Israel Remembers Fallen Astronaut and War Hero Ilan Ramon The fourth anniversary of the death of Israel's first (and only) astronaut, Ilan Ramon, is being marked by several events, including a unique obstacle course and race. Full Story Below
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Editor: Ezra HaLevi Thursday, February 01, 2007 13 Shevat 5767
1. Israel Remembers Fallen Astronaut and War Hero Ilan Ramon
By Nissan Ratzalav-Katz and Ezra HaLevi
The fourth anniversary of the death of Israel's first (and only) astronaut, Ilan Ramon, is being marked by several events, including a unique obstacle course and race.
February 1 marks the civil calendar anniversary of the explosion that tragically cut short the 2003 mission of the NASA Space Shuttle Columbia. The explosion, which occurred when the 16-day mission was coming to an end and the shuttle had reentered the atmosphere over the United States, killed all crew members aboard, including Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon.
Two of Ramon’s fellow astronauts have arrived in Israel to pay their respects and attend a private service at his grave.
The Acharai (After me!) youth movement held a three mile stretcher march in Ramon’s memory from Beit She’arim to the Nahalal cemetery where Ramon was buried.
Ramon’s life story will be told over, and parts performed by the youth. One of the most known operations Ramon took part in was the destruction of Iraq’s Osarik Nuclear Reactor.
Ramon was born June 20,1954, in Tel Aviv. In 1974, Ramon graduated as an IDF fighter pilot and went on to train, master and head squadrons of Mirage III-Cs, F-16s and F-4 Phantoms. He received a BSc in electronics and computer engineering from Tel Aviv University in 1987 and in 1992 he became head of the Aircraft Branch in the Operations Requirement Department and in 1994 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and assigned to head the Department of Operational Requirement for Weapon Development and Acquisition, where he stayed until 1998.
Ramon served in the Yom Kippur War, Operation Peace for Galilee and the destruction of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981. He was selected in 1997 by NASA to serve as a Payload Specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia and reported for training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston in July 1998.
"Being the first Israeli astronaut - I feel I am representing all Jews and all Israelis," Ramon said. Referring to his mother and grandmother, who both survived imprisonment in Auschwitz, he added, "I'm the son of a Holocaust survivor - I carry on the suffering of the Holocaust generation, and I'm kind of proof that despite all the horror they went through, we're going forward."
Although Ramon described himself as secular he requested special kosher meals for his journey and consulted with rabbis before leaving about the proper manner in which to observe Shabbat from space.
He carried with him into space a drawing entitled "Moon Landscape," by a 14-year-old Jewish boy named Peter Ginz who was killed in Auschwitz, four poems from his wife, family photographs from his father and space-letters from his 15-year-old son Assaf and brother Gadi to read once in space. President Moshe Katzav also gave Ramon a microfilm copy of the Torah for his journey.
Ramon left behind a wife, Rona, four children, and a Jewish nation, which he inspired. Comment on this story
2. Olmert Testifies Before Winograd Commission
By Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is appearing this morning before the Winograd Commission, which was mandated to investigate the handling of the recent Israeli war against the Hizbullah in Lebanon.
The prime minister began addressing the commission, headed by retired Justice Eliyahu Winograd, at 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning. Olmert is to be asked by members of the commission to state whether or not he knew before launching the counter-terrorist offensive in the north that the campaign was likely to be a difficult one. If so, he will be challenged to show that the political and defense establishments were sufficiently prepared for the conflict. In addition, the Winograd Commission may question the IDF operations that were undertaken after a ceasefire agreement was drafted in the United Nations.
Called to appear before the five-person commission, Prime Minister Olmert is defending his decision to launch the war in Lebanon, as well as his decision to appoint Labor party leader Amir Peretz as defense minister. Olmert is expected to reiterate his view that the war in Lebanon in the summer was a victory for Israel, including achievements such as bringing about the deployment of the Lebanese army and UN forces in southern Lebanon, as well as the elimination of most of Hizbullah's long-range rocket arsenal. Regarding the decision to go to war, Olmert is expected to point out to the commission members that it was made with the backing of his entire cabinet.
The prime minister has been consulting with his legal adviser, Attorney Eli Zohar, in recent days, ahead of his appearance before the Winograd Commission. However, Olmert is stating his case before the commission unaccompanied by legal counsel, but with a large entourage.
Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz testified before the commission for seven hours on Sunday. As the IDF conduct of the war was scrutinized by the commission members, Halutz stated that the political echelon was a full partner in all high-level military decisions during the conflict. Leaks from the Halutz testimony indicate that the IDF was not in favor of launching the war, and that the prime minister and defense minister did not initially instruct the army to undertake a far-reaching campaign aimed at crushing the Hizbullah.
Prime Minister Olmert is to be the last of more than 70 people who have appeared before the Winograd Commission since it met for the first time in mid-September 2006. The commission's findings are expected to be released anytime between several weeks from now through mid-March.
When the commission was first established by the government, a cabinet statement affirmed that the administration would abide by the commission's recommendations. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz at the time noted that the commission has no authority to compel the resignation, if such will be called for, of the prime minister who appointed it. Comment on this story
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3. Baker: US Should Negotiate With Syria to Soften Hamas
By Ezra HaLevi
Former United States Secretary of State James Baker told a Senate committee Tuesday that America should negotiate with Syria so that the Assad regime will convince Hamas to accept Israel.
Baker was giving testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as part of the follow-up to the Baker-Hamilton report he took part in compiling. "We could get them (Syria) to get Hamas to recognize Israel's right to exist,” Baker said as part of his argument for opening dialogue with Syria. “It would be a huge step in the right direction."
Baker said he had already discussed the matter with senior officials in Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime. He said that the talks could convince Syria to stop arming Hizbullah.
The Baker-Hamilton Report also recommended engaging Iran in dialogue for the purpose of bringing about a smooth U.S. exit from Iraq.
Another Senator, Florida Democrat Bill Nelson, visited Syria in December and met with Assad and his Foreign Minister. The Associated Press quoted Nelson as telling the Council on Foreign Relations that, "The administration has adopted the approach of an ostrich. And make no mistake. It is not working.”
Bargaining chips in negotiations with Syria are expected to include U.S. pressure on Israel to relinquish the Golan Heights, which Israel won in the Six Day War and subsequently annexed. Comment on this story
4. Report: US May Back 40,000-Man Fatah Army
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The U.S. is quietly entrenching itself deeper in the sands of Gaza with a plan to back the entire Fatah-led security force. Hamas and some analysts warn the Americans will get stuck in a quagmire.
The Bush administration already has committed itself to give $86 million to finance training and equipment for the personal "Presidential Guard" of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. However, it now is considering to fund all of the PA security forces in order to counter the Hamas militia, Reuters News Agency reported Thursday. Israel, the PA and the U.S. government have not commented.
The security forces include at least 40,000 members, more than twice the number allowed by the Oslo agreements, and include many convicted terrorists whom Israel has freed. It also is common for Fatah security officers to simultaneously be members of Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
Extending aid to all of Abbas's forces and weeding out known terrorists could create havoc for Abbas, but officials maintain that a review process would ensure that the PA forces who receive American training have no ties to terrorist groups, Reuters added.
The rival Hamas terrorist organization, which comprises the majority of the PA legislature, as well as independent analysts, have warned that the U.S. may be setting itself up to appear as an enemy and not a friend of Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Hamas media spokesman Ghazi Hamda charged that the American aid is aimed to promote conflict between Hamas and Fatah in order to allow the Bush administration and American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be the dominant force in the area.
A second Hamas spokesman, Ismail Radwan, was more blunt. "Whenever the United States sees that the Palestinians are about to achieve a unity agreement, it sends Condoleezza Rice to the region, or publicly announces sending weapons and money to Abbas, because it does not want unity among the Palestinians," he asserted.
Political analyst Bassem Zubeide of Ramallah's Bier Zeit University said, "Most Palestinians will think that the United States is getting heavily involved, and that will definitely weaken the Abbas point of view."
The U.S. has committed $86 million for the Presidential Guard and another $42 million to promote programs aimed to counter Hamas. The Americans maintain that its aid does not go for weapons but instead is used for training and for uniforms, radios and other equipment. However, massive American aid to Egypt and Jordan has made it easier for those countries to ship rifles, with Israel's approval, to Abbas.
Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the special American military envoy to the PA, claims that the training by American army officers is meant to build up the Presidential Guard and not for the purpose of fighting Hamas. However, the guard has been the main fighting force in the Fatah-Hamas force militia war that broke out two months ago.
Regardless of the source of the weapons, Hamas has vowed they will be used against Israel. ''The more weapons Americans give to Abbas, the more we will have to use against the Israelis when we go back to carrying out operations together,'' one Hamas leader predicted.
Abbas himself has urged fighting factions to stop warring with each other and to "aim their rifles at the occupation," the same phrase used by Islamic Jihad terrorists who took responsibility for this week's suicide bakery bombing in Eilat.
American State Secretary Rice remains optimistic. She recently said at a press conference, ''I want everyone to know how much we admire the leadership of President Abbas. We have made a lot of progress because of [his] hard work.'' Comment on this story
5. Wanted Fatah, Islamic Jihad Terrorists Eliminated in Shechem
By Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
IDF soldiers operating in Shechem overnight and early Thursday killed wanted terrorists from the Islamic Jihad and Fatah groups. Several others were arrested.
There were no injuries to Israeli forces.
IDF soldiers shot and killed two wanted Fatah terrorists in Shechem (Nablus) early Thursday. Three others were arrested. Golani Brigade troops spotted the armed men about three hours before dawn in the area of the casbah (open-air market) in Shechem, where counterterror operations were underway, prompting the soldiers to open fire at them. At the scene of the confrontation, IDF forces uncovered a hidden enemy explosives laboratory. Among the equipment confiscated was a five-kilogram device that was ready for deployment and detonation.
The killed and captured terrorists are from the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah organization, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Earlier, on Wednesday night, a joint operation of the IDF and the General Security Services (Shabak) in Shechem led to the capture of Nasser Jubara, a senior Islamic Jihad terrorist. Jubara, 26, was involved in attacks on IDF soldiers and in the planning of suicide bombing attacks on Israeli civilian centers. Among his recent activities for the terrorist group was the production of explosives for use in bombings.
Jubara was found to be hiding in the Shechem casbah with several other wanted men, also senior members of the local terrorist infrastructure.
Jubara's wife was wounded in the IDF operation when soldiers broke down a door in order arrest her husband. The injured woman was treated on the scene by IDF medics and then transported by helicopter for treatment at an Israeli hospital.
The IDF Spokesman's Office reported that Jubara spent four years in jail for his involvement in attacks in the area of Shechem, where he resides. Upon his release, in February of last year, Jubara immediately returned to his Jihad activities. He quickly reestablished contact with the Islamic Jihad leadership in Syria. The Shechem-area network of the Islamic Jihad, of which Jubara was a senior leader, is directed and funded by the Damascus-based arm of the organization.
The network in Shechem is still making unrelenting attempts to strike Israeli targets in the Shechem region and in major Jewish population centers.
In IDF operations during the night Tuesday through Wednesday morning, 21 wanted terrorists were captured throughout Judea and Samaria. Among the arrested men were four members of Fatah's Tanzim militia. In two additional incidents, Border Guard and IDF forces operating checkpoints near Shechem and Ramallah captured suspects who were carrying weapons on their persons. Comment on this story
6. Rabbi Slams Back At Jews For Jesus
By Baruch Gordon
Radio Show Host Rabbi Tovia Singer Fires Back at Missionaries Targeting Jews for Conversion with Educational Audio Series Now Made Available Free Online
Outreach Judaism, a leading counter-missionary organization based in New York, has launched a new website, www.OutreachJudaism.org, offering a free, exhaustive library of information regarding Jews for Jesus’ multimillion dollar worldwide missionary campaigns, including a point-by-point audio response to their plans to convert Jews to Christianity.
In the last year alone, Jews for Jesus engaged in a 65-city tour -- any city that has more than 25,000 Jews within it -- primarily targeting Jewish youth and the elderly for conversion. To combat this aggressive assault, Rabbi Tovia Singer [pictured], founder of Outreach Judaism and show host on Israel National Radio, is now making available his 20-part tape series, “Let’s get Biblical” free via mp3 download to anyone seeking answers to questions posed by Christian missionaries.
The tape series, which has been available until now for cost, has hit the missionary effort head-on. Rabbi Singer has numerous letters from Messianic Jews who after hearing his series returned to authentic Judaism. Threatened by Singer's initiative, Jews For Jesus formulated a plan to mitigate the impact of Singer's audio series: the organization dedicated part of its website to answering points that Singer raises. Rabbi Singer, in return, refutes their counter arguments on his Outreach Judaism site.
“Jews for Jesus has launched a deceptive campaign to convert the most susceptible segments of our community to their ranks,” said Rabbi Singer. “In their spiritual assault on Jewish communities in the US, Israel and Europe, Jews for Jesus deliberately blurs the distinctions between Judaism and Christianity in order to lure Jews who would otherwise resist a straightforward Christian message. Now, Jews worldwide finally have the answers to Jews for Jesus’ claims at their fingertips.”
“Jews for Jesus has declared their staggering goals,” stated Rabbi Singer. According to their marketing materials, Jews for Jesus exists, “To make the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide.” As part of their recent effort to convert the Jewish elderly in New York, Jews for Jesus distributed more than 80,000 copies of a conversionist film translated into Yiddish to homes in Brooklyn, Queens and Monsey, New York.
Jews for Jesus is expanding its efforts to convert survivors of the Holocaust. The testimonials of those who managed to survive the Holocaust, yet became ensnared by the Baptist missionary group are broadcast on the Jews for Jesus website.
“This spiritual war against the most vulnerable members of our community is deeply troubling, and cannot go unanswered,” says Rabbi Singer. “Outreach Judaism is responding to Jews for Jesus’ unyielding assault upon the Jewish faith with point-by-point answers to their arguments. This is an all-out, no-holds-barred spiritual war instigated by Jews for Jesus that Outreach Judaism is responding to with an effective response."
7. Israeli Security Firm to Outfit Surveillance at D.C. Airport
By Ezra HaLevi
An Israeli security company based in Ra’anana has been chosen to outfit Washington D.C.’s airport with digital surveillance systems, Israel21c reports.
NICE Systems was selected by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to supply the company’s NiceVision Digital Video Surveillance Solution as part of a Closed Circuit TV core systems upgrade at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
"Because NICE has been providing security surveillance systems for airports around the world for years, they allow us to meet these challenges and provide our client with the best suited digital video technologies available," said Gunvir Baveja, President and CEO of eVigilant, system integrators for Reagan National Airport.
The planned security upgrade will involve the decommissioning and removal of existing video servers and recording systems currently maintained in the airport operations computer room and its replacement with NICE’s high-resolution digital video recorders.
The NiceVision Digital Video Surveillance Solution is capable of sustaining numerous cameras while providing the infrastructure and integration potential to support video content applications. This means threats can be identified and tracked as images are analyzed in real-time. Comment on this story
8. On A7 Radio: The Jewish Struggle and the Enemies
David Wilder reports on the unparalleled tension facing Jews living in the holy city of Hevron amongst 100,000 plus Arabs. Avi Abelow comments on the struggles of Jews who were expelled from Gush Katif, and is off to America to promote his expulsion documentary 'Home Game'. Plus, Alex comments on the scandalous affairs which are crushing this government.
Also on Alex Traiman: Tools of the Enemy: Democracy and Media Israel has just appointed an Arab, Ghaleb Majadele, to be a minister in the cabinet of PM Ehud Olmert; Deputy Knesset Speaker Majallie Whbee will be the acting president of the Jewish State of Israel anytime current Acting President Dalia Itzik goes abroad. Plus: Yarden Frankl comments on the mainstream media's coverage of the internal violence in Gaza, and the larger Israeli-Arab conflict.
A New Paradigm Attempts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by political solutions involving the establishment of a second Palestinian entity in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha) have encouraged terrorism and violence, especially within Palestinian society. An alternative to the "two-state solution," therefore, is essential to achieve peace.
Moshe Dann
The Arithmetic of Jihad The media is always telling us that only a "tiny minority" of Muslims support violence and holy war against the West. But just how true is that assertion?
Fundamentally Freund
Beshalach: Believing is Seeing What is the groyse metzia of believing in HaShem after such a potent show of strength? Who wouldn't believe in Him at that point? And what about our free will - how can we freely choose to believe in G-d after such a compelling event?
Rabbi S. Weiss
Beshalach: Finding Your Bashert Our sages teach us, "It is more difficult for the Almighty to bring two individuals together in marriage than it was for Him to split the Reed Sea." In what way is there any logical comparison between the splitting of the Reed Sea and the making of a shidduch?
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