Titles are hyperlinked to the full article at the original news source

Staggering Poverty is Mentally Fatiguing

Report: 775,000 children live in poverty
By Jerusalem Post Jan. 25, 2007

Over 1.5 million (1.63m.) Israelis live below the poverty line ….The National Council for the Child stressed that
I srael's percentage of impoverished children (one out of three) was the "highest in the world."

---

The War Wearied and the “Mentally Fatigued”

Chicago Terror Trial: Jury still in Deliberations
Terrorism jury suffering 'mental fatigue,' cuts work hours
By Mike Robinson  AP Legal Affairs Writer  Chicago Tribune  January 25, 2007

CHICAGO -- Jurors in the trial of two men charged with furnishing money and fresh recruits to Hamas terrorists announced Thursday that they are getting tired and are cutting their work hours.. . .Jurors said in the note that they are suffering from "mental fatigue."  ….Jurors heard three months of testimony in the case and have deliberated on the evidence for nine days.

The First Word: Our bloodletting must stop
By Bassem Eid Jerusalem Post Jan. 18, 2007

Violence, it seems, has become endemic to the Palestinian mind-set and political culture. … The chaos surrounding Palestinian social and political life is indicative of our having the wrong priorities…. Palestinians need to realize that this may be our last chance for self-determination. If lost, it could be lost forever. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past; we cannot afford another series of missed opportunities.

---

Do Not Bite and Devour…each other

Debilitating public criticism
By Yagil Levy  Haaretz 1-18-07

Dan Halutz is the first chief of staff to step down in the wake of public pressure…. not because the political leadership pushed him to do so, but because he has internalized the fact that public confidence in him was at a nadir, making it difficult for him to function, and causing an erosion of confidence in him within the organization as well. … The resignation of the chief of staff actually symbolizes the weakness of civilian monitoring…. means that the army is sliding over into the area of formulating policy rather than merely implementing it, and involving itself in political controversy and political bargaining. 

Give Ehud Olmert a break
By Yosef (Tommy) Lapid Jerusalem Post Jan. 24, 2007

The government is wounded; it's bleeding; and all those near enough to smell the blood are sinking their teeth in the prime minister to take yet another bite of his flesh.

---

Top US official urges more pressure against Iran
By Associated Press Jerusalem Post Jan. 21, 2007

"Iran is going to have to suffer the consequences of being an international pariah," US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told the Herzliya conference at the IDC in Herzliya, emphasizing Washington's desire for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Iran announces new missile tests as Ahmadinejad dismisses criticism of economy
by Nasser Karimi, Canadian Press  January 21, 2007

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Determined not to budge under pressure, Iran announced new tests of short-range missiles Sunday, and hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed criticism that the country's economy has been hurt by UN sanctions imposed for its suspect nuclear program.

Israel faces nuclear Holocaust warns Gingrich
Newt Gingrich: Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem facing mortal Iranian threat,
says former US Speaker of the House
By Yaakov Lappin  Yediot Aharonot 1-23-07

"The war in Lebanon demonstrated that Israel is facing a jihadist threat that runs through Tehran, to Damascus, to Gaza. Hizbullah are not fighting for the coming into being of a Palestinian state, but for the going out of being of the Israeli state," he said.

---

BACKGROUNDERS

The problem with Syria
Middle Israel: By Amotz Asa-El Jerusalem Post Jan. 18, 2007

Optimistic interpretations of Syrian intentions are inspired by Military Intelligence, while the skeptics are nesting in the Mossad. As Mossad chief Meir Dagan et al. see it, the Syrians have undergone no epiphany, and rather than reflect a strategic change of attitude toward Israel, their statements merely echo momentary diplomatic distress.   

[Asa-El provides an explanation of the Assad regime’s underlying religious foundations and, therefore, regional moves.]

Syria hallucinations
President Assad won't be disengaging from Iran or Hizbullah
By Zalman Shoval Yediot Aharonot 12-27-06

In recent weeks Syria has engaged in a diplomatic and political offensive against Israel and the United States, and not without success, we must admit. It has been aided by quite a few rash and unwise remarks by certain Israeli politicians and journalists, as well as American politicians hostile to the Bush Administration's policy.

 “Three dimensional chess in a dark room”
Dept of Defense News Briefing with British Lt. Gen. Lamb from Iraq
U.S. Dept of Defense  1-19-07

On Iraq:  “It's hard pounding. This is as complex as I've ever seen anything I've ever done. This is really difficult. This is three-dimensional chess in a dark room. But hard pounding is what Wellington said at Waterloo before he went on to win as part of a coalition.”  

---

Israel Inside Insight

The life and times of Moshe Katsav
By Amotz Asa-El Jerusalem Post Jan. 24, 2007

For most of its 58 years the Israeli presidency was mainly about laying cornerstones, cutting ribbons, visiting charities, accepting ambassadorial credentials and strolling alongside military bands with colorfully dressed kings and well-tailored presidents.  Not anymore.

.. .There is only that much you can do for your country when you are so busy asking what you can do for yourself.

Rule of lawlessness
By Dan Izenberg Jerusalem Post Jan. 18, 2007
Review: The Struggle of Democracy against Terrorism  By Emmanuel Gross University of Virginia Press

We will return to the question of how a democratic state, committed to human rights and the rule of law at home and in its international relations, is supposed to confront terrorists who deliberately embed themselves among the civilian population. But this issue is only one of the many that Gross addresses. Others include the interrogation of terrorist suspects, the use of administrative measures such as administrative arrests, house demolitions, imposition of curfews, closures and roadblocks, the incarceration of "illegal fighters," intelligence-gathering techniques that invade privacy, the use of civilians as human shields, targeted assassinations and how to cope with the terrorists' use of their own people as human shields.

Peres grateful to Nasrallah, Ahmadinejad
Vice premier says Iranian president is doing a great job. 'Without him, the world would not unite in an anti-Persian policy,' he tells Herzliya Conference
By Yoav Kapshuk  Yediot Aharonot 1-22-07

Peres added that he supported the US stance, which views Syria as part of the axis of evil. "The United States believed that (Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad) Siniora should control Lebanon and it cannot go with Syria, while Syria wants to strengthen Hizbullah and is sponsoring Khaled Mashaal," he concluded.

Anglicans helped create Israel
By Matthew Wagner Jerusalem Post Jan. 26, 2007

Evangelical Anglicans of the 19th century played a central role in the process that led to the establishment of the State of Israel, according to documents to be made available for the first time next week by the Christ Church Center near Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem. "It is impossible to understand the Balfour Declaration of 1917 without first understanding the theological developments that reached their peak in 1850," said Kelvin Crombie, a historian and member of the Christian Missionary Among the Jewish People (CMJ).

HOT, YES running Jews for Jesus ads
By Etgar Lefkovits Jerusalem Post Jan. 22, 2007

Jerusalem city councilwoman Mina Fenton, a prominent anti-missionary activist from the National Religious Party, said that the approval of the broadcasts in Israel by the Communications Ministry represented "the corruption of Jewish morals," and was indicative of a country facing a "crusade of money."

The ever-sensitive issue of TV missionary activity comes amid burgeoning ties between Israel and the evangelical Christian world and follows a recent decision by YES to drop Star World and by HOT to discontinue BBC Prime, moves which have triggered a firestorm of protests by the English-speaking public in Israel.

*  “Jews for Jesus” is anti-missionary code for any Jewish ministry that believes Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel.  The label is not limited to the affiliation with organization known as Jews for Jesus.    --dd