by Hana Levi Julian(IsraelNN.com) A record number of Jews converting to Islam last year prompted the Shas Knesset faction Tuesday to propose a bill that would jail missionaries who proselytize to individuals in Israel.
Hareidi-religious Sephardic party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef urged Shas faction leader MK Yaakov Margi to propose the expansion of the current law against missionary activity after learning that a record number of Jews converted to Islam last year.
The existing law mandates six months’ imprisonment for those who attempt to persuade Israeli minors to leave their faith or who perform a conversion ceremony on the children and teens.
The current legislation also imposes a five-year jail term and/or a fine on anyone who offers money or other goods to persuade an individual under age 18 to convert to another faith.
It does not, however, outlaw missionizing towards adults, a deficiency that would be corrected by the new law.
Climbing Numbers of Jews Abandoning Judaism
Some 70 Jews left the faith of their fathers to join the Muslim community, up from 33 converts to Islam in 2005 and 27 such conversions in 2004. The number of Muslims who convert to Judaism was dramatically lower, with only ...   more »

By Danny Rubinstein  
If we examine the headlines in the Palestinian media in recent years, there is hardly any doubt that Jerusalem is the key issue on the agenda. Sometimes there's talk of restrictions on Muslims worshiping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque; sometimes there's talk of the purchase of more Arab houses by associations of religious settlers. And at the end of last week there were more reports of Muslim protests against the work at the Mugrabi Bridge, and violent demonstrations at the Qalandiya checkpoint in northern Jerusalem as well as at the crossing point to Bethlehem in the south.
Newspaper photos showed agile young men climbing the ("racist," in the Palestinian version) separation wall and flying a Palestinian flag on it.
From the Palestinian perspective, it would appear, the main problem is not recognition of Israel, the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the violence and the terror or even the problem of the refugees and the right of return. The problem is Jerusalem. Just as the State of Israel would not be able to exist if the right of the 1948 refugees to return were to be recognized, it can be said that a Palestinian state could not ...   more »

Source: CNS News
Mar 14, 2007
Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Zalman Shoval has denounced the much-touted Saudi peace plan as an attempt to get Israel to commit suicide.
The plan, which will be featured at an Arab League summit in Riyadh later this month and has been the focus of recent visits to the region by senior US officials, demands the following of Israel:
A full withdrawal from every inch of Judea and Samaria;
The surrender of the eastern half of Jerusalem, including the Old City, Temple Mount and Western Wall;
A full withdrawal from every inch of the Golan Heights;
Conferring citizenship on millions of foreign-born Arabs who, with the full backing of the international community, claim to be "Palestinian refugees."
In return, the Arab states promise to make peace with what would no longer be the Jewish state.
Shoval noted that the demands on Israel contained in the Saudi plan are actually presented as preconditions for peace, effectively making the initiative a "recipe for the destruction of Israel" that is not up for negotiation.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni continue to talk of the Saudi plan as a positive development ...   more »

Israeli officials expressed disappointment Wednesday that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana backed a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights following talks in Damascus with Syrian leaders, rather than publicly calling Syria to task for supporting terrorism.
But, the officials said, Solana's remarks did not signify a significant change in EU policy, since the EU has backed a return of the Golan to Syria for years.
Nevertheless, one official said, "This is not the message that Syria needed to hear at this time. Syria needed to hear that it must stop supporting terrorism, stop trying to undermine the government in Lebanon, stop supporting Hizbullah and Iran."
Solana, the official said, went to Damascus with a number of "benchmarks," and Israel had hoped Solana would put Syria "in its place."
Solana's words on the Golan, the official said, were certainly not what Israel wanted to hear. "We are interested in working for your country to return to itself the territories that were captured in [the 1967 war]," Solana said at a press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem after meeting with President Bashar Assad.
Solana's remarks prompted strong reactions from MKs. "There is no chance Israel will retreat from ...   more »

EU foreign policy chief says EU wants to help Syria regain territory captured by Israel in 1967, urges Syria to help ease tension in Lebanon, Iraq
The European Union supports Syria's goal of regaining the occupied Golan Heights from Israel, the EU foreign policy chief said after meeting President Bashar Assad on Wednesday.
"We would like to work as much as possible to see your country Syria recuperate the territory taken in 1967," Javier Solana told a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem.
Syria has made it clear that its cooperation to help end violence in Iraq was tied to Western, especially US, backing for its peaceful campaign to regain the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied during the Middle East war four decades ago.
Israel annexed the territory in 1981.
Solana urged Syria to do more to help ease tensions in Lebanon and Iraq during the visit that ended a two-year freeze on high-level EU contacts with Damascus.
Before his meeting with Assad,Solana called on senior Syrian officials to crack down on alleged smuggling of arms across the border into Lebanon and contribute to stabilizing Iraq, EU diplomats said.
"The message of Solana is that this can be ...   more »