Ex-J’lem Mayor Arrested

Uri Lupoliansky accused of taking bribes; denies wrongdoing

Uri Lupoliansky, the former mayor of Jerusalem,

Uri Lupolianski, after his arrest (photo courtesy of AP)

was arrested Wednesday evening and charged with accepting bribes in exchange for his support of a controversial building project in the capital’s Bayit Vegan neighborhood. According to charges filed in the Petach Tikva District Court, police believe a man named Hillel Charny donated millions of shekels to charities run by Lupoliansky with the understanding that the then-mayor would use his influence to make sure the Holyland Park apartment project received building permits.

Mr Charny is an investor in the Holyland Park. He needed the building permits in order to build the apartments, which are considered some of fanciest and most expensive in Jerusalem.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who served as mayor of Jerusalem from 1993-2003, is also suspected of accepting bribes in exchange for his support for the project. Olmert returned Thursday from a visit overseas, and police say they will interrogate the former mayor after Yom Ha’atzmaut, which falls on Tuesday.

Both men strongly denied any wrongdoing. “I was never offered a bribe, never accepted a bribe from anyone in any way,” Olmert told reporters when he arrived in Israel.

Quick Fall

Before Wednesday, Lupolianski was one of the most respected public figures in the country. In 1976 he created Yad Sarah, a charitable organization that loans medical equipment like crutches and wheelchairs to people in need and services to sick people unable to care for themselves (things like wheelchair-friendly taxis).

But now, Yad Sarah’s honesty has been called into question. Police supect that Mr Charny donated more than NIS 3 million to Yad Sarah, and to several other charities that Mr Lupoliansky supports, sometime before 1999, when the Holyland building project was approved by the Jerusalem City Council. At the time, Mr Olmert was the mayor of Jerusalem, Mr Lupoliansky was deputy mayor, and Luponliansky was chairman of the National Planning and Construction Committee.

Holyland Park project (photo courtesy of AP)

Thousands of objections

The project, called Holyland Park, is a series of five apartment buildings overlooking the Begin Expressway, Teddy Stadium and the Malcha Mall. Four are connected by a fourth-floor wakway and the fifth is a 32-story tower.

But many Jerusalemites feel the buildings are ugly, and many others tried to convince the city council to deny the building permits before construction started. Police said that when he was mayor, Mr Lupoliansky ignored thousands of requests from Jerusalem residents NOT to build the.

Discussion Questions

• Imagine, for a moment, that Uri Lupolianski is found guilty of corruption, but that Yad Sarah was the only beneficiary of the bribe. Would that change the fact that he used his position as mayor to help a crooked businessman make a lot of money? If you were the judge, would you impose a lenient sentence, because “After all, he did it for charity”?
• If it turns out that the Holyland Park project was built illegally, or that the building permits were granted because of bribes, should the buildings be torn down? What about the people who live there? Should they lose the apartments they purchased in good faith?
• Remember, in a democracy people are considered innocent until proven guilty. But in this case, even if Mr Lupolianski and Mr Olmert are found innocent their reputations have been damaged because of these accusations. How could the media pay them back for this? How could the police repay Uri Lupolianski for the humiliation of being arrested if he really is innocent?

Mossad Agent Expelled from England

The British government has kicked a worker at the Israeli embassy in London out of the country to protest Israel’s alleged involvement in the January 20 assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters Tuesday that although there is no proof that the Israeli government was responsible for the murder, the government in London believes that Israelis copied passports of British citizens and used them to sneak secret agents into Dubai to kill Mabhouh.

“We have concluded that there are compelling reasons to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of the British passports,” Miliband said.

The killing

Mahmoud al-Mahbhouh was a senior member of Hamas. In 1989, when Mahbhouh was 29 years old, he murdered two Israeli soldiers, Avi Sasportas and Ilan Sa’adon. In recent years, he was responsible for getting arms for Hamas and for developing his organization’s ties to Iran. Many of the Qassam and Grad rockets that Hamas has fired at Israeli civilians in the western Negev region were probably obtained by Mahbhouh.

On January 19, Mahbhouh visited Dubai to meet with Iranian counterparts and possibly to purchase more arms. But before his meetings could take place, his body was discovered in his hotel room. Dubai police have accused Israel of the assassination, but Israeli officials have neither confirmed or denied that charge.

Israel responds

In response to the expulsion (David Miliband did not give out the name of the embassy worker that was asked to leave the country, but several newspapers reported that the individual was a Mossad worker in Great Britain), Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he was upset but he stressed that Israel’s relationship with Great Britain is a strong and important one.

“Our relationship with Britain is extremely important, we cooperate on various sensitive issues, and we regret the British decision,” Liberman said.

11-year-old Questions Book Publisher

When 11-year-old Nathan Bentolila opened his Ancient Civilizations history textbook at the start of the current school year,  

Polite but committed: Nathan Bentolila

he quickly noticed that something didn’t look quite right. The section about China featured a photograph of the Great Wall and linked it to the present with a photo of the modern dams there today. Similarly, the section about Greece spoke on ancient and modern Olympic Games.

But when it came to Israel, the spotlight was on war. Rather than focusing on Israeli advances in “green technology,” water conservation or Nobel Prize winners, the book said simply that “today, one of the fiercest and longest conflicts has been between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis.” The biased article also featured an illustration of an ancient war scene and a modern photograph of three Israeli military jeeps in a battle-torn Arab area. 

So Nathan, a sixth-grade student at Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy a yeshiva day school in Los Angeles, wrote to Glencoe- McGraw Hill, the book’s publisher, with a polite, but solid letter stating that there of the 70-plus active conflicts going on in the world today, only Israel’s was presented in the book. He also challenged the factual accuracy of the presentation, and requested fair and accurate treatment for Israel. “Israel should be treated with the same respect that other countries receive and it should not be singled out but rather praised for its accomplishments that benefit humankind. It is not fair,” he wrote. 

The reply arrived quickly: Robert Kohan, a senior editor at Glencoe-McGraw-Hill, agreed with Nathan’s critique. “We agree with your assessment,” Kohan wrote, “and will change both the photo and extended caption in future editions.” The editor even offered to consider Nathan’s suggestion for replacing the page with Israel’s advances in irrigation and water desalination.

Jerusalem Riots Continue for 5th Day

JERUSALEM- Arab protesters battled Israeli police and army forces for the fifth consecutive day Thursday, and Palestinian leaders accused Israel of trying to derail the peace process by “Judaising” eastern Jerusalem.

Palestinians hurl rocks at Israeli soldiers

The protests began last week, after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 apartments in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish neighbourhood in northeast Jerusalem. The announcement was made while United States Vice President Joe Biden was here trying to encourage peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The area is in a section of Jerusalem that Israel captured during the Six Day War in 1967. Palestinians say they want to create a capital in the eastern part of the city, and that includes Ramat Shlomo. 

The stoush got worse on Sunday, when Israel celebrated the official opening of the Hurva Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. Although the synagogue is within the historic Jewish quarter of the Old City, Arabs say the opening is part of a move to push them out of the area. 

Many Arabs believe Jerusalem is an Arab city because it was part of Jordan before the Six Day War. For Muslims, the al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest spot in the world, after Mecca (the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed) and Medina (Mohammed’s burial site). Mecca and Medina are both in Saudi Arabia. 

On the other hand, Jerusalem is also very important to Jews. For observant Jews, the city is the center of the world, and the Temple Mount is the center of Jerusalem. Jewish tradition teaches that Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac on the site. 

For many non-observant Israelis, too, Jerusalem has special meaning. Men and women who grew up in Israel well recall the years from 1948 to 1967, when Jews could not visit the Western Wall and when synagogues and Jewish graves were vandalised when the city was under Jordanian control.

Brotherly Love

In Parshat Vayechi, the final portion of the Book of Genesis, we learn about the final 17 years of Jacob’s life, and we read the special blessings that Jacob bestows upon his children just before he dies. Each son receives a unique blessing, and each blessing tells us important things about the individual in question.

When it comes to blessing Joseph, Jacob does something odd: He asks Joseph to bring his sons, Menashe and Ephraim, in order to give his grandsons a special blessing. In one of the most powerful moments in the entire book of Genesis, Jacob crosses his hands in order to place his right hand on the head of Ephraim (the younger brother) and places his left hand on the head of first-born Menashe. It’s a strange scenario – normally you would expect Jacob to place his right hand (which is usually considered the stronger hand) on the head of the older brother. But Jacob deliberately crosses his hands, as a signal that Ephraim would actually be greater than his older brother. Why does he do this?

You may recall the book of Genesis is filled with stories of brothers who can’t get along. Specifically, the book is filled with stories of older brothers fighting with younger brothers about who is greater. Think about it: Cain killed Abel, Yishmael got kicked out of Abraham’s house because of Isaac, Eisav threatened to kill Jacob, Leah’s kids threw their younger brother Joseph into a pit and sold him into slavery.

Now, on the last day of Jacob’s life, it seems like we are doomed to repeat the sad story with Menashe and Ephraim. In fact, Joseph tried to correct his father and to guide Jacob’s right hand to Menashe’s head, but Jacob insisted that he knew what he was doing.

Perhaps Jacob was testing Ephraim and Menashe. On one hand, Jacob knew that the good life in Egypt was about to end and the Jews were about to become slaves. That’s a terrible situation, and the founder of the Jewish nation (Jacob) knew that the Jews would have to stick together and protect one another in order to make it through. And he also knew that after the slavery ended, the children of Ephraim and the children of Menashe would have to live in peace together as part of the Jewish people.

And so Jacob places his right hand on Ephraim’s head and indicates that yet again, the younger brother will outshine his older sibling. But this time, Menashe does not object. By remaining silent, Menashe accepts the fact that his younger brother will be greater than he is. In Hebrew, this is called a tikkun – a correction for all the fighting brothers in history.

With this realization, Jacob understands that the family is complete. There will be no more fighting between brothers, and Jewish history can now begin. The Torah can now conclude the book of Genesis on a positive note, and the stage is set not only for slavery in Egpyt, but also for the birth of Moses, the 10 plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, Mount Sinai and the Land of Israel!

Shabbat Shalom.

Woman Hurt in Beer Sheva Attack

BEER SHEVA, Israel  ―  One woman was killed and eight people were treated for shock Wednesday when Palestinians fired two Grad missile at Beer Sheva, Israel’s fourth largest city. The woman was killed when the missile hit her home; the other one hit a school in the city. The school was empty at the time.

 

 

Beer Sheva is located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Gaza Strip. There are approximately 150,000 residents of the city. Although Palestinians have been firing rockets at Israeli cities near Gaza for more than eight years, they have usually been limited to small towns and kibbutzim near the Israel-Gaza border. The attack on Beer Sheva was the farthest Palestinians have managed to strike inside Israel.

Other attacks

Palestinian groups in Gaza fired a total of 27 rockets Wednesday morning. Apart from Beer Sheva, rockets struck Ofakim, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi and Ashdod and the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. There were no injuries or property damage reported in those attacks. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Salah al-Din Brigades claimed responsibility for the attacks.

 

Israel Attacks Gaza

GAZA STRIP, Southern Israel ― The Israel Air Force launched a massive attack on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip this afternoon to retaliate for Qassam missile attacks on Israeli cities near Gaza such as Sderot, Netivot, Ashkelon and others. Palestinians said more than 200 people were killed in the attacks, called Operation Cast Lead, and that hundreds more were injured. Many buildings were destroyed, including laboratories used to make missiles, warehouses to store weapons, police stations and more.

Gaza Under Fire

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel tried hard to avoid a military operation in Gaza, but that daily Qassam rocket attacks on Israel have made life terrible for residents of Sderot, Ashkelon and other cities near the Gaza Strip border.

“Israel did everything in its power to… enable normal life for its citizens in the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip,” he said. ”The quiet that we offered was met with shelling.”

Olmert also said that Hamas is responsible for the current violence.

“No country would be willing to accept the current reality (of rocket attacks). It is clear that Hamas is bent on conflict.  In such a situation we had no alternative but to respond.  We do not rejoice in battle but neither will we be deterred from it,” he said.

100 bombs dropped

The operation began at 11:30 am. More than 80 warplanes and helicopters took part in the assault, dropping more than 100 bombs.  At one target in Gaza City, Palestinian police were holding a graduation ceremony for new officers.

 

After the attack began, Palestinian terrorists fired several dozen Qassam and Grad rockets at Israel. One man, 58-year-old Beber Vaknin, was killed when a missile hit his home in the city of Netivot. Other bombs landed in Sderot and Ashkelon, and gunmen shot at workers in the fields at Kibbutz Nir Am, next to the Israel-Gaza border.

 

7 years of Qassams

Since the al-Aqsa Intifada began in September, 2000 Palestinians have fired more than 10,000 Qassam Rockets at Israel. Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June, 2007, there have been ___ rocket attacks.

 

In June, 2008 Israel and Hamas signed a tahadiya, or temporary cease-fire agreement, that was meant to last six months. There were no attacks for more than four months, but Qassams started falling again in Israel in early November after the Israeli army moved to prevent Hamas members from kidnapping an IDF soldier. Four Hamas members were killed in that operation. 329 Qassams and mortars at Israel during the tahadiya period.

 

On December 19, Hamas officially declared the truce over, and three rockets fired from northern Gaza  landed in open fields in southern Israel. Also, Palestinians tried to shoot farmers working in kibbutz fields near the Gaza border. That weekend, more than 40 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip and 20 rockets landed in Israel on December 21. One house was damaged in the attacks, and a foreign worker on a kibbutz was lightly injured from shrapnel from a mortar bomb. 

IDF Soldier Arrested for Shooting at Arab House

An IDF reserve soldier was arrested Tuesday for shooting at a Palestinian home last month during a demonstration in Hebron. When the individual is not in the army he lives in Kiryat Arba, a Jewish town next door to Hebron.

Ceasefire over in Gaza

Article here about end of the ceasefire between Israel – Hamas

Parshat Vayeshev: What’s so special about Joseph’s coat?

Parshat Vayeshev is one of the most well-known sections of the Torah. It talks about Joseph’s dreams, tells the story of how Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt, and of course recounts Jacob’s special gift to his favorite son, the coat of many colors (actually, the Torah never says it was a coat, nor that it had many colors. It was actually nothing more than a striped shirt!)

 

It’s a terrific story. But have you ever wondered just why Jacob decied to give Joseph a special shirt? After all, Jacob was a rich man. If he’d wanted to give Joseph a special gift, why not gold or silver? How about some livestock? Either of those things would have been a very valuable gift in ancient times, much better than a shirt.

 

And how about another question: Why did Jacob give him a special present at all? Didn’t he realize that “playing favorites” by favoring one son over all the others would cause jealousy and fights?

 

I think that the shirt is a metaphor for the Jewish People. The stripes seem to symbolize the 12 tribes, and the fact that they are all together on one shirt is a sign that eventually, the 12 sons of Jacob would stop fighting and learn to live together. That is why he didn’t give his son valuable jewelry or cattle as a gift.

 

In giving Joseph a striped shirt, Jacob seems to be telling Joseph that he will be responsible for uniting the family (if you’ve read the first part of Genesis, you know that Abraham and Isaac’s family is pretty messed up!). That means Joseph has to find it in his heart to forgive the brothers for selling him and work to make sure that Jacob’s 12 children could eventually start acting like brothers.

 

As anyone who’s got younger siblings can attest, that is sometimes the hardest thing in the world to achieve.