Thursday, June 2, 2011
Egypt - Reports: Jews to be Barred from Visiting Shrine of Abu Hasira
Egypt - Residents of el-Behira Governorate in the Nile Delta vowed Thursday to prevent thousands of Jews, who arrive en masse at the tiny village of Demito near Damanhour City, 50 km southeast of Alexandria, every year during the last week of each December to attend the birthday celebrations of Abu Hasira, a Moroccan Jewish holy man, who was buried there some 150 years ago.
"After the January 25 revolution, which toppled over the Hosni Mubarak regime, the Jews will not be allowed to enter Demito any more and endanger the public morals and hurt the feelings of its 5,000 residents," Moustafa Rasslan, a lawyer, said.
He called on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which has been ruling the country since February 11, to enforce a 2001 court ruling that compelled the Culture Ministry, responsible for the site where the annual gathering takes place in late December and early January, to cancel the Abu Hasira celebrations all together.
"If the SCAF does not enforce the ruling, Damito residents will not allow the Jews come to their village to attend the week-long Abu Hasira Mulid (festival), where they used to behave in a way that contradicts Islamic traditions and public morals under the very nose of security officials of the ousted regime," he said.
The Egyptians have been questioning the validity of this event arguing that the Jews had never held the Abu Hasira festival in Demito before they left the country after Israel State was founded in 1948.
"Jews didn't hold a festival at this site when they were in Egypt. It's just after the normalisation of ties between Egypt and Israel under the rule of ex-President Mubarak, the residents said.
Despite the court ruling, thousands of Sephardi Jews have been keen to attend the festival during which Egyptian security forces block all roads leading to Damito.
A female residents said that the Jews drink alcohol, which is forbidden in Islam, to be blessed as part of their veneration of the rabbi.
"The Jewish visitors usually get drunk and engage in obscene dancing during the celebrations," the woman, who asked not to be identified, said.
The villagers also complain that the authorities close down their shops and services for the Jewish festival, which reaches its highest point with an auction of the key to Abu Hasira's shrine.
The key is sold for millions of dollars, the woman said, adding that the principal of a nearby primary school has to close down the facility during the festival.
Yacov Abu Hasira, a rabbi from southern Morocco who wrote Talmudic commentary, was the head of the Jewish community in Damanhur before he died in 1881. He has since been revered for miracles attributed to him.
His real name was El-Baz, but he took on the name of Abu Hatzira (Father of the Straw Mat) when, having been denied access to a Palestine-bound ship by its captain, he was said to have reached the Promised Land on a flying carpet.
The villagers dismiss the story as a myth.
Palestinian Authority Presidential Advisor: The Refugees Are the New 'Palestinian Nuclear Weapon'
In a May 23, 2011 article published by the Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa, Sabri Saidam, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's advisor for information technology and vocational training and Fatah Revolutionary Council deputy secretary-general, said that the marches on Israel's borders on "Nakba Day" had revealed the new "Palestinian nuclear weapon." This weapon, he said, was the brave young people loyal to their ancestral homeland who do not fear risking their lives to actualize their rights to a state, freedom, and independence – a weapon he described as more powerful than Israel's entire arsenal.
Following are excerpts from the article:[1]
"The glorious day has arrived, [the day] that some feared and others ignored, while the rest prepared themselves at the last minute. The Palestinians have begun moving their new, quality 'nuclear weapon' across the borders – while the massive arsenal of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, cluster and phosphorous [bombs], and the entire spectrum of WMDs rests in Israel's storage facilities, nuclear reactors, and laboratories. [The arsenal was] paralyzed by the footfall of a Palestinian youth who advanced via the border, risking his life, to reach the birthplace of his parents, grandparents, and noble Jaffa family – while his comrades encountered [live] fire at the border.
"This new Palestinian 'nuclear weapon' is based on a large nucleus of loyalty to the motherland – a nucleus of courage and of yearning, and of distress due to the occupation. Together with this is a nucleus of courage, that disregards the minefields, the barbed-wire fences, the [tear] gas grenades, the [various] types of munitions, and the [various] types of obstinacy reflected in every speech delivered so generously before humanity by the occupation government.
"The new Palestinian 'nuclear weapon' demolishes the theory [that the Palestinian refugees will] forget [their yearning for the homeland], on which the Hebrew state has relied. It destroys the possibility of intimidating the millions of Palestinian refugees. It shatters the aspirations of the generals of our time, who aim to eliminate the affiliation of the Palestinian grandchild [with the homeland] – the grandchild who is charged with yearning for the land of his forefathers, [so much so] that he is willing to gamble with his life in an attempt to attain his plundered right – his right to a state, to freedom, and to independence.
"The internal battles within the occupation army will surely be endless, after its haggard appearance was revealed on that day. Perhaps those battles will be fought in total secrecy, with a few officers removed from their posts. Perhaps [the Israeli army] will reassess its plans in order to deal with this possible new test [that has become apparent] since the Nakba Day [dress rehearsal].
"[This] article of mine contains a great [call] to those in the Occupation state [Israel] who want to see and to hear that this impulse of self-sacrifice among the new generation of Nakba grandchildren has great significance – namely, that this generation is not afraid to storm [the borders] and die, and therefore will not relinquish its right, no matter how long the fence, how extensive the settlements, or how great the plunder of the land. Thus, it will never tire, and will never agree to anything but liberation and the disappearance of the occupation.
"In light of this, the threatening speeches and the denial of rights will be to no avail. What will avail is submission to the fact that those who want to live in security must give the people back their rights, their plundered land, and their stolen lives – particularly because, as they say in English, high fences do not necessarily make good neighbors.
"Perhaps those who are listening in the Occupation state – particularly those who express solidarity with our people every week in the heroic places and villages of the separation fence – must be told today: It is your job to tell your politicians what they don't like to hear, namely that all your country's weapons, and the language of obstinacy and tyranny, will not [subdue us] – and neither will pressure on world leaders or [the attempt] to compel them to change their statements and positions... None of these actions [by Israel] will create a world that favors occupation and humiliation.
"The new Palestinian nuclear weapon is the refugees outside and inside the homeland – [who seek] a just peace but who will not turn to it until the occupation is gone – as well as others whom the occupation has made miserable, whose hopes and dreams are hobbled by the occupation, and who have been filled with the stories of the homeland [told them by their] grandmothers and grandfathers.
"Which is the more effective weapon – that of man, or that of fire?"
Following are excerpts from the article:[1]
"The glorious day has arrived, [the day] that some feared and others ignored, while the rest prepared themselves at the last minute. The Palestinians have begun moving their new, quality 'nuclear weapon' across the borders – while the massive arsenal of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, cluster and phosphorous [bombs], and the entire spectrum of WMDs rests in Israel's storage facilities, nuclear reactors, and laboratories. [The arsenal was] paralyzed by the footfall of a Palestinian youth who advanced via the border, risking his life, to reach the birthplace of his parents, grandparents, and noble Jaffa family – while his comrades encountered [live] fire at the border.
"This new Palestinian 'nuclear weapon' is based on a large nucleus of loyalty to the motherland – a nucleus of courage and of yearning, and of distress due to the occupation. Together with this is a nucleus of courage, that disregards the minefields, the barbed-wire fences, the [tear] gas grenades, the [various] types of munitions, and the [various] types of obstinacy reflected in every speech delivered so generously before humanity by the occupation government.
"The new Palestinian 'nuclear weapon' demolishes the theory [that the Palestinian refugees will] forget [their yearning for the homeland], on which the Hebrew state has relied. It destroys the possibility of intimidating the millions of Palestinian refugees. It shatters the aspirations of the generals of our time, who aim to eliminate the affiliation of the Palestinian grandchild [with the homeland] – the grandchild who is charged with yearning for the land of his forefathers, [so much so] that he is willing to gamble with his life in an attempt to attain his plundered right – his right to a state, to freedom, and to independence.
"The internal battles within the occupation army will surely be endless, after its haggard appearance was revealed on that day. Perhaps those battles will be fought in total secrecy, with a few officers removed from their posts. Perhaps [the Israeli army] will reassess its plans in order to deal with this possible new test [that has become apparent] since the Nakba Day [dress rehearsal].
"[This] article of mine contains a great [call] to those in the Occupation state [Israel] who want to see and to hear that this impulse of self-sacrifice among the new generation of Nakba grandchildren has great significance – namely, that this generation is not afraid to storm [the borders] and die, and therefore will not relinquish its right, no matter how long the fence, how extensive the settlements, or how great the plunder of the land. Thus, it will never tire, and will never agree to anything but liberation and the disappearance of the occupation.
"In light of this, the threatening speeches and the denial of rights will be to no avail. What will avail is submission to the fact that those who want to live in security must give the people back their rights, their plundered land, and their stolen lives – particularly because, as they say in English, high fences do not necessarily make good neighbors.
"Perhaps those who are listening in the Occupation state – particularly those who express solidarity with our people every week in the heroic places and villages of the separation fence – must be told today: It is your job to tell your politicians what they don't like to hear, namely that all your country's weapons, and the language of obstinacy and tyranny, will not [subdue us] – and neither will pressure on world leaders or [the attempt] to compel them to change their statements and positions... None of these actions [by Israel] will create a world that favors occupation and humiliation.
"The new Palestinian nuclear weapon is the refugees outside and inside the homeland – [who seek] a just peace but who will not turn to it until the occupation is gone – as well as others whom the occupation has made miserable, whose hopes and dreams are hobbled by the occupation, and who have been filled with the stories of the homeland [told them by their] grandmothers and grandfathers.
"Which is the more effective weapon – that of man, or that of fire?"
'Fatah has never recognized Israel and will never do so' By KHALED ABU TOAMEH 01/06/2011 Central C'tee member, close to Abbas says only governments recognize each other, not political parties; praises Hamas leader's speech.
Ahmed, who is also head of the Fatah negotiating team with Hamas, said PA security forces in the West Bank were arresting Hamas supporters to protect them from being targeted by the IDF.
Ahmed’s remarks were made in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al- Youm.
Asked whether Fatah had spoken with Hamas about recognizing Israel, the senior Fatah official said, “Fatah has not recognized Israel. I challenge anyone who says that the case is otherwise, whether it’s Hamas or others. Neither Fatah nor Hamas is required to recognize Israel. Only governments and states extend recognition. It was the Palestinian government that recognized Israel, just as the Israeli government recognized us.”
Ahmed said the PLO had recognized Israel with the signing of the Oslo Accords.
“An organization recognized a state and a state recognized an organization,” he said.
“Now states should recognize each other when a Palestinian state is declared next September.”
In response to allegations that PA security forces have been cracking down on Hamas supporters in the West Bank, Ahmed said, “We in Fatah arrest Hamas members to protect them from Israel or from family disputes.”
The Fatah official praised Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal for delivering a “wonderful” speech during the signing ceremony for the Egyptian-brokered Fatah-Hamas reconciliation accord in Cairo on May 4.
“Mashaal used political language like President Abbas,” he added. “He talked about a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and said that he would give political efforts and negotiations a chance. Therefore, I consider this speech to be responsible.”
Ahmed said the new PA unity government, which would be established in accordance with the reconciliation pact, would not deal with peace talks with Israel.
“The PLO is in charge of the negotiations,” he emphasized.
“Hamas will join the PLO Executive Committee and become part of the PLO.”
He said he was happy to see Egyptians demonstrating outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo in the aftermath of the departure of the regime of Hosni Mubarak.
“When I see the demonstrations surrounding the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, I feel optimistic and that, as a Palestinian, I have received a new weapon and pressure force,” Ahmed said.
“This is a new change and we have seen how the Israelis are worried about these demonstrations.”
Syrian forces shell town kill 41, lawyer says
ANTALYA, Turkey (Reuters) - Syrian forces killed 41 civilians in an effort to crush pro-democracy protests, a human rights lawyer said on Wednesday, as opposition leaders met in Turkey to plot the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Lawyer Razan Zaitouna told Reuters by telephone from Damascus the 41 dead in Rastan included a four-year-old girl killed as government forces shelled the central town on Tuesday.
Five of them were buried in Rastan on Wednesday, she said.
Syrian forces also killed nine civilians on Tuesday in the town of Hirak, rights campaigner Ammar Qurabi said on Wednesday.
The nine, among them three doctors, one dentist and an 11-year-old girl, were killed by snipers and during the storming of houses in Hirak, where tanks had deployed this week, Qurabi, who heads the Syrian Human Rights Organization, told Reuters.
Rights groups say 1,000 civilians have been killed as Assad seeks to crush a revolt which has turned into the gravest challenge to his 11-year rule. The severity of the crackdown has provoked international condemnation and sanctions.
"The revolution inside Syria has declared 'the people want the overthrow of the regime'. We echo it. The price of the blood being shed can only be freedom," Abdelrazzaq Eid, a senior figure in the Damascus Declaration umbrella opposition group, told a conference in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya.
The gathering is the first official meeting of activists and opposition figures in exile since protests erupted 10 weeks ago in Deraa, a poor, agricultural city in southern Syria.
"The dictatorship has presented nothing to show a modicum of good intentions. It has lost any legitimacy by firing at and killing its own people," Eid said, to the applause of delegates.
Syrian authorities blame armed groups, backed by Islamists and foreign agitators, for the unrest and say more than 120 police and soldiers have been killed.
The meeting in Turkey brought together a broad spectrum of opposition figures driven abroad over the last 30 years, from Islamists crushed in the 1980s, to fleeing Christians.
A regional Middle East player, Assad has sought since succeeding his father in 2000 to maintain Syria as an ally of Iran and supporter of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah while seeking better ties with the West and peace with Israel.
But Assad's handling of the protests has triggered U.S. and EU sanctions on members of the ruling hierarchy, including himself, after four years of detente with the West. Syria's backer Turkey has also begun to criticize Assad.
"SACRIFICES"
Delegates in Turkey said an ultra-loyalist army controlled by Assad's brother Maher, and a security apparatus which has suppressed dissent for decades, were preventing Damascus and Syria's biggest city Aleppo from joining the demonstrations.
But they said international pressure and a series of gruesome killings have turned Syrian public opinion against the 45-year-old leader, pointing to a slow but steady expansion of demonstrations, despite an intensified military crackdown.
"I am afraid there will be more sacrifices before Assad goes, but this is the nature of revolutions," said Naim al-Salamat, a researcher who lives in Ireland.
Thirteen-year-old Hamza al-Khatib has become a potent symbol to protesters after video of his bloodied corpse was posted on the Internet. Activists say he was tortured and killed by security forces. Syrian authorities deny he was tortured and say he was killed when armed gangs shot at government forces.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "very concerned" about Khatib's case.
"I think what that symbolizes for many Syrians is the total collapse of any effort by the Syrian government to work with and listen to their own people," Clinton told a news conference.
"I can only hope that this child did not die in vain."
Assad has issued decrees aimed at appeasing public grievances. Opposition leaders say they would not change the nature of a repressive political system in which arbitrary arrests, beatings and torture of political detainees are common.
State news agency SANA said on Wednesday Assad ordered the formation of a committee tasked with setting the framework for a national dialogue.
On Tuesday he announced an amnesty for political prisoners, but rights campaigners said the decree had numerous exceptions, specifying reduced sentences for many cases rather than release.
France said the amnesty had come too late.
"The Syrian authorities' change of direction will have to be much clearer and more ambitious than a simple amnesty," France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told France Culture radio.
(Editing by Jon Hemming and Michael Roddy)
Lawyer Razan Zaitouna told Reuters by telephone from Damascus the 41 dead in Rastan included a four-year-old girl killed as government forces shelled the central town on Tuesday.
Five of them were buried in Rastan on Wednesday, she said.
Syrian forces also killed nine civilians on Tuesday in the town of Hirak, rights campaigner Ammar Qurabi said on Wednesday.
The nine, among them three doctors, one dentist and an 11-year-old girl, were killed by snipers and during the storming of houses in Hirak, where tanks had deployed this week, Qurabi, who heads the Syrian Human Rights Organization, told Reuters.
Rights groups say 1,000 civilians have been killed as Assad seeks to crush a revolt which has turned into the gravest challenge to his 11-year rule. The severity of the crackdown has provoked international condemnation and sanctions.
"The revolution inside Syria has declared 'the people want the overthrow of the regime'. We echo it. The price of the blood being shed can only be freedom," Abdelrazzaq Eid, a senior figure in the Damascus Declaration umbrella opposition group, told a conference in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya.
The gathering is the first official meeting of activists and opposition figures in exile since protests erupted 10 weeks ago in Deraa, a poor, agricultural city in southern Syria.
"The dictatorship has presented nothing to show a modicum of good intentions. It has lost any legitimacy by firing at and killing its own people," Eid said, to the applause of delegates.
Syrian authorities blame armed groups, backed by Islamists and foreign agitators, for the unrest and say more than 120 police and soldiers have been killed.
The meeting in Turkey brought together a broad spectrum of opposition figures driven abroad over the last 30 years, from Islamists crushed in the 1980s, to fleeing Christians.
A regional Middle East player, Assad has sought since succeeding his father in 2000 to maintain Syria as an ally of Iran and supporter of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah while seeking better ties with the West and peace with Israel.
But Assad's handling of the protests has triggered U.S. and EU sanctions on members of the ruling hierarchy, including himself, after four years of detente with the West. Syria's backer Turkey has also begun to criticize Assad.
"SACRIFICES"
Delegates in Turkey said an ultra-loyalist army controlled by Assad's brother Maher, and a security apparatus which has suppressed dissent for decades, were preventing Damascus and Syria's biggest city Aleppo from joining the demonstrations.
But they said international pressure and a series of gruesome killings have turned Syrian public opinion against the 45-year-old leader, pointing to a slow but steady expansion of demonstrations, despite an intensified military crackdown.
"I am afraid there will be more sacrifices before Assad goes, but this is the nature of revolutions," said Naim al-Salamat, a researcher who lives in Ireland.
Thirteen-year-old Hamza al-Khatib has become a potent symbol to protesters after video of his bloodied corpse was posted on the Internet. Activists say he was tortured and killed by security forces. Syrian authorities deny he was tortured and say he was killed when armed gangs shot at government forces.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "very concerned" about Khatib's case.
"I think what that symbolizes for many Syrians is the total collapse of any effort by the Syrian government to work with and listen to their own people," Clinton told a news conference.
"I can only hope that this child did not die in vain."
Assad has issued decrees aimed at appeasing public grievances. Opposition leaders say they would not change the nature of a repressive political system in which arbitrary arrests, beatings and torture of political detainees are common.
State news agency SANA said on Wednesday Assad ordered the formation of a committee tasked with setting the framework for a national dialogue.
On Tuesday he announced an amnesty for political prisoners, but rights campaigners said the decree had numerous exceptions, specifying reduced sentences for many cases rather than release.
France said the amnesty had come too late.
"The Syrian authorities' change of direction will have to be much clearer and more ambitious than a simple amnesty," France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told France Culture radio.
(Editing by Jon Hemming and Michael Roddy)
U.S. Cites Anti-Semitism in Skipping UN Racism Conference
The U.S. has announced it won’t attend the 10-year commemoration of a global UN conference on combating racism because past meetings have included “ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism.”
The Obama administration made the announcement in a letter from Acting Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Macmanus to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York. The UN World Conference Against Racism will be held in New York on September 21st.
The U.S. and more than a half dozen other nations -- including Israel, Canada, Italy, Sweden -- boycotted the UN conference on combating racism held in Geneva in April 2009 because of the prospective treatment of Israel.
In a speech there, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a “repressive, racist regime,” sparking a walkout by European delegates at the conference.
Macmanus said that the U.S. voted against the United Nations resolution establishing the 2011 event because the so- called Durban process “included ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism and we did not want to see that commemorated.”
The 2001 UN conference against racism took place in Durban, South Africa, and focused in large part on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Delegates produced a draft resolution that equated Zionism with racism.
“I commend the Obama Administration decision to withdraw,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “It is an insult to America that the United Nations has decided to hold the Durban III conference inNew York City just days from the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.”
Gillibrand and a bipartisan group of 17 other senators wrote to U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice on December 17, urging that the U.S. not participate in the conference.
“Of course, we would welcome the United States’ eventual return to the conference if it were to become a legitimate forum for combating discrimination -- but that is a development that seems highly improbable to us,” they said in the letter.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington atngaouette@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
Praying for our Children
Today (Thursday) is the 29th of Iyar according to the Hebrew calendar and the eve of the new Hebrew month of Sivan. Jewish tradition teaches that today is an opportune time to pray that our children grow up in health of body, mind, and soul. The best known prayer that our people have been using for hundreds of years is "A Parent's Prayer" composed by the holy Shl"a, a 17th Century Scholar and Kabbalist who is buried near the Rambam in Tiberias. As a service to our readers, Artscroll.com sent us a PDF with the prayer in Hebrew and English, which you can see here.
We've often said that the most important part of raising happy and successful children is praying for them. The 5 minutes that you take to say the Shl"a's prayer will be one of the best investments you ever made.
We've often said that the most important part of raising happy and successful children is praying for them. The 5 minutes that you take to say the Shl"a's prayer will be one of the best investments you ever made.
LAZER BEAMS: Unity and Jerusalem
Hashem in His everloving compassion gave me some amazing revelations during personal prayer earlier today. Ever since the massive pressure began to divide Jerusalem and sever us from Judea and Samaria, I've been begging Hashem that a single Jew should not lose his home anywhere in our beloved holy homeland.
Hashem helped me understand that Jerusalem is the heart of all the Jewish people. If you cull other Jews or cut yourself off from any group - not only Chassidic, Lithuanian, Nationalistic or Sephardi but Conservative and Reform as well, then you cut yourself off from a part of Jerusalem. No wonder Jerusalem is under the threat of being split! It's all the result of infighting and hate, no matter how seemingly justified it may be. The Chafetz Chaim says that Hashem doesn't want hate or contention in any form, even if you think it's a mitzva. So, if you care about Jerusalem remaining unified, love every Jew. You don't have to agree with his ideology or lifestyle, but you are commanded to love him like yourself.
By the same token, every Jew has a portion of the Land of Israel.
Large segments of our homeland are in danger, measure for measure with our actions: we cut ourselves off from other Jews, and we get part of our homeland cut away from is. Think about it, for I know it's true.
The unity of the Land of Israel depends on Jewish unity - this should be our goal, now more than ever.
Hashem helped me understand that Jerusalem is the heart of all the Jewish people. If you cull other Jews or cut yourself off from any group - not only Chassidic, Lithuanian, Nationalistic or Sephardi but Conservative and Reform as well, then you cut yourself off from a part of Jerusalem. No wonder Jerusalem is under the threat of being split! It's all the result of infighting and hate, no matter how seemingly justified it may be. The Chafetz Chaim says that Hashem doesn't want hate or contention in any form, even if you think it's a mitzva. So, if you care about Jerusalem remaining unified, love every Jew. You don't have to agree with his ideology or lifestyle, but you are commanded to love him like yourself.
By the same token, every Jew has a portion of the Land of Israel.
Large segments of our homeland are in danger, measure for measure with our actions: we cut ourselves off from other Jews, and we get part of our homeland cut away from is. Think about it, for I know it's true.
The unity of the Land of Israel depends on Jewish unity - this should be our goal, now more than ever.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Yom Yerushalayim: Jerusalem Day
Today commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967. The Arabs tried to annihilate Israel, but Hashem miraculously saved us. May we indeed merit that Jerusalem remains unified, amen.
Here is one of Israel's finest singers, Ben Snoff, who has a voice like an angel. Ben is singing Psalm 137, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem...". I'm sure you'll enjoy this as much as I do.
In 1967, the Western Wall became part of Israel, enabling Jews to freely pray at their holiest site without the need for official permission or the fear of being shot by snipers. One of the most famous images of that time is that of the soldiers standing by the Western Wall and looking up in awe. In honor of the 40 year anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, those soldiers came together for a reunion photo: The men in the picture from left to right are: Zion Karasenti, Yitzak Yifat, and Haim Oshri. The original picture was taken by David Rubinger, and the update by Amit Shabi.
Liberator of Western Wall returns to visit on Jerusalem Day
Wednesday is Jerusalem Day, marking the 44th anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem's Old City.
In honor of the occasion, Yehuda Hartman, who as a 22-year old paratrooper was one of the liberators, returns to the Western Wall to retell his story.
Let's go to the videotape.
More here.
In honor of the occasion, Yehuda Hartman, who as a 22-year old paratrooper was one of the liberators, returns to the Western Wall to retell his story.
Let's go to the videotape.
More here.
Netanyahu Meets Pre-Military Students in Lod
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu toured the city of Lod on Tuesday. During the tour he met with students at the Maoz religious pre-military academy, as well as with graduates of the , who study at pre-military academies around the country. The visit was initiated by Education Minister Gideon Saar, who accompanied Netanyahu on the tour along with Deputy Minister Gila Gamliel and coalition chairman MK Zeev Elkin.
Email readers: click and scroll down to view video.
The Prime Minister spoke with students and alumni, and heard from them about their involvement in the community in Lod and their activities in the Ma’agalim program, which is designed to prepare them for a significant service in the IDF.
During the meeting, Netanyahu turned to the students and said: “There is an equation which says that without an army there is no country, without an economy there is no army, and without education there is no economy. The place where education appears in the clearest way is in the preparatory academies.”
In response, the students excitedly told Netanyahu that when he addressed Congress, they prayed and studied so that he would succeed in standing against the challenges and pressures being applied on him by the nations of the world.
“I was very moved by the things you said here today,” Netanyahu told the students. “All of us serve. We serve the vision of the people of Israel being in the land of Israel for eternity, and I want to tell you that in the end, our power is in belief. This belief exists in abundance here, and I’m happy that you’re spreading its light around. It is important to settle in our hearts all over the country. Thank you very much! Good luck!”
After the visit, Education Minister Gideon Saar announced that he has undertaken the promotion of a project in which all the preparatory academies in Lod will be involved in community service in the city. He added that he will work to promote this program in the very near future.
Assaf Weiss, General Manager of Ma’agalim and a resident of Lod, said: “The Education Minister’s initiative to make education in Lod a top priority is great news for the city, and I have no doubt that thanks to his work, the education system here will continue to develop.”
Jerusalem Day Also Marks Return of Judea and Samaria
More than 5,000 people celebrated Jerusalem Day on Mount Grizim
Tuesday night and Wednesday mark not only the re-unification of all of Jerusalem but also the restoration of Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights to Israel
The event was dedicated to the memory of Ben Yosef Livnat, who was murdered by Palestinian Authority soldiers five weeks ago as he and more than a dozen other worshippers left Kever Yosef. The IDF has determined that the soldiers, officially known as “police,” shot to kill without provocation.
Benny Katzover, chairman of the Shomron (Samaria) Residents' Committee, told the crowd that he wrote Livnat’s mother, “We demand free daily access to Kever Yosef, without having to beg or apologize. Enough self-degradation.”
Netanyahu on Jerusalem Day: We'll Continue to Build Jerusalem
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke during Tuesday’s Jerusalem Day celebration at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem. As he entered the Beit Medrash, over a thousand students sang the words with which Moses blessed the tribe of Binyamin: "And to Binyamin he said: Beloved by God, he will dwell in security."
The head of the yeshiva, Rav Yaakov Shapira, welcomed the Prime Minister with warm words for his forthright speech in the US Congress, adding that our "roadmap" is the Bible and that all of the land of Israel stems from Jerusalem and has the same indivisible status as the hoy city.
Netanyahu started by recalling how the government ministers sit during their meetings and browse through letters and other reports. He noted, however, that one minister browses through the Tanach and sometimes the Talmud. That minister, said Netanyahu, is Justice Minister Ya’akov Ne’eman, who was sitting on the dais to the right of him.
“For Ne’eman, public service is holy work,” said Netanyahu, “and as such, from time to time he shares with me something new that he’s found. So I’m happy to be here with him and many other great people such as the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yona Metzger, the former Chief Rabbi of Israel and current Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Rabbi Lau, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, and Rabbi Ya’akov Shapira who heads the Mercaz Harav yeshiva.”
Addressing Rabbi Shapira directly, Netanyahu said: “I just heard the song ‘Od Avinu Chai’ (our Father still lives, sung by the students as the PM took his seat). Your father still lives, too. I remember the great Rabbi Shapira, and he still lives in you, in your spirit, in the spirit of all the great rabbis, but above all, he lives in the spirit of all of you students of Mercaz Harav.”
Netanyahu thanked those present for their support during his visit to the United States last week.
“When I was overseas, I received all your blessings and support,” he said. “You wanted to strengthen me and you did it, because during that entire week I kept remembering one verse: ‘Chazak Chazak v’Nitchazek.’ (Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened). May we strengthen one another. We need that strength every day of the year. We’re undergoing a great struggle but we also have some great achievements. 44 years ago, Israel’s soldiers fulfilled the vision of the prophets and brought back Jerusalem to its proper place.
“My friends, almost 2,000 years have passed since the destruction,” continued Netanyahu. “And today Jerusalem is beautiful and is a pride to the entire country. We came back to Jerusalem as builders, and today Jerusalem is growing and flourishing. We need to continue and build and develop the city. We see how the citizens of Jerusalem walk in it proudly. Jerusalem has once again become the capital of the Jewish people. Jerusalem is built, it is joined and unified forever,” he ended paraphrasing Psalm 132. The Prime Minister did not repeat his words to the Congress about finding creative ways to keep the city united and satisfy the Palestinians.
He recalled the government meeting this week, which took place at Migdal David in honor of Jerusalem Day. “Before the meeting I went down to the basement and saw a model of the city from the middle of the 19th century. In the model you see the synagogue standing upright, and then you see another synagogue. And you see the Jewish Quarter. We know that we were turned away from the city, but we came back and rebuilt. The synagogue now stands, complete, just like in its glory days.”
Netanyahu directly addressed the students of the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, telling them, “There is nothing more dear to you than the Torah, the people of Israel and the land of Israel, at the heart of which is its capital Jerusalem…There are a few here who were or will be in the sayeret (military commando unit) in the IDF, and just like the sayeret goes in front of the camp, so do you go in front of the camp to light its way.”
He then offered the students some advice. “Always keep in touch with the camp. A pioneer with no camp behind him becomes lost in the desert, but if he has a camp connected to him he becomes part of a great force. All of you – rabbis, avreichim, and students – you stay connected and I’m sure you’ll continue to stay connected to the entire people. Jerusalem can continue to develop only if the people of Israel continue to develop. And the people of Israel will develop only through unity. There’s great strength in unity.”
The Prime Minister ended with a blessing, perhaps a hint of no building freezes, in honor of Jerusalem Day.
“There’s nothing more holy to us than Jerusalem,” he said. “We’ll keep Jerusalem, we’ll keep its unity, we’ll build it. We’ll protect Jerusalem and Jerusalem will protect us. I say to you not just Chag Sameach, but L’Shana Haba’a BiYerushalyim Habenuya Yoter (Next year in Jerusalem which is built even more)!”
'The Key Solution to Israel's Problems - Aliyah'
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, co-founder of Nefesh B’Nefesh and the organization’s Executive Director since 2002 received the 2011 . In the following video Rabbi Fass speaks about the murder of his relative in a terrorist bombing in March 2001, an incident which compelled him to embark on the mission of helping Jews realize the dream of coming home to the land of Israel.
Together with Tony Gelbart, Rabbi Fass founded Nefesh B'Nefesh, which revolutionized western Aliyah by removing the financial, professional and logistical obstacles that prevent many individuals from actualizing their dreams. The Moskowitz Prize committee explained that "the organization has revamped the Aliyah process, making the idea of moving to Israel a more realistic option for many."
Since its establishment in 2002, the organization has assisted over 27,000 Western Olim and has maintained a retention rate of 97%. "These Olim contribute greatly to the social, economic and demographic welfare of Israeli society," continues the written statement of the prize committee, "by serving in the IDF, settling in Israel’s cities and periphery, and boosting economic growth, while infusing the country with idealistic enthusiasm and optimism."
Why — and whose — Jerusalem? On the 44th anniversary of the liberation and reunification of the Holy City, answering the questions few are so bold to ask,By Rabbi Dov Fischer
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Several covens of Jew-haters, ranging from the Middle East to the more troubled and confused of American campuses like those at the University of California at Irvine (UCI), recently marked their "Nakba Day" to protest that a Jewish country ever was created in the Middle East. Today, Jerusalem Day, is my chance to respond by affirming the Jewish claim to an eternally undivided capital city of United Jerusalem.
Ever since I learned to pray, I learned about Jerusalem. In time, as a little boy, I learned to pray three times every day in my "Sh'moneh Esrai" prayer (the central prayer in every formal Jewish service) for the return to and the rebuilding of united Jerusalem. It is the same prayer that my paternal grandfather recited in the late 1800s in Southern Poland and that my maternal grandfather recited then in Russia. The same prayer that their grandparents recited before them, and theirs before them. It did not matter to them that it seemed hopeless in those centuries, long before anyone even had fabricated the apocryphal notion of a "Palestinian People," that Jews ever might return to the land of Israel, which Rome had re-named "Palestine." It did not matter that the notion of Jews ever returning to hoist a Star of David atop a hill in Jerusalem was a craziness relegated to children and the ostensibly insane. They prayed fervently for the Jewish return to Jerusalem all the same. It had been handed down to them to pray for Return from the day the Romans had exiled the Jews, and my grandparents and parents handed it down to me, as I have handed it to my son who spent this year studying something about Judaism while based at a seminary in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City in East Jerusalem which Israel liberated on this day in 1967.
Since childhood, every time I have eaten a meal with bread, I have recited prayers of thanks for the food -- and for the rebuilding of united Jerusalem. If I eat a cookie, I follow with a prayer of thanks -- and for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Nor am I unique. For 2,000 years and more, Jews throughout the world have cried for Jerusalem and laughed for her. As much as I deeply love America, am truly devoted to her as an American patriot who takes immense pride in the American exceptionalism that has made the United States the greatest country in the world, living out her Manifest Destiny, I have never met an American who can tell me the day on the calendar that the British burned the White House during the War of 1812. Indeed, does anyone deny that more than 99 percent of Americans have no idea that the White House ever was set on fire? Americans have no idea that the Madisons had to escape with their lives and with what little they could salvage — some Gilbert Stuart paintings, some basic art. No ice cream. My fellow Americans have no idea that the White House was burned down in war.
But I know that it was on the Ninth Day of Av that the Babylonians burned the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. And it was the very same day that Rome burned the rebuilt Temple. I know it. My son knows it. A dear friend of mine, an evangelical pastor, knows it. It was taught to me from childhood. It is in the Bible, the day that Jerusalem burned and the Temple was set ablaze.
This is where honesty begins in any dialogue between and among the parties to the Middle Eastern conflicts. It may sound militaristic to some, strangely uncompromising to others. Too bad. Really, with all due respect — just too bad. My claim to Jerusalem is eternal and unyielding — a claim to a Jerusalem indivisible and united — because no one in my family line, going back to the beginning of the exile two thousand years ago, ever yielded our claim to Jerusalem.
We were driven out by Babylonians, and we outlasted them and returned. We were exiled by Romans, and we outlasted them and returned. They built an Arch of Titus in Italy to glorify in taking down our Jerusalem, and we have outlived Titus and Titus's family line and their whole empire. And we have returned.
For two thousand years, we have married and have broken glasses under wedding canopies all over the world to remember that Jerusalem once had fallen, the Temple shattered, even as we also recited a blessing at every such wedding moments earlier under that same canopy affirming an undying and unyielding expectation that the day yet would come when, once again, the sounds of Jewish joy and gladness, the celebrations of Jewish grooms and brides, again would be heard in Jerusalem, her outskirts, and throughout the cities of Judea throughout the West Bank (long before the ridiculous sobriquet "West Bank" was fabricated).
No one compromises on capital cities. America moved her capital around -- from Philadelphia to New York to Washington, D.C. -- but she never offered to split it with George III or Jefferson Davis. Yes, of course, our Presidents had enough respect and common decency not to talk during the playing of "G0d Save the King." But he was not going to get one inch of our capital city, not even if he did burn down the White House, because our flag continued to wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave. No one agrees to divide a capital city. No one offers to split Damascus or Tripoli or Cairo or Baghdad for peace. No one offers to split Paris or London or Madrid or Prague.
Even the experience with Berlin is instructive. The world forced onto the Germans the division of Berlin -- veritably shoved it right down their throats. It barely lasted half a century before the wall came down and the city was reunited. No one divides capital cities. In the end, Mr. Gorbachev had to stand by helplessly as the people of Germany, tired of waiting, tore down that wall.
We owe no apologies, no explanations. From 1948 to 1967, King Hussein of Jordan wrongfully occupied East Jerusalem. He made no effort to treat it as New Amman. Nor did any Arab ruler in all of history before him ever act to make Jerusalem a capital. When the Palestine Liberation Organization was created in 1964 — three full years before the 1967 Six Day War — to destroy Israel, all of the "West Bank" was in Arab hands, and Ahmed Shukairy or his successor, Yasser Arafat, could have acted to establish Jerusalem as a capital city. They never bothered. Rather, they wanted Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Jerusalem simply was not and never has been all that central to Arabia or Islam. Rather, Muslim prayers are directed toward Mecca and Medina. By contrast, praying from my locus in Southern California, I face east toward Jerusalem.
There is a corruption in the dialogue when I am challenged to speak "honestly" in defense of my right to see Jerusalem remain the eternally indivisible capital of Israel and the Jewish People. The Jews came back to Jerusalem with no less right than did America march to Washington, D.C.
If there is something wrong with entering a city by liberating it in battle, then it was equally wrong for any Arab conqueror before Israel to have entered the same city. But if a military victory places Arab negotiators at the table and drives out the British, who drove out the Ottomans, then a Jewish army's successful victory in a war of self-defense trumps all other secular-based claims to "right over might." Because, despite any revisionist attempt to rewrite what happened in 1967, the fact remains that Israel was not looking to expand her borders but to live.
As it happened, the Arab world just could not leave good enough alone in 1967. Gamal Nasser, president of Egypt, had to commit an act of war and blockade the Straits of Tiran. He had to ask the United Nations to remove its peacekeeping force from the Sinai so that he could invade Israel and drive the Jews into the Sea. The U.N. just had to comply instantly without batting an eyelash. Syria just had to join him. King Hussein of Jordan just had to send his armies to join them, too. They could not just leave good enough alone. They had to create a three-front war, seeing an Israel that was only nine miles wide, smaller than New Jersey. They just could not resist the ongoing temptation to drive the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea. And Israel also could not resist — the temptation to live.
Today is a day to recall how the contemporary dialogue over Jerusalem even came to begin. It began because Jews and our institutions and landmarks had been driven out by marauders. And the Arab world, primarily the Jordanians, aimed to eradicate what was left. There were synagogues in Jerusalem -- the Ramban Synagogue, the Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai, shuls all over East Jerusalem -- that Jordan razed to the ground when they occupied the land from 1948-1967. They converted one venerable synagogue to a cheese factory, another to a stall for goats. They uprooted tombstones from the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives and used them for pavement, for construction, even for latrines. They banned us from the Western Wall. They illegally occupied Jerusalem during those 19 years, and America never recognized their right to be there.
Jerusalem belonged to my ancestors. It belonged to my grandparents in Poland and Russia. It belongs to me. It belongs to my kids and theirs. Neither Barack Obama nor his Jewish donors nor his lemming Jewish voters can change that. Israel's former Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, could not change that. Benjamin Netanyahu, even if he were to shift 180 degrees tomorrow, cannot change that. Hillary Clinton's demands that Jews freeze all Jewish construction in Jerusalem cannot change that. Nothing can change that. Jerusalem belongs to those who never abandoned her through two thousand years in exile.
Nor can a United Nations vote in September change that. In 1975 the United Nations General Assembly foolishly and hatefully voted to ban Zionism, calling it "racism." Algerians who persecute Berbers, Egyptians who persecute Coptic Christians, Shiites who persecute Sunnis, Sunnis who persecute Shiites, Lebanese who persecute Maronite Christians, Saudis who won't even let women drive a car — all agreed: Zionism had to be banned. One man who sat in the chamber that day, with his pencil raised maximally above his upwardly outstretched arm to vote in favor of Zionism, is the only one who is remembered today, thirty six years later. All the others, aside from Daniel Patrick Moynihan, have evaporated from history and memory — even as half a million more Jews now live in Judea and Samaria today than did then. Thirty-six years from now, most of those voting in the United Nations this September also will be gone, evaporated, while united-and-undivided Jewish Jerusalem and its greater environs, including those cities of Judea and Samaria, will continue to grow to be more Jewishly populous than ever.
And that's the way it is as I celebrate this 44th anniversary of the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem.
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