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Thursday, May. 26 '16, Iyar 18, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. WATCH: HOMES EVACUATED ACROSS JERUSALEM AS FIRES RAGE
2. WATCH: MASSES FLOCK TO MERON FOR LAG BA'OMER HILULA
3. ISRAEL INTERCEPTS WEAPONS TRANSFER FROM JUDEA TO GAZA STRIP
4. SANDERS AIDES PLEDGE TO PUSH DEMOCRATIC PARTY AWAY FROM ISRAEL
5. PEOPLE KEEP ASKING NY METS PITCHER STEVEN MATZ IF HE'S JEWISH
6. 3.2 MILLION IMMIGRANTS TO ISRAEL
7. IAF ATTACKS HAMAS INFRASTRUCTURES IN GAZA
8. WATCH: LAG BA'OMER CELEBRATION SHOWCASES JEWISH UNITY
1. WATCH: HOMES EVACUATED ACROSS JERUSALEM AS FIRES RAGE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2015651]
Fires broke out across the capital on Thursday, forcing evacuations across the city.
In northern Jerusalem, firefighters struggled Thursday afternoon to control a forest fire threatening the nearby neighborhood of Ramot.
The cause of the blaze is believed to be a Lag Ba'Omer bonfire.
Fierce winds have helped spread the fire, which now threatens a number of homes.
Firefighters have warned residents of the Masholim sector of Ramot to evacuate immediately.
On the city's southern edge, two buildings in Gilo were evacuated because of a nearby brushfire.
To the west, a fire near the neighboring community of Mevaseret threatened houses on the outskirts of town, leading authorities to begin evacuations of residents.
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2. WATCH: MASSES FLOCK TO MERON FOR LAG BA'OMER HILULA
by Arutz Sheva staff
[youtube:2015646]
(Live feed courtesy of Eli Aviv)
Hundreds of thousands of Jewish worshippers are converging on the town of Meron in northern Israel to celebrate Lag B'Omer at the Tomb of the ancient Jewish scholar and mystic Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
The yearly mountaintop gathering at the tomb of the Jewish leader, seen by many as the father of the kabbalistic movement, is believed to be the largest Jewish festive gathering in the world.
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai - also known as "Rashbi" - was a tannaitic sage who lived during the second century in ancient Israel. One of the most eminent disciples of Rabbi Akiva - a leading scholar who also served as spiritual leader of the Bar Kochba Revolt against Roman occupation - Rashbi was himself forced into hiding by Israel's Roman occupiers after criticizing the regime.
According to the Talmud, he hid for 13 years in a cave in the Galilean town of Pekiin, along with his son Rabbi Eleazar. The Talmud records that they spent their time in hiding studying Torah, sustained by a stream and carob tree which miraculously sprouted for them, until a Divine Revelation revealed that the Roman viceroy had died and the decree calling for their execution had been nullified.
It is during that period that Rashbi is said to have gained an insight into the mystical aspects of the Torah. On his deathbed, tradition has it that he told his disciples that rather than mourning him, they should celebrate his life and teachings on the anniversary of his death - or hilula - which is on the 39th day of the Omer period between the festivals of Pesach and Shavuot.
Bonfires are lit at the tomb to signify the light of Torah, as well as in remembrance of the Bar Kochba rebels, who lit fires to communicate the start of the revolt.
The Boyaner Hassidic Rebbe, now Rabbi Nachum Dov Brayer, has the honor of lighting the first bonfire at the Meron celebration each year, and the sect runs the event.
The tradition was given to them after Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman, also known as the Sadigura Rebbe, bought the privilege from the Sephardic guardians of Meron and Tzfat (Safed).
3. ISRAEL INTERCEPTS WEAPONS TRANSFER FROM JUDEA TO GAZA STRIP
by Kobi Finkler
Border control agents, working in conjunction with the Shin Bet internal security agency, confiscated a large shipment at the Tarkumia Crossing in the Hevron region.
The shipment, bound for Gaza via Israel, carried a large quantity of building materials for rockets and mortars, along with heavy-duty electric motors, used to construct and fortify underground facilities.
Security officials believe the shipment was destined for the Hamas terror organization.
The smuggled materials were concealed in what appeared to be a shipment of textiles and jewelry.
Officials say the shipment included hundreds of special pipes used to manufacture rockets and mortars, in addition to motors Hamas likely intended to use to expand its vast underground network.
The shipment was destined for the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza via Israel. Authorities are searching for those responsible for the smuggling attempt.
4. SANDERS AIDES PLEDGE TO PUSH DEMOCRATIC PARTY AWAY FROM ISRAEL
by David Rosenberg
While former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now all but assured the Democratic nomination this summer, her rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says the political revolution is far from over. As some Democratic officials fear, Sanders' claim may be more than an idle threat to the party establishment.
Because of his performance in the Democratic nominating process, Sanders has been awarded 5 of the 15 seats at the party platform drafting committee; the body which sets the official agenda for the Democratic National Committee and 2016 presidential election campaign.
Sanders looks to push the party to the left on a variety of issues, but has also placed an emphasis on the Israeli-Arab conflict. Two of Sanders' five representatives – Cornel West and James Zogby – are outspoken opponents of the Jewish state.
On Wednesday the two announced their intentions to use the Democratic platform drafting committee to shift the party away from support for Israel – and towards the Palestinians.
West decried what he described as the "occupation", demanding the party take an active role in ending Israeli control over Judea and Samaria.
"Justice for Palestinians cannot be attained without the lifting of the occupation," West said, drawing attention to what he called "the plight of an occupied people", the New York Times reported.
West, who teaches philosophy at the Union Theological Seminary, has a history of abrasive comments towards Israel, and has been a vocal supporter of the BDS movement.
In an interview with Salon, West said the Israeli "occupation" of Judea and Samaria must be terminated.
"It's ugly, it's vicious, it's brutal, and it needs to not just be brought to attention, it needs to be brought to an end."
West brushed off criticism of his stance as "Zionist critiques", and compared the Gaza Strip to Nazi concentration camp and drawing parallels to racism in the West.
"[T]here is no doubt that Gaza is not just a 'kind of' concentration camp, it is the hood on steroids."
For his part, Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, also has a history of vicious anti-Israel rhetoric, abuse of the legacy of the Holocaust, and tropes aimed at Jewish supporters of Israel.
In a 2010 Huffington Post article, Zogby compared Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria to the Nazi Holocaust.
An early supporter of the BDS movement, Zogby himself organized boycotts of businesses with branches in Israel.
In the past, Zogby has as suggested that Israeli influence was behind America's involvement in the Iraq War, and has smeared some American Jews as "Israel firsters".
5. PEOPLE KEEP ASKING NY METS PITCHER STEVEN MATZ IF HE'S JEWISH
by Gabe Friedman
Is New York Mets pitcher Steven Matz Jewish?
It was a question fans were asking themselves last season during the team's run to the World Series.
Despite his surname, which is a syllable away from the word for unleavened Passover bread, the answer is no.
But it turns out Matz gets the question all the time.
So much so that when he met a fellow Matz — ESPN reporter Eddie Matz, no relation — the first thing he did was pop the question, according to the article that occasioned the meeting, published Wednesday.
Clarifying the reason for his inquiry, the 24-year-old ace said: "I'm not, but it's the first question people ask when they meet me."
Matz the reporter wrote that the only time he'd ever encountered Matzes in the past was at family seders. Why, he asked Matz the pitcher, who helped power the Mets' 2015 playoff run as a rookie, do you think you get the question so often?
"Because I'm from Long Island and it sounds like Katz," Steven Matz said of his last name.
Jewish or not, Matz has New Yorkers kvelling. In eight starts this season, he has a 7-1 record, a stellar 2.36 earned run average and 50 strikeouts. He was born in Stony Brook, New York, and went to high school in East Setauket on Long Island's North Shore-area.
6. 3.2 MILLION IMMIGRANTS TO ISRAEL
by David Rosenberg
Some 3.2 million people have immigrated to Israel since the founding of the state in 1948, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The immigration figures, which reflect Aliyah from 1948 to 2015, show that immigration was heavily concentrated in two major waves: the first from 1948 through 1951, and the second from 1990 to 1999.
Since the beginning of the second wave of mass immigration in 1990, when large numbers of Jews from Warsaw Pact countries made Aliyah, some 1.35 million immigrants have come to Israel, or about 42% of all Aliyah since 1948.
While Aliyah in recent years has been slow – particularly since the Second Intifada – the rate of immigration has been trending upward since 2008. Last year saw a 15.7% increase in total immigration rates over 2014, with 27,908 immigrants.
On Wednesday the Knesset marked 100 years of American Jewish contributions to Israel and Zionism, including a report on American Aliyah to Israel and financial support for the Jewish state.
Since 1972, 115,195 immigrants from the US have made Aliyah, and the rate of American Aliyah is on the rise.
While the number immigrants from the US to Israel from 1991 to 2000 averaged only 2,246 per year, that figure rose to 2,635 from 2001 to 2010. Since 2011, the average annual rate of American immigration surged to 3,290, the highest level the 1960s.
According to the report, the top destinations for American immigrants are Jerusalem, which is home to 29,882 American émigrés who arrived since 1972. Tel Aviv was a distant second with 10,620, followed by Beit Shemesh with 6,937, Raanana with 3,717, Haifa with 3,520, Netanya with 3,043, Modiin with 2,006, and Efrat with 1,978.
7. IAF ATTACKS HAMAS INFRASTRUCTURES IN GAZA
by Elad Benari
Israeli aircraft overnight Wednesday attacked two terrorist infrastructures belonging to Hamas in Gaza, the IDF Spokesperson said in a statement.
According to the statement, the airstrike was in response to an earlier rocket attack on the Gaza Belt.
"The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for Gaza and will continue to act with determination in order to maintain the quiet in the communities in southern Israel," the IDF statement stressed.
In Wednesday evening's attack, which occurred around 11:30 p.m., a rocket exploded in an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev region. There were no physical injuries or damages.
Military sources said that activated the alarm sounded because the test was conducted at an open area.
Military sources said that the "Red Alert" siren was not activated before the rocket exploded due to the fact that it was headed towards an open area.
Rocket and mortar fire from Gaza has continued to "trickle" into Israel on occasion. On May 6, two mortar shells fired from Gaza exploded near the security fence in the Eshkol Regional Council.
There were no physical injuries or damages. Israeli aircraft hit two Hamas targets in Gaza in retaliation for the attack.
8. WATCH: LAG BA'OMER CELEBRATION SHOWCASES JEWISH UNITY
by Eliran Aharon
[youtube:2015639]
The Lag Ba'Omer celebration in the town of Meron in northern Israel was truly an expression of Jewish unity, as hundreds of thousands of Jews from around the world gathered for the bonfire at the Tomb of the ancient Jewish scholar and mystic Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
Arutz Sheva caught up with three worshippers from Chicago, Miami, and Baltimore who pointed out that the celebration was the "craziest" they've ever seen.
"Nowhere in America do you get such celebrations," they declared.
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