Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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DAILY ALERT Wednesday,
May 13, 2009
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In-Depth Issues:
Man Convicted of Building Terrorist Training Camp in U.S. - Carrie Johnson (Washington Post)
A federal jury in New York Tuesday convicted Oussama Abdullah Kassir of providing support to al-Qaeda by building a terrorist training camp on U.S. soil.
Kassir traveled to Bly, Ore., in late 1999 to establish a military-style facility at the direction of Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri of the Finsbury Park mosque in London, who has been designated a terrorist by the U.S.
At the camp, Kassir taught techniques for waging jihad, including "how to kill a person by slitting their throat with a knife," according to the indictment.
Upon returning overseas, Kassir operated for nearly four years what prosecutors say were "terrorist web sites" that offered instructions on how to prepare bombs and poisonous compounds.
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Ten Arrested in UK Anti-Terrorism Raids "Linked to Al-Qaeda" - Fran Yeoman (Times-UK)
The men arrested during anti-terror raids in Britain last month included members of a UK-based network linked to al-Qaeda attack planning, an immigration hearing was told Tuesday.
The Home Office is seeking to deport ten of them, all Pakistani nationals, on the ground that they pose a risk to national security.
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Al-Qaeda Suspects "Plotted Attack on Britain" from Behind Bars - Nick Squires and Duncan Gardham (Telegraph-UK)
Italian police on Tuesday arrested two al-Qaeda terrorists suspected of planning attacks on Britain and France from inside an Italian prison as part of a Europe-wide network.
During wiretapped conversations, Bassam Ayachi, 62, a Syrian imam with French citizenship, and Raphael Frederic Gendron, 33, a Frenchman who converted to Islam, discussed an attack on Charles De Gaulle airport outside Paris and spoke of the need to "strike at the British," Italian police said.
"They are key figures in al-Qaeda's European organization," said Giorgio Manari, the chief of police in Bari.
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Five Men Convicted in Miami Terrorism Trial - Vanessa Blum (Los Angeles Times)
After two mistrials, five men from Miami were convicted Tuesday of trying to join with al-Qaeda in plots to topple the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago and bomb government buildings in South Florida.
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Israel Marks Lag B'Omer (JTA)
Lag B'Omer, the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer between Passover and Shavuot, was marked on Monday night and Tuesday with bonfires and first haircuts for 3-year-old boys.
More than 400,000 people gathered at the burial site of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who died on Lag B'Omer, in Meron in northern Israel.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Report: Ahmadinejad Leads in Iranian Election Poll
A recent poll shows that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is leading Iran's presidential election race by a big margin, Iran's satellite Press TV reported Tuesday. "The opinion poll conducted in Tehran as well as 29 other provincial capitals and 32 important cities on May 3-4 indicates that 58.6% will cast their ballots in favor of Ahmadinejad, while some 21.9% will vote for [Mir-Hossein] Mousavi." In another more recent poll carried out in Tehran, 44.8% said they would opt for the incumbent president while 29% percent said they would pick Mousavi. (Xinhua-China)
See also Khamenei Offers Implicit Support to Ahmadinejad
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday offered his implicit support to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the June 12 presidential election. "We should elect those who have popular support and who live in a simple and modest way," Khamenei said in an apparent reference to Ahmadinejad who is known for his modest style of living. (AFP)
U.S. Elected to UN Human Rights Council - Neil MacFarquhar
The U.S. won a seat on the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, as the General Assembly re-elected other nations to the 47-member body which have been condemned by human rights organizations for abusing their own citizens, including Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Cameroon. "While we recognize that the Human Rights Council has been a flawed body that has not lived up to its potential, we are looking forward to working from within with a broad cross section of member states to strengthen and reform the council," said Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador. (New York Times)
Pope Urges Palestinians to Resist Terrorism - Rachel Donadio
Pope Benedict XVI traveled Wednesday to Bethlehem, where he told Palestinians they had a right to a sovereign homeland "in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbors, within internationally recognized borders." He also urged young Palestinians to "have the courage to resist any temptation you may feel to resort to acts of violence or terrorism." (New York Times)
Israeli PM Favors "Natural Growth" of Existing Settlements - Ron Bousso
"[Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu will insist on Israel's right to construct within existing settlement blocs in order to sustain their natural growth," Zalman Shoval, a close confidante of Netanyahu and former Israeli ambassador to Washington, said Tuesday. "He will also make a clear commitment not to build new settlements." Netanyahu will argue that President George W. Bush said in a letter to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2004 that large settlement blocs will remain under Israeli control in any future peace deal. "The previous U.S. administration made a clear commitment on the large settlement blocs. It is not possible not to build there," Shoval said. (AFP)
Ahmadinejad Upsets Iranian Farmers - Najmeh Bozorgmehr
Markets in Iran are now saturated year-round with Chinese pears, Pakistani tangerines, French apples and Chilean pomegranates. All this abundance comes at a cost. Iranian farmers say the government has wasted windfall oil earnings and stoked an import-led boom rather than encouraging domestic food producers. Local media have reported that Iranian cattle farmers are facing bankruptcy because of imports of cheap red meat and dried milk at rates less than half local prices. Rice growers in the Caspian region say they cannot compete with cheap imports from Pakistan. The agricultural trade balance came in at a record deficit of about $9 billion for the last Iranian year. The figure was $45 million when Ahmadinejad took power about four years ago. (Financial Times-UK)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
IDF Intelligence: Mideast Not Obama's Top Priority - Amnon Meranda
IDF Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday that the Middle East was not the first priority of the U.S. administration, which was currently focused on Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran. (Ynet News)
See also Military Intelligence: Gaza Smuggling Continues Despite Egypt's Efforts - Yuval Azoulay
Yadlin also said that while Egypt has increased patrols along its border with Gaza, the smuggling of weapons has continued. "The situation is better than before, but the Gaza Strip has still not been hermetically sealed to smuggling," Yadlin said. (Ha'aretz)
IDF Fencing Off Part of Egyptian Border - Yaakov Katz
Fearing an increase in infiltration attempts by terrorists along the border with Egypt, the IDF's Southern Command recently began constructing a 40-km. barrier fence between Gaza and the Israeli border town of Nitzana to the south. The border with Egypt, over 200 km. long, is Israel's most porous frontier and is marked only in certain sections by a regular fence lacking electronic sensors. The section being sealed off is used frequently by drug smugglers and refugees to enter Israel. (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Don't Blame Israel - Alan M. Dershowitz
In a highly publicized recent statement, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel linked American efforts to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons to Israeli efforts toward establishing a Palestinian state. This is dangerous. It will be far easier for Israel to make peace with the Palestinians if it did not have to worry about the threat of a nuclear attack or a dirty bomb. It will also be easier for Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank if Iran were not arming and inciting Hamas, Hizbullah and other enemies of Israel to terrorize Israel with rockets and suicide bombers. If there is any linkage, it goes the other way - defanging Iran will promote the two-state solution.
Israelis have been scarred by what happened in Gaza. Israel ended the occupation, removed all of the settlers, and left behind millions of dollars worth of agricultural and other facilities designed to make Gaza into an economically-viable democracy. Land for peace is what they sought. Instead they got land for rocket attacks against their children, their women and their elderly. No one wants to see a repeat of this trade-off. (New York Post)
States Should Divest from Outlaw Regimes - Editorial
Americans can fight the war on terror by stopping businesses from investing in terror-sponsoring states. On May 1, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a law that divests his state's public pension systems from companies doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Syrian Arab Republic. Indiana previously divested from the Islamic Republic of Sudan in 2007.
A Florida law requires police and firefighters' pension funds to withdraw their money from firms with active business ties to Iran and Sudan, and requires the state to provide a "terror-free" investment option for state employees participating in Florida's defined-contribution retirement plan. California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have also adopted laws to divest. These admirable efforts demonstrate how Americans across the country can take the fight to terrorist states. (Washington Times)
Christians in Mideast Losing Numbers and Influence - Ethan Bronner
Christians used to be a vital force in the Middle East. They dominated Lebanon and filled top jobs in the Palestinian movement. In Egypt, they were wealthy beyond their number. In Iraq, they packed the universities and professions. But as Pope Benedict XVI wends his way across the Holy Land this week, he is addressing a dwindling and threatened Christian population driven to emigration by political violence, lack of economic opportunity and the rise of radical Islam.
A region that a century ago was 20% Christian is about 5% today and dropping. In Lebanon, Christians now amount to a quarter of the population. A century ago there were millions of Christians in what is today Turkey; now there are 150,000. In Bethlehem, Christians now make up barely a third of the population after centuries of being 80%. Of the 1.4 million Christians in Iraq in 2003, nearly half have fled. (New York Times)
See also Some Truths about Palestinian Christians - Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem Post)
Observations:
Iran Has Changed the Middle East Security Agenda - IDF Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
I recently met with a very prominent figure in one of the Gulf states. He said, "The reason I had an interest in meeting you could be summed up in one word: Iran. We are on the same side. We feel threatened by the Iranian nuclear projects, by their political ambitions, by their subversion and so on. And frankly, we are skeptical of whether Iran could be stopped. We don't know if the U.S. administration will be assertive enough, and if Iran goes nuclear it's going to be hell for all of us."
This anecdote encapsulates the general feeling today in the Middle East. When we talk to our neighbors in Egypt, in Jordan, in the Gulf states, in North Africa, the number-one topic that comes up is Iran. They are scared by the Iranian projects and ambitions. They are willing to do a lot in order to stop it.
Some of them are exerting more efforts in order to stop the Iranians and be more assertive. Others, who fear that Iran can't be stopped, are aligning themselves with the Iranians.
This confrontation between the radical and the moderate axis impacts the behavior of some of the regional actors, and you see things that you have not seen in the past. Look at the way Egypt behaved while we were operating in Gaza. They basically gave us a free hand and wished that we would crush Hamas.
I am often asked, why did you stop the operations in Gaza? Why didn't you crush Hamas? In order to topple the Hamas regime we would have needed to occupy the whole of Gaza, to stay there for a very long time, and to assume responsibility for 1.5 million civilians. Beyond all of this, Gaza is not the number-one challenge that we face. We have Iran, we have Hizbullah, we have other issues. So we decided not to go the full way. Hamas was badly beaten. I think we have created a sufficient deterrence, for the time being at least.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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JPost.com » Opinion » Columnists » Article
CAROLINE GLICK CAROLINE GLICK
May 7, 2009 22:20 | Updated May 8, 2009 15:12
Column One: Obama's green light to attack Iran
By CAROLINE GLICK [Recent columns]
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Arctic winds are blowing into Jerusalem from Washington these days. As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's May 18 visit to Washington fast approaches, the Obama administration is ratcheting up its anti-Israel rhetoric and working feverishly to force Israel into a corner.
Using the annual AIPAC conference as a backdrop, this week the Obama administration launched its harshest onslaught against Israel to date. It began with media reports that National Security Adviser James Jones told a European foreign minister that the US is planning to build an anti-Israel coalition with the Arabs and Europe to compel Israel to surrender Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
According to Haaretz, Jones was quoted in a classified foreign ministry cable as having told his European interlocutor, "The new administration will convince Israel to compromise on the Palestinian question. We will not push Israel under the wheels of a bus, but we will be more forceful toward Israel than we have been under Bush."
He then explained that the US, the EU and the moderate Arab states must determine together what "a satisfactory endgame solution," will be.
As far as Jones is concerned, Israel should be left out of those discussions and simply presented with a fait accompli that it will be compelled to accept.
Events this week showed that Jones's statement was an accurate depiction of the administration's policy. First, quartet mediator Tony Blair announced that within six weeks the US, EU, UN and Russia will unveil a new framework for establishing a Palestinian state. Speaking with Palestinian reporters on Wednesday, Blair said that this new framework will be a serious initiative because it "is being worked on at the highest level in the American administration."
Moreover, this week we learned that the administration is trying to get the Arabs themselves to write the Quartet's new plan. The London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi pan-Arab newspaper reported Tuesday that acting on behalf of Obama, Jordanian King Abdullah urged the Arab League to update the so-called Arab peace plan from 2002. That plan, which calls for Israel to withdraw from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights and accept millions of foreign Arabs as citizens as part of the so-called "right of return" in exchange for "natural" relations with the Arab world, has been rejected by successive Israeli governments as a diplomatic subterfuge whose goal is Israel's destruction.
By accepting millions of so-called "Palestinian refugees," Israel would effectively cease to be a Jewish state. By shrinking into the 1949 armistice lines, Israel would be unable to defend itself against foreign invasion. And since "natural relations" is a meaningless term both in international legal discourse and in diplomatic discourse, Israel would have committed national suicide for nothing.
To make the plan less objectionable to Israel, Abdullah reportedly called on his Arab brethren to strike references to the so-called "Arab refugees" from the plan and to agree to "normal" rather than "natural" relations with the Jewish state. According to the report, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was expected to present Obama with the changes to the plan during their meeting in Washington later this month. The revised plan was supposed to form the basis for the new Quartet plan that Blair referred to.
But the Arabs would have none of it. On Wednesday, both Arab League General Secretary Amr Moussa and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas announced that they oppose the initiative. On Thursday, Syria rejected making any changes in the document.
The administration couldn't care less. The Palestinians and Arabs are no more than bit players in its Middle East policy. As far as the Obama administration is concerned, Israel is the only obstacle to peace.
To make certain that Israel understands this central point, Vice President Joseph Biden used his appearance at the AIPAC conference to drive it home. As Biden made clear, the US doesn't respect or support Israel's right as a sovereign state to determine its own policies for securing its national interests. In Biden's words, "Israel has to work toward a two-state solution. You're not going to like my saying this, but not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow the Palestinians freedom of movement."
FOR ISRAEL, the main event of the week was supposed to be President Shimon Peres's meeting with Obama on Tuesday. Peres was tasked with calming the waters ahead of Netanyahu's visit. It was hoped that he could introduce a more collegial tone to US-Israel relations.
What Israel didn't count on was the humiliating reception Peres received from Obama. By barring all media from covering the event, Obama transformed what was supposed to be a friendly visit with a respected and friendly head of state into a back-door encounter with an unwanted guest, who was shooed in and shooed out of the White House without a sound.
The Obama White House's bald attempt to force Israel to take full blame for the Arab world's hostility toward it is not the only way that it is casting Israel as the scapegoat for the region's ills. In their bid to open direct diplomatic ties with Iran, Obama and his advisers are also blaming Israel for Iran's nuclear program. They are doing this both indirectly and directly.
As Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel made clear in his closed-door briefing to senior AIPAC officials this week, the administration is holding Israel indirectly responsible for Iran's nuclear program. It does this by claiming that Israel's refusal to cede its land to the Palestinians is making it impossible for the Arab world to support preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Somewhat inconveniently for the administration, the Arabs themselves are rejecting this premise. This week US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the Persian Gulf and Egypt to soothe Arab fears that the administration's desperate attempts to appease the mullahs will harm their security interests. He also sought to gain their support for the administration's plan to unveil a new peace plan aimed at isolating and pressuring Israel.
CAROLINE GLICK CAROLINE GLICK
May 7, 2009 22:20 | Updated May 8, 2009 15:12
Column One: Obama's green light to attack Iran
By CAROLINE GLICK [Recent columns]
Print Subscribe
E-mail Toolbar
+ Recommend:
facebook del.icio.us reddit newsvine fark
What's this?
Decrease text size Decrease text size
Increase text size Increase text size
Talkbacks for this article: 126
| Avg. rating 4.61 out of 5rated 4.61 by 627 people | Top Rated Articles [?]
Arctic winds are blowing into Jerusalem from Washington these days. As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's May 18 visit to Washington fast approaches, the Obama administration is ratcheting up its anti-Israel rhetoric and working feverishly to force Israel into a corner.
Using the annual AIPAC conference as a backdrop, this week the Obama administration launched its harshest onslaught against Israel to date. It began with media reports that National Security Adviser James Jones told a European foreign minister that the US is planning to build an anti-Israel coalition with the Arabs and Europe to compel Israel to surrender Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
According to Haaretz, Jones was quoted in a classified foreign ministry cable as having told his European interlocutor, "The new administration will convince Israel to compromise on the Palestinian question. We will not push Israel under the wheels of a bus, but we will be more forceful toward Israel than we have been under Bush."
He then explained that the US, the EU and the moderate Arab states must determine together what "a satisfactory endgame solution," will be.
As far as Jones is concerned, Israel should be left out of those discussions and simply presented with a fait accompli that it will be compelled to accept.
Events this week showed that Jones's statement was an accurate depiction of the administration's policy. First, quartet mediator Tony Blair announced that within six weeks the US, EU, UN and Russia will unveil a new framework for establishing a Palestinian state. Speaking with Palestinian reporters on Wednesday, Blair said that this new framework will be a serious initiative because it "is being worked on at the highest level in the American administration."
Moreover, this week we learned that the administration is trying to get the Arabs themselves to write the Quartet's new plan. The London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi pan-Arab newspaper reported Tuesday that acting on behalf of Obama, Jordanian King Abdullah urged the Arab League to update the so-called Arab peace plan from 2002. That plan, which calls for Israel to withdraw from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights and accept millions of foreign Arabs as citizens as part of the so-called "right of return" in exchange for "natural" relations with the Arab world, has been rejected by successive Israeli governments as a diplomatic subterfuge whose goal is Israel's destruction.
By accepting millions of so-called "Palestinian refugees," Israel would effectively cease to be a Jewish state. By shrinking into the 1949 armistice lines, Israel would be unable to defend itself against foreign invasion. And since "natural relations" is a meaningless term both in international legal discourse and in diplomatic discourse, Israel would have committed national suicide for nothing.
To make the plan less objectionable to Israel, Abdullah reportedly called on his Arab brethren to strike references to the so-called "Arab refugees" from the plan and to agree to "normal" rather than "natural" relations with the Jewish state. According to the report, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was expected to present Obama with the changes to the plan during their meeting in Washington later this month. The revised plan was supposed to form the basis for the new Quartet plan that Blair referred to.
But the Arabs would have none of it. On Wednesday, both Arab League General Secretary Amr Moussa and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas announced that they oppose the initiative. On Thursday, Syria rejected making any changes in the document.
The administration couldn't care less. The Palestinians and Arabs are no more than bit players in its Middle East policy. As far as the Obama administration is concerned, Israel is the only obstacle to peace.
To make certain that Israel understands this central point, Vice President Joseph Biden used his appearance at the AIPAC conference to drive it home. As Biden made clear, the US doesn't respect or support Israel's right as a sovereign state to determine its own policies for securing its national interests. In Biden's words, "Israel has to work toward a two-state solution. You're not going to like my saying this, but not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow the Palestinians freedom of movement."
FOR ISRAEL, the main event of the week was supposed to be President Shimon Peres's meeting with Obama on Tuesday. Peres was tasked with calming the waters ahead of Netanyahu's visit. It was hoped that he could introduce a more collegial tone to US-Israel relations.
What Israel didn't count on was the humiliating reception Peres received from Obama. By barring all media from covering the event, Obama transformed what was supposed to be a friendly visit with a respected and friendly head of state into a back-door encounter with an unwanted guest, who was shooed in and shooed out of the White House without a sound.
The Obama White House's bald attempt to force Israel to take full blame for the Arab world's hostility toward it is not the only way that it is casting Israel as the scapegoat for the region's ills. In their bid to open direct diplomatic ties with Iran, Obama and his advisers are also blaming Israel for Iran's nuclear program. They are doing this both indirectly and directly.
As Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel made clear in his closed-door briefing to senior AIPAC officials this week, the administration is holding Israel indirectly responsible for Iran's nuclear program. It does this by claiming that Israel's refusal to cede its land to the Palestinians is making it impossible for the Arab world to support preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Somewhat inconveniently for the administration, the Arabs themselves are rejecting this premise. This week US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the Persian Gulf and Egypt to soothe Arab fears that the administration's desperate attempts to appease the mullahs will harm their security interests. He also sought to gain their support for the administration's plan to unveil a new peace plan aimed at isolating and pressuring Israel.
Ok with whom to make peace?
Pope and UN calls for Palestinian state and then this
"Pope Walks Out after Muslim Cleric Accuses Israel of "Slaughter" - Yair Ettinger
The head of the Palestinian Sharia court, Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi, fiercely denounced Israeli policy in the presence of Pope Benedict on Monday at an interfaith conference in eastern Jerusalem. After the pope was informed of the political nature of al-Tamimi's speech, delivered in Arabic without simultaneous translation, he left the conference. Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov, charged with coordinating the pope's visit to Israel, said, "It is a shame that the extremists were those who represented the Palestinians and the Muslims in this important event." (Ha'aretz) "
Ok Mr POpe and UN and Mr President of USA, with whom exactly is Israel supposed to make peace? Abbas won't agree thaT ISRAel will be a Jewish state, and he has little power and Hamas says any Israel, no matter how shrunken, is not acceptable.
"Pope Walks Out after Muslim Cleric Accuses Israel of "Slaughter" - Yair Ettinger
The head of the Palestinian Sharia court, Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi, fiercely denounced Israeli policy in the presence of Pope Benedict on Monday at an interfaith conference in eastern Jerusalem. After the pope was informed of the political nature of al-Tamimi's speech, delivered in Arabic without simultaneous translation, he left the conference. Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov, charged with coordinating the pope's visit to Israel, said, "It is a shame that the extremists were those who represented the Palestinians and the Muslims in this important event." (Ha'aretz) "
Ok Mr POpe and UN and Mr President of USA, with whom exactly is Israel supposed to make peace? Abbas won't agree thaT ISRAel will be a Jewish state, and he has little power and Hamas says any Israel, no matter how shrunken, is not acceptable.
Daily alert
Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
View this page at www.dailyalert.org
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DAILY ALERT Tuesday,
May 12, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In-Depth Issues:
Iran Deploys Missiles in Persian Gulf (Jerusalem Post)
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has deployed mobile ground-to-air and ground-to-sea missile batteries in the Strait of Hormuz and other areas in the Persian Gulf, the Saudi newspaper Al Watan reported Tuesday, quoting a senior Iranian official.
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Iran Frees U.S. Journalist - Ali Akbar Dareini (Los Angeles Times)
American journalist Roxana Saberi, 32, who was imprisoned on espionage charges in Iran for four months, was freed on Monday.
Her release came when an appeals court reduced her eight-year prison sentence on charges of spying for the U.S. to a two-year suspended sentence.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the Obama administration continues to stress that Saberi was wrongly accused, "but we welcome this humanitarian gesture."
See also Blogger and Aid Worker Still Held in Iran - Robert Mackey (New York Times)
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Islamic Radicals Blame Jews for Swine Flu (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center)
For Hamas, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, and Arab cartoonists, the spread of swine flu and the panic it caused was an opportunity to associate the disease with Jews and Zionists in order to incite hatred against the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
On May 6, the Hamas organ Felesteen charged "that Zionists began spreading the disease."
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood published an anti-Semitic video on April 30 titled "Swine Flu or Jew Flu," in an attempt to associate swine flu with the Jews.
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Hackers Sabotage Arab-Language Israeli Website - Mel Bezalel (Jerusalem Post)
Infoelarab.org - an Arab-language website dedicated to presenting Western and Israeli news stories to the Arab world - was hacked on Sunday by a group signing off as "Gaza lovers."
The site, edited by former ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was reduced to a black screen featuring an Arab terrorist brandishing a weapon and an abusive paragraph in broken Hebrew referring to the site staff as "children of monkeys and pigs."
"One of the aspects of confrontations between Israel and the Arab world is also on the level of ideas....[The hackers] don't accept criticism or other opinions. We live in a completely different society where everything is free, where self-criticism [appears] in the press," said Mazel. "But we must try to [facilitate] dialogue and we are doing it."
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Israel Seeks Egypt's Support Against "Extremists" - Steve Weizman and Sarah El Deeb
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought Egypt's help Monday in building a coalition of Arab nations against Iran, framing the broader Middle East conflict as one in which moderates must band together to confront extremists. In his first trip to the Arab world since becoming prime minister, Netanyahu met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheik. Netanyahu said, "The struggle in the Middle East is...between extremists and moderates, a struggle between those who seek life and those who spread violence and death."
Netanyahu added, "We want Israelis and Palestinians to live together with a horizon to peace, security and prosperity.... Therefore, we want at the earliest opportunity to renew the peace talks between ourselves and the Palestinians." (AP/Washington Post)
See also Netanyahu Meets Egyptian President, Pledges Peace Talks with Palestinians - David Blair (Telegraph-UK)
See also Prime Minister Netanyahu's Statement in Egypt (Prime Minister's Office)
UN Security Council Calls for a Palestinian State - Edith M. Lederer
The UN Security Council unanimously approved a statement on Monday reiterating its call for "renewed and urgent efforts by the parties and the international community" to reach a Mideast peace agreement "based on the vision of a region where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, will live side by side in peace." The council statement also urged Palestinian factions to take "tangible steps" toward reconciliation, such as renouncing violence, respecting past commitments and recognizing Israel - which Hamas refuses to do.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told the council of President Obama's determination to vigorously pursue "a comprehensive peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors" in the months ahead. Israel's UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said Israel doesn't believe the involvement of the Security Council contributes to the political process in the Middle East and called the timing "inappropriate." "This process should be bilateral and left to the parties themselves," Shalev said. (AP/Washington Post)
Syria Criticizes Renewal of U.S. Sanctions - Albert Aji
Syria rejected the Obama administration's decision to renew economic and diplomatic sanctions against Damascus and urged Washington to abandon "foolish policies," the state-run Tishrin newspaper reported Sunday. (AP)
See also Despite U.S. Outreach, Syria Affirms Iran Ties - Andrew Lee Butters (TIME)
Obama Picks Egypt as Venue to Address World's Muslims - Scott Wilson and Anne E. Kornblut
President Obama will travel to Egypt on June 4 to deliver his promised address to the Muslim world. It will be the first stop in a trip that will also take him to Buchenwald, the former Nazi concentration camp in Germany, and then to Normandy, in France, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landing. (Washington Post)
See also Muslim Brotherhood: Obama's Egypt Trip "Useless" - Omar Sinan (AP/Washington Post)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Pope Walks Out after Muslim Cleric Accuses Israel of "Slaughter" - Yair Ettinger
The head of the Palestinian Sharia court, Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi, fiercely denounced Israeli policy in the presence of Pope Benedict on Monday at an interfaith conference in eastern Jerusalem. After the pope was informed of the political nature of al-Tamimi's speech, delivered in Arabic without simultaneous translation, he left the conference. Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov, charged with coordinating the pope's visit to Israel, said, "It is a shame that the extremists were those who represented the Palestinians and the Muslims in this important event." (Ha'aretz)
Increased U.S. Military Aid Includes Less for Arrow 2 - Ran Dagoni
The fiscal 2010 budget bill that the Obama administration sent to Congress last week includes $2.78 billion in defense aid for Israel, up from $2.55 billion in the 2009 budget, an increase based on the formula in the ten-year U.S. military aid deal. The U.S. proposes boosting aid for the next-generation Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile defense system from $30 million in 2009 to $37.5 million in 2010. However, the administration has more than halved aid for the Arrow 2 from $74.3 million in 2009 to $36.3 million in 2010. (Globes)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
U.S. Intelligence Community Ignores Iranian Threat - Editorial
At last week's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said: "There is no question [Iran is] seeking a nuclear weapons capability. No one doubts that." No one? Actually, our own spy agencies belittle the Iranian threat. On March 12, the CIA released a report to Congress that concluded: "We do not know whether Iran currently intends to develop a nuclear weapon." The report essentially reworks the conclusions in a controversial December 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate.
New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who also testified at last week's Senate hearing, said the message from Iran was "loud and clear." His investigations of the multibillion-dollar criminal financial schemes Iran is using to finance its programs indicated "it is late in this game and we don't have a lot of time to stop Iran" from developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. "The Iranians are deadly serious about proceeding with this program," he said. "It is later than a lot of people think." (Washington Times)
There Is No Reason to Discuss Israel's Nuclear Weapons - Interview with Jeffrey Herf
There is no reason to discuss Israel's nuclear weapons any more than there is reason to discuss the nuclear weapons of other American allies, such as Britain and France. It is Iran, not Israel, that is violating numerous UN Security Council resolutions. It is Iran whose nuclear ambitions threaten to make the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty a dead letter. Jeffrey Herf is a professor of history at the University of Maryland. (Der Spiegel-Germany)
America's Cold War with Iran Unfolds in Lebanon - David Samuels
The true importance of the June 7 elections in Lebanon has less to do with the formal balance of power inside the country than it does with the increasingly tense struggle between the alliance of America's regional clients that includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, and the Iranian-Syrian axis. There are two likely outcomes in the upcoming election - a narrow Hizbullah loss or a narrow Hizbullah win. Either way, the election will provide very public evidence of the declining influence of the U.S. in Lebanon and the growing power of Iran. In the new Middle East, Tehran - armed with the strategic insulation that nuclear weapons confer - will be able to destabilize any government it doesn't like without fear of military reprisal. As nearby regimes weigh the pros and cons of life inside the nuclear cage with the Iranian tiger, Lebanon offers a preview of what the future might be like. (New Republic)
Observations:
The Myth of a "Secular Democratic Palestine" - Benny Morris (National Post-Canada)
The Palestinian national movement started life with a vision and goal of a Palestinian Muslim Arab-majority state in all of Palestine - a one-state "solution" - and continues to espouse and aim to establish such a state down to the present day.
Moreover, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which led the national movement from the 1960s to Yasser Arafat's death in 2004, and Hamas today - all sought and seek to vastly reduce the number of Jewish inhabitants in the country, in other words, to ethnically cleanse Palestine. The PLO explicitly declared the aim of limiting citizenship to those Jews who had lived in Palestine permanently before 1917, a goal spelled out clearly in the Palestinian National Charter.
Though "a secular democratic Palestine" was described by various Palestinian spokesmen in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to Western journalists, this has never been the goal of Fatah or the so-called moderate groups that dominated the PLO between the 1960s and the 2006 elections that brought Hamas to power.
Middle East historian Rashid Khalidi has written that "in 1969 [the PLO] amended [its previous goal and henceforward advocated] the establishment of a secular democratic state in Palestine for Muslims, Christians and Jews, replacing Israel." This is hogwash. The Palestine National Council never amended the Palestine National Charter to the effect that the goal of the PLO was "a secular democratic state in Palestine."
It is a spin invented for gullible Westerners and was never part of Palestinian mainstream ideology. The Palestinian leadership has never, at any time, endorsed a "secular, democratic Palestine."
The writer, a professor of history at Ben-Gurion University, is the author of One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict (2009).
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DAILY ALERT Tuesday,
May 12, 2009
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In-Depth Issues:
Iran Deploys Missiles in Persian Gulf (Jerusalem Post)
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has deployed mobile ground-to-air and ground-to-sea missile batteries in the Strait of Hormuz and other areas in the Persian Gulf, the Saudi newspaper Al Watan reported Tuesday, quoting a senior Iranian official.
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Iran Frees U.S. Journalist - Ali Akbar Dareini (Los Angeles Times)
American journalist Roxana Saberi, 32, who was imprisoned on espionage charges in Iran for four months, was freed on Monday.
Her release came when an appeals court reduced her eight-year prison sentence on charges of spying for the U.S. to a two-year suspended sentence.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the Obama administration continues to stress that Saberi was wrongly accused, "but we welcome this humanitarian gesture."
See also Blogger and Aid Worker Still Held in Iran - Robert Mackey (New York Times)
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Islamic Radicals Blame Jews for Swine Flu (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center)
For Hamas, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, and Arab cartoonists, the spread of swine flu and the panic it caused was an opportunity to associate the disease with Jews and Zionists in order to incite hatred against the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
On May 6, the Hamas organ Felesteen charged "that Zionists began spreading the disease."
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood published an anti-Semitic video on April 30 titled "Swine Flu or Jew Flu," in an attempt to associate swine flu with the Jews.
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Hackers Sabotage Arab-Language Israeli Website - Mel Bezalel (Jerusalem Post)
Infoelarab.org - an Arab-language website dedicated to presenting Western and Israeli news stories to the Arab world - was hacked on Sunday by a group signing off as "Gaza lovers."
The site, edited by former ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was reduced to a black screen featuring an Arab terrorist brandishing a weapon and an abusive paragraph in broken Hebrew referring to the site staff as "children of monkeys and pigs."
"One of the aspects of confrontations between Israel and the Arab world is also on the level of ideas....[The hackers] don't accept criticism or other opinions. We live in a completely different society where everything is free, where self-criticism [appears] in the press," said Mazel. "But we must try to [facilitate] dialogue and we are doing it."
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Israel Seeks Egypt's Support Against "Extremists" - Steve Weizman and Sarah El Deeb
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought Egypt's help Monday in building a coalition of Arab nations against Iran, framing the broader Middle East conflict as one in which moderates must band together to confront extremists. In his first trip to the Arab world since becoming prime minister, Netanyahu met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheik. Netanyahu said, "The struggle in the Middle East is...between extremists and moderates, a struggle between those who seek life and those who spread violence and death."
Netanyahu added, "We want Israelis and Palestinians to live together with a horizon to peace, security and prosperity.... Therefore, we want at the earliest opportunity to renew the peace talks between ourselves and the Palestinians." (AP/Washington Post)
See also Netanyahu Meets Egyptian President, Pledges Peace Talks with Palestinians - David Blair (Telegraph-UK)
See also Prime Minister Netanyahu's Statement in Egypt (Prime Minister's Office)
UN Security Council Calls for a Palestinian State - Edith M. Lederer
The UN Security Council unanimously approved a statement on Monday reiterating its call for "renewed and urgent efforts by the parties and the international community" to reach a Mideast peace agreement "based on the vision of a region where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, will live side by side in peace." The council statement also urged Palestinian factions to take "tangible steps" toward reconciliation, such as renouncing violence, respecting past commitments and recognizing Israel - which Hamas refuses to do.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told the council of President Obama's determination to vigorously pursue "a comprehensive peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors" in the months ahead. Israel's UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said Israel doesn't believe the involvement of the Security Council contributes to the political process in the Middle East and called the timing "inappropriate." "This process should be bilateral and left to the parties themselves," Shalev said. (AP/Washington Post)
Syria Criticizes Renewal of U.S. Sanctions - Albert Aji
Syria rejected the Obama administration's decision to renew economic and diplomatic sanctions against Damascus and urged Washington to abandon "foolish policies," the state-run Tishrin newspaper reported Sunday. (AP)
See also Despite U.S. Outreach, Syria Affirms Iran Ties - Andrew Lee Butters (TIME)
Obama Picks Egypt as Venue to Address World's Muslims - Scott Wilson and Anne E. Kornblut
President Obama will travel to Egypt on June 4 to deliver his promised address to the Muslim world. It will be the first stop in a trip that will also take him to Buchenwald, the former Nazi concentration camp in Germany, and then to Normandy, in France, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landing. (Washington Post)
See also Muslim Brotherhood: Obama's Egypt Trip "Useless" - Omar Sinan (AP/Washington Post)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Pope Walks Out after Muslim Cleric Accuses Israel of "Slaughter" - Yair Ettinger
The head of the Palestinian Sharia court, Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi, fiercely denounced Israeli policy in the presence of Pope Benedict on Monday at an interfaith conference in eastern Jerusalem. After the pope was informed of the political nature of al-Tamimi's speech, delivered in Arabic without simultaneous translation, he left the conference. Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov, charged with coordinating the pope's visit to Israel, said, "It is a shame that the extremists were those who represented the Palestinians and the Muslims in this important event." (Ha'aretz)
Increased U.S. Military Aid Includes Less for Arrow 2 - Ran Dagoni
The fiscal 2010 budget bill that the Obama administration sent to Congress last week includes $2.78 billion in defense aid for Israel, up from $2.55 billion in the 2009 budget, an increase based on the formula in the ten-year U.S. military aid deal. The U.S. proposes boosting aid for the next-generation Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile defense system from $30 million in 2009 to $37.5 million in 2010. However, the administration has more than halved aid for the Arrow 2 from $74.3 million in 2009 to $36.3 million in 2010. (Globes)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
U.S. Intelligence Community Ignores Iranian Threat - Editorial
At last week's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said: "There is no question [Iran is] seeking a nuclear weapons capability. No one doubts that." No one? Actually, our own spy agencies belittle the Iranian threat. On March 12, the CIA released a report to Congress that concluded: "We do not know whether Iran currently intends to develop a nuclear weapon." The report essentially reworks the conclusions in a controversial December 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate.
New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who also testified at last week's Senate hearing, said the message from Iran was "loud and clear." His investigations of the multibillion-dollar criminal financial schemes Iran is using to finance its programs indicated "it is late in this game and we don't have a lot of time to stop Iran" from developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. "The Iranians are deadly serious about proceeding with this program," he said. "It is later than a lot of people think." (Washington Times)
There Is No Reason to Discuss Israel's Nuclear Weapons - Interview with Jeffrey Herf
There is no reason to discuss Israel's nuclear weapons any more than there is reason to discuss the nuclear weapons of other American allies, such as Britain and France. It is Iran, not Israel, that is violating numerous UN Security Council resolutions. It is Iran whose nuclear ambitions threaten to make the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty a dead letter. Jeffrey Herf is a professor of history at the University of Maryland. (Der Spiegel-Germany)
America's Cold War with Iran Unfolds in Lebanon - David Samuels
The true importance of the June 7 elections in Lebanon has less to do with the formal balance of power inside the country than it does with the increasingly tense struggle between the alliance of America's regional clients that includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, and the Iranian-Syrian axis. There are two likely outcomes in the upcoming election - a narrow Hizbullah loss or a narrow Hizbullah win. Either way, the election will provide very public evidence of the declining influence of the U.S. in Lebanon and the growing power of Iran. In the new Middle East, Tehran - armed with the strategic insulation that nuclear weapons confer - will be able to destabilize any government it doesn't like without fear of military reprisal. As nearby regimes weigh the pros and cons of life inside the nuclear cage with the Iranian tiger, Lebanon offers a preview of what the future might be like. (New Republic)
Observations:
The Myth of a "Secular Democratic Palestine" - Benny Morris (National Post-Canada)
The Palestinian national movement started life with a vision and goal of a Palestinian Muslim Arab-majority state in all of Palestine - a one-state "solution" - and continues to espouse and aim to establish such a state down to the present day.
Moreover, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which led the national movement from the 1960s to Yasser Arafat's death in 2004, and Hamas today - all sought and seek to vastly reduce the number of Jewish inhabitants in the country, in other words, to ethnically cleanse Palestine. The PLO explicitly declared the aim of limiting citizenship to those Jews who had lived in Palestine permanently before 1917, a goal spelled out clearly in the Palestinian National Charter.
Though "a secular democratic Palestine" was described by various Palestinian spokesmen in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to Western journalists, this has never been the goal of Fatah or the so-called moderate groups that dominated the PLO between the 1960s and the 2006 elections that brought Hamas to power.
Middle East historian Rashid Khalidi has written that "in 1969 [the PLO] amended [its previous goal and henceforward advocated] the establishment of a secular democratic state in Palestine for Muslims, Christians and Jews, replacing Israel." This is hogwash. The Palestine National Council never amended the Palestine National Charter to the effect that the goal of the PLO was "a secular democratic state in Palestine."
It is a spin invented for gullible Westerners and was never part of Palestinian mainstream ideology. The Palestinian leadership has never, at any time, endorsed a "secular, democratic Palestine."
The writer, a professor of history at Ben-Gurion University, is the author of One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict (2009).
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Monday, May 11, 2009
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Monday,
May 11, 2009
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In-Depth Issues:
Did U.S. Help Lebanon Crack Alleged Israeli Spy Rings? - Yoav Stern (Ha'aretz)
Lebanon arrested five people over the weekend suspected of belonging to an intelligence cell transmitting information about Hizbullah to Israel, the most recent arrests in a two-month crackdown apparently aided by American training and equipment.
Lebanese security sources attribute the recent arrests to better-trained personnel and access to more sophisticated equipment.
The U.S. has provided $1 billion in aid since 2006, including $410 million in security assistance to the Lebanese military and police.
Israel has expressed reservations about American aid to the Lebanese army and security services, saying that any aid is liable to serve Hizbullah's interests.
See also New Lebanese Security Unit Cooperating with Hizbullah - Andrew Wander (Daily Star-Lebanon)
More than 17 suspected spies have been arrested since January, prompting the leader of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Ashraf Rifi to declare their capture "the strongest security strike against the Israeli Mossad."
Increased intelligence sharing between Hizbullah and a new, specialized ISF counter-espionage unit - for the first time openly admitted by Lebanese security officials - has given authorities an advantage in the fight against Israeli espionage operations in the country, experts said.
See also Israel's "Sleeper Cells" Were Building Hizbullah Database (AFP/Daily Star-Lebanon)
Hamas Leader Rejects Two-State Solution (UPI)
Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, who lives in Syria, called a two-state solution unacceptable because Hamas cannot envision living with Israel in peace, the Kuwait news agency KUNA reported Saturday.
U.S. Confident Israel Is Not Rushing to Attack Tehran - Mohammed Almezel (Gulf News-UAE)
Israeli talk of a unilateral attack on Iranian nuclear facilities is just "rhetoric responding to similar rhetoric coming out of Iran," a Gulf official quoted Dennis Ross, President Obama's special advisor on the Gulf and South West Asia, as saying when he toured the region last month.
"According to Ross, Israel will not move unless they are convinced Iran poses a clear and present danger to its national security and will not do that without seeking U.S. approval," the Gulf official said.
He said all parties believe there will be no real movement before the Iranian presidential elections, set for June 12.
See also If Israel Attacks Iran, 49% Say U.S. Should Help (Rasmussen Reports)
49% of Americans say that if Israel launches an attack against Iran, the U.S. should help Israel.
The Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% believe the U.S. should do nothing, while just 2% believe the U.S. should help Iran.
Last summer, just 42% said the U.S. should help Israel, while 46% said the nation should do nothing.
66% now say that preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons is more important than preventing war between Iran and Israel, up from 52% last July.
Palestinian Rocket Fire Continues - Yanir Yagana (Ha'aretz)
Palestinians in Gaza fired a Kassam rocket at Israel on Sunday evening.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
* Terrorist Traffic Via Syria Returns - Karen DeYoung
After a long hiatus, the Syrian pipeline of suicide bombers headed for Iraq and operated by al-Qaeda is back in business. The revival of a transit route that officials had declared all but closed comes as the Obama administration is exploring a new diplomatic dialogue with Syria. Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, told Congress late last month that the al-Qaeda in Iraq pipeline through Syria had been "reactivated." While the flow of foreign fighters through Syria reached a high of 80 to 100 a month in mid-2007, most of them would-be suicide "martyrs," in December the traffic reached an all-time low, into the single digits. More recently, the estimate has risen to 20 a month. (Washington Post)
* U.S. Renews Syria Sanctions Despite Outreach to Damascus - David Gollust
The Obama administration has renewed economic sanctions against Syria despite its efforts at diplomatic outreach with the Damascus government. State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood said Friday, "I think this shows you we still have some very serious concerns about Syrian behavior and activity in the world....We've said to you before our concerns about what Syria is doing in Iraq, its support for terrorist groups." Syria has long been listed by the State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism for supporting Hizbullah militants in Lebanon and playing host to senior officials of Hamas. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and White House National Security Council Middle East Adviser Daniel Shapiro visited the Syrian capital last week. (VOA News)
See also Biological Weapons Facility Replaces Syrian Nuclear Reactor - Orly Azulai
Syria has rebuilt the structure that housed the nuclear reactor that Israel destroyed and turned the place into a facility for the production of chemical and biological weapons, CBS News reported Sunday, quoting U.S. intelligence sources. The two American envoys who visited Syria last week were aware of the report and presented satellite photos to the Syrians, who denied it.
As a result, Obama decided that Syria had done nothing to justify the removal of sanctions. The revelation of Syria's plan to develop biological and chemical weapons joins a series of disagreements that has brought the Syrians and Americans to a stalemate at this point. The chief disagreement involves Israeli-Syrian negotiations: The Syrians insist that Israel must first agree to the return of the Golan Heights prior to the start of negotiations. (Yediot Ahronot-Hebrew, 11May09)
See also Why Obama Renewed Sanctions on Syria - Zvi Yehezkeli
U.S. intelligence determined that the main source of funding and training of suicide bombers in Iraq is in Syria. There is evidence that Syrian intelligence is directly involved in preparing the attacks. (Israel TV Channel 10/Nana-Hebrew)
* Netanyahu Meeting with Obama Decides Mideast's Future, Says Jordan's King Abdullah - Michael Binyon and Richard Beeston
President Obama's meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu next week has become the acid test for the U.S. administration's commitment to peace in the Middle East, King Abdullah of Jordan said Sunday. The king traveled to Damascus Monday to urge President Assad to join the Arab efforts to seek a settlement with Israel, based on the Arab peace plan adopted in 2002.
Brokered by the Americans, this would be the most comprehensive deal attempted since the opening of the Madrid conference in 1991. It would offer Israel immediate benefits, such as entry visas to every Arab country, the right of El Al, Israel's national airline, to overfly Arab territory, and the eventual recognition of Israel by all 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. In return, the Israelis would have to put an immediate stop to the building and expansion of settlements and agree to withdraw from territories occupied since 1967. The two most sensitive issues - the future status of Jerusalem and the right of return by Palestinians who fled in 1948 - would be negotiated within the framework of the peace plan. (Times-UK)
See also Arab Peace Offer Is Not Negotiable
The Arab League and Syria have shot down a U.S. suggestion that the Arab peace initiative be changed to make it more palatable to Israel. Several Arab diplomats said this week that the Americans are asking Arab states to drop demands for a right of return for Palestinian refugees and agree to either resettle them in the host countries or in the Palestinian territories. Arab foreign ministers meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo last week rejected the request, said Jordan's foreign minister. "The ministers renewed their commitment to the initiative as it is without change," Nasser Judeh said. (Arab News-Saudi Arabia)
* U.S. Security Advisor: We Will Work Hard Towards a Two-State Solution - George Stephanopoulos
U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday: "We understand Israel's preoccupation with Iran as an existential threat. We agree with that. And by the same token, there are a lot of things that you can do to diminish that existential threat by working hard towards achieving a two-state solution." (ABC News)
See also McCain: U.S. Shouldn't Dictate Israeli-Palestinian Policy - William McQuillen
The U.S. shouldn't dictate to Israel how to proceed with a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, instead allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration flexibility to proceed in its own, Senator John McCain said Sunday. "I'm not sure the timing is right, right now, with a new government in Israel, for us to dictate to them their policy," McCain told ABC's "This Week." (Bloomberg)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
* Pope Benedict XVI Arrives in Israel - Eli Senyor
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Israel from Jordan on Monday as part of his first papal visit to the Middle East and a self-proclaimed "pilgrimage of peace." "I take my place in a long line of Christian pilgrims to these shores," he said at the airport. "I come, like so many others before me, to pray at the holy places, to pray especially for peace - peace here in the Holy Land, and peace throughout the world." "Anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head in many parts of the world. This is totally unacceptable. Every effort must be made to combat anti-Semitism wherever it is found," he added. (Ynet News)
* Prime Minister Vows to Improve Palestinian Economy - Zvi Lavi
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he is committed to improving the economic status of Palestinian Authority residents and that all bureaucratic obstacles to this end should be removed if they were not linked to security issues. "There is a lot of bureaucracy in our relationship with the Palestinians, as amongst ourselves, and we have to work to decrease it," he said. (Ynet News)
See also Israel Removes More Roadblocks in Ramallah Area
The removal of two roadblocks in the Ramallah area on Sunday allows free movement of vehicles between the city of Ramallah and the villages to its west and east. Over 140 checkpoints have been removed throughout Judea and Samaria in the last year. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
* The Vatican, the Jews, and the Palestinians - Shlomo Avineri
The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s not only absolved the Jewish people of collective guilt for crucifying Jesus, but recognized the continuing covenant between God and the Jews, paving the way for recognizing the legitimacy of their existence. This transformation, in turn, enabled the Vatican's recognition of the State of Israel.
Yet even today, when the idea is raised of matching Israeli recognition of a Palestinian nation state with Palestinian recognition of Israel as the home of the Jewish people, the moderates in the Palestinian Authority respond with unqualified refusal. This is deeply rooted in Palestinians' unwillingness to recognize that in 1948 they made an enormous, tragic mistake in their refusal to accept the UN partition plan and the decision to respond to it with force. Even today they are unable to accept the principle of partition. The Palestinians are willing to talk about two states, but not for two nations, since that would imply recognition of the Jews as a people. (Ha'aretz)
* Obama, Netanyahu, and Iran - Elliott Abrams
Israelis see an Iranian bomb as an existential threat. They cannot be sure an Iranian leader waiting excitedly for the Mahdi's return will be using game theory and mathematical calculations to decide whether it's sensible to strike the Jewish state. Even former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, whom European diplomats view as a wonderful moderate, called Israel "a one-bomb country."
U.S. Middle East Envoy George Mitchell seems impressed by the Arab preoccupation with Iran rather than with the Palestinians. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to get it too. With the Palestinians split between Fatah and Hamas, the old "peace process" is increasingly irrelevant to real world crises. There is a critical struggle under way right now in the Middle East, but it is not between Israelis and Palestinians; it is the people aligned with us - including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the PA, Israel and the UAE - against Iran, Qatar, Syria, Hizbullah and the Palestinian rejectionist groups. The writer, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, was the deputy national security adviser overseeing Near East and North African affairs from 2005 to January 2009. (Wall Street Journal)
Observations:
Israel Still Looks Good, Warts and All - Greg Sheridan (The Australian)
* The Israel I know, which I have visited for weeks at a time, which I experience through its literature and media and the Israeli citizens I have met, bears no relation to the Israel I see in most of the Western media. That Israel of the Western mind (and indeed of the Arab mind) is a hateful place: right-wing, militaristic, authoritarian, racist, ultra-religious, neo-colonial, narrow-minded, undemocratic, indifferent to world opinion, indifferent especially to Palestinian suffering.
* Yet the Israel I know is mostly secular, raucously, almost wildly democratic, has a vibrant left wing, having founded in the kibbutz movement one of the only successful experiments in socialism in human history. It is multi-ethnic, there is a great stress on human solidarity, there is due process. And I've never heard an Israeli speak casually about the value of Palestinian life.
* The Israel I know is a Western democracy, often under siege. I see a society striving for the good, certainly not beyond criticism, but overall behaving as well as any comparably sized Western society would or could in all the circumstances.
* Nobody declares Saudi Arabia an illegitimate state because it has no democracy or human rights, and its doctrinaire Wahhabi Sunni establishment rules over a marginalized Shia minority. Nobody declares Turkey an illegitimate state because it has a disgruntled Kurdish minority, some of whom certainly aspire to statehood. Even North Korea, the most extreme Stalinist gulag on earth, is constantly reassured that the West accepts not only the legitimacy of its state, but does not even seek regime change. Only the legitimacy of Israel is routinely questioned: a special standard for the Jewish state.
* Since 1977 Israel has given up territory equivalent to three times its size in exchange for peace with various neighbors. This was land acquired in defensive wars that made a contribution to Israeli security. Israel may be guilty of many things but a refusal to compromise is not one of them.
Unsubscribe from Daily Alert
Monday,
May 11, 2009
Daily Alert Needs Your Support
In-Depth Issues:
Did U.S. Help Lebanon Crack Alleged Israeli Spy Rings? - Yoav Stern (Ha'aretz)
Lebanon arrested five people over the weekend suspected of belonging to an intelligence cell transmitting information about Hizbullah to Israel, the most recent arrests in a two-month crackdown apparently aided by American training and equipment.
Lebanese security sources attribute the recent arrests to better-trained personnel and access to more sophisticated equipment.
The U.S. has provided $1 billion in aid since 2006, including $410 million in security assistance to the Lebanese military and police.
Israel has expressed reservations about American aid to the Lebanese army and security services, saying that any aid is liable to serve Hizbullah's interests.
See also New Lebanese Security Unit Cooperating with Hizbullah - Andrew Wander (Daily Star-Lebanon)
More than 17 suspected spies have been arrested since January, prompting the leader of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Ashraf Rifi to declare their capture "the strongest security strike against the Israeli Mossad."
Increased intelligence sharing between Hizbullah and a new, specialized ISF counter-espionage unit - for the first time openly admitted by Lebanese security officials - has given authorities an advantage in the fight against Israeli espionage operations in the country, experts said.
See also Israel's "Sleeper Cells" Were Building Hizbullah Database (AFP/Daily Star-Lebanon)
Hamas Leader Rejects Two-State Solution (UPI)
Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, who lives in Syria, called a two-state solution unacceptable because Hamas cannot envision living with Israel in peace, the Kuwait news agency KUNA reported Saturday.
U.S. Confident Israel Is Not Rushing to Attack Tehran - Mohammed Almezel (Gulf News-UAE)
Israeli talk of a unilateral attack on Iranian nuclear facilities is just "rhetoric responding to similar rhetoric coming out of Iran," a Gulf official quoted Dennis Ross, President Obama's special advisor on the Gulf and South West Asia, as saying when he toured the region last month.
"According to Ross, Israel will not move unless they are convinced Iran poses a clear and present danger to its national security and will not do that without seeking U.S. approval," the Gulf official said.
He said all parties believe there will be no real movement before the Iranian presidential elections, set for June 12.
See also If Israel Attacks Iran, 49% Say U.S. Should Help (Rasmussen Reports)
49% of Americans say that if Israel launches an attack against Iran, the U.S. should help Israel.
The Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% believe the U.S. should do nothing, while just 2% believe the U.S. should help Iran.
Last summer, just 42% said the U.S. should help Israel, while 46% said the nation should do nothing.
66% now say that preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons is more important than preventing war between Iran and Israel, up from 52% last July.
Palestinian Rocket Fire Continues - Yanir Yagana (Ha'aretz)
Palestinians in Gaza fired a Kassam rocket at Israel on Sunday evening.
Search
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Media Contacts
Back Issues
Fair Use/Privacy
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
* Terrorist Traffic Via Syria Returns - Karen DeYoung
After a long hiatus, the Syrian pipeline of suicide bombers headed for Iraq and operated by al-Qaeda is back in business. The revival of a transit route that officials had declared all but closed comes as the Obama administration is exploring a new diplomatic dialogue with Syria. Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, told Congress late last month that the al-Qaeda in Iraq pipeline through Syria had been "reactivated." While the flow of foreign fighters through Syria reached a high of 80 to 100 a month in mid-2007, most of them would-be suicide "martyrs," in December the traffic reached an all-time low, into the single digits. More recently, the estimate has risen to 20 a month. (Washington Post)
* U.S. Renews Syria Sanctions Despite Outreach to Damascus - David Gollust
The Obama administration has renewed economic sanctions against Syria despite its efforts at diplomatic outreach with the Damascus government. State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood said Friday, "I think this shows you we still have some very serious concerns about Syrian behavior and activity in the world....We've said to you before our concerns about what Syria is doing in Iraq, its support for terrorist groups." Syria has long been listed by the State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism for supporting Hizbullah militants in Lebanon and playing host to senior officials of Hamas. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and White House National Security Council Middle East Adviser Daniel Shapiro visited the Syrian capital last week. (VOA News)
See also Biological Weapons Facility Replaces Syrian Nuclear Reactor - Orly Azulai
Syria has rebuilt the structure that housed the nuclear reactor that Israel destroyed and turned the place into a facility for the production of chemical and biological weapons, CBS News reported Sunday, quoting U.S. intelligence sources. The two American envoys who visited Syria last week were aware of the report and presented satellite photos to the Syrians, who denied it.
As a result, Obama decided that Syria had done nothing to justify the removal of sanctions. The revelation of Syria's plan to develop biological and chemical weapons joins a series of disagreements that has brought the Syrians and Americans to a stalemate at this point. The chief disagreement involves Israeli-Syrian negotiations: The Syrians insist that Israel must first agree to the return of the Golan Heights prior to the start of negotiations. (Yediot Ahronot-Hebrew, 11May09)
See also Why Obama Renewed Sanctions on Syria - Zvi Yehezkeli
U.S. intelligence determined that the main source of funding and training of suicide bombers in Iraq is in Syria. There is evidence that Syrian intelligence is directly involved in preparing the attacks. (Israel TV Channel 10/Nana-Hebrew)
* Netanyahu Meeting with Obama Decides Mideast's Future, Says Jordan's King Abdullah - Michael Binyon and Richard Beeston
President Obama's meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu next week has become the acid test for the U.S. administration's commitment to peace in the Middle East, King Abdullah of Jordan said Sunday. The king traveled to Damascus Monday to urge President Assad to join the Arab efforts to seek a settlement with Israel, based on the Arab peace plan adopted in 2002.
Brokered by the Americans, this would be the most comprehensive deal attempted since the opening of the Madrid conference in 1991. It would offer Israel immediate benefits, such as entry visas to every Arab country, the right of El Al, Israel's national airline, to overfly Arab territory, and the eventual recognition of Israel by all 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. In return, the Israelis would have to put an immediate stop to the building and expansion of settlements and agree to withdraw from territories occupied since 1967. The two most sensitive issues - the future status of Jerusalem and the right of return by Palestinians who fled in 1948 - would be negotiated within the framework of the peace plan. (Times-UK)
See also Arab Peace Offer Is Not Negotiable
The Arab League and Syria have shot down a U.S. suggestion that the Arab peace initiative be changed to make it more palatable to Israel. Several Arab diplomats said this week that the Americans are asking Arab states to drop demands for a right of return for Palestinian refugees and agree to either resettle them in the host countries or in the Palestinian territories. Arab foreign ministers meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo last week rejected the request, said Jordan's foreign minister. "The ministers renewed their commitment to the initiative as it is without change," Nasser Judeh said. (Arab News-Saudi Arabia)
* U.S. Security Advisor: We Will Work Hard Towards a Two-State Solution - George Stephanopoulos
U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday: "We understand Israel's preoccupation with Iran as an existential threat. We agree with that. And by the same token, there are a lot of things that you can do to diminish that existential threat by working hard towards achieving a two-state solution." (ABC News)
See also McCain: U.S. Shouldn't Dictate Israeli-Palestinian Policy - William McQuillen
The U.S. shouldn't dictate to Israel how to proceed with a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, instead allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration flexibility to proceed in its own, Senator John McCain said Sunday. "I'm not sure the timing is right, right now, with a new government in Israel, for us to dictate to them their policy," McCain told ABC's "This Week." (Bloomberg)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
* Pope Benedict XVI Arrives in Israel - Eli Senyor
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Israel from Jordan on Monday as part of his first papal visit to the Middle East and a self-proclaimed "pilgrimage of peace." "I take my place in a long line of Christian pilgrims to these shores," he said at the airport. "I come, like so many others before me, to pray at the holy places, to pray especially for peace - peace here in the Holy Land, and peace throughout the world." "Anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head in many parts of the world. This is totally unacceptable. Every effort must be made to combat anti-Semitism wherever it is found," he added. (Ynet News)
* Prime Minister Vows to Improve Palestinian Economy - Zvi Lavi
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he is committed to improving the economic status of Palestinian Authority residents and that all bureaucratic obstacles to this end should be removed if they were not linked to security issues. "There is a lot of bureaucracy in our relationship with the Palestinians, as amongst ourselves, and we have to work to decrease it," he said. (Ynet News)
See also Israel Removes More Roadblocks in Ramallah Area
The removal of two roadblocks in the Ramallah area on Sunday allows free movement of vehicles between the city of Ramallah and the villages to its west and east. Over 140 checkpoints have been removed throughout Judea and Samaria in the last year. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
* The Vatican, the Jews, and the Palestinians - Shlomo Avineri
The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s not only absolved the Jewish people of collective guilt for crucifying Jesus, but recognized the continuing covenant between God and the Jews, paving the way for recognizing the legitimacy of their existence. This transformation, in turn, enabled the Vatican's recognition of the State of Israel.
Yet even today, when the idea is raised of matching Israeli recognition of a Palestinian nation state with Palestinian recognition of Israel as the home of the Jewish people, the moderates in the Palestinian Authority respond with unqualified refusal. This is deeply rooted in Palestinians' unwillingness to recognize that in 1948 they made an enormous, tragic mistake in their refusal to accept the UN partition plan and the decision to respond to it with force. Even today they are unable to accept the principle of partition. The Palestinians are willing to talk about two states, but not for two nations, since that would imply recognition of the Jews as a people. (Ha'aretz)
* Obama, Netanyahu, and Iran - Elliott Abrams
Israelis see an Iranian bomb as an existential threat. They cannot be sure an Iranian leader waiting excitedly for the Mahdi's return will be using game theory and mathematical calculations to decide whether it's sensible to strike the Jewish state. Even former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, whom European diplomats view as a wonderful moderate, called Israel "a one-bomb country."
U.S. Middle East Envoy George Mitchell seems impressed by the Arab preoccupation with Iran rather than with the Palestinians. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to get it too. With the Palestinians split between Fatah and Hamas, the old "peace process" is increasingly irrelevant to real world crises. There is a critical struggle under way right now in the Middle East, but it is not between Israelis and Palestinians; it is the people aligned with us - including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the PA, Israel and the UAE - against Iran, Qatar, Syria, Hizbullah and the Palestinian rejectionist groups. The writer, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, was the deputy national security adviser overseeing Near East and North African affairs from 2005 to January 2009. (Wall Street Journal)
Observations:
Israel Still Looks Good, Warts and All - Greg Sheridan (The Australian)
* The Israel I know, which I have visited for weeks at a time, which I experience through its literature and media and the Israeli citizens I have met, bears no relation to the Israel I see in most of the Western media. That Israel of the Western mind (and indeed of the Arab mind) is a hateful place: right-wing, militaristic, authoritarian, racist, ultra-religious, neo-colonial, narrow-minded, undemocratic, indifferent to world opinion, indifferent especially to Palestinian suffering.
* Yet the Israel I know is mostly secular, raucously, almost wildly democratic, has a vibrant left wing, having founded in the kibbutz movement one of the only successful experiments in socialism in human history. It is multi-ethnic, there is a great stress on human solidarity, there is due process. And I've never heard an Israeli speak casually about the value of Palestinian life.
* The Israel I know is a Western democracy, often under siege. I see a society striving for the good, certainly not beyond criticism, but overall behaving as well as any comparably sized Western society would or could in all the circumstances.
* Nobody declares Saudi Arabia an illegitimate state because it has no democracy or human rights, and its doctrinaire Wahhabi Sunni establishment rules over a marginalized Shia minority. Nobody declares Turkey an illegitimate state because it has a disgruntled Kurdish minority, some of whom certainly aspire to statehood. Even North Korea, the most extreme Stalinist gulag on earth, is constantly reassured that the West accepts not only the legitimacy of its state, but does not even seek regime change. Only the legitimacy of Israel is routinely questioned: a special standard for the Jewish state.
* Since 1977 Israel has given up territory equivalent to three times its size in exchange for peace with various neighbors. This was land acquired in defensive wars that made a contribution to Israeli security. Israel may be guilty of many things but a refusal to compromise is not one of them.
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Friday, May 8, 2009
JUF Report
In this Issue:
• 9,000 celebrated Israel Solidarity Day May 3
• Biden: U.S. committed to Israel, peace process; Peres & Obama reaffirm partnership
• Peres: Israel won't apologize for Gaza op
• TIP Dinner Season begins this week
• Analyst: Pope's visit might become rife with minefields
• JUF presents Terezin tree to Illinois Holocaust Museum
• Ben Gurion scholars present Israel's quest for environmental solutions
• Chicago teen raises money for school in Southern Sudan
The new JUF News Express blog will keep you current on what's happening in Chicago, Israel and Jewish communities worldwide.
Want news of Chicago, Israel and the Jewish world in your mailbox each month? Subscribe to JUF News, Chicago’s widest-circulation Jewish community monthly, by making a contribution to the Jewish United Fund.
9,000 celebrated Israel Solidarity Day May 3
Some 9,000 people throughout the Chicago metropolitan area participated in the annual Israel Solidarity Day, featuring the Walk with Israel May 3. The six-kilometer walks at seven locations highlighted Chicago’s support for Israel and its citizens and celebrated the 61st anniversary of Israel’s founding. The festivities included entertainment and food, Walks for suitable for all ages in the South Suburbs, Skokie, Oak Park, Northwest Suburbs, West Suburbs, the City of Chicago, and the North Suburbs.
The Walks were kicked off with inspiring words of encouragement from Israeli diplomats and Illinois Reps. Jesse Jackson, Jr., Mark Kirk, Jan Schakowsky and the newest member of Congress, Mike Quigley. State legislators also showed their solidarity throughout the various walks.
View more photos from the various events here and here.
Biden: U.S. committed to Israel, peace process; Peres & Obama reaffirm partnership
Expressing strong support for the U.S.-Israel alliance, Vice President Joe Biden in his address at the annual AIPAC conference noted that "all the good intentions of the last decade have not resulted in a more secure, more stable Middle East; a more secure, more stable Israel; a more secure, more stable United States." To make progress in the peace process, Biden said, Israel "must work toward a two-state solution, not build settlements, dismantle outposts and allow Palestinians access to freedom of movement."
In a special video message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel wants "peace with the Arab world ... [and] peace with the Palestinians. I believe it is possible to achieve it, but I think it requires a fresh approach, and the fresh approach that I suggest is pursuing a triple track towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians - a political track, a security track, an economic track."
Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres met with President Obama at the White House, where the two leaders acknowledged the longstanding partnership between Israel and the United States and committed to working together toward peace.
In related news, former Israeli Foreign Minister and Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni told representatives from the Council on Foreign Relations that "while the Middle East is increasingly divided between moderate and extremist actors, [she sees] growing opportunity to foster regional stability." In her remarks, Livni emphasized that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would benefit both Israelis and Palestinians.
Peres: Israel won't apologize for Gaza op
President Shimon Peres told reporters Wednesday that IDF forces did not intentionally aim at civilians or United Nations facilities during Operation Cast Lead, but acknowledged that Israel may have made "some mistakes," according to The Jerusalem Post.
Speaking after a private meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Peres repeated the government's position that it would not accept "one word" of a report about attacks on UN facilities during the war that was released Tuesday.
The report, commissioned by Ban in February, blamed Israel for failing to take adequate precautions to ensure that UN installations and civilians sheltering in them would be protected from shells or other fire intended for Hamas terrorists.
• 9,000 celebrated Israel Solidarity Day May 3
• Biden: U.S. committed to Israel, peace process; Peres & Obama reaffirm partnership
• Peres: Israel won't apologize for Gaza op
• TIP Dinner Season begins this week
• Analyst: Pope's visit might become rife with minefields
• JUF presents Terezin tree to Illinois Holocaust Museum
• Ben Gurion scholars present Israel's quest for environmental solutions
• Chicago teen raises money for school in Southern Sudan
The new JUF News Express blog will keep you current on what's happening in Chicago, Israel and Jewish communities worldwide.
Want news of Chicago, Israel and the Jewish world in your mailbox each month? Subscribe to JUF News, Chicago’s widest-circulation Jewish community monthly, by making a contribution to the Jewish United Fund.
9,000 celebrated Israel Solidarity Day May 3
Some 9,000 people throughout the Chicago metropolitan area participated in the annual Israel Solidarity Day, featuring the Walk with Israel May 3. The six-kilometer walks at seven locations highlighted Chicago’s support for Israel and its citizens and celebrated the 61st anniversary of Israel’s founding. The festivities included entertainment and food, Walks for suitable for all ages in the South Suburbs, Skokie, Oak Park, Northwest Suburbs, West Suburbs, the City of Chicago, and the North Suburbs.
The Walks were kicked off with inspiring words of encouragement from Israeli diplomats and Illinois Reps. Jesse Jackson, Jr., Mark Kirk, Jan Schakowsky and the newest member of Congress, Mike Quigley. State legislators also showed their solidarity throughout the various walks.
View more photos from the various events here and here.
Biden: U.S. committed to Israel, peace process; Peres & Obama reaffirm partnership
Expressing strong support for the U.S.-Israel alliance, Vice President Joe Biden in his address at the annual AIPAC conference noted that "all the good intentions of the last decade have not resulted in a more secure, more stable Middle East; a more secure, more stable Israel; a more secure, more stable United States." To make progress in the peace process, Biden said, Israel "must work toward a two-state solution, not build settlements, dismantle outposts and allow Palestinians access to freedom of movement."
In a special video message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel wants "peace with the Arab world ... [and] peace with the Palestinians. I believe it is possible to achieve it, but I think it requires a fresh approach, and the fresh approach that I suggest is pursuing a triple track towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians - a political track, a security track, an economic track."
Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres met with President Obama at the White House, where the two leaders acknowledged the longstanding partnership between Israel and the United States and committed to working together toward peace.
In related news, former Israeli Foreign Minister and Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni told representatives from the Council on Foreign Relations that "while the Middle East is increasingly divided between moderate and extremist actors, [she sees] growing opportunity to foster regional stability." In her remarks, Livni emphasized that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would benefit both Israelis and Palestinians.
Peres: Israel won't apologize for Gaza op
President Shimon Peres told reporters Wednesday that IDF forces did not intentionally aim at civilians or United Nations facilities during Operation Cast Lead, but acknowledged that Israel may have made "some mistakes," according to The Jerusalem Post.
Speaking after a private meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Peres repeated the government's position that it would not accept "one word" of a report about attacks on UN facilities during the war that was released Tuesday.
The report, commissioned by Ban in February, blamed Israel for failing to take adequate precautions to ensure that UN installations and civilians sheltering in them would be protected from shells or other fire intended for Hamas terrorists.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Stop the Iranian bomb
what can you personally do to stop the Iranian bomb?
1. Put up a banner in the shull that says
Stop the Iranian bomb. Ask us how (or see the table for instructions how to help)
2. what can you personally do to stop the Iranian bomb? Send this to your members
From AIPAC.org
Lawmakers Introduce Iran Sanctions Bills
The legislation would limit Iran's ability to import and produce refined petroleum products.
House and Senate lawmakers have introduced legislation that would reinforce American diplomatic efforts with Iran with the threat of tougher sanctions if Iran rejects U.S. overtures and continues to enrich uranium in defiance of the international community. The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA) would limit Iran's ability to import and produce refined petroleum products by requiring the president to impose sanctions on companies providing refined petroleum to Iran or helping Iran expand its own refining capacity. IRPSA would limit Iran's access to and raise the price for refined petroleum within Iran. This could have a dramatic effect on the Iranian economy because Iran imports about 40 percent of its refined petroleum. The legislation was introduced in the House on April 30 by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and in the Senate on April 28 by a broad group of 27 senators. The lead Democrat on the bill is Sen. Evan Bayh (IN) and the lead Republican is Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ).
Call your Congressperson and Senators. Ask them to cosponsor it and if they have, thank them!!!!!!
It takes 5 minutes and is important
Easy to find out how to contact them at
http://capwiz.com/aipac/directory/congdir.tt
1. Put up a banner in the shull that says
Stop the Iranian bomb. Ask us how (or see the table for instructions how to help)
2. what can you personally do to stop the Iranian bomb? Send this to your members
From AIPAC.org
Lawmakers Introduce Iran Sanctions Bills
The legislation would limit Iran's ability to import and produce refined petroleum products.
House and Senate lawmakers have introduced legislation that would reinforce American diplomatic efforts with Iran with the threat of tougher sanctions if Iran rejects U.S. overtures and continues to enrich uranium in defiance of the international community. The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA) would limit Iran's ability to import and produce refined petroleum products by requiring the president to impose sanctions on companies providing refined petroleum to Iran or helping Iran expand its own refining capacity. IRPSA would limit Iran's access to and raise the price for refined petroleum within Iran. This could have a dramatic effect on the Iranian economy because Iran imports about 40 percent of its refined petroleum. The legislation was introduced in the House on April 30 by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and in the Senate on April 28 by a broad group of 27 senators. The lead Democrat on the bill is Sen. Evan Bayh (IN) and the lead Republican is Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ).
Call your Congressperson and Senators. Ask them to cosponsor it and if they have, thank them!!!!!!
It takes 5 minutes and is important
Easy to find out how to contact them at
http://capwiz.com/aipac/directory/congdir.tt
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