SWI NEWS: Sunday, February 28, 2010 14 Adar, 5770
Monday, March 1st, 2010
IAF trains for rapid refueling
Talkbacks (6)
It’s a dangerous practice since the aircraft’s engines are running while the fuel nozzle is still connected to the jets. The training is for both pilots and ground crews and it is being done to enable the aircraft to carry as much fuel as possible for long-range missions.
Fuel nozzles are traditionally disconnected from fighter aircraft while they are still parked in hangers and before they are rolled out to the runway, where they usually wait for several minutes before takeoff and while burning fuel. The new protocol includes keeping fuel trucks on the runway, having ground personnel reattach the nozzle and fuel the aircraft to the maximum fullness, disconnecting seconds before takeoff.
“We understand that many of our threats and challenges require us to develop a long-range capability,” one senior IAF officer explained. “Part of our preparation includes knowing how to fuel our aircraft so they can have as much fuel as possible.”
Last week, the IAF inaugurated a new unmanned aerial vehicle called the Heron TP. With the same wingspan as a Boeing 737, the Heron TP is Israel’s largest and most sophisticated drone, weighing 4,650 kg. and capable of flying for 36 hours while carrying a payload of hundreds of kilograms. The Heron will increase the IAF’s long-range capabilities, mainly in intelligence and surveillance, and according to foreign reports could also have missile strike capabilities.
Meanwhile on Saturday, The New York Times reported that Iran recently moved almost its entire stockpile of low-enriched uranium to an above-ground facility. According to a recent report by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, close to two tons of low-enriched nuclear uranium was moved all at once from storage deep underground to a facility where it can be enriched to a 20-percent level, putting the material just a jump away from the 80-to-90% that is required for nuclear weapons.
Iran’s action, which according to the report has confused Western officials, exposes the material to an air strike or even to ground-based sabotage.
The Times quoted one official as saying the move was tantamount to painting a bull’s-eye on the stockpile.
The paper raised several possible explanations, primarily that Iran might have run out of suitable storage containers for the radioactive material and was forced to move it all at once. It would, however, not require the entire two tons to enrich uranium for the aging reactor in Teheran where it makes medical isotopes.
Other explanations raised by the paper include the possibility that the Islamic Republic actually wants Israel to attack, since that would likely unite the Iranian people behind the regime and silence the opposition Green Movement and the demonstrations protesting against the results of June’s presidential election.
Teheran, the Times said, might be using the move as leverage against the West and as part of a threat to further enrich its entire stockpile if the international community did not reduce its pressure on the Islamic Republic.
Israel: No Comment on EU Levy
JERUSALEM, Israel - Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor declined to comment on Thursday’s decision by the EU high court to levy import taxes on Israeli products manufactured in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).
The ruling stemmed from an appeal filed by the German company, Brita, which imports sparkling water machines and fruit syrup from Soda-Club Ltd., whose manufacturing facility is in the Mishor Adumim industrial park.
Brita maintains the products come from Israel and should be exempt from import duties.
But Germany disagreed, imposing import taxes on the products.
Brita appealed the case to the EU high court, which ruled in favor of taxing the Israeli-made imports.
The court charged that these products are not covered by trade agreements with Israel or the Palestinian Authority so they will be subject to import taxes.
Some believe the underlying scheme behind the ruling is to delegitimize products manufactured by Israelis in these areas, disallowing them to be competitive in the international marketplace.
Among the products exported from Judea and Samaria are wine, computer parts and equipment, produce, foodstuffs and cosmetics.
Pro-Palestinian factions in Europe have protested “Made in Israel” labels on produce grown on farms in Judea and Samaria.
IDF to distribute gas masks today
Under the plan – drawn up by Col. Yossi Sagiv, head of the Home Front Command’s Gas Mask and Protection Kits Department – the masks will be returned to private homes by the Israel Postal Company, which beat out seven other companies in a Defense Ministry-issued tender in late 2009. Gas masks were collected from private homes starting in 2007 by a private delivery company.
The distribution is slated to take three years. Officials said that after the distribution is completed in Or Yehuda, the IDF will review the operation, implement corrections and improvements and then start distributing the kits in other parts of the country, based on operational considerations of which area is under a more immediate threat.
The public will receive the same rubber gas mask that it had in the past with an improved filter – more effective against chemical and biological threats Israel faces – but without the syringe of Atropine that was in past kits.
Under the plan, Postal Company representatives will contact homeowners and schedule a time to visit and deliver the gas masks required by the family. Each family will be asked to pay a nominal sum of less than NIS 20. The courier will also help fit the gas masks to the family members and explain how to use them. People that prefer not to pay the fee can travel to a distribution center, that will be located in each city, to pick up their gas masks.
Special Holiday Security Measures Begin at Midnight
(IsraelNN.com) The IDF will impose a closure on Judea and Samaria during the Purim holiday. Under a state of closure, Arabs from Judea and Samaria may not cross the security barrier into pre-1967 Israel and may not enter Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The closure will begin at midnight Thursday and end at midnight Monday, depending on the IDF’s assessment of the security situation.
The IDF said that Arabs will be permitted to enter Israel in humanitarian cases, in medical emergencies and other special cases, subject to approval by the IDF Civil Administration. “The IDF will continue to act in order to protect the residents of the state of Israel, while taking into account the fabric of Palestinian life,” the IDF Spokesman said.
The imposition of closures is a standard IDF procedure during Jewish holidays. It is intended to protect Jews from terror attacks by Arabs during the holidays, which find people gathered in large groups for celebration, making them more vulnerable to attack. In addition, holiday terror attacks have an especially demoralizing effect on the general population and are thus favored by terrorists.
Unlike a curfew, a closure does not forbid people from leaving their homes or from traveling on roads in Judea and Samaria.
The Israel Police will deploy throughout celebration sites to prevent and minimize violence. Venues of large scale public events will be treated as “security zones” and security checks at sea and land entrances to Israel will be extra-stringent. Thousands of police, Border Police and volunteers will fan out in city centers and on the “seam line” surrounding Judea and Samaria.
A special effort will be made to enforce the law forbidding sale of alcohol to minors.
Purim Festivities Begin
Children celebrate Purim in Hevron
(IsraelNN.com) Purim festivities began on Saturday night, as can be seen in these pictures of the children of Hevron in their Purim costumes. Jews worldwide celebrated the deliverance of the Jewish people from their oppressors in the ancient Persian Empire during the period after the destruction of the first Holy Temple in Jerusalem and before the second was built.
Celebrations began with the public reading of the Megillah (scroll), also known as the Book of Esther. The book relates the story of Purim, in which a sequence of events led to a Jewish woman named Esther (Hadassah) being crowned queen in time to use her position to save her people from a genocidal decree.
Haman, the Persian minister who tried to destroy the Jews, drew lots (Purim, in Hebrew) in the capital city of Shushan to choose the day on which he would carry out his evil plan, and the holiday was named accordingly. However, Haman was hanged and the Jews found that no one rose against them on the day he had chosen, the fourteenth of Adar, so that day became a holiday instead.
The holiday is the only one to be described in the Bible that is not in the Five Books of Moses, and is considered a symbol of hope and redemption for all generations. According to the Talmud, Purim will continue to be celebrated even in Messianic times.
In Jerusalem, Purim is celebrated on the fifteenth of Adar, Sunday night and Monday this year, in accordance with the Rabbinic decision that cities that were walled in the days of Joshua, Moses’ successor, celebrate the holiday a day after the rest of the Jewish world. This is to commemmorate the continuation of the Jews’ successful defense in Shushan that lasted for another day.
The holiday is marked by other laws in addition to the Megillah reading. During the day, celebrants eat a festive meal and send prepared food items to each other. The gifts of food must include to types of food to at least one other person and are intended to strengthen unity and friendship within the Jewish nation, in response to the genocidal decree issued by Haman, which referred to the Jews as “scattered and dispersed.”
Another way in which Purim is observed is by giving money to the poor in order to allow them to celebrate the holiday as well. Money must be distributed on the day of Purim itself to at least two people, and each needy person should be given enough to allow him to buy food for a Purim feast.
Many Jews also have the custom of dressing up on Purim, in reference to the “disguised” nature of the holiday. In the Purim story G-d’s salvation is revealed through seemingly natural events and not through miracles that change the laws of nature. The children in Hevron enjoyed their celebration despite Arab rioting at the Cave of the Patriarchs there.
Wine is often consumed to symbolize joy on Purim, and the sages of the Talmud suggested drinking until one can no longer distinguish between the hero Mordechai and the villain Haman. However, there are rabbinic opinions stating that one can obtain the inability to distinguish through sleep instead of drink, and according to all opinions a person should not drink if doing so would cause them to sin.
Haman was a desecendant of Amalek, the tribe that attacked the Jews when they left Egypt while they were still weak from years of slavery. The Bible decreed that Amalek must be destroyed, but this commandment was not completed. Modern day Iran is the site of ancient Persia where the Purim story occurred.
Christian Leaders Pledge Their Support for Israel
The nation of Israel is surrounded by enemies that want to destroy it. However, some Christian denominations have come to Israel to publicly declare their support for the Jewish people.
Leaders who represent the Pentecostal Church of God came to Israel recently and signed a declaration and prayer covenant that pledges their support for the state of Israel, the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
“We hope number one to send a message that the Pentecostal Church of God stands with the nation of Israel and to exert our influence to others that they will also take this stand publicly and proclaim that this is the land that God has promised to His chosen people,” said Charles Scott, general bishop of the Pentecostal Church of God.
“Several in our constituency, pastors, churches have already made a commitment to partner with Israel and Jerusalem, a sacred cooperation with them and Eagles Wings also,” said Wayman Ming, general secretary of the Pentecostal Church of God. “So we hope we can be a catalyst for other denominations to come on board and do the same with Israel.”
“The Pentecostal Church of God bringing all of their core leadership up from nations around the world I think it’s a sign that more and more evangelical and other Christian denominations around the world are realizing that the conflict in the Middle East is a situation that demands a response from Christian fellowships and Christian denominations,” said Robert Stearns, founder of Eagles Wings Ministry.
With the rise of radical Islam and nations like Iran pledging to destroy Israel, many Israeli leaders feel the support of Evangelical Christians is an essential element in its battle to survive.
Soldier Attacked, His Gun is Taken
(IsraelNN.com) Unknown assailants attacked a soldier who was standing at a hitchhiking station at Koach Junction in Kiryat Shemonah. The two got out of a car they were in, attacked the soldier with a metal bar, took his gun and escaped.
The soldier, who is 19 years old, serves in an IAF base in northern Israel He was evacuated to Ziv Hospital in Tzfat (Safed) in moderate condition.
Police have set up roadblocks throughout the area and a helicopter is participating in the search for the attackers.
Police revealed Wednesday that they had arrested eight residents of northern Israel on suspicion that they stole weapons and ammunition from IDF bases. The suspects are Druze, and two of them are IDF soldiers.
