Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Robert Goot. Photo: AJN file

PETER KOHN

THE recent sentencing of five men convicted on terror charges in Sydney shows that Australia’s judicial system is working effectively in helping keep the country secure, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).

The men, aged between 25 and 44 and whose names have been suppressed, were convicted last October after prosecutors alleged they had stockpiled dangerous chemicals, firearms and ammunition, in a plan to wage jihad against the Australian government.

Handing down prison terms of between 23 and 28 years for conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, Justice Anthony Whealy of the NSW Supreme Court said the five men were motivated by “intolerant, inflexible religious conviction”.

Some of the material seized from the group praised Osama Bin Laden and depicted graphic images of violence inflicted on hostages.
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Israeli soldiers prepare to enter Gaza in January 2009. Photo: Isranet

HANAN GREENBERG

JERUSALEM – There was a significant decline in the number of terror attacks in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank in 2009 compared with previous years, according to data released by Israel’s Shin Bet security service to mark the end of the year.

At the same time, many attempts by terror groups from the Gaza Strip to plant booby traps inside Israel were thwarted.

For the first time in a decade, no suicide attacks were carried out this year. The number of those wounded in attacks also dropped, with 15 killed compared to 36 in 2008.

The main trends of the year reveal a relatively encouraging picture, but the strengthening of terror organizations is liable to change the situation in 2010 and later years.

According to the Shin Bet, the decline in terror attacks is the result of Operation Cast Lead. In 2009, just 566 rockets from Gaza were fired into Israel, mostly in January during the IDF operation, compared to 2048 launched in 2008.
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Moshe Holtzberg, orphaned by the Mumbai terrorists last year, is given his first haircut at Kfar Chabad, 20 kilometres east of Tel Aviv, on November 18. Photo: Isranet

DALIA SABLE, CHANTAL ABITBOL AND SYLVIA DEUTSCH

AUSTRALIAN students were among thousands worldwide who commemorated the first anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attacks with a communal Shabbat dinner.

A global directive by Chabad on Campus in New York, “Bring a Friend Shabbat” aimed to be the largest campus-based Shabbat celebration and was held in memory of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, who were Chabad shluchim (emissaries).

The couple, together with four others, were murdered in Nariman House, the headquarters of Chabad in Mumbai, on November 26, 2008.

In all, more than 170 people were killed over three days of terrorism in the tourist districts of the city.

Moshe Holtzberg, the infant son of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, meanwhile, was spirited to safety by the Holtzbergs’ Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel.
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