Israel Line - Tuesday, February 5, 2008

• Three people wounded in latest rocket barrage on Sderot
• Tennis/ Crowd expected to help Israel against Sweden in Davis Cup
• Pope nixes reference to Jews' 'blindness' over Jesus in prayer
• Obama good for Israel?
• Restitution group to give NIS 100m. to needy survivors
• Video: Dancing the night away
• Video: Turning landmines into punchlines

Three people wounded in latest rocket barrage on Sderot/Jpost

Three people were wounded and several suffered from shock early Tuesday evening as ten Kassam rockets hit Sderot. One of the rockets hit a house, moderately wounding a woman and lightly wounding two other people. The house itself was also reported to be heavily damaged.



Tennis/ Crowd expected to help Israel against Sweden in Davis Cup/Ha'aretz

Sweden captain Mats Wilander is expecting a vocal crowd when his team faces Israel in the first round of the Davis Cup on Friday. Last weekend, the fans at the Ramat Hasharon Tennis Center briefly got to Maria Sharapova by imitating her grunting. "They raise their game when they are playing in front of their crowd," Wilander said Tuesday. "I think all five matches can be won or lost. I think the score could be 5-0 or 0-5 or 3-2."



Pope nixes reference to Jews` `blindness` over Jesus in prayer/Ha'aretz

Pope Benedict has ordered changes to a Latin prayer for Jews at Good Friday services by traditionalist Catholics, deleting a reference to their "blindness" over Christ, the Vatican said on Tuesday. The Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano published the new version of the prayer in Latin and said it should be used by the traditionalist minority starting this Good Friday, March 21.



OP-ED: Obama good for Israel?/Ynet

In recent months, Obama has done everything, and I mean everything, in order to appease American Jews and win their support. He has been doing it successfully. For example, Michael Chabon, a celebrated Jewish-American author, wrote an incredibly enthusiastic piece in favor of Obama for the leftist Huffington Post website.



Restitution group to give NIS 100m. to needy survivors/Jpost

The Israeli Organization for the Restitution of Assets for Holocaust Victims will distribute NIS 100 million to needy survivors, the group said this week. The organization, which was established by the Knesset in 2006 to identify and return the assets of Holocaust victims to their rightful heirs, will allocate NIS 75m. in unclaimed assets to impoverished survivors, and pay NIS 25m. to groups that help them.



Video: Dancing the night away/Ynet

Eilat's fourth annual Eastern Dance Festival sparkles as hundreds of women gather for a celebration of self – and belly dancing.



Video: Turning landmines into punchlines

It took less time for Moses to receive the Ten Commandments than it did for four Jewish and Arab comics to get a mixed crowd of 300 Israelis, Palestinians, Americans and Europeans laughing at the same, politically charged jokes.