 | | Needed Rains, Snow Flood Israel
A fierce winter storm ripped through Israel Saturday and Sunday halting the current drought. More than four inches of rain and snow fell across the country, and the Kinneret has risen as well.
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More Details |  | | Editors: Alex Traiman & Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Sunday, December 25, 2005
24 Kislev 5766
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| | | 1. Needed Rains, Snow Flood Israel
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
A fierce winter storm ripped through Israel Saturday and Sunday halting the current drought. More than four inches of rain and snow fell across the country, and the Kinneret has risen as well.
| Snow accumulated in the Golan Heights, flurries were scattered in higher areas of Jerusalem, and coastal cities reported flooding.
The storm system reached its peak before dawn Sunday and is expected to die out on Monday. The country was threatened with a severe drought after more than three weeks of unseasonably warm and dry weather at the beginning of the winter season, but the storm has replenished the shortage in most places.
More than four inches of rain fell in northern areas and in Ra'anana, north of Tel Aviv. Ra'anana rescue teams were forced to evacuate 18 elderly people form the flooded first floor of their retirement home.
In Jerusalem, where the average annual rainfall is about 26 inches, almost three inches of rain fell, and more than two inches were received in Ashkelon, on the edge of the northern Negev.
The storm has added more than three inches to the level of Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), which will continue to rise as run-off continues to drain into the lake from the Golan Heights. The Kinneret is Israel's largest single source of water and is several feet below the optimal level.
The heavy rains caused flooding in the coastal city of Nahariya, near the Lebanon border, and in areas of Haifa and Kfar Saba.
More than three feet of snow piled up at the Mount Hermon ski site, which was closed to visitors because of heavy snowstorms. The ski site is expected to open on Tuesday.
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| | 2. Israel Weighs ´Air Patrol´ to Combat Rocket Attacks
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Sharon government has decided to combat rocket attacks on a base near Ashkelon by taking soldiers out of tents and putting them in reinforced buildings. It also is planning air patrols.
| The attacks by Arab terrorists once plagued Jewish communities in the Gaza region and then rained on the Negev town of Sderot after the Knesset passed the expulsion plan. After the withdrawal of the IDF from the region, the rockets penetrated deeper into Israel, hitting industrial areas in southern Ashkelon. A power station, oil pipeline and naval installations are located in Ashkelon.
In addition, rockets struck two nearby army bases. Five soldiers were lightly injured in one of the explosions last week on the Zikim army base.
To help protect soldiers, the IDF began transporting hundreds of concrete walls to the base just south of Ashkelon as a measure of fortification.
Military officials have drawn up plans to monitor Gaza from the air and sea with balloons and drones to halt Kassam rocket attacks, which Sharon said would be stopped after the expulsion.
The Kassam rocket attack on Thursday which injured five soldiers intensified pressure on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose popularity in the pre-election polls is threatened by rockets that have reached southern Ashkelon. He promised last summer that the expulsion of Jews from the Gaza region and the accompanying withdrawal of all Israeli military forces would make it easier for Israel to stop Arab terrorists from operating there.
After the Palestinian Authority (PA) failed to halt, and sometimes abetted, Arab terrorists to launch Kassam rocket attacks, even during the expulsion, the Prime Minister told the Cabinet on September 25, "I instructed that there are no restrictions on the use of any measures in order to strike at the terrorists.... The instructions are unequivocal. This phenomenon must be stopped. It cannot continue under any circumstances."
Since then, the government tried to combat the rocket and mortar shells with warnings to the PA, which a senior aide to Mofaz admitted to United Press International (UPI), has “lost control over Gaza.”
The IDF recently began aiming artillery fire on open fields used by terrorists to launch attacks, but the Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot reported on Friday that the artillery has hit fields which terrorists have not used.
The government's new plan is to patrol the airspace over northern Gaza with helicopters and unmanned drones and to use balloons with electronic and photographic equipment.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz's office has ordered a restriction of movement in northern Gaza, according to Reuters News Agency, but Assayed Shaban, commander of PA forces in the area, asserted, "We will not move one inch." The planned restricted zone will include 1.5 miles in northern Gaza and run along the northern and eastern edges of the region. Most of the area is uninhabited and includes the destroyed communities of three Jewish communities from which residents were expelled last August.
Kassam rockets hit army bases south of Ashkelon twice this past week, but the second one caused injuries and panic, "scaring girls who were just recruited and were undergoing basic training in another," UPI reported "Those attacks have already sent worried parents to the base's gate." The IDF said Saturday it will protect soldiers by reinforcing the base, where most of the soldiers live in tents. UPI noted that "following the Israeli withdrawal the militants were able to bring their weapons closer to Ashkelon."
Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim said that Israel might have to use artillery fire on populated areas if other measures do not stop the attacks.
Mofaz has rejected such a move as well as a land siege and power cuts, which were suggested by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuval Shteinitz. "An absurd situation has been created where we provide them with electricity and they bomb the power station in Ashkelon," he said on Friday.
Human rights group have warned that cutting electricity is against international law.
Shteinitz spoke at a forum in Be'er Sheva, where Israel Our Home Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, said that Israel needs someone like former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani "who will maintain order and provide Israelis with security."
"We fire on sand while they fire on Ashkelon. If I was the prime minister I would not leave one Jihad or Hamas headquarters standing. But we're idiots, cheap, and nerds," he added.
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Click Here! | | 3. Sharon´s Doctors to Publish Medical Records
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Prime Minister's doctors, one of them a personal friend, will hold a press conference Monday to disclose his condition. He returned to his office Sunday and held a Cabinet meeting.
| Prime Minister Ariel Sharon joked with Cabinet ministers and warned them not to eat too many Chanukah sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts).
He has told his personal physician to disclose his medical condition as opposition political parties have demanded. He had vowed to publish medical records during the last election campaign but never did so.
Among his physicians are a personal friend, Dr. Boleslav (Bolek) Goldman, who was on the medical team that treated the Prime Minister last week after he suffered a mild stroke.
"We will present all the information that needs to be presented," said Dr. Shlomo Segev of Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv.
However, doctors told the Hebrew daily Ma'ariv last week that the public was in fact misled on Sharon's condition. Neurologist Prof. Tamir Ben Hur originally told reporters that the Prime Minster's only problem was "a light difficulty in speaking." Later, the newspaper quoted doctors as stating, "What was said at the press conference [last week], to make an understatement, is not exact."
"The Prime Minister did not know what day it was and could not count or perform basic functions for 45 minutes. There is no obligation to reveal everything, but to release incorrect information means taking a position, and this is very problematic," the physicians asserted.
The Ma'ariv report claimed the prime minister was sedated during a medical procedure following the stroke, during which time he was completely unaware of his surroundings.
Doctors have since reported that Prime Minister Sharon, who weighs nearly 300 pounds, has normal cholesterol and blood pressure. He is to turn 78 in February. Tests performed by Hadassah Hospital following the stroke revealed Sharon carries a congenital heart defect, which may soon require catheterization or surgery.
Before the 2001 elections, he was healthy but had gout, a buildup of uric acid in the joints, according to medical reports obtained and published by the Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot.
Dr. Marc K. Siegel wrote in the New York Post that the reports of his stroke were confusing. "First, it was suggested that Sharon, the 77 year-old prime minister, had blacked out and sustained a stroke. Then came the story that by the time he reached the hospital he was awake--somewhat confused, yet conversant with family members. Finally, we heard that Sharon was lucid, joking, that he had experienced transient weakness and slurred speech but was now OK."
"Here in America, we didn't know what to think, especially when we heard that Sharon was back to meeting with military leaders in the hospital that very night.
"No matter what actually happened to Sharon on Sunday, lurking behind all reports was the ominous word 'stroke,' the No. 1 cause of disability worldwide, and No. 3 cause of death....
"We don't know exactly what happened to Sharon because we don't have his medical reports.
"But doctors shouldn't take these sides. Professionalism demands access to the patient and his records before rendering any opinion," according to Dr. Siegel.
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| | 4. Ex-IDF Commander´s New Party in Election Race
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Uzi Dayan, former deputy IDF Chief of Staff, announced Saturday that his new Tafnit (Turning Point) party will field candidates in the election. Support may come at the expense of Kadima.
| Dayan founded the party in May and since has come out in favor of expelling Jews from large parts of Judea and Samaria, while retaining several communities such as Bet El, in Samaria, and Kiryat Arba, next to Hevron.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has called for a total surrender of Judea and Samaria, except for Ma'aleh Adumim, several Gush Etzion communities and the city of Ariel.
Dayan, who also served as head of the National Security Council, said he declined offers to join the Kadima and Labor parties. Support for his Tafnit party is likely to come at the expense of Kadima.
In other election news, Likud ministers have refused to resign, leaving the party as part of the government coalition and preventing newly-elected chairman Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu from requesting that he be named head of the opposition.
The formation of Kadima left Likud with 26 Knesset members, five more than Labor, currently the largest opposition party.
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Click Here! | | 5. Chanukah to Light Up Jerusalem
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The largest Menorah in the world, whose wax is made from more than 5,000 candles, will light up Jerusalem Sunday night, the first evening of the eight-day Festival of Lights.
| The menorah will be lit at Pisgat Ze'ev, in the northern part of the capital, and is housed in an elevator, enabling it to be seen from miles around to fulfill the mitzvah of publicizing the miracle of Chanukah, which occurred 2,144 years ago. The holiday recalls both the miraculous victory of the minority of Jews over the ruling Greeks, and the miracle of the burning of holy olive oil for eight days.
After the military victory, the priests at that time searched the desecrated Temple and found one container of olive oil that was fit to light the holy Menorah. The oil was enough for only 24 hours, but lasted eight days, during which time the priests were able to prepare new oil.
The menorah used today to commemorate the holiday has eight branches, one more than that which was used in the holy Temple, and which is forbidden to use until the completion of the Third Temple.In addition to the huge menorah, thousands of menorahs distributed by the city will be lit in stores and offices throughout the capital, providing a widespread sign of the holiday.
The city is offering free tours along the route of the lit menorahs between 6 and 8 p.m. every night
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| | 6. Papal Official Wants to Divide Jerusalem
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Arab League and a Vatican official separately, but simultaneously, are campaigning for Israel to divide Jerusalem. The PA recently asked to the Pope to help make the capital part of a new state.
| The Arab League has joined Palestinian Authority (PA) officials in exploiting Israel's policy of not allowing Arabs in Jerusalem, who are Israeli citizens, to vote in the PA legislative elections scheduled for January 25.
It told the French news agency AFP that the ban would solidify Israel's claim that the entire capital is part of the country. AFP termed the predominantly Arab neighborhoods of the city "occupied east Jerusalem."
The papal representative in Israel, Nazareth native Michael Sabbah, told reporters, "This [partition] wall must not exist. One day it will not exist. The Palestinian people should regain their liberty and land with a state and a capital and the Israeli people should have security."
His statements are in opposition to previous Vatican statements, which have suggested that Jerusalem be established as an international city.
During a recent visit to the Vatican by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Pope Benedict accepted a document granting him unlimited access to Bethlehem, as well as a passport to the city making him "the first citizen of Bethlehem," according to the PA radio network.
Abbas told the Pope, "If we can't hold democratic elections in Jerusalem it will be difficult to do it in the other zones." The Arab League and the PA have seized the issue to put the blame on Israel if the elections are canceled. If Israel backs down and allows Arab Israelis to vote, it would help support the PA demand that the city become the capital of a new Arab state.
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| |
| 7. Abbas´ Government Losing Control
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The PA has lost control in Gaza, where England has warned its citizens not to visit. A new Yasser Arafat party has been established to wrest control from the ruling Fatah regime.
| A senior aide to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told United Press International that the PA no longer controls Gaza. On Saturday, Hamas terrorists seriously injured two PA policemen who stopped them at a checkpoint in Gaza City.
Kidnappings of foreign citizens have been rampant, and England told its citizens, "We advise against all travel to the Gaza strip because of the security situation and continuing threat of kidnap of foreign nationals. The most recent incident occurred on 21 December when an Australian and Dutch national were kidnapped. British nationals have also been kidnapped in previous incidents."
Anarchy also has spread to Judea and Samaria, and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorists stormed PA offices in Bethlehem for several hours on Thursday before leaving under threat of a clash with PA forces.
IDF commanders have told the Israeli government that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas is not trying to stop terrorists from attacking Israel with mortar shells and rockets. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government has little contact with PA ministers.
Abbas has made a pact with the growing popular young guard in an effort to shore up his strength toward the PA legislative elections scheduled for January 25. Ahmed Qureia, the prime minister of the PA, protests the move and is establishing a new party named after former PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
Qureia previously was a Fatah candidate, but then said he will not run in the elections following a maneuver by Abbas that lessened his chances of being elected. Qureia blamed his decision not to run on Israel's ban on voting by Jerusalem's Arabs, who are Israeli citizens.
Other threats to the ruling Fatah party come from the increasingly popular Hamas terrorist organization, and a rival party headed by jailed terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who consistently has headed popularity polls. Barghouti is currently serving five consecutive life sentences in Israeli prison for his role in numerous deadly terror attacks.
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| | 8. Christians Fleeing Bethlehem´s Moslem Majority
|  | | By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Bethlehem's Christian population has declined 10 percent in five years, and Moslems now are the majority in the city where Christians, once a majority, often have been the targets of Moslem riots.
| Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas visited Bethlehem Saturday night during midnight mass and used the holidays as a platform to call on the Christian community to denounce the partition barrier which separates Bethlehem from the southern limits of Jerusalem.
Foreign clerics joined Abbas, and the Archbishop of Westminster, England told worshippers that Bethlehem's citizens are "terribly alone" because of the barrier. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor urged Israel "to build bridges and not walls" and blamed Israel for making Christians feeling "compelled to leave the land of their birth for foreign lands, on account of the political situation."
However, no mention was made of the Arab terrorists' siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem three years ago, when they held nuns and priests as hostages and looted the building. A document captured by Israel shows that the terrorists who broke into the church demanded monetary support from Bethlehem town officials
Last week, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorists stormed PA offices near the church for several hours on Thursday before leaving under threat of a clash with PA forces.
Christians have been fleeing Bethlehem in droves due to security concerns and the changeover to Arab authority in the town, with 3,000 having fled since the outbreak of the Oslo War in 2000.
Ten years ago, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat replaced the Christian-dominated town council with a predominately Moslem council. Christians made up 90 percent of the city before Israel became a state in 1948, but a Moslem influx has turned the Christians into a minority of less than 20 percent.
Bethlehem also is the popular site of the Jewish matriarch Rachel's Tomb, where visitors to the holy site must pass through an intense security checkpoint.
The PA officially claims to allow freedom of religion, but Moslem sermons have linked Jews and Christians as enemies.
A PA Information Ministry statement states, "The Palestinian people are also governed by [Islamic] Shari'a law..., and any Muslim who [converts] or declares becoming an unbeliever is committing a major sin punishable by capital punishment...."
Anti-Christian sentiment also has been evident elsewhere in the PA. Last September, hundreds of armed Moslems terrorized the Christian city of Taibe in Samaria, burning homes and cars, and destroying a sacred Catholic statue.
In one riot in 2002, Moslems instigated "a rampage...after torching the Christian properties," according to the Boston Globe.
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| | | 9. Chutzpah! Palestinians Boot Jews from Gaza...
|  | | A7 Radio's "The Tovia Singer Show"
| Chutzpah! Palestinians Boot Jews from Gaza, Now Beg them for Help
Aaron Klein, Jerusalem Bureau Chief for WorldNetDaily.com, reveals that Arabs who took over the Jewish greenhouses in the Gaza Strip are asking expelled farmers for advice after failing to reproduce the region's famous crops! Also, Klein exposes Sharon’s medical health secret live on air.
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Also on Tovia Singer:
Renowned Scholar Unravels the History and Mystery of Chanukah
Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, founder and creator of NCSY (National Conference of Synagogue Youth), speaks of his new book “Hidden Lights,” a groundbreaking work that answers probing questions about the Festival of Lights.
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For more A7 Radio visit www.IsraelNationalRadio.com.
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| | 10. On A7TV: Remembering Rav Neria
|  | | A7tv's weekly culture magazine "Israeli Salad" with Yoni Kempinski
| - Father of the knitted Kipa generation – Yoni meets the wife and daughter of the late Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neria z”l on the 10th anniversary to his passing.
- Hoping for a miracle - Looking for the Chanukiya in the evacuee community of Nitzan.
- A Chanukiya collection – Yoni visits William Gross’s impressive Judaica collection.
Yoni invites you to submit feedback and ideas. Click at page bottom.
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| | Today on IsraelNN.com: |  |  | Israel weighs air patrols to combat Kassam attacks.
|   | | |  | |  | "Palestine" Will Never Come Into Existence
The main reason Palestine won't come into existence is that the Arab Palestinians don't want it, nor does Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia or Egypt, notwithstanding protestations to the contrary.
|  | | | Revisionism is Growing
Radicals like Mahmoud throughout the Islamic world have been calling for war against the Jews for decades. The Palestinian National Covenant, the "constitution" of the Palestinians, has long called for the "elimination of Zionism in Palestine." In addition, Hamas' constitution declares, "Israel will exist until Islam will obliterate it."
|  | | | | |  | Increase Light
After two thousand years, we have emerged from the "pit" of the dark exile, which was full of snakes and scorpions.
|  | | | The Rule of Threes
It seems to me that the preponderance of threes in the Joseph story begs interpretation in connection with Chanukah.
|  | | | | |  |
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- French high-school graduates visit Israel.
- Dealing with the expulsion trauma.
- Newborn quadruplet born into the Jewish nation.
- Abel Pann’s art depicting stories of the bible. |
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