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ISRAEL REPORT
http://www.israelreport.org/Friday, 2 June 2006
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS:
1. BUDGET ISSUES CREATE TENSIONS IN THE COALITION
2. PRO-TERRORIST SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT RECRUITING NEW VOLUNTEERS
3. ISRAELI ELITE TROOPS OPERATE IN GAZA
4. BRITISH ACADEMICS BOYCOTT ISRAEL – AGAIN
5. IDF AND NATO STRENGTHEN TIES
6. JEWISH PEOPLE CELEBRATE SHAVUOT TODAY
7. BRIEFS
8. HISTORICAL FLASHBACK: JUNE 7, 1981
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1. BUDGET ISSUES CREATE TENSIONS IN THE COALITION
One of the first and main aims of the Olmert coalition when it was established a couple of months ago was to get parliamentary budget approval for the 2006 budget. The date limit to get this approval is June 18. Jerusalem Post wrote that this week revealed serious differences of opinion between the Labor Party, whose seven ministers walked out of the cabinet meeting during the government vote on the budget, and Kadima.
Labor’s new Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, now finds himself in a peculiar dilemma. He has previously been an ardent supporter of military budget cuts favoring instead a strengthening of the health and social welfare budgets. In his new position, however, he strongly rejects the suggested military budget cut of ca. 110 million USD. "It is like slamming the brakes on a train that goes full speed," he said. In addition, Peretz and Olmert have also been sparring over the health budget, and a "significant distrust" has been built up between the two, according to the Post.
Voices from left and right are now calling for toppling the government. Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman compared the cooperation between Kadima and Labor to a shaatnetz (a Biblically forbidden mixture) and encouraged Olmert to rid himself of the "irrelevant" Labor party, Arutz-7 wrote. The government hopes to have the budget passed in its third and last reading by Wednesday next week.
2. PRO-TERRORIST SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT RECRUITING NEW VOLUNTEERS
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) has started its summer recruiting activities, Arutz-7 reported. The ISM has in the past been working in tandem with terrorist groups in Palestinian authority areas. For example the Tel Aviv suicide bombing attack in April 2003 with 3 victims was carried out by terrorists who gained entry to Israel as the ISM "peace activists." As a result the prime minister’s office released a statement condemning the ISM for playing an active role in "illegal and violent actions against IDF soldiers..." and for conducting activities "under the auspices of Palestinian terrorist organizations."
According to Lee Kaplan, a long-time anti-ISM fighter, the organization’s goal is to "create an international incident by having ISM activists from abroad be arrested by Israeli Authorities in order to undermine Israeli sovereignty." The local director of ISM explained to the San Francisco Chronicle that the recruitment of American student volunteers would be useful for the Palestinian movement because "if some of these foreign volunteers get shot or even killed then the international media will sit up and take notice."
3. ISRAELI ELITE TROOPS OPERATE IN GAZA
Less than a year after the evacuation of the IDF and the Jewish settlers from Gaza the IDF has been forced to return. In order to stop the continued firing of Kassam rockets on Israeli territory, special troops on Tuesday entered northern Gaza and engaged a terrorist cell on its way to fire rockets towards the Jewish city of Ashkelon. Four Islamic Jihad members were killed in the fighting. According to Haaretz, these special troops have been operating in the area for a couple of months.
Twenty-four hours after this operation four Kassam rockets landed on Israeli territory in Western Negev. Two of them hit the town of Sderot and damaged a house 50 meters from the home of Defense Minister Amir Peretz. Peretz, visiting the home a few minutes after the strike, commented: "We will find a way to take action to prevent these organizations from firing toward Sderot and other communities… Therefore I hope that the [Palestinian] population understands that these organizations are bringing them toward a catastrophe," Haaretz reported.
Major General in the IDF, Yoav Galant, was more explicit: "If the price we have to pay becomes unreasonable as a result of increased [Palestinian] attacks, then we shall have to take all steps, including occupying the Gaza Strip," as quoted in WorldNetDaily.
4. BRITISH ACADEMICS BOYCOTT ISRAEL - AGAIN
Following the lead of an infamous and failed boycott against Israel from last year, a British academic union repeated this Monday the calling for a boycott against Israeli academics. Britain’s Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), which is Britain’s largest academic trade union, attempted to justify their boycott by referring to the "continuing Israeli Apartheid policies." However, the resolution also attacked what it considered Britain’s "scandalous incitement against Hamas," reported Ynet News.
Reactions against the move were swift and many: Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Zvi Hefetz, called it "an act of blatant discrimination" and said it is "counterproductive in the extreme," as quoted by Jerusalem Post. The British Foreign Minister Lord Triesman likewise regretted the resolution and called it "counterproductive and retrograde." Moreover, three days before the vote NATFHE received a letter from more than 600 professors and academics as well as a list with 4 700 signatories both urging them to drop the motion.
The resolution, having great symbolic effect, was nevertheless annulled yesterday as a consequence of the merger between NATFHE and another trade union called the Association of University Teachers; the union responsible for last year’s boycott.
5. IDF AND NATO STRENGTHEN TIES
For the first time since its founding in 1949, NATO will fully integrate Israeli naval forces into a military exercise, Arutz-7 reported. Israel has previously only been allowed to observe such exercises. The military exercise will take place in the Black sea off the coast of Romania. The exercise will involve simulated combat between missile boat fleets as well as search-and rescue drills.
Senior IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) officers said that the NATO mission was designed to strengthen ties between Israel and the alliance and to look into possibilities for future military cooperation. Some analysts have speculated that Israel would apply for membership in the NATO alliance, but IDF officials have indicated that formal membership would limit Israel’s ability to apply military force independently, as it sees fit.
6. JEWISH PEOPLE CELEBRATE SHAVUOT TODAY
Today, on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, the Jewish people are celebrating the holiday of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. The name refers to the timing of the festival which is held exactly 7 weeks after Passover. It is one of the three pilgrim festivals, when the people visited the temple. (Deut. 16:16).
Shavuot is known also as "the Day of the First fruits" (Num. 28:26), because it is the time the farmers would bring their first fruit to Jerusalem as a token of thanksgiving. In ancient times the farmers of Israel would begin their spring harvests with the barley crop at Passover. The harvest continued for seven weeks as the other crops and fruits ripened. The Jewish farmers would tie a ribbon around the first ripening fruits. The first fruits would be cut and placed into baskets woven with gold and silver, brought to Jerusalem and presented to the High Priest (Deut. 26:1-10).
While in Bible Shavuot is obviously a harvest festival, during rabbinic times the festival attained the significance of commemorating the giving of the Torah – the Law.
Several traditions are connected to Shavuot. It is customary to eat dairy products during this holiday. This recalls to Jews that "He gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey" but also the Torah is compared to milk since it nourishes both young and old. During holiday of Shavuot the book of Ruth is read in synagogues. The synagogues are traditionally decorated with flowers and greenery, denoting the fragrance and beauty of the Torah. Children wear white clothes and flower wreaths on their head. Religious Jews hold a vigil on the eve of Shavuot. They stay awake until dawn, reading the Torah and Talmud.
7. BRIEFS
In an exclusive interview with the Post, Chief of General Staff, Dan Halutz, says the continued budget cuts year by year "will turn the IDF into a mediocre military." Pointing out the danger posed by the growing global Islamism; a potentially nuclear Iran, continued Kassam firing from Gaza, and this weeks Hizb´Allah attacks in the north, Halutz asserted that a mediocre army is not something Israel can afford.
WorldNetDaily reported that Iran has equipped the Islamic terror organization Hizb´Allah with missiles capable of hitting targets virtually everywhere in Israel. According to military officials the new missiles are not highly accurate but carry 600 kilograms of explosives and cause a considerable damage. IDF colonel Gal Hirsch mentioned that in recent weeks a strong presence of Iranian revolutionary Guard units has been seen at Hizb´Allah positions.
The Singapore-based biopharmaceutical company SciGen is planning to build an advanced plant for research, development, and manufacturing of biotechnological drugs. The project that will be built within three years in Rehovot and cost several millions of dollars, will employ dozens of professionals. SciGen produces drugs in the areas of endocrinology and immunology, reported Ynet.
8. HISTORICAL FLASHBACK: JUNE 7, 1981
On the Eve of Shavuot Israeli fighter jets attacks and destroys Saddam Hussein’s nuclear facility near Baghdad. At 17:35 the first bombs fall and after 80 seconds the raid is successfully completed. Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan stated before the raid: "The alternative is our destruction."
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