Category Archives: Israel

Politics, culture, people, life, religion and general info on Israel.

Two Heroes Stop the Bulldozer in Today's Terror Attack

Israel, Terrorism, , ,

A Golani Brigade off-duty soldier was one of the heroes who jumped onto the bulldozer to try to stop today’s attack in Jerusalem.

Here are the details of the actions of the Golani soldier and an off-duty police officer according to Connections Israel. (Connections Israel sends emails with the day’s news from Israel.  To subscribe try this link.)

“BROTHERS-IN-LAW ARE HEROES

IDF Golani Brigade soldier Private Moshe Plasser is the soldier in the blue tee shirt seen on a BBC video around the world. He eliminated the threat by climbing into the driver’s cabin of the bulldozer, shooting the terrorist in the head. Yassam police commando Eli Mizrachi “verified the kill” by firing addition shots at the terrorist at point blank range. Glaser just finished basic training for the elite Egoz reconnaissance unit within Golani three days earlier.

Plasser explained that he was on his motor scooter and saw the bulldozer flip the bus, immediately realizing it was a terror attack.

“I dumped my scooter and began running to the scene, looking for someone with a weapon. Then I saw Oren Ben-Shimon, who had a handgun, and together we tried at least to hit his legs to remove them from the gas pedal.

“He shouted ‘Ala Akhbar’ and then, I took the weapon and fired three shots at him, followed by the policeman verifying the kill.”

Plasser is a brother-in-law of Captain David Shapiro, the off-duty IDF officer who eliminated the terrorist in the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva attack.

Plasser stated “I did what was expected of me, nothing more”.”

A New Kind of Terrorist Attack in Israel

Israel, Terrorism,

Terror has again struck central Jerusalem. This time it appears that a terrorist used (it is still unknown if the terrorist stole the tractor or worked on a construction site or how he got it) a buldozer as his terrorist weapon.  As the story is coming out now (it is only an hour or so since it happened) he plowed the buldozer into the back of an Israeli bus and other vehicles on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem.

Since I have been writing this post, the death toll from this terrorist attack has gone from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 (update) with some news agencies reporting 3.  At least 66 are injured.

News stories:

JPost (English), Haaretz (English), and Walla (Hebrew), Pictures from the JPost, Ma’ariv story with emergency contact numbers (Hebrew),

More later. May G-d be with those injured, those murdered, all the families and the first responders.

Update: According to the Jerusalem Post, the terrorist in the bulldozer was armed and shot one of the police who trying to stop him. The terroist was killed. The policeman was only lightly injured. The terrorist was apparently from East Jerusalem and carried an Israeli identity card.

They think that the bulldozer was from the rail construction project in Jerusalem.

Give tzedakah, help injured kids and push Gila

Israel, Social Justice/Tezedek, ,

I’ve been reading Gila Weiss’s blog My Shrapnel for some time now.  I found her blog through a link (sorry, don’t remember where) and was so inspired by what I read that I went back and read every post.  She is a gifted writer and an interesting woman. The tag line to her blog is “Life as a “Poor, Sad, Heroic, Victim of Terror”®” Take a look and read, you won’t be disappointed.

Gila is riding in the Alyn Wheels of Love Charity Bike Ride this summer and she needs sponsors. So, go do some good, sponsor her and cheer her on.

Here are the directions she gives on her blog post about the ride:

Here is how to sponsor me:
1) Go to the donate online page
2) Follow the instructions on the page. There are options for US, Canadian and Israeli tax receipts.
3) Please make sure to note that you are sponsoring me: Gila Weiss
4) Drop me a line to let me know so that I can make sure it was properly credited to my “account”. (Of course 100% of the money raised is for Alyn).

Good luck to Gila

[As one who did a 5-day 350 mile ride for MS years ago I say – “you go girl”. Of course, I didn’t have to deal with Israeli riders drivers when I trained :-) ]

Israeli Ingenuity Does It Again – Turning Rocks into OIL!

Israel

Yes, you read that correctly – Israeli scientists have figured out a way to turn rocks, specifically shale, into oil. Read all about it on Israel21c by Stuart Winer.

Here is a brief excerpt from the article:

Haifa-based A.F.S.K Hom Tov recently demonstrated its patented method of extracting high quality oil and natural gas from a mixture of bitumen and oil shale rock. Bitumen – or asphalt – is the residue obtained by distillation of crude oil.

Experts predict the process will return oil at just $25 dollars a barrel and the additional natural gas produced would further boost the financial feasibility. With crude oil prices currently floating over the $50 a barrel mark, this proposed method is generating interest around the world.    [Read the entire article!]

Upcoming Book to Read

American Politics, Israel, Israeli Blogs

Michael Oren has a new book coming out soon,

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present (W. W. Norton & Company, January 15, 2007) “The first comprehensive history of America’s military, political, and intellectual involvement
in the Middle East from George Washington to George W. Bush.

Oren’s website has summaries, comments of reviewers and more.  Go and check it out.

Aharon at Blogs of Zion opens a post about it by saying,

I got my hands on an advance copy of Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present, historian and Shalem Center senior researcher Michael Oren’s new book, and I have to tell you, it is great. The research will boggle your mind, and it is just so interesting that you have a jaw dropping experience every paragraph or two.

I’ve pre-ordered at Amazon and I look forward to getting a copy.

Wow! Same-Sex Marriages to Be Recognized in Israel!

Israel

Wow! A red letter day of the good kind. According to Yuval Yoaz in Haaretz,

“In a precedent-setting ruling, the High Court of Justice on Tuesday ruled that five gay couples wedded outside of Israel can be registered as married couples, Army Radio reported. A sweeping majority of six Justices in favor and one against ruled that the common-law marriages of five gay couples obtained in Toronto, Canada, can appear as married on the population registry. The gay petitioners sought to force the state to give equal recognition to common law marriages of heterosexual couples to those of gay marriages, which can be performed in certain countries.”

 

Another reason to have pride in Israel!!! (Now if only there were leagal marriages in American that Israel could recognize…)

Remembering Rabin z"l

Israel

Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of Prime Minister Rabin’s assassination at the hands of Yigal Amir. 11 years since an act of extreme hatred and murder that change the course of the history of Israel and her relationship with herself and her neighbors. A great warrior had turned peace maker and a murderer stopped his life. My heart still cries with sadness, with pain, with shock. Part of me still can’t believe that it happened. I wonder where things would be today had he not been assassinated?

With sadness…

Some websites on the anniversary:

YNet on the Tel Aviv memorial

Israeli Government site on the memorial (note, the site says that 11/2 was the anniversary – that is the anniversary date on the Jewish calendar, 11/4 on the secular calendar)

Knesset Memorial Website (also available in Hebrew and Arabic)

Rabin Center for Israel Studies

Site on the grieving country and world, including information from the funeral, children’s drawings and more.

Author David Grossman’s powerful words at the memorial (David Grossman’s son was killed in the Hizballah war this summer.)