This year Tuesday 2 May is Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day).
From Ynet News, 1/5/06, by Aviad Kleinberg:
We must try to ensure no more sacrifices are needed
... Each Memorial Day, Israel remembers the many thousands who gave their lives in obedience to its laws, the thousands who found their ways to our military cemeteries to defend this country.
... it is impossible to be moved by the faith of so, so many, who believed that Israeli "togetherness" was something not only to live for, but also to die for. At their willingness to lay down their lives for others. For us....
National sacrifice
...The fallen have come from every sector of society – rich and poor, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, Jewish and non-Jewish, country folk and city dwellers, university educated and illiterate people, new immigrants and veteran Israelis .... The dead, whose absence casts a heavy pall over our lives.
Remembering the dead is more than missing our loved ones who are no longer with us. It is a moral imperative, one that demands we do all we can to ensure their sacrifice was not in vein. So there will be no need for further sacrifices.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Olmert to Katzav: I Have a Government
From Arutz Sheva, 15:14 May 01, '06 / 3 Iyar 5766, by Hillel Fendel:
The consent of Shas to join Olmert's coalition provided the margin of difference, and Olmert was able to inform President Katzav today that he has succeeded in forming a government.
Shas demanded and received four ministerial positions, 1.8 billion shekels for child allowance payments, understandings regarding civil marriages - and permission not to vote for the unilateral withdrawal plan when and if it is presented.
The government, as it stands now, numbers 67 MKs: Kadima-Pensioners (36), Labor (19), and Shas (12).
United Torah Judaism and Yisrael Beiteinu are still candidates to join the government coalition.
The road now appears to be clear for Ehud Olmert, as head of the new government, to attempt to carry out his unilateral withdrawal plan. Shas says it will vote against it, or possibly even quit the government, when and if the plan is presented to the Knesset. However, Olmert might not need their votes at the time, as he might choose to rely on the votes of non-government parties such as Meretz and the Arabs.
...United Torah Judaism and the National Union/National Religious Party have only criticism for Shas. "Their only social welfare achievement was to get jobs [ministerial positions - ed.] for four of their party leaders," according to a statement by NU/NRP. UTJ said that Shas' claimed coalition achievements are less than they seem. UTJ officials said that some of the money Shas received for child allowances would have been given in any event, while other portions of it are to be used for "children at risk" and not for across-the-board child allowances. The Ashkenazi hareidi-religious party also had criticism of Shas' alleged religious services gains.
In the meanwhile, Ehud Olmert announced his appointments for Kadima Party ministers today. They are:
1. Ehud Olmert - Prime Minister
2. Shimon Peres (formerly of Labor) - Minister for the Development of the Galilee and Negev, Assistant Prime Minister
3. Tzippy Livny - Foreign Minister
4. Sha'ul Mofaz - Transportation Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, member of the security mini-cabinet, and responsible for Strategic Dialogue
5. Chaim Ramon (formerly of Labor) - Justice Minister
6. Avraham Hirschson - Finance Minister
7. Ze'ev Boim - Absorption Minister
8. Avi Dichter - Minister of Public Security
9. Meir Sheetrit - Housing Minister, Israel Lands Authority, secret services, and Chairman of the Non-Jewish Sector Affairs Committee
10. Roni Bar'on - Interior Minister
11. Gideon Ezra - Minister of the Environment
12. Yaakov Edry - Liaison Minister Between Government and Knesset
Dalia Itzik (formerly of Labor) will be the Knesset Speaker.
The Labor Party's Central Committee narrowly approved on Sunday party leader Amir Peretz's proposal for the party's six ministers. The close vote showed that Peretz has a strong internal opposition, but for the meanwhile, the ministers will be as follows:
Amir Peretz - Defense Minister
Eitan Cabel - minister without portfolio, responsible for the Israel Broadcasting Authority
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer - Infrastructures Minister
Yitzchak Herzog - Tourism Minister
Yuli Tamir - Education Minister Shalom Simchon - Agriculture Minister
Ophir Pines - Minister of Culture and Sport.
Other ministers include:
Eli Yishai (Shas) - Minister of Trade and Deputy Prime Minister
Ariel Atias (Shas) - Minister of Communications
Yitzchak Cohen (Shas) - minister without portfolio
Meshulam Nahari (Shas) - minister without portfolio
Yaakov Ben Yizri (Pensioners) - Health
Rafi Eitan (Pensioners) - Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, responsible for Pensioners' Affairs
Ynet News 1/5/06, by Ilan Marciano reports:
Agreement with Kadima doesn’t obligate Shas to support the convergence plan; more benefits for Shas: Rabbinical court authority to be boosted, increased budget for disadvantaged haredi youth, ‘independent education’ monitor in Education Ministry
... This agreement raises a number of question marks, especially regarding how Olmert plans to push his “Convergence Plan” through the government.
The deal between the parties doesn’t obligate Shas to support the plan, and leaves it an open escape route: according to the deal, Olmert may change the coalition make-up at any time during the latter part of the session.
“Both sides and partners in the coalition will support and vote in favor of political policy as it was presented during Olmert’s inauguration speech,” the agreement says. That speech, however, neglects to mention the Convergence plan. Reinforcing the deal's ambiguity, in another clause Shas Chairman Eli Yishai clarifies: “Regarding the political section of the basic principles, I wish to clarify that the faction supports political policy as presented in your speech alone.”
Disadvantaged sectors
During elections, Shas made intense efforts to recruit votes from the disadvantaged and poor sectors.... However, when Shas representatives sat down at the negotiating table with Kadima, it became apparent that the promises the party made and the reality it could achieve did not quite match up. Olmert unequivocally refused to increase allowance payments to the disadvantaged. The sides solved the disagreement in the clause, “Allotment of resources for programs for poor children and adolescents,” although the bulk of the monies end up going to disadvantaged youths in the Haredi sector.
The clause on religious matters in the Kadima-Shas coalition agreement further testifies to the parity between promises made on the eve of elections and the reality. That clause rules that no legislation will be passed regarding marriage, for example, without Shas’ agreement.
Rabbinical courts
Additionally, the government will propose a law - bypassing the High Court of Justice - which grants rabbinical courts the authority to judge in financial matters between married couples. Rabbinical courts claimed for years that they should have the authority to rule in arbitration cases between partners, although the High Court of Justice decided three weeks ago that they did not have that authority.
Education
Finally, designated Education Minister Yuli Tamir should prepare to receive another minister in her office, who will be responsible for independent education, as insisted upon by Shas.
“The law will allow all Orthodox learning institutions to continue the unique curriculum they have practiced up until now. The law will ensure the continued existence of the Orthodox schools’ independent monitoring system,” the agreement says.
The consent of Shas to join Olmert's coalition provided the margin of difference, and Olmert was able to inform President Katzav today that he has succeeded in forming a government.
Shas demanded and received four ministerial positions, 1.8 billion shekels for child allowance payments, understandings regarding civil marriages - and permission not to vote for the unilateral withdrawal plan when and if it is presented.
The government, as it stands now, numbers 67 MKs: Kadima-Pensioners (36), Labor (19), and Shas (12).
United Torah Judaism and Yisrael Beiteinu are still candidates to join the government coalition.
The road now appears to be clear for Ehud Olmert, as head of the new government, to attempt to carry out his unilateral withdrawal plan. Shas says it will vote against it, or possibly even quit the government, when and if the plan is presented to the Knesset. However, Olmert might not need their votes at the time, as he might choose to rely on the votes of non-government parties such as Meretz and the Arabs.
...United Torah Judaism and the National Union/National Religious Party have only criticism for Shas. "Their only social welfare achievement was to get jobs [ministerial positions - ed.] for four of their party leaders," according to a statement by NU/NRP. UTJ said that Shas' claimed coalition achievements are less than they seem. UTJ officials said that some of the money Shas received for child allowances would have been given in any event, while other portions of it are to be used for "children at risk" and not for across-the-board child allowances. The Ashkenazi hareidi-religious party also had criticism of Shas' alleged religious services gains.
In the meanwhile, Ehud Olmert announced his appointments for Kadima Party ministers today. They are:
1. Ehud Olmert - Prime Minister
2. Shimon Peres (formerly of Labor) - Minister for the Development of the Galilee and Negev, Assistant Prime Minister
3. Tzippy Livny - Foreign Minister
4. Sha'ul Mofaz - Transportation Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, member of the security mini-cabinet, and responsible for Strategic Dialogue
5. Chaim Ramon (formerly of Labor) - Justice Minister
6. Avraham Hirschson - Finance Minister
7. Ze'ev Boim - Absorption Minister
8. Avi Dichter - Minister of Public Security
9. Meir Sheetrit - Housing Minister, Israel Lands Authority, secret services, and Chairman of the Non-Jewish Sector Affairs Committee
10. Roni Bar'on - Interior Minister
11. Gideon Ezra - Minister of the Environment
12. Yaakov Edry - Liaison Minister Between Government and Knesset
Dalia Itzik (formerly of Labor) will be the Knesset Speaker.
The Labor Party's Central Committee narrowly approved on Sunday party leader Amir Peretz's proposal for the party's six ministers. The close vote showed that Peretz has a strong internal opposition, but for the meanwhile, the ministers will be as follows:
Amir Peretz - Defense Minister
Eitan Cabel - minister without portfolio, responsible for the Israel Broadcasting Authority
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer - Infrastructures Minister
Yitzchak Herzog - Tourism Minister
Yuli Tamir - Education Minister Shalom Simchon - Agriculture Minister
Ophir Pines - Minister of Culture and Sport.
Other ministers include:
Eli Yishai (Shas) - Minister of Trade and Deputy Prime Minister
Ariel Atias (Shas) - Minister of Communications
Yitzchak Cohen (Shas) - minister without portfolio
Meshulam Nahari (Shas) - minister without portfolio
Yaakov Ben Yizri (Pensioners) - Health
Rafi Eitan (Pensioners) - Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, responsible for Pensioners' Affairs
Ynet News 1/5/06, by Ilan Marciano reports:
Agreement with Kadima doesn’t obligate Shas to support the convergence plan; more benefits for Shas: Rabbinical court authority to be boosted, increased budget for disadvantaged haredi youth, ‘independent education’ monitor in Education Ministry
... This agreement raises a number of question marks, especially regarding how Olmert plans to push his “Convergence Plan” through the government.
The deal between the parties doesn’t obligate Shas to support the plan, and leaves it an open escape route: according to the deal, Olmert may change the coalition make-up at any time during the latter part of the session.
“Both sides and partners in the coalition will support and vote in favor of political policy as it was presented during Olmert’s inauguration speech,” the agreement says. That speech, however, neglects to mention the Convergence plan. Reinforcing the deal's ambiguity, in another clause Shas Chairman Eli Yishai clarifies: “Regarding the political section of the basic principles, I wish to clarify that the faction supports political policy as presented in your speech alone.”
Disadvantaged sectors
During elections, Shas made intense efforts to recruit votes from the disadvantaged and poor sectors.... However, when Shas representatives sat down at the negotiating table with Kadima, it became apparent that the promises the party made and the reality it could achieve did not quite match up. Olmert unequivocally refused to increase allowance payments to the disadvantaged. The sides solved the disagreement in the clause, “Allotment of resources for programs for poor children and adolescents,” although the bulk of the monies end up going to disadvantaged youths in the Haredi sector.
The clause on religious matters in the Kadima-Shas coalition agreement further testifies to the parity between promises made on the eve of elections and the reality. That clause rules that no legislation will be passed regarding marriage, for example, without Shas’ agreement.
Rabbinical courts
Additionally, the government will propose a law - bypassing the High Court of Justice - which grants rabbinical courts the authority to judge in financial matters between married couples. Rabbinical courts claimed for years that they should have the authority to rule in arbitration cases between partners, although the High Court of Justice decided three weeks ago that they did not have that authority.
Education
Finally, designated Education Minister Yuli Tamir should prepare to receive another minister in her office, who will be responsible for independent education, as insisted upon by Shas.
“The law will allow all Orthodox learning institutions to continue the unique curriculum they have practiced up until now. The law will ensure the continued existence of the Orthodox schools’ independent monitoring system,” the agreement says.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Israel Mourns its Soldiers
From JPost May. 1, 2006 By YAAKOV KATZ:
When the nation bows its head Monday evening to mark the start of Remembrance Day, it will be mourning the 22,123 servicemen and women who have fallen defending the Land of Israel since 1860 - the year Jews settled outside Jerusalem's Old City walls.
In the past year, 138 soldiers have been killed in the service of the state. Remembrance Day officially begins at 8 p.m. Monday when a one-minute siren will sound across the country. President Moshe Katsav will open the state ceremony at the Western Wall attended by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and representatives of bereaved parents.
On Tuesday, the main memorial will take place at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery. A two-minute siren will sound at 11 a.m. and a ceremony for Mahal overseas volunteers who fought and died during the War of Independence will take place at the Mahal memorial near the Sha'ar Hagai Junction.
...On Monday afternoon, the Victims of Arab Terror organization will hold a ceremony at Zion Square in Jerusalem during which all of the names of Israelis killed in terrorist attacks since 1993 will be read out loud.
When the nation bows its head Monday evening to mark the start of Remembrance Day, it will be mourning the 22,123 servicemen and women who have fallen defending the Land of Israel since 1860 - the year Jews settled outside Jerusalem's Old City walls.
In the past year, 138 soldiers have been killed in the service of the state. Remembrance Day officially begins at 8 p.m. Monday when a one-minute siren will sound across the country. President Moshe Katsav will open the state ceremony at the Western Wall attended by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and representatives of bereaved parents.
On Tuesday, the main memorial will take place at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery. A two-minute siren will sound at 11 a.m. and a ceremony for Mahal overseas volunteers who fought and died during the War of Independence will take place at the Mahal memorial near the Sha'ar Hagai Junction.
...On Monday afternoon, the Victims of Arab Terror organization will hold a ceremony at Zion Square in Jerusalem during which all of the names of Israelis killed in terrorist attacks since 1993 will be read out loud.
Olmert likens Iran leader to Hitler
From The Australian, May 01, 2006 Abraham Rabinovich, Jerusalem:
ISRAEL'S prime minister-designate Ehud Olmert has denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "psychopath" and said the West would never permit Iran to obtain a nuclear bomb.
"Ahmadinejad talks today like Hitler spoke before seizing power," said Mr Olmert in an interview with the German newspaper Bild. "We are dealing with a psychopath of the worst kind, with an anti-Semite. God forbid this man from ever getting his hands on nuclear weapons." The Israeli leader indicated, however, that the matter was not being left in God's hands alone.
Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, travelled to Washington last week to meet the CIA and pass on Israel's latest findings on Iran's nuclear progress. According to Israeli sources, Jerusalem believes that Iran is closer to nuclear capability than is generally realised.
...In Mr Olmert's interview with Bild, he indicated that Israel did not intend to take the lead in the confrontation with Iran, leaving that to the international community. "The West, above all under the leadership of the United States, will ensure that Iran under no circumstances comes to possess unconventional weapons," he said. If, however, the West fails to take action, Israel has always left open the possibility that it would itself launch an attack against Iranian nuclear development facilities.
"When I read the recent (intelligence) reports regarding Iran," said Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset's foreign affairs and defence committee, "I saw a monster in the making." The committee oversees Mossad.
London's Sunday Times quoted an Israeli source yesterday as saying that Mossad had evidence of hidden uranium-enrichment sites in Iran "which can shortcut their timetable in the race for their first bomb". The source said Mr Dagan presented US officials with Mossad's evidence and told them: "This is what we know and this is what we'll do if you continue to do nothing."
...The US is preparing to seek a UN resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter which would make the UN's demands on Iran mandatory. The chapter leaves open the possibility of military action as a last resort.
Last week, Mr Ahmadinejad said he did "not give a damn" about UN resolutions.
The Iranian leader has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and expressed doubts that the Holocaust ever occurred.... the Iranian President earlier this month called Israel "a rotten, dried tree" that would be swept away by "one storm".
ISRAEL'S prime minister-designate Ehud Olmert has denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "psychopath" and said the West would never permit Iran to obtain a nuclear bomb.
"Ahmadinejad talks today like Hitler spoke before seizing power," said Mr Olmert in an interview with the German newspaper Bild. "We are dealing with a psychopath of the worst kind, with an anti-Semite. God forbid this man from ever getting his hands on nuclear weapons." The Israeli leader indicated, however, that the matter was not being left in God's hands alone.
Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, travelled to Washington last week to meet the CIA and pass on Israel's latest findings on Iran's nuclear progress. According to Israeli sources, Jerusalem believes that Iran is closer to nuclear capability than is generally realised.
...In Mr Olmert's interview with Bild, he indicated that Israel did not intend to take the lead in the confrontation with Iran, leaving that to the international community. "The West, above all under the leadership of the United States, will ensure that Iran under no circumstances comes to possess unconventional weapons," he said. If, however, the West fails to take action, Israel has always left open the possibility that it would itself launch an attack against Iranian nuclear development facilities.
"When I read the recent (intelligence) reports regarding Iran," said Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset's foreign affairs and defence committee, "I saw a monster in the making." The committee oversees Mossad.
London's Sunday Times quoted an Israeli source yesterday as saying that Mossad had evidence of hidden uranium-enrichment sites in Iran "which can shortcut their timetable in the race for their first bomb". The source said Mr Dagan presented US officials with Mossad's evidence and told them: "This is what we know and this is what we'll do if you continue to do nothing."
...The US is preparing to seek a UN resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter which would make the UN's demands on Iran mandatory. The chapter leaves open the possibility of military action as a last resort.
Last week, Mr Ahmadinejad said he did "not give a damn" about UN resolutions.
The Iranian leader has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and expressed doubts that the Holocaust ever occurred.... the Iranian President earlier this month called Israel "a rotten, dried tree" that would be swept away by "one storm".
Friday, April 28, 2006
Defense Minister Amir Peretz?
From JPost Apr. 26, 2006 19:51 Updated Apr. 27, 2006 16:46 By URI DAN ...
The leaders of the Labor Party will be making a major contribution to Israel's future if they manage to convince Amir Peretz at the last minute not to accept the defense portfolio.
...Israel's national security interests will be damaged as a result of Peretz's appointment. He has no experience, no conception and no skills that qualify him to stand at the head of the huge and complex security establishment that safeguards our lives. Peretz's very willingness to take on this job proves that he understands nothing about it. The silence of the lambs of the other leaders of the Labor Party, those who have not gotten up to tell him "You are not the man for this job," proves that the only thing that interests them is their share in the government, at any price.
If Peretz were to become finance minister, as he claimed he wanted in his vapid "social-welfare" campaign slogans, the damage might be limited to the financial. Even then, it would be restricted, because even as finance minister, Peretz would not be able to do whatever he pleased with the national budget. It is already becoming clear that his campaign mantra regarding the $1,000 minimum wage is no more than a joke.
...Last Monday, after the Pessah massacre at the old bus station in Tel Aviv, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told me: "Since the beginning of the year, the Palestinian terror effort has been on an upsurge. We have thwarted 88 attempts by suicide terrorists so far this year, in other words, an average of about one per day. In 2005, we stopped about 4,000 terrorists."
And we have still not yet talked about the terror of the Kassam rockets from the Gaza Strip, the Iranian nuclear threat and the enormous danger posed by the huge army that Egypt has built up, notwithstanding its peace agreement with Israel.
Israel's blood-drenched wars with the Arabs have been the result of mistaken assessments. In 1967, the Israeli leadership together with the media focused on a "social-welfare agenda" - because Israel was in the throes of an economic recession at the time. All attention was devoted to this problem. And then Egypt surprised Israel when it concentrated all its forces in Sinai - leading to the Six Day War.
Prior to the Yom Kippur War the government felt smug and complacent as it celebrated Israel's 25th anniversary. So despite a brilliant Minister of Defense in Moshe Dayan, we were caught by surprise because our attentions were elsewhere.
In 2000, the politicians and the media once again misled the nation into thinking that then prime minister Ehud Barak would soon be bringing home an "end-to-the-conflict" commitment from Yasser Arafat at Camp David. But Arafat was preparing a terrorist onslaught that completely surprised Israel, one that continues to this day, shaking the very foundations of the Jewish state.
THE APPOINTMENT of Amir Peretz as defense minister, when he has no real experience in this area, proves that he and his colleagues have learned nothing from Israel's blood-drenched history, much of which was due to the criminal negligence of leaders who fell asleep on the job.Only someone who believes that Israel will soon become another Switzerland or Holland can afford to relate to the appointment of Amir Peretz as defense minister with equanimity.
Only an Israeli media filled with ignoramuses or sycophants could welcome the parachuting of a political-social demagogue into the inner sanctum of Israel's national security. Only someone who is intellectually blind does not understand that appointing Peretz as defense minister could contribute to Israel being surprised with a war, as has happened in the past.
Give Peretz the entire national treasury, including the mega-salaries of the robber-baron bankers, just don't place our national security - that is, our lives, in fact the very future of the Jewish state - in his hands.
The leaders of the Labor Party will be making a major contribution to Israel's future if they manage to convince Amir Peretz at the last minute not to accept the defense portfolio.
...Israel's national security interests will be damaged as a result of Peretz's appointment. He has no experience, no conception and no skills that qualify him to stand at the head of the huge and complex security establishment that safeguards our lives. Peretz's very willingness to take on this job proves that he understands nothing about it. The silence of the lambs of the other leaders of the Labor Party, those who have not gotten up to tell him "You are not the man for this job," proves that the only thing that interests them is their share in the government, at any price.
If Peretz were to become finance minister, as he claimed he wanted in his vapid "social-welfare" campaign slogans, the damage might be limited to the financial. Even then, it would be restricted, because even as finance minister, Peretz would not be able to do whatever he pleased with the national budget. It is already becoming clear that his campaign mantra regarding the $1,000 minimum wage is no more than a joke.
...Last Monday, after the Pessah massacre at the old bus station in Tel Aviv, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told me: "Since the beginning of the year, the Palestinian terror effort has been on an upsurge. We have thwarted 88 attempts by suicide terrorists so far this year, in other words, an average of about one per day. In 2005, we stopped about 4,000 terrorists."
And we have still not yet talked about the terror of the Kassam rockets from the Gaza Strip, the Iranian nuclear threat and the enormous danger posed by the huge army that Egypt has built up, notwithstanding its peace agreement with Israel.
Israel's blood-drenched wars with the Arabs have been the result of mistaken assessments. In 1967, the Israeli leadership together with the media focused on a "social-welfare agenda" - because Israel was in the throes of an economic recession at the time. All attention was devoted to this problem. And then Egypt surprised Israel when it concentrated all its forces in Sinai - leading to the Six Day War.
Prior to the Yom Kippur War the government felt smug and complacent as it celebrated Israel's 25th anniversary. So despite a brilliant Minister of Defense in Moshe Dayan, we were caught by surprise because our attentions were elsewhere.
In 2000, the politicians and the media once again misled the nation into thinking that then prime minister Ehud Barak would soon be bringing home an "end-to-the-conflict" commitment from Yasser Arafat at Camp David. But Arafat was preparing a terrorist onslaught that completely surprised Israel, one that continues to this day, shaking the very foundations of the Jewish state.
THE APPOINTMENT of Amir Peretz as defense minister, when he has no real experience in this area, proves that he and his colleagues have learned nothing from Israel's blood-drenched history, much of which was due to the criminal negligence of leaders who fell asleep on the job.Only someone who believes that Israel will soon become another Switzerland or Holland can afford to relate to the appointment of Amir Peretz as defense minister with equanimity.
Only an Israeli media filled with ignoramuses or sycophants could welcome the parachuting of a political-social demagogue into the inner sanctum of Israel's national security. Only someone who is intellectually blind does not understand that appointing Peretz as defense minister could contribute to Israel being surprised with a war, as has happened in the past.
Give Peretz the entire national treasury, including the mega-salaries of the robber-baron bankers, just don't place our national security - that is, our lives, in fact the very future of the Jewish state - in his hands.
Kadima, Labor sign coalition agreement
From Ynet news 28/4/06 by Attila Somfalvi...
After three weeks of tiring negotiations with expected outcome, Labor Kadima sign coalition agreement; Labor will be given Defense, Education, Infrastructure, Tourism and Agriculture Ministries and two of its MKs will be ministers-without-portfolios. senior Kadima sources say deal with Shas finalized as well
...Kadima gave in to a Labor election promise of raising the minimum wage to USD 1000 by agreeing that the new figure will be a "target" of the new government. Between July of this year and the end of 2007, the minimum wage will be gradually raised by NIS 500 (USD 110).
Meretz to sneak in?
...As Labor and the Pensioners secure their place in the next government, it remains to be seen which other factions will be coalition partners. United Torah Judaism, Israel Our Home and Shas are the main contenders. Israel Our Home broadcast messages Thursday hinting it is likely to be in the opposition, which might clear the way for leftist Meretz to sneak in.
Meanwhile, senior Kadima sources told Ynet that a deal bringing Shas to the coalition has been finalized as well.
After three weeks of tiring negotiations with expected outcome, Labor Kadima sign coalition agreement; Labor will be given Defense, Education, Infrastructure, Tourism and Agriculture Ministries and two of its MKs will be ministers-without-portfolios. senior Kadima sources say deal with Shas finalized as well
...Kadima gave in to a Labor election promise of raising the minimum wage to USD 1000 by agreeing that the new figure will be a "target" of the new government. Between July of this year and the end of 2007, the minimum wage will be gradually raised by NIS 500 (USD 110).
Meretz to sneak in?
...As Labor and the Pensioners secure their place in the next government, it remains to be seen which other factions will be coalition partners. United Torah Judaism, Israel Our Home and Shas are the main contenders. Israel Our Home broadcast messages Thursday hinting it is likely to be in the opposition, which might clear the way for leftist Meretz to sneak in.
Meanwhile, senior Kadima sources told Ynet that a deal bringing Shas to the coalition has been finalized as well.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Israel launches satellite to spy on Iran
From Ynetnews 26/4/06 by Hanan Greenberg and AP:
Israel launches satellite Tuesday to spy on Iran's nuclear program; Defense Minister Mofaz lauds successful launch, characterizes it as 'huge achievement,' says Israel constantly continues to improve its defense capabilities ...
Israel launches satellite Tuesday to spy on Iran's nuclear program; Defense Minister Mofaz lauds successful launch, characterizes it as 'huge achievement,' says Israel constantly continues to improve its defense capabilities ...
Holocaust effects
From Ynet News 25/4/06, by Shlomo Papirblat:
Son of Holocaust survivor still carries scars; will next generation be different?
... How is the life of a man different when he is the son of a man who was there...and ... survived the fire around him?
Different in almost every way....
(follow the link to the full article)
Son of Holocaust survivor still carries scars; will next generation be different?
... How is the life of a man different when he is the son of a man who was there...and ... survived the fire around him?
Different in almost every way....
(follow the link to the full article)
Osama no friend of Palestinians
From The Australian April 26, 2006 , by Richard King, a Fremantle-based journalist and reviewer:
The Islamic fundamentalism purveyed by al-Qa'ida is the enemy of moderate Muslims and secular Palestinians.
OSAMA ... bin Laden is ... very aware that Palestine is a hot-button issue in the West, where many liberal and left-wing commentators seem willing and even eager to believe that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism is attributable to American support for Israel. His pronouncements from the mid-1990s on are peppered with references to the Palestinians ... the reason for this is simple: these references have fallen on fallow ground.
... When it comes to discussion of Islamic politics, all roads lead to Palestine. Its invocation allows some liberals not only to contextualise Islamic fundamentalism, but also to compare Islamic fundamentalism to something they find even more objectionable: US support for Israel. It is, in the end, for the US, and not Islamic fundamentalism, that the Left reserves its most vociferous criticism....
...But to say that Islamic fundamentalism can be traced to US support for Israel, or that al-Qa'ida would disappear if only the Palestinians were free, is to play directly into bin Laden's hands....
... There is a war within the Muslim world. As yesterday's terror attacks on the Sinai peninsula remind us, the principal enemy of fundamentalist Islam is moderate Islam, not the West. Al-Qai'da's ultimate aim is to re-establish the Islamic caliphate and bring the entire Muslim world under the kind of repressive rule imposed by the Taliban in the late '90s....
Hamas has loudly distanced itself from bin Laden's latest proclamation. But the fact is they have certain aims in common: the abolition of Israel, for example, and the creation of a great Islamic state. Add to this the recent reports that al-Qai'da is increasing its presence in the Palestinian territories and the situation begins to look desperate.
... We need to realise that Islamic fundamentalism is the enemy, not the friend, of the Palestinian cause.
The Islamic fundamentalism purveyed by al-Qa'ida is the enemy of moderate Muslims and secular Palestinians.
OSAMA ... bin Laden is ... very aware that Palestine is a hot-button issue in the West, where many liberal and left-wing commentators seem willing and even eager to believe that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism is attributable to American support for Israel. His pronouncements from the mid-1990s on are peppered with references to the Palestinians ... the reason for this is simple: these references have fallen on fallow ground.
... When it comes to discussion of Islamic politics, all roads lead to Palestine. Its invocation allows some liberals not only to contextualise Islamic fundamentalism, but also to compare Islamic fundamentalism to something they find even more objectionable: US support for Israel. It is, in the end, for the US, and not Islamic fundamentalism, that the Left reserves its most vociferous criticism....
...But to say that Islamic fundamentalism can be traced to US support for Israel, or that al-Qa'ida would disappear if only the Palestinians were free, is to play directly into bin Laden's hands....
... There is a war within the Muslim world. As yesterday's terror attacks on the Sinai peninsula remind us, the principal enemy of fundamentalist Islam is moderate Islam, not the West. Al-Qai'da's ultimate aim is to re-establish the Islamic caliphate and bring the entire Muslim world under the kind of repressive rule imposed by the Taliban in the late '90s....
Hamas has loudly distanced itself from bin Laden's latest proclamation. But the fact is they have certain aims in common: the abolition of Israel, for example, and the creation of a great Islamic state. Add to this the recent reports that al-Qai'da is increasing its presence in the Palestinian territories and the situation begins to look desperate.
... We need to realise that Islamic fundamentalism is the enemy, not the friend, of the Palestinian cause.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Betar resistance to Nazis honoured
From JPost, Yom Hashoah 2006 ...
...on April 19, 1943 - the day before Pessah - began the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto. It would take four days before the Germans, backed by artillery and tanks, would break the back of the resistance - but it was almost a month before their commander, SS General Jurgen Stroop, reported to his superiors that "the Jewish quarter of Warsaw no long exists."
The Warsaw uprising was the first urban revolt in Nazi-occupied Europe. In Jewish history, it would hold an even more significant place - a counter to the "sheep to the slaughter" image of six million Jews surrendering passively to death, an affirmation that Jews could fight. Numerous accounts by eyewitnesses and historians over the past 63 years have left the impression that there is nothing new to be said about the event. However, history is now being called to task for having overlooked a central element of the story.
... former defense minister Moshe Arens...has devoted the past three years to researching the role played in the uprising by Betar, the youth movement of the right-wing Revisionist camp.
Arens grew up in Riga, where Betar was founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, and he himself served as head of the Betar branch in the United States which his family reached on the eve of the war.
...On the basis of research into Jewish, Polish and German sources, as well as interviews with surviving participants in Israel and Poland, Arens has produced articles on the subject published in Jewish scholarly journals. He argues that the commonly accepted narrative of the uprising, which assigns Betar a peripheral role at best, is skewed. Betar's fighters were the best armed and trained in the ghetto, he says. It was Betar that raised the Jewish and Polish flags that agitated the German high command and transfixed the Polish population watching the battle from afar, and it was to the Betar sector that Stroop referred when he described the "main Jewish battle group."
Betar's leaders were killed in battle while key leaders in the other Jewish camp, dominated by left-wing Labor Zionists, survived. It was the latter's version that set the tone of the subsequent narrative, leaving a large hole at the center of one of the epics of modern Jewish history by playing down, or totally ignoring, Betar's role. Despite Arens's admittedly partisan interest in the subject, his writing avoids polemics and his argument is backed by well annotated sources....
(follow the link for the full article, a detailed narrative of the uprising)
.... it had not been a battle whose outcome would be measured in casualties or territory. It had been a battle for dignity and the Jews had clearly triumphed.
This was reflected in the admiration expressed by underground Polish publications which often had to overcome innate anti-Semitism. "The courageous resistance of the Warsaw Ghetto has been going on for a month," wrote the newspaper Gwardzidsta. "It is the strongest and most prolonged act of resistance in the occupied territories."
Several newspapers noted that it was the first time that Jews, as such, had been engaged in battle since the Bar-Kochba revolt. "For the first time in 18 centuries they have risen from their humiliation," wrote a Catholic youth newspaper. "Who knows whether the spirit of Israel will not rise out of the ashes of Warsaw."
Another underground paper, Mysl Panstwowa (Government Thinking), wrote: "The Jews have risen to the level of a fighting people. Even if they do not fight for their existence - which is out of the question, considering the absolute superiority of the enemy - they have nonetheless demonstrated their right to national existence."
...on April 19, 1943 - the day before Pessah - began the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto. It would take four days before the Germans, backed by artillery and tanks, would break the back of the resistance - but it was almost a month before their commander, SS General Jurgen Stroop, reported to his superiors that "the Jewish quarter of Warsaw no long exists."
The Warsaw uprising was the first urban revolt in Nazi-occupied Europe. In Jewish history, it would hold an even more significant place - a counter to the "sheep to the slaughter" image of six million Jews surrendering passively to death, an affirmation that Jews could fight. Numerous accounts by eyewitnesses and historians over the past 63 years have left the impression that there is nothing new to be said about the event. However, history is now being called to task for having overlooked a central element of the story.
... former defense minister Moshe Arens...has devoted the past three years to researching the role played in the uprising by Betar, the youth movement of the right-wing Revisionist camp.
Arens grew up in Riga, where Betar was founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, and he himself served as head of the Betar branch in the United States which his family reached on the eve of the war.
...On the basis of research into Jewish, Polish and German sources, as well as interviews with surviving participants in Israel and Poland, Arens has produced articles on the subject published in Jewish scholarly journals. He argues that the commonly accepted narrative of the uprising, which assigns Betar a peripheral role at best, is skewed. Betar's fighters were the best armed and trained in the ghetto, he says. It was Betar that raised the Jewish and Polish flags that agitated the German high command and transfixed the Polish population watching the battle from afar, and it was to the Betar sector that Stroop referred when he described the "main Jewish battle group."
Betar's leaders were killed in battle while key leaders in the other Jewish camp, dominated by left-wing Labor Zionists, survived. It was the latter's version that set the tone of the subsequent narrative, leaving a large hole at the center of one of the epics of modern Jewish history by playing down, or totally ignoring, Betar's role. Despite Arens's admittedly partisan interest in the subject, his writing avoids polemics and his argument is backed by well annotated sources....
(follow the link for the full article, a detailed narrative of the uprising)
.... it had not been a battle whose outcome would be measured in casualties or territory. It had been a battle for dignity and the Jews had clearly triumphed.
This was reflected in the admiration expressed by underground Polish publications which often had to overcome innate anti-Semitism. "The courageous resistance of the Warsaw Ghetto has been going on for a month," wrote the newspaper Gwardzidsta. "It is the strongest and most prolonged act of resistance in the occupied territories."
Several newspapers noted that it was the first time that Jews, as such, had been engaged in battle since the Bar-Kochba revolt. "For the first time in 18 centuries they have risen from their humiliation," wrote a Catholic youth newspaper. "Who knows whether the spirit of Israel will not rise out of the ashes of Warsaw."
Another underground paper, Mysl Panstwowa (Government Thinking), wrote: "The Jews have risen to the level of a fighting people. Even if they do not fight for their existence - which is out of the question, considering the absolute superiority of the enemy - they have nonetheless demonstrated their right to national existence."
Yom Hashoah 2006
Yom Hashoah this year coincides with Anzac Day.
From the Yad Vashem web site ...
I post this in loving memory of my granparents Zvy ben Yosef and Chaya bat Yitzchak, and of my uncle Mordechai ben Zvy. I never hugged them, or even met them, but I carry them in my heart.
Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew) is a national day of commemoration in Israel, on which the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust are memorialized. It is a solemn day, beginning at sunset on the 27th of the month of Nisan and ending the following evening, according to the traditional Jewish custom of marking a day. Places of entertainment are closed and memorial ceremonies are held throughout the country.
The central ceremonies, in the evening and the following morning, are held at Yad Vashem and are broadcast on the television. Marking the start of the day-in the presence of the President of the State of Israel and the Prime Minister dignitaries, survivors, children of survivors and their families, gather together with the general public to take part in the memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem in which six torches, representing the six million murdered Jews, are lit.
The following morning, the ceremony at Yad Vashem begins with the sounding of a siren for two minutes throughout the entire country. For the duration of the sounding, work is halted, people walking in the streets stop, cars pull off to the side of the road and everybody stands at silent attention in reverence to the victims of the Holocaust. Afterward, the focus of the ceremony at Yad Vashem is the laying of wreaths at the foot of the six torches, by dignitaries and the representatives of survivor groups and institutions. Other sites of remembrance in Israel, such as the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz and Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, also host memorial ceremonies, as do schools, military bases, municipalities and places of work. Throughout the day, both the television and radio broadcast programs about the Holocaust. In recent years, other countries and Jewish communities have adopted Yom Hashoah, the 27th of Nisan, to mark their own day of memorial for the victims of the Holocaust.
Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day begins this year on Monday evening, April 24, 2006 and continues Tuesday April 25, 2006 ... (follow the link to the Yad Vashem site)
From the Yad Vashem web site ...
I post this in loving memory of my granparents Zvy ben Yosef and Chaya bat Yitzchak, and of my uncle Mordechai ben Zvy. I never hugged them, or even met them, but I carry them in my heart.
Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew) is a national day of commemoration in Israel, on which the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust are memorialized. It is a solemn day, beginning at sunset on the 27th of the month of Nisan and ending the following evening, according to the traditional Jewish custom of marking a day. Places of entertainment are closed and memorial ceremonies are held throughout the country.
The central ceremonies, in the evening and the following morning, are held at Yad Vashem and are broadcast on the television. Marking the start of the day-in the presence of the President of the State of Israel and the Prime Minister dignitaries, survivors, children of survivors and their families, gather together with the general public to take part in the memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem in which six torches, representing the six million murdered Jews, are lit.
The following morning, the ceremony at Yad Vashem begins with the sounding of a siren for two minutes throughout the entire country. For the duration of the sounding, work is halted, people walking in the streets stop, cars pull off to the side of the road and everybody stands at silent attention in reverence to the victims of the Holocaust. Afterward, the focus of the ceremony at Yad Vashem is the laying of wreaths at the foot of the six torches, by dignitaries and the representatives of survivor groups and institutions. Other sites of remembrance in Israel, such as the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz and Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, also host memorial ceremonies, as do schools, military bases, municipalities and places of work. Throughout the day, both the television and radio broadcast programs about the Holocaust. In recent years, other countries and Jewish communities have adopted Yom Hashoah, the 27th of Nisan, to mark their own day of memorial for the victims of the Holocaust.
Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day begins this year on Monday evening, April 24, 2006 and continues Tuesday April 25, 2006 ... (follow the link to the Yad Vashem site)
30 killed in Egypt blasts
From The Australian April 25, 2006 news.com.au network, by correspondents in Cairo. Source: Reuters ...
THREE explosions shook the Egyptian Sinai resort of Dahab today, killing 30 people and wounding more than 100, rescue and security officials said.
...The explosions took place at the Nelson Restaurant, the Aladdin Cafeteria and the Ghazala Supermarket, the Interior Ministry said. An official with the local ambulance service said many of the dead appeared to be foreigners. Israeli divers often stay in the resort but with the Passover holiday over it is unlikely many were there. The Israeli ambassador in Cairo and Israeli authorities said they did not know of any Israeli casualties.
It was the third set of three explosions on the eastern coast of the Sinai peninsula since October 2004, when a group attacked the Hilton hotel in the border resort of Taba and two other resorts on the north-east coast, killing 34 people. The Egyptian authorities said a closely related group attacked again in the up-market resort of Sharm el-Sheiklh in July last year, killing at least 67 people.
... The Egyptian authorities attributed the Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh attacks to a small Sinai-based group originally led by a man of Palestinian origin and with militant Islamist views.
From a seperate report in The Australian ...
EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak called the explosions in the Sinai resort of Dahab that killed 30 and wounded more than 100 today a "wicked terrorist act".....Previous official Egyptian statements said that three explosions took place in Dahab, without stating a cause.
THREE explosions shook the Egyptian Sinai resort of Dahab today, killing 30 people and wounding more than 100, rescue and security officials said.
...The explosions took place at the Nelson Restaurant, the Aladdin Cafeteria and the Ghazala Supermarket, the Interior Ministry said. An official with the local ambulance service said many of the dead appeared to be foreigners. Israeli divers often stay in the resort but with the Passover holiday over it is unlikely many were there. The Israeli ambassador in Cairo and Israeli authorities said they did not know of any Israeli casualties.
It was the third set of three explosions on the eastern coast of the Sinai peninsula since October 2004, when a group attacked the Hilton hotel in the border resort of Taba and two other resorts on the north-east coast, killing 34 people. The Egyptian authorities said a closely related group attacked again in the up-market resort of Sharm el-Sheiklh in July last year, killing at least 67 people.
... The Egyptian authorities attributed the Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh attacks to a small Sinai-based group originally led by a man of Palestinian origin and with militant Islamist views.
From a seperate report in The Australian ...
EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak called the explosions in the Sinai resort of Dahab that killed 30 and wounded more than 100 today a "wicked terrorist act".....Previous official Egyptian statements said that three explosions took place in Dahab, without stating a cause.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Less Violent Anti-Semitic Incidents
From Haaretz, 24/04/2006, by Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent ...
The number of violent Anti-Semitic incidents around the world dropped by 20 percent in 2005 compared to the previous year, according to a report published Monday. The annual report, compiled by the Stephen Rot Institute for the Study of Contemporary anti-Semitism and Racism at the Tel Aviv University, said that since 2000 there was an increase in anti-Semitic violence every year, and 2005 is the first year in which Anti-Semitic violence dropped. France and Canada, countries that experienced a large number of attacks over the past few years, registered the most significant drop in violence. There was no change in the violent Anti-Semitic attacks in Britain, but the number of overall Anti-Semitic incidents dropped in the U.K. ...However, institute scholars said that anti-Semitic activity is on the rise in the Ukraine and Russia.
In 2005 there were 406 violent anti-Semitic incidents around the world, compared to 501 in 2004 - the year in which anti-Semitic violence peaked. However, the number of violent incidents did not yet drop to the 2003 level (when 303 incidents were registered).
MK Rabbi Michael Melchior (Labor-Meimad), who had been responsible for anti-Semitic issues in the Prime Minister's Office, said Monday that complacency should be avoided in light of the report data. Melchior said that the number of anti-Semitic incidents is not the "most reliable index" for assessing anti-Semitism, and said that "anti-Semitism is a deep and complex social process that does not necessarily express itself in this or other incident. On the Eve of the Holocaust Memorial, it is important to remember that Auschwitz wasn't built in a day."
The number of violent Anti-Semitic incidents around the world dropped by 20 percent in 2005 compared to the previous year, according to a report published Monday. The annual report, compiled by the Stephen Rot Institute for the Study of Contemporary anti-Semitism and Racism at the Tel Aviv University, said that since 2000 there was an increase in anti-Semitic violence every year, and 2005 is the first year in which Anti-Semitic violence dropped. France and Canada, countries that experienced a large number of attacks over the past few years, registered the most significant drop in violence. There was no change in the violent Anti-Semitic attacks in Britain, but the number of overall Anti-Semitic incidents dropped in the U.K. ...However, institute scholars said that anti-Semitic activity is on the rise in the Ukraine and Russia.
In 2005 there were 406 violent anti-Semitic incidents around the world, compared to 501 in 2004 - the year in which anti-Semitic violence peaked. However, the number of violent incidents did not yet drop to the 2003 level (when 303 incidents were registered).
MK Rabbi Michael Melchior (Labor-Meimad), who had been responsible for anti-Semitic issues in the Prime Minister's Office, said Monday that complacency should be avoided in light of the report data. Melchior said that the number of anti-Semitic incidents is not the "most reliable index" for assessing anti-Semitism, and said that "anti-Semitism is a deep and complex social process that does not necessarily express itself in this or other incident. On the Eve of the Holocaust Memorial, it is important to remember that Auschwitz wasn't built in a day."
Iran leader met top terrorist
From The Australian April 24, 2006 by Abraham Rabinovich, Jerusalem ...
IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met one of the world's most notorious terrorists in Damascus earlier this year to discuss retaliatory attacks on Western targets in the event that Iran's nuclear sites were struck, according to intelligence experts.
A report yesterday in London's The Sunday Times said Mr Ahmadinejad, during an official visit to Syria in January, conferred with Lebanese-born Imad Mugniyeh -- commander of overseas operations for Hezbollah, the Iranian-affiliated Shia militia in Lebanon.
Mugniyeh is said to have been responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any living person prior to al-Qa'ida's attack on the US on September 11, 2001. His operatives bombed the US embassy in Beirut in 1983, killing 63 people. Six months later, he directed a suicide bombing of a Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. He is also held responsible for the torture killing of a CIA station chief in Lebanon as well as the bombing of the Israeli embassy and a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in the 1990s...He would subsequently blow up US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania with car bombs.
The Sunday Times said US officials and Israeli intelligence sources believe that Mugniyeh, who is on the FBI's most-wanted terrorists list, has taken charge of plotting retaliatory attacks against the West in the event that US President George W.Bush orders a strike against Iran's nuclear sites.
During his Damascus visit, Mr Ahmadinejad reportedly met leaders of groups Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas....
...An Israeli defence source cited by the newspaper said that Mugniyeh met regularly with Iranian Intelligence Minister Ghkolamhossein Mohseni Ezhei, an appointee of Mr Ahmadinejad.
"Since we know from previous Iranian terror attacks that it takes about a year to plan a substantial one," the source said, "we should not be surprised if operations against Western targets are already in high gear. Mugniyeh is certainly playing a major role."
A former CIA official, Robert Baer, who hunted Mugniyeh in the 1980s, has described him as "the most dangerous terrorist we have ever faced". "Mugniyeh is probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we have ever run across, including the KGB or anyone else," he said.
Meanwhile, Israel Radio reported yesterday that three Israeli experts had returned last week from Iran, where they had spent 20 days offering engineering and agricultural advice. The report said the men were employees of an Amsterdam-based Israeli company that has done infrastructure work in Arab Gulf states and their identity was known to Iranian officials.
Two of the men were engineers who were asked for advice on strengthening bridges and roads in the event of earthquakes, to which Iran is prone.
The third was an agricultural expert who had been to Iran in 1998 as an adviser. He was taken to the Bushehr area, the report said, to see the farm area he had helped develop. His hosts reportedly said laughingly there was something else in the area -- "a surprise for you Israelis" -- that they couldn't show him, a clear reference to the nuclear reactor being built at Bushehr.
The Israelis participated in the Passover eve meal with members of the Jewish community in Tehran.
During the regime of the Shah, Israel was very active in Iran commercially and offered extensive rehabilitation assistance after disastrous earthquakes. It is not clear why Israeli experts are now invited to Iran when Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction.
IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met one of the world's most notorious terrorists in Damascus earlier this year to discuss retaliatory attacks on Western targets in the event that Iran's nuclear sites were struck, according to intelligence experts.
A report yesterday in London's The Sunday Times said Mr Ahmadinejad, during an official visit to Syria in January, conferred with Lebanese-born Imad Mugniyeh -- commander of overseas operations for Hezbollah, the Iranian-affiliated Shia militia in Lebanon.
Mugniyeh is said to have been responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any living person prior to al-Qa'ida's attack on the US on September 11, 2001. His operatives bombed the US embassy in Beirut in 1983, killing 63 people. Six months later, he directed a suicide bombing of a Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. He is also held responsible for the torture killing of a CIA station chief in Lebanon as well as the bombing of the Israeli embassy and a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in the 1990s...He would subsequently blow up US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania with car bombs.
The Sunday Times said US officials and Israeli intelligence sources believe that Mugniyeh, who is on the FBI's most-wanted terrorists list, has taken charge of plotting retaliatory attacks against the West in the event that US President George W.Bush orders a strike against Iran's nuclear sites.
During his Damascus visit, Mr Ahmadinejad reportedly met leaders of groups Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas....
...An Israeli defence source cited by the newspaper said that Mugniyeh met regularly with Iranian Intelligence Minister Ghkolamhossein Mohseni Ezhei, an appointee of Mr Ahmadinejad.
"Since we know from previous Iranian terror attacks that it takes about a year to plan a substantial one," the source said, "we should not be surprised if operations against Western targets are already in high gear. Mugniyeh is certainly playing a major role."
A former CIA official, Robert Baer, who hunted Mugniyeh in the 1980s, has described him as "the most dangerous terrorist we have ever faced". "Mugniyeh is probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we have ever run across, including the KGB or anyone else," he said.
Meanwhile, Israel Radio reported yesterday that three Israeli experts had returned last week from Iran, where they had spent 20 days offering engineering and agricultural advice. The report said the men were employees of an Amsterdam-based Israeli company that has done infrastructure work in Arab Gulf states and their identity was known to Iranian officials.
Two of the men were engineers who were asked for advice on strengthening bridges and roads in the event of earthquakes, to which Iran is prone.
The third was an agricultural expert who had been to Iran in 1998 as an adviser. He was taken to the Bushehr area, the report said, to see the farm area he had helped develop. His hosts reportedly said laughingly there was something else in the area -- "a surprise for you Israelis" -- that they couldn't show him, a clear reference to the nuclear reactor being built at Bushehr.
The Israelis participated in the Passover eve meal with members of the Jewish community in Tehran.
During the regime of the Shah, Israel was very active in Iran commercially and offered extensive rehabilitation assistance after disastrous earthquakes. It is not clear why Israeli experts are now invited to Iran when Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction.
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