Yeshiva World News

SECURITY/DEFENSE:
• At least one Kassam rocket was fired into southern Israel on Shabbos. The rocket landed in an open area without resulting in injuries or damage.

• Three firebombs were hurled at a border police patrol along the seamline near Maale HaChamisha on Shabbos. No injuries were reported.

• Egyptian security officials uncovered a weapons cache containing 250 kilograms of explosives near the border.

• Wounded border policeman Imad Gadhir is admitted to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, listed in moderate condition. The other border policeman, David Shriki, remains in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in serious condition. The two were wounded in a Friday night shooting attack near Lion’s Gate.

 
POLITICS, DOMESTIC & MORE:
• Firefighters evacuated the Nachal Tel-Dan nature reserve in the Galil area over Shabbos as a result of a major forest fire. No injuries were reported.

• At least two people were treated for smoke inhalation as a result of a blaze in the N’vei Yaakov neighborhood of northern Yerushalayim on Shabbos. Hatzolah and MDA responded to the scene.

• Israel has received Hizbullah’s report on Ron Arad. The report is being reviewed by the intelligence community and it will be discussed by the cabinet on Sunday.

• Former Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner calls on the nation to apply pressure to compel PM Olmert to resign. Justice Dorner stated he is unfit to continue serving as the nation’s leader.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Two Kassam rockets landed in the Greater Sderot Area. No injuries are being reported. It appears the rockets landed in open areas. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

1:39PM IL: It appears that tens of Gaza residents, teens, are hurling rocks at Egyptian forces along the Rafiach border crossing in an attempt to break open the gate to Egypt.

Egyptian forces are responding with a water canon and unconfirmed reports indicate security forces from inside Gaza are also working to bring the situation under control. Egyptian forces appear determined to ensure there is not another incident in which Gaza residents break through the border as occurred earlier this year.

Israel Radio reports the border crossing has not been breached and the scene appears more-or-less under control at this time. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

1:33PM IL: According to preliminary reports, Arabs in Hamas-controlled Gaza are trying to break through the Rafiach Crossing to Egypt.

Unconfirmed reports state that the border has been successfully opened.

Israel is monitoring the situation as border forces along the Gaza-southern Israel are on alert.

Details to follow as they become available. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

12:45PM IL: As the family of Gilad Shalit awaits the government’s next move, PA official Nabil Amr announced on Tuesday afternoon that Egypt will be opening the Rafiach border crossing for two days. The move is intended to permit Gazans in Sinai to return home and Gazans in Gaza to head to Egypt for medical services.

Israeli officials such as the Defense Ministry’s Amos Gilad continue to release statements to reassure the family of Shalit that the Regev-Goldwasser deal approved by the cabinet on Sunday will help efforts to obtain Gilad’s release, not hamper them.

Responding to fears from Shalit family members fearing an agreement on a Gaza ceasefire that excludes Gilad’s release, government officials assured them that until such time that Gilad is released, the Gaza Crossing will remain closed. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

1:48PM IL Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told cabinet ministers a short time ago that despite all the difficult considerations in the case, he has decided to support the proposed prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hizbullah. The deal would result in Hizbullah releasing IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

The ministers are each being given an opportunity to speak, explaining their position. A vote on the prisoner exchange is expected in the next hour or two.

Prior to the weekly meeting, the prime minister did not disclose his position on the proposed deal. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
 

SECURITY/DEFENSE:
• IDF troops operating in the Dahaishe Refugee Camp in the Gush Etzion district were attacked by dozens of Arabs with rocks, pipes and other objects. 3 border policemen were lightly injured. The Arabs report 13 injured by teargas.

• 8 mortar shells were fired at the Greater Sderot Area and at IDF patrols near Kissufim over Shabbos. No injuries reported.

• A man was lightly injured in his head from rocks while driving near Betar on the Hussan Bypass Road on erev Shabbos.

Weekly Security Roundup
Following is an overview of terrorism during the past week in the Greater Sderot Area, Yehuda and Shomron.

• 3 Grad Katyusha rockets were fired into southern Israel.
• 32 Kassam rockets were fired into southern Israel.
• 101 mortar shells landed in the Greater Sderot Area.
• A bulldozer was stopped by soldiers near Netiv HaAsarah, preventing a multi-pronged terror attack.
• A woman was light-to-moderately wounded in a Kassam rocket attack in Kibbutz Yad Mordechai.
• A female soldier was treated for ringing in her ears following a rocket attack near Erez.
• 2 bombs were detected along the Gaza perimeter fence.

Yehuda and Shomron
• 6 bombs detected
• 2 bombs thrown at soldiers
• 2 shooting incidents against soldiers
• 2 border policemen were lightly injured by rocks in a protest near Bal’in.
• 3 people were lightly injured in rock attacks on the Hussein Bypass Road, a male, female and Israeli Arab truck driver.

POLITICS, DOMESTIC & MORE:
• A woman in her 70s was bitten by a Palestinian viper snake in Kibbutz Deganya Bet. She was transported to Poriah Hospital in Tiveria in moderate condition.

• Over 100 Arabs and left-wing Israelis protested near Sussia in the Har Chevron area on Shabbos afternoon. They are demanding that police take more aggressive action in the investigation of an assault against a number of Arabs, injuring a woman seriously.

• Egyptian border officials report arresting 10 people as they tried infiltrating into Israel.

• Minister Chaim Ramon warns against the possibility of Binyamin Netanyahu becoming prime minister.

• MK (Likud) Yuval Shteinitz opposes the release of terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

•  3 fatalities, a couple and their 7-year-old daughter, in a motor vehicle accident Saturday night on Highway 70 in the western Galil.

• PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) calling on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to halt Israeli settlement construction.

• A 13-year-old Afula youth broke his back after falling down stairs in a school building.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will on Tuesday meet with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to discuss a possible major military incursion into Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Last week, prior to Shavuos, senior ministers indicated a major military response in Gaza was imminent. Olmert was quoted as saying “an IDF operation is not far off.” The statements followed another week of rocket-fire, which claimed one life and left many others physically and emotionally injured, not to mention extensive property damage.

The frequency of attacks against Greater Sderot Area residents continues to increase, as does the range of rockets being fired from Gaza as terrorists continue to develop more advanced weaponry.  (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Uri Messer, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s former law partner, told police investigators that he held $350,000 in cash in his safe for Olmert, not $150,000 as has been reported to date.

The funds that were not unused he explained  were passed to Olmert’s personal assistant Shula Zaken in mid-2006, shortly after the state comptroller launched one of the investigations against Olmert regarding alleged illegal activities pertaining to investments.

One of the questions that will be posed to the prime minister is if the funds were given in anticipation of political favors, pointing to his abusing his ministerial post. Police for the time begin are viewing the sizeable sums of cash as payoffs and bribes.

While Messer did tell police of the large sum, he is not totally cooperative and is not spelling out how the funds reached the prime minister and if all or exactly how much was intended for him. There are yet many unanswered questions.

This was the larger fund that Olmert kept in addition to a smaller petty cash source, fed by Talansky and others like him. At one point, $23,000 was converted to new Israeli shekels and given to a close friend of Olmert, Avraham Hirschson, the former finance minister who last week was indicted on charges of fraud, accepting bribes, and breech of trust among other charges. He is suspected of making off with over NIS 2.5 million.

At present, police have learned of $150,000 given to Olmert from Talansky; $300,000 that was taken from Talansky’s accounts for Olmert; $300,000 that came from a currently unknown source to cover the earlier $300,000 taken from Talansky.

The talk of envelopes containing sums of cash is actually the tip of the iceberg and police are more concerned with what appears to have been a major operation with Olmert in his different local and national government capacities treated himself to enormous sums of money.

At present, Talansky is just a piece in the puzzle that points to a major money operation involving enormous sums, bribery and other illegal activities. Messer does appear to be turning into a major state witness against the prime minister and police are seeking to understand if Olmert did indeed act on behalf of supporters who at different times gave him large sums of money.

At present it appears the prime minister filled his pockets generously in return for using the power of his various government positions to assist others, at times, contrary to state interests. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

• Three mortar shells landed in Sderot. Damage reported. No injuries.

• A soldier was wounded light-to-moderately by Gaza sniper fire directed at Nachal Oz. He was transported to the trauma unit of Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva.

• Rock attacks reported against Jewish motorist traveling in Gush Etzion near Northern Efrat Junction. No injuries.

• Katyusha rocket attack victim Amnon Rosenberg HY”D was laid to rest at 11:00AM.

• Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has landed in Ben-Gurion International Airport, returning from Washington.

• Senior military source calling for a major operation in Gaza, the sooner the better.  (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)