by Ruchama King Feuerman
In Israel',s darkest moment, outnumbered and surrounded by enemies, an old woman sees what no one else can see.
The Six Day War had ended. The generals assembled the commanders and foot soldiers for a customary review and analysis of the battle. After the military questions had been asked, and the investigative committee was about to disperse, a commanding officer pointed to one of the soldiers. "Wait a minute. I have a question for you. Yes, you, the soldier who put up the flag on the Temple Mount."
The soldier nodded.
"Where did you get an Israeli flag, and why did you put it up?"
The soldier spread out his hands and smiled, a gesture that indicated that here was more than just a one sentence response. He told the following story:
The night before the Old City was liberated, a contingent of soldiers fighting near the Old City took cover in a shelter in a Jerusalem neighborhood. Hordes of children, mothers, old men and women packed inside the bunker alongside the soldiers. People looked frightened and bereft. The government had imposed a news black-out so that the Arab countries wouldn't be able to figure out ...   more »

MKs from Arab factions announce they will vote against dissolution of Knesset next week, preferring Olmert to projected rise of Opposition leader Netanyahu
Sharon Roffe-Ophir
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stands to receive the protection of unexpected allies as he faces a plenum vote to dissolve the Knesset.
Labor, Shas in Favor 
Ultra-Orthodox party announces its support of Knesset dissolution motion / Attila Somfalvi 
Shas joins Labor in announcing it will support MK Shalom's motion for dissolution of Knesset, which makes for significant majority of MKs to pass motion in preliminary vote, scheduled to take place June 25
Parliament's Arab parties, it has become apparent, plan to object to the dissolution motion when it is brought to a preliminary vote next week. Elections at this point, they fear, will lead to a government far from their liking.
"The fact that the prime minister is under investigation shouldn't necessarily mean he must resign," MK Talab El-Sana (United Arab List – Ta'al) told Ynet on Monday.
"We don't think we should be handing out rewards to the Right. Prime ministers have always been under investigation, I don't recall that the Right was quite so adamant about dissolving the Knesset when Prime Minister Ariel ...   more »

New bill demands amendment to Rabbinical Courts’ Jurisdiction Act, in attempt to protect converts from living in fear, encourage future immigrants' conversion
Neta SelaFollowing the outrage around the controversial High Rabbinical Court ruling by Judge Avraham Sherman, annulling all conversions conducted by Head of the Israeli Conversion Court Rabbi Haim Drukman, a new bill was submitted to the Knesset Sunday, aiming to prevent future incidents of this nature. 
Study conducted for Ynet, Gesher shows serving in IDF more important criterion than keeping commandments regarding who to convert to Judaism
 The bill, submitted by MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor), demanded an amendment to the existing law, prohibiting the court from annulling conversions. The amendment to the law will be part of the Rabbinical Courts’ Jurisdiction Act, stating that “despite what exits in the law or any other judgment, a rabbinical court will not be able to rule on annulling a person’s conversion,” proposed Pines. 
In the bill’s brief, Pines claimed that “the unbearable ease with which conversions are annulled in Israel today allows the rabbinical court to take away a person’s Jewish identity even if years have passed since their conversion, causing thousands of Israeli families, parents and children, to live in ...   more »

Israel's Hydrology Service and the Mishmar Hamiflas organization that independently monitors water levels in Israel both warned on Tuesday that the speed with which the Dead Sea is drying up is picking up pace.
Israel National News reported that the level of the Dead Sea dropped by nearly four inches last month. The Dead Sea dropped by only three inches the previous month.
"We are witnesses, not only to the continued fall of the water levels (in the Dead Sea), but also to the increased speed of this drop. This fact shows us that the need for more freshwater in the Dead Sea is not slowing, but rising," said a spokesman for Mishmar Hamiflas.
The Dead Sea has been shrinking for decades due to massive water diversion from the Jordan River, the main source of fresh water feeding the lifeless lake. Today, some 90% of the Jordan's water is diverted for private consumption and agricultural use in Israel and neighboring Jordan before it reaches the Dead Sea.
Original Source   more »

The president of Iran has ordered the country's leading banks to transfer billions of dollars of assets from Europe to the Central Bank to prevent them being frozen by international sanctions, according to Western diplomats.
The funds are being moved to Tehran through a secret network of "front" companies set up in Gulf states such as Dubai.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the move amid growing concern that Iranian banks would soon be subject to strengthened European Union-level sanctions. But his action has caused friction with Tahmaseb Mazaheri, the governor of the Central Bank. The Iranian press has reported that he may resign over the issue.
This would constitute a serious blow to Mr Ahmadinejad's already battered reputation for economic competence. Mr Mazaheri has only been in the job nine months after he replaced Ibrahim Sheibani, who resigned over the Iranian president's attempts to control the activities of the state's banks.
Mr Ahmadinejad was dealt a serious blow in April when the economy minister resigned, accusing the government of implementing "unscientific" policies.
The European Union has come under pressure from the United States to impose sanctions against Iranian banks suspected of financing Tehran's controversial nuclear programme and international terror groups in Iraq ...   more »

Tree named 'Methuselah' breaks age record as oldest seed to germinate
A Judean date palm, long extinct, has been "brought back to life" by scientists who unearthed a 2,000 year-old seed of the plant and germinated it. A healthy 4-foot-tall seedling, named Methuselah after the oldest living man in the Bible, now holds the record for the oldest germinated seed.
The seed itself, perhaps the last link to the vast date palm forests that once grew in the Jordan River valley, was first discovered in 1965, as archaeologists excavated the ancient Israel site of Masada. Seeds discovered at the site were put into storage for 40 years.
Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis L. Brock Natural Medicine Research Center in Jerusalem, then recruited Dr. Elaine Solowey of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies to help revive the dormant seeds, in hopes of discovering some of the plant's medicinal properties mentioned in historical writings.
In 2005, the date palm now known as Methuselah was planted and sprouted. After it germinated, fragments of the seed shell clinging to the roots were carbon dated, placing the age of the date seeds sometime between 60 B.C. and A.D. 95, about the age expected for ...   more »

By Reuven Koret  
The glib handling of criticism of his relationship with the anti-American ("God Damn America!") and anti-Israel ("a dirty word for Negroes") Reverend James Wright may have bought him a little time. But the legacy of dissimulation about his long-concealed identity is about to come crashing down around the ears of Barack Hussein Obama, courtesy of the assembled testimony of his family, friends, classmates and teachers.
Obama's official campaign site has a page titled "Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian." The page states, "Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ."
Yet the accumulated research from primary sources who knew Obama from his childhood indicate that he was a devout Muslim, the son of a devout Muslim, the step-son of a devout Muslim and the grandson and namesake ("Hussein") of a devout Muslim. He was registered in school as a Muslim and demonstrated his ability to chant praise to Allah in impressive Arab-accented tones even as an adult. Just as he has not disavowed his "uncle" Jeremiah, neither has he disavowed his ...   more »

For Islam - Bill Wilson
By Bill Wilson, KIN Senior Analyst
WASH—Jun 16—KIN-- The Islamic nations represented in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, are at a prophetic crossroads. The powerful Saudi Arabian King has said his country will increase oil production and has called an emergency meeting of OPEC nations to discuss oil prices. King Abdullah is about to play a very strategic card in claiming the world for Islam. Islamic nations have run up oil prices to the point of causing food riots across the world. Now Islam is at the brink of whether it throws the world into complete anarchy without the military forces to subdue it, or whether it exercises patience for a more appropriate time to launch a takeover.
Abdullah claims that market factors other than speculation are not the cause of the oil price run up. He says that there is enough supply in the market. But oil prices have brought the entire world to the breaking point. People are facing famine and starvation, runaway inflation, and economic recession because of oil prices. The Islamists have reaped huge windfall profits that have enabled them to buy heavily into the financial trade, securing large ...   more »

By David E. Sanger
WASHINGTON: American and international investigators say that they have found the electronic blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon on computers that belonged to the nuclear smuggling network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist, but that they have not been able to determine whether they were sold to Iran or the smuggling ring's other customers.
The plans appear to closely resemble a nuclear weapon that was built by Pakistan and first tested exactly a decade ago. But when confronted with the design by officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency last year, Pakistani officials insisted that Khan, who has been lobbying in recent months to be released from the loose house arrest that he has been under since 2004, did not have access to Pakistan's weapons designs.
In interviews in Vienna, Islamabad and Washington over the past year, officials have said that the weapons design was far more sophisticated than the blueprints discovered in Libya in 2003, when Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi gave up his country's nuclear weapons program. Those blueprints were for a Chinese nuclear weapon that dated to the mid-1960s, and investigators found that Libya had obtained them from the Khan network....   more »

By Joby Warrick
An international smuggling ring that sold bomb-related parts to Libya, Iran and North Korea also managed to acquire blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon, according to a draft report by a former top U.N. arms inspector that suggests the plans could have been shared secretly with any number of countries or rogue groups.
The drawings, discovered in 2006 on computers owned by Swiss businessmen, included essential details for building a compact nuclear device that could be fitted on a type of ballistic missile used by Iran and more than a dozen developing countries, the report states.
The computer contents -- among more than 1,000 gigabytes of data seized -- were recently destroyed by Swiss authorities under the supervision of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, which is investigating the now-defunct smuggling ring previously led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
But U.N. officials cannot rule out the possibility that the blueprints were shared with others before their discovery, said the report's author, David Albright, a prominent nuclear weapons expert who spent four years researching the smuggling network.
"These advanced nuclear weapons designs may have long ago been sold off to some of the most treacherous regimes in the ...   more »

Judge finds street evangelist guilty of 'interfering'
A man arrested for preaching on a public sidewalk too close to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia has been declared guilty of violating federal law. He was fined over $400 and put on probation, told not to go in Independence National Historical Park – or on its surrounding sidewalks – for a year.On October 7, 2007, Michael A. Marcavage, director of the evangelistic organization Repent America, stood on the sidewalk outside the Liberty Bell Center, on the western edge of Independence Historical Park, preaching a message against abortion and declaring that "we need to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ" to a crowd waiting to enter the park.
"This is where we have been on a number of other occasions," Marcavage told WND. "This time we were ministering to people waiting in line to see the Liberty Bell, speaking on the message written on the Bell, which reads, 'Proclaim liberty throughout all the land.'"
Marcavage was then confronted by a National Park Service ranger, who demanded he move to a "free speech zone," some distance from the entrance, where he could continue preaching under the permission of a "verbal permit."
Marcavage ...   more »

Rabbi Asher Brander
What do Cal Ripken Jr. and Aharon Hakohein (the High Priest) have in common?
Probably nothing - except in the mind of American Jews who have a penchant of connecting the sublime to the ridiculous.
Aharon receives the mitzvah to light the Menorah everyday. In its summary statement, the Torah states (Numbers, 8:3) "Aharon did so; he lit the lamps, just as God commanded." Since the working assumption is that Aharon, the model spiritual persona, follows (God's) orders, why is this necessary? Rashi further confounds by stating this verse indicates Aharon's virtue -- that he did not change. It would seem counterintuitive to praise Aharon for not altering a basic ritual.
If the Torah wants to praise Aharon, is it short of material? After all, is this not the same Aharon who reveled in his younger brother's ascendancy; the great pursuer of peace beloved by all of the Jewish people; the man willing to sacrifice his spiritual destiny for klal yisrael. For all of Aharon's extraordinary accomplishments, the Torah seems to elevate the fairly ordinary.
Unless of course, that is the point.
A famous midrash(1) poses a fascinating, almost childlike question. What is the most significant verse ...   more »

Israel's construction in eastern Jerusalem could imperil peace efforts with the Palestinians, Condoleezza Rice said.
The U.S. secretary of state, who on Saturday began her sixth trouble-shooting visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah this year, signaled that the Bush administration is monitoring Israeli housing projects on land where Palestinians want to build a state.
"I am very concerned that at a time when we need to build confidence between the parties, the continued building and the settlement activity has the potential to harm the negotiations going forward," Rice told reporters before meeting her Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, on Sunday.
Israel has made clear that it reserves the right to build in eastern Jerusalem and West Bank settlement blocs, areas it plans to keep under any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
Rice also had strong words about Israel's circumspection in scaling back security measures in West Bank areas where the Palestinian Authority is trying to impose law and order.
"I understand the security considerations as well as anybody, but the obligation was undertaken to improve the lives of Palestinians and we are going to have to work very hard if we are going to make that true in a broader sense," ...   more »

By Stan Goodenough
The terrorist-supporting Damascus regime of Bashar el-Assad Saturday clarified its priorities for being willing to sit down and talk - albeit indirectly - with Israel.
It's not a state of peace and normalization Syria wants, said Syrian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Faisal al-Mikdad. It's the Israeli Golan Heights.
And the Syrians are willing to go to war to grab them.
"[W]e will defend our [sic] land at any time."
In fact, the Golan Heights were part of the Ottoman province of Palestine that was originally set aside for the creation of a Jewish homeland.
Great Britain gave the plateau to the French Mandate of Syria and it was controlled by an independent Syria for just 20 years before the IDF took control of the land in 1967 – in response to Syrian aggression and terrorism.
Despite the fact that Israel has held the heights for more than twice as long as Syria, Damascus insists it is the rightful owner.
The Israelis "should know that the Golan Heights belong to us and that they should not be raising their children in the Golan, since this is not their place. They will not enjoy their lives there," al-Mikdad warned....   more »

The Bible – Hebrew Scriptures (“Old” Testament) and the New Testament – is the most widely-read, most published, most venerated book of all time.
With translations of the complete Bible in nearly 440 languages, one of the two testaments translated into 1,168 additional languages, and portions of the text in 848 additional languages, we can say that today partial or full translations of the Bible exist in a total of 2,454 languages.
Certainly in the so-called Western world, Bibles are readily available and most professing English-language Christian homes boast a number of copies of up to 50 modern English versions. We have Bibles in our bookshelves, beside our beds, on the coffee table, in some cases even in our kitchens and bathrooms.
Odd then, that with so many Bibles around, great masses of Christians appear oblivious to the central place that the Land of Israel and the People of Israel hold in Scripture.
In 1993, not long after I came to live in Jerusalem, I bought myself a New King James Version, unmarked, smelling of ink, its gilded page-edges stuck together.
My intention was to read it through from cover to cover with one simple (as it were) question in ...   more »