Israel Resource Review 26th September, 2003


Contents:

Temple Mount Wall Collapses
Report from Israel National News


[Broadcast at 12:23 p.m. September 25, 2003]

One side of a wall in the Temple Mount compound - completely visible to Western Wall worshippers - collapsed on Tuesday, uncovering an area of some 40 square meters of dirt and fill.

One side of a wall in the Temple Mount compound - completely visible to worshippers at the Western Wall - collapsed on Tuesday, uncovering an area of some 40 square meters of dirt and fill. The wall belongs to the Islamic Museum on the Temple Mount, a building to the right and above the worshipers at the Western Wall, identified by a small gray dome.

Archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, a member of the Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities, said that the collapse is connected with the illegal construction works being carried out on the Temple Mount by the Moslem Waqf. Speaking with Yisrael Medad on Arutz-7's "Freedom of Broadcast" program, Dr. Mazar said that these works have been ongoing for many years without supervision by either the Planning and Construction authorities or the Antiquities Authority.

"No one is concerned about preserving the ancient compound," she said, "nor has anyone mapped, surveyed or buttressed the hollow areas under the Temple Mount and under the mosques . . . It is frightening to think of this collapse, and of what could happen in the future when many tens of thousands of people visit the Temple Mount, and tractors and trucks - and all of this atop hollow areas that have never been professionally checked. This collapse should be a warning bell. If a catastrophe occurs, the whole world will blame Israel."

She said that opening the compound to Jewish visitors is "just the beginning; pressure must be exerted in order that the supervisory authorities do what they are supposed to. The press must get involved in this cause."

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When an IDF Pilot Does NOT Bomb a Civilian Target Which Protects Terrorists, IDF Troops Die on the Ground
David Bedein


On Thurday morning, September 25th, 2003, the IDF surrounded a home in the UNRWA Al-Boureij refugee camp in Gaza, where an armed Arab terrorist leader was holed up.

The IDF did not call in an air raid on the house, since a family was there, acting as human shields for the terrorist.

Instead, an IDF infantry unit led a ground assault on the home.

As the ground assault commenced, the Arab terrorist opened fire and killed one of the Israeli soldiers, Sergeant Avihu Keinan, age 22, of Shiloh. Six other Israeli soldiers were soldiers were also wounded.

Other IDF troops returned the fire and killed the terrorist. When the troops entered the house where the terrorist had been hiding, they discovered an impressive arms cache, which included a complement of Kassam rockets and rocket launchers.

All this occurred on the same day that 27 reserve pilots of Israel's Air Force publicized a petition in which they declared that they would not participate in any air raids on Arab civilian targets.

The petition was widely promoted over the past three months on the internet by Israel's Communist Party, and circulated among hundreds of Israel's reserve pilots by two groups called "Yesh Gvul" and "Courage to Refuse", which have received more than $250,000 from the Shefa Fund in Philadelphia over the past two years.

The brochure distributed today by "Yesh Gvul" offers financial support for any Israeli soldier who will refuse Israeli army service anywhere beyond Israel's 1949/67 cease-fire line.

Avihu Keinan's father pointed to Israel's policy of hesitating to bomb civilian targets that host terrorists as the reason for the death of his son.

Yisrael Medad, Shiloh resident provided the following moving account of Avihu Keinan's funeral:

"The last person to speak at the funeral of Avihu Keinan HY"D was his father, Moshe.

Moshe opened by saying that he promised that he would not break down and cry and hoped that he would honor his son by keeping his composure.

He recalled that the previous evening, the Air Force Commander, in response to the letter of several pilots who will from now on refuse to participate in bombings of "civilian" targets, noted that the IDF was the most moral and ethical army in all the world.

Moshe Keinan rejected that.

He said that it was this policy that had killed his son.

If the IDF commanders who get their orders from the Minister of Defense and the Government of Israel, prefer the deaths of Jewish soldiers, our own children, over the children of our enemies, then this is not moral.

He demanded that 270 Captains, 270 Majors, 270 Colonels, 270 Generals all inform the Minister of Defense Mofaz, that they too are willing to put their insignia and ranks on the table. They must demand to be permitted to put an end to this violence. The Government of Israel must know that the army is unwilling to sacrifice soldiers only to be called the most moral army in the world. He asked rhetorically, is this the way the French, the British or the American army acts?

He then finished by singing a Yiddish lullaby which he had sung to Avihu when he was a baby. (Moshe Keinan is a Chazan, a member of Tel Aviv's Cantorial Choir scheduled to tour the USA and Canada in a few months)::
"Mein yingeleh . . . Mein tayareh" (My young one, my cherished one)

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The Moral and Ethical Code of the IDF . . .
Harvey Tannenbaum


The Givati unit of the IDF surrounded the apartment in El Buriej UNRWA terrorist refugee area in Gaza on Wednesday night. They knocked on the first door and asked for the terrorist to come out. The head of Islamic Jihad was not answering. The three women, two babies, grandfather exited the door as the Givati unit of the IDF stood outside the door. Is Harmaneh inside? "No, the women answered in lies."

The Givati unit of which Avihu Keinan, 22, of Shilo, was a member heard shots but from upstairs and sent their trained dog of the "Oketz" unit to 'sniff' out the other terrorist animal hiding upstairs behind more children and women.

The IDF unit heard more shots as the dog barked and breathed his last breath. This would be the 9th dog to 'die in combat.' The soldiers of the Givati slowly made their way up the stairs, while the women and children of the Arab terrorists stood near their door. The terrorist began shooting at the approaching soldiers on the steps going to the 2nd floor of this building. Avihu Keinan was killed when a Peres issued bullet fired from the hiding terrorist hit in his head. The other 6soldiers were injured and finally the terrorists were taken out and removed from this Earth. The Givat unit of the IDF were conscientous about the women and children standing near the area where the terrorists were firing at the IDF.

If anyone out there wants to talk about a 'moral' army and an army who does not go in (unfortunately) and blow up the building first and then search for dead terrorists, they can go to the Keinan home of mourning in Shiloh. The government of Israel, as Moshe Keinan, the father said at graveside last night for his fallen son, is more 'worried' about being moral and ethical in war to the world while freely giving up our sons and daughters of the IDF in battle.

If the IAF had blown up the building first with the Arab terrorists, perhaps tonight, Avihu Keinan Z"L could make kiddush for Rosh Hashana instead of having his father say kaddish at Maariv on the New Year's first prayer services?

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