Falling prisoner to security detail, PM unable to go to nearby shul over security considerations that would have inconvenienced other worshipers.
By HERB KEINONshofar blurred 311(photo credit: AP)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was a prisoner of his security detail over Rosh Hashana, unable to go to the nearby Great Synagogue in Jerusalem because of security considerations that would seriously have inconvenienced the other worshipers.So instead of going to hear the shofar on the holiday, the shofar came to Netanyahu, with Eli Yaffe, director of the synagogue’s choir, going to Netanyahu’s official residence to sound the shofar blasts so the prime minister and his family would fulfill the commandment.Netanyahu spent the holiday with his family. A number of world leaders called over the holiday to extend to him and the country a good new year, including Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.On Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres to wish them a happy Rosh Hashana.During their conversation, Abbas told Peres that [the Palestinian people] want a peace agreement with Israel and hope that Israeli inhabitants will be able to achieve a peace that will include all Arab nations.”Peres told Abbas that “No one is more fitting than you to achieve peace for your people and the entire region.” He also wished Abbas and Muslims well on Id al-Fitr.
