From The Jerusalem Post, 28/01/2010, by JONATHAN SPYER, senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Center, IDC, Herzliya:
Any future strike at Hizbullah that does not take into account its status as a client of Syria, is unlikely to land a decisive blow.
In the last week, senior Israeli policymakers made statements of an uncharacteristically bellicose nature regarding Syria. ... probably ...part of a message of deterrence to Damascus.
The need to project deterrence itself derives from a series of significant changes currently under way on the ground in Lebanon - reflecting Syria's ever tighter alignment with Hizbullah and the pro-Iranian regional bloc of which it is a part.
These changes take place against the backdrop of awareness that the tactics likely to be adopted by Israel in a future war with Hizbullah carry with them the very real possibility that Syria could, on one level or another, be drawn in.
On Saturday night, Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled said that another conflict on the northern border was a "matter of time." Peled noted that in the event of such a conflict breaking out, Israel would hold "Syria and Lebanon alike responsible."
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, meeting with Michael Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon earlier this week, expressed his concern that Hizbullah fighters have been training on surface-to-surface missile systems in Syria.
Then, on Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak noted in a speech that if Israel was forced to fight Syria, "we won't fear and we'll defeat them." Why the sudden ministerial loquaciousness?
It may with some justification be asserted that to assume any coordination behind the statements of Israeli ministers is to betray a touching naivete. All the same, the near-simultaneous ministerial recollection of the Syrian threat should be considered in conjunction with the following facts:
Hizbullah has in the last weeks deployed advanced Syrian-made surface-to-surface M-600 missiles on the territory of Lebanon. The missiles, which according to Jane's Defence Weekly are copies of the Iranian Fateh-110 system, have a range of 250 kilometers and carry a 500-kg warhead.
They bring the entirety of central Israel within Hizbullah's range. The missiles are precision-guided, meaning that in the event of renewed conflict, Hizbullah would be able to use them to target military facilities or heavily populated areas.
According to Jane's, the deployment of the M-600s adds to concerns already expressed by Israel at Syrian supplying of the (relatively unsophisticated) SA-2 air defense system and the SS-N-26 surface-to-sea missile to Hizbullah.
Syria's undaunted and increased support for Hizbullah appears to reflect a clear strategic turn taken by Damascus. Lebanese analyst Tony Badran this week drew attention to a recent and relevant report in the Qatari daily al-Watan which quoted Syrian sources who claimed that "a strategic decision has been taken not to allow Israel to defeat the resistance movements."
Such statements, if genuine, indicate that the Syrian regime is aware of the potential price to be paid for its current orientation, but feels that the risk is worth taking.
The Syrians have not, according to available evidence, yet passed the point of no return - which, as Badran notes, would be the provision of sophisticated anti-aircraft systems to Hizbullah. The SA-2, if deployed, could constitute a danger to IAF helicopters, but not aircraft.
Israel has made clear that the deployment of systems capable of threatening Israeli aircraft by Hizbullah would constitute a casus belli.
But beyond the specific issue of weapons systems, the logic of confrontation in Lebanon suggests that Syria may find it hard to avoid direct engagement in a future Israel-Hizbullah clash.
Since 2006, Lebanon's eastern border with Syria has formed the key conduit for weapons supplies to Hizbullah. And Hizbullah is reported to have relocated its main military infrastructure north of the Litani River, in the Bekaa Valley, in areas close to the Syrian border.
Which suggests that if Israel wants in a future conflict to strike a real blow against Hizbullah, this implies an Israeli ground incursion into the Bekaa.
Should such an incursion take place, the Syrians would be intimately involved in supplying Hizbullah just across the border, and the possibility of Syrian casualties at Israeli hands would become very real.
It is again worth remembering that on August 4, 2006, 34 Syrians were killed when the IAF bombed a packing house on the Syrian side of the border thought to contain weapons for Hizbullah. The Syrians did not respond at that time.
But an Israeli incursion into the Bekaa would logically raise the question of either the Syrians ceasing their real-time supplying of Hizbullah (very unlikely), or Israel acting to prevent this.
Of course, the point of deterrence is to deter. The ominous statements from Israeli officials are not meant to signal an imminent war. Rather, they are intended to convey to the Syrians that they should not think their alliance with Hizbullah is cost free, and that they would be advised to adhere to red lines.
The developing logic of the situation in Lebanon is nevertheless widening the circle of future conflict.
The bottom line is that any future strike at Hizbullah that does not take into account its status as a client of Iran and Syria, is unlikely to be able to land the kind of decisive blow to the organization which alone would justify such a strike.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Iran may lash out at Israel
From The Associated Press, Friday, January 29, 2010:
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's national security adviser is citing a heightened risk that Iran will respond to growing pressure over its nuclear program by stoking violence against Israel.
The adviser, retired Marine Gen. James Jones, said history shows that when regimes are feeling pressure they can lash out through surrogates.
He said that in Iran's case that would mean facilitating attacks on Israel through Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Iran helps arm Hezbollah and Hamas....
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's national security adviser is citing a heightened risk that Iran will respond to growing pressure over its nuclear program by stoking violence against Israel.
The adviser, retired Marine Gen. James Jones, said history shows that when regimes are feeling pressure they can lash out through surrogates.
He said that in Iran's case that would mean facilitating attacks on Israel through Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Iran helps arm Hezbollah and Hamas....
U.S. Senate Unanimously Sanctions Iran
From a Press Release by The Israel Project, Jan. 29, 2010:
Two days after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pledged to bring sweeping sanctions legislation to the Senate floor, the Senate gave unanimous approval to the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2009 (S. 2799), which enables state divestment efforts and target U.S. companies that provide refined petroleum to Iran. Iran’s inability to refine petroleum is a key liability for the Islamic Republic.
..."… Passing this legislation is critical to send Iran the message that the United States is serious about keeping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability," Reid said in a statement. “This bill would impose new sanctions on Iran’s refined petroleum sector and tighten existing US sanctions in an effort to create new pressure on the Iranian regime and help stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
Said Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, “The Iranian regime has shown no interest in limiting its nuclear ambitions. And an entire year was lost as Iran moved closer and closer to its goal."
The petroleum provisions are based on another Senate bill, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (S. 908). The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed its version of the bill last month.[7] In order to take effect, the two bills need to be combined, approved by both the Senate and the House and signed by President Obama.
The passage of the Senate bill came the same week Iran’s supreme leader made his most explicit threat against Israel in years, implying that other Muslim countries should band together to destroy Israel. A day later, in President Obama’s State of the Union address Wednesday (Jan. 27), the President threatened stricter sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its continued defiance of nuclear negotiations.
... China, a major Iranian trading partner, has continued to stymie the administration’s efforts to secure a fifth round of sanctions in the UN Security Council....
Two days after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pledged to bring sweeping sanctions legislation to the Senate floor, the Senate gave unanimous approval to the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2009 (S. 2799), which enables state divestment efforts and target U.S. companies that provide refined petroleum to Iran. Iran’s inability to refine petroleum is a key liability for the Islamic Republic.
..."… Passing this legislation is critical to send Iran the message that the United States is serious about keeping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability," Reid said in a statement. “This bill would impose new sanctions on Iran’s refined petroleum sector and tighten existing US sanctions in an effort to create new pressure on the Iranian regime and help stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
Said Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, “The Iranian regime has shown no interest in limiting its nuclear ambitions. And an entire year was lost as Iran moved closer and closer to its goal."
The petroleum provisions are based on another Senate bill, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (S. 908). The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed its version of the bill last month.[7] In order to take effect, the two bills need to be combined, approved by both the Senate and the House and signed by President Obama.
The passage of the Senate bill came the same week Iran’s supreme leader made his most explicit threat against Israel in years, implying that other Muslim countries should band together to destroy Israel. A day later, in President Obama’s State of the Union address Wednesday (Jan. 27), the President threatened stricter sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its continued defiance of nuclear negotiations.
... China, a major Iranian trading partner, has continued to stymie the administration’s efforts to secure a fifth round of sanctions in the UN Security Council....
Friday, January 29, 2010
Iran's supreme leader looks forward to Israel's destruction
From Israel Today, Thursday, January 28, 2010:
...During a meeting [on Tuesday 26 January 2010] with the visiting Mauritanian president, [Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei said: "Definitely, the day will come when nations of the region will witness the destruction of the Zionist regime. How soon or late that will happen depends on how Islamic countries and Muslim nations approach the issue."
...In recent years, Khamenei has referred to Israel as a "cancerous tumor" that must be removed from the Middle East.
Khamenei's views on Israel are identical to those of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. With Iran's spiritual and civilian leadership so opposed to the existence of the Jewish state, Israel has no choice but to view the Islamic Republic's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons as an existential threat.
...During a meeting [on Tuesday 26 January 2010] with the visiting Mauritanian president, [Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei said: "Definitely, the day will come when nations of the region will witness the destruction of the Zionist regime. How soon or late that will happen depends on how Islamic countries and Muslim nations approach the issue."
...In recent years, Khamenei has referred to Israel as a "cancerous tumor" that must be removed from the Middle East.
Khamenei's views on Israel are identical to those of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. With Iran's spiritual and civilian leadership so opposed to the existence of the Jewish state, Israel has no choice but to view the Islamic Republic's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons as an existential threat.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
No nation on earth has a stronger claim to its land than the Jewish people has to Israel.
Jewish nationhood in Israel preceded the emergence of most modern nations by thousands of years. The Jewish people had sovereignty there for 1500 years until 2,000 years ago, when the Roman conquerors renamed it “Provincia Palaistina” in an attempt to obliterate its Jewish character.
Since then, until last century, most Jews lived outside Israel; however Jews worldwide have always dreamt of restoring the Jewish homeland, and there was always a Jewish presence there, especially in the study centres of Tiberius, Tsfat, Hebron and of course beloved Jerusalem. Israel has permeated Jewish prayers, literature, music and art for thousands of years.
Note that modern Israel today is inhabited by the same people, practising the same religion, with the same culture and language, that it had over 3,000 years ago.
Modern Zionism, the movement for Jewish self-determination and restoration of the national homeland, gained momentum in the late 1800s. My wife’s great-grandparents were part of that wave of returning Jews. They called themselves "Palestinians" using the Roman name for the region. No Arab inhabitants claimed then to be “Palestinians”.
In 1922, the League of Nations, referring to western Palestine (between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea), unanimously declared: “… recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.” At the same time, the League similarly established Jordan (from the eastern 80% of Palestine), Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. All these nations were created from Turkish land captured by Britain and France in World War 1. (Who questions their national legitimacy?)
At that time there were two quite different reactions from the Arabs of the region.
On the one hand leaders like Hussein, Sharif of Mecca, who was the King of Syria and later King of Iraq, called on the Arab population to welcome the Jews as brothers. His son, the Emir Faisal, signed a treaty with the Zionist movement acknowledging western Palestine as a Jewish state. He wrote: "We Arabs … look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. ...we will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home…"
Today over 1.5 million Arabs following that benign advice reside peacefully in Israel. They have full citizenship, representatives in the parliament, and judges on the high court. They enjoy a better life than most Arabs in Arab nations.
On the other hand the British-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem opposed Jewish restoration, engineered bloody anti-Jewish riots in 1921, 1929 and 1936, and suicide bombing of Arabs who refused to support his violent rejectionist campaign.
In World War 2 the Mufti collaborated with Hitler. If the ANZACs hadn’t held the Nazi forces off in North Africa, Palestinian Jews would have become victims of the Nazi genocide at the hands of the Mufti. After the war, he spent the rest of his life fomenting anti-Jewish violence. In 1948 he declared a Holy War: “…My Muslim Brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!"
His relative Yasir Arafat continued that war, as do many in the Arab world today, keeping their impoverished brethren as eternal refugees for cannon fodder. They aren’t concerned with borders or what “kind of co-existence” is on offer. Fatah leader Sakher Habash explained the real agenda in 1998: “…the refugee issue is the winning card which means the end of the Israeli state…”
Surely it’s time for Arab leaders, and their misguided western supporters, to abandon violent rejection, and instead follow enlightened leadership to peaceful co-existence.
Since then, until last century, most Jews lived outside Israel; however Jews worldwide have always dreamt of restoring the Jewish homeland, and there was always a Jewish presence there, especially in the study centres of Tiberius, Tsfat, Hebron and of course beloved Jerusalem. Israel has permeated Jewish prayers, literature, music and art for thousands of years.
Note that modern Israel today is inhabited by the same people, practising the same religion, with the same culture and language, that it had over 3,000 years ago.
Modern Zionism, the movement for Jewish self-determination and restoration of the national homeland, gained momentum in the late 1800s. My wife’s great-grandparents were part of that wave of returning Jews. They called themselves "Palestinians" using the Roman name for the region. No Arab inhabitants claimed then to be “Palestinians”.
In 1922, the League of Nations, referring to western Palestine (between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea), unanimously declared: “… recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.” At the same time, the League similarly established Jordan (from the eastern 80% of Palestine), Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. All these nations were created from Turkish land captured by Britain and France in World War 1. (Who questions their national legitimacy?)
At that time there were two quite different reactions from the Arabs of the region.
On the one hand leaders like Hussein, Sharif of Mecca, who was the King of Syria and later King of Iraq, called on the Arab population to welcome the Jews as brothers. His son, the Emir Faisal, signed a treaty with the Zionist movement acknowledging western Palestine as a Jewish state. He wrote: "We Arabs … look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. ...we will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home…"
Today over 1.5 million Arabs following that benign advice reside peacefully in Israel. They have full citizenship, representatives in the parliament, and judges on the high court. They enjoy a better life than most Arabs in Arab nations.
On the other hand the British-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem opposed Jewish restoration, engineered bloody anti-Jewish riots in 1921, 1929 and 1936, and suicide bombing of Arabs who refused to support his violent rejectionist campaign.
In World War 2 the Mufti collaborated with Hitler. If the ANZACs hadn’t held the Nazi forces off in North Africa, Palestinian Jews would have become victims of the Nazi genocide at the hands of the Mufti. After the war, he spent the rest of his life fomenting anti-Jewish violence. In 1948 he declared a Holy War: “…My Muslim Brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!"
His relative Yasir Arafat continued that war, as do many in the Arab world today, keeping their impoverished brethren as eternal refugees for cannon fodder. They aren’t concerned with borders or what “kind of co-existence” is on offer. Fatah leader Sakher Habash explained the real agenda in 1998: “…the refugee issue is the winning card which means the end of the Israeli state…”
Surely it’s time for Arab leaders, and their misguided western supporters, to abandon violent rejection, and instead follow enlightened leadership to peaceful co-existence.
Which "Illegal Occupation"? - Abandon Rejection – Make Peace
Repetitious references to Israel’s “illegal occupation” of “Palestinian” land, including East Jerusalem, is deceptive and only serves to perpetuate the conflict. In fact Jerusalem and the West Bank have never been under “Palestinian” sovereignty. No international law prevents Israel from controlling those territories gained in a defensive war, pending a negotiated settlement.
For several hundred years leading up to World War I, the region was part of the Ottoman Empire. After World War 1, the League of Nations granted Britain a mandate that empowered her to facilitate the creation of a “Jewish National Home” there.
In 1922 Britain gave the East Bank of the Jordan to her allies, the Hashemite Arabs.
After World War 2, the UN voted to partition the remaining portion of the land (west of the Jordan River) into Arab and Jewish states. While the Jews accepted partition, the Arabs did not, and five Arab countries invaded in an attempt to obliterate the new Jewish state.
In 1979 and 1994 Israel’s borders with Egypt and Jordan respectively were settled in negotiations, specifically stipulating that the status of the territories that came under Israeli control in her defensive war in 1967 is yet to be determined.
Arab failure to destroy Israel by force has led the Arabs to adopt a "people's war" strategy including mobilising misguided agitators around the world. The campaign has sought to delegitimize and demonize Israel by branding her a “racist” and “apartheid” state. However this is just a tactic in an attempt to destroy the state.
The late Faisal Husseini, Palestinian Authority Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, urged the Arabs "to look at the Oslo Agreement and at other agreements as 'temporary procedures, or phased goals,' … we are ambushing the Israelis and cheating them. Our ultimate goal is [still] the liberation of all historical Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, even if this means that the conflict will last for another thousand years ..." The negotiations were a means toward "an extension of continuing conflict and not an opportunity for two peoples to reach a new rapprochement."
As recently as the Fatah Sixth General Congress in August 2009, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared that "although peace is our choice, we reserve the right to resistance..." Tawfiq Tirawi, security advisor to Abbas, rejects any negotiation: "Words are ineffective…" The only way will be through the efforts of "thousands of martyrs." Rafik Natseh and Muhammad Dahlan, senior Palestine Authority officials, have both said that Fatah has never relinquished the armed struggle and declared unequivocally that Fatah "does not recognize Israel's right to exist."
Misguided "human rights" and "social justice" agitators effectively make excuses for Arab intransigence by parroting those Arabs who reject any rights of Jews, Christians and other minorities anywhere in the region. Blaming Israel and trying to force her to give up land will not resolve the bitter conflict.
Such campaigns will not promote peace. Peace will only be achieved by those who accept co-existence.
For several hundred years leading up to World War I, the region was part of the Ottoman Empire. After World War 1, the League of Nations granted Britain a mandate that empowered her to facilitate the creation of a “Jewish National Home” there.
Though Israel survived the onslaught, the Jordanians took control of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, including the Old City. Only Jordan’s allies Britain and Pakistan recognized Jordanian sovereignty there. The Jordanians brutally destroyed Jewish communities that had existed throughout the West Bank and east Jerusalem prior to the Arab invasion, including in the Jewish quarter of the Old City.
So there are no “1967 borders” of Israel. There were only the 1949 armistice lines marking the end of the 1948 war. In fact those armistice lines delineate only 16% of the historic Mandate of Palestine, the West Bank and Gaza is 6%, and Jordan is 78%. The Arabs possess sovereignty in most of Palestine.
So there are no “1967 borders” of Israel. There were only the 1949 armistice lines marking the end of the 1948 war. In fact those armistice lines delineate only 16% of the historic Mandate of Palestine, the West Bank and Gaza is 6%, and Jordan is 78%. The Arabs possess sovereignty in most of Palestine.
In 1979 and 1994 Israel’s borders with Egypt and Jordan respectively were settled in negotiations, specifically stipulating that the status of the territories that came under Israeli control in her defensive war in 1967 is yet to be determined.
Arab failure to destroy Israel by force has led the Arabs to adopt a "people's war" strategy including mobilising misguided agitators around the world. The campaign has sought to delegitimize and demonize Israel by branding her a “racist” and “apartheid” state. However this is just a tactic in an attempt to destroy the state.
The late Faisal Husseini, Palestinian Authority Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, urged the Arabs "to look at the Oslo Agreement and at other agreements as 'temporary procedures, or phased goals,' … we are ambushing the Israelis and cheating them. Our ultimate goal is [still] the liberation of all historical Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, even if this means that the conflict will last for another thousand years ..." The negotiations were a means toward "an extension of continuing conflict and not an opportunity for two peoples to reach a new rapprochement."
As recently as the Fatah Sixth General Congress in August 2009, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared that "although peace is our choice, we reserve the right to resistance..." Tawfiq Tirawi, security advisor to Abbas, rejects any negotiation: "Words are ineffective…" The only way will be through the efforts of "thousands of martyrs." Rafik Natseh and Muhammad Dahlan, senior Palestine Authority officials, have both said that Fatah has never relinquished the armed struggle and declared unequivocally that Fatah "does not recognize Israel's right to exist."
Misguided "human rights" and "social justice" agitators effectively make excuses for Arab intransigence by parroting those Arabs who reject any rights of Jews, Christians and other minorities anywhere in the region. Blaming Israel and trying to force her to give up land will not resolve the bitter conflict.
Such campaigns will not promote peace. Peace will only be achieved by those who accept co-existence.
Siemens sanctions Iranian business
From The Financial Times, January 26 2010, by Daniel Schaefer in Munich, Gerrit Wiesmann in Berlin and Daniel Dombey in Washington:
Siemens ...announced on Tuesday it would seek no new business in Iran.
The move comes as a US and European push for new United Nations sanctions on Tehran continues to encounter obstacles. It also highlights the importance of Washington’s informal but intense drive to convince international groups to drop ties with Iran.
US administration officials say that if organisations do business with Iran they risk trading with groups proscribed by Washington, such as the Revolutionary Guard.
Siemens came under additional pressure within the US after reports last year that technology sold to Iran by its joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks could be used to monitor calls within the country. The sale led campaign groups to call for a boycott of Siemens.
Peter Loescher, Siemens chief executive, revealed at the company’s annual shareholder meeting that the board had decided in October to refrain from new business with Tehran.
...Mr Loescher’s announcement came as German chancellor Angela Merkel warned that “time is running out” for Iran, which has ignored repeated international deadlines to stop enriching uranium. She was speaking after hosting Shimon Peres, president of Israel, who has criticised Germany for allowing its companies to continue to trade with Iran.
The US and its European partners are yet to convince China and Russia to sign up to more UN sanctions, amid particular resistance from Beijing, which has replaced Germany as Iran’s top trading partner.
While Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank pulled out of Iran after earlier UN resolutions and the US’s accompanying lobbying campaign, German manufacturers have continued to do business there.
Daimler pulled out of Iran in 2007 – when it still owned US carmaker Chrysler and was under direct pressure from Washington – but no other big-name groups have since publicly followed suit...
Siemens ...announced on Tuesday it would seek no new business in Iran.
The move comes as a US and European push for new United Nations sanctions on Tehran continues to encounter obstacles. It also highlights the importance of Washington’s informal but intense drive to convince international groups to drop ties with Iran.
US administration officials say that if organisations do business with Iran they risk trading with groups proscribed by Washington, such as the Revolutionary Guard.
Siemens came under additional pressure within the US after reports last year that technology sold to Iran by its joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks could be used to monitor calls within the country. The sale led campaign groups to call for a boycott of Siemens.
Peter Loescher, Siemens chief executive, revealed at the company’s annual shareholder meeting that the board had decided in October to refrain from new business with Tehran.
...Mr Loescher’s announcement came as German chancellor Angela Merkel warned that “time is running out” for Iran, which has ignored repeated international deadlines to stop enriching uranium. She was speaking after hosting Shimon Peres, president of Israel, who has criticised Germany for allowing its companies to continue to trade with Iran.
The US and its European partners are yet to convince China and Russia to sign up to more UN sanctions, amid particular resistance from Beijing, which has replaced Germany as Iran’s top trading partner.
While Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank pulled out of Iran after earlier UN resolutions and the US’s accompanying lobbying campaign, German manufacturers have continued to do business there.
Daimler pulled out of Iran in 2007 – when it still owned US carmaker Chrysler and was under direct pressure from Washington – but no other big-name groups have since publicly followed suit...
West-Australian-based Controversial cleric Yahya Ibrahim to tour UK universities
From The Telegraph, 23 Jan 2010, by Patrick Sawer and Philip Sherwell in New York:
Update, 14 December 2011: JIW NOTES THAT IT IS NOT AWARE OF ANY REASON TO INFER THAT THE PERSON NAMED YAHAYA IBRAHIM WHO IS THE EDITOR OF THE Al-Qaeda publication: INSPIRE MAGAZINE IS THE SAME PERSON AS THE PERSON WITH THAT NAME, WHO IS VISITING CHAPLAIN OF CURTIN UNIVERSITY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
POST SCRIPT (8 December 2011): Please note that the Telegraph has publicly accepted that describing Yahya Ibrahim, Islamic chaplain at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, as a "hardline Islamist with anti-Semitic views who had advocated violence and conflict ...was an incorrect attribution". It has removed the original article, dated January 23, 2010, from their web site, apologized to Mr Ibrahim and agreed a settlement with him. See the comment from Mr Ibrahim below. The first portion of this posting, which is an excerpt from the Telegraph article, remains on JIW for historical interest.
Yahya Ibrahim, who has described Jews as "monkeys and pigs" and is accused of advocating conflict with the West, is due to speak at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), next month and at Birmingham University in March.
He is one of at least five extreme Islamists who have been allowed to enter the UK in recent years despite being banned by countries such as the United States or Australia.
They include a Jamaican-born Muslim preacher who the US claims is linked to the group behind the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, and a former Pakistani senator who has praised the Taliban.
The revelations come amid continuing fears over the influence of Islamist extremists on young Muslims in Britain in the wake of the failed Detroit bomb plot, over which Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a former student at University College London, has been charged.
The governing body for British universities, Universities UK, has launched a review of the activities of violent extremists on campuses, following revelations by The Sunday Telegraph over the activities of a number of 'preachers of hate' in the UK and their suspected influence on Abdulmutallab's radicalisation.
The Government will face further questions as this newspaper today identifies five foreign radical Islamists who have been allowed in to Britain in the past four years, despite being banned from entering other countries.
These are
He has preached in Mecca that Jews were "monkeys and pigs", "rats of the world" and the "offspring of apes and pigs"; that Christians were "cross worshippers ... those influenced by the rottenness of their ideas and the poison of their cultures, the followers of secularism"; and that Hindus were "idol worshippers".
He has also claimed that Aids is a punishment from Allah.
...David Ouellette, a Canadian commentator who has studied Ibrahim's lectures and speeches, said: "In Australia, Ibrahim is widely considered as a 'bridge builder' between Muslims and non-Muslims....Yet publicly-available information on Ibrahim appears to point to the profile of a hard-core activist of the Wahhabi strain working to spread in the West the hateful, terror-inspiring Salafi ideology, the likes of whom should not be welcome in free societies fighting Islamic extremism."
Last August Mr Ibrahim spoke at a conference organised by the Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham – one of 10 in the city which benefit from funding as part of the Government's Prevent strategy to stop the spread of extremism.
The same month he was also invited to lead prayers at the East London Mosque, in Whitechapel, and spoke to audiences in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and Blackburn, Lancashire
In February last year the Federation of Student Islamic Societies organised a speaking tour for Ibrahim around British universities, including Birmingham, Warwick, and two London colleges, Goldsmiths and Queen Mary.
Birmingham University was embroiled in controversy when it refused, on freedom of speech grounds, to ban an appearance by Azzam Tamimi, a radical Islamist and Hamas supporter, at a seminar organised by the university's Islamic Society last Wednesday.
Denis MacShane, a former Minister for Europe, had urged the university's vice chancellor, Professor David Eastwood, to cancel the meeting.
In a letter to Prof Eastwood he described Mr Tamimi as a "notorious Jew-hater and supporter of terrorist attacks on Jewish women and children in Israel", accusing him of "glorifying Jihad and the killing of those opposed to his fanatical Islamist world view".
A spokesman for Birmingham University said of the latest invitation: "We have a policy of freedom of speech within the law and we are considering a request by the university Islamic society for Mr Ibrahim to be allowed to speak here. No decision has yet been made.
...Rob Cummings, UWIC's Dean of Students, said last night: "...The event is currently being assessed in accordance with our Freedom of Speech policy and during this process we will be liaising with the organisers and taking advice from relevant advisory bodies."
He said that the names of the proposed speakers were made available to UWIC on Thursday, and that process of assessing the event would be completed by the end of this week.
Also among the Green Lane speakers last year was Mr Al-Sudais, an imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, who, despite denouncing terrorism, has described Jews as "the scum of the human race" and "monkeys and pigs and worshippers of false gods".
Mr Al-Sudais was banned from entering Canada in 2004 and has been barred from attending conferences in the US.
The pair were joined at the Green Lane event by Mr Philips, a Jamaican-born Canadian citizen who has said that Islam condones marital rape, believes Aids is "divine retribution" on gays and has said that "Western culture led by the United States is an enemy of Islam".
Mr Philips was also invited to speak at the annual dinner of the Islamic student society at Queen Mary last March, where he was praised for his "deep study and understanding of Islam".
Yet he was deported from the US in 2004 and refused entry into Australia in 2007 after the American government linked him to the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York, which killed six and injured 1,000.
No attempt has been made by the US to have him extradited from Canada.
Sheikh Qazi Hussain Ahmed, 71, is a senior figure in the Jamaat-e-Islami fundamentalist party in Pakistan and a former senator in that country, who has praised the Taliban as "just and honourable men who brought peace to Afghanistan".
He was denied entry into Belgium and the Netherlands in 2004 after being classed a security risk, but travelled to London in 2006 to attend the two-day Islam Expo conference.
Mr Suweidan, a Kuwaiti-born radical, told a meeting in Chicago in 2000: “Palestine will not be liberated but through Jihad. Nothing can be achieved without sacrificing blood. The Jews will meet their end at our hands.”
He was subsequently banned from the US. Despite this he was invited by the Home Office to take part in a UK roadshow against extremism in 2006.
Critics have called on the Government to take a tougher line on barring extremists from Britain.
Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, research fellow at the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: "In the UK, both national security and community cohesion are greatly damaged when extremists come into the country and are allowed to be presented by their supporters as moderate voices of the mainstream.
...Paul Goodman, shadow communities minister, said: "Ministers have a duty to apply exclusion criteria consistently. There must be zero tolerance for racism, extremism and anti-semitism."...
Also, from the MilitantIslamMonitors.org, Dec. 23, 2005, by EDWARD HEGSTROM [originally published by the Houston Chronicle]:
A Canadian Islamic teacher ...barred entry to the United States.
Yahya Ibrahim arrived at the Detroit airport Monday, where an immigration inspector denied him entry. Ibrahim ...was traveling from Australia...
He was scheduled to speak at the Texas Dawah Convention, an annual event for Muslims expected to attract 4,000 participants from across the country. The government confirmed that Ibrahim was denied entry, but refused to say why.
...Ibrahim was born in Canada and holds an engineering degree, Dasyouni said. He lives in Australia, where he is an administrator at the Australian Islamic University in Perth, according to the conference Web site. He has lectured at universities worldwide and spoke at the conference here last year.
...The conference has faced controversy before. In 2003, critics raised questions about two of the scheduled speakers, including Sheikh Salah Munajiid, who had a Web site in which he described Jews as "plotters, conspirators and traitors." His speech was canceled.
MilitantIslamMonitors.org continues: ...The list of the Da'wa conference attendees in the previous year, which included Ibrahim read like a Who's Who of radical Islamists. The only ones missing from the list are Osama Bin Laden and Al Zarqawi, and it is surprising that the conference had no video link up to accomodate them. Ibrahim's biography also informs us that he is a "consulting editor for the IFTA department of the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC'. IFTA is the Wahhabist version of the Nazi "Ministry of Propaganda and National Enlightment'.
A look at the website of Ibrahim's Islamic Invitation Centre - which includes his translations of the 'work' of Saudi Sheik Abdurahman Al Sudais, who went on Saudi television and exhorted Muslims to kill "Jews and worshippers of the Cross". Ibrahim himself lectured on". How kuffars tried to take the light out of Islam".
From the Islamic Invitation Centre website:
...Of Egyptian descent, Yahya Adel Ibrahim, was born in Waterloo ...Being proficient in Arabic and English, he has translated books and various works from Arabic to English and reviewed numerous articles, and the collection of Sermons that are/were delivered from the pulpit of Mecca's Grand Mosque. ...Yahya is a regular lecturer to Muslim and non-Muslim audiences throughout the world. Currently based in Perth, Western Australia where he works as a religious advisor and senior staff member of the largest Islamic school in Australia (http://www.aic.wa.edu.au/) .
Available talks:
•Hijab
•Role of Prophet Jesus in Islam
•The way to Salvation
•Islam a whole way of life
•How the kuffar try to put out the Light of Islam
•Paradise is our reward
•Principles of the Quran
•The True Meaning Of Worship
•Trials and Tribulations
•Life in the Grave
•Rewards of Women in Paradise
•Prophet Jesus Was Saved by Allah From the Cross ...
Update, 14 December 2011: JIW NOTES THAT IT IS NOT AWARE OF ANY REASON TO INFER THAT THE PERSON NAMED YAHAYA IBRAHIM WHO IS THE EDITOR OF THE Al-Qaeda publication: INSPIRE MAGAZINE IS THE SAME PERSON AS THE PERSON WITH THAT NAME, WHO IS VISITING CHAPLAIN OF CURTIN UNIVERSITY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
POST SCRIPT (8 December 2011): Please note that the Telegraph has publicly accepted that describing Yahya Ibrahim, Islamic chaplain at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, as a "hardline Islamist with anti-Semitic views who had advocated violence and conflict ...was an incorrect attribution". It has removed the original article, dated January 23, 2010, from their web site, apologized to Mr Ibrahim and agreed a settlement with him. See the comment from Mr Ibrahim below. The first portion of this posting, which is an excerpt from the Telegraph article, remains on JIW for historical interest.
Yahya Ibrahim, who has described Jews as "monkeys and pigs" and is accused of advocating conflict with the West, is due to speak at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), next month and at Birmingham University in March.
He is one of at least five extreme Islamists who have been allowed to enter the UK in recent years despite being banned by countries such as the United States or Australia.
They include a Jamaican-born Muslim preacher who the US claims is linked to the group behind the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, and a former Pakistani senator who has praised the Taliban.
The revelations come amid continuing fears over the influence of Islamist extremists on young Muslims in Britain in the wake of the failed Detroit bomb plot, over which Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a former student at University College London, has been charged.
The governing body for British universities, Universities UK, has launched a review of the activities of violent extremists on campuses, following revelations by The Sunday Telegraph over the activities of a number of 'preachers of hate' in the UK and their suspected influence on Abdulmutallab's radicalisation.
The Government will face further questions as this newspaper today identifies five foreign radical Islamists who have been allowed in to Britain in the past four years, despite being banned from entering other countries.
These are
- Mr [Yahya] Ibrahim,
- Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips,
- Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais,
- Tariq Suweidan, and
- Sheikh Qazi Hussain Ahmed.
He has preached in Mecca that Jews were "monkeys and pigs", "rats of the world" and the "offspring of apes and pigs"; that Christians were "cross worshippers ... those influenced by the rottenness of their ideas and the poison of their cultures, the followers of secularism"; and that Hindus were "idol worshippers".
He has also claimed that Aids is a punishment from Allah.
...David Ouellette, a Canadian commentator who has studied Ibrahim's lectures and speeches, said: "In Australia, Ibrahim is widely considered as a 'bridge builder' between Muslims and non-Muslims....Yet publicly-available information on Ibrahim appears to point to the profile of a hard-core activist of the Wahhabi strain working to spread in the West the hateful, terror-inspiring Salafi ideology, the likes of whom should not be welcome in free societies fighting Islamic extremism."
Last August Mr Ibrahim spoke at a conference organised by the Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham – one of 10 in the city which benefit from funding as part of the Government's Prevent strategy to stop the spread of extremism.
The same month he was also invited to lead prayers at the East London Mosque, in Whitechapel, and spoke to audiences in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and Blackburn, Lancashire
In February last year the Federation of Student Islamic Societies organised a speaking tour for Ibrahim around British universities, including Birmingham, Warwick, and two London colleges, Goldsmiths and Queen Mary.
Birmingham University was embroiled in controversy when it refused, on freedom of speech grounds, to ban an appearance by Azzam Tamimi, a radical Islamist and Hamas supporter, at a seminar organised by the university's Islamic Society last Wednesday.
Denis MacShane, a former Minister for Europe, had urged the university's vice chancellor, Professor David Eastwood, to cancel the meeting.
In a letter to Prof Eastwood he described Mr Tamimi as a "notorious Jew-hater and supporter of terrorist attacks on Jewish women and children in Israel", accusing him of "glorifying Jihad and the killing of those opposed to his fanatical Islamist world view".
A spokesman for Birmingham University said of the latest invitation: "We have a policy of freedom of speech within the law and we are considering a request by the university Islamic society for Mr Ibrahim to be allowed to speak here. No decision has yet been made.
...Rob Cummings, UWIC's Dean of Students, said last night: "...The event is currently being assessed in accordance with our Freedom of Speech policy and during this process we will be liaising with the organisers and taking advice from relevant advisory bodies."
He said that the names of the proposed speakers were made available to UWIC on Thursday, and that process of assessing the event would be completed by the end of this week.
Also among the Green Lane speakers last year was Mr Al-Sudais, an imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, who, despite denouncing terrorism, has described Jews as "the scum of the human race" and "monkeys and pigs and worshippers of false gods".
Mr Al-Sudais was banned from entering Canada in 2004 and has been barred from attending conferences in the US.
The pair were joined at the Green Lane event by Mr Philips, a Jamaican-born Canadian citizen who has said that Islam condones marital rape, believes Aids is "divine retribution" on gays and has said that "Western culture led by the United States is an enemy of Islam".
Mr Philips was also invited to speak at the annual dinner of the Islamic student society at Queen Mary last March, where he was praised for his "deep study and understanding of Islam".
Yet he was deported from the US in 2004 and refused entry into Australia in 2007 after the American government linked him to the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York, which killed six and injured 1,000.
No attempt has been made by the US to have him extradited from Canada.
Sheikh Qazi Hussain Ahmed, 71, is a senior figure in the Jamaat-e-Islami fundamentalist party in Pakistan and a former senator in that country, who has praised the Taliban as "just and honourable men who brought peace to Afghanistan".
He was denied entry into Belgium and the Netherlands in 2004 after being classed a security risk, but travelled to London in 2006 to attend the two-day Islam Expo conference.
Mr Suweidan, a Kuwaiti-born radical, told a meeting in Chicago in 2000: “Palestine will not be liberated but through Jihad. Nothing can be achieved without sacrificing blood. The Jews will meet their end at our hands.”
He was subsequently banned from the US. Despite this he was invited by the Home Office to take part in a UK roadshow against extremism in 2006.
Critics have called on the Government to take a tougher line on barring extremists from Britain.
Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, research fellow at the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: "In the UK, both national security and community cohesion are greatly damaged when extremists come into the country and are allowed to be presented by their supporters as moderate voices of the mainstream.
...Paul Goodman, shadow communities minister, said: "Ministers have a duty to apply exclusion criteria consistently. There must be zero tolerance for racism, extremism and anti-semitism."...
Also, from the MilitantIslamMonitors.org, Dec. 23, 2005, by EDWARD HEGSTROM [originally published by the Houston Chronicle]:
A Canadian Islamic teacher ...barred entry to the United States.
Yahya Ibrahim arrived at the Detroit airport Monday, where an immigration inspector denied him entry. Ibrahim ...was traveling from Australia...
He was scheduled to speak at the Texas Dawah Convention, an annual event for Muslims expected to attract 4,000 participants from across the country. The government confirmed that Ibrahim was denied entry, but refused to say why.
...Ibrahim was born in Canada and holds an engineering degree, Dasyouni said. He lives in Australia, where he is an administrator at the Australian Islamic University in Perth, according to the conference Web site. He has lectured at universities worldwide and spoke at the conference here last year.
...The conference has faced controversy before. In 2003, critics raised questions about two of the scheduled speakers, including Sheikh Salah Munajiid, who had a Web site in which he described Jews as "plotters, conspirators and traitors." His speech was canceled.
MilitantIslamMonitors.org continues: ...The list of the Da'wa conference attendees in the previous year, which included Ibrahim read like a Who's Who of radical Islamists. The only ones missing from the list are Osama Bin Laden and Al Zarqawi, and it is surprising that the conference had no video link up to accomodate them. Ibrahim's biography also informs us that he is a "consulting editor for the IFTA department of the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC'. IFTA is the Wahhabist version of the Nazi "Ministry of Propaganda and National Enlightment'.
A look at the website of Ibrahim's Islamic Invitation Centre - which includes his translations of the 'work' of Saudi Sheik Abdurahman Al Sudais, who went on Saudi television and exhorted Muslims to kill "Jews and worshippers of the Cross". Ibrahim himself lectured on". How kuffars tried to take the light out of Islam".
From the Islamic Invitation Centre website:
...Of Egyptian descent, Yahya Adel Ibrahim, was born in Waterloo ...Being proficient in Arabic and English, he has translated books and various works from Arabic to English and reviewed numerous articles, and the collection of Sermons that are/were delivered from the pulpit of Mecca's Grand Mosque. ...Yahya is a regular lecturer to Muslim and non-Muslim audiences throughout the world. Currently based in Perth, Western Australia where he works as a religious advisor and senior staff member of the largest Islamic school in Australia (http://www.aic.wa.edu.au/) .
Available talks:
•Hijab
•Role of Prophet Jesus in Islam
•The way to Salvation
•Islam a whole way of life
•How the kuffar try to put out the Light of Islam
•Paradise is our reward
•Principles of the Quran
•The True Meaning Of Worship
•Trials and Tribulations
•Life in the Grave
•Rewards of Women in Paradise
•Prophet Jesus Was Saved by Allah From the Cross ...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tadeusz Pieronek: anti-Semitic bishop and his holocaust-denying friends
THE JERUSALEM POST, Jan. 25, 2010, Jpost.com staff:
[Tadeusz Pieronek: anti-Semitic Polish bishop says] 'Jews exploit Holocaust as propaganda'
The Holocaust only gets media coverage because of affluent Jews' financial backing, military might and lobbying fronts, presenting a skewed version of events to the world, a high-ranking Polish bishop told a Catholic news portal on Monday [25 January, 2010].
Tadeusz Pieronek, a Polish bishop ...claimed that "the Holocaust as such is a Jewish invention" promoted in the press by Jews to gain support for Israel.
Pieronek told the Web site Pontifex.roma that while the Holocaust was not exclusively Jewish, Jews had monopolized it in lieu of encouraging "serious historical debate, free from prejudice and victimization."
Pieronek alleged that Jews today use the Holocaust as "a weapon of propaganda, used to obtain benefits which are often unjustified," citing as an example the unconditional support for Israel by the US.
"This promotes a certain arrogance that I find unbearable," he said, explaining that Israel was using its position of power and exploiting historical tragedies to treat the Palestinians "like animals."
..."The Holocaust as such is a Jewish invention ... a day of remembrance must also be set for the many victims of Communism, persecuted Catholics and Christians and so on," he told the Web site.
..."The anti-Semitic history of Poland is an invention," he said. "A joke ... offensive to our people."
Although most of the victims of the Holocaust were indeed Jews, many Poles, Italians and Catholics also died at the Nazi concentration camps, he said....
Subsequently, Polish media RZECZPOSPOLITA and TVP television reported that Pieronek told them that he was "misquoted as saying that the Holocaust was a Jewish invention", but he stressed that talking of the Shoah in the context of the murder of Jews alone is historical manipulation. He also told RZECZPOSPOLITA that the Holocaust has become an idea whose aim is to unite Jewish communities around the world. “It is a Jewish weapon.... ” he said
Polskie Radio reported Pieronek's claim that "he was misquoted" together with a comment promoting a book entitled "Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides" by "Thomas Dalton" which is a pseudonym for an unknown "American scholar ".
One quote from that book is enough: "The Zyklon gas chambers did in fact exist, but were used for delousing and sanitary purposes."
The comment on Polskie Radio was posted by Michael Santomauro, a so-called "Editorial Director" of Theses and Dissertations Press, a publishing house dedicated to Holocaust denial. They are forbidden to sell to France, Germany, Austria (article 3h Verbotsgesetz 1947), Belgium (Belgian Negationism Law), the Czech Republic under section 261, France (Loi Gayssot), Germany (§ 130 (3) of the penal code) also the Auschwitzlüge law section 185, Lithuania, The Netherlands under articles 137c and 137e, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland (article 261bis of the Penal Code). PAYPAL has rejected thembut apparently Amazon has no such scruples.
Michael Santomauro describes the "Dalton" book using the exact, same description as he uses for 18 other holocaust-denying books: "... revisionist classic that questions the Holocaust facts in a scholarly and academic and non-hateful and very loving way."
[Tadeusz Pieronek: anti-Semitic Polish bishop says] 'Jews exploit Holocaust as propaganda'
The Holocaust only gets media coverage because of affluent Jews' financial backing, military might and lobbying fronts, presenting a skewed version of events to the world, a high-ranking Polish bishop told a Catholic news portal on Monday [25 January, 2010].
Tadeusz Pieronek, a Polish bishop ...claimed that "the Holocaust as such is a Jewish invention" promoted in the press by Jews to gain support for Israel.
Pieronek told the Web site Pontifex.roma that while the Holocaust was not exclusively Jewish, Jews had monopolized it in lieu of encouraging "serious historical debate, free from prejudice and victimization."
Pieronek alleged that Jews today use the Holocaust as "a weapon of propaganda, used to obtain benefits which are often unjustified," citing as an example the unconditional support for Israel by the US.
"This promotes a certain arrogance that I find unbearable," he said, explaining that Israel was using its position of power and exploiting historical tragedies to treat the Palestinians "like animals."
..."The Holocaust as such is a Jewish invention ... a day of remembrance must also be set for the many victims of Communism, persecuted Catholics and Christians and so on," he told the Web site.
..."The anti-Semitic history of Poland is an invention," he said. "A joke ... offensive to our people."
Although most of the victims of the Holocaust were indeed Jews, many Poles, Italians and Catholics also died at the Nazi concentration camps, he said....
Subsequently, Polish media RZECZPOSPOLITA and TVP television reported that Pieronek told them that he was "misquoted as saying that the Holocaust was a Jewish invention", but he stressed that talking of the Shoah in the context of the murder of Jews alone is historical manipulation. He also told RZECZPOSPOLITA that the Holocaust has become an idea whose aim is to unite Jewish communities around the world. “It is a Jewish weapon.... ” he said
Polskie Radio reported Pieronek's claim that "he was misquoted" together with a comment promoting a book entitled "Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides" by "Thomas Dalton" which is a pseudonym for an unknown "American scholar ".
One quote from that book is enough: "The Zyklon gas chambers did in fact exist, but were used for delousing and sanitary purposes."
The comment on Polskie Radio was posted by Michael Santomauro, a so-called "Editorial Director" of Theses and Dissertations Press, a publishing house dedicated to Holocaust denial. They are forbidden to sell to France, Germany, Austria (article 3h Verbotsgesetz 1947), Belgium (Belgian Negationism Law), the Czech Republic under section 261, France (Loi Gayssot), Germany (§ 130 (3) of the penal code) also the Auschwitzlüge law section 185, Lithuania, The Netherlands under articles 137c and 137e, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland (article 261bis of the Penal Code). PAYPAL has rejected thembut apparently Amazon has no such scruples.
Michael Santomauro describes the "Dalton" book using the exact, same description as he uses for 18 other holocaust-denying books: "... revisionist classic that questions the Holocaust facts in a scholarly and academic and non-hateful and very loving way."
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Hezbollah fortifies the whole of Lebanon
From the Washington Post Foreign Service, Saturday, January 23, 2010, by by Howard Schneider:
BEIRUT -- Hezbollah has dispersed its long-range-rocket sites deep into northern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, a move that analysts say threatens to broaden any future conflict between the Islamist movement and Israel into a war between the two countries.
More than 10,000 U.N. troops now patrol traditional Hezbollah territory in southern Lebanon along the Israeli border, and several thousand Lebanese armed forces personnel also have moved into the area. ...but analysts in Lebanon and Israel say the U.N. mission is almost beside the point.
Hezbollah's redeployment and rearmament indicate that its next clash with Israel is unlikely to focus on the border, instead moving farther into Lebanon and challenging both the military and the government. The situation is important for U.S. efforts in the region, whether aimed at curbing the influence of Hezbollah's patrons in Iran or at persuading Syria to moderate its stance toward Israel and its neighbors.
...Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the IDF head of operations, said some Hezbollah rockets now have a range of more than 150 miles -- making Tel Aviv reachable from as far away as Beirut. The Islamist group has talked openly of its efforts to rebuild, and Israel estimates that Hezbollah has about 40,000 projectiles, most of them shorter-range rockets and mortar shells.
The group "has been fortifying lots of different areas," said Judith Palmer Harik, a Hezbollah scholar in Beirut. With U.N. and Lebanese forces "packed along the border," she said, "we are looking at a much more expanded battle in all senses of the word." ...
A wider struggle
... many assume that the IDF will not allow the [Hezbollah] to rearm, recruit and train much longer before striking.
In Israel, Hezbollah is seen as part of a wider struggle for regional influence between Iran and U.S.-allied moderate Arab states, given the group's ties to Iran and Syria and arms supplies assumed to run through both countries.
There is no reason the current calm cannot continue, said retired Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser who is now a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies. But if a conflict does break out, "Israel will not contain that war against Hezbollah," Eiland said. "We cannot."
Given Hezbollah's capabilities, he said, "the only way to deter the other side and prevent the next round -- or if it happens, to win -- is to have a military confrontation with the state of Lebanon."
BEIRUT -- Hezbollah has dispersed its long-range-rocket sites deep into northern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, a move that analysts say threatens to broaden any future conflict between the Islamist movement and Israel into a war between the two countries.
More than 10,000 U.N. troops now patrol traditional Hezbollah territory in southern Lebanon along the Israeli border, and several thousand Lebanese armed forces personnel also have moved into the area. ...but analysts in Lebanon and Israel say the U.N. mission is almost beside the point.
Hezbollah's redeployment and rearmament indicate that its next clash with Israel is unlikely to focus on the border, instead moving farther into Lebanon and challenging both the military and the government. The situation is important for U.S. efforts in the region, whether aimed at curbing the influence of Hezbollah's patrons in Iran or at persuading Syria to moderate its stance toward Israel and its neighbors.
...Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the IDF head of operations, said some Hezbollah rockets now have a range of more than 150 miles -- making Tel Aviv reachable from as far away as Beirut. The Islamist group has talked openly of its efforts to rebuild, and Israel estimates that Hezbollah has about 40,000 projectiles, most of them shorter-range rockets and mortar shells.
The group "has been fortifying lots of different areas," said Judith Palmer Harik, a Hezbollah scholar in Beirut. With U.N. and Lebanese forces "packed along the border," she said, "we are looking at a much more expanded battle in all senses of the word." ...
A wider struggle
... many assume that the IDF will not allow the [Hezbollah] to rearm, recruit and train much longer before striking.
In Israel, Hezbollah is seen as part of a wider struggle for regional influence between Iran and U.S.-allied moderate Arab states, given the group's ties to Iran and Syria and arms supplies assumed to run through both countries.
There is no reason the current calm cannot continue, said retired Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser who is now a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies. But if a conflict does break out, "Israel will not contain that war against Hezbollah," Eiland said. "We cannot."
Given Hezbollah's capabilities, he said, "the only way to deter the other side and prevent the next round -- or if it happens, to win -- is to have a military confrontation with the state of Lebanon."
Israel to the Rescue in Haiti
From DAILY ALERT Monday, January 25, 2010
Israel to the Rescue - David Horovitz Editor-in-Chief (Jerusalem Post)
While other countries dithered, countries both nearer and far better resourced, Israel utilized the experience born of its previous earthquake rescue missions - to Turkey, Greece, Armenia and Mexico - and got down to business in Haiti. Our "light unto the nations" Haitian relief effort encapsulated much of what is best about our country. It demonstrated our heartfelt desire to come to the assistance of others in the time of their greatest need, with no desire or expectation of reward.
The Israeli mission to Haiti also underlined our capacity to think and act fast and effectively - to pull together and surmount obstacles at a time of crisis. While relief teams from more than two dozen countries were running into all kinds of logistical difficulties, the Israeli teams, quietly, efficiently, and with a minimum of fuss, somehow circumvented or cleared all the obstacles, and went to work.
There is one thing that our Haiti rescue outreach made emphatically clear, and that the Palestinians might want to ponder: If you're in trouble and you're not trying to kill us, there's no one like the Israelis to help you out.
See also A Medical Mission of Pride and Promise - Dr. Jonathan Halevy, director-general of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem (Jerusalem Post)
From CBS to CNN to MSNBC, wide-eyed medical reporters have been witnessing the Israeli operation in Haiti with an underlying tone of combined admiration and jealousy. With relief delegations of all shapes and sizes, it's the Israelis who travel halfway around the world and within hours have a fully operational hospital in place. Journalists ask outright why anyone else can't be doing this.
Admittedly, our adeptness in launching these types of operations stems from a history of confronting hostilities. Those of us involved in emergency management and disaster response know all too well that Israel has a unique advantage over most, if not all, nations in this discipline. Our protocols and emergency departments have become models for hospitals all around the world. The IDF Home Front Command has made it a principal training objective to remain ever-ready for all types of disasters.
The world has quickly learned that the "successes" we are achieving in Haiti have come because we appreciated the continuous need for this type of training. Even more so, it is recognizing that we have a role in contributing to the greater welfare of the international community.
See also Video: The "Legendary" Israeli Medical Unit in Haiti - Diane Sawyer (ABC News)
Israel to the Rescue - David Horovitz Editor-in-Chief (Jerusalem Post)
While other countries dithered, countries both nearer and far better resourced, Israel utilized the experience born of its previous earthquake rescue missions - to Turkey, Greece, Armenia and Mexico - and got down to business in Haiti. Our "light unto the nations" Haitian relief effort encapsulated much of what is best about our country. It demonstrated our heartfelt desire to come to the assistance of others in the time of their greatest need, with no desire or expectation of reward.
The Israeli mission to Haiti also underlined our capacity to think and act fast and effectively - to pull together and surmount obstacles at a time of crisis. While relief teams from more than two dozen countries were running into all kinds of logistical difficulties, the Israeli teams, quietly, efficiently, and with a minimum of fuss, somehow circumvented or cleared all the obstacles, and went to work.
There is one thing that our Haiti rescue outreach made emphatically clear, and that the Palestinians might want to ponder: If you're in trouble and you're not trying to kill us, there's no one like the Israelis to help you out.
See also A Medical Mission of Pride and Promise - Dr. Jonathan Halevy, director-general of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem (Jerusalem Post)
From CBS to CNN to MSNBC, wide-eyed medical reporters have been witnessing the Israeli operation in Haiti with an underlying tone of combined admiration and jealousy. With relief delegations of all shapes and sizes, it's the Israelis who travel halfway around the world and within hours have a fully operational hospital in place. Journalists ask outright why anyone else can't be doing this.
Admittedly, our adeptness in launching these types of operations stems from a history of confronting hostilities. Those of us involved in emergency management and disaster response know all too well that Israel has a unique advantage over most, if not all, nations in this discipline. Our protocols and emergency departments have become models for hospitals all around the world. The IDF Home Front Command has made it a principal training objective to remain ever-ready for all types of disasters.
The world has quickly learned that the "successes" we are achieving in Haiti have come because we appreciated the continuous need for this type of training. Even more so, it is recognizing that we have a role in contributing to the greater welfare of the international community.
See also Video: The "Legendary" Israeli Medical Unit in Haiti - Diane Sawyer (ABC News)
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Conflict with Lebanon looms
From THE JERUSALEM POST,Jan. 23, 2010:
Another military conflict between Israel and Lebanon is "inevitable," Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled (Likud) Saturday at a Beersheba event.
"Without a doubt we are heading for another round (of fighting) in the North. No one knows when, but it's clear that it will happen," the former OC Northern Command said. "We did not know that the Second Lebanon War was going to break out."
...Quoting Middle East analysts, The Washington Post report went on to say Hizbullah launch sites now likely extend past Beirut. The IDF believes that Hizbullah has obtained Iranian-made Fajr missiles...
... "With Iran backing and supplying Hezbollah and the United States backing and supplying Israel, the battlefield is Lebanon," the anti-Hizbullah lawmaker[Lebanese MP Marwan Hamadeh] reportedly said.
"This is where the Iranian missiles sit, and this is where the Israeli air force can reach," he added.
Another military conflict between Israel and Lebanon is "inevitable," Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled (Likud) Saturday at a Beersheba event.
"Without a doubt we are heading for another round (of fighting) in the North. No one knows when, but it's clear that it will happen," the former OC Northern Command said. "We did not know that the Second Lebanon War was going to break out."
...Quoting Middle East analysts, The Washington Post report went on to say Hizbullah launch sites now likely extend past Beirut. The IDF believes that Hizbullah has obtained Iranian-made Fajr missiles...
... "With Iran backing and supplying Hezbollah and the United States backing and supplying Israel, the battlefield is Lebanon," the anti-Hizbullah lawmaker[Lebanese MP Marwan Hamadeh] reportedly said.
"This is where the Iranian missiles sit, and this is where the Israeli air force can reach," he added.
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