Israel’s Foreign Ministry is working to determine whether any Israeli citizens were injured in a suicide bombing Tues. night 28 June 2016, in Turkey that killed 41 people and injured at least 147. Two bombers blew themselves up at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, the third busiest in Europe, after opening fire at the entrance to the airport’s international terminal. Police returned fire. In March 2016, a bombing in a tourist section of Istanbul killed three Israelis and injured several others. The same month, a suicide bombing at an airport in Brussels killed 32 people and injured more than 300. The airport attack in Istanbul came on the same day that Israel and Turkey signed a reconciliation deal ending a six-year break in diplomatic relations. The Israeli diplomats who were at the airport at the time of the Tues. night attack were unharmed. Israeli diplomats said that no Israeli tourists were among the victims taken to the hospital. Turkish Airlines flights from Tel Aviv were suspended in the wake of the attack. (JTA) [Comment]

In a Lithuanian forest, an international research team has pinpointed the location of a legendary tunnel that Jewish prisoners secretly dug out with spoons to try to escape their Nazi captors during the Second World War, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday.

The tunnel, located in the Ponar forest, known today as Paneriai, outside of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, is the site where some 100,000 people, including 70,000 Jews, were killed and thrown into pits during Nazi occupation.

In the quest to find the tunnel, the team of archeologists, geophysicists and Jewish historians from Israel, the United States, Canada and Lithuania did not want to disturb any human remains in the mass burial pits at the site.

So the researchers used scanning technology called electrical resistivity tomography — the same kind used in mineral and oil exploration — to map out the path of the 34-metre-long tunnel.

"To find a little glimmer of hope within the dark hole of Ponar is very important as humans," said Jon Seligman, an archeologist with Israel's antiquities authority, who participated in the expedition.

'Yearning for life'

"The tunnel shows that even when the time was so black, there was yearning for life within that," he added.

Toward the end of the war, the Nazis sought to erase the evidence of their mass killings. Jewish and Soviet prisoners were brought to the Ponar forest from Stutthof concentration camp. With their legs chained, they were forced to dig up the mass graves, collect bodies and burn them.

The prisoners were dubbed the Burning Brigade and they lived in fear that once their task was complete, they too would be killed.

Escape organizer recognized wife's body

According to accounts, one prisoner, Isaac Dogim, was piling decomposed corpses when he recognized members of his own family, including his wife. He identified her by the medallion he had given her for their wedding.

He is credited with organizing the escape.

At night, the prisoners were held in one of the pits used in the killings. For three months, some of the prisoners secretly dug an underground tunnel to escape.

Only 11 escaped into the forest

Then on April 15, 1944, in the middle of the night, 40 prisoners filed off their chains and fled through the narrow tunnel. Guards quickly discovered them and many were shot, but 11 prisoners managed to escape to the forest, reach partisan forces and survive the war.

"It is a very important discovery, because this is another proof of resistance of those who were about to die," said Markas Zingeris, director of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum in Vilnius.

A Lithuanian archeologist discovered the tunnel entrance in 2004, and the museum called on the research team to search for the entire tunnel. The team traced the length of the tunnel and found the tunnel exit. Their quest is the subject of a forthcoming documentary by the science series NOVA, premiering in the U.S. next year.

Last year, the same research team used ground penetrating radar to discover parts of the old Great Synagogue of Vilna, which was demolished by Soviet authorities after the war. The team is now excavating at the site to uncover the history of Jewish life in Vilnius.

"There were 500 years of creativity, a vibrant community," said Seligman, the archeologist, referring to Jewish history in Lithuania. "We can't just look at the Holocaust."

The bereaved mother of the 13-year old girl, Hallel-Yaffa Ariel, who was murdered in Thursday's terror attack in Kiryat Arba spoke to Arutz Sheva at the Shaarei Tzedek hospital, where her daughter was evacuated after being stabbed dozens of times by an Arab terrorist.

"My daughter was just sleeping - tranquil, relaxed, happy - when a terrorist came to her bed in Kiryat Arba and murdered her."

"I, the mother, am not saying anything, I just ask that everyone consider [our] pain, I ask everyone to come and console us, strengthen us, and tell us that our [home] Kiryat Arba is still a place to live in - and not die in; that we may continue to love our place and our land. May Hallel-Yaffa Ariel's memory be blessed."

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, one of the many supporters of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, criticized President Barack Obama in an interview with Israeli reporters on the weekend. Giuliani said he agreed with Trump’s stance that Obama shows weakness and warned that this weakness will lead to more terrorist attacks against America. "The shooting in Orlando was an act of Islamic extremist terrorism. His motive was to act on behalf of the ISIS," he said. "So you add this to what is now a growing list of attacks in less than a year -- San Bernardino was in December [2015], and then we had Brussels and then Paris and now Orlando. We are getting more terrorist attacks than we've ever had before, and I attribute that to something that I predicted: I said that the more America withdraws, the more weakness America shows, the more they will attack," he warned. The "weakness” shown by the administration, said the former New York Mayor, is illustrated by the "withdrawal from Iraq, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the withdrawal of police officers from mosques, the failure of the president to use the term 'Islamic extremist terrorism,' these are all very bad signals to give to terrorists. The more they see weakness, the more they attack.” (Arutz-7) [Comment]

Connecting Israeli Jews to Jewish communities in the Diaspora is the aim of a new campaign launched by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. The driving force of the new project stems from the understanding that Israel is committed not only to its own future and prosperity, but to the future and prosperity of Jews wherever they live. In this vein, Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett quotes the Rabbinic adage, "All Jews are responsible one for another." One feature of the new campaign is to have Jews from abroad video themselves as they talk about their Jewish lives and their connection to Israel. Minister Bennett explained that in order to overcome the obstacles of security threats, assimilation, anti-Semitism, and Israeli disconnection with Diaspora Jews, "we have three guidelines. The first is Partnership, in that we do everything together with Jewish leaders and organizations abroad. Number two is Jewish Continuity – we seek to connect young Jews to their Jewish identity and to Israel by answering the questions, 'Why be a Jew?' and 'Why Israel?' And third, is the 'Two-Way Street' – Jewish communities and individuals from both Israel and abroad are responsible for each other," said Bennett. (INN) [Comment]

Turkish PM Binali Yildirim hailed his country's reconciliation deal with the State of Israel, framing it as a victory for Turkey. Israel and Turkey would be exchanging ambassadors "as soon as possible," he said, as part of a re-normalization of ties between the two states. Ankara would appoint its ambassador within weeks, he added. Asked about a reported Turkish commitment to help prevent Hamas attacks against Israel, Yildirim said: "This is not a ceasefire deal. We reached an agreement with Israel to normalize relations." (INN) [Comment]

Israeli company Nano Textile has introduced an innovative technology that can transfer any type of fabric to one that kills bacteria. The unique, cost effective technology, which permanently prevents the growth of bacteria on both natural and synthetic fibers, can prevent the spread of hospital-acquired infections and reduce cross contamination between patients and medical staff, thus significantly reducing secondary infections. The technology transforms any ready-made fabric into antibacterial textile by embedding zinc-oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles onto the fabric. ZnO is known for its antibacterial properties and has been approved by the FDA as safe. Nanoparticles of ZnO eradicate even antibiotic resistant bacteria such as MRSA. The technology, which has been patented in the USA and Israel, and is awaiting approval in Europe and Asia, was developed by Professor Aharon Gedanken at Bar Ilan University, Israel. (Globes) "Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit." Isa 27:6 [Comment]