 | | Doctors May Begin Easing Sharon Out of Coma Monday Morning
Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said that this morning's CAT scan of PM Sharon's brain showed satisfactory results, and that the doctors plan to begin easing him out of his induced coma Monday morning.
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More Details |  | | Editor: Hillel Fendel
Sunday, January 08, 2006
8 Tevet 5766
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| | | 1. Doctors May Begin Easing Sharon Out of Coma Monday Morning
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said that this morning's CAT scan of PM Sharon's brain showed satisfactory results, and that the doctors plan to begin easing him out of his induced coma Monday morning.
| The doctors at Hadassah Hospital in southern Jerusalem have placed Prime Minister Sharon in a form of coma, in order to allow him to recover from the massive cerebral hemorrhaging he suffered Wednesday night and again on Friday.
If all goes according to plan, the doctors plan to begin easing him out of the coma tomorrow morning, and to then begin a neurological examination.
Sharon has undergone three operations: a seven-hour affair on Wednesday night, a two-hour operation on Thursday morning, and a nearly four-hour operation on Friday.
Prof. Ben-Yosef, Director-General of Hadassah, announced at 2 PM this afternoon that following today's CAT scan, "We continue to see an improvement in the picture of the brain. The brain ventricles have diminished, there has been good drainage of the fluids, and we can now see an image of the folds of the brain in the CAT scan. This shows improvement. In addition, the other measurements - blood pressure, cranial pressure and pulse - are good, and there is no temperature. His condition is still critical but stable."
In light of the above, Mor-Yosef announced, the doctors will begin reducing the dosage of the coma-inducing medications that the Prime Minister is receiving, "on condition that the whole period until then continues uneventfully."
Most significantly, Mor-Yosef said that the doctors hope to begin a neurological examination tomorrow morning, "to see how the Prime Minister's brain is functioning. I hope we will be able to report on the results tomorrow at approximately this time."
Mor-Yosef did not relate to the question of whether Sharon's condition is still considered life-threatening, or what type or extent of brain damage can be expected.
Prof. Yonatan HaLevy, the director of Shaarei Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, commented on Channel Two television that the decision to wait some 16 hours before beginning to reduce the coma-inducing medication "is most likely the result of wanting to be extra cautious."
He said that the fact that the patient is immobilized is potentially dangerous, and could lead to infection and clotting in the legs. "The usual procedure would be to prescribe blood-thinners," HaLevy said, "but we know from bitter past experience that this could lead to bleeding in the brain. So the next-best course of action, certainly less effective, is simply to move him around as much as possible."
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| | 2. Politics Creeping Back Up Into Headlines
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Knesset Speaker Rivlin says it's time for Likud to quit gov't, while Foreign Minister Shalom says he and the three others should remain for now. Acting PM Olmert faces some political challenges too.
| Leading Likud members disagree on whether to quit the government, in the wake of Sharon's critical medical condition.
After Ariel Sharon quit the Likud two months ago to form the Kadima Party with several other ministers, the Likud dropped from the status of the ruling party to a minority within the government. When Binyamin Netanyahu was chosen last month to head the Likud, he decided that the four party ministers would quit the government, in anticipation of the upcoming elections.
The four ministers did not like the idea, but accepted their leader's decision. The resignations were to be submitted today - but following Sharon's massive stroke, Netanyahu decided to suspend the move.
Rivlin, a leading Likud member who strongly opposed the expulsion plan, said last night that the party ministers should not remain in the government. He does not like the fact that Likud members would cooperate in a government headed by former Likud ideologue Ehud Olmert, one of the Likud members who left in order to form Kadima.
"The Likud ministers must quit immediately," Rivlin told Haaretz, "in order to wage a political fight against Olmert's positions. The Likud can help Olmert maintain regime stability from the opposition - but for us to remain partners until the elections in a government headed by Olmert, as some of the ministers want, would be a show of support for Olmert's policies - which are policies of the left-wing."
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, on the other hand, who lost to Netanyahu in the race for party leader, says that now is not the time to quit. "The Nation of Israel is interested only in the Prime Minister's condition, and not in whether the Likud resigns or not," Shalom said this morning.
Shalom added that he and the other Likud ministers will give Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert total support at this time.
Acting Prime Minister Olmert is conducting a Cabinet meeting today, in an attempt to broadcast stability. The ministers are to hear diplomatic and security briefings, and will discuss the distribution of the ministerial portfolios. Olmert inherited from Sharon no fewer than ten such portfolios, most of them left over from the resignation of the Labor Party ministers several weeks ago. Added to the two Olmert himself held - Finance and Trade - this gives him more portfolios than has even been held by one man.
It had been agreed within Kadima that Sharon would decide who would man which portfolio, as well as the composition of the party's list of Knesset candidates. However, not everyone in the party agrees that Olmert's assumption of Sharon's Prime Ministerial authorities automatically grants him the other authorities as well.
The "Likudnik" website, quoting Israel Radio, reports, "In the coming days, the Kadima movement will have to consider the legal aspects of this issue and solve the problem, which could lead to a disagreement among the members and new demands."
It has also been reported that Ehud Olmert will meet in the coming days with his friend and former Prime Minister, Ehud Barak. Barak, of the Labor Party, is not even running for a Knesset seat on the Labor list, largely because of his deep public disagreements with Labor Leader Amir Peretz.
Peretz has been under some pressure to bring Barak back, while Barak's meeting with Olmert raises speculation that Barak might join Kadima.
The future of Shimon Peres is also not clear. He left Labor several weeks ago to join Kadima, exclusively because of Ariel Sharon. "I do not believe that it is possible to advance the peace process in the current political situation," Peres said at the time, "other than with a coalition. The only one who can lead this is Ariel Sharon." With Sharon all but out of the picture, Peres is now reportedly considering returning to Labor - although aides close to him denied this. He met with Olmert on Friday.
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Buy Now at the Arutz Sheva Mall | | 3. Olmert´s Message: Olive Tree-Cutting Vandals Must be Dealt With
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Acting PM Olmert chose to issue & publicize two statements during the Cabinet meeting he ran today in place of Ariel Sharon, sharply condemning those who cut down Arab-owned olive trees in Samaria.
| Olmert's first statement was, "I condemn the phenomenon of cutting down olive trees, and I call upon the Attorney General to take action against the wild people responsible for this."
Press reports widely assumed that the olive tree vandals are Jewish residents of Shomron communities - even though in the past this supposition has been all but negated. In addition, no Jews have ever been caught and/or accused of this crime.
On the contrary, there is evidence that left-wing activists are behind the accusations, even though Arabs themselves may have pruned the trees.
During today's Cabinet meeting, when Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz reported that 2,400 trees had been cut down by Jewish settlers, Olmert furthered his attack. "I didn't realize the extent of the phenomenon," Olmert said, adding that those who are responsible must be brought to justice.
Reports that Jewish settlers have cut down olive trees have abounded over the past week, but many suspect them of being merely a "left-wing provocation" against the Jews of Judea and Samaria. The Yesha Council found that similar reports six weeks ago were apparently a provocation staged by extreme left-wing activists who "wish to sully their Jewish brothers, while at the same time extending their hand to terrorists."
The residents of Elon Moreh, who were specifically named in connection with those accusations, said in a statement, "We wish to emphasize that we have no connection with this incident, which is based on the testimony of a single Arab."
"The left-wingers and Arabs pulled the same trick last year," Land of Israel Task Force head Aviad Visuly said, "and using the same method." Photos of the trees show that the branches were sawed off in a manner that is beneficial to the trees. "Why would vandals bother sawing off each individual branch? Wouldn't they just cut down the trunk?"
Visuly said that left-wing activists look for trees that have been pruned, and then blame the Jews for cutting them. The branches begin growing back 2-3 months after they are cut, and grow to full size within two years. "In the meanwhile," Visuly said, "the orchard owners receive stipends from the Saudis, via the PA."
Two years ago, a similar story on Arutz-7 began as follows: "It led to anti-settler headlines, international embarrassment for the State of Israel, condemnations, and apologetics - and yet it all may have been one big bluff, or worse." At the time, international media reported as fact that Jews had destroyed the Arab trees, and President Katzav and Prime Minister Sharon issued statements implying that the Jews were responsible. Even the Yesha Council said that the tree-cutting had "defamed the entire sector of Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza."
What went under-reported was that the police began to suspect that left-wing Israelis and Arabs were behind the incident. The police even asked Rabbi Arik Asherman of the Reform Movement and an Arab who filed charges against Jewish Yesha residents to submit to lie-detector tests - but it was reported at the time that the two had refused.
A Jewish National Fund expert brought in by the police concluded that no lasting damage was done to the trees, and that the tree-cutters did not "cut down" the trees, but rather "pruned" them.
Olmert said at the beginning of today's meeting, "I imagine that if I would have been able to speak to Arik [Sharon] today and ask him what he wants us to do, he would have said, 'I appreciate very much your concern for my health, but it's important for you to get back to work and run the country and ensure its security, economy and society.'"
Olmert read off a list of heads of state who had sent their wishes of good health to Prime Minister Sharon.
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| | 4. Comptroller Axes Critical Report Due to Sharon’s Condition
|  | | By Scott Shiloh
The State Comptroller has withheld a report critical of PM Sharon's handling of the disengagement process, due to the prime minister's deteriorating medical condition.
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The State Comptroller, charged with investigating government corruption, inefficiency, and ineptitude, has decided to delay publication of a report criticizing implementation of the disengagement plan, due to Sharon’s deteriorating health.
The State Comptroller, Micha Lindenstrauss, a retired judge, has prepared a report critical of the government’s handling of the disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria, and its treatment of the Jewish refugees who were forced from their homes.
The report examines the entire disengagement process, beginning with setting up the Expulsion Authority, known officially as the Sela Adminstration, up until the actual expulsion and efforts to resettle the refugees. The report also looks at the effects of the disengagement on communities bordering the Gaza district.
Lindenstrauss said the report, which was supposed to be published this week, would not be released “due to Prime Minister Sharon’s health condition.”
After assuming his post last June, Lindenstrauss said that he intended to investigate and issue a report relating to the disengagement process. He said he wanted his office to start examining “ongoing events, such as the disengagement whose implementation was dependent on complex staff work and allocation of resources.”
Lindenstrauss did not set a new date for publishing the report, and is expected to hold it back so long as Sharon remains in the intensive care unit of Hadassah Hospital.
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Click Here! | | 5. Hamas Candidate Says “United Jerusalem” to be Arab Capital
|  | | By Scott Shiloh
The man who heads the Hamas election list in the upcoming PA parliamentary election said that a “united Jerusalem,” or the entire capital of Israel, must be the capital of a Palestinian state.
| The Hamas candidate, Ismail Hania, also said that if elected, the terror group would stick to its policy of jihad, or holy war against the Jewish state. Recent polls show the Hamas receiving 30% or more of the popular vote in the election scheduled for later this month.
At an election rally in Khan Yunis in the Gaza district, Hania said there would be “no negotiations with Israel, just the barrel of the gun, the only language Israel understands.”
Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz’s recent comments to the effect that Israel would open a dialogue with the Hamas under certain conditions was interpreted by Hania as an expression of weakness.
Hania said Mofaz’s position exemplifies that “the Zionist enterprise is beginning to collapse. The next phase is the disintegration and withdrawal of the occupation, and the rise of eternal Islam and the eternal Islamic nation.”
At the rally, Hania tried to distinguish his party from the other terrorist groups running for office in the PA. He said the Hamas would never make any concessions to Israel.
He outlined his group’s order of priorities as Islam, and the defense of "Palestinian interests" which he identified as land, Jerusalem, the return of refugees, release of prisoners held by Israel (including the assassins of Israel’s Tourist Minister Rehavam Ze’evi), and the right to continue the jihad against Israel and to make it the policy of the PA parliament.
Regarding Jerusalem, Hania said that the terror group’s policy of making the entire city of Jerusalem the PA capital found expression in the location of the group’s suicide attacks. Those attacks deliberately targeted the Jewish neighborhoods of the city in order to emphasize the PA territorial claim to the entire Jewish capital.
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| | 6. Samaria Security Dogs Kennel Closed Down by Police
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Police, Border Guard and IDF forces raided the town of Kfar Tapuach in the Shomron this morning, closing down the Jewish Legion there and the kennel used to breed dogs used for Jewish defense.
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The Shai (Samaria and Judea) Police District spokesman said that the action was taken in accordance with a directive by the IDF Central Commander, ordering the closing of all Hebrew Battalion offices and organs.
The forces confiscated six dogs used for or being trained for security, as well as the contents of the dining room and Torah study program - Yeshivat HaG'dud HaTorani (Torah Battalion Yeshiva). The police also informed the Hebrew Battalion personnel that they are no longer permitted to use the dining room and study hall.
The raid was not accompanied by violence.
Jewish Legion head Yekutiel Ben-Yaakov told Arutz-7 with a measure of cynicism that the latest move by the State of Israel would not deter him:
"The truth is that I had been getting a bit worried. We have been operating for four years already, and we are the best form of Zionism and patriotism and Jewish spirit since the original Jewish Legion was formed in 1917, and I was wondering how the same government that gives land and guns to the worst of our terrorist enemies also allow this enterprise to thrive at the same time? But now that they have taken action against us, I feel that we have received our 'kosher certification,' if you will. There cannot be coexistence in the same entity between those who support Jewish murderers and those who defend Jews."
Ben-Yaakov explained that his group's kennel has raised and trained over 100 sentry guard dogs, patrol dogs and home protection dogs in the past four years:
"We offer free courses for the security chiefs and emergency team leaders in the various communities, such as in Emanuel and North Emanuel, and we have given dogs to help security in various communities, such as Eli, Rechelim, and others - and even to the Israel Police and Border Guard themselves."
Asked if he could provide the names of some of the people who had received dogs, Ben-Yaakov said, "Well, all our files were confiscated today, so I can't help you right now, but we hope to recover the information soon."
The kennel of the Jewish Legion - literally, Hebrew Battalion - has been praised by Brig.-Gen. Har'el Knafu, the Shomron Regional I.D.F. Commander, who said, "Good things must be said of a project that helps secure the Tapuach area."
"Look," Ben-Yaakov said, "we know the situation. We're prepared for sacrifice to maintain Jewish life here in Yesha [Judea and Samaria]. It's unfortunate that the government is working against us, but that's nothing new. There were several hundred policemen here, and I told them that it was too bad that instead of fighting terrorism, they were doing the opposite - that they would be responsible for whoever might be hurt in the future because we couldn't help them with dogs or with training."
Ben-Yaakov said,
"I told one of the chief officers that their actions today certainly wouldn't stop us from studying Torah, or from protecting ourselves. I said that instead of calling ourselves the Jewish Legion, we’ll just call ourselves -- 'Jews;' would they outlaw a movement called 'Jews?' ...
"We continue with the same spirit and pioneering fortitude that the original Jewish Legion had [when it was established to protect the original Land of Israel settlements from Arabs], and we are buttressed by our Torah faith. The government is basically frightened because we represent everything that the Americans are telling them to close down here. But their actions won't deter us; we're confident that we can overcome, and this will only help us."
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| |
| 7. Iran Recruits Former Arab Mayor as Political Spy
|  | | By Scott Shiloh
Israeli security services have arrested the former mayor of Fasuta, a Christian Arab village in the western Galilee, who is suspected of working for Iranian intelligence.
| Security services suspect that Jirias Jirias, 58, was recruited by an Iranian agent in September 2004, while on a trip to Cyprus. The agent, Hani Abdullah, tried to use Jirias to influence Israeli politics on behalf of Iran.
A few months after meeting Abdullah, Jirias attempted to carry out his mission by joining the left wing Meretz-Yahad party. Jirias became active in the party and expressed interest in becoming a Member of Knesset. The Meretz-Yahad party, headed by MK Yossi Beilin, is in favor of creating an Arab state in all of Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and parts of Jerusalem, including the Old City and the Temple Mount.
(Alternatively, the party favors the Geneva Initiative, a proposal to retain a few large communities in Judea and Samaria in exchange for Israeli territory liberated in 1948.)
Early in 2005, Jirias again met his Iranian handlers in Cyprus. This time they told him to start making ties with Israeli government officials. Jirias was finally arrested on December 12.
While a newcomer to Israeli national politics, Jirias was an old-timer at working against the interests of the Jewish state. Jirias fled the country in 1970 after security services discovered he had become an activist in the Fatah terror group of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
While in Lebanon, Jirias first met Abdullah, who later served as agent for Iranian intelligence. During the 1980’s the two men lived in Cyprus.
Despite Jirias’s overt anti-Israel activity, Israeli authorities allowed him back into the country in 1996, three years after signing the Oslo accords. This agreement, signed by former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO terrorist chief Yasser Arafat, established the Palestinian Authority in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Since its founding, the PA has been ruled by the Fatah terror group.
Jirias was elected Mayor of Fasuta, a town in the northern Galilee just six kilometers south of the Lebanese border, in a rotation agreement that began in May 2001. In November 2003, he lost a bid for reelection.
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| | 8. Norwegian FM Apologizes for Boycott-Israel Call
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Norway's Finance Minister regrets her announced support of a boycott of Israeli products. Her party continues to urge Norwegian consumers to avoid Israeli goods and "make other choices" instead.
| Kristin Halvorsen, who heads Norway's Socialist Left Party, said that her support for the boycott "may have contributed towards creating uncertainty about Norway's official foreign policy."
"My goal and that of the Socialist Left Party is that Norwegian consumers will avoid goods and services from Israel and make other choices in the stores," Halvorsen was quoted as saying.
"As finance minister," she told Norway's public broadcasting station NRK, "I should not have advocated a policy which is not supported by a majority in the Cabinet. It is clear that this has contributed towards confusion and uncertainty around what is official Norwegian foreign policy. For this I have expressed my regrets to the Foreign Minister, the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government members. And I now express my regrets officially."
The apology was issued after Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called on Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store to clarify his country’s position. It was explained that while the finance minister and her party may support such a move, it in no way reflects the policy of the Government of Norway.
The call for a boycott had aroused protests in some Jewish circles. Students from a ZOA mission protested outside the Norwegian Embassy in Tel Aviv in response to the boycott call. The Victims of Arab Terror International Organization (VAT) called for a counter-boycott of Norway and its products. The slogan was, "Boycott Norway - Don't Buy, Don't Fly."
Halvorsen's Party is set to begin a solidarity campaign for the Palestinian Authority at the end of the month. The boycott is part of the campaign, aimed at showing the party's "displeasure with Israel's policy towards the Palestinians."
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| | | 9. On A7radio: The End of the Sharon Era Means What for Israel?
|  | | A7 Radio's "The Tovia Singer Show"
| What does the end of the Sharon Era mean for the Future of Israel?
Two world-renowned journalists, Aaron Klein, Jerusalem Bureau Chief for WorldNetDaily.com, and Maj. Yedidya Atlas, Senior Correspondent for Arutz7, examine Israel's political future following Sharon’s unexpected exit from Israel's political arena.
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| | Today on IsraelNN.com: |  |  | Doctors perform another CT scan on PM Sharon.
|   | | |  | |  | Saving Diaspora Jewry - Part I
The better the economic, political and social standing of Jews outside Israel, the worse their state as Jews. In just two hundred years of so called "emancipation", Jews have succeeded in destroying their three-thousand-year-old heritage as God's chosen people, the ones meant to be a nation of priests and a holy nation, a light onto the nations.
|  | | | | |  | Vayigash: Oh Yeah, I Left Brooklyn
There is a Planner, a Master in this world, who has been returning His children to their rightful home. The exile will not last forever - and time is running out.
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