by Hillel Fendel  
Reactions to the publication of the Winograd testimonies of Prime Minister Olmert, Defense Minister Peretz and ex-IDF Chief of Staff Halutz were no surprise: The opposition called for Olmert to resign, while his supporters backed him. MK Menachem Ben-Sasson (Kadima), the head of the Knesset Law Committee, said the Prime Minister acted with long-range vision, and assigned focused missions upon the army. MK Danny Yatom (Labor), who represents internal opposition to the Kadima-Labor government: "I regret that the Prime Minister shifted responsibility to the army. His testimony strengthens the earlier report that so sharply criticized his personal performance. He sent the army to war, even though he knew it wasn't ready." MK Gideon Saar, the head of the Likud Knesset faction, summed up Olmert's testimony as an attempt to deflect responsibility from the political echelons to the army. "He did not learn from his mistakes, and he is not the right person to corre ct the faults," Saar said about the Prime Minister. National Union chairman MK Benny Elon said, "There is nothing new; the failure is known. There must be an immediate political change, so that the public trust - and that of the reserve soldiers ...   more »

by Ezra HaLevi  
Israel Police in Judea and Samaria are suspected of forging a tape of a briefing that supposedly took place prior to the violent events of February 1, 2006 at Amona.On that day, the Israel Police carried out orders to demolish nine Jewish homes in Amona, 12 miles north of Jerusalem. The police were filmed using excessive force against hundreds of youthful protestors, over 200 of whom were injured and taken to hospitals for treatment. Dr. Yitzchak Klein of the Israel Policy Center has gone public with evidence suggesting that a tape released recently by the police has several signs of being tampered with or staged altogether.
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Click here to view must-watch TV report on police video The tape allegedly shows Judea and Samaria District Commander Maj.-Gen. Yisrael Yitzhak briefing the policemen who were chosen to carry out the demolition orders prior to the mission. The filmed briefing, which aimed at proving that police did not receive explicit orders to use violence against protesters, was handed over to the Israel Policy Forum after six months of refusals by the police, who explained its release would compromise national security. The Israel Policy Center had ...   more »

The State of Israel is not doing enough to utilize the growing Evangelical support for Israel at a time when a Christian-Jewish alliance is vital in the battle against Islamic extremism, according to Likud MK Gilad Erdan. "The strengthening and development of our relations with the Evangelical world is a national interest which must be furthered," said Erdan, the deputy head of the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. "There is no clear-cut policy of the government of Israel that says we need to cooperate on all levels with Christian supporters of Israel," he said, faulting the Foreign Ministry for a continuing failure to appreciate the potential such a partnership offers in the battle for public opinion. Erdan, 36, a rising figure in the Likud, has been active in the cross-party parliamentary caucus, which works with Christian friends of Israel around the world, since its establishment three and a half years ago. The lobby's formation was seen as a watershed after decades when Israel shied away from contacts with the Christian world due to concerns over proselytizing. The increasingly influential parliamentary lobby, which is made up of 12 Knesset members from seven political parties across ...   more »

FORT DIX, N.J. — Three brothers charged in the alleged Fort Dix terror plot have been living illegally in the U.S. for more than 23 years and were accepted as Americans by neighbors and friends who had no idea they would scheme to attack military bases and slaughter GIs.A federal law enforcement source confirmed to FOX News that the three — Dritan "Anthony" or "Tony" Duka, 28; Shain Duka, 26; and Eljvir "Elvis" Duka, 23 — also accumulated 19 traffic citations, but because they operated in "sanctuary cites," where law enforcement does not routinely report illegal immigrants to homeland security, none of the tickets raised red flags.The brothers entered the United States near Brownsville, Texas, in 1984, the source said, which would put their ages at 1 to 6 when they crossed the border.The source said there is no record of them entering by way of a regular border crossing, so they are investigating whether they were smuggled into the country.The brothers plus three other suspects in the alleged plot — Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22; Serdar Tatar, 23; and, Agron Abdullahu, 24 — were ordered held without bail for a hearing Friday.Five were charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. military ...   more »

Christian evangelist Ray Comfort and former child actor Kirk Cameron have used a televised debate with a pair of atheists to present the Gospel message to an audience estimated in the millions. "I'm very, very encouraged," Comfort told WND after the first part of the 90-minute program was broadcast at ABCNews.com. A shortened version of the program was aired on the network's "Nightline" as well. "I don't think you can argue people into the Kingdom of Heaven," Comfort said. "It's a moral issue. People love their sins and they're going to hold onto them. But we're talking about eternity and it's not to be trifled at." But he said he takes seriously the biblical instructions to preach the word. "Our agenda is just to preach the Gospel, to make a very clear Gospel proclamation that people can understand," he said. As WND reported, the idea for the debate developed after several atheists launched the Internet site Blasphemy Challenge, which offers to send people a DVD if they post on Youtube.com a video of themselves condemning themselves to hell. The self-described "Rational Response Squad" said its DVD, "The God Who Wasn't There," was described by the Los Angeles Times as "provocative ...   more »

by Qaiser Felix
Pakistan’s government sends draft bill tabled by six-party Islamic alliance to standing committee for review. Under the bill’s terms, apostates would be sentenced to death or life in prison. Testimony by two adults is the only independent evidence needed to determine or demonstrate apostasy. Lahore archbishop is praying the bill is never adopted.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) – A draft bill adopted in first reading by Pakistan’s National Assembly is now before a standing committee. Tabled by a six-party politico-religious alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal or MMA, the Apostasy Act 2006 which the government sent to the committee would impose the death penalty on Muslim men and life in prison on Muslim women in case they leave Islam. It would also force them to forfeit their property and lose legal custody of children.During the same session, lawmakers rejected another draft bill moved by minority MNA Bhandara which sought to amend the existing blasphemy law.“This situation is unfortunate and sad. We demand freedom of conscious, religion and expression in Pakistan, and this bill is contrary to the principle of freedom of choice”, said Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha, head of National Commission for Justice and Peace and chairman of the Pakistan Catholic ...   more »

By Jerome R. Corsi-Benn Steil
The director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations has launched a scathing attack on sovereignty and national currencies. Benn Steil, writing in the current issue of CFR's influential Foreign Affairs magazine, says "the world needs to abandon unwanted currencies, replacing them with dollars, euros, and multinational currencies as yet unborn." In the article, "The End of National Currency," Steil clearly asserts the dollar and the euro are temporary currencies, perhaps necessary today. He argues "economic development outside the process of globalization is no longer possible." His inevitable conclusion is "countries should abandon monetary nationalism." Steil tempers his embrace of one world currency, writing, "Governments should replace national currencies with the dollar or the euro or, in the case of Asia, collaborate to produce a new multinational currency over a comparably large and economically diversified area." He concludes: "It is the market that made the dollar into global money – and what the market giveth, the market can taketh away. If the tailors balk and the dollar falls, the market may privatize money on its own." The "tailors" Steil has in mind are the world's central bankers. He advises that the U.S. needs ...   more »

One of the most confusing aspects of life, which impacts particularly on our attitude to our relationship with God and the way we relate to religion, is the establishment of the proper balance between thoughts and feelings. In the establishment of what we consider true reality, does what we feel or what we know play the dominant role, or is there some instinctive combination of knowledge and feeling that human beings were programmed to apply? The mitzvah of counting the Omer holds the key to understanding this aspect of life.The difference between the spiritual quality of Passover and Shavuot is expressed by the difference between the Omer sacrifice, brought on Passover, consisting of barley, an animal food, and the sacrifice of the Two Loaves made on Shavuot consisting of wheat, a food people eat. The revelation of Passover was unearned; we weren't up to attaining the level of spiritual elevation to which God raised us. Such revelation is symbolized by animal food. Animals were not created to develop their potential and are not expected to do so; their levels of development were implanted by God as part of their natures with no potential for growth or change.Inasmuch as the Exodus ...   more »