Explosive Balloons Destroy Vehicle, Land at Kindergarten

Gaza-based terrorists continued their campaign of arson terrorism against the Jewish state and launched dozens of balloons laden with flammable materials and explosive charges toward Israel on Thursday (1st), some of which landed in the midst of Israeli communities surrounding Gaza.

One explosive charge landed under a security vehicle and exploded, setting the car on fire, in an Israeli community in the Shaar Hanegev region.

Later in the day, an explosive device attached to a balloon landed near a kindergarten in the Eshkol region.

A police sapper who was alerted to the scene dismantled the charge.

On Wednesday (10/31), the IDF spotted a terrorist launching arson balloons into Israel and responded with aircraft fire.

Gadi Yarkoni, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, called on the government to act.

“I expect the Israeli government to carry out its responsibility toward its citizens and to put an end to the ongoing terrorism in order to ensure the security of the residents.  The writing is on the wall. The responsibility is on you,” he stated.

Arson attacks have been an almost daily occurrence since the start of Hamas’ “March of Return” campaign on March 30.

(worldisraelnews.com)

 

Israeli Envoy Urges UN To Condemn Hizbullah’s Missile Efforts

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon on Wednesday (10/31) called on Secretary General Antonio Guterres to denounce Hizbullah for its armament efforts in the Middle East.

During his September 28 address to the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that the Lebanon-based Shiite terror group, which is heavily sponsored by Iran, was building at least three weapon-production sites in the heart of Beirut with the aim of turning its arsenal of missiles into precision-guided projectiles.

Israel intelligence indicates that Hizbullah possesses at least 150,000 rockets and missiles of varying degrees.

The latest intelligence suggests the new facilities are being built near the Beirut international airport, under a soccer field, and in the vicinity of a densely populated residential area, all with the aim of protecting them from potential airstrikes by deliberately placing civilians in harm’s way.

“Any country whose citizens take flights that land in Beirut should be anxious about Hizbullah’s activity in the region,” Danon wrote in a letter addressed to Guterres.  “Ignoring this places passengers in harm’s way.”

The ambassador further urged the international community and all UN member-states “to condemn the blatant violation of international aviation laws,” asserting that “Hizbullah has deliberately placed its missile production sites in the heart of large civilian population centers in Beirut, with the aim of using them as human shields for its malicious military activity.”

“These actions are akin to a tinderbox and they clearly contradict international norms in general and Security Council resolutions on Hizbullah in particular,” said Danon.

(israelhayom.com)

 

We Must Fight The Culture Of Hate – Jason D. Greenblatt

I traveled to Pittsburgh on Sunday (10/28) in shock and grief, trying to grapple with the news of the devastating attack this past Shabbat at the Tree of Life synagogue, reportedly the deadliest attack on a Jewish community in the history of the United States.

There is a culture of hate that is breeding and multiplying.  These evil haters are demonizing Jews, they are demonizing Israel, they are demonizing “the other” – anyone who isn’t like them.  The anti-Semites are found on the far-left and the far-right.

I am devastated to know that there are evil people who dwell among us who have so much hate in their hearts that they think nothing of extinguishing the lives of others because they are Jews or because of their faith.  A murderous ideology and hatred has reared its vicious and ugly head in our great nation.

As President Trump said after the murders in Pittsburgh: “This evil, anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us.  It’s an assault on humanity. It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-semitism from our world….We must stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters to defeat anti-Semitism and vanquish the forces of hate…and those seeking their destruction, we will seek their destruction.”

The writer is an assistant to the President and Special Representative for International Negotiations.

(foxnews.com)

 

The Many Faces Of Jew-Hatred – Ruth Wisse

Instead of promoting a serious inquiry into the ideology that fuels the murder of Jews, the atrocity in Pittsburgh seems to be reinforcing a misconception that can only worsen the problem.  Anti-Semitism is a politics of misdirected blame, and Americans must be sure to avoid its trap.

Anti-Semitism becomes truly dangerous to a society only when espoused by its leaders and politicians.  But unlike in Germany, where the attack on Jews were launched by the Fuhrer, our head of government ordered the full press of law enforcement to prosecute the sole gunman.  Unlike in Germany, where the SS directed and fomented the attacks on Jews, here four policemen were shot trying to save Jews. Moreover, the American people are united in horror at this atrocity.

That a single shooter wants to kill the Jews is less dangerous to this country than Louis Farrakhan’s smiling designation of Jews as “termites,” broadcast to a vast audience, or the vicious movement to boycott Israel – an extension of the Arab boycott launched in 1945.

The writer, a senior fellow at the Tikvah Fund, is a former professor of Yiddish and comparative literature at Harvard.

(wallstreetjournal.com)

 

Jewish Cemetery Vandalized In Moldova And Hundreds Of Jewish Headstones Uncovered In Ukraine

A Jewish cemetery in Moldova was vandalized by unidentified individuals who painted swastikas on the headstones.

The Nazi symbol was discovered Monday (10/29) at the cemetery in Chisinau, the capital of the East European country sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, the news website Point reported.

Separately, last month hundreds of Jewish headstones were found at a military base near Chernivtsi in southwestern Ukraine during renovations, the Censor News website reported.

The headstones were discovered under a barrack’s wooden floor.  They had been removed from a nearby cemetery in the 1940s or 1950s, under communism.

About a quarter of all Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe were destroyed during the Nazi and Soviet periods, according to Rabbi Isaac Schapira, the Israel-based founder and chairman of the board of the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative.  

The bulk of the damage to Jewish cemeteries happened during World War II and under communism.  But they are still degraded today due to construction and vandalism.

In September, the construction of a state-funded sports-complex in Klimontow, Poland was completed atop an old Jewish cemetery.  Last Year, a Judge in Belarus cleared the way for the construction of apartments atop former Jewish cemeteries in Gomel. And in Lithuania, the government is ignoring an international outcry over its plan to build a conference center on what used to be one of Vilnius’ largest Jewish cemeteries, which the communists razed.

(jta.org)