LET ABBAS GO TO THE UN – HE’LL LOSE OUT, NOT US!
by Yaakov Levi Bennett (Arutz Sheva News)

Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett said Sunday that he was ready to call Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’ bluff on his threats to take his case to international tribunals, unless Israel does what he, Abbas, wants. “Is he doing us a favor by continuing negotiations with us? If he doesn’t want to negotiate, that’s fine. And if there are no talks he plans to complain to the United Nations? Let him – he will be the one that gets hurt.”

Abbas cannot afford to antagonize Israel too much, said Bennett. “There are many death warrants on the heads of Fatah leaders” at the hands of Hamas and other terrorists. “He has no economy, he has no security. If the IDF abandons him he is finished. I would recommend to him that he not make such threats.”

Abbas last week threatened that if Israel did not release the final batch of terrorists on time, he would “turn to the UN’s international organizations.” The release of the prisoners is in return for the freeze on seeking membership in international organizations,” Abbas said. “If Israel were to refuse to free the fourth batch it would have serious consequences, including initiatives at the United Nations,” threatened former PA negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh.

Israel agreed to release about 100 terrorists last summer, as a “concession” to persuade Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas to resume peace talks after a three year hiatus. The last batch was set to be released Saturday night, but Netanyahu, apparently under pressure from his ministers, has postponed the release.

One way to keep the talks going, the PA said, was for Israel to release even more terrorists. On Saturday, the PA claimed that Israel had offered to release 400 terrorists from its prisons so that peace talks continue. But to Bennett, the idea of releasing any more terrorists is ridiculous. “Why would we release 400 more prisoners? To continue talks? This is not going to happen, I have discussed this with other ministers and I do not see any chance of this passing the government. We in Jewish Home will do everything we can to prevent this,” he added.

And if Israel’s refusal means that Abbas will “go to the UN,” so be it, said Bennett. “Let him do it already. We will know how to deal with it. If he wants to establish the Palestinian state as a viable one he will have a lot of problems. He doesn’t even have borders, let alone security, government, or independent rule. If it doesn’t look like a state and doesn’t sound like a state, it’s not a state, regardless of what they will say in the UN.”

Regarding the current release that was postponed from Saturday night, Bennett said that Jewish Home opposed it, but the government approved the release. He himself had spoken to Netanyahu on the talks with the PA, telling the Prime Minister that as Abbas has said that he would never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, there was no point in continuing with the negotiations – or releasing more terrorists.

MIDDLE EAST WAR
by Jonathan Spyer

It has become a commonplace to claim that the unrest in the Arab world is challenging the state borders laid down in the Arab world following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918.

This claim, however, is only very partially valid. It holds true in a specific section of the Middle East, namely the contiguous land area stretching from Iran’s western borders to the Mediterranean Sea, and taking in the states currently known as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
In this area, a single sectarian war is currently taking place. The nominal governments in Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut may claim to rule in the name of the Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese peoples. But the reality of power distribution in each of these areas shows something quite different.

In each of these areas, local, long suppressed differences between communities are combining with the region-wide cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia to produce conflict, discord and latent or open civil war.

In each case, sectarian forces are linking up with their fellow sect members (or co-ethnics, if that’s a word, in the case of the Kurds) in the neighboring “country” against local representatives of the rival sect.

Let’s take a look at the rival coalitions. These are not simply theoretical constructs. The cooperation between the relevant sides is largely overt, and has been extensively verified. On one side, there are the Shia (and Alawi) allies of Iran. These are the Maliki government in Iraq, the Assad regime in Syria, and Hizbullah, the Iranian proxy force which dominates Lebanon.

Both Hizbullah and the Maliki government, at the behest of Iran, have played a vital role in the survival of Bashar Assad and his current resurgence. Hizbullah’s role is well-documented. The movement maintains around 5,000 fighters at any one time in Syria. They have just completed a spearhead role in a nearly year long campaign to drive the rebels from the area adjoining the Lebanese border. They are also deployed in Damascus.

Assad’s Achilles heel throughout has been the lack of committed fighters willing to engage on his behalf. Hizbullah, working closely with Iran, has played a vital role in filling that gap.

In addition, Hizbullah is working hard to suppress any Sunni thoughts of insurrection in Lebanon itself. Its forces cooperated with the Lebanese Army in crushing Sunni Islamists in Sidon in June, 2013. It also offers support to Alawi elements engaged in a long running mini-war with pro-Syrian rebel Sunnis in the city of Tripoli. Maliki’s role on behalf of Assad is less well-reported but no less striking. It is first of all worth remembering that the Iraqi Prime Minister spent from 1982-90 in exile in Iran, and his political roots and allegiances are, unambiguously, to Shia Islamism.

Regular overflights and ground convoys have used Iraqi territory since the start of the Syrian civil war to carry vital Iranian arms and supplies from Iran to Assad’s forces in Syria.

A western intelligence report obtained by Reuters in late 2012 confirmed this, noting that “planes are flying from Iran to Syria via Iraq on an almost daily basis, carrying IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) personnel and tens of tons of weapons to arm the Syrian security forces and militias fighting against the rebels.”

It also asserted that Iran was “continuing to assist the regime in Damascus by sending trucks overland via Iraq” to Syria. In addition, Iraqi Shia volunteers from the Abu Fadl al-Abbas Brigades and other formations have helped to fill Bashar’s gap in available and committed infantry. The Maliki government has made no effort to stop the flow of such fighters across the border – even as it engages in a U.S.-supported counter insurgency against Sunni jihadis in western Anbar province in Iraq.

So the Iran-led regional bloc is running a well-coordinated, well-documented single war in three countries. The Sunni Arab side of the line is predictably more chaotic and disunited. On this side, too, there are discernible links, but no single, clear alliance. Unlike among the pro-Iran bloc, only the most radical fringe of the Sunnis cross the borders to engage in combat. There is no Sunni equivalent to the Quds Force cadres active in Syria and Lebanon. Among the Sunni radicals, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group now controls a single contiguous area stretching from eastern Syria to western Anbar province in Iraq, and taking in Fallujah city in Iraq.

Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian franchise of al-Qaeda, is now active also in Lebanon. It has on a number of occasions penetrated Hizbullah’s security sanctum in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of south Beirut.

More broadly, Saudi Arabia is the patron of the Sunni interest in both Lebanon and Syria. It is currently backing rebel forces in the south of Syria, and pro-Saudis dominate the Syrian National Coalition, which purports to be the political leadership of the rebellion. It also supports and promotes the March 14th movement in Lebanon, and recently pledged $3 billion for the Lebanese Armed Forces – presumably in a bid to build a force that could balance Hizbullah.

But both Qatar and Turkey also play an important role in backing the Syrian rebels, and have their own clients among the fighting groups.
Saudi and Turkish fear and distrust of radical Sunni Islamist fighting groups prevent the emergence of a clear “Sunni Islamist international” to rival the Shia international of Iran.

Still, it is undeniable that cooperation exists among the various Sunni forces in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

It’s just that it’s a complicated and sometimes chaotic criss-crossing of various rival interests and outlooks on the Sunni side, rather than a coherent single bloc. And finally, of course, there is a single contiguous area of Kurdish control stretching from the Iraq-Iran border all the way to deep within Syria. This zone of control is divided between the Iraqi Kurds of the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Syrian Kurds of the rival, PKK-affiliated Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Once again, it is a contiguous area of control based on ethnic affiliation.
None of this means that the official borders of these three countries are going to officially disappear in the immediate future. The U.S. administration and others are committed to their survival, so they are likely to survive for now, in the semi-fictional and porous state in which they currently exist. This, however, should not obscure the more crucial point that the entire area between the Iraq-Iran border and the Mediterranean Sea is currently the site of a single war, following a single dynamic, fought between protagonists defined by ethnic and sectarian loyalty.

Editor’s Note: Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN TO VISIT ISRAEL?
by Ari Soffer (Arutz Sheva News)

Israel and Turkey may be close to a full normalization of ties, including the reopening of national embassies, according to Turkish media outlet Today’s Zaman.

According to the paper, at a recent meeting in Ankara between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s representative on energy and security issues, David Meidan, and the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hakan Fidan, a possible visit by Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Israel was seriously discussed.

However, a spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office denied the report, saying that no such dramatic breakthroughs had yet been made in the attempt to mend relations between the two former allies.

The claims of progress come as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu echoed his country’s Deputy Prime Minister’s comments earlier this week, saying that a contentious compensation deal with Israel over the death of Islamist activists on the Mavi Marmara Gaza flotilla in 2010 was close to being settled.

“Progress has been made to a great extent, but the two sides need to meet again for a final agreement,” he said, and added that his government’s “first job” after the upcoming local elections “will be making sure the compensation is bound by a legal document”.

Davutoglu also said that “an answer is expected from the Israeli side” to Turkey’s demands.

Relations between the once-close allies had soured after Erdogan famously stormed out of a televised debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres over Israel’s Cast Lead counterterrorism operation in Gaza, back in 2009.

But the attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza by Turkish Al Qaeda-linked Islamists and left-wing activists, and the IDF’s subsequent interception of the Mavi Marmara, marked the lowest point in relations between the two countries. Nine Islamists were killed and several others injured as they violently attacked the lightly-armed soldiers sent to intercept what was thought to be a group of peaceful protesters, prompting the use of live fire in self-defense by Israeli forces.

In response, Turkey expelled Jerusalem’s ambassador to Ankara, prompting Israel to do the same.

KERRY ANNOUNCES SURPRISE MEETING WITH ABBAS
by Elad Benari (Arutz Sheva News)

The latest impasse in the talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) is enough to cause U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to interrupt a visit to Italy to meet with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan.

Kerry’s surprise trip to Amman, which will take place on Wednesday, aims “to continue to narrow the gaps between the parties”, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday, according to AFP.

Kerry will also be in touch with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “over the phone or by video conference”, Psaki added, in what is seen as an acknowledgement by the Americans that talks have hit a snag.

Kerry coaxed the two sides back to the negotiating table in July after a three-year hiatus, but the talks have stumbled as he has sought to hammer out an agreed framework to guide the next few months.

The new meeting with Abbas comes just over a week after the PA Chairman visited the White House to meet President Barack Obama for what were described as “difficult” talks.

Kerry’s unexpected plans to leave the Italian capital only hours after arriving came as fresh tensions arose over the peace talks, which he is struggling to keep on track and hopefully extend beyond an April 29 deadline.

Arab leaders meeting Tuesday in Kuwait backed the PA’s refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, an Israeli demand that threatens to derail the talks.

In a draft statement endorsed by foreign ministers, the summit stressed a “categorical rejection” of the demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and rejected “all pressures exerted on the Palestinian leadership” to force it into agreeing.

Abbas, meanwhile, Abbas launched a tirade against Israel at the Arab League summit, accusing the Jewish state of being responsible for the peace talks not progressing.

“The Israeli government is trying to dodge an agreement it had with the U.S. administration to release pre-Oslo Palestinian prisoners,” Abbas said.

“The Israeli government took every chance to foil the American efforts. This proves what we say about the lack of seriousness and preparedness of the Israeli government to withdraw and create peace,” he charged.

On Monday, a PA official stated that Abbas would agree to extend peace talks with Israel, but only if certain conditions are met.

These conditions, according to the official, are more terrorist releases and a freeze on construction in Judea and Samaria.

Abbas has consistently said that unless all his preconditions are met, there will be no peace with Israel.

ABBAS SETS CONDITIONS FOR EXTENSION OF TALKS
by Elad Benari (Arutz Sheva News)

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to extend peace talks with Israel, but only if certain conditions are met, a PA official told the Ma’an news agency on Monday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that during a recent meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Abbas agreed to extend peace negotiations if Israel pledged to freeze construction in Judea and Samaria and release more terrorist prisoners.

The official told Ma’an that a good test to see if Israel is serious about making concessions will be whether it releases the last of the four groups of terrorist prisoners it agreed to free before talks began in July.

The official said that if Israel delayed the release of the last group of terrorists, the PA would turn to international organizations, a threat it has made several times in the past.

Israel agreed to release 104 terrorists in four batches as a “gesture” to Abbas. Three of the four releases have already gone through, but the PA chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, admitted earlier this month that Abbas was staying in talks solely for the sake of the terrorist releases. In the wake of these statements, government ministers have been pressuring Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to go through with the fourth release.

Abbas has consistently said that unless all his preconditions are met, there will be no peace with Israel. At the same time, he has refused to agree to Netanyahu’s demand that the PA recognize Israel as a Jewish state in order to achieve peace.

On Sunday, Erekat once again accused Israel of taking “actions against the Palestinian people” that indicate that it has “chosen settlers over peace.”

The comments came several days after Erekat declared that Israel would have to choose between “settlements” and peace.

HAMAS LAWMAKER SAYS KORAN TEACHES THAT THEY MUST MASSACRE JEWS
by Elad Benari (Arutz Sheva News)

A lawmaker from Hamas recently called for a “massacre” of Jews, explaining that Koran indicates that this must be done.

In a televised address the lawmaker, Yunis Al-Astal, also said that Jews must be forced to pay the “jizya” tax, which under the strict Islamic Sharia doctrine, non-Muslims living under Muslim sovereignty must pay in return for the ruler’s protection. Jihadist rebels who have taken control of areas in Syria have imposed such a tax on Christian minorities.

Al-Astal’s address aired on March 6 on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV. It was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“In today’s show, we will discuss the demand that the Palestinian people recognize Israel as a Jewish state, so that the occupation will graciously hand them out scraps. I would like to begin by quoting what Allah said about them: ‘The worst of beasts in the sight of Allah are those who disbelieve. They are the ones with whom you made a covenant, but they break their covenant every time,’” said Al-Astal.

“The obvious question is: What is the solution to this gang of people? The Al-Anfal chapter of the Koran provides us with the answer,” he continued. “After He said: ‘They are the ones with whom you made a covenant, but they break their covenant every time,’ Allah added: ‘If you gain mastery over them in a war, use them to disperse those who follow them that they may remember.’ This indicates that we must massacre them, in order to break them down and prevent them from sowing corruption in the world. They are the ones who still spark the flame of war, but Allah has taken it upon Himself to extinguish it.”

MEMRI’s release of Al-Astal’s comments comes on the same day that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh threatened Israel it would pay dearly if it heeded the growing calls to retake Gaza.

“We tell the enemy and (Foreign Minister Avigdor) Liberman who is threatening to reoccupy Gaza that the time for your threats is over,” Haniyeh declared, at a rally in Gaza City. “Any aggression or crime or stupidity you commit will cost you a very high price.”

Arab incitement against Israel has continued throughout the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA). It is not only Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by most Western countries, that has incited against Israel, but also the PA under Mahmoud Abbas, who is often described as a “moderate peace partner.”

The Israeli government only recently released its annual “Palestinian Incitement Index”, which showed that incitement against Israel and the Jewish people is continuing on official media channels including – inter alia – by bodies that are very close to the PA Chairman and in educational and religious networks.

Such incitement ranges from the glorification of Nazism and the lionization of Adolf Hitler, to programs on official PA television featuring heavily-stereotyped Jews as villains (and encouraging violence against them), and various TV and radio shows which literally wipe the Jewish state off the map.

In addition, top officials in Abbas’s Fatah party have also openly supported Hamas’s efforts to kidnap Israeli soldiers. One of these officials, Abbas Zaki, recently declared that “Allah will gather Israelis so that we can kill them.”

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer made an appearance on the Special Report All Star Panel last night to discuss the latest on the crisis in Ukraine. He wasn’t too impressed with our government’s response to that situation.

OBAMA IS BEING RIDICULED BY RUSSIANS
by Charles Krauthammer (Arutz Sheva News)

“Obama is being ridiculed by Russians, especially, because the statement and the policy are ridiculous,” Krauthammer said. He was speaking of President Obama’s statement yesterday that sanctions will be levied against certain high-profile Eastern Europeans who supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s incursion into the Crimean peninsula.

“He doesn’t have a lot of cards,” he continued, “but he has some cards. And if he thinks that sanctioning seven Russians, out of a population of what? 150 million? is a sanction, he’s living in a different world.”

“The one thing that we could do is to respond to the Ukrainian request — when the President was here last week, they asked the Pentagon for weapons. And we said “no” because somehow to arm the victim of aggression is a provocation. So we said “no”. We’re going to offer them rations. Well, that’s going to hold off Russian tanks, I’m sure,” Krauthammer said.

SYRIA COMPLAINS TO THE UN AGAINST ISRAEL
By Elad Benari and Ido Ben Porat (IsraelNationalNews)

Syria complained on Wednesday to the United Nations against Israel, after the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes against Syrian targets on Tuesday night.

The airstrikes, in which Syria claimed a soldier had been killed, targeted artillery batteries and a Syrian army training camp which had aided terrorists in the detonation of an explosive charge on the Israeli-Lebanese border Tuesday, wounding four soldiers.

In a letter to the UN Security Council, Syria’s foreign ministry demanded that “measures be taken to deter Israel so it does not repeat the violation of the separation of forces agreement.”

“Israel provides direct and indirect assistance to armed terrorist organizations in the border area,” said the letter, in a reference to the rebels fighting President Bashar Al-Assad, to whom the Syrian regime refers as “terrorists”.

“This is done in part by treating wounded terrorists and then bringing them back to the battlefield so they can continue to fight against the residents who live in this area,” claimed the Syrian letter.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Wednesday warned Assad that he would “regret his actions” in threatening Israeli security, by allowing terrorists a free hand.

“We see the Assad regime as responsible for what happens in its territory, and if it will continue to cooperate with terrorists striving to harm the state of Israel, we will continue to collect a heavy price from him, in such a way that he will regret his actions,” warned Ya’alon.

Sources in Hizbullah, the Lebanese-based terror group fighting in Syria alongside Assad, revealed Tuesday that the border attack was a failed kidnapping attempt targeting the soldiers.

Also on Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki backed Israel’s right to self-defense.

“Assad’s desperate efforts to cling to power increases the propensity for spillover violence,” she told reporters in Washington, according to AFP. “Israel has a right to defend itself.”

“We continue to call upon the regime to avoid any action that would jeopardize the long-held ceasefire between Israel and Syria,” added Psaki

EXPERIENCING GOD’S GLORY
by Moshe Kempinski

Moshe Kempinski, author of “The Teacher and the Preacher”, is the editor of the Jerusalem Insights weekly email journal and co-owner of Shorashim, a Biblical shop and learning center in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Hashem places before us a momentous goal, ”After Hashem your G-d shall you walk, and Him shall you fear, and His commandments shall you keep, and unto His voice shall you hearken, and Him shall you serve, and unto Him shall you cleave”. ( Deuteronomy 13:5) .

That cleaving (Dveikut) is the ultimate goal. How is it achieved? Is the keeping of the commandments, listening to His voice and serving Him all that is necessary to achieve this elevated level of cleaving-Dveikut ?

On the eighth day of the inauguration of the tabernacle Aaron, Moshe and the people of Israel awaited the revelation of G-d’s glory over the tabernacle. The first words of our parsha (Torah portion) hint at the trepidation and insecurity that surrounds that waiting.

“And it came to pass (Vayehi) on the eighth day.” (9:1)

Traditionally the word “Vayehi ( and it came to pass) ” is an eternal Torah sign of impending danger and concern. We saw the use of this code word as an introduction to a time of danger and threats in the Scroll of Esther:

“Now it came to pass (Vayehi) in the days of Ahashverush.” (Esther 1:1)

Why would the inauguration of the tabernacle and the filling of that tabernacle with the Clouds of Glory be connected with concern and woe? The Netivot HaShalom offers a fascinating insight into the minds and hearts of the Israelite people during these momentous moments.

Here, were a people waiting for the inauguration of the Tabernacle under a cloud of worry and concern. This concern was focused on the question of whether or not Hashem truly forgave them for the sin of the calf. That burden of concern weighed heavily on Aaron as well.

We read that Moshe gathers the people to do what they had been preparing to do for the last seven days. He instructs the people to begin the sacrificial system and then declares to them the following;
“And they took what Moshe had commanded, to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the entire community approached and stood before Hashem. And Moshe said, ‘This is the thing Hashem has commanded; do it, and the glory of Hashem will appear to you.'” ( Leviticus 9:5-6)

Yet at this point he turns to Aaron and says ; “Approach the altar and perform your sin offering and your burnt offering, atoning for yourself and for the people, and perform the people’s sacrifice, atoning for them, as Hashem has commanded.” (ibid 9:7)

Why did Moshe have to tell Aaron to “approach the altar”? This is what he has been practicing for seven days. He knew what he had to do. Rashi teaches that Moshe had to order Aaron to do so, because Aaron was afraid to approach the altar. Moshe had to say to him “Why are you ashamed? It is for this role you have been chosen!” (Torath Kohanim 9:7)

Aaron then does what he was trained to do and then he turns to the people; “And Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people and blessed them.”( ibid;22)

That blessing was pregnant with anticipation and yearning for G-d’s Glory, Kavod Hashem, to appear.

Yet we read immediately the following ”He then descended from preparing the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering.”
Rashi says the following “When Aaron saw that all the sacrifices had been offered and all the procedures had been performed, and yet the Kavod Hashem ( the Glory of G-d) had not descended for Israel, he was distressed. He said, ‘I know that the Holy One, blessed is He, is angry with me, and on my account Kavod Hashem has not descended for Israel.”

We then read the following; “And Moshe and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting. ( ibid :23) We don’t know for how long they went into the tent for and we are not told what they did there, but we then read,
“Then they came out and blessed the people, and the Glory of Hashem appeared to all the people.” (ibid 9:23)

Rashi suggests that in the tent of meeting they prayed for mercy.

(Torath Kohanim 9:16).After all the ritual and procedure, Aaron had brought to Hashem the ultimate sacrifice, Teshuva. (repentance)

“For You do not wish a sacrifice, or I should give it; You do not desire a burnt offering. The sacrifices of G-d are a broken spirit; O G-d, You will not despise a broken and crushed heart.” (Psalm 51:18-19)

Why would that be so of the broken heart? To understand this one must clarify what Kavod Hashem –the Glory of G-d actually means. In common parlance it is usually seen as being synonymous with the concept of the Shechina – Presence of G-d . Yet that cannot be.

Ezekiel describes the Glory of G-d leaving the temple mount when the people of Israel go into exile. “..the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the Glory of the G-d of Israel was over them above. And the Glory of Hashem went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.”(11:22-23) .

Many have mistranslated the word Kavod (Glory) as the ”Presence of G-d”. Yet that cannot be, as G-d’s Presence is never to leave the temple mount. “…whereof Hashem had said, In Jerusalem shall My name be for ever. (II Chronicles 33:4). Yet with the exile of His people, His Glory left as well.

Glory then, is best defined as the perceived Presence of G-d that necessitates people to declare His Glory or Kavod. That is to say Kavod or Glory necessitates a people who can become a worthy and active vessel

The awesome and frightening silence that followed the conclusion of Aaron’s Dedication ritual was devastating. It broke the hearts of the people and of Aaron. It was that broken and yearning heart that then brought about the revelation of G-d’s glory.

This experience of breaking, yearning and awareness becomes the critical ingredients, then, of personal and corporate Dveikut (cleaving) . May we all succeed in becoming the appropriate vessels.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an important article by a very devoted follower of the Torah. It is a Jewish perspective, of course. But, it is important to see the principle of repentance (teshuvah) – “a broken and a contrite heart.” How thankful we are that the “glory of God” was manifested in the coming of our Messiah! To God be ALL the glory!)

ISRAEL BOMBS SYRIA AFTER SOLDIERS HURT IN BORDER ATTACK
by Ryan Jones (Israel Today News)

Israel forced to consider military action in Syria. Israelis scramble for gas masks as Syria attack looms. Syrian rebels behead Christian man

Israeli warplanes bombed military targets in Syria early Wednesday morning, hours after four IDF soldiers were wounded, one seriously, by a roadside bomb planted along the Israel-Syria border.

Among the targets hit by Israel were a Syrian army training camp, headquarters facility and artillery batteries. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that the targets had all “aided and abetted” in the border bombing.

Late Tuesday afternoon, an Israeli army patrol was reportedly lured by suspicious figures into the no-man’s land between the Israeli security fence and the Syrian border. A well-hidden bomb was then detonated, wounding four members of the patrol.

The victims were quickly evacuated before they could be further targeted.

Lebanon’s Hizbullah terrorist militia later announced on its Al-Manar TV that the attack was an attempt to abduct one or more Israeli soldiers. Hizbullah has successfully abducted Israeli soldiers in the past, and exchanged them, both dead and alive, for jailed Arab terrorists.

Hizbullah currently has thousands of fighters taking part in the Syrian civil war on the side of embattled dictator Bashar Assad.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel’s enemies to not escalate the situation further. “Our policy is very clear. We strike those who strike us,” he said. “From time to time it is necessary to take aggressive action, as we are doing now, to ensure that the quiet continues.”