1. Leftist Admits: A Secular Israel Is Hidden Objective of Protests
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

Yair Lapid, who has formed a party to run in the next Knesset election, bares the truth of the protest agenda: a secular State of Israel

Lapid, whose later father Tommy Lapid headed the anti-religious Shinui party, claimed in an op-ed in the Yediot Aharanot newspaper Sunday that he represents Israel’s “largest minority.”

He claims his “majority,” meaning a plurality, “can now form alliances with other minorities. With the hareidim who happen to want to work, with the religious who don’t think that Judaism is all about a hill in Samaria, and with the Arabs who want to perform national service.

“Israel’s secular majority finally fighting back, starting to behave like a minority group.”

His definition of “secular” apparently includes anyone who does not define himself as “religious” but includes what actually may be Israel’s real largest minority – Jews who define themselves as traditional, meaning they keep many Jewish laws and customs but are not strictly observant or secular.

However, Lapid argued that his minority of 42 percent is the largest majority in Israel. It “does not know how to join forces for the sake of its own interests,” according to Lapid.” The majority cannot afford to say ‘to hell with everything’; the majority does not hire lobbyists, does not set up NGOs that would work for its interests, and does not know how to press Knesset members from its sector, because it’s not a sector.”

Without noting left-wing activist groups such as the New Israel Fund, Yesh Din and Peace Now, Lapid moved on to attack nationalists, alleging that “the majority also cannot build an illegal home, on illegal land, and then fight with the police officers who come to evict it, because the majority has a nephew in the police and loves its nephew….

“The majority’s children are already in high school and one even finished his military service, yet his sister-in-law has two children in kindergarten and pays almost $1,000 per month. The majority looks at the minorities and knows that there’s no chance they are paying similar sums, because they wouldn’t be able to afford it. The majority isn’t jealous, but wonders who arranged this for them? Who arranged life so that their sister-in-law doesn’t pay the same as the majority’s sister-in-law?”

In fact, the national-religious community’s sons, proportionately represent the largest sector in the IDF, and the strictly secular community, as noted in statistics from secular high schools in metropolitan Tel Aviv and in secular kibbutzim, have a high rate of draft-dodging.

Lapid also charged that his “majority…is the only one that paid the full price” and that “all the others got some discount arranged…. They decided that G-d has to arrange a home on a hill for them for ideological reasons, with an ideological backyard.” He was referring to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, where the government’s official building freeze two years ago largely remains in effect unofficially.

Lapid, like his father, wants a State of Israel where Judaism is strictly a personal issue, a situation that is considered “secular coercion” by a large number of Israelis, both religious and traditional.

Meanwhile, Israel’s mainstream media continued on Sunday to promote the protest movement. Although even left-wing outlets such as Haaretz, reported that 150,000 people protested  nationwide – without noting that nearly twice that number protests six years ago against the expulsions of Jews from Gush Katif – the Jerusalem Post went one step further and headlined that ”hundreds of thousands” people demonstrated.

The media also played down or ignored the appearance of uniformed IDF reservists at the protest against the cost of housing, education, food and just about everything else, blaming the Netanyahu government for the country’s age-old ails.

Previous political appearances by uniformed soldiers against expulsions of Jews and against the demolitions of Jewish homes have been met by harsh punishment, including eviction from combat units.
Comment on this story

Israel Pics View It!

Political Cartoon Wednesday, July 20, 2011 View It!

2. Murderer of Kabbalah Rabbi: I Kissed His Hand before Killing Him
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

The murderer of Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira, the Kabbalah rabbi grandson of the Babi Sali Thursday says he kissed the rabbi’s hand before stabbing him. “I don't know what devil or Satan got into me” at the moment of the murder.

Asher Dahan, who is in police custody, told the Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper, “I respect Rabbi Abuhatzeira and depend on him for everything. He was everything for me. I worshipped him.”

Dahan murdered the rabbi, grandson of the renowned “Baba Sali” Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira,” in his conference room later Thursday night.

“Every time I left the rabbi, I had a feeling of happiness and joy,” Dahan told police investigators. He gave me hope there is a solution to everything in life, and I never tight for a moment that perhaps he was wrong.

Dahan had consulted Rabbi Abuhatzeira several times lately concerning marital problems.

“There were problem between my wife and me,” Dahan explained. "I went often to the rabbi for advice, and he told me to do allsorts of things, but the situation only got worse. It caused me personal damage, and it reached point that I was afraid of a divorce.”

He described his actions after he entered the rabbi’s conference room without anyone stopping him or asking him any questions. Dahan waited to be the last one to see the rabbi so he could be alone with him.

“I kissed the rabbi’s hand and said a few words” after entering, Dahan related. "Seconds later, I took out the knife and stabbed him in his chest. He screamed and fell to the floor.”

 

 

 


Comment on this story

3. Hareidi Religious Community Wants Work, Fills Job Fair
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

Israeli’s hareidi religious community has shattered the myth they don’t want to work. Hareidi attendees overwhelmed a government job fair in Jerusalem, where approximately 4,000 men and women searched for new employment opportunities.The job conference at the Jerusalem Convention Center (Binyanei HaUma) was sponsored by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry in coordination with the city of Jerusalem and employers.

Teva Pharmaceuticals, which has a large facility in the capital, Bank HaPoalim and the country’s largest mobile phone companies were among those who manned booths and offered hundreds of jobs.

Indicative of the trend towards integrating the hareidi religious community in all parts of Israeli society, the Air Force, once a secular bastion, and Jerusalem colleges also were represented at the conference and fair.

New entries into the labor market learned how to write resumes as they began what for many is the first experience in the labor market as women shun the traditional position of fulltime housewife and mother and men begin to divide their day between learning Torah and working.  

The government and private industry in recent years have set up training programs for hareidi religious women in the computer and graphic design industries.

?
Comment on this story

Chill Zone Videos Shofar Time! Watch it!

Book Review Stop Surviving, Start Living Read it!

4. Hamas Expose: Informers Used Taxis to Help Israel
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

Collaborators with the “Zionist occupier” use taxis to report on the location of Hamas military men, the terrorist organization revealed Sunday.

The disclosure may lead to more executions. Last week, Hamas executed two collaborators for helping Israel seven years ago.

The foreign language Almejad site said that Hamas intelligence officers discovered that some of their agents have used taxicabs, both as passengers and drivers, to help the IDF.

The modus operandi of informers, according to the source, was to order a taxi, follow the route of armed forces and then disclose their final location to the IDF, which could target them.

Hamas officials cited one example of one man asking the taxi driver to take him to an area near a Gaza crossing, where he supposedly wanted to visit relatives, but actually met with an intelligence office and later disclosed his location.

Others acted as taxi drivers and spread rumors against Hamas to incite opposition to the terrorist organization.

Another tactic was to use cabs to transfer weapons, explosives and drugs.
Comment on this story

5. Shulamit Shamir Dies at 88
by Gavriel Queenann

Shulamit Shamir, wife of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, died in her Tel Aviv home Friday at the age of 88.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the Shamir's son, Yair, after learning of Mrs. Shamir's death and sent his condolences to the family. 

 

"Shulamit was Yitzhak's right hand in the Lehi," read Netanyahu's statement. "We join all of Israel's citizens in mourning her death."

 

Shulamit Shamir was born in Bulgaria in 1923. She was arrested upon arrival at age 17 in then British-ruled Palestine due to restrictions on Jewish immigration, and was sent to a detention camp. There she met her future husband Yitzhak Shamir, who had been interred for for his activities as one of the commanders of the underground. They were married in 1944.

 

Mrs. Shamir joined the Lohamei Herut Israel, Fighters for the Freedom of Israel," the underground group that broke away from Menachem Begin's Irgun, known by its acronym Lehi, where she acted as a courier under the name: Shulamit.

 

Yitzhak Shamir served as prime minister from 1983-84 and again between 1986-1992.

 

Shulamit is survived by her husband, the former prime minister, who is now hospitalized in a nursing home in central Israel, two children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

 

Her funeral is set for Sunday in Jerusalem.

 


Comment on this story

6. Fifth Pipeline Bombing Marks Sinai Chaos
by Gavriel Queenann

An explosion was reported at a depot along the Egyptian natural gas pipeline in Sinai that normally supplies Israel and Jordan with gas, Army Radio reported Saturday.

 

The attack on the pipeline was the third this month and the fifth since the beginning of 2011. It also followed a shootout between Egyptian security forces and apparent Islamic militants on Friday.

 

The pipeline was not currently supplying Israel with natural gas due to damage incurred from the previous blasts.

 

On Friday, an Egyptian army officer and three civilian bystanders were shot dead in fighting between an armed group and security forces in northern Sinai, security officials told Rueters on Saturday.

 

Also Friday, about 100 armed men rode through the town of el-Arish on motorcycles and in cars, waving flags with Islamic slogans and firing in the air, 

 

They then attacked a police station, engaging in a shootout with the police and army in which the army officer died.

 

Three civilians, a 70-year-old man, a 13-year-old boy and an 18-year-old youth were caught up in the shooting and died from bullet wounds, the ministry of health said in a statement.

 

Four army officers, nine security guards and six civilians were wounded in the attack and taken to an army hospital for treatment, MENA state news agency reported.

 

Witnesses told the Associated Press the attackers, many of whom wore masks, did not seem to be from the area as they lost their way several times before reaching the police station.
Comment on this story

7. Cyprus Manifesting Familiar and Distressing Economic Symptoms
by Amiel Ungar

 

The Cypriot government has been dissolved by President  Demetris Christofias precisely at a moment when the financial markets are questioning the country's creditworthiness. Some of the nasty symptoms preceding the Greek, Irish and Portuguese bailouts are rearing their heads in Cyprus.

One of the notable benchmarks is the cost of insurance against default.

As could be expected Cypriot banks are exposed to Greek debt. One bank – Marfin-- held €3.4 billion in Greek bonds and 46% of its outstanding loans are to Greek customers. Moody's Investor Services has just downgraded the bank to quasi junk status. Only slightly better off is the Bank of Cyprus holding €2.4 billion in Greek bonds.

The exposure of the Cypriot banks is significant because the banking system is inordinately larger than GDP. Russians extracting capital from their country have used Cyprus to get into the EU banking system. If they were to pull their money out this could create severe problems. Cyprus is running a substantial deficit both in terms of the budget and in current accounts.

Given the power of the unions the country's ability to make the necessary economies is questionable.

If these problems were not enough, Cyprus is expected to lose $1 billion this year because of a huge explosion at a naval base. An Iranian ship carrying munitions to Syria was seized and the munitions were stored at the base under conditions that were not secure (they were left to bake in the sun). In the explosion 13 people were killed including the commander of the Cypriot Navy.

The blast also destroyed a nearby power plant that supplied half the island's electricity and will take a year to fix. This has caused power shortages throughout the island. The island is still divided into Greek and Turkish parts as the Greek Cypriots did not live up to a gentleman's agreement with the EU to regularize the situation after they were accepted for membership in the EU.

Cyprus when compared to Italy and Spain is a relative minnow. Fixing the debt crisis in Cyprus will not break the European Bank.

However, economics is also a question of psychology. Another European debt crisis will further erode the already depleted confidence and strain the generosity of the donor countries.




Comment on this story

8. The End for Assad? High Ranking Officers Desert, Join Rebels
by Arutz Sheva Staff

A Syrian Major-General has deserted Assad's army along with a group of other officers and joined the rebels.

In an Arabic video clip posted  on Youtube on July 29, 2011, the officer, Major-General Riad El As'ad is seen in the company of other officers, announcing the establishment of the "Free Syrian Army whose main goal will be to fight the army of oppression headed by President Bashar Assad". 

As'ad accused the Assad regime of crimes against the Syrian people and called on the officers and soldiers in the Syrian army not to aim their weapons at the people. He further called on them to join the Free Syrian Army.

The major-general warned that the Free Army will eliminate any soldier who acts to harm his own people. The present army commanders do not represent the army, he continued, they are acting for the criminal gang that controls the media and prevents the people from obtaining truthful information on what is happening.

In recent weeks, a large number of officers and soldiers have deserted the regular Syrian army. In one instance, there was a mutiny and at least ten of the soldiers participating were shot and killed. Assad continues to control the country, but the violent protest against him goes on and has even reached the outskirts of Damascus. Tension is high between the Alawites, the minority Shite sect to which Assad belongs that controls the country, and the majority Sunni sect which is 70% of the Syrian population.

The former Vice President of Syria, Abd Al-Halim Khaddam, Assad's bitter enemy, speaking from France, opined that Assad will fall only if the army disintegrates. That disintegration may have begun.

?

?
Comment on this story

More Website News:

Breaking News, Analysis, Video clips, Radio shows, Blogs, Torah & Music