Wednesday

Chanukah ("dedication" in Hebrew) is celebrated this year from sunset this evening (Tuesday), 25 December until sunset on Monday 2 January.  The festival commemorates both the 164 BCE rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the ruling Seleucid (Syrian Greek) Kingdom, under Antiochus IV – and the re-establishment of religious freedom for the Jewish people after a period of harsh repression.  The success of the popular revolt led by Judah Maccabee and his brothers has, ever since, symbolized the Jewish people's fight for, and achievement of, its liberty and freedom as a nation against overwhelming odds.  Chanukah is not a legal holiday in Israel; offices, shops and public transportation will operate as usual. 

(See Israel Happenings for more information on Chanukah.)

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Wednesday, December 28, 2005

HA’ARETZ

1. Katyusha barrage on Kiryat Shemona and Shlomi.

NEAR MIDNIGHT: KATYSHAS AT NORTHERN COMMUNITIES.

2. PERETZ PLAN: LEASE SETTLEMENT BLOCS FROM PA.

3. SHARON TO POLITICAL VIP: ""ARRANGEMENT WILL BE FOUND" FOR VOTING IN EASTERN JERUSALEM.

4. WHAT BRINGS NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY JEWS TO IMMIGRATE TO ISRAEL?

Eitan and Hillary Faberman immigrated to Israel in order to be "lazy Jews."

5. INDICTMENT TO BE ISSUED IN ZIM ASIA AFFAIR.

Officer on watch during collision with fishing vessel, which caused deaths of seven fishermen, to be tried.

HATZOFEH

1. Channel 2: PM's Bureau denied issue of examination to our correspondent.

BUREAU DENIED – BUT SHARON HAD EKG.

Sharon's doctors admit only now that he underwent comprehensive check-up at Sheba Hospital two months ago.

2. MOSSAD DIRECTOR: IRAN WILL HAVE NUCLEAR CAPABILITY IN 2006.

According to Dagan, Iran will not suffice with one bomb.  He also warned about Al-Qaeda activists coming to Israeli border.

3. FIRE IN NORTH: SHELL HITS HOUSE IN KIRYAT SHEMONA; NO CASUALTIES.

4. POLICE: ZIM ACTED PROPERLY – TRY NEGLIGENT OFFICER.

5. FOR CHANUKAH: 14 NEW OUTPOSTS.

MA’ARIV

1. Residents entered shelters.  Electricity grid shut down.

KATYUSHAS RETURN TO KIRYAT SHEMONA.

Before midnight: Series of explosions shook residents.  It quickly became clear that Katyushas had directly hit two flats.  Five residents lightly wounded.  Three Katyushas land near Shlomi.  Residents slept in shelters.  And in south: Kassams fired at Sderot.

YEDIOT AHRONOT

1. Last night: Katyusha barrage at Kiryat Shemona and Shlomi.

FIRE IN NORTH, IDF: WE'LL RESPOND.

Night of fear: Two Kiryat Shemona homes suffer direct hits.  Electricity in city shut down, residents enter shelters.  Panic among vacationers.  Hizbullah: We didn't launch rockets.  IDF: We will punish those responsible.

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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS

Yediot Ahronot complains that public confidence in the IDF, the Government and their leaders has declined of late and asserts that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is partly to blame.

Hatzofeh commends Israel Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi's decision to revive an elite police unit to fight car thefts.  The editors believe that, "Perhaps the time has come for some IDF soldiers to work alongside Israeli police officers in order to make their endless work easier."

[Ofer Shelah wrote today’s editorial in Yediot Ahronot.]