Jerusalem Post Mar 17, 2008 21:37
By RUTH EGLASH
Ethiopian immigrants should be able to convert to Judaism in their native land and make aliya under the Law of Return, announced Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar Monday. Amar was speaking at a hearing of the Knesset's Internal Affairs and Environment Committee on the conversion process in Israel.
Amar said that former prime minister Ariel Sharon had previously called for conversions to take place in Ethiopia while the immigrants are waiting to come here, rather than spending their first two years after making aliya converting to Judaism instead of studying Hebrew. The immigrants, who are known as Falash Mura, are Jews whose ancestors converted to Christianity more than a century ago. They must currently make aliya under the Law of Entry because their Judaism is still in question.
Committee chairman MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor) also announced his plans to propose a bill enabling Ethiopian immigrants to enroll their children into the secular school system. Currently, all Falash Mura immigrants must send their children to religious schools, overwhelming the system and creating segregated schools in which the majority of the pupils are of Ethiopian origin.
lundi 17 mars 2008
Prominent rabbi to yeshiva heads: Don't hire Arabs
Ynetnews.com 17.3.2008
Top Torah sage issues decision banning employment of non-Jews by rabbinical seminaries in light of Mercaz Harav terror attack. "After all, we are at war with them," he says Neta Sela
"According to Jewish law, it is completely forbidden to hire Arabs, especially in yeshivas; there is a concern of endangering lives,” Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, considered a top Torah sage of the generation in the haredi-religious community, said Sunday.
According to Yom Hadash, a free daily newspaper for the ultra-Orthodox community, several administrators of a yeshiva in Bnei Brak met the rabbi at his home in the central Israel city and told him of an Arab employee who they said was not suspected of involvement in any terror-related activity.
The administrators asked the rabbi for guidance in the wake of the deadly terror attack at the Mercaz Harav rabbinical seminary in Jerusalem, which was carried out by an east Jerusalem Arab who was formerly employed by the establishment.
Rabbi Kanievsky responded by issuing a Jewish legal decision banning the employment of Arab workers by Jews and said "After all, we are at war with them…and are there not Jews that can work and make a living?”
The rabbi added that Jews should refrain from employing any non-Jews, not just Muslim Arabs, and instead grant livelihood to Jews, "unless there exists a huge disparity between the costs of the labor".
Top Torah sage issues decision banning employment of non-Jews by rabbinical seminaries in light of Mercaz Harav terror attack. "After all, we are at war with them," he says Neta Sela
"According to Jewish law, it is completely forbidden to hire Arabs, especially in yeshivas; there is a concern of endangering lives,” Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, considered a top Torah sage of the generation in the haredi-religious community, said Sunday.
According to Yom Hadash, a free daily newspaper for the ultra-Orthodox community, several administrators of a yeshiva in Bnei Brak met the rabbi at his home in the central Israel city and told him of an Arab employee who they said was not suspected of involvement in any terror-related activity.
The administrators asked the rabbi for guidance in the wake of the deadly terror attack at the Mercaz Harav rabbinical seminary in Jerusalem, which was carried out by an east Jerusalem Arab who was formerly employed by the establishment.
Rabbi Kanievsky responded by issuing a Jewish legal decision banning the employment of Arab workers by Jews and said "After all, we are at war with them…and are there not Jews that can work and make a living?”
The rabbi added that Jews should refrain from employing any non-Jews, not just Muslim Arabs, and instead grant livelihood to Jews, "unless there exists a huge disparity between the costs of the labor".
Court case reveals how settlers illegally grab West Bank lands
Haaretz 09:24 17/03/2008
By Meron Rapoport
West Bank settlements have expanded their jurisdictions by taking control of private Palestinian land and allocating it to settlers. The land takeover - which the Civil Administration calls "theft" - has occured in an orderly manner, without any official authorization. The method of taking over land is being publicized for the first time, based on testimony from a hearing on an appeal filed by a Kedumim resident, Michael Lesence, against a Civil Administration order to vacate 35 dunams (almost 9 acres) near the Mitzpe Yishai neighborhood of the settlement. Official records show the land as belonging to Palestinians from Kafr Qaddum. Lesence's lawyer, Doron Nir Zvi, admitted at the hearing that the land in question was private Palestinian property. However, Lesence claims ownership on the grounds that he has been working the land for more than a decade, after he received it in an orderly procedure, complete with a signed agreement, from the heads of the Kedumim local council.
Affidavits from Civil Administration officials stated that Lesence began cultivating the land only in the past six months. Attorneys Michael Sfard and Shlomi Zecharia, who represent the Palestinian landowners on behalf of Yesh Din - Volunteers for Human Rights, insist their clients continued to work the land, and that the army and settlers from Kedumim are denying their access to it. Kedumim residents who testified before the board said that the Palestinian have no problem reaching their lands. However, a visit to the area reveals a different picture: The guard at Mitzpe Yishai announced that "it is forbidden to allow Arabs in" to the lands abutting the neighborhood. After the Palestinians approached their property on foot, an army patrol arrived and moved them off. When the commander was told they have Civil Administration documents proving they own the land, the commander replied: "Documents don't interest me." The land-takeover method was developed in Kedumim and neighboring settlements during the mid-1990s, after the Oslo Accords, and continues to this day. Zeev Mushinsky, the "land coordinator" at the Kedumim local council, testified as to how it works: Council employees, Mushinsky in this case, would map the "abandoned lands" around the settlements, even if they were outside the council's jurisdiction, with the aim of taking them over. The council would "allocate" the lands to settlers, who would sign an official form stating that they have no ownership claim on the m, and that the council is entitled to evict them whenever it sees fit, in return for compensating them solely for their investment in cultivating the land. Kedumim's former security chief, Michael Bar-Neder, testified that the land "allocation" was followed by an effort to expand the settlement. Bar-Neder said that once the settlers seized the lands, an application would be made to the military commander to declare them state-owned, since under the law covering the West Bank, anyone who does not cultivate his land for three years forfeits ownership of it.
By Meron Rapoport
West Bank settlements have expanded their jurisdictions by taking control of private Palestinian land and allocating it to settlers. The land takeover - which the Civil Administration calls "theft" - has occured in an orderly manner, without any official authorization. The method of taking over land is being publicized for the first time, based on testimony from a hearing on an appeal filed by a Kedumim resident, Michael Lesence, against a Civil Administration order to vacate 35 dunams (almost 9 acres) near the Mitzpe Yishai neighborhood of the settlement. Official records show the land as belonging to Palestinians from Kafr Qaddum. Lesence's lawyer, Doron Nir Zvi, admitted at the hearing that the land in question was private Palestinian property. However, Lesence claims ownership on the grounds that he has been working the land for more than a decade, after he received it in an orderly procedure, complete with a signed agreement, from the heads of the Kedumim local council.
Affidavits from Civil Administration officials stated that Lesence began cultivating the land only in the past six months. Attorneys Michael Sfard and Shlomi Zecharia, who represent the Palestinian landowners on behalf of Yesh Din - Volunteers for Human Rights, insist their clients continued to work the land, and that the army and settlers from Kedumim are denying their access to it. Kedumim residents who testified before the board said that the Palestinian have no problem reaching their lands. However, a visit to the area reveals a different picture: The guard at Mitzpe Yishai announced that "it is forbidden to allow Arabs in" to the lands abutting the neighborhood. After the Palestinians approached their property on foot, an army patrol arrived and moved them off. When the commander was told they have Civil Administration documents proving they own the land, the commander replied: "Documents don't interest me." The land-takeover method was developed in Kedumim and neighboring settlements during the mid-1990s, after the Oslo Accords, and continues to this day. Zeev Mushinsky, the "land coordinator" at the Kedumim local council, testified as to how it works: Council employees, Mushinsky in this case, would map the "abandoned lands" around the settlements, even if they were outside the council's jurisdiction, with the aim of taking them over. The council would "allocate" the lands to settlers, who would sign an official form stating that they have no ownership claim on the m, and that the council is entitled to evict them whenever it sees fit, in return for compensating them solely for their investment in cultivating the land. Kedumim's former security chief, Michael Bar-Neder, testified that the land "allocation" was followed by an effort to expand the settlement. Bar-Neder said that once the settlers seized the lands, an application would be made to the military commander to declare them state-owned, since under the law covering the West Bank, anyone who does not cultivate his land for three years forfeits ownership of it.
dimanche 16 mars 2008
EU demands Israel halt all construction in West Bank, East Jerusalem
Haaretz 08:28 16/03/2008
By Reuters
European Union leaders on Friday condemned Israeli plans to build hundreds of new homes in a West Bank settlement, and called on Israel to act swiftly to keep peace efforts alive. "The EU reiterates that settlement building anywhere in the occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law," the bloc's presidency said in a statement after a summit of EU leaders. "Settlement activity prejudges the outcome of final status negotiations and threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution. The European Council therefore urges Israel to take immediate action in particular on settlements and outposts," the leaders said.
Israel said on Sunday that plans to build a total of 750 homes in Givat Ze'ev, a settlement near Jerusalem, were being revived. The new building was announced three days after a Palestinian terrorist killed eight students at Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem. EU leaders condemned that attack but said: "While recognizing Israel's legitimate right to self defense, the European Council calls for an immediate end to all acts of violence." The European Union is part of the Quartet of international mediators trying to promote peace talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel by the end of this year, as agreed in Annapolis, Maryland, last November. "Despite the difficulties that the process has recently experienced, the European Council welcomes the intention of the parties to resume their negotiations and looks forward to an early meeting of Quartet principals," the statement said. EU leaders also said they were "deeply concerned by the unsustainable humanitarian situation in Gaza and called for the controlled and sustained reopening of all crossings in and out of Gaza for both humanitarian reasons and commercial flows."
By Reuters
European Union leaders on Friday condemned Israeli plans to build hundreds of new homes in a West Bank settlement, and called on Israel to act swiftly to keep peace efforts alive. "The EU reiterates that settlement building anywhere in the occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law," the bloc's presidency said in a statement after a summit of EU leaders. "Settlement activity prejudges the outcome of final status negotiations and threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution. The European Council therefore urges Israel to take immediate action in particular on settlements and outposts," the leaders said.
Israel said on Sunday that plans to build a total of 750 homes in Givat Ze'ev, a settlement near Jerusalem, were being revived. The new building was announced three days after a Palestinian terrorist killed eight students at Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem. EU leaders condemned that attack but said: "While recognizing Israel's legitimate right to self defense, the European Council calls for an immediate end to all acts of violence." The European Union is part of the Quartet of international mediators trying to promote peace talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel by the end of this year, as agreed in Annapolis, Maryland, last November. "Despite the difficulties that the process has recently experienced, the European Council welcomes the intention of the parties to resume their negotiations and looks forward to an early meeting of Quartet principals," the statement said. EU leaders also said they were "deeply concerned by the unsustainable humanitarian situation in Gaza and called for the controlled and sustained reopening of all crossings in and out of Gaza for both humanitarian reasons and commercial flows."
samedi 15 mars 2008
Ilan Pappe: I'm not a traitor
Controversial historian Ilan Pappe left Israel last year after his endorsement of an academic boycott of Israel exposed him and his family to death threats. Now a professor in England, Pappe maintains that a cultural boycott on his homeland is the only way to end the occupation
Ayelet Negev
Ynetnews.com 03.15.08, 23:49
Last summer, the Pappe family packed its belongings, rented out its spacious house in Israel and moved to Britain. Ever since his support of an academic boycott on Israel's universities became public, historian Ilan Pappe, 54, has felt like public enemy number one. Pappe says he had received death threats by phone almost on a daily basis.
Did it not occur to you that calling for an academic boycott on Israel might incite the public against you?
"I supported the boycott because I believe that without pressure, Israel will not end the occupation. Even before then I reached the conclusion that the peace process enables Israel to stall for time. When in 2003 several international organizations approached me and asked whether I would support the boycott I replied positively.
"I believe that things would change only if Israel receives a strong message that as long as the occupation continues it would not be a legitimate member of the international community, and that until then its academics, doctors and authors would not be welcome. A similar boycott was imposed on South Africa. It took 21 years, but it eventually led to the end of Apartheid."
Do you also call for an economic boycott of Israel?
"I am currently editing a book that compares the situation in Israel to the situation in South Africa, and I'm becoming convinced that there too, the economic boycott was less effective than the cultural one. As the son of German Jews, I know how important it is for our elites to be a part of Europe."
Did you wholeheartedly support the boycott?
"No, you can’t wholeheartedly recommend a boycott of your society, especially when it includes you place of work, the Haifa University… The last thing I enjoy is being the person that holds up a mirror to his society's face and says, 'Look how ugly you are.' Some people like to challenge and incite their neighbors. I'm not like that, I don't write in order to annoy and I certainly don't hate myself, and I also love many people in Israel. I did not commit treason.
"But, I'm a historian, and this is the truth the way I see it: The story of a victim and a victimizer. And the victim is the Palestinians. Without idealizing the Palestinians -victims are not necessarily nice people, but they are still victims."
Pappe claims that his promotion at Haifa University has been blocked due to his political activity. "Provincial Haifa was unwilling to grant me the rank of a professor. I left for England as a doctor and in two days I climbed two ranks and became a faculty professor at the University of Exeter," he states.
However, Haifa University President Aharon Ben-Zeev claims that the university applied only relevant considerations in the question of Pappe's promotion. "We applied the regular criteria according to the university's constitution: Not only the list and quality of publications, but other considerations pertaining to the contribution to the university, teaching and so on," he explained.
Claims of ethnic cleansing In an article published in the Israeli Mita'am Review for Literature and Radical Thought this week, titled "On the destruction of the Palestinian cities, spring 1948," Pappe maintains that the claim that the Arab residents fled or left their homes willingly during the war is false, and that a policy of "cleansing" the area from Arabs was employed as part of a plan to establish a Jewish-only state.
Pappe made similar claims in his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, which was published in England in 2006, in which he also presented testimonies of alleged massacres of Palestinians by Jewish soldiers.
These claims have been contested by many historians in Israel and abroad. Dr. Mordechai Bar-On, a research fellow at the Yad Ben-Zvi Institute and a former MK, calls Pappe "a propagandist, not a historian." Bar-On said that "the term ethnic cleansing is a vicious one, because it has never been used prior to the wars in former Yugoslavia. Indeed, there were places where Arab were expelled… but to say that there was an evil plan since the inception of Zionism for a forceful transfer – this is simply wrong and vicious."
However, Pappe insists that allowing the Palestinian refugees to return to Israel is the only thing that could secure peace in the region.
Would you be willing to vacate your home when they return to what used to be their villages near your house in Tivon?
"After years of working with refugees around the world and attending conferences on the right of return, I believe that no such notion exists on the Palestinian side. They want to return while understanding that they will live alongside the Jews. They don't want to expel anyone. What turned me into a great lover of the Palestinians is the will of many among them to share the land with us. Even people in Hamas.
"The reason most of my friends in the territories voted for Hamas wasn't because they didn't want to share the land with the Israelis, but because they thought Hamas would be more effective in the struggle against the occupation."
By using terror?
"They don't consider this to be terror. Fatah and Hamas employ the tools of the weak, because they don't have planes or tanks. They are as violent as the Israelis, no more or less, with only one difference: The difference between the violence of the occupier and the violence of those fighting occupation."
An article you wrote titled "Genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank" was published in the Tehran Times about a month ago. Are you providing the enemy with weapons against us?
"On the contrary, I wish to speak to the people in Iran. A Jordanian newspaper wrote in its editorial a year ago that absurdly, I am Israel's best ambassador in the Arab world, because they say – if such Israelis exist, maybe there's hope for peace with the Jewish state."
Would you like your sons to serve in the army?
"It's their decision, but I preferred it if they didn't. As long as Israel has an occupying army, a rather cruel army, I wouldn’t want them to be part of it… I don't think there is one moral person in the world that supports what Israel stands for. And it pains me to say this. I truly love the country, I would very much like to live in it, but I very much dislike my state. Everything related to its policy against the Palestinians makes me very angry."
Pappe denies being more sensitive to the suffering of Palestinians than to that of Israelis. "I'm shocked when I see the child who lost his leg in Sderot, and I'm shocked when I see a child killed in Gaza. But as long as Israel maintains its stance that the Palestinian issue can be resolved by force, the Palestinian side will respond with force.
"Once we realize that the only way is to relinquish some of out holy ideas, and once the Palestinians give up the idea of nationalism, and once they realize that there needs to be one state here that isn't Jewish nor Palestinian, but a state of all its citizens, like in the US, we will have peace."
Ayelet Negev
Ynetnews.com 03.15.08, 23:49
Last summer, the Pappe family packed its belongings, rented out its spacious house in Israel and moved to Britain. Ever since his support of an academic boycott on Israel's universities became public, historian Ilan Pappe, 54, has felt like public enemy number one. Pappe says he had received death threats by phone almost on a daily basis.
Did it not occur to you that calling for an academic boycott on Israel might incite the public against you?
"I supported the boycott because I believe that without pressure, Israel will not end the occupation. Even before then I reached the conclusion that the peace process enables Israel to stall for time. When in 2003 several international organizations approached me and asked whether I would support the boycott I replied positively.
"I believe that things would change only if Israel receives a strong message that as long as the occupation continues it would not be a legitimate member of the international community, and that until then its academics, doctors and authors would not be welcome. A similar boycott was imposed on South Africa. It took 21 years, but it eventually led to the end of Apartheid."
Do you also call for an economic boycott of Israel?
"I am currently editing a book that compares the situation in Israel to the situation in South Africa, and I'm becoming convinced that there too, the economic boycott was less effective than the cultural one. As the son of German Jews, I know how important it is for our elites to be a part of Europe."
Did you wholeheartedly support the boycott?
"No, you can’t wholeheartedly recommend a boycott of your society, especially when it includes you place of work, the Haifa University… The last thing I enjoy is being the person that holds up a mirror to his society's face and says, 'Look how ugly you are.' Some people like to challenge and incite their neighbors. I'm not like that, I don't write in order to annoy and I certainly don't hate myself, and I also love many people in Israel. I did not commit treason.
"But, I'm a historian, and this is the truth the way I see it: The story of a victim and a victimizer. And the victim is the Palestinians. Without idealizing the Palestinians -victims are not necessarily nice people, but they are still victims."
Pappe claims that his promotion at Haifa University has been blocked due to his political activity. "Provincial Haifa was unwilling to grant me the rank of a professor. I left for England as a doctor and in two days I climbed two ranks and became a faculty professor at the University of Exeter," he states.
However, Haifa University President Aharon Ben-Zeev claims that the university applied only relevant considerations in the question of Pappe's promotion. "We applied the regular criteria according to the university's constitution: Not only the list and quality of publications, but other considerations pertaining to the contribution to the university, teaching and so on," he explained.
Claims of ethnic cleansing In an article published in the Israeli Mita'am Review for Literature and Radical Thought this week, titled "On the destruction of the Palestinian cities, spring 1948," Pappe maintains that the claim that the Arab residents fled or left their homes willingly during the war is false, and that a policy of "cleansing" the area from Arabs was employed as part of a plan to establish a Jewish-only state.
Pappe made similar claims in his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, which was published in England in 2006, in which he also presented testimonies of alleged massacres of Palestinians by Jewish soldiers.
These claims have been contested by many historians in Israel and abroad. Dr. Mordechai Bar-On, a research fellow at the Yad Ben-Zvi Institute and a former MK, calls Pappe "a propagandist, not a historian." Bar-On said that "the term ethnic cleansing is a vicious one, because it has never been used prior to the wars in former Yugoslavia. Indeed, there were places where Arab were expelled… but to say that there was an evil plan since the inception of Zionism for a forceful transfer – this is simply wrong and vicious."
However, Pappe insists that allowing the Palestinian refugees to return to Israel is the only thing that could secure peace in the region.
Would you be willing to vacate your home when they return to what used to be their villages near your house in Tivon?
"After years of working with refugees around the world and attending conferences on the right of return, I believe that no such notion exists on the Palestinian side. They want to return while understanding that they will live alongside the Jews. They don't want to expel anyone. What turned me into a great lover of the Palestinians is the will of many among them to share the land with us. Even people in Hamas.
"The reason most of my friends in the territories voted for Hamas wasn't because they didn't want to share the land with the Israelis, but because they thought Hamas would be more effective in the struggle against the occupation."
By using terror?
"They don't consider this to be terror. Fatah and Hamas employ the tools of the weak, because they don't have planes or tanks. They are as violent as the Israelis, no more or less, with only one difference: The difference between the violence of the occupier and the violence of those fighting occupation."
An article you wrote titled "Genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank" was published in the Tehran Times about a month ago. Are you providing the enemy with weapons against us?
"On the contrary, I wish to speak to the people in Iran. A Jordanian newspaper wrote in its editorial a year ago that absurdly, I am Israel's best ambassador in the Arab world, because they say – if such Israelis exist, maybe there's hope for peace with the Jewish state."
Would you like your sons to serve in the army?
"It's their decision, but I preferred it if they didn't. As long as Israel has an occupying army, a rather cruel army, I wouldn’t want them to be part of it… I don't think there is one moral person in the world that supports what Israel stands for. And it pains me to say this. I truly love the country, I would very much like to live in it, but I very much dislike my state. Everything related to its policy against the Palestinians makes me very angry."
Pappe denies being more sensitive to the suffering of Palestinians than to that of Israelis. "I'm shocked when I see the child who lost his leg in Sderot, and I'm shocked when I see a child killed in Gaza. But as long as Israel maintains its stance that the Palestinian issue can be resolved by force, the Palestinian side will respond with force.
"Once we realize that the only way is to relinquish some of out holy ideas, and once the Palestinians give up the idea of nationalism, and once they realize that there needs to be one state here that isn't Jewish nor Palestinian, but a state of all its citizens, like in the US, we will have peace."
vendredi 14 mars 2008
Police arrest rabbi for 'inciting Palestinians' in East Jerusalem
Haaretz 01:01 14/03/2008
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel Police on Thursday arrested Arik Ascherman, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, for "inciting Palestinians to oppose the police" in East Jerusalem. Heated tensions between residents of the Silwan village in East Jerusalem and the Israel Police erupted over excavation works that have recently began in the village. The excavations are being carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and are sponsored by Elad association, which promotes the "Judaization" of East Jerusalem. Silwan residents say the excavation work is being carried out directly underneath their homes, and have proceeded to set up a demonstration tent on a private lot belonging to one of the village residents. A few confrontations subsequently broke out, and the residents maintained that the police deliberately harassed them.
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On Wednesday another spat occurred between the local residents and settlers on behalf of Elad, and the police detained Ascherman for questioning. The police requested that Ascherman promise to stay away from Silwan for 15 days and upon his refusal to oblige, he was arrested and will be brought in front of a judge Friday for his remand to be extended. Ascherman's attorney on Thursday said the investigator had accused her client, a well-known human rights' activist, of encouraging Palestinians to oppose police forces, and also of preventing the evacuation of a wounded settler to hospital. The attorney further stated that Ascherman adamantly denies the allegations. "This is a ridiculous arrest," his attorney said. "In the past, the court has refused to adhere to police demands for issuing restraining orders against Israeli activists in Silwan."
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel Police on Thursday arrested Arik Ascherman, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, for "inciting Palestinians to oppose the police" in East Jerusalem. Heated tensions between residents of the Silwan village in East Jerusalem and the Israel Police erupted over excavation works that have recently began in the village. The excavations are being carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and are sponsored by Elad association, which promotes the "Judaization" of East Jerusalem. Silwan residents say the excavation work is being carried out directly underneath their homes, and have proceeded to set up a demonstration tent on a private lot belonging to one of the village residents. A few confrontations subsequently broke out, and the residents maintained that the police deliberately harassed them.
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On Wednesday another spat occurred between the local residents and settlers on behalf of Elad, and the police detained Ascherman for questioning. The police requested that Ascherman promise to stay away from Silwan for 15 days and upon his refusal to oblige, he was arrested and will be brought in front of a judge Friday for his remand to be extended. Ascherman's attorney on Thursday said the investigator had accused her client, a well-known human rights' activist, of encouraging Palestinians to oppose police forces, and also of preventing the evacuation of a wounded settler to hospital. The attorney further stated that Ascherman adamantly denies the allegations. "This is a ridiculous arrest," his attorney said. "In the past, the court has refused to adhere to police demands for issuing restraining orders against Israeli activists in Silwan."
Court extends remand of two men suspected of beating Arab workers
Haaretz 16:32 14/03/2008
By Fadi Eyadat, Haaretz Correspondent
A High Court in the Krayot area of northern Israel on Friday extended the remand of two Kiryat Ata residents arrested on Thursday on suspicion of attacking two Arab construction workers, aged 20 and 25. Police suspect the two, aged 19 and 25, arrived Thursday afternoon at a construction site in the town's center where the victims worked. They launched insults of racist nature at them, cursed Prophet Mohammed and later physically attacked them and damaged their car. One victim received medical treatment. U
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pon their arrest, the two suspects attacked police and caused damage to Zvulun police headquarters
By Fadi Eyadat, Haaretz Correspondent
A High Court in the Krayot area of northern Israel on Friday extended the remand of two Kiryat Ata residents arrested on Thursday on suspicion of attacking two Arab construction workers, aged 20 and 25. Police suspect the two, aged 19 and 25, arrived Thursday afternoon at a construction site in the town's center where the victims worked. They launched insults of racist nature at them, cursed Prophet Mohammed and later physically attacked them and damaged their car. One victim received medical treatment. U
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pon their arrest, the two suspects attacked police and caused damage to Zvulun police headquarters
mercredi 12 mars 2008
Dichter to police: Demolish home of Jerusalem yeshiva terrorist
Haaretz 17:19 12/03/2008
By Jonathan Lis and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter instructed police on Wednesday to demolish the house belonging to the family of the Israeli Arab terrorist who gunned down eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem last Thursday. The house is located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. Following the order, police asked the Defense Ministry to examine the legality of the move, and to consider an alternative option of sealing the house.
"I very much hope that in the end that legal establishment will allow us to carry out [the demolition], but without it, nothing can be done," Dichter said at a Knesset session. Alaa Abu Dhaim, the gunman, killed seven teenage boys and one 26-year-old, as well as wounding nine others, when he burst into the Mercaz Harav seminary in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood and opened fire in the library. Dichter also said that police have not destroyed the mourning tent erected for the terrorist since the tent itself is not an offense, and "therefore no [law] enforcement is needed." "I don't suppose the MKs want to live according to Jordanian law," he said, referring to Jordan's refusal last week to allow Abu Dhaim's family to erect a public mourning tent for him in Amman. Dichter maintained that the police are acting according to authorized legal opinions, and not according to their desires and wishes. "Law enforcement is needed when the law is violated. The mourning tent was not taken down because according to the law it cannot be destroyed. I do not recommend interpreting the word 'identification' [with terror] in any other way than the law allows."
By Jonathan Lis and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter instructed police on Wednesday to demolish the house belonging to the family of the Israeli Arab terrorist who gunned down eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem last Thursday. The house is located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. Following the order, police asked the Defense Ministry to examine the legality of the move, and to consider an alternative option of sealing the house.
"I very much hope that in the end that legal establishment will allow us to carry out [the demolition], but without it, nothing can be done," Dichter said at a Knesset session. Alaa Abu Dhaim, the gunman, killed seven teenage boys and one 26-year-old, as well as wounding nine others, when he burst into the Mercaz Harav seminary in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood and opened fire in the library. Dichter also said that police have not destroyed the mourning tent erected for the terrorist since the tent itself is not an offense, and "therefore no [law] enforcement is needed." "I don't suppose the MKs want to live according to Jordanian law," he said, referring to Jordan's refusal last week to allow Abu Dhaim's family to erect a public mourning tent for him in Amman. Dichter maintained that the police are acting according to authorized legal opinions, and not according to their desires and wishes. "Law enforcement is needed when the law is violated. The mourning tent was not taken down because according to the law it cannot be destroyed. I do not recommend interpreting the word 'identification' [with terror] in any other way than the law allows."
mardi 11 mars 2008
Police holding body of yeshiva terrorist in row over funeral
Haaretz 09:32 11/03/2008
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
Police are holding the body of the terrorist who attacked the Merkaz Harav yeshiva last week, pending agreement with his family that the funeral would not turn into a show of support for his actions. Police had initially agreed to release the body of the gunman, a resident of East Jerusalem, for burial on Monday. However, shortly before the planned release of the body, the police learned that a large number of people and media had assembled at the cemetery. Police officials decided in response not to hand over the body, saying that the family had breached the terms of their agreement. A proposal that the funeral be held late at night to prevent a large showing was later rejected by police, who claimed the family had broken its promise not to leak the news.
Officers arrested two youths from the terrorist's East Jerusalem neighborhood Monday night on suspicion of putting up Hamas and Hezbollah posters at the mourners' tent erected by the gunman's family. The youths were not members of the terrorist's family and were not involved in the shooting, police said. Probe into initial police response Police will next week release findings regarding their response to last week's terror attack at the Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav yeshiva. A gunman from East Jerusalem killed eight students and injured dozens in the attack. The inquiry is focused on the actions of the police forces that rushed to the incident. It will pay close attention to the response of the first policeman who arrived on the scene; he decided to wait for reinforcement before entering the seminary. The policeman, a rooky who entered the police force only a few months ago, was carrying a gun when the incident occurred. The panel will also examine the policeman's decision to equip Israel Defense Forces soldier, Captain David Shapira, with a police cap to prevent security forces for mistaking him for another terrorist. Shapira entered the building alone armed with his army-issued rifle; he subsequently shot the terrorist dead.
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
Police are holding the body of the terrorist who attacked the Merkaz Harav yeshiva last week, pending agreement with his family that the funeral would not turn into a show of support for his actions. Police had initially agreed to release the body of the gunman, a resident of East Jerusalem, for burial on Monday. However, shortly before the planned release of the body, the police learned that a large number of people and media had assembled at the cemetery. Police officials decided in response not to hand over the body, saying that the family had breached the terms of their agreement. A proposal that the funeral be held late at night to prevent a large showing was later rejected by police, who claimed the family had broken its promise not to leak the news.
Officers arrested two youths from the terrorist's East Jerusalem neighborhood Monday night on suspicion of putting up Hamas and Hezbollah posters at the mourners' tent erected by the gunman's family. The youths were not members of the terrorist's family and were not involved in the shooting, police said. Probe into initial police response Police will next week release findings regarding their response to last week's terror attack at the Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav yeshiva. A gunman from East Jerusalem killed eight students and injured dozens in the attack. The inquiry is focused on the actions of the police forces that rushed to the incident. It will pay close attention to the response of the first policeman who arrived on the scene; he decided to wait for reinforcement before entering the seminary. The policeman, a rooky who entered the police force only a few months ago, was carrying a gun when the incident occurred. The panel will also examine the policeman's decision to equip Israel Defense Forces soldier, Captain David Shapira, with a police cap to prevent security forces for mistaking him for another terrorist. Shapira entered the building alone armed with his army-issued rifle; he subsequently shot the terrorist dead.
Israel cements ownership of Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City
Haaretz 06:44 11/03/2008
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
More than 40 years after it gained control of East Jerusalem, the State of Israel is now registering Jewish-owned property in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter as such, in a bid to legally assert Jewish and Israeli control over the area the Israel Defense Forces seized in the 1967 Six-Day War. The registration is the result of a lengthy inspection, which was initiated after the Housing Ministry decided to register the property under Jewish owners five years ago. The registration process is being managed for the state by the government-owned Firm for the Development of the Jewish Quarter. CEO Nissim Arazi says the process is complex and involves many difficulties. According to Arazi, some of the difficulty owes to the fact that many buildings and plots inside the Jewish Quarter were registered as part of other plots. The process of registering buildings is particularly complex in the Jewish Quarter, Arazi says, because real estate there is divided into four subdivisions of ownership: bloc, plot, sub-plot and building. All other real-estate assets in Israel are divided into the first three criteria only.
Over the past five years, the buildings in the Jewish Quarter have all been renumbered and mapped ahead of the registration process. So far, more than 120 buildings out of a total of 600 have been registered by Jewish owners in the Land Administration. The process revealed a large number of building violations. Many residents built cellars under their houses to expand them - without bothering to receive approval. Arazi said the process of registration in not meant to find violations. "Registering these real-estate assets has national and historic significance," he told Haaretz. The inspection process and registration served to increase the value of the assets surveyed, with prices increasing in direct relation to the asset's proximity to the Western Wall. The quarter itself, which stretches across 133 dunam (approximately 40 acres), was largely destroyed during Israel's War of Independence in 1948. It remained under Jordanian rule until it was seized by Israel. The quarter constitutes 15 percent of the entire area of the Old City and has undergone massive restoration and renovation over the past 40 years. But Jews have also bought property elsewhere inside the Old City's three other quarters; the Armenian, Christian and Muslim quarters. The Old City is 870 dunam in area. Twenty-four percent of it belongs to the Waqf, which is a form of endowment in Islam, typically devoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. Twenty-eight percent of the Old City belongs to private Arab residents, while the state owns some 19 percent of the lands in the area, or 170 dunam. Christian institutions hold 29 percent of the property in the Old City. The assets are naturally not arranged according to ownership, which is to say the Old City is checkered with buildings belonging to all these various owners. In a recently-published research, Dr. Israel Kimchi from the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and several colleagues identify a "trend of Jews purchasing property across the Muslim Quarter," which is the largest and most populous of the four quarters, situated in the northeastern corner of the Old City. According to Kimchi's research, the acquisition of land there is designed to create contiguity of Jewish-owned buildings all the way up to state-owned land around the Flower Gate area. Like the other three quarters of the Old City, the Muslim quarter had a mixed population of Jews as well as Muslims and Christians until the riots of 1929, and was previously called the Mixed Quarter. Today the Muslim Quarter is home to a few dozen Jewish families and a few yeshivas. At the same time, Kimchi's team point to a "penetration of Muslim residents into the Christian Quarter," which is situated in the north-western corner of the Old City. He also says these trends and others will probably mean that some buildings, which are defined as religious institutions will receive a different designation. "Some of the residential areas in the Christian Quarter will become religious institutions or hotels, as the number of Christian residents within the quarter continues to dwindle," he says.
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
More than 40 years after it gained control of East Jerusalem, the State of Israel is now registering Jewish-owned property in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter as such, in a bid to legally assert Jewish and Israeli control over the area the Israel Defense Forces seized in the 1967 Six-Day War. The registration is the result of a lengthy inspection, which was initiated after the Housing Ministry decided to register the property under Jewish owners five years ago. The registration process is being managed for the state by the government-owned Firm for the Development of the Jewish Quarter. CEO Nissim Arazi says the process is complex and involves many difficulties. According to Arazi, some of the difficulty owes to the fact that many buildings and plots inside the Jewish Quarter were registered as part of other plots. The process of registering buildings is particularly complex in the Jewish Quarter, Arazi says, because real estate there is divided into four subdivisions of ownership: bloc, plot, sub-plot and building. All other real-estate assets in Israel are divided into the first three criteria only.
Over the past five years, the buildings in the Jewish Quarter have all been renumbered and mapped ahead of the registration process. So far, more than 120 buildings out of a total of 600 have been registered by Jewish owners in the Land Administration. The process revealed a large number of building violations. Many residents built cellars under their houses to expand them - without bothering to receive approval. Arazi said the process of registration in not meant to find violations. "Registering these real-estate assets has national and historic significance," he told Haaretz. The inspection process and registration served to increase the value of the assets surveyed, with prices increasing in direct relation to the asset's proximity to the Western Wall. The quarter itself, which stretches across 133 dunam (approximately 40 acres), was largely destroyed during Israel's War of Independence in 1948. It remained under Jordanian rule until it was seized by Israel. The quarter constitutes 15 percent of the entire area of the Old City and has undergone massive restoration and renovation over the past 40 years. But Jews have also bought property elsewhere inside the Old City's three other quarters; the Armenian, Christian and Muslim quarters. The Old City is 870 dunam in area. Twenty-four percent of it belongs to the Waqf, which is a form of endowment in Islam, typically devoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. Twenty-eight percent of the Old City belongs to private Arab residents, while the state owns some 19 percent of the lands in the area, or 170 dunam. Christian institutions hold 29 percent of the property in the Old City. The assets are naturally not arranged according to ownership, which is to say the Old City is checkered with buildings belonging to all these various owners. In a recently-published research, Dr. Israel Kimchi from the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and several colleagues identify a "trend of Jews purchasing property across the Muslim Quarter," which is the largest and most populous of the four quarters, situated in the northeastern corner of the Old City. According to Kimchi's research, the acquisition of land there is designed to create contiguity of Jewish-owned buildings all the way up to state-owned land around the Flower Gate area. Like the other three quarters of the Old City, the Muslim quarter had a mixed population of Jews as well as Muslims and Christians until the riots of 1929, and was previously called the Mixed Quarter. Today the Muslim Quarter is home to a few dozen Jewish families and a few yeshivas. At the same time, Kimchi's team point to a "penetration of Muslim residents into the Christian Quarter," which is situated in the north-western corner of the Old City. He also says these trends and others will probably mean that some buildings, which are defined as religious institutions will receive a different designation. "Some of the residential areas in the Christian Quarter will become religious institutions or hotels, as the number of Christian residents within the quarter continues to dwindle," he says.
Britain bans Likud's Moshe Feiglin from entering country due to his racial incitement against Arabs
Haaretz 18:05 11/03/2008
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
Moshe Feiglin, leader of the Likud's Jewish Leadership faction, was recently notified in a letter from British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that he has been banned from entering the U.K. The letter, written by an unnamed Border and Immigration Agency official on Smith's behalf, said the agency "considered that you are seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the U.K. ... This has brought you within the scope of the list of unacceptable behaviors," it was reported in the London Jewish Chronicle last week. "In light of these factors, the Home Secretary is satisfied you should be excluded from the U.K. on the grounds that your exclusion is conducive to the public good. There is no right of appeal," the letter continued.
Smith based her decision on emergency laws introduced after a 2005 terrorist attack in London. The Chronicle article quoted Feiglin as responding: "This is a British government problem, not mine. However, if somebody in Britain feels comfortable enough to do something like that, it should turn on some serious red lights in any British citizen who cares about democracy. Britain and America are letting in the real terrorists ... remember [Iranian] President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad was allowed to speak at an American university." The U.K. letter did not allege Feiglin had ever engaged in armed activities, but listed several quotes from articles he wrote, including one in which he calls for a holy war, now against Arabs, and another referring to the Prophet Muhammad as strong, cruel and deceitful. In another quote cited in the letter, Feiglin wrote, Arabs are not sons of the desert but its father. They created the desert - everywhere they come vegetation stops and the wind blows everything away. Feiglin acknowledged he wrote the statements, but said the reference to Arabs being the desert's father came from a 1938 book by Sir Claude Jarvis, then the British High Commissioner of Sinai. The MK also told the Jewish Chronicle: "I almost feel honored, because of the way that the British government is behaving, to be marked as the bad guy by a government that supports terror. I see it almost as a compliment." He was referring to Britain's decision to allow entry to Ibrahim Mousawi, the editor of a Hezbollah journal, who visited the country on a speaking tour. Feiglin told the paper that the letter "came out of the blue," and at first, he thought it might be a hoax. "This is all very strange because I have no plans to visit Britain either in the short or long term. I have never been banned from anywhere else. In fact I am giving a lecture in Canada at the end of this month," Feiglin told the Jewish Chronicle. The Home Office did not comment on its reasons for banning Feiglin from Britain, but issued a statement saying that the home secretary can exclude people whether or not they have applied to enter the country, while considering relevant information from other government departments and agencies.
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
Moshe Feiglin, leader of the Likud's Jewish Leadership faction, was recently notified in a letter from British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that he has been banned from entering the U.K. The letter, written by an unnamed Border and Immigration Agency official on Smith's behalf, said the agency "considered that you are seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the U.K. ... This has brought you within the scope of the list of unacceptable behaviors," it was reported in the London Jewish Chronicle last week. "In light of these factors, the Home Secretary is satisfied you should be excluded from the U.K. on the grounds that your exclusion is conducive to the public good. There is no right of appeal," the letter continued.
Smith based her decision on emergency laws introduced after a 2005 terrorist attack in London. The Chronicle article quoted Feiglin as responding: "This is a British government problem, not mine. However, if somebody in Britain feels comfortable enough to do something like that, it should turn on some serious red lights in any British citizen who cares about democracy. Britain and America are letting in the real terrorists ... remember [Iranian] President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad was allowed to speak at an American university." The U.K. letter did not allege Feiglin had ever engaged in armed activities, but listed several quotes from articles he wrote, including one in which he calls for a holy war, now against Arabs, and another referring to the Prophet Muhammad as strong, cruel and deceitful. In another quote cited in the letter, Feiglin wrote, Arabs are not sons of the desert but its father. They created the desert - everywhere they come vegetation stops and the wind blows everything away. Feiglin acknowledged he wrote the statements, but said the reference to Arabs being the desert's father came from a 1938 book by Sir Claude Jarvis, then the British High Commissioner of Sinai. The MK also told the Jewish Chronicle: "I almost feel honored, because of the way that the British government is behaving, to be marked as the bad guy by a government that supports terror. I see it almost as a compliment." He was referring to Britain's decision to allow entry to Ibrahim Mousawi, the editor of a Hezbollah journal, who visited the country on a speaking tour. Feiglin told the paper that the letter "came out of the blue," and at first, he thought it might be a hoax. "This is all very strange because I have no plans to visit Britain either in the short or long term. I have never been banned from anywhere else. In fact I am giving a lecture in Canada at the end of this month," Feiglin told the Jewish Chronicle. The Home Office did not comment on its reasons for banning Feiglin from Britain, but issued a statement saying that the home secretary can exclude people whether or not they have applied to enter the country, while considering relevant information from other government departments and agencies.
lundi 10 mars 2008
Likud MK to propose ban on public mourning for terrorists
Haaretz 17:44 10/03/2008
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Likud MK Gilad Erdan said Sunday he intends to propose a bill that would ban mourners' tents or any other public form of mourning or remembrance for terrorists. The proposal comes after police said they could not prevent the erection of a mourners' tent in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber honoring Ala Abu Dhaim, who carried out Thursday's terror attack in a Jerusalem yeshiva that killed eight, most of them teenagers. "The State of Israel acts more like a suicidal democracy than a democracy that is defending itself," said Erdan.
"It is our obligation to send a clear message that whoever murders innocent civilians will not only not receive any financial benefits from the state, but also will not be commemorated in public," said Erdan. Meanwhile, six right-wing Israeli activists were detained Sunday afternoon as they prepared to march to the terrorist's home in Jabel Mukaber, where a mourning tent had been set up on Friday. A squad of Israel Police declared the march an illegal gathering and detained several participants.
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Likud MK Gilad Erdan said Sunday he intends to propose a bill that would ban mourners' tents or any other public form of mourning or remembrance for terrorists. The proposal comes after police said they could not prevent the erection of a mourners' tent in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber honoring Ala Abu Dhaim, who carried out Thursday's terror attack in a Jerusalem yeshiva that killed eight, most of them teenagers. "The State of Israel acts more like a suicidal democracy than a democracy that is defending itself," said Erdan.
"It is our obligation to send a clear message that whoever murders innocent civilians will not only not receive any financial benefits from the state, but also will not be commemorated in public," said Erdan. Meanwhile, six right-wing Israeli activists were detained Sunday afternoon as they prepared to march to the terrorist's home in Jabel Mukaber, where a mourning tent had been set up on Friday. A squad of Israel Police declared the march an illegal gathering and detained several participants.
Knesset speaker calls for demolition of Jerusalem yeshiva terrorist's home
Haaretz 22:10 10/03/2008
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik on Monday asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to order the demolition of the mourner's tent set up by the family of the terrorist that killed 8 yeshiva boys last week, as well as the demolition of his family's home. On Thursday, Ala Abu Dhaim walked into the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem and began firing. Eight students were killed and nine others were wounded in the attack. The gunman was also killed. According to Itzik, who is currently serving as acting president while Shimon Peres is visiting France, she spoke to Mazuz and said "I know they won't try to stop it. It is not a legal question."
Itzik spoke while touring the Mercaz Harav yeshiva Monday evening. The head of the yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Shapira said "we must destroy the mourner's tent. This isn't normal. In any other place they would destroy it." Itzik replied "it is not a legal question at all. We must demolish the tent and the house." Earlier Monday, Itzik spoke before the Knesset and said "We mustn't politicize the mourning." "Out national unity has been put to the test and we mustn't fail it. This is not the time for partisanship, this is not the time to fight or make accusations," she concluded her speech, in which she called for the establishment of a national unity government.
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik on Monday asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to order the demolition of the mourner's tent set up by the family of the terrorist that killed 8 yeshiva boys last week, as well as the demolition of his family's home. On Thursday, Ala Abu Dhaim walked into the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem and began firing. Eight students were killed and nine others were wounded in the attack. The gunman was also killed. According to Itzik, who is currently serving as acting president while Shimon Peres is visiting France, she spoke to Mazuz and said "I know they won't try to stop it. It is not a legal question."
Itzik spoke while touring the Mercaz Harav yeshiva Monday evening. The head of the yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Shapira said "we must destroy the mourner's tent. This isn't normal. In any other place they would destroy it." Itzik replied "it is not a legal question at all. We must demolish the tent and the house." Earlier Monday, Itzik spoke before the Knesset and said "We mustn't politicize the mourning." "Out national unity has been put to the test and we mustn't fail it. This is not the time for partisanship, this is not the time to fight or make accusations," she concluded her speech, in which she called for the establishment of a national unity government.
Israel defies freeze on illegal settlements
By Eric Silver in Jerusalem
The Independent Monday, 10 March 2008
Israel approved plans yesterday to build 330 new homes in a suburban West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem. The move was denounced by the Palestinian Authority as "a slap in the face of the peace process" and called on the Quartet of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia to "act to get Israel to revoke the decision".
Saeb Erakat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator, said: "This is a provocative action by Israel that demonstrates its intention of further strengthening illegal occupation and colonisation of Palestinian territory."
He branded the timing of the decision as "outrageous" because it came on the eve of American-Israeli-Palestinian talks to assess the two sides' performance under the international road map for peace. Expansion of settlements is supposed to be frozen under the terms of the peace process. The settlements, illegal under international law, already account for nearly 40 per cent of West Bank territory. The UN warned recently that they are making the achie-vement of an eventual two state solution elusive.
Israel, which denied the plan was being launched in retaliation for Thursday's massacre of eight students in a Jerusalem yeshiva seminary, defended the decision, despite earlier undertakings to stop building on the West Bank. The 330 homes in Givat Ze'ev were part of a projected 750 dwellings approved in 1999 and frozen after the Palestinian intifada broke out a year later.
Building was said to have been suspended for economic reasons. Developers feared no one would buy the homes, designated for ultra-Orthodox Jewish families. In a new, less violent climate, they were eager to cash in.
Previously, Israel had insisted on its "sovereign right" to build within Jeru-salem's municipal borders, expanded to include the Arab half of the city after the 1967 war. Givat Ze'ev lies just across the Jerusalem-Ramallah border.
Mark Regev, the Prime Minister's spokesman, said last night: "Israel will not agree to a total freeze within the settlement blocks. That would be unrealistic. Givat Ze'ev is one of the Jerusalem suburbs, even though it is not within the municipal borders."
He argued that it lay within the large settlement blocks, close to the pre-1967 border, that Israel expected to retain after a final peace agreement with the Palestinians. "Building inside areas that will be staying inside Israel is not problematic for peace," he said.
The Givat Ze'ev initiative is unlikely to appease the settlers, still seething after the attack on their flagship Mercaz Harav yeshiva. Many are threatening to establish eight unauthorised West Bank outposts as a "suitable Zionist response" to the killing of the students.
Police were on high alert in Jerusalem yesterday to prevent further Palestinian attacks. They continued to interrogate eight members of the yeshiva killer's family. Security forces also detained six Jewish extremists, bearing placards calling for revenge, who had marched on the mourning tent in the East Jerusalem suburb of Jabel Mukaber.
A leading settler rabbi, Shlomo Aviner, wrote yest-erday: "The entire Jewish nation must rise as one person with one heart to take vengeance for the murder of any Jew so that other murderers will see and be afraid and plot no more."
On the Gaza front, an undeclared ceasefire seemed to be holding. No rockets were fired into Israel over the weekend. The Israeli army said 73 lorries carrying food and medicines entered Gaza yesterday, but petrol stocks were low and supplies limited in markets.
Mr Regev, the government spokesman, said: "Our military was not operating in Gaza because we wanted to; rather because we had to act to protect our civilian population. If rockets aren't being fired at Israeli communities, our need to respond is no longer there."
The Independent Monday, 10 March 2008
Israel approved plans yesterday to build 330 new homes in a suburban West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem. The move was denounced by the Palestinian Authority as "a slap in the face of the peace process" and called on the Quartet of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia to "act to get Israel to revoke the decision".
Saeb Erakat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator, said: "This is a provocative action by Israel that demonstrates its intention of further strengthening illegal occupation and colonisation of Palestinian territory."
He branded the timing of the decision as "outrageous" because it came on the eve of American-Israeli-Palestinian talks to assess the two sides' performance under the international road map for peace. Expansion of settlements is supposed to be frozen under the terms of the peace process. The settlements, illegal under international law, already account for nearly 40 per cent of West Bank territory. The UN warned recently that they are making the achie-vement of an eventual two state solution elusive.
Israel, which denied the plan was being launched in retaliation for Thursday's massacre of eight students in a Jerusalem yeshiva seminary, defended the decision, despite earlier undertakings to stop building on the West Bank. The 330 homes in Givat Ze'ev were part of a projected 750 dwellings approved in 1999 and frozen after the Palestinian intifada broke out a year later.
Building was said to have been suspended for economic reasons. Developers feared no one would buy the homes, designated for ultra-Orthodox Jewish families. In a new, less violent climate, they were eager to cash in.
Previously, Israel had insisted on its "sovereign right" to build within Jeru-salem's municipal borders, expanded to include the Arab half of the city after the 1967 war. Givat Ze'ev lies just across the Jerusalem-Ramallah border.
Mark Regev, the Prime Minister's spokesman, said last night: "Israel will not agree to a total freeze within the settlement blocks. That would be unrealistic. Givat Ze'ev is one of the Jerusalem suburbs, even though it is not within the municipal borders."
He argued that it lay within the large settlement blocks, close to the pre-1967 border, that Israel expected to retain after a final peace agreement with the Palestinians. "Building inside areas that will be staying inside Israel is not problematic for peace," he said.
The Givat Ze'ev initiative is unlikely to appease the settlers, still seething after the attack on their flagship Mercaz Harav yeshiva. Many are threatening to establish eight unauthorised West Bank outposts as a "suitable Zionist response" to the killing of the students.
Police were on high alert in Jerusalem yesterday to prevent further Palestinian attacks. They continued to interrogate eight members of the yeshiva killer's family. Security forces also detained six Jewish extremists, bearing placards calling for revenge, who had marched on the mourning tent in the East Jerusalem suburb of Jabel Mukaber.
A leading settler rabbi, Shlomo Aviner, wrote yest-erday: "The entire Jewish nation must rise as one person with one heart to take vengeance for the murder of any Jew so that other murderers will see and be afraid and plot no more."
On the Gaza front, an undeclared ceasefire seemed to be holding. No rockets were fired into Israel over the weekend. The Israeli army said 73 lorries carrying food and medicines entered Gaza yesterday, but petrol stocks were low and supplies limited in markets.
Mr Regev, the government spokesman, said: "Our military was not operating in Gaza because we wanted to; rather because we had to act to protect our civilian population. If rockets aren't being fired at Israeli communities, our need to respond is no longer there."
Lieberman to Arab MKs: One day we will 'take care of you'
Haaretz 18:22 10/03/2008
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman said at a Knesset plenary meeting on Monday, addressing Arab MKs, that "a new administration will be established and then we will take care of you."
The statement came three days after Lieberman made another inflammatory statement directed at Arab MKs, shortly after an Israeli Arab terrorist gunned down students at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem on Thursday, killing eight people. Lieberman had said following the incident that the attack had been a result of incitement to violence propagated by Arab MKs.
Earlier last week, National Union MK Effie Eitam had also directed scathing remarks at Arab MKs, saying that "one day we will expel you from this house, and from the national home of the Jewish people."
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However, unlike Eitam's comment, Lieberman's statement Monday failed to spark a large debate within the plenum, largely because the leaders of the Arab parties were not present at the meeting.
However, MK Abbas Zakour (Ra'am-Ta'al) called out to Lieberman saying that he was a threat to the state of Israel.
Lieberman added that "today we have a government made up of wimps. Believe me, this is temporary, just as you are temporary here. Just as the Kuwaiti government knew ho to handle situations like these," referring to the Kuwaiti decision to deport citizens who attended a rally commemorating the arch terrorist Imad Mughniyah, who was killed in a bomb blast in Damascus on February 12.
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman said at a Knesset plenary meeting on Monday, addressing Arab MKs, that "a new administration will be established and then we will take care of you."
The statement came three days after Lieberman made another inflammatory statement directed at Arab MKs, shortly after an Israeli Arab terrorist gunned down students at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem on Thursday, killing eight people. Lieberman had said following the incident that the attack had been a result of incitement to violence propagated by Arab MKs.
Earlier last week, National Union MK Effie Eitam had also directed scathing remarks at Arab MKs, saying that "one day we will expel you from this house, and from the national home of the Jewish people."
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However, unlike Eitam's comment, Lieberman's statement Monday failed to spark a large debate within the plenum, largely because the leaders of the Arab parties were not present at the meeting.
However, MK Abbas Zakour (Ra'am-Ta'al) called out to Lieberman saying that he was a threat to the state of Israel.
Lieberman added that "today we have a government made up of wimps. Believe me, this is temporary, just as you are temporary here. Just as the Kuwaiti government knew ho to handle situations like these," referring to the Kuwaiti decision to deport citizens who attended a rally commemorating the arch terrorist Imad Mughniyah, who was killed in a bomb blast in Damascus on February 12.
Most new conversion court judges will be ultra-Orthodox
Haaretz 10.3.2008
By Anshel Pfeffer
At least eight out of 10 new judges to be selected today to serve on the rabbinical courts for conversion will come from the strict ultra-Orthodox sector. Leading officials involved in the conversion process said the original objective was to choose more liberal judges who would make conversion easier.
The officials said the selection committee, headed by Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, made a deal to appoint four ultra-Orthodox judges who currently serve in the private rabbinical court of Rabbi Nissim Karelitz in Bnei Brak and four rabbis who are affiliated with Shas or Amar's associates. The other two will likely be from the religious Zionist camp. "Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of pressure on committee members from ultra-Orthodox quarters and also from religious Zionist rabbis who are hostile to the conversion issue. Ultimately they'll bring in judges who have no connection with or sympathy for the public that will appear before them," one of the officials said. A long-time educator who helps prospective converts learn about Judaism said the problem is that Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel put all the authority in Amar's hands, without realizing that Amar cannot withstand the pressure from the ultra-Orthodox and Shas.
By Anshel Pfeffer
At least eight out of 10 new judges to be selected today to serve on the rabbinical courts for conversion will come from the strict ultra-Orthodox sector. Leading officials involved in the conversion process said the original objective was to choose more liberal judges who would make conversion easier.
The officials said the selection committee, headed by Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, made a deal to appoint four ultra-Orthodox judges who currently serve in the private rabbinical court of Rabbi Nissim Karelitz in Bnei Brak and four rabbis who are affiliated with Shas or Amar's associates. The other two will likely be from the religious Zionist camp. "Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of pressure on committee members from ultra-Orthodox quarters and also from religious Zionist rabbis who are hostile to the conversion issue. Ultimately they'll bring in judges who have no connection with or sympathy for the public that will appear before them," one of the officials said. A long-time educator who helps prospective converts learn about Judaism said the problem is that Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel put all the authority in Amar's hands, without realizing that Amar cannot withstand the pressure from the ultra-Orthodox and Shas.
dimanche 9 mars 2008
'Jenin, Jenin' director tells court film based entirely on truth
Haaretz 22:08 09/03/2008
By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent
The director of the film "Jenin, Jenin," Mohammed Bakri, testified on Sunday in the libel suit brought against him by five Israel Defense Forces reserve soldiers that he would swear on all holy books that there were no falsehoods in the movie. Judge Michal Nadav of the Petah Tikva District Court recommended the parties reach an agreement. Their lawyers refused the judge's proposed agreement, but said they would try to compromise.
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Bakri's film critically depicts the IDF's Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin in 2002, and ascribes war crimes to the army. The five reservists argued that the movie had sullied their good name because the public knew they took part in the operation, after an interview they gave and another movie in which they appeared. One scene in "Jenin, Jenin" depicts an armored personnel carrier moving toward a group of Palestinians, and someone shouting, "It's going to run them over." The next scene shows bodies being removed, creating the false impression than the APC had killed the Palestinians. When asked by attorney Amir Tytunovich why he had edited the film this way, Bakri said he never imagined anyone would think the tank had run over the Palestinians. Bakri conceded that the tanks had not run over the Palestinians, although the photographer, whose excited voice can be heard in the background, obviously thought it was going to. Bakri said he had never admitted this editing was a mistake, but Tytunovich then showed the court a televised interview in which Bakri admitted he had made a mistake and would not do so again if he were to remake the film, "if only to avoid what you are now saying." Bakri said he would swear that everything in the film was true because he believed people, although he had not checked everything because he is "not an investigator, a policeman or a lawyer." The IDF's operation in Jenin stirred controversy after the Palestinians termed the event a massacre, suggesting that some 500 people had been killed during the raid. About five days after the foogjtomh. a Palestinian minister told the UPI news agency that the death toll had reached into the thousands, adding that Israel had buried the victims in mass graves under razed buildings. A subsequent UN investigation found that a total of 52 Palestinians had been killed during the clashes, most of them armed militants. Twenty-three IDF soldiers were also killed in the fighting.
By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent
The director of the film "Jenin, Jenin," Mohammed Bakri, testified on Sunday in the libel suit brought against him by five Israel Defense Forces reserve soldiers that he would swear on all holy books that there were no falsehoods in the movie. Judge Michal Nadav of the Petah Tikva District Court recommended the parties reach an agreement. Their lawyers refused the judge's proposed agreement, but said they would try to compromise.
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Bakri's film critically depicts the IDF's Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin in 2002, and ascribes war crimes to the army. The five reservists argued that the movie had sullied their good name because the public knew they took part in the operation, after an interview they gave and another movie in which they appeared. One scene in "Jenin, Jenin" depicts an armored personnel carrier moving toward a group of Palestinians, and someone shouting, "It's going to run them over." The next scene shows bodies being removed, creating the false impression than the APC had killed the Palestinians. When asked by attorney Amir Tytunovich why he had edited the film this way, Bakri said he never imagined anyone would think the tank had run over the Palestinians. Bakri conceded that the tanks had not run over the Palestinians, although the photographer, whose excited voice can be heard in the background, obviously thought it was going to. Bakri said he had never admitted this editing was a mistake, but Tytunovich then showed the court a televised interview in which Bakri admitted he had made a mistake and would not do so again if he were to remake the film, "if only to avoid what you are now saying." Bakri said he would swear that everything in the film was true because he believed people, although he had not checked everything because he is "not an investigator, a policeman or a lawyer." The IDF's operation in Jenin stirred controversy after the Palestinians termed the event a massacre, suggesting that some 500 people had been killed during the raid. About five days after the foogjtomh. a Palestinian minister told the UPI news agency that the death toll had reached into the thousands, adding that Israel had buried the victims in mass graves under razed buildings. A subsequent UN investigation found that a total of 52 Palestinians had been killed during the clashes, most of them armed militants. Twenty-three IDF soldiers were also killed in the fighting.
samedi 8 mars 2008
Lieberman: Jerusalem attack is product of Arab MK incitement
Haaretz 04:26 08/03/2008
By Haaretz Service
Yisrael Beiteinu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman slammed the Arab Knesset members on Friday, maintaining that "yesterday's attack can not be disconnected from the Arab MKs incitement, which we hear daily in the Knesset." Lieberman, who served as strategic affairs minister in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, was referring to Thursday's terrorist attack in which eight students at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem were gunned down by a Palestinian terrorist. He said that "in light of the incitement of Israeli Arabs" he was not surprised that the terrorist was from East Jerusalem and held an Israeli identification card.
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"Whoever called the IDF activity aimed at protecting the southern communities 'war crimes,' and whoever incites and burns the Israeli flag in Umm al-Fahm, cannot shirk from the responsibility for the criminal attack in Jerusalem," he said. The right-wing Women in Green group condemned the attack and called to establish eight settlements in the West Bank- in memory of the eight yeshiva students killed in Thursday's attack. "The Jewish Zionist revenge must be an immediate revenge by establishing eight new communities throughout Judea and Samaria in memory of the those murdered, especially in light of the fact that the Mercaz Harav yeshiva symbolizes the settlement in the Yesha region," a statement from the organization read.
By Haaretz Service
Yisrael Beiteinu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman slammed the Arab Knesset members on Friday, maintaining that "yesterday's attack can not be disconnected from the Arab MKs incitement, which we hear daily in the Knesset." Lieberman, who served as strategic affairs minister in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, was referring to Thursday's terrorist attack in which eight students at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem were gunned down by a Palestinian terrorist. He said that "in light of the incitement of Israeli Arabs" he was not surprised that the terrorist was from East Jerusalem and held an Israeli identification card.
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"Whoever called the IDF activity aimed at protecting the southern communities 'war crimes,' and whoever incites and burns the Israeli flag in Umm al-Fahm, cannot shirk from the responsibility for the criminal attack in Jerusalem," he said. The right-wing Women in Green group condemned the attack and called to establish eight settlements in the West Bank- in memory of the eight yeshiva students killed in Thursday's attack. "The Jewish Zionist revenge must be an immediate revenge by establishing eight new communities throughout Judea and Samaria in memory of the those murdered, especially in light of the fact that the Mercaz Harav yeshiva symbolizes the settlement in the Yesha region," a statement from the organization read.
mercredi 5 mars 2008
MK Eitam to Arab MKs: One day we will expel you from Israel
Haaretz 13:59 05/03/2008
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
Tempers flared Wednesday during Knesset plenary session when National Union MK Effie Eitam told Arab MKs that "one day we will expel you from this house, and from the national home of the Jewish people." Eitam expressed his anger at Tuesday's rally in Umm al-Fahm, where demonstrators chanted slogans calling Israel "a Zionazi state" and urging "Gaza martyrs" to carry on with their struggle. "No sane democracy can put up with acts of treason during wartime," Eitam said. "We have to drive you out, as well as everyone else who took part in yesterday's unruly, reckless and treacherous anti-Israel diatribe."
Balad Chairman MK Jamal Zahalka heckled him in turn: "You're a madman, a miserable character, a racist," and was ejected from the debate. Ra'am-Ta'al MK Taleb El-Sana said Eitam should be imprisoned and court-martialed for his conduct as a senior IDF officer during the first Intifada. "He advocates the expulsion of Israeli citizens," El-Sana said. "Eitam belong in history's garbage can." Eitam said in response that he did not call to expel the Israeli Arab community entirely, only Arab MKs and those who participated in Tuesday's rally.
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
Tempers flared Wednesday during Knesset plenary session when National Union MK Effie Eitam told Arab MKs that "one day we will expel you from this house, and from the national home of the Jewish people." Eitam expressed his anger at Tuesday's rally in Umm al-Fahm, where demonstrators chanted slogans calling Israel "a Zionazi state" and urging "Gaza martyrs" to carry on with their struggle. "No sane democracy can put up with acts of treason during wartime," Eitam said. "We have to drive you out, as well as everyone else who took part in yesterday's unruly, reckless and treacherous anti-Israel diatribe."
Balad Chairman MK Jamal Zahalka heckled him in turn: "You're a madman, a miserable character, a racist," and was ejected from the debate. Ra'am-Ta'al MK Taleb El-Sana said Eitam should be imprisoned and court-martialed for his conduct as a senior IDF officer during the first Intifada. "He advocates the expulsion of Israeli citizens," El-Sana said. "Eitam belong in history's garbage can." Eitam said in response that he did not call to expel the Israeli Arab community entirely, only Arab MKs and those who participated in Tuesday's rally.
mardi 4 mars 2008
State helpless in face of skeletons in haredi closet
In spite of efforts by welfare officials, local rabbis, state authorities are unable to curb rampant child abuse in ultra-Orthodox families
Yael Branovsky Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 04.03.08, 08:03
One harrowing case after another, yet welfare officials stand by helpless: Faced with a string of heart wrenching cases of child abuse in the haredi community, even state officials now concede that they have only been able to reach this closed community on rare occasions, and often too late.
One recent, disturbing case, for instance, in which a Netivot mother had sexually abused her son, only came to light when the son began to attend boarding school and molested a fellow pupil. The social workers who handled his case quickly realized that the child had no idea that what he was doing was wrong.
Dalia Lev-Sade, director of community services at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, stated in an interview with Ynet that seeing as the haredi community is so sequestered, haredi children enjoy less exposure to societal conventions of right and wrong.
“This is a group that is extremely closed off from the rest of the world, and so many times we are unaware of problems within the community and cannot intervene.”
“The case in Beit Shemesh is a classic example,” recounts Lev- Sade. ”Even though the family was monitored by welfare services, the social workers involved could not fully understand the family, nor the essence of the problems it was facing, because they kept such closely guarded family secrets. Only when something drastic occurs can we actually begin to take action.”
The ultra-Orthodox community, however, is slowly becoming more open, according to Lev-Sade. “The haredi community is slowly opening up and coming to realize that you can’t keep the skeletons in the closet forever.”
Orlet Moyal, director of welfare services at the Bnei Brak Municipality, tends to haredi families on a daily basis and knows all too well that that road to reaching this clandestine community is long and torturous. “It was nearly impossible to reach the haredi community just a few years ago, but we began to come up with creative means of reaching this community without offending its sensibilities.
“We wanted to be able to reach the haredi community before things became disastrous,” says Moyal, "and so we contacted local rabbis and rabbinical councils and urged them to mediate and intervene when families were reluctant to accept help.”
'More willingness to report abuse'
Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, head of the National Council for the Child, believes that it is the closed and reticent nature of the haredi community that in many instances precludes intervention by state authorities in child abuse cases.
“The haredi community firmly opposes airing its dirty laundry out in public, like we saw with many kibbutz communities in the past. The haredi community is extremely concerned about its public images, and in many cases rabbis did not allow families to go to the police and report abuse.”
Kadman noted, however, that this trend is mercifully changing. “In recent years there is more willingness among haredi families to report abuse. In our council alone, 30% of individuals involved in a project tending to victims of sexual abuse are haredi.”
Doron Aggasi, director of the Shlom Banecha foundation, which aids victims of sexual abuse and violence in the haredi community, stated that the recent public cases of child abuse within the haredi community indicate that the haredi world is changing for the better when it comes to reporting such crimes.
“These kinds of cases were often stifled in the past, because the haredi community was unwilling to disclose anything. Now however, people are far more aware of issues such as sexual abuse and familial violence, be it through exposure to the internet or other sources.”
Aggasi maintains that it is rabbis that are at the forefront of these positive changes in the haredi community.
“Rabbis have asked me about the best treatment options for pedophilia and sexual deviance, and we are currently training social workers to treat both victims and perpetrators.
"In this respect, the haredi community has bypassed its secular counterpart by far, because this is a very motivated, obedient society that has taken heavy handed measures to help curb such phenomenon.”
Roi Mandel contributed to this article
Yael Branovsky Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 04.03.08, 08:03
One harrowing case after another, yet welfare officials stand by helpless: Faced with a string of heart wrenching cases of child abuse in the haredi community, even state officials now concede that they have only been able to reach this closed community on rare occasions, and often too late.
One recent, disturbing case, for instance, in which a Netivot mother had sexually abused her son, only came to light when the son began to attend boarding school and molested a fellow pupil. The social workers who handled his case quickly realized that the child had no idea that what he was doing was wrong.
Dalia Lev-Sade, director of community services at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, stated in an interview with Ynet that seeing as the haredi community is so sequestered, haredi children enjoy less exposure to societal conventions of right and wrong.
“This is a group that is extremely closed off from the rest of the world, and so many times we are unaware of problems within the community and cannot intervene.”
“The case in Beit Shemesh is a classic example,” recounts Lev- Sade. ”Even though the family was monitored by welfare services, the social workers involved could not fully understand the family, nor the essence of the problems it was facing, because they kept such closely guarded family secrets. Only when something drastic occurs can we actually begin to take action.”
The ultra-Orthodox community, however, is slowly becoming more open, according to Lev-Sade. “The haredi community is slowly opening up and coming to realize that you can’t keep the skeletons in the closet forever.”
Orlet Moyal, director of welfare services at the Bnei Brak Municipality, tends to haredi families on a daily basis and knows all too well that that road to reaching this clandestine community is long and torturous. “It was nearly impossible to reach the haredi community just a few years ago, but we began to come up with creative means of reaching this community without offending its sensibilities.
“We wanted to be able to reach the haredi community before things became disastrous,” says Moyal, "and so we contacted local rabbis and rabbinical councils and urged them to mediate and intervene when families were reluctant to accept help.”
'More willingness to report abuse'
Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, head of the National Council for the Child, believes that it is the closed and reticent nature of the haredi community that in many instances precludes intervention by state authorities in child abuse cases.
“The haredi community firmly opposes airing its dirty laundry out in public, like we saw with many kibbutz communities in the past. The haredi community is extremely concerned about its public images, and in many cases rabbis did not allow families to go to the police and report abuse.”
Kadman noted, however, that this trend is mercifully changing. “In recent years there is more willingness among haredi families to report abuse. In our council alone, 30% of individuals involved in a project tending to victims of sexual abuse are haredi.”
Doron Aggasi, director of the Shlom Banecha foundation, which aids victims of sexual abuse and violence in the haredi community, stated that the recent public cases of child abuse within the haredi community indicate that the haredi world is changing for the better when it comes to reporting such crimes.
“These kinds of cases were often stifled in the past, because the haredi community was unwilling to disclose anything. Now however, people are far more aware of issues such as sexual abuse and familial violence, be it through exposure to the internet or other sources.”
Aggasi maintains that it is rabbis that are at the forefront of these positive changes in the haredi community.
“Rabbis have asked me about the best treatment options for pedophilia and sexual deviance, and we are currently training social workers to treat both victims and perpetrators.
"In this respect, the haredi community has bypassed its secular counterpart by far, because this is a very motivated, obedient society that has taken heavy handed measures to help curb such phenomenon.”
Roi Mandel contributed to this article
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