| Week ending Saturday, October 8, 2005 |
5 Tishrei, 5766 |
|
Landau to Visit the Temple Mount:
It was recently disclosed that Likud candidate Uzi Landau intends to visit the Temple Mount over the holidays. Many of us remember how the Palestinians used the September 28, 2000 Temple Mount visit by Ariel Sharon as an excuse for what they call the Al-Aqsa Intifada. In that incident thirty policemen were injured when Palestinians rioted on the Mount as a protest to his visit. Landau plans to visit other sites in eastern Jerusalem as well. This is clearly an attempt to attract attention to his campaign and gain on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the Likud leadership race. Netanyahu recently suffered a drop in the polls after the former finance minister was blamed for the failure to advance the Likud primary last week. A poll published in Haaretz over the weekend found for the first time that if Sharon leaves the Likud, Landau would defeat Netanyahu and become Likud chairman. Although Laundau's visit to the Temple Mount will (at least) bring a lot of attention to his campaign, it still leaves everyone wondering what message is he making with this visit and to whom?
Landau has recently clinched crucial support funding for a run for premiership. A seventy seven-year-old multi-millionaire, Dr. Irving Moskowitz (Miami, Florida), who has funded many right-wing causes, including campaigns of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, has chosen to support Landau. Moskowitz explained in an endorsement letter that only Landau has consistently expressed his opposition to Oslo, Wye, the Hevron Agreement, and the disengagement. The other candidates he indicated do not exhibit the integrity and concerns for Israel’s security that Landau holds in high regard.
IDF Thwarts Two Stabbings in Two Days:
On Wednesday an eighteen-year-old "Palestinian" teenager unsuccessfully attempted to stab an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint outside Nablus (in Samaria). The "Palestinian" ran toward the soldier wielding a knife and shouting "Allahu Achbar" which literally means "Allah is greater (than all other gods)." The soldier managed to elude him, but the other soldiers at the checkpoint opened fire at the teenager, fearing he would come after them. Their shots did not hit the assailant, but a bystander was slightly wounded.
The day before, a "Palestinian" woman (mother of six children) stabbed a female IDF soldier at the Hawara checkpoint south of Shechem and Yitzhar (also in Samaria). The attacker managed to inflict moderate wounds to her neck. Other IDF soldiers on the site shot the attacker dead. The Yasser Arafat Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack.
Increase in American & French Aliya:
Aliyah (a Hebrew word meaning "going up" [immigration]) to Israel attained a six-year high in 5765 (2004-05), as Jews from France and North America decided to return and live in the land of Israel. The Absorption Ministry and the Jewish Agency reported that 23,124 Jews came to live in Israel in 5765, as compared to 21,604 in 5764. From North America 2,928 made the big move this year, an increase from 2,269 last year. Another 2,975 came from France, which is also an increase from last year's total of 2,389 Jews. As evidenced by recent news events, France has witnessed an upsurge of anti-Semitism in recent years.
Large Numbers of Jews Moving into Biblical Israel:
In spite of the recent disengagement and the uprooting of 10,000 Jews from their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria, the stream of Jews into Judea and Samaria has increased to record levels in recent months. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported that new home purchases in Judea and Samaria increased by thirty-eight percent (January to June 2005) as compared to the same period last year. Remarkably, the rate was even higher in Jerusalem, which has been an area battered by terrorist attacks since September 2000. Sales of new homes have increased by more than fifty-two percent. The Israeli real estate market was hard hit by the Oslo "war" which sent the economy into a downward spiral, which (unlike the general economy) has only recently begun to recover. Interestingly, the areas hardest hit by terrorism from the Oslo War (Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem) are showing the greatest response in real estate activity. Sales of new homes in Judea and Samaria have reached an all time high in 2005.
The Seventh-Month Festivals:
On Tuesday Jews around the world celebrated Rosh Hashannah. They will also celebrate Yom Kippur on Thursday, 14 October. Rosh Hashannah literally means "head of the year" and since the Babylonian captivity it has been celebrated as such, but biblically, and prior to the Babylonian captivity it was called the Day of Trumpets. Biblically speaking, the New Year is fourteen days prior to Passover.
Read more about the seventh-month festivals.
Try Not To Complain:
Israelis are paying and average of $5.33 per gallon for low octane gasoline.
|
Tzemach News Service [TNS] is a ministry of: Tzemach Institute for Biblical Studies
This week's sources: Arutz Sheva, Israel National News, Israel Today, The Jerusalem Post, The Lekarev Report.
| |
