Daily Archives: August 9, 2005

Jewish academy in Palm Desert vandalized

A Jewish academy in Palm Desert was vandalized Monday. Officials described it as a hate crime.

The back and west sides of the Torah Academy on Santa Rosa Way were defaced by swastikas, cartoon characters and the word “trouble,” according to Assistant Police Chief Lt. Steve Thetford.

Riverside County Sheriff’s forensic technicians collected several items from the scene and have several leads, Thetford said.

Ukrainian party seeks action against Jews

The Ukrainian Nationalist Party has called for a criminal investigation into “judo-fascists.”

The party was founded earlier this year and recently accused Jews of being behind the July 7 London subway bombings.

Interfax News Agency reported that in an open letter to President Viktor Yushchenko the party called for an investigation into the activities of several Hassidic rabbis. It accused them of disseminating “Judeo-Nazi teachings” in its schools and indoctrinating children with a “misanthropic religious doctrine.”

Churches gang up on Israel

The Presbyterian Church USA has adopted get-tough policies toward Israel ostensibly designed to force peace with the Palestinians, but they are more likely to sabotage peace than to advance it.

The church has threatened four U.S. companies that if they don’t stop doing business with Israel, the church will divest the stock it holds in them. The companies provide heavy construction machinery, helicopters and communications equipment, all of which, the Presbyterians contend, can be, and sometimes is, used in supporting the occupation of Palestinian territories.

No group holds patent on terrorism

In resigning Sunday, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he feared Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would leave the area “a base of Islamic terror.” His words came just days after a rampage by a Jewish army deserter brought to the fore another issue that has received relatively scant attention – Jewish extremism.

Thursday evening, 19-year-old Eden Natan-Zada, a right-wing extremist who had been AWOL for months, shot and killed four Israeli Arabs on a bus in northern Israel before being beaten to death by an angry crowd.

Crown Heights Resident Jailed in Israel

Three Right-Wing Radicals Jailed
Defense minister signs adminstration detention order for three Kach members suspected of anti-Arab violence; Kach spokesman: ‘Witch hunt has begun’

Click here to watch a part of the funeral

Following harsh criticism following last week’s shooting attack in Shfaram, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz took action Sunday and ordered the administrative detention of three extreme right-wing activists.

Two were arrested Sunday during the funeral procession of Shfaram terrorist Eden Natan Zada, and the third detained on his way to visit Zada’s family.

The order calls for two months in jail, but could be extended.

The trio are Kach members Efraim Hirshkovitz, 22, of Jerusalem; Gilad Shochat, 19, of the Maon outpost south of Hebron, and 18-year-old Saadia Hirshkop, a U.S. citizen who currently lives in Kfar Chabad.

Shochat’s father, Tiran Polack, is a veteran far-right activist.

According to the charge sheet signed by Mofaz, the trio is charged with violent behavior against Arabs. They are also believed to be dangerous.

Senator Lieberman at Chabad of Aspen

SNS has learned that Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut spent this past Shabbos in Aspen, Colorado where Rabbi & Mrs. Mendel Mintz are the Shluchim.

The Senator, who is currently in the year of mourning, following the recent passing of his dear mother Marcia, davened all the Tefillos @ Chabad and recited mourners Kaddish.

After davening on Shabbos day, the Senator addressed the crowd for about 10 minutes touching on his connection with the Rebbe and Chabad and remarking that it was only because of Chabad’s presence in Aspen and that fact that they had a Minyan that he was able to make the trip.