Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak has decided to stay in the Olmert government, reneging on a campaign promise he made during Labor's primary elections last year and outraging fellow Labor Knesset Members.

Barak, who heads the second-largest party in the coalition, made the announcement Sunday morning, thereby securing the continued existence of the Olmert government in the wake of the Winograd report. The interim and final reports of the Winograd Commission, released in April 2007 and January 2008, harshly criticized the prime minister, holding him personally responsible for the many errors in judgment and flawed decisions made by the government during the Second Lebanon War.

Speaking at a news conference June 6, 2007, one week prior to the party's runoff primary that led to his election as Labor chairman,  Barak told reporters, "The Winograd Report is a tough report, requiring personal conclusions. Olmert must come to his own personal conclusions and resign, as did Dan Halutz and Amir Peretz, in their way." Barak added that "if Olmert does not quit before the release of the final report, we [Labor] will be forced to end our cooperation with Olmert, and work to create a new coalition within the current government, or alternatively, we'll work toward setting a date for elections."

Barak appeared at the news conference together with fellow Labor Knesset member Ophir Pines-Paz, who announced he would back Barak's candidacy but had also made it clear his support was conditional on Barak's position vis a vis the Winograd Report.

Labor Party members slammed Barak's decision to renege on his promise to end the party's participation in the Olmert government, warning the party could lose grassroots popularity by supporting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the wake of the Winograd Report.

Had Barak kept his vow to pull his 19-seat party out the coalition if Olmert did not resign or call new elections after the release of the report, the government would have collapsed. Olmert would have then been forced either to build a new coalition or call new elections.

MK Shelly Yechimovitch (Labor) said she is "sorry" about the decision, and said Barak's decision would have negative repercussions on the Labor Party. Party Secretary Eitan Cabel said Barak squandered a chance to show leadership. "I'm sorry to say he failed to do that. The Labor Party may well suffer badly for that decision."

Another Labor Knesset Member, Danny Yatom, slammed Barak and Olmert together, saying he was "disappointed" that Barak failed to force Olmert to "make a decision." "In any normal, moral country, Olmert would have resigned in light of the report, or the Labor Party would have created a situation where he would have been forced to do so," said Yatom.

In an editorial published in the Yisrael HaYom commuter newspaper, writer Gonen Ginat said the commission cited more than 150 instances in which Olmert failed in his handling of the war. Ginat also noted that Justice Eliyahu Winograd (ret.) said in his statement last Wednesday following release of the final report, "We stand behind all that we wrote in the partial [interim] report, and the two reports should be seen as complementing each other."

Then-Defense Minister and Labor Party head Amir Peretz also was severely criticized in the commission’s interim report, as was former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, who later resigned.  Peretz was ousted as chairman by his own party in primary elections for the chairmanship three months later, losing his position as Defense Minister as well. Ehud Barak was elected on the strength of his promise to pull out of the coalition if Olmert didn’t step down following release of the full report.

The final Winograd Report released last week largely skirted the issue of the prime minister’s culpability in the failure of Israel to conclusively win the war against Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon and generally avoided naming names in assigning blame for the outcome of the conflict.

The members of the Winograd commission were hand-picked by Olmert himself, who thus also avoided establishment of a more authorative state commission of inquiry to investigate the government’s management of the war. A state commission would have been an independent entity with the authority to subpoena witnesses and later use the testimony in subsequent court action.

The Opposition parties were quick to respond to Sunday’s announcement by Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak to stay in the Olmert government, thereby preventing the collapse of the Olmert coalition.
 
“Just like Olmert refuses to take responsibility for the war’s failings, so too does Barak refuse to fulfill his clear, unambiguous commitments, Steinitz pointedly responded. “It seems leadership is no longer leadership, that a promise is no longer a promise.”

Barak rode to victory in party primaries for the chairmanship last June on a vow to pull Labor out of the coalition, possibly forcing new elections, if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not resign following release of the Winograd Report.

Barak's decision to break that promise was met with fierce condemnation.
 
Likud Knesset Member, Yuli Edelstein charged that Barak bore responsibility for creating the situation that led to the Second Lebanon War in the first place. Six years prior to the war, then-Prime Minister Barak ordered Israel’s hasty retreat from the security zone maintained by the IDF in southern Lebanon.

Barak’s decision in May 2000 left a vacuum that provided an opportunity for the Hizbullah terrorist organization to rebuild its infrastructure and re-arm to levels greater than those with which they battled the IDF in 1982.

“After all,” said Edelstein, “the first kidnapping of IDF soldiers (in Lebanon) occurred while [Barak] was Prime Minister. That incident left him completely dumbfounded; he failed even to fight Hizbullah. Now he prefers to avoid taking responsibility in order to cling to his position, just like the rest of his colleagues in this government.”

Another opposition Knesset Member, National Religious Party (NRP) head Zevulun Orlev, said Barak’s decision dragged Israel’s political morality to new lows. Also the head of the parliamentary Lobby to Implement Winograd group, Orlev added that Barak has broken a number of explicit commitments with one miserable decision.

The HaTikva Party also weighed in with similar sentiments saying that Barak missed the opportunity to make a significant contribution to the nation’s security by ending the Olmert government and bringing about new elections.

“Ehud Barak has turned the Labor Party into Ehud Olmert’s tail,” read the HaTikva party statement. “Both of them are concerned only with avoiding responsibility and political survival, rather than with national security."

A virtual tour of Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount, brings those who have never been upon Mt. Moriah on a tour of Judaism’s holiest site.

Israel National Radio’s Rabbi Chaim Richman, who heads the Temple Institute, has released a first-of-its-kind video that allows every Jew to experience a tour of the Temple Mount.

click here for part 1
click here for part 2
click here for part 3

Due to disagreements over the location of the area of the Holy Temple firbidden to be tread upon and, to a large extent, political and ideological factors, many Jews refrain from visiting the Temple Mount. Rabbi Richman’s video tour, filmed on the Mount in strict adherence with Jewish laws governing the ascent of Mt. Moriah in our time, has now been made available free of charge via the Internet in the hopes of providing all Jews with a connection to Judaism's holiest site.

The video gives a deep historical perspective on each part of the Temple Mount, beginning with an introduction regarding the various opinions as to where the Temple was located and which areas are permitted to visit today.

“The idea is that we are motivated to get as close as we can to the holiest place on earth,” Rabbi Richman says, “to be seen by G-d, to be seen by the Jewish people and even to be seen by our enemies – to let them know we have not forgotten about our Holy Temple.”

The Rabbi says he chose to take the simplest route, sticking to the outer perimeter of the mount added by King Herod when he expanded the platform. The video stylistically performs the approach to more controversial areas through the zoom lens. “We are not going to go as close as we can this morning,” Rabbi Richman explains on the video, “which is what I do when I bring someone here for the first time. On certain sides we can go much closer, but I do not want to give the wrong impression to any viewer who may become confident that he knows the permitted areas, comes here on his own and gets confused, entering a forbidden area.”

Filmed in 2005, a heavy police presence is apparent, with members of Israel’s police, as well as the Muslim Wakf religious trust keeping close supervision to make sure Rabbi Richman or his compatriots to not utter a prayer. “This is the one place on earth where, as a Jew, I am actually obligated to pray,” Rabbi Richman explains. “And it is the one place, where according to modern Israeli law, I am forbidden, as a Jew, from praying. One sees here how fearful the Muslims are of the power of Jewish prayer.”

In the part of the tour, the Rabbi expounds from an ancient Jewish text called the Tractate of Middot which is “the blueprint of the Temple.” He speaks about the Temple as though it were standing, painting a mental picture for the viewer and transporting them back in time to the Temple period, when on Jewish festivals Jewish pilgrims would flock en masse to the Mount.

Rabbi Richman says hundreds of thousands have already viewed the virtual tour. “There have been rabbis and community members whose rabbis are against visiting the Temple Mount that have gone up because of the video,” he says. “I have received letters from rabbis and others who are very intellectually honest. A very Hareidi rabbi told me that he was always under the impression that it was simply forbidden. But now, he said, “I saw and listened to you and then researched it for myself and realized the reasons for staying away are political.”

There remains staunch opposition to ascending the mount, though no religious authority has ever suggested that taking a virtual tour could be problematic. A placard at its entrance placed by the Chief Rabbinate says “Entrance to the Temple Mount for Jews is forbidden by Jewish law” and even senior national-religious Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of Beit El and the Ateret Kohanim Yeshiva in the Muslim Quarter has been a vocal opponent of a Jewish presence at the site. The virtual tour allows those who are unconfortable with ascending the Mount to strengthen their connection with the site in a manner acceptable to them.

Rabbi Richman is optimistic. “Not only have more Jews been visiting the Temple Mount each day since this video was recorded, but we are truly living in a different generation now. There is a new awakening and a collective admission of fault for our abandonment of the Temple Mount.”

The rabbi cautiously reports that police have been much more cooperative and encouraging of groups, large and small, visiting the Temple Mount recently. “There are cynics who see it as just letting us ‘blow off steam’ as the government makes plans to abandon the Mount altogether, but I believe we are witnessing the recognition that the Jewish people are returning to the holiest place on earth and that is an insurmountable force.”

Egyptian officials warned the Hamas terrorist organization in talks Saturday that it will re-close its border with Gaza on Sunday.  It began the latest attempt Sunday morning.

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar, considered to be one of the architects of the Hamas takeover of Gaza last June, said the terrorists would not interfere.

"Egypt's message was very clear that Sunday should be the day to put an end to this scene," he told reporters at the border town of Rafiah. He added that no weapons would be allowed at the border, nor would violence or abusive language toward Egyptian police be tolerated.

Returning to Gaza after the talks in Cairo, Zahar told reporters that Egypt was willing to allow thousands of Palestinian Authority Arabs to travel on to third countries for which they have visas or residency permits. The would-be travelers are currently stuck in the Egyptian town of El Arish awaiting Egyptian approval to continue their journeys.

Zahar did not elaborate on statements made by fellow Hamas officials that Hamas would retain control of the border and use it to end reliance on Israeli electricity and fuel supplies.

Hamas operatives blew up the border fence more than a week ago, enabling hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Authority Arabs to flood into Egypt from Gaza. At first Cairo welcomed the visitors, but after Rafiah store shelves were emptied and it became clear that many Gaza residents planned to remain in the country as refugees, Egyptian officials reversed their stand.

Attempts last week by Egyptian soldiers to begin closing the border failed. Metal spikes and other measures taken by Egyptian soldiers to restore the border were hauled away by Hamas terrorists or swept away by Hamas-driven bulldozers.

As late as Friday, deposed PA Prime Minister and Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh said he would not allow the border to be resealed. "The Palestinian people have many options," he said cryptically in an interview with the Hamas daily Palestine newspaper.

However, Zahar appeared to contradict Haniyeh's stance in an interview on Al-Jazeera satellite TV, saying "We will work to close the border between us and Egypt," said Zahar. "We will restore control over this border, in cooperation with Egypt and gradually."

The exact nature of the closure and the pace at which it would take place was unclear, as was the level of participation in future border control Egypt would allow Hamas, if any.

Egypt and Israel agreed last week to allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah-led troops to resume control of the border under the supervision of European Union observers and a video link monitored by Israeli security agents.

The arrangement was originally agreed upon by all parties and implemented in late 2005. Egypt shut down its side of the Rafiah crossing terminal, however, when Hamas terrorists ousted Abbas's forces and seized control of Gaza in June 2006.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is expected to arrive in Egypt for talks on Sunday.

Hamas demands to be given control over the Gaza side of the terminal have been ignored and the EU has said it would return its observers to the crossing only under the conditions of the 2005 agreement, according to Reuters.

Hamas Prime Minister of Gaza Ismail Haniyeh and his top aide say Gaza will disengage from Israel and strengthen its ties with Egypt.

“Gaza must forge stronger economic ties with Egypt, as a way of disconnecting from Israel,” Haniyeh told the Associated Press Saturday.

Senior Hamas official Ahmed Yousef also mentioned the shift in policy, saying Egypt has agreed to an interim arrangement, under which a joint Egyptian-Hamas committee would share control of the border – effectively breaking an Israeli blockade and Egypt’s past agreements with Israel. Yousef told the London-based Al-Shark Al-Awsat that Gaza would also depend on receiving much more fuel and electricity from Egypt, and less from Israel. He said the plan would be funded by Arab and Muslim countries, which would aid Gaza through Egypt, “Gaza’s gateway to the Arab world.”

"Several Arab countries have already expressed marked willingness to trade with Gaza and to fund energy export projects,” Yousef said. He added that Gazans may stop using the Israeli shekel in the future. “Residents of Gaza can always trade in American Dollars, Jordanian Dinars or Egyptian Pounds at a later point," he said.

Egypt has not yet commented on the matter, but once again began attempting to close the border with barbed wire Sunday morning.

Senior Israeli officials and IDF top brass were quoted Saturday saying that the Hamas plan to cut itself off from Israeli economically would be in the interest of the Jewish state.

Senior Fatah officials voiced their disapproval of the Hamas plan to end dependence on Israel, calling it “a definite disaster.” Fatah spokesman Fahmi al-Zaarir said the plan would lead to Gaza being split from Judea and Samaria, “dividing the Palestinian state as Israel has always longed to do.”

Fatah officials have intimated that Egypt may include Fatah in the border arrangement as well. Such a move would be the first step in renewed cooperation between Fatah, which is being bolstered by the US and Israeli government, and the Islamist Hamas.

Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair told the Times of London that Hamas had enacted a very effective strategy to end the boycott and blockade of Gaza. “Hamas have a clever strategy, which is why I keep saying we need a clever strategy as well, which helps the people, isolates the extremists and points out the fact that if at any point in time the rockets stop, the whole situation will be transformed,” Blair said.

Three suspects in Friday's terrorist attack on the Israeli embassy in the west African country of Mauritania were arrested Saturday morning as they tried to escape a police roadblock. The identities of the three young men were not released.

Mauritanian officials were working together with Israeli and US authorities in their investigation of the incident in capital city of Nouakchott. Six terrorists yelled "Allah Hu Akbar!" ("G-d is great" in Arabic) and then opened fire at the embassy.  The attackers exchanged shots with the embassy's guards before fleeing on foot to a getaway car.

No one on the embassy staff was hurt in the attack, said Israeli Ambassador Boaz Bismuth, who noted that few people were present at the time of the attack, approximately 2:00 a.m. Three people were injured, all French nationals, including a man who fell as he tried to flee the scene, a restaurant owner and a passerby.

Bismuth told reporters that despite foreign media reports, only one terrorist actually shot at the embassy. In an interview with IDF Army Radio, he added, "Both countries understand the severity of the incident."

There was no immediate comment from the Mauritanian government, which later claimed the target was a discotheque located next door to the embassy. The establishment is a popular spot with Western nationals.

After the attack the area was immediately roped off by Mauritanian authorities, who continued to block journalists and visitors from entering the area on Saturday.   

Mauritania, which is a member of the Arab League, is one of three Muslim nations with diplomatic ties to Israel. Formal relations with the Jewish State were established in 1999.

More than a week after Hamas terrorists blew apart the border fence separating Gaza from Egypt, the Gaza-Egypt border remains on Friday little more than a line in the sand, as Egyptian, PLO and Hamas leaders, as well as top Israeli officials, continue to bicker about restoring international norms to the border crossing.

International media reported Thursday that Egyptian forces would seal the border "soon," but said that it was inclement weather that kept local many Arabs from wandering between Gaza and Egypt in recent days. Fox News reported that Egyptian soldiers prevented automobile traffic from Gaza, but said individuals were free to cross the border on foot at will.

Since the current crisis began on January 23 Israeli politicians have expressed concern that the open border would facilitate weapons smuggling into Hamas-occupied Gaza. In addition, it could enable Gaza terror squads to cross over into Sinai and reemerge elsewhere in Sinai or on the southern Israeli border, in order to carry out terror attacks. These could be directed against Jewish civilians in Israel and on vacation in Sinai resort towns such as El Arish.

Security officials in Jerusalem said the breach has led to the introduction of thousands of rifles, ammunition, explosive material and more into Gaza since January 23.

Friday, Egyptian security forces said they apprehended 12 armed Gazans in Sinai. They said the individuals, including two Hamas members and two Islamic Jihad members, planned to attack Jewish tourists in the peninsula. All but two members of the terrorist cell are believed to have come from Gaza. The remaining pair came to Egypt from the Gulf states.

Who will control the border?

Sealing the border has developed into a four-way dispute between Israel, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has long insisted that Israel must maintain control of the international border, a demand rejected by both PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas strongman Ismail Haniyeh. But Olmert changed course last week, saying Israel would support PA control of the Rafiah crossing.

This may pave the way for a solution which involves joint control of the crossing by the PA and Hamas. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader told the Arabic television network Al Jazeera Friday that his organization "is not against sharing control of the Rafiah crossing" with Abbas' Fatah group, but he insisted Fatah refuse to bow to "pressure from Israel."
 
Egypt, for its part, has warned Arab Gazans currently in Sinai to return home or face arrest, but apparently does not object to Hamas control of the Rafiah border. President Hosni Mubarak has invited both Hamas and Fatah leaders to Cairo for mediation talks, but he has warned Israel that Gaza would "never" return to Egyptian administration.

The hareidi-religious Council of Torah Sages in Israel and the United States has issued a call for a day of prayer and fasting this Tuesday in response to the threats facing the Jewish people.

Addressed to “Our fellow Jews living in Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel) and to Jewish communities everywhere,” the proclamation continues:

“The difficult situation of the Jewish community in Eretz Yisroel fills us with trepidation.  Nobody knows what the new day will bring.  In our sins, we see the fulfillment of the posuk [Biblical verse] "Behold Your enemies are in uproar and those who hate You have raised their heads. Against Your nation they deviously plot, and take counsel against those whom You protect." Our eyes are lifted in prayer to the Creator, that all of the goings-on in the world turn out for the good.

“From both within and without the crisis mounts. The danger threatens both body and soul. During these days, items are on agendas that could place entire populations of Jews into grave danger, G-d forbid - including those in the Holy City of Jerusalem. Further, there are constant attempts to undermine the foundations of pure education [Hareidi-religious education without secular studies –ed.] in Eretz Yisroel and to cause harm to the holiness of the Nation of Israel.  Therefore it is incumbent on us to fortify ourselves with Torah, prayer and good deeds, to awaken the mercy of Heaven.

“Dear brethren, awaken and inspire yourselves to pour out prayer before the Creator of the world, that He have pity and protect His nation from all who stand up against us, that He abolish the intentions of those who hate us and nullify the plots of our enemies, and that the eyes of the misguided be opened to the realization that their path is foolishness and they should leave Hashem's nation to guard its path and faith, without hindrance or interference.

We therefore call on members of Hashem's holy nation in all the places they reside, men, women and children, to gather in tefilla [prayer] on Tuesday, Erev Rosh Chodesh Adar Rishon, 5768, to recite chapters of Psalms and the liturgy of Yom Kippur Koton [the traditional minor day of repentance on the eve of every new Jewish month –ed.].

May Hashem hear our pleas, and turn His face to us so that we may be saved with a permanent salvation soon.  And let us merit to see, quickly, the redemption of Yisroel, and gaze upon the building of the Beis HaMikdosh, quickly in our days, amen.

The proclomation is signed by the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (the hareidi-religious Council of Torah Sages), and the hareidi political parties Agudas Yisroel (Chassidic) and Degel HaTorah ("Flag of Torah”) – together the United Torah Judaism party. It was joined by the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America.

A Brazilian court has axed a float celebrating the murder of 6 million European Jews from the country's legendary Carnival parade, international media reported Friday.

Judge Juliana Kalichszteim slammed both the Unidos do Viradouro samba school and parade organizers, saying racial hatred had no place in the annual celebration in the streets of Rio De Janeiro  "[The] Carnival should not be used as an instrument of hatred, any kind of racism and clear trivialization of barbaric and unjustified acts against minorities," she said in her injunction banning the float."

The Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro (FIERJ), which filed the request to ban the float, welcomed the ruling and said the Holocaust theme was inappropriate for one of the world's premier celebration events.

"The monstrosity that is the Holocaust just cannot be combined with the excessively festive nature of the carnival, a festival recognized worldwide for its joy, humor, entertainment and eroticism," said FIERJ attorney Ricardo Brajterman.

Designers insisted the float was not intended to cause offense. One man, Paulo Barros, said the float was a work of art meant to honor both Holocaust victims and freedom of speech.

"This an extremely serious work," he said, "and people think we're mocking… We're going to speak now of the right to freedom (of speech)."

Spokespeople for the Viradouro samba group bemoaned the loss of money and time spent on the float. Artist Andreia Vieira, the creator of the plastic mound of dead bodies, called it "a major loss, a lot of money and labor spent," and the club's percussion director Master Cica said he was "frustrated" about the last-minute ban.

Traditionally, Carnival is a Christian celebration marking the start Lent, a 40 day period of repentance and self-introspection that precedes the Easter holiday. Traditional Catholics abstain from many worldly pleasures, including the consumption of meat, during this time.

In more recent times, however, the festival has become South America's most renowned party, with parades, beachfront parties and wild celebrations more reminiscent of college students on spring break than religious penitents seeking spiritual exultation. In addition, local police have been accused of "protecting" the festivities by attacking local violence-ridden slums near the festival grounds. Locals say many innocents have been killed in police raids in the past.