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Two coffins, which Hizbullah claims contain the bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, crossed the border into Israel from Lebanon at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Hizbullah gave the bodies to the International Committee of the Red Cross (I.C.R.C.), which then delivered them into Israeli hands. Teams of forensic professionals were standing by with advanced lab equipment on site to take samples to confirm the identities of the remains. A helicopter also stood by to rush the samples to more complete labratories.

Wednesday's transfer was the first interaction the I.C.R.C. had with the two hostages, despite efforts by Victims of Arab Terror International to arrange visits to them while they were alive.

In the framework of the government-approved exchange, convicted terrorist murderer Samir Kuntar of Lebanon and four Hizbullah terrorists are on their way to becoming free men as they await transfer to Lebanon at Israel's northern border at Rosh HaNikra. The families of abducted soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser await the final identification of the remains of their sons. The IDF spokesman said that the identification process takes "between several to many hours."

Red Cross trucks passing through Nahariya to Rosh HaNikra where they later crossed the border into Lebanon carrying the bodies of Arab terrorists as part of the exchange for the kidnapped Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
Israel News Photo: Flash 90

The two-year-long abduction ordeal that triggered the Second Lebanon War is ends with Wednesday's swap in what many see as a catastrophic defeat for Israel and a victory for terrorism. Kuntar and four other Lebanese terrorists spent their last night in the relative comfort of an IDF base after being freed from prison late Tuesday, and look forward to crossing into Lebanon amidst cheering crowds of supporters. Meanwhile, the Regev and Goldwasser families brace for the worst as their sons are most likely dead.

In addition to the five terrorists to be released, Israel has also agreed to return the bodies of 199 Hizbullah soldiers in exchange for the bodies of the Jewish soldiers.

The execution of the deal concludes four months of German mediation and follows Cabinet approval of the deal, as well as a pardon of murderer Kuntar by President Shimon Peres.

Israeli soldiers guard at the road where a Red Cross truck transporting bodies of Hizbullah fighters cross the Rosh HaNikra border.
Israel News Photo: Flash 90

The exchange operation is taking place in the following steps:

    - Samir Kuntar and the four other terrorists were released from jail to a military facility near Rosh Hanikra on   Tuesday night.
    - Simultaneously, 23 trucks carrying 199 bodies of Hizbullah terrorists made their way to the Rosh Hanikra area.
    - Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser arrived from Lebanon to the exchange point in Rosh Hanikra around 9 a.m.
    - The two IDF soldiers will then be identified, a process expected to take up to several hours.
    - Once the identification of Regev and Goldwasser is complete, Major-Generals Gadi Shamni and Elazar Stern will arrive at the homes of the captives' families to inform them of the fate of their loved ones.
    - The families will then travel to the Shraga Camp near Nahariya, where they will see the two soldiers. If Regev and Goldwasser are dead as presumed, their funerals will most likely be held on Thursday.
    - In the meantime, upon completion of the identification of the returned Israelis, the five terrorist prisoners and 199 terrorist bodies will be handed over to Lebanon.

Israeli soldiers guard at the road where a Red Cross truck transporting bodies of Hizbullah fighters crosses the Rosh HaNikra border.
Israel News Photo: Flash 90

Samir Kuntar has vowed to resume his terrorist activities upon his return to Lebanon.

The return of soldiers Goldwasser and Regev comes two years after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to continue the war until they were freed.

With the prisoner exchange with Hizbullah approaching its tragic climax, dozens of news crews at Rosh HaNikra and throughout the country are broadcasting the reactions of observers to the latest developments. The bitterly contested prisoner exchange is developing into one of Israel's most riveting and painful episodes.

The conclusion of the prisoner exchange began Tuesday night with the release of child-murderer Samir Kuntar and four of his co-terrorists, and continued through Wednesday morning with the release of the coffins of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, all caught on camera for the nation and the world to see.

To the families of the two captured IDF soldiers, the news that their sons are dead is a tragedy, while to others in Israel the prospect of handing over alive-and-well murderers of innocent Jews in exchange for dead bodies is a travesty. For those who support terrorism, the release is being hailed as a victory for Hizbullah and the struggle to destroy Israel, coupled with an admission of defeat from the Jewish state.

As images of the coffins of Regev and Goldwasser appeared on television, cries could be heard coming from the Regev family home when they suddenly realized what they feared most: They would never see their son Eldad alive again.

Once the news he was dead began to spread, the area around the Regev residence became quickly crowded with family members and friends of Eldad, who gathered outside his home to show support for the grieving parents and to honor the memory of their loved one. The visitors began a vigil outside his Kiryat Motzkin home as they lit memorial candles for Eldad. Another vigil formed at the Goldwasser home.

Eldad Regev's aunt, Hanna, collapsed when she saw the images of her nephew's coffin, and had to be treated by paramedics who were standing by.

Meanwhile, the family of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit sent the Regev and Goldwasser families "all their love and support on this hard day." The words of comfort came from Gilad's father Noam, who added: "We support the families, love them and strengthen them." Noam said that he has not spoken yet to the two families. "I assume they want to be alone right now, and I respect their wishes," he explained, but said he will contact them later in the day.

Speaking hours before he saw the televised images of his brother's coffin, Eyal Regev accepted the prospect of his brother's death with equanimity: "We understand the weight of the price, and it is a source of pain." He went on to praise the Israeli government for their decision to release multiple murderers in exchange for his likely-dead brother. "The State of Israel should be proud of returning the boys; this is our moral responsibility towards their fate," Eyal remarked.

Shlomo Goldwasser, father of Ehud Goldwasser, had defiant words for those who killed his son. "If Hizbullah's great achievement is the release of Kuntar, who is nothing but a repulsive murderer, then I pity them."

The Regev and Goldwasser families have quietly accepted the fate of their slain sons and expressed gratitude for Israel's willingness to hand over the terrorists in order to get their boys back, dead or alive.  However, there are many who have strongly opposed the swap, including top military and intelligence officials who urged Prime Minister Olmert's cabinet to reject the deal, considering it a big mistake for Israel.

A backlash against the prisoner release was heard from many in the Knesset. MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) condemned the release of Kuntar and the other terrorists, calling it a "tragic".

"This is a tragic end for the families [of the soldiers], and it is also a very bad end for Israel's fight against terrorism," said Steinitz in a Tuesday morning Channel 2 interview.  "The celebrations of the terrorist organizations in Lebanon - and they have reason for celebration - conclude two years of a failed Israeli battle against terrorism."

Steinitz underscored the growing strength of Hizbullah as a factor in the terror group's ability to manipulate Israeli policymaking. "Hizbullah has come out of these two years stronger military and stronger politically. With our help, Hizbullah has mislead us for two years regarding the condition of the abducted soldiers, as to whether they are dead or alive.

"We have become the only country in the West and perhaps in the entire world, which is ready to release terrorist murderers in exchange for bodies and body parts," he remarked. "This is a dangerous precedent… and I must say that the entire country has derailed."

Steinitz also indicted the Israeli press for contributing to national derailment: "The media has a part in this," he charged.

"Even in difficult situations, there remain principles. And our leadership…must lead, and not be led by the public or by the media, and not even by the families [of the POW's]. And when you lead, there are long term factors of national security to be taken into consideration.

"A prize was awarded today to terrorism. It reflects a general policy of surrender to Hizbullah and to Hamas in Gaza. We have given Hamas a de facto authorization to continue to rearm and build itself into a Hizbullah II in Gaza," Steinitz concluded.

Former Defense Minister Moshe Arens echoed the anti-swap deal sentiment, deeming the decision to release the terrorists a "complete lack of judgement" and calling the Olmert cabinet's deal a "mistake that is forbidden to make," as it encourages the enemy to kidnap more soldiers.

There has been public as well as official outcry at the prisoner swap. Another family member of a terror victim, the mother of one of Samir Kuntar's four victims, expressed outrage at the release her son's killer and other murderers, calling it a "disgrace."

Nina Keren, mother of Dani Haran, of the four Jewish victims of Kuntar's 1979 cross-border murder spree, said that she "could not stop crying" when she heard the news that her son's killer will be freed.

Keren said that releasing terrorists with blood on their hands is a "big mistake", warning reporters Tuesday that Samir Kuntar will kill more Jews once he is released back into Lebanon, echoing Kuntar's own vow to resume his terrorist activities against Israelis once freed.

While Israel mourns a painful homecoming for its dead soldiers amid a chorus of protest over the release of living and unrepentant terrorists, the enemies of the Jewish state are cheering what they see a clear victory over Israel.

The Lebanese government plans to hold a state ceremony in Beirut honoring the terrorists about to be released by Israel, including those who murdered innocent Israeli civilians.

In the ceremony in the Lebanese capital, Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and President Michel Suleiman will officially greet the freed operatives, ahead of a Hizbullah event celebrating what the terror group declares is an Israeli admission of defeat.

In Gaza, Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh congratulated Samir Kuntar on his impending release from Israeli prison and his triumphant return to Lebanon. Haniyeh praised "the great victory the resistance has had, which proved the righteousness of our ways," and said his own terrorist organization would likewise remain loyal to its operatives jailed in Israel as well, a possible hint that Hamas has been emboldened by the release to kidnap more IDF soldiers.

American businessman Joe Elmaleh, a long-time crony of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with a highly controversial business record, lent his friend $75,000 fifteen years ago. The money never was repaid, similar to the $150,000 lent by American businessman Morris Talansky to Prime Minister Olmert over the past 10 years.

Elmaleh and Talanaksy worked with Prime Minister Olmert as officials for the New Jerusalem Foundation, which was registered in the United States in 1999 and used Talansky's home address. Ehud Olmert was the foundation's president, Talansky is the treasurer and Elmaleh is listed as a director. Another director was Rana'an Dinur, who now heads the Prime Minister's office.
 
Elmaleh was the long-time chairman of Isramco, a publicly-traded company that explored for gas and oil in Israel. In the 1990s, Olmert sat on the board of directors of Elmaleh's Jerusalem Oil Exploration company.

Documents of Prime Minister's assets include the $75,000 loan that was given in 1993, several months before Olmert, then an Opposition Knesset Member, won the race for mayor of Jerusalem.
Documents of Prime Minister's assets include the $75,000 loan that was given in 1993.

During the police probe, Prime Minister Olmert claimed he has not repaid the loan because it has not yet come due. Five years ago, former State Comptroller and Ombudsman Eliezer Goldberg ordered Elmaleh to sign a document in which Olmert, then Deputy Prime Minister stated, "The original loan that I took from you … was for $75,000. The conditions of the loan were linkage plus 3 percent interest… From here on in it is agreed that if you do not request the money, I will return it to you in full in January 2009."

Elmaleh also is involved in a court case in Britain, in which cancer-stricken Anne Marie Morely, 71, accused him of taking millions of dollars from her in four property deals in which she handed over to him control of three residences.

The New Jerusalem Foundation, in which Olmert, Elmaleh, and Talansky were officers, has proven to be a main funnel for funds. A Texas prayer convention raised $400,000 in cash and pledges for the Foundation, which was to use the money to aid victims of Arab terrorism. Another fund-raising event in California raised $500,000.
 
However, the Post reported two years ago that the New Jerusalem Foundation did not report the tax-deductible contributions, meaning that they "went to a different entity or the foundation filed a false" document.

The criminal investigation against Prime Minister Olmert has reached a critical stage, and his lawyers are scheduled to cross-examine Talansky Thursday. The American businessman said he "will not break down" under the questioning and is prepared to tell everything he knows.

Neither Talansky nor Elmaleh is suspected of any wrongdoing. The Prime Minister is being investigated for receiving cash in violation of the law and for possibly fraud and bribery.

Over the last couple of years, the Zionist Freedom Alliance (www.zfa.org.il) has been slowly taking American college campuses by storm with a message of Jewish rights not heard for many decades. Led by veteran IDF soldiers and activists in Israel, the ZFA presents Zionism to the youth as a revolutionary struggle for national liberation.

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Can't see player? Click here for video of Israel Liberation Week on Hofstra Campus

ZFA: "We Have a Right to Live in Freedom"

Unlike most pro-Israel advocacy organizations that present Israel as a democracy or focus on the Jewish state’s willingness to surrender territory, ZFA speaks of Israel as a Middle Eastern nation with a legitimate moral and historic right to its land.

“We tell young people about the fight for freedom from British rule,” says ZFA leader Yehuda HaKohen. “And we explain how we are still fighting against nearly the entire world for our right to live freely in the whole of our country. Educating young people to the history of our struggle creates a paradigm shift in how they view our situation today. If people know two basic facts – that this really is our country and that we fought the British Empire to free it – their understanding of the Middle East conflict is revolutionized. Suddenly the Jewish people are the natives in the story and international pressure to shrink our borders is an act of Western imperialism against an indigenous population.”

ZFA speaks to Diverse Crowd

HaKohen currently lives in Jerusalem but grew up in New York City and often travels to the United States to organize ZFA activities. While some mainstream Jewish groups focus on Israel's security needs,  HaKohen's message to campuses is one of Jewish rights. “We must make the world understand that the Jewish nation, like any other nation on the planet, has a right to self-determination in our country. Not in half of our country, but in our whole country. We have nothing against any other peoples, but the world today has no shortage of Arab states. 77% of Palestine (the territory east of the Jordan River) was made into an Arab state, and we are at least entitled to the remaining 23% that was left us by international law to be a Jewish state. No power on earth has the moral authority to rob us of our land.”

ZFA Warrior in Israeli Flag: "Nobody Can Take it From Us"

HaKohen is no stranger to bold declarations, having repeated the same simple message on campuses across the United States and Canada. While other pro-Israel organizations attempt to rationalize or depreciate the stridently nationalistic aspects of Zionism in order to court the favor of high-profile skeptics and to make their message palatable to wealthy and influential benefactors, HaKohen says that his group has learned out of necessity to work on a shoestring budget rather than alter their message. ZFA activists take no pains in concealing their belief in the unequivocal right of the Jewish nation to the entire Land of Israel.  And the movement puts forward this message in a clear and simple yet powerful language that resonates with young people across North American campuses.

ZFA: "Israel Demands Justice"

The movement includes an eclectic mix of activists from various backgrounds. When asked what stream of Zionism (Religious, Socialist, Revisionist) they belong to, HaKohen calls the ZFA “Revolutionary Zionism”.

“History is full of great revolutions. And although many of these revolutions have succeeded in impacting the future course of world history, all of them pale in comparison to the Zionist revolution,” HaKohen argues. “Only the Zionist revolution aspires to ingather a scattered nation from the four corners of the earth, to revive a dead language to everyday use, to liberate a homeland from under a mighty world empire and to create a moral society that will serve as an example to the human race. Zionism is the greatest revolution in the history of man, and the ZFA sees it as our mission to drive the revolution forward.”

Zionist Revolution T-Shirt: Close-Up

ZFA on the March

Politically Correct
Having been raised and educated in the West, many ZFA leaders are sensitive to the reality of the political culture that dominates American campuses. Therefore, the movement is careful not to align with “Right-wing” campus groups, and instead targets students active with the Left. HaKohen defends this position by arguing that “there is nothing ‘Right-wing’ or ‘Conservative’ about wanting to keep our homeland free from foreign rule. If we are truly the indigenous natives in the conflict, then our cause should really be championed by liberal students everywhere. Especially since the Bush administration that occupies Iraq and imposes a Patriot Act on the American people is the very same administration pushing to ethnically cleanse the Jewish people from portions of our homeland."

Kosha Dillz & ZFA on Summer Stage, NYC

It is for this reason that ZFA avoids anti-Arab rhetoric and instead focuses its attacks on Western powers and global corporations who have special interests in forcing Israel to surrender land. The group defends this position by claiming that if the Arabs remained the security problem that they are but all international pressure would cease, Israel would immediately take the necessary measures to defend herself and ensure long term survival. But if the Arabs in Judea and Samaria would somehow disappear, the Western world would most likely find another excuse to shrink and weaken Israel. The true enemy of Zionism, according to the ZFA , is not radical Islam but globalization, which seeks to amalgamate continents into unified blocks and threatens Israel’s existence as a small Jewish state situated in a mostly Arab region. ZFA activists argue this to be the true motivation behind international pressure on Israel to make concessions and that the eventual goal of Western governments is for Israel not to exist.

While this message has angered many American Jewish groups who tend to see Israel and America as allies in a global war against Islamic terrorism, it has actually earned the ZFA support from students who oppose globalization and America’s War in Iraq. And it has neutralized anti-Israel voices who accuse “Zionists” of pushing America into a war that benefits Israel. In fact, most ZFA leaders oppose the Iraq War and see it as an aggressive act of neo-imperialism. And many of the students joining the ZFA today are young Jews who view themselves on the political Left. HaKohen attributes this support not only to his group’s unique message, but also to their efforts to reach beyond the Jewish community.

ZFA speaks in front of Diverse Crowd

Many ZFA programs, including the “Israel Liberation Week” event, is geared towards promoting Jewish rights on college campuses and educating the general student public to the justice of the Zionist struggle. “Israel Liberation Week” includes a hip hop concert (featuring Jewish and non-Jewish artists), speeches, information campaigns, historical films and an art exhibit honoring the Jewish underground fighters who were executed by the British administration during the struggle for Jewish statehood. By securing strong support from non-Jewish students on many campuses, the ZFA makes it socially acceptable and desirable for Jewish students to support the Zionist cause.

Israel Liberation Week Logo

HaKohen believes that if young American liberals really understood the history and reality of events in the Middle East, they would naturally support Israel’s rights to Judea and Samaria. The problem is that the anti-Israel propaganda and often even the pro-Israel propaganda have worked to present the Jewish state as a Western power occupying indigenous Arab natives. HaKohen argues that nothing can be further from the truth. “The Jewish nation is a Middle Eastern nation and the true native sons of our land. As a result of an injustice perpetrated against us by the Roman Empire, many of us suffered a long and difficult exile. But now we’ve come home. Israel is our country and like any other people we have a right to freedom in our country.”

The ZFA chose a kafiyah (Middle Eastern head dress) with blue Jewish stars as a symbol of the Zionist revolution. The "Jewish kafiyah," as well as t-shirts and other items, will be available on the ZFA website later in July when they launch their online store.

HaKohen, wearing a kafiya with blue Jewish stars, with Activist

The ZFA’s cutting edge message and methods have proven successful in taking the wind out of anti-Israel sails. But the movement is small and has been unsuccessful at persuading more established Jewish groups to follow their revolutionary lead. Therefore, says HaKohen, the movement works slowly, one campus at a time, to promote the Zionist revolution as a politically correct struggle for social justice.

Zionist Freedom Alliance Logo

For more information, visit the ZFA online at http://www.zfa.org.il

A specially commissioned Torah scroll was dedicated on Sunday for use aboard a commuter train by a traveling prayer quorum on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv line.
Between 20 and 40 people pray in the train's Mesilat Yesharim Minyan each morning.

A group of commuters living in Beit Shemesh commissioned the small Torah scroll and custom-made carrying case for their daily prayers. The Torah dedication was arranged together with BeLev Echad, an organization which teaches secular and unaffiliated Jews in the communities around Beit Shemesh about Torah Judaism.

Between 20 and 40 people pray in the train's Mesilat Yesharim Minyan [prayer group] each morning after it leaves the Beit Shemesh station. The last carriage on the early morning train is unofficially reserved as the temporary "synagogue," drawing both men and women, as well as Israel Railways crew members. The regular participants are a mixture of native Israelis and immigrants from North America and Europe who work in Tel Aviv in banking, law, computers, medicine, education and business, but who choose to live in the religious communities in Jerusalem or Beit Shemesh.

The ticket inspector periodically announces the start of prayers over the train intercom, in case new passengers are unaware of the unusual minyan. Mesilat Yesharim is actually the second "train minyan" which uses a Torah scroll on the Beit Shemesh-Tel Aviv route, and there are also afternoon and evening services on the trains home from Tel Aviv.

Torah reading aboard the Jerusalem-TA line
Photo: Shaul Plen, Tiferet Studios

The Mesilat Yesharim Minyan at prayer
Photo: Shaul Plen, Tiferet Stu

Torah Dedicated in Honor of Terror Victims
Howard Jackson, a recent Oleh from Britain to Jerusalem, explains: "My job in the financial sector necessitates an early start, which makes praying with the train minyan an excellent option. The Mesilat Yesharim Minyan was well established when I joined, and we tried unsuccessfully to obtain a Torah for many years. New residents of Ramat Beit Shemesh, Darren and Dina Shaw, decided to step in and donate a scroll in honor of their grandparents and in memory of the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva students killed in the March 2008 terrorist attack." 

Darren Shaw made Aliyah from London in August 2006 and works for UBS Bank in Herzliya. He hired a scribe to write an unusually small Torah, which is just 30 centimeters high. Fellow traveler Ariel Abraham, originally from Elizabeth, New Jersey, has converted a suitcase on wheels into a portable Holy Ark.

Removing a Sefer Torah from a synagogue is often problematic, and questions of religious law concerning how the Torah should be stored and transported on and off the train were referred to Jerusalem's senior rabbinic authority, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch.

The Knesset Tuesday approved the establishment of a new "combined" educational stream in the state's educational system, which will enable non-religious parents to give their children a more Jewish education than they currently receive in the public schools.

The bill received the government's support, which increases its chances of passing all legislative hurdles. The new stream will receive 3 million NIS in the first year of its existence, 6 million NIS in the second year and 25 million NIS in the third year. The funds are to be transferred by the Finance Ministry as an addition to the education budget.

In-service training
Every school in Israel will be able to decide for itself whether it wishes to join the "combined" stream. In the first five years after joining the stream, the school will be eligible for assistance that will go towards teacher education seminars, and in-service training of the staff and students for the school’s new mission of increased Jewish education.

The school will be eligible for additional class hours and will be allowed to exchange hours that w
MK Michael Melchior said that the new stream would be "an educational revolution."
ere previously devoted to non-Judaic studies for Torah classes.

Every school will have its own Judaism Coordinator whose job it will be to integrate Jewish identity and values into the school and community life.

Eight schools in first year
A Supervisory Council for the combined stream will be created to govern the schools' syllabus and values. Eight schools will join the stream in the coming year.

There are already several schools in Israel that operate according to this approach, including schools from the Meitarim, Tali and Keshet networks, as well as schools in Tekoa, Kfar Edumim and Mazkeret Batya. 

MK Michael Melchior (Labor), a sponsor of the bill, said that the new stream would be "an educational revolution" that would provide "the answer to the growing rift and polarization in the values of Israeli society."

Another sponsor, MK Esterina Tartman (Yisrael Beiteinu) said that the law would enable non-religious parents who were not well off to give their children a Jewish education.

The Jerusalem District Court rejected on Tuesday a request by a group of citizens of myriad religions to mark the "nationality" box in their ID cards as "Israeli," instead of "Jewish" or "Arab." The judge ruled that their petition is not justiciable.

The request was filed by 21 citizens, composed mostly of Jews, but also including an Arab, a Druze, a Buddhist, a Georgian and a Burmese. The group, which includes some well-known names, is headed by Uzi Ornan, who is registered in the population registry as a "Hebrew." They are all members of a nonprofit group (amuta) called "I am an Israeli" and have all signed a declaration that they belong to the "Israeli" nation.

Former Knesset members
According to Nfc, the group includes radical leftist politicians and former Knesset members Uri Avneri and Shulamit Aloni, philosopher Yosef Agasi, Yehudit Buber-Agasi, musician Alon Olearchik, dramatist Yehoshua Sobol, Ibrahim Dweiri and Adel Kaadan – Arabs who are both active in legal attempts to challenge Zionism.

Ornan asked the Minister of Interior to be registered as an Israeli in 2000. His request was rejected on the grounds that "the table of nationalities does not include 'Israeli.'" Ornan then petitioned the High Court but was referred to the District Court by Judge Mishael Cheshin. The group did so, and added affidavits in which they declared that "in their perception or feeling," they are "not Jews but sons of the Israeli nationality." They said that the fact that the Israeli nationality could not be recognized was "a strange anomaly."

The group also noted that while they do not seek to force any definition of nationality upon other citizens, their Israeli passports list their citizenship as "Israeli" and the English translation says "Israeli nationality." They claimed that it made no sense for them to be Jews "for internal consumption" and Israelis "for
The group declared that "in their perception or feeling," they are "not Jews but sons of the Israeli nationality."
external consumption."

'Nationality' left blank
The state answered that what Jewish, Druze and Arab Israelis have in common is their citizenship, not their nationality. It added that any change in the national definition of Israelis has to be carried out by the Knesset and not by the court.

Judge Noam Solberg noted that the "nationality" box in Israeli IDs is left blank anyways since 2000. He determined that by determining that an "Israeli" nationality existed the court would be exceeding its bounds and legislating instead of judging.

The National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued a warning Tuesday afternoon to Israeli citizens to avoid traveling in the Sinai Peninsula. According to the report, intelligence sources received a credible terror alert of an immediate threat of attack by a terror cell operating in Sinai.

"Activity by terrorist elements in the Sinai Peninsula, who are working in order to abduct Israelis raises the possibility that they intend to perpetrate such an abduction in the very near, even immediate, future," said the warning.

Officials emphasized that the intelligence sources for the report were extremely reliable.

This warning is the latest in a host of other alerts warning Israelis against travel in the Sinai Peninsula, where terrorists from Gaza and elsewhere often gather.

A large number of terrorists from Hamas and other groups disappeared into Sinai after Hamas breached the border between Gaza and Egypt at Rafiah last January.

Tony Blair Receives Death Threat, Avoids Gaza
Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair also faced credible threats to his life by Arab terrorists Tuesday morning, suddenly changing his plans to visit Gaza after receiving an intelligence warning from the Israeli government.

The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) told Associated Press it had received “pinpoint information that Palestinians were planning to attack Blair in Gaza, so the relevant services alerted him to the fact.” The threat, said the agency, was “specific” and “credible.”

Blair, who is a diplomatic envoy for the US, Russia, United Nations and European Union, assured his would-be hosts, “I intend to go to Gaza as soon as I can, and I will continue to press for help for the people there.”

The former British prime minister has been largely responsible for the wealth of economic development funds that have been funneled to the Hamas terrorist-run region since the group seized control of the area in June 2007.

“We received a specific security threat so we thought it would be irresponsible [to ignore it,] not just to Mr. Blair but to the entire community,” said Blair’s spokesperson, Ruti Winterstein. The convoy turned back to Jerusalem as it approached the Erez Crossing upon being told by Defense Minister Ehud Barak “there was a threat that could materialize."

Blair’s visit to Gaza, his first since becoming the Quartet’s Middle East envoy, was intended to spotlight an internationally-funded waste-water project and to focus attention on Gaza’s economic problems.

Although did not intend to meet with any Hamas leaders during the visit, in keeping with the Quartet conditions to shun the group until it officially recognizes the State of Israel, renounces terrorism and upholds agreements made by the previous Palestinian Authority governments, Hamas was nonetheless outraged that he cancelled at the last minute.

“The story of security threats was only an Israeli invention to prevent the visit,” charged Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri. “Blair should not have accepted these silly allegations.”

According to the Associated Press, “Although the once lawless Gaza has been mostly pacified under Hamas' stern rule, there are still shadowy extremist Muslim groups in the territory. On an Islamist forum popular with Gaza residents, some users slammed Blair's expected visit, but there were no direct threats of violence against him. Those comments were later removed from the Web site.”

Two new Hesder yeshivas have been added to the growing list of such institutions, which combine intensive Torah studies with military service. The most recent additions were authorized by Defense Minister Ehud Barak this week and approved by I.D.F. Personnel Director Maj.-Gen. Elazar Stern. The I.D.F. Personnel Director, who periodically clashed with Hesder yeshiva heads over matters of principle, is concluding 34 years of military service this week.

One of the new Hesder yeshivas, B'nei David, the pre-military academy in the town of Eli, is well-known for its graduates' success in the I.D.F.'s most prestigious units and for their sacrifices during the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The second fresh addition to the Hesder roster is in Shima'a, south of Hevron. The teachers and students there were evicted from their homes in the Samaria community of Homesh during the 2005 Disengagement.

Other relatively recent additions to the network of the Hesder yeshivas include those of Carmel, also south of Hevron, and Carmiel in the Galilee. Several yeshivas remain on the waiting list for approval, such as those in the southern city of Ashkelon and in the northern city of Afula. There are currently around sixty Hesder yeshivot, spread equally between cities, development towns and smaller communities.

The Hesder yeshiva track in the I.D.F., combining yeshiva studies and army service, was based on the Nachal Brigade program combining agricultural work on collective farms with military service. A Hesder yeshiva student-soldier generally serves for a period of 16 months to two years in uniform, interspersed with up to four years of full-time seminary studies. Most Hesder yeshiva students serve in combat units of the I.D.F. 

Until Maj.-Gen. Stern's term as head of the I.D.F.Personnel Directorate, groups of Hesder soldiers were assigned to homogeneous units within existing brigades. However, Stern sought greater integration of the yeshiva student-soldiers and in 2005 he began limiting the homogeneous Hesder units, which aroused great opposition by leading Hesder rabbis. Eventually, the Hesder yeshiva heads agreed to a distribution of their students in the general army population on condition that at least 12 Hesder soldiers were able to serve together in any single unit. Some homogeneous yeshiva-graduate units still exist, but they have been limited to a great extent by the Personnel Directorate.