* Iran poll critics shun ceremony Senior Iranian political figures appear to have snubbed the formal endorsement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

* Scientists find new strain of HIV Gorillas have been found, for the first time, to be a source of HIV.

* Warning: Oil supplies are running out fast Catastrophic shortfalls threaten economic recovery, says world’s top energy economist

* Iran is ready to build an N-bomb – it is just waiting for the Ayatollah’s order Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to produce its first bomb.

* 700 die in fighting in northern Nigeria Some 700 people have been killed in clashes with Islamic militants in Nigeria, a military commander told CNN.

* Turkey marks 50 years as EU suitor Turkey has marked a sad anniversary of 50 years knocking on Europe’s door, with some enthusiasts hoping that the EU’s recent deal on the Nabucco gas pipeline could speed up Ankara’s membership bid.

* Afghan insurgents are weakened Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell has said insurgents in Afghanistan have had their “command and control” weakened by Operation Panther’s Claw.

* Georgia says Russia is trying to seize more land Georgia accused Russia on Monday of trying to take more territory outside the breakaway province of South Ossetia as tensions rose before the first anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war last summer.

* Berlin starts talks over Lisbon treaty law Leading representatives of the German governing parties will meet in Berlin to formulate legislation on how to implement the EU’s Lisbon treaty, as requested by the country’s constitutional court.

* Lieberman: I’ll resign if A-G indicts me Foreign Minster Avigdor Lieberman said he would resign if Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz decides to press charges against him, but does not see that happening in the near future.

By: Yisrael Medad – Los Angeles Times

Today, the 9th of Av, there are many new threats to Jerusalem, including the recent diplomatic dissing of Israel by the U.S. Fortunately, the words of President Obama and other U.S. officials have served to reinforce a consensus among Israelis that Jerusalem must remain exclusively under Israeli control and that even communities of Jews living outside the former Green Line, the armistice line drawn after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, must remain a part of Israel.

A liberal Washington think tank, the Center for American Progress, recently conducted a panel discussion based on the premise that the Old City of Jerusalem is the main impediment to solving the Israeli-Arab conflict. The group’s plan recommends that Israel and a future state of Palestine appoint a third-party administrator that would run and police the city. An audience member who asked why the status quo could not be retained was informed by a panelist that that “would be too intangible.”

We have to hope Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton knows better than to upset the status quo. As longtime diplomat Dennis Ross informed us in his book, “The Missing Peace,” the only new idea Yasser Arafat raised at Camp David in 2000 was that the temple didn’t exist in Jerusalem, claiming it had been located in Nablus. Her husband, then-President Clinton, was astonished at this. Instead of “Holocaust denial” we were given “temple denial.”

U.S. policy toward Jerusalem has long tended toward the “denial” side of the equation. If an American living in Jerusalem gives birth to a child in either West Jerusalem or post-1967 East Jerusalem, for example, her progeny is not recognized by the U.S. as being born in Israel. The birth certificate and passport will list only a city name — Jerusalem — as the place of birth.

This rule follows the U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual, which notes: “For a person born in Jerusalem, write JERUSALEM as the place of birth in the passport. Do not write Israel, Jordan or West Bank …” The “logic” for this is that Israel is considered by the United States to be “occupying” territories — including Jerusalem — whose final status must be negotiated.

As State Department spokesman Ian Kelly admitted on June 22, before being reined in, the recent Obama administration fixation on a “settlement freeze” also targets neighborhoods in East Jerusalem whose Jewish population’s “natural growth” is to be halted.

And there is more State Department trickery. Births of children of American citizens in any of the Arab towns or Jewish communities outside of Jerusalem and beyond the Green Line will have their birthplace noted, as per the above-mentioned regulations, as the “West Bank.” Is the “West Bank” a state? Is the State Department engaged in creating new states?

This is an illogical and quite unreasonable bureaucratic situation. On the one hand, the State Department has fashioned a new “state” while, on the other, it is ignoring Israel’s status in its own capital.

The “West Bank” never existed as a geopolitical entity until April 1950, when Jordan annexed the area. That annexation, incidentally, was considered by all the world — except for Britain — as an illegal occupation. Yet the U.S. has established the “West Bank,” with the stroke of a pen, as if it were a state entity.

If the U.S. insists on using boundaries dating to 1948, shouldn’t it also use the place names in use at that time? “Judea” and “Samaria” were both names written into the U.N. partition resolution. A baby born to U.S. citizens in Shiloh, for example, should therefore be registered as having been born in “Shiloh, Samaria.”

Today is a day of lament for a long-ago event seared into the collective memory of Jews the world over. But the contemporary pressures the Obama administration has brought on Israel have created another lamentable situation between the two nations. This year, the ancient fast days will also provide an outlet for contemporary frustration over issues of sovereignty, political independence and security.

* Assad: Golan will return to Arab hands After the foreign minister of Saudi flatly rejected US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s request that his country make goodwill gestures toward Israel.

* Iran poll protests trial begins The trial has begun in Iran of 100 people arrested for their alleged involvement in post-election violence.

* Saudi FM: No gestures toward Israel Saudi Arabia on Friday sharply rejected American calls for gestures towards Israel.

* ‘Fatah conference to harden party line’ The Palestinian Fatah movement will attempt to bring its platform up to date during a conference next week in Bethlehem.

* Lebanese cleric: Arab patience with Obama wearing thin An influential Lebanese Shi’ite cleric said Friday that President Barack Obama’s outreach to the Arab and Islamic worlds has failed to improve ties.

* Iraqis fear al Qaeda violence after mosque bombs Iraqis said on Saturday they feared al Qaeda was trying to tip their country back into the sectarian strife.

* Russia could use military force to defend S. Ossetian residents Russia’s Defense Ministry is concerned over recent shots on South Ossetia’s capital Tskhinval and its suburbs.

* Settlers flock to new outpost on Shabbat eve Some 30 right-wing activists set up illegal outpost near West Bank settlement of Kedumim.

* ‘German charity front for Hizbullah’ A German charity for Lebanese orphans is a front organization raising funds for Hizbullah suicide bombers.

* Ahmadinejad denies rift with Khamenei Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at critics within his own hard-line camp.

* Temple Altar Construction Begins on Day of Destruction The Temple Institute has already built several of the Temple vessels such as the Ark and the menorah.

* Islamist death ‘good for Nigeria’ A Nigerian government minister has expressed relief at the death of an Islamic sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf.

* Jewish, Not Arab, Roots in Judea and Samaria US Pres. Obama’s demand that Israel not settle Jews in the Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria ignores thoroughly-documented Jewish roots in the Land of Israel.

* Israel says Gaza war ‘necessary’ An Israeli government report has said that the Israeli military campaign in Gaza earlier this year was “necessary and proportionate”.

* Holy Temple Festival in Samaria A first-of-its-kind all-night Holy Temple Festival will be held Saturday night in the Jewish town of Tapuach in Samaria.

* Israel ranked one of world’s least peaceful states For the third year in a row, Israel fared very poorly in the Global Peace Index, being placed just 141 out of 144 countries, and ranked more peaceful than only Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.

* Iran blames West for protester deaths The Iranian foreign minister is blaming foreign countries for the deaths of opposition supporters in Iran’s post-election turmoil.

* Iran president: No rift with supreme leader President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says there is no rift between him and Iran’s supreme leader, lashing back at criticism from within his own hard-line camp.

* U.S. troops accused of damaging Babylon’s ancient wonder The U.S. military did major damage to the site of one of the wonders of the ancient world while converting it into a base.

* Afghan civilian deaths increase The number of civilians killed in the conflict in Afghanistan so far this year has risen 24% compared with the same period last year.

* US misstepped regarding settlements The current tensions between Israel and the United States might have been avoided had US President Barack Obama not taken such a harsh stance against settlement construction.

* China concerned about abortions Authorities in China have highlighted inadequate knowledge of contraception and poor sex education as major factors in the high number of abortions there.

* Stone Vessel with Priestly Inscription Uncovered In Jerusalem A rare 2,000-year-old ritual earthenware vessel inscribed with 10 lines of text has been discovered in an excavation near the Zion Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem.

* Turkey seeks active role in Hamas-Fatah reconciliation Palestinian sources tell Al-Jazeera Ankara’s request part of general goal to play greater role in Arab-Israeli peace process.

* Netanyahu freezes East Jerusalem construction Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frozen a project for the construction of some 900 apartments in East Jerusalem.

* Nigeria forces storm sect mosque Nigerian security forces have stormed a mosque where militants from an Islamic sect blamed for days of deadly violence have been hiding out.

* PA, Israeli ministers meet in Tel Aviv The first ministerial level meeting between Israel and the Palestinian authority since the establishment of the Netanyahu government took place yesterday in Tel Aviv.

* Why Iran’s conservatives are airing their dirty laundry In the final days before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s inauguration next week, splits among the country’s conservative elite have become increasingly conspicuous.

* N Korea seizes S Korea vessel A South Korean fishing boat has been towed away by a North Korean patrol boat off the peninsula’s east coast, South Korean officials say.

By: Yehudah Lev Kay – Arutz Sheva

(IsraelNN.com) The Temple Institute will begin building the sacrificial altar on Thursday, Tisha B’av, a fast day when Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple some 2,000 years ago.

The sacrificial altar was located in the center of the Temple, and upon it the Kohanim (priests) offered the numerous voluntary and obligatory sacrifices commanded in the Bible.

The Temple Institute, which has already built many of the vessels for the Holy Temple, such as the ark and the menorah, has now embarked on a project to build the altar. Construction begins Thursday in Mitzpe Yericho (east of Jerusalem) at 5:30 p.m.
“Unfortunately, we cannot currently build the altar in its proper place, on the Temple Mount,” Temple Institute director Yehudah Glick said. “We are building an altar of the minimum possible size so that we will be able to transport it to the Temple when it is rebuilt.”

Even a minimum size altar will work out to be approximately 4 meters tall, 6 meters long, and 6 meters wide. Workers have collected around 10 cubic meters of rocks weighing several tons already.

The rocks were gathered from the Dead Sea area and wrapped individually to assure they remain whole and are not touched by metal, as the Bible requires.

“The Torah says that no iron tools should be used on the altar’s stones,” Glick explained. “The altar represents a connection to life and to the creation of the world. Iron is the opposite – it is used to build tools of war, death, and destruction.”

The stones will be cemented together with a mixture of sand, clay, tar, and asphalt. Researchers from the Temple Institute visited the Finish glass factory near Yerucham to learn how to create a mixture which would remain as cool as possible under the altar’s unremitting fires and protect the Kohanim, who always worked in the Temple barefoot.

Glick said that Tisha B’av, a day associated with mourning, is really the ideal time to begin to build the Temple. “People mistakenly think Tisha B’av is only a day to cry,” he explained. “It also has to be a day of action. We have the ability in our era to begin the construction of the Temple.”

“There are many positive developments recently with regard to the Temple,” Glick added. “Hundreds of Jews visited the Temple Mount this week, and more and more continue to come, after undergoing the requisite ritual immersion.”

The Temple Institute is searching for donations to help build the altar, which will cost around NIS 100,000 (approximately $26,000). More information is available at https://www.templeinstitute.org/main.htm.

By: STEPHEN ROSENBERG – The Jerusalem Post

There is a persistent narrative by the Islamists to deny any past Jewish presence on what they call Haram al-Sharif. Like the cult centers of Mecca and Medina, they call it the Noble Sanctuary rather than the Temple Mount. The propaganda is spreading throughout the Arab world, and would deny any legitimacy to our claim to have experienced the destruction of two Temples on the site.

The Second Temple
Photo: Courtesy

All the evidence, the propaganda goes, is written by Jews and is therefore suspect. The claim for the building of the First Temple comes from the Book of Kings. It is a detailed description, but nothing of the structure has been found. The inscription on a little pomegranate showing it to have been part of a priestly scepter from the First Temple has recently been denounced as a later forgery. The parallels with temples in Syria are fine, but no proof that one existed in Jerusalem.

What evidence is there that a Jewish Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians? There is a tablet in the British Museum that Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem in his seventh year (597 BCE) and captured the city, but he destroyed no temple and only set up a “king of his own heart” (Zedekiah). The tablet goes up to the year 594 and then stops. The following years are missing and the next tablet restarts in 556 BCE. The crucial year 586 is lost.

In the Berlin Museum is a cuneiform tablet that the exiled king of Judah, Jehoiachin, was after some years restored to the emperor’s table and treated with respect, but no mention of a temple, either built or destroyed. Cyrus, who conquered the Babylonians, allowed the Jews to return to Judah and recorded his decision on a cylinder, called the first Bill of Rights, now in the British Museum. But there is no mention there of a temple. The Book of Ezra mentions a restoration document, but it was written by a Jew, as were the books of the prophets that called for the rebuilding to be hastened.

As for the second destruction, the work of Herod the Great in rebuilding the Temple relies on the testimony of the Mishna and Josephus – both Jewish sources.

Josephus was, of course, somewhat suspect to the Jews as well, having at one stage gone over to the Romans, but he remained a great exponent of Jewish values and deeds, and wrote a wonderful defense of the Jews in his work Contra Apion, so his testimony about the Temple is suspect in the eyes of the Islamists.

But what about the great stones of the Temple compound, still visible today all around Haram al-Sharif, in the lower courses of the Western Wall and elsewhere? Only Herod could have forced men to move such megaliths. Well no, the propaganda goes, after the Romans conquered Jerusalem, they had to set up their temple to Jupiter, and thus built this vast platform as its base. The Roman builders were the equal of Herod when it came to monumental structures, just look at the temples of Baalbek. And there is nothing on the Temple Mount to indicate that a Jewish Temple ever stood there.

Our own history is so ingrained in us, and our belief in the First and Second Temples so deeply inscribed in our hearts that it is difficult to think of an answer to these charges. But there are answers that don’t depend on our own literature.

Firstly Josephus. His account of his own period is good history. His description of contemporary buildings is borne out by archeology. He lived shortly after the death of Herod, and gives a vivid account of that ruler’s ruthless personality as well as his achievements in construction. But as Josephus was not alive at the time, what were his sources? His main source was Herod’s personal historian, Nicolaus of Damascus, a non-Jew who would have had no reason to invent the story of Herod rebuilding the Second Temple.

Josephus mentions that there was a stone at the southwest corner of the Temple Mount from which one of the priests would blow the trumpet on Friday afternoons to announce the start of the Sabbath. That stone has been found, with the Hebrew inscription “Lebeit hatekia” (to the place of trumpeting). No such stone would have graced the corner of a Roman temple.

Furthermore, the existence of the Second Temple is made clear from the New Testament and the stories of Jesus within the Temple complex. But then, the Islamists would say, those Christian documents were also written by Jews, maybe by Jews with a new belief in a savior, but still Jews who needed to aggrandize the miracles of their messiah in the context of his Jewish past.

So the external sources are slim, except for one piece of evidence that is hard and fast. And that is the large frieze on the Arch of Titus in Rome, showing the spoils of the Temple being carried by Jewish slaves through the Forum Romanum. The shapes of the menora and silver trumpets are clear. Trumpets appear everywhere in the Roman world, but there was no menora at that time at any place in the world except Jerusalem.

Was this proof of a Temple on Haram al-Sharif? It’s pretty good evidence, but perhaps not enough for the Islamists, so let’s turn to their own sources. The Dome of the Rock was built during the caliphate of Abdul al-Malik and completed in 692 CE. It stands directly over the extensive rock which, by Muslim tradition, was the landing and departure point of Muhammad on his steed El-Burak during his Night Journey from Mecca. The “evidence” is the foot and hoof marks on the rock – a cultic relic from early days.

These marks also indicate that it is from here, and to here, that God will come and go at the End of Days. As His direction of travel is not known, the Dome of the Rock was built facing the four winds of heaven. It has no focus except the central rock, and entrances on all four sides. Does the central rock indicate the presence of a Jewish Temple? Not necessarily, but the Koran itself now makes that clear.

The prophet’s night journey is described in Surah 17: “Glory be to Him who made His servant go by night from the Sacred Temple [Mecca] to the farther Temple [Al-Aksa, Jerusalem], whose surroundings We have blessed…” It goes on to say, “We solemnly declared to the Israelites: ‘Twice you shall commit great evil in the land… and We sent against you a formidable army which ravaged your land… and when the prophecy of your second transgression came to be fulfilled, We sent another army to afflict you and to enter the Temple, as the former entered it before…”

Thus the Koran itself gives us the evidence of the destruction of the two Temples that had stood on the site of Al-Aksa.

Nothing could be clearer.

* ‘Russia, Iran to hold naval maneuver’ According to the report, the maneuver will include 30 Russian and Iranian ships, as well as helicopters.

* Must we lose the two Temples again? There is a persistent narrative by the Islamists to deny any past Jewish presence on what they call Haram al-Sharif.

* Temple Institute to Build Sacrificial Altar on Tisha B’av The Temple Institute will begin building the sacrificial altar on Thursday, Tisha B’av.

* Global warming is the new religion of First World urban elites Ian Plimer has outraged the ayatollahs of purist environmentalism, the Torquemadas of the doctrine of global warming.

* J’lem expects Arab gestures soon US Middle East envoy George Mitchell left his Israeli interlocutors with the impression Tuesday that he would be able to extract some normalization gestures towards Israel.

* Battles with militants kill hundreds in Nigeria, group says More than 400 people have been killed in a spate of violence in northern Nigeria.

* Saudis scramble to stop Hajj swine flu crisis Saudi Arabia has launched an investigation into its first fatality from the H1N1 Virus as it tries to head off a swine flu epidemic before millions descend for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

* U.S., China agree on economic strategies Two days of high-level talks between the United States and China concluded with broad agreement on separate strategies to help their economies.

* Gates Pressures Kurdish Leaders to Cooperate in Iraq Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates pressed Kurdish regional leaders on Wednesday to resolve their disputes with the Iraqi government in the next few months.

* Saudi rejects Israel recognition without withdrawal Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia on Wednesday rebuffed US calls for diplomatic overtures toward Israel.

* ‘Say ‘No’ to US settlement pressure’ Calling on Israel to simply say “no” to US pressure to freeze settlement activity and to divide the capital, close to a thousand people rallied outside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home.

* US-Israeli talks make ‘progress’ US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu say talks about reviving the regional peace process have made “good progress”.

* Ashkenazi: There is no imminent threat of war on Lebanon border Despite the turmoil caused by the explosion of a hidden weapons depot in southern Lebanon nearly two weeks ago, the IDF does not view the situation in the North as indicative of an impending war.

* US-China ties ‘to shape century’ The relationship between the US and China will shape the 21st Century, President Barack Obama has said, as top officials met in Washington for talks.

* ‘Obama unlikely to present peace plan’ Recent talks with US envoy George Mitchell have left Israeli officials with the impression that – contrary to expectations in some circles – President Barack Obama is not going to unfurl his own regional peace plan.

* As Tisha B’Av Approaches, Knesset Focuses on the Temple Mount As Tisha B’Av, the annual day of mourning over the destruction of the Temple, approaches, Members of Knesset met to talk about the Temple.

* Completed ‘Operation 11’ Greets Mitchell, Netanyahu Activists finished building 11 new outposts in Judea and Samaria Monday night in time for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s meeting with U.S. special envoy George Mitchell.

* US pressure on Arab states grows Amid a flurry of US diplomatic activity in the Middle East, the Obama administration is increasing the pressure on Arab countries to do more.

* Obama says US, China to shape 21st century The 21st century will be defined by relations between China and the United States, US President Barack Obama said.

* Pakistan says Indian submarine harms regional peace India’s launch of its first nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying ballistic missiles is “detrimental to regional peace and stability.”

* US urges Iran reply by September US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has urged Iran to respond to US diplomatic overtures by September.

* Nigerian Islamist attacks spread Islamist militants have staged three co-ordinated attacks in northern Nigeria leaving dozens dead, meaning about 150 have been killed in two days.

* US envoy in Mid-East peace push The US has launched a new drive to kick-start Middle East peace talks, with visits to Israel, Syria and Egypt by special envoy George Mitchell.

* Clinton says Iran’s nuclear pursuit is “futile” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Iran would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and reiterated Washington’s commitment to protect close ally Israel from any threat posed by Tehran.

* Hamas Implementing Islamic Law in Gaza In the two-plus years Hamas has been running Gaza, a process of “creeping Shariah-ism” has been ongoing,.

* Gaza campers stage Schalit abduction Children in Hamas summer camps reenacted the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit in the presence of top Hamas officials.

* Right-wing rally planned in Jerusalem To protest the US demand for a settlement freeze and to take a stand in favor of a unified Jerusalem, right-wing activists and settler leaders plan to rally Monday evening in Paris Square on the capital’s Rehov Agron.

* More than 300,000 settlers live in West Bank There are now more than 300,000 residents living in Jewish West Bank settlements, according to the IDF.

* The Western Wall Enters the Twitter Age The Western Wall has entered the Twitter age with a service that lets people from around the world send their prayers to be printed and placed as notes in the wall.

* No option is off the table on Iran Israel has not ruled out any means of dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat, and is taking “no option off the table.”