Blair’s Sister-in-Law Incites Muslims to Liberate Jerusalem -Laura Booth, sister-in-law of Quartet envoy Tony Blair, calls on Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt liberate Al-Quds [Jerusalem].by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Published: 28/08/11, 7:53 AM
Laura Booth, sister-in-law of Quartet envoy Tony Blair, has called on Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt liberate Al-Quds [Jerusalem].The former British prime minister’s family member has previously sailed illegally to Gaza on a flotilla boat. She joined an anti-Israel rally in London Trafalgar’s Square, where another protest today (Sunday) may be the last as the mayor London vows to crack down on the incitement as the date for the next Olympics approaches.The Mayor believes that intolerance of our fellow citizens and hate crimes against specific communities are totally unacceptable, particularly in a city like London and especially in 2012 when the eyes of the world will be on the capital, said a spokesman for Mayor Boris Johnson, the London Jewish Chronicle reported.The spokesman added, The Greater London Authority will not be authorizing political rallies in Trafalgar Square during the Olympic and Paraolympic Games.The Trafalgar Square rallies against Israel have featured Hizbullah flags.During last week’s demonstration, Booth went on another rant against Israel.We say here today to you, Israel, we see your crimes and we loathe your crimes. And to us your nation does not exist, because it is a criminal injustice against humanity. We want to see Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt go to the borders and stop this now. Liberate Al Quds! March to Al Quds! Another speaker claimed, somewhat myopically as far as historical accuracy goes, that the only time that land has seen peace between Muslim, Christian and Jew living side by side was when sincere Islamic rulers ruled with justice.
During Ottoman Islamic rule, Jews were second-class citizens, called Dhimmis. The myth of their peaceful lives has been debunked by historians, although they were not subject to pogroms as frequently as European Jews..In fact, Jordan, during its occupation of the Old City and other parts of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria between 1949 and 1967, denied Christians and Jews all access to holy sites except for visiting dignitaries.Israel opened up the sites to all religions after it restored the areas under its sovereignty in the Six-Day War in 1967.
Jews, the Temple Mount, and Missing Police Protocol-Police protocol regarding Jews and the Temple Mount: reasonable, discriminatory, or non-existent? by Maayana Miskin Published: 26/08/11, 12:02 PM
For years, activists have claimed that police are discriminating against Jews on the Temple Mount, the holiest site on earth according to Jewish tradition. Now, one police commander is arguing that police protocols regarding the Temple Mount are not discriminatory, but rather, do not exist at all.The latest development began with a lawsuit filed by Rabbi Yehudah Glick, who heads the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation in Jerusalem. Glick appealed over a police order barring him from the Temple Mount, arguing that the order, which prevented him from continuing his work as a tour guide on the Mount, violated his right to freedom of occupation.Police argued that Glick had been banned for good reason, after violating the rules for proper conduct in the area. However, when the judge asked to see the rules in question, police failed to produce them.Superintendent Avi Biton of the Jerusalem Police then told the court that police would be unable to produce the rules because there are no official rules.
The court ordered police to produce the rules or see Glick get free access to the holy site. For now, Rabbi Glick is allowed to access the Temple Mount under a temporary court order.Glick believes that police are arguing that they have no protocols in order to avoid a bigger embarrassment: having the protocols revealed as illegal. Senior police commanders know that their rules for Temple Mount access would not stand up in court due to their discriminatory nature, he explained.It's an outrage. The police are acting like the neighborhood bully, not the body responsible for public order,he accused.
German Town to Name Square after Rabbi-The town of Horb in Germany will name a square after Rabbi Avraham Schweizer, who was the town rabbi and died in the Holocaust.by Elad Benari Published: 26/08/11, 1:06 AM
A town near town near Stuttgart, Germany, will soon hold a ceremony in which a square will be named after Rabbi Dr. Avraham Schweizer, the district rabbi who perished along with most of his family in the Holocaust.The naming of the square after the rabbi was initiated by two gentile Germans who promoted the idea out of their appreciation for the rabbi and for the local Jewish culture.Rabbi Avraham Schweizer served as the district rabbi for 22 years until 1936. He was highly regarded among both the Jews in the area as well as their gentile neighbors. Rabbi Schweizer also served as rabbi of the surrounding Jewish villages.Barbara Staudacher and Heinz Hogerle, two gentiles from one of the villages which Rabbi Schweizer served, have made it their goal in the years since the end of the war to preserve the lost local Jewish culture.The two, who moved from Stuttgart to the village of Rexingen in 1999, found a Jewish cemetery at the top of the hill near their home. This discovery led them to begin exploring the local Jewish culture. They published their research in books and other printed material, thus helping to preserve the historical record and helping former residents of Rexingen connect with their own families’ past.
Staudacher and Hogerle approached the mayor of the town of Horb, a town in the southwest of the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, where Rabbi Schweizer had served. They presented him with a request to name the square in front of the local synagogue, which was destroyed on Kristallnacht, after the rabbi. The city’s board of directors discussed the idea and approved the request. The official naming ceremony is scheduled for September 4 and will be attended by local residents, family members of the rabbi, and residents of Moshav Shavei Tzion in northern Israel, most of whom immigrated to Israel from that region of Germany.Rabbi Schweizer’s great-nephew, Meir Schweizer, told Arutz Sheva on Thursday that not much is known about Rabbi Schweizer’s work since not much written material from the period before the war remains and no Jews live in the area today. He said, however, that through testimonies of local residents as well as of Jews who lived there and made aliyah to Israel, it was possible to learn of the great respect people had towards the rabbi.Meir Schweizer also noted that the rabbi had great connections with the German government before the war and that these connections greatly assisted the communities he served.Rabbi Schweizer received in 1917 the Charlottenkreuz (Charlotte Cross), a decoration awarded to all persons who had acquired particular merit either in the field or at home in the care of the wounded and ill, or in the general area of war-related care provision.As for Barbara Staudacher and Heinz Hogerle, noted Meir Schweizer, the two of them have received the Obermayer German-Jewish History Awards, which are given annually to individuals who have made outstanding voluntary contributions toward preserving and recording the Jewish history, heritage, culture and/or remnants of local German communities.
Barak Not Denying Israel Wanted to Kill Haniyeh-Defense Minister won't deny reports that Israel was about to kill Hamas leader in Gaza when Egypt intervened.
by Gil Ronen Published: 28/08/11, 6:11 PM
Defense Minister Ehud Barak would not deny Sunday reports that Israel intended to assassinate Hamas's Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh. According to the reports, only Egypt's intervention with Israel prevented the attack.When asked by Voice of Israel Radio Yaron Dekel about the report, Barak said that not everything that is written in the newspaper is true. Dekel asked if this meant the report was false. I would not say that,Barak replied.When asked about the possibility that the IDF would retake Gaza, Barak would not offer a definite no but made it clear that the option was not a favored one.People eulogize Israel's security deterrent, I heard senior analysts saying that the key is in Hamas's hands.But I want to remind everyone that the key to the next terror attack is always in the hands of the terrorist and not in our hands,he said.We are defenders. We always act after the fact. There will always be someone to second guess us and say – if you had only done this and this, everything would have turned out differently,Barak added.
We were in Gaza for forty years and anyone who misses this period should come out and say so,Barak attacked his critics. On the other hand, he said: Don’t misunderstand me. If we are forced to do so – I have no longing for ruling over Gaza again but if we are forced to do so, we will stop at nothing, nothing.
Fire Rages in Carmiel, Residents Evacuated-Brush fire near Carmiel grows to major blaze; residents evacuated.by Maayana Miskin Published: 28/08/11, 5:37 PM
A brush fire that broke out Sunday afternoon near the city of Carmiel in northern Israel grew into a major blaze that has led firefighters to evacuate many local residents from their homes.All firefighting crews in the region have been called to the area to assist. Three IAF planes are assisting in putting out the flames as well.
A spokesman for fire and rescue crews who spoke with Arutz Sheva called on residents of Carmiel not to attempt to assist in firefighting efforts. Amateur attempts to fight the fire and protect homes are delaying evacuation, he said.No injuries have been reported thus far, he added.Several fires broke out in the Golan and Galilee regions over the weekend. Five planes were called up to help ground crews put out the fires.In one incident, worshipers were evacuated from the cave of Honi Hame'agel in Hatzor Haglilit.
Ceasefire? Two More Rockets Explode in Southern Israel-Well after the beginning of the latest ceasefire, terrorists fire rockets into southern Israel.by Elad Benari, Canada Published: 27/08/11, 12:14 AM
Despite the ceasefire that was announced by the Gaza-based terrorist groups on Thursday, terrorists fired two rockets at the southern Israel on Friday evening.The two rockets exploded in open areas in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. There were no physical injuries and no damage was done.Earlier on Friday, a Grad rocket fired from Gaza landed in open land south of Ashkelon. No physical injuries or property damage were reported in the attack.Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the other terror groups in the Gaza Strip declared another ceasefire with Israel late Thursday night. The agreement was reportedly brokered by Egypt and the UN, and according to it, rocket fire from Gaza at Israel was to have stopped at 1:00 p.m. local time on Friday. Both the attacks on Ashkelon and on Sha’ar Hanegev happened long after that deadline passed.The ceasefire announcement came after at least 17 rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza on Thursday evening. The rockets and mortars exploded in open fields in Eshkol, the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, and south of Ashkelon.
The terror groups in Gaza have often declared ceasefires only to break them mere hours later. The latest round of also violence came after Hamas declared a ceasefire on Sunday evening.(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
Irene Forces Cancellation of Flights to and From Israel-El Al, Delta and US Airways have cancelled flights to and from Israel as hurricane Irene churns towards the Big Apple.by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Published: 28/08/11, 12:03 AM
El Al, Delta and US Airways have cancelled flights to and from Israel as hurricane Irene churns towards the Big Apple.El Al’s 001 and 027 flights from Israel were grounded Saturday night and early Sunday morning, and flights 026 and 028 did not take off from New York, where LaGuardia and JFK airports were shut down, along with the airport in Newark, New Jersey.US Airways canceled its flights to and from Philadelphia and Tel Aviv.Nearly 10,000 flights in the United States have been grounded by the storm, which so far has killed four people after having first striking the coast of North Carolina.American Airlines cancelled all flights in the area of New York City in order to allow its employees time to reach home before the storm strikes.New York City also has suspended all subway and bus service. Atlantic City, on what should have been a packed summer weekend in the gambling resort, is empty.The economic damage from Hurricane Irene is expected to run into the billions. It is the worst storm to hit the East Coast since Gloria thundered into the area in 1985, leaving 11 people dead.
