Today is the first Friday of the lunar month known in the Muslim calendar as Ramadan. Large crowds of Muslims are taking part in prayer services in Jerusalem, at the mosques located on the Temple Mount. As a result, police in the capital are on heightened alert status, as Friday prayers during Ramadan are frequently followed by rock and other attacks. 2,500 policemen are involved in the preventative operation in and around Jerusalem's Old City. By the early afternoon Friday, 60,000 Muslim worshippers had already made their way to the Temple Mount.
Police have set restrictions on those allowed to attend prayers on the Mount, limiting male worshippers to those over age 45, while no restrictions are in place for women. Statistically, violence erupting following Islamic prayer services is usually spearheaded by males under 45, police explain. The targets of these attacks have been security forces, as well as Jews praying at the Western Wall, which abuts the Temple Mount.
During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast during daylight hours and increase activities related to religious devotion. Friday is the Sabbath of the Muslim faith and, as such, the first Friday of the month of Ramadan attracts large crowds at Muslim worship services.
In addition to the heightened alert in the capital, warnings of terrorist kidnappings of Jews in Israel and at the vacation spots of the Sinai Peninsula have not abated. The IDF continues its effort to increase awareness among soldiers and officers to prevent the kidnapping of military personnel. Following the recent Hamas abduction and murder of a Jerusalem resident, Sasson Nuriel, whose tortured body was found in the Ramallah area, the military is issuing warnings to soldiers to increase vigilance when traveling or patrolling in proximity to the Palestinian Authority and in other sensitive areas.
In the United States, as well, the month of Ramadan has brought with it increased threats of Islamist terrorist attacks. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has ordered increased police presence in the city's subway system. This, City Hall explained, follows a credible terror alert that the city's underground mass transit system may be targeted in an attack in the coming days. The Federal Homeland Security Agency, on the other hand, played down the intelligence report, stating it was of "doubtful credibility." One of the intelligence reports cited in US media details an attack using a baby stroller laden with explosives, placed in a subway station.
Both Israel and the Jews are being blamed for the continuing, rapid global changes, placing the Jews in the role of scapegoat for Islamic terrorism, said Britain's chief rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, in an interview this week with the Jewish Chronicle newspaper. In particular, Rabbi Sacks warned of increasing anti-Semitism in his country, stating that, for the first time he remembers, it is "uncomfortable to be a Jew in Britain." As worrying signs of the hostile climate, the rabbi cited recent calls to abolish Holocaust Memorial Day, a call for divestment from Israel and the academic boycott against Israel.
John Mann, a UK member of parliament from the Labour party, last week convened a committee of his fellow legislators to investigate the recent increase in British anti-Semitism. The committee includes senior parliamentarians from all parties and all regions of the UK. The group will present a report of its findings and recommendations for action to combat anti-Semitism to government ministers.
2004 saw the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK, 532, since 1984, including the desecration of 17 synagogues. Among other aspects of the increase in anti-Semitic attacks to be investigated by the MPs will be the identity of most perpetrators of the attacks - extremist Muslims or right-wing fascists.
Police have set restrictions on those allowed to attend prayers on the Mount, limiting male worshippers to those over age 45, while no restrictions are in place for women. Statistically, violence erupting following Islamic prayer services is usually spearheaded by males under 45, police explain. The targets of these attacks have been security forces, as well as Jews praying at the Western Wall, which abuts the Temple Mount.
During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast during daylight hours and increase activities related to religious devotion. Friday is the Sabbath of the Muslim faith and, as such, the first Friday of the month of Ramadan attracts large crowds at Muslim worship services.
In addition to the heightened alert in the capital, warnings of terrorist kidnappings of Jews in Israel and at the vacation spots of the Sinai Peninsula have not abated. The IDF continues its effort to increase awareness among soldiers and officers to prevent the kidnapping of military personnel. Following the recent Hamas abduction and murder of a Jerusalem resident, Sasson Nuriel, whose tortured body was found in the Ramallah area, the military is issuing warnings to soldiers to increase vigilance when traveling or patrolling in proximity to the Palestinian Authority and in other sensitive areas.
In the United States, as well, the month of Ramadan has brought with it increased threats of Islamist terrorist attacks. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has ordered increased police presence in the city's subway system. This, City Hall explained, follows a credible terror alert that the city's underground mass transit system may be targeted in an attack in the coming days. The Federal Homeland Security Agency, on the other hand, played down the intelligence report, stating it was of "doubtful credibility." One of the intelligence reports cited in US media details an attack using a baby stroller laden with explosives, placed in a subway station.
Both Israel and the Jews are being blamed for the continuing, rapid global changes, placing the Jews in the role of scapegoat for Islamic terrorism, said Britain's chief rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, in an interview this week with the Jewish Chronicle newspaper. In particular, Rabbi Sacks warned of increasing anti-Semitism in his country, stating that, for the first time he remembers, it is "uncomfortable to be a Jew in Britain." As worrying signs of the hostile climate, the rabbi cited recent calls to abolish Holocaust Memorial Day, a call for divestment from Israel and the academic boycott against Israel.
John Mann, a UK member of parliament from the Labour party, last week convened a committee of his fellow legislators to investigate the recent increase in British anti-Semitism. The committee includes senior parliamentarians from all parties and all regions of the UK. The group will present a report of its findings and recommendations for action to combat anti-Semitism to government ministers.
2004 saw the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK, 532, since 1984, including the desecration of 17 synagogues. Among other aspects of the increase in anti-Semitic attacks to be investigated by the MPs will be the identity of most perpetrators of the attacks - extremist Muslims or right-wing fascists.