Israel in the News Jun/Jul 1992

Statement on the death of Menachem Begin
from Israel Line, Likud USA
Likud USA mourns the passing of one of Israel’s Founding Fathers, Menachem Begin. Begin was one of the “Gedolei HaDor,” or giants of his generation. He was one of the greatest Jewish leaders of the 20th century. Begin was mentor and teacher to two generations of Jews the world over, inspiring many of us to work on Israel’s behalf.

Mr. Begin led the way for Israel’s independence and Jewish freedom. He also paved the path for peace in the Middle East while concurrently maintaining Israel’s strength and security. It is accurate to state that there both would have been no Israel and would have been no peace with Egypt had it not been for Menachem Begin.

Begin will also be remembered for initiating the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry through Operation Moses in the early 1980s and turning Israel’s economy in the direction of free enterprise capitalism.

This is a great loss to Jewish people everywhere, and we owe him a great debt for his unswerving vision and leadership.

Yasir Arafat: Jews are “Dogs”
from Near East Report
On Jan. 30, Yasir Arafat called the PLO’s representative in Paris, Ibrahim Al-Souss, instructing him to complain to the French government about its treatment of George Habash. CNN obtained a tape of the conversation:

Al-Souss: “The government has nothing to do with this matter at all, it’s the opposition and the Jews. The Jews are at work.”

Arafat: “The Jews at work! Damn their fathers! The Dogs! Filth and dirt! … And thanks to the rotten Jews with whom I will settle accounts in the future.”

Islamic Jihad organization claims responsibility for Argentina attack
from Israel Line, Likud USA
Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, reports that news agencies in Beirut received phone calls claiming responsibility for the attack in Buenos Aires on behalf of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. The Islamic Jihad … one of the aliases of the pro-Iranian Hizbullah organization … stated that this attack was in memory of Hussein, son of Sheik Mussawi, who was killed by Israel in Lebanon … The Islamic Jihad promised to continue its attacks until the State of Israel is liquidated, “be there as many victims as there may … The war is on until Israel ceases to exist and until the last Jew in the world has been eliminated. Israel is completely evil and it must be erased from the face of the Earth.”

Arabs, Israelis unite in tragedy
from The Philadelphia Inquirer
For Palestinian plumber Hatem Dandisi this weekend provided one of those rare moments when tragedy transcended the political conflict between Arab and Jew.

Within minutes of a mudslide that collapsed the roof of a Palestinian coffeehouse, killing 23 men, Dandisi raced to the heart of Arab East Jerusalem. Using his hands and a shovel, the 27-year-old man dug and clawed at the rubble in search of survivors. Beside him, Israeli rescue teams clawed through the mud and twisted concrete.

“It is a humanitarian mission. There is no politics here,” Dandisi said. His face and hands were chalked with mud and grime after 18 hours at the disaster site. “There is no difference between Arab and Jew in something like this,” he said.

For one brief weekend, in one of the most coveted corners of the Holy Land, just opposite the ancient walls of the Old City, Arab and Israeli reached across the divide.

Waiting for the Rebbe
from The Jerusalem Report
The slogan “Prepare for the coming of the Messiah” accompanied by a rising red sun, has appeared on a hundred billboards across Israel. Paid for by the Chabad organization of the Lubavitch hasidim it will also soon appear on neon signs mounted on hundreds of private cars. A million pamphlets explaining why Chabad believes the Messiah’s arrival is imminent are being distributed.

News that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, has given the go-ahead to his followers to build him a house in Israel has electrified Chabad.

For Chabad hasidim, the possibility of Schneerson’s arrival here is a key sign indicating that the Messiah’s appearance is imminent. “The rebbe has repeatedly said that when he comes to Israel, it will be together with the Messiah,” says Chabad spokesman Rabbi Menachem Brod. Many Chabadniks believe that their 90-year-old rebbe is himself the Messiah. Near the site of the intended house is a sign proclaiming, “The Time of Your Redemption Has Come.”