From Ynet News, 21/8/07, by Amnon Meranda ...
"Israel's health system is not ready for the next war," Chairman of the Knesset's State Control Committee MK Zevulun Orlev said Monday at a special meeting following the state comptroller's recent report on the handling of Israel's home front during the Second Lebanon War.
The committee members addressed the problem of fortification of hospitals and Rafi Beyar, director of Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, claimed that the government was "shirking its national responsibility to ensure the safety of the residents of the north by not transferring funds for fortifying the hospital."
Beyar later told Ynet that "the government has not transferred even one agora for the fortification. We are being thrown to the donors". State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss' report which was released in July stated that except for the Ziv Medical Center in Safed and the Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya, no other medical institution in northern Israel was fortified, despite the matter being addressed in previous reports.
The comptroller stated that fortifying hospitals should become top priority, along with the medical teams who were forced to drive to and from the hospitals during the war. The report also stated that the process of evacuating injured to hospitals should be supervised so as not to create overcrowding in the emergency and operating rooms.
As for Magen David Adom's performance, Lindenstrauss revealed that some 200 ambulances stationed in the north lacked protective equipment against chemical warfare and pointed out that the emergency services did not have sufficient funds for emergencies.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Israel’s Armed Forces Undermanned, Under-equipped for War
From a DEBKAfile Military Report and Analysis, August 21, 2007....
Since the beginning of the week, Israel’s top military commanders have been poring over the situation of the Israeli Defense Forces in a workshop called by Ehud Barak who took over as defense minister two months ago. Some of their most alarming findings were presented by Barak at his first news conference in Tel Aviv Monday, Aug. 21 in advance of the ministry’s presentation of its budget requirements.
Not all of the findings were news after disastrous deficiencies were brought to light in the ill-managed 2006 Lebanon War against Hizballah. But the negligence was now frankly traced to 1994 and 13 years of budget slashes by one government after another, including the one headed by the defense minister himself. They have left Israel’s armed forces deprived of the three security capabilities which Barak deems essential to Israel’s survival in a hostile environment: deterrence, early warning and victory.
To restore these capabilities, Barak outlined a program, the highlights of which are to reconstitute two disbanded reservist divisions, improve tank armor to withstand armor-piercing missiles and effective, active interception measures to protect the population against enemy rocket fire.
DEBKAfile’s analysts note that, for the present, the IDF offers early warning - but not deterrence; the burning drive to prevail over the enemy was seen wanting in the Lebanon War and missing in dealing with the plague of missile and mortar attacks from Gaza, the daily fare of the neighboring Israeli population.
Senior officers told our sources: “The IDF is not only short of funds to meet its objectives, but also lacks sufficient manpower. It would take at least 10 years to rebuild and retrain the armed forces. The question is: what do we do in the meantime?”
According to DEBKAfile’s sources in Jerusalem, prime minister Ehud Olmert refuses to approve funding for two additional armored reservist divisions, for accelerating the development of the Iron Dome system against short-range missiles and rockets, for fitting Israeli tanks with an extra layer of armor against anti-tank missiles, and for manufacturing the new Nimrod armored personnel carriers that would make the infantry much more maneuverable in the terrain where combat is foreseen.
The new defense minister is also calling for a long IDF operational arm which can strike deep inside hostile territory in such places as Iran, Syria, Lebanon and, if necessary, beyond. DEBKAfile’s military analysts report that the continuing budget deficiencies which hobble Israel’s military at large, also deny it the air power, missiles, submarines and specialist training for such long-range capabilities.
The under-training of special operations units was starkly conspicuous in the Lebanon war, in particular the Baalbek raid. Military experts agree that if Barak wants to achieve a swift victory against Syria in the event of war, IDF forces must be able to move very fast and take the battle across the lines deep into hostile territory so as to seize the initiative from Syrian commando forces. They may find they are also up against Iranian Revolutionary Guards flown in to back up the Syrians.
The manpower for such missions is in short supply at present.
DEBKAfile’s military sources point to four factors which need to be taken into account in the immediate future:
1. The rapid arming of the Iranian, Syrian and Hizballah armed forces financed by war budgets estimated as threefold or four times that allocated the IDF.
2. The danger of a simultaneous war flare-up on three of Israel’s borders. The IDF is better prepared for a multi-front conflict than it was a year ago, but the population remains defenseless against possible rocket attacks.
3. Israel’s policy-makers have not kept up with the rapid development of weapons technologies in the world, which is drawing on experience in the Iraq War and other conflicts. Hizballah, too, has made great strides forward. The fact is that interceptor systems for short-range missiles, such as the Iron Dome which Israel has tardily decided to develop, have been proved ineffective for protecting a civilian population. The American and Japanese armies have dropped it and gone back to tactical mobile high-energy laser weapons for countering rockets, artillery shells and mortars. Israel’s military industries began to pioneer this type of weapon a decade ago, but were forced to abandon their work by, yes, loss of government funding.
4. The long neglect of Israel’s military capabilities must be attributed largely to unrealistic fixations at the top of Israeli governments on peace prospects with the Palestinians and Syria and their failure to factor in Iran’s creeping domination over the military and diplomatic strategies of its allies and protégés. Even now, Israel’s leaders are blinding themselves to the fact that Tehran’s undivided focus on annihilating the Jewish state governs the policies of three of its neighbors, Syria, Hizballah and the Palestinians.
Barak’s stress on deterrence, early warning and victory is timely and right but unworkable so long as the heads of Israeli government and society refuse to rearrange their priorities. Soldiers will not be inclined to fight to win in a climate of concessions to active hostile forces, budget cuts and indifference to their needs....
Since the beginning of the week, Israel’s top military commanders have been poring over the situation of the Israeli Defense Forces in a workshop called by Ehud Barak who took over as defense minister two months ago. Some of their most alarming findings were presented by Barak at his first news conference in Tel Aviv Monday, Aug. 21 in advance of the ministry’s presentation of its budget requirements.
Not all of the findings were news after disastrous deficiencies were brought to light in the ill-managed 2006 Lebanon War against Hizballah. But the negligence was now frankly traced to 1994 and 13 years of budget slashes by one government after another, including the one headed by the defense minister himself. They have left Israel’s armed forces deprived of the three security capabilities which Barak deems essential to Israel’s survival in a hostile environment: deterrence, early warning and victory.
To restore these capabilities, Barak outlined a program, the highlights of which are to reconstitute two disbanded reservist divisions, improve tank armor to withstand armor-piercing missiles and effective, active interception measures to protect the population against enemy rocket fire.
DEBKAfile’s analysts note that, for the present, the IDF offers early warning - but not deterrence; the burning drive to prevail over the enemy was seen wanting in the Lebanon War and missing in dealing with the plague of missile and mortar attacks from Gaza, the daily fare of the neighboring Israeli population.
Senior officers told our sources: “The IDF is not only short of funds to meet its objectives, but also lacks sufficient manpower. It would take at least 10 years to rebuild and retrain the armed forces. The question is: what do we do in the meantime?”
According to DEBKAfile’s sources in Jerusalem, prime minister Ehud Olmert refuses to approve funding for two additional armored reservist divisions, for accelerating the development of the Iron Dome system against short-range missiles and rockets, for fitting Israeli tanks with an extra layer of armor against anti-tank missiles, and for manufacturing the new Nimrod armored personnel carriers that would make the infantry much more maneuverable in the terrain where combat is foreseen.
The new defense minister is also calling for a long IDF operational arm which can strike deep inside hostile territory in such places as Iran, Syria, Lebanon and, if necessary, beyond. DEBKAfile’s military analysts report that the continuing budget deficiencies which hobble Israel’s military at large, also deny it the air power, missiles, submarines and specialist training for such long-range capabilities.
The under-training of special operations units was starkly conspicuous in the Lebanon war, in particular the Baalbek raid. Military experts agree that if Barak wants to achieve a swift victory against Syria in the event of war, IDF forces must be able to move very fast and take the battle across the lines deep into hostile territory so as to seize the initiative from Syrian commando forces. They may find they are also up against Iranian Revolutionary Guards flown in to back up the Syrians.
The manpower for such missions is in short supply at present.
DEBKAfile’s military sources point to four factors which need to be taken into account in the immediate future:
1. The rapid arming of the Iranian, Syrian and Hizballah armed forces financed by war budgets estimated as threefold or four times that allocated the IDF.
2. The danger of a simultaneous war flare-up on three of Israel’s borders. The IDF is better prepared for a multi-front conflict than it was a year ago, but the population remains defenseless against possible rocket attacks.
3. Israel’s policy-makers have not kept up with the rapid development of weapons technologies in the world, which is drawing on experience in the Iraq War and other conflicts. Hizballah, too, has made great strides forward. The fact is that interceptor systems for short-range missiles, such as the Iron Dome which Israel has tardily decided to develop, have been proved ineffective for protecting a civilian population. The American and Japanese armies have dropped it and gone back to tactical mobile high-energy laser weapons for countering rockets, artillery shells and mortars. Israel’s military industries began to pioneer this type of weapon a decade ago, but were forced to abandon their work by, yes, loss of government funding.
4. The long neglect of Israel’s military capabilities must be attributed largely to unrealistic fixations at the top of Israeli governments on peace prospects with the Palestinians and Syria and their failure to factor in Iran’s creeping domination over the military and diplomatic strategies of its allies and protégés. Even now, Israel’s leaders are blinding themselves to the fact that Tehran’s undivided focus on annihilating the Jewish state governs the policies of three of its neighbors, Syria, Hizballah and the Palestinians.
Barak’s stress on deterrence, early warning and victory is timely and right but unworkable so long as the heads of Israeli government and society refuse to rearrange their priorities. Soldiers will not be inclined to fight to win in a climate of concessions to active hostile forces, budget cuts and indifference to their needs....
Al Qaeda's Travel Agent
From The Wall Street Journal, BY JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, Independent Democratic senator from Connecticut, Monday, August 20, 2007...
Damascus International Airport is a hub for terrorists.
The United States is at last making significant progress against al Qaeda in Iraq--but the road to victory now requires cutting off al Qaeda's road to Iraq through Damascus.
...defeating al Qaeda in Iraq requires not only that we continue pressing the offensive against its leadership and infrastructure inside the country. We must also aggressively target its links to "global" al Qaeda and close off the routes its foreign fighters are using to get into Iraq.
Recently declassified American intelligence reveals just how much al Qaeda in Iraq is dependent for its survival on the support it receives from the broader, global al Qaeda network, and how most of that support flows into Iraq through one country--Syria. Al Qaeda in Iraq is sustained by a transnational network of facilitators and human smugglers, who replenish its supply of suicide bombers--approximately 60 to 80 Islamist extremists, recruited every month from across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and sent to meet their al Qaeda handlers in Syria, from where they are taken to Iraq to blow themselves up to kill countless others.
.....That is why we now must focus on disrupting this flow of suicide bombers--and that means focusing on Syria, through which up to 80% of the Iraq-bound extremists transit.....and the overwhelming majority does so, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, by flying into Damascus International Airport, making the airport the central hub of al Qaeda travel in the Middle East....
....It is therefore time to demand that the Syrian regime stop playing travel agent for al Qaeda in Iraq. When Congress reconvenes next month, we should set aside whatever differences divide us on Iraq and send a clear and unambiguous message to the Syrian regime, as we did last month to the Iranian regime, that the transit of al Qaeda suicide bombers through Syria on their way to Iraq is completely unacceptable, and it must stop.
....Responsible air carriers should be asked to stop flights into Damascus International, as long as it remains the main terminal of international terror. Despite its use by al Qaeda and Hezbollah terrorists, the airport continues to be serviced by many major non-U.S. carriers, including Alitalia, Air France, and British Airways.....
....Simply put, for the U.S. and our Iraqi allies, defeating al Qaeda in Iraq means locking shut Syria's "Open Door" policy to terrorists.....
Damascus International Airport is a hub for terrorists.
The United States is at last making significant progress against al Qaeda in Iraq--but the road to victory now requires cutting off al Qaeda's road to Iraq through Damascus.
...defeating al Qaeda in Iraq requires not only that we continue pressing the offensive against its leadership and infrastructure inside the country. We must also aggressively target its links to "global" al Qaeda and close off the routes its foreign fighters are using to get into Iraq.
Recently declassified American intelligence reveals just how much al Qaeda in Iraq is dependent for its survival on the support it receives from the broader, global al Qaeda network, and how most of that support flows into Iraq through one country--Syria. Al Qaeda in Iraq is sustained by a transnational network of facilitators and human smugglers, who replenish its supply of suicide bombers--approximately 60 to 80 Islamist extremists, recruited every month from across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and sent to meet their al Qaeda handlers in Syria, from where they are taken to Iraq to blow themselves up to kill countless others.
.....That is why we now must focus on disrupting this flow of suicide bombers--and that means focusing on Syria, through which up to 80% of the Iraq-bound extremists transit.....and the overwhelming majority does so, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, by flying into Damascus International Airport, making the airport the central hub of al Qaeda travel in the Middle East....
....It is therefore time to demand that the Syrian regime stop playing travel agent for al Qaeda in Iraq. When Congress reconvenes next month, we should set aside whatever differences divide us on Iraq and send a clear and unambiguous message to the Syrian regime, as we did last month to the Iranian regime, that the transit of al Qaeda suicide bombers through Syria on their way to Iraq is completely unacceptable, and it must stop.
....Responsible air carriers should be asked to stop flights into Damascus International, as long as it remains the main terminal of international terror. Despite its use by al Qaeda and Hezbollah terrorists, the airport continues to be serviced by many major non-U.S. carriers, including Alitalia, Air France, and British Airways.....
....Simply put, for the U.S. and our Iraqi allies, defeating al Qaeda in Iraq means locking shut Syria's "Open Door" policy to terrorists.....
Monday, August 20, 2007
Israeli Cabinet to end Jewish Agency monopoly over immigration
From Haaretz, 20/8/07, by Anshel Pfeffer ....
The cabinet is scheduled to vote on a NIS 19 million allocation in the 2008 state budget for two independent immigration organizations. The resolution is expected to pass, essentially ending the Jewish Agency's monopoly over immigration to Israel.
The resolution would allocate funding to Nefesh B'Nefesh and AMI, which support Jewish immigration from North America, Britain and France......... The resolution would also enable the organizations to receive funds not only for their absorption activities within Israel but also for their emissaries stationed abroad.
Officials in Diaspora Jewish organizations view the resolution as a "ringing slap" in the face of the Jewish Agency, and a recognition of the fact that in the past several years it has failed to bring significant numbers of olim from prosperous countries....
The cabinet is scheduled to vote on a NIS 19 million allocation in the 2008 state budget for two independent immigration organizations. The resolution is expected to pass, essentially ending the Jewish Agency's monopoly over immigration to Israel.
The resolution would allocate funding to Nefesh B'Nefesh and AMI, which support Jewish immigration from North America, Britain and France......... The resolution would also enable the organizations to receive funds not only for their absorption activities within Israel but also for their emissaries stationed abroad.
Officials in Diaspora Jewish organizations view the resolution as a "ringing slap" in the face of the Jewish Agency, and a recognition of the fact that in the past several years it has failed to bring significant numbers of olim from prosperous countries....
Anti-Semitic bashing in Melbourne
From The Australian, August 20, 2007, by Natasha Robinson ...
MELBOURNE'S Jewish community has been rocked by an anti-Semitic attack in which a teenager was bashed with a baseball bat and a restaurant diner punched in the face.
Police are investigating the series of violent incidents, which occurred shortly after midnight on Saturday night in Balaclava, in Melbourne's Jewish heartland. A 17-year-old boy, an Orthodox Jew, was bashed with a baseball bat by three men who also smashed cars parked outside a Jewish restaurant.
The attack started when three men approached a group of Jewish men who were standing outside a restaurant on Carlisle Street in Balaclava. When the Jewish men went inside the restaurant, Mr Glicks, the men followed, punched a diner in the face and smashed windows.
The Jewish group B'nai B'rith said yesterday the attackers also vandalised cars parked outside the restaurant. Police were called, but the attackers had fled by the time they arrived.
However, about half an hour later, the men returned, this time with baseball bats. Teenager Alon Tam told The Australian he was walking along the street when he heard his friends shouting "Run, run, they're coming". Two men armed with baseball bats then started hitting him.
"They each came up to me with a baseball bat and came from both sides, bashing me, and told me that I'm a f...ing Jew and I deserve to die," Mr Tam said. He said he was hit on the chest and arms but managed to escape major injury. He was treated at the scene, but did not need to attend hospital.
Police were again called following the assault. Helicopters scoured the area looking for the attackers, but the men were not found.
Jewish groups yesterday condemned the attack, which they said was particularly concerning given that it occurred within a few hundred metres of an attack on Jewish man Menachem Vorchheimer, who was set upon by a group of young footballers in the same suburb in October last year.
MELBOURNE'S Jewish community has been rocked by an anti-Semitic attack in which a teenager was bashed with a baseball bat and a restaurant diner punched in the face.
Police are investigating the series of violent incidents, which occurred shortly after midnight on Saturday night in Balaclava, in Melbourne's Jewish heartland. A 17-year-old boy, an Orthodox Jew, was bashed with a baseball bat by three men who also smashed cars parked outside a Jewish restaurant.
The attack started when three men approached a group of Jewish men who were standing outside a restaurant on Carlisle Street in Balaclava. When the Jewish men went inside the restaurant, Mr Glicks, the men followed, punched a diner in the face and smashed windows.
The Jewish group B'nai B'rith said yesterday the attackers also vandalised cars parked outside the restaurant. Police were called, but the attackers had fled by the time they arrived.
However, about half an hour later, the men returned, this time with baseball bats. Teenager Alon Tam told The Australian he was walking along the street when he heard his friends shouting "Run, run, they're coming". Two men armed with baseball bats then started hitting him.
"They each came up to me with a baseball bat and came from both sides, bashing me, and told me that I'm a f...ing Jew and I deserve to die," Mr Tam said. He said he was hit on the chest and arms but managed to escape major injury. He was treated at the scene, but did not need to attend hospital.
Police were again called following the assault. Helicopters scoured the area looking for the attackers, but the men were not found.
Jewish groups yesterday condemned the attack, which they said was particularly concerning given that it occurred within a few hundred metres of an attack on Jewish man Menachem Vorchheimer, who was set upon by a group of young footballers in the same suburb in October last year.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Restitution of Holocaust-Era Assets: Promises and Reality
(Brief exerpts only) from a paper by Sidney Zabludoff***, published March 2007 in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs "Jewish Political Studies Review" 19:1-2 (Spring 2007). [Follow this link to see the full paper) ...
Less than 20 percent of the value of Jewish assets stolen by the Nazis and their collaborators has been restored. At least $115-$175 billion (2005 prices) remains unreturned despite numerous clear and explicit international agreements and country promises made during World War II and immediately thereafter. Even the highly publicized resurgence of restitution efforts since the mid-1990s resulted in the return of only 3 percent of Holocaust property. A key reason for these meager results during both periods was the failure to make a unique, comprehensive, and timely effort to deal adequately with an event unequaled in the annals of modern history-the extermination of more than two-thirds of continental European Jewry and the confiscation of nearly all of its assets.
There was a marked divergence between the promises and the reality of returning Jewish assets stolen by the Nazi regime and its collaborators during the Holocaust era. Two key time periods in this regard are the postwar era and the mid-1990s to the present, when there was a resurgence of interest in asset restitution. Certain lessons have emerged from the cumulative experience.
Excluded from the present discussion are other legitimate claims of Holocaust victims such as Nazi-inflicted damage to life, health, and income. These relate to pensions and onetime payments, such as for slave labor.
Estimated Value of Pre-Holocaust Looted Jewish Assets
...it is possible to provide a reasonable estimate that can be used as a framework for understanding the issue in terms of what was lost and what has been restored.
In late-1930s prices, the value of Jewish assets amounted to $10-$15 billion.....In today's prices (2005) the value of these Jewish assets would be some $143-$215 billion.....
How Restitution Fared until the Mid-1990s
The Promises and Pledges
Efforts to restore property taken by the Nazis and their collaborators began well before the end of hostilities......Throughout the war, the Allies constantly stated that a major aim was to ensure the return of property stolen, confiscated, or taken under duress.....
.....Soon after regaining their independence, all occupied countries put in place restitution regulations. ....
The Reality
At most, 15 percent of Jewish assets confiscated from 1934 to 1945 were returned after the war to their owners, their heirs, and Jewish organizations representing heirless claimants. Within Western Europe, the percentage restored for each country roughly ranged from 10 to 60 percent. In Eastern Europe, restitution was negligible. This meant the value of unrestored assets by the mid-1990s amounted to $120-$180 billion at 2005 prices....
....In November 1992, the World Jewish Restitution Organization was formed to handle the return of Jewish property in postcommunist Eastern Europe. It grew out of an alliance between major Jewish international bodies (representing the Diaspora) and the state of Israel, and was aimed at recovering communal property and private assets.
....Restitution faced many complications because assets were hard to find and difficult to value while confiscation had taken many paths. A major problem was that most property owners had died in the Holocaust along with their close heirs. Many of the remaining heirs lacked knowledge of the assets or possessed none of the paperwork needed to prove ownership. Among the many other impediments were:
● Many Jews were forced to sell their businesses, homes, and possessions at far less than prevailing market values because of Aryanization and loss of income.
● Property was extracted indirectly via heavy taxes solely on Jews.
● Movables were very difficult to trace. Furniture and other household items were disbursed widely. The bulk was sold or auctioned throughout Europe or ended up in the homes of numerous Nazi officials. A considerable share was simply stolen by Nazi collaborators or greedy neighbors in the occupied territories.
● Stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments often were traded many times and thus were dispersed throughout global markets. To make matters more difficult, much of this financial paper was in the form of bearer instruments, which do not indicate the name of the owner.
● The Soviets confiscated from the Reichsbank in Berlin large amounts of bonds and securities that the Nazis had not sold via Switzerland and other neutral countries during the war. These assets were an important part of the prewar financial portfolio of European Jews.
● Placing a value on the lost property was extremely intricate. The prices of bonds and stocks followed an erratic course as a result of the 1930s depression and the war. Much of the real estate was heavily damaged. Many once-prosperous companies were now defunct or a slim shell of their prewar proportions. Moreover, determining a fair amount to compensate for lost earnings on assets, especially financial holdings, was a highly contentious task.
● In some countries, the looted property was sold or auctioned off cheaply by the Nazis and their collaborators and the receipts placed in a fund. Those running the fund often charged excessive fees for the task. After the war, the amounts remaining in these funds thus were relatively small, leaving little for cash-strapped governments to return.
....During the mid-1990s, the concern for completing the restitution task resurfaced with considerable intensity. It was triggered by questions related to the duplicity of Swiss banks in failing to return Holocaust survivors' or their heirs' bank deposits made before World War II. It then erupted from a confluence of events. The coming of age of the "third" generation after the Holocaust led to a renewed discussion about how countries and their citizens had reacted to the plight of Jews....
....The enhanced interest was aggressively impelled by politicians, lawyers, and Jewish groups, mainly in the United States. U.S. congressional hearings were held. State banking and insurance regulators (mainly in New York and California) threatened to halt bank mergers involving European banks and not allow insurance companies to do business in their state unless restitution was adequately addressed. Jewish organizations operating in the United States, especially the World Jewish Congress, were highly effective in making politicians and regulators aware of the restitution issue and in publicizing historical information obtained from the U.S. National Archives.....
....European governments and companies were forced to take action.....When it came to returning or paying for stolen assets, however, the negotiations with European countries and businesses were long and arduous. From the mid-1990s to 2006, only some $3.4 billion was pledged to restore unpaid assets directly to survivors or their heirs or as humanitarian funds ....In addition to these pledges, about half a billion dollars was paid via a few high-profile individual art and real estate legal cases, bringing the total to nearly $4 billion.
Despite the considerable public awareness and U.S. pressure, only about 3 percent of the unpaid Holocaust assets was restored during the ten years since 1995. As a result, more than 80 percent remains unpaid, an amount equal to $115-$175 billion in 2005 prices. Moreover, progress in meeting the pledges was painfully slow. By the end of 2005, only about half of the $3.4 billion pledged was disbursed....
....After 2002, efforts to resolve the remaining restitution issues quickly faded. Most significant was the reduced U.S. political clout, which had been the mainstay of the endeavor. No additional noteworthy congressional hearings were held, efforts by U.S. state regulators diminished sharply, and there were unfavorable court cases. Public interest meanwhile receded along with an appreciable drop in press articles. .....
....West European governments and their public had little or no incentive to muster the political will needed to restore or compensate for the vast amounts of Jewish property never returned. This largely reflected the view that the issue had been resolved decades ago. There was also no significant number of Jewish voters.....
* * * SIDNEY ZABLUDOFF is an economist who worked for the White House, CIA, and Treasury Department for more than thirty years. Upon retirement in 1995, he focused on issues related to the restitution of Jewish assets stolen during the Holocaust era. He has published numerous detailed studies on the issue and was the principal analyst for Jewish participants involved in insurance claims.
Less than 20 percent of the value of Jewish assets stolen by the Nazis and their collaborators has been restored. At least $115-$175 billion (2005 prices) remains unreturned despite numerous clear and explicit international agreements and country promises made during World War II and immediately thereafter. Even the highly publicized resurgence of restitution efforts since the mid-1990s resulted in the return of only 3 percent of Holocaust property. A key reason for these meager results during both periods was the failure to make a unique, comprehensive, and timely effort to deal adequately with an event unequaled in the annals of modern history-the extermination of more than two-thirds of continental European Jewry and the confiscation of nearly all of its assets.
There was a marked divergence between the promises and the reality of returning Jewish assets stolen by the Nazi regime and its collaborators during the Holocaust era. Two key time periods in this regard are the postwar era and the mid-1990s to the present, when there was a resurgence of interest in asset restitution. Certain lessons have emerged from the cumulative experience.
Excluded from the present discussion are other legitimate claims of Holocaust victims such as Nazi-inflicted damage to life, health, and income. These relate to pensions and onetime payments, such as for slave labor.
Estimated Value of Pre-Holocaust Looted Jewish Assets
...it is possible to provide a reasonable estimate that can be used as a framework for understanding the issue in terms of what was lost and what has been restored.
In late-1930s prices, the value of Jewish assets amounted to $10-$15 billion.....In today's prices (2005) the value of these Jewish assets would be some $143-$215 billion.....
How Restitution Fared until the Mid-1990s
The Promises and Pledges
Efforts to restore property taken by the Nazis and their collaborators began well before the end of hostilities......Throughout the war, the Allies constantly stated that a major aim was to ensure the return of property stolen, confiscated, or taken under duress.....
.....Soon after regaining their independence, all occupied countries put in place restitution regulations. ....
The Reality
At most, 15 percent of Jewish assets confiscated from 1934 to 1945 were returned after the war to their owners, their heirs, and Jewish organizations representing heirless claimants. Within Western Europe, the percentage restored for each country roughly ranged from 10 to 60 percent. In Eastern Europe, restitution was negligible. This meant the value of unrestored assets by the mid-1990s amounted to $120-$180 billion at 2005 prices....
....In November 1992, the World Jewish Restitution Organization was formed to handle the return of Jewish property in postcommunist Eastern Europe. It grew out of an alliance between major Jewish international bodies (representing the Diaspora) and the state of Israel, and was aimed at recovering communal property and private assets.
....Restitution faced many complications because assets were hard to find and difficult to value while confiscation had taken many paths. A major problem was that most property owners had died in the Holocaust along with their close heirs. Many of the remaining heirs lacked knowledge of the assets or possessed none of the paperwork needed to prove ownership. Among the many other impediments were:
● Many Jews were forced to sell their businesses, homes, and possessions at far less than prevailing market values because of Aryanization and loss of income.
● Property was extracted indirectly via heavy taxes solely on Jews.
● Movables were very difficult to trace. Furniture and other household items were disbursed widely. The bulk was sold or auctioned throughout Europe or ended up in the homes of numerous Nazi officials. A considerable share was simply stolen by Nazi collaborators or greedy neighbors in the occupied territories.
● Stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments often were traded many times and thus were dispersed throughout global markets. To make matters more difficult, much of this financial paper was in the form of bearer instruments, which do not indicate the name of the owner.
● The Soviets confiscated from the Reichsbank in Berlin large amounts of bonds and securities that the Nazis had not sold via Switzerland and other neutral countries during the war. These assets were an important part of the prewar financial portfolio of European Jews.
● Placing a value on the lost property was extremely intricate. The prices of bonds and stocks followed an erratic course as a result of the 1930s depression and the war. Much of the real estate was heavily damaged. Many once-prosperous companies were now defunct or a slim shell of their prewar proportions. Moreover, determining a fair amount to compensate for lost earnings on assets, especially financial holdings, was a highly contentious task.
● In some countries, the looted property was sold or auctioned off cheaply by the Nazis and their collaborators and the receipts placed in a fund. Those running the fund often charged excessive fees for the task. After the war, the amounts remaining in these funds thus were relatively small, leaving little for cash-strapped governments to return.
....During the mid-1990s, the concern for completing the restitution task resurfaced with considerable intensity. It was triggered by questions related to the duplicity of Swiss banks in failing to return Holocaust survivors' or their heirs' bank deposits made before World War II. It then erupted from a confluence of events. The coming of age of the "third" generation after the Holocaust led to a renewed discussion about how countries and their citizens had reacted to the plight of Jews....
....The enhanced interest was aggressively impelled by politicians, lawyers, and Jewish groups, mainly in the United States. U.S. congressional hearings were held. State banking and insurance regulators (mainly in New York and California) threatened to halt bank mergers involving European banks and not allow insurance companies to do business in their state unless restitution was adequately addressed. Jewish organizations operating in the United States, especially the World Jewish Congress, were highly effective in making politicians and regulators aware of the restitution issue and in publicizing historical information obtained from the U.S. National Archives.....
....European governments and companies were forced to take action.....When it came to returning or paying for stolen assets, however, the negotiations with European countries and businesses were long and arduous. From the mid-1990s to 2006, only some $3.4 billion was pledged to restore unpaid assets directly to survivors or their heirs or as humanitarian funds ....In addition to these pledges, about half a billion dollars was paid via a few high-profile individual art and real estate legal cases, bringing the total to nearly $4 billion.
Despite the considerable public awareness and U.S. pressure, only about 3 percent of the unpaid Holocaust assets was restored during the ten years since 1995. As a result, more than 80 percent remains unpaid, an amount equal to $115-$175 billion in 2005 prices. Moreover, progress in meeting the pledges was painfully slow. By the end of 2005, only about half of the $3.4 billion pledged was disbursed....
....After 2002, efforts to resolve the remaining restitution issues quickly faded. Most significant was the reduced U.S. political clout, which had been the mainstay of the endeavor. No additional noteworthy congressional hearings were held, efforts by U.S. state regulators diminished sharply, and there were unfavorable court cases. Public interest meanwhile receded along with an appreciable drop in press articles. .....
....West European governments and their public had little or no incentive to muster the political will needed to restore or compensate for the vast amounts of Jewish property never returned. This largely reflected the view that the issue had been resolved decades ago. There was also no significant number of Jewish voters.....
* * * SIDNEY ZABLUDOFF is an economist who worked for the White House, CIA, and Treasury Department for more than thirty years. Upon retirement in 1995, he focused on issues related to the restitution of Jewish assets stolen during the Holocaust era. He has published numerous detailed studies on the issue and was the principal analyst for Jewish participants involved in insurance claims.
Hamas TV's child star says she's ready for martyrdom
From the Santa Barbara News, by Dion Nissenbaum, August 14, 2007 ....
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.
Saraa wants to be a doctor. If she can't, the young star of Hamas television's best-known children's show said, she'd be proud to become a martyr. Saraa says little Jewish girls should be forced from their homes in Israel so that Palestinians can return to their land.
With the show's producer helpfully offering written tips during an interview, Saraa didn't get into how she hopes to die for her cause, be it suicide bombing, fighting the Israeli military or some other way. She carefully sidestepped any suggestion that she's subtly calling for the destruction of Israel....
....Saraa is the sweet face of ''Tomorrow's Pioneers,'' a weekly, hour-long Hamas television children's show best known for bringing the world a militant Mickey Mouse look-alike and then having him killed off by an Israeli interrogator. With her jarring mix of innocent charm and militant rhetoric, Saraa is at the center of the militant Islamist group's increasingly sophisticated campaign to become the dominant force in Palestinian politics.
....Since it went on the air last year in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-funded al-Aqsa television has gained momentum and expanded its audience to include the West Bank. Taking a lead from Hezbollah's al-Manar television station in Beirut, Hamas is using al-Aqsa to promote its agenda and challenge its rivals, in this case Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his fractured Fatah allies....
....''Tomorrow's Pioneers'' sparked an international furor in April when it began featuring Farfour, the Mickey Mouse look-alike who sounded more like Iran's firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than a Disney character.
...The Israeli government and activists who monitor Palestinian programming accused Hamas of poisoning the minds of young children with the show. After two months, Farfour was beaten to death on the show by an Israeli interrogator. Nahoul, a larger-than-life bee, is now carrying his message. ''A lot of people in Palestine have died as martyrs, and lots of Palestinians hope to be martyrs,'' Saraa said of Farfour's demise. ''This is one of the ends.''
Asked if she hoped one day to be a martyr, Saraa instinctively nodded her head. ''Of course,'' Saraa said. ''It's something to be proud of. Every Palestinian citizen hopes to be a martyr.''
Saraa helps deliver similar messages to Palestinian children from a Hamas TV set filled with colorful numbers and pictures of kittens. During the show, Saraa fields calls from Palestinian children who warble songs about Islam, liberating Jerusalem and finding answers in the barrel of a machine gun.
... Saraa is the true face of Hamas, an extremist group that's using an innocent front to conceal its real agenda.
...On the show, Saraa offers moral lessons to viewers and urges them to do what they can to fight Israeli occupation. After some prodding in an interview, Saraa offered a personal message for Israeli girls her age. ''They have to leave,'' she said. ''This is our country. They kicked us out and stole our happiness. This is a natural result.''......
---
Follow the links below to see exerpts from the Hamas TV show ''Tomorrow's Pioneers,'' featuring Saraa Barhoum and Farfour:
Farfour's first shows with Saraa
Farfour is killed by Israeli interrogator
Farfour is replaced by Nahoul the bee
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.
Saraa wants to be a doctor. If she can't, the young star of Hamas television's best-known children's show said, she'd be proud to become a martyr. Saraa says little Jewish girls should be forced from their homes in Israel so that Palestinians can return to their land.
With the show's producer helpfully offering written tips during an interview, Saraa didn't get into how she hopes to die for her cause, be it suicide bombing, fighting the Israeli military or some other way. She carefully sidestepped any suggestion that she's subtly calling for the destruction of Israel....
....Saraa is the sweet face of ''Tomorrow's Pioneers,'' a weekly, hour-long Hamas television children's show best known for bringing the world a militant Mickey Mouse look-alike and then having him killed off by an Israeli interrogator. With her jarring mix of innocent charm and militant rhetoric, Saraa is at the center of the militant Islamist group's increasingly sophisticated campaign to become the dominant force in Palestinian politics.
....Since it went on the air last year in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-funded al-Aqsa television has gained momentum and expanded its audience to include the West Bank. Taking a lead from Hezbollah's al-Manar television station in Beirut, Hamas is using al-Aqsa to promote its agenda and challenge its rivals, in this case Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his fractured Fatah allies....
....''Tomorrow's Pioneers'' sparked an international furor in April when it began featuring Farfour, the Mickey Mouse look-alike who sounded more like Iran's firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than a Disney character.
...The Israeli government and activists who monitor Palestinian programming accused Hamas of poisoning the minds of young children with the show. After two months, Farfour was beaten to death on the show by an Israeli interrogator. Nahoul, a larger-than-life bee, is now carrying his message. ''A lot of people in Palestine have died as martyrs, and lots of Palestinians hope to be martyrs,'' Saraa said of Farfour's demise. ''This is one of the ends.''
Asked if she hoped one day to be a martyr, Saraa instinctively nodded her head. ''Of course,'' Saraa said. ''It's something to be proud of. Every Palestinian citizen hopes to be a martyr.''
Saraa helps deliver similar messages to Palestinian children from a Hamas TV set filled with colorful numbers and pictures of kittens. During the show, Saraa fields calls from Palestinian children who warble songs about Islam, liberating Jerusalem and finding answers in the barrel of a machine gun.
... Saraa is the true face of Hamas, an extremist group that's using an innocent front to conceal its real agenda.
...On the show, Saraa offers moral lessons to viewers and urges them to do what they can to fight Israeli occupation. After some prodding in an interview, Saraa offered a personal message for Israeli girls her age. ''They have to leave,'' she said. ''This is our country. They kicked us out and stole our happiness. This is a natural result.''......
---
Follow the links below to see exerpts from the Hamas TV show ''Tomorrow's Pioneers,'' featuring Saraa Barhoum and Farfour:
Farfour's first shows with Saraa
Farfour is killed by Israeli interrogator
Farfour is replaced by Nahoul the bee
Iranian Guard financial holdings extensive
From The Washington Times, August 16, 2007 By David R. Sands ....
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, which faces the prospect of severe U.S. financial sanctions as a "terrorist organization," represents a tempting target given its multibillion-dollar commercial empire ranging from oil fields to honeybee farms.
Bush administration officials yesterday insisted that no decision had been made on the terrorist designation, but acknowledged privately that the move to sanction Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was under active consideration and, if approved, could be announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice within the month.
....The U.S. terrorist designation would freeze any U.S. assets of the IRGC, but financial analysts say its greater practical effect would be to discourage companies and banks from other nations from working with the corps' various subsidiaries.
....The IRGC, formed specifically to preserve the Islamic republic after the ouster of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in the 1979 revolution, has long been a player in the Iranian economy. The force, which is separate from Iran's regular military services, is authorized by the constitution to own and develop commercial enterprises in peacetime. But the IRGC's financial scope has expanded dramatically with the election of Islamic hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president in 2005.
According to a survey by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, the IRGC's engineering arm, known as the Ghorb Khatam, won a string of major contracts from the Ahmadinejad government, including a $1.2 billion deal to build part of the Tehran subway, a $1.3 billion oil pipeline contract, and a no-bid $2.09 billion commission to develop parts of the vast South Pars natural gas field.
Brig. Gen. Abdolreza Abed, the Ghorb chief who is also IRGC deputy commander, said in a rare June 2006 interview in a state-owned Iranian newspaper that the total worth of the company's 1,200 projects prior to the big new deals was about $3.5 billion. U.S. officials say such profits matter because it is IRGC's foreign military arm, known as the Quds Force, that is suspected of providing funds, training and equipment to anti-U.S. forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exile group that staunchly opposes the Tehran regime, yesterday produced its own inventory of IRGC commercial enterprises. The council is the political arm of a group officially designated a terrorist organization by the State Department, but its past exposes of Iran's secret nuclear and other military operations have proved credible. Among the IRGC's properties: firms and investments in construction, finance, movie production, poultry farming, honeybee farms, import licensing and real estate. "On several occasions, the IRGC has taken over huge pieces of land in posh areas of major cities, Tehran in particular, and [has used force] to suppress the other government agencies that had claims to these lands," the council said.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, which faces the prospect of severe U.S. financial sanctions as a "terrorist organization," represents a tempting target given its multibillion-dollar commercial empire ranging from oil fields to honeybee farms.
Bush administration officials yesterday insisted that no decision had been made on the terrorist designation, but acknowledged privately that the move to sanction Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was under active consideration and, if approved, could be announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice within the month.
....The U.S. terrorist designation would freeze any U.S. assets of the IRGC, but financial analysts say its greater practical effect would be to discourage companies and banks from other nations from working with the corps' various subsidiaries.
....The IRGC, formed specifically to preserve the Islamic republic after the ouster of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in the 1979 revolution, has long been a player in the Iranian economy. The force, which is separate from Iran's regular military services, is authorized by the constitution to own and develop commercial enterprises in peacetime. But the IRGC's financial scope has expanded dramatically with the election of Islamic hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president in 2005.
According to a survey by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, the IRGC's engineering arm, known as the Ghorb Khatam, won a string of major contracts from the Ahmadinejad government, including a $1.2 billion deal to build part of the Tehran subway, a $1.3 billion oil pipeline contract, and a no-bid $2.09 billion commission to develop parts of the vast South Pars natural gas field.
Brig. Gen. Abdolreza Abed, the Ghorb chief who is also IRGC deputy commander, said in a rare June 2006 interview in a state-owned Iranian newspaper that the total worth of the company's 1,200 projects prior to the big new deals was about $3.5 billion. U.S. officials say such profits matter because it is IRGC's foreign military arm, known as the Quds Force, that is suspected of providing funds, training and equipment to anti-U.S. forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exile group that staunchly opposes the Tehran regime, yesterday produced its own inventory of IRGC commercial enterprises. The council is the political arm of a group officially designated a terrorist organization by the State Department, but its past exposes of Iran's secret nuclear and other military operations have proved credible. Among the IRGC's properties: firms and investments in construction, finance, movie production, poultry farming, honeybee farms, import licensing and real estate. "On several occasions, the IRGC has taken over huge pieces of land in posh areas of major cities, Tehran in particular, and [has used force] to suppress the other government agencies that had claims to these lands," the council said.
Al Qaeda Dislocates US Security Plan by Genocidal Massacre
From a DEBKAfile Exclusive Report, August 17, 2007 [my own emphasis added - SL]...
Yazidi victims of al Qaeda in Iraq
This time, Al Qaeda in Iraq selected a tiny, isolated, unprotected community of some 150,000 Yazidi Kurds, persecuted by Sunni and Shiite Muslims alike, as the victims of its barbarity. Tuesday, Aug. 14, within minutes, three oil tankers driven by suicide bombers had murdered at least 500 people, injured more than 1,000 and transformed an ancient indigenous Iraqi sect into a humanitarian problem.
While rescuers were still digging bodies out of the rubble of their destroyed homes in Qataniya and Adnaniya near Mosul, tens of thousands snatched their remaining belongings and streamed to the Syrian border.
Exchanges among al Qaeda’s adherents in Iraq 4, picked up by DEBKAfile’s special monitors, disclosed method behind the savagery. The jihadists had made an example of the Yazidis of Mt. Sinjar, holding them up as the first complete community they had succeeded in driving out of Iraq. They even urged harassing the refugees to speed the removal of every last Yazidi Kurd from Iraq.
Al Qaeda timed its brutal attack for maximum disruption of the latest American operations in the framework of the US-Iraqi overall Phantom Strike offensive to secure Iraq against insurgents and terrorists....
....To defeat the US-led security campaign, al Qaeda appears to have opted for meting out death and destruction among large groups of civilians, aimed at forcing them out of their homes and causing hundreds of thousands of displaced people to wander hither and thither in search of safety, strangling communications and generating mayhem across the country. Blocked roads are intended to snarl the US offensives and compel the troops to turn to the immediate task of locating the deadly fuel trucks hurtling down the highways before they explode and inflict carnage.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that al Qaeda employed two revealing methods of operation this week:
1. Singled out as a soft targeted for the suicide bombers at the wheels of oil trucks was an isolated sect living in a remote community, which was easily accessible and unprotected by American or Iraqi forces or local security resources. The Yazidis live in communities of 5,000 to 20,000 which are clearly defined by religion and ethnic, tribal and clan kinship.
2. It looks as though Qaeda is bent on reusing its method of attack against the Yazidis for additional sections of the population – in particular the highly inflammable oil trucks driven by suicide bombers.
....The war in Iraq is thus raging on two planes.
On one, coalition and Iraqi forces are launching offensive after offensive to scotch the al Qaeda-Sunni insurgent threat to Iraq’s security; on the second, al Qaeda is seeking to drive masses of terrified civilians out of their homes in chaotic flight.....
Yazidi victims of al Qaeda in Iraq
This time, Al Qaeda in Iraq selected a tiny, isolated, unprotected community of some 150,000 Yazidi Kurds, persecuted by Sunni and Shiite Muslims alike, as the victims of its barbarity. Tuesday, Aug. 14, within minutes, three oil tankers driven by suicide bombers had murdered at least 500 people, injured more than 1,000 and transformed an ancient indigenous Iraqi sect into a humanitarian problem.
While rescuers were still digging bodies out of the rubble of their destroyed homes in Qataniya and Adnaniya near Mosul, tens of thousands snatched their remaining belongings and streamed to the Syrian border.
Exchanges among al Qaeda’s adherents in Iraq 4, picked up by DEBKAfile’s special monitors, disclosed method behind the savagery. The jihadists had made an example of the Yazidis of Mt. Sinjar, holding them up as the first complete community they had succeeded in driving out of Iraq. They even urged harassing the refugees to speed the removal of every last Yazidi Kurd from Iraq.
Al Qaeda timed its brutal attack for maximum disruption of the latest American operations in the framework of the US-Iraqi overall Phantom Strike offensive to secure Iraq against insurgents and terrorists....
....To defeat the US-led security campaign, al Qaeda appears to have opted for meting out death and destruction among large groups of civilians, aimed at forcing them out of their homes and causing hundreds of thousands of displaced people to wander hither and thither in search of safety, strangling communications and generating mayhem across the country. Blocked roads are intended to snarl the US offensives and compel the troops to turn to the immediate task of locating the deadly fuel trucks hurtling down the highways before they explode and inflict carnage.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that al Qaeda employed two revealing methods of operation this week:
1. Singled out as a soft targeted for the suicide bombers at the wheels of oil trucks was an isolated sect living in a remote community, which was easily accessible and unprotected by American or Iraqi forces or local security resources. The Yazidis live in communities of 5,000 to 20,000 which are clearly defined by religion and ethnic, tribal and clan kinship.
2. It looks as though Qaeda is bent on reusing its method of attack against the Yazidis for additional sections of the population – in particular the highly inflammable oil trucks driven by suicide bombers.
....The war in Iraq is thus raging on two planes.
On one, coalition and Iraqi forces are launching offensive after offensive to scotch the al Qaeda-Sunni insurgent threat to Iraq’s security; on the second, al Qaeda is seeking to drive masses of terrified civilians out of their homes in chaotic flight.....
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The unholy trinity and Oslo redux
From JPost, August 14, 2007, by by Isi Leibler ....
Only a few weeks ago our erratic prime minister was still assuring the nation that for the time being no further unilateral withdrawals were under consideration.
Yet a recent report in Haaretz outlined a comprehensive new "peace" formula virtually indistinguishable from the 2002 Saudi plan, incorporating wide ranging concessions to the Palestinians which President Shimon Peres had submitted to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert immediately upon assuming office.
Of course, in line with standard procedures related to such trial balloons, the Prime Minister's office ritualistically denied that any such plan had ever been considered. However Beit Hanassi reportedly confirmed the existence of the plan and even expressed confidence that it would be endorsed by the Americans and Europeans.
Peres was the principal architect of the disastrous Oslo Accords, but his new proposal extends far beyond his original failed plan. It recommends that Israel forego the Israeli interpretation of UN Resolution 242 and accept the bitterly contested Arab-Soviet-French interpretation which demanded Israel's total withdrawal from all the territories beyond the Green Line, effectively ceding to the Palestinians 100 percent of the territories captured in 1967.
The major settlement blocs amounting up to 5% of the area would be retained in "exchange" for equivalent territory agreed to by the Palestinians. Jerusalem would be divided with its holy sites being administered by all three faiths. The Peres plan also proposed that the Palestinian flag should fly over the Temple Mount. The formula includes the standard mantras relating to security requirements and a need to formulate a "creative" declaration relating to the Arab refugee "right of return."
By basically accepting a return to the 1967 lines, supposedly described by the late Abba Eban as the "Auschwitz borders," the Peres plan forfeits the April 2004 assurances provided by President George W. Bush to former premier Ariel Sharon and conclusively jettisons any meaningful concept of "defensible borders."
The repercussions of previous unilateral territorial concessions were obviously ignored. They include the outbreak of the first wave of suicide bombings in the wake of Oslo; the failed Clinton-Barak negotiations with Arafat which led to the second intifada; the catastrophic Gaza unilateral disengagement which transformed Israeli citizens in Gush Katif into refugees in their own land and facilitated the subsequent Hamas takeover in Gaza, and the ongoing bombardment of Sderot.
In a nutshell, the evidence clearly demonstrates that, without exception, every Israeli retreat under fire has emboldened jihadists into intensifying the violence.
It is simply mind boggling that at a time when utter chaos prevails among the Palestinians, such a bizarre proposal could even be contemplated. But it is even more disconcerting that a newly elected president, whose prime obligation is to remove himself from the political arena and act as a unifying rod for the nation, reportedly considers it appropriate to launch such a controversial and highly divisive proposal as his first initiative in office. It surely augers ill for the future of the already battered image of the Presidency if it is now to be crassly exploited as a launching pad for promoting an incumbent's personal political agenda.
Olmert's Jericho meeting with Abbas indicates that contrary to statements from his spokesmen, he is indeed proceeding in the direction of the Peres recommendations, and clearly determined come what may to move speedily toward awarding Palestinian statehood to the corrupt Fatah leaders.
To expedite this, Olmert capitulated on the one crucial Road Map clause which even the Quartet had hitherto refused to concede to the duplicitous Palestinian leaders. He dispensed with the requirement that the PA uproot the terrorist infrastructure as a prerequisite to further Israeli concessions.
Instead he facilitated transfers of arms to Fatah which will invariably ultimately be employed against Israelis and undertook to release more terrorists. He also took pride in having granted amnesties to the IDF's most wanted murderers who brazenly announced in advance, that far from retiring, they were being promoted to leadership positions in the so-called Palestinian security structure.
To top it off, Olmert undertook to consider endorsing the return to the West Bank of the bloody terrorists expelled from the region after the 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity. No concern was expressed that Hamas would almost certainly take control of Judea and Samaria once the IDF withdraws from the area. And in what sounded like black humor, Olmert's spokesman stated that Abbas "promised" that despite ongoing pressure from the Arab League, the PA would not contemplate joining forces again with Hamas. Yet within 24 hours, Fatah and Hamas functionaries were reportedly conducting secret talks designed to overcome their differences.
It was also disclosed that of the NIS 400 million recently provided by Israel to Fatah "due to a computer error" a substantial proportion was transferred to Hamas to pay the salaries of their "security forces" and provide cars for their legislators.
Clearly, the Americans are desperate to create a united Sunni bloc to neutralize the growing Iranian led Shi'ite threat and believe this can be facilitated by displaying progress on the Israel- Palestinian front. But one could surely have expected responsible Israeli leaders to resist implementing such concessions without considering the implications on their own security.
Moreover, how can a nation possibly contemplate such dramatic policy changes with potential existential implications, without undergoing a thorough internal debate to ascertain the views and obtain approval of the people? Why are such crucial initiatives leaked via favored media outlets instead of being formally initiated and debated in the Cabinet and the Knesset?
This is surely not how a genuine democracy functions.
To make matters worse, since the Second Lebanon War, the Knesset no longer represents the views of the nation. The current government is an amalgam of the shattered Kadima ruling party with no coherent political stance, a discredited Labor Party, Shas, an opportunistic hawkish inclined religious party, and a purportedly extreme right wing Yisrael Beiteinu party.
But worst of all, who would be leading such a grotesque replay of the Oslo Accords? None other than an unholy trinity of the greatest failures in Israeli political life! Shimon Peres the architect of Oslo; Labor leader Ehud Barak, whose unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon paved the way for the disastrous Lebanese war and whose impulsive overnight concessions to Arafat led to the intifada; and finally, our failed former right-wing Prime Minister Olmert, zig zagging and lurching in different directions in a desperate effort to retain power and become the darling of Peace Now.
Are the people of Israel going to stand idly by and allow this failed trio to lead them into yet another, probably more devastating unilateral withdrawal? It is surely time for Kadima, Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset members still retaining any semblance of decency and integrity to stand up and revolt. They are fully aware that the majority of their constituents are strongly opposed to any further destructive unilateral initiatives. Before the die is cast, they must declare to Olmert enough is enough, withdraw support from this government, and demand immediate elections.
Only a few weeks ago our erratic prime minister was still assuring the nation that for the time being no further unilateral withdrawals were under consideration.
Yet a recent report in Haaretz outlined a comprehensive new "peace" formula virtually indistinguishable from the 2002 Saudi plan, incorporating wide ranging concessions to the Palestinians which President Shimon Peres had submitted to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert immediately upon assuming office.
Of course, in line with standard procedures related to such trial balloons, the Prime Minister's office ritualistically denied that any such plan had ever been considered. However Beit Hanassi reportedly confirmed the existence of the plan and even expressed confidence that it would be endorsed by the Americans and Europeans.
Peres was the principal architect of the disastrous Oslo Accords, but his new proposal extends far beyond his original failed plan. It recommends that Israel forego the Israeli interpretation of UN Resolution 242 and accept the bitterly contested Arab-Soviet-French interpretation which demanded Israel's total withdrawal from all the territories beyond the Green Line, effectively ceding to the Palestinians 100 percent of the territories captured in 1967.
The major settlement blocs amounting up to 5% of the area would be retained in "exchange" for equivalent territory agreed to by the Palestinians. Jerusalem would be divided with its holy sites being administered by all three faiths. The Peres plan also proposed that the Palestinian flag should fly over the Temple Mount. The formula includes the standard mantras relating to security requirements and a need to formulate a "creative" declaration relating to the Arab refugee "right of return."
By basically accepting a return to the 1967 lines, supposedly described by the late Abba Eban as the "Auschwitz borders," the Peres plan forfeits the April 2004 assurances provided by President George W. Bush to former premier Ariel Sharon and conclusively jettisons any meaningful concept of "defensible borders."
The repercussions of previous unilateral territorial concessions were obviously ignored. They include the outbreak of the first wave of suicide bombings in the wake of Oslo; the failed Clinton-Barak negotiations with Arafat which led to the second intifada; the catastrophic Gaza unilateral disengagement which transformed Israeli citizens in Gush Katif into refugees in their own land and facilitated the subsequent Hamas takeover in Gaza, and the ongoing bombardment of Sderot.
In a nutshell, the evidence clearly demonstrates that, without exception, every Israeli retreat under fire has emboldened jihadists into intensifying the violence.
It is simply mind boggling that at a time when utter chaos prevails among the Palestinians, such a bizarre proposal could even be contemplated. But it is even more disconcerting that a newly elected president, whose prime obligation is to remove himself from the political arena and act as a unifying rod for the nation, reportedly considers it appropriate to launch such a controversial and highly divisive proposal as his first initiative in office. It surely augers ill for the future of the already battered image of the Presidency if it is now to be crassly exploited as a launching pad for promoting an incumbent's personal political agenda.
Olmert's Jericho meeting with Abbas indicates that contrary to statements from his spokesmen, he is indeed proceeding in the direction of the Peres recommendations, and clearly determined come what may to move speedily toward awarding Palestinian statehood to the corrupt Fatah leaders.
To expedite this, Olmert capitulated on the one crucial Road Map clause which even the Quartet had hitherto refused to concede to the duplicitous Palestinian leaders. He dispensed with the requirement that the PA uproot the terrorist infrastructure as a prerequisite to further Israeli concessions.
Instead he facilitated transfers of arms to Fatah which will invariably ultimately be employed against Israelis and undertook to release more terrorists. He also took pride in having granted amnesties to the IDF's most wanted murderers who brazenly announced in advance, that far from retiring, they were being promoted to leadership positions in the so-called Palestinian security structure.
To top it off, Olmert undertook to consider endorsing the return to the West Bank of the bloody terrorists expelled from the region after the 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity. No concern was expressed that Hamas would almost certainly take control of Judea and Samaria once the IDF withdraws from the area. And in what sounded like black humor, Olmert's spokesman stated that Abbas "promised" that despite ongoing pressure from the Arab League, the PA would not contemplate joining forces again with Hamas. Yet within 24 hours, Fatah and Hamas functionaries were reportedly conducting secret talks designed to overcome their differences.
It was also disclosed that of the NIS 400 million recently provided by Israel to Fatah "due to a computer error" a substantial proportion was transferred to Hamas to pay the salaries of their "security forces" and provide cars for their legislators.
Clearly, the Americans are desperate to create a united Sunni bloc to neutralize the growing Iranian led Shi'ite threat and believe this can be facilitated by displaying progress on the Israel- Palestinian front. But one could surely have expected responsible Israeli leaders to resist implementing such concessions without considering the implications on their own security.
Moreover, how can a nation possibly contemplate such dramatic policy changes with potential existential implications, without undergoing a thorough internal debate to ascertain the views and obtain approval of the people? Why are such crucial initiatives leaked via favored media outlets instead of being formally initiated and debated in the Cabinet and the Knesset?
This is surely not how a genuine democracy functions.
To make matters worse, since the Second Lebanon War, the Knesset no longer represents the views of the nation. The current government is an amalgam of the shattered Kadima ruling party with no coherent political stance, a discredited Labor Party, Shas, an opportunistic hawkish inclined religious party, and a purportedly extreme right wing Yisrael Beiteinu party.
But worst of all, who would be leading such a grotesque replay of the Oslo Accords? None other than an unholy trinity of the greatest failures in Israeli political life! Shimon Peres the architect of Oslo; Labor leader Ehud Barak, whose unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon paved the way for the disastrous Lebanese war and whose impulsive overnight concessions to Arafat led to the intifada; and finally, our failed former right-wing Prime Minister Olmert, zig zagging and lurching in different directions in a desperate effort to retain power and become the darling of Peace Now.
Are the people of Israel going to stand idly by and allow this failed trio to lead them into yet another, probably more devastating unilateral withdrawal? It is surely time for Kadima, Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset members still retaining any semblance of decency and integrity to stand up and revolt. They are fully aware that the majority of their constituents are strongly opposed to any further destructive unilateral initiatives. Before the die is cast, they must declare to Olmert enough is enough, withdraw support from this government, and demand immediate elections.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
IDF celebrates Druze soldiers' day
From Ynet News, 12/8/07, by Hagai Einav ....
Senior IDF officers, government officials gather in Carmiel to honor IDF's Druze soldiers. Druze brigade to be presented with Commander in Chief's Citation for actions in Second Lebanon War
The IDF celebrated its Druze soldiers' day Sunday, honoring the 110,000 Druze soldiers in its ranks. The official military ceremony was held in Carmiel, where senior members of the government and the military spoke of the community's valuable contribution to the IDF.
The IDF's Druze brigade is also to receive the Commander in Chief's Citation, for their actions in the Second Lebanon War.
"It is our duty to serve our country and we take pride in it – that's the way I was brought up and that's the way I raised my children," Riad Assad, a Druze from Beit-Jan who served in the IDF in the 1970s and now has five sons serving in the army, told Ynet Sunday.
The service, said Assad is somewhat of a way of life in his family: His eldest served is the Druze brigade as a paramedic, his second son serves in the regular army, his third son serves as a deputy company commander, his fourth son is on the last legs of his service and his fifth son just finished basic training.....
Senior IDF officers, government officials gather in Carmiel to honor IDF's Druze soldiers. Druze brigade to be presented with Commander in Chief's Citation for actions in Second Lebanon War
The IDF celebrated its Druze soldiers' day Sunday, honoring the 110,000 Druze soldiers in its ranks. The official military ceremony was held in Carmiel, where senior members of the government and the military spoke of the community's valuable contribution to the IDF.
The IDF's Druze brigade is also to receive the Commander in Chief's Citation, for their actions in the Second Lebanon War.
"It is our duty to serve our country and we take pride in it – that's the way I was brought up and that's the way I raised my children," Riad Assad, a Druze from Beit-Jan who served in the IDF in the 1970s and now has five sons serving in the army, told Ynet Sunday.
The service, said Assad is somewhat of a way of life in his family: His eldest served is the Druze brigade as a paramedic, his second son serves in the regular army, his third son serves as a deputy company commander, his fourth son is on the last legs of his service and his fifth son just finished basic training.....
Syrian rockets aimed at Tel Aviv
From Ynet News, 9/8/07, by Ron Ben Yishai ...
Long-range rockets already in place on Golan; is Syria preparing for war?
The latest official IDF intelligence branch assessment, adopted by the Israeli government, is that Syria is not planning to attack Israel. At least not in the coming months. ....This is the official assessment. Yet this is not the complete picture. The truth is that there is no certainty within Israel’s intelligence community that Syria is not planning to initiate a military confrontation with Israel. Quite a few researchers in the IDF intelligence branch and Mossad suspect that Syria is waiting for a convenient point in time – which is not necessarily in the distant future.
We’re not talking about the kind of war we’re familiar with like the Six Day War or Yom Kippur War, but rather, a Hizbullah-style war – but on an immense scale. These arguments and assessments are being taken very seriously by officials in Jerusalem, and this is the reason why the cabinet tasked with monitoring home front preparedness convened again Wednesday for its third or fourth session in order to discuss the possibility of a massive Syrian missile offensive.
Why do intelligence officials fear a Syrian attack? Below are some reasons, based on foreign sources and information already reported by the media:
Syria is currently completing the accelerated deployment of a large rocket arsenal on the Golan aimed at Israel. We’re not talking about 122-millimeter Katyusha rockets with a 20-kilometer (roughly 12 miles) range and warheads that contain only a few dozens of kilograms of explosives, but rather, heavy rockets of the type possessed by Hizbullah (most of them were destroyed in the Air Force attack at the start of the Second Lebanon War.) These are 222, 302, and even 600 millimeter rockets that can carry hundreds of kilograms of explosives – up to 500 – and can reach Tel Aviv. Dozens of launchers have already been deployed on the Golan and they can fire, in one barrage, hundreds of such rockets. This comes in addition to the various types of Scud missiles positioned deep within Syrian territory and capable of hitting southern Israel. However, the Arrow missile is supposed to intercept the Scuds. Yet at this time, the IDF has no good technological response, either aerial or on the ground, to the heavy rockets.
The Syrian army is quickly equipping itself with hundreds of advanced anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets made by Russia and funded by Iran with the aim of thwarting an IDF ground or air assault – an assault aimed at paralyzing the missile arsenal.
Since the end of last year, the Syrian army has accelerated the training sessions of all its formations, both regular and reserve, and already views them as fit for confrontation.
No advance warning
The military implication of the above-mentioned facts, according to some of those tasked with assessing Syrian intentions, is that Syria is preparing and able to embark on a Hizbullah-style war of attrition even without changing its military deployment from a defensive to an offensive one. Therefore, if Bashar Assad decides to launch such war, there will be no clear advance warning that will attest to his country’s intention to embark on a military campaign – and it would be able to launch it based on the current deployment.
In addition, intelligence officials point to a growing Syrian-Iranian interest in such war, for the following reasons:
Syria’s president is currently confident of his military power and truly believes that if he only adopts the Hizbullah model, he has the ability to force Israel to accept his demands regarding the Golan Heights, and ease some of the international pressure over the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri.
Syria sustained harsh blows when it was forced to withdraw from Lebanon and isolated in the international arena. In addition, Sunni opposition elements in Syria are getting stronger. All these factors threaten Assad’s regime and the Alawite sect he bases his power on. A military achievement, and even a partial one, in a confrontation with Israel may boost the regime.
Teheran is investing efforts to convince Syria that Israel is about to attack it “in order to erase the shame of the defeat in Lebanon” or as part of the clash that will develop as a result of an American assault on Iran’s nuclear sites. The Iranians tell the Syrians that President Bush intends to strike in the summer or fall, and they expect Damascus to join Iran’s counter-attack on western interests in the region. Therefore, Teheran says, there is a need to prepare and possibly even launch a pre-emptive strike, before Israel possesses effective systems for intercepting rockets. Iranian figures who visited Syria convinced Damascus that the Israeli home front is the Zionist enemy’s Achilles heel and that hitting it gravelly would force Israel to accept the Arab dictates on the Golan.
In this context, we should be paying attention to what a senior Syrian official told the New York Sun about a month ago. Should the Golan not be in Syrian hands by August-September, Syria would be allowed to embark on a “resistance” campaign, including raids and attacks on Jewish targets, the official said. The interviewee, who is a member of the ruling Baath party, provided the American newspaper with incredibly detailed information regarding his country’s intentions and its military preparations. His words make it appear that Syria is planning a war of attrition that would start with border attacks and continue, after the IDF responds, with severe blows to the Israeli home front. He also noted that Damascus has established for that end a new underground organization, called the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan, which will be tasked with carrying out attacks on IDF border outposts and even infiltrating Golan communities.
The senior official said that Syria possesses hundreds of missiles that would hit Tel Aviv and overcome Israel’s interception efforts. We can treat these words with contempt, or as an attempt to scare Israel and the United States in order to bring about negotiations on the Golan and ease the pressure over the Hariri affair. Yet the facts on the ground fully support the Syrian official’s thesis, and therefore it would be worthwhile to address his words seriously.
One way or another, the information and declarations coming from Damascus create a high level of uncertainty within Israel’s intelligence community regarding the other side’s intentions. And in cases of uncertainty, one must prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Long-range rockets already in place on Golan; is Syria preparing for war?
The latest official IDF intelligence branch assessment, adopted by the Israeli government, is that Syria is not planning to attack Israel. At least not in the coming months. ....This is the official assessment. Yet this is not the complete picture. The truth is that there is no certainty within Israel’s intelligence community that Syria is not planning to initiate a military confrontation with Israel. Quite a few researchers in the IDF intelligence branch and Mossad suspect that Syria is waiting for a convenient point in time – which is not necessarily in the distant future.
We’re not talking about the kind of war we’re familiar with like the Six Day War or Yom Kippur War, but rather, a Hizbullah-style war – but on an immense scale. These arguments and assessments are being taken very seriously by officials in Jerusalem, and this is the reason why the cabinet tasked with monitoring home front preparedness convened again Wednesday for its third or fourth session in order to discuss the possibility of a massive Syrian missile offensive.
Why do intelligence officials fear a Syrian attack? Below are some reasons, based on foreign sources and information already reported by the media:
Syria is currently completing the accelerated deployment of a large rocket arsenal on the Golan aimed at Israel. We’re not talking about 122-millimeter Katyusha rockets with a 20-kilometer (roughly 12 miles) range and warheads that contain only a few dozens of kilograms of explosives, but rather, heavy rockets of the type possessed by Hizbullah (most of them were destroyed in the Air Force attack at the start of the Second Lebanon War.) These are 222, 302, and even 600 millimeter rockets that can carry hundreds of kilograms of explosives – up to 500 – and can reach Tel Aviv. Dozens of launchers have already been deployed on the Golan and they can fire, in one barrage, hundreds of such rockets. This comes in addition to the various types of Scud missiles positioned deep within Syrian territory and capable of hitting southern Israel. However, the Arrow missile is supposed to intercept the Scuds. Yet at this time, the IDF has no good technological response, either aerial or on the ground, to the heavy rockets.
The Syrian army is quickly equipping itself with hundreds of advanced anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets made by Russia and funded by Iran with the aim of thwarting an IDF ground or air assault – an assault aimed at paralyzing the missile arsenal.
Since the end of last year, the Syrian army has accelerated the training sessions of all its formations, both regular and reserve, and already views them as fit for confrontation.
No advance warning
The military implication of the above-mentioned facts, according to some of those tasked with assessing Syrian intentions, is that Syria is preparing and able to embark on a Hizbullah-style war of attrition even without changing its military deployment from a defensive to an offensive one. Therefore, if Bashar Assad decides to launch such war, there will be no clear advance warning that will attest to his country’s intention to embark on a military campaign – and it would be able to launch it based on the current deployment.
In addition, intelligence officials point to a growing Syrian-Iranian interest in such war, for the following reasons:
Syria’s president is currently confident of his military power and truly believes that if he only adopts the Hizbullah model, he has the ability to force Israel to accept his demands regarding the Golan Heights, and ease some of the international pressure over the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri.
Syria sustained harsh blows when it was forced to withdraw from Lebanon and isolated in the international arena. In addition, Sunni opposition elements in Syria are getting stronger. All these factors threaten Assad’s regime and the Alawite sect he bases his power on. A military achievement, and even a partial one, in a confrontation with Israel may boost the regime.
Teheran is investing efforts to convince Syria that Israel is about to attack it “in order to erase the shame of the defeat in Lebanon” or as part of the clash that will develop as a result of an American assault on Iran’s nuclear sites. The Iranians tell the Syrians that President Bush intends to strike in the summer or fall, and they expect Damascus to join Iran’s counter-attack on western interests in the region. Therefore, Teheran says, there is a need to prepare and possibly even launch a pre-emptive strike, before Israel possesses effective systems for intercepting rockets. Iranian figures who visited Syria convinced Damascus that the Israeli home front is the Zionist enemy’s Achilles heel and that hitting it gravelly would force Israel to accept the Arab dictates on the Golan.
In this context, we should be paying attention to what a senior Syrian official told the New York Sun about a month ago. Should the Golan not be in Syrian hands by August-September, Syria would be allowed to embark on a “resistance” campaign, including raids and attacks on Jewish targets, the official said. The interviewee, who is a member of the ruling Baath party, provided the American newspaper with incredibly detailed information regarding his country’s intentions and its military preparations. His words make it appear that Syria is planning a war of attrition that would start with border attacks and continue, after the IDF responds, with severe blows to the Israeli home front. He also noted that Damascus has established for that end a new underground organization, called the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan, which will be tasked with carrying out attacks on IDF border outposts and even infiltrating Golan communities.
The senior official said that Syria possesses hundreds of missiles that would hit Tel Aviv and overcome Israel’s interception efforts. We can treat these words with contempt, or as an attempt to scare Israel and the United States in order to bring about negotiations on the Golan and ease the pressure over the Hariri affair. Yet the facts on the ground fully support the Syrian official’s thesis, and therefore it would be worthwhile to address his words seriously.
One way or another, the information and declarations coming from Damascus create a high level of uncertainty within Israel’s intelligence community regarding the other side’s intentions. And in cases of uncertainty, one must prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Holy Land terror finance trial
From The Dallas Morning News Thursday, August 9, 2007, By JASON TRAHAN ...
The federal judge presiding over the Holy Land Foundation terror finance trial ordered his courtroom cleared of spectators Thursday as a secret agent for the Israeli Defense Forces took the stand.
The agent, referred to only by the pseudonym Major Lior, testified through a translator about a cache of documents, videos and posters that his team of commandos seized during raids on several charity committees in the Palestinian territories between 2002 and 2004.
Prosecutors say these zakat, or charity, committees are controlled by Hamas and contend that Holy Land's support of them amounts to illegal support of terrorists.
.....This is only the second trial in which Justice Department prosecutors have put Israeli secret agents on the stand. The other was a similar terrorism-support trial of an Illinois used-car dealer and a co-defendant. That case ended in acquittals.
Defense frustration seemed to spill over into the cross-examination of the Israeli agent. Attorney Linda Moreno grilled him and his translator about whether his team got any kind of court order, or warrant, before seizing the documents. "You're not contending the Fourth Amendment applies outside the U.S., are you?" Judge Fish asked her at one point.
Later, as Ms. Moreno questioned the major about a school where his team seized evidence, she asked whether his "soldiers knock on the door of the places they are about to invade."
....The government argued in a brief that there is no other way to get such evidence, as the Palestinian government is now ruled by Hamas, which won a majority of parliamentary seats in election last year. And under U.S. law, what's classified by the Israeli government is classified here....
The federal judge presiding over the Holy Land Foundation terror finance trial ordered his courtroom cleared of spectators Thursday as a secret agent for the Israeli Defense Forces took the stand.
The agent, referred to only by the pseudonym Major Lior, testified through a translator about a cache of documents, videos and posters that his team of commandos seized during raids on several charity committees in the Palestinian territories between 2002 and 2004.
Prosecutors say these zakat, or charity, committees are controlled by Hamas and contend that Holy Land's support of them amounts to illegal support of terrorists.
.....This is only the second trial in which Justice Department prosecutors have put Israeli secret agents on the stand. The other was a similar terrorism-support trial of an Illinois used-car dealer and a co-defendant. That case ended in acquittals.
Defense frustration seemed to spill over into the cross-examination of the Israeli agent. Attorney Linda Moreno grilled him and his translator about whether his team got any kind of court order, or warrant, before seizing the documents. "You're not contending the Fourth Amendment applies outside the U.S., are you?" Judge Fish asked her at one point.
Later, as Ms. Moreno questioned the major about a school where his team seized evidence, she asked whether his "soldiers knock on the door of the places they are about to invade."
....The government argued in a brief that there is no other way to get such evidence, as the Palestinian government is now ruled by Hamas, which won a majority of parliamentary seats in election last year. And under U.S. law, what's classified by the Israeli government is classified here....
Bethlehem Council 'Terror link'
From The Australian, by Imre Salusinszky, NSW political reporter August 11, 2007 ....
A PLAN by Marrickville Council in Sydney's inner-west to establish a sister-city relationship with Bethlehem could founder because of alleged links between members of a proposed civic delegation and terror groups.
An internal memorandum by Israeli officials in Tel Aviv, where the five-person delegation recently lodged visa applications to visit Marrickville, warns that the Jewish community "might be adversely affected by the applicants' presence in Australia". The delegation, which has been invited to a gala dinner in Marrickville on August 25 to sign the twin-city agreement, includes two members of Bethlehem Council, mayor Victor Batarseh and councillor Anton Salman.
The immigration note on the visa applications says Jewish groups "may be offended by DrBatarseh's campaign alliance with Hamas and both his and MrSalman's readiness to participate in an institution that also includes representatives of the terrorist organisations Hamas and Islamic Jihad"....
...A spokesman for Marrickville Council said the reception was still planned to go ahead, pending approval of the visas. All five delegates will be subject to security checks, along with the character test that was recently used to cancel the visa of Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef.
An applicant can fail the test if federal Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews deems there is reasonable suspicion they have associations with criminal groups....
...Dr Batarseh is affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is banned in the US as a terror group. Mr Salman is a member of the governing Palestinian faction Fatah, and unsuccessfully opposed Dr Batarseh for the mayor's position. Both men are Christians, as specified in the council's constitution.
Five of the council's members are affiliated with Hamas, which is banned in Australia.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier refused to meet Dr Batarseh in May because of his PFLP links.
A PLAN by Marrickville Council in Sydney's inner-west to establish a sister-city relationship with Bethlehem could founder because of alleged links between members of a proposed civic delegation and terror groups.
An internal memorandum by Israeli officials in Tel Aviv, where the five-person delegation recently lodged visa applications to visit Marrickville, warns that the Jewish community "might be adversely affected by the applicants' presence in Australia". The delegation, which has been invited to a gala dinner in Marrickville on August 25 to sign the twin-city agreement, includes two members of Bethlehem Council, mayor Victor Batarseh and councillor Anton Salman.
The immigration note on the visa applications says Jewish groups "may be offended by DrBatarseh's campaign alliance with Hamas and both his and MrSalman's readiness to participate in an institution that also includes representatives of the terrorist organisations Hamas and Islamic Jihad"....
...A spokesman for Marrickville Council said the reception was still planned to go ahead, pending approval of the visas. All five delegates will be subject to security checks, along with the character test that was recently used to cancel the visa of Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef.
An applicant can fail the test if federal Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews deems there is reasonable suspicion they have associations with criminal groups....
...Dr Batarseh is affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is banned in the US as a terror group. Mr Salman is a member of the governing Palestinian faction Fatah, and unsuccessfully opposed Dr Batarseh for the mayor's position. Both men are Christians, as specified in the council's constitution.
Five of the council's members are affiliated with Hamas, which is banned in Australia.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier refused to meet Dr Batarseh in May because of his PFLP links.
Friday, August 10, 2007
IDF ready to battle Hamas at sea
From Ynet, 10/8/07, by Hanan Greenberg...
Israeli navy given new instructions in light of Hamas' establishment of naval forces in Gaza...
"The new situation in the Gaza Strip obligates us to act differently at sea. There are threats that did not exist in the past. We recognize this, and are ready in accordance," a military source said Thursday night, responding to the report that Hamas had established a naval force in Gaza.
Hamas' navy is headed by senior Hamas commander Jamil al-Dahashan, who previously served as a Hamas special forces commander in south Gaza City. The force is aimed at securing the shores from IDF marine operations as well as criminal activity of drug dealers. Although the force does not as yet own any marine vessels, Israel is responding to the matter with the utmost gravity.
The Israeli navy suffered a difficult hit during the Second Lebanon War, when an anchored navy gunship was directly hit in a missile attack, killing four soldiers, and thus is taking no risks regarding Gaza.
According to military sources, new instructions have recently been handed down to Israeli patrol ship crews on how to deal with the threat of an attack by terror organizations using various marine vessels currently in their possession.
These instructions were given in light of intelligence information verifying the possibility of an attack on an Israeli Navy ship. The sources said the Navy’s activity, which is aimed mainly at preventing the smuggling of arms from Egypt into Gaza and intercepting terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel by sea, has not been hindered.
“The security fence in Gaza serves as a serious barrier against terrorists, so it is only natural that they would try to reach Israel by sea,” an IDF official told Ynet. He admitted that there has recently been an increase in “incidents” off the Gaza coastline.
The military sources added that Hamas may also attempt to open fire at Israeli ships from the Strip itself, use a booby-trapped fishing boat or even a diver with an explosive device.
“We are not taking these threats lightly,” one officer said. “We cannot determine whether the terror groups have established a navy or not, but they definitely intend to attack any Israeli target, including naval forces positioned the area.”
Israeli navy given new instructions in light of Hamas' establishment of naval forces in Gaza...
"The new situation in the Gaza Strip obligates us to act differently at sea. There are threats that did not exist in the past. We recognize this, and are ready in accordance," a military source said Thursday night, responding to the report that Hamas had established a naval force in Gaza.
Hamas' navy is headed by senior Hamas commander Jamil al-Dahashan, who previously served as a Hamas special forces commander in south Gaza City. The force is aimed at securing the shores from IDF marine operations as well as criminal activity of drug dealers. Although the force does not as yet own any marine vessels, Israel is responding to the matter with the utmost gravity.
The Israeli navy suffered a difficult hit during the Second Lebanon War, when an anchored navy gunship was directly hit in a missile attack, killing four soldiers, and thus is taking no risks regarding Gaza.
According to military sources, new instructions have recently been handed down to Israeli patrol ship crews on how to deal with the threat of an attack by terror organizations using various marine vessels currently in their possession.
These instructions were given in light of intelligence information verifying the possibility of an attack on an Israeli Navy ship. The sources said the Navy’s activity, which is aimed mainly at preventing the smuggling of arms from Egypt into Gaza and intercepting terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel by sea, has not been hindered.
“The security fence in Gaza serves as a serious barrier against terrorists, so it is only natural that they would try to reach Israel by sea,” an IDF official told Ynet. He admitted that there has recently been an increase in “incidents” off the Gaza coastline.
The military sources added that Hamas may also attempt to open fire at Israeli ships from the Strip itself, use a booby-trapped fishing boat or even a diver with an explosive device.
“We are not taking these threats lightly,” one officer said. “We cannot determine whether the terror groups have established a navy or not, but they definitely intend to attack any Israeli target, including naval forces positioned the area.”
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