From Ynet News, 8/12/05 ...
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who recently called for Israel to be 'wiped off map,' expresses doubt that Holocaust occurs, says Europeans should give Zionists some of their provinces in Europe; PM's spokesman: Just to remind Mr. Ahmadinejad, we've been here long before his ancestors
Yitzhak Benhorin
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday expressed doubt that the Holocaust occurred and suggested Israel be moved to Europe.
His comments, reported by the official IRNA news agency from a news conference he gave in the Saudia Arabian city of Mecca, follow his call in October for Israel to be "wiped off the map," which sparked widespread international condemnation.
"Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: Is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?"
"If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe - like in Germany, Austria or other countries - to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe. You offer part of Europe and we will support it," he added.....
Israel and the international community were quick to criticize the Iranian president's controversial remarks.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Ahmadinejad’s comments reflect a clear denial of the Holocaust and clearly defy international law recognizing Israel’s right to exist....
...Shalom added that under the leadership of Ahmadinejad Iran will seek all means to destroy the State of Israel.
...Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said in Tel Aviv Ahmadinejad was voicing "the consensus that exists in many circles in the Arab world that the Jewish people ... do not have the right to establish a Jewish, democratic state in their ancestral homeland"....."Just to remind Mr. Ahmadinejad, we've been here long before his ancestors," Gissin said. ".... Thank God we have the capability to deter and to prevent such a statement from becoming a reality."
...U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in response to Ahmadinejad's comments, "These latest remarks ... are clearly appalling and reprehensible. They certainly don't inspire hope among any of us in the international community that the government of Iran is prepared to engage as a responsible member of that community."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "It just further underscores our concerns about the regime in Iran and it's all the more reason why it's so important that the regime not have the ability to develop nuclear weapons."
At a news conference with French President Jacques Chirac near Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "With our historical responsibility in mind, I can only say that we reject them (Ahmadinejad's comments) in the harshest possible terms.
"We will do everything to make it clear that Israel's right to existence is in no way endangered. I am firmly convinced that a majority in the international community has a similar opinion on this issue," she said. Chirac said he agreed completely.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said "I condemn them unreservedly. They have no place in civilized political debate." ...
Roee Nahmias, Reuters contributed to the report
Friday, December 09, 2005
IDF Chief endorses Netanyahu
From Jerusalem Post, Dec. 8, 2005 22:18 Updated Dec. 8, 2005 23:48 By GIL HOFFMAN ...
Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's campaign for Likud leadership received a boost on Thursday when former IDF Chief of General Staff Moshe Ya'alon agreed to support his candidacy, according to a Channel 2 report.
News of Ya'alon's endorsement capped a successful week for Netanyahu in which MK Uzi Landau dropped out of the leadership race and joined his campaign team. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin also announced his support for Netanyahu in the December 19 primary.
An Israel Radio poll broadcast on Thursday predicted that Netanyahu would win the race by a significant margin but he would not obtain 40 percent of the vote, which he would need to avoid a run-off race against Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. The poll also found that Netanyahu would bring the Likud five more mandates than his competitors.
Sources close to Mofaz said the leak of the ties between Netanyahu and Ya'alon to Channel 2 on Thursday was intended to harm Mofaz's campaign. Mofaz attacked Netanyahu on Thursday, warning that he would make the Likud into a small fringe party. In comments submitted to The Jerusalem Post for its Likud leadership debate, Mofaz stressed that unlike Netanyahu, his Likud would be "moderate Right and realistic" and would not harm the poor sectors.
Netanyahu continued his policy of not attacking the other candidates. He outlined his diplomatic vision, which is based on Palestinian reciprocity. "In Judea and Samaria, we have national, historic and strategic interests and I don't see any reason why we should offer concessions in advance of negotiations," Netanyahu told the Post. "Such concessions will be of limited scale and will be offered only in exchange for genuine peace with a genuine peace partner, something that is not readily apparent on the horizon today." .....
Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's campaign for Likud leadership received a boost on Thursday when former IDF Chief of General Staff Moshe Ya'alon agreed to support his candidacy, according to a Channel 2 report.
News of Ya'alon's endorsement capped a successful week for Netanyahu in which MK Uzi Landau dropped out of the leadership race and joined his campaign team. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin also announced his support for Netanyahu in the December 19 primary.
An Israel Radio poll broadcast on Thursday predicted that Netanyahu would win the race by a significant margin but he would not obtain 40 percent of the vote, which he would need to avoid a run-off race against Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. The poll also found that Netanyahu would bring the Likud five more mandates than his competitors.
Sources close to Mofaz said the leak of the ties between Netanyahu and Ya'alon to Channel 2 on Thursday was intended to harm Mofaz's campaign. Mofaz attacked Netanyahu on Thursday, warning that he would make the Likud into a small fringe party. In comments submitted to The Jerusalem Post for its Likud leadership debate, Mofaz stressed that unlike Netanyahu, his Likud would be "moderate Right and realistic" and would not harm the poor sectors.
Netanyahu continued his policy of not attacking the other candidates. He outlined his diplomatic vision, which is based on Palestinian reciprocity. "In Judea and Samaria, we have national, historic and strategic interests and I don't see any reason why we should offer concessions in advance of negotiations," Netanyahu told the Post. "Such concessions will be of limited scale and will be offered only in exchange for genuine peace with a genuine peace partner, something that is not readily apparent on the horizon today." .....
Un cermony wipes Israel off the map
From Israel national News 16:32 Dec 08, '05 / 7 Kislev 5766 By Ezra HaLevi...
The United Nations held a "Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" last week. A large map of “Palestine,” with Israel literally wiped off the map, featured prominently in the festivities.
The ceremony was held at the UN headquarters in New York and was attended by Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Presidents of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly.
During the festivities, a map labeled a "map of Palestine” was displayed prominently between UN and PLO flags. The map, with “Palestine” written in Arabic atop it, does not include Israel, a member of the UN for 56 years. The map does not even demarcate the partition lines of November 29, 1947, marking a Jewish state alongside an Arab state. The partition was dictated by the UN General Assembly itself.
Click here to view a video clip of the ceremony with the map in the background.
At the start of the ceremony, the dignitaries present asked attendees to observe a moment of silence. “I invite everyone present to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of all those who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people,” the master of ceremonies said, “and the return of peace between Israel and Palestine.“
Anne Bayefsky, who reported on the event for the Eye on the UN organization, said that the ceremony's wording was aimed at giving honor to the worst of Palestinian terrorists. "It was a moment ... crafted to include the commemoration of suicide-bombers,” she wrote.
Click here to view a video of the moment of silence.
In response to the event, Bayefsky and her organization have once again asked the U.S. to withhold funding from the UN.
(Photos and Videos: EyeOnTheUN.org)
The United Nations held a "Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" last week. A large map of “Palestine,” with Israel literally wiped off the map, featured prominently in the festivities.
The ceremony was held at the UN headquarters in New York and was attended by Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Presidents of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly.
During the festivities, a map labeled a "map of Palestine” was displayed prominently between UN and PLO flags. The map, with “Palestine” written in Arabic atop it, does not include Israel, a member of the UN for 56 years. The map does not even demarcate the partition lines of November 29, 1947, marking a Jewish state alongside an Arab state. The partition was dictated by the UN General Assembly itself.
Click here to view a video clip of the ceremony with the map in the background.
At the start of the ceremony, the dignitaries present asked attendees to observe a moment of silence. “I invite everyone present to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of all those who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people,” the master of ceremonies said, “and the return of peace between Israel and Palestine.“
Anne Bayefsky, who reported on the event for the Eye on the UN organization, said that the ceremony's wording was aimed at giving honor to the worst of Palestinian terrorists. "It was a moment ... crafted to include the commemoration of suicide-bombers,” she wrote.
Click here to view a video of the moment of silence.
In response to the event, Bayefsky and her organization have once again asked the U.S. to withhold funding from the UN.
(Photos and Videos: EyeOnTheUN.org)
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Wheat bribes funded terror and weapons
From The Australian, by John Kerin, December 08, 2005 ...
KICKBACKS paid by Australia's monopoly wheat exporter to the regime of Saddam Hussein were put into a bank account used to finance a $US10million ($13 million) slush fund for families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
US Government and CIA documents reveal a trail of blood money flowing from companies now known to have taken bribes into bank accounts in Jordan, which were then used by the Iraqi Government to pay money for deadly bombings or to buy weapons.
According to a US inquiry into the corrupt UN oil-for-food program, companies such as Jordanian firm Alia, which received hundreds of millions of dollars from Australian wheat exporter AWB, paid money into "front" accounts held under false names. ..."According to information provided to this committee, Saddam paid $US25,000 rewards to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers through the Iraqi ambassador to Jordan," Republican congressman Henry Hyde, chairman of the US House of Representatives committee on international relations, told an oil-for-food hearing in November last year. Saddam did so "out of accounts in the Rafidain Bank in Amman (the Jordan capital), which held kickback money Saddam demanded from suppliers to his regime," he said.
A separate CIA report suggests Saddam used the payments into the Jordanian bank accounts to buy weapons, which could have been used against US-led forces, including Australian soldiers, which invaded the country in March 2003....
....The Howard Government has announced an inquiry, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Terry Cole, which will investigate the role of Australian companies in the program. It will start on Monday in Sydney. AWB admits making the payments to Alia but insists it thought the fees were for transporting wheat around Iraq and did not know it was a front company for Saddam's regime......
KICKBACKS paid by Australia's monopoly wheat exporter to the regime of Saddam Hussein were put into a bank account used to finance a $US10million ($13 million) slush fund for families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
US Government and CIA documents reveal a trail of blood money flowing from companies now known to have taken bribes into bank accounts in Jordan, which were then used by the Iraqi Government to pay money for deadly bombings or to buy weapons.
According to a US inquiry into the corrupt UN oil-for-food program, companies such as Jordanian firm Alia, which received hundreds of millions of dollars from Australian wheat exporter AWB, paid money into "front" accounts held under false names. ..."According to information provided to this committee, Saddam paid $US25,000 rewards to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers through the Iraqi ambassador to Jordan," Republican congressman Henry Hyde, chairman of the US House of Representatives committee on international relations, told an oil-for-food hearing in November last year. Saddam did so "out of accounts in the Rafidain Bank in Amman (the Jordan capital), which held kickback money Saddam demanded from suppliers to his regime," he said.
A separate CIA report suggests Saddam used the payments into the Jordanian bank accounts to buy weapons, which could have been used against US-led forces, including Australian soldiers, which invaded the country in March 2003....
....The Howard Government has announced an inquiry, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Terry Cole, which will investigate the role of Australian companies in the program. It will start on Monday in Sydney. AWB admits making the payments to Alia but insists it thought the fees were for transporting wheat around Iraq and did not know it was a front company for Saddam's regime......
Terrorist Killed by Air Force in Gaza
from Israel National News 20:26 Dec 07, '05 / 6 Kislev 5766 By Ezra HaLevi. . .
The IDF has killed a senior terrorist in a targetted killing in Gaza for the first time since the withdrawal from the region last summer.
The IDF has confirmed reports that the Air Force fired a missile at a vehicle in the Gaza border city of Rafiah, killing one terrorist and injuring 10 others. The terrorist, Mahmoud Arkan, was a senior member in the Popular Resistance Committee . . .was a former policeman for the Palestinian Authority (PA) . . . was involved in an anti-tank missile attack which killed two people of a construction team earlier this year and worked with Islamic Jihad terrorists to carry out attacks on Israelis and to smuggle weapons. He was also reportedly involved in the murder of Dov and Rachel Cole at the Kissufim Crossing shortly before the expulsion.
"Information regarding Arkan had been transferred to the Palestinian Authority security officials who did nothing to prevent the continuation of these attacks," the IDF spokesman said.
Israel’s Security Cabinet decided to renew targeted killings of terrorist leaders following the bombing of the Sharon Mall in Netanya on Monday, in which five Israelis were murdered and scores wounded.
The IDF has killed a senior terrorist in a targetted killing in Gaza for the first time since the withdrawal from the region last summer.
The IDF has confirmed reports that the Air Force fired a missile at a vehicle in the Gaza border city of Rafiah, killing one terrorist and injuring 10 others. The terrorist, Mahmoud Arkan, was a senior member in the Popular Resistance Committee . . .was a former policeman for the Palestinian Authority (PA) . . . was involved in an anti-tank missile attack which killed two people of a construction team earlier this year and worked with Islamic Jihad terrorists to carry out attacks on Israelis and to smuggle weapons. He was also reportedly involved in the murder of Dov and Rachel Cole at the Kissufim Crossing shortly before the expulsion.
"Information regarding Arkan had been transferred to the Palestinian Authority security officials who did nothing to prevent the continuation of these attacks," the IDF spokesman said.
Israel’s Security Cabinet decided to renew targeted killings of terrorist leaders following the bombing of the Sharon Mall in Netanya on Monday, in which five Israelis were murdered and scores wounded.
The Roots of Terrorism
From HonestReporting COMMUNIQUE: 6 December 2005 . . .
... .PAYMENTS TO BOMBERS FAMILIES
According to the FrontPage Magazine:
The Palestinian daily, al Hayat al Jadida has reported that Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, signed a new law to support the families of suicide bombers. Enacting a special law to financially support terrorists will ensure that this kind of activity continues. Each shahid's family will receive a monthly stipend of at least $250. The family of a married shahid will receive an additional $50. Parents will receive an additional $25, and each additional child and/or brother or sister will get another $15.
The PA's message to its people is clear, suicide bombings are legitimate and worthy of state compensation....
GLORIFICATION OF "MARTYRDOM" BY PA
As documented by Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Authority continues to run media programming that encourages suicide attacks. This has not changed since the death of Arafat, despite the PA's clear Road Map obligations to end all incitement and control terror. Here are just a few recent examples that can be accessed by the PMW link above:
November 2005
PA names recently opened Rafah border crossing with Egypt after Al-Moayed Al-Agha, who killed 5 Israelis in the area last year. To make clear the honor they are bestowing on Al-Agha, the PA erects a huge sign at border depicting an armed Al-Agha and a map of the entire State of Israel.
August 2005
The PA's Ministry of Culture releases "Book of the Month", a poetry collection honoring suicide terrorist Hanadi Jaradat, who murdered 21 Israelis. It was distributed as a special supplement in the daily Al-Ayyam, the official PA newspaper.
July 2005
Al-Ayyam, whose editors are appointed by Abbas, endorsed terror attack on Israeli couple, granting the most elevated status to the murderers, the status of "Shahid", Martyr for Allah.. . . .
... .PAYMENTS TO BOMBERS FAMILIES
According to the FrontPage Magazine:
The Palestinian daily, al Hayat al Jadida has reported that Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, signed a new law to support the families of suicide bombers. Enacting a special law to financially support terrorists will ensure that this kind of activity continues. Each shahid's family will receive a monthly stipend of at least $250. The family of a married shahid will receive an additional $50. Parents will receive an additional $25, and each additional child and/or brother or sister will get another $15.
The PA's message to its people is clear, suicide bombings are legitimate and worthy of state compensation....
GLORIFICATION OF "MARTYRDOM" BY PA
As documented by Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Authority continues to run media programming that encourages suicide attacks. This has not changed since the death of Arafat, despite the PA's clear Road Map obligations to end all incitement and control terror. Here are just a few recent examples that can be accessed by the PMW link above:
November 2005
PA names recently opened Rafah border crossing with Egypt after Al-Moayed Al-Agha, who killed 5 Israelis in the area last year. To make clear the honor they are bestowing on Al-Agha, the PA erects a huge sign at border depicting an armed Al-Agha and a map of the entire State of Israel.
August 2005
The PA's Ministry of Culture releases "Book of the Month", a poetry collection honoring suicide terrorist Hanadi Jaradat, who murdered 21 Israelis. It was distributed as a special supplement in the daily Al-Ayyam, the official PA newspaper.
July 2005
Al-Ayyam, whose editors are appointed by Abbas, endorsed terror attack on Israeli couple, granting the most elevated status to the murderers, the status of "Shahid", Martyr for Allah.. . . .
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Europe’s “Good Jews”
From Commentary by Emanuele Ottolenghi (follow the link for the full article with references) ...
It is common knowledge that anti-Semitism in Western Europe has been on the rise for the last five years. ...Of course, Jews in Europe have not been deprived of property, expelled, or deported; but they have been subjected to physical violence, insults, libelous attacks in the press and in intellectual circles, accusations of disloyalty, and much else besides.
... factors include the open hostility of some European governments to the state of Israel and their active sympathy with the Arab and Palestinian “cause,” even to the point of justifying Arab terrorism against civilian Israeli Jews; the felt need on the part of European elites to accommodate the often murderous anti-Semitism within the immigrant Muslim community; and the alignment of European leftist and “progressive” opinion behind the idea of Israel as the new Nazi Germany, according to which those European Jews who support Israel are relegated to the category of racists until proved otherwise.
... it is held to be solely an expression of disagreement with particular policies of the Israeli government. To draw a parallel between this and past variants of European anti-Semitism, especially of the Nazi type, is thus dismissed as a species of moral blackmail.
...I want to focus here on a particular feature of the new European anti-Semitism that has been less commented on. This is the crucial role played by some European Jews themselves, mostly intellectuals or academics, who have responded to the latest assault on the Jewish people by excusing it, justifying it, and in effect joining it.
In October 2002, a number of leading European authors discussed Israel’s conduct in the pages of the London Independent. For one of these writers, it was plain that Israel had “adopted tactics which are reminiscent of the Nazis.” ...this great sickness is alleged to have returned in the lurid form of present-day Israel, throwing the whole world into turmoil and disturbing the hard-won tranquility of post-nationalist Europe by inflaming the passions of its rising Muslim population.
...Europeans have seized upon the Palestinian intifada, or rather upon Israel’s determined response to it, as an opportunity at last to turn the moral tables...to hold not themselves but the Jews to account.
The Italian columnist Barbara Spinelli...called upon world Jewry to undertake ...an act of contrition forthwith...it should start in the Diaspora, where so many Jews live a double and contradictory loyalty. . . .
This call to Europe’s “good Jews,” as they might be called, has in fact been answered. For the most part, those answering it have been not the long-term, all-out, rabid haters of Israel of the Harold Pinter or (in American terms) Noam Chomsky stripe, who need no excuse and waste no pieties in reviling the Jewish state. .... Most “good Jews” are of a somewhat different complexion. Not only do they tend to speak more circumspectly but...they cloak their hostility to ...(...Israel) in the mantle of solicitude for, precisely, the good name of Jews and Judaism.
Thus, writing in Britain’s weekly Spectator earlier this year, one Anthony Lippman issued just such a mea culpa as Barbara Spinelli may have dreamed of. Himself the son of a Holocaust survivor...he averred that the “little band” of Holocaust survivors in Europe
has a terrible responsibility—to live well in the name of those who did not live and to discourage the building of walls and bulldozing of villages. Even more than this, they—and all Jews—need to be the voice of conscience that will prevent Israel from adopting the mantle of oppressor, and to reject the label “anti-Semite” for those who speak out against Israel’s policies in the occupied territories.
Similarly responding to the claims of an awakened Jewish conscience has been the British academic Jacqueline Rose. In her book, The Question of Zion (2005), Rose undertakes to save Judaism itself from the curse of its movement of national liberation....Can the disease that is Zionism be cured? Yes, Rose and others assure us, but only by a thorough-going renunciation.....
...In the August 8, 2002 Guardian, 45 Jewish signatories, in a widely hailed act of public abjuration, repudiated their right of return to the Jewish state on account of its racist policies. Since the statement’s original publication, it has been signed by over 80 more individuals from around the world. One of the organizers subsequently explained that what motivated him to act was the “pitiless violence” of his “blood relatives,” i.e., the Israeli people—the “violence,” as he put it, of the “traumatized former victim, clinging to past wounds from generation unto generation.”
The publicity attending this and similar initiatives by European Jews, abetted in some cases by their Israeli counterparts, has been very great. There was tremendous excitement in Europe over the declaration by 99 Israeli academics that their government was planning an imminent “full-fledged ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinian people (a charge that was not withdrawn when the alleged genocidal atrocity failed to occur), and again over the refusal of a few hundred Israeli army reservists to serve in the administered territories. There was even greater excitement when several European Jewish academics turned up among the instigators of a movement to boycott Israeli academic institutions, and yet again when a number of Jewish politicians called for the boycott of Israeli commercial products.
Among the latter group was the British parliamentarian Oona King, who in June 2003, comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza with the Nazi treatment of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, spoke of her personal “shame” as a “Jewish person” (her father is Jewish). A year later, Gerald Kaufman, another member of the British Parliament, called for a boycott of Israeli goods on similar grounds, as, in South Africa, did Ronnie Kasrils, a government minister: “As a person who was born Jewish, I am morally obliged to speak out against what is being done by the Zionist state of Israel to the Palestinian people.”
Many others have likewise seen it as their specifically Jewish duty to denounce Israel. ...
The assertions of Jews like these are often buttressed by a particular narrative of the history of Zionism...According to this reconstruction of the past, the achievements of Zionism involved, for the Jews, a fatal loss of moral and historical innocence. In order for the state of Israel to be born in 1948, unspeakable crimes were committed against the Palestinian people. Zionist leaders then entered into a conspiracy of silence to conceal these awful events from the Jewish public. Not until the 1980’s did a small, intrepid band of scholars—Israel’s so-called New Historians—emerge to uncover the evidence and expose the hidden truth.
Zionism’s precipitous descent, from the noble liberal vision of Theodor Herzl to the obloquy of mass expulsions and worse, was characterized in 1988 by Benny Morris.... If... Israel was born tarnished, besmirched by original sin, then it was no more deserving of that grace and assistance than were its neighbors.
“Grace,” “purity,” “original sin”—Christological vocabulary of this kind recurs frequently in the rhetoric of certain scholarly and journalistic discussions of Israel’s birth. Avi Shlaim, for instance, has mocked those who persist in conceiving of Israel’s War of Independence as a struggle against Arab aggression. They hold, he writes with savage sarcasm, to the idea of “an immaculate conception.”
Worse, they do so perfidiously, for both material and moral gain, thus aspiring to the roles of Judas and Jesus simultaneously....
...But, if the brutality with which Israel is charged was indeed inherent to the project that led to its creation—as the notion of original sin suggests—how can it possibly be made good? That European Jews should wash their hands of the Jewish state goes without saying. But what is required of Israel itself? For this there is an answer as well. Both logically and, as it were, theologically, the only remedy lies in the political equivalent of conversion.
For Israel, in this analysis, entrance into a new life of grace is contingent on shedding its identity as the Jewish national state. Instead, it must agree to a unitary, binational arrangement with the Palestinians. Only thus might the state of the Jews yet wash away the stain of its original sin. The signatories of the 2002 letter in the Guardian were explicit on this point. No mere condemnation of Israel’s allegedly brutal behavior would satisfy the demands of their Jewish conscience. What was necessary was the dissolution of Israel itself, its place to be taken by a new entity that would no longer be ruled by Jews but in which Jews and Palestinian Arabs would at last live together peacefully as equals.
Of course, this is absurd—a fancy-dress re-wording of longstanding Arab propaganda about the illegitimacy of Israel’s national existence. It is also hypocritical: Europeans who expend such vast quantities of energy lecturing Israel on its supposed hypernationalist instincts give no thought whatsoever to ridding the Arabs of their own, rather more vivid, forms of nationalist sentiment.
...This is not 1930’s-style anti-Semitism; in that narrow sense, anti-Israel Europeans are correct in protesting that they are not anti-Semites. Nevertheless, it is an age-old form of anti-Semitism, and one that has always called forth a typical pattern of response on the part of the Jews under scrutiny.... finding favor and reward by exerting every effort to assimilate themselves to whatever is required of them, including to the point of publicly dissociating themselves from their people’s history and fate. As ever with such maneuvers, exculpatory rationalizations must be found, and are readily at hand.
Unlike the case in pre-Enlightenment Europe, present-day anti-Semitism does not expect Jews to abandon their religion... What the enlightened sector of today’s Europe would like Jews to do, in exchange for fully approved membership in the circle of approved opinion, is to renounce a core component of their identity: that is, their sense of Jewish peoplehood as expressed through their attachment and commitment to the democratic state of Israel and to the Zionist enterprise.
What remains constant is that, as in both pre- and post-Enlightenment Europe, today’s European elite has its good Jews and its bad Jews. There are the Jews whom it embraces, encourages, and celebrates; and then there are the Jews whom it chastises and condemns. For the former, there will always be a place of honor in the European sun. On the latter, today’s officially pluralist and tolerant Europe has turned its back. Is it any wonder, then, that some “good Jews” have chosen to live in the light, stopping only to burnish their qualifications by noisily joining the chorus that has consigned their fellow Jews to the dark?
It is common knowledge that anti-Semitism in Western Europe has been on the rise for the last five years. ...Of course, Jews in Europe have not been deprived of property, expelled, or deported; but they have been subjected to physical violence, insults, libelous attacks in the press and in intellectual circles, accusations of disloyalty, and much else besides.
... factors include the open hostility of some European governments to the state of Israel and their active sympathy with the Arab and Palestinian “cause,” even to the point of justifying Arab terrorism against civilian Israeli Jews; the felt need on the part of European elites to accommodate the often murderous anti-Semitism within the immigrant Muslim community; and the alignment of European leftist and “progressive” opinion behind the idea of Israel as the new Nazi Germany, according to which those European Jews who support Israel are relegated to the category of racists until proved otherwise.
... it is held to be solely an expression of disagreement with particular policies of the Israeli government. To draw a parallel between this and past variants of European anti-Semitism, especially of the Nazi type, is thus dismissed as a species of moral blackmail.
...I want to focus here on a particular feature of the new European anti-Semitism that has been less commented on. This is the crucial role played by some European Jews themselves, mostly intellectuals or academics, who have responded to the latest assault on the Jewish people by excusing it, justifying it, and in effect joining it.
In October 2002, a number of leading European authors discussed Israel’s conduct in the pages of the London Independent. For one of these writers, it was plain that Israel had “adopted tactics which are reminiscent of the Nazis.” ...this great sickness is alleged to have returned in the lurid form of present-day Israel, throwing the whole world into turmoil and disturbing the hard-won tranquility of post-nationalist Europe by inflaming the passions of its rising Muslim population.
...Europeans have seized upon the Palestinian intifada, or rather upon Israel’s determined response to it, as an opportunity at last to turn the moral tables...to hold not themselves but the Jews to account.
The Italian columnist Barbara Spinelli...called upon world Jewry to undertake ...an act of contrition forthwith...it should start in the Diaspora, where so many Jews live a double and contradictory loyalty. . . .
This call to Europe’s “good Jews,” as they might be called, has in fact been answered. For the most part, those answering it have been not the long-term, all-out, rabid haters of Israel of the Harold Pinter or (in American terms) Noam Chomsky stripe, who need no excuse and waste no pieties in reviling the Jewish state. .... Most “good Jews” are of a somewhat different complexion. Not only do they tend to speak more circumspectly but...they cloak their hostility to ...(...Israel) in the mantle of solicitude for, precisely, the good name of Jews and Judaism.
Thus, writing in Britain’s weekly Spectator earlier this year, one Anthony Lippman issued just such a mea culpa as Barbara Spinelli may have dreamed of. Himself the son of a Holocaust survivor...he averred that the “little band” of Holocaust survivors in Europe
has a terrible responsibility—to live well in the name of those who did not live and to discourage the building of walls and bulldozing of villages. Even more than this, they—and all Jews—need to be the voice of conscience that will prevent Israel from adopting the mantle of oppressor, and to reject the label “anti-Semite” for those who speak out against Israel’s policies in the occupied territories.
Similarly responding to the claims of an awakened Jewish conscience has been the British academic Jacqueline Rose. In her book, The Question of Zion (2005), Rose undertakes to save Judaism itself from the curse of its movement of national liberation....Can the disease that is Zionism be cured? Yes, Rose and others assure us, but only by a thorough-going renunciation.....
...In the August 8, 2002 Guardian, 45 Jewish signatories, in a widely hailed act of public abjuration, repudiated their right of return to the Jewish state on account of its racist policies. Since the statement’s original publication, it has been signed by over 80 more individuals from around the world. One of the organizers subsequently explained that what motivated him to act was the “pitiless violence” of his “blood relatives,” i.e., the Israeli people—the “violence,” as he put it, of the “traumatized former victim, clinging to past wounds from generation unto generation.”
The publicity attending this and similar initiatives by European Jews, abetted in some cases by their Israeli counterparts, has been very great. There was tremendous excitement in Europe over the declaration by 99 Israeli academics that their government was planning an imminent “full-fledged ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinian people (a charge that was not withdrawn when the alleged genocidal atrocity failed to occur), and again over the refusal of a few hundred Israeli army reservists to serve in the administered territories. There was even greater excitement when several European Jewish academics turned up among the instigators of a movement to boycott Israeli academic institutions, and yet again when a number of Jewish politicians called for the boycott of Israeli commercial products.
Among the latter group was the British parliamentarian Oona King, who in June 2003, comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza with the Nazi treatment of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, spoke of her personal “shame” as a “Jewish person” (her father is Jewish). A year later, Gerald Kaufman, another member of the British Parliament, called for a boycott of Israeli goods on similar grounds, as, in South Africa, did Ronnie Kasrils, a government minister: “As a person who was born Jewish, I am morally obliged to speak out against what is being done by the Zionist state of Israel to the Palestinian people.”
Many others have likewise seen it as their specifically Jewish duty to denounce Israel. ...
The assertions of Jews like these are often buttressed by a particular narrative of the history of Zionism...According to this reconstruction of the past, the achievements of Zionism involved, for the Jews, a fatal loss of moral and historical innocence. In order for the state of Israel to be born in 1948, unspeakable crimes were committed against the Palestinian people. Zionist leaders then entered into a conspiracy of silence to conceal these awful events from the Jewish public. Not until the 1980’s did a small, intrepid band of scholars—Israel’s so-called New Historians—emerge to uncover the evidence and expose the hidden truth.
Zionism’s precipitous descent, from the noble liberal vision of Theodor Herzl to the obloquy of mass expulsions and worse, was characterized in 1988 by Benny Morris.... If... Israel was born tarnished, besmirched by original sin, then it was no more deserving of that grace and assistance than were its neighbors.
“Grace,” “purity,” “original sin”—Christological vocabulary of this kind recurs frequently in the rhetoric of certain scholarly and journalistic discussions of Israel’s birth. Avi Shlaim, for instance, has mocked those who persist in conceiving of Israel’s War of Independence as a struggle against Arab aggression. They hold, he writes with savage sarcasm, to the idea of “an immaculate conception.”
Worse, they do so perfidiously, for both material and moral gain, thus aspiring to the roles of Judas and Jesus simultaneously....
...But, if the brutality with which Israel is charged was indeed inherent to the project that led to its creation—as the notion of original sin suggests—how can it possibly be made good? That European Jews should wash their hands of the Jewish state goes without saying. But what is required of Israel itself? For this there is an answer as well. Both logically and, as it were, theologically, the only remedy lies in the political equivalent of conversion.
For Israel, in this analysis, entrance into a new life of grace is contingent on shedding its identity as the Jewish national state. Instead, it must agree to a unitary, binational arrangement with the Palestinians. Only thus might the state of the Jews yet wash away the stain of its original sin. The signatories of the 2002 letter in the Guardian were explicit on this point. No mere condemnation of Israel’s allegedly brutal behavior would satisfy the demands of their Jewish conscience. What was necessary was the dissolution of Israel itself, its place to be taken by a new entity that would no longer be ruled by Jews but in which Jews and Palestinian Arabs would at last live together peacefully as equals.
Of course, this is absurd—a fancy-dress re-wording of longstanding Arab propaganda about the illegitimacy of Israel’s national existence. It is also hypocritical: Europeans who expend such vast quantities of energy lecturing Israel on its supposed hypernationalist instincts give no thought whatsoever to ridding the Arabs of their own, rather more vivid, forms of nationalist sentiment.
...This is not 1930’s-style anti-Semitism; in that narrow sense, anti-Israel Europeans are correct in protesting that they are not anti-Semites. Nevertheless, it is an age-old form of anti-Semitism, and one that has always called forth a typical pattern of response on the part of the Jews under scrutiny.... finding favor and reward by exerting every effort to assimilate themselves to whatever is required of them, including to the point of publicly dissociating themselves from their people’s history and fate. As ever with such maneuvers, exculpatory rationalizations must be found, and are readily at hand.
Unlike the case in pre-Enlightenment Europe, present-day anti-Semitism does not expect Jews to abandon their religion... What the enlightened sector of today’s Europe would like Jews to do, in exchange for fully approved membership in the circle of approved opinion, is to renounce a core component of their identity: that is, their sense of Jewish peoplehood as expressed through their attachment and commitment to the democratic state of Israel and to the Zionist enterprise.
What remains constant is that, as in both pre- and post-Enlightenment Europe, today’s European elite has its good Jews and its bad Jews. There are the Jews whom it embraces, encourages, and celebrates; and then there are the Jews whom it chastises and condemns. For the former, there will always be a place of honor in the European sun. On the latter, today’s officially pluralist and tolerant Europe has turned its back. Is it any wonder, then, that some “good Jews” have chosen to live in the light, stopping only to burnish their qualifications by noisily joining the chorus that has consigned their fellow Jews to the dark?
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Israel - Banana republic?
From Jerusalem Post, Dec. 5, 2005 22:11 By ISI LEIBLER ...
It would be a monumental understatement to describe our current political condition as chaotic .... the prime minister has taken the unprecedented initiative of destabilizing his own Likud Party in order to create a new party comprised exclusively of hand-picked candidates unequivocally committed to supporting whatever future decisions he may decide to implement.
... Until recently he had emphatically proclaimed that there would be no further unilateral withdrawals unless the Palestinians dismantled the terrorist infrastructure. Yet in his resignation speech he blandly announced his intention of initiating further withdrawals of unspecified "isolated" settlements "in accordance with the road map ..."
...one of Sharon's senior aides went so far as to proclaim that he would disclose his real intentions only after the elections. IT IS unprecedented for a democratic leader to seek to destroy the governing party in order to dispense with the irritation of being required to obtain approval from his colleagues before embarking on new policies.
...the political atmosphere in the nation remains suffused with cant and hypocrisy...Politicians of all shades of opinion shamelessly contradict themselves from one day to the next and make misleading or false pronouncements transparently designed to position themselves as politically centrist in order to ensnare voters.
...Yitzhak Rabin was elected to office as a hawk and ended up a pristine dove; Ehud Barak posed as a tough former general, yet offered to give away the family silver at Camp David; and of course Ariel Sharon was elected on the basis of rejecting Amnon Mitzna's plan, then went further to the left than Mitzna himself.
Yet in relation to the future most Israelis have now rejected the illusions associated with both the Oslo Accords and Greater Israel. They seek pragmatic, middle-of-the road leaders who they hope will promote peace with security.
...Likud ... had ... become reconciled to an eventual demilitarized Palestinian state. The matters of contention between Sharon and the Likud rebels centered on whether territorial concessions should be made unilaterally or, as most Likud supporters preferred, only after the terrorist infrastructure had been dismantled. There were also differences with respect to final borders. All these tactical issues could have been resolved within the Likud framework.
In the unlikely event that the Kadima Party achieves full control of the new government Sharon would effectively be in a position to run the country as a one-man band.
In the more likely scenario in which Kadima garners the largest number of votes but lacks a majority, Labor would be the most likely coalition partner. But Labor today is headed by a political demagogue and super-dove with no experience in government, security or foreign affairs. His views are closer to Meretz than his own party, and he has expressed a nostalgic desire to resurrect the Oslo Accords.
To top it off, the Finance Ministry could be controlled by an outdated trade union apparatchik who would decimate the economy. The addition to Labor of Avishay Braverman, a talented economist and genuine Zionist, is an asset. But he will be a mere fig leaf unless Peretz delegates economic policy to him, an unlikely eventuality if one considers the crude dictatorial manner in which he managed the Histadrut.
IT IS highly unlikely that the majority of potential Kadima voters would knowingly support a coalition in which concessions to the Palestinians exceeded the currently prevailing consensus. Nor would they endorse as a coalition partner the most radicalized Labor party in Israel's history - a party seeking to recycle the discredited Oslo Accords. And many would also regard as bizarre Sharon's agreement to appoint Shimon Peres, the architect of Oslo, as "minister for peace affairs."
The support for Kadima, therefore, essentially flows from a blind "trust" in Sharon. But electing Sharon without extracting policy guidelines would institutionalize the Napoleonic inclinations of a prime minister whose track record already bears the hallmark of an emerging Israeli version of the personality cult. Moreover if, for any reason, Sharon was no longer able to continue in office, the "party" could disintegrate.
... rather than issues, the political process has degenerated into a competition of jobs for the boys. Policies have been supplanted by revolving doors and pledging allegiance to the leader most likely to guarantee cushy jobs. And the major players pay false lip service to the center and obfuscate their real intention. The collapse of political morality is further exemplified by those Sharon supporters who remain Likud members for the sole purpose of acting as a Trojan horse, even boasting of their intention to destabilize the Likud primaries.
The people of Israel are entitled to demand that all candidates outline policies - economic as well as security - instead of cynically lying in an endeavor to obtain votes under false pretences. The forthcoming polls should be a referendum on the future.
To this end, President Moshe Katsav hit the nail on the head when he called on parties and political leaders not to conceal their policies but to "present the voters with clear, responsible positions on all issues that are in the balance, including the state's borders" and urged them to commit themselves to implementing their electoral promises. As of now, his appeal seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
ISRAEL stands at the crossroads. It is impossible to predict the outcome of the elections. But irrespective of who wins, genuine democracy amounts to more than elections. Israelis must employ people-power to demand transparency and honesty, and insist that the incoming government implements governance.
If the corrupt and undemocratic trends are not reversed, the very foundations of civic government are threatened and we are truly on the road to becoming a banana republic.
The writer chairs the Diaspora-Israel relations committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and is a veteran Jewish international leader.ileibler@netvision.net.il
It would be a monumental understatement to describe our current political condition as chaotic .... the prime minister has taken the unprecedented initiative of destabilizing his own Likud Party in order to create a new party comprised exclusively of hand-picked candidates unequivocally committed to supporting whatever future decisions he may decide to implement.
... Until recently he had emphatically proclaimed that there would be no further unilateral withdrawals unless the Palestinians dismantled the terrorist infrastructure. Yet in his resignation speech he blandly announced his intention of initiating further withdrawals of unspecified "isolated" settlements "in accordance with the road map ..."
...one of Sharon's senior aides went so far as to proclaim that he would disclose his real intentions only after the elections. IT IS unprecedented for a democratic leader to seek to destroy the governing party in order to dispense with the irritation of being required to obtain approval from his colleagues before embarking on new policies.
...the political atmosphere in the nation remains suffused with cant and hypocrisy...Politicians of all shades of opinion shamelessly contradict themselves from one day to the next and make misleading or false pronouncements transparently designed to position themselves as politically centrist in order to ensnare voters.
...Yitzhak Rabin was elected to office as a hawk and ended up a pristine dove; Ehud Barak posed as a tough former general, yet offered to give away the family silver at Camp David; and of course Ariel Sharon was elected on the basis of rejecting Amnon Mitzna's plan, then went further to the left than Mitzna himself.
Yet in relation to the future most Israelis have now rejected the illusions associated with both the Oslo Accords and Greater Israel. They seek pragmatic, middle-of-the road leaders who they hope will promote peace with security.
...Likud ... had ... become reconciled to an eventual demilitarized Palestinian state. The matters of contention between Sharon and the Likud rebels centered on whether territorial concessions should be made unilaterally or, as most Likud supporters preferred, only after the terrorist infrastructure had been dismantled. There were also differences with respect to final borders. All these tactical issues could have been resolved within the Likud framework.
In the unlikely event that the Kadima Party achieves full control of the new government Sharon would effectively be in a position to run the country as a one-man band.
In the more likely scenario in which Kadima garners the largest number of votes but lacks a majority, Labor would be the most likely coalition partner. But Labor today is headed by a political demagogue and super-dove with no experience in government, security or foreign affairs. His views are closer to Meretz than his own party, and he has expressed a nostalgic desire to resurrect the Oslo Accords.
To top it off, the Finance Ministry could be controlled by an outdated trade union apparatchik who would decimate the economy. The addition to Labor of Avishay Braverman, a talented economist and genuine Zionist, is an asset. But he will be a mere fig leaf unless Peretz delegates economic policy to him, an unlikely eventuality if one considers the crude dictatorial manner in which he managed the Histadrut.
IT IS highly unlikely that the majority of potential Kadima voters would knowingly support a coalition in which concessions to the Palestinians exceeded the currently prevailing consensus. Nor would they endorse as a coalition partner the most radicalized Labor party in Israel's history - a party seeking to recycle the discredited Oslo Accords. And many would also regard as bizarre Sharon's agreement to appoint Shimon Peres, the architect of Oslo, as "minister for peace affairs."
The support for Kadima, therefore, essentially flows from a blind "trust" in Sharon. But electing Sharon without extracting policy guidelines would institutionalize the Napoleonic inclinations of a prime minister whose track record already bears the hallmark of an emerging Israeli version of the personality cult. Moreover if, for any reason, Sharon was no longer able to continue in office, the "party" could disintegrate.
... rather than issues, the political process has degenerated into a competition of jobs for the boys. Policies have been supplanted by revolving doors and pledging allegiance to the leader most likely to guarantee cushy jobs. And the major players pay false lip service to the center and obfuscate their real intention. The collapse of political morality is further exemplified by those Sharon supporters who remain Likud members for the sole purpose of acting as a Trojan horse, even boasting of their intention to destabilize the Likud primaries.
The people of Israel are entitled to demand that all candidates outline policies - economic as well as security - instead of cynically lying in an endeavor to obtain votes under false pretences. The forthcoming polls should be a referendum on the future.
To this end, President Moshe Katsav hit the nail on the head when he called on parties and political leaders not to conceal their policies but to "present the voters with clear, responsible positions on all issues that are in the balance, including the state's borders" and urged them to commit themselves to implementing their electoral promises. As of now, his appeal seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
ISRAEL stands at the crossroads. It is impossible to predict the outcome of the elections. But irrespective of who wins, genuine democracy amounts to more than elections. Israelis must employ people-power to demand transparency and honesty, and insist that the incoming government implements governance.
If the corrupt and undemocratic trends are not reversed, the very foundations of civic government are threatened and we are truly on the road to becoming a banana republic.
The writer chairs the Diaspora-Israel relations committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and is a veteran Jewish international leader.ileibler@netvision.net.il
Suicide Bombing Catches Israel Unawares
From "A Palestinian Suicide Bombing Catches Israel’s Electioneering Leaders Unawares", DEBKAfile Special Report, December 5, 2005, 10:28 PM (GMT+02:00) ...
The Palestinian Jihad Islami suicide bombing that left 5 Israelis dead and 55 injured outside Netanya’s Sharon shopping mall caught the Sharon government and Israel’s security chiefs by surprise. ...Israeli security forces guided by the Shin Beit believed they had wiped out a dangerous Jihad Islami cell in Jenin in weeks of raids and roundups. However, they missed one last bomb team....
... the Israeli government responded ...by imposing a closure on the northern West Bank’s villages, including the killer’s village of Ilar north east of Tulkarm, and shut down the Gaza Strip’s exits to Israel, barring the Karni goods crossing. A comprehensive offensive to hunt down the Jihad Islami’s operatives and leaders was promised, a repeat of the pledge given after the Oct. 26 suicide attack on the open-air market of Hadera, just south of the coastal town of Netanya, which killed six Israelis.
Gideon Ezra, minister of internal security...said: “We know that the terrorists are concentrated in northern Samaria.”
Israeli bases and civilians were withdrawn from Northern Samaria three months ago together with the Gaza Strip. ...which can only raise questions about the timeliness and wisdom of pulling Israel counter-terror forces out of a region admittedly teeming with terrorists.
The same question is being asked insistently about the Gaza Strip - especially by the missile-battered Israelis who live within range of Palestinian launch-crews in the Western Negev. ....
Yet a flock of American and European officials are due in Jerusalem in the next few days to force Israel to open a land link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, without bothering about security measures. They also want the Gaza crossings to Israeli kept open in all circumstances. The Palestinians may therefore count on getting a convenient passage safe from Israel’s scrutiny to link the Palestinian and Islamic terrorist bases in Gaza to their strongholds in northern Samaria.
Defense minister Shaul Mofaz, himself fighting in a leadership primary to fill Sharon’s evacuated shoes as head of Likud, has meanwhile declared that targeted assassinations would be resumed in the Gaza Strip against terrorist leaders and Qassam missile crews.
For the umpteenth time, Abu Mazen was put on notice to crack down on Palestinian terrorists - notwithstanding his automatic refusal to do any such thing. This time, the chorus was joined by a new voice: election hopeful, Labor’s new broom Amir Peretz, collected all the party’s retired generals and defense chiefs for their first photo op as a “shadow’ administration. All posed eagerly on the mark.
.... The Magen David emergency service was as fast and efficient as ever. But an inquiry has been launched to find out whether the local police were justified in refraining from shooting the bomber when he was in their sights.
When a police patrol was alerted by a bystander to a shifty-looking character heading for the Sharon mall with his hand in a big bag, a policewoman jumped out of the vehicle and gave chase. She saw that the bomber had been grabbed by the mall’s security guard, Haim Amram, 26, from Netanya, to keep him away from the entrance. She shouted to Amram to pull the Palestinian’s hand out of the bag and screamed to the crowd to stand back. She was too late. The killer detonated his bomb. Amram took the full force of the blast and, with four bystanders, died on the spot.
The policewoman’s gun was out and so were the weapons of two more policemen at the scene, but none were fired.
The Palestinian Jihad Islami suicide bombing that left 5 Israelis dead and 55 injured outside Netanya’s Sharon shopping mall caught the Sharon government and Israel’s security chiefs by surprise. ...Israeli security forces guided by the Shin Beit believed they had wiped out a dangerous Jihad Islami cell in Jenin in weeks of raids and roundups. However, they missed one last bomb team....
... the Israeli government responded ...by imposing a closure on the northern West Bank’s villages, including the killer’s village of Ilar north east of Tulkarm, and shut down the Gaza Strip’s exits to Israel, barring the Karni goods crossing. A comprehensive offensive to hunt down the Jihad Islami’s operatives and leaders was promised, a repeat of the pledge given after the Oct. 26 suicide attack on the open-air market of Hadera, just south of the coastal town of Netanya, which killed six Israelis.
Gideon Ezra, minister of internal security...said: “We know that the terrorists are concentrated in northern Samaria.”
Israeli bases and civilians were withdrawn from Northern Samaria three months ago together with the Gaza Strip. ...which can only raise questions about the timeliness and wisdom of pulling Israel counter-terror forces out of a region admittedly teeming with terrorists.
The same question is being asked insistently about the Gaza Strip - especially by the missile-battered Israelis who live within range of Palestinian launch-crews in the Western Negev. ....
Yet a flock of American and European officials are due in Jerusalem in the next few days to force Israel to open a land link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, without bothering about security measures. They also want the Gaza crossings to Israeli kept open in all circumstances. The Palestinians may therefore count on getting a convenient passage safe from Israel’s scrutiny to link the Palestinian and Islamic terrorist bases in Gaza to their strongholds in northern Samaria.
Defense minister Shaul Mofaz, himself fighting in a leadership primary to fill Sharon’s evacuated shoes as head of Likud, has meanwhile declared that targeted assassinations would be resumed in the Gaza Strip against terrorist leaders and Qassam missile crews.
For the umpteenth time, Abu Mazen was put on notice to crack down on Palestinian terrorists - notwithstanding his automatic refusal to do any such thing. This time, the chorus was joined by a new voice: election hopeful, Labor’s new broom Amir Peretz, collected all the party’s retired generals and defense chiefs for their first photo op as a “shadow’ administration. All posed eagerly on the mark.
.... The Magen David emergency service was as fast and efficient as ever. But an inquiry has been launched to find out whether the local police were justified in refraining from shooting the bomber when he was in their sights.
When a police patrol was alerted by a bystander to a shifty-looking character heading for the Sharon mall with his hand in a big bag, a policewoman jumped out of the vehicle and gave chase. She saw that the bomber had been grabbed by the mall’s security guard, Haim Amram, 26, from Netanya, to keep him away from the entrance. She shouted to Amram to pull the Palestinian’s hand out of the bag and screamed to the crowd to stand back. She was too late. The killer detonated his bomb. Amram took the full force of the blast and, with four bystanders, died on the spot.
The policewoman’s gun was out and so were the weapons of two more policemen at the scene, but none were fired.
ACHILLE LAURO SURVIVORS' CASE AGAINST THE PLO
F rom Shurat Hadin - Israel Law Center, December 5, 2005, "JERUSALEM COURT RULES ACHILLE LAURO SURVIVORS' CASE AGAINST THE PLO CAN GO FORWARD "
In a case that was brought against the PLO by two American survivors of the infamous 1985 Achille Lauro cruise liner hijacking, the Jerusalem District Court has denied the Palestinian defendants' motion to dismiss the proceedings. The civil action, which was filed in 2000, seeks compensation from the PLO for damages inflicted on the two women in the course of the three-day attack.
According to the court papers, the Palestinian gunmen who seized the ship in the Mediterranean Sea as it was traveling from Italy to Israel allegedly separated the American and Jewish passengers from the others and threatened to kill them if Israel did not agree to their demands to release Palestinian security prisoners being held in Israeli jails. The two women were held at gunpoint by the terrorists on the ship's outdoor deck throughout the 3-day ordeal. Increasingly desperate, the hijackers announced they were going to execute one hostage immediately, and then the rest at 1-hour intervals if the PLO prisoners were not released. The terrorists took an elderly, wheelchair-bound New Yorker, Leon Klinghoffer, fired several bullets into him, and then threw him and his wheelchair overboard. The murder was carried out in full view of Klinghoffer's wife.
Eventually, the other hostages, including the plaintiffs, were freed by the terrorists. Although the case was brought in Jerusalem 15 years after the hijacking, which was eight years after the expiration of the Israeli statute of limitations, the District Court's ruling permits the case to go forward. The PLO has appealed the decision.
A hearing in the District Court has been set for December 25 th. According to Shurat HaDin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: "The PLO has arrogantly attempted to avoid paying for the criminal acts perpetrated during the Achille Lauro hijacking for over twenty years. Fortunately, the Jerusalem District Court has ruled that the civil action will now go to trial. It’s important that no act of Palestinian terror ever be forgotten and the terror victims know they have a means, even many years later, of fighting back."
In a case that was brought against the PLO by two American survivors of the infamous 1985 Achille Lauro cruise liner hijacking, the Jerusalem District Court has denied the Palestinian defendants' motion to dismiss the proceedings. The civil action, which was filed in 2000, seeks compensation from the PLO for damages inflicted on the two women in the course of the three-day attack.
According to the court papers, the Palestinian gunmen who seized the ship in the Mediterranean Sea as it was traveling from Italy to Israel allegedly separated the American and Jewish passengers from the others and threatened to kill them if Israel did not agree to their demands to release Palestinian security prisoners being held in Israeli jails. The two women were held at gunpoint by the terrorists on the ship's outdoor deck throughout the 3-day ordeal. Increasingly desperate, the hijackers announced they were going to execute one hostage immediately, and then the rest at 1-hour intervals if the PLO prisoners were not released. The terrorists took an elderly, wheelchair-bound New Yorker, Leon Klinghoffer, fired several bullets into him, and then threw him and his wheelchair overboard. The murder was carried out in full view of Klinghoffer's wife.
Eventually, the other hostages, including the plaintiffs, were freed by the terrorists. Although the case was brought in Jerusalem 15 years after the hijacking, which was eight years after the expiration of the Israeli statute of limitations, the District Court's ruling permits the case to go forward. The PLO has appealed the decision.
A hearing in the District Court has been set for December 25 th. According to Shurat HaDin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: "The PLO has arrogantly attempted to avoid paying for the criminal acts perpetrated during the Achille Lauro hijacking for over twenty years. Fortunately, the Jerusalem District Court has ruled that the civil action will now go to trial. It’s important that no act of Palestinian terror ever be forgotten and the terror victims know they have a means, even many years later, of fighting back."
Why Netanya?
From Israel National News by David Bedein Dec 05, '05 / 4 Kislev 5766 . . .
--- November 2000, I lectured ---in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, to discuss the PLO demand that all Arabs who have wallowed in UN refugee camps for the past 50 years have the "right to return" to villages that they left in 1948. I showed the audience the map of a "future Palestinian State," which the PLO Orient House headquarters provided in Jerusalem. The map marks the 531 Arab villages that are slated for return, all of which had been overrun in 1948.One of those villages was Umm Khalid, which, according to the PLO, had been illegally absorbed by Netanya.
The PLO, therefore, defines Netanya as one of Israel's "illegal settlements" under the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention, enacted in 1949, which forbids a conquering nation from moving its citizens into a conquered area.
The implications: the PLO will justify any attack on any such settlement that it views as "illegal" under international law. The head of the PLO Refugee Department, Daoud Barakat, confirms this.
In January 1995, following Hamas terror bombs that killed 21 people at a bus stop at the Beit Lid/Netanya junction, the PLO secretary-general Marwan Barghouti, now in prison for the first-degree murders of 13 people, calmly told MBC Saudi television why the PLO would justify an attack on Netanya: "This is an area that we have yet to liberate." (We have that video readily available.)
Meanwhile, the December 1995 PLO-Hamas accord, signed in Cairo by both Palestinian factions, allows Hamas to carry out operations in areas within Israel proper that have "not yet been liberated."
The Palestinian spin on the "right of return" plays out in many ways that have escaped public attention. Over the past seven years, the PLO has developed a computer data base at palestineremembered.com that helps Arab refugees locate their homes from before 1948. This is to enable their imminent right of return to places like Umm Khalid - by force, if necessary.. . .
--- November 2000, I lectured ---in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, to discuss the PLO demand that all Arabs who have wallowed in UN refugee camps for the past 50 years have the "right to return" to villages that they left in 1948. I showed the audience the map of a "future Palestinian State," which the PLO Orient House headquarters provided in Jerusalem. The map marks the 531 Arab villages that are slated for return, all of which had been overrun in 1948.One of those villages was Umm Khalid, which, according to the PLO, had been illegally absorbed by Netanya.
The PLO, therefore, defines Netanya as one of Israel's "illegal settlements" under the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention, enacted in 1949, which forbids a conquering nation from moving its citizens into a conquered area.
The implications: the PLO will justify any attack on any such settlement that it views as "illegal" under international law. The head of the PLO Refugee Department, Daoud Barakat, confirms this.
In January 1995, following Hamas terror bombs that killed 21 people at a bus stop at the Beit Lid/Netanya junction, the PLO secretary-general Marwan Barghouti, now in prison for the first-degree murders of 13 people, calmly told MBC Saudi television why the PLO would justify an attack on Netanya: "This is an area that we have yet to liberate." (We have that video readily available.)
Meanwhile, the December 1995 PLO-Hamas accord, signed in Cairo by both Palestinian factions, allows Hamas to carry out operations in areas within Israel proper that have "not yet been liberated."
The Palestinian spin on the "right of return" plays out in many ways that have escaped public attention. Over the past seven years, the PLO has developed a computer data base at palestineremembered.com that helps Arab refugees locate their homes from before 1948. This is to enable their imminent right of return to places like Umm Khalid - by force, if necessary.. . .
Five murdered
From Jerusalem Post Dec. 5, 2005 22:20 Updated Dec. 5, 2005 23:19 "The stories behind the names" By DANIEL BEN-TAL .. . .
The five fatalities in the Netanya suicide bombing were identified on Monday evening ...(take a moment to reflect...)
Haim Amram, 26, from Netanya
Amram, a security guard at the Hasharon mall for several years, stopped the suicide bomber from killing many more innocent bystanders by blocking him with his body and pulling the terrorist in the direction of a wall to distance him from his target.
...Amram, who regularly worked out at the Wingate Institute, was described by friends as quiet and modest. Having completed his matriculation examinations last year, Amram intended to study psychology. In the past year, he reportedly moved in with his girlfriend, whom he intended to marry next summer.
Daniel Golani, 45, from Nahariya
. . .Golani owned three clothing stores called 'Hasderah' in Naharia, Acre and Kiryat Bialik. His sisters and parents live in Netanya, and he planned to expand his business by opening a new outlet in the shopping mall where he tragically met his death.
Nahariya . . .was subdued last night following the news that the popular shopkeeper had been killed. . ... "This is a great loss for the town, his family and friends," said a tearful (ex-mayor)Frumer. . .municipal councilor David Rosen related that Golani was well known in the town for his benevolence to those in need and trustworthiness."The whole town is in mourning," added Deputy Mayor Zion Lankri, who knew Golani well.
Golani, described as a reliable family man, is survived by his wife and three daughters.
Eliyah Rosen, 38, from Bat Hefer
Rosen, an educational psychologist and mother of three children aged 12, 9 and 5, was due to start a new job as a project manager next week. She traveled to the mall on Monday morning to buy clothes for her new job.
Rosen grew up in Ramat Aviv, graduated the Alliance high school and studied psychology at Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She is survived by her husband Gadi and three children.
Alexandra Zrnitzki, 65, from Netanya
Alexandra immigrated to Israel from the Ukraine in 1997. She is survived by her son, Andrei. Alexandra will be laid to rest on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Havatikim cemetery in Netanya.
The five fatalities in the Netanya suicide bombing were identified on Monday evening ...(take a moment to reflect...)
Haim Amram, 26, from Netanya
Amram, a security guard at the Hasharon mall for several years, stopped the suicide bomber from killing many more innocent bystanders by blocking him with his body and pulling the terrorist in the direction of a wall to distance him from his target.
...Amram, who regularly worked out at the Wingate Institute, was described by friends as quiet and modest. Having completed his matriculation examinations last year, Amram intended to study psychology. In the past year, he reportedly moved in with his girlfriend, whom he intended to marry next summer.
Daniel Golani, 45, from Nahariya
. . .Golani owned three clothing stores called 'Hasderah' in Naharia, Acre and Kiryat Bialik. His sisters and parents live in Netanya, and he planned to expand his business by opening a new outlet in the shopping mall where he tragically met his death.
Nahariya . . .was subdued last night following the news that the popular shopkeeper had been killed. . ... "This is a great loss for the town, his family and friends," said a tearful (ex-mayor)Frumer. . .municipal councilor David Rosen related that Golani was well known in the town for his benevolence to those in need and trustworthiness."The whole town is in mourning," added Deputy Mayor Zion Lankri, who knew Golani well.
Golani, described as a reliable family man, is survived by his wife and three daughters.
Eliyah Rosen, 38, from Bat Hefer
Rosen, an educational psychologist and mother of three children aged 12, 9 and 5, was due to start a new job as a project manager next week. She traveled to the mall on Monday morning to buy clothes for her new job.
Rosen grew up in Ramat Aviv, graduated the Alliance high school and studied psychology at Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She is survived by her husband Gadi and three children.
Alexandra Zrnitzki, 65, from Netanya
Alexandra immigrated to Israel from the Ukraine in 1997. She is survived by her son, Andrei. Alexandra will be laid to rest on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Havatikim cemetery in Netanya.
Suicide bombing outside Netanya mall kills five
From Jerusalem Post Dec. 5, 2005 11:37 Updated Dec. 5, 2005 16:47 By JPOST.COM STAFF ...
Four people were killed and 66 were wounded - three seriously - in an explosion that rocked the entrance to the Hasharon shopping mall on Herzl Street in Netanya at 11:25 a.m. Monday morning. Another person died on the operating table at Laniado Hospital in Netanya.
Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi told reporters that the bomber was 'identified 15 meters in front of the mall by policemen and a security guard. Police managed to keep him away from the gate, and he blew himself up when police approached him to conduct a search of his bags.'
According to Karadi, "Members of the security services were hurt in the event," but "the actions of the guards and the police prevented a much more deadly bombing."
...The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the attack ...Imad Abu Diab, a leader of the Islamic Jihad in Tulkarm, told The Jerusalem Post that "the tahdiya (or "calm") no longer exists and that operations against Israel will continue as long as there is occupation."
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing and ordered the arrest of those involved, his office said in a statement. "This operation ... against civilians causes the most serious harm to our commitment to the peace process and the Palestinian Authority will not go easy on whoever is found to be responsible for this operation," the statement quoted him as saying.
..."It's obvious that the Palestinian Authority is showing no intention to take real steps to dismantle or disarm the terrorist organizations," Ra'anan Gissin, spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said in response to the bombing. The bombing was "a direct consequence of not taking these steps." He further accused Syria, Iran and Hizbullah of encouraging terrorism in Israel "for the purpose of scuttling the process that seemed to be gaining momentum," but added that this did not absolve the PA of responsibility.
Gissin told reporters that the security cabinet would meet Monday evening to decide what measures Israel would take in response to the bombing. "We'll take all necessary steps to defend ourselves," he stressed, and added that Israel would not be limited in any way in its response.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called the attack "additional proof of the inaction of the Palestinian Authority under Abu Mazen. Israel can't stand a continuation of the spilling of blood in the cities and the Kassam attacks." He added, "The leadership of the Palestinian Authority is refusing to act against the terror organizations and to dismantle them.
...The Islamic Jihad was also behind the October suicide bombing in the Hadera market that killed five people.
Five people were killed in a July 12 terror attack at the same mall.
Arieh O'Sullivan, Hilary Leila Krieger, Matthew Gutman, Gil Hoffman, Yaakov Katz and AP contributed to this report.
Four people were killed and 66 were wounded - three seriously - in an explosion that rocked the entrance to the Hasharon shopping mall on Herzl Street in Netanya at 11:25 a.m. Monday morning. Another person died on the operating table at Laniado Hospital in Netanya.
Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi told reporters that the bomber was 'identified 15 meters in front of the mall by policemen and a security guard. Police managed to keep him away from the gate, and he blew himself up when police approached him to conduct a search of his bags.'
According to Karadi, "Members of the security services were hurt in the event," but "the actions of the guards and the police prevented a much more deadly bombing."
...The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the attack ...Imad Abu Diab, a leader of the Islamic Jihad in Tulkarm, told The Jerusalem Post that "the tahdiya (or "calm") no longer exists and that operations against Israel will continue as long as there is occupation."
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing and ordered the arrest of those involved, his office said in a statement. "This operation ... against civilians causes the most serious harm to our commitment to the peace process and the Palestinian Authority will not go easy on whoever is found to be responsible for this operation," the statement quoted him as saying.
..."It's obvious that the Palestinian Authority is showing no intention to take real steps to dismantle or disarm the terrorist organizations," Ra'anan Gissin, spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said in response to the bombing. The bombing was "a direct consequence of not taking these steps." He further accused Syria, Iran and Hizbullah of encouraging terrorism in Israel "for the purpose of scuttling the process that seemed to be gaining momentum," but added that this did not absolve the PA of responsibility.
Gissin told reporters that the security cabinet would meet Monday evening to decide what measures Israel would take in response to the bombing. "We'll take all necessary steps to defend ourselves," he stressed, and added that Israel would not be limited in any way in its response.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called the attack "additional proof of the inaction of the Palestinian Authority under Abu Mazen. Israel can't stand a continuation of the spilling of blood in the cities and the Kassam attacks." He added, "The leadership of the Palestinian Authority is refusing to act against the terror organizations and to dismantle them.
...The Islamic Jihad was also behind the October suicide bombing in the Hadera market that killed five people.
Five people were killed in a July 12 terror attack at the same mall.
Arieh O'Sullivan, Hilary Leila Krieger, Matthew Gutman, Gil Hoffman, Yaakov Katz and AP contributed to this report.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Kaare Kristiansen, Friend of Israel, Passes Away
From Israel national News, 16:00 Dec 04, '05 / 3 Kislev 5766, By Hillel Fendel ...
Kaare Kristiansen, who resigned from the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in 1994 to protest the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize that year to Yasser Arafat, has passed away.
Kristiansen, 85, who died Saturday morning, was Norway's Minister of Oil and Energy from 1983 to 1986, and served twice as the leader of the Christian People’s Party, for a total of six years. He was a Member of Parliament for 12 years, finally resigning on the grounds that his party had distanced itself from its original purpose and course.
The Norwegian Israel Center Against anti-Semitism (NIS) released a statement of condolences, saying Kristiansen "was a truly righteous person [who] never compromised with his deep-felt conviction about things right and wrong. This was clearly demonstrated when he resigned from the Nobel Peace Prize Committee... We have had during a great many years the pleasure of his friendship, [and of] his thoughtfulness and deep understanding of the Jewish people's situation, both here in Norway and in Israel."
In 1997, Kristiansen led a group of political and religious leaders in Norway in submitting a petition to the country's Foreign Ministry, demanding that the Norwegian Embassy in Israel be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He later visited Israel as part of this campaign. He more than once called upon the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to "publicly deplore" its 1994 decision to grant arch-terrorist Arafat the respected prize.
In 1997, four years after the signing of the Oslo Agreement, he said that his "forebodings" about the diplomatic process had come true, citing Palestinian Authority corruption, its continued terrorism, and the Arab killings of compatriot land-dealers who sold land to Jews.Aryeh Gallin, founder and President of Root & Branch Association, Ltd., said, "In a place where there were few if any men, Kaare Kristiansen was a man."
Just this past August, Kristiansen expressed his opposition to the Disengagement in an official statement, in which he said, "...giving in to Arab terrorist pressure, whether that pressure comes from PLO terrorists or members of other terror groups, adds fuel to the fire of Arab terrorism against Israel. I fear that Palestinian Arabs perceive the Israel Government expulsion of Gush Katif Jews as proof that Arab terror pays after all. I also fear that throughout the world, [it] will strengthen the false belief that the Land of Israel belongs to Arabs and that Jews have no rights there at all. "The Israel Government expulsion of Gush Katif Jews is not an internal Israeli affair. It is everyone's affair. This expulsion is an immoral and illegal act violating international ethical, human, legal and social rights. "Over a decade ago, I protested as immoral the Nobel Prize Committee awarding a 'peace' prize to Yasser Arafat in December, 1994, and resigned from the Nobel Prize Committee as an expression of that protest then. Over a decade later, I protest as immoral the illegal Israel Government expulsion of the Gush Katif Jews today."
Kaare Kristiansen, who resigned from the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in 1994 to protest the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize that year to Yasser Arafat, has passed away.
Kristiansen, 85, who died Saturday morning, was Norway's Minister of Oil and Energy from 1983 to 1986, and served twice as the leader of the Christian People’s Party, for a total of six years. He was a Member of Parliament for 12 years, finally resigning on the grounds that his party had distanced itself from its original purpose and course.
The Norwegian Israel Center Against anti-Semitism (NIS) released a statement of condolences, saying Kristiansen "was a truly righteous person [who] never compromised with his deep-felt conviction about things right and wrong. This was clearly demonstrated when he resigned from the Nobel Peace Prize Committee... We have had during a great many years the pleasure of his friendship, [and of] his thoughtfulness and deep understanding of the Jewish people's situation, both here in Norway and in Israel."
In 1997, Kristiansen led a group of political and religious leaders in Norway in submitting a petition to the country's Foreign Ministry, demanding that the Norwegian Embassy in Israel be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He later visited Israel as part of this campaign. He more than once called upon the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to "publicly deplore" its 1994 decision to grant arch-terrorist Arafat the respected prize.
In 1997, four years after the signing of the Oslo Agreement, he said that his "forebodings" about the diplomatic process had come true, citing Palestinian Authority corruption, its continued terrorism, and the Arab killings of compatriot land-dealers who sold land to Jews.Aryeh Gallin, founder and President of Root & Branch Association, Ltd., said, "In a place where there were few if any men, Kaare Kristiansen was a man."
Just this past August, Kristiansen expressed his opposition to the Disengagement in an official statement, in which he said, "...giving in to Arab terrorist pressure, whether that pressure comes from PLO terrorists or members of other terror groups, adds fuel to the fire of Arab terrorism against Israel. I fear that Palestinian Arabs perceive the Israel Government expulsion of Gush Katif Jews as proof that Arab terror pays after all. I also fear that throughout the world, [it] will strengthen the false belief that the Land of Israel belongs to Arabs and that Jews have no rights there at all. "The Israel Government expulsion of Gush Katif Jews is not an internal Israeli affair. It is everyone's affair. This expulsion is an immoral and illegal act violating international ethical, human, legal and social rights. "Over a decade ago, I protested as immoral the Nobel Prize Committee awarding a 'peace' prize to Yasser Arafat in December, 1994, and resigned from the Nobel Prize Committee as an expression of that protest then. Over a decade later, I protest as immoral the illegal Israel Government expulsion of the Gush Katif Jews today."
Iran to build 2 new nuclear reactors
From Jerusalem Post Dec. 3, 2005 15:59 Updated Dec. 4, 2005 17:00
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER AND AP ...
An Iranian news agency announced Sunday that Iran would begin construction on two nuclear reactors beginning in March. The report added that an Iranian parliamentarian confirmed that one of the reactors would be funded by Russia, at a cost of $1 billion, Army Radio said.
Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said on Sunday afternoon that he doubted diplomatic pressure would put a halt to Iran's nuclear ambitions. ..."I believe that the political means that are used by the Europeans and the US to convince the Iranians to stop the project will not succeed," Halutz added.
Asked how far Israel was ready to go to stop Iran's nuclear project, Halutz quipped, "2,000 kilometers." ...There are military options to deal with Tehran, Halutz said. "Who is the one to implement it? That is another question that I'm not going to answer. 'When?' is another question that I'm not going to answer. But there are options worldwide," he said. ....
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER AND AP ...
An Iranian news agency announced Sunday that Iran would begin construction on two nuclear reactors beginning in March. The report added that an Iranian parliamentarian confirmed that one of the reactors would be funded by Russia, at a cost of $1 billion, Army Radio said.
Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said on Sunday afternoon that he doubted diplomatic pressure would put a halt to Iran's nuclear ambitions. ..."I believe that the political means that are used by the Europeans and the US to convince the Iranians to stop the project will not succeed," Halutz added.
Asked how far Israel was ready to go to stop Iran's nuclear project, Halutz quipped, "2,000 kilometers." ...There are military options to deal with Tehran, Halutz said. "Who is the one to implement it? That is another question that I'm not going to answer. 'When?' is another question that I'm not going to answer. But there are options worldwide," he said. ....
Al Qaeda 'comfortable' in Pakistan
From Washington Post Foreign Service Blast in Pakistan Kills Al Qaeda Commander: Sunday, December 4, 2005...
Figure Reportedly Hit by U.S. Missile Strike
By Craig Whitlock and Kamran Khan
BERLIN, Dec. 3 -- The killing of an al Qaeda commander in a U.S.-led operation in a remote corner of Pakistan marks an advance in the struggle to locate and eliminate the network's leadership, which has managed to replenish its ranks after suffering key losses in recent years, counterterrorism officials and experts said Saturday.
..."It's a success story, but al Qaeda has turned into a multi-headed hydra: you chop off one head and another head takes its place," said Magnus Ranstorp, a specialist on al Qaeda at the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm. "It's a good thing they got him, but I'm sure there are others in the wings who are ready to play a similar role."
... there is no indication that U.S. or Pakistani forces have come closer to locating their biggest targets: al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, who are still believed to be hiding in the region.
... U.S. officials have become increasingly frustrated with what they see as limited cooperation from the Pakistani military and intelligence services in the hunt for bin Laden.
In June, CIA Director Porter J. Goss said he had "an excellent idea" where bin Laden was hiding but lamented that the al Qaeda leader had taken advantage of "sanctuaries in sovereign states" beyond American reach...U.S. and European officials said bin Laden had almost certainly taken refuge in the semi-autonomous tribal areas near the Afghan border.
Musharraf has recently acknowledged that he is not eager for bin Laden to be caught in his country, where he is seen as a hero to many and is probably more popular than Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 bloodless military coup. "One would prefer that he's captured somewhere outside Pakistan, by some other people," he said in an October interview with Time magazine.
Counterterrorism officials and analysts said Pakistan serves not just as a hiding place but as an effective base of operations for al Qaeda and other Islamic radical networks, giving them the ability to plan or carry out attacks around the world.
..."The real point here is that Musharraf is not making any dent in the issue that matters -- which is that the extremists are still operating rather freely in Pakistan and feel as comfortable there as ever," said M.J. Gohel, chief executive of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London research institute that specializes in security issues in South Asia. "What you need is to completely eradicate and eliminate the entire extremist infrastructure, but nothing has been done there. What has been done is the capture of individuals now and then to please Washington......
Khan reported from Karachi, Pakistan. Staff writer Dafna Linzer and researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.
Figure Reportedly Hit by U.S. Missile Strike
By Craig Whitlock and Kamran Khan
BERLIN, Dec. 3 -- The killing of an al Qaeda commander in a U.S.-led operation in a remote corner of Pakistan marks an advance in the struggle to locate and eliminate the network's leadership, which has managed to replenish its ranks after suffering key losses in recent years, counterterrorism officials and experts said Saturday.
..."It's a success story, but al Qaeda has turned into a multi-headed hydra: you chop off one head and another head takes its place," said Magnus Ranstorp, a specialist on al Qaeda at the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm. "It's a good thing they got him, but I'm sure there are others in the wings who are ready to play a similar role."
... there is no indication that U.S. or Pakistani forces have come closer to locating their biggest targets: al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, who are still believed to be hiding in the region.
... U.S. officials have become increasingly frustrated with what they see as limited cooperation from the Pakistani military and intelligence services in the hunt for bin Laden.
In June, CIA Director Porter J. Goss said he had "an excellent idea" where bin Laden was hiding but lamented that the al Qaeda leader had taken advantage of "sanctuaries in sovereign states" beyond American reach...U.S. and European officials said bin Laden had almost certainly taken refuge in the semi-autonomous tribal areas near the Afghan border.
Musharraf has recently acknowledged that he is not eager for bin Laden to be caught in his country, where he is seen as a hero to many and is probably more popular than Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 bloodless military coup. "One would prefer that he's captured somewhere outside Pakistan, by some other people," he said in an October interview with Time magazine.
Counterterrorism officials and analysts said Pakistan serves not just as a hiding place but as an effective base of operations for al Qaeda and other Islamic radical networks, giving them the ability to plan or carry out attacks around the world.
..."The real point here is that Musharraf is not making any dent in the issue that matters -- which is that the extremists are still operating rather freely in Pakistan and feel as comfortable there as ever," said M.J. Gohel, chief executive of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London research institute that specializes in security issues in South Asia. "What you need is to completely eradicate and eliminate the entire extremist infrastructure, but nothing has been done there. What has been done is the capture of individuals now and then to please Washington......
Khan reported from Karachi, Pakistan. Staff writer Dafna Linzer and researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.
Mass grave points to Syrian abuse
From The Australian: Mass grave points to Syrian abuse, Correspondents in Beirut,
December 05, 2005 ...
LEBANESE forces unearthed at least 20 decomposed bodies buried in a mass grave in an eastern town that was the headquarters of Syrian intelligence for three decades, security sources said on the weekend.
Witnesses and security sources said the corpses, most now only skeletons in scraps of underwear, were found on an old onion farm in the town of Anjar, long used by Syrian intelligence as a jail and interrogation centre.
...Ghazi Aad, director of the group Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile, called the mass grave "the biggest proof" of the extent of Syrian atrocities against Lebanese.
..The fact the remains were in bags and not buried according to religious rites indicated the people might have been killed.
...An official said the remains of at least another 12 bodies were dug out from the defence ministry compound in Yarze, near Beirut, in mid-November. Digging operations are continuing in Anjar and at least one other location in the mountains east of Beirut.
Most of the bodies exhumed from Yarze are believed to belong to Lebanese soldiers killed during the Syrian military offensive in 1990
...Sixty-one Lebanese soldiers are still missing from Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, which Syria entered in 1976 ostensibly as a stabilising force.
Reuters, AFP, AP
December 05, 2005 ...
LEBANESE forces unearthed at least 20 decomposed bodies buried in a mass grave in an eastern town that was the headquarters of Syrian intelligence for three decades, security sources said on the weekend.
Witnesses and security sources said the corpses, most now only skeletons in scraps of underwear, were found on an old onion farm in the town of Anjar, long used by Syrian intelligence as a jail and interrogation centre.
...Ghazi Aad, director of the group Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile, called the mass grave "the biggest proof" of the extent of Syrian atrocities against Lebanese.
..The fact the remains were in bags and not buried according to religious rites indicated the people might have been killed.
...An official said the remains of at least another 12 bodies were dug out from the defence ministry compound in Yarze, near Beirut, in mid-November. Digging operations are continuing in Anjar and at least one other location in the mountains east of Beirut.
Most of the bodies exhumed from Yarze are believed to belong to Lebanese soldiers killed during the Syrian military offensive in 1990
...Sixty-one Lebanese soldiers are still missing from Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, which Syria entered in 1976 ostensibly as a stabilising force.
Reuters, AFP, AP
Lajos Polgar - war crimes investigation
From The Australian: House of horrors [December 05, 2005]:
A Melbourne man is at the centre of a war crimes investigation into a dark chapter in Hungary's history, Natasha Robinson writes
AT the centre of Hungary's wartime history lies a gaping hole. Documentary evidence of the reign of terror by the notorious fascist Arrow Cross regime during World War II is missing and there are few surviving witnesses.
One building that should be a source of historical records is the Arrow Cross party headquarters at 60 Andrassy St, Budapest -- known as the House of Loyalty.
To Melbourne pensioner Lajos Polgar, it was the House of Fidelity. Now a war crimes investigation by Hungarian authorities into Polgar may fill some of history's gaps. And if the investigation results in an extradition request for Polgar, he will become the second Australian pensioner this year to face prosecution for alleged war crimes. Perth pensioner Charles Zentai is facing extradition to Hungary accused of bashing 18-year-old Peter Balazs to death in a Budapest army barracks.
What is known of the House of Loyalty is that Jews were tortured and possibly killed in the building's basement. "It was a notorious building. It was the headquarters of the Arrow Cross," says Hungarian Holocaust historian Tom Kramer. "They used it basically as a torture chamber, as a means of intimidating potential opponents."
Polgar insists he's innocent of any war crimes and that he held the lesser role of secretary at the House of Loyalty to hanged party henchman Jozsef Gera. Polgar laughs when told the Hungarian authorities suspect him of genocide. "I am absolutely innocent. I never made any crime at all," he says.
Polgar hid his wartime history when he emigrated to Australia in 1949 and subsequently befriended the family of former prime minister Malcolm Fraser. He lived a quiet life until four months ago when Labor MP Michael Danby raised questions about his wartime history in federal parliament.
Court papers obtained by The Australian reveal Polgar was a key figure in the brutal Arrow Cross regime. Gera claimed he personally appointed Polgar as "commander of the House of Loyalty".
Whether Gera was telling the truth when he named Polgar as commander is likely to be critical to the Hungarian investigation, says Kramer, author of the book From Emancipation to Catastrophe: the Rise and Holocaust of Hungarian Jewry.
"There is no question at all in my mind that whoever was in command of the House of Loyalty was in fact a major war criminal," Kramer says. "Polgar is probably attempting to airbrush himself out of history, painting himself as an innocent bystander who was just shifting paper backwards and forwards, whereas the commander would be the one issuing the instructions."
...Polgar says he supported Szalasi's grand plan to deport Jews from Hungary, ultimately to their own separate state. "Szalasi wanted most of the Jews out from Hungary. It was a plan. But that should happen in the most human way," he says. "He told us later on, what about Madagascar, that is empty. That could take 20 million Jews."
"He said 'I am a Zionist. If the purpose of Zionism is finding a home for the Jews, a country for the Jews, I'll do everything in my power to help the Jews get a new home'."
Polgar insists Arrow Cross was not anti-semitic and he is proud of his wartime service. Yet in 1945, in the war's aftermath, as Nazis and Arrow Cross leaders were sent to trial and hanged one by one, Polgar's outspoken defence of his fellow partymen stopped.
In French-occupied Germany he obtained Swiss papers that gave him a new identity, that of Josef Cardof. He says he had no idea who the real Josef Cardof was. In Germany, as in Australia, where he emigrated in 1949, he never spoke of his wartime history.
But in 1957, in central Victoria, after eight years of working as a home help on the estate of Robert Sandford-Beggs -- Malcolm Fraser's future father-in-law -- Polgar's strong sense of pride drove him to revert to his real name. When he applied for Australian citizenship in 1957, Sandford-Beggs acted as his chief referee on a citizenship application. The Immigration Department approved Polgar's naturalisation after ASIO cleared him of any suspicion.
Fifty years on, Hungarian prosecutors are less willing to turn a blind eye. Polgar will find few to support his view of Szalasi, least of all among Hungarian authorities. But primary witness accounts of what really happened at the House of Loyalty will be difficult to obtain.
"Very soon after the collapse of the Szalasi government Budapest descended into chaos and total anarchy," says Kramer. "You had gangs of youths just roaming the streets with guns and grenades acting as judge, jury and executioner. A lot of this, a lot of our knowledge, has slipped into the realm of the unconscious. So people make all sorts of claims for themselves knowing the documentation was either destroyed in the siege of Budapest, or shipped to Moscow. It's probably still there unopened and uncatalogued.
A Melbourne man is at the centre of a war crimes investigation into a dark chapter in Hungary's history, Natasha Robinson writes
AT the centre of Hungary's wartime history lies a gaping hole. Documentary evidence of the reign of terror by the notorious fascist Arrow Cross regime during World War II is missing and there are few surviving witnesses.
One building that should be a source of historical records is the Arrow Cross party headquarters at 60 Andrassy St, Budapest -- known as the House of Loyalty.
To Melbourne pensioner Lajos Polgar, it was the House of Fidelity. Now a war crimes investigation by Hungarian authorities into Polgar may fill some of history's gaps. And if the investigation results in an extradition request for Polgar, he will become the second Australian pensioner this year to face prosecution for alleged war crimes. Perth pensioner Charles Zentai is facing extradition to Hungary accused of bashing 18-year-old Peter Balazs to death in a Budapest army barracks.
What is known of the House of Loyalty is that Jews were tortured and possibly killed in the building's basement. "It was a notorious building. It was the headquarters of the Arrow Cross," says Hungarian Holocaust historian Tom Kramer. "They used it basically as a torture chamber, as a means of intimidating potential opponents."
Polgar insists he's innocent of any war crimes and that he held the lesser role of secretary at the House of Loyalty to hanged party henchman Jozsef Gera. Polgar laughs when told the Hungarian authorities suspect him of genocide. "I am absolutely innocent. I never made any crime at all," he says.
Polgar hid his wartime history when he emigrated to Australia in 1949 and subsequently befriended the family of former prime minister Malcolm Fraser. He lived a quiet life until four months ago when Labor MP Michael Danby raised questions about his wartime history in federal parliament.
Court papers obtained by The Australian reveal Polgar was a key figure in the brutal Arrow Cross regime. Gera claimed he personally appointed Polgar as "commander of the House of Loyalty".
Whether Gera was telling the truth when he named Polgar as commander is likely to be critical to the Hungarian investigation, says Kramer, author of the book From Emancipation to Catastrophe: the Rise and Holocaust of Hungarian Jewry.
"There is no question at all in my mind that whoever was in command of the House of Loyalty was in fact a major war criminal," Kramer says. "Polgar is probably attempting to airbrush himself out of history, painting himself as an innocent bystander who was just shifting paper backwards and forwards, whereas the commander would be the one issuing the instructions."
...Polgar says he supported Szalasi's grand plan to deport Jews from Hungary, ultimately to their own separate state. "Szalasi wanted most of the Jews out from Hungary. It was a plan. But that should happen in the most human way," he says. "He told us later on, what about Madagascar, that is empty. That could take 20 million Jews."
"He said 'I am a Zionist. If the purpose of Zionism is finding a home for the Jews, a country for the Jews, I'll do everything in my power to help the Jews get a new home'."
Polgar insists Arrow Cross was not anti-semitic and he is proud of his wartime service. Yet in 1945, in the war's aftermath, as Nazis and Arrow Cross leaders were sent to trial and hanged one by one, Polgar's outspoken defence of his fellow partymen stopped.
In French-occupied Germany he obtained Swiss papers that gave him a new identity, that of Josef Cardof. He says he had no idea who the real Josef Cardof was. In Germany, as in Australia, where he emigrated in 1949, he never spoke of his wartime history.
But in 1957, in central Victoria, after eight years of working as a home help on the estate of Robert Sandford-Beggs -- Malcolm Fraser's future father-in-law -- Polgar's strong sense of pride drove him to revert to his real name. When he applied for Australian citizenship in 1957, Sandford-Beggs acted as his chief referee on a citizenship application. The Immigration Department approved Polgar's naturalisation after ASIO cleared him of any suspicion.
Fifty years on, Hungarian prosecutors are less willing to turn a blind eye. Polgar will find few to support his view of Szalasi, least of all among Hungarian authorities. But primary witness accounts of what really happened at the House of Loyalty will be difficult to obtain.
"Very soon after the collapse of the Szalasi government Budapest descended into chaos and total anarchy," says Kramer. "You had gangs of youths just roaming the streets with guns and grenades acting as judge, jury and executioner. A lot of this, a lot of our knowledge, has slipped into the realm of the unconscious. So people make all sorts of claims for themselves knowing the documentation was either destroyed in the siege of Budapest, or shipped to Moscow. It's probably still there unopened and uncatalogued.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Parliamentary Speech on Terrorism Bill
Click here to download an exerpt (80.0 KB pdf) from Hansard with a transcription of a speech on the anti-terrorism legislation by Michael Danby, Tuesday November 29, 2005.
Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin's Role as Leading Instigator of the Shoah
From "Emperor's Clothes " ...
Mufti meets Hitler
There is overwhelming documentation of the role of Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, as a leading instigator of Nazi mass murders.
For example...letters written by Hajj Amin al-Husseini, prov(e)... his complicity in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews. The text of one such letter is posted below.
[Letter from Mufti starts here]
RomeJune 28, 1943
His ExcellencyThe Minister of Foreign Affairs for HungaryYour Excellency:
You no doubt know of the struggle between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine, what it has been and what it is, a long and bloody fight, brought about by the desire of the Jews to create a national home, a Jewish State in the Near East... In fact, behind it lies the hope which the Jews have never relinquished, namely, the domination of the whole world through this Important, strategic center, Palestine.
...Lately I have been informed of the uninterrupted efforts made by the English and the Jews to obtain permission for the Jews living in your country to leave for Palestine via Bulgaria and Turkey. ...To authorize these Jews to leave your country under the above circumstances and in this way, would by no means solve the Jewish problem and would certainly not protect your country against their evil influence - far from it! - for this escape would make it possible for them to communicate and combine freely with their racial brethren in enemy countries in order to strengthen their position and to exert a more dangerous influence on the outcome of the war, especially since, as a consequence of their long stay in your country they are necessarily in a position to know many of your secrets and also about your war effort. All this comes on top of the terrible damage done to the friendly Arab nation which has taken its place at your side in this war and which cherishes for your country the most sincere feelings and the very best wishes.
This is the reason why I ask your Excellency to permit me to draw your attention to the necessity of preventing the Jews from leaving your country for Palestine and if there are reasons which make their removal necessary, it would be indispensable and infinitely preferable to send them to other countries where they would find themselves under active control, for example, in Poland, in order thereby to protect oneself from their menace and avoid the consequent damages
Yours, etc.
[Letter from Mufti ends here]
As demonstrated by the Mufti's appeal to the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, posted above, Hajj Amin was a fanatical enough Nazi - and a powerful enough Nazi - to instigate the murder of 400,000 Jews with a letter, according to The Nation Associates.
One letter written. 400,000 human beings dead. ...
...So this father of the Palestinian movement was not merely a Nazi collaborator; he was not merely a full-fledged Nazi; he was one of the arch criminals of the Holocaust. And today he is venerated by every Palestinian faction.
...The following is testimony from the trial of Holocaust chief Adolph Eichmann concerning his relationship with the Mufti, Hajj Amin al-Husseini.
Dieter Wisliceny was Adolph Eichmann's representative in Bratislava:
[Testimony from Eichmann trial begins here]
State Attorney Bach: This is our document No. 281. Mr. Steiner first tells us that Wisliceny described his talks with Eichmann, why Palestine cannot be considered as the destination for [Jewish] emigration: "When I asked him why, he laughed and asked whether I had never heard of the Grand Mufti Husseini. He explained that the Mufti has very close contact and cooperation with Eichmann, and therefore Germany cannot agree to Palestine being the final destination, as this would be a blow to Germany's prestige in the Mufti's eyes."
Then he goes on: "At this further conversation Wisliceny gave me more details about the cooperation between Eichmann and the Mufti. The Mufti is a sworn enemy of the Jews and has always fought for the idea of annihilating the Jews. He sticks to this idea always, also in his talks with Eichmann....who, as you know, is a German who was born in Palestine. The Mufti is one of the originators of the systematic destruction of European Jewry by the Germans, and he has become a permanent colleague, partner and adviser to Eichmann and Himmler in the implementation of this programme." ...
[Testimony from Eichmann trial ends here]
Jared Israel, Editor, Emperor's Clothes
Mufti meets Hitler
There is overwhelming documentation of the role of Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, as a leading instigator of Nazi mass murders.
For example...letters written by Hajj Amin al-Husseini, prov(e)... his complicity in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews. The text of one such letter is posted below.
[Letter from Mufti starts here]
RomeJune 28, 1943
His ExcellencyThe Minister of Foreign Affairs for HungaryYour Excellency:
You no doubt know of the struggle between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine, what it has been and what it is, a long and bloody fight, brought about by the desire of the Jews to create a national home, a Jewish State in the Near East... In fact, behind it lies the hope which the Jews have never relinquished, namely, the domination of the whole world through this Important, strategic center, Palestine.
...Lately I have been informed of the uninterrupted efforts made by the English and the Jews to obtain permission for the Jews living in your country to leave for Palestine via Bulgaria and Turkey. ...To authorize these Jews to leave your country under the above circumstances and in this way, would by no means solve the Jewish problem and would certainly not protect your country against their evil influence - far from it! - for this escape would make it possible for them to communicate and combine freely with their racial brethren in enemy countries in order to strengthen their position and to exert a more dangerous influence on the outcome of the war, especially since, as a consequence of their long stay in your country they are necessarily in a position to know many of your secrets and also about your war effort. All this comes on top of the terrible damage done to the friendly Arab nation which has taken its place at your side in this war and which cherishes for your country the most sincere feelings and the very best wishes.
This is the reason why I ask your Excellency to permit me to draw your attention to the necessity of preventing the Jews from leaving your country for Palestine and if there are reasons which make their removal necessary, it would be indispensable and infinitely preferable to send them to other countries where they would find themselves under active control, for example, in Poland, in order thereby to protect oneself from their menace and avoid the consequent damages
Yours, etc.
[Letter from Mufti ends here]
As demonstrated by the Mufti's appeal to the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, posted above, Hajj Amin was a fanatical enough Nazi - and a powerful enough Nazi - to instigate the murder of 400,000 Jews with a letter, according to The Nation Associates.
One letter written. 400,000 human beings dead. ...
...So this father of the Palestinian movement was not merely a Nazi collaborator; he was not merely a full-fledged Nazi; he was one of the arch criminals of the Holocaust. And today he is venerated by every Palestinian faction.
...The following is testimony from the trial of Holocaust chief Adolph Eichmann concerning his relationship with the Mufti, Hajj Amin al-Husseini.
Dieter Wisliceny was Adolph Eichmann's representative in Bratislava:
[Testimony from Eichmann trial begins here]
State Attorney Bach: This is our document No. 281. Mr. Steiner first tells us that Wisliceny described his talks with Eichmann, why Palestine cannot be considered as the destination for [Jewish] emigration: "When I asked him why, he laughed and asked whether I had never heard of the Grand Mufti Husseini. He explained that the Mufti has very close contact and cooperation with Eichmann, and therefore Germany cannot agree to Palestine being the final destination, as this would be a blow to Germany's prestige in the Mufti's eyes."
Then he goes on: "At this further conversation Wisliceny gave me more details about the cooperation between Eichmann and the Mufti. The Mufti is a sworn enemy of the Jews and has always fought for the idea of annihilating the Jews. He sticks to this idea always, also in his talks with Eichmann....who, as you know, is a German who was born in Palestine. The Mufti is one of the originators of the systematic destruction of European Jewry by the Germans, and he has become a permanent colleague, partner and adviser to Eichmann and Himmler in the implementation of this programme." ...
[Testimony from Eichmann trial ends here]
Jared Israel, Editor, Emperor's Clothes
Genocide Then And Now
From GAMLA: News & Views from Israel ::: Remembering For The Future - Genocide Then And Now: by Louis Rene Beres, November 20, 2005 ...
It is essential today... that the Begin Doctrine be reinvigorated and declared. Now, just as during the Second World War, Jews face the threat of mass murder because of atomic weapons. ...In certain respects at least, the nuclear danger to Jews is even greater today than during World War II... with the concentration of more than five million Jews within a state that is half the size of Lake Michigan, genocide has now become a much simpler operational task. In an unspeakable irony the Zionist solution to what Herzl called the 'Jewish Problem' could soon make much easier what Hitler called the 'Final Solution to the Jewish Question.'
...Faced with the newest form of organized Jewish extinction, Israel`s leaders must soon remind the world that the "Begin Doctrine" is still entirely consistent with the established right of anticipatory self- defense under international law. Following such an appropriate jurisprudential reminder, it must make prompt tactical preparations to prevent a looming Jewish genocide by implementing a number of established military means, including comprehensive plans for the preemptive destruction of various enemy WMD targets and infrastructures.
Other coordinated and corollary Israeli efforts must be directed at particular regime targets, ranging from pertinent national leadership elites to those individual scientists in different parts of the globe who now fashion or prepare to fashion biological and nuclear weapons for exclusively genocidal purposes. This proposed killing of enemy scientists making mega-weapons for dangerous regimes is assuredly not unprecedented practice by Israeli or American operatives, nor is it by any means a prima facie violation of international law. Similar Israeli/American tactics of "targeted killings" must remain in place against certain terrorist leaders, and should quickly be extended and expanded to any such leaders with documented plans to create nuclear or certain biological weapons of mass destruction.
During World War II, a number of Arab leaders went directly to Berlin to meet with Hitler. There, they enthusiastically offered their own armed forces to extend the European annihilation of Jews to portions of the Islamic Middle East. At that time the Allies did everything possible to prevent the wartime nuclearization of Germany and, very successfully, at least for that moment, to create an atomic monopoly for the United States.
Today, aware that it cannot possibly permit a single Arab state or movement, or Iran, to ever acquire authentic weapons of mass destruction, Israel must prepare to do whatever is needed to prevent another Jewish genocide. This is now a genuinely sacred obligation, not only to Israel`s currently imperiled population, but also to the memory of those murdered Six Million who now sleep in the dust. Today, as before, justice and the prevention of new crimes are two sides of the same coin.
It is essential today... that the Begin Doctrine be reinvigorated and declared. Now, just as during the Second World War, Jews face the threat of mass murder because of atomic weapons. ...In certain respects at least, the nuclear danger to Jews is even greater today than during World War II... with the concentration of more than five million Jews within a state that is half the size of Lake Michigan, genocide has now become a much simpler operational task. In an unspeakable irony the Zionist solution to what Herzl called the 'Jewish Problem' could soon make much easier what Hitler called the 'Final Solution to the Jewish Question.'
...Faced with the newest form of organized Jewish extinction, Israel`s leaders must soon remind the world that the "Begin Doctrine" is still entirely consistent with the established right of anticipatory self- defense under international law. Following such an appropriate jurisprudential reminder, it must make prompt tactical preparations to prevent a looming Jewish genocide by implementing a number of established military means, including comprehensive plans for the preemptive destruction of various enemy WMD targets and infrastructures.
Other coordinated and corollary Israeli efforts must be directed at particular regime targets, ranging from pertinent national leadership elites to those individual scientists in different parts of the globe who now fashion or prepare to fashion biological and nuclear weapons for exclusively genocidal purposes. This proposed killing of enemy scientists making mega-weapons for dangerous regimes is assuredly not unprecedented practice by Israeli or American operatives, nor is it by any means a prima facie violation of international law. Similar Israeli/American tactics of "targeted killings" must remain in place against certain terrorist leaders, and should quickly be extended and expanded to any such leaders with documented plans to create nuclear or certain biological weapons of mass destruction.
During World War II, a number of Arab leaders went directly to Berlin to meet with Hitler. There, they enthusiastically offered their own armed forces to extend the European annihilation of Jews to portions of the Islamic Middle East. At that time the Allies did everything possible to prevent the wartime nuclearization of Germany and, very successfully, at least for that moment, to create an atomic monopoly for the United States.
Today, aware that it cannot possibly permit a single Arab state or movement, or Iran, to ever acquire authentic weapons of mass destruction, Israel must prepare to do whatever is needed to prevent another Jewish genocide. This is now a genuinely sacred obligation, not only to Israel`s currently imperiled population, but also to the memory of those murdered Six Million who now sleep in the dust. Today, as before, justice and the prevention of new crimes are two sides of the same coin.
Four Months before Iran Goes Nuclear
from a DEBKAfile Exclusive Report, December 3, 2005, 11:02 PM (GMT+02:00)...
Iran’s hard-line Guardian Council, the real power in the land, Saturday, Dec. 3, ratified a parliamentary decision to block UN inspections should the Islamic republic’s nuclear activities be referred to the UN Security Council for sanctions. . . .
Iran’s radical leaders, supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his senior nuclear adviser Hashemi Rafsanjani, were therefore not dismayed by Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s declaration Thursday, Dec. 1, that Israel would not be able to accept a nuclear-armed Iran. . . .The statement made a ringing slogan for Sharon’s new Kadima party’s campaign for the March 2006 general election. Otherwise it was meaningless.
A more serious statement came from AMAN commander Brig. Aharon Zeevi Wednesday Nov. 30 in his briefing to the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee. He warned that if international pressure on Iran fails to bring forth results by March 2006, the world powers might as well give up, because by then it will be too late: Iran will have attained the capability to manufacture a nuclear bomb. The general was saying in so many words that, according to his information, Iran is no more than four months away from a nuclear weapons option.
. . .. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources reveal that . . .data on Iran’s nuclear industry found in (a laptop) computer included a set of instructions in Chinese on how to build miniature nuclear warheads that can be fitted onto surface missiles. Furthermore, while Iran’s Shehab-3 ballistic missile is widely treated as its worst threat, not enough attention is focused on the new ground-to-ground Ghadar on which Iran is about to begin production. Its range is estimated at 2,500-3,000 km compared with the Shehab-3’s 1,800km, which is why the Israeli prime minister remarked that Iran was not only threatening Israel.
The Arrow anti-missile system Israeli developed with US assistance was successfully tested against a mock Shehab-3 Friday, Dec. 1. But DEBKAfile’s military experts say it is not up to tackling the Ghadar. According to American intelligence experts, the Chinese miniature missile technology may well be tailored to this new missile.
This Iranian short cut to a nuclear warhead was probably what Gen. Zeevi had in mind when he said Iran was only four months away from its goal.
More disquieting information was brought to Washington in recent days by a member of the Iranian opposition group, Mujaheddin Khalq, whose information on Iran’s nuclear progress obtained by clandestine means has consistently checked out since its reporting began in August 2003. Last week, Alireza Jafarzadeh, a member, disclosed that Tehran had buried its most sensitive nuclear installations in deep subterranean tunnels fortified against aerial or missile attack. They were now dug deep in an area called Khak-e-Fefid (The White Earth), south of the expressway heading north from Tehran to the Alborz mountains near Damavand.
When Sharon said Israel is not in the lead of the campaign against Iran’s nuclear armament, he omitted to explain that Israel is not able on its own to destroy the deep bunkers which have been sunk at dozens of sites across Iran. Its air force may be able to direct a hit to the heart of Iran’s nuclear program but cannot destroy the entire industry.
In any case, diplomacy remains to the fore for handling the Iranian nuclear crisis.
On Dec. 1, the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalizad, offered to launch high-level talks with Tehran on the situation in Iraq. It was his second offer after Iran refused his first. This was taken as an American feeler to find out if a direct US-Iranian channel might be opened – and not necessarily on Iraq alone.
With so much tentative diplomacy swirling around Iran’s nuclear plans, none is actually connecting to the destination which counts, the ayatollahs’ regime in Tehran. Their nuclear plans therefore continue apace and unchecked.
Iran’s hard-line Guardian Council, the real power in the land, Saturday, Dec. 3, ratified a parliamentary decision to block UN inspections should the Islamic republic’s nuclear activities be referred to the UN Security Council for sanctions. . . .
Iran’s radical leaders, supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his senior nuclear adviser Hashemi Rafsanjani, were therefore not dismayed by Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s declaration Thursday, Dec. 1, that Israel would not be able to accept a nuclear-armed Iran. . . .The statement made a ringing slogan for Sharon’s new Kadima party’s campaign for the March 2006 general election. Otherwise it was meaningless.
A more serious statement came from AMAN commander Brig. Aharon Zeevi Wednesday Nov. 30 in his briefing to the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee. He warned that if international pressure on Iran fails to bring forth results by March 2006, the world powers might as well give up, because by then it will be too late: Iran will have attained the capability to manufacture a nuclear bomb. The general was saying in so many words that, according to his information, Iran is no more than four months away from a nuclear weapons option.
. . .. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources reveal that . . .data on Iran’s nuclear industry found in (a laptop) computer included a set of instructions in Chinese on how to build miniature nuclear warheads that can be fitted onto surface missiles. Furthermore, while Iran’s Shehab-3 ballistic missile is widely treated as its worst threat, not enough attention is focused on the new ground-to-ground Ghadar on which Iran is about to begin production. Its range is estimated at 2,500-3,000 km compared with the Shehab-3’s 1,800km, which is why the Israeli prime minister remarked that Iran was not only threatening Israel.
The Arrow anti-missile system Israeli developed with US assistance was successfully tested against a mock Shehab-3 Friday, Dec. 1. But DEBKAfile’s military experts say it is not up to tackling the Ghadar. According to American intelligence experts, the Chinese miniature missile technology may well be tailored to this new missile.
This Iranian short cut to a nuclear warhead was probably what Gen. Zeevi had in mind when he said Iran was only four months away from its goal.
More disquieting information was brought to Washington in recent days by a member of the Iranian opposition group, Mujaheddin Khalq, whose information on Iran’s nuclear progress obtained by clandestine means has consistently checked out since its reporting began in August 2003. Last week, Alireza Jafarzadeh, a member, disclosed that Tehran had buried its most sensitive nuclear installations in deep subterranean tunnels fortified against aerial or missile attack. They were now dug deep in an area called Khak-e-Fefid (The White Earth), south of the expressway heading north from Tehran to the Alborz mountains near Damavand.
When Sharon said Israel is not in the lead of the campaign against Iran’s nuclear armament, he omitted to explain that Israel is not able on its own to destroy the deep bunkers which have been sunk at dozens of sites across Iran. Its air force may be able to direct a hit to the heart of Iran’s nuclear program but cannot destroy the entire industry.
In any case, diplomacy remains to the fore for handling the Iranian nuclear crisis.
On Dec. 1, the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalizad, offered to launch high-level talks with Tehran on the situation in Iraq. It was his second offer after Iran refused his first. This was taken as an American feeler to find out if a direct US-Iranian channel might be opened – and not necessarily on Iraq alone.
With so much tentative diplomacy swirling around Iran’s nuclear plans, none is actually connecting to the destination which counts, the ayatollahs’ regime in Tehran. Their nuclear plans therefore continue apace and unchecked.
Iran from Going Nuclear?
From Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Institute for Contemporary Affairs, founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation, JERUSALEM ISSUE BRIEF, Vol. 5, No. 11 1 December 2005 . . . .
Can Diplomacy Still Prevent Iran from Going Nuclear?
Gerald M. Steinberg
Can Diplomacy Still Prevent Iran from Going Nuclear?
Gerald M. Steinberg
- The decision of the International Atomic Energy Agency on September 24, 2005, to declare Iran in non-compliance with respect to its obligations as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a major diplomatic development, opening the door to consideration of Iran's nuclear weapons program by the UN Security Council.
- The proposal was supported by India, which had been seen by Iran as a key supporter. In addition, two other traditional allies - Russia and China - suddenly stopped their support. Security officials from both countries had quietly stated their concerns regarding the threat that Iranian nuclear weapons would pose in the wider context of Islamic radicalism.
- The diplomatic option is serious in large part because, unlike North Korea, or Iraq under Saddam, or even Libya, Iran seeks to be part of the international community and not a rogue state or a member of the 'axis of evil.' Iran is very active in international institutions and arms control frameworks.
- The Iranian leadership has taken some measures and engaged in negotiations that only make sense when seen as efforts to avoid sanctions. It is also dependent to a degree on foreign technology for its nuclear weapons and missile development programs.
- Iranian progress toward the development of nuclear weapons will likely trigger regional proliferation involving Egypt, Syria, Libya (again), Algeria, and Saudi Arabia. These countries have maintained biological, chemical, and lower-level nuclear weapons programs, which have become more active lately as Iran has accelerated its efforts.
For the full article follow this link
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)