 | | Netanyahu Wins Likud Primary, Feiglin Strengthens
Binyamin Netanyahu is the winner of the Likud primaries. "Tonight the Likud has embarked on its way to leadership of the country," Netanyahu said in his victory speech.
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More Details |  | | Editor: Ezra HaLevi
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
19 Kislev 5766
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| | | 1. Netanyahu Wins Likud Primary, Feiglin Strengthens
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
Binyamin Netanyahu is the winner of the Likud primaries. "Tonight the Likud has embarked on its way to leadership of the country," Netanyahu said in his victory speech.
| With 98% of the votes counted, Netanyahu received 44.4% of the vote, Silvan Shalom 33%, Moshe Feiglin 12.4% and Yisrael Katz 8.7% - with fewer than 44.6% of the 128,000 Likud voters casting ballots.
Netanyahu told Arutz-7 Monday that the Likud needs a strong leader who will guard Jerusalem, a reference to reports that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to divide the capital.
There is speculation that Netanyahu will attempt to gather a coalition of 61 MKs and seek to become prime minister in place of Sharon, thereby pushing off elections. Under the dissolution of the 16th Knesset, the elections are currently scheduled for the end of March, but if a coalition is formed, the elections would return to November.
Feiglin, who was the only candidate who is not even a Knesset member, beat Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Jerusalem, the largest Likud chapter, receiving 25% of the votes. In Haifa, 17.5% of the votes went to Feiglin. He expressed satisfaction with the election results, which demonstrate significant gains for the Manhigut Yehudit - Jewish Leadership faction.
"We will continue to grow and will soon lead the party and the country," Feiglin said. "Today is a great day for the Jewish people, as it is now clear that an alternative leadership is rising, presenting an alternative to the direction the country is heading."
Asked why he and Manhigut Yehudit activists were celebrating the outcome, when Netanyahu was the projected winner of the primary, Feiglin answered: "The winner is the fact that the voters are beginning to understand that a believer must be elected to lead the Jewish people."
Asked whether he was surprised with the percentage of voters who chose to vote for him instead of Netanyahu, despite calls by the Yesha Council not to vote Feiglin, he said: "The Yesha Council appoints itself. They were not elected, and the general public and those who were expelled from Gush Katif eschew their advice in favor of their own conscience and the advice of the Yesha rabbis, who advised people to choose faithful leadership."
"What will you do now?" asked Army Radio's interviewer.
"I will continue to operate within the Likud to bring about a continued faith revolution within the party and the country," Feiglin answered.
Comments from MKs focused on Feiglin's votes rather than Netanyahu's projected victory.
"Feiglin is a Jewish fascist," said Shinui Chairman Yosef Lapid. "His achievements in this election are a stain upon the Revisionist movement."
Education Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) told Channel 10, "Now we will have to insure that Feiglin not be allowed to be a part of the Likud." Livnat has long sought to ban Feiglin from the Likud Party and seek ways to root out Jewish Leadership faction members to stem their influence.
Shas Party Chairman Eli Yishai sharply attacked Likud voters for electing Netanyahu, whom he blames for the poverty in Israel. "The Likud is like a bungee jumper who has not checked his cord," Yishai said.
Shalom’s strategic advisor, Moshe Dubi, told Yediot Aharonot that, "Likud members are behaving like a battered wife, returning to the old and familiar Binyamin Netanyahu.”
Feiglin used an identical analogy Sunday, referring to the Yesha Council's call to vote for Netanyahu.
MK Uzi Landau, who withdrew from the race and endorsed Netanyahu, told reporters that his endorsement is what allowed Netanyahu to win the race in one round. He also told Channel 10 that "Feiglin is not part of the Likud Party" - Landau's first attack on fellow expulsion-opponent Feiglin.
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| | 2. Sharon Leaves Hospital as Medical Staff Speak Out
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was released from Hadassah Hospital Tuesday amid reports by his medical team that Monday's press conference did not disclose "the whole truth" about his stroke.
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"I see you missed me," Sharon told reporters, "I was excited to see the great concern Israel's citizens had for my health, and I thank them with all my heart. Now we must return to work and move forward."
Asked if his stroke would interfere with his ability to serve as prime minister, Sharon said, "I don't think that it will have an effect on my functioning."
Sharon was ordered by his doctors to stay at his residence in Jerusalem in the coming days in case he needs to be hospitalized again.
The senior doctors of Hadassah Hospital held a press conference Monday and outlined Sharon's condition for the press. Head of Neurology at Hadassah Prof. Tamir Ben-Hur stressed that Sharon never lost consciousness, was not confused at any point and did not suffer any paralysis due to the stroke. Dr. Ben-Hur said Sharon's only problem was slight difficulty in speaking.
The medical team that treated the prime minister when he was first brought to the hospital, however, told the Maariv newspaper that Sharon had been quite confused for most of an hour.
"What was said at the press conference was, to understate, not exact," they said. "The prime minister did not know what day it was, what time is was or where he was. For 45 minutes he could not count or perform basic movements. They [the hospital officials –ed.] are not obligated to disclose everything, but to give inaccurate information is already taking a position [on the matter of the PM's health] and is very problematic. Throughout the first night of his hospitalization the confusion continued, to a lesser extent, and Sharon has not returned to himself completely."
Sharon's doctors have ordered him to lose weight. Yediot Aharonot reported that one doctor suggested Sharon take up meditation and Tai Chi as an alternative to weight reduction.
Prime Minister Sharon is to turn 78 in February and is known for having a hearty appetite. A former aide told Army Radio, "The man loves food. It will be hard changing him at his age, but we will do our best."
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Click Here! | | 3. Arab 'Right of Return' Conference: We Demand Kibbutz Land
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
Organizers of a "Right of Return" conference held in Nazareth called upon Arab parties to include the return of Arabs to land left in 1948, most of which, they say, is now owned by kibbutzim.
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Last weekend the conference, entitled "The Right of Return and a Just Peace" took place in the Arab city of Nazareth, in the Galilee.
The main aim of the conference was to induce Arab parties to introduce the concept of the Right of Return into their platforms. According to a conference statement, "The 'Right of Return' must be incorporated into their political agenda, so that Israel is not able to extort recognition as a Jewish state from the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries."
Dozens of Israeli Jews, many from left-wing kibbutzim, took part in the conference as well, including extreme-leftist professor Dr. Ilan Pappe. "Not all Jews are hard-hearted or boorish with regard to the hallowed Nakba [literally tragedy, the Arab term used to describe Israel's founding -ed.]," Pappe said. "We are a minority, but exist."
One of the conference's main speakers, Salman Abu-Sitta, told those present that getting Israel to return land within the pre-1967 is not a dream, but something that will be done in the near future. "We must continue to struggle for the right of return because it is able to be actualized"
Abu-Sitta said that it is ironic that the Kibbutz movement in Israel, a bastion of left-wing political strength, occupies 93% of the land the Arabs claim as their own. "The number of Jews in the country will dissipate with time and they will no longer be the majority…There is no other way but implementing justice in order to arrive at peace," he said.
Conference organizers protested the fact that Israel did not allow the participation of Kassam Kassam, the spokesman for the Palestinian Refugee Network in Europe. At the conference's conclusion, organizers declared the incident would not pass quietly. "The expulsion of Kassam Kassam [who was denied a visa –ed.] only strengthens our will to strengthen the connection with our nation in exile and our homeland in the battle for the right of return."
Organizers read a speech prepared by Sheikh Ra'ed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, who was recently released from prison after serving time for supporting Hamas. Salah emphasized the importance of locating and preserving the Muslim and Christian cemeteries located in Arab villages destroyed in 1948. "We need to draw the attention of Palestinian society toward the phenomenon of the selling of our land, through middle-men and agencies, to Jews and the Israeli government."
Arabs that sell property to Jews often have to move overseas under new identities in order to escape murder by other Arabs. At the same time, land in Jerusalem is being bought up by PLO proxies and PA Arabs are even moving into Jerusalem neighborhoods such a Pisgat Ze'ev, as Israeli law does not prohibit selling of land to Arabs.
There are currently no parties in the Knesset calling for the return of the Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 at the behest of the attacking Arab armies. Israel's position is that the return of those who left, together with their children and grandchildren, will lead to the democratic nullification of the Jewish state. There are some left-wing parties and movements suggesting compensation for those Arabs or allowing the return of a token number to Israel.
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| | 4. Lack of Response to Kassams Worries Ashkelon’s Mayor
|  | | By Scott Shiloh
Ashkelon mayor Roni Mehatzri said he is worried that the IDF has not adequately responded to the firing of Kassam rockets on the outskirts of his city, from northern Gaza.
| The terrorists, Mehatzri told Arutz-7, “are shooting freely from open areas, from Dugit [one of the Jewish communities uprooted during the Disengagement], without anyone stopping them."
The area between Ashkelon and Gaza, though mostly lacking in inhabitants, is replete with infrastructure projects, such as a regional power and desalination plant, and an oil pipeline. Damage to these facilities could severely disrupt day-to-day life for the city’s residents.
Mehatzri said he was not particularly interested in adding to the city’s passive security defenses. He said it was more important to stop the terrorists from approaching the border and firing their rockets on Ashkelon, a city with 90,000 residents.
Mahatzri said he was calmed somewhat by the fact that the terrorists, apparently, still lack the technical ability to strike at the city’s population. He said both the attacks this past Sunday and last Thursday, showed that their rockets cannot reach into the city limits.
Despite this, he said that he does not understand the policy of the IDF “which doesn’t prevent them from reaching the [border] fence.”
No License to Kill Noncombatants
IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.Gen. Dan Halutz told a forum of senior IDF officers that the war on terrorist did not constitute a warrant to kill noncombatants.
Halutz said that Israel was in the midst of a process to “stabilize the area.” As a result, the IDF “must be sensitive to this complex reality and provide a suitable response.”
He said that the IDF’s counterterrorism operations must be “focused and precise” in order to prevent harm to “noncombatants.” He emphasized the importance of “operational discipline”, saying that “combat was not a license to deviate from orders, commands, and guidelines.”
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Click Here! | | 5. Biblical Robe Produced For Use by High Priest in Holy Temple
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
After much hard work and research, the Techelet (azure blue) robe of the High Priest has been completed by the Temple Institute and it is hoped to be fit to be worn in the Third Temple.
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The blue coat, or me'il techelet as it is called in the Torah, sports 72 golden bells alternating with 72 pomegranates attached around its hem, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet wool.
The project was researched and undertaken by skilled artisans over the past three years. It will join the already completed ephod and choshen (breastplate), featuring the 12 precious stones associated with the 12 tribes of Israel. They are located at the Temple Institute in Jerusalem's Old City, and it is hoped they will be found fit to be used by the High Priest in the third temple.
Master weaver Yehudit Avraham wove the robe using the Navajo "two-sided" weaving technique. The Techelet dye used is the most widely accepted of the blue dyes thought to be the Biblical Blue.
The commandment to make such a robe appears in Exodus 28: 31-35: "And you shall make the robe of the ephod entirely out of blue wool. Its head-opening shall be folded over within it, its opening shall have a border all around of weaver's work - it shall be for it like the opening of a coat of mail, that it should not be torn. And you shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, on its hem all around, and gold bells between them, all around; a gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, all around. It must be on Aaron in order to minister. Its sound shall be heard when he enters the Sanctuary before Hashem and when he leaves, so that he not die."
"This is the first robe woven entirely out of techelet in nearly 2,000 years," Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute told Arutz-7. "Next week we shall begin to observe the holiday of Chanukah, which marks the rededication of the Second Temple in the days when the wicked King Antiochus rose up against the Jewish people with decrees meant to separate them from G-d and His Torah. Chanukah also marks the day when the original desert tabernacle was completed. Our sages emphasize that every year on Chanukah, when we kindle the festive lights, there's a sublime illumination of holy light that is released into the world - a continuation of the original hidden light of creation and a spark of the light of the holy Menorah in the Temple. Above all, Chanukah is the time of miracles and thanksgiving to G-d. The completion of this sacred garment marks a great step forward towards the renewal of the Divine service in the Holy Temple."
Click here to listen to Rabbi Richman speak about the robe on Temple Talk.
In the near future, the Institute plans to embark on another major project: the production and supplying of the Torah-specified white garments of the ordinary priests for every male Jewish descendant of Aaron. "Every Kohen from all over the world, will be given the opportunity to register and order his own uniform so that he can be ready to serve in the rebuilt Holy Temple," Richman said.
Click here for additional photographs of the meil and here for more information on the priestly garments.
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| | 6. President Katzav Meets Gaza Evictees
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
Heads of the Jewish communities expelled from Gaza met with President Moshe Katzav and Director of the Prime Minister’s Office Ilan Cohen at the behest of the president Monday night.
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The community leaders discussed the problems facing the families forcibly removed from their homes, protesting the series of broken agreements and unfulfilled promises refugees have fallen victim to since the expulsion. They pointed fingers, for the most part, at various government ministries.
Two of the main issues discussed were the continued unemployment of over 2,000 evictees and the operation of only eight of the 200 agricultural projects active before the expulsion. Many farmers have not yet even received land.
Last month, Disengagement Authority chief Yonatan Bassi admitted that dealing with the bureaucracy surrounding compensation was close to impossible. “One needs a doctorate in order to extract compensation from all the different authorities,” Bassi told the Knesset Finance Committee.
President Katzav initiated the meeting in the hope that his interest in the matter would induce government officials to insure that the way compensation for the refugees is handled is improved.
Katzav said that changes in the Evacuation-Compensation Law must be made, and called on Bassi and the Disengagement Authority to immediately draft such changes in order that they be implemented as soon as possible. The President assured the Gush Katif representatives that he would oversee the implementation of the changes personally.
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| |
| 7. Chabad Chassidim Celebrate 19th of Kislev
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
Tuesday, the 19th of the Jewish month of Kislev, is a Chassidic holiday, commemorating the release of the founder of Chabad-Lubavitch from a Czarist Russian prison.
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The festive day is known as the New Year of Chassidut and the Redemption Holiday.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, called the "Alter (old in Yiddish) Rebbe" by students of Chabad chassidut was imprisoned after being charged with treason, a crime punishable by death.
The Russian authorities forged documents and created a narrative accusing Shneur Zalman of making a pact with Turkey to destroy Russia. He was imprisoned in an island fortress on the Neva River in Petersburg. During his interrogations, he was compelled to present to the Czar's ministers the basic tenets of Judaism and explain various points of Chassidic philosophy and practice. After 52 days, he was exonerated of all charges and released.
In its formative years, the Chassidic movement was the object of strong opposition from the Jewish establishment. Even within the Chassidic community, many of Rabbi Schneur Zalman's contemporaries and colleagues felt that he had "gone to far" in allowing the masses access to the hidden aspects of the Torah.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman regarded his arrest as an earthly echo of a Heavenly indictment against his Torah teachings. He saw his release as signifying his vindication in the Heavenly court and redoubled his efforts, disseminating his teachings on a far broader scale, and with more detailed explanations, than before.
"....G-d has sanctified and magnified His name because even the gentile
officials and all the people of the kingdom recognized that 'All this was
from G-d; it is all miracles in our eyes' (Psalms 118:23)," he wrote after his release.
Chassidim therefore view the day as a celebration of the victory of the Chassidic approach over its detractors.
The 19th of Kislev did not gain significance only from that event, however. Thirty-six years earlier, in 1772, Rabbi Dov Ber, the "Maggid of Mezeritch" – a student of Chaddism's founder the Ba'al Shem Tov and Schneur Zalman's teacher - passed away. Before his passing, he told the Alter Rebbe, "This day is our festival."
In recent history, Saddam Hussein was captured in an underground hideout on the 19th of Kislev in 2003.
Customary observation of the day includes the giving of extra charity and the setting aside of time to study works of Chassidut, particularly Rabbi Shneur Zalman's magnum opus, the Tanya.
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| | 8. Family of MIA Zachary Baumel Suing Syrian Government in US
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
The family of missing IDF soldier Zachary Baumel is suing the government of Syria in a US Federal Court.
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The Baumels allege that the government of Syria is responsible for the illegal imprisonment of their son Zachary Baumel, a dual American-Israeli citizen, since his capture during a battle along the Lebanese-Syrian-Israeli border on June 11, 1982.
Dr. Stuart H. Ditchek, a friend of the Baumels and the founder of The Committee for the Release of Zachary Baumel, announced the lawsuit, which will be filed in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia against the government of Syria and its agents. The suit is being brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act that provides for an exception to the immunity from lawsuits that most foreign governments enjoy. The Act allows United States citizens to sue certain foreign governments that support and aid terrorist activities and hold them civilly liable for certain criminal acts.
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act has been used in past years to successfully obtain judgments against countries that support terrorist activities and recover damages from the government of Iran for acts resulting in injury, death, kidnapping and illegal imprisonment.
Daniel J. Scher of the law firm Scher & Scher, P.C. in New York will be working on Baumel's case together with the District of Columbia counsel.
The Syrian ambassador to the United States, Imad Mustapha has been notified via his communications officer at the Syrian Embassy in Washington of the impending lawsuit.
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| | | 9. India´s Ambassador: Relations with Israel Growing Stronger
|  | | By Baruch Gordon
India's Ambassador to Israel, Arun Kumar Singh, spoke about the growing economic relations between Israel and India in a recent Haifa University lecture.
| In 1992, when India opened its embassy in Israel, trade between the two countries amounted to $2 million. Today, he said, it stands at $2.7 billion dollars—a 2,700-fold increase.
Citing the continuous strengthening of ties between geographically tiny Israel and giant India, the ambassador predicted that bilateral trade between the two would jump to $7 billion in two or three years.
He said India was prepared to expand relations with neighboring China, whose economy was developing strongly. Economic competition between countries is a positive thing, he said.
Singh also referred to India's cooperation with Iran in the energy sphere. He thought those ties would not be disturbed by India's arms deals with the United States.
Focusing on Israel-India trade, he pointed out that large Israeli firms were already aware of the significance of India as a commercial and technological center. In this regard, the ambassador noted that there are 2.5 million new cellular phone subscribers in his country each month. This figure is equal to nearly half Israel's total population.
Touching upon one of Israel's top industries, he said that India was one of the world's ten leading pharmaceutical producers.
The ambassador wanted his University of Haifa audience to know that his country was not just a taker, but a giver, as well. In contrast to the past, he asserted, India was investing in other countries, and not just those that invested in India. He referred to the opening of the Bank of India in Israel.
Singh listed others areas of cooperation between Israel and India including the war on terrorism, culture, and space.
Based on an article from Haifa University's Focus Magazine
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| | 10. Jerusalem´s Handing Out Trees for Christmas
|  | | A7 Radio's "Yishai Fleisher and Alex Traiman Show"
| A7 Radio's "Yishai Fleisher and Alex Traiman Show"
Jerusalem's Handing Out Trees for Christmas
Yishai and Alex take issue with the Jerusalem Municipality for their decade's old tradition of distributing free Christmas trees. Also, discussing the appropriate responses to the stroke suffered by Ariel Sharon.
Listen Now -or- Download*
Also on Yishai and Alex:
Choreographing English Theater, and Politics in Israel
Speaking with Michael Berl, Director of Hebrew University's Beit Hillel Theater, and their current running student production of Les Miserables. Also, Manhigut Mondays with Moshe Feiglin, on the day of Likud's leadership primary.
Listen Now -or- Download*
For more A7 Radio visit www.IsraelNationalRadio.com.
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| | Today on IsraelNN.com: |  |  | PM Sharon remains hospitalised after mini stroke.
|   | | |  | |  | Obsessive Anti-Semitism
Ahmadinejad's ugly outpourings were condemned in the West, but they provoked almost no protest in Arab and Muslim countries, where Jews are routinely portrayed as evil sub-humans fit only for extermination.
|  | | | | |  | Was I Born by Accident?
My birth was a bit of an accident - my parents said I was a surprise, and I was born six weeks premature. Is there any meaning in celebrating the day that I wasn't really supposed to have been born?
|  | | | The Story of the Fruits
Every stone in Jerusalem has been embedded with the narrative of a people on a long voyage. Yet, there is no more dramatic story than that which is told by the fruit of this land.
|  | | | | |  |
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| Weather | | Tuesday's forecast | | Jerusalem
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 | 'Israeli Salad' #117
with Yoni Kempinski - Lone soldiers reunited with their parents.
- 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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