Congratulations to the 600 new olim who made aliyah to Israel today from France. I posted on my website articles and pictures of this exciting, historic event.
The address is:http://www.jr.co.il/pictures/israel/history/france-aliyah.htm
If you do not see July 25, 2007 on the top of the page, hold down the control key on your keyboard and press the F5 key. This should refresh your browser with the newest page.
May the aliyah from France (and the rest of the world) grow and bring more Jews back to their homeland, Eretz Yisrael.
Showing posts with label Aliyah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aliyah. Show all posts
July 27, 2007
Congratulations to the 600 new olim from France
From Jacob Richman, received by email:
April 10, 2007
Passover Reflections 2007
[Received by email]
PASSSOVER REFLECTIONS 2007 by Yoram Ettinger
(Based on writings by Jewish sages)
1. PHARAOH fathered the first attempt of “The Final Solution” – extermination of Jews - succeeded by Haman of Iran, Hitler and currently by Ahminajad.
2. MEMORY/ROOTS, EDUCATION, FAITH, DEFIANCE OF ODDS and LIBERTY are the intertwined fundamentals of Passover. The first three constitute prerequisites for the latter. The Hebrew word for “memory” is ZIKARON, which is composed of two Hebrew words:ZAKH (pure) and RON (hymn). The Hebrew word for “education” is KHINOUKH, whose root is “to inaugurate.” The Hebrew word for “faith” is EMUNAH, whose root is AMEN. The Hebrew word for “liberty” is KHERUT, spelled identically to the word KHARUT, “carved.” In other words, liberty is a G-d given eternal right, carved in stone, independent of human rulers, nurtured by education, never to be taken for granted. A nation which commemorates enslavement and deliverance of 3,600 years ago is destined for a glorious future, while a nation which turns its back on history dooms its future.
3. DAVID BEN-GURION, first Prime Minister of Israel (UN Commission, 1947) highlighted Passover’s focus on the LAND OF ISRAEL and MEMORY: “300 years ago, the Mayflower launched its historical voyage. How many remember the data of the voyage, how many passengers were on the Mayflower and what kind of bread did they consume? However, 3,300 years earlier, the Exodus from Egypt took place. Every Jew knows the date of the Exodus – 15th of the month of Nissan – and the kind of bread – Matza, leaven bread – consumed. Until today, Jews all over the world, tell the story of the Exodus and eat Matza on the 15th of Nissan. They conclude the story of the Exodus [HAGADAH] with the statement: This year we’re slaves, but next year we shall be liberated; this year we’re here, but next year in Jerusalem.” As documented by the chronicles of Passover, the Exodus set the Jewish Nation on the Road Map to a specific site (and not just to liberation), the Land of Israel.
4. PASSOVER = ROLE MODEL OF NATIONAL LIBERATION. Passover – just like monotheism, the Sabbath, Ten Commandments, repentance/Yom Kippur – constitutes a Jewish gift to humanity. Passover has been a global inspiration to LIBERTY and to national liberation (Let My People Go), 600-700 ahead of Greek philosophers, some of whom caused confusion between Liberty with permissiveness. Jews have been targeted by enemies of LIBERTY (from Pharaoh, Nazism, Communism to Arab/Islamic terrorism and Ahminajad), because Jews have been rightly perceived as the originators of LIBERTY.
5. PASSOVER & THE FOUNDATION OF THE UNITES STATES. The Exodus inspired the Puritans, the Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers, who considered themselves "the modern day Israelites", King George III "the modern day Pharaoh", the Atlantic "the modern day Red Sea" and America "the modern day Promised Land". Jefferson, Adams and Franklin considered a proposal for the great seal featuring The Exodus with the inscription: "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to G-D." The term FEDERALISM is based on “Foedus”, the Latin word for “The Covenant.” The puritans and the Founding Fathers considered themselves to be “the Modern Day People of the Covenant.” John Locke, Roger Williams, Thomas Paine and Simon Howard considered the Laws of Moses and the structure of the 12 Tribes, sustaining semi-independence, governed by Moses, Aharon, Joshua and the 70 person Legislature, a model for the American political system in general and for “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness” in particular.
6. MOSES, the hero of Passover, has become a role model of leadership and national liberation. The Mosaic legacy has greatly impacted US democracy, hence his marble replica at the House Chamber on Capitol Hill, at the Rayburn House Office
Building's subway station and at the Supreme Court (holding the Ten Commandments). Moses’ name is mentioned only once in the Passover HAGADAH, as a servant of G-d, a testimony to Moses' humility (his grave site is purposely unknown). The only compliment accorded to Moses in the Torah is "the humblest of all human beings".
7. PASSOVER = WAR OF CIVILIZATIONS. Moses’ victory over Pharaoh reflected the victory of HUMILITY over hubris, Truth over lies, CONVICTION/MORALITY over convenience/immorality, SOLIDARITY/COMPASSION over selfishness/cynicism, CONTRIBUTION over abuse, REALISM over wishful-thinking, CONSTITUENT over ruler and LIBERTY OVER TYRANNY. The term Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) referred to the sacrificial lamb, which spared the Jews the 10th plague (death of the elder son), by Passing-Over their homes. Judaism introduced the immorality of human sacrifices. The Hebrew words for Sacrifice are KORBAN (to get closer), OLA (to elevate), MINCHA (to be guided, to relax) and SHLAMIM (wholesomeness).
8. THE EXODUS is mentioned 50 times in the Torah, equal to the 50 years of Jubilee, another historical pivot of LIBERTY ("Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof”, Leviticus, 25, 10, inscribed on the LIBERTY BELL). 50 days following the Exodus, Moses received the Torah, which includes – according to Jewish tradition – 50 Gates of Wisdom. The commemoration of the Exodus (Passover) is one of the 613 Jewish/Mosaic laws. Passover features a few times in each daily prayer, during the welcoming of the Sabbath, during the blessing over wine, on holidays, upon circumcision of sons, at the door step (Mezuzah) of Jewish homes, etc. According to Henry George, a top 19th century economist, who opposed taxation but on land, a student of the Torah and the author of “Moses, The Law Giver”, the Jubilee was Moses’ way of combating monopoly.
9. THE FIRST JEWISH HOLIDAY. Passover has four names: Holiday of Pesach (the sacrifice), Holiday of Liberty, Holiday of Matza and Holiday of Spring. It is the FIRST Jewish holiday, according to the Jewish calendar, which starts in the spring (AVIV in Hebrew, which consists of two words: Father of 12 months), the first stage of natural and national blossoming. Passover – which commemorates the CREATION of the Jewish nation through the 13th century BC Exodus - lasts for 7 days, just like the CREATION of the universe. Passover is the FIRST Jewish pilgrimage and the basis for the other two annual pilgrimages. Thus, the first stop of the Exodus was at Soukkota (Soukkot/Tabernacles is the 3rd pilgrimage), and Passover is the prelude to the receipt of the Torah/Ten Commandments (Shavouot/Pentecost the 2nd pilgrimage).
10. HAGADAH. Passover is launched with the reading of the Hagadah, which documents Jewish history. The Hagadah (based on the Hebrew verb "to tell") instructs parents to tell their children the story of The Exodus and its implications, thus enhancing MEMORY, a prerequisite to LIBERTY.
11. PASSOVER = OPTIMISM. Passover is celebrated on the 15th day (full moon) of the Jewish month of Nissan, the month of miracles (Nissim in Hebrew – Exodus, Parting of the Sea, manna, Jacob battling the Angel, Abraham victory over the 4 kings, etc.). Nissan (“bud” in Babylon) launches the spring season, a symbol of optimism, freedom and growth, which follows the relatively somber winter Winter is compared to a strait, which restrains the flow of water, but once the strait is over, the water bursts forward in a much more powerful manner (Egypt is MITZRAYIM in Hebrew, a derivative of METZAR, strait in Hebrew). The term spring is mentioned 3 times in the Torah, all in reference to The Exodus.
12. THE TEN PLAGUES aimed at destroying Egyptian spirit, by exposing the vulnerability of their idols. Thus, the plague of blood targeted the idol of the Nile River, the plague of frogs shattered the myth of the idol of fertility (which had a head of a frog), the plague of darkness obliterated the idol of the sun, the plague of the elder sons crashed the supreme idol – the king (son of god), etc.
13. PASSOVER = VICTORY OF JEWISH DEMOGRAPHY. According to Jewish tradition, Jacob arrived to Egypt with 70 Jews and Moses launched the Exodus with 600,000 Jews (some suggest 600,000 adults or 600,000 males) – quite a demographic momentum. The Exodus was the first case of a massive Jewish Aliya (immigration) to Israel. A Jewish Demographic Momentum has currently been in motion between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. While Herzl launched the Zionist voyage with an 8% Jewish minority west of the Jordan River in 1900, and Ben-Gurion celebrated the 1947 UN vote with a 33% minority, today’s Jewish State is endowed with a 67% majority over 98.7% of the land west of the River (without Gaza). Arab fertility rate has declined systematically in addition to annual net Arab emigration, while Jewish fertility rate creeps upward, bolstered by annual immigration (Aliya) since 1882.
PASSSOVER REFLECTIONS 2007 by Yoram Ettinger
(Based on writings by Jewish sages)
1. PHARAOH fathered the first attempt of “The Final Solution” – extermination of Jews - succeeded by Haman of Iran, Hitler and currently by Ahminajad.
2. MEMORY/ROOTS, EDUCATION, FAITH, DEFIANCE OF ODDS and LIBERTY are the intertwined fundamentals of Passover. The first three constitute prerequisites for the latter. The Hebrew word for “memory” is ZIKARON, which is composed of two Hebrew words:ZAKH (pure) and RON (hymn). The Hebrew word for “education” is KHINOUKH, whose root is “to inaugurate.” The Hebrew word for “faith” is EMUNAH, whose root is AMEN. The Hebrew word for “liberty” is KHERUT, spelled identically to the word KHARUT, “carved.” In other words, liberty is a G-d given eternal right, carved in stone, independent of human rulers, nurtured by education, never to be taken for granted. A nation which commemorates enslavement and deliverance of 3,600 years ago is destined for a glorious future, while a nation which turns its back on history dooms its future.
3. DAVID BEN-GURION, first Prime Minister of Israel (UN Commission, 1947) highlighted Passover’s focus on the LAND OF ISRAEL and MEMORY: “300 years ago, the Mayflower launched its historical voyage. How many remember the data of the voyage, how many passengers were on the Mayflower and what kind of bread did they consume? However, 3,300 years earlier, the Exodus from Egypt took place. Every Jew knows the date of the Exodus – 15th of the month of Nissan – and the kind of bread – Matza, leaven bread – consumed. Until today, Jews all over the world, tell the story of the Exodus and eat Matza on the 15th of Nissan. They conclude the story of the Exodus [HAGADAH] with the statement: This year we’re slaves, but next year we shall be liberated; this year we’re here, but next year in Jerusalem.” As documented by the chronicles of Passover, the Exodus set the Jewish Nation on the Road Map to a specific site (and not just to liberation), the Land of Israel.
4. PASSOVER = ROLE MODEL OF NATIONAL LIBERATION. Passover – just like monotheism, the Sabbath, Ten Commandments, repentance/Yom Kippur – constitutes a Jewish gift to humanity. Passover has been a global inspiration to LIBERTY and to national liberation (Let My People Go), 600-700 ahead of Greek philosophers, some of whom caused confusion between Liberty with permissiveness. Jews have been targeted by enemies of LIBERTY (from Pharaoh, Nazism, Communism to Arab/Islamic terrorism and Ahminajad), because Jews have been rightly perceived as the originators of LIBERTY.
5. PASSOVER & THE FOUNDATION OF THE UNITES STATES. The Exodus inspired the Puritans, the Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers, who considered themselves "the modern day Israelites", King George III "the modern day Pharaoh", the Atlantic "the modern day Red Sea" and America "the modern day Promised Land". Jefferson, Adams and Franklin considered a proposal for the great seal featuring The Exodus with the inscription: "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to G-D." The term FEDERALISM is based on “Foedus”, the Latin word for “The Covenant.” The puritans and the Founding Fathers considered themselves to be “the Modern Day People of the Covenant.” John Locke, Roger Williams, Thomas Paine and Simon Howard considered the Laws of Moses and the structure of the 12 Tribes, sustaining semi-independence, governed by Moses, Aharon, Joshua and the 70 person Legislature, a model for the American political system in general and for “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness” in particular.
6. MOSES, the hero of Passover, has become a role model of leadership and national liberation. The Mosaic legacy has greatly impacted US democracy, hence his marble replica at the House Chamber on Capitol Hill, at the Rayburn House Office
Building's subway station and at the Supreme Court (holding the Ten Commandments). Moses’ name is mentioned only once in the Passover HAGADAH, as a servant of G-d, a testimony to Moses' humility (his grave site is purposely unknown). The only compliment accorded to Moses in the Torah is "the humblest of all human beings".
7. PASSOVER = WAR OF CIVILIZATIONS. Moses’ victory over Pharaoh reflected the victory of HUMILITY over hubris, Truth over lies, CONVICTION/MORALITY over convenience/immorality, SOLIDARITY/COMPASSION over selfishness/cynicism, CONTRIBUTION over abuse, REALISM over wishful-thinking, CONSTITUENT over ruler and LIBERTY OVER TYRANNY. The term Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) referred to the sacrificial lamb, which spared the Jews the 10th plague (death of the elder son), by Passing-Over their homes. Judaism introduced the immorality of human sacrifices. The Hebrew words for Sacrifice are KORBAN (to get closer), OLA (to elevate), MINCHA (to be guided, to relax) and SHLAMIM (wholesomeness).
8. THE EXODUS is mentioned 50 times in the Torah, equal to the 50 years of Jubilee, another historical pivot of LIBERTY ("Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof”, Leviticus, 25, 10, inscribed on the LIBERTY BELL). 50 days following the Exodus, Moses received the Torah, which includes – according to Jewish tradition – 50 Gates of Wisdom. The commemoration of the Exodus (Passover) is one of the 613 Jewish/Mosaic laws. Passover features a few times in each daily prayer, during the welcoming of the Sabbath, during the blessing over wine, on holidays, upon circumcision of sons, at the door step (Mezuzah) of Jewish homes, etc. According to Henry George, a top 19th century economist, who opposed taxation but on land, a student of the Torah and the author of “Moses, The Law Giver”, the Jubilee was Moses’ way of combating monopoly.
9. THE FIRST JEWISH HOLIDAY. Passover has four names: Holiday of Pesach (the sacrifice), Holiday of Liberty, Holiday of Matza and Holiday of Spring. It is the FIRST Jewish holiday, according to the Jewish calendar, which starts in the spring (AVIV in Hebrew, which consists of two words: Father of 12 months), the first stage of natural and national blossoming. Passover – which commemorates the CREATION of the Jewish nation through the 13th century BC Exodus - lasts for 7 days, just like the CREATION of the universe. Passover is the FIRST Jewish pilgrimage and the basis for the other two annual pilgrimages. Thus, the first stop of the Exodus was at Soukkota (Soukkot/Tabernacles is the 3rd pilgrimage), and Passover is the prelude to the receipt of the Torah/Ten Commandments (Shavouot/Pentecost the 2nd pilgrimage).
10. HAGADAH. Passover is launched with the reading of the Hagadah, which documents Jewish history. The Hagadah (based on the Hebrew verb "to tell") instructs parents to tell their children the story of The Exodus and its implications, thus enhancing MEMORY, a prerequisite to LIBERTY.
11. PASSOVER = OPTIMISM. Passover is celebrated on the 15th day (full moon) of the Jewish month of Nissan, the month of miracles (Nissim in Hebrew – Exodus, Parting of the Sea, manna, Jacob battling the Angel, Abraham victory over the 4 kings, etc.). Nissan (“bud” in Babylon) launches the spring season, a symbol of optimism, freedom and growth, which follows the relatively somber winter Winter is compared to a strait, which restrains the flow of water, but once the strait is over, the water bursts forward in a much more powerful manner (Egypt is MITZRAYIM in Hebrew, a derivative of METZAR, strait in Hebrew). The term spring is mentioned 3 times in the Torah, all in reference to The Exodus.
12. THE TEN PLAGUES aimed at destroying Egyptian spirit, by exposing the vulnerability of their idols. Thus, the plague of blood targeted the idol of the Nile River, the plague of frogs shattered the myth of the idol of fertility (which had a head of a frog), the plague of darkness obliterated the idol of the sun, the plague of the elder sons crashed the supreme idol – the king (son of god), etc.
13. PASSOVER = VICTORY OF JEWISH DEMOGRAPHY. According to Jewish tradition, Jacob arrived to Egypt with 70 Jews and Moses launched the Exodus with 600,000 Jews (some suggest 600,000 adults or 600,000 males) – quite a demographic momentum. The Exodus was the first case of a massive Jewish Aliya (immigration) to Israel. A Jewish Demographic Momentum has currently been in motion between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. While Herzl launched the Zionist voyage with an 8% Jewish minority west of the Jordan River in 1900, and Ben-Gurion celebrated the 1947 UN vote with a 33% minority, today’s Jewish State is endowed with a 67% majority over 98.7% of the land west of the River (without Gaza). Arab fertility rate has declined systematically in addition to annual net Arab emigration, while Jewish fertility rate creeps upward, bolstered by annual immigration (Aliya) since 1882.
December 29, 2006
September 24, 2006
Interactive: The "Support Israel" Flag
The "Support Israel" Flag is a special way to show your support to Israel during this difficult time.
The flag is constructed of logos of the many organizations that support Israel through Hasbara, Donations, Aliya, Education etc.
By clicking on the organizations' logos you can take a look at the websites, learn about their activities and choose your preferred ways to help Israel.
Click here to Support Israel.
The flag is constructed of logos of the many organizations that support Israel through Hasbara, Donations, Aliya, Education etc.
By clicking on the organizations' logos you can take a look at the websites, learn about their activities and choose your preferred ways to help Israel.
Click here to Support Israel.
December 06, 2004
Aliya from former Soviet Union Declines
Preliminary figures for 2004 show aliya from the former Soviet Union at 10,000. By comparison, immigration to Germany of Jews and their eligible relatives from the former Soviet Union has risen to 20,000. Germany offers absorption packages to eligible immigrants that are considerably more lucrative than those provided by Israel, and the German Jewish community is the fastest growing in the world, officials say.
September 19, 2004
Retrospect: The year in review
Compiled by The Jerusalem Post Staff
Tishrei
October 5, 2003
A female suicide bomber kills 21 at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa.
October 10, 2003
Cafe' Hillel on Rehov Emek Refaim in Jerusalem reopens one month after being destroyed by a suicide bombing, in which seven patrons and workers had been killed and over 50 wounded.
October 16, 2003
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad tells leaders of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference that "Jews rule the world by proxy" in an anti-Semitic tirade.
October 16, 2003
Three American guards are killed in a terrorist bombing of a US Embassy convoy in the Gaza Strip.
Heshvan
November 2, 2003
A European Commission survey of approximately 7,500 Europeans reports that a majority of Europeans say Israel is the greatest threat to world peace.
November 10, 2003
On the 65th anniversary of Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass), Jews lay the cornerstone of a new synagogue and Jewish center in Munich.
November 11, 2003
Over NIS 1 billion worth of class-action and individual lawsuits are filed against Israeli baby formula importer and manufacturer Remedia and German manufacturer Humana and others involved in the deaths and hospitalizations of infants in Israel and abroad, when the nondairy formula is shown to completely lack the essential vitamin B1 (thiamine).
November 12, 2003
The High Court of Justice unanimously upholds Israeli Arab director Muhammad Bakri's petition against a decision by the Israeli Film Board to ban his controversial documentary Jenin, Jenin.
November 16, 2003
Car bombs explode outside two Istanbul synagogues during Shabbat prayers, killing 23 and wounding hundreds. Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
November 18, 2003
Conrad Black resigns as chief executive officer of Hollinger International, the parent company of The Jerusalem Post, The Daily Telegraph and The Chicago Sun-Times, among others, following a two-year battle with share-holders after an internal investigation found irregularities in company reports of approximately $32 million paid to executives.
November 19, 2003
A Jordanian truck driver opens fire on group of Ecuadoran tourists at the Arava border crossing, killing one tourist and wounding others.
November 20, 2003
Birthright israel cofounder Michael Steinhardt pledges $10m. for a new North American Jewish education project to focus on future generations' Jewish identity formation.
November 24, 2003
The Greek government announces that Greece will establish a national day of remembrance for Greek Jews who perished during the Holocaust.
Kislev
December 9, 2003
The un votes to request that the International Court of Justice in the Hague render an advisory opinion on the security fence.
December 12, 2003
A Tel Aviv underworld bombing aimed at kingpin Ze'ev Rosenstein causes three deaths and leaves many wounded.
December 15, 2003
US forces capture Saddam Hussein in an underground hideout, ending one of the world's greatest manhunts.
December 19, 2003
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announces that if the Palestinian Authority does not meet its commitments under the road map, Israel will be forced to take unilateral security steps in the form of a disengagement plan, including removal of settlements.
December 22, 2003
Thirteen IDF reservists serving in the elite General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal) announce their refusal to serve in the territories.
December 23, 2003
Four Israelis and a Briton kidnapped by Colombian rebels are released after a three-month ordeal.
December 24, 2003
Siblings Shoshana November, 73, and her brother Binyamin Shilon, 78, are reunited after more than 60 years, during which time each believed the other had died in the Holocaust.
Tevet
December 26, 2003
A suicide bomber kills four at a bus stop in Bnei Brak.
January 8, 2004
Israeli architect Michael Arad's "Reflecting Absence" design is chosen from some 5,000 entries to memorialize the victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.
January 12, 2004
More than 100,000 pro-settlement activists turn out for a demonstration in Tel Aviv to protest Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's promises to uproot settlements and uilaterally withdraw from the territories.
January 13, 2004
The US State Department releases new documents indicating that the Israeli Air Force did not know it was striking an American vessel when it attacked the USS Liberty off the coast of the Gaza Strip on June 8, 1967, killing 34 American sailors.
January 14, 2004
British International Solidarity Movement activist Tom Hurndall dies after being in a deep coma since he was shot in Rafah in April 2003. His family demands that the IDF soldier who shot him be charged with murder, not manslaughter.
January 14, 2004
Ro'i Arbel, a 29-year-old father of five, is murdered when terrorists shoot at his vehicle in Samaria.
January 15, 2004
A female suicide bomber blows herself up inside the Erez crossing terminal between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing four Israelis.
January 18, 2004
Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, sparks a diplomatic incident when he wrecks a museum display that he said glorified the female suicide bomber Hamadi Jaradat, who murdered 21 Israelis at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa.
Shvat
January 25, 2004
Israel and Hizbullah agree to swap Elhanan Tannenbaum and the remains of St.-Sgts. Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawayid for 435 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.
January 26, 2004
The Mahal memorial statue is dedicated at the Latrun Armored Corps Museum, honoring the 1.5 million Jewish veterans of World War II.
January 30, 2004
A suicide bomber blows himself up on a crowded Jerusalem bus near the prime minister's residence, killing 11 and wounding over 50.
February 2, 2004
Google, the most popular Internet search engine, inaugurates the world's first search engine with Yiddish menus and messages.
February 3, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tells the Likud faction that he intends to ask US President George W. Bush to back a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as part of the disengagement plan.
February 4, 2004
The Labor Party convention votes to extend temporary chairman Shimon Peres's tenure through December 2005.
February 5, 2004
The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and the UJA-Federation of NY release a survey claiming that poverty among Jewish New Yorkers is at an historic high, with 20% of the city's 1 million Jews classified as poor.
February 8, 2004
The charred frame of a Jerusalem city bus, destroyed by a Palestinian suicide bomber 10 days earlier, is flown to the Netherlands for the International Court of Justice hearing on the legality of the security fence.
Adar
February 23, 2004
A Palestinian suicide bomber blows himself up on a crowded Jerusalem bus, killing eight and wounding more than 60, the second bus bombing in the capital in just over three weeks.
February 25, 2004
US Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, describes Israel's construction of a security barrier as a "legitimate act of self-defense."
February 26, 2004
Amid charges of anti-Semitism and mixed reviews, The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's controversial film about the final hours of Jesus' life, opens in theaters across the US.
February 29, 2004
A young couple is gunned down by terrorists as they drive on the Hebron-Beersheba road near the Green Line. They are survived by their two-year-old daughter.
March 10, 2004
Muhammad Abbas (Abu Abbas), the head of the Palestinian group responsible for masterminding the 1985 hijacking of the Italian passenger ship Achille Lauro, in which wheelchair-bound Jewish American tourist Leon Klinghoffer was thrown overboard, dies in US custody in Iraq.
March 15, 2004
Ten Israelis are killed in a double suicide bomb attack (possibly launched as a mega-attack) at Ashdod Port, a site considered to be one of the most strategic and heavily guarded locations in the country.
March 21, 2004
A Christian Arab student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem is shot to death in the city's French Hill neighborhood by Palestinian terrorists who mistook him for a Jew while he was out jogging.
Nisan
March 23, 2004
Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, considered among the worst of Israel's enemies, is killed in an IAF missile attack in Gaza City.
March 24, 2004
A 100-year-old Londoner, Simon Clyne, comes on aliya.
April 1, 2004
A Web surfer discovers that the very first of 1.75 million entries appearing in a Google search for the word "jew" is an anti-Semitic site, sparking a cyberspace showdown and a bid to alter the situation by a group of Internet experts.
April 1, 2004
Yigal Amir, assassin of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, asks for permission to marry Larissa Trimbobler, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union and a divorced mother of four.
April 4, 2004
Michael Grades, descendant of an illustrious family of British Jewish impresarios, is appointed chairman of the BBC.
April 7, 2004
The United Talmud Torahs elementary school in St. Laurent, Montreal, is firebombed, destroying a library and computer system.
April 15, 2004
In an historic departure from US policy, President George W. Bush says Palestinian refugees should be resettled in a future Palestinian state, rather than return to Israel.
April 16, 2004
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden vows to avenge the killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by striking against the US.
April 18, 2004
Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi is killed along with his son and bodyguard when Israeli missiles slam into his car in Gaza City.
April 18, 2004
According to a report published in New Zealand, two Israelis arrested on suspicion of trying to obtain forged passports allegedly work for the Mossad.
April 19, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wins a cabinet majority for his disengagement plan after Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Limor Livnat and Minister-without-Portfolio Meir Sheetrit decide to back it.
April 21, 2004
Mordechai Vanunu, the Dimona nuclear reactor technician who leaked Israel's nuclear secrets, leaves prison after serving his 18-year sentence.
Iyar
April 28, 2004
More than 70,000 people flock to a massive rally in Gush Katif, condemning Prime Minister Sharon's plan to evacuate the Gaza Strip.
May 3, 2004
Promising to fight for coexistence and mutual respect throughout the world, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lays the cornerstone of Jerusalem's Museum of Tolerance and pays tribute to the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.
May 3, 2004
A pregnant mother and her four daughters are shot dead by terrorists on the Kissufim road in the Gaza Strip.
May 4, 2004
US Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry pledges, if elected, to be an "honest broker" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, promising to remain engaged in negotiations regardless of the future of the Gaza withdrawal plan.
May 5, 2004
Representatives of the Middle East Quartet (US Secretary of State Colin Powell, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowan for the EU) praise Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan of unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip, calling it a "rare moment of opportunity in the search for peace in the Middle East."
May 13, 2004
Eleven soldiers are killed in two days in Gaza mine attacks. Hamas and Islamic Jihad both claim responsibility and announce they are holding body parts of the dead soldiers, spurring debate on risking more soldiers' lives vs. recovering remains of comrades at all costs.
May 13, 2004
The execution of 26-year-old Nicholas Berg, an American Jew whose decapitation by al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq was videotaped and then posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site, sends shock waves throughout the US.
May 16, 2004
More than 150,000 Israelis demand withdrawal from Gaza in a demonstration in Tel Aviv's Kikar Rabin, in a rally considered to be the first revival of Israel's center-Left movement since the eruption of the intifada.
May 17, 2004
The cabinet unanimously approves the findings of the Dovrat Committee for reforming the education system, whose recommendations include a five-day school week.
May 19, 2004
Jordan's King Abdullah II calls on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to step down in the interests of his people.
Sivan
June 9, 2004
The White City, a collection of some 4,000 buildings in the Bauhaus style in the heart of Tel Aviv, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
June 9, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon loses his majority in the Knesset when two ministers from the National Religious Party resign from the government to protest the cabinet's decision to evacuate the Gaza Strip.
June 14, 2004
Senior government officials announce that settlers evacuated from the Gaza Strip can, as complete communities, build new settlements in the western Negev near the Gaza Strip.
June 15, 2004
In a unanimous decision, the High Court of Justice instructs local governments to allow the sale of pork in neighborhoods where the overwhelming majority of the population wants to purchase it or does not mind it being sold.
June 16, 2004
Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz decides to close the Greek Island file against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his son Gilad.
Tamuz
June 20, 2004
Britain awards an honorary knighthood to 95-year-old Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal in recognition of a "lifetime of service to humanity."
June 23, 2004
Thousands gather at the grave of Lubavitcher rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson in observance of the 10th anniversary of his death.
July 1, 2004
The High Court of Justice cancels a land seizure order issued by the IDF applying to 30 of 40 kilometers of the separation fence route west of Jerusalem because of the "disproportionate harm" it would cause the 35,000 Palestinians living in the area.
July 5, 2004
A 49-year-old Mevo Dotan resident is killed after a Palestinian terrorist opens fire on his car not far from his West Bank home.
July 8, 2004
Shock waves run through the Shinui Party as leader Yosef Lapid asks Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to fire the party's Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky, after revelations that Paritzky had tried to frame political rival and fellow Shinui member Interior Minister Avraham Poraz.
July 9, 2004
President Moshe Katsav calls Theodor Herzl "one of the giants of the Jewish nation," as the centenary of the Zionist visionary's death is marked.
July 9, 2004
The International Court of Justice in The Hague rules in a 14-1 advisory opinion that Israel's security fence is illegal and should be dismantled.
July 12, 2004
After seven months of quiet in Tel Aviv, a bomb hidden behind a bus stop explodes, killing a woman soldier and wounding over 30.
July 14, 2004
Cameron Kerry, the Jewish brother of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, arrives in Israel for a visit.
July 14, 2004
The Defense Ministry decides to redraw the route of the security fence,moving it closer to the pre-1967 border, based on principles established by the High Court of Justice stating that the rights of Palestinians living alongside the fence must be balanced with Israel's security needs.
July 15, 2004
More than 400 new immigrants from North America arrive in a single flight to Ben-Gurion Airport.
July 15, 2004
The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court clears Gilad Sharon, the son of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, of contempt of court charges, saying that he had fulfilled a court order to hand over to the National Fraud Squad all documents in his possession related to the Cyril Kern affair.
July 18, 2004
Jewish graves are vandalized at a cemetery in Wellington, New Zealand, soon after two Israelis were sentenced by an Auckland court after admitting to trying to falsely obtain New Zealand passports.
Av
July 19, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon calls on France's 600,000 Jews to immigrate to Israel "immediately," prompting the French Foreign Ministry to issue a response calling his comments "unacceptable."
July 26, 2004
A human protest chain, the first of its kind in Israel and the third largest in history, stretches 90 km. to Jerusalem as an estimated 150,000 people link hands to protest the disengagement plan.
July 30, 2004
Over a dozen years after the project was launched, the Arrow-2 missile, designed and built by Israel, successfully shoots down a Scud missile in a test launch over California.
July 30, 2004
Suicide bombings in front of the Israeli and US embassies in Tashkent kill three people in Uzbekistan.
August 8, 2004
Two Palestinian Authority ministers resign from the PA cabinet, citing the continued state of chaos and lawlessness in the Palestinian Authority and their frustration over the PA's failure to implement reforms.
August 10, 2004
A group of 50 Jewish university students from Israel, the US, and Poland are verbally attacked by French tourists while on a tour of the Auschwitz museum in Poland.
August 11, 2004
Tali Fahima, a 28-year-old Israeli Jew, is arrested for allegedly aiding Palestinian terror organizations in planning terror attacks in Israel.
August 15, 2004
A 50-year-old Israeli father of seven, head of security in Itamar in the West Bank, is shot to death by a member of the Palestinian West Bank security service.
August 15, 2004
New Jersey Governor James McGreevey resigns after a scandal involving a gay affair, allegedly with an Israeli former adviser.
Elul
August 18, 2004
A secluded, alternative prayer area at the Western Wall in Jerusalem is officially inaugurated for women's and mixed prayer services.
August 19, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffers a defeat at the Likud convention on his plan to bring the Labor Party into the government.
August 20, 2004
Israeli judoka Arik Ze'evi wins an Olympic bronze medal in Athens, bringing Israel its fifth Olympic medal ever and its third in judo.
August 20, 2004
The government of Poland announces its plan to establish a museum at the Treblinka death camp in coordination with Yad Vashem. It is slated to open in two years.
August 22, 2004
The US Justice Department unseals an indictment of Hamas leader Mousa Muhammad Abu Marzuk, living in Syria, together with two men living in the US, all accused of financing Hamas's activities in Israel and helping to recruit new members.
August 23, 2004
The administrative body established to oversee compensation to settlers as part of the Gaza disengagement plan formally opens for business.
August 23, 2004
Arson is suspected after a Jewish center is torched in Paris.
August 25, 2004
Mistral windsurfer Gal Fridman wins Israel's first gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens.
September 1, 2004
Sixteen are killed and more than 100 wounded in the first major terrorist attack in six months, as Palestinian suicide bombers set off near-simultaneous explosions on two buses in Beersheba.
Jerusalem Post
Tishrei
October 5, 2003
A female suicide bomber kills 21 at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa.
October 10, 2003
Cafe' Hillel on Rehov Emek Refaim in Jerusalem reopens one month after being destroyed by a suicide bombing, in which seven patrons and workers had been killed and over 50 wounded.
October 16, 2003
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad tells leaders of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference that "Jews rule the world by proxy" in an anti-Semitic tirade.
October 16, 2003
Three American guards are killed in a terrorist bombing of a US Embassy convoy in the Gaza Strip.
Heshvan
November 2, 2003
A European Commission survey of approximately 7,500 Europeans reports that a majority of Europeans say Israel is the greatest threat to world peace.
November 10, 2003
On the 65th anniversary of Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass), Jews lay the cornerstone of a new synagogue and Jewish center in Munich.
November 11, 2003
Over NIS 1 billion worth of class-action and individual lawsuits are filed against Israeli baby formula importer and manufacturer Remedia and German manufacturer Humana and others involved in the deaths and hospitalizations of infants in Israel and abroad, when the nondairy formula is shown to completely lack the essential vitamin B1 (thiamine).
November 12, 2003
The High Court of Justice unanimously upholds Israeli Arab director Muhammad Bakri's petition against a decision by the Israeli Film Board to ban his controversial documentary Jenin, Jenin.
November 16, 2003
Car bombs explode outside two Istanbul synagogues during Shabbat prayers, killing 23 and wounding hundreds. Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
November 18, 2003
Conrad Black resigns as chief executive officer of Hollinger International, the parent company of The Jerusalem Post, The Daily Telegraph and The Chicago Sun-Times, among others, following a two-year battle with share-holders after an internal investigation found irregularities in company reports of approximately $32 million paid to executives.
November 19, 2003
A Jordanian truck driver opens fire on group of Ecuadoran tourists at the Arava border crossing, killing one tourist and wounding others.
November 20, 2003
Birthright israel cofounder Michael Steinhardt pledges $10m. for a new North American Jewish education project to focus on future generations' Jewish identity formation.
November 24, 2003
The Greek government announces that Greece will establish a national day of remembrance for Greek Jews who perished during the Holocaust.
Kislev
December 9, 2003
The un votes to request that the International Court of Justice in the Hague render an advisory opinion on the security fence.
December 12, 2003
A Tel Aviv underworld bombing aimed at kingpin Ze'ev Rosenstein causes three deaths and leaves many wounded.
December 15, 2003
US forces capture Saddam Hussein in an underground hideout, ending one of the world's greatest manhunts.
December 19, 2003
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announces that if the Palestinian Authority does not meet its commitments under the road map, Israel will be forced to take unilateral security steps in the form of a disengagement plan, including removal of settlements.
December 22, 2003
Thirteen IDF reservists serving in the elite General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal) announce their refusal to serve in the territories.
December 23, 2003
Four Israelis and a Briton kidnapped by Colombian rebels are released after a three-month ordeal.
December 24, 2003
Siblings Shoshana November, 73, and her brother Binyamin Shilon, 78, are reunited after more than 60 years, during which time each believed the other had died in the Holocaust.
Tevet
December 26, 2003
A suicide bomber kills four at a bus stop in Bnei Brak.
January 8, 2004
Israeli architect Michael Arad's "Reflecting Absence" design is chosen from some 5,000 entries to memorialize the victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.
January 12, 2004
More than 100,000 pro-settlement activists turn out for a demonstration in Tel Aviv to protest Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's promises to uproot settlements and uilaterally withdraw from the territories.
January 13, 2004
The US State Department releases new documents indicating that the Israeli Air Force did not know it was striking an American vessel when it attacked the USS Liberty off the coast of the Gaza Strip on June 8, 1967, killing 34 American sailors.
January 14, 2004
British International Solidarity Movement activist Tom Hurndall dies after being in a deep coma since he was shot in Rafah in April 2003. His family demands that the IDF soldier who shot him be charged with murder, not manslaughter.
January 14, 2004
Ro'i Arbel, a 29-year-old father of five, is murdered when terrorists shoot at his vehicle in Samaria.
January 15, 2004
A female suicide bomber blows herself up inside the Erez crossing terminal between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing four Israelis.
January 18, 2004
Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, sparks a diplomatic incident when he wrecks a museum display that he said glorified the female suicide bomber Hamadi Jaradat, who murdered 21 Israelis at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa.
Shvat
January 25, 2004
Israel and Hizbullah agree to swap Elhanan Tannenbaum and the remains of St.-Sgts. Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawayid for 435 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.
January 26, 2004
The Mahal memorial statue is dedicated at the Latrun Armored Corps Museum, honoring the 1.5 million Jewish veterans of World War II.
January 30, 2004
A suicide bomber blows himself up on a crowded Jerusalem bus near the prime minister's residence, killing 11 and wounding over 50.
February 2, 2004
Google, the most popular Internet search engine, inaugurates the world's first search engine with Yiddish menus and messages.
February 3, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tells the Likud faction that he intends to ask US President George W. Bush to back a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as part of the disengagement plan.
February 4, 2004
The Labor Party convention votes to extend temporary chairman Shimon Peres's tenure through December 2005.
February 5, 2004
The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and the UJA-Federation of NY release a survey claiming that poverty among Jewish New Yorkers is at an historic high, with 20% of the city's 1 million Jews classified as poor.
February 8, 2004
The charred frame of a Jerusalem city bus, destroyed by a Palestinian suicide bomber 10 days earlier, is flown to the Netherlands for the International Court of Justice hearing on the legality of the security fence.
Adar
February 23, 2004
A Palestinian suicide bomber blows himself up on a crowded Jerusalem bus, killing eight and wounding more than 60, the second bus bombing in the capital in just over three weeks.
February 25, 2004
US Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, describes Israel's construction of a security barrier as a "legitimate act of self-defense."
February 26, 2004
Amid charges of anti-Semitism and mixed reviews, The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's controversial film about the final hours of Jesus' life, opens in theaters across the US.
February 29, 2004
A young couple is gunned down by terrorists as they drive on the Hebron-Beersheba road near the Green Line. They are survived by their two-year-old daughter.
March 10, 2004
Muhammad Abbas (Abu Abbas), the head of the Palestinian group responsible for masterminding the 1985 hijacking of the Italian passenger ship Achille Lauro, in which wheelchair-bound Jewish American tourist Leon Klinghoffer was thrown overboard, dies in US custody in Iraq.
March 15, 2004
Ten Israelis are killed in a double suicide bomb attack (possibly launched as a mega-attack) at Ashdod Port, a site considered to be one of the most strategic and heavily guarded locations in the country.
March 21, 2004
A Christian Arab student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem is shot to death in the city's French Hill neighborhood by Palestinian terrorists who mistook him for a Jew while he was out jogging.
Nisan
March 23, 2004
Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, considered among the worst of Israel's enemies, is killed in an IAF missile attack in Gaza City.
March 24, 2004
A 100-year-old Londoner, Simon Clyne, comes on aliya.
April 1, 2004
A Web surfer discovers that the very first of 1.75 million entries appearing in a Google search for the word "jew" is an anti-Semitic site, sparking a cyberspace showdown and a bid to alter the situation by a group of Internet experts.
April 1, 2004
Yigal Amir, assassin of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, asks for permission to marry Larissa Trimbobler, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union and a divorced mother of four.
April 4, 2004
Michael Grades, descendant of an illustrious family of British Jewish impresarios, is appointed chairman of the BBC.
April 7, 2004
The United Talmud Torahs elementary school in St. Laurent, Montreal, is firebombed, destroying a library and computer system.
April 15, 2004
In an historic departure from US policy, President George W. Bush says Palestinian refugees should be resettled in a future Palestinian state, rather than return to Israel.
April 16, 2004
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden vows to avenge the killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by striking against the US.
April 18, 2004
Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi is killed along with his son and bodyguard when Israeli missiles slam into his car in Gaza City.
April 18, 2004
According to a report published in New Zealand, two Israelis arrested on suspicion of trying to obtain forged passports allegedly work for the Mossad.
April 19, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wins a cabinet majority for his disengagement plan after Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Limor Livnat and Minister-without-Portfolio Meir Sheetrit decide to back it.
April 21, 2004
Mordechai Vanunu, the Dimona nuclear reactor technician who leaked Israel's nuclear secrets, leaves prison after serving his 18-year sentence.
Iyar
April 28, 2004
More than 70,000 people flock to a massive rally in Gush Katif, condemning Prime Minister Sharon's plan to evacuate the Gaza Strip.
May 3, 2004
Promising to fight for coexistence and mutual respect throughout the world, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lays the cornerstone of Jerusalem's Museum of Tolerance and pays tribute to the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.
May 3, 2004
A pregnant mother and her four daughters are shot dead by terrorists on the Kissufim road in the Gaza Strip.
May 4, 2004
US Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry pledges, if elected, to be an "honest broker" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, promising to remain engaged in negotiations regardless of the future of the Gaza withdrawal plan.
May 5, 2004
Representatives of the Middle East Quartet (US Secretary of State Colin Powell, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowan for the EU) praise Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan of unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip, calling it a "rare moment of opportunity in the search for peace in the Middle East."
May 13, 2004
Eleven soldiers are killed in two days in Gaza mine attacks. Hamas and Islamic Jihad both claim responsibility and announce they are holding body parts of the dead soldiers, spurring debate on risking more soldiers' lives vs. recovering remains of comrades at all costs.
May 13, 2004
The execution of 26-year-old Nicholas Berg, an American Jew whose decapitation by al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq was videotaped and then posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site, sends shock waves throughout the US.
May 16, 2004
More than 150,000 Israelis demand withdrawal from Gaza in a demonstration in Tel Aviv's Kikar Rabin, in a rally considered to be the first revival of Israel's center-Left movement since the eruption of the intifada.
May 17, 2004
The cabinet unanimously approves the findings of the Dovrat Committee for reforming the education system, whose recommendations include a five-day school week.
May 19, 2004
Jordan's King Abdullah II calls on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to step down in the interests of his people.
Sivan
June 9, 2004
The White City, a collection of some 4,000 buildings in the Bauhaus style in the heart of Tel Aviv, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
June 9, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon loses his majority in the Knesset when two ministers from the National Religious Party resign from the government to protest the cabinet's decision to evacuate the Gaza Strip.
June 14, 2004
Senior government officials announce that settlers evacuated from the Gaza Strip can, as complete communities, build new settlements in the western Negev near the Gaza Strip.
June 15, 2004
In a unanimous decision, the High Court of Justice instructs local governments to allow the sale of pork in neighborhoods where the overwhelming majority of the population wants to purchase it or does not mind it being sold.
June 16, 2004
Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz decides to close the Greek Island file against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his son Gilad.
Tamuz
June 20, 2004
Britain awards an honorary knighthood to 95-year-old Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal in recognition of a "lifetime of service to humanity."
June 23, 2004
Thousands gather at the grave of Lubavitcher rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson in observance of the 10th anniversary of his death.
July 1, 2004
The High Court of Justice cancels a land seizure order issued by the IDF applying to 30 of 40 kilometers of the separation fence route west of Jerusalem because of the "disproportionate harm" it would cause the 35,000 Palestinians living in the area.
July 5, 2004
A 49-year-old Mevo Dotan resident is killed after a Palestinian terrorist opens fire on his car not far from his West Bank home.
July 8, 2004
Shock waves run through the Shinui Party as leader Yosef Lapid asks Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to fire the party's Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky, after revelations that Paritzky had tried to frame political rival and fellow Shinui member Interior Minister Avraham Poraz.
July 9, 2004
President Moshe Katsav calls Theodor Herzl "one of the giants of the Jewish nation," as the centenary of the Zionist visionary's death is marked.
July 9, 2004
The International Court of Justice in The Hague rules in a 14-1 advisory opinion that Israel's security fence is illegal and should be dismantled.
July 12, 2004
After seven months of quiet in Tel Aviv, a bomb hidden behind a bus stop explodes, killing a woman soldier and wounding over 30.
July 14, 2004
Cameron Kerry, the Jewish brother of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, arrives in Israel for a visit.
July 14, 2004
The Defense Ministry decides to redraw the route of the security fence,moving it closer to the pre-1967 border, based on principles established by the High Court of Justice stating that the rights of Palestinians living alongside the fence must be balanced with Israel's security needs.
July 15, 2004
More than 400 new immigrants from North America arrive in a single flight to Ben-Gurion Airport.
July 15, 2004
The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court clears Gilad Sharon, the son of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, of contempt of court charges, saying that he had fulfilled a court order to hand over to the National Fraud Squad all documents in his possession related to the Cyril Kern affair.
July 18, 2004
Jewish graves are vandalized at a cemetery in Wellington, New Zealand, soon after two Israelis were sentenced by an Auckland court after admitting to trying to falsely obtain New Zealand passports.
Av
July 19, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon calls on France's 600,000 Jews to immigrate to Israel "immediately," prompting the French Foreign Ministry to issue a response calling his comments "unacceptable."
July 26, 2004
A human protest chain, the first of its kind in Israel and the third largest in history, stretches 90 km. to Jerusalem as an estimated 150,000 people link hands to protest the disengagement plan.
July 30, 2004
Over a dozen years after the project was launched, the Arrow-2 missile, designed and built by Israel, successfully shoots down a Scud missile in a test launch over California.
July 30, 2004
Suicide bombings in front of the Israeli and US embassies in Tashkent kill three people in Uzbekistan.
August 8, 2004
Two Palestinian Authority ministers resign from the PA cabinet, citing the continued state of chaos and lawlessness in the Palestinian Authority and their frustration over the PA's failure to implement reforms.
August 10, 2004
A group of 50 Jewish university students from Israel, the US, and Poland are verbally attacked by French tourists while on a tour of the Auschwitz museum in Poland.
August 11, 2004
Tali Fahima, a 28-year-old Israeli Jew, is arrested for allegedly aiding Palestinian terror organizations in planning terror attacks in Israel.
August 15, 2004
A 50-year-old Israeli father of seven, head of security in Itamar in the West Bank, is shot to death by a member of the Palestinian West Bank security service.
August 15, 2004
New Jersey Governor James McGreevey resigns after a scandal involving a gay affair, allegedly with an Israeli former adviser.
Elul
August 18, 2004
A secluded, alternative prayer area at the Western Wall in Jerusalem is officially inaugurated for women's and mixed prayer services.
August 19, 2004
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffers a defeat at the Likud convention on his plan to bring the Labor Party into the government.
August 20, 2004
Israeli judoka Arik Ze'evi wins an Olympic bronze medal in Athens, bringing Israel its fifth Olympic medal ever and its third in judo.
August 20, 2004
The government of Poland announces its plan to establish a museum at the Treblinka death camp in coordination with Yad Vashem. It is slated to open in two years.
August 22, 2004
The US Justice Department unseals an indictment of Hamas leader Mousa Muhammad Abu Marzuk, living in Syria, together with two men living in the US, all accused of financing Hamas's activities in Israel and helping to recruit new members.
August 23, 2004
The administrative body established to oversee compensation to settlers as part of the Gaza disengagement plan formally opens for business.
August 23, 2004
Arson is suspected after a Jewish center is torched in Paris.
August 25, 2004
Mistral windsurfer Gal Fridman wins Israel's first gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens.
September 1, 2004
Sixteen are killed and more than 100 wounded in the first major terrorist attack in six months, as Palestinian suicide bombers set off near-simultaneous explosions on two buses in Beersheba.
Jerusalem Post
February 01, 2004
Bios of Thursday's victims of the ongoing "Palestinian" genocide against the Jewish people
May the memory of those that were killed be blessed. May the wounded have a full and speedy recovery.
The death toll from the murderous attack on Jews by "Palestinians" rose to 11 this weekend following a forensic reexamination of body parts. The 11th victim of the attack was identified as Manbara Valdi Tzadik, a 35-year-old foreign worker from Ethiopia who was apparently in Israel illegally. Her severely charred remains were positively identified over the weekend
============
Chezki Goldberg, 42, social worker, guidance counselor, and columnist for the JEWISH PRESS, father of 7 children, aged 16=1, was murdered today on the 19 bus going to work. Chezki was born in Toronto, moved to NY, and made aliyah to Har Nof, and then to Beitar Illit. Chezki was an internationally known lecturer for troubled Jewish teens and a counselor for scores of couples.
============
Eli Zefira, 47, chief of maintenance at the Jerusalem High School, was loved by all of his students. The school facility operated daily due to Eli's dedication and repairs. Eli was the father of 3 children, including a 20 month old child. Eli was on his way to work and was murdered today on bus 19 in Jerusalem.
============
Chana Bonder, 38, made aliyah from Russia 12 years ago and worked at Jerusalem City Hall. Chana had just celebrated her 38th birthday on Sunday with co-workers and family. Chana was the mother of two teenagers, aged 15, and 14. Chana and her husband and children made aliya with their small children and today, she was murdered on the 19
bus in Jerusalem.
============
It is taking longer than usual to identify the burned out bodies of the bus according to tonight's police statement.
They are trying to match DNA and body parts of each victim
Baruch Rindishivili, 38, an oleh from Russia, was murdered today.
He was an award winning chef. He was 38 years old and the father of twins, aged 3 and a baby, aged 12 months. At 7 45 AM, he dropped off the twins to their gan (nursery). The twins kissed him on both cheeks and told their Abba, Baruch Chondiashviili, to bake them some cookies for Shabbat. Baruch boarded the 19 bus to go to work at the Great Synagogue where he was the chef for the caterer in the Great Synagogue.
Baruch's wife Etty, heard the news of the pending return of the IDF soldiers' bodies from Lebanon which was suddenly interrupted by the news of the pigua in Jerusalem. Etty called Baruch on his cellphone with no answer. Etty had a 'feeling' and took her 12 month old baby and ran to a cab to take her to the pigua. The Great Synagogue
office confirmed that Baruch did not show up to work. Baruch was murdered on bus 19 and Etty's cry last night at the Forensic institute was " Who will take my children to gan? Who will take them to synagogue on Friday night?"
============
Abraham Blachson, 28, made aliya from France only 5 years ago together with his wife. Abraham was learning computer science at Machon Lev and was learning in a Kollel in Geula each day. On Thursday, Abraham missed the early minyan in his community of Givat Mordechai and after catching a late minyan, Abraham, asked his wife to put away his talit as he was in a rush to catch the 19 bus to take him to his morning Kollel. Mrs.Blachson heard the news of the explosion of the bus as she was wrapping away the talit for her husband into his talit bag. Abraham Blachson was wrapped in his talit, once again, not for prayer, but for burial.
============
Dana Itach, 24, was married last summer of 2003 to her childhood sweetheart. The couple lived in Katamon, Jerusalem. Dana was on the 19 Bus to get off at the 'next' stop after the Prime Minister's home area. Dana was simple, pretty, plain, and was on her way to her doctor's office for a medical exam as she thought she was pregnant. Dana's husband, Moshe, heard the news about the bus terrorist, and phoned the doctor's office. The office had not opened due to the
terrorist explosion nearby. Dana's cellphone was ringing and ringing. Only G-d now knows whether Dana Itach, 24, was pregnant at her moment of murder by terror. Dana Itach is now a dead bride.
============
Nurit Azulay is the mother of Rafi, 24, and Nir, 20, two sons in Jerusalem. Four years ago, Rafi was injured in 2000 in Lebanon and had been admitted to Hadassah to undergo an eye surgery at Hadassah Ein Kerem on Thursday, as a followup procedure from his IDF injuries in Lebanon. Nir Azulay, the 'kid' brother was a guard for Egged busses. Nurit said "Bhatzlacha''(Good luck) to her eldest son, Rafi, as the nurses and attendants began to wheel Rafi into the operating theater. As Rafi was being operated by his eye surgeon, the news hit Hadassah of the terrorist attack on bus 19.
Nurit knew that Nir, her other son, worked the Aza Street route and bus 19 as a guard. Nir was on another bus 19 going in the exact opposite direction when the terrorist blew himself up on the passing bus 19. Nir was slightly injured and was brought to Hadassah Ein Kerem. Nurit ran down from the operating waiting room area. 'leaving' her son Rafi, to meet her other son, Nir at the ER. Last night, we watched and we cried as we saw both Rafi, in patched eye, sitting together with Nir, in patched hand, as Nurit held both of her sons in her arms.
============
Yuri Plorsko, 41, made aliyah from Romania with his wife in 2001. His friends told him that he was crazy to come to Israel during the war of 2001. Yuri assured his relatives that the war would be over 'soon.' Yuri was on his way to Bank Leumi on Aza Road to withdraw some money from the versateller to buy a gift for his 5 year old daughter's birthday tonight. Yuri's wife was interviewed this morning on radio in advance of today's 5 funerals within 1 hour of each other. "We love Israel and as Jews thought we would be safer in Jerusalem than in Bucharest."
============
Anat Darom, 23, was studying Math at Hebrew U. Mt. Scopus and had moved from Tel Aviv after completing her IDF duties to start university life. Anat's parents had just left to a 2 week vacation trip to the USA on Tuesday when they were informed about the murder of Anat on bus 19 in Jerusalem. Anat is survived by her sister and parents.
============
Natalia Gamrial, 53, was on her way to her daily job of caregiver for a woman who was wheelchair bound and dying of cancer. At 9 30 AM, employer's son called the Gamrial home to find out where his mother's caregiver was, as she was never late for work. Natalia immigrated from Leningrad in 1993 to Israel. Natalia's 80 year old mother still lives in Leningrad as she was 'afraid' to move to Israel in 1993. Natalia was murdered on the 19 bus and is survived by her husband, daughter, and mother.
The death toll from the murderous attack on Jews by "Palestinians" rose to 11 this weekend following a forensic reexamination of body parts. The 11th victim of the attack was identified as Manbara Valdi Tzadik, a 35-year-old foreign worker from Ethiopia who was apparently in Israel illegally. Her severely charred remains were positively identified over the weekend
============
Chezki Goldberg, 42, social worker, guidance counselor, and columnist for the JEWISH PRESS, father of 7 children, aged 16=1, was murdered today on the 19 bus going to work. Chezki was born in Toronto, moved to NY, and made aliyah to Har Nof, and then to Beitar Illit. Chezki was an internationally known lecturer for troubled Jewish teens and a counselor for scores of couples.
============
Eli Zefira, 47, chief of maintenance at the Jerusalem High School, was loved by all of his students. The school facility operated daily due to Eli's dedication and repairs. Eli was the father of 3 children, including a 20 month old child. Eli was on his way to work and was murdered today on bus 19 in Jerusalem.
============
Chana Bonder, 38, made aliyah from Russia 12 years ago and worked at Jerusalem City Hall. Chana had just celebrated her 38th birthday on Sunday with co-workers and family. Chana was the mother of two teenagers, aged 15, and 14. Chana and her husband and children made aliya with their small children and today, she was murdered on the 19
bus in Jerusalem.
============
It is taking longer than usual to identify the burned out bodies of the bus according to tonight's police statement.
They are trying to match DNA and body parts of each victim
Baruch Rindishivili, 38, an oleh from Russia, was murdered today.
He was an award winning chef. He was 38 years old and the father of twins, aged 3 and a baby, aged 12 months. At 7 45 AM, he dropped off the twins to their gan (nursery). The twins kissed him on both cheeks and told their Abba, Baruch Chondiashviili, to bake them some cookies for Shabbat. Baruch boarded the 19 bus to go to work at the Great Synagogue where he was the chef for the caterer in the Great Synagogue.
Baruch's wife Etty, heard the news of the pending return of the IDF soldiers' bodies from Lebanon which was suddenly interrupted by the news of the pigua in Jerusalem. Etty called Baruch on his cellphone with no answer. Etty had a 'feeling' and took her 12 month old baby and ran to a cab to take her to the pigua. The Great Synagogue
office confirmed that Baruch did not show up to work. Baruch was murdered on bus 19 and Etty's cry last night at the Forensic institute was " Who will take my children to gan? Who will take them to synagogue on Friday night?"
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Abraham Blachson, 28, made aliya from France only 5 years ago together with his wife. Abraham was learning computer science at Machon Lev and was learning in a Kollel in Geula each day. On Thursday, Abraham missed the early minyan in his community of Givat Mordechai and after catching a late minyan, Abraham, asked his wife to put away his talit as he was in a rush to catch the 19 bus to take him to his morning Kollel. Mrs.Blachson heard the news of the explosion of the bus as she was wrapping away the talit for her husband into his talit bag. Abraham Blachson was wrapped in his talit, once again, not for prayer, but for burial.
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Dana Itach, 24, was married last summer of 2003 to her childhood sweetheart. The couple lived in Katamon, Jerusalem. Dana was on the 19 Bus to get off at the 'next' stop after the Prime Minister's home area. Dana was simple, pretty, plain, and was on her way to her doctor's office for a medical exam as she thought she was pregnant. Dana's husband, Moshe, heard the news about the bus terrorist, and phoned the doctor's office. The office had not opened due to the
terrorist explosion nearby. Dana's cellphone was ringing and ringing. Only G-d now knows whether Dana Itach, 24, was pregnant at her moment of murder by terror. Dana Itach is now a dead bride.
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Nurit Azulay is the mother of Rafi, 24, and Nir, 20, two sons in Jerusalem. Four years ago, Rafi was injured in 2000 in Lebanon and had been admitted to Hadassah to undergo an eye surgery at Hadassah Ein Kerem on Thursday, as a followup procedure from his IDF injuries in Lebanon. Nir Azulay, the 'kid' brother was a guard for Egged busses. Nurit said "Bhatzlacha''(Good luck) to her eldest son, Rafi, as the nurses and attendants began to wheel Rafi into the operating theater. As Rafi was being operated by his eye surgeon, the news hit Hadassah of the terrorist attack on bus 19.
Nurit knew that Nir, her other son, worked the Aza Street route and bus 19 as a guard. Nir was on another bus 19 going in the exact opposite direction when the terrorist blew himself up on the passing bus 19. Nir was slightly injured and was brought to Hadassah Ein Kerem. Nurit ran down from the operating waiting room area. 'leaving' her son Rafi, to meet her other son, Nir at the ER. Last night, we watched and we cried as we saw both Rafi, in patched eye, sitting together with Nir, in patched hand, as Nurit held both of her sons in her arms.
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Yuri Plorsko, 41, made aliyah from Romania with his wife in 2001. His friends told him that he was crazy to come to Israel during the war of 2001. Yuri assured his relatives that the war would be over 'soon.' Yuri was on his way to Bank Leumi on Aza Road to withdraw some money from the versateller to buy a gift for his 5 year old daughter's birthday tonight. Yuri's wife was interviewed this morning on radio in advance of today's 5 funerals within 1 hour of each other. "We love Israel and as Jews thought we would be safer in Jerusalem than in Bucharest."
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Anat Darom, 23, was studying Math at Hebrew U. Mt. Scopus and had moved from Tel Aviv after completing her IDF duties to start university life. Anat's parents had just left to a 2 week vacation trip to the USA on Tuesday when they were informed about the murder of Anat on bus 19 in Jerusalem. Anat is survived by her sister and parents.
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Natalia Gamrial, 53, was on her way to her daily job of caregiver for a woman who was wheelchair bound and dying of cancer. At 9 30 AM, employer's son called the Gamrial home to find out where his mother's caregiver was, as she was never late for work. Natalia immigrated from Leningrad in 1993 to Israel. Natalia's 80 year old mother still lives in Leningrad as she was 'afraid' to move to Israel in 1993. Natalia was murdered on the 19 bus and is survived by her husband, daughter, and mother.
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