Observant Jews head to Mt. Meron
By JPOST.COM STAFF
01/05/2010 21:03
Hundreds of thousands to celebrate Lag Baomer in Galilee.
Half a million observant Israelis made their way to Mount Meron on Saturday night as the Sabbath gave way to Lag Baomer, the Jewish holiday on which bonfires are lit to commemorate the Talmud-era day on which a plague that had killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva's students finally ended.
Another of the rabbi's students, Shimon Bar Yochai, survived the plagued and went on to become, according to tradition, the author of the Zohar. Bar Yochai is also commemorated on Lag Baomer, with celebrations and torchlighting taking place at his burial place on Mount Meron.
And so, hundreds of thousands of Jews made their way to the site Saturday for the annual celebration, during which three-year-olds receive their first haircuts.
Over 1,000 policemen were deployed to the site in order to ensure that the festivities were not marred by traffic jams or car accidents. They assessed that even as the Sabbath was waning, there were 20,000 pilgrims at the site.
Police will use surveillance cameras, helicopters and a zeppelin to watch over the celebrants throughout the holiday.
Days ahead of Lag Baomer - which falls on a Saturday this year, guaranteeing traffic after the Sabbath - the Egged bus company made preparations for the mass pilgrimage, sending dozens of buses out from haredi areas such as Jerusalem and Bnei Brak to the Galilee.
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Abbas asks China to support Iran sanctions as Palestinians would die in ME war
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report May 1, 2010, 11:16 AM (GMT+02:00)
Abbas welcomed by Hu Jintao
Chinese president Hu Jintao was taken by surprise by the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas's plea to support tough sanctions against Iran's nuclear program when they met in Shanghai Saturday, May 1, debkafile's Middle East sources reveal. He was even more taken aback by the argument that a Middle East war, a realistic peril in the absence of sanctions, would cost the lives of many Palestinians who would find themselves caught between the belligerents.
Hu received the Palestinian leader after the gala opening of Shanghai World Expo. According to Chinese sources, Abbas explained that for once, most Arab nations - and the Palestinians, most of all - are ranged on the same side as Israel and the West in their profound anxiety about Iran's nuclear program and the threat it poses of regional violence.
Abbas told the Chinese leader that he spoke on behalf of a majority of Arab rulers, in particular, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zaed al-Nahyan and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Palestinian cities have no defenses against their rockets should Iran and its allies, Syria, Hizballah and Hamas wage war against Israel, he said, and thousands of Palestinians in the line of fire would pay with their lives. He therefore pleaded with President Hu to drop his objections to harsh sanctions against Iran at the UN Security Council as the only way to avert a conflict that could spark a Middle East conflagration.
Our sources note that this was the first time a Palestinian leader supported Israel's position on any Middle East issue, undertaking a mission to China in which several Israeli officials failed earlier this year.
The Chinese leader's response is not known. However, one of Beijing's main considerations in opposing painful sanctions against Iran, including an embargo on refined fuel products and arms, is its championship of the Third World nations' position that Security Council sanctions are a blunt instrument all too often applied by the big powers, especially United States, to bend them to their will.
Abbas' petition, in fact, complemented and underscored the Obama administration's case for harsh sanctions against Iran, in terms of economic benefit. Beijing need not fear repercussions from Tehran in terms of its oil supplies, US officials have told Beijing, since Saudi Arabia would be willing to make up any shortfall - and at cheaper prices, to boot.
Abbas' arguments to Hu reinforced that pledge.
Saturday, too, the Arab League's monitoring committee was expected to endorse the Palestinian leader's acceptance of the US plan for launching indirect peace negotiations with Israel. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also voiced confidence Friday, April 30, that proximity talks would begin next week. Next Monday, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu meets Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh, before the return to the region of the American Middle East envoy, George Mitchell later in the week.
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'State of emergency on Gaza border'
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP
01/05/2010 17:52
Egypt reportedly catches wind of plan to break out of Strip.
Egypt has declared a state of emergency on its border with Gaza, the Ma'an news agency reported on Saturday, citing Egyptian defense officials.
According to the report, Cairo caught wind of a Palestinian plan to break out of the blockaded Strip. Four days previously, four Palestinians had been killed and six wounded inside a smuggling tunnel under that same border.
Following the incident, Hamas had accused Egypt of using poisonous chemicals to gas the smugglers, killing them.
Egypt, however, denied the reports, saying that it routinely blows up the mouths to the tunnels to seal them off, and that the blast and an ensuing fire could quickly use up all the oxygen in the confined space, causing people caught inside to suffocate.
Egypt has been under pressure to shut down the hundreds of tunnels that are a key economic lifeline for the Palestinian territory but which are also used to bring in weapons for Hamas.
Palestinian officials in Rafah said Egypt has stepped up a crackdown on smuggling in recent months, blowing up numerous tunnel entrances on its side of the border, setting up checkpoints in the area and confiscating contraband. Since December, Egypt has also been building an underground steel wall to block the tunnels.
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'ME may become nuke-free zone'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
01/05/2010 17:21
Egypt, US discuss pact which would include Israel, Iran.
Washington and Cairo are negotiating an agreement which would see the Middle East become a nuclear-free zone, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
According to the report, which comes two days ahead of a UN-hosted conference to prevent nuclear proliferation, the agreement is aimed at making the treatment of nuclear weapons in the Middle East more balanced.
The US has been criticized in the past for expressing concern over the suspected nuclear ambitions of countries such as Syria and Iran with nary a mention of Israel's reported nuclear arsenal.
The Wall Street Journal quoted senior Obama administration officials as saying that the US officials would meet with their Egyptian counterparts in New York in efforts to promote the idea of a nuke-free Middle East which would encompass Arab countries as well as Israel, Iran and Turkey.
"We've made a proposal to them that goes beyond what the US has been willing to do before," one official reportedly said. Others added that progress would have to be made on the Israeli-Palestinian track before such an agreement could be made.
"We are concerned that the conditions are not right unless all members of the region participate, which would be unlikely unless there is a comprehensive peace plan which is accepted," the Wall Street Journal quoted Ellen Tauscher, US undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, as saying.
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Video
Obama's Fascist Rhetoric: Takes Aim At Free Speech
These are the most disturbing remarks of anything the thin skinned infiltrator in the White House has uttered since taling the throne (and that is no small accomplishment.) Obama said today that President that partisan rants and name-calling under the guise of legitimate discourse pose a serious danger to America's democracy.
I am here to tell you folks, it's the one thing that keeps America alive. Free Speech. This statement is so dangerous it borders on sedition.
Did Bush ever utter such a sentiment when he was called Hitler, terrorist, or hung in effigy. The most disgusting lies and smears were made towards Bush. He sanctioned all of it.
Now Obama seeks to restrict the truth.
This is so disturbing it should stop traffic, let alone the presses. DF says, "it's November or never."
Obama takes direct aim at anti-government rhetoricAssociated Press (hat tip DF)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - In a blunt caution to political friend and foe, President Barack Obama said Saturday that partisan rants and name-calling under the guise of legitimate discourse pose a serious danger to America's democracy, and may incite "extreme elements" to violence.
The comments, in a graduation speech at the University of Michigan's huge football stadium, were Obama's most direct take about the angry politics that have engulfed his young presidency after long clashes over health care, taxes and the role of government
Not 50 miles from where Obama spoke, the GOP's 2008 vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, denounced his policies as "big government" strategies being imposed on average Americans. "The fundamental transformation of America is not what we all bargained for," she told 2,000 activists at a forum in Clarkston, sponsored by the anti-tax Americans for Prosperity Foundation. Obama drew repeated cheers in Michigan Stadium from a friendly crowd that aides called the biggest audience of his presidency since the inauguration. The venue has a capacity of 106,201, and university officials distributed 80,000 tickets - before they ran out.
In his 31-minute speech, Obama didn't mention either Palin or the tea party movement that's captured headlines with its fierce attacks on his policies. But he took direct aim at the anti-government language so prevalent today.
What troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad," Obama said after receiving an honorary doctor of laws degree. "When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us."
Government, he said, is the roads we drive on and the speed limits that keep us safe. It's the men and women in the military, the inspectors in our mines, the pioneering researchers in public universities
The financial meltdown dramatically showed the dangers of too little government, he said, "when a lack of accountability on Wall Street nearly led to the collapse of our entire economy."
But Obama was direct in urging both sides in the political debate to tone it down. "Throwing around phrases like 'socialists' and 'Soviet-style takeover,' 'fascists' and 'right-wing nut' - that may grab headlines," he said. But it also "closes the door to the possibility of compromise. It undermines democratic deliberation," he said. At its worst, it can send signals to the most extreme elements of our society that perhaps violence is a justifiable response."
Passionate rhetoric isn't new, he acknowledged. Politics in America, he said, "has never been for the thin-skinned or the faint of heart. ... If you enter the arena, you should expect to get roughed up."
Obama hoped the graduates hearing his words can avoid cynicism and brush off the overheated noise of politics. In fact, he said, they should seek out opposing views.
His advice: If you're a regular Glenn Beck listener, then check out the Huffington Post sometimes. If you read The New York Times editorial page the morning, then glance every now and then at The Wall Street Journal.
The Puff Ho - nazi anti-Jewish rhetoric daily. That is what your president recommends, a sick extremist leftoid website.
