Israeli coalition government collapses

Israel's national unity coalition government collapsed tonight after Labour party ministers handed in resignation letters following a budget row.

The resignations are a hammer blow to the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, but will not immediately put him out of office, instead forcing him to rely on rightwing minority parties in a shaky coalition.
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WHAT IT MEANS: Ha'aretz columnist Yoel Marcus on the gov't breakup

Israel moved substantially to the right Wednesday. A year and eight months into Sharon's term, he found himself facing the reality of his failed leadership: There's no peace, no security, and no unity.
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Red-Heifer Days
Religion takes the lead.

So how does the calf recently born in Israel figure into things? As Gorenberg explains, the ashes of a flawless red heifer — an extremely rare creature — were required by the ancient Hebrews to purify worshipers who went into the Temple to pray. In modern times, rabbinical law forbids Jews from setting foot on the Temple Mount, thus violating the site where the Holy of Holies dwelled, until and unless they are ritually purified. Without a perfect red heifer to sacrifice, the Third Temple cannot be built, and Moshiach — the Messiah — will not come. Writes Gorenberg, "[Israeli] government officials and military leaders could only regard the requirement for the missing heifer as a stroke of sheer good fortune preventing conflict over the Mount."

In 1996, thanks in part to a cattle-breeding program set up in Israel with the help of Texas ranchers who are fundamentalist Christians, a red heifer was born. There was immense excitement among messianists of the Israeli religious Right, and their American Christian counterparts. The world media covered it as a joke, but it wasn't funny to David Landau, columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz. He called the red heifer "a four-legged bomb" that could "set the entire region on fire." Muslim leaders worried about the red heifer too, as they would see an attempt by Jews to take over the Temple Mount as a sign of the Islamic apocalypse.
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