Dreams Into Lightning

TSOM: Stop Iran

The Spirit of Man:

I doubt Obamble would stop the crazy Mullahs from acquiring the atomic weapon but apparently some tough guy in Israel will go the extra mile to stop these crazies in Tehran:

“You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”

Of course the Obama administration lacks the balls to stop anything, let alone the determined Iranian regime.

Netanyahu to Obama: Stop Iran, or I will.

In an interview conducted shortly before he was sworn in today as prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu laid down a challenge for Barack Obama. The American president, he said, must stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons—and quickly—or an imperiled Israel may be forced to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities itself.

“The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told me. He said the Iranian nuclear challenge represents a “hinge of history” and added that “Western civilization” will have failed if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons. ...

Arutz Sheva: Israeli covert ops draw Washington disapproval.

Israel plans to continue a covert operation to delay Iran's nuclear program by assassinating key Iranian scientists despite growing opposition from the United States, U.S. officials said. Active for almost a decade, the program involves targeted killings of key Iranian assets as well as disrupting and sabotaging Iran's nuclear technology purchasing network abroad, the sources said.

U.S. opposition to the program has intensified as President Barack Obama makes overtures aimed at relieving tensions between the two countries, partly due to the U.S.'s desire to use Iran's road networks into Afghanistan to help resupply U.S.-NATO forces there. ...

Israel Sudan Airstrike

Debka:

DEBKAfile's military sources: Sudanese and Egyptian security officials reported Tuesday, March 24, the day Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir arrived in Cairo, that in January, US Air Force AC 130H gunships taking off from bases in Djibouti destroyed a 17-truck clandestine convoy carrying smuggled arms as it travelled through Sudan to the Egyptian border. All 39 passengers were killed, said those officials. Wednesday night, CBS TV News quoted unidentified US Pentagon officials as claiming the attack was not carried out by American but Israeli aircraft.
No official comment has come from Israel.
Our military sources report that Iran's main arms smuggling route to Hamas in Gaza runs through Sudan. The weapons are quietly unloaded from Iranian merchant vessels to convoys of trucks or camels at Port Sudan on the Red Sea. After crossing into Egypt, the supplies make their way to the Gulf of Suez where local smugglers' boats move the arms freight across Sinai.
The size of the convoy targeted for air attack, 17 trucks and 39 passengers, is the first tangible eye-opener to Iran's vast weapons-smuggling program for Palestinian terrorists in Gaza. The hardware transits Sinai and reaches its destination through their tunnel network on the Egyptian-Gaza border.

YNet:

The Israel Air Force used unmanned drones to attack convoys in Sudan trying to smuggle weapons to the Palestinian organizations in Gaza, the London-based Sunday Times newspaper reported, quoting Israeli security officials.

The defense sources also said that the trucks were carrying missiles with the range to strike the central city of Tel Aviv.

Shmuel Rosner at Commentary - Contentions:

One factor easing up the need for secrecy may be that Sudanese retaliation is out of the question; publicly speaking about the event cannot lead to irresponsible consequences. Another factor may be Olmert fretting over his legacy, wanting Israelis to remember him more charitably than as the prime minister of corruption, one failed war, and another inconclusive war.

"I don't know, and it doesn't matter."

Fascist tool Roger Cohen says he "doesn't know" what would happen to Israel if the Iranian regime acquired nuclear weapons. Jeffrey Goldberg covers an exchange between Cohen and Rabbi David Wolpe.

Jewish Current Issues has more.

Hamas Sets Up Shop in Gaza

Debka:

The 44 Grad rockets, Qassam missiles and mortar rounds which blasted Israel from Gaza Wednesday, Nov. 5, were fired from houses close to the border fence which Hamas had turned into fortified firing positions. Borrowing Hizballah’s tricks from the 2006 Lebanon war, the Hamas firing squads remove the roofs and cover the top floors with camouflage netting easily removed for attacks.
To spot these heavily-disguised launching pads, round-the-clock aerial observation is necessary.
DEBKAfile’s military analysts report: Two years after the 34-day Hizballah rocket blitz of northern Israel - and five months into an informal truce with Hamas - the IDF is not coping with this tactic.
Furthermore, Wednesday, the civilian front was again abandoned to a heavy missile bombardment. The Israeli Air Force went into action three times to halt the mortar fire on Israeli troops, wiping out two Hamas mortar squads and killing five of its members. But when the missiles began falling on Ashkelon, Sderot and the Eshkol farm region, the air force stayed on the ground.

"What is he, an Arab?"

Rahm Emanuel's father speaks out:

In an interview with Ma'ariv, Emanuel's father, Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, said he was convinced that his son's appointment would be good for Israel. "Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel," he was quoted as saying. "Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."

Via Noah Pollak at Commentary.

Olmert Resigns; Livni to Succeed

Fox:

JERUSALEM — Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni wasted no time Sunday working to put together a new government, meeting with potential coalition partners even as outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formally handed in his resignation. Her ability to move fast in her first task could have far-reaching effects on peace talks with the Palestinians.

Livni, who has gained respect for favoring peace deals with the Palestinians and Syria while distancing herself from the unpopular Olmert, would become Israel's second female prime minister after Golda Meir, who served from 1969-1974.

Livni met leaders from the pivotal Shas Party Thursday, hours after she won a primary election to succeed Olmert as head of their Kadima Party ...

Jerusalem Post:

New Kadima leader Tzipi Livni thanked Prime Minster Ehud Olmert for his offer to assist her in the coalition-building process and insisted that there were no splits in Kadima, she told her faction prior to Sunday's cabinet meeting.

Debka:

Transport minister Shaul Mofaz’s announcement of time out from politics and his public duties after he lost the Kadima leadership primary to foreign minister Tzipi Livni by a single percent has seriously divided the party. His supporters claim he was treated unfairly by the party and media, all of which promoted Livni and impugned his credibility.

The many Mofaz loyalists who are uncomfortable with the foreign minister’s views and personality may drift out of the party - some returning to Likud. Kadima which went into the election top-heavy looks like losing the few soldiers (only 74,000 registered voters) it had.

Her party's shrinkage further compounds the already daunting task facing the new Kadima chairwoman in taking over the incumbent government from Ehud Olmert, who is committed to quit after the primary, or forming a new coalition.

Rav Kook Symposium

Arutz Sheva has an excellent post on Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935):

(IsraelNN.com) As part of the ongoing commemorations of the 73rd anniversary of the death of the saintly Rabbi A. I. HaCohen Kook, the Beit HaRav museum/educational center will sponsor a symposium on the topic of Modern-Day Teshuvah this Wednesday evening.

Speakers such as Rabbi Yaakov Filber, Michi Yosefi, and others will address the relationship between the philosophies of Rabbi Kook and Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. ...

Go to the link for excerpts from the speakers' comments. For background, here's Wikipedia on Rav Kook:

Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935) was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar. He is known in Hebrew as הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק HaRav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, and by the acronym HaRaAYaH or simply as "HaRav." He was one of the most celebrated and influential Rabbis of the 20th century. ...

See also: Rabbi Chanan Morrison's Rav Kook site.

They don't make stones like they used to.

Newfangled stones crumbling, says Kotel rabbi.

Rav Kook - Weekly Torah Portion Website

Via comments, Rabbi Chanan Morrison informs me that his excellent site on Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook can now be found at the following URL:
http://ravkooktorah.org
Please go pay a visit.

Yeshiva Shooting Roundup

Arutz Sheva, Thursday, March 6, 2008.

An Arab terrorist infiltrated Jerusalem's Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva at around 8:30 Thursday night and murdered eight Jews. At least 10 students were wounded, including five in serious to critical condition.

Five of the dead were high school students in Merkaz Harav's Yeshiva LeTze'irim [youth seminary - aa], and three studied in the upper-school Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva.

The attacker entered the yeshiva and opened fire on students before he was gunned down himself by a part-time yeshiva student, aided by an off-duty army officer from the neighborhood. The attack began in the seminary's library with the terrorist spraying bullets in every direction before anyone could react.

The part-time yeshiva student who first shot the terrorist, 40-year-old Yitzchak Dadon, said he was in the Yeshiva's study hall when he heard the shots. "Everyone left through a side door," he said, "and I left through a window, and lied down on a roof overlooking the library... When he came out, I shot him in the head twice. I saw him start to stagger, and then David Shapira [a yeshiva graduate and paratroopers officer] arrived on the scene, shot him with his M-16 rifle, and then we emptied our magazines into him."

Dadon later told Arutz-7, "It was terribly frustrating feeling, knowing he was in there shooting, but I could do nothing but wait for him to come out so that I could shoot him... While waiting, I could see some boys in a side room in the library turn off the lights and barricade their door - and though he tried, he was unable to come into the room and gun them all down."

Full story at the link. WARNING: Graphic photos.

Debka: Terrorists defeated Shin Bet defenses.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that for almost two years the Shin Bet’s uniquely effective defense system succeeded in thwarting almost every Palestinian terrorist attacks inside Israel. But with the deadly shooting rampage at Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Harav which claimed eight lives Thursday night, March. 5. Israel’s eight-year terror ordeal at Palestinian hands has now taken a new direction. Under the guidance of Iran, Syria and Hizballah, terror planners have learned how to bypass the universally-acclaimed Shin Bet counter-terror system by dispensing with large operational teams which include accomplices who drive the suicide killer to target. The Israeli security service found this set-up highly susceptible to penetration for advance tip-offs of attacks in store.

Thursday’s attack was carried out single-handed by a lone gunman, a local man and Israeli citizen who could move around Jerusalem unnoticed. As a delivery-man, he could conduct his own surveillance and choose his method of attack and its timing. The Kalashnikov assault rifle he used is available for cash in most Israeli towns.

The yeshiva attack revealed that senior terror planners have found they can leave operational details to a lone suicide killer after selecting him, identifying his target and setting the date. In this way, they reduce the chances of leaks to almost zero.

Telegraph: Hamas plotted bloodbath.

There is now a growing prospect of a major military retaliation against Gaza, which is controlled by the militant Palestinian group.

Sources in Gaza said that the Izzedine Al-Qassam Brigades instigated the attack by Alaa Abu Idheim, the 26-year-old gunman who stormed the Jewish religious college on Thursday. ...

IMRA: Yitzhak Dadon recalls attack.

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: For some reason, Israel Radio is frequently not mentioning the role of Dadon in killing the terrorist and only mentions the IDF officer who lives near the yeshiva and joined Dadon.]

Yeshiva student who shot attacker recounts moments of horror; 'I was studying when shots rang out'
Aviram Zino YNET Published: 03.06.08, 22:42 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3516039,00.html

A yeshiva student who shot the Jerusalem terrorist says he was busy studying when suddenly shots rang out, prompting him to grab his gun and eventually kill the Palestinian attacker.

"We realized something happened so I cocked my handgun," Yitzhak Dadon told Ynet Thursday evening.

"I went up on the roof and waited for the terrorist. Meanwhile, I saw blood and shattered glass," Dadon said. "The terrorist continue firing in the air, so I waited to see him again, and then I shot him twice in the head."

The Contentious Centrist looks at media bias.

Meryl Yourish has a comprehensive roundup.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited the yeshiva; Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wasn't invited.

English-language site by Friends of Mercaz haRav.

Arutz Sheva provides some background on Mercaz haRav.

Merkaz HaRav was founded as the Central Universal Yeshiva by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak [Abraham Isaac] HaCohen Kook in 1924. He saw it as the ultimate Torah center in which to raise Torah scholars and leaders who would help build a modern Torah society in the Land of Israel that would lead to universal and religious redemption.

When Rabbi Kook, who also served as the Chief Rabbi of the Holy Land, passed away in 1935, he was succeeded by his colleague/student, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlop. Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, son of the original founder, took over in 1952, and served until his death in 1982. He was then succeeded by Rabbi Sha'ul Yisraeli and Rabbi Avraham Shapira; the latter took over as sole Rosh Yeshiva when Rabbi Yisraeli died, and Rabbi Yaakov Shapira took over from his father, who died just five months ago.

Merkaz, as it is known, is famous for its very spiritual, Torah-centered, love-of-Israel atmosphere. The vast study hall is packed with books, benches, book-stands (shtenders), and, almost throughout the day and night, students. Many of the students have completed their army service and some are IDF officers.

Thousands of Merkaz graduates saturate Israeli public life as rabbis, rabbinical court judges, army officers, professors, teachers and educators in many dozens of schools and yeshivot around the country. Rabbi Avraham Kook is considered the father of the entire movement of re-awakened religious nationalism.

More about Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. [See update, below.]

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935) – first Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael – was a mystic and a philosopher, a preeminent Talmudic scholar and a Lurian Cabbalist, a profound and original thinker, and a saintly tzaddik.

Due to his poetic style and abstract thought, his writings are often difficult to understand, even for those fluent in Hebrew and well-versed in traditional Jewish sources. For the English-speaking audience in particular, his books are hidden treasures whose light has not been fully revealed. ...

Go to the link for English translations, by Rabbi Chanan Morrison, of selected works by Rav Kook. UPDATE: It appears the link to Rabbi Morrison's site is no longer working. For a comprehensive selection of Rav Kook's writings translated into English, please read Gold from the Land of Israel by Chanan Morrison (editor). More here.

At the Rav Kook list, Rabbi Morrison has some thoughts.

The Mercaz haRav Kook homepage (Hebrew) lists the names of the dead. In Roman spelling, from Debka:

Yohai Livshitz, 18, and Neria Cohen, 15 from Jerusalem

Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from Shilo

Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kohav Hashahar

Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve Daniel

Avraham David Moses, 16, from Efrat

Ro’i Roth, 18, from Elkana

Maharta Taruno, 26, from Ashdod

Zikhronam li'vrachah. Yakar b'einei haShem mavtah lachasidav. May they rest in peace and may their families be comforted among the mourners of Zion.