Yahrtzeit (anniversary of death) of Aaron the High Priest
Today, the first day of the Jewish month of Av, is the yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of the High Priest Aaron.
I can remember in the mid-to-late '90's that there were organized trips from Israel to the tomb (pictured), which is located in southern Jordan. The trips left in the wee hours of the morning, and returned in the wee hours of the following morning. One of my sons claims to have seen notices of such a trip this year. I have not seen them in years.
In the meantime, some people commemorate the occasion by visiting the
tombs of his sons.
Hundreds marked the anniversary of the passing of Aaron the High
Priest by praying, Sunday evening, at the tombs of his sons, Elazar and
Itamar, in the Samarian (Shomron) Palestinian Authority-assigned village
of Awarta.
While most of the worshipers were from the
hareidi-religious community, religious Zionists and secular Jews were
also represented. The visit was organized by the Samaria Regional
Council and the Shechem Echad organization, in coordination with the
Israel Defense Forces and other security services.
If the name Awarta sounds familiar, it should. It is the home of the
murderers of the Fogel family from Itamar. The graves of Elazar and Itamar were
desecrated a year and a half ago with slogans praising the murderers. No one thought to call it
terrorism.
Labels: Amjad Awad, Awarta, Fogel family massacre, Hakim Awad, Itamar, price tag attacks, terrorism
Outrageous: Family members of Fogel killers allowed to pick olives in Itamar
Family members of
Hakim and
Amjad Awad from the village of Awarta were allowed to pick olives on Sunday within the boundaries of the Jewish village of Itamar. Six months ago, Hakim and Amjad Awad stole into Itamar on a Friday night and
murdered Udi and Ruti Fogel and three of their children HY"D (May God Avenge their blood). The Awad cousins gathered important intelligence information about Itamar during
last year's olive harvest. On Sunday, 12-year old Tamar Fogel, the eldest daughter of Udi and Ruti and one of three surviving Fogel children, could only
look on helplessly as the Awad clan taunted Itamar residents.
Settlers in Itamar were outraged Sunday morning after Palestinians from Awarta arrived in Itamar for their annual olive harvest in the settlement. According to the settlers, among the Palestinians who arrived in Itamar were the family members of Amjad and Hakim Awad who brutally stabbed and murdered five members of the Fogel family six months ago.
The settlers claimed that the Palestinians shouted "We'll Fogel you" and drew their fingers across their necks indicating slaughter.
Dozens of women and children from Itamar protested against the move, including Tamar Fogel who lost her parents and three siblings in the heinous terror attack. Several settlers threw rocks at Palestinians, one was lightly wounded. Security forces separated the two sides.
According to Itamar settlers, during last year's harvest, Hakim Awad entered the settlement and gathered information ahead of the massacre. "This is an abominable case of insensitivity," they said, "In previous years yeshiva students harvested the olives for the Palestinians and transferred them to Awarta's residents free of charge.
"After intervention from left-wing activists we were forced to allow the village residents to carry out their own harvest, but it is clear that with a little bit of thought and creativity we could have found a solution." The settlers claim that this is an "absurd situation where the family of the killer harvests olives meters away from where he butchered an entire family."
...
The Palestinians who arrived on the settlement accompanied by Police Special Forces and Border Guard officers claimed that they weren't close relatives of the murderers. "There are famers from the Awad family among the harvesters," admitted Jamal Kavarik, an Awarta resident, "but they weren't closely related to the murderers. The Awad clan in Awarta is numerous."
He attested to the fact that the IDF arrived at the scene in the early hours of the morning to secure the harvest and prevent altercations between the Palestinians and the settlers. "When we arrived on the field 15 settlers came down from Itamar and started throwing rocks at the farmers. I called the Coordination and Liaison Administration and told them and the IDF arrived at the scene."
Itamar residents had warned last year against allowing 'Palestinians' from Awarta to enter their town.
Will there - God forbid - be another terror attack?
In an email, David HaIvri, director of the Shomron Liaison Office, adds.
A flurry of emotions in Itamar:
Six months after the horrifying massacre committed by Amjad and Hackim Awed from the village Awarata, who brutally murdered five members of the Fogel family in Itamar, members of the murderer's family – the Awed clan- approached Itamar this morning (Sunday) for the seasonal olive harvest.
During last year's olive harvest, the murderer Hackim Awed had entered Itamar and collected information to prepare for his deadly attack, as a result was later able to enter Itamar for the second time, together with his brother Amjad, according to intel he acquired during the harvest.
Gershon Mesika, Head of the Shomron Regional Council contacted the commanding ranks of the IDF and Knesset Members in order to stop the murderess clan's harvest:
"It is an outrage that cries out to Heaven. A year ago, exactly, I warned the army commands and the Civil Administration, that terrorists can use the olive harvest as an opportunity to collect intelligence before attacking. In spite of all my warnings, hundreds of Arabs from the village Awaratha were allowed into Itamar to harvest the olives. Among them was the murderer Hackim Awed, who then collected information before the massacre. I would expect that this year there would be some logical consideration.
Chairman of the Shomron Residence Committee, Benny Katzover responded severely to the actions of the Civil Administration:
"There is no limit to the Civil Administration's lack of responsibility and of sensitivity. We thought that even the callous unilateral would have a limit. The Civil Admin' has surrendered, yet again, to the radical left wing and has endangered the life of Jews.
Brigadier-General (reserve) Rabbi Avichai Rozenki, head of Itamar Yeshiva, who was the Chief Military Rabbi has responded in astonishment:
"only six months after the murder, while our blood is still boiling and the residents are still caring for their bleeding wounds, allowing anyone from the Awerata vilage, where the murderers of the Fogel family and the Shvo Family came from – is outrages and negligent!"
At this time the women of Itamar are protesting in the Itamar harvest areas. – Among the protesters is Tamar Fogel, orphan of the murdered family.
Four members of the Shvo (usually spelled Shabo) family - Rachel Shabo and three of her sons (Avishai – 5, Zvika – 13 and Neria – 16) - were
murdered along with a neighbor in a 2002 terror attack by another member of the Awad clan.
Labels: Amjad Awad, Awarta, Fogel family massacre, Hakim Awad, Itamar, olive harvest, Palestinian terrorism
Israel's traitorous Left
If you have any doubts as to whether Israel's radical Left is simply misguided or outright traitorous,
this ought to dispel them. Yaacov Lozowick describes some of the things that have been reported in the Hebrew media (only) about radical Leftist groups Machsom Watch and the Alternative Information Center visiting 'Palestinians' in Awarta whose homes were raided by the IDF searching for the murderers of the Fogel family in nearby Itamar. The woman on the right is the mother of one of the confessed murderers.
Hagit Beck, a member of Machsom Watch, describes on her blog how she and some other women went to visit "the 2 homes which had been ransacked". The second of the two was the home of Hakem Awad. (Isn't in interesting how in spite of all the horror, the reports all seem to focus on the same one or two homes?). The blog-post has been put up also on the Machsom Watch website: they're obviously proud of it. While in the house, Raya Yaron, the Machsom Watch spokeswoman, tried to comfort Shama Awad, mother of suspected murderer Hakem Awad, and wife of one of the men suspected for destroying the evidence. If proven in court, this will mean Shama Awad hid her murderer son from the police for most of a month, knowing fully what he had done. This is the woman Raya Yaron is embracing, and Hagit Beck is celebrating.
Read the whole thing. No, they're not just misguided. They're traitorous.
Labels: Alternative Information Center, Awarta, Fogel family massacre, Hakim Awad, Itamar, Machsom Watch, Palestinian terrorism, Shama Awad
Blame the murders on the moonbats
The two 'Palestinians' who murdered Udi, Ruti, Yoav, Elad and Hadas Fogel HY"D (may God avenge their blood) knew their way around Itamar because they had been among a group of 'Palestinians' from Awarta who were allowed into Itamar to
pick olives.
The IDF Civil Administration allowed PA Arabs from the nearby village of Awarta to harvest olives within Itamar that they claimed belonged to their village, despite concerns voiced by Itamar residents, who expressed fear that some PA Arabs could use the opportunity to learn the layout of the town in order to plan an attack.
Residents of Itamar even said they would be willing to pick the olives themselves, and deliver them to residents of Awarta, rather than open their town to potentially hostile PA residents. However, Civil Administration officials insisted that Awarta residents not only be given possession of the olives in question, but be allowed to harvest the produce themselves.
Residents reported Sunday that one of the PA “farmers” had been caught red-handed as he took pictures of IDF positions in Itamar during the harvest. The man was detained for questioning, but released on the orders of the Civil Administration.
The security guard's report may explain a comment a Shin Bet official made regarding the murders. The Shin Bet man said the killers had not spied on the town prior to the murders, because they were already familiar with its layout.
The IDF and the Civil Administration face pressure each year from the PA and the foreign and Israeli left to allow Arabs to harvest olives freely, regardless of security concerns. Many far-left groups, among them the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and Rabbis for Human Rights, hold annual “olive harvest” events aimed at forcing Israel to allow PA Arabs to enter Israeli land during the harvest.
But of course, Israel's security considerations are regularly dismissed. Instead, IDF soldiers are called upon to '
protect' the 'Palestinians' during the olive harvest. And the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East 'Peace Process' compares vandalism committed against 'Palestinian' olive trees (by whom is apparently irrelevant) to
terrorism.
Now some of you may be asking how the 'Palestinians' of Awarta could have olive trees in Itamar. In an email, Yisrael Medad tells me that "literally dozens of yishuvim [
Jewish towns CiJ] face the same situation in that while the Arabs have olive trees, they have no title deeds of any officilaity so the compromise is they get to harvest the olives but nothing else while the yishuvim can't touch the trees." The Jewish towns did not plant the trees (although that doesn't necessarily mean that the 'Palestinians' own the land on which they were planted).
So will the 'Palestinians' of Awarta be allowed to harvest olives in Itamar again this fall? I'd bet on it.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Awarta, Fogel family massacre, Itamar, olive harvest, Palestinian terrorism
