Author: M-120

Some 2,500 years ago the prophet Ezekiel presented his Prophecy of Dry Bones, which according to various interpretations hailed the salvation of the Jewish people. According to recent reports, Iraq is currently trying to remove the Jewish traces from the prophet’s tomb and turn it into a mosque.

Ezekiel the Prophet, whose prophesy was recorded in the Book of Ezekiel, lived in Babylon at the time of Solomon’s temple. Tradition has it that he is buried in the village of Al Kilf, south of Baghdad, and followers of the three monotheistic religions continue to visit his tomb to this day.

"I received information from a senior Iraqi scholar pertaining to the local authorities’ intention of turning the tomb into a mosque under the guise of ‘preservation’ of the holy site," says Professor Shmuel Morre, former head of the Arabic Language and Literature Department in the Hebrew University.

"The man who provided me with the information stressed that the Iraqi antiquities department has been under heavy pressure to erase any proof of the Jews’ connection to Iraq," he notes.

Iraq also contains the tombs of the Ezra the Scribe, the Prophet Jonah and King Zedekiah. According to Prof. Morre, who himself was born in Iraq, his colleague informed him that local authorities have already began erasing Hebrew inscriptions off Ezekiel’s tomb in order to turn the site into a mosque.

‘Stop Islamization’
For hundreds of years the tomb has been under the care of leaders of the Jewish community in Iraq.

Currently the country contains only eight Jews. The rest have become Muslim or are in hiding for fear of being murdered by terrorists upon embarking on a Jewish pilgrimage.

Manager of the "Justice for Jews" organization Shlomo Alfassa has approached US government authorities in Washington following the reports and demanded to "stop the Islamization of the Jewish prophet’s tomb."

An application has also been made to the UNESCO headquarters, which is responsible for maintaining the religious character of holy sites.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7…832780,00.html

So, it is not about the land of Israel. It is, obviously, that Muslim hates Jews, Judaism and G-d. What’s going on?
Yet, you Arabs always say, no no we dont hate Jews, we only hate Zionists and blah blah. But, the tomb of Ezekiel has nothing to do with Zionism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:bash::ohno:

Are members of the Taliban, the radical Islamist terror organization in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in fact descendents of a lost Hebrew tribe which migrated to the region after being exiled 2,700 years ago?

Shanez Ali, a young Indian researcher, who is currently visiting Israel, is trying to answer that question.

Ali arrived in the Holy Land as a guest of Karl Skorecki, deputy head of the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa who also serves as manager of the Rappaport Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences within the Israel Institute of Technology .

Ali, an expert on genetic profiles of Mumbai populations, will attempt to tackle the question whether the main tribe comprising the Taliban includes descendents of the lost tribe of Ephraim.

Professor Skorecki, who is renowned for his groundbreaking work in the field of Jewish genetics, will be overseeing Ali’s research.

Her study is expected to last anywhere between three months and a year and will be funded by a scholarship on behalf of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Taliban is mainly comprised of members of the Pashtun people, Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group. Locally, the Pashtuns are thought to be descendents of an Afridi tribe originating from Uttar Pradesh in India.

Ali brought with her DNA samples of the Afridi tribesmen in order to examine their genetic connection to the lost Jewish tribes.

Theories of such a connection are based on ancient manuscripts and popular traditions within the Pashtun people, however no scientific study has yet succeeded in proving the relation.

Nevertheless, Muslim and Jewish scientists have claimed over the years that the theory is in fact correct.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7…832610,00.html

:O

A synagogue on the Greek island of Crete has been targeted by arsonists for the second time in three weeks, local police said Saturday.

They said an unknown number of people entered the building in the city of Hania, broke through a first-floor door and started a fire.

The fire brigade said the blaze partly destroyed the synagogue’s wooden ceiling, as well as many of its archives, computers and CDs. It estimates the damage at $43,000.

The attack occurred around 4 am (0200 GMT) Saturday.

Police said about 2,500 books, many of them rare editions, have been destroyed in this and a previous arson attack three weeks ago.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7…835109,00.html

:ohno:

Some 7,200 members of Bnei Menashe ("Children of Menasseh"), a group of people hailing from north-eastern India who claim lineage to one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, will make aliyah after converting to Judaism in Nepal.

According to a tradition that has been passed along for generations, the members of Bnei Menashe identify themselves as descendents of the Menashe tribe – one of the 10 tribes that exiled from Land of Israel at the end of the First Temple period.

For the past decade, Shavei Israel Organization, which help Jewish people across the world immigrate to Israel, has been working with Bnei Menashe communities in India and building education centers where they can learn Hebrew and Judaism to help strengthen their Jewish identity and aid those who wish to immigrate to Israel.

The organization, headed by Michael Freund, has also been working with the government in order to convince it to allow all the group members to immigrate to Israel.

Currently, Bnei Menashe operates some 50 synagogues and has an umbrella organization that coordinates between the communities.

Few members of Bnei Menashe have already made aliyah back in 1982 and some 1,250 members visited Israel prior to 2003 with the permission of the Ministry of Interior.

In March 2005 Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar recognized the affinity Bnei Menashe members have to the Land of Israel and decided that they must be integrated back into the Jewish people.

However, Rabbi Amar objected letting the members immigrate to Israel prior to converting to Judaism.

Conversion in Nepal

Three years ago, teams of rabbis converted a few hundred Bnei Menashe members in India, however this caused a rift between the two countries after India claimed Israel is involved in missionary activity and religious conversion, which is forbidden by the Indian law.

The proposed solution was to conduct the conversion in a different country. Nepal was chosen because officials in Israel did not think the Nepalese government would object to having the conversions take place on its territory and also because Shavei Israel already holds annual educational and young leadership seminars in the country.

In addition, the route from northeast India to Nepal is fairly short and can be done via trains, and therefore does not pose a logistic obstacle.

According to the plan, members of Bnei Menashe will travel to Nepal in groups of 200-300 people and then undergo conversion by teams from the Rabbinical Court who will be sent specially for the task.

After the conversion process is complete, they will be allowed to immigrate to Israel with an immigrant visa. The government estimated that within one to two years, the entire community can be brought to Israel.

The issue of Bnei Menashe was first brought to the public’s attention in 1996 after members of the community sent an emotional letter to then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which they pleaded for help.

The letter was opened by Michael Freund, an immigrant from the United States who served as an advisor in the Prime Minister’s office and decided to take the matter into his own hands. Today he heads the Shavei Israel organization.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7…831308,00.html

Some 500 Ethiopian-Israelis demonstrated outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Sunday and demanded that the government approve the aliyah of 8,700 members of the Falashmura (Ethiopian Jews) denomination.

Thousands of Falashmura currently residing in the Gondar transit camp in Ethiopia are still awaiting permits to immigrate to Israel, this after the State promised last year to allow 3,000 immigrants into the Jewish state by September 2009.

Protesters chanted, "End the discrimination" and "Bring mother and father to Israel now". They also waved signs reading, "Discontinuing aliyah – a crime against Zionism".

Sahi Malato, an 18-year-old soldier, made aliyah along with her parents and two sisters five years ago. "I am a proud soldier who loves the country, and I hope the State will give something back to me and bring my three brothers, whom I haven’t seen in years, to Israel so we can all live happily here," she told Ynet while holding a photo of her family.

Nibrak Amasgan, another protester, hasn’t seen her parents and brothers in 10 years. "My father is old; he cries whenever I call him and we miss each other. I ask that the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) allow him to make aliyah," she said.

‘End discrimination.’ Jerusalem rally (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

During the rally, Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) said, "I am determined to lead the struggle and conclude the deliberations by the relevant government offices. We’ll have to convince the Treasury, which opposed the (Falashmura aliyah) in the past."

Knesset Member Shlomo Molla (Kadima), an Ethiopian-Israeli, told those on hand that "this would not happen to olim from other countries. We’ll continue with our struggle until the last of the Jews arrives in Israel."

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said the debate was not a budgetary one. "I don’t think the dispute surrounding the Falashmura aliyah has anything to do with their skin color; it is about the uncertainty as to whether some of them are in fact Jews."

Earlier Sunday, Minister Yishai told the weekly cabinet meeting, "We must not leave the Falashmura there (in Ethiopia). I hear claims that had their skin color been different – they would have been treated differently."

However, Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov (Yisrael Beitenu) said he feared some Falashmura were trying to take advantage of the right of return to Israel despite not being eligible to make aliyah.

"As soon as the (transit camp) is vacated, (more Falashmura) arrive there. This issue must be examined thoroughly," he said.

During the cabinet meeting Minister Misezhnikov also reiterated his call to cancel the visa requirement for Ukrainian tourists, a move he claimed was vital for the troubled tourism industry. He demanded that the issue be addressed during the next cabinet meeting.

Minister Yishai is vehemently opposed to the move. "Ukraine is the hub of prostitution and human trafficking," he said recently.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7…832225,00.html