Israeli police arrested a U.S. born rabbi for inciting Palestinians. Police say Rabbi Arik Ascherman, executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, has encouraged Palestinians to confront police securing archeological digs in Silwan, an Arab neighbourhood next to Jerusalem’s Old City. They also say the rabbi kept a wounded Jewish settler in the neighbourhood from being evacuated. He denies the charges. He was arrested after refusing a police demand to keep away from the area for 15 days.
Israel plans to boycott the Arab news channel Al-Jazeera. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said it would send notice to the Arab world’s most popular satellite news channel that Israeli officials would no longer offer co-operation. Qatar-based Al-Jazeera has Arabic- and English-language broadcasts and a Jerusalem bureau. The Foreign Ministry said its coverage of recent fighting in Gaza has been skewed toward Palestinian propaganda to the point that Israel fears it could perpetuate bloodshed by stirring up Arab ire. Al-Jazeera’s Jerusalem bureau chief denied the network is biased.
Terrorists in Gaza fired three Qassam rockets at Israel last Friday as Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai was visiting Sderot in the western Negev. A week-long lull in fighting between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza ended last Thursday as rockets and mortars rained on Sderot and other communities bordering Gaza. Palestinians said the rockets were in response to the March 12 killing of four Islamic Jihad leaders in Bethlehem.
A global series of simultaneous pro-Israel rallies are planned for Purim night. The March 20 rallies will be presented live on the Internet by the sponsoring organization, One Family Fund, which supports victims of terror. A site created for the event, www.together4israel.org, will allow the public to participate. Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz and Canadian MP and human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler will begin the event from Sderot with residents of the rocket-plagued town. “The world needs to know that Jews everywhere support Israel’s right to defend itself,” Dershowitz said. The rally will then move to Jerusalem, where psalms will be read at the Western Wall. At the same time there will be a gathering in London, followed by rallies in New York City at the Kehilat Jeshurun synagogue, in Los Angeles at the Simon Wiesenthal Center and finally in Australia.
—with files from JTA
