| Updated Monday - Friday |
|
|---|
 |  |
|---|
In further escalation in the southern areas of Israel, twenty Qassam rockets were fired from the Gaza strip at Israeli communities on Wednesday. Two people were wounded by shrapnel, and medical teams treated numerous anxiety victims at the scene. One rocket exploded in the parking lot of a large commercial center in the southern town of Sderot. The rocket landed in the area while hundreds of shoppers were at the site. Vehicles and a nearby store sustained extensive damage in the strike. The ceasefire agreement with armed Palestinian groups in the terrorist-controlled Gaza Strip is set to expire before the end of the week. It has not lived up to expectations, statistical findings have shown. Security establishment data released on accumulated artillery fired toward Israel shows a sharp increase of over 1,000 rockets and mortars fired in 2008, as compared with the previous year, an Israeli Defense Forces official said this week. In 2007, over 1,200 rockets and 600 mortar shells were fired toward the Israeli Gaza surrounding region, particularly the town of Sderot, home to the Israeli Leadership Institute (ILI), one of the two activity arms of AFFI . As 2008 comes to a close, 2,900 rockets have been fired so far at Israel. November saw a steep escalation in violence, with 170 rockets and an additional 85 mortar shells documented. A senior military official responded to the figures, saying "there is no doubt that what is taking place in the Gaza Strip is intolerable. There are ways to take care of this, and we are awaiting the green light from the government." He added, "The data from November proves that there is no lull, and we cannot accept the terror organizations firing without cease whenever they want to. Either there is total peace or a wide scale military operation." The Southern Command has been preparing for a number of scenarios in Gaza, ranging from small-scale operations to large ones including reserve forces. "There is no significance to December 19," an officer familiar with the preparations said. "The time of the lull's termination looks like it has already come in November." The IDF has also begun to prepare for the coming weekend, in which Hamas is expected to attempt an attack in order to achieve the upper hand in the coming negotiations over another ceasefire agreement. Eeki Elner , co-founder of AFFI and Executive Director of the ILI , and a resident of Sderot, says "We are continuing as usual with our training programs. I found no fear in the hearts of our students. After all, we are training the future leaders of Israel, and they are obligated to demonstrate courage and determination." The ILI has no plans to suspend its training and educating programs if the situation develops into a war in the region. "I'm confident" says Elner, "that our supporters can appreciate our standing and we are asking them to pray for us."Make a Donation Messianic Leader Detained Upon Arrival in Israel A Director of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) and his wife were detained Sunday at Ben-Gurion Airport, accused of involvement in missionary activity. Jamie Cowen, a former president of the union, and his wife, Stacy, arrived in Israel last Sunday, December 14) in the early morning and were immediately detained at the airport. The Israeli Immigration and Population Authority ordered their return to the United States and refused to grant them an entry visa, amid allegations that Cowen is involved in illegal missionary activity. The couple was ordered to leave Israel on the afternoon Lufthansa flight. It is illegal in Israel to proselytize among minors. It is also prohibited to engage in missionary activities among adults when economic incentives are offered. Cowen contacted Calev Myers, Chief Counsel of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ) and Co-Founder of AFFI, and actions were begun immediately to reverse the order. Myers contacted Eeki Elner, also a Co-Founder of AFFI, and together they launched an ad hoc, massive campaign against the actions of the Ministry of Interior (MOI), demanding the release of the couple and an absolute discontinuance of the persecution of Messianic tourists when visiting Israel. With Cowen still detained, Myers began working in two directions: preparing an injunction request to submit to the courts and creating vast media exposure to boost public awareness of the incident. As a result, within a short time Cowen's daughter and Elner were interviewed on national radio. Elner boldly asserted in a live radio interview that there are few groups more Zionistic and supportive of Israel than Messianic Jews. He emphasized that Cowen's son-in-law fought in a combat unit in the IDF and then asked, by comparison, what great deed the members of the anti-Messianic organizations have done to protect Israel. Through the intervention of AFFI, the government agreed to release Cowen before JIJ's legal team needed to submit a request for an injunction to the courts. After over eight hours of detention, the Cowens were permitted to enter Israel only after they agreed to sign a document that they would not engage in missionary activities during their stay. The Cowens are in Israel to visit their two daughters, one of whom is an Israeli citizen. The other is in the process of obtaining citizenship after she and a group of other Messianic Jews won a Supreme Court case again the state, a case Myers handled successfully. "This type of religious discrimination would be expected of Iran, not Israel. Someone has to crack down and bring in people of integrity," said Cowen, a US immigration lawyer, hours after he was released. Cowen has visited Israel 10 times and has been active in social causes via the Knesset Social Lobby. "I've brought $100,000 in humanitarian aid to Israel. We've provided lone IDF soldiers with about $50,000 in aid. This is unbelievable," he continued. The Interior Ministry, which directed the police to arrest the Cowens, said they had classified information regarding the Cowen's missionary activity. "The Immigration and Population Authority has reliable information that the Cowens were involved in missionary activity prohibited by Israeli criminal law during their last visit to Israel," a ministry spokesperson said. "This is the reason they were detained. AS soon as they agreed to refrain from any missionary activity, they were allowed in." Myers, who has provided legal advice and representation to Messianic Jews in numerous cases, says the Interior Ministry is filled with clerks who identify with a strictly Orthodox definition of who is a Jew. "During the years that the Shas Ultra-Orthodox party controlled the Ministry, they made sure to appoint clerks who were willing to carry out their policies. As a result, Israel is the only Western country where basic freedom of religion is denied. Today those who are being discriminated against are Messianic Jews; tomorrow it will be Conservative and Reformed Jews." Myers said. Myers says that anti-missionary organizations such as Yad Le'achim often tip off Interior Ministry officials regarding Messianic Jews attempting to enter the country. Myers and Elner are preparing a comprehensive report of the incident to be brought before the State Comptroller in Israel, demanding an investigation and revealing the illegal activity of the Ministry of Interior regarding information held against Messianic Jews and the sources of such information. Make a Donation . The Threat of Fundamentalist Islam The leader of the Netherlands right-wing Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, arrived in Israel this week under heavy guard. Wilders, who has been shadowed by the Dutch Secret Service for the past four years, says that since he released his short film denouncing the teaching of the Kora'an, he has been under constant threat. "Fitna," which means upheaval, anarchy, or a war between brothers in Arabic, is a 17 minute film riddled with media clips and newspaper articles describing acts of violence perpetrated by Muslims. The movie aims to show that the Kora'an and the Islamic culture, in general, preach hate and violence. It has been seen by almost twenty million people and has sparked mass Muslim protest throughout the Netherlands. Wilders, however, said he is only worried about one thing: the Islamization of Europe. "I make a distinction between the ideology and the people," he said. "I don't believe there is a moderate Islam and I don't believe there is an European Islam. I believe there is only one Islam, which is the Islam of the Book of the Kora'an, and I believe it is a terrible fascist book and that there will never be a moderate Islam. I am very afraid that we are losing our identity," he continued. "For example, in the Netherlands today, out of sixteen million people, we have one million Muslims. A lot of people don't know that our society is changing; we want the Netherlands to stay the Netherlands; we want Europe to stay Europe, like I believe you Israelis want Israel to stay a Jewish country. This is the right of every country to keep its identity." When asked to point out the differences between anti- semitism and his movie, Wilders said, "I'm not doing anything to Muslims, I'm talking about the ideology. I don't hate people, I don't hate Muslims. People don't make the distinction that I do, between the ideology and the people." Wilders' film features a scene in which a small Palestinian girl is asked if she knows who or what the Jews are. She answers, "They are apes and pigs." "The girl" says Wilders, "quotes the Kora'an. It's a verse in the Koran. The Koran says it literally -- that Jews are apes and pigs -- it's part of the ideology, and this is indeed why I compare Islam with communism and fascism and totalitarian ideologies, more than other religions." A strong opponent of the concept of cultural relativism, Wilders went on to say that in his mind the Judeo-Christian culture is far better than its Islamic counterpart. "This is not a conflict of civilizations," he stated, "it is a conflict between rationality and barbarism." Wilders believes it is in the hub of the ideological fight against Islam. "I always tell people that it is only because Israeli parents send their children to the army to deal with Jihad that the parents in Europe can sleep soundly." He also sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one based on ideology, saying that Jihad would exist regardless of Israel's existence. U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama, he added, must find a way, "any way," to deal with the Iranian threat and stop its nuclear-arming program. "Let's fight," he concluded, "but I'm not talking about conventional war. Let's fight against Islam ideologically because it is a war." Make a Donation . The Alliance for the Future of Israel appreciates your support of its missions. Please help us continue our work by making a donation now to AFFI. Your donation is tax deductible. Make a Donation . Sincerely, Jane Eisner Alliance for the Future of Israel Page Views for this article: 5 | ||
| ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Front Page | About Us | Contact Us | Calendar | Place Ads | Archives |
Designed and Maintained by Biblicaldesigns.com
