The Akko (Acre) Pogrom

This isn't medieval Europe - must Jews hide in their homes on the holiest day of the year for fear of the mob outside?
Jewish residents of Akko (Acre) in northern Israel spent Yom Kippur eve in an unusual fashion: they were the targets of a pogrom by their Arab neighbors.

According to the police, an Israeli Arab drove into a Jewish neighborhood on Yom Kippur night with his windows down and music blaring in a blatant act of disrespect for the holiest day of the year. As Galilee police spokesman Eran Shaked put it, "This was a provocation... We believe he was intoxicated. This was a deliberate act".

When local Jewish residents complained to the Arab driver, a confrontation ensued. Then, according to police, false rumors spread that the Arab driver had been injured or killed, leading hundreds of Arabs to descend on the Jewish neighborhood, where they smashed store windows and cars and chanted "Death to the Jews" and "If you come out of your homes you will die".

It is simply mind-boggling that such an event can be allowed to occur in the Jewish state. This isn't medieval Europe - must Jews hide in their homes on the holiest day of the year for fear of the mob outside? Where are the police? Where is the government?

The media, of course, is trying to spin the incident as "Arab-Jewish rioting" - but it is clear who provoked this incident and why.

The pogrom in Akko can not be allowed to be swept under the carpet. This is a disgraceful turn of events, and it is essential that the police bring the Arab rioters to justice forthwith and send a strong and clear signal that such hooliganism will not be tolerated.

Good News at the Temple Mount

it is good to see that we have taken another step forward, however small, towards reasserting the exercise of basic Jewish rights on the Temple Mount
With so much upheaval around us, here is a bit of good news that should lift our spirits as we prepare to mark Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

In a rare gesture, Israel's police allowed hundreds of yeshiva students to ascend the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Monday. Normally, of course, the police place heavy restrictions on the numbers of those allowed up on the Mount, the most sacred site in the world for Jews.

The students are from the Birkat Moshe yeshiva in the town of Maaleh Adumim, and they underwent special purification processes before entering the area of the Mount, where the two Holy Temples once stood.

Generally speaking, the police bar large groups of Jews from going up on the Mount for fear of how the Palestinians will react. But Monday's event passed peacefully, and there were no riots or anything of the sort - which just goes to show that there is no reason why such visits by Jews can not become a regular occurrence.

Of course, the police still prevented the yeshiva students from praying on the Mount or bringing prayer books with them lest it "offend" Muslim sensibilities. But nonetheless it is good to see that we have taken another step forward, however small, towards reasserting the exercise of basic Jewish rights on the Temple Mount.

With the approach of Yom Kippur - May the entire House of Israel be inscribed, signed and sealed in the Book of Life for a year of health, peace and prosperity, and may this year herald the Ingathering of all our Exiles and their return to Zion and Jerusalem. Amen.

Olmert's Silence Speaks Volumes

Today's interrogation was the eighth time that Olmert has been questioned by police - in the process setting a new personal and political record for Israeli premiers.
What a difference a couple of days can make.

On Monday, the eve of Rosh Hashana, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave an extensive interview to the daily Yediot Aharonot in which he tossed more than a few bombshells, from publicly stating that Israel should give eastern Jerusalem and the Golan to the Arabs, to mocking the idea that the Jewish state could possibly bomb Iran to prevent the latter from building nuclear weapons.

It was the kind of rambling performance that makes one wince with embarassment that such a person could possibly serve as head of Israel's government.

But as much as Olmert may have found his voice when talking to the reporters from Yediot, he seems to have fallen silent today when he was visited by police investigators looking into allegations of corruption against him.

According to media reports, Olmert "refused to respond to questions" when the police asked him about a particular case that has come to be known as the "Rishon Tours Affair" (in which Olmert is accused of using state money to pay for his family's vacations overseas).

Today's interrogation was the eighth time that Olmert has been questioned by police - in the process setting a new personal and political record for Israeli premiers.

But his silence speaks volumes - and only underlines how crucial it is to the future of the country that the Olmert regime become a thing of the distant past as soon as possible.