Police again questioned United States businessman Moshe (Morris) Talansky for several hours on Monday at the Fraud Unit headquarters in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv. Talansky has been questioned several times as part of a police investigation into the latest corruption allegations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The latest interrogation, police said, was necessary and urgent.

Talansky, in Israel to visit with family since the Passover holiday, was initially questioned several weeks ago. The latest interrogation, police said, was necessary and urgent due to new evidence gathered from the Jerusalem city hall earlier on Monday.

Fraud Unit investigators searched offices belonging to the Jerusalem municipality for papers related to the latest Olmert allegations. They confiscated a series of documents and soon afterwards decided to question Talansky again. Police had searched the same Jerusalem city hall offices five months earlier in connection with a different corruption investigation involving the Prime Minister.

Fraud Unit officers said they probably will ask the courts to order Talansky to remain in Israel for further questioning. Talansky had requested that he be allowed to return to his seriously-ill wife in the United States.

Talansky is being questioned as a suspect in the case. Prosecutors are asking the courts to allow what is known as "early testimony" in coming days. Early testimony is a process in which the court hears testimony even before it has been decided to press charges. The procedure is generally requested when prosecutors believe that it will not be possible to obtain relevant testimony during the trial, should there be one, for reasons beyond state control. Olmert's attorneys have challenged the prosecutor's request to allow early testimony.

According to information revealed to the press, with some details still withheld under a partial gag order, Prime Minister Olmert is suspected of accepting cash bribes while mayor of Jerusalem and as Minister of Industry and Trade. Both Olmert and the suspected source of the illegal funds, Talansky, have denied that the cash that traded hands over a lengthy period of time was in any way a bribe.

A 70-year-old woman was killed early Monday evening when Palestinian Authority terrorists fired a rocket into the western Negev community she was visiting. The victim has been named as 70-year-old Shuli Katz, a resident of Kibbutz Gevaram.

13-year-old Israeli boy returns to his destroyed bedroom which suffered a direct hit by a Kassam rocket while he was sleeping in the room. Sderot 10May08
Flash 90

The enemy rocket, apparently an Iranian supplied Russian Grad model Katyusha, slammed into the residential area of Moshav Yesha, located 21 miles east of Be'er Sheva in the Negev's Eshkol region, around 6:00 pm. It landed in close proximity to the victim, killing her almost instantly. She was in the community with her son, intending to meet with a relative who had come to Israel from the US for a visit. When the Red Alert siren went off, the visitors took refuge in a nearby home, but for a reason that is still not clear, the woman who was killed was standing outside the building when the rocket landed.

In what can only be described as tragic irony, the visting American had not wanted to meet with her relatives in Kibbutz Gevaram because she felt it was too close to Gaza and therefore open to rocket attack by the PA. Moshav Yesha is further away from Gaza and out of range of the Kassam rockets frequently fired by Arab terrorists; however, it is exposed to attack by the Katyusha.

A paramedic who was on the scene said that they got ready to move the minute the Red Alert was sounded. Unfortunately, he said, there was nothing for medics to do but find the woman's son in the house and give him the tragic news.
There was nothing for medics to do but find the woman's son.


Sounding furious and frustrated shortly after the Kassam rocket attack, Eshkol Regional Council Mayor Chaim Yellin told reporters, "Why are you interested in what's going on here only now? We are at war, period! We have been at war for years. And the government does nothing!"

"Yesterday there also could have been tragic results when the rocket landed next to a school bus," Yellin said, referring to a near-miss when Arabs in Gaza attacked Negev communities on Sunday afternoon.

Gaza terrorists have continued to fire rockets at Jewish communities in the Negev throughout the day Monday, despite their request for a ceasefire. Gaza terrorists fired two rockets at Israeli communities in the western Negev on Monday afternoon. The rockets appeared to have beeen aimed at the Erez Crossing. Over the Sabbath and Sunday, terrorists fired dozens of rockets, as well, taking the life of a resident of Kfar Aza. At least two other people were wounded in the barrages.

Senior Hamas terrorists explained that they would continue to attack until the minute that a ceasefire goes into effect.

Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for killing the senior citizen in Moshav Yesha Monday evening.

Monday evening in Jerusalem: Thousands of people yelled, sang, held signs, protested and demanded the release of Jonathan Pollard from US prison. The hope was even mentioned that US President George W. Bush would bring Pollard with him when he arrives in Israel on Wednesday.

At the same time, three Pollard letters were in the news: One written by 13 former Prisoners of Zion to Bush, asking him to pardon Pollard and ensure that he does not die in prison; one by the young winner of the International Bible Contest to Prime Minister Olmert, and a third by Pollard himself and his wife Esther, praising the young Bible scholar for her actions.

Jonathan Pollard is well into his 23rd year of a life sentence with no possibility of parole for passing classified information to a United States ally - Israel. He is the only person in the history of the United States to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally. The median sentence for this offense is 2-4 years.

The data in question included information about Iraq's offensive weapons capabilities.

Monday's protest began when dozens of Pollard activists formed a human chain outside the U.S. Consulate in downtown Jerusalem.  Shortly afterwards, thousands began to gather in Freedom for Jonathan Pollard Square - also known as Paris Square - between the Prime Minister's residence and the Great Synagogue.  Among the speakers were Esther Pollard, Jonathan's long-time lawyer Larry Dubb, activist organizer Nissan Gan-Or, Yosef Mendlevitch, Shifra Hoffman, Atty. Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, Nadia Matar and Moshe Feiglin.  Popular Israeli singer Ariel Zilber, whose appearances at right-wing events over the past several years have harmed his career, and folk singer Ari Ben-Yam performed original songs on behalf of Pollard.

Letter to Bible Champ
The Pollards wrote a letter of congratulations to International Bible Quiz winner Tzurit Berenson, who capped off her victory last Thursday by asking Prime Minister Olmert to secure Pollard's release.  The 15-year-old winner handed Olmert a letter that she and her two runners-up had written, asking the Prime Minister to do all he could to have US President Bush pardon Pollard.

"The eyes of the Nation were upon you, in your moment of victory," the Pollards wrote.  "In that moment, you gave honor to HaShem [G-d] and to His Torah. In that moment, you took your learning and used it the way that it was intended, not for mere scholarship or trivia, but for action! Ashreinu Yisrael! Fortunate are we, the People of Israel, to have such a model of righteousness in our midst! Fortunate are we to have you as a model of Torah-true action!"
Ex-Refuseniks Warn Bush
The letter by the Prisoners of Zion to Bush was written in a particularly strong tone, warning the President that "if, G-d forbid, Pollard should die in prison, complex questions will remain unanswered which may permanently damage the reputation and affect the conscience of America."

The 13 signatories - former prisoners of conscience in the USSR- wrote that the price they paid for standing up to oppression was nothing near what Jonathan Pollard has paid:  "Our principle of identifying with our brethren and with Israel, with justice, freedom and the battle against obvious and veiled antisemitism took a toll of many years of imprisonment in the Soviet Union. However, none of us even came close to the period of imprisonment of a quarter of a century as is taking place in your country, in the case of Jonathan Pollard."

The 13 also made the point that Pollard alone, among all those who spied against the US for the Soviet Union and other enemies during a critical period in history, remains in prison:

"Pollard was active in a period that the evil Soviet empire of cruelty, espionage and world subversion was at its peak. Every clear-thinking person can ask himself: Is there any agent of this horrible and hostile power that remains in an American prison? We all know the answer: Nyet!

"Has anyone who operated against the USA during that period on behalf of any foreign intelligence service whatsoever been punished with such severity as Pollard? Again, we all know the answer: Nyet!

"Therefore, the question arises regarding the discrimination against Pollard, which cries out to the heavens. He exposed the ominous secrets of Iraq, not of the USA, in order to save Israel, a country friendly to America (the only democratic, bona fide and reliable friend in the Middle East). So why is he loathed more than any true enemy? Why is he treated in such a brutal manner? Why and for what reason has there been such a travesty of injustice? Is it his Jewish origins or his devotion to Israel that is the cause of this treatment?

"Is there really equality before the law in the United States of America, or are there people of lesser value than others?"

The Prisoners of Zion then once again alluded to the danger that Pollard might die in prison unless Bush takes action:

"You, Mr. President, have the power now to correct this injustice - but only as long as two flames remain: the flame of the life of Jonathan Pollard and the flame of your term of office. You have the opportunity to pardon Pollard and enter the history books as the one who removed this dark stain on the conscience of your country. This is an act of benevolence of the highest order, appropriate for the President of the greatest world power, who supposedly stands for the struggle against world evil.

"We urge you to respond in a positive manner to the call of the conscience of freedom-loving people."

Signed on the letter are Ida Nudel, Yosef Mendelevich, Silva Zalmanson, and ten others who paid for their devotion to Israel with time in Soviet prisons.

(Israel News Photos: Ezra HaLevi)

New olim (immigrants to Israel) from 23 countries arrived at Ben Gurion Airport last week in honor of Aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel) Day.  The event, organized by the Jewish Agency, marked the arrival of more than 3 million immigrants to Israel since the state's establishment 60 years ago.

Absorption Minister Ya'akov Ederi is on hand, being asked questions about his party's leader, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, which he says he would rather not discuss.

Jews arriving in Israel from France.

A young French Jew arrives in his fabulous new homeland.

A Jewish family choosing Israel as the place to raise their child.

A new oleh (immigrant) from France is interviewed by a journalist about his decision to make the move.

A hareidi-religious couple happy to be in the land where the Torah has so many more applications.

Russian Jews continue to make Aliyah.

The 'Great Shofar' heralds the ingathering of the exiles.

The Russian immigrants vary in age, with a number of students arriving without their families.

The new immigrants are handed roses by Jerusalem schoolchildren who welcome them 'Home.'

Some of the olim are obviously quite hip...

...others have a golden smile...

...many shed not a few tears as they were greeted with open arms and Hebrew songs...

A Jerusalem school-teacher is overcome by emotion at the sight of all the new arrivals.

"It is amazing to see what it was like for our grandparents when they made Aliyah," say two sisters from Jerusalem's Talpiot neighborhood, who came with their class to welcome the new olim.

The new immigrants are treated to speeches, mostly in Hebrew, though headphones providing translation into Russian and French were available.

A pair of patriotic new olim.

Israeli circle-dancing ensued with the entrance of the groups of olim to Ben Gurion Airport's old Terminal 1.

Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar blessed the new arrivals, saying their act of making Aliyah was simple, yet precious, like bread. He proceeded to make a blessing on the bread, which was given out to those present as a prayer for their success and absorption.

The sweet 'mezonot chalah' blessed by Rabbi Amar is eagerly distributed to the new olim.

David, a star on Israel's popular 'A Star is Born' talent show welcomes his own family on Aliyah from France.

Many new immigrants who have never had any contact with a rabbi are excited and emotional at the blessing of Rabbi Amar and the prayer for success accompanying the bread.

Aliyah. The Jewish family reunification program.

A French immigrant displays a Jewish newspaper incorporating Arutz-7's French-language reporting.

"It is no like in the 50s, when we did not know what to expect - you knew about all the problems and you chose to come anyway," said Absorption Minister Ya'akov Ederi.

An older olah displays emotion throughout the ceremony.

Longtime Aliyah activist and former Knesset Member Geulah Cohen observes the Aliyah Day festivities.

Security personnel are offered the crumbs left from the blessed bread. "Blessed by Rabbi Amar, the holiest there is," says the woman passing it out. The security agents split the crumbs.

A new oleh studies a holy book during the speeches.

Irena Sendler (Sendlerowa), a Polish woman who risked her life to save 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazi killing machine during World War II, passed away on Monday at a Warsaw hospital. She was 98 years old. Sendler is survived by her daughter and granddaughter.

Sendler was one of the first people honored by the Israeli Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem as
Sendler was one of the first people honored by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations.
one of the "Righteous Among the Nations" for her efforts to rescue Jews. However, she was not permitted by Poland's Communist regime to travel to Israel at the time of the honor, in 1965.

Sendler was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize at the behest of Polish President Lech Kaczynski. The Polish President expressed "great regret" and called Sendler "an exceptional person" who displayed uncommon bravery in her life.

In 2003, Irena Sendler received the Jan Karski Award for Valor and Courage. In 2007, the Polish Senate honored Sendler, as well. In a letter to the legislators last year, Sendler wrote, "Every child saved with my help and the help of all the wonderful secret messengers, who today are no longer living, is the justification of my existence on this earth, and not a title to glory."

Sendler, a Catholic, was in charge of the Children's Division of Zegota, an underground group in Nazi-occupied Poland dedicated to assisting Jews. She took part, as a member of Zegota and beforehand, in efforts to provide persecuted Jewish families with food, shelter and false documentation. However, Sendler is most well known for her key role, along with a network of 30 others, for having smuggled approximately 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and into Polish safe houses in 1942 and 1943.

Irena was eventually captured by the Nazis, tortured and sentenced to death. It was only thanks to a bribe offered to the executioner that Irena was able to escape death, and she then went into hiding herself for the remainder of the war.

In order to assure that the rescued Jewish children would be able to return to their people after the war, Irena wrote their names and locations on slips of paper, which were eventually hidden in a jar and buried. At the end of World War II, it was clear that the vast majority of the relatives of the hidden children had been murdered in Nazi death camps.

Rescuing the Rescuer's Story
In 1999, the story of the jar of names and the heroism behind it inspired four American students from Uniontown, in rural Kansas, to study the events for a National History Day project. Three ninth-grade girls, Megan Stewart, Elizabeth Cambers and Jessica Shelton, and an eleventh-grade girl, Sabrina Coons, wrote a performance called "Life in a Jar", in which they portrayed the life of Irena Sendler. After the girls managed to make contact with Sendler in Warsaw, the play gained national and international press attention.

Since 2000, the young women, now married and out of college, have performed the play hundreds of times before varied audiences around the world (245 performances as of March 2008). "Life in a Jar" has inspired an Irena Sendler Day in Uniontown. The Irena Sendler Project collects funds for Polish Holocaust rescuers, and grants the Irena Sendler Award, which is given to one teacher in Poland and one in the United States whose innovative and inspirational teaching of the Holocaust exemplifies Sendler's respect for all people.
Students currently involved with Life in a Jar have tracked down the fate of about 650 of the children.

Students currently involved with Life in a Jar have tracked down the fate of about 650 of the children whose names Irena wrote down. The lists themselves were taken to Israel after the state was founded.

After meeting the Kansas students and being told of their tremendous efforts to preserve and pass on her story, Irena Sendler said, "My emotion is being shadowed by the fact that no one from the circle of my faithful coworkers, who constantly risked their lives, could live long enough to enjoy all the honors that now are falling upon me.... I can't find the words to thank you, my dear girls.... Before the day you have written the play 'Life in a Jar' nobody in my own country and few in the whole world knew about my person and my work during the war...."

Further details of Irena Sendler's story can be read on the Life in a Jar website.

A new study carried out at Brandeis University finds that as the liberal Jewish community empowers its women, its men appear to be losing interest in their Jewishness.

According to a report in JTA, which published parts of the study, "outside the Orthodox world, men are becoming less and less engaged in every aspect of Jewish life, from the home to the synagogue to communal organizations. Numerous studies show that fewer boys than girls go to non-Orthodox youth groups, religious schools or summer camps, fewer go into the rabbinate and cantorate, and fewer serve on synagogue or federation committees.

This comes as women and girls in the liberal movements are benefiting from a host of programs and initiatives aimed at increasing their Jewish involvement, from gender-neutral prayer books to the popular Jewish identity-building program for teenage girls, 'Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing.'"

Sociologist Sylvia Barack Fishman authored the study, which is called “The Growing Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life” and will be available online June 1 at www.brandeis.edu/hbi.

Tough news for feminists
Using hundreds of interviews she conducted for the American Jewish Committee and data from the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Study, Fishman and her student co-author Daniel Parmer describe an American Jewish life "increasingly populated by women." Female dominance is especially apparent within the Reform movement, where the numbers of boys in post bar-mitzvah religious schools, youth groups and summer camps are declining, more than half of the recen
"We need to look at what’s happening and be honest about it."
tly ordained rabbis are women, and all this year’s entering cantorial students are female.

While noting that feminist scholars have a hard time accepting the idea of a “boy crisis” in liberal Judaism, Fishman is not apologetic: “As soon as you say that women dominate certain aspects of Jewish life, it sounds as if you’re saying, 'Let’s go back to the way things were.' That’s not the point of my research, but we need to look at what’s happening and be honest about it,” she told JTA.

Her report also suggests that as Jewish men outside the Orthodox fold become increasingly estranged from religious and communal life, they are more likely to marry non-Jewish women. She concludes that "the boy crisis in liberal Judaism is leading to a continuity crisis that will not be resolved until liberal Judaism finds a way to engage its boys and men."

Israel and Europe celebrated their respective milestones on Monday in the "European Village" in Rishon LeTzion, Israel's 4th-largest city.

The double celebration commemorated Israel's 60th anniversary and Europe Day, the 58th anniversary of the 1950 Schuman Declaration that led to the creation of the European Union. 

Among the visitors at the 'European Village' in Rishon LeTzion were Foreign Ministers Tzipi Livni, Education Minister Yuli Tamir, and the President of Slovenia, Danilo Tuerk.  In addition, the European Union saluted Israel's 60th birthday independence with a festive Europe Day concert with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv.

The "European Village" was created by 29 Rishon LeTzion junior high school classes. Each class adopted one of the 27 member states of the European Union and displayed its culture by means of giant models, including a Dutch windmill, a Portugese fishing boat, an Irish pub and the like. Two additional stands were devoted to the State of Israel and to the European Union.

The "European Village" is a joint initiative of the Ambassador of Slovenia to Israel, Boris Sovi, and the Rishon LeTzion municipality. It was produced in close cooperation with all EU Member State embassies, the EU Commission Delegation and Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
Also Monday, a festive Europe Day concert in Tel Aviv launched the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's (IPO) Independence Festival series. The IPO played a 'European Kaleidoscope' consisting of works by leading European composers, following a formal Europe Day reception hosted by the EU Commission's ambassador to the State of Israel, Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal.

Cibrian-Uzal, who also heads the delegation of the EU Commission to the State of Israel, offered his "warm congratulations on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence. This year's joint celebrations reflect the fact that the European Union and Israel are now experiencing one of the most intense and fruitful periods in the long history of their cooperation, and are now jointly reflecting on how to further upgrade relations to a special status. It is my greatest wish that in this 60th year of Israel's independence, Israelis will be able to exercise their right and realize their dreams of a much more peaceful and secure future."

Two Major Book Fairs
Also in honor of Israel's 60th birthday, two of Europe's largest book fairs this year. honored Israel as their "guest of honor." Dozens of Israeli authors were invited to France and Italy for the fairs, each of which regularly draws more than 200,000 people. The fairs featured displays and activities about Hebrew literature and the culture of the Jewish State.

A7 Radio's " Yishai & Friends Show"

What is it like to have a Nazi as your neighbor? Israelis know the answer! What is more important: to be Israeli or to be Jewish? Yishai knows the answer! Is it wrong to build your life in America if you're an Orthodox Jew? One American does not know the answer! Also: Moshe Feiglin on Pollard, corruption, and of course, Jewish Leadership!

Listen Now

or

Download

   
How to use XML?

• Court: TV Over Computer Not Liable For TV Tax
• Pope Thanks G-d For Israel's Establishment
• Gush Katif Expellees Sue PM's Office Wednesday
• Gaydamak Announces He's Running For Jerusalem Mayor