Netanyahu’s father dies at age 102

Montag, 30. April 2012 | Ryan Jones

Israel on Monday collectively mourned the passing of Benzion Netanyahu, scholar, Zionist leader, and father of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He was 102.

Unsurprising considering his age, Benzion Netanyahu was around for the rebirth of the Jewish state, and played a leading role in that miraculous episode.

Benzion Netanyahu was born in Warsaw, Poland. He moved with his family to the Land of Israel (then under British Mandate rule) in 1920. He worked for years as the personal aide of Zeev Jabotinsky, a leader in the Zionist movement and founder of Revisionist Zionism.

Revisionist Zionism, to which Benzion Netanyahu dedicated his life, was and remains at odds with the more dominant Labor Zionism in that it views the establishment (and now the strengthening) of a Jewish state as its primary goal. Revisionist Zionism originally demanded that the Jews be given sovereignty over all the territories once ruled by their biblical forefathers, including territories that are today part of neighboring Jordan.

At the social level, Revisionist Zionism was and still is more focused on strengthening the middle class as a means of boosting the entire economy, a concept that is today the cornerstone of capitalism. By contrast, Labor Zionism is more socialist and welfare-minded in its economic orientation.

Revisionist Zionism is the founding ideology of Israel’s Likud Party, and both Jabotinsky and Benzion Netanyahu are seen as the “fathers” of Knesset faction that Benjamin Netanyahu today leads.

During the 1940s, Benzion lived in the US as head of Jabotinsky’s New Zionist Organization of America in order to promote the Zionist goal of establishing a strong and independent Jewish state.

Contemporaries have since acknowledged that Benzion’s efforts were instrumental in building the foundation for strong American support for Israel. It was because of his lobbying efforts that first the Republican and then the Democratic parties both included support for Israel as part of their official party platforms.

Benzion Netanyahu returned to Israel in 1949 following the establishment of the state of Israel.

Later in his life, Benzion Netanyahu served as chief editor for the Encyclopedia Hebraica and became a recognized expert on Jewish history in Spain. He eventually returned to the US where he was a professor at Dropsie College (1957-1966), the University of Denver (1968-1971) and Cornell University (1971-1975).

Benzion’s eldest son, Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed while leading the daring 1976 raid to free 106 airline passengers being held hostage by pro-Palestinian terrorists at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Following that tragedy, Benzion moved the rest of his family back to Israel.

Benzion Netanyahu never shied away from publicly opposing any of the policies of the younger Netanyahu that he felt were harmful to the strengthening of Israel and the gradual return to Jewish sovereignty of all the biblical homeland.

Norwegian Scholar Connects Breivik’s Attack to Mossad

Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung connects Mossad to Breivik massacre, claims Jews control 96% of world media.

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By Arutz Sheva Staff

First Publish: 5/1/2012, 2:14 AM

Anders Behring Breivik

Reuters

Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung has said that he is not ruling out the possibility that the Mossad was involved in the massacre carried out by Anders Behring Breivik last July.

The comments were made by Galtung last September at a lecture entitled “Ten Theses on July 22” at the University of Oslo. July 22 was the date on which Breivik shot panicked youths at point-blank range at the Utoya island, killing 69 people.

He also claimed that Breivik “belonged to the Freemasonry organization which is based on Judaism.”

Galtung, who founded the Peace Research Institute Oslo in 1959, noted that the date on which the massacre took place is the same date when, in 1946, the underground Jewish movement the Irgun planted explosives at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the British Army at the time. Warnings were given by members of the Irgun to clear the hotel, but were ignored by the British.

Furthermore, in a recent interview with the Norwegian magazine Humanist quoted by the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv on Monday, Galtung claimed that Jews control the world media and tilt public opinion in favor of Israel.

“The Jews control 96 percent of world media,” Galtung claimed during the interview, adding that the directors of Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and Viacom are all Jews, as are directors in the big American television networks.

“Is this accidentatl? If there is a Jewish boss it means Jewish control,” he claimed.

Referring to the massacre in Norway, Galtung told the newspaper that a European journalist who had surmised that the Mossad was behind the massacre “was vilified.” He then added that there was also a conspiracy to assassinate a former U.S. senator known for his anti-Israel positions.

Galtung claimed that Israel is the only place in the world in which the issue of anti-Semitism is permitted to be dealt with and said that Jews think that only they are allowed to speak out against themselves.

“I remember a famous professor in Israel who said, ‘Anti-Semitism means opposing us more than we deserve,’” Galtung said. “The meaning of his words is that he believes that Jews deserve some of the accusations, but thinks that only Jews can say that.”

Soon after Breivik carried out his horrendous attack, anti-Zionists tried to pin it on Israel and the Mossad.

The Al Jazeera network, for example, published an article by Gilad Atzmon, an Israeli-born British jazz saxophonist and political activist known for his criticisms of Zionism, Jewish identity, and Judaism.

Atzmon harped on the Norwegian Labor party’s support for boycotting Israel and noted, “The Labor Party Youth Movement have been devoted promoters of the Israel Boycott campaign. Many of the children who were gunned down by Breivik earlier had held up anti-Israel signs.”

Rocket Attack Strikes Near Sderot

Gaza terrorists launched a short-range Qassam rocket attack on Sderot Monday night. The rocket landed in an open area.

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By Chana Ya’ar

First Publish: 4/30/2012, 10:41 PM

Qassam rocket (archive)

Flash 90

Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists in Gaza aimed at southern Israel Monday night, launching a rocket attack at the town of Sderot.

The short-range Qassam missile landed in an area about a kilometer away from Israel’s security fence along the Gaza border.

The explosion occurred in an open area, and no property damage was reported by the authorities. No one was physically injured.

Residents received a 15-second warning of the impending attack due to the Color Red incoming rocket alert system.

However, residents living in areas targeted by rocket attacks are frequently traumatized. Children have their sleep disrupted and are often frightened when they are snatched up from their beds by parents in order to run to a bomb shelter or other space space. In addition, those affected by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to prior attacks are typically re-traumatized as a result.

Olmert: U.S. Should Lead Attack on Iran, Not Israel

Former PM Olmert says any military action against Iran should be led by the U.S., hints he doesn’t trust Netanyahu and Barak.

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By Elad Benari

First Publish: 5/1/2012, 4:14 AM

Ehud Olmert

Israel News Photo: Flash 90

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that if international efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program fail, any military action against Tehran should be led by the United States and not by Israel.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour which was recorded on Sunday and aired on Monday, Olmert said, “The last resort is a military action. And I prefer that it would be an American action — supported by the international community — if all the other efforts would fail.”

Olmert added that the U.S. government should decide on the extent and the scope of any military action, saying, “Israel certainly could be part of the effort, but Israel should not lead it.”

The former Prime Minister said there is no immediate need for military action against Tehran. “I know one thing: that the Iranian leadership has not gone beyond a certain line for the time being of developing the nuclear program. And that shows that they are at least thoughtful, which means that they are not rushing, but they are calculating their steps.”

In the interview, Olmert also responded to the harsh remarks made over the weekend by former Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin.

Diskin attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak at an open forum, saying they are “messianic” and “unfit to hold the reins of power. They give the public a false picture on the Iran question. They create the feeling that if Israel does not act, Iran will have a nuclear bomb, even though experts think that an attack on Iran will cause it to speed up the process of arming with nuclear weapons.”

Olmert described as “quite unusual” the comments from Diskin and added, “I prefer to distinguish between the personal aspects of what he said and the substantial aspects of what he said. We don’t think that the priorities are set in the right way. First priority, as I said, is cooperation with America from a respectful and serious and careful attitude and not trying to teach the president of America or preach to the president of America or blame the president of America, but rather cooperate with him.”

Olmert also implied that, like Diskin, he did not trust the current leaders of Israel to make the right decisions.

“You have to have full trust in the judgment of those who have to take decisions,” said Olmert. “And you could understand from what I said that maybe something in my trust is lacking.”

Asked if he does not have full trust in the Netanyahu government, Olmert replied, “Apparently.” He admitted he was “worried” that a preemptive attack on Iran could be a “terrible, terrible mistake for the security and the well-being of Israel.”

Olmert, who faces a series of indictments and court hearings on charges of bribery and abusing public trust, was recently the keynote speaker at the annual J Street conference. The organization describes itself as being “pro-Israel” and “pro-peace,” but many Jews believe that the organization actually undermines the interests of the State of Israel and Jewish people.

Only several days ago, J Street’s regional director said that in the event that war broke out involving Israel, J Street would not necessarily support the Jewish state.

When Olmert served as Prime Minister, he was determined to reach a peace agreement with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. He went so far as to offer Abbas 94 percent of Judea and Samaria, a shared jurisdiction of Jerusalem, and allowing 5,000 PA Arabs who left their homes in 1948 back into Israel.

The details of Olmert’s offer were revealed several months ago in former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s memoir

War Game: Israeli Air Strike Deals Severe Blow to Iran Nukes

In simulation by Makor Rishon newspaper, Israel strikes on October 16, loses 10 jets. Angry Obama refuses to intervene.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 4/17/2012, 7:41 PM

Israeli F-15

Israel news photo: Flash 90

In a simulation war game featuring Israelis in senior positions, Israel loses 10 fighter jets in a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and manages to set back the Iranian nuclear program by seven years. An angry President Barack Obama takes no steps against Israel but also refuses to intervene on its side.

In the war game, conducted by Makor Rishon newspaper, the strike takes place on October 16, 2012, just three weeks before the U.S. election.

The simulation was carried out with the participation of former Government Secretary Yisrael Maimon as a member of the “Octet” of trusted ministers and Home Front Minister; Iran expert Dr. Eldad Pardo as the Iranian regime; Maj. Gen. (ret.) Eitan Ben Eliyahu as a senior member of the Octet; Begin-Sadat Center Chairman Prof. Efraim Inbar as the Prime Minister; Dr. Mordechai Kedar as “the Palestinians,” Hizbullah and the Arab countries; journalist Amit Segal as Israeli and world press; journalist Ofer Shelach as Preient Barack Obama and Makor Rishon journalist Amnon Lord as game administrator.

According to the game’s premise, on October 14 and 15, four independent and reliable Mossad intelligence sources indicate that Iran has begun transferring its strategic nuclear equipment to underground sites in Qom. Military Intelligence, meanwhile, determines that Iran was ready to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lulls the press into complacency by maintaining a seemingly regular schedule in Jerusalem. In the pre-dawn hours of October 16, the IDF launches Operation Yahalom (”Diamond”). The nuclear sites at Natanz and Arak are bombed, as are several other nuclear plants and research centers. Ten IAF jets are shot down.

President Obama receives word of the strike when he is speaking to 350 rabbis in Florida. He convenes a consultation and says that Israel’s “excuse” for bombing is “irrelevant” because while Iran’s nuclear facilities may become immune to an Israeli attack by moving underground, they will not become immune to a U.S. attack.

The timing of the strike “basically amounts to an intervention in the elections,” Obama adds. “The attack will have immediate repercussions influencing the election considerations of voters here, such as the expected rise in the price of oil. Israel could have waited until after the elecions.”

In the simulation, the formal White House announcement calls on Israel to cease hostilities but does not place sanctions on it or threaten it. On the other hand, it offers no assistance. “Israel is responsible for its own fate,” it says. “It went against our wishes, and therefore we do not offer it a military umbrella of protection against military responses by Iran or its proxies.”

Iran sends 1,500 tanks toward the border with Iraq and instructs Hizbullah to fire missiles at Israel. It also launches a series of large scale terror actions and fires missiles from Lebanon and from its own territory at hi-tech targets in Herzliya, suceeding in destroying Intel’s headquarters. A suicide bomber kills a large number of cadets in the IDF’s hi-tech Talpiyot program. Low-level radiation is released in Tel Aviv by a “dirty bomb.”

In the war game, Israeli media shows surprising solidarity and unity on the day of the attack, initially sparing the government from criticism. Republican candidate Mitt Romney calls upon Obama to give Israel his backing “immediately.” Obama, meanwhile, threatens an Israeli minister who speaks with him on the phone: “I may still be president on November 7. This will have a price, as far as you are concerned. I will not elaborate right now, but you should take this into consideration.”

Iran decides to try and drive a wedge between Israel and the U.S.. It therefore tells the U.S. it will supply it with as much oil as it needs, in the hope of helping Obama get reelected. In late October, its agents blow up a car bomb in Tel Aviv and fire a missile at an El Al jet from a ship in the Mediterranean, killing 300 people.

Meanwhile, intelligence indicates that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back 7 years by the Israeli strikes. With U.S. elections days away, Obama decides that “enough is enough” and begins to threaten Iran with a U.S. attack if it does not cease its hostilities against Israel.

Whether real life will be anything like the simulation by Makor Rishon remains to be seen.

Terrorists freed in Schalit deal return to terror

By YAAKOV KATZ

04/17/2012 16:52

Shin Bet: Two terrorists released in Gilad Schalit deal rearrested for trying to commit terrorist acts.

Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed Tuesday two cases of Palestinian terrorists who were released in the prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit last year but have since returned to engage in anti-Israel terrorist activity.

In October 2011, Israel released over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in a deal with Hamas which brought Schalit home after five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip.

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• Netanyahu meets with the Schalit family in TA

The first case is Omar Abu Snina, who was released to the Gaza Strip. According to the Shin Bet, Abu Snina – a known Hamas operative – has been working in recent months to recruit Palestinians from the West Bank into Hamas’s ranks.

The Shin Bet said that it obtained a memory card Abu Snina had sent family members in the West Bank which included detailed instructions related to kidnapping soldiers, illegally obtaining weapons and establishing a terrorist cell.

The second case is of Daoud Hilo, a 22-yearold resident of the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah. He was arrested about a month after his release for illegally purchasing weapons. He was convicted in late March and will return to prison for four more years.

Last month, senior IDF officers in the Central Command warned of the growing involvement of Palestinians released in the Schalit exchange in terror activity in the West Bank.

The officers said the IDF had noted a dramatic increase in the smuggling of cash into the West Bank since the beginning of the year and that some of the money was to be used to reestablish terror cells for the 55 Palestinians released to the West Bank under the deal.

India confiscates Israeli defense firm’s $70m guarantee, clouding relations

DEBKAfile Special Report April 17, 2012, 7:01 PM (GMT+02:00)

Indian army’s 155mm howitzers - out of ordnance

The Israeli government spared no effort to save the day. However, even after Prime Minister Netanyahu’s security adviser Yaacov Amidror visited New Delhi to intercede with top security and government officials, India decided, for the first time in its history, to penalize a foreign defense vendor, Israel’s Military Industries (IMI), for alleged breach of contract.

To the dismay of officials in Jerusalem, the IMI was singled out for the penalty with loud publicity from among five defense vendors – three foreign and two Indian - recommended for blacklisting in March for alleged involvement in a graft case. Its $70 million guarantee was accordingly confiscated.

In Jerusalem, it is strongly suspected that India is deliberately cooling its defense relations with Israel to fit in with its new alignment with Tehran and Moscow. All three refuse to join US and European sanctions against Iran.
The IMI signed a contract with the Indian OFB-Ordinance Factory Board to build ordnance factories at Nalanda in Bihar for manufacturing bi-modular charges for the Indian Army’s 155mm howitzers. The $260 million contract contained an “integrity pact” covering a commitment to abstain from “malpractice.”

Delhi says the IMI forfeited its guarantee because it was allegedly involved in the offer of a bribe to former OFB director general Sudipto Ghosh in 2010.
IMI sources pointed out that an Indian court had ruled the encashment of the guarantee improper. The firm operated within the law and intends to appeal the decision and the handling of the case before the competent authorities. The decision, they say, was based on disputed facts and ignored the documents and information refuting the charges which were presented to the Indian Defense Ministry.
debkafile’s military sources add that Israel’s defense leaders made every effort, including an appeal by Yaacov Amidror to Indian defense minister A.K. Antony, to get its military industries removed from the blacklist banning its operations in India for 10 years, and reinstated.
It was all in vain. New Delhi’s decision to confiscate the $70 million guarantee was taken and published Tuesday without letting Jerusalem know it was coming.
The next day, Antony visited the OFB ordnance factory and approved a special operating budget for getting production at Nalanda up and running without outside help.

On March 12, the Indian Chief of Staff Gen. V.K. Singh sent a letter to the prime minister in Delhi complaining that the army’s tank fleet is short of guns and ammunition for fighting off a potential enemy (Pakistani) tank assault; 97 percent of its air defense systems are inoperative; and its special forces have neither the right arms for their operations nor ammo. The situation in the Indian infantry, engineering and signals corps is no better.
The letter, say our military sources was fired off as a shot in the feud among India’s top generals, security chiefs and politicians. In the free-for-all, they all accuse each other of corruption and graft related to military procurement. Gen. Singh said he too was offered a $2.8 billion bribe in 2010.
All Israel’s efforts to keep its defense transactions with New Delhi clear of its domestic infighting were fruitless.

Gold rush in the mountains of Eilat

By SHARON UDASIN

04/17/2012 04:02

A subsidiary of Gulliver Energy, headed by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, is request a gold exploration license.

Photo: Marc Israel Sellem

A subsidiary of Gulliver Energy, headed by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, is partnering with an Australian mineral mining firm to request a gold exploration license in the mountains of Eilat.

The two companies – Anat Oil Exploration, a daughter company of Gulliver Energy, and Northwood Exploration – have submitted a request to the Energy and Water Ministry for an exploration permit that covers an area of 43 square kilometers in the Nahal Roded region of the area, according to Gulliver.

In a 51-49 percent partnership respectively, Northwood and Anat intend to conduct numerous tests, analyses and drillings in the location to determine whether there is justification for mining for gold and other accompanying metals in the area, the Israeli firm said.

Evidence that there may be gold in the region is based on a geochemical survey conducted by the Geological Survey of Israel as well as previous research projects that have identified a presence of gold in the Nahal Roded and Yedidya Passage areas, according to Gulliver.

In two past drillings conducted in the region, investigators found gold in concentrations of 3-4 grams per ton at a depth of 40-50 meters, the company said.

Among the leaders of the Australian-Israeli venture will be head geologist Yoram Grossowicz and Avi Olshina, a special adviser to the project who has served as an expert on gold at the Geological institute of the Australian state of Victoria – GeoScience Victoria. Thus far, the work plan for the exploration includes the implementation of continuous core drilling as well as the launch of an atmospheric aeromagnetic survey over the entire licensed area by means of helicopters, the company said.

While the region may contain some of the sparkling expensive metal, much of the lands in the Eilat mountains technically constitute a Israel Nature and Parks Authority protected nature reserve.

The INPA would not issue an official statement regarding the matter, but a representative from the authority charged that the companies “do not want to mine gold; they want to boost the value of their stock, and we are not willing to participate in this game.”

Meanwhile, Eilot Regional Council head Udi Gat told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that he has not yet received any information about the project.

Assuming that the company is only doing a small amount of drilling and intends to repair the environment to how it was before, Gat said he is not sure whether he would be for or against the plan, and that he needs much more information from Gulliver to offer his opinion on their intentions.

MK Tibi in Canada: Boycott Products from ‘Settlements’

MK Tibi in Ottawa: Settlements are a cancer spreading all over Palestinian land. Boycott products manufactured there.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 4/18/2012, 12:14 AM

MK Ahmed Tibi

Flash 90

Arab MK Ahmed Tibi, notorious for making statements against Israel while he serves in its parliament, has called for a boycott of products manufactured in Judea, Samaria, and east Jerusalem.

Tibi made the controversial comments during a visit in Ottawa, Canada, on Monday. According to a report in The Montreal Gazette, Tibi also said he was aware that his remarks were a direct violation of the boycott law approved by the Knesset last July, though he seemed unfazed by that fact.

“I said that I am willing to test this immoral law trying to prevent me, as a member of the parliament, from expressing my views against the settlements in a peaceful way,” The Montreal Gazette quoted Tibi as having said during his visit to Ottawa. “This is the first time that someone is calling and demanding abroad.”

The boycott bill prevents companies from participating in government bids if they take part in a boycott of a business in Israel. It stipulates that anyone calling for an economic, cultural or academic boycott against the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria will be unable to participate in government tenders. In addition, any person who considers himself a victim of a boycott could sue the boycotter for compensation.

Tibi, who served for a time as an adviser to the late Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, noted in Ottawa that successive Canadian governments have turned a disapproving eye on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria.

“But it seems that the Canadian government is not willing to differentiate between, for example, products coming from settlements and products coming from Israel,” Tibi said.

He added, “Settlements are a cancer spreading all over Palestinian land, and cancer should be treated and eradicated. I am talking about a peaceful and non-violent way by not buying or selling or dealing in these products from these settlements.”

Tibi’s long history of anti-Israel activities includes going to New York to be a part of the Palestinian Authority’s delegation to the United Nations when it presented its unilateral statehood bid last September.

Last January Tibi praised the Palestinian Authority’s “martyrs” at a ceremony held on the occasion of “Palestinian Martyrs Day” and sponsored by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

“In the history of the peoples and their battles, the Palestinian shahid (martyr) is the height of glory,” Tibi said. “There is no higher value than death for the sake of Allah. The martyr is the one who breaks through and with his blood draws the journey to freedom and liberation.”

After the boycott bill was passed last July, Yisrael Beiteinu MK Alex Miller said he would be the first to utilize it against none other than Tibi, after the latter called for a boycott of the city of Ariel.

“Tibi’s party is not immune to lawsuits and certainly is not above the law,” Miller, an Ariel resident, said.

“Whoever shows contempt for the law and stomps on it will be responsible for the outcome,” he added.

Miller explained that the law is meant to prevent economic damage caused by boycotts, and that Tibi’s words could make investors hesitate before doing business in Ariel.

Report: Palestinian sentenced to death for selling house to Jews

Dienstag, 17. April 2012 | Ryan Jones

The Palestinian man accused of selling a house near Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs to a Jewish family has reportedly been sentenced to death by the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon reported that Mohammed Abu Shahala acted as an agent for the original Palestinian owner of what has come to be known as “Machpela House.”

After the story went public, sources in Hebron told the newspaper that Shahala was arrested and tortured by Palestinian security. During his second “interrogation” session, Shahala confessed not only to acting as an agent for local Palestinians willing to sell their houses to Jews, but also to cooperating with Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Shahala reportedly received an expedited trial, and his death sentence is now awaiting the signature of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Several Jewish settler leaders are trying to save his life.

In an open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and the heads of the European Union and International Red Cross, Hebron Jewish community leaders David Wilder and Noam Arnon pleaded for international intervention on behalf of Shahala.

“It is appalling to think that property sales should be defined as a ‘capital crime’ punishable by death,” they wrote. “What would be the reaction to a law in the United States, England, France, or Switzerland, forbidding property sales to Jews? Actually, less than one hundred years ago, such acts were legislated and practiced, known as the infamous ‘Nuremberg laws.’”

Danny Dayan, head of the Yesha Council of Jewish communities, stated, “Abu Shahala will be executed in Ramallah, barely 15 minutes drive from the government’s headquarters in Jerusalem. He is being executed for the ‘crime’ of helping Jews buy a home in Hebron. Israel cannot allow this travesty to take place.”

Since its inception in 1993 and its coming to power in 1995, the Palestinian Authority has maintained old Jordanian laws that made it a capital offense to sell property to Jews. More often than not, Israel sides with the Palestinian Authority on these issues for fear of provoking a violent Muslim outburst. That is what happened with the Machpela House, where earlier this month the new Jewish owners were forcibly evicted by the Israeli army.

Flytilla activists scrawl swastika at Israel airport

Dienstag, 17. April 2012 | Ryan Jones

The so-called “peace” activists who attempted to infiltrate Israel via Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday would likely identify with those of Israel’s most emphatic critics who insist that despite their disdain for the Jewish state, they are not anti-Semitic.

But more often than not, the behavior of these individuals betrays their true disposition. That is what happened on Monday, when it was discovered that at least one of the flytilla activists who was detained at Ben Gurion had scrawled a Nazi swastika on the wall of a holding facility.

The enormously offensive and anti-Semitic graffiti was found by Israeli Immigration Authority officials following the deportation of two foreign activists, citizens of Spain and France, respectively.

“This was the gift the ‘peace activists’ left Israel,” one Immigration Authority official told theYnet news portal.

A total of 79 foreign activists managed to reach Israel this week. Most were detained at the airport, handed a wry letter of “welcome” by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, and then deported to their home countries. Hundreds more activists were planning to invade Israel, but were thwarted when the airlines suddenly cancelled their tickets.

Israel: Obama’s secret dealings with Iran conflict with US-Israeli understandings
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 16, 2012, 3:07 PM (GMT+02:00)

Barack Obama and his double diplomatic track

The fundamental rift on Iran between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu burst into the open Monday, April 16 when high-ranking Israeli officials close to Netanyahu directly accused the president of reneging on the US-Israeli understandings reached ahead of the Istanbul talks between the six powers and Iran on April 14.

Behind the show biz of Istanbul, they charged, the US and Iran had reached secret agreements in clandestine bilateral contacts channeled through Paris and Vienna.
The row surfaced Sunday when Netanyahu said the US and world powers by agreeing to hold more talks in Baghdad next month had given Tehran a “freebie” of five more weeks to continue enriching uranium without restrictions. By singling out the US, the prime minister aimed his comment directly at the president.
Obama’s response was fast. At a news conference ending the Western Hemisphere summit in Cartagenia, Colombia, he commented sharply: “The notion that somehow we’ve given something away or a `freebie’ would indicate Iran has gotten something. In fact, they’ve got some of the toughest sanctions that they’re going to be facing coming up in just a few months if they don’t take advantage of these talks.”
That is the very point on which Israel accuses the US president of playing false: time. As disclosed by debkafile on April 9, American and Israeli officials preceded the Istanbul talks with an understanding for the US to put before Iran agreed demands/concessions: Iran would be allowed to keep 1,000 centrifuges for the low-level enrichment of uranium up to 3.5 percent purity, the first time Israel had accepted the principle of Iran enriching uranium at any grade at all.

It was also agreed between Washington and Jerusalem that Iran would not be permitted to keep 20 percent enriched uranium, which is a short step before weapons-grade, in any quantity.
These understandings, known as the “1,000 principle,” were meant to represent the final upshot of the formal negotiations with Iran, a consensus to which US diplomats would aspire in as short a time possible.
In the event, the US delegation did not present any of the agreed demands – or any other - to the Iranians attending the first round of talks in Turkey.

The belated sense of being misled prompted the prime minister’s exceptionally sharp reaction.
Israeli official sources now suspect that in their secret contacts, the US has granted Iran far-reaching concessions on its nuclear program - more than Israel would find acceptable. The formal talks in Istanbul and in Baghdad on May 23 are seen as nothing but a device to screen the real business the US and Iran have already contracted on the quiet.

Muslim Radical Salah Returns to Israel

Six months after being arrested in London, Sheikh Raed Salah, who heads the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, returned to Israel.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 4/17/2012, 12:14 AM

Sheikh Raed Salah

Reuters

Sheikh Raed Salah, who heads the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, returned to Israel on Monday evening, about six months after he was arrested in London following an unauthorized entry into the UK.

Salah was arrested in the London hotel at which he was staying last June. Local immigration authorities claimed that Salah had entered Britain illegally despite having previously been declared persona non grata.

Despite Salah being banned from the country, airport police allowed him to enter. Labor Members of Parliament had invited him to speak at the legislature despite the ban, which did not prevent him from passing through immigration inspection at Heathrow Airport. He was reportedly arrested only after British newspapers published his appearance.

The British Home Office subsequently agreed to release Salah. A British immigration board later ruled that Salah is “undesirable” and can be deported from the United Kingdom.

Salah was previously arrested and jailed several times in Israel for incitement and assaulting police officers.

After he landed in Israel on Monday, Salah was taken by the police at the airport for a short interrogation, after which he was released.

Fayyad Ignores Israeli Sovereignty, Launches New Dam

PA Prime Minister inaugurates new PA construction project, despite the fact that it is located in an area under full Israeli control.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 4/17/2012, 5:13 AM

Salam Fayyad

Reuters

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has inaugurated a new PA construction project, despite the fact that it is located in an area under full Israeli control, the PA-based WAFA news agency reported on Monday.

According to a statement issued by Fayyad’s office, he inaugurated on Monday stage one of a water dam to be built in “Palestine” at a cost of over $1 million.

The statement quoted by WAFA said that during a visit to the village of Ouja and the Jordan Valley, Fayyad inaugurated the Ouja Dam, which he said is one of the projects to develop Area C, which falls under full Israeli control.

“Our non-stop efforts to develop the area known as Area C and every inch of our country aim mainly to benefit from our resources, mainly our water resources,” Fayyad was quoted as having said.

He added that building the Ouja Dam is proof that “we will not be deterred by unfair classifications and names.”

Fayyad also noted that he will not wait for Israeli permission to allow him to develop the Jordan Valley. According to WAFA, he stressed that “this is our land and it is our natural right to develop this area and to serve our people living here.”

Fayyad said that the Jordan Valley is “part of the occupied Palestinian territory and a vital part of the future independent state of Palestine.”

According to WAFA, the Islamic Development Bank contributed $1 million toward developing stage one of the Ouja Dam and the Palestinian Authority paid over $30,000 toward that end. Work will now start on stage two of the project.

The report said that Fayyad also condemned the IDF for what he claimed was its assault against Palestinian and international activists who wanted to hold a bicycle tour of the Jordan Valley area last week.

Fayyad claimed that Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner’s striking of an anarchist provocateur who rioted and broke Eisner’s hand is “what happens to the Palestinian people on daily basis,” according to WAFA.

Fayyad’s provocative actions and remarks came a day before his meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Last week it was reported that Netanyahu will seek direct talks with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during the meeting.

Former Amb.: Israel Should Set ‘Red Lines’ for Talks with PA

Dr. Dore Gold, former Ambassador to the United Nations, says Israel should set ‘red lines’ should it restart negotiations with the PA.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 4/17/2012, 2:13 AM

PA Prime Minister Fayyad

Flash 90

Dr. Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations and former advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said on Monday that Israel should set ‘red lines’ should it restart negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

Dr. Gold spoke to Arutz Sheva ahead of a meeting between Netanyahu and the PA’s Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, on Tuesday. Last week it was reported that Netanyahu will seek direct talks with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during the meeting.

According to his office, Netanyahu will propose “raising the level of talks” and holding face-to-face negotiations with Abbas.

Gold told Arutz Sheva that he believes Netanyahu has actually started drawing his ‘red lines’ when he stressed the importance of an Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley as part of a future agreement with the PA.

He added that a demand that Abbas recognize the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people is another red line that should be set by Netanyahu.

Gold also addressed recent reports, according to which Fayyad intends to demand, during the meeting with Netanyahu, that Israel return to the indefensible pre-1967 borders, halt all construction in Judea and Samaria and release all PA prisoners. He described these demands as “a dream” of the PA leadership, noting that the question now is whether any negotiations will be held based on dreams or on red lines.

On Sunday, it was reported that during the meeting on Tuesday, Fayyad will present Netanyahu with a letter from Abbas, in which the PA Chairman writes that Israel’s actions have stripped the Palestinian Authority of its “raison d’etre”, creating a reality which cannot continue.

“As a result of actions taken by successive Israeli governments, the Palestinian National Authority no longer has any authority, and no meaningful jurisdiction in the political, economic, territorial and security spheres,” says the letter.

“In other words, the PA lost its raison d’etre which, if it continues, will make it unable to honor its commitments,” Abbas says, referring to the multiple agreements signed with Israel since the 1993 Oslo Accords, which brought about the creation of the Palestinian Authority a year later.

Jordan recently hosted a series of “exploratory meetings” between Israeli and PA representatives. However, the PA refused to continue to talk after those meetings and Abbas has continued to impose preconditions on negotiations, also threatening to cancel any agreements signed between the sides after 2000.

Abbas may be reacting to the fact that the world - and even the Israeli left and Israel’s Arabs - has lost much of its interest in the Palestinian Arab cause, as can be seen by the failed flytilla and March on Jerusalem, one reason being that the Arab Spring has shown where the real problems are.

Former US Official: Pollard May Yet be Released

Former US undersecretary of defense Lawrence Korb says Jonathan Pollard may yet be released, perhaps in June.

By Gabe Kahn

First Publish: 4/10/2012, 9:18 PM

Jonathan Pollard

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Former undersecretary of defense Lawrence Korb said Tuesday that convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard may be released soon.

“Given Jonathan’s deteriorating health they may consider clemency,” Korb said in remarks that contradicted reports that Pollard’s release was were baseless. “There is a chance.”

Korb also rejected that US President Barack Obama’s silence on anemergency plea for Pollard’s release from Israeli President Shimon Peres on humanitarian grounds was a definite “no” on clemency for Pollard.

“Obama didn’t respond to a letter sent by Prime Minister Netanyahu over a year ago, either, to my knowledge,” Korb said. “He may be waiting for the right time.”

Korb added: “I think maybe they were planning to in June – at least I hope so – but in light of Jonathan’s deteriorating health, maybe they will do it early.”

Obama is expected to award the Medal of Freedom to Peres in June. At that time Peres is expected to deliver a letter from 80 Israeli lawmakers asking for Pollard’s release.

Peres is also expected to make his now-third formal request for Pollard’s release in June. He first requested Pollard’s release when he met with Obama at the White House in March.

“I think it’s important, because if he is released right now he will not have to go back to prison, and he could receive proper healthcare at a civilian hospital,” Korb said. “Treatment beyond prison walls is much better in of itself . If it is released now he can be reunited with his wife, and I think it will help him heal faster. “

“There is no doubt he should be freed,” Korb said. “Even if he was healthy, he has served 27 years for a crime most people receive much shorter sentences for – providing information to a friendly country.”

“I’m optimistic,” Korb said. “I am optimistic by nature. And as Winston Churchill said of the United States, we always sought to right our mistakes.”

Earlier on Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor responded to Peres’ emergency plea saying “Our position has not changed”.

Pollard was hospitalized Friday before Passover began at a medical facility for prisoners after reporting severe pain.

Pollard, a civilian intelligence analyst for the US Navy, was arrested in 1985 and has been serving a life sentence since 1987 for one count of conspiracy to deliver national security information to a foreign government.

Pollard told Wolf Blitzer that year that he provided Israel with satellite photography of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) headquarters in Tunisia, specific capabilities of Libya’s air defenses, and “the pick of U.S. intelligence about Arab and Islamic conventional and unconventional military activity.”

Others convicted of the same crime, including those who pass intelligence data to hostile nations, have been given average sentences of 7 years or less in prison.

Israel granted Pollard citizenship in 1995, but denies he was an Israeli agent. In 1998, Israeli officials said Pollard had worked for an “unauthorized rogue operation.”

The disparity of Pollard’s sentence with those of others convicted of the same crime has turned his lengthy incarceration into an issue for American Jewry.

Jewish and Israeli leaders have been joined by numerous US officials and lawmakers in calling for Pollard’s release.

Abbas Threatens Renewed UN Statehood Bid

PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas said he will turn to the UN General Assembly for recognition if Israel does not capitulate to his demands

By Gabe Kahn

First Publish: 4/9/2012, 7:50 PM

Mahmoud Abbas

Flash 90

President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday he will turn to the UN General Assembly for recognition if Israel does not capitulate to his demands.

A previous bid for recognition in the United Nations Security Council – which must approve all moves for full membership in the world body – was stopped dead by the specter of a veto from the United States.

Approval would require 9 affirmative recommendations in the council and no negative recommendations from the five permanent, veto-wielding, members - Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States.

The PLO – currently listed as an observer “entity” with no voting rights – applied for full membership of the UN on Sept. 23. An admissions committee said on Nov. 11 it had failed to reach an agreement on the bid.

Even without the promised US veto in play, the current composition of the 15-member decision making council remains unfavorable to the PA bid as Ramallah cannot muster sufficient affirmative votes.

It had been suggested that Ramallah could instead seek upgraded observer status via the General Assembly to make it a non-member observer state – like the Vatican – but Abbas angrily rejected the proposal.

Nonetheless, Abbas’ change of heart on Sunday is no surprise. Last Tuesday, Abbas telegraphed the move saying a unilateral track at the United Nations “is our right and we will turn to the UN again.”

The threat to again pursue a unilateral track at the United Nations in violation of the 1994 Oslo Accords comes as chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat prepares to deliver a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu outlining Ramallah’s demands.

The letter is expected to reiterate Ramallah’s preconditions that Israel accept the indefensible pre-1967 lines as the future borders of a PA state, release all Arab terrorists from its prisons, and again halt all construction in the ‘disputed territories.’

Presidential adviser Nimir Hammad indicated earlier that Palestinian envoys would deliver the message next week, but negotiator Saeb Erekat told Ma’an on Sunday they were still waiting for Israeli confirmation of the meeting.

Last week, sources close to Netanyahu said the Prime Minister will reply to Abbas demanding he returns to negotiations without preconditions.

Netanyahu is also expected to demand Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish state and agree to security arrangements in any peace agreement.

The official said Netanyahu would finalize his response after receiving Abbas’ letter.

Critics say Netanyahu’s government has failed to adapt to a new paradigm in which PLO officials pursue a unilateral track while forestalling bilateral talks with unacceptable preconditions.

In December 2011, PLO officials announced “a strategy based on continuous efforts along with the international community to secure full recognition and full United Nations membership, pursuing internal reconciliation, and keeping up the popular resistance.”

IDF weighs interceptors for offshore gas platforms

By YAAKOV KATZ

04/10/2012 01:30

Fearing missiles, Navy seeking budget for 4 new vessels to improve defense coverage of Mediterranean Sea.

Photo: Albatross

The IDF is considering the deployment of missile interceptors on gas rigs that Israeli companies plan to construct in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in the coming years, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Israel’s concern is that Hezbollah will try to attack the platforms with anti-ship missiles or explosives-laden vessels.

Related:

• Navy seeks $100m. to protect new gas rigs

The navy is particularly concerned about Syria’s recent purchase of the Russian Yakhont anti-ship missile, which could be transferred to Hezbollah and used to target the gas rigs. Syria already tested the Yakhont in recent maneuvers. The weapon is said to be a sophisticated missile with a range of about 300 km.

Last February, the navy seized an Iranian arms ship whose cargo, Israel said, was destined for Islamic Jihad. The vessel was carrying six Iranian Nasr-1 radarguided anti-ship missiles.

The navy has yet to decide which type of missile defense system it would deploy on the gas rigs, but the two options under consideration are David’s Sling, which Israel is developing for use against medium-range rockets and cruise missiles, as well as the Barak-8, which protects large navy vessels against anti-ship missiles.

The navy has already increased its patrols in the Mediterranean and is also using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to increase the range of its surveillance. It currently operates Israel Aerospace Industries’s Heron UAV, which comes with a special electro-optic payload for maritime operations.

Until now, the navy has focused on protecting Israel’s sea lines of communication (SLOC), which span the length of the Mediterranean and around the Magreb region of North Africa. Some 99 percent of all goods arriving in the country come by sea, including security-related supplies and military hardware.

“The area we will need to protect at sea will significantly increase with the construction of the new gas rigs,” a senior naval officer said.

“We are also very concerned with the military buildup in the region, which is seeing an increase in sophisticated weapons systems like anti-ship missiles.”

In addition, the navy is in talks with the Defense Ministry about the need for four new vessels to more effectively cover its new area of operations. It is seeking a larger platform than the Sa’ar 5-class corvettes it operates.

The vessel will have to accommodate an advanced radar system, a helicopter and a launch system capable of firing long-range air defense and surface-to-surface missiles.

The navy has also informed the energy companies that it will need to install radars on the gas rigs, and the government is considering ordering the companies to help finance some of the cost.

In February, the Defense Ministry and navy ordered the Israel Electric Corporation to bolster security around a natural gas buoy that is being built off the coast of Hadera. The buoy will enable Israel to import natural gas in place of Egyptian gas, which has come to a near standstill since the revolution in Egypt last year.

‘Lebanese targets fair game in war with Hezbollah’

By YAAKOV KATZ

04/11/2012 01:12

Defense officials: It was a mistake not to have made this clear during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

Photo: REUTERS/Sharif Karim

Israel will attack Lebanese government targets during a future war with Hezbollah, senior defense officials said amid speculation that a war could erupt in the North following a future strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“It was a mistake not to attack Lebanese government targets during the War in 2006,” a senior defense official explained. “We will not be able to hold back from doing so in a future war.”

Related:

• ‘Iran may activate US Hezbollah cells after strike’
• IDF weighs interceptors for offshore gas platforms

After the outbreak of the 2006 war, the official said, the US asked Israel to refrain from bombing Lebanese government targets so as not to weaken the prime minister at the time, Fuad Siniora, who was aligned with the West.

Israel complied and restricted its bombings to Hezbollah targets.

“This will not be the same in the future, particularly now that Hezbollah and the government are effectively one and the same,” the official said.

In general, the IDF has significantly boosted its “target bank” since the 2006 war. Today’s bank is said to contain thousands of Hezbollah targets, compared to the approximately 200 that the IDF had on July 12, 2006, when Hezbollah abducted reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.

Hezbollah is believed to have amassed over 50,000 rockets and missiles, and most of the weaponry is thought to be stored in some 100 villages throughout southern Lebanon.

The new thinking regarding bombing government institutions is part of a revised IDF strategy on how to damage Hezbollah and facilitate a faster end to a war than the 34 days it took in 2006. The guerrilla group, which embeds its military capabilities within civilian infrastructure, does not have a clear power base, which if destroyed could help end such a war.

Talk of the possible bombing of Lebanese government targets comes as Israel prepares for a possible war with Hezbollah that could result from either an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities or a preemptive strike to stop the transfer of sophisticated weaponry from Syria to Lebanon.

Western countries have prepared various contingency plans for such a scenario, including the possible bombing of a convoy if it were detected, as well as the possible insertion of commando forces to secure the chemical stockpile if and when Syrian President Bashar Assad falls.

Big US-Arab Gulf air force exercise draws Iranian warning to stop at once

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 9, 2012, 11:04 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags: US aircraft carriers US-Persian Gulf GCC Joint exercise

Saudi Air Force warplanes

At least 200 American and Arab Gulf fighter-bombers thundered overhead Sunday, April 8 at the outset of the biggest air force exercise ever conducted in the Gulf region. They are simulating war with Iran and an operation for reopening the strategic Straits of Hormuz if it is closed by Tehran. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that 100 of the warplanes took off from the USS Enterprise and USS Abraham Lincoln which are cruising with their strike groups opposite Iranian shores. The Saudi, UAE, Kuwaiti and Bahraini air forces contributed the other 100.
In an unprecedented show of military solidarity with the US, Bahrain, which hosts the US Fifth Fleet High Command, was also chosen by Gulf Cooperation Council – GCC - members for their unified exercise headquarters to be located at the Shaikh Isa Air Base.

Tehran was being told that neither the Obama administration nor the Gulf Arab governments were deterred by its threats of retaliation against emirates placing bases at the disposal of foreign forces for an attack on Iran.

However, shortly after the exercise began, Iranian ambassador to Kuwait Rouhullah Qahremani called urgently on Kuwait Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Khalid Al-Sabah with a warning that the Iranian air and navy would attack the Gulf nations taking part in the exercise unless they withdrew at once.

The Kuwaiti army chief took Iran’s threat to the GCC Secretary General for Military Affairs Maj. Gen. Khalifa Humaid Al-Kaabi. Kuwait and Riyadh also briefed the Americans.
The exercise is due to end on April 15, the day after the six world powers launch resumed nuclear negotiations with Iran in Istanbul. However some Iranian sources were hinting Monday that they would not come to the talks under military threat.
Although the participants are keeping the exercise’s scenario under wraps, DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources are able to outline its five segments:
1. A practice operation to pry open the Strait of Hormuz should Iran try to block the waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil is exported - whether by deploying warships, scuttling old vessels, strewing sea mines or firing shore-to-ship missiles from the Iranian-controlled islands of Abu Musa, Great Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Sirri Island.
The combined US-Gulf force is practicing air and naval assaults against those Iranian island bases and the Revolutionary Guards Corps’ mainland facilities facing them from Bandar-e-Abbas, Bandar-e-Lengeh and Qeshm island. They plan to  cut off Iranian reinforcements en route to Hormuz.
2.   They also aim to prevent Iranian air or sea assaults on the Persian Gulf emirates’ oil facilities and export terminals, focusing mainly on Saudi, Bahraini and Kuwaiti oil facilities and fields.
3.  Air strikes are conducted against Iranian naval vessels, including speedboats, in a simulated exercise to head them off before they strike American aircraft carriers and warships or Gulf fleet vessels.
4.  Testing the degree of coordination between US air, sea and marine forces and their Persian Gulf counterparts.

5.  The Gulf exercise is in fact the sequel of Noble Dina 12, the US-Israeli-Greek war gameconducted earlier this month in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. That war game practiced runs by Israeli fighter-bomber from their home bases to the big American facility on Crete, fueled in flight by American and Israeli tanker planes. The distance between the two points is roughly equivalent to the 1,200 kilometers between Israel and Iran.
In a furious response to that maneuver, the Iranian Chief of Staff Gen. Seyed Hassan Firouzabadi, declared Saturday April 7: “Iran will bulldoze and destroy the illegal Zionist nest.

‘Confrontation with Iran may be delayed to 2013′

By YAAKOV KATZ

04/04/2012 01:01

Defense official says sanctions beginning to show results, Israel is waiting to see what happens in upcoming nuclear negotiations between Iran and P5+1 group.

By REUTERS

A possible military confrontation with Iran may be postponed until 2013, senior defense officials said in recent weeks amid growing signs that the West’s economic crackdown on Iran is bearing fruit.

In addition, while skeptical, the defense establishment is waiting to see what the outcome will be of the talks expected to begin in mid-April between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group comprised of the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China.

“It could happen this year, but also 2013 is a possibility,” a senior official said recently.

“We will need to wait to see the effect sanctions and diplomacy have on Iran and what the regime decides to do.”

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu acknowledged that sanctions were hurting Iran but that it was not yet clear if they would succeed in ultimately stopping Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

What could potentially change Israel’s timeline would be an Iranian decision to begin enriching uranium to higher military-grade levels and to begin building a bomb.

Western intelligence agencies closely track Iran’s enrichment program as well as the so-called weapons group, which would assemble the device if ordered to do so by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel and the US are in agreement that Khamenei has yet to give the order to go to the “breakout stage” by beginning the enrichment of high-grade uranium and the building of a nuclear device.

Intelligence officials in Israel and the US have voiced confidence that they would know if Iran decides to move to the stage of manufacturing a nuclear weapon. Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan recently said that if Iran was, for example, to begin enriching uranium to 90-percent levels and was not stopped, then Israel would need to use military force to stop it.

The current disagreement between Washington and Jerusalem is over the point of no return for such a strike.

The US, like Dagan, argues that the threat will only become imminent once Iran begins enriching high-grade uranium, a clear indication that it is moving toward weaponization.

Israel, led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, argues that – due to Iran’s move into a so-called immunity zone, or point when its facilities will be fortified and protected – an Israeli strike might not be viable for much longer, and therefore one might be needed even before high-grade enrichment begins.

Russian warships launch drill from Tartus versus US-Israeli-Greek naval exercise
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 3, 2012, 10:09 AM (GMT+02:00)

Tags: Russia US naval exercise Israel Syria

On guard at the Russian missile destroyer Smetliviy

Not 24 hours after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that a pre-emptive strike (by the US and/or Israel) would violate international law, Moscow put muscle into his warning: Tuesday, April 3, the Russian guided missile destroyer Smetliviy arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus from its Black Sea base for a naval exercise. The warship’s support group is on the way.

debkafile’s military sources report that the Russian flotilla carried a threefold message for Washington:
1. The Russian-Iranian strategy of propping up the Assad regime which has brought the Syrian ruler close to victory over his foes, will continue: Diplomacy will be propelled by military impetus.
2. Russia is providing the Assad regime with defense systems capable of repelling foreign military intervention.
3. Consigning the Smetliviy warship to Syria illustrates Moscow’s new rapid response policy: Russia is launching a naval exercise in the eastern Mediterranean to match the “Noble Dina” air and naval maneuver the US, Israel and Greece are conducting across a broad expanse of sea between Crete and the Israeli bases at Haifa and Ashdod.
Israeli warships and air force jets may therefore find themselves not just operating alongside US naval and aircraft but confronted suddenly by one of the largest destroyers in the Russian fleet (NATO-coded ASW-submarine warfare), whose decks are the launching base for anti-air, anti-ship and anti-submarine missiles.
The Smetliviy’s support group, believed to be a supply vessel and a submarine, passed through the Bosporus Saturday, March 31 on their way to Tartus.
Monday, April 2, debkafile reported: Russia and Iran set to counter US/Israeli strike against Iran. US-led Mediterranean naval drill

Hamas leader admits ‘Palestinian’ identity is invented

US Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has come under a lot of fire for saying that the “Palestinians” are an invented people. Most have ridiculed Gingrich by pointing out there are clearly millions of Arabs living in so-called “Palestine.”

But Gingrich wasn’t talking about the physical presence of those people today, but rather the national identity they have adopted and the fact that most immigrated to the land not so long ago.

In a televised address on Al-Hekma TV last week, Hamas Minister of the Interior and of National Security Fathi Hammad basically backed up Gingrich’s assessment, acknowledging that the roots of most “Palestinians” are elsewhere in the Middle East, and that the Palestinian label is only a thin veneer.

Those pushing for a Palestinian state try to paint the Palestinian Arabs as somehow distinct from the Arabs round-about, and therefore in need of their own state. Not so, said Hammad. “Every Palestinian, in Gaza and throughout Palestine, can prove his Arab roots - whether from Saudi Arabia, from Yemen, or anywhere. We have blood ties.”

More than that, Hammad stated that the true regional background of most “Palestinians” is not in “Palestine.”

“Brothers, half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis,” exclaimed the Hamas minister.

Hammad’s remarks were undoubtedly never intended for a Western audience. Rather, he was pleading with Egypt and other neighboring states to supply Hamas-ruled Gaza with free fuel, which Hammad said Hamas would use “in order to continue to wage Jihad.”

[h/t Elder of Ziyon]

Poll: Majority of U.S. Jews Still Support Obama

Despite his rocky relationship with Israel, a new survey finds that 62% American Jews still favor Obama for re-election.

Barack Obama

Reuters

Despite his rocky relationship with Israel and with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, a surveyreleased Tuesday finds that AmericanJews still favor President Barack Obama for re-election.

The survey, conducted among 1,004American Jews by the Washington-based Public Religion Research Institute, found that Obama has the same level of support, 62 percent, among American Jewish voters as during a comparable point in the 2008 race.

Three-in-ten Jewish voters said they prefer a Republican candidate over the incumbent president. Of those who supported Obama in 2008, an overwhelming majority say they would like to see him re-elected, 86 percent, while seven percent of Jewish voters who supported him in 2008 say they instead would support a Republican candidate in 2012.

Jewish voters who supported John McCain in 2008 demonstrate similar loyalty in their voting preferences, the survey found, with 92 percent reporting that they would prefer it if a Republican candidate won the election.

The survey also found that Israel is relatively low on the list of voting priorities forAmerican Jewish voters. Only four percent of respondents said that Israel was the issue that would be most important to their vote. Instead, Jewish voters’ top priorities center around economic issues such as the economy (51 percent), the growing gap between the rich and the poor (15 percent), and health care and the federal deficit (10 percent).

The survey also found that by a margin of more than 2-to-1, American Jews say good diplomacy rather than military strength is the best way to ensure peace (63 percent vs. 25 percent, respectively).

However, in the case of Iran, if diplomacy and other deterrents fail, most AmericanJews say they would support military action. Nearly six-in-ten (59 percent) agreed that the U.S. should take military action to prevent Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon if economic sanctions are unable to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program, compared to 37 percent who disagreed.

The 2012 Jewish Values Survey was conducted by Public Religion Research Institute among a random sample of 1,004 self-identified Jewish adults (ages 18 and older) who are part of the Knowledge Networks’ KnowledgePanel. Interviews were conducted online between February 23 and March 5, 2012.

A report on Sunday said the Obama administration is blaming Israel for the recent rise in global crude oil prices. The rise in fuel prices is deemed as harming the U.S. economy and has also hurt Obama in the polls as he seeks re-election in November.

The report in The World Tribune cited a leading U.S. analyst, Robert Satloff, who returned from talks with Israeli officials.

Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that the Israeli leadership saw Washington as attributing the higher gas prices to “Israel’s posturing” on Iran.

He added that the officials told him the Obama administration was staging a campaign to undermine Israel.

“I cannot underscore how deep and visceral the comments of the leaking that came out of Washington were,” Satloff said, noting Israel is alarmed by what officials determined were leaks by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama of purported Israeli preparations to attack Iran.

The Israeli concerns come in the wake of a report in Foreign Policy magazine last week, according to which Israel has purchased an airfield in Azerbaijan on Iran’s northern border, prompting the United States to watch very closely.

The Americans believe Israel may use the site as a springboard for an attack on Iran’s nuclear plants, or as a landing and refueling spot following one. The site could also be used for aircraft needed for search, rescue and recovery in the wake of an attack.

Azeri president Ilham Aliyev later dismissed the speculation and said, “Azerbaijan’s territory will never be used to launch an attack against its neighbor, Iran.”

‘Baku granted Israel access to airbases for Iran strike’

By JPOST.COM STAFF

03/29/2012 06:20

‘Foreign Policy’ report quotes senior US officials as saying “the Israelis have bought an airfield and the airfield is called Azerbaijan”; Obama administration reportedly unhappy about J’lem-Baku relationship.

By Reuters

Azerbaijan has granted Israel access to airbases in its territory along Iran’s northern border for potential use in a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, a report published Wednesday in Foreign Policy magazine quoted senior US administration officials as saying.

“The Israelis have bought an airfield,” an official said, “and the airfield is called Azerbaijan.”

Related:

• Qatar says no US strike on Iran from its soil
• Erdogan: No need for strike on civilian nuke program

Even if Israel doesn’t use the fields for a direct airstrike on Iran, Azerbaijan could still prove useful for Jerusalem’s interests in the region. The bases could be used as a jumping point for IDF search-and-rescue units, the report quoted a US intelligence official as saying.

According to the Foreign Policy report, the Obama administration believes the Jerusalem-Baku relationship is raising the risk of an Israeli strike on Iran. Senior US officials have said that Israel’s military expansion into Azerbaijan is complicating US efforts to defuse Israeli-Iranian tensions. “We’re watching what Israel is doing in Azerbaijan. And we’re not happy about it,” one official said.

This relationship between Israel and the predominantly Muslim country sitting on Iran’s northern border is believed to be robust. The Foreign Policy report quoted a 1995 article in The Jerusalem Post as saying that bilateral relations started in 1994 and had blossomed ever since. “Strauss ice cream, cell phones produced by Motorola’s Israeli division, Maccabee beer, and other Israeli imports are ubiquitous ,” the Jerusalem Post article stated.

The unlikely bilateral relationship has taken center stage in the media this year.

In January, Azeri authorities implicated an Iranian citizen in a plot to kill Jewish teachers at a Jewish school in Baku.

A report published last month in The Times of London stated that Azerbaijan is teeming with Mossad agents working to collect intelligence on the Islamic Republic of Iran, quoting an unnamed agent as saying that Baku was “ground zero for intelligence work.”

Later in the month, Israeli officials confirmed a $1.6 billion defense deal with Baku that will see Jerusalem supplying the formerly soviet country with unmanned aerial vehicles and missile defense systems.

Earlier this month, Azerbaijani police arrested 22 people, including one Iranian citizen, suspected of plotting attacks against US and Israeli targets across the country. Baku tied the plot to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

State Department Refuses to Say Jerusalem is Israel’s Capital

U.S. State Department spokeswoman refuses to outright say that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital during daily press briefing.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 3/29/2012, 5:42 AM

video

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/154272

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Wednesday refused to say that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, according to a report by The Weekly Standard.

The report said the exchange took place at the daily State Department press briefing. The questions Nuland was asked were regarding a Washington Free Beacon story that highlighted the State Department’s refusal to list Jerusalem as part of Israel.

Earlier in the week, the Washington Free Beacon had shown an official State Department communication which labeled Jerusalem and Israel as separate entities.

The official press release stated that “Acting Under Secretary Kathleen Stephens Travels to Algeria, Qatar, Jordan, Jerusalem, and Israel.”

After the Washington Free Beacon reported on this, the communication was altered to read, “Acting Under Secretary Kathleen Stephens Travels to Algiers, Doha, Amman, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv.”

On Wednesday, a reporter asked Nuland about this, saying, “Yesterday there was a bit of a kerfuffle over an announcement that was made by the department about the travel of your boss. Is it the State Department’s position that Jerusalem is not part of Israel?”

Nuland said in response, according to a transcript quoted by The Weekly Standard, “Well, you know that our position on Jerusalem has not changed. The first media note was issued in error, without appropriate clearances. We reissued the note to make clear that undersecretary, acting undersecretary for — our — Kathy Stevens will be travelling to Algiers, Doha, Amman, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. With regard to our Jerusalem policy, it’s a permanent-status issue. It’s got to be resolved through the negotiations between the parties.”

The reporter did not let up and asked Nuland whether it was the view of the United States that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, to which Nuland responded, “We are not going to prejudge the outcome of those negotiations, including the final status of Jerusalem.”

The reporter then asked, “Does that — does that mean that you do not regard Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?” and Nuland responded, “Jerusalem is a permanent-status issue. It’s got to be resolved through negotiations.”

Q: That seems to suggest that you do not regard Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Is that correct or not?

Nuland: I have just spoken to this issue — and I have nothing further to say on it.

Later on during the briefing, the same reporter asked once again, “I want to clarify something, perhaps give you an ‘out’ on your Jerusalem answer. Is it your — is it your position that all of Jerusalem is a final-status issue, or do you think — or is it just East Jerusalem?”

The irritated Nuland, according to The Weekly Standard, then responded, “Matt, I don’t have anything further to what I’ve said 17 times on that subject. OK?”

The issue of Jerusalem being recognized by the U.S. as Israel’s capital has been at the forefront for many years. It is centered on whether Israel has sovereignty over Jerusalem.

Attorney Harvey Schwartz, Chair of the American Israeli Action Coalition, explained in an interview with Arutz Sheva several months ago, “United States policy has been consistent since 1948 that Israel is not sovereign over Jerusalem. Rather, the question of Jerusalem’s sovereignty is to be determined, ultimately, by resolution between the parties. That’s been consistent U.S. policy.”

The question of Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem is central to the Menachem Zivotofsky v. Hillary Clinton case. The case involves Menachem Zivotofsky, who was born in Jerusalem and whose parents requested that the place of birth on his U.S. passport and Consular Report of Birth Abroad be listed as Israel.

The State Department refused the request, leading the Zivotofskys to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court returned the decision on the issue to the lower court.

In their decision, the justices wrote, “Congress enacted a statue providing that Americans born in Jerusalem may elect to have “Israel” listed as the place of birth on their passports. The State Department declined to follow that law, citing its longstanding policy of not taking a position on the political status of Jerusalem. When sued by an American who invoked that statute, the Secretary of State argued that the courts lacked authority to decide the case because it presented a political question. The Court of Appeals so held.

“We disagree. The courts are fully capable of determining whether this statute may be given effect, or instead must be struck down in light of authority conferred on the Executive by the Constitution.”

Pro-Palestinian activists to hold second ‘fly-in’

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

03/29/2012 00:49

Organizers say they expect 1,500- 2,000 people to arrive in Ben-Gurion Airport to protest Israeli policy in Palestine.

By REUTERS

Pro-Palestinian activists plan to hold their second fly-in to Ben-Gurion International Airport just after Passover at staggered times on April 15 and 16.

According to one of the organizers, Mazin Qumsiyeh of Bethlehem, anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 participants, ages 9 to 90, from 15 countries are expected to land in Israel on that day.

Related:

• The unwelcome fly-in

If they are allowed to enter the country, they will participate in a week of educational and volunteer activities in the West Bank, Qumsiyeh said.

Last summer in an event labeled “Welcome to Palestine” activists also tried to board planes and land in Ben-Gurion in solidarity with the Palestinians and to protest Israel’s policy of banning such foreign activists.

Some 124 activists were detained upon arrival in Israel and deported. Hundreds more were barred, mostly in Europe, from getting on airplanes to Ben-Gurion after Israel passed on their names to the airlines.

“The point is to show the world that Israel is preventing people from visiting Palestine,” said Qumsiyeh who is a professor at Bethlehem University.

“By entering Palestine through Ben-Gurion airport, hundreds of people over 48 hours will send a message that we want Israel to recognize the basic human right … of those who want to visit us,” he said.

“We call on our elected representatives and our government to ensure that we shall be normally and properly treated on our arrival in Ben- Gurion airport, as are Israeli citizens when they come to our countries,” he said.

On Tuesday Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said that Israel was working with other governments and foreign airlines to identify activists and stop them from boarding planes.

But Qumsiyeh told The Jerusalem Post that after last summer’s event, judges in France and Germany told the airlines they could not collectively bar people from boarding planes.

“I think that this year they will be able to get on the planes,” he said. “The question is, what will Israel do when they land,” he said.

“I think that Israel should just let them in. They are not coming to protest. They are coming to see the situation for themselves and to experience what Palestinians experience,” he said.

Wikileaks claims Netanyahu was a Stratfor source, disclosed 2 Iranian nukes on missiles in 2009

DEBKAfile Special Report March 28, 2012, 7:24 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags: Wikileaks Binyamin Netanyahu Iran nuclear Barack Obama

No comment from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

Continuing the release of the US Stratfor research site’s e-mails, Wikileaks Wednesday, March 28 issued a batch of mails which indicated that Binyamin Netanyahu may have been a source of the site’s Vice President for intelligence Fred Burton (a former Deputy Chief of the Department of State’s counterterrorism division for the Diplomatic Security) from at least May 2007 up until 2010 after he became Prime Minister of Israel.
The Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem has not commented on the publication.
According to one e-mail from Burton, Netanyahu is said to have revealed in Dec. 2009 that “Iran has two nukes on missiles ready to go.” Burton went on to report that the White House (Barack Obama) was “doing everything possible to block Israel’s next steps. He added the view that “Israel will go it alone. Israeli subs are off Iran’s coast.”

In answer to a question, Burton replied: “My source is bb (eyes only).”

Another Burton e-mail posted in 2009 revealed the shaky relations between Netanyahu and the US president: He wrote: “I also have it on good word that BB trusts Obama about as much as he trusted Arafat or Waddi Haddad [head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the 70s].”

The emails released by Wikileaks indicate that Netanyahu kept Fred Burton abreast of key security and political developments intending his thoughts and information to reach the US intelligence community. At one point, he is quoted as saying: “Thank you Fred for your support of Israel….”
Asked when an Israeli strike would occur, Burton replied “I’ve never asked him. He thinks I’m CIA, which I may be.”
In another communication, Burton offers the opinion: “When they their HUMINT coverage they will move. Thus far, elements of their disruption strategy have been working from what I understand. When the window closes, BB knows what he must do. We won’t be given any warning.”
“A very good source just informed me,” Burton wrote in Nov. 2009, “that extremely quiet discussions are underway between and the FBI on the blowback to the Jewish community, facilities, synagogues, day-cares, et al in the United States, in the event of an Israeli strike on Iran… “

The entire batch released by Wikileaks consists of communications between the Stratfor Vice President and unnamed correspondents, apparently clients he had an interest in impressing about his sources. None were written by Netanyahu. Their “quotes” are therefore based on hearsay and are second hand.

IDF to Remain on Full Alert Over Passover

IDF chief Benny Gantz ends the Army’s long-customary Passover vacation, orders commanders to cancel leaves and remain at full strength.

By Gabe Kahn

First Publish: 3/29/2012, 12:16 AM

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz

Flash 90

The IDF on Tuesday broke with Israeli tradition and ordered all units to cancel the long-customary Passover leaves and remain on full alert over the holiday.

Over the years, an army-wide break during Passover became a tradition followed by all major military units, including the Air Force, Navy and intelligence corps.

But this year soldiers will have to divide their vacation days among themselves in order to ensure that their units remain at full strength.

Senior military officials insisted the decision did not stem from any planned military operations set to occur on - or immediately after - the holiday.

IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz said Wednesday he gave the order saying he “does not accept” the notion of an army-wide vacation during Passover.

According to reports, many soldiers who received the news Tuesday did not believe the timing of the decision was arbitrary and dismissed Gantz’s explanation as obfuscation.

Military analysts say the decision does not necessarily reflect plans to undertake a major operation, but likely stems from ongoing security concerns originating in Hamas-run Gaza.

Israel averted at least one major terror attack intended to be staged from Sinai in recent months, killing the alleged planner in an airstrike.

That strike led to a spike in hostilities with Gaza’s terror gangs, who fired at least 200 rockets into Israel over a period of four days.

Israeli airstrikes on rocket launching cells firing from densely populated civilian killed 26 Gazans, of whom at least 21 were terrorists.

Critics say that Israel’s airstrikes-for-rockets strategic posture vis-a-vis Gaza has only served to perpetuate the now simmering security situation in Israel’s south.

A growing cadre of senior security officials and former IDF chiefs have called for a major Gaza incursion to uproot the terror infrastructure there.

Gantz himself has described such an operation as “increasingly inevitable.”

Jewish Groom Attacked on Mount of Olives

Arabs throw rocks at Jewish groom as he visits his grandmother’s grave at the Mount of Olives cemetery.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 3/29/2012, 1:16 AM

Rock throwing by PA Arabs

Flash 90

The man who was hurt in a rock attack in the Mount of Olives cemetery on Wednesday, was a groom about to get married and who was visiting his grandmother’s grave at the cemetery.

The groom said that a mob made up of young local Arabs threw stones at him and his friend who accompanied him and poured paint on their vehicle. The two managed to drive off and escaped with only minor injuries.

The two were lightly injured and were taken to the Shaare Tzedek in Jerusalem. Luckily, they were released in time so the groom could make his wedding. Police are investigating the incident.

Jews who visit the Mount of Olives have been regularly targeted by Arabs for quite some time now.

A group of U.S. law enforcement professionals were recently witnesses to a rock attack on two Jewish men who came to visit the cemetery. The two men had been attacked by dozens of Arab youths as they were driving up to the cemetery.

United States Democratic Congressmen Elliot Engel and Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents Malcolm Hoenlein were recently attacked by Arab rock throwers as they visited the cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

Last week over 150 people gathered at the Lincoln Park Jewish Center in Yonkers, New York, for an evening of discussions about the security threat on the Mount of Olives.

MK Aryeh Eldad criticized Jerusalem District Commander Niso Shaham on Wednesday for his failure to take action over the continued Arab violence on the Mount of Olives.

“Acts of lynching take place every day on the Mount of Olives,” said Eldad. “Today once again, a Jew on his wedding day was wounded by stones and his car was smashed. A few days ago torched a vehicle was torched, but the police fails to defend Jews on the Mount of Olives.”

The worrying anti-Semitic aftermath of the Toulouse murders

Dienstag, 27. März 2012 | Ryan Jones

The brutal and merciless slaughter of a Jewish man and three Jewish children in southern France last week shone a spotlight back onto a problem many had been doing their best to downplay - the escalating anti-Semitism in Europe.

The the Toulouse shooting itself was an anti-Semitic act driven by the killer Mohammed Merah’s irrational hatred of Jews is without question. And yet, there are many coming to his posthumous defense.

Merah’s older brothers, Abdelkader Merah, is now suspected of assisting in the attack on the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school, and told French investigators that he was “very proud” of what Mohammed had done. “I regret nothing for him and approve of what he did,” said Abdelkader.

Merah’s father, Mohammed Benalel Merah, told French media that he intends to sue the French government for killing his murderous son. Mohammed Merah was eventually killed after a 32-hour standoff during which he shot and wounded several French police officers.

“France is a big country that had the means to take my son alive,” the elder Merah told the AFP. “They could have knocked him out with gas and taken him in. They preferred to kill him. …I will sue France for killing my son.”

The remarks made by Abdelkader Merah and his father will be quickly dismissed by many as being the rantings of distraught family members. Unfortunately, their sentiments are shared by many.

Most schools in France last week marked one minute of silence for the victims of the Toulouse shooting. But at the Gustave Flaubert High School in Rouen, Normandy an English teacher had her class mark a minute of silence for the deceased murderer. Many of teacher Lorraine Collin’s students reportedly walked out in protest, but some remained and were quoted as saying the Jewish victims “deserved” what happened to them.

Back in Toulouse, a large group of women held a public gathering to honor the memory of Merah. The leader of the group told participants, “What we ask today is that we stop demonizing Mohamed… We share the pain and suffering of the families because it is the same pain for us here.” It is the same argument used by the families of Palestinian terrorists, who insist that their own hardships put them on equal footing with the families of Israeli Jews killed in terrorist attacks.

Also around Toulouse, French authorities found and cleaned up graffiti reading “Viva Merah” and “F**k the kippa.” [via Elder of Ziyon]

On the Internet, a French Facebook page was set up to in “Homage to Mohamed Merah,” and received many favorable comments before being shut down at the request of the French government. Meanwhile, the Palestinian-run propaganda website Electronic Intifada accused Israel of trying to cover up alleged abuses of Palestinians by focusing so much attention on the Toulouse murders.

Some print media employed the tactic of turning the aggressor into the victim, suggesting that Merah’s actions were a natural result of social and economic hardships. Le Figaro wrote that it had “no doubt” that Merah’s killing of four innocent Jews was incited by the “Islamophobia” of so many in France. The New York Times similarly noted that in France “Muslims complain widely of feeling vilified by some political elements, on the right in particular.”

Neither newspaper explained how Merah’s emotional state, even if the result of real discrimination, could possibly justify the heartless slaughter of innocent children.

The French government has responded to all this with a firm hand, demanding that media outlets not broadcast footage Merah took of his murders, banning the entry of radical Islamists, and suspending the teacher who tried to get her class to honor the killer of innocent Jews. But it is clear that a new wave of anti-Semitism is rising, this time fueled by Europe’s exploding Muslim populations. And once those Muslim anti-Semites reinvigorate the Jew-hating European ultra-nationalists, the situation could quickly spiral out of control.

It may already be happening.

In a conference call hosted by the French Jewish publication Le P’tit Hebdo, a recent French Jewish immigrant to Israel painted a picture of modern-day Europe that Israel National News described as looking a lot like pre-Holocaust Europe, at least as far as Jews are concerned.

“Jews are being attacked all the time,” said Liora Zachary. “Children, in the buses, in the Metro, going to school, coming from school, couples in the street – this is just an unbearable situation.”

Jordan to Allow Global March to Jerusalem

Jordanian authorities confirmed they will permit a planned march in the Jordan Valley “in support of Jerusalem.”

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 3/28/2012, 4:15 AM

Jordan Valley Checkpoint

Flash 90

Jordanian authorities confirmed on Tuesday that they will permit a planned Global March to Jerusalem in the Jordan Valley on Friday.

The Iranian news agency Fars quoted the Jordanian Public Security Department (PSD) as having confirmed authorities will allow Islamist activists to lead a march as part of global demonstrations “in support of Jerusalem.”

PSD Spokesperson Lt. Col. Mohammed Khatib told Fars a “heavy” security presence will be deployed to maintain order during Friday’s march.

The Global March is being staged in Lebanon and Jordan as another ploy to drum up international supports for the Palestinian Authority (PA) demand for unilateral recognition of PA territorial and political demands following the demise of the Oslo Accords and of the ensuing diplomatic process towards negotiations with Israel for the establishment of the PA as an independent entity.

Previous “million-man” marches have fizzled with few participants, but the Jordanian and Lebanese governments have offered more support this time around. Israel has warned them not to try cross the international borders.

According to the report in Fars, the Islamist movement stressed that the march will be “peaceful and well organized,” dismissing fears of participants attempting to storm the border as “baseless.”

Kathem Ayesh, a Muslim Brotherhood member and march organizer, told Fars that participants will not stray from the designated rally site, pointing out that Islamists held a similar rally in the Jordan Valley last November without incident.

“This will be a peaceful rally in support of Jerusalem, not a call to storm Jerusalem,” Ayesh was quoted in the report as having told The Jordan Times.

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) has presented information that the Iranian regime is behind the initiative and openly supports it. The march has also been endorsed by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was U.S. President Barack Obama’s pastor for 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

Iran flies thousands of pro-Palestinian activists to Syria. IDF fortifies borders

DEBKAfile Special Report March 27, 2012, 5:28 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags: Iran Syria Hizballah Palestinians riots IDF

IDF Golan border unit

Israel boosted its Syrian and Lebanese border units as special flights carrying thousands of pro-Palestinian activists from Tehran touched down in Damascus Tuesday, March 27 for the international Global March to Jerusalem Friday, March 30. Before taking off, they were split into small groups and tutored by Iranian Al Qods Brigades officers in tactics for breaching Israeli border barriers, bursting through and challenging the Israeli military forces defending the border.

On arrival in Damascus, one group of activists was sent by special bus to Lebanon, where Hizballah officers stood by to lead them to villages close to the Israeli frontier; a second is assigned to face Israeli lines on the Golan.

These anti-Israeli activists from several countries are being planted at strategic points to carry out the plan hatched together by Iran, Syria and Hizballah to ignite Israel’s two northern borders in solidarity with the annual Israeli-Arab Earth Day next Friday.
Earlier reports from Damascus that the demonstrators would keep the Quneitra sector of the Golan and the Lebanese Beaufort were meant to put the Israeli command off its stroke by disguising the real scope of their plans and their objective: a mass assault on Israeli borders. They are programmed to coincide with the outbreaks the Palestinian Authority is preparing for Jerusalem and the West Bank and Israeli-Arab disturbances inside Israel – all on the same day, as debkafile reported earlier Tuesday.
The Palestinian extremists of the Gaza Strip will certainly not stand aloof.

‘Next escalation in Gaza will be more violent’

By YAAKOV LAPPIN

03/27/2012 15:15

Aharonovitch says the solution to Hamas rocket fire is “to be more aggressive,” addresses plans for “aerial flotilla.”

By REUTERS

The next confrontation between Israel and Palestinian terror organizations in the Gaza Strip will be “more violent” than previous rounds, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch warned Tuesday.

Aharonovitch made the comments during a visit to Israel Police’s southern district, which dealt with five consecutive days of rocket fire on southern cities, towns and villages earlier this month.

While acknowledging the undesirability of being dragged in to battles in Gaza, the minister said Hamas and other groups are firing rockets into Israel “every day or two days, and the solution to that is to be more aggressive,” according to Israel Radio.

Ahronovitch also addressed plans by pro-Palestinian activists to land at Ben-Gurion Airport next month as part of an “aerial flotilla,” and said Israel is working with other governments and foreign airlines to identify activists and stop them from boarding planes to Israel.

Police would not allow any disturbances at the airport, he vowed.

Last year, only a small number of activists managed to circumvent measures put in place by Israel. Most of the activists were stopped at their points of origin, or detained at Ben-Gurion and deported.

Obama Denies Secret Russian ‘Nuclear Agenda’

US president Barack Obama sought to allay damage from his second high profile open mic gaffe saying he was not hatching secret plots.

By Gavriel Queenann

First Publish: 3/27/2012, 7:44 PM

Barack Obama

Reuters

US president Barack Obama on Tuesday told America he has no hidden agenda with Russia for his second term, after a revealing gaffe.

Obama was caught on tape Monday telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev he would have more room to negotiate on missile defense after getting through a November election.

Obama’s Republican rivals immediately went on the offensive – accusing him of making secret deals that would affect national security behind America’s back.

Mitt Romney, the leading Republican contender likely to face Obama this fall, told a San Diego audience the open mic gaffe was “an alarming and troubling development.”

“This is no time for our president to be pulling his punches with the American people, and not telling us what he’s intending to do with regards to our missile defense system, with regards to our military might and with regards to our commitment to Israel,” Romney said.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, also issued a statement saying Obama “needs to level with the American public about his real agenda.”

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich also questioned Obama’s motives.

“I’m curious, how many other countries has the president promised that he’d have a lot more flexibility the morning he doesn’t have to answer to the American people?” Gingrich said on CNN.

According to Obama, he merely wants to “work with Russia on the deeply divisive issue of a missile defense shield in Europe,” knowing that only by building trust first on that matter can he make gains on another goal of nuclear arms reductions.

“This is not a matter of hiding the ball,” Obama said, well aware of criticism erupting at home. “I’m on record.”

Still, Obama – now in his second open mic faux pax after having insulting Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu alongside French president Nicolas Sarkozy – had not meant for his initial political assessment to be heard.

“This is my last election,” Obama was heard telling outgoing Russian president Medvedev. “After my election, I have more flexibility.”

For Russia, the issues of nuclear weapons reduction and the proposed missile shield are related. Russian fears of new U.S. missiles at its doorstep in Europe have helped to stymie further progress on nuclear arms reductions after a breakthrough agreement two years ago.

Obama said he wants to spend the rest of this year working through technical issues with the Russians, and said it was not surprising that a deal couldn’t be completed quickly – not before 2013.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise that you can’t start that a few months before presidential and congressional elections in the United States, and at a time when they just completed elections in Russia, and they’re in the process of a presidential transition,” Obama told reporters.

Barghouti calls for new
revolt against Israel

By REUTERS

03/27/2012 00:16

“Launch
of large-scale resistance at this stage serves cause of our people,”
Bargouti says on 10th year in jail.

By Oleg Popov /
Reuters

From his cell in an Israeli prison, one of the Palestinians’ most revered
figures Marwan Barghouti called on Monday for a new wave of civil resistance in
their decades-long quest for statehood and for severing all ties with Israel.

Barghouti is a leading figure in the Fatah movement, who was seen as a
driving force behind the Palestinians’ last intifada launched in late 2000.

Related:

• Abbas: Olmert promised us release of more prisoners




• Hamas officials criticize prisoner list in Schalit deal

“The launch of large-scale popular resistance at this stage serves the
cause of our people,” Barghouti said in a statement commemorating the
tenth year of his imprisonment by Israel.

“Stop marketing the illusion that there is a possibility of ending the
occupation and achieving a state through negotiations after this vision has
failed miserably,” he said in a message read to a crowd of supporters in
the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Despite his multiple life sentences on charges of orchestrating lethal
attacks and suicide bombings, Barghouti is viewed as a potential successor to
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also Fatah’s leader.

The call to action comes at a combustible period in the West Bank as
economic malaise, moribund diplomacy, and simmering popular discontent bode ill
for any peaceful breakthroughs.

Some fear that planned Palestinian commemorations of an annual protest
against Israeli land confiscations on Friday, including marches to Jerusalem,
could erupt in violence.

A 40-day long hunger strike by a female detainee and a similar campaign by
dozens of other Palestinians in Israeli custody are also firing popular anger.

In his address, Barghouti called for “stopping all forms of security
and economic coordination in all areas immediately,” which would upend
years of often volatile but persistent coexistence between Israel and the PA.

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, while lending rhetorical
support to protests and pursuing recognition in various bodies of the United
Nations, has until now cleaved to a more moderate and non-confrontational
policy.

After Abbas’s government scored a minor victory in persuading the UN’s Human
Rights Council in Geneva to investigate Israel’s settlement policy, Barghouti
argued for more drastic action.

He called for “a renewal of efforts” to achieve recognition of
Palestinian statehood at the UN Security Council, an effort which failed last
year when Washington backed Israel’s rejection of the resolution as a
unilateral move to sidestep negotiations.

Barghouti said that the Palestinians should take their statehood case to the
General Assembly or other agencies as an alternative, alluding to forums in
which the Palestians have wider support.

Israeli Flag Burned, Diplomat Rushed
Out of Morocco

Thousands
of protesters burned Israeli flags in Morocco and protested the presence of an
Israeli diplomat, threatening his safety.

By
Chana Ya’ar

First
Publish: 3/26/2012, 5:57 PM

Protester
in Rabat burns Israeli flag

Reuters

Thousands of protesters marched in the Moroccan capital
of Rabat on Monday, torching Israeli flags and protesting the presence of
diplomat David Saranga. The Israeli official was in town to attend a meeting of
the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EUROMED) at
the Moroccan parliament.

However, he was quietly escorted out a side door of the building for his own
safety after the meeting, when protesters stormed the building. He was swiftly
placed in a car and taken to
the airport under heavy security, Hebrew-language media reported. The country’s
ruling party had publicly boycotted the meeting, whipping lawmakers and the
populace into frenzy of hate.

Israel’s leadership has been preparing for the possibility that it
may become necessary to evacuate Jewish residents of neighboring Arab nations
to safety. The decision has come in the wake of escalating anti-Jewish and
anti-Israel sentiment in some of those countries over the course of the past
year’s Arab Spring uprisings, during which numerous secular governments –
albeit dictatorships — were replaced with far more Islamist regimes.

In the streets of the
Moroccan capital, Palestinian Authority flags were flown by demonstrators who
massed around the parliament building for the rally, a lead-up to the Global March to Jerusalem set
for this coming Friday.

Some 100,000 protesters participated in the demonstration, according to
organizers who are hoping to multiply
that number by 10 for the upcoming “Global March to Jerusalem.” Protesters at
the rally chanted, “The people want to free Al Aqsa! A million martyrs are
going to Jerusalem!”

Jew
Beaten to Death with Hammer in Morocco

An
elderly Jewish man was murdered by an unknown attacker with a hammer Monday in
the city of Fez.

By
Chana Ya’ar

First
Publish: 3/26/2012, 10:57 PM

Moroccans
protest Israeli presence in Rabat

Reuters

An elderly Jewish man was murdered by an unknown attacker with a hammer
Monday in the city of Fez.

The 74-year-old victim, whose name has not yet been released, worked in property management for rentals owned by other Jews.

According to reports in Moroccan media, the elderly victim was seen being
hit repeatedly by a man wielding a hammer.

The murderer fled the scene. Police are investigating to determine whether
the attack was nationalist or criminal in nature.

Critically injured, he died as he was being rushed to King Hassan II
University Hospital.

Earlier Monday, thousands of demonstrators stormed the parliament building
in the capital city of Rabat. The protesters torched Israeli flags
and expressed anger at the presence of Israeli envoy David Saranga, who was in
the city to attend a meeting of the Euro-Mediterreanean Partnership (EUROMED),
in advance of the Global March to Jerusalem set for this Friday, an event
scheduled for the Arabs’ annual “Land Day”
protest.

Saranga, who was expected to remain in the country until nightfall before flying to Brussels, instead was
quietly escorted through a side door from the building. He was taken to the
airport and immediately boarded a flight
for Paris instead.

Israel Decides to Sever Ties with
UNHRC

Decision
follows Council’s decision to appoint Goldstone-type committee to look into
construction in Judea and Samaria.

By
Gil Ronen

First
Publish: 3/26/2012, 3:49 PM

Navi
Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Reuters

A senior diplomatic source said Monday that the Foreign
Ministry management has decided to sever its ties with the United Nations Human
Rights Council (UNHRC). The decision was reached after the UNHRC decided to appoint a committee of inquiry to
look into construction of
Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

The source said that the decision stems from a series of unilateral moves that the
“Palestinians” are trying to lead against Israel.

According to Monday’s decision, Israel’s UN Ambassador, Ron Prosor, will not
appear before the Council and will not reply to requests by the UNHRC for materials and for the coordination
of visits in Israel.

The source added that while thousands are being murdered in Syria and a
massacre takes place in France, the UNHRC lends equal importance to
construction in Judea and Samaria.

Regarding the High Court decision on Migron, the senior source said that the
verdict must be honored. “Everyone accepts the High Court’s
decision,” he said. “The test is in the alternatives that the government offers the
residents.”

The source said that Yisrael Beitenu’s threat to leave the government over
Migron referred to a situation in which the government decides to carry out a
forcible eviction. At present, he said, there is no threat to leave the
government because of the High Court decision.

‘Global March to Jerusalem’ nears Israel’s
borders

Montag, 26. März 2012
| Ryan Jones

Israeli forces this week are gearing up for the annual “Land Day”
marches by Arabs inside Israel and outside its borders. The event, scheduled
for this Friday, promises to be a more severe challenge this year after
regional powers like Iran, Hizballah, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas became
actively involved in planning the march.

Thousands of people from the Middle East and other parts of Asia have
reportedly arrived in Syria and will begin their trek to the Israeli border in
the coming days. Similar marches are planned from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and
from within the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories.

Israel has called on neighboring governments, particularly Jordan and the
PA, to help prevent an escalation of violence by not allowing the marchers to
storm Israel’s borders. Just in case the mobs do manage to penetrate the
borders, Israeli forces are being outfitted with a variety of non-lethal crowd
control tools.

Israel is concerned about a repeat of last year’s “Nakba Day”
marches from Syria into northern Israel. Hundreds of Arab rioters protesting
the “catastrophe” of Israel’s rebirth as a nation-state managed last
May to infiltrate northern Israel and clash with Israeli soldiers, leading to
the deaths of 13 demonstrators and harsh international criticism of Israel.

The Land Day marches are a protest of Israel’s sovereignty over lands the
Arabs claim as their own. This year, the international effort is focusing on
Jerusalem amid claims that Israel is increasingly trying to “Judaize”
the city. Most Arabs deny the Jews’ historical and religious connections to
Jerusalem.

“Our aim is to end the Zionist policies of apartheid, ethnic cleansing
and Judaization, which all harm the people, land and sanctity of
Jerusalem,” read a statement on the official Global March to Jerusalem
website. “The GMJ is comprised of a diverse coalition of Palestinian, Arab
and international activists who are united in the struggle to liberate the holy
city of Jerusalem (the city of peace) from illegal Zionist occupation.”

The Muslim Brotherhood and other Arab groups have promised that the
demonstrations will be non-violent, but these things have a way of quickly
spiraling out of control. And, of course, there is no way Israel can allow the
huge number of foreign marchers to actually reach Jerusalem.

Israel Warns Neighbors Over March to Jerusalem

Israel warns neighbors that it will forcefully respond to attempted breaches of its borders during the ‘Global March to Jerusalem’.

By Elad Benari, Canada

First Publish: 3/23/2012, 10:41 PM

Jerusalem

Flash 90

As activists are planning to lead a Global March to Jerusalem next Friday, Israel has warned neighboring countries that it would forcefully respond to attempted breaches of its borders.

The Global March to Jerusalem initiative aims at getting over one million Arabs and their supporters to attempt to infiltrate Israel’s borders on March 30^th. A spokesman for the march said last week the initiative “demand freedom for Palestine and its capital Jerusalem.”

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) has presented information that Iran is behind the initiative and openly supports it. The march has also been endorsed by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was U.S. President Barack Obama’s pastor for 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

Diplomatic sources told the London-based Asharq Alawsat newspaper on Friday that Israel has sent messages to the governments of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, the Hamas government in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority regarding the planned march.

The report said that in the messages Israel made it clear that anyone who will come near its borders would be considered an infiltrator and the IDF will act against him with full force.

Israel also reportedly demanded that Arab countries not allow an escalation of the tension in the region through marches toward its borders.

Channel 10 News, which cited the Asharq Alawsat report, said that the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office refused to comment on the report.

Earlier this week, radio host Aaron Klein of WABC radio in New York offered $50,000 to an organizer of the Global March to Jerusalem, if he could name one city in the Middle East, outside of Israel, that has more freedom than Jerusalem. The activist was unable to do so.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

‘Iran plotted terror attack on Israeli ship in Suez’

By YAAKOV LAPPIN

03/24/2012 19:09

‘Al Ahram’ reports Iranian agents offered 2 Egyptian men 50,000 Egyptian pounds to carry out attack on Israeli vessel.

By REUTERS

Iran plotted to carry out a terror attack on an Israeli ship as it passed through Egypt’s Suez Canal, a report in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram said Friday.

According to the report, two Egyptian terror operatives confessed to receiving instructions and funds from Iranian handlers ahead of the planned attack.

The two suspects have been named as Suleiman Razak and Ahmed Salama, Channel 2 said, citing the Egyptian report.

The suspects allegedly planned to recruit a third member to their cell, and were supposed to received 50 million Egyptian pounds to carry out the plan.

The report comes after a series of failed attacks on Israeli targets in India, Thailand, and Georgia, all of which have been linked to Tehran.

On Friday, India’s NDTV news site said New Delhi requested that Interpol issue Red Corner warrants against four Iranians, one of whom was arrested by Malaysian police at Kuala Lumpur airport.

Earlier this month, the New Delhi police chief said a fifth suspect, an Indian-Muslim journalist with ties to Iran, carried out reconnaissance ahead of the February attack, which seriously injured Tal Yehoshua Koren, the wife of an Israeli defense attache to India.

Iranian Website Describes its Response to a Military Attack

As speculation continues over whether Israel will attack Iran, an Iranian website describes the response to such an attack.

By Elad Benari, Canada

First Publish: 3/23/2012, 10:15 PM

Ahmadinejad

Reuters

As speculation continues about whether Israel, with our without the United States, will launch a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, an Iranian website described how the Islamic Republic would repulse a ground attack against it.

The report on the website was translated into English by t he Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

On March 15 the website Mashreq News, which is close to security circles in Iran, cited statements by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Al-Qods Forces commander Qassem Suleimani, who tauntingly declared at a March 13 ceremony that his “regime’s military forces will work determinedly, with honor and national force, and will demonstrate their zeal in facing any blind attack from the enemy.”

The statement elaborated on Suleimani’s remarks, describing in detail how the IRGC would repel a ground attack on Iran, including a list of the means of warfare it would use.

According to the website, the account is based on the IRGC’s latest military maneuvers in eastern Iran and assumes that the country would be invaded from the east. The maneuvers included mechanized infantry, armored forces, helicopters and concealed forces.

MEMRI’s analysis noted that what is remarkable about this article is that, while all assessments and predictions published in the media in recent months have envisioned a surgical Western air strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Mashreq discussed an extensive ground attack in eastern Iran, stressing the country’s ability to repel such an attack by listing the weapons systems in its possession.

The article is presumably intended to calm the fears of Iran’s citizens over a potential strike against the country. However, beyond the failure to address the most plausible threat of an air strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the outdated military equipment attributed to the IRGC may indicate Iran’s military inferiority, at least in terms of its ground capability, MEMRI notes.

The article’s main points, as outlined by MEMRI, is that the IRGC forces will use remotely operated and controlled equipment, such as “smart mines” and anti-personnel bounding mines that have been modified to combat enemy vessels.

IRGC forces will use a combined force of T-72 tanks and troops equipped with semi-heavy arms and rocket launchers. The tanks will be concealed underground and will be capable of deploying quickly from their hiding places to overtake the enemy and destroy its targets, as simulated in recent IRGC maneuvers.

According to Mashreq, the tank’s 125-millimeter, automatic loading 2A46M cannon and its “extremely lethal weaponry,” the APFSDS (armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot), will be highly effective in destroying or disabling enemy tanks.

The IRGC forces will also employ BMP-2 armored personnel carriers (APCs), which carry a 30-millimeter automatic cannon and launchers for Soviet made AT-5 and AT-4 second generation wire-guided antitank missiles. The APCs are equipped with an Iranian-made Tousan missile and also feature defense systems against chemical, biological, and radiological WMDs, and a masking system to evade enemy laser-guided missiles.

The website explained that all these assets can evade enemy detection with stealth abilities, including reducing their heat and radar signatures.

Mashreq explained that during the recent maneuvers, the IRGC forces were assisted by light motorcycle units armed with light and semi-heavy weapons, such as shoulder-fired and surface-to-air missiles. These units, which conceal themselves in different areas, emerge from hiding at the appropriate time, surprise the enemy, and are expected to inflict heavy losses.

Aerial support for the troops will be provided by (Bell AH-1) Cobra and Mil Mi-17 helicopters, Mashreq said. The Cobra attack helicopters will provide aerial support for ground troops. They are armed with 20-millimeter cannon, Haidar-70 (sic.) rockets, and a new generation of Toophan missiles that can be used to attack the enemy from a distance of several kilometers.

The Mil Mi-17 helicopters, which can carry some 30 soldiers, will be used for quick transport, and possess significant firepower thanks to their ability to carry six medium-range rockets on each side as well as semi-heavy machine guns.

The website also noted that the recent maneuvers included simulating the defense of ground units from aerial attack. This defense was provided by shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles and SAM-6 anti-aircraft missile systems, and by artillery mounted on tanks and APCs, which is expected to provide a maximal effective aerial coverage of two-and-a-half to three kilometers.

The SAM-6 missile system tested in these maneuvers is expected to overcome enemy aircraft. Its missiles have a range of up to 25 kilometers and are effective for targets up to 14 kilometers in altitude.

On Thursday, Vice Premier and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon said that Iran’s nuclear program is the leading global security threat.

“The main threat to regional and world stability comes from Tehran and the Iranian regime,” Yaalon stressed during a visit in a high school in Kiryat Haim.

“Imagine what it would do upon achieving such capability,” Yaalon said, adding, “The nuclear umbrella will not just open against us, but against the United States.”

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel and the U.S. disagree on what would be a realistic timetable for stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

In an interview Thursday, Barak said Israel and the U.S. agree on the final objective of preventing Iran from building nuclear weapons, but that “the difference between us and the U.S. is the perspective on timetables.”

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

Russian troops arrive in Syria, Arabs fear invasion

Freitag, 23. März 2012 | Ryan Jones

In public, Russia has joined the chorus of nations condemning the Syrian regime’s brutal crackdown on its people and rebel forces. But behind the scenes, Moscow remains one of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s closest allies, and the reported arrival of Russian troops in Syria this week may have been orchestrated to drive home that point.

ABC News first broke the report citing an unnamed UN Security Council official who was upset that Russia had made such a move at such a delicate time.

It later turned out that only a single unit of Russian counter-terrorism commandoes was in Syria, but the deployment remains symbolically significant, especially to Arab observers.

“This is the first time in modern history that Russia directly intervenes on the ground in the Middle East,” stated Abdul Rahman, manager of the Al-Arabiya news channel. “With its forces, Russia truly threatens security and stability in the region. This could be the start of a Russian invasion.”

Tariq Homayed, editor of the London-based Arabic daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat, added, “Something is happening in Syria, but no one knows how serious it is.”

Meanwhile, there have been scattered reports that the Syrian rebels, and in particular the Free Syrian Army (FSA), are turning to Israel for assistance.

In a secretive interview with the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom earlier this month, a key figure in the FSA appealed to Israel to convince the rest of the West to help topple Assad.

“I believe Assad is still in power because Western powers are not convinced that Israel really wants to see a Syria without Assad. You are afraid of what will be the day after Assad falls,” the man who identified himself as “Kamal” stated.

Kamal added that while most Syrians are not yet ready to normalize ties with Israel, helping to topple Assad is a gesture that “the Syrian people would not forget.”

Counterterrorism Bureau Issues Travel Warnings

JERUSALEM, Israel — The government’s Counterterrorism Bureau issued travel warnings for Israelis planning to go abroad for the Passover holiday.

The advisory comes days after three children and a rabbi were gunned down by an al Qaeda-affiliated jihadist at a Jewish day school in Toulouse, France.

The bureau advised Israelis against visiting popular resorts in the Egyptian Sinai and reissued an earlier advisory stating that “terror groups are planning to carry out attacks against Jewish and Israeli sites inside Turkey.”

The advisory also noted that Iran and its Lebanese-based proxy, Hezbollah, remained intent on killing and kidnapping Israelis abroad, especially businessmen or government officials.

Among the many countries mentioned in the travel advisory are Jordan, Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, Mali, Nigeria, and the Ivory Coast.

Israeli travelers were cautioned against accepting unexpected business offers or gifts and invitations from people they don’t know.