 

Even though the Temple is not standing, thousands and thousands of Jews from around the world travel to Israel every Sukkot to spend the holiday in the Holy Land.

 

Besides the resulting massive traffic jams, one of the most memorable things about this week is seeing sukkot—the little booths—crowded onto the balconies and roofs of apartment buildings and popping up in front of public buildings and restaurants, enabling people to eat their meals in a sukkah, one of the holiday’s primary laws.

Read journalist and commentator Judy Lash Balint’s description of a country preparing for Sukkot here (the photo up top is hers) and see photos of sukkot throughout Israel here.
 

During the week-long holiday, families relax and spend time in their sukkah and welcome friends and relatives there; the custom of stopping in to visit at a bunch of different friends’ sukkot in rapid succession is known among American Jews as “sukkah-hopping.”

 

During the days of the Temple, one of the most beautiful parts of the holiday was the Simchat Beit HaSho’eva, a massive celebration marking the annual water libation ritual. Without the Temple, the custom evolved into today’s simchat beit ha’sho’eva, festive parties thrown in large public sukkot.

 

Cities, schools, synagogues, and other large groups throw these joyous and noisy celebrations during the intermediate days of the festival. Watch students at Jerusalem’s Mirrer Yeshiva, one of the largest institutes of Jewish higher learning in the world, express their gratitude to God through song and dance here. (This one happens to be in the school’s study hall, not in a sukkah.)

A "new alliance" between Arab states and Israel?

The mainstream media is catching on to what Israeli diplomats have been saying for a long time. The New York Times quotes the editor of the pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi, who wrote:

“The Arab regimes, and the gulf ones in particular, will find themselves part of a new alliance against Iran alongside Israel.” [emphasis ours]

Israelis probably aren’t expecting to be carrying out joint military exercises in Dubai or the United Arab Emirates any time soon, but it nice to think that the truth is finally coming to light: Israel is not the only one in the neighborhood that doesn't want Iran to become a nuclear power.

Shalit video made public

 
See it here. (Scroll down to the middle of the column.)

He says:

"Hello, this is Gilad, son of Noam and Aviva Shalit, brother of Hadas and Yoel, who live in Mitzpe Hila. My ID number is 97027. Today is Monday, September 14, 2009. As you can see I am holding today's Falasteen newspaper of September 14, 2009, published in Gaza."

[He holds up the newspaper and the camera goes into a close-up on the newspaper and then pulls out again.]

"I read the newspaper in order to find information about myself, and in the hope of reading about information of my return home and my imminent release. I hope the current government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't waste this opportunity to reach an agreement and, as a result, let me fulfill my dream and be released.

"I wish to send regards to my family and say to them that I love and miss them and yearn for the day in which I would see them again.

"Dad, Yoel, and Hadas, do you remember the day when you visited my base on the Golan Heights on December 31, 2005, that, if I am not mistaken, was called Revaya B. We walked around the base and you took photos of me on the Merkava tank and on one of the old tanks at the entrance to the base. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant in one of the Druze villages and, on the way, we took photos on the side of the road with the snow-covered Mount Hermon in the background.

"I wish to say to you that I feel good, health-wise, and the Mujahadeen of the Izzadien al-Qassam Brigades are treating me very well. Thank you and goodbye."

Gilad Shalit appears healthy in video

Hours ahead of the start of the Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) holiday, the nation of Israel was relieved that footage of captive soldier Gilad Shalit showed him healthy and lucid. 

A copy of the video, which was received today in exchange for the release of 20 female Palestinian prisoners, was flown immediately to the Shalit family, who live in the village of Mitzpe Hila, which is northwest of the Sea of Galilee. The family asked to view the video in private and notified the Prime Minister’s office that the video could be made public. (Shalit’s sister, Hadas, did not view the video with her family: She’s currently serving in the IDF and spent today at her base.)

Israeli media report that the footage is about two minutes long and shows a clean-shaven Shalit holding up a Palestinian newspaper dated Sept. 14. Not surprisingly, some world coverage focused on the prisoners being released rather than the fact that this is the credible first signs of life of the soldier received in 2 years.

Meanwhile, Israeli sources caution that the video exchange doesn’t represent a break-through in negotiations for Shalit’s release (he’s been held prisoner by Hamas for three and a half years now): The earliest anyone could expect a deal is mid-2010.

The video is the first time that his family has seen Shalit since he was kidnapped nearly 1,200 days ago. (An audiotape was released in 2007).

Iran, U.S. begin talks in Geneva

Much talked about high-level discussions between U.S. and Iranian officials have begun in Switzerland:

A senior US official met Iran's top atomic negotiator for face-to-face talks on Thursday - the first such encounter in years of big-power attempts to persuade Teheran to freeze a program that could create nuclear weapons.

While diplomats and officials disclosed no details of the meeting, they appeared to be concrete proof of President Barack Obama's commitment to engage Iran directly on nuclear and other issues, in a sharp break with the previous Bush administration.

Lop-sided swaps reveal Israel's truest nature

 

 

The Israeli security cabinet approved swapping prisoners for information about Gilad Shalit’s fate on Wednesday. According to the deal, Israel will hand over 20 female prisoners on Friday and Hamas will hand over a videotape that offers evidence that the kidnapped soldier is still alive.

 

Insightful Israeli blogger The Muqata questions the worth of the videotape anyway, since the German mediator apparently already saw the video: “If he’s already seen it,” Muqata asks, “why do we need to release 20 Palestinian FemaleTerrorists?” (And goes on to lament that the world community appears to place a higher value on the lives of Palestinians being held for terrorist acts than on the lives of the Jews they murder.)

 

Israelis will be debating the wisdom of the swap (and of the proposed exchange of 1,400 prisoners for Shalit himself) – there’s no question that such exchanges provide direct incentives for terrorist groups to kidnap more soldiers, as well as Israeli civilians and even Jews who aren’t citizens of Israel. The wisdom of that is for the Israeli people to decide.

 

One thing the existence of the debate does provide clear evidence of, though, is the incontrovertibly paramount value that human life holds for the Jewish state and the Jewish people. Most of us around the world cannot imagine making such an un-even swap. But Jews live by a tradition that tells them that saving one life is the equivalent of saving the entire world.

 

And Jewish law teaches that pikuach nefesh, saving a life, takes priority over nearly every other act (a notable exception is desecrating the name of God).

 

It is precisely this value—the preciousness of life—that Israel’s tyrannical enemies exploit. And yet, we lovers of Israel know that, vulnerable though it may make us, it also is our greatest strength.

 

How sweet it would be for Gilad Shalit to sit in the Sukkah, reunited with his family and all of the nation of Israel, during the next week’s Feast of Tabernacles.

 

May Israel’s leaders receive wisdom and guidance, and may the Source of Comfort—and Salvation—lower His protective cloak over Gilad Shalit and his family:  “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” (Isaiah 61:1)

 

To listen to audiotape (with subtitles) of Shalit from 2007, click here.

Squabbling Palestinian factions agree: Kidnapping Israelis gets results

The incomparable Palestinian Media Watch reports that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority--whose frequent disagreements have flared into gun battles on more than one occasion--have found something to agree upon: Kidnapping Israeli soldiers works!

Since Israel changed its decades-old policy of not negotiating with terrorists, "militants" have been able to get huge concessions from the Jewish state--releasing thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including outright murderers--for the release of a few soldiers, the bodies of a few more, and one civilian captive.

The cartoon below refers to Hamas' confidence that they'll be able to get Israel to release up to 1,400 prisoners (yes, that's one thousand four hundred separate people)  in exchange for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped just before the start of the 2006 Lebanon War.

The cartoon ran in Al Quds newspaper (Aug. 28, 2009) and shows Shalit as a key. The text on the lock reads "prisoners."

PMW also points to a cartoon (a cartoon?) mocking Shalit, promising "You [Israelis] will all be Gilads. We'll capture you." Another ridicules Shalit's fate, depicting him calling for his mother while a child laughs at him, saying, "You've been rotting here for 3 years, and no one cares."

Find more about Shalit here and watch SFI for how you can help him.

Video: Netanyahu's speech at the UN

The Jerusalem Post has posted video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's powerful speech at the UN yesterday. It's well worth watching in its entirety -- and it's also worth reading an analysis of the speech in which Michael Oren, the Israeli Ambassador the the US, calls the speech "successful and even historic." The Israeli Ambassador to the UN agreed that the speech was effective and would stay in the memories of those who heard it for a long time, but, she cautioned against thinking that supporters of Israel can expect much change from the UN General Assembly.

Meanwhile, officials from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority made clear that their positions aren't changing:

1. A Hamas official called the Gaza war the "largest massacre of the century": " 'Netanyahu spoke of the Holocaust but Israel committed the largest massacre of the century,' Army Radio quoted a Hamas spokesperson as saying in reference to Operation Cast Lead."

2. Hamas denied any Jewish claim to the land of Israel: "Another Hamas representative was cited by Israel Radio early Friday morning as rejecting references Netanyahu made to the Jewish people's claim to Israel, saying that 'Palestine has never been Jewish land.' "

3. The Palestinian Authority made clear that they will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state: "Saib Erekat, the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator with Israel, called Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state unacceptable."

What does it say about the prospects for peace when even the ostensibly more moderate of the two ruling Palestinian groups cannot bring itself to accept one of Israel's most fundamental, non-negotiable -- and entirely legtimate -- conditions for making peace?

A revelation from Iran

Iran has disclosed to officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant:

Iran notified the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency in a letter on Sept. 21 “that a new pilot fuel-enrichment plant is under construction,” Marc Vidricaire, an IAEA spokesman, said today in an e-mailed statement. The IAEA demanded access to the site “as soon as possible,” the spokesman said.

President Barack Obama, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will make a statement today in response to the revelation of the plant, France’s ministry said. The leaders are attending the opening of the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.

Britain and France urged the UN to consider stepping up pressure on Iran as Obama presided over a unanimous Security Council vote yesterday for a measure resolving to rid the world of nuclear arms.

There couldn't be a better time to read The Rise of Nuclear Iran by Dore Gold, recommended by Rabbi Eckstein in his message this week.

U.N. General Assembly live

The Washington Post has a live video feed of the U.N. General Assembly.

Setbacks for anti-Israel activists in mainline churches

CAMERA's Dexter Van Zile notes a shift in the attitude of mainline churches toward Israel:

The summer of 2009 proved to be a season of discontent for anti-Israel activists in North America. This was the summer when efforts to recruit progressive Protestant churches in the U.S. and Canada into the campaign to demonize Israel suffered some obvious setbacks.

Two denominations – the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Canada – repudiated statements that demonized Israel. A third church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, passed a fair-minded and balanced resolution about the Arab-Israeli conflict. And the executive council of a fourth denomination, the United Church of Christ, issued an imbalanced statement that still acknowledged that Israel had a story to tell about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

These statements may seem pretty benign, but that's exactly the point. In 2004 and 2005, at the end of the Second Intifada – when Israel was most entitled to the support and sympathy from right-thinking people in North America – mainline Protestant churches aligned themselves with anti-Israel extremists by passing a series of one-sided resolutions that blamed Israel for the violence directed at it.

Hotel cancels event to be attended by Ahmadinejad

Bravo to the Helmsley Hotel chain, which has made it clear that during his upcoming visit to New York the Israel-hating Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cannot appear at any events in their facilities:

"As soon as Helmsley corporate management learned of the possibility of either the Iranian Mission or President Ahmadinejad holding a function at the New York Helmsley Hotel, they immediately ordered the cancellation of that function," said Howard Rubenstein, spokesman for Helmsley Properties.

"Neither the Iranian Mission nor President Ahmadinejad is welcome at any Helmsley facility. The Helmsley organization is grateful to United Against Nuclear Iran for bringing this matter to its attention so that appropriate action could be taken."

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), which marks the beginning of the High Holy Days, begins tonight at sundown. From Rabbi Eckstein's message this week:

Jewish Sages teach that our fates are "written" as God judges the world on Rosh Hashanah, and "sealed" 10 days later on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the holiest day on the Hebrew calendar. The period in between the two holy days is known as the 10 Days of Repentance, during which our reflection and penitence intensifies: We know that we are judged by our actions during the course of the whole year, but just as one would be that much more careful while sitting in a courtroom in front of the presiding judge, we know that now is our last chance to make good before the King of Kings, the Judge of Judges.

And, of course, this spirit of humility and reconciliation is to follow us throughout the year, throughout our lives. The High Holy Days are when we have the most power to transform ourselves and channel our abilities and resources to serve God.

L'Shana Tova to all.

Nuclear conference criticizes Israel

The International Energy Agency, an "intergovernmental organisation which acts as energy policy advisor," has just voted by a narrow margin to criticize the nuclear program of a certain country. They must be talking about Iran, right? No:

Overriding Western objections, a 150-nation nuclear conference on Friday passed a resolution directly criticizing Israel and its atomic program for the first time in 18 years. Iran hailed the vote as a "glorious moment."

The result was a setback not only for Israel but also for the U.S. and other backers of the Jewish state, which had lobbied for 18 years of past practice — debate on the issue without a vote. It also reflected building tensions between Israel and its backers and Islamic nations, backed by developing countries.

Ahmadinejad slams Israel

Prior to his scheduled appearance at the U.N. next week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad breaks out the usual anti-Israel rhetoric:

Ahmadinejad addressed worshippers before Friday prayers at the Tehran University campus, reiterating his anti-Holocaust rhetoric that has drawn international condemnation since 2005, questioning whether the "Holocaust was a real event" and saying Israel was created on "false and mythical claims." ... Ahmadinejad also accused world powers of double standards in favor of Israel and of disregarding violations of Palestinian rights. He repeated his old predictions that Israel would soon cease to exist and urged people to stand up against Israel's "Zionist regime as a national and moral duty."

U.N. discredits itself and undercuts human rights

Alan Dershowitz attacks the recent U.N. report that accuses Israel of "war crimes" during Operation Cast Lead:

Richard Goldstone—the primary author of a one-sided United Nation’s attack on Israeli actions during the Gaza war—has now become a full fledged member of the international bash-Israel chorus. His name will forever be linked in infamy with such distorters of history and truth as Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Jimmy Carter. The so-called report commissioned by the notorious United Nations Human Rights Council and issued under his name is so filled with lies, distortions and blood libels that it could have been drafted by Hamas extremists. Wait, in effect, it actually was!

Read on. The New York Daily News also has a good editorial on the debacle.

Israel captures "most wanted terrorist"

One of the men responsible for the horrific 2002 Park Hotel terrorist attack has been arrested:

A senior Hamas terrorist, involved in planning the 2002 suicide bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya, was arrested overnight Monday in the West Bank, security officials announced Tuesday.

Muhammad Harwish, head of Hamas's armed wing in Tulkarm, was apprehended along with his personal aide, Adnan Samara. The two were being interrogated by security forces.

A Duvdevan special forces unit, along with personnel from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and special Border Police forces, arrested the pair after encountering them during a search for weapons in Tzurif, close to Bethlehem.

The persistence of anti-Semitism worldwide

Several days before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year (which begins at sundown this Friday), two anti-Semitic attacks have shocked Jewish communities on opposite sides of the globe:

Some 58 gravestones were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in Argentina's Buenos Aires province on Friday and Saturday, local news Web site Momento 24 reported.

Eight of the graves were the resting places of victims of the 1994 terrorist attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association Jewish Center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

Meanwhile, in Russia:

A group of Russian skinheads have been detained for throwing Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in the country's far eastern city of Khabarovsk, officials said Monday.

Nobody was injured in the attack overnight Saturday to Sunday, which was timed to take place ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year holiday due to begin this Friday, the far eastern branch of Russia's interior ministry said.

Israel in mourning

Assaf Ramon -- son of the late Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy in 2003 -- has been killed after the crash of the plane he was piloting:

In a Sunday evening statement, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that the entire nation was "draped in sorrow over the death of Assaf, who fell from the skies, like his father Ilan, of blessed memory."

"This is a horrible tragedy for Rona and the entire Ramon family. It is a tragedy for the people of Israel. I was moved when Ilan, the youngest of the pilots who destroyed the death generator in Iraq, took with him into space a reminder of the destruction of the Holocaust," the prime minister said, referring to a tiny Torah that survived Bergen-Belsen that Ilan took with him on the ill-fated Columbia space mission.

Two rockets hit northern Israel

JPost:

A small-scale Global Jihad terror group was likely behind the firing of at least two Katyusha rockets into northern Israel on Friday afternoon, military sources said.

The rockets landed in open fields near the city of Nahariya. No casualties or damage were reported, and the IDF responded by firing some 15 artillery shells towards the source of the fire near the Lebanese city of Tyre.

IDF sources said that the rockets were 122 millimeter Katyushas, a short-range rocket known to be in the hands of Hizbullah as well as other smaller Palestinian terror groups that operate in southern Lebanon.

Iran's growing shadow in Latin America

A disturbing report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the increasing influence of Iran and its proxies in Central and South America:

In little more than two years, the number of Iranian diplomatic representatives in the region has increased from six to 11 and the number of diplomatic personnel has grown proportionately. This multiplication of Iran’s ties with Latin America has been the result of a strategic convergence.

Tehran sees its penetration in the region as essential to its efforts to weaken Washington international influence. The radical leftist governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua view Iran as a partner with whom they share common ground: hostility towards the U.S. The result is an anti-American alliance in the heart of the Western Hemisphere.

Coins from Bar Kochba revolt discovered

Israel continues to yield archeological treasures:

Israeli archeologists unveiled never before seen historical artifacts from a recent discovery of a Judean Hills cave used by Jewish refugees during the Bar Kokhba rebellion in 132-35 CE. The findings were presented at a press conference held at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Wednesday morning.

The massive discovery marks the first time Israeli researchers have ever found a large hoard of ancient coins from this era. The gold, silver and bronze coins, 120 in all, were discovered in an undisclosed location within the 'Green Line' of Israel. The unlocking of the almost inaccessible cave also yielded iron weapons, storage jars, oil lamps, a juglet, a silver earring and a glass bottle.