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Newsletter : 9fax0916.txt
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>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN Sept. 16, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 172
Shanghai Synagogue Active After 50 Years
By IsraelWire
The first Rosh Hashanah prayer in 50 years was held in the Shanghai Synagogue, celebrating the Jewish New Year, Yediot Ahronot reported. One hundred and fifty people, including staff members of the Consulate General of Israel in Shanghai, and Jewish businessmen who reside in the city, participated in the services, which were conducted by a Chabad rabbi. The Synagogue, "Ohel Rachel," was founded in 1920, but remained inactive for a long period.
Netanyahu Questioned by Police
By Meredith Buel (VOA-Jerusalem)
Former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife,
Sarah, are being questioned by police after media reports said they
are under investigation for alleged financial irregularities.
The Netanyahus entered a police station near Tel Aviv reportedly to
be questioned about allegations of fraud. Reports say a contractor
allegedly billed the Israeli government for $110,000 for work
done at Netanyahu's private home and for other personal services.
The work was reportedly performed while Netanyahu was prime
minister. Police say the contractor has been arrested on
suspicion of fraud.
The former prime minister -- who lost his position after elections
last May -- is denying wrongdoing. Netanyahu has largely kept out
of the public eye since his defeat. He is planning to join the
lecture circuit in the United States and has said he will
write a book.
Syria Close to Deploying "Super Scuds""
Israel Faxx Staff Report
Israeli sources report that Syria is six-months to a year away from deploying the Scud-C class missile, enabling the rogue state to target all of Israel with biological or chemical warheads.
The Scud-C, which has an estimated range of some 300 miles, has
reportedly garnered the highest priority in Syria's military
program. Damascus has worked closely with Iran in developing the
missile, with the latter providing technical and financial support.
Syria, despite its difficult financial situation, has invested a
tremendous amount of capital into the project; one source said the
project's funds are "unlimited."
"It is a constant effort to advance and develop their
surface-to-surface missiles, and they are reaching better
capabilities all the time," said the source.
Syria is making other military preparations, reinforcing its
missile silos and taking other steps to protect its missile
launchers from attack. Some Israeli commanders have recently
declared Syria's army to be a paper tiger, but the source advised
to guard against complacency with Syria, as a war with it would
definitely "make us bleed."
According to the source, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad is the
only leader in the region who is actively training to carry out a
surprise attack, though Israeli intelligence believes Syria will
not exercise that option.
Y2K Problem is Solved at Hebrew University
By Arutz-7 News Service
A solution to the Y2K problem, applicable to all databases, has
been developed by Ben-Etzion Yaron at the Department of
Computerized Information Systems at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem.
The development is claimed to provide an exacting and speedy
solution to most of the problems that may develop in operation of
large information-processing systems at the approach of the year
2000, thus preventing possible crises in the operations of banks,
insurance companies, government offices, payroll operations and
other systems.
Yaron explained that his solution for the Y2K problem compresses
four digits for the years 2000 and the years following into two
symbols. It accomplishes this by utilizing special algorithms for
expanding two symbols into four digits and for compressing four
digits into two symbols. The solution, for which patents are
pending in the U.S., can reportedly be applied to all computer
languages and be used with all computers. Yaron estimates that the
time required to convert databases to deal with the year 2000
problem using the new solution is 15-20% of the time required using
other solutions.
Israel Compromises Security Demands for Safe Passage Roads
By IsraelWire
Israeli has agreed to permit PLO Authority residents to use the
southern safe-passage route from Gaza to Hebron next month, even if
they are banned from Israel for security reasons. Border police
vehicles would escort the motorists.
Senior officials in the security establishment said that even with
border police escorts and other precautions, a terrorist would be
able to carry out an attack at certain areas along the road before
the border police escort was able to discern what had taken place.
This is because there are portions of the road with limited
visibility and other logistical factors that make it close to
impossible to maintain control over motorists using the route,
which passes through major Israeli cities.
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