"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" Esther 4.14
Egyptian Study Claims Moslem Site Predates First Temple HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK:
MURDER IN NETANYA
A LOOK AT WHAT HAS BECOME "A TYPICAL WEEK"
SHARON SWORN IN AS NEW PRIME MINISTER
SHARON WILLING TO MEET WITH ARAFAT
BUSH ADMINISTRATION BACK AWAY FROM STRONG PRO-ISRAEL STANCE
AMERICAN AIRLINES SUSPENDING SERVICE TO ISRAEL AS GESTURE TO THE ARABS?
EGYPTIAN STUDY CLAIMS MOSLEM SITE PREDATES FIRST TEMPLE
ISRAEL AND THE MEDIA ... CONTINUED
YESHUA POPULATION CONTINUES TO GROW
Week Ending: 10 March 2001 / 15 Adar 5761
EDITOR'S NOTE: Last Friday was Purim. For those who haven't lately, I would suggest you read the book of Esther. It tells the story of how Haman set out to destroy all the Jews; a story not unlike today. However, today it is not just one man. It is all of the nations working together to, once and for all, eliminate any trace of the people and G-d of Israel. However, just as in the time of Esther, G-d will soon arise and deliver His people.:: MURDER IN NETANYA: Naftali Din, Shulamit Ziv and Ivgenia Malkhi were killed on Sunday in a suicide bombing attack by a Palestinian terrorist in Netanya. 74 people who were hurt - most of them suffering from shock or scratches from flying shrapnel. The explosion took place on a pedestrian crossing opposite the central bus station in the center of Netanya. The terrorist apparently attempted to board a bus there, but the suspicious driver did not let him on. The suicide bomber looked around, saw policemen checking out a suspicious object nearby, and decided to detonate the bomb right there. The number of Israelis killed since the beginning of the Al Aksa Intifada is now up to 67; Hizb'Allah killed two others along the northern border. It has been reported that the suicide bomber was released from prison by Shimon Peres in 1995 although he had been sentenced to 18 years in jail in 1991 for participating in other terrorist attacks against Israel.
............................:: A LOOK AT WHAT HAS BECOME "A TYPICAL WEEK": The attempt here is to present an understanding that is not seen in the major media. Every story is not reported here.
March 4, 2001: Arab terrorists opened fire on an IDF patrol near Beit Haggai, south of Hebron. No injuries were reported.
March 5, 2001: Soldiers attacked by gunfire at Ayosh; P’sagot attacked by PA/PLO gunfire.
March 6, 2001: Three Israeli motorists attacked by gunfire in Ram'Allah district; IDF patrol attacked by PA/PLO gunfire near el-Aroub; four injured in stone-throwing attacks; motorist injured in firebomb attack; grenade attacks during the night in southern Gaza; shots fired at motorists in Gush Shilo area; tractor worker in Yishuv Eli attacked by Arab stone-throwers
March 7, 2001: P’sagot attacked by gunfire; Neve Dekalim attacked by PA/PLO gunfire; motorist lightly injured in Gush area stone-throwing attack; Arab terrorists opened fire on a Jew driving on Route 60 between the villages of Lubin Asharika and Issawiya, north of Eli. The man was not injured; a small bomb exploded in Jerusalem. The bomb was hidden in a garbage bin in the Talpiot neighborhood, and exploded as municipal workers emptied the bin. Nobody was injured in the blast.
March 8, 2001: P’sagot attacked by PA/PLO gunfire; IDF forces attacked with explosive north of Ram'Allah; No injuries in bomb attack on Minharot road; man moderately wounded in bus stabbing attack; Arab attempts to stab policeman in Jerusalem; shooting at IDF posts in Gush Katif; Shooting on Shechem bypass road.
March 9, 2001: Arab terrorists opened fire the Jewish community of Morag, in the Gaza strip. Also in the Gaza strip, an IDF post came under fire while Deputy Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was visiting. No injuries were reported in either incident.
:: SHARON SWORN IN AS NEW PRIME MINISTER: Ariel Sharon took the oath of office for Prime Minister on Wednesday night. He became the 11th person to hold the post of prime minister and head the largest government in the history of the state with a cabinet of 27 ministers. He also became the fifth prime minister in the past six years. The national unity coalition government includes the Likud (19), National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu (7), New Way (1), One Israel (23), One Nation (2), Shas (17), UTJ (5), and Yisrael B’Aliyah (4) parties. Sharon’s coalition will enjoy a majority of 78. Parties that have not joined the coalition but are expected to support the government on many issues include; National Religious Party (5), Center (5), Gesher (3), and Herut (1). Total of 14. Opposition parties – Meretz (10), Shinui (6), Arab Parties (10), Democratic Choice (2). Total of 28. Meretz leader MK Yossi Sarid is now the leader of the opposition in the parliament.
Israel Television's Channel One's Knesset Correspondent noted Wednesday evening that when prime minister elect Ariel Sharon made his inaugural speech this evening in the Knesset, he dropped one line from his text. Sharon told the special session that it is important for Israel's present and future not to forget Jerusalem and then skipped over the phrase in his prepared speech "united under Israeli sovereignty". The following is IMRA's translation of the paragraph as it appeared in the text distributed PRIOR to the speech. The sentence Sharon omitted when he spoke IS IN CAPITALS "Jerusalem was and will be the eternal capital of the Jewish People. JERUSALEM COMPLETE AND UNITED WILL ALWAYS REMAIN UNDER ISRAELI SOVEREIGNTY." Prime ministers of Israel always repeated this commitment in their swearing in speech and among them the late Yitzhak Rabin. And thus also the pledge: "If I forget Jerusalem . . . ."
United States President George W. Bush called Sharon on Wednesday to congratulate him on his inauguration and to invite him to meet with him at the White House, HA'ARETZ reported. Sharon accepted the invitation and is slated to arrive in Washington on March 19. While in Washington, Sharon will also address the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Wednesday that Bush and Sharon are scheduled to meet on March 20.
Meanwhile, the Knesset voted Wednesday to repeal the direct election law for prime minister by a vote of 72-32, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee voted for the new version of the Basic Law on Government, which will take effect in the next Knesset election. The Government will institute its previous method of voting in which the prime minister is chosen from the political party receiving the greatest number of votes in a general election.
............................:: SHARON WILLING TO MEET WITH ARAFAT: On his first full day in office, PM Sharon said Thursday he would be willing to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for negotiations – if the current violence ends. "The supreme mission of the new government is bolstering Israel's security," Sharon told parliament on Wednesday night, pledging a "relentless struggle against violence and terror." However, Sharon was short on specifics of how he would stop the violence. the Palestinians rejected Sharon's condition for resuming talks and blamed Israel for the clashes that began five months ago. Sharon appealed to the Palestinians to make peace, but said that "despite concessions we have made ... we still haven't found a willingness for reconciliation and true peace on the other side."
............................:: BUSH ADMINISTRATION BACK AWAY FROM STRONG PRO-ISRAEL STANCE: The US State Department is calling it misspeak, but Secretary of State Colin Powell described Jerusalem as the "capital of Israel" during a US House committee hearing on Wednesday, and said the Bush Administration is still committed to moving the American embassy there. The State Department was busy with damage control following Powell's remarks before the House International Relations Committee, which drew quick criticism from Arab countries. State Department officials met for hours after Powell's testimony to determine if he had intended to alter US policy or if he had simply spoken off the top of his head. A State Department spokesman said yesterday it was the latter. [Editor's note: If the Bush administration was truly "pro-Israel", why did they worry about "damage control"?]
Meanwhile, it is reported that the man the Bush administration is seriously eyeing for the post of US ambassador to Israel is not only the architect of former President Clinton's failed Middle East peace initiative, he is also the brains behind earlier failed peace efforts by Bush's father. Daniel Kurtzer, now serving as US ambassador to Egypt, was the key figure in the process of formulating the US decision to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] and Yasser Arafat as the legitimate and sole representatives of the Palestinian people. Though he is an Orthodox Jew [or so he claims], Kurtzer has a long-standing antipathy toward Israel. In his 1976 Ph.D. dissertation at Columbia University, Kurtzer blamed Israeli responses to terrorist strikes for "the radicalization of those Palestinians to violence." Interestingly, Kurtzer never characterized as "terrorists" those who carried out massacres of civilians. In his thesis, they were called "guerrillas."
............................:: IS AMERICAN AIRLINES SUSPENDING SERVICE TO ISRAEL AS GESTURE TO THE ARABS? AMR Corporation, the parent of American Airlines, and the likely purchaser of the assets of TWA from bankruptcy proceedings, announced suddenly on February 28, 2001 that it intends to "suspend" daily TWA service to Tel Aviv as it "concluded it does not make economic sense to continue the route at this time." This surprise, last-minute announcement raises serious questions as to why Israel has been singled out for changes in TWA service - since the economic facts demonstrate clearly that the JFK daily flight has been and remains very profitable - in spite of the recent slowdown in tourism to Israel - certainly more profitable than flights to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which will not be "suspended" or cancelled. In 1999 the New York-Tel Aviv line has earned profits of $10 Million for TWA. In 2000 the direct line earned profits of $8.5 Million, despite the slowdown of tourism is the 4th quarter. The line continues to fly at 80% capacity, serving a variety of business and tourist visitors to/from Israel. The reasons for the "suspension" must be based on other considerations. Does American Airlines believe that continuing service to Israel will adversely affect its business relationships with other middle-eastern countries?
............................:: EGYPTIAN STUDY CLAIMS MOSLEM SITE PREDATES FIRST TEMPLE: [Editor's note: This is NOT a parody] An Egyptian study claims that the western wall of the Temple Mount is actually the Buraq Wall, not the western retaining wall of the Temple Mount. Contained in a book issued recently by the Ain Shams University's Middle East Research Center, the study claims 95% of Jews are not Israelites but rather foreigners of mixed races as referred to by British anthropologist James Fenton's 1966 paper. It further claims it is illogical that there are any antiquities belonging to any prophets beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque, alleging that the Al Aqsa Mosque was built 2,000 years BEFORE Solomon. Note the founder of the religion of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, was born 500 years AFTER the destruction of the SECOND Temple [70 CE].
............................:: ISRAEL AND THE MEDIA ... CONTINUED: Last week the world witnessed several acts of terrorism -- an IRA car bomb at the BBC offices in London, and two deadly Palestinian bomb attacks against Israeli civilians -- one in a crowd in Netanya, the other a taxi in the Galilee. This prompted HonestReporting.com to ask: How were the two stories reported?
A survey of CNN and BBC indicates a pattern of anti-Israel bias. Both Web sites labeled the IRA bombers "terrorists" -- and then did verbal contortions to avoid calling Palestinians by the same incriminating appellation. Instead, Palestinian bombers are referred to as "militants."The NEW YORK TIMES headline of March 5th read "Suicide Bomber Kills 3 Israelis A Day After 6 Palestinians Die". The story was written by Deborah Sontag, a Jewish journalist for the NY TIMES. Sontag begins her story of the Netanya bombing after the misleading headline with the fact that "only" three Israelis were killed, balanced against the unrelated fact that six Palestinians were killed the day before. Sontag deliberately leaves out the fact that over 70 Israelis were maimed by the Palestinian suicide bomber. Instead, she begins a defensive, damage control explanation, well-crafted to redirect the readers’ shock and anger away from the terrorist’s despicable act. Sontag launches into a plea for other Palestinians, six of whom were killed by Israelis in other areas during shootouts the day before. Sontag neglects to mention these casualties were in self-defense after Palestinian gunfire attacks against Israeli civilians. She and the NEW YORK TIMES have also never mentioned that there have been more than 3300 Palestinian attacks with gunfire, bombs and firebombs against Israelis since the Al Aksa Intifada began last October.
A CNN article (February 25, 2001), entitled "Violence mars Mardi Gras parties in Austin, Seattle," reports: "[P]olice in Seattle used pepper spray and rubber bullets to break up an unruly crowd of up to 2,000 people after bars closed at 2 a.m. Many in the crowd were drinking, removing their clothes or climbing on cars and light posts, police spokeswoman Pam McCammon said." As Seattle police fire on the crowd with rubber bullets, where is the media outrage against this excessive use of force? Where is the international inquiry? Israeli soldiers are consistently condemned for using these same rubber bullets, despite the fact that Israelis are attacked with firebombs and live ammunition –- an arguably greater danger than drunken Seattle partiers whose act of aggression was "removing their clothes." It is also interesting that CNN refers here to "rubber bullets," whereas in reports on Israel, CNN goes out of its way to use the more ominous description: "rubber-coated steel bullets." Ironically, the Mardi Gras incident comes the same week that the US State Department issued a human rights report condemning Israel for "often using excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators." This also comes on the heels of a report that Taliban troops rounded up and shot an estimated 500 civilians in central Afghanistan. There was no UN condemnation.
Last week Lee Hockstader, a Senior WASHINGTON POST correspondent displayed basic ignorance regarding the Old Testament. "Sharon, 73, was sworn into office with his hand on a Hebrew version of the Old Testament..." I'll use Dr Learner's [IMRA] reply here: "Is the Hebrew version a translation of the King James English?"
............................:: YESHUA POPULATION CONTINUES TO GROW: The settler population increased by some 8 percent - 14,968 individuals - last year and by the end of December 2000 numbered 203,068, according to figures from the Interior Ministry. This figure represents a lower rate of growth than that recorded in 1999, when the Jewish population in Yesha [Judea, Samaria, and Gaza] rose by 13.2 percent. This growth rate is approximately three times the national average. Additional figures released recently by the Housing and Construction Ministry show public construction of 1,943 housing units was initiated in the territories last year - the highest number since Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon served as housing and construction minister in 1992.
[Source: Tzemach News Service - http://www.tzemach.org/fyi/ ]
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