Dispatch from Jerusalem

Animal Aliyah

{image_1} It was an emotional moment. Excited by a move to work as a journalist in Israel, my wife and I were taking the little one to the Middle East for the first time. Bringing our “baby” to the Holy Land was hardly painless. Over many months, we had to get her a passport, vaccinations, a kennel, and an abundance of paperwork. But watching as she wolfed down the kosher kebab they gave her on the flight to Tel Aviv, happy as a clam, we figured everything would be okay.

Holocaust Memorials

 On January 27, many nations memorialize the Holocaust on International Holocaust {image_1}Remembrance Day, as designated in 2005 by the UN. This date marks the liberation of the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz–Birkenau. Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day, Yom HaShoah, falls in April just prior to Memorial Day and Independence Day. These quotes come from speeches made in January.

New Gas Masks Distributed

In February, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began the long-anticipated distribution of gas masks to all of Israel’s residents, according to a report on the IDF Web site. Though masks have been distributed before—most notably in conjunction with the First Gulf War in 1991 when Saddam Hussein fired Scud missiles at Israel—the masks have needed to be upgraded.

IDF Simulates Biological Attack

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In January, the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] Medical Corps held a drill to simulate a mass casualty biological weapons attack in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

UNIFIL Finds Bombs near Lebanon

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Members of the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon report finding a number of bombs planted near the border with the Israeli town of Metula. Described as sophisticated and well made, the weapons each contained about 660 pounds [272 kilograms]  of explosives and are believed to have been set to kill Israeli soldiers entering Lebanese territory, presumably in pursuit of cross-border raiders from Hizbullah.

Keeping a Strong Israeli Border Presence

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Israel will maintain a strong military presence along the eastern border of the Palestinian state—its border with Jordan—once it’s created, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He told foreign reporters in Jerusalem that “the ability to proliferate into contiguous areas thousands of rockets and missiles” creates a “monumental security problem.”

Prehistoric Building Found in Tel Aviv

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Tel Aviv is one of the new generations of Israeli cities, literally built out of the sand in the last century. However, archaeology shows that the Tel Aviv area was inhabited thousands of years ago, thanks in part to the discovery of the remains of a prehistoric building. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) reported that the building is the oldest ever found in the area and is believed to be thousands of years older than the era of Abraham and the patriarchs.

New Medical School in Safed

Bar-Ilan University, Israel’s second-largest university, is expanding its reputation as a leading research institute by building a medical school in Safed, north of the Sea of Galilee.

Bridges for Peace IN ACTION: Practical Gifts for Practical Needs

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MAKING ALIYAH—THE DREAM of a Jewish family to return to Israel, the land of their forefathers—is an exciting event in the lives of new immigrants coming to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Tiberias, Haifa, Beersheva, and countless other communities across Israel. But such a drastic move also involves plenty of practical considerations. There’s only so much you can pack in your suitcase, after all, and though you might like to take the kitchen sink, airline baggage regulations limit how much you can put in your luggage!

Nasrallah Rages against “Hegemonic” US

HIZBULLAH Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah laid out his political platform on November 30 during a speech filmed by closed-circuit cameras. The platform promotes armed battle against Israel and the United States, as well as all of the latter's protectorates. “We see the US as a power that aims to impose hegemony in the region,” Nasrallah explained. “The Islamic resistance movement in Lebanon aims to fight this hegemony and the [Israeli] occupation.” He said the United States has been treating the globe as a market it aims to control, and that it was waging “a strategy of unlimited expansion.”

“The Bush administration found in September 11 a chance to impose his influence, with the excuse of a war on terror,” the Hizbullah leader said. “He tried to create a parallel between terror and resistance. There is no doubt that American terror is the source of all terror in the world. This administration gave itself the right to embark on a war of destruction, which does not distinguish between one man and the other.”