Caption: This picture appeared in prominent American
newspapers, including the New York Times, with the
caption "An Israeli policeman and a Palestinian on the Temple
Mount." In truth, it is American yeshiva student Tuvia
Grossman, after being beaten and stabbed for ten minutes by
an Arab mob in Yerushalayim. Along with several friends,
Grossman had been in a cab on his way to the Kosel on erev
Rosh Hashana when they were pulled out and attacked without
any provocation. The Israeli policeman is saving Grossman's
life.
Beginning on erev Rosh Hashana, the new year has so far been
marked by attacks on Jews around the world. Though the
apparent source and focus of the violence against Jews is
Eretz Yisroel, Jews and Jewish communities around the world
have suffered. In most of the cases the attackers were
Palestinians and Moslems.
Though violence from Palestinians had been expected in Israel
for several months as peace negotiations between Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat foundered, the extent of the worldwide attacks
surprised most observers.
On other occasions in the past when there was unrest in
Israel there were incidents of attacks on Jews elsewhere, but
this time it was much worse. Secretary-general of the World
Jewish Congress Israel Singer said that in the recent
outbreak of antisemitic attacks, "more synagogues were
attacked than on Kristallnacht." Jews and Jewish institutions
were targets throughout the world.
We have tried to provide a chronicle of the major attacks and
events of the last three weeks in Eretz Yisroel and around
the world. This list is not exhaustive, but it is aimed at
giving an impression of the depth and breadth of the
attacks.
On the Thursday of selichos, two days before Rosh
Hashana, Likud leader Ariel Sharon visited the Har Habayis.
Though the visit itself passed without much incident, later
on there were scuffles, and the next day serious rioting
broke out on the Har Habayis and elsewhere, including stones
thrown on mispalelim at the Kosel. Modern
poskim say that it is forbidden for Jews to enter the
Har Habayis. Military experts said that the extent and
coordination of the riots indicated that they were planned in
advance, and that the visit of Sharon served only as a
pretext.
In the days that followed the rioting continued and soon
spread to include Israeli Arabs, full citizens of the State
of Israel who, in many cities, live in close proximity to
Jewish neighborhoods and in mixed neighborhoods. The rioting
on the part of Israeli Arabs was apparently unexpected and
sent shock waves throughout the Israeli political
establishment. Prominent Israeli Arab leaders, including
politicians and MKs, refused to condemn the violence, and
some even encouraged it.
Around Yom Kippur Israelis in various cities began to respond
to the unremitting violence and there were fights in various
cities and towns. A major fight took place in Nazareth.
Though in the vast majority of the incidents the Palestinians
attacked Jews and Jewish targets, their attacks were not as
effective as the Israeli army response. Thus, most of the
dead and wounded are Arabs, numbering well over 100 dead so
far and many more times that amount wounded. The Army has
said repeatedly that it only fires when fired upon or
threatened in other ways and many have criticized the extreme
restraint shown. The only aggressive acts on the part of Jews
have come from enraged individuals and mobs, with the few on
the part of the army directed only at property.
Nonetheless, in the world press and in the United Nations,
prominence has been given to the lopsided figures of those
killed, and the blame has been placed firmly on Israel,
though no one has said what Israel should have done or should
not have done.
Media coverage has been very biased, and almost constitutes a
separate sphere of attacks on Jews around the world. The
media constantly repeats the number killed and faithfully
adds that most of the victims were Palestinians. The Har
Habayis, that used to be called simply the Temple Mount, has
received the additional appellation "called by the Arabs
Haram el Sharif," and lately the historical fact of the
Temple located on Har Habayis has become a mere "Jewish
claim." Other examples of the reporting have been consistent
references to Arab attackers as "demonstrators" even when
they threw stones and shot. Jews who attack Arabs are called
"rampagers."
Observers noted that events like these can become difficult
to control and no one now knows where or how it all will
end.
Torah Jews throughout the world have responded with prayer,
including large rallies in the United States and
elsewhere.
Arab Riots -- 5761
GSS Did Not Object to Sharon's Visit to Har Habayis
• The General Security Service has confirmed
that it did not urge Likud Chair Ariel Sharon to cancel his
visit to the Temple Mount a few weeks ago. The Palestinians
used the visit as a pretext to begin the latest wave of
violence.
A senior GSS official said that the service did not think it
right to prevent the visit, "just like we do not prevent the
visit of any other Israeli to the mount."
Although the GSS had warned for some time that an incident on
the Temple Mount could spark a wave of violence in the
territories and among Israel's Arabs, it appears that the
organization did not feel that Sharon's visit carried such a
risk.
The senior source said that the GSS attributes the outbreak
of violence to the fatal shooting of seven demonstrators by
police on the Temple Mount a day after Sharon's visit.
"Sharon's visit and what followed it were a pretext for the
violence; in their absence, Arafat would have looked for
another excuse," he said.
Nachman Shai -- Major League Spokesman
• Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami has appointed
Nachman Shai to as head of information and media for the
current violence in Israel.
Shai will coordinate the information activities for the
Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the IDF, the police
and the West Bank activity coordinator. Shai acted as IDF
spokesman during the 1991 Gulf War. His new nomination was
approved by Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Wilk: Police Treat Rioters Equally
• Rejecting reports of disparity in the police's
treatment of rioting Jews and Arabs, Insp.-Gen. Yehuda Wilk
pledged that the police will take the same measures against
Jews and Arabs who disturb the peace.
Wilk noted that of the 600 people arrested in the previous 10
days for acts of violence, 200 were Jews. He added that over
100 indictments have been issued.
He noted that two border policemen have been killed and
another 200 policemen wounded in the disturbances, 150 in the
territories and 50 within Israel. Most were hurt by stones or
by metal objects, though some came under live fire in Acre,
Nazareth, Fureidis, and Jerusalem.
Defending the use of rubber bullets to disperse Israeli-Arab
rioters, Wilk noted that there is a difference between a
peaceful demonstration and the violent riots which have
engulfed the country.
The Fate of Kever Yosef
• The IDF has accused the Palestinian Authority
of planning to build a mosque on the site of Kever
Yosef in Nablus.
The IDF withdrew its troops from the site on Shabbos
Shuva after reaching an agreement with Palestinian
security forces to guard the site. Despite the agreement, PA
forces did not prevent thousands of Palestinian demonstrators
from storming the site and setting it on fire soon after
Israel withdrew.
The Palestinian media has also denied that the site is in any
way holy to Jews.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak had ordered the evacuation from the
enclave, the first time Israel relinquished territory as a
direct result of Palestinian violence. The Israeli army said
that it was impossible to adequately defend the site.
The Shabbos after the tomb was torched, a Jewish resident of
a nearby community, Hillel Lieberman, was found murdered
after he reportedly tried to reach the area on foot. He is
survived by his wife and four children.
Report: Commandos capture members of Palestinian Lynch
Mob
• Security sources said yesterday that Israeli
commandos had hunted down and captured at least six
Palestinian suspects in connection with the barbaric lynch of
two reservists in Ramallah. Palestinian police said that a
number of Palestinians already have gone missing, and at
least eight are believed to be held by Israel. The Tanzim
activists announced that they are protecting them.
Without confirming or denying, Deputy Defense Minister
Ephraim Sneh said that those who carried out the lynching of
Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Vadim Novesche and Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Yosef
Avrahami last Thursday should beware.
After taking a wrong turn into the Palestinian areas, the two
were taken by Palestinian police into Ramallah and then
brutally murdered and abused by a bestial mob.
An Italian television reporter later apologized to the PA for
broadcasting the grisly footage. His credentials were then
withdrawn by Israel and his company recalled him to Italy.
Hamas: All Israelis are Targets
• The Palestinians are at war with Israel, and
therefore all Israelis are considered targets for Hamas, the
organization's political leader, Ismael Abu Shanab, told
Jerusalem Post Radio.
Abu Shanab, a Gaza University professor, says the final
decision will be taken by Hamas's military wing, but says he
believes the Palestinian street now feels the time has come
to seek revenge for the loss of Palestinian lives.
Following the Palestinian Authority's decision to throw open
its prison doors and free scores of Hamas and Islamic Jihad
terrorists, "the danger of terror activity is written on the
wall," Prime Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee.
Elchanan Tannenbaum Kidnapping
• Businessman Elchanan Tannenbaum was reportedly
kidnapped by Hizbullah. The secretary general of the
Hizbullah, Sheik Nasrallah, claims that Tannenbaum is a Mosad
agent. Tannenbaum's family and friends say that he isn't a
Mosad agent, but rather a businessman who recently suffered
from financial problems.
IDF senior officers currently abroad have been warned that
the Hizbullah is liable to attempt additional kidnappings,
and that they should take strict security measures.
Giloh is Shelled; A Soldier is Seriously Wounded
• Heavy shooting took place in the Giloh quarter
in the south of Jerusalem. The shots were fired by Arabs from
the nearby Beit Jala village, who aimed their rifles at the
windows of Jewish homes directly facing them. A border
policeman, Shimon Ohana, was seriously wounded by a bullet
which pierced his heart, and a citizen was lightly injured as
he got out of his car. Israeli tanks located on the site
fired back at the Arabs.
The IDF displayed restraint, in line with the orders of Barak
who did not want to exacerbate the situation. Barak said that
this was a serious incident, and asked the residents to exert
self-control.
A Sefer Torah from Jericho is Returned
• A sefer Torah from the ancient Shalom
al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho was miraculously saved from
flames and returned to Israel.
The synagogue was set afire the week before Succos by Arab
rioters and burnt to a cinder. The sefer Torah was in
a fireproof safe and the Palestinian Authority returned it to
Israel after the IDF had made repeated requests to that
effect. The sefer Torah wasn't damaged at all.
PA Forces Sparked Nazareth Riots
• Members of the Palestinian Tanzim paramilitary
movement were involved in the riots in Nazareth on Yom
Kippur. According to the sources, leaflets distributed in
the city called on the Arab population to take part in "the
struggle against the Zionist enemy" and that "the
Intifadah must go on."
The sources said groups of Tanzim fighters crossed the Green
Line from the West Bank into Israel and distributed leaflets
in Arab population centers. The impact of the Tanzim visits
was felt afterward in aggravation of the clashes with the
police in the areas where they had been.
The defense establishment's view is that there is some degree
of coordination between officials in the PA and activists in
Israel's Arab population.
Palestinians Offer $2,000 to 'Martyrs'
• The IDF Hebron area commander Col. Noam Tivon
said that the Palestinian Authority is encouraging children
to participate in clashes with the IDF by offering their
families $300 per injury and $2,000 for anyone killed.
The main goal of the Tanzim, or Fatah militia activists, is
to continue attacks, to kill soldiers and settlers, he said.
He noted the cynical use by Palestinians of their children,
who are pushed to the forefront of the clashes.
BBC's Blatant Distortions
• Israel has delivered a sharp written protest
to the British Broadcasting Corporation for what it called
distorted and unbalanced reports on the recent wave of
violence and riots.
In a letter to BBC Director-general Greg Dyke, the spokesman
for the Israeli embassy in London expressed his concern for
the "widespread failure in understanding essential elements
and developments" and attacked the assumption that Israel was
the only responsible party for the week-long outbreaks of
violence and clashes.
The spokesman complained that the BBC made no mention, in any
medium, of the Palestinian refusal to allow the rescue from
Kever Yosef of Border Police Sergeant Major Madhet
Yosef, who bled to death there after being shot.
The BBC also ignored completely, the letter stated, the fact
that Palestinian security forces opened fire on Israeli
troops. Reporters also gave Palestinian spokesmen free reign
on the air without forcing them to answer difficult questions
or even substantiate their claims.
Editing of segments distorted the riots, including shots of
tanks that did not participate in restraining the riots, and
images of attacks on `innocent homes' by Israeli combat
helicopters, without mention that those buildings sheltered
Palestinian paramilitary fighters who shot at IDF troops.
Additionally, the letter claimed that the BBC website reports
in depth on Palestinians' feelings of rage and pain without
balancing that with emotional Israeli responses to the wave
of violence.
The BBC responded that the letter had been received and that
it would receive the appropriate response.
A Swipe From the LA Times
• In a rare instance of camaraderie, Arab and
Jewish groups in America are both condemning a political
cartoon in The Los Angeles Times that depicts a Moslem
and Jew praying at what appears to be the Western Wall, with
the wall featuring the word "hate" in large letters.
The cartoon, by Michael Ramirez, was printed in the
newspaper's October 3 edition.
Ramirez claimed that his cartoon was "aimed at elements that
are trying to undermine the peace process," both Israeli and
Palestinian. Ramirez said he would not apologize for the
cartoon. Jewish groups said that the Arab was not a prominent
figure in the cartoon.
Antisemitic Backlash Suspected in 5 NY Attacks
• The New York Police Department is
investigating five alleged incidents of antisemitic
violence.
In Brooklyn, police said an Orthodox Jewish man returning
from synagogue in Borough Park was slashed above the eye by a
man who identified himself as a Palestinian.
A man on a Brooklyn subway train was kicked by a group of
young men claiming to be Palestinian who were carrying a
Palestinian flag and spouting antisemitic rhetoric, police
said.
Graffiti was discovered at a synagogue on Ninth St., police
said.
In Queens, authorities said they were investigating
antisemitic graffiti found on a Jewish war memorial in Far
Rockaway and in the Linden Hills Jewish Cemetery on
Metropolitan Ave.
The NYPD set up a temporary command post in the 66th Precinct
to handle bias reports in the Brooklyn South command area
until the Jewish holiday season is over, officials said.
Four suspects told police they threw bottles filled with
vodka at a Bronx Jewish center because they were upset about
violence in the Middle East. The four, ages 15, 17, 18 and
21, when arrested told investigators they were looking for a
Jewish site to vandalize and stopped at the first one they
drove by.
Arabs Riot in Denmark
• Palestinian immigrants threw stones and
clashed with police in Copenhagen after an initially peaceful
anti- Israel demonstration turned into violent street
riots.
Police in riot gear fought to keep many hundreds of flag-
waving Palestinian and other Arab immigrants under
control.
Several people were injured and many demonstrators arrested,
the Ritzau news agency quoted a police spokesman as
saying.
Student Riots in Egypt
• Showing support for Palestinians in their
ongoing confrontations with Israeli security forces,
thousands of students staged demonstrations and protests in
nearly all of Egypt's universities.
At Cairo University, Egypt's largest, almost 10,000 students
participated in a demonstration that lasted more than 10
hours and burned tires while Egyptian riot police surrounded
the campus to prevent demonstrators from marching to the
nearby Israeli embassy.
Security sources said that high school students in the Cairo
districts of Maadi and the Pyramids area staged street
demonstrations on their way to school, also burning Israeli
and American flags.
In one incident in Cairo, high school students attacked a
branch belonging British supermarket chain Sainsbury's,
destroying its glass front as a protest against the owning
family's links with Israel.
Other protests also took place at the universities of
Alexandria, Minya and Assiut in southern Egypt and the
coastal city of Port Said.
Egyptian journalists took part in the protests by organizing
a symbolic two hour sit-in at the Egyptian press association,
chanting anti-Israeli and anti-American slogans and burning
the flags of both countries.
Arabs March on Israeli Embassy in Greece
• More than 150 Palestinians marched to the
Israeli Embassy to protest the recent outbreaks of violence
throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Israel.
The protesters began their march at the nearby embassy of the
Palestinian Authority. About 50 additional protesters
demonstrated in the northern port city of Thessaloniki.
Palestinians Stage Major Protest in New York
• Thousands of Palestinian immigrants living in
the New York metropolitan area staged a rally in Manhattan's
Times Square before Yom Kippur.
Pictures of the Mohammed al Duri, the 12-year-old killed a
week ago by IDF gunfire, featured prominently on protest
posters. Some placards vilified Israel as Nazism.
The rally, held at a peak hour at one of Manhattan's busiest
sites, caused major traffic disruptions. Noting that the
demonstration was staged during the height of the U.S.
election season, rally speakers said that the protest was
directed partly against American politicians who support
Israel.
"We are Palestinians, we are Americans, and we vote," one
speaker exclaimed. "Israeli soldiers are shooting
Palestinians with American guns," he added.
Most of the demonstrators dispersed quietly. Six people were
detained on charges of disturbing the peace.
Tourism Takes a Hit From Riots
• The tourism sector fears that the Rosh
Hashonoh riots will take a cumulative toll on tourism,
even within the so-called Green Line. Western Jerusalem,
Jaffa, Nazareth, the Galilee, and the Triangle, are liable to
suffer a downturn in tourism over the next months.
The concern is particularly great because the months October-
November are a peak period for tourism.
According to figures of the Incoming Tourism Agency, 3,000
tourist groups are slated to arrive in Israel during October.
Most will arrive during the second half of the month, which
is particularly busy.
Worldwide Antisemitism
• Since the onset of the Arab rioting in Israel,
a wave of antisemitism has inundated Europe and the United
States. Over seventy instances of onslaughts, which included
damage to Jewish property and physical harm to Jews, have
been recorded.
The wave of antagonism began immediately after news of the
Arab rioting in Israel became known. Antisemitic and
Palestinian elements have reacted to the situation.
France
• More incidents of severe violence against Jews
and Jewish institutions, including arson, attempts to run
down pedestrians, burning Jewish restaurants, hurling
incendiary bottles at synagogues, and scrawling graffiti on
public walls have occurred in France than any other country
in Europe. Police have arrested dozens of suspects, most of
them poor Arab immigrants, and the incidents have tapered
off. France is home to an estimated 700,000 Jews and over 4
million Moslems.
The Prime Minster of France has issued orders to tighten the
security around the synagogues. Jospin said the Justice
Ministry has advised French prosecutors to deal severely with
anyone suspected of taking part in such attacks. His remarks
came just hours after a bakery owned by an Alsatian Jew in
Strasbourg was set on fire, and the words "Jewish Assassins"
were painted on the shop in black.
A car was set alight near a synagogue in the Lyons area of
Minguettes, according to police sources. The Interior
Ministry said there were also unspecified antisemitic
incidents in the northeastern Paris district of Bagnolet.
Nearly 80 antisemitic incidents were recorded by French
police in one week.
The United States
• Violence has surged in Chicago and New York.
Shots were aimed at a rabbi seated in his car in Chicago in a
drive-by shooting. A hand grenade was hurled at a Chabad
house, and incendiary bottles was thrown at a synagogue.
Protection of Jewish institutions has been extended.
New York officials increased security at government
buildings, landmarks, religious sites and other buildings
associated with either Israelis or Palestinians, particularly
the Israeli consulate in midtown Manhattan.
In Washington, a few hundred protesters on both sides of the
conflict demonstrated in the shadow of the White House, with
mounted police keeping them apart.
Belgium
• Antisemitic graffiti was scrawled in public
places in Brussels' center. Israeli flags were burned.
Crosses were painted on synagogues, and a Holocaust monument
was desecrated.
Germany
• Stones and incendiary bottles were hurled at
synagogues. Jewish graves were desecrated. Pro-Palestinian
demonstrations, which ended in stone throwing at Jews and
Jewish institutions, raged.
England
• Windows were smashed in synagogues in London,
Manchester and Birmingham. Antisemitic graffiti was scrawled
in public places. Fifty synagogues were damaged between Rosh
Hashonoh and Yom Kippur in a well-organized operation.
A synagogue in south England was set aflame and Israeli flags
were burned near the Israeli consulate in London. The British
press ignored these incidents.
A Gateshead yeshiva student suffered more than 20 stab wounds
in a frenzied, unprovoked attack in north London believed to
have been prompted by nothing more than his appearance. David
Meyers, 20, was on the top deck of a bus saying
Tehillim when he was repeatedly stabbed in the chest,
face, arms and legs with a six inch blade by a man said by
Scotland Yard to be "of Mediterranean appearance."
Canada
• Graffiti was scrawled on the walls of four
synagogues in Toronto and Ottawa. Palestinians demonstrated
in front of the Israeli consulate in Toronto, and cried:
"Death to the Jews."
Scandinavia
• In Copenhagen, hundreds of Palestinians burned
Israeli flags and threw incendiary bottles at the offices of
the Jewish kehilla there. Tombstones in Jewish graves were
desecrated. Threat letters were sent to the heads of Jewish
communities and graffiti was scrawled on public walls.
Australia
• 300,000 Palestinians live in Australia. Two
thousand of them demonstrated in front of the Israeli
consulate in Sydney, burned Israeli flags and cried: "Death
to the Jews." Threat letters were sent to the heads of the
Jewish community. Measures were taken to tighten the security
of Jewish institutions in Australia.
Fifty guests in the succah of Rabbi Pinchas Feldman,
head of Sydney Yeshiva, were unhurt after a bomb was thrown
at the succah late Saturday night. One participant
reported, "We heard a thud and shouts of Allah Akbar!
Miraculously the succah did not go up in flames,
rather the bottle bounced off the succah, pouring the
kerosene all over the succah but didn't ignite from
the flame!"
Police apprehended two Lebanese Arabs one aged 17 and one 18
years old. The two were seen loitering in the area for a few
days and on the second night of Succos they entered the
nearby supermarket store and purchased a bottle of coke. Once
they drank it they filled it with gasoline. All this was
caught on the store's video camera. The Molotov cocktail
didn't explode because they used a plastic instead of glass
bottle.
Also, due to threats made at the Central shul in
Sydney, the street has been closed to the general public and
open only for neighbors and mispalelim.
