SWI NEWS: Thu, Sep 2, 2010 23 Elul, 5770
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
US Intel: Tehran pushes Hizballah hard to attack Israel
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report September 1, 2010, 12:13 PM (GMT+02:00)
Western intelligence and Persian Gulf sources report that on August 30, Hizballah put its forces on a state of war alert and issued a partial call-up of reservists. According to debkafile's military sources, Hizballah appears to be preparing a major attack on Israel straight after the ceremonial start of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington Thursday Sept. 2. A second target date is the Jewish New Year festival starting on Sept. 8. The pressure from Tehran for the Lebanese Shiite terrorists to strike Israel has intensified in the wake of the example the Palestinian Hamas gave Tuesday night Aug. 31 in the drive-by murder of four Israeli civilians on a road near Hebron.
A large-scale attack appears to be in the works judging by the heavy influx of armed Hizballah units to southern Lebanon in the last few days. Our military sources report that they include special units trained especially for deep-strike incursions into northern Israel in response to Israeli counter-attacks.
Our intelligence sources report that the Iranian al Qods commander of Tehran's networks and surrogates in Iraq, the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority has spent the last ten days in Damascus. He arrived there on August 19 in the party of Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) chief and stayed on after his boss left the Syrian capital, apparently assigned to oversee an important terrorist or military operation against Israel.
Hizballah's own direct commander on behalf of the IRGC, Hassan Mahdavi is reported by Western intelligence sources monitoring events in Lebanon as leaning hard on Hizballah's secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah to strike IDF forces within a few days in response to US sponsorship of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks. The terrorist chief is reported to be on the verge of a decision about what target to attack and when.
Reluctant to leave the field to the Palestinian Hamas, Nasrallah is additionally badgered by a flock of IRGC officers visiting Beirut and trying to persuade Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Beri to allow his rival Shiite Amal organization to join Hizballah for the first time in a strike against Israel. They want all the Shiite streams in Lebanon to show the flag in unison as a gesture of welcome in advance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's forthcoming state visit to Lebanon.
The date of his visit is a closely-kept secret both by Tehran and Beirut. debkafile's sources disclose that it is scheduled for Sept. 10-12 when Israel is celebrating Rosh Hashana.
I am so angry, I can barely cut and paste this. Ethan Effin' Bronner in the New York Times, day before yesterday
Yizhak and Talya Imaes HY"D -- with their six children, now orphanned. Talya was nine months pregnant when she was murdered yesterday
Avishai Shindler HY"D, murdered yesterday, shown in this photo with his wife, now widow.
Hizballah's southern units reinforced on war alert
2 injured in West Bank terror attack near Rimonim Junction
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND YAAKOV LAPPIN 09/02/2010 00:11Shots were reportedly fired at a vehicle traveling in the area between the settlement Kochav Yaakov and Rimonim Junction in the West Bank on Wednesday night.
Judea and Samaria Police officers who arrived on the scene found an Israeli vehicle with bullet marks. "The vehicle descended down a nearby slope," police said. The officers who arrived in the area found one person seriously injured and another person slightly injured.
RELATED:
Hamas leader rejects compromise with Israel, resists peace
Netanyahu urges settlers to show restraint, respect law
Magen David Adom rushed the two Israelis to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem; a man aged around 30 in moderate to serious condition suffering from a gunshot wound to the knee, and a woman aged around 30 who was injured in the resulting accident. Both are conscious and stable, paramedics said.
The event is being treated as a terror attack. Security forces were on the scene searching for the terrorists' vehicle.
The shooting came the day after four Israelis were killed Tuesday night in a devastating shooting attack in the West Bank believed to have been aimed at torpedoing the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks set to kick off on Wednesday in Washington DC.
The four victims, described by a settler spokesman as a couple and two hitchhikers – were driving on Route 60 near the entrance to Kiryat Arba when their vehicle came under fire. The victims were named as Yitzhak Ames, 47, and his wife Tali Ames, 45, Kochava Even-Haim, 37, and Avishai Schindler, 24, all from Beit Hagai. The Ames couple had six children, including a one-and-a-half-year-old toddler.
Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Obeida told The Associated Press late Tuesday that Hamas carried out the attack.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The top Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip rejected compromise with Israel in a fiery speech Wednesday, a day after gunmen killed four Israelis.
In an address to Hamas members, Gaza strongman Mahmoud Zahar said the movement would resist peace efforts and criticized the Palestinian president for joining the negotiations.
"Today marks the start of direct negotiations between someone who has no right to represent the Palestinian people and the brutal occupier, to provide a cover for Judaizing Jerusalem and stealing the land," Zahar said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been locked in a fierce rivalry with Hamas since the group seized Gaza from his forces in a violent takeover in 2007, leaving him only in control of the West Bank.
In a swift response to the shooting, Abbas' forces rounded up 250 low and midlevel Hamas supporters throughout the West Bank in what the group said was the largest sweep in recent memory. Hamas officials called the roundup arbitrary and an act of treason.
Abbas and Netanyahu are in Washington for a series of talks aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel within a year. Negotiations are to focus on core issues of the conflict, including the status of east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as capital of their future state but Israel also claims.
Hamas leaders have sharply criticized Abbas in recent days for agreeing to resume negotiations with Israel.
"The enemy of the Palestinian people is the Zionist enemy," Zahar said.
Zahar rejected the idea of compromise with Israel, saying that "liberating" all the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River — a reference to Israel's destruction — is a moral and religious duty. He said Palestinians must not abandon armed resistance against Israeli occupation.
Despite Zahar's tough words, it's unclear whether the militants will try to derail the negotiations with more attacks or whether the shooting was an isolated incident.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak wrote in an op-ed piece in The New York Times on Tuesday that reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement is "critical to achieving a two-state solution" and renewed an offer of Egyptian mediation.
Hamas expert Khaled Hroub said the group would keep acting as a spoiler if it is not accommodated.
"You have to engage with Hamas — not because you like or dislike them," Hroub said. "Because, pragmatically these are the people who can deliver."
Obama: We Will Support Israel’s Security
by Elad Benari
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/139452
US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a joint statement to the press on Wednesday, following their meeting in Washington.
In his statement, Obama referred to Tuesday’s terror attack near Hebron in which four Israelis were murdered, and called the murders a “senseless slaughter.” He said that such acts of terror would not stop the US from seeking to achieve peace in the Middle East.“I want everybody to be very clear: The United States is going to be unwavering in its support of Israel’s security, and we are going to push back against these kinds of terrorist activities,” said Obama and added that the message that should go out to Hamas and other terrorist groups that “this is not going to stop us from not only ensuring a secure Israel but also securing a longer lasting peace.”
Obama said that he and Netanyahu had a “very productive” meeting about the efforts to advance peace. He also expressed the deep condolences of the American people to the families of the victims of Tuesday’s attack and thanked Netanyahu for “still being so committed to the cause of peace” despite the difficult time in Israel.
Netanyahu, who spoke after Obama, thanked the President for his condemnation of Tuesday’s terror attack. He called the terrorists who committed the attack “people who have no respect for human life and trample human rights into the dust and butcher everything that they oppose.”
Netanyahu described his talks with Obama as “open, productive, serious in the quest for peace” and said that he discussed with Obama the need for Israel to be able to maintain its security, both against these kinds of terror attacks as well as other threats to its security.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Obama. “There are going to be those who are going to do everything they can to undermine these talks, but we are going to remain stalwart.”
Obama wants signed agreement, not peace
Diplomatic sources revealed to Israel's Yediot Ahronot that when direct Israeli-Palestinians peace talks resume in Washington on Thursday, US President Barack Obama intends to strongly press both sides to sign a peace deal, even if it can't be fully implemented.
According to the leaked transcript of a conference call between Obama Administration officials and US Jewish leaders, Obama will pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to sign a framework deal now that will lead to the signing of a final status peace deal within one year. However, the implementation of that final status deal is expected to take at least 10 years.
During the first year, Obama wants to see Netanyahu, Abbas and their respective teams holding meetings at a hectic pace in order to iron out differences in the run up to signing the peace deal. When the two sides hit roadblocks, US officials will intervene.
The signing of such an agreement will give Obama the diplomatic achievement he needs to bolster his increasingly unpopular presidency. But that will do little to change the situation on the ground in Israel, as evidenced by the fact that even Obama acknowledges it can't be implemented in the short term.
In fact, it is likely to exacerbate the conflict by further restraining the Israelis from combatting violence against their own, a development that has traditionally encouraged the Palestinians to escalate their campaign of terror.
In other words, as some observers put it, Israelis are likely to pay with their lives so that Obama and his party can remain in power.
Israel Moves Forward on F-35 – with Israeli Features
by Maayana Miskin
Israel has decided to move forward on a planned purchase of F-35 airplanes from the United States after getting approval to install Israeli munitions and features in the planes, according to Aviation Week. A senior Israel Air Force commander told the paper that the American plane with Israeli add-ons would be known as the F-35I.
The plane's cockpit interfaces will be altered to use the IDF communications, control and intelligence systems, the source said, and its main computer will allow for the installation of Israeli equipment.
The U.S. has also agreed to the installation of a detachable fuel tank to the F-35I. The fuel tank would make the plane easier to detect when attached, but would extend the aircraft's range. The official said that the feature could be used in an attack where stealth is needed only toward the end of the mission, a comment seen as a reference to a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Israel is also in talks to build the wings of 25% of the F-35 planes produced, according to Reuters. Lockheed Martin plans to build 3,200 F-35s, and Israel Aerospace Industries hopes to build wings for 800 of them.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the purchase of 20 F-35s in mid-August. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has yet to sign off on the deal.
The purchase has created controversy in the defense establishment, as some say that the F-35 will not meet Israel's needs, and that Israel should purchase additional F-15 or F-16 planes instead. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz has voiced his disapproval of the purchase, and says the deal will be reconsidered.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Wednesday, 01 September 2010
Ethan Bronner: "That May Be The Key"
In today's New York Times, Ethan Bronner delves into President Obama's intimate circle and his background.
Oh whoops, my mistake. It's Netanyahu's background he gets into, not the preident's.
.... Others say that Mr. Netanyahu’s intimate circle and background make it hard for him to stray far from the ideology in which he grew up. His 100-year-old father, Benzion Netanyahu, a scholar of the Spanish Inquisition, is a strong right-wing advocate, as is the prime minister’s wife, Sara, and he may not be willing to cross them.
Despite that background and other similar credentials — he was a special operations commando in the Israeli army, fought in two wars, talks tough and has a booming, commanding public presence — some say he is more susceptible to pressure than one would expect, and that may be the key.
“The Americans know this well,” said Haim Assa, a political consultant who has known Mr. Netanyahu for years and who favors a deal with the Palestinians.
“The question is how heavy a hammer they are willing to use.”
Wednesday, 01 September 2010
MURDER & POLITICS
RAMALLAH, West Bank — As preparations intensify for a Palestinian-Israeli summit meeting in Washington on Thursday, the crude outlines of a Palestinian state are emerging in the West Bank, with increasingly reliable security forces, a more disciplined government and a growing sense among ordinary citizens that they can count on basic services.
Personal checks, long shunned as being unredeemable, are now widely accepted. Traffic tickets are issued and paid, movie theaters are opening and public parks are packed with families late into the summer nights. Economic growth in the first quarter of this year was 11 percent over the same period in 2009, the International Monetary Fund says....
Of course, the West Bank remains occupied by Israel. It is filled with scores of Israeli settlements, some 10,000 Israeli troops and numerous roadblocks and checkpoints that render true ordinary life impossible for the area’s 2.5 million Palestinians...
Given the repetition of Arab terrorist attacks on innocent Israelis that we suffered yesterday, Mr. Bronner may want to reconsider exactly who it is that renders the lives of others "impossible."
And then too, after the barbaric ambush and cold-blooded murder of four Jews by Arab terrorists, Isabel Kershner and Mark Landler "reported" in the Times, as follows:
JERUSALEM — The killing of four Israeli settlers, including a pregnant woman, in the West Bank on Tuesday evening . . . . underscored the disruptive role that the issue of Jewish settlements could play in the already fragile negotiations.
And:
.... Palestinian officials noted that the attack took place in an area of the West Bank that is under full Israeli security control, and where the Palestinian security forces have no responsibility and are not allowed to operate.
The victims came from Beit Hagai, a small settlement in the hills south of Hebron, an area known for particularly militant settlers....
I can't read the rest... I simply, physically, cannot make my eyes move across any more of this page.
I've been blogging these hideous Arab terrorist murders of Jews in Israel all along the way, for more than seven years now, and still... STILL... it absolutely blows my mind that the "media" can get away with this.
Kochava Even Chaim HY"D, murdered yesterday, shown with her 8-year-old daughter.
May the pure souls of our brothers and sisters be tied in the knot of life.
And may the Gd of Israel avenge their blood.
