An Islamic Jihad suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with four tons of explosives tried to ram the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel early Thursday, the terror group said, but succeeded only in killing himself. The explosion was heard by Gazans and Israelis miles away and shattered windows in a Netiv Ha'asara house.
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Alas. Our fears have been realized. A missile landed in a crowded shopping mall in Ashkelon, a city with 120,000 inhabitants. Although fatalities were miraculously averted, there were over 90 casualties, including a number of seriously wounded. I learned of the attack at the "Facing Tomorrow" Conference in Jerusalem, held under the auspices of President Shimon Peres.
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The Bush administration sought Wednesday to put a positive spin on a deal between Lebanon's feuding factions, which it says is vital to short-term stability even though it gives the militant Hizb'allah movement more power. "We view this agreement as a positive step toward resolving the current crisis," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement released before she called embattled Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora
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The burning of hundreds of New Testaments by yeshiva students in Or Yehuda last week was regrettable and unplanned, the city's deputy mayor, the man who spurred the students to act, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon of Shas used the opportunity of speaking to the Post, which publishes a monthly Christian Edition, to apologize to Christians worldwide...
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Fearing that Damascus is acquiring advanced military platforms, Israel is closely following meetings being held in Moscow this week between a high-level Syrian military delegation and Russian Defense Ministry officials. Senior government officials in Jerusalem said they have been aware for several days of the Syrians' upcoming visit to the Russian capital but that it was not yet clear which military platforms Damascus was requesting.
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Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land. Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.
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