Fringe of the ultra-Orthodox, extreme anti-Zionist Jews again proved they are the only large group of Israeli Jewish society not afraid of police. While the right wing from Kahane Chai to Moshe Feiglin is cowed down by police repressions, and even the mainstream ultra-Orthodox Jews refrain from anti-gay protests after the police’s pogrom in Jerusalem, the extreme religious groups fight for their right to live as they see fit. Overflowing the Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox communities, Neturei Karta, Satmar, Toldot Aharon and other group took over Ramat Beit Shemesh. They mandated the dress code, closing hours, and segregation rules to local shops and restaurants. The ultra-Orthodox didn’t cease protesting after the police arrested seven of them. The Jews from Neturei Karta, a sect whose leaders attended the Holocaust denial conference in Iran, accused Beit Shemesh police chief of Nazi-like attitude. Religious Jews participate in mass demonstrations, burn trash cans, and stone buses to substantiate their right to live according to the Orthodox Jewish law. Whether their goals are sensible or not, they are the only large Jewish group in Israel which has the guts to oppose the establishment.

Police and army forces evicted a dozen Jews who prayed on Shabbat at a hill near the settlement of Hashmonaim. The army declared a barren hill “a closed military zone.” An IDF officer fired shots at the ground to make the Jews run faster.

Kadima and Labor voted to release 250 of would-be Arab terrorists held in Israeli jails. The terrorists “lack blood on their hands” – a condition of the release – mostly because Shin-Bet and the IDF cuaght them before they managed to kill Jews. Olmert asserted that prisoners’ release wouldn’t diminish the chances of rendering the kidnapped IDF’s soldiers. Shin-Bet’s Avi Dichter muttered that no prisoners’ release ever helped Israel. Traditionally, the released terrorists are welcomed back to Palestine as heroes and return to the ranks of acting terrorists.
Abbas decried the prisoners’ release as insufficient and unimportant. Hamas decried the release as Fatah’s collaboration with Israel.
Olmert rejected a list of prisoners prepared by Shin-Bet, IDF, and the Justice Ministry because Abbas complained that sentences of many on the list are soon to expire, anyway. Israeli government will approve a list of more dangerous terrorists to release, to be compiled shortly.
Shin-Bet works with Hamas and Hizbullah on the two prisoners swaps for Shalit and Regev/Goldwasser.

Olmert responds by cutting the budget merely by 3%. The IDF, as always, complains of insufficient financing. Where is the lean army which has won all Israeli wars?

Police intercepted Ecstasy shipment in Haifa of a million pills.

The IDF arrests the Darfur infiltrators and brings them to police, which refuses them and direct to Beer Sheba municipality which drop-ships them to Wohl Rose Garden in Jerusalem for the government to take care of them. Olmert ordered the IDF to prevent infiltrations, but many Sudanese Blacks still manage to get into Israel.
The infiltrations underscore how porous is Israeli border. Terrorists are better at crossing the border illegally than refugees. Unless Israel starts punishing the infiltrators to the fullest extent of the law, the Blacks won’t stop pouring into the Jewish state.

Gen. Ashgari revealed to the CIA that in addition to the centrifuges at Natanz, Iran enriches uranium with laser – an inefficient, but cheap and extremely clandestine technique.

In a major policy shift, Israel will buy “Bedouin lands” at market prices. Bedouin have no title to the land, and don’t use them continuously, thus cannot claim the right of homestead. Arab countries disregard Bedouin flexible ownership of the land.
Israel will additionally renovate seven Bedouin towns and build seven new villages for them with modern infrastructure, schools, and hospitals. Bedouin will be allowed the ultimate right denied to the Jews: to live homogenously. The Supreme Court bans the Jews from buying land in Bedouin settlements, but allows the Arabs to buy land in Jewish communities.