Middle East Update

by Hillel Fendel
Nearly 2,300 Arabs from Gaza, among them Hamas terrorists who wish to avoid Israeli arrest, will be allowed to enter Gaza via Egypt - in direct opposition to an Israeli request. The Arabs, returning from a religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, spent the weekend aboard two luxury ferries [...]

by Hillel Fendel A new audio cassette, the fifth one issued by the Al-Qaeda international terrorist organization this year, tells the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza that they need not be concerned.

“I have not forgotten your struggle,” the reviled terrorist chieftain Osama Bin-Laden is heard saying, “and we plan to expand our Jihad [...]

by Ezra HaLevi Arab terrorists fired eighteen Kassam rockets at Jewish towns in the western Negev Wednesday December 26. Gaza terrorists also fired five mortar shells toward western Negev communities Wednesday afternoon. IDF soldiers arrested 19 wanted terrorists overnight Wednesday. Arabs tried to kill an Israeli who entered [...]

by Ezra HaLevi
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he has no intention of resigning following the upcoming publication of the conclusions of the Winograd Committee on the Second Lebanon War. The report, which has taken over a year to compile, will be published in the coming weeks. Politicians and pundits have operated [...]

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was quoted as telling a key Knesset committee on Monday:

“Egyptian actions in the war against smuggling in the Philadelphi Corridor are terrible and definitely have implications for future problems in the region, such as the arming of Hamas in Gaza.”

(Reuters)

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
IDF soldiers opened fire on two Arab men on Monday night December 24, near the Hareidi-religious city of Beitar Illit, a few miles south of Jerusalem. The men were attempting to infiltrate the city and were assumed to be terrorists. One of the suspects was wounded and taken to a [...]

by Ezra HaLevi Out of Zion has come the world’s tiniest Bible, engraved in gold on silicon, to illustrate the science of nanotechnology. More than 300,000 words and 1,200,000 letters, including vowels have been placed on less than half a square millimeter, allowing the tiny Torah to fit inside the first [...]

by Hana Julian Ten Iranian Jewish families - 40 Iranian Jews in all — began new lives Tuesday night December 25, when they came home to Israel. “How they were brought to Israel and information about who they are is classified information,” Jewish Agency spokesman Michael Jankelovitch said in an exclusive interview with Israel National [...]

by Hillel Fendel
The Temple Institute in Jerusalem announces the completion of the Tzitz, the High Priest’s headplate - now ready for use in the Holy Temple. The tzitz is made of pure gold, was fashioned over the course of a more than a year by the craftsmen of the Temple Institute, and [...]

by Hillel Fendel For the third time in less than five months, the Olmert government has released convicted Arab terrorists from Israeli prison in “goodwill” gestures to PA chief Abbas. A total of 771 Arab terrorists have been freed since July 20 of this year. On that date, Israel [...]