 | | IDF Launches Air Strikes in Gaza
The IDF has increased air strikes and created a buffer zone in Gaza to stem the increasing wave of Kassam rocket attacks on Israeli towns since the Disengagement.
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More Details |  | | Editor: Ezra HaLevi
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
26 Kislev 5766
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| | | 1. IDF Launches Air Strikes in Gaza
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
The IDF has increased air strikes and created a buffer zone in Gaza to stem the increasing wave of Kassam rocket attacks on Israeli towns since the Disengagement.
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Tuesday morning, Israel's Air Force fired two missiles at targets in northern Gaza. The missiles struck structures used by the Al-Aqsa Brigades terror group, which is affiliated with PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party. "One structure, in Beit Lahiya, was used as a recruitment center," the IDF spokesperson announced, and the other, in Gaza City, was used as a center of activity."
During the night, the IDF also fired missiles at a bridge near the town of Beit Hanoun, from which rockets are fired on the western Negev. Six additional access routes to launching sites in northern Gaza were targeted as well.
According to PA reports, the power supply to northern Gaza was cut during the strikes.
The retaliation comes after a Kassam rocket nearly hit a kindergarten in Kibbutz Sa'ad Monday and another rocket fell near the city of Ashkelon.
According to Yediot Aharonot, Air Force planes are preparing to drop leaflets on Gaza informing residents to stay in their homes to avoid injury as Israel targets anyone involved in firing rockets at Israeli towns.
The report also quotes security sources saying that the IDF will not embark on a ground operation in Gaza, but that a three-mile security buffer has been delineated, within which strikes will be carried out on a more regular basis against those involved in firing rockets. Israel may also ask members of the PA police to evacuate the area as their presence has not been effective in preventing rocket fire.
The Al-Aqsa Brigade terror group claims to have Russian-made Grad missiles, which have a 25 kilometer (15 mile) range. The terror group is warning that if the IDF attempts to establish a buffer zone in northern Gaza, it will not sit idly by, but will opt to launch the missiles against Israeli targets. “The occupation government will be the big loser,” a statement from the group said.
Meanwhile, the Home Front Command has been instructed to speed up the process of providing reinforcement for the homes of residents living within striking range of Gaza. As the range of the rockets fired increased however – the southern Ashkelon industrial zone was struck last week – IDF sources admit it is becoming increasingly less practical to rely on defensive measures.
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| | 2. Chanukah Party Miracle at Kindergarten in Kibbutz Sa’ad
|  | | By Hana Levi Julian
A Kassam rocket exploded close to a kindergarten in Kibbutz Sa’ad on Monday, ending a Chanukah party and angering residents.
| The Chanukah party was disrupted Monday afternoon when the “Red Dawn” alert system was activated, preceding the rocket explosion which landed nearby. No injuries were reported. “It was a big miracle,” said community director Sarah Evron.
The attack prompted residents to allow the media to identify the kibbutz which has silently suffered through Kassam strikes for months. Kibbutz officials have asked the government for months to fortify their schools, but they remain unprotected.
Residents were further angered by fortification work which began at a nearby IDF army base on Monday after a rocket attack last week injured five soldiers. “In our view, we must first protect children and then soldiers,” said Evron. “It feels as though soldiers who are not protected prompt fortification work but we have children growing up on the border here.”
A second rocket fell Monday afternoon south of Ashkelon.
Government officials were faced with another problem when terrorist group Al-Aksa Martyrs’ Brigade announced they have acquired a new, longer-range missile. The group is the military wing of the ruling Fatah party in the Palestinian Authority.
The “Grad”, officially known as BM-21, has a range of 20 kilometers and is launched from trucks at a rate of 40 rockets in six seconds. Communities at risk in the south will now include Kiryat Gat, Netivot and Ofakim. Sderot has been a constant target of Kassam rocket attacks.
Israeli security officials say they may establish a “security strip” in northern Gaza to put an end to the attacks, a plan that has been considered several times in the past. Al-Aksa Martyrs’ Brigade leaders say they will increase attacks in response to such a move.
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| |
 | A New CD Lights from the Darkness
The wonderful people that were expelled from their homes taught us something new - in their darkest hour - they sang! The Disk includes a video of the last days and 12 songs which were sung in the Batei Knesset in Gush Katif.
Buy Now at the Arutz Sheva Mall | | 3. 65% of Palestinians Applaud Terror Attacks on US and Europe
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
A poll carried out in the Palestinian Authority shows 65% support for Al Qaeda terror attacks on the United States and European countries - the biggest donors to the PA.
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The poll comes at a time when US and European funding of the Palestinian Authority is at an all-time high.
With elections due to be held next month and the Hamas terror group gaining significantly in municipal elections and polls, the survey further illustrates the desire of a majority of PA Arabs to establish an Islamic state, similar to Iran. A whopping 79.9% of Palestinians would like the PA to follow Shari'a - Islamic religious law. Included in the figure are 11.3% of the respondents, who would like to see Shari'a supplemented by the laws of a PA Legislature.
"What is striking is the willingness of Palestinians to turn against even the Western countries upon whom they are so totally dependent in order to progress," said Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) Director Itamar Marcus. "The poll underscores what PMW has been documenting for years - the profoundly negative impact hate education has had on PA society…Palestinians are not in direct conflict with the US, and certainly have counted on the Europeans as active allies. And yet an overwhelming majority desire to see Europeans and Americans killed by a religion-based terror organization."
The poll was conducted by FAFO - a Norwegian-based NGO not known for sympathy toward Israel or antipathy toward the PA. FAFO says it conducted the polling among the Palestinian population "in order to assess political feelings after Israel's voluntary withdrawal from Gaza in late-summer 2005." The poll results were reported in the PA newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida last Friday.
Last month (November 18th), in a sermon broadcast on PA-controlled television, Islamic leader Suleiman Satari offered the following prayer:
"Destroy the Infidels and the Polytheists! Your [i.e. Allah's] enemies are the enemies of the religion…! Count them and kill them to the last one, and don't leave even one."
According to PMW, prayers to annihilate all “infidels” have been included in Friday prayers on PA TV at least six times in recent months. Two such sermons were delivered by Yusuf Jum'a Salamah, PA Minister of the Waqf Religious Authority - the most important religious office in the PA. Even though PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas was present on at least one of these occasions, similar prayers for genocide continued on the PA-owned and controlled TV in subsequent weeks.
Just weeks before the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001, Dr. Ikrime Sabri, the Mufti of Jerusalem and the highest-ranking Islamic figure in the Palestinian Authority said on PA radio: "O Allah, destroy America and its supporters and collaborators. O Allah, destroy Britain and its supporters and collaborators." Click here to view the clip.
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| | 4. Netanyahu Addresses Central C´tee, Vote Called into Question
|  | | By Hana Levi Julian and Ezra HaLevi
The Likud Central Committee focused on unity, image and cleaning out corruption on Monday evening in Tel Aviv at its first meeting since Binyamin Netanyahu was elected party leader.
| The theme of the gathering, reflected in a huge banner, was the party’s new “path of renewal.”
In his address to the Committee, the Likud Chairman called for the approval of Silvan Shalom as number two candidate on the Likud’s Knesset list, as an expression of unity. “We must close ranks,” he said. “There are no camps and no factions. We are one camp.”
Shalom echoed Netanyahu’s words with his own call to “back the elected head and march to victory. There are no more camps,” he reiterated.
Netanyahu’s next proposal underscored the party’s need to clean up its image. “Criminal elements have entered our movement,” he charged. “Their place is not among us. They can go elsewhere, to another party.”
In a move that recalled better times while presenting a new face to the Israeli public, Netanyahu said he will make a formal motion to disallow any candidate who has been convicted of a crime. “We want a clean movement,” he emphasized, “like we learned from Menachem Begin.”
Netanyahu's move is known to target Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction leader Moshe Feiglin, who served time in prison for organizing non-violent civil disobedience to protest the undemocratic nature of the Oslo Accords and the arming of the Palestinian Authority. Menachem Begin himself was wanted by British authorities prior to Israel's founding for taking part in the bombing of the King David Hotel, which served a a base of British operations.
A vote on Netanyahu's ammendment will take place when the Central Committee meets again this Sunday.
Netanyahu also took a stab at Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Kadima Party. "The real election is between our policies and policies. . .that encourage terror," he said.
Trying to gerner support from the south and voters wearing the IDF uniform, Netanyahu promised to give “spacious apartments” to discharged soldiers, to be located in southern Israel.
Netanyahu also reviewed his past performance as Finance Minister, insisting that his “proper economic policies” had lowered unemployment, added 200,000 new workers to the economy and added “billions of shekels” to the nation’s coffers. He promised to “help the weak more," promising: “That’s the first thing I’ll be doing as prime minister.”
The Committee approved the propsal to reserve the second spot on the Likud list for Shalom, along with a clause postponing the party's primaries to January 12th, a week later than originally planned.
Attorney Shai Galili, who is running for a slot on the Likud's Knesset list, has filed a petition calling for the decision to be cancelled as he claims it was illegal and constituted vote-stealing.
Galili told Arutz-7 that two resolutions were bunched together in order to insure that the primaries would be pushed off. Party members that supported one proposal but not the other were effectively disenfranchised Galili said.
The attorney, who has represented anti-expulsion activists such as high-profile IDF refuser Cpl. Avi Bieber, quoted the Likud's charter in his petition to the party's high court. "The binding of proposals that have no connection to one another to be voted upon as one is improper and nullified," reads the charter.
"There is absolutely no connection between reserving the number two slot for Silvan Shalom and the pushing off of the Likud primaries," Galili said. He added that he has invested much time and money toward a campaign leading up to the current date. Galili asked that the court freeze the process of postponing the primaries until it has issued a verdict.
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Fun name, Fun-ky Judaica. Unique gifts and ritual items for every simcha and holiday.
Click Here! | | 5. New Film Calls on N. American Jews to Move to Israel
|  | | By Israel National News Staff
A provocative film calling for North American Jewry to "Free your mind" and come home to Israel has been spreading rapidly over the Internet since its release on the first day of Chanukah.
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The film, which uses allegories developed in the Matrix series of films, was produced and directed by Kumah, a grassroots movement dedicated to encouraging and facilitating mass Aliyah to Israel by all Jews of the exile.
"The original Matrix film portrayed people living a life that seemed normal, but was essentially a physical prison and a mental illusion," an explanation accompanying the film explains. "Their slavery did not seem like slavery at all; quite the opposite - it seemed like the good life.
"The Matrix movies also contain a sense of personal-messianism - the power of an empowered person to help others and subsequently change the world. A person can break out, free himself from the shackles of that prison and take part in a revolution of freedom - but first he has to wake up!"
The film portrays the process of personal awakening that thousands of North American Jews have undergone, leading them to choose a sometimes difficult life in the Jewish State over the American Dream.
The lead character in both the original Matrix films as well as the "KuMatrix", as members of the Kumah production team call their film, is named Neo. The ideology of Kumah, which calls for an Aliyah Revolution of Jews moving to Israel by choice and joining the Jewish project in the Land of Israel, is self-described as Neo-Zionism.
The film may be viewed at AliyahRevolution.com
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| | 6. Train Collides With Bus - No Serious Injuries
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
A bus was stuck on the train tracks near Zichron Ya'akov Tuesday morning, but thanks to the quick response of the driver, all the bus's passengers escaped unharmed.
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The crowded bus was traveling from Haifa to Ben Gurion International Airport when it stalled on train tracks near Zichron Ya'akov at 6:30 AM. The driver tried to restart the vehicle but it would not budge. He quickly realized the danger his passengers were in and yelled for everyone to quickly get off the bus.
The passengers disembarked and waited on the side. Within moments of the last passenger leaving the bus, a speeding train came barreling down the tracks and tore the bus to pieces.
Magen David Adom ambulances flocked to the scene of the smashed bus, expecting mass casualties. Instead they found scores of shocked travelers thanking G-d for what they are calling a "Chanukah miracle."
Three of the train's passengers suffering light scratches as a result of broken glass.
Last summer, a train wreck resulted from the impact between a speeding train and a truck that had stalled on the tracks. Eight were killed and scores injured in the accident. A number of similar accidents have taken place in recent months, resulting in new laws calling for the installing of barriers that completely block passage onto the tracks when a train is approaching.
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| |
| 7. Python, Rare Birds Recovered
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
A python and several rare birds missing from various parks and zoos have been found and returned in recent days.
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A python named "Zion" who escaped from the Hamat Gader park in the Golan Heights was found Monday by soldiers patrolling Israel's border with Jordan. Zion had been missing for almost six months.
The snake lost a third of its weight and was thought to be dead, because it was not moving. The paralysis was due to the cold weather, however, and aside from an injury to the python's jaw, Zion is recovering.
The 10,000 shekel reward that owners of Hamat Gader had offered for finding the python will be given to the soldiers who discovered it.
In the Galilee, a joint mission by the Nature Reserves Authority and the Akko police has netted ten rare birds, all protected species that were illegally trapped and stolen. Three searches were carried out at the homes of poaching suspects.
Charges are being brought against all three suspects, Arab males from the village of Kafr Yassif.
Click here to learn more about rare birds native to the Land of Israel.
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| | 8. Diverse Artists Celebrate Chanukah
|  | | A7 Radio's "The Beat" with Ben Bresky
| An eclectic mix of Chanukah music including classic Israeli songs, American pop stars, Sephardic cantors, classical oratorios, hip-hop, folk, Carlebach, punk rock, chassidic and everything in between.
Listen Now -or- Download*
For more A7 Radio visit www.IsraelNationalRadio.com.
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 | Wide Range of Judaica Items
In www.mirrys-artglass.com you will see a wide range of judaica ( mezzuzot ; menoras; kiddush cups; havdalla sets; choshen;) and other items made from glass and copper with a silver or gold plated finish.
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| | Today on IsraelNN.com: |  |  | Two Hanukah miracles on train and near kindergarten
|   | | |  | |  | No More Self-Denigration
In the ghetto, we had no choice but to accept the Jewish leaders we had and understand that to survive, they were often forced to collaborate with our enemies, to trade what was good in the long term for what would let our people survive today. We are not in the ghetto anymore.
|  | | | Reach for the Purple Pill
I have been living in California long enough to know that this is a section of the country that can feel passionate about Botox and animals. However, when it comes to anything political, especially when it concerns Israel, they could not find it on the map.
|  | | | | |  | Chanukah and the General
The military victory, the Maharal explains, was a great miracle. Yet, the source of such a great miracle can usually be confused with military power and tactics. The Divine origins of such a victory can be lost amidst the din of the pompous self-adulation of the victors.
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