Explosion at French nuclear site

Source: France Info

An explosion at the Marcoule nuclear site in southern France has killed one and injured four. The blast was caused by a furnace fire in a radioactive waste site in the town of Codolet. Officials say there are no leaks of radioactive material, but a security perimiter has been set up around the plant.

Update: French emergency services warn of risk of radioactive leak.

Like Wildfire: Tunis, Tel Aviv and Tottenham

A carpet store burns on Tottenham High Road on Aug 6, 2011

Dec. 17, 2010: Mohammed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old Tunisian vegetable seller set himself on fire after a policewoman confiscated his unlicensed cart and spat on him after he refused to pay a fine. Bouazizi's act and the socioeconomic situation it highlighted spawned anti-government protests across Tunisia, and one month later, the 23-year rule of Tunisia's Ben Ali came to an end. Demonstrations subsequently spread across the Arab world, successfully toppling Egypt's Mubarak, bringing war against Libya's Qaddafi, and an ongoing uprising against Syria's Assad.

July 14, 2011: When 25 year-old film editor Daphni Leef was evicted from her Tel Aviv apartment and found herself unable to find an affordable alternative, she decided to pitch a tent on one of the city's most luxurious boulevards, and invited her friends to do so as well via Facebook. Three weeks later, more than a quarter of a million lower- and middle-class Israelis marched across Israel demanding a new economic order and a reeling back of imported capitalism in favor of the ideals of a welfare state inherent in the nation's historical revival. Nearly one month after the first tent was pitched, thousands of tents have sprung up in improvised tent cities across the country--some inhabited by idealistic students, others by families claiming they have hit rock bottom--a situation no humane government can ignore for long. Plans are underway for a million person march in September--proportionally speaking, the equivalent of 45 million Americans on the streets.

August 4, 2011: Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of three, was shot dead by police officers of Scotland Yard's special black-on-black crime unit. Fifteen minutes prior to the shooting, Duggan sent a message from his blackberry saying "the Feds are following me". Two days following the shooting, a group of around 200 of Duggan's relatives and local residents of Broadwater Farm marched to the Tottenham Police station to inquire into the circumstances of the man's death. After waiting hours to speak with a higher-ranking officer, the mob became impatient and set two nearby police cars on fire. Rioting, looting and arson spread throughout London and other cities around England, striking a chord among working-class Britons alienated by a society burdened by budget cuts and lurking xenophobia. In a country once marked for its obsession with order and the rule of law, police across the Kingdom have admitted that they are not able to regain control of Britain's streets in the face of "unprecedented" levels violence.

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What do all three phenomena have in common? All three began with one incident involving a "random" citizen in their 20's whose life circumstances and/or reaction to them incited a generation, a country or a region to radically and abruptly shift the balance of power between people and government. In much of the Arab world, citizens seeking democratic government resorted to violence in the face of a tyrannical ruler with a military backing. In Israel, protests have thus far been peaceful demonstrations aimed at toppling the current government or radically changing the society's priorities. In Britain, the uprising has stemmed from a class of people who fail to find means within the democratic system to voice their grievances.
 

Secondly, the internet has played a major role in all three social phenomena. One small event takes on larger-than-life proportions with the help of social networks and instant communication and distribution of information, proving that the Facebook generation are only glued to their touch screens until further notice. In response, governments and law force agencies understand they must play the same game in order to suppress/restore order, using tactics such as shutting down internet and cellular networks such as in Egypt and Syria, or pressuring cell phone companies to provide sensitive information on large numbers of customers' call logs, messaging activity and contact lists such as in Britain most recently.

Third, all protests reveal what governments have done their best to hide--no politician, in any part of their term, wants their population to realize that global food prices are rising, regardless of legislation. Europe is facing zero or negative economic growth prospects, and governments across the continent are cutting left and right in an attempt not to lose all. The effect of months and years of government cuts is not sudden but rather gradual--the breeding of generational economic hardship--relative to years past--that lies dormant until the match is lit.

Surely, the context, legitimacy and desirability of these uprisings vary widely, and many will say there is no room for comparison. No one can deny, however, that governments across the world are standing aghast at the power of their populace to mobilize and challenge the conventional rules of the game, with consequences no short of havoc, revolution or prelude to world war. None of the above phenomenon are anywhere near their climax, and none have abated without tossing embers nextdoor. In coming weeks, let us remember that Jerusalem lies not only at the geographical intersection of Europe and Asia but also at the heart of two typologies of uprisings, and that just as what happens globally is bound to ripple in Israel's bays, so Israel's waves can be a beacon for the human spirit seeking the air of freedom and dignity, in any language. 

כי מציון תצא תורה ודבר ה' מירושלים

Jerusalem Forest fire: Yad VaShem, Har Nof synagogue evacuated

Last update: 19:26 Israel time

A major fire broke out Sunday in Ya'ar Yerushalayim, the Jerusalem Forest, near Mount Herzl. As of 7:15 p.m. Israel time, firefighters have achieved partial control over the fire in the area of the Pi Glilot fuel depot, and are continuing efforts to extinguish flames in surrounding areas. Police have instructed residents of Har Nof and nearby neighborhoods to remain indoors until further notice.

According to National Fire Chief Shachar Ayalon, the Jerusalem forest fire broke out in four different places, indicating arson.

Around 4:30 p.m., visitors and workers were evacuated from the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, adjacent to the forest. According to the director-General of Yad Vashem, the fire reached 40 meters of the museum and maintenance teams managed to stop the flames from consuming the site's most precious treasures at the very last minute.

Around 6 p.m. an emergency medical worker told Walla! News that the street he is on in Har Nof has been evacuated, including the synagogue, its Torah scrolls and nearby schools. Just before 6 p.m. Knesset Member Reuven Rivlin and his wife were evacuated from their home in Yefe Nof, due the presence of reserves of flammable materials in the neighborhood's vicinity.

IDF chief Ganz ordered the Israeli Air Force to join efforts to extinguish the fire. Around 6 p.m. 22 firetrucks and six firefighting planes were being used to extinguish the fire between Har Herzl and Motza. An official told Channel 2 News that Israel has experienced greater fires in the past months, but the location of the fire--near a fuel depot, Yad VaShem, and residential neighborhoods--made this fire highly problematic.


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Israel's last major fire occurred on the eve of Chanukah 5771. This Tuesday is the 17th of Tammuz, the day on which the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans, which marked the beginning of a period of three weeks of calamities culminating in the destruction of the Temple by fire on Tisha b'Av. 

On 16 Tammuz, the Golden Calf emerged from the fire into which the gold of the people was thrown. On 15 Tammuz (today), Chur, the son of Miriam was killed in an attempt to dissuade the people from constructing the golden calf. 

Check back for updates. Please pray for Yerushalayim.

Israel-Egypt gas pipeline explodes, Rafah church bombed amidst Egypt Chaos

On Friday night, a gas pipeline supplying fuel to Jordan and Israel exploded near the El Arish port in Sinai, Egypt. Regional governor Abdel Wahab Mabrouk told Egyptian told state TV he suspected sabotage, and a reporter called the explosion a "big terrorist operation." Later, the head of the Egyptian natural gas company claimed the fire broke out as a result a gas leak. A gas leak, after the Muslim Brotherhood has been inciting its followers for years, calling to stop gas supply to Israel?

On Saturday, in an unrelated incident, the IKEA in Netanya, Israel caught on fire and burned to the ground.

Today, news emerged that Islamists massacred two Christian Coptic with the aid of their Muslim neighbors in the Sharona village in Northern Egypt last Sunday, killing 11, including children and seriously injuring four. The internet blackout kept the incident unreported until now.

On Saturday, a bomb was detonated and a cross was removed at the Holy Family Church on Saturday in Rafah, Egypt along its border with the Gaza Strip, now controlled by the terrorist group Hamas. Hamas is an outgrowth of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which is gaining momentum amidst chaos in Egypt. Since the Egyptian revolt, Israel and Egypt have expressed concern about the security of the Egypt-Gaza border in a time of transition. Egypt cannot maintain security forces in Sinai to properly guard the border, and the danger only grows in the case of a pro-Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood government. For more on the relationship between Hamas and the Egyptian revolution, see here.

On Saturday, Hamas sources reported that Ayman Nofal, a senior Hamas commander, and five other Palestinian militants have now safely returned to the Gaza Strip, after 'pro-democracy protestors' raided the Abu Zaabal prison in Cairo.

Netanya IKEA burned to the ground on Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Adar

IKEA Netanya before Saturday's fire

On the first day of Chanukah, a fire raged through Israel's Carmel forest, destroying over 55,000 dunams of trees and taking 45 lives.

On Saturday, a fire broke out at Israel's Netanyahu IKEA store. No one was injured, as IKEA is closed on Shabbat (b"H). The entire store and all merchandise, however, burned to the ground. Damage was estimated at $100 million, and 400 Israelis were employed at the store.

The IKEA in Netanya was Israel's first IKEA store, and was the largest in Israel. There is another branch in Rishon L'Tziyon near Tel Aviv. In July, the Netanya IKEA lot was appraised at $52 million.

IKEA Founder's Nazi Roots? 

The founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, was exposeed by a Swiss paper in the mid-1990's for attending Nazi Party meetings in Sweden after WWII. Days before the Netanya store opened in 2000, the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Weekly reported:

Kamprad started Ikea as a 16-year-old in 1943, using his initials for the first two letters and the names of two small Swedish towns for the final two letters. The first deliveries were made by milk truck.

During the business' infancy, between 1945 and 1948, Kamprad attended several pro-Nazi meetings led by Swedish rightist Per Engdahl. The Stockholm newspaper Expressen uncovered Kamprad's name in the archives of Engdahl, who died in 1994.

Aware of the potential PR damage, Kamprad issued a letter of apology to IKEA employees and called himself 'naive'.

HBO's 'Dennis Miller Live' covered the story with the following joke, according to the J: "The founder of the Ikea furniture stores admitted to being a Nazi sympathizer during World War II. He went on to say that Ikea's original name was Mein Couch."

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center  in Los Angeles criticized Kamprad, even after his 'apology':

"At a time when the rest of the world was walking and running away from Nazism and fascism, this young man was embracing it."

Joshua Bernstein, director of the ADL's Pacific Region, said the following:

"He should have known better. After all, this was occurring after World War II. The Nazi atrocities were documented and evident to everyone after the war...He has never made any comments as an adult that have been extremist in any way, shape or fashion. But on the other hand, neither did he go out of his way to be friendly toward the Jewish people, toward Jewish interests. And specifically he didn't do business with Israel at a time that would have made a difference."

Dov Rochman, manager of the Israeli company that bought franchise rights for the Netanya IKEA, made the case that Israel is a prime market for IKEA:

"Ikea is a concept, it's a style. It's a store that nobody in Israel has seen the likes of before. It will have a huge impact, because customers here are becoming more and more sophisticated and they will love the idea."

Yibaneh, Yibaneh...

Anyone who has walked into an IKEA knows the feeling: it is an architectural-consumerist masterpiece. There is an other-worldly quality about it. Israel has a lot of international chain stores, but IKEA was something else. Rochman was right, the IKEA phenomenon spread like wildfire in Israel. The store and the trip to the store was the epitome of Israel's strive for cosmopolitanism, which may not be problematic in itself, but is when juxtaposed with our complete dismissal of what we are in this land for. Israel has other, more important, and more essential things to build--the first of which is our own masterpiece, the source of our people's vitality and our spiritual gift to the world--the holy Third Temple on God's Holy Mountain, House of Prayer for all peoples, the dwelling place of the divine in the material world. May it be built speedily in our days.

Animal deaths = tenth plague?

What if the animal deaths this week are a huge chesed (act of lovingkindness) of Hashem, an enactment of only the animal toll of makat bechorot (death of the first-borns)?

וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ-מִצְרַיִם, בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה, וְהִכֵּיתִי כָל-בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, מֵאָדָם וְעַד-בְּהֵמָה; וּבְכָל-אֱלֹהֵי מִצְרַיִם אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים, אֲנִי יְהוָה

And I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night, and smite all firstborns in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.

After the carmel fire, Rabbi Uri Shreki, head of the Israeli division of Machon Meir, said the Carmel fire was the attribute of judgment taking its toll, in what could have been a much greater disaster. Considering what could have been, the way things happened derived from the "total kindness of Hashem".

It is also worth noting that Uri Shreki, whose article was brought to my attention last month by Yeranen Yaakov, did not take the view that am yisrael 'deserved' the fire, h"v. Rather, he said the fire was in the category of 'yissurim shel ahava', or 'sufferings of love', where Hashem sends ordeals to his favorites, the heavy price which is only worth it in light of what's ahead.

the Galil and the Golan in the time of Mashiach

HaRav Daniel Zamir reads a section from Talmud that says that before the time of Mashiach the Galil will be destroyed and the Golan will be desolate.

Video in Hebrew:

42

And he looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of Hashem. And there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore from them forty-two children.

And he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

(Kings 2 2:24-25)

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The Carmel Forest fire of 2010 claimed 42 lives.

Rain messages

Rav Shmuel Eliahu of Tzfat said recently that whoever does not understand that the rain sends us simple messages has not truly performed the mitzvah of Kriat Shma. We need to serve Hashem from the heart, to daven with Kavanah, to do things with joy and with awareness - including, when you say "Shalom" to a person, mean it!

מי שלא מבין שהגשם שולח לנו מסרים פשוט לא יצא ידי חובת קריאת שמע, "למען ירבו ימיכם על האדמה.. שנשבע לאבותיכם". הקב"ה אומר לנו שהוא יקיים את הברית אם גם אנחנו נמלא את חלקנו בהסכם, צריכים לעבוד את ה' מהלב, להתפלל בכוונה, לעשות את הדברים מתוך שמחה ומתוך התבוננות, גם כשאתה אומר לאדם שלום תתכוון לזה

full article (Heb) at Arutz Sheva