| | 1. | Hamas: ´No Peace, Ever, Without Return of Millions of Arabs´
| | By Hillel Fendel
| While worldwide attempts continue in an effort to moderate Hamas and have it agree to negotiate with Israel, Hamas issues a bellicose "Nakba Day" proclamation rendering all such efforts moot.
| The Arabs of the Palestinian Authority commemorate May 15 - the date of the end of the British Mandate in 1948, which made room for the formation of the State of Israel - as their "Nakba Day," or Day of Catastrophe. The Hamas terrorist movement, which now controls the Palestinian Authority after an overwhelming popular election victory earlier this year, issued its Nakba Day proclamation yesterday, effectively putting to rest any chances for peace with Israel.
The Hamas announcement emphasizes the justness of terrorism against Israel, as well as the unyielding nature of its demand for the return of millions of Arabs to Israel. It repeats, several times, the claim that the Arabs were cruelly thrown out of their homes by Israel in 1948 - when in fact the largest number of Arab refugees fled only at the urging of their own leaders, who promised them a swift victory over the fledgling Jewish state and a quick return to their homes.
For instance:
- Arab League Secretary-General Habib Issa said in June 1951 that his predecessor Azzam Pasha had "assured the Arab peoples that the occupation of Palestine and of Tel Aviv would be as simple as a military promenade ... and that all the millions the Jews had spent on land and economic development would be easy booty, for it would be a simple matter to throw Jews into the Mediterranean ... "
- In addition, the Research Group for European Migration Problems found in 1957 that "as early as the first months of 1948, the Arab League issued orders exhorting the people to seek a temporary refuge in neighboring countries, later to return to their abodes ... and obtain their share of abandoned Jewish property."
- Abu Mazen himself - now the chairman of the Palestinian Authority - wrote in 1976, "The Arab states succeeded in scattering the Palestinian people and in destroying their unity. They did not recognize them as a unified people until the states of the world did so, and this is regrettable."
- Time Magazine, on May 3, 1948, described the Arab flight from Haifa: "The mass evacuation, prompted partly by fear, partly by order of Arab leaders, left the Arab quarter of Haifa a ghost city.... By withdrawing Arab workers their leaders hoped to paralyze Haifa."
- Monsignor George Hakim, the Greek Catholic Bishop of Galilee, said in 1949 that the Arabs of Haifa "fled in spite of the fact that the Jewish authorities guaranteed their safety and rights as citizens of Israel."
- Even a British police commander in Haifa said in April 1948, "Every effort is being made by the Jews to persuade the Arab populace to stay and carry on with their normal lives, to get their shops and businesses open and to be assured that their lives and interests will be safe."
Excerpts from the Hamas Nakba announcement:
"Ho, sons of the Palestinian Jihad-fighting nation... Modern history has never seen a crime equal to that of the eviction of the Palestinians from their homes in 1948 by the Zionist conquerors...
"In these days of the month of May each year, the nation recalls the bleeding wound of the Nakba, which has a special place in our nation's heart. For the refugees, the Nakba means homeland, home, orchard, fig tree, harvest, and everything that is connected to the land from which they were evicted... The bitter memories and the painful days of the Nakba did not occur only in that year, but rather their impressions continue on historic dates written in the red blood that was shed in tens of acts of slaughter... from Kfar Kassem and Dir Yassin, Sabra and Shatila and the Jenin slaughter, and up until today's daily slaughter perpetrated by the Zionist conquest on our Palestinian compatriots.
"Ho, sons of our Palestinian nation, despite the Nakba, the Palestinian nation remains steadfast in its strong stand, its self-sacrifice, its pride and its determination to grasp onto its just rights, especially the right of the refugees to return to their homes and property. On the 58th anniversary of the accursed Nakba, we emphasize that:
"The resistance - all forms of the struggle [i.e., terrorism - ed.] - is a legitimate right as long as the conqueror sits on Palestinian land and as long as he continues his aggression against the Palestinian nation and arrests thousands of its sons. All talk of stopping the resistance or of its illegality is unacceptable for as long as the world ignores the legal and just Palestinian rights.
"The right of the return of the Palestinian refugees and the refusal to negotiate it is something that we must not retreat from, no matter what the circumstances. All talk of an agreement or negotiations is not acceptable as long as the return of the refugees has not occurred...
"Sons of our Palestinian nation, the commemoration of the Nakba and its grave consequences teach us that we must adhere even more strongly to the Jihad, to resistance, to the strong stand, and to the non-concession of the right of return, self-definition and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. Without all this, there will never be peace or security in the entire region...
"Signed,
"The Hamas Movement"
 Back to Headlines
| | 2. | Olmert on Rocky Road to Retreat
| | By Hillel Fendel
| With 3 of his top advisors in the U.S. planning for his visit with U.S. President Bush, PM Ehud Olmert faces many obstacles in his drive to withdraw Israel unilaterally from most of Judea/Samaria.
| The three advisors are:
* Yoram Turbowitz, who conducted the coalition negotiations on behalf of Kadima, which some view as a failure in that the coalition numbers only 67 MKs, with both Yisrael Beiteinu and United Torah Judaism on the outside;
* Ariel Sharon's top aide Dov Weisglass;
* foreign affairs advisor Shalom Turjeman.
They are meeting with top U.S. Administration officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, in preparation for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's first meeting with President Bush since taking office. The summit is to take place next Tuesday, May 23.
Olmert wishes to coordinate his "convergence plan" - a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from most of Judea and Samaria involving the uprooting of some 70,000 Jews from their homes - with the United States. Olmert has said he will first attempt to negotiate with the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, and that only if this fails will he move unilaterally. The rub is that the meaning of the word "fails" in this context is obtuse - and that the U.S. and Israel are most likely not at all in agreement on it.
Arutz-7 analyst Haggai Huberman notes that while the U.S. cannot oppose an Israeli withdrawal, it does object to Israel determining its own final borders unilaterally.
Jerusalem diplomatic sources told Huberman that one of the main unanswered questions at present is who will determine when the negotiations with the PA have been exhausted. What may appear to Olmert to be the end of negotiations and a green light to start withdrawing, may appear to the U.S. to be merely an obstacle to be overcome.
Olmert is not interested in talking with Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader who chairs the Palestinian Authority - probably because he sees no point in negotiating with a man who heads the opposition in the PA. However, Olmert is being pressured to do so from many quarters: Abbas himself, Olmert's own Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and the United States.
Olmert can rebuff Peretz, as he did this week by blatantly ignoring Peretz's proposal to send 50 million shekels of humanitarian aid to the Hamas Authority. He cannot do so as easily with the U.S., however. It is likely that only after Olmert meets with Abbas, presents him with an outline for a permanent arrangement, and has him [Abbas] turn it down outright, will he be able to say he has "exhausted" negotiations with the PA.
In a speech at a Movement for Quality in Government event yesterday, Peretz said, "I believe that Olmert will make a sincere, genuine and serious effort to try to reach an agreed-upon arrangement with the Palestinians before he makes any decision on a unilateral plan."
Peretz also said that the convergence plan stands at the "center of the government's guidelines," despite the fact that the Shas Party - without which the government falls - has been granted permission to vote against the plan.
Peretz further said that there is "a clear-cut democratic majority among Israel's citizens and in the Knesset in favor of the plan." Of the Knesset's 120 members, the parties clearly in favor of the plan have 63: Kadima (29), Labor (19), Meretz (5) - and the Arabs (10).
Back to Headlines
| | 3. | Campaign Underway: Tell Bush to Turn Down Olmert´s Plan
| | By Hillel Fendel
| Grassroots organizations in Israel, a New York State Assemblyman, and others are joining together in a fax-and-email campaign to "Save Israel From Olmert's Hamas Plan."
| With Prime Minister Ehud Olmert preparing for his visit next week to U.S. President George Bush, from whom he will ask for both monetary and political support for his unilateral withdrawal plan, activists in both the U.S. and Israel are preparing a massive campaign to present the plan's dangers to U.S. officials. They are calling upon the public to help.
"Our goal is to prevent Olmert from selling his retreat plan to Bush," says Suzy Dym, of the Rehovot-based Matot Arim (Cities of Israel) organization. "U.S. citizens should please contact President Bush, by phone, fax, or email, and say simply: 'President Bush, please oppose Olmert's dangerous scheme' - and explain, briefly, why."
Olmert is to meet with Bush, for the first time since he became Prime Minister, on May 23. He will ask Bush for $10 billion to help pay for the withdrawal and the eviction/relocation of an estimated 70,000 Jews - although some estimates of the final cost run as high as $25 billion.
NY State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, currently in Israel for a three-day visit, announced that he has launched a national campaign to thwart American aid for the withdrawal. "U.S. taxpayer dollars should not underwrite a reward for terror," Hikind says. "I will be working with members of Congress, colleagues in government, and Evangelical leaders to prevent the realization of a $10 billion incentive for terrorists."
U.S. citizens can call the White House at 202-456-1111; you will be asked what state you are from. Faxes can be sent to 202-456-2461, and emails can be sent to Comments@whitehouse.gov and vice_president@whitehouse.gov.
The campaign organizers recommend the following talking points:
- Olmert's retreat plan will strengthen the world axis of Mideast terror
and make Israel a defense burden instead of a defense asset.
- Olmert's retreat plan is staggeringly expensive. Sever Plotzker, financial commentator of Israel's largest newspaper, Yediot Acharonot, has estimated the cost at $25 billion.
- Olmert's retreat plan is not a matter of consensus in Israel. Fewer than 30%of Israeli Jews voted for the plan (a record low of 62% of Israelis voted, of whom less than half voted for parties touting the withdrawal.)
- Olmert's retreat plan would make internationally important religious sites such as Hebron, Shilo, and Beth El both unsafe and "Judenrein," as has occurred with Joseph's Tomb.
- Olmert's retreat plan is an existential danger to Israel. Haaretz commentator Ari Shavit has written the following:
- Though the plan appears brave and enchanting, it has a small flaw: It has no Palestinians, and totally ignores the fact that the conflict is bilateral and the political reality is multilateral.
- Olmert's plan means the establishment of an armed Hamas state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, promising Hamas almost total control of a hostile, dissatisfied and violent Palestinian state for generations, with the motto, "We've chased them out of Ofrah, we'll chase them out of Lod and Jaffa as well."
- Since Olmert wishes to establish this country without first assuring its demilitarization, it will have significant military capability.
- Since he wishes to establish it without removing the Arabs' "right of return" from the agenda, it will have a destructive and internationally recognized claim against Israel.
- All the above will turn Olmert's Hamas state into a danger for the very existence of the State of Israel.
- The convergence plan will not implement the Bush vision of a two-state solution, but will rather create an unstable reality in which an Islamic Palestinian state systematically undermines the foundation of the Jewish democratic state.
- It will also endanger regional stability. A fervent, victorious Hamas state will accelerate Jordan's collapse, threaten Egypt, and help destabilize Syria as well. It will help bury U.S. President George W. Bush's dream of stability and democracy in the Middle East.
Suzie Dym says, "Each of us has the power to increase the response wave tenfold. There are plenty of people who are willing to participate in this type of campaign if asked by you, their friend/neighbor/colleague/relative - but only if asked... Send them this email, follow up with ten of them, print up a reminder and hang it in your school, synagogue, church or organization, call some friends who don't have email, send it to your synagogue or church's religious leader. In short, make this email the talk of the day: Mention it to whomever you happen to meet or speak to in the course of the day." For more information, send email to .
Back to Headlines
| | 4. | Pollard's Handler Remains Roaringly Silent on Pollard
| | By Hillel Fendel
| The Minister for Pensioner Affairs, Rafi Eitan, refuses to sign a Knesset petition on behalf of Jonathan Pollard, despite his share of responsibility for Pollard's incarceration these 21 years.
|
Eitan, a former Israeli intelligence officer, and the recruiter and handler of imprisoned spy Jonathan Pollard, said before the election that if elected to the Knesset, he would work for Pollard's release. He has long said, however, that the way to secure Pollard's release from U.S. prison is to work quietly and behind the scenes.
He has not changed his mind. This, despite telling Pollard's wife Esther in 1998 that the fact that Israel had officially recognized Jonathan as an Israeli agent made it easier for him to act openly. At the meeting, Mrs. Pollard brought Eitan a message from her husband: "Rafi, a commander does not leave his men in the field. The State
has finally acknowledged that I was her agent, that I was your soldier. I am asking you to bring me home."
When Eitan was elected to the Knesset nearly two months ago, Jonathan Pollard said, "I think it is important that people understand that [Eitan] was the one who failed to provide an escape plan for me. He was the one who was at the heart of my expulsion from the embassy, I believe."
As noted, Eitan has refused to sign a Knesset petition for Pollard's release, claiming again that the work for Pollard's release must be done without public noise.
Meanwhile, an Israeli Druze citizen who was falsely imprisoned in Egypt for seven years continues to speak out on Pollard's behalf. Azzam Azzam [pictured above with Pollard], of the Galilee village of M'rar, wrote a letter this morning to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, asking him to utilize his upcoming visit to the U.S. to obtain a pardon for Pollard. Azzam has participated in many public rallies on behalf of Pollard.
In response to Minister Eitan's actions, the Committee to Bring Jonathan Home released this statement: "Rafi Eitan manages to keep on breaking the record for hypocrisy. When we begged him not to be appointed a minister and not to run to the cameras while Pollard is still in prison, he ignored us and used his name to win in the elections."
Earlier this month, Pollard filed suit in the Supreme Court demanding that Eitan not be appointed as a government minister. Charging that Eitan is not suited to be entrusted with the responsibility for Israeli citizens, the suit states, inter alia:
* Eitan falsely told the Americans that Pollard had acted on his own and without Israeli knowledge or supervision. This lie deflected all responsibility for the Pollard affair away from the Government of Israel. Throughout the nearly 21 years that Pollard has remained in jail, Eitan has never corrected this lie. His ongoing silence about official Israeli involvement has helped to keep Pollard, an Israeli agent, in U.S. prison throughout this time.
* For 21 years, Eitan has withheld a critical document, refusing to release it to the Americans. He has also refused to provide it to the appropriate authorities in Israel so that they might use it to save the life of the Israeli agent.
Back to Headlines
| | 5. | Katyusha Rocket Kills 30 Moshav Chickens; IDF Says Not to Worry
| | By Hillel Fendel
| The IDF Intelligence Head says the Israeli public need not "jump to grave conclusions" following today's firing of a Katyusha rocket in the Negev. He says a similar rocket was fired a month ago.
Gen. Amos Yadlin, head of IDF Intelligence, said that today's rocket attack on the community of Netiv HaAsarah, between Gaza and Ashkelon, need not be seen as an escalation in the Hamas Authority's war against Israel, as "a similar rocket was fired a month ago."
He did not explain how he termed the firing of the original rocket a month ago.
Yadlin was apparently referring to the firing on Election Day of a Katyusha-like missile known as a "Grad." The 20-kilometer range rocket was fired towards Ashkelon from northern Gaza, but caused no damage. News of the rocket firing was hushed up for the entire day, and was only publicized shortly before the polls closed.
IDF officials continued to downplay the incident for days afterwards, with the Defense Ministry's General (res.) Amos Gilad, Director of the Policy and Political Military Bureau, saying that the amount of Katyushas in Gaza was "not significant."
Gen. Yadlin recently warned that Hamas is attempting to manufacture "Grad" rockets.
The rocket fired today at Netiv HaAsarah hit a chicken coop, killed 30 chickens, and caused damage to several hothouses.
Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad announced that it is about ready to unveil its new 24-kilometer range rocket. "This rocket will bewilder the enemy as it tries to prevent us from firing rockets," the terrorist organization's spokesman announced, "and will surprise the conquerors."
Many sources report that the Palestinian terrorists fired two rockets from Jenin, in the Shomron, last week, but the IDF continues to refrain from confirming the report.
Back to Headlines
| | 6. | Arab Journalists Caught in the Gaza Crossfire
| | By Hana Levi Julian
| Fatah and Hamas terrorists continued warring with each other in Gaza on Monday, as fighting escalated after numerous calls for a ceasefire last week by leaders of both factions.
| The traditional immunity of journalists covering a war, however, has been ignored by terrorists from both factions, and Arab reporters have become targets as well.
Threats against Palestinian Authority journalists have increased over the past several weeks, with some editors and reporters reducing coverage and in some cases quietly moving to safe houses.
Violence against Arab journalists in the PA territories is not new. A few months ago, gunmen broke into the offices of Gaza-based electronic magazine Donia al-Watan. On Sunday, the magazine’s journalists were threatened again, this time by a Hamas-affiliated group.
“Soon we will destroy your website,” said one threat by Hamas’ Anti-Terror Unit, reported the magazine. “We have warned you in the past about publishing lies on your trivial site. We will strike with an iron fist against anyone who defames our warriors." Other threats have come from Fatah-affiliated fighters as well.
Journalists have also said they were beaten by police officers in front of PA prime minister Ismail Haniyeh’s office last month while trying to cover a meeting there.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS) said earlier in the month that seven reporters associated with Fatah were targeted by Hamas terrorists. The journalists received email, phone and fax threats of injury and death, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post.
However, threats are coming from both factions, said a reporter in Gaza City. “We have been receiving death threats almost every day over the past month,” he said. “The threats are coming from both Hamas and Fatah.”
Reporters have asked the PA security forces for protection in light of the threats, which they are taking very seriously. However, some reporters said they were also threatened by various branches of the PA security forces themselves, adding to the danger faced by the journalists.
A PA TV cameraman was beaten by PA security officers last week while he was covering the clashes between terrorists and PA police officers. The clashes caused damage to greenhouses in Morag, a former Jewish community uprooted from Gush Katif.
The reporters and cameramen were accused of “inciting” viewers and readers against the PA, said a journalist. “They apparently did not want the world to see that the gunmen had destroyed some of the greenhouses,” he said.
The PJS issued a sharp statement condemning the attack, calling for journalists to show their support of their injured cameraman colleague Bassam Abdullah. The group also demanded that the PA investigate the incident, urging the Palestinian Ministry of Information to "assume its responsibilities and to defend the freedom of the media.”
Meanwhile, senior Hamas official and PA parliament speaker Aziz Dwaik claimed the group was not behind the attacks. In a letter to Haniyeh, he claimed that “freedom of the media… is sacred to us.”
Back to Headlines
| | 7. | This Yom Yerushalayim, Join Arutz-7 Tour of Capital
| This Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), join Arutz-7 and the Jerusalem Capital Development Fund on an English speakers tour of ancient holy sites and renewed Jewish presence in the eternal capital of the Jewish people.
Tour sites will include:
Kever Shmuel (Yom Yerushalayim is the Yahretzeit of the Prophet Samuel)
Har HaZeitim (Mount of Olives, with an ancient cemetery where some of Israel's greatest rabbis are buried)
Maaleh HaZeitim (new Jewish community)
Tomb of Shimon HaTzadik (and an adjacent new Jewish community)
When: Yom Yerushalayim, 28 Iyar - Friday May 26, 9am - 2pm
Where: Buses leave the parking lot of Binyanei HaUmah, the Jerusalem Conference Center (across from the Central Bus Station) promptly at 9am.
Cost: 50 NIS per person.
Lunch is included.
Places are limited, and you MUST RSVP to attend!
To RSVP, please email yerushalayim@israelnn.com.
Back to Headlines
| | 8. | 250,000 at Meron Celebrations; Live Webcast of Festivities
| | By Baruch Gordon and Hillel Fendel
| Some 250,000 Jews visited the tomb of the ancient mystic Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the Galilee village of Meron since Monday night. Arutz-7TV broadcasts live for 26-hrs. Prayers submitted online.
| Click here to access the live broadcast.
The non-stop 24-hr. celebration of the Jewish holiday Lag BaOmer is perhaps the largest-attended Jewish celebration in the world, attracting Jews of every stripe and type: secular, religious, Sephardic, Ashkenazic, Hassidic, and Litvak.
While bonfires were lit Monday night across the country, those at Meron are participating in traditional ceremonies, in keeping with an age-old custom, including singing, dancing, praying, sharing food with guests, and lighting bonfires which represent the "light of Torah" disseminated by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his teacher Rabbi Akiva.
The holiday of Lag BaOmer - the 33rd day of the Omer period between the Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost) holidays - marks the anniversary of the death over 1,800 years ago of Mishnaic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, whose teachings comprise the text of the primary Kabbalah sourcebook, the Zohar.
The date, the 18th of the Jewish month of Iyar, also marks Bar Kokhba's revolt against the Romans, and the end of a period of mourning for thousands of students of Rabbi Akiva, who died in a plague in the preceding 32 days.
Arutz Sheva's live webcast will run until 8 PM Tuesday (1 PM Tuesday, EST). A small charge to help cover the costs of this unique event is required for viewing. The broadcast includes views from inside the burial cave, the courtyard - and even from the air. Viewers can submit prayers and supplications via an online form. Click here to register for the broadcast. See more information about Rabbi Shimon below.
Background on Rabbi Shimon
To fill the spiritual vacuum left by the death of his students, the great Rabbi Akiva chose a select five men to whom to pass over the secrets of the Torah. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai stood out amongst them and eventually wrote the secrets of the Torah – the Kabbalah – in his work, the holy Zohar.
Recognizing that no other mortal would understand the full depth of the secrets contained in the Zohar, Rabbi Akiva comforted his student Rabbi Shimon, saying, "It's enough that I and your Creator recognize your strengths and powers."
Rabbi Shimon's Funeral
When Rabbi Shimon passed away, many communities demanded that the holy sage be interred in their local graveyard. Jewish legend records that when his funeral began, a ring of fire encircled Rabbi Shimon's coffin, which proceeded to propel itself like a hovercraft to the hillside of Mt. Meron in the Galilee. All then understood that this site was to be the sage's final resting place.
When Rabbi Shimon's son, Rabbi Elazar, later passed away, he had been living in the village of Akbara. The Jews of the town left his body in an attic for 22 years, during which no deaths, sicknesses, or tragedies befell the town. They dared not move his body, nor enter the attic.
However, after 22 years, Rabbi Shimon appeared in a dream to select people, instructing them to bring his son, Rabbi Elazar, to be interred next to him in Meron. The Jews of Akbara refused to comply with the request, recognizing Rabbi Elazar's resting place as a source of great blessing. On Yom Kippur eve, when the townspeople were busy preparing for the holiest day of the year, the select few who had been charged by Rabbi Shimon to transfer his son removed the body from the attic and brought it to Meron.
At the entrance of Rabbi Shimon's burial cave, a great serpent stood on guard. The pallbearers told the serpent, "Move aside and allow us to deliver the son to his father." The serpent moved aside, only to return to its post upon their departure from the cave.
The actual entrance to the burial cave was later sealed, and no one has accessed it since. According to Rabbi Shraga Shnitzer of Ohel Rashbi [Rabbi Shimon's Tent] institutions, the few instances in which people tried to reach the burial chamber ended in tragedy.
Miracles at the Site
It has been an age-old Jewish tradition to pray to G-d at the burial site of Rabbi Shimon and his son Elazar. In addition, many traditional "first haircuts" are given to 3-year-old budding Torah scholars at the site.
Five hundred years ago, the famed Mishna commentator Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenora wrote that many men and women who were not able to bear children were blessed with offspring after visiting the site and making a pledge.
At the end of his Hebrew-language Arutz Sheva interview, the aforementioned Rabbi Shraga Shnitzer of Ohel Rashbi tells of another miracle at the tomb to which he was an eye-witness.
There was once a 3-year-old child who had a fever of 41 degrees Centigrade (105.8 F). The child could not move. That Friday was Lag B'omer and the father, himself a master of the Torah and the Kabbalah, decided to take his son to Meron to give him his "first haircut" and pray for his recovery.
The mother panicked at the idea and brought a doctor to convince the father that the child should not be disturbed. The doctor explained that the child was in serious danger in his bed, and that moving him would endanger him more. Against the advice of all present, the father ordered a cab and left with his sick son for Meron at 7 A.M. that morning.
When the father and son returned from the tomb of Rabbi Shimon at 4 P.M, all the neighbors were gathered at their home to comfort the mother as she anxiously awaited their arrival. As the cab pulled up, a tense quiet overtook those gathered. The cab door swung open, and the child came running out joyously into his mother's arms.
Arutz Sheva's Yoni Kempinski asked Rabbi Shnitzer: "You were an eyewitness to this scene?"
Rabbi Shnitzer: "That child was none other than me."
Lag BaOmer and the Rebellion Against the Romans
Israel's Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, in his work B'Maaglei HaChayim, notes that the custom of playing with bows and arrows on Lag BaOmer is "apparently because tradition tied this date with the Bar Kokhba rebellion." One tradition has it that Rabbi Akiva's students were the main force of Bar Kokhba's army, which succeeded in defeating both Roman legions that were then in the Holy Land, restoring Jewish independence for four years. According to many, they also began rebuilding the Holy Temple. For more on the "failed Messiah" Bar Kokhba, the spiritual/military war for independence, and Rabbi Akiva's role in these events, see this article by Rabbi Pinchas Stolper of the OU and NCSY.
Back to Headlines
| | 9. | A7Radio: "Shot Down and Tortured By the Syrians"
| A7 Radio's "The Tamar Yonah Show"
|  How to use XML?
Gil Fogel (sometimes spelled Fogiel) was an Israeli pilot whose plane was shot down over Lebanon. He was captured, taken hostage and tortured by the Syrians. Years later, he goes on a peace-trek to Libya to plant a tree and foster peace and understanding, but he is refused entry to their country because he is a Jew from Israel. Hear these two dramatic stories from one man, a hero of Israel.
Listen Now -or- Download
For more A7 Radio visit www.IsraelNationalRadio.com.
Back to Headlines
|
ARUTZ SHEVA ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Subscribe to IsraelNationalNews Daily Email Service / Unsubscribe
You are subscribed to the Printer Friendly Version of this News Report
Two other versions are available:
The Fully Enriched Version - With news pictures and other enhanced features.
Plain Text Only Version - Without HTML code. Ideal for palm pilots, blackberries, and simple email clients.
To modify your subscription or set a "vacation hold" click here
Email us your questions, comments, and advice.
IsraelNationalRadio.com - Live News Analysis, Political and Social Commentary!!
IsraelNationalTV.com - Streaming Television News Coverage
Advertise with IsraelNationalNews
A7-IsraelNationalNews Educational Sites: a project of Beit El Institutions |
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home