Last Friday the US House of Representatives voted to withhold two hundred million dollars in US military aid to Egypt due to Egyptian failure to prevent weapons-smuggling into Gaza and ongoing human-rights violations. The bill also explicitly bars the government from passing funds to Hamas and prevents diplomatic relations with Libya until families of those killed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 are compensated. The Egyptian aid could be transferred once US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice officially confirms that Egypt is, in fact, doing its best to prevent the smuggling of weapons from the Sinai to Gaza.

The vote was part of the annual foreign aid bill, which totals thirty-four billion two hundred million dollars for the fiscal year beginning on the first day of October. The motion passed by a vote of two hundred forty-one to one hundred seventy-eight. The Senate has not yet debated the bill.

The Islamic Jihad terrorist who was responsible for an attack on the western Negev city of Sderot was killed less than a day later in an air strike by the Israel Air Force (IAF). Three people in Sderot were wounded, and two homes were damaged in Sunday's Kassam rocket attacks. IAF fighter pilots scored a direct hit on the Peugot car in which Husam Harb was a passenger as it rode through a terrorist stronghold in the eastern section of Gaza City. Harb was a senior commander in a local Islamic Jihad terrorist rocket-launching unit.

Two other terrorists were wounded in the air strike, the first since Hamas terrorists took control of Gaza after a bloody civil war with rival Fatah terrorists under the command of Mahmoud Abbas. The Islamic Jihad terror organization issued a statement after the deadly IAF air strike, saying its members who were in the targeted car were on the way to a "holy mission" - meaning an attack on Israel. A film clip aired by Hamas television showed a rocket inside the burnt car. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) confirmed the report.

The airstrike came a day before a scheduled summit meeting in Egypt to be attended by "Palestinian" Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II, aimed at garnering support for Abbas.

Israeli researchers have discovered what the ancients knew thousands of years ago; that copper contains anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties. Copper, once mined in the southern Israeli area known as Timna, has been used throughout history for a variety of purposes, such as piping to keep water free of parasites, in shipbuilding to prevent algae from clinging to ships and even by French wineries to inhibit the growth of fungus on the precious grapevines. Ancient Egypt appreciated its value using it both for its beauty and its anti-bacterial value.

Now the Cupron company, founded ten years ago by Jeffrey Gabbay, has taken that knowledge and brought it forward for modern use. The sunset-colored metal is being integrated into textiles as a way to minimize odor and viruses. Cupron researchers developed technologies that have incorporated copper oxide in an array of novel applications, which will be recognized this year with the Frost & Sullivan Best Practices award for technological innovations. Cupron's researchers, based in a facility located in the Jerusalem-area city of Beit Shemesh, have produced "medical socks" which can be used to prevent and heal the infections that are so dangerous to those with diabetes. The company has also developed surgical masks that contain active ingredients that help prevent medical staff from becoming infected with such life-threatening illnesses as SARS, avian flu and other viruses. "If and when the virus enters our mask," says Gabbay, "our mask will deactivate the virus." When used in gloves, Cupron's technology is used in food handling, food processing and health care. "We know we're the innovators of the year," Gabby notes. But, he added, "It is gratifying to know that we have contributed to solving the conundrum of anti-microbial activity in textiles."

Cupron has teamed up with a number of U.S. companies, such as Gloves2Go and Renfro Corporation, producers of gloves and socks. The company's treated fabrics will also soon be tested in the Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem, where Gabby expects the product to prove itself by drastically reducing the number of germs, viruses, and dust mites that often further compromise the health of patients whose immune systems are already fragile. Testing on viral applications is performed at the company's laboratories in Rehovot. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have also carried out testing on Cupron's data.

Now the challenge will be getting the word out to the general public. "The US marines already use [the copper oxide socks] to help them avoid or cure athlete's foot," says Gabbay. "But people don't believe what they're seeing." Companies do, however, and Cupron is now busy in talks with three cosmetic firms as well, to develop products that will "reduce wrinkles and get rid of crow's feet." Adds Gabbay, "You could say we jumped on a moving train."

In a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Minister of Knesset (MK) Rabbi Yitzchak Levy (National Union party) says the only way to release Arab terrorists from prison is by throwing them out of Israel totally. MK Levy's letter follows the Prime Minister's announcement Tuesday in which Olmert agreed to release two hundred fifty terrorists from Israeli prison, as a gesture to "Palestinian" Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. Rabbi Levy, whose daughter was murdered by Arab terrorists, writes in his letter against the release of terrorists whether it be as a goodwill gesture or part of a deal to release Gilad Shilat. He adds that the only way such a move could be considered reasonable is if the released terrorists were expelled from Israel altogether. Army Radio asked Rabbi Levy if he agrees that even the murderers of his daughter should go free. His daughter Ayelet HaShachar Levy was killed in a car bomb blast in the Machaneh Yehuda neighborhood of Jerusalem in November 2000. Her father said in response that he would accept their release if they were thrown out of Israel, including Judea, Samaria and Gaza. MK Levy also said that continued humanitarian assistance to Hamas-run Gaza must be made contingent upon the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Speaking at a Jewish Agency conference in Jerusalem Tuesday, General Amos Yadlin, Chief of Military Intelligence told conference attendees that Israel should not withdraw from Judea and Samaria. He also said that Israel should not fear a nuclear threat from Iran. Yadlin warned that a unilateral withdrawal from "Palestinian" Authority (PA)-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria would be tantamount to inviting Hamas to re-enact its takeover of Gaza.

"Hamas does not want peace with Israel," he pointed out. "It is continuing its terrorist activities, and moderate Palestinians are unable to do anything about [the situation], even though they want peace." Yadlin made it very clear that in his professional opinion a political agreement with the PA is not in Israel's best interest. "If Israel withdraws from the West Bank," he warned, "what happened in Gaza will happen there."

Heavy fighting took place overnight Wednesday night in Judea and Samaria as the IDF searched parts of Shechem (located twenty-five miles east of Herzilya) to catch wanted terrorists. The IDF waged anti-terror battles in Gaza as well.

Dozens of terrorists laid ambushes for soldiers along the narrow roads of the PA-controlled city of Shechem. Three IDF soldiers were moderately wounded by a bomb and shooting attack in Shechem. They were airlifted to Beilinson hospital in Petach Tikva. Two others were shot and lightly wounded.

The IDF rounded up eight wanted terrorists overnight. A Fatah terrorist was arrested in Shechem and four Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorists were caught near Ramallah. Three others were arrested in Bethlehem and Hevron.

In Gaza, the IDF killed a dozen terrorists Tuesday night and Wednesday, three in Khan Younis and nine others in battles in Gaza City. Forty PA Arabs were injured in the fighting. Several roadside bombs and anti-tank rockets were fired at IDF tanks and troops in both northern and southern Gaza Wednesday; the army was operating a full mile inside Gaza. Troops went door-to-door making arrests and searching for terrorist tunnels.

The style of resistance by Gazan terrorists resembled that displayed by Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon during last summer’s Second Lebanon War – roadside bombs and anti-tank missiles. The guerilla warfare is being coordinated by the Popular Resistance Committees, an amalgamation of terror groups founded by Fatah members, staffed by Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorists and backed by Hizbullah, according to intelligence assessments. The group operates in coordination with the ruling Hamas regime. The IDF displayed weapons it seized during the previous day's fighting in Gaza Thursday. The arms displayed included Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles of the type handed to PA police under the Oslo Accords, hunting rifles, handguns, ammunition clips, hand grenades, military vests, surveillance equipment and gun sights.

In a move aimed at reversing the silent policy of freezing the settlement of Judea and Samaria, Land of Israel activists plan to establish a new community "outside the fence" next month. The selected location for the new community is Givat HaEitam, the hilltop north of Efrat that has a commanding view of the Jerusalem-Hevron Highway and the central Gush Etzion region. Several trips and visits to the area have taken place since the government decided to abandon the hill to the PA-controlled town of Bethlehem, on whose side of the Partition Wall the land is being left. This time, however, organizers say a core-group of future residents plans to stay and build a permanent community there. Givat HaEitam belongs to the town of Efrat, the central town in the Gush Etzion region south of Jerusalem. Hundreds of housing units were planned for the site as part of Efrat's master plan, but since construction of the wall has begun, Arabs have begun staking claims and laying the groundwork for illegal building on the hilltop.

"Arabs came to our hill with a tractor and leveled a rectangular area of approximately 120x40 meters and surrounded it with big boulders, in preparation for a large building project," Efrat resident and Women in Green director Nadia Matar reported two weeks ago. As a result the local action committees – grassroots activist groups set up to struggle for Jewish land and civil rights in Judea and Samaria – called upon the masses to come the following day to dismantle the illegal building. "We knew that the moment the authorities put Eitam outside the fence the Arabs would try to take over," Matar said. "It is happening. Who knows if the area the Arabs are trying to clear is not [intended as a future] launching site for firing Katyusha missiles at Jerusalem, Efrat and Gush Etzion? This is at least the way we should relate to it." When the Civil Administration got word of the move, officials reportedly contacted the local council and Efrat security in an attempt to prevent such vigilante justice. The Civil Administration 'would take care of it' promptly on Sunday, Efrat's mayor was reportedly told. "In order to show our good faith, especially now that we have a new 'machat' (Brigade Commander) in the area, the Efrat Action Committee decided to give the Civil Administration a chance and canceled the activity." The Civil Administration never arrived. Each day activists were assured the next day would be the day – and each next day it wasn't. Activists recalled that when Jonathan Pollard's wife Esther planted trees at another location in honor of her husband, the Civil Administration came "within minutes" to prevent her. The Efrat Action Committee called upon residents to gather at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Efrat, and to bring with them work gloves and tools to dismantle the groundwork laid illegally on Givat HaEitam.

The Tzemach Institute has joined forces with the Christian Friends Of Israeli Communities (CFOIC) in planning a special tour of the heartland of biblical Israel. Join us as we explore Israel from a genuine Biblical Zionists perspective. Meet the people who are continuing the Biblical narrative in the Land today. See for yourself how ancient prophesies are being fulfilled. Discover how you too can participate in the ongoing process of Biblical Redemption. Join us for an opportunity of a lifetime, to see the real Israel from the viewpoint of those who are living the Bible today. The experience will change your life. The tour has been coordinated with Sondra Baras of CFOIC and will be guided by Associate Pastor Jon Klein [pictured left].
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