JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Cabinet marked the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Addressing cabinet ministers Tuesday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the people of Israel identify with the families of the attack victims.
“There is no compromise in the war against terror,” Sharon said at the weekly meeting. “Any display of weakness in the battle against terror is destined to claim a heavy price.” Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said “the worst blood libel in history” was concocted against the Jews in connection with last year’s attacks.
Uzi inventor dies, buried at his kibbutz
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Uzi Gal, inventor of the submachine gun that bears his name, died Saturday in Philadelphia. He was 79.
The Uzi submachine gun was used by Israel’s army for the first time during its Sinai campaign in 1956.
Gal was born in Germany in 1923 and immigrated to Israel in 1936 after Hitler came to power. He was buried Thursday at the kibbutz near Haifa where he grew up.
Palestinian paper mocks U.S., Sept. 11
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The official daily newspaper of the Palestinian Authority ran two cartoons ridiculing the United States on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the Palestinian Media Watch.
One cartoon appearing in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida depicts Uncle Sam running away from the words “Sept. 11.”
The second shows the World Trade Center towers standing over a mass of dead bodies that are described as the victims of American imperialism.
‘Israel can burn’ says Netanyahu’s wife
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The wife of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu said Israel “can burn” because her husband is not appreciated.
The taped remarks from a phone conversation with a Likud Party activist were played Sept. 5 on Israeli television, and Sara Netanyahu later apologized in a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Netanyahu said in the phone call that she believed only her husband could save the country and that she and her family would move abroad. “This country can’t survive without Bibi,” she said, using her husband’s nickname. “People here will be slaughtered.”
Sharon: Temple Mount remains off limits
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Ariel Sharon said the time is not right for Jews to visit the Temple Mount.
“When the situation quiets, we will visit there again, but I don’t think we need to make demonstrative steps at this time,” the Israeli prime minister told the Yediot Achronot newspaper.
The Palestinian intifada began two years ago after Sharon toured the Temple Mount. The mount is the holiest site in Judaism and is also a holy site for Muslims.