Authorities are hoping to throw the proverbial book at eight members of a neo-Nazi gang Monday, indicting them on charges of causing grievous bodily harm and Holocaust denial, as well as other crimes.

But they won’t be charged for the one crime which eclipses all others in its implications: neo-Nazi activity.

Reason: Neo-Nazism is not against the law in the State of Israel.

Legislators in the Jewish State never created a law specifically outlawing anti-Semitic hate crimes. Clearly, no one ever thought there could come a day when such a law would be needed.

Israel Police Inspector-General David Cohen said Monday there are dozens of neo-Nazis in Israel. He added that a number of neo-Nazi web sites have been operating in Israel for years and although it is not yet a widespread problem, the phenomenon is growing.  Police are working on tracking them down, Cohen emphasized.

Nonetheless ministers were stunned, during their weekly Sunday morning cabinet meeting, when they viewed footage of the teenagers’ activities. 

Police superintendent Yigal Ben Shalom, who headed the year-long investigation into the gang, said the videos were indeed shocking. “The materials we found were difficult to watch,” he said.

The videos were found on computers seized from the two primary suspects in the case, 21-year-old Ilya Bondenko of Petach Tikva and Arik Bunyatov, who is suspected of being the leader of the teenage wannabe Nazis.

One of the videos showed the gang members punching a foreign worker in the face and busting a bottle on his head as he spoke on a public telephone.

Another showed members of the group surrounding a Russian heroin addict and, after the man admits he is Jewish, beating him mercilessly, along with another man who tries to assist him.

The teens and other people in the clips were wearing skinhead, neo-Nazi clothes, with several actual uniforms found during searches of the suspects’ homes. The footage was accompanied by a blaring music bed and shots of swastikas and other Nazi symbols flashing between segments. 

The detectives also found photos of the group giving the "Heil Hitler" salute in front of a synagogue in Tel Aviv as well as an M-16 assault rifle, a cache of explosives, Nazi uniforms, posters of Hitler, and knives.

Other materials on the computers led detectives to conclude that suspects planned to celebrate the birthday of Nazi mastermind Adolph Hitler at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum.

Parents of several of the gang members denied their sons had any connection with neo-Nazism and blamed Israeli society for the teenagers’ behavior.

The father of Vladimir Tronorotsky, for example, said his son wore a swastika tattoo as a way to get out of the army. “After being screwed over all the time, he had finally had it. He came home and showed me his arms and said ‘Now they’re sure to take me out of the army, the Jews can’t stand that.’”

The elder Tronorotsky, Alex, said he was horrified, telling his son that his grandfather Yaakov had fought the Nazis while serving in the Red Army.  Vladimir’s mother Yvetta is Christian.

Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said  all the suspects were immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and seven out of eight of them were not Jewish according to Jewish law. He said the group had carried out at least 15 attacks, many against religious Jews.

In the 1990's, the Jewish Agency brought into Israel some one million immigrants from the former Soviet Union, of which an estimated 250,000 to 330,000 are not Jewish. The endeavor was funded largely by funds donated by Jews and funneled through the United Israel Appeal.

Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Weisenthal Center said that the neo-Nazi cell was the result of lax laws granting Israeli citizenship to people "with little connection to Jewish history, the Jewish people, the Jewish religion and Jewish culture."

Although the arrests were made a month ago, a gag order prevented coverage of the matter. Police had been investigating over 20 people involved with the group ever since the vandalizing of a large synagogue in Petach Tikvah over a year ago. The neo-Nazis had painted swastikas and other Nazi symbols on the walls,and the insides of prayer books.

A teenage Arab was intercepted at an IDF checkpoint 30 miles northeast of Tel Aviv Sunday afternoon transporting bombs to be used in a suicide attack in Tel Aviv in the next 24 hours.

Border Police manning the Beit Ibba checkpoint west of Shechem (Nablus) apprehended a PA Arab youth carrying three bombs. The bombs were supposed to be transferred to a terrorist on the other side for use in an attack in the Tel Aviv area. The explosives were detonated by IDF sappers and the terrorist was handed over for interrogation.

The IDF is on its highest alert, reporting that Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest of the terror groups operating in Judea and Samaria are all trying their hardest to carry out a fatal attack ahead of the High Holidays.

Mortars and Kassam Rockets
Terrorists from Gaza launched a barrage of mortar shells at the Kerem Shalom Crossing and nearby Kibbutz by the same name Sunday morning. The crossing is used to transfer food and humanitarian aid to Hamas-ruled Gaza. Ten mortar shells were also fired over the Sabbath. No injuries were reported, though a water pipe was damaged by one of the explosions.

Terrorists also fired a Kassam rocket at the western Negev. The Kassam landed near a Kibbutz in the Shaar HaNegev region. No injuries or damage were reported.

Shootings and Bombs
In Samaria, Arab terrorists opened fire on an Israeli motorist driving north of Ramallah. No injuries were reported, though the vehicle was badly damaged.

South of Ramallah, IDF soldiers arrested a wanted terrorist Sunday morning.

Two bombs were thrown at IDF soldiers operating in Kabatiya, south of Jenin, early Sunday morning. Saturday night, Arab terror gang members threw a bomb at a group of IDF soldiers operating in Shechem. No injuries were reported in either attack.

Arabs Uproot Jewish Vineyard Again
An IDF patrol spotted five Arabs uprooting and destroying about 180 vine seedlings Saturday afternoon between Neria and Nachliel, in the Binyamin region. The Arabs, realizing they were caught in the act, escaped into the nearby Arab village of A-Kabila.

This is the second major vineyard attack in recent weeks. In a previous incident, Arabs and radical leftists destroyed some 5,000 plants in the same area.

In both cases, the seedlings had been planted in order to ensure that they begin growing before the Shemitta year begins with the advent of Rosh Hashana.

Syria will file a formal complaint with the United Nations Security Council on allegations that Israeli Air Force aircraft flew over the northern enemy nation last Wednesday night.

The charges include invasion of air space and bombing, which Syria claims occurred over open fields in the north of the country.

Syrian officials announced Thursday that their armed forces had fired at an IAF aircraft during the incident. “The Israeli plane arrived from the Mediterranean Sea towards northeastern Syria and broke the sound barrier,” said Syrian officials in a statement to the media.

“Anti-aircraft fire forced it to leave, after it threw out ammunition without causing damage. We have warned the Israeli enemy against taking such offensive action, and we reserve the right to retaliate appropriately,” continued the statement.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Naher published an unconfirmed report a day later that Damascus had begun to call up its reserve forces, but the reason behind the move was unclear.

Israel: “No Comment”
Israeli government officials were initially tight-lipped about the claim, saying “Israel does not comment on reports of this nature.”  Jerusalem has continued to maintain its grim silence on the alleged incident.

In an unusual move, journalists were barred from carrying out the customary individual interviews with government ministers prior to entering the weekly Sunday morning cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly banned the preliminary media coverage specifically to prevent comments on the issues surrounding the alleged incident. A spokesman said the government instituted the policy in order to avoid inadvertent leaks to the media.

The new policy came after Labor MK Raleb Majadle, appointed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as Minister of Culture, Science and Sports, broke the government’s policy of silence on the incident over the weekend. Majadle told reporters that Israeli planes enter Syrian airspace “all the time.” He also speculated that the planes entered Syrian airspace “either to take photographs or by mistake.”
 
U.S. State Department, White House: “No Comment”
The U.S. State Department and the White House both issued an official “no comment” reaction to the alleged incident as well.
“Those stories conflict with one another so really I just don’t have anything for you on it,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters. He added that he had “no information that would be able to substantiate any of the charges that have been made.”

The usual off-the-record channels used by reporters seeking additional information were also sealed shut this time around.

Defense analysts have said however that the peak window of time in which tensions between Syria and Israel could further escalate had passed and that it is unlikely a war will break out.

Turkey and Syria to Discuss Issue Monday

Turkish officials have been discussing the alleged incident with Syrian authorities since the reported discovery Thursday of two jettisoned IAF fuel tanks on Turkey's side of the border with Syria.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem is scheduled to meet in Ankara Monday with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and newly-appointed

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. Discussions are expected to focus on the alleged incursion although the meeting itself was planned prior to the incident, said Turkish sources.

“Such developments may lead to additional tensions at a time when our region is passing through a critical period,” Babacan told reporters over the weekend, adding that the Turkish government expects Syria and Israel to “act with restraint.”

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced Sunday that it found the site which served as a backdrop for a famous scene in the Great Jewish Rebellion against Rome in the 1st century. The Authority has uncovered a 70 meter long section of Jerusalem's main drainage duct. It was inside this drainage duct that Jerusalem's Jewish inhabitants hid from the Roman invaders when Rome sacked Jerusalem, according to historian (and Jewish turncoat) Josephus Flavius.

After a prolonged siege, Jerusalem was conquered by the Roman general Titus Flavius in the year 70 CE, and the Temple was destroyed. The Roman army placed a siege around Jerusalem by digging a trench around the city's walls, and building an additional wall around that trench. Anyone caught attempting to flee the city was crucified. Tens of thousands of crucified bodies encircled Jerusalem by the end of the siege.

Throughout the siege, many of the Jewish warriors' family members hid out in a drainage canal that carried rainwater from the Temple Mount to the Pool of Shiloach (AKA Siloam). This is the duct that has been exposed by archaeologists. When the city fell, some of the Jews hiding in the duct managed to escape through its southern section.

Liberty or Death
By the summer of 70, the Romans had breached Jerusalem's walls, ransacking and burning ne
Throughout the siege, many of the Jewish warriors' family members hid out in a drainage canal. This is the duct that has been exposed.
arly the entire city. Contemporary historian Tacitus notes that those who were besieged in Jerusalem numbered more than six hundred thousand, and that men and women alike and Jews of all ages engaged in armed resistance, preferring death to a life that involved expulsion from their country.

Dig directors Professors Roni Reich of Haifa University and Eli Shukrun of the Antiquities Authority said that over the past 1,937 years, the valley which Jerusalem's main road was in, and the famous canal beneath it, was covered by a ten meter deep layer of sediment. Only after digging through this dirt were the ancient ruins exposed.

The canal, they told reporters Sunday, is made of hewn rock and pavement stones. It is three meters high and one meter wide in parts, and walking through it is easy. Pottery, parts of clay vessels and coins from the Second Temple period were discovered in it.

The northern segment of the canal, which has yet to be uncovered, apparently reaches the Kotel area.

It should be noted that while Josephus' accounts are the most detailed source for information regarding the Great Rebellion, the degree of their historical accuracy is a matter of dispute.

OC Central Region Commander Maj.-Gen. Gad Shamni has suspended five soldiers from combat duty who refused to take part in the eviction of two families from Jewish-owned property in Hevron last month.

Shamni reached the decision after reviewing the protocols of the hearings in which the five were sentenced to up to 28 days of army incarceration.  A decision on the other soldiers who refused to evict Jewish families in Hevron has not yet been reached.

The suspension from combat service was announced just hours before a special awards ceremony for the soldiers is to be held, sponsored a grassroots group, the "Task Force to Save the Nation and Land."  The organization  stated, "The soldiers who refused to expel Jews are a model of behavior for the entire Nation of Israel.  We should embrace and adopt them - and that is what we will do this evening, when we award them for their actions."

The ceremony will be held at the Heichal David hall in the Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Central Bus Station.  It will begin at 7:30 PM with a musical performance by popular Israeli entertainer Ariel Zilber.

The radical left-wing organization Peace Now has asked the police to outlaw the ceremony, claiming it is a form of "incitement and rebellion."

The incident took place a month ago, when two families were violently forced out of their homes in the Shalhevet neighborhood of the ancient Jewish town.  The houses are built on the site of the Jewish-owned former Hevron marketplace, near the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.  Three thousand Border Guard officers, Yassam special forces and IDF soldiers took part in the operation, which involved the destruction of the homes and a building that served as a synagogue. Dozens of supporters attempted to block the eviction.

With water-supply issues gaining in world-wide importance, countries around the world recognize Israel's contribution to study of water.

A junior high school program named Blue Planet is on its way to being translated into Chinese, with UNESCO's backing, after having already been translated into Spanish.  Translations into three other languages are also being prepared.

The curriculum, written by Weizmann Institute scientists Prof. Nir Orion and his former student Dr. Orit Ben-Zvi Assaraf, involves inter-disciplinary learning, with an emphasis on outdoors field activities. The chemical, physical, and biological aspects of the water cycle are taught in an integrated manner, featuring processes such as permeation, vaporization, and the rocks/water reciprocical relationship.

Questions of relevant interest are raised, such as, "Would the amount of water on earth be depleted following increased use of water? Is the water in Israel drinkable? What is considered good-quality water?  How is water quality tested?"

A ceremony was held on Sunday in Weizmann Institute's unique glass-enclosed EcoSphere dome, where the Spanish version of the book was presented to a UNESCO representative. The authors plan to visit Latin America in the near future, where they will help teachers implement the Blue Planet study program.