“We must determine if we want to live in a democratic, Jewish state or a solely Jewish state—which will be similar to Iran,” Huldai told Army Radio. “The citizens have the right to visit their relatives on Shabbat or go out for a trip,” he added.

The mayor cited Brooklyn as an example of a place where Orthodox Jews live observant lives while public transportation operates every day of the week.

Yisrael Meir Lau, chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, several religious MKs, and the Tzohar national-religious rabbinical association called on the municipality to reverse its decision.

Meanwhile, a Transportation Ministry spokesman on Tuesday seemed to suggest that the ministry would not approve the Tel Aviv council’s request. The ministry will “not infringe [upon] the status quo which has been in place for decades regarding all aspects of public transport on Shabbat,” the spokesman said.

Huldai said he has not given up the fight to operate public transportation in Tel Aviv on Shabbat.

The Tal Law did not assure an equal sharing of society's burdens. (FLASH90)

JERUSALEM (JWN and agencies)—Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled 6-3 on Tuesday that the so-called Tal Law, which grants military service deferments to full-time yeshiva students, is unconstitutional. As such, the Knesset is now barred from renewing the law in its present form.

The Tal Law was passed 10 years ago and is due to expire in August. A provision of the law is that, if the Knesset wishes to consider extending it, it must begin the debate at least six months before the expiration date.

“The Tal Law, after 10 years, did not meet expectations, nor did it lead to the required changes … concerning equally sharing the burden,” Barak told reporters.

Barak said it was urgent that Israel pass a new law so that all citizens equally share society’s burdens.

Unless the Knesset passes a revised bill, the ruling should mean that some 62,000 yeshiva students and ultra-Orthodox youths will be drafted into the Israel Defense Forces this August. There are already some 7,000 yeshiva students who serve according to the Tal Law’s requirements. Skeptics, however, doubt that such a massive conscription will occur.

Outgoing Supreme Court President Justice Dorit Beinisch wrote in the majority opinion that “apart from a certain improvement in the implementation of the law, one cannot say that the law’s means achieved their goals, and it seems that certain blocs influence its potential to be fully fulfilled. That being the case, one cannot but determine that the law is unconstitutional …. Originally the legislation harbored the hope that the law would launch a social process that without coercion would encourage ultra-Orthodox people to serve in the military or take part in national civil service. These hopes were dashed.”

A guard bars access to Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr. (Fars)

JERUSALEM (JWN and agencies)—A team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency left Iran on Tuesday after being denied access to a key nuclear site they had come to inspect. The failure of their two-day mission leaves uncertainty about Iran’s progress in developing a nuclear weapon.

The team had arrived in Tehran on Sunday at the government’s invitation. The visit was expected to resolve the question whether Iranian scientists have secretly been developing a nuclear warhead to go with its development of long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Surprisingly, however, the Iranians barred the IAEA officials from visiting a key testing facility known as Parchin, where this research is alleged to be taking place, an IAEA spokesman said. The Washington Post reported that the UN officials were also unable to reach an agreement with their Iranian hosts on a procedure for addressing questions about nuclear experiments.

“It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin during the first or second meetings,” said IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano, referring to the alleged testing site for a simulated nuclear warhead.

“Intensive efforts were made to reach agreement on a document facilitating the clarification of unresolved issues in connection with Iran’s nuclear program, particularly those relating to possible military dimensions,” the IAEA said in a statement . “Unfortunately, agreement was not reached on this document.”

The futile trip was the second by the IAEA team in three weeks, and had held out hope for a confirmation of the truth about Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Western intelligence agencies have accumulated evidence that appears to show Iranian scientists working on the design and testing of nuclear warheads.

Perhaps as a result of the pressure of escalating sanctions, Iran has lately been sending conflicting messages to the West, mixing conciliatory overtures with threats and defiance. Previous to the fiasco with the IAEA inspectors, for example, Iranian officials last week offered to revive negotiations over its nuclear program—then hours later threatened to cut oil sales to European countries in retaliation for Western sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday that the senior IAEA team had not come to inspect sites, but to hold talks.

Iran on Monday began a military exercise to test the defenses of its nuclear sites amid growing tensions with Israel. While Israel has not ruled out the possibility of a military strike to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, Iran has announced that it would not hesitate to attack first if it felt threatened.

Anti-Christian graffiti deface the Jerusalem Baptist Church. (Uri Lenz/FLASH90)

By DAVID ROSENBERG (The Media Line)

A day after it was discovered on the exterior walls of the Jerusalem Baptist Church this week, graffiti declaring “Death to Christianity” had been cleaned up and a host of officials from the Israeli government had visited with apologies and expressions of concern.

But for the Christian community in Israel, the environment remains inhospitable.

A small but eclectic population of indigenous Palestinians, foreign clergy, messianic Jews, Russian immigrants and expatriates, Christians are free to practice their faith and only very rarely are victims of actual violence. But centuries of anti-Semitism have left many Israelis with a poor view of Christianity and that occasionally bubbles over into attacks on people and property, say Christian clergy and Israelis who work in interfaith ties.

“I don’t think a majority would engage in such a vandalistic act, but it is a manifestation of anti-Christian feeling in Israeli society,” Hana Bendcowsky, program director for the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations (JCJCR), told The Media Line. “The main problem is ignorance, a lot of stereotypes, and the history of Jewish-Christian relationships in Europe that influence the attitude of Israelis toward local Christians.”

With its array of Christian institutions and holy sites, Jerusalem puts the two faiths into very close proximity, but rarely do Jews and Christians have much personal contact. In a city of 770,000 people, only 14,500 are Christians, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. That leaves the task of influencing the attitudes of the Jewish majority to the schools and groups like the JCJCR.

The vandalism of the church building, in the city’s Rehavia neighborhood close to the center of town, included attacks on vehicles nearby that were scrawled with the words “Jesus, son of a whore” and other graffiti with the words “price tag,” a phrase used by extremist Jews in attacks on mosques and Palestinians.

Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israel Police, said investigators are not sure who was behind the vandalism. They are probing possible links between it and graffiti declaring “Death to Christians” and “price tag” that were scrawled three weeks ago on a Greek Orthodox monastery in the Valley of the Cross, not more than a 15-minute walk from the Baptist church, he said.

“We’re looking in two different directions about who is behind this event as well as the possibility there is connection with a previous incident,” Rosenfeld told The Media Line, saying the perpetrators could be either people with nationalistic motives or just plain vandals with no ideology.

Clergy are often targeted for spitting attacks by ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem’s Old City. Two years ago signs on Mt. Zion guiding pilgrims to the Cenacle, where tradition says The Last Supper took place, were defaced by anonymous vandals.

“They seem to come in waves. One provokes another. Crazy people get into their heads that this is the thing to do,” David Neuhaus, a vicar of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, told The Media Line.

The Baptist church itself was burned to the ground in 1982 and subject to a second, smaller arson attack in 2007. “Over the years we’ve had other incidents of graffiti and tar being smeared on the wall, broken windows. Before that we had a nail bomb,” said Chuck Kopp, pastor of the Narkis Street Congregation, one of three Baptist groups that meet in the church and count about 300 members among them.

Kopp, who has lived in Israel since 1966, said that as far as he knows no one has been convicted for any of the crimes. While he expressed disappointment that higher officials in Israel’s government or in Jerusalem didn’t make any public statements condemning the vandalism, he acknowledged that most Israelis do not approve of the harassment.

“While the majority wouldn’t stand for extremist actions, there are segments that are substantial that tip the scales in the favor of extremists. They aid and abet, give psychological comfort,” Kopp said.

Ironically, Baptists and many other Protestant groups have emerged as big supporters of Israel in recent decades, in contrast to other denominations that are perceived as pro-Palestinian. But Bendcowsky said most Israelis do not relate to that in forming their attitudes toward Christians.

By the same token, Neuhaus discounted the role of the church’s historical anti-Semitism, pointing out that anti-Christian attitudes are more prevalent among the more religious and the less educated, who tend to be less tolerant in general, not just of Christians. A 2009 poll of Jewish Israelis by the JCJCR and the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies bears that out.

Among secular Jewish Israelis, 85% agreed with the assertion that the State of Israel is obliged to guarantee freedom of religion and conscience for its Christian citizens. Nearly half described the relationship of the Catholic Church to Judaism and Jews as positive.

Among religiously observant Jewish Israelis, however, the survey found that 78% agreed with the claim that “Christianity is an idolatrous religion,” 65% maintained that the attitude of the Catholic Church to Judaism and Jews is negative, and 48% agreed that the activities of Christian churches in Israel should be restricted.

Residents of the Jerusalem area were shown to be less tolerant, as were younger people versus older; and less educated versus better educated, according to the poll.

“It’s connected with what children are learning in schools,” suggested Neuhaus. “Secular schools have textbooks that are very different from religious schools when it comes to the teaching of Christianity. They tend to be more tolerant and open toward minorities.”

A joint Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police anti-smuggling unit spotted the smuggler near the Egyptian border on Monday night and gave chase. As the suspect fled, he dropped a satchel, which the pursuers searched for and retrieved the next morning, finding a powerful explosive device inside.

Sappers detonated the bomb, which was assumed to have been en route to Israel to be used in a terrorist attack. In announcing the incident, the IDF Spokesman said, “This incident is a reminder that the smuggling routes on the western border are continuously used by terrorist organizations in order to carry out terrorist acts against Israeli citizens and IDF units.”

In August, eight Israelis were killed and 30 wounded in a multiple terrorist attack on the Egyptian border road.

Palestinians demonstrate in Ramallah for Khader Adnan's release from administrative detention. (Issam Rimawi/FLASH90)

JERUSALEM (JWN and agencies)—Less than an hour before he was due to appear before the High Court of Justice and present a petition for his release, Palestinian security detainee Khader Adnan reached a deal with Israel’s attorney-general and called off his 66-day hunger strike.

Adnan, 33, a member of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, was striking to protest against Israel’s administrative detention law, which enables the state to hold suspects without trial indefinitely.

The Justice Ministry announced that Israel would not extend Adnan’s administrative detention, which is due to end on April 17.

Adnan’s hunger strike turned him into a live Palestinian hero—unlike the many suicide bombers who are lauded by the Palestinian Authority as holy martyrs for killing Jews. Originally a baker, Adnan served as a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, which is backed by Iran.

Islamic Jihad, which has killed dozens of Israeli civilians in suicide bombings, had threatened to retaliate if Adnan died from his hunger strike.

Adnan was serving four months in administrative detention, which is a legal measure Israel carried over from the British Mandate’s 1945 Emergency Law and amended in 1979. It is often used in cases where normal legal procedure would reveal sensitive security information, such as the identities of informers.

While it is most often employed against suspected Palestinian terrorists, it has also been used against Jewish extremists, particularly in the aftermath of the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Due to the secrecy involved, defendants and their lawyers are not shown the evidence against them.

Israel’s use of administrative detention is under judicial review by the Israel Defense Forces and the Supreme Court, but the practice exists in a number of countries. Alphabetically: Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Burma, China, Egypt, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Adnan began his hunger strike on December 18, the day after he was arrested at his home in the West Bank town of Arabeh.

Iranian Army troops march on parade through Tehran. (Fars)

JERUSALEM (JWN and agencies)—The international debate on sanctions versus a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear armament program took on a new dimension Tuesday, as Iran announced it will strike first if it feels threatened.

Gen. Mohammad Hejazi, the deputy head of the Islamic Republic’s armed forces, told the Fars news agency that Iran will not wait to be attacked. “Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions,” he said.

Hejazi’s warning came amid increasing international sanctions against Iran’s nuclear armament program, the latest of which are aimed at blocking its oil exports. On Monday, the European Commission announced that Belgium, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands had stopped buying Iranian oil, while Greece, Spain, and Italy are cutting back purchases.

His remarks also followed Israeli protests against recent criticism of alleged Israeli consideration of a preemptive strike against Iran by senior American officials.

Both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak reportedly complained to US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon in Jerusalem this week about remarks made by Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Dempsey told CNN on Sunday that, “I don’t think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran,” and a strike “would be destabilizing” and “not prudent.”

Dempsey said the United States has so far not been able to persuade Israel not to attack Iran. “I wouldn’t suggest that we’ve persuaded them that our view is the correct view,” he said.

Netanyahu was also said to be furious over an NBC broadcast two weeks ago, which said that Israel would attack Iran’s nuclear facilities with Jericho missiles, commando forces, and F-15I jets.

Meanwhile, a top US intelligence official said last week that although the US believes Iran would respond if attacked, it does not think it is likely to start a conflict.

The vandals spray painted “Death to Christians,” “We will crucify you,” and “Jesus son of Mary the whore” on an outside wall of the church on Narkis Street. They also spray painted and slashed the tires of three nearby cars, not all of which belonged to the church.

The attack was the second on a Christian site in the capital in recent weeks. Two weeks ago similar slogans were daubed on the walls of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Cross. That same day vandals defaced the walls of an Arab-Jewish bilingual school in the capital’s Patt neighborhood.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said police are investigating whether there is a connection between the two church vandalisms.

Baptists have been in Jerusalem since 1911and the church has been victimized before. Ultranationalists burned the Jerusalem Baptist Church to the ground in 1982 and started another fire there in 2007.

Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor (Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JWN and agencies)—If Egypt should unilaterally alter the peace treaty with Israel, this will place any agreements between Israel and its neighbors in doubt, Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor said Monday.

Meridor told a press conference given by The Israel Project that there is no objective reason for either side to alter an historic agreement that has kept the peace for more than a generation.

“If people are rational and act for the good of their country, both Israel and Egypt should keep the agreement,” Meridor said. He noted that Israel has had no contact with Egypt’s new majority party, the Muslim Brotherhood, which rejects any contact with the Jewish state.

Commenting on the Syria situation, Meridor said that, while it is impossible to remain silent in face of the atrocities perpetrated by the government of President Bashar Assad, Israel has a hands-off policy regarding being able to influence events there.

Meridor pointed out that both Iran and Hezbollah are actively helping Assad in trying to suppress the rebellion.

On the home front, Meridor decried the Palestinian Authority’s signing of another unity agreement with the terrorist organization Hamas. He called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to show “courage” and negotiate a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel. If not, Meridor said, this would be “another missed opportunity that will be bad for us, but worse for them.”

US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meet at the White House last year. (Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JWN and agencies)—US President Barack Obama has invited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to meet with him at the White House in two weeks’ time, the White House announced on Monday.

The March 5 summit will be their first meeting since the UN General Assembly in September. It will take place amid growing uncertainty as to feasibility of a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities if escalating sanctions against the Islamic Republic fail to halt Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In addition to the meeting with Obama, Netanyahu will be in Washington to address the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which takes place on March 4-6.

The White House announced the upcoming meeting during a briefing to reporters on last weekend’s consultation in Jerusalem between Netanyahu and Obama’s National Security Adviser, Tom Donilon, on Iran’s nuclear program and the situation in Syria.

“Mr. Donilon and his delegation addressed the full range of security issues of mutual concern,” the White House said. “The visit is part of the continuous and intensive dialogue between the United States and Israel and reflects our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security.”

On his way to Washington, Netanyahu is scheduled to stop off in Ottawa for a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The announcement of Netanyahu’s Washington visit followed warnings by two senior officials against the possible dire consequences of a military strike on Iran. On Sunday, both the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and British Foreign Minister William Hague cautioned against attacking the Islamic Republic.

Dempsey told CNN that, while an Israeli strike could delay Iran from developing a nuclear weapon “probably for a couple of years. But some of the targets are probably beyond their reach.”

But Dempsey voiced concern that an Israeli attack could spark reprisals against US targets in the Gulf or Afghanistan. “That’s the question with which we all wrestle. And the reason that we think that it’s not prudent at this point to decide to attack Iran,” Dempsey said.

Dempsey characterized Iran as being a “rational actor” upon which the escalating international sanctions are beginning to take effect. “For that reason, I think, that we think the current path we’re on is the most prudent path at this point.”

“I believe it is unclear [that Iran would assemble a bomb] and on that basis, I think it would be premature to exclusively decide that the time for a military option was upon us,” Dempsey said.

Hague delivered a similar cautionary message on the BBC, saying Britain is determined to pressure Iran via diplomacy.

“I don’t think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran,” he said. “I think Israel, like everyone else in the world, should be giving a real chance to the approach we have adopted on very serious economic sanctions and economic pressure and the readiness to negotiate with Iran.”