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Israeli Official Calms Tensions with Syria
by Joshua Mitnick
 An Israeli official said he doesn't expect war to break out with Syria, calming tensions after the government's silence on Syrian accusations of an airspace infiltration by Israeli jets spurred a tide of speculation of a new war in the Middle East. Culture Minister Raleb Majadele said he doesn't expect the incident to boil over into violence, and that Israeli jets in the past have violated Syrian airspace. (Washington Times)
Hamas: We Fired U.S. Weapons at Israel
by Aaron Klein
 Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations in the Gaza Strip utilized American and international weaponry to attack the Jewish state on Sunday, top terror leaders claimed to WND. The weapons were seized in June when Hamas took control of Gaza and overran U.S.-backed security compounds of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization, the terror leaders said. "The American weapons and western weapons that reached Fatah before Hamas took over Gaza is being used by the Palestinian resistance, including in our aerial attack last week," Muhammad Abdel-El, spokesperson and a senior of the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees terror organization, told WND. (Ynet News/World Net Daily)
Peres: Hamas Wants to Destroy Israel
by Ronny Sofer
 President Shimon Peres said last week in Jerusalem: "We had a rough day in Sderot. Seven rockets fell and almost killed our children. It's an intolerable situation and there is one address for it - Hamas. There is a limit to how much Israel is willing to tolerate....Israel left Gaza completely. There is not one Israeli citizen in its territory. Today I ask myself why? Why is Hamas shooting? What is its goal? There is only one answer. Hamas is a religious-fanatic organization that does not want a Palestinian state for its people, but wants to impose the dangerous radical religious hegemony that is taking over the entire Middle East and gives a green light to kill innocent people in its name. Hamas has one goal," he said, "to destroy the State of Israel....While Israel is making great efforts to reach peace with the Palestinians, it has a greater duty to protect the lives of its citizens and its children. The terror must stop." (Ynet News)
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Rocket Lands by Israeli Day Care Center in Sderot
by Yaniv Zohar
 A Palestinian rocket landed in a courtyard next to a crowded day care center on Monday, sending panicked mothers scrambling to take their screaming toddlers to safety and bringing warnings of retribution from Israeli leaders. None of the 15 children at the center was hurt. But frantic parents in Sderot - already furious over the government's failure to protect them and their children from the near-daily rocket fire - pulled their children out of schools on the second day of the academic year. The army said seven rockets were fired Monday morning at Sderot, a frequently targeted city just a mile from the Gaza Strip. Islamic Jihad, a radical Palestinian militant group that has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in recent years, claimed responsibility. (AP)
Hamas-Fatah Clashes Called New "Intifada"
 The Western-backed Palestinian government said clashes on Friday between its supporters and Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip marked the start of an "intifada" against the Islamists ruling the territory. Wielding clubs, Hamas security men beat protesters, hurled stun grenades and fired in the air to disperse open-air prayers the rival Fatah faction held in the Gaza Strip in defiance of a ban on such gatherings. Medical officials said 20 people, some with gunshot wounds, were treated in hospital. "What we saw in Gaza today was the beginning of a third intifada, against the Hamas occupation," Palestinian Information Minister Riyad Malki told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We bless this uprising." (Reuters)
Young U.S. Jews "Detached" from Isael
by Ruth Eglash
 Young American Jews are feeling increasingly alienated and disconnected from Israel, according to a study to be released Thursday by Professors Steven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman. Based on the responses of more than 1,700 non-Orthodox American Jews of all ages, the study indicates that successively younger age groups show a greater detachment from the State of Israel. According to the report, which was based on statistics collected as part of the 2007 National Survey of American Jews between December 20, 2006, and January 28, 2007, less than half of Jews under the age of 35 believe Israel's destruction would be a personal tragedy, compared to 78 percent of those over 65. (Jerusalem Post)
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