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Monday, November 20, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Germany probes 6 in El Al plot
Germany is investigating an alleged plot to blow up an El Al plane.
German prosecutors announced the weekend arrests Monday, saying the alleged plot was uncovered when suspects tried to persuade an airport worker to load a bomb onto a passenger plane.
The suspects made contact with the person but were unable to agree on a price for planting the explosives.
German authorities arrested six suspects last Friday, releasing five Saturday.
The sixth suspect was held on an unrelated matter.
El Al officials had no comment on the report.
Sharansky exits
Natan Sharansky officially quit the Israeli Parliament.
The Soviet refusenik-turned-Likud lawmaker, who announced his intentions last month, tendered his resignation and was given a farewell ceremony in the Knesset on Monday.
He is expected to take up a full-time position at the Shalem Center, a conservative Jerusalem think tank.
Sharansky was one of the best-known Jewish dissidents in the former Soviet Union.
Having spent many years in KGB custody, he was released in 1986 and moved to Israel.
He entered politics in 1996 with the new immigrant party Yisrael Ba’Aliyah, eventually serving as a Cabinet minister.
He resigned from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government last year to protest the looming Gaza Strip withdrawal.
That move coincided with the publication of his book “The Case for Democracy,” which was co-authored by Israeli diplomat Ron Dermer and drew praise from President Bush.
Sharansky is widely expected to write a new book on geopolitics.
Ahmadinejad dismisses Israeli threats
Iran’s president shrugged off Israeli threats to attack his country’s nuclear facilities as psychological warfare.
“This is a media campaign, because the Zionist regime is weak. We have faced stronger countries in the past,” an official Iranian news agency quoted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Monday.
Israeli officials recently have stepped up hints that a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear sites could be launched if diplomatic pressure on Tehran fails to curb its atomic ambitions.
Some independent analysts, however, believe Israel does not have the military capability to take on Iran.
London mayor: Muslims demonized like Jews
The mayor of London said Muslims are demonized like Jews were in the past.
“Over recent weeks we have seen a demonization of Muslims only comparable to the demonization of Jews from the end of the 19th century,” Ken Livingstone said Monday.
He referred to recent comments from British Home Secretary Jack Straw questioning whether it’s appropriate for Muslim women to wear full veils in public.
Livingstone’s comments were made in connection with today’s launch of a coalition comprised of legislators, unions, campaign groups and Muslim groups to confront Islamophobia in Britain.
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 10:56 PM Permanent Link
 
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