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1. Terrorist Phone Transcripts Evoke Horror of Mumbai Attacks by Hana Levi Julian A small Jewish toddler was orphaned in Mumbai last November amid a reign of terror carried out for the "prestige of Islam," according to a transcript of phone calls (see below) between the terrorists and their handlers published this week in an Indian newspaper. The terrorists murdered six Jews during the multi-pronged attack which began November 26, 2008 and ended in a river of blood at the Nariman Chabad House and additional locales. The three-day slaughter, which took the lives of dozens of others elsewhere in Mumbai, India as well, also carried the additional goal of damaging relations between Israel and India, as expressed by the handlers from Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terrorist group. The team of 10 terrorists struck the CST Railway Station, the Leopold Café, the Taj Hotel, the Oberoi Trident Hotel and the Nariman House Jewish Center, also known as the Chabad House. Among the 165 civilians and security personnel who were killed in the attack were 26 foreign nationals; 304 others were wounded as well. ‘Prestige of Islam’ The transcripts, translated into English by Indian authorities, were obtained by the newspaper The Hindu. They showed that the terrorists were in constant contact with their leaders back home and received ongoing encouragement, guidance and support throughout the three-day siege. The attackers were told their actions, and their deaths, would uphold the "prestige of Islam." Israeli citizens Rabbi Gabriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, who was pregnant at the time, were both brutally murdered, along with four other Jewish guests. The couple’s two-year-old son Moishe survived and escaped in the arms of his Indian nanny, who fled together with the building’s handyman. Moishe and his nanny were later brought by Rivka’s parents to live in Israel. According to the dossier, police rescued 14 persons from the Chabad House during the operation. The two terrorists who manned the siege at the Nariman Chabad House were coached through the process by telephone while their handlers watched the events unfold on television, according to the first folder of the dossier: “Throughout the operations, the terrorists received instructions over telephone from their controllers. The controllers warned the terrorists about the use of helicopters and about the landing of commandos on the terrace…. The police recovered two Kalashnikov rifles, four magazines, three pistols, about 250 live rounds of ammunition, four mobile phones and one GPS instrument.” The transcripts of the phone conversations picked up by Indian authorities during the terror attack, as published in The Hindu, follow. All were recorded on November 27, 2008. Taj Mahal Hotel 0108 hours Pakistan caller: How many hostages do you have? Mumbai terrorist: We have one from Belgium. We have killed him. There was one chap from Bangalore. He could be controlled only with a lot of effort. Pakistan caller: I hope there is no Muslim amongst them? Mumbai terrorist: No, none. 0126 hours Pakistan caller: Are you setting the fire or not? Mumbai terrorist: Not yet. I am getting a mattress ready for burning. Pakistan caller: What did you do with the dead body [on the boa? Mumbai terrorist: Left it behind. Pakistan caller: Did you not open the locks for the water below? [Thought to be a pre-arranged plan to sink the vessel Mumbai terrorist: No, they did not open the locks. We left it like that because of being in a hurry. We made a big mistake. Pakistan caller: What big mistake? Mumbai terrorist: When we were getting into the boat, the waves were quite high. Another boat came. Everyone raised an alarm that the Navy had come. Everyone jumped quickly. In this confusion, the satellite phone of Ismail got left behind. 0137 hours Pakistan caller: The ATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad) chief has been killed. Your work is very important. Allah is helping you. The Vazir (Minister) should not escape. Try to set the place on fire. Mumbai terrorist: We have set fire in four rooms. Pakistan caller: People shall run helter skelter when they see the flames. Keep throwing a grenade every 15 minutes or so. It will terrorize. 0310 hours Mumbai terrorist: Greetings! Pakistan caller: Greetings! There are three ministers and one secretary of the cabinet in your hotel. We don’t know in which room. Mumbai terrorist: Oh! That is good news! It is the icing on the cake. Pakistan caller: Find those three, four persons and then get whatever you want from India. Mumbai terrorist: Pray that we find them. Pakistan caller: Do one thing. Throw one or two grenades on the Navy and police teams, which are outside. Mumbai terrorist: Sorry. I simply can’t make out where they are. Oberoi Trident Hotel 0353 hours Pakistan caller 1: Brother Abdul. The media is comparing your action to 9/11. One senior police official has been killed. Mumbai terrorist 1: We are on the 10th/11th floor. We have five hostages. Pakistan caller 2: Everything is being recorded by the media. Inflict the maximum damage. Keep fighting. Don’t be taken alive. Pakistan caller 1: Kill all hostages, except the two Muslims. Keep your phone switched on so that we can hear the gunfire. Mumbai terrorist 2: We have three foreigners, including women. From Singapore and China. Pakistan caller 1: Kill them. (Voices of gunmen can be heard directing hostages to stand in a line, and telling two Muslims to stand aside. Sound of gunfire. Sound of cheering voices.) Nariman House 1945 hours Mumbai terrorist: Greetings! What did the Major-General say? Pakistan caller: Greetings. The Major-General directed us to do what we like. We should not worry. The operation has to be concluded tomorrow morning. Pray to God. Keep two magazines and three grenades aside, and expend the rest of your ammunition. Pakistan caller: Keep in mind that the hostages are of use only as long as you do not come under fire because of their safety. If you are still threatened, then don’t saddle yourself with the burden of the hostages. Immediately kill them. Mumbai terrorist: Yes, we shall do accordingly, God willing. Pakistan caller: The army claims to have done the work without any hostage being harmed. Another thing: Israel has made a request through diplomatic channels to save the hostages. If the hostages are killed, it will spoil relations between India and Israel. Mumbai terrorist: So be it, God willing. Pakistan caller: Stay alert. 2226 hours Pakistan caller: Brother, you have to fight. This is a matter of prestige of Islam. Fight so that your fight becomes a shining example. Be strong in the name of Allah. You may feel tired or sleepy but the Commandos of Islam have left everything behind. Their mothers, their fathers, their homes. Brother, you have to fight for the victory of Islam. Be strong. Mumbai terrorist: Amen! Dossier Handed to Islamabad The transcripts are part of the three-part dossier of evidence handed over by New Delhi to the Pakistani government this week as proof that the siege emanated from within its borders, a claim previously denied by Islamabad. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated Tuesday, as officials had said for months, that the terrorists could not have been acting alone. Pakistani Information Minister Sherry Rehman acknowledged Wednesday in response that Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the single surviving terrorist, was indeed a Pakistani citizen. The admission comes after months of hedging by Islamabad, which claimed it could not locate in its databases the only one of the 10 terrorists not killed by Indian commandos during the siege. Indian officials recovered a fishing trawler that had been hijacked from its Indian owner by the terrorists, as well as GPS instruments, a satellite phone, an 11-seat dinghy and various other articles, which they documented as evidence in the investigation. Comment on this story 2. 'Obama' Think-Tank: Israel Should Cede Jerusalem Sovereignty by Hillel Fendel A think tank which is arguably the most influential in Washington is proposing an “interim” neutral administration to govern Jerusalem instead of Israel. The Center for American Progress (CAP), headquartered just three blocks from the White House in Washington, is regarded as one of the most influential think tanks in the city, if not the most influential. “CAP has been an incubator for liberal thought and helped build the [Democratic part platform that triumphed in the 2008 campaign,” according to a Bloomberg.com report, which noted that some of the group's recommendations were adopted by Obama while he was still president-elect. Four weeks ago, CAP held a panel discussion based on the premise that the Old City of Jerusalem is the main impediment in finding a solution to the Israel-Arab problem in the Holy Land. Michael Bell, a former Canadian Ambassador to Jordan, Egypt and Israel, presented a plan entitled the Jerusalem Old City Initiative. The plan does not call for the internationalization of Jerusalem -- but is not far off from that. It recommends that both Israel and a future state of Palestine appoint a third-party administrator that would run and police the city. Bell explained that the plan calls for an administration or regime that would govern the Old City of Jerusalem for an interim period, without either Israel or the PA giving up their demands for sovereignty: “Frankly, I don’t think there’s going to be any agreement on sovereignty. I think that the two sides need not cede their demands for sovereignty; these claims can remain exactly as they are today. The sides would simply agree to delay the implementation or assertion of these claims until after an agreement is reached. Until then, a special administration would be set up, with the two sides agreeing to set this up, at least on an interim basis. And what this would do … would be to ensure dignity, human rights and equity for all living in the Old City, all visitors, and all pilgrims.” Questions and Clarifications The implication that these values are not currently provided and offered by Israel was not challenged. An audience member did ask afterwards why the status quo could not simply be retained, and Bell responded, “We thought of this option ourselves, but we thought it would be too intangible…” He also said, “I don’t think you would find a majority on either [side to the conflic that would agree to defer its claims to sovereignty” - though Israel is already sovereign there, and would seemingly not mind retaining the status quo. Bell did not quantify the plan’s “interim period,” though he did imply that it could very well be “close to permanent.” “The Chief Administrator would be appointed by both sides to administer the city according to the mandate they give him,” Bell said. “He would be accountable to them, but the mandate would have to be sufficiently forthcoming. They would have to agree that he would handle crises such as massacre, land-grab, or whatever, without their intervention.” CAP Report Cites Western Wall as Holiest Site The CAP report on the event states, “The Temple Mount’s Western Wall is the most sacred place of Jewish worship, and the al-Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount), where Muslims believe that Mohammad ascended into the heavens, is the third holiest site in Islam.” However, law professor Marshall Breger -- co-author of “Jerusalem's Holy Places and the Peace Process” and consultant to the Jerusalem Old City Initiative – who spoke at the panel about the competing religious claims, said more than once that it was the Temple Mount itself, and not the Western Wall outside it, that is the holiest place in Jerusalem. Bell: Whether Belief Systems are Historically Valid is Beside the Point Both Breger and Bell dismissed the claims of those who challenge Islam’s connection to the site. Breger agreed, but implied that current Islamic claims that Judaism’s Holy Temple was never built there are totally unfounded, noting that the Waqf itself published literature some decades ago boasting that the Dome of the Rock is on the site of the Holy Temple. At that point, Bell said, “It’s very important to realize that it’s beside the point whether these belief systems are historically valid or not… It’s not up to me to tell you whether your narrative is valid or not…” Breger: Take Politics Out Breger similarly said that the argument that Jerusalem is not so holy to Islam is “a silly one.” He said, “It’s true that when Jerusalem was not under Islamic control, such as during the Crusader period, the British Mandate and under Israeli control, there was more discussion about Jerusalem in Muslim sources… but it’s silly to say that it’s not so holy to Islam, because you have to accept a religion’s definition of what is holy.” However, this appeared to contradict what he said just minutes before: “One of our problems is that we have to weed out the ‘politics of religion’ from the ‘doctrine of religion’…” He did not note that Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Quran. Breger did say that the current Muslim clerical view that non-Muslims should not enter the Temple Mount “was clearly not always the Muslim view,” since just a few decades ago the Waqf "charged admission to non-Muslim visitors." Daniel Kurzer on Jerusalem Daniel Kurtzer, an Orthodox Jew and diplomat who has been credited with coining the concept “land for peace” and insisting long ago that Jerusalem be included in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, was the moderator. He said that discussing the option of imposing a settlement freeze on Jerusalem would make it easier to have serious negotiations. Kurtzer further warned that a solution for Jerusalem had better be found before Israel builds its E-1 housing project near Maaleh Adumim and before the City of David (Silwan) Jewish settlement project proceeds much further. Comment on this story 3. John Bolton: Israeli Attack is Only ‘Iranian Option’ by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu U.S. President Barack Obama’s policies have left an Israeli attack on Iran the only option in preventing the Muslim country from obtaining a nuclear weapon, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton wrote in The Washington Post Thursday. In an article headlined “Time for an Israeli Strike?” Bolton answered his own question by stating, "Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever… Those who oppose Iran acquiring nuclear weapons are left in the near term with only the option of targeted military force against its weapons facilities.” Iran's Nuclear Threat "Never in Doubt" A long-time supporter of Israel and a harsh critic of the U.N., Bolton claimed that the Iranian nuclear threat “was never in doubt“ during the American presidential campaign, but is even more certain following the apparent failure of the resistance movement in Iran. “With no other timely option, the already compelling logic for an Israeli strike is nearly inexorable. Israel is undoubtedly ratcheting forward its decision-making process. President Obama is almost certainly not,” Bolton wrote. He chastised the Obama administration for strategic and tactical flaws by continuing its effort to negotiate with Iran. Bolton declared that American officials think Iran will be more anxious than ever to be “accepted” following the alleged rigged victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in last month’s election. John Bolton “Tehran isn't going to negotiate in good faith,” Bolton maintained. “It hasn't [done for the past six years with the European Union as our surrogates, and it won't start now… Second, given Iran's nuclear progress, even if the stronger sanctions Obama has threatened could be agreed upon, they would not prevent Iran from fabricating weapons and delivery systems when it chooses, as it has been striving to do for the past 20 years. Time is too short, and sanctions failed long ago.”![]() Time is too short, and sanctions failed long ago. ![]() Bolton expressed fears of President Obama’s “Plan B” that would allow Iran to proceed with its nuclear program for peaceful purposes while publicly stating it has no military objectives. “Obama would define such an outcome as 'success,’ even though in reality it would hardly be different from what Iran is doing and saying now,” the former ambassador continued. “Anyone who believes the Revolutionary Guard Corps will abandon its weaponization and ballistic missile programs probably believes that there was no fraud in Iran's June 12 election.” Bolton wrote that negotiations with Iran would place Israel in “an even more dangerous trap." Failure to stage a pre-emptive attack on Iran means that the world must “be prepared for an Iran with nuclear weapons, which some, including Obama advisers, believe could be contained and deterred,” Bolton reasoned. “That is not a hypothesis we should seek to test in the real world. The cost of error could be fatal.” Comment on this story 4. Amnesty International Slams Israel; IDF Blasts Report by Avraham Zuroff Amnesty International’s annual report condemns Israel for its treatment of Palestinian Authority Arabs while only briefly noting atrocities attributed to the Hamas terrorist organization. Both the IDF and a watchdog on fair media research called the report findings biased and unethical. Amnesty International issued Thursday its annual report, condemning Israel and PA Arabs for disproportional violence during Operation Cast Lead. The human rights watchdog blames Israel for killing over 1,400 PA Arabs in Gaza and wounding 5,000 others. The report blames the IDF for repeatedly breaching the laws of war by “by carrying out direct attacks on civilians and civilian buildings and attacks targeting Palestinian militants that caused a disproportionate toll among civilians.” The report also criticizes Israel for demolishing PA homes without permits and for erecting security barriers and army checkpoints. The IDF called Amnesty International’s annual report one-sided and questions how Amnesty neglected to mention “the unbearable suffering of Israeli citizens from constant rocket attacks during the last eight years. It seems that it has fallen as a victim of manipulation of the Hamas terror organization.” The IDF furthermore criticized the report for being unbalanced and blasted Amnesty’s failure to mention the suffering endured by Israeli civilians and Israel’s security needs. “The report presents a distorted interpretation of the rules of fighting that don’t fit the rules enacted by democratic countries fighting against terror,” the IDF added. The military noted that the report also ignored the IDF’s efforts to limit civilian casualties. During Operation Cast Lead, the IDF spared no expense to use advanced weaponry with pin-point accuracy to spare civilian casualties despite the Hamas terrorist organization’s firing Kassam rockets on Israeli towns and cities, often attacking from within civilian areas. NGO Monitor: Amnesty Report Unethical Prof. Gerald Steinberg, executive director of NGO Monitor, called Amnesty International’s report on Israel unethical and lacking research standards. Prof. Steinberg stated in a press release, "Amnesty's latest publication is further evidence of their obsessive attempts to condemn and isolate Israel. The lack of expertise and the façade of research are reflected by the effort to erase evidence of the massive use of human shields by Hamas and its aggression.” NGO Monitor’s stated aim is to analyze and challenge interpretations of human rights organizations and to end the promotion of political and ideologically-motivated anti-Israel campaigns. In an interview with Voice of Israel government radio, Steinberg said, “Who is Amnesty? They aren’t researchers. They are political. They don’t live here. Almost all of the reports are hearsay from Palestinian sources. All of this is a game. There is no ethical basis to their research.” Steinberg feels that although the IDF has made mistakes during its military operations in Gaza, he feels that the report is one-sided. As an example, Hamas’s capture of Gilad Shalit is only referred to in a footnote. “They have lost the ethical conscious. I think that the Amnesty people must resign,” he stated. The NGO Monitor notes that the report ignores well-documented evidence of Hamas's extensive use of human shields. Despite documented evidence of a gunman grabbing a child as cover, Amnesty found "no evidence that Hamas or other fighters directed the movement of civilians to shield military objectives from attacks." Comment on this story 5. Key IDF Checkpoint Neutralized as Barak Returns from U.S. by Gil Ronen The plane carrying Defense Minister Ehud Barak back from a meeting with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell had not yet landed in Israel when the IDF announced that it would be effectively neutralizing its checkpoint at Hawara, south of Shechem. Starting this Friday, Arabs will be allowed to cross the checkpoint freely on foot without undergoing searches. Only vehicles will have to submit to searches. ![]() ![]() Scenes from Hawara checkpoint (Israel news photos: Flash 90). The Hawara checkpoint south of Shechem is considered one of the most important in the IDF’s network of security checkpoints in Judea and Samaria. For decades, IDF commanders have called Shechem “the capital of Arab terror” in Judea and Samaria, because of the large number of hard-core terror organizations and Arab murder squads that made it their home. In recent years IDF soldiers at the checkpoint regularly discovered terror weapons on the bodies of Arabs who passed through the Hawara checkpoint. Numerous terror incidents occurred at the checkpoint itself. Video: terrorists paid a 14-year-old NIS 100 to detonate a suicide belt against soldiers at Hawara (also viewable here). Early last month, a 13-year-old Arab stabbed a soldier at the crossing, wounding him lightly. Israeli initiative The opening of the Hawara checkpoint is part of an Israeli initiative to reduce the entry of IDF forces into the cities of Ramallah, Kalkilya, Jericho and Bethlehem. The PA’s U.S.-trained forces will instead be trusted to police the cities 24 hours a day, as opposed to the previous arrangement, in which the IDF “owned the night” in the cities and operated freely there between midnight and 5 a.m. DM 'playing roulette' The Shomron Residents’ Council, a grassroots activist group, was riled by the decision, calling it “scandalous.” The Defense Minister "is gambling on the lives of the Jewish residents as if it were a game of roulette,” they accused. Through this move, they said, Barak has become “a collaborator with the terrorists who will now be able to move about freely and carry out their deeds with greater ease.” The council added that “it is sad to see the Chief of Staff carrying out a clearly illegal order.” MK Aryeh Eldad said Wednesday that in recent years, a week did not go by without the discovery of terrorists trying to carry pipe bombs, suicide belts, knives and other murder weapons through Hawara. “The lives of hundreds of Israelis were saved by the Hawara checkpoint and the lives of thousands of other Israelis are now in danger because of a criminal gesture to Arabs and Americans,” he said. Mortal danger Hanael Durani, Mayor of Kedumim, sent a letter to Barak Wednesday in which he expressed stupefaction at the decision to open the checkpoint for free Arab movement. “I am not telling you something that you, or the entire nation of Israel, do not know,” he wrote. “The security checks at this checkpoint saved the lives of many Jews. Cancelling the security checks does not only endanger the lives of the nearby Jewish residents of Samaria; even more than this it endangers all of the residents of Israel, who are exposed to daily mortal danger.” “No state, and least of all the United States, would enable terrorists to move about freely,” he noted. The IDF has removed about 140 road blockages and checkpoints in Judea and Samaria over the past year. Comment on this story 6. MKs Demand IDF Rabbi’s Ouster by Hillel Fendel A report in the Hebrew-language Haaretz newspaper says the IDF Chief Rabbi is under fire for having told a conference two weeks ago that he feels women should not serve in the army. Opposition MKs respond by calling for his dismissal or reprimand. The State itself recognizes the general incompatibility of religious women serving in the army by granting them an automatic military exemption if they request it on religious grounds. Many of them choose to volunteer for a year or more of national service instead. Despite this, Rabbi Ronski’s remarks – which included the notation that “no rabbinic rulings authorize women" to serve in the army – have become the focus of a controversy, according to Haaretz. The conference was attended by several dozen religious women soldiers, and concentrated on the special problems they face. “Some of those present, including some Orthodox rabbis and educators, were furious at Ronski's statement,” which he has since denied, the paper stated. One woman was quoted as saying, “That he chose to say [thi in front of dozens of religious women soldiers, who have done something that is not easy for them - that is insensitivity." Others found his remarks “particularly outrageous” because he met his own wife while she was serving as a company clerk in his army unit. Haaretz did not note that this occurred before either of them became religious. The paper did note that Rabbi Ronski was praised even by those who objected to his stance for helping religious women solve problems they encounter in the army. Broadcaster Yedidya Meir told his Radio Kol Chai listeners Thursday morning, “More than Rabbi Ronski is against the enlistment of girls into the army, it appears that Haaretz is enlisted against Rabbi Ronski.” Pines Demands Dismissal MK Ophir Pines (Labor) was quick to take his cue from Haaretz, and called upon the Chief of Staff to fire Rabbi Ronski. “This is not the first outrageous statement he has made,” Pines said. Other MKs were almost as adamant in their fury at Rabbi Ronski. These included Yochanan Plesner of Kadima (“I call upon the Chief of Staff to consider ending his term of duty”), Orit Zuaretz of Kadima (“Even if this is only his personal opinion, it would be better if he did not say them at all…”), Yaakov Edry and Nachman Shai of Kadima, and Miri Regev (Likud). Orlev to Rabbi's Defense MK Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), on the other hand, came to the aggressive defense of Rabbi Ronski. “One needs only basic reading comprehension skills to understand that Rabbi Ronski… has a sense of responsibility and is concerned for the increasing number of religious women in the IDF. Those who attack him purposely forget to note that the religious women who do not enlist in the army volunteer for national service, as opposed to the secular left-wing girls, whose representation in the army and national service continues to drop.” Haaretz quoted Rabbi Ohad Teharlev, who was present at the conference, as saying that “one has to ask the leaders of the army whether there isn't a problem with the very appointment of someone who holds this view." Asked to clarify later, he told Israel National News, “I think that Rabbi Ronski's appointment as Chief Rabbi is a good one; he is a Torah scholar, he has a combat background, and he is very worthy. From the standpoint of this particular issue, the appointment might leave a bad taste, but the bottom line is that what’s important is not what he says, but what he does – and he goes above and beyond the call of duty in helping religious girls in the army.” Comment on this story 7. ‘Kristallnacht’ at Homesh: Arabs Burned Holy Books by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Arabs raided the yeshiva of Homesh in Samaria on Wednesday and torched dozens of books of the Talmud and of the Five Books of Moses, leaving behind a pile of ashes. The arsonists ignored personal equipment, including beds, tables and chairs, and concentrated all their energies on Jewish texts. “It was a horrible sight to see dozen of holy books of the Talmud and Bible burned almost completely,” said Rabbi Elishama Cohen, head of the yeshiva that has been the stronghold of the community the past two years. Homesh was one of four towns in northern Samaria that the government destroyed after expelling the residents during the “Disengagement” program four years ago. “The Arabs did this very thoroughly and carefully,” Rabbi Cohen added. “We succeeded in saving the remains of some of the burned books and several pages where the letters still are recognizable, the same pages we learned the past several days.” Return to Homesh leader Yossi Dagan said that the yeshiva students gathered the remains of the books to bury them according to Jewish law. “We demand that the Prime Minister establish a community larger than the original Homesh. This needs to be the answer of the government to this desecration and national humiliation." The Return to Homesh movement re-established the town two years ago and has maintained a constant presence despite several subsequent expulsions by Israeli police, who also have destroyed a wooden building the yeshiva students built for study. Rabbi Cohen said that instead of the spirit of the yeshiva students being broken, their numbers will increase next year as a reaction to desecration. Samaria Regional Council chairman Gershon Mesika called on the police to search and arrest the perpetrators. Police said they have begun an investigation. Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon commented, “Whoever has not yet understood with whom we are dealing should look at the pictures of the burnt holy books. If Jews had burned dozens of Muslim books, the whole world would be shaking.” Yule Edelstein, Minister of Information and Diaspora Affairs, said. "To my sorrow, this grave incident is a result of classic anti-Semitism and a reminder of the dark days of the past. It is sad to think that if there were permanent homes and official security, we would not be witness to this grave incident.” Shas Knesset Member Rabbi Chaim Amsaliem called on Defense Minister Ehud Barak to allow the construction of a permanent yeshiva with proper security. The vandalism of the enemies of Israel proves that decision makers are playing in to their hands.” Comment on this story More Website News:
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