Hamas terrorists in Gaza continue firing rockets at Israel practically unabated.  Israel presents its case to UN.

The IDF reports that six Kassam rockets were fired at Israel Wednesday morning, landing in the western Negev. One of them caused heavy damage to a house and nearby buildings in a kibbutz south of Sderot. 

Around the same time, ten miles to the southeast, terrorists in Gaza fired at farmers in Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha, lightly wounding one man as he tried to run away.  Just ten weeks ago, a volunteer from Ecuador was murdered in a similar attack while working in the kibbutz fields.  Earlier this month, St.-Sgt. Liran Banai was killed when a PA terrorist-planted bomb was detonated under his patrol jeep in the same area.

A woman in the kibbutz told Ynet that she was with her 8-month-old baby when she heard the Color Red early warning alarm: "We had no time to run away because the explosion happened immediately. We also don't have reinforcement [in our home], so we just stayed where we were.  The rocket fell very close to the house, our windows were broken, and the shower door was uprooted from its place." Another woman said, "Shrapnel flew to the neighboring houses, and it was a miracle that the damage wasn't worse." 

Similar rocket attacks have been ongoing throughout the week.  On Tuesday, five Kassam rockets and five mortar shells were fired at Israel; no damage or casualties were caused.

Gillerman Speaks
Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Gillerman, summed up the situation by telling the Security Council on Tuesday night that the apparent lull in Hamas rocket attacks is only superficial, because the bombs keep ticking, albeit quietly, while Hamas is using this time to smuggle in and produce more rockets.
We can all thank Iran for adding yet another weapon to the Hamas arsenal...


Excerpts from Gillerman's speech:

"During the last month, Hamas fired more than 300 rockets at Israel, at least 23 of them Iranian-made Grad missiles that hit the city of Ashkelon... The rocket attacks marked an escalation of violence not just in number, but also in weaponry. Grad rockets - smuggled into the Gaza Strip from Iran during the breach of the Gaza border this January - have greater range, larger warheads, and fragment on impact. Hamas' new weapon of choice means that a quarter of a million Israeli civilians now live in constant danger of rocket fire. We can all thank Iran for adding another weapon to the Hamas arsenal, in addition to its already heinous suicide attacks and deadly Kassam rockets...  [Hamas also] continued to wreak havoc and daily terror on the people of Sderot - a small but resilient city of 23,000, where children no longer run around on playgrounds; they now run to bomb shelters. Such is the reality in Sderot, where 15 seconds is all you have to find safety before a Kassam rocket comes crashing down... 

"Though some wish to refer to the apparent lull in Hamas' rocket attacks, I must warn that the perceived quiet is only on the surface. The bombs keep ticking, albeit quietly... Hamas is using this time to smuggle in and produce more rockets. Building rockets is not quiet. It is a silent promise - a promise of what is to come next: more terror and more violence, more extremism and more bloodshed...

"I am sure that many in this Council watched with horror and disgust as Hamas terrorists joyfully fired their rifles into the air [after the Merkaz HaRav slaughter] and passed out candy to children in celebration. If anyone doubted what the extremists stand for, the reaction in Gaza to the murder of eight Israeli boys sets the record straight. It was also a stark reminder that these were the same people who danced on the rooftops after 9/11.

"Which is why, Mr. President, it was so sad and disturbing that the Council could not condemn the terrorist attack... The Security Council has a longstanding practice of condemning terrorism, no matter the victims, no matter the location, no matter the perpetrator, no matter the motivation. Yet the Council could not unanimously condemn this terrorist attack and intentional killing of civilians, for the Council was blocked by a politicized opposition, of one Member State [Libya - ed.] in particular...

"Lately, a particularly worrisome trend has been apparent when it comes to the discourse concerning our region. Some have a penchant for equating the lawful actions of states in defense of their citizens with the violence of terrorists whose goal is to endanger those very civilians. The misguided tendency to accept the "status quo" of terrorism - as expressed even by some UN officials in their statements and reports - is simply unacceptable. Such parity, which is often in the name of an ill-conceived balance, undermines the strength and credibility of moderate states to bolster one another and isolate the extremists.
Some have a penchant for equating the lawful actions of states in defense of their citizens with the violence of terrorists whose goal is to endanger those very civilians.


"Israel goes to great lengths to ensure the safety and well-being of all civilian populations - Palestinian and Israeli alike. Whereas Israel makes all efforts to protect civilians in accordance with international law, Hamas indiscriminately fires rockets into Israeli civilian areas. Whereas Israel ensures that medicines and fuel enter the Gaza Strip to reach hospitals and needy civilians, Hamas hijacks those trucks and diverts them to its bomb making factories and terrorist camps. Whereas Israel allows humanitarian convoys into Gaza - more than 1,600 trucks and over 20,000 tons of aid in recent weeks alone - Hamas cynically fires on those same crossing points, so it can fabricate a pretext for inciting the Palestinian public against Israel.

"Moreover, the cruelty of Hamas continues to be seen in its holding of Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by that terrorist organization in June 2006 and begins today his 22nd month in captivity. All the while, Hamas has refused to provide details of his condition or well-being. We continue to hope and pray for his safe return home..."

Gillerman also addressed the situation along Israel's northern border, noting that Hizbullah is violating the ceasefire reached after the Second Lebanon War nearly two years ago in three areas: Weapons continue to flow illegally through the porous Syrian-Lebanese border; Hizbullah is rearming, and "has already adapted its weaponry and tactics so as to take into account the UNIFIL presence south of the Litani River, as its spokesmen openly declare; and Israeli soldiers Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev have still not been released by their Hizbullah kidnappers.

Peres, Too
Earlier Tuesday, President Shimon Peres noted that while Israel evicted nearly 10,000 Jews from their homes in Gaza, all the country received in return was a steady barrage of rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory.

Nationalist camp opinion is divided as to whether Israel should allow the PA to police the city of Jenin.  Gen. Amidror and MK Edelstein weigh in.

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror says that giving the PA a chance to instill civil order in Jenin is likely to give Fatah an edge over Hamas. MK Yuli Edelstein says that giving more guns to PA Arabs is not just a "calculated risk," but actually a clear and present danger.

Both spoke with Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine on Tuesday.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has agreed to allow 600 armed Palestinian Authority policemen to patrol the northern Shomron city of Jenin, located 25 miles northeast of Netanya. He explained that it is a "calculated risk" at the expense of security for his countrymen. "We have overriding responsibility for the security of Israeli citizens," Barak said on Tuesday, "but in order to improve the chances in our talks with the Palestinians, we must try to make things easier for them - even at the price of a calculated risk."

Overall security responsibility in Samaria will remain in Israeli hands.

Gen. Amidror thinks it's a good idea. "We have no pretense of being responsible for the people of Jenin," he said, "and the Palestinian Authority is trying to take responsibility. This is how it is in Shechem [Nablus]. It won't be so bad if they instill some law and order there - instead of us having to send in our forces for that."

"If we see that these policemen use their weapons in terrorist attacks, we should shoot them with no hesitation," Amidror said.

Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, however, says it's not a question of "if," but rather "when."  "You can ask the Zoldan, Rubin and Amichai families," Edelstein said, "whose sons were murdered by PA policemen with weapons given them to instill law and order yet were turned against us instead."

Ido Zoldan, 29 and a father of two, was murdered in a terrorist shooting attack near Kedumim this past November. Though the murderers were arrested the next day, the government waited two weeks - until after the Annapolis Conference - to announce that they were PA policemen.

A month later, Amikam Amichai  and David Rubin, two soldiers on a hike in the Telem area west of Hevron, were ambushed and murdered by Arab terrorists.  One of the killers was employed in the PA American-trained security forces; rather than be caught by Israel, he and his accomplice gave themselves up to PA forces shortly after the murder - and last week they "escaped" from their jail cell, in what many Israeli obervers have called the PA's revolving door policy of setting wanted terrorists free.

In a letter to Defense Minister Barak after hearing of the decision to allow PA policemen to patrol Jenin, Zoldan's father Nachman asked in the name of his and other terror-victim families to please "reconsider your decision.  Over the years, considerable facts and figures have emerged that all point to deep involvement of those same Palestinian security forces, in all its ranks and levels, in the terror campaign against Israel. This involvement in terror, ranging from intelligence gathering through actual terrorist acts, is carried out by uniformed and plainclothed Palestinian policemen as well as high-ranking police officers."

Zoldan also expressed concern about the permission granted by the Defense Minister for the PA policemen to be trained in Jordan under American auspices: "Recent terrorist attacks have displayed a regrettably much-improved performance of the terrorist organizations.  We are therefore very concerned regarding permission you granted to these same policemen to undergo training in Jordan. This training, under American guidance, will grant them heightened professionalism that will enable them, according to past experience, to act in the future against us, civilians and IDF soldiers alike, with increased effectiveness."

Zoldan also noted with concern Barak's decision to allow the transfer of 40 armored cars to the PA, granting future terrorists "mobility, navigability, maneuverability and the ability to evade our forces."

Zoldan concluded with a request "for an urgent meeting regarding your appalling justification of your decision to 'take calculated risks.' The many ramifications of this statement include life in the shadow of bereavement and loss, the ongoing hellishness of pain and grief for the immediate families and extended circles of friends of slain victims, and the rage at the murders.  And the murdered victims! -- those whose only 'crime' was to travel on the roads to their homes, their jobs or their studies; 'salt of the earth' who placed their faith in you, their elected leaders, to protect them. And you take 'calculated risks' with their lives!  You, our elected representatives, do not take risks with your own lives, but are closely guarded and secured at great monetary cost to the public. Therefore it is not ethically appropriate to cast 'calculated risks' on the unwitting public."

Asked about the escape of the murderers of the two hikers, Gen. Amidror said, "Israel should have acted very differently in the first place.  Instead of asking for favors from a foreign entity [to find them], Israel should make sure to find them and kill them herself."

Amidror said that Hamas is becoming stronger because of three reasons. The first two - corruption in Fatah, and Hamas success in running Gaza - are not in Israel's control, he said, "but the third one is up to us, and that is Hamas military strengthening.  If we leave the cities totally, Hamas will win.  We have to make sure to put a stop to the growth in Hamas military capacities.  If the Fatah policemen make sure to keep law and order, the people there might realize that there is an alternative to Hamas."

Edelstein sees it differently: "Bringing armed Fatah policemen into Jenin will turn Jenin into a terrorism capital."  He said it is a mistaken conception to believe that "we have a partner in [Fatah chief] Mahmoud Abbas and that we must strengthen him.  We used to say we have to strengthen Arafat, and now it's Abbas, but the bottom line is that we always end up fighting against the weapons that we gave them.  Even Abbas himself said recently that he does not rule out the possibility of a third intifada..."

The Knesset unanimously passed legislation Tuesday eliminating some of the bureaucratic red tape required to establish new permanent communities for former Gush Katif residents. The bill, introduced by MK Zev Elkin (Kadima), moves to correct a major failure of the 2005 Evacuation-Compensation Law that was intended to compensate victims of the Gaza disengagement plan.

Gush Katif and northern Shomron residents were made homeless in the framework of Ariel Sharon's 2005 Disengagement Plan, in which Israel demolished 25 of its own towns with the stated purpose of improving its security situation.

The law gives the government one year to resettle people who lost their homes in Gaza, and requires Prime Minister Olmert to report to the Knesset every three months with a progress report on resettling the families. 

"We have set a timetable for the government to resettle the evictees," said Elkin," and we managed to shorten the timeframe as was previously done for new immigrants. If it is possible to do so for new immigrants, we must also take care to do it for the evictees."

Despite the 2005 law providing compensation for lost homes in Gaza, successive governments have failed to establish new communities to replace the flourishing ones that were destroyed. As a result, hundreds of refugee families have been stranded in temporary dwellings since being evicted from their homes nearly three years ago. Residents say the temporary structures are barely inhabitable, and recent reports suggest a high percentage of Gaza evictees continue to suffer trauma as a result of the eviction.

I am pleased we have managed to right a wrong, and happy that we managed to overcome opposition from the government to provide a little help for the evictees," Elkin added. 

Once again, a furor surrounding US Presidential candidate Barack Obama has erupted, this time over a senior military advisor to the Obama campaign with a history of anti-Israel remarks. He has strongly criticized pro-Israel Jews in the United States for allegedly torpedoing peace efforts in the Middle East.

In a 2003 interview with The Oregonian newspaper unearthed by The American Spectator magazine, General Merrill "Tony" McPeak, a former chief of staff in the United States Air Force who is a candidate for secretary of defense in a potential Obama administration, claimed that efforts to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority failed because there is no US-written "playbook" to create peace.

An interviewer asked General McPeak "So where's the problem? State? White House?" McPeak pulled no punches. "(The problem rests in) New York City. Miami. We have a large vote here in favor of Israel. And no politician wants to run against it…nobody wants to take on that problem. It's just too tough politically. So that means we can't . . . you can't develop a Middle East strategy. It's impossible," he said.

Even prior to the Oregonian interview, McPeak was known as a long-time critic of Israel's presence in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights. In a 1976 article in Foreign Affairs magazine, he criticized Israel for refusing to withdraw from areas liberated in the 1967 Six Day War, even as he wrote poignantly about the vital security advantages Israel obtained by conquering those areas.

"At the Suez Canal, Israel had the best 'tank ditch' in the Middle East. The Gaza Strip, long a nursery for Egyptian-supported terrorism reaching to within a few miles of Tel Aviv, had come under Israeli administration. On the Golan, Israel at last held the high ground. The bulge of the West Bank, an implicit threat that Israel would be cut in two, had been superseded by the line of the Jordan River. More important, the air threat to Israel had disappeared, at least for the moment. Tel Aviv had been 12 minutes flying time from Egyptian bases in the northern Sinai," he wrote.

Yet the same article calls for an Israeli withdrawal from those areas, and seems to suggest that despite Israel's legitimate security concerns, "genuine security depends on regional accommodation, which the Arab states say cannot occur until all of the occupied territory is returned."

Latest storm
The storm surrounding McPeak is the latest in a series of anti-Israel revelations to tar the Obama campaign in recent months. Obama has long been a favorite son of left wing elements in the United States, but has been strongly criticized for failing to cut ties with radical preacher Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Wright has called Israel a "racist country," said that "Israel" is a dirty word, and claimed US foreign policy was responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Another anti-Israel activist, Arab-American Ali Abunimah, has claimed to know Obama well and to have met him on numerous occasions at pro-Palestinian events in Chicago.

During his tenure as a junior air force commander, McPeak spent time in Israel and participated in joint exercises with the Israeli air force. He acknowledged that he enjoyed his experiences here, "but that's maybe the more cosmopolitan, liberal version of the Israeli population," he added.

Zionist Canard
McPeak also charged Jews and Christian Zionists with dual-loyalties, and said that concern for Israel manipulated American foreign policy in Iraq.

"Let's say that if one of your abiding concerns is the security of Israel as opposed to a purely American self-interest, then it would make sense to build a dozen or so bases in Iraq," he said.

Yekutiel Ben-Yaakov, convicted over a private referendum he conducted, was sentenced on Tuesday to 200 hours of community service, along with a suspended sentence of six months in jail. Ben-Yaakov's parole period is to last for three years. About 50 demonstrators, including some musicians playing protest songs, showed up outside the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, where sentencing took place.

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Ben-Yaakov, of Kfar Tapuach, was convicted for "incitement to racism" as a result of a street referendum he designed prior to Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. His referendum asked which was preferable: then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan, which would expel Jews from Gaza and Samaria, or an alternate plan to expel hostile Arabs from Israel. More than 100,000 people from Israel's major cities participated in the referendum, with over 90 percent saying they would rather expel hostile Arabs.
More than 100,000 people... participated in the referendum, with over 90 percent saying they would rather expel hostile Arabs.

"It's outrageous that a country that calls itself a democracy can put someone on trial for making a referendum," Ben-Yakov told the press before sentencing. "A referendum is the purest form of democracy.”

Ben-Yaakov believes he was charged with incitement not because of the nature of the referendum, but because it demonstrated to the government to what extent the Disengagement Plan went against the will of the majority. 

Participants in Ben-Yaakov's referendum were given a ballot card asking if they "prefer the 'Sharon/Peres Disengagement Plan,' which includes transferring Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control and expulsion of all Jews who live there. Or do you prefer the 'Jewish Alternative Disengagement Plan,' which includes annexing these territories and expulsion of the Arabs living there to an area outside Israel, deep beyond a safe security buffer zone?"

Jerusalem-based Human rights activist Attorney Irving Gendelman calls into question the validity of the incitement law and asks, "Would a person be culpable if his alleged act of incitement was intended only to express an opinion on political issues inherent in a democratic country?" Gendelman says that use of the law at the expense of basic human rights inclusive of the right to democratically oppose governmental political policies "is an anathema." He concludes, "In Israel, it is debatable whether full freedom of expression within democratic norms is permitted by the Israeli Government."

Yekutiel Ben-Yaakov, formerly known as Mike Guzofsky, moved to Israel from New York. He ran the Hatikva Jewish Identity Center for one of the Jewish Defense League branches in New York City.

The first 40 soldiers taking part in a new program designed to give them marketable post-army skills have just finished their basic training.

The military program, called Maalot, a Hebrew acronym for Comprehensive Training and Employment Program, is a targeted service track that gives selected soldiers training needed for both the military and civilian industrial
Soldiers completing the specialized courses will then be employed according to their training.
workforce. Among the courses offered to Maalot soldiers are computer numerical control (CNC), aircraft construction technology, and certification for electricians and mechanical engineering technicians.

The Maalot soldiers were taken on tours of industrial facilities and were exposed to the various learning options during the course of their regular IDF basic training. Soldiers completing the specialized courses will then be employed accordingly for the duration of their military service, after which they will transfer to work in private industrial factories.

The pilot Maalot program currently underway, including a coordinator assigned to the unit, is sponsored by the IDF, the Industrialists Association, the Joint Distribution Committee, and the Ministry or Industry and Trade. Towards the end of the pilot, the sponsors will consider expanding the new service path to more participants and to other industrial training options.

One of the stated objectives of the Maalot program is to address the serious lack of quality skilled workers in Israeli industry, according to the Industrialists' Association.

The Knesset Interior and Environment Committee held a session on Monday with the goal of making sure that what happened at Mt. Meron in the Galilee on March 14 never repeats itself.  Its strategy to this end: Find a body that will oversee and operate the holy site.

March 14 coincided this year with the Hebrew date of the 7th of Adar Bet, the traditional birthday and yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of Moses.  As on this date every year, many hundreds of Jews made their way to the site - in the Galilee mountains, where the holy Tannaitic Sage Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai is buried - in order to commemorate the occasion with prayers at the holy site.

When they arrived, however, they were faced with a local council closure, police blockades, and confusion - and many people were turned away.

The story began when the local Merom HaGalil Regional Council issued a closure order on the day of Adar 7, claiming a lack of parking spots and that the structures at the holy site are dangerous to the public.  However, MK David Azulai (Shas) later told Arutz-7 that he believes this was merely a ploy by the Regional Council to put pressure on the national government for additional funding for the site.

When thousands of people began arriving at the site despite the closure, the police tried to instill order.  They diverted traffic in many places, and prevented access in others - leaving the elderly and physically handicapped unable to reach the holy site.  "It was a big mess," MK Azulai said. "The police were not prepared for what happened, and it was total confusion."

MKs Azulai, Litzman (United Torah Judaism) and others say that the problem stems from a lack of clear authority over the site.  "Many bodies have a claim there," Azulai said, "including the police, the Regional Council, the Ashkenazi and Sephardi hekdeshim (bodies that have been unofficially running the place for decades), the Tourism Ministry, the Holy Sites Authority, etc."

MK Listzman Inititates Session
For this reason, MK Litzman initiated the Knesset Committee session.  The committee members decided that within two weeks, the police are to present a report regarding the holy site of Mount Meron, based on which the committee will designate a body to run and oversee it.

The issue is of critical importance with the impending approach of the minor holiday of Lag BaOmer - when each year over 100,000 people descend onto the site, many of them days in advance, to mark Rabbi Bar-Yochai's date of death.  Lag BaOmer is now less than two months away.

2nd Only to the Wall
Tourism Ministry figures show that Mt. Meron lags behind only the Western Wall in the number of visitors it attracts annually.  This, too, however, is cause for concern, in that security precautions are practically non-existent. "Tens of thousands of people enter the site without even a minimal security check," warned the Mt. Meron Committee Chairman, Mordechai Halpern, who took part in the session.

Deputy Regional Police Chief Kobi Bechar agreed with the MKs.  "We also want to know who's in charge there," he said. "It's obvious that there must be one authority that will be responsible for running it."

Following the police report, it is likely that an authority - such as the Western Wall Heritage Foundation that runs the Western Wall - will be established to operate and oversee the holy site of Mt. Meron.  

The Jerusalem Magistrates Court has postponed the trial of former President Moshe Katzav for two weeks. Defense attorneys requested the delay in order to examine evidence against Katzav and to prepare new evidence they say could significantly change the direction of the trial.

The prosecution agreed to the request.

Katzav's legal team of Zion Amir, Avigdor Feldman and Avraham Lavi has demanded access to all evidence gathered by police during the investigation of their client before appearing in court, including material that was not included in the indictment against Katzav. Legally, the prosecution must grant access to all evidence related to the charges, but is not required to reveal material that was uncovered during the investigation stage if it was ultimately not included in the indictment.

The defense says the secret material could help Katzav prove his innocence, and could help destroy the credibility of complainant "A," the main protagonist in the case who worked for Katzav at the ministry of tourism. She has maintained that she suffered "extreme psychological damage" as a result of ongoing sexual advances.
Katzav was due to appear in court Wednesday to plead guilty to two counts of sexual harassment. In June, he resigned the presidency just two weeks before his seven-year term ended and accepted, according to a plea bargin, suspended sentence with no jail time. The original charges could have carried a sentence of up to 20 years.

Women's and civil rights groups slammed the deal, saying it left women defenseless against unwanted sexual advances. Now, it appears that Katzav is also having second thoughts about the plea bargain. Earlier this week, defense lawyers demanded the opportunity to cross-examine "A" in order to challenge her credibility as a witness. They said Katzav could withdraw his acceptance of the plea bargain if denied the opportunity to question "A," and said they would consider a full-blown public trial if that’s what it would take to put "A" on the witness stand.

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