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Tuesday, October 31, 2006


Some headlines and summaries from JTA

Olmert: Hezbollah neutralized

Ehud Olmert said the Lebanon war had neutralized the threat from Hezbollah.

The Israeli prime minister toured a military position on Israel’s border with Lebanon on Tuesday and heard from members of top military brass about Israel’s tactical achievements in the 34-day war.

“Except for the Iranian problem, no one now threatens Israel,” Olmert said.

The comments clashed with the assessment of Olmert’s critics, who say the war was inconclusive and bolstered Israel’s enemies, including Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip.

Study: Israelis hate the pious most

Fervently Orthodox Jews are the most hated group in Israel, a new study found.

The Gesher poll concluded that 37 percent of Israelis think fervently Orthodox Jews are the most disliked, 15 percent said the same of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union and 13 percent named settlers.

The survey, which interviewed 538 Israelis in the days before the upcoming 11th anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, also found that 47 percent believe the 2005 Gaza withdrawal was the most polarizing event in the history of the Jewish state, compared to 38 percent who named Rabin’s murder.

Harris: I’m a Jewish wannabe

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, the Florida Republican running for the U.S. Senate, said she’s a “wannabe” Jew.

A Washington Post profile published Tuesday described Israel as one of Harris’ “greatest passions” and quoted her as saying she is a Jewish “wannabe.”

She toured Israel in 1992 and said she was proud when Israelis addressed her in Hebrew.

Harris, who likened herself to Queen Esther in 2000 when she drew criticism as the Florida secretary of state who decided the state for George Bush, said she made her husband promise that one day they’d live in Israel.

As a girl, she said, she thought about Israel so often “I thought I was adopted for a while.”

Harris, who is trailing U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in the polls by double digits, offended some Jews when she told a Baptist publication in August, “If you’re not electing Christians, then in essence you’re going to legislate sin.”

http://www.jta.org/

posted by Somebody @ 11:54 PM Permanent Link 0 comments




News for 10-30-06

10-30-06 - One resident killed in Khan Younis shelling Dr. Hasanen stated that Mazin Abu Odeh, 21, was killed after a shell hit his house; his body was severely mutilated.


10-30-06 - Israel preparing extensive Gaza operation:MP Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that the army was preparing an extensive operation in the Gaza Strip, with the government to make a decision on the offensive within days, an MP has said.


10-30-06 - Thousands march to commemorate 1956 Israeli massacre of 49 villagers


10-30-06 - Na'im: "Health sector in Gaza on the verge of collapse" Palestinian Minster of Health, Dr. Bassim Na'im, warned on Monday that the health sector in Gaza is on the verge of collapse as a result of the Israeli and international siege imposed on the Palestinian people since the election of Hamas earlier this year.



10-30-06 - Spanish aid worker freed unharmed in Gaza A Spanish aid worker was freed unharmed by kidnappers in Gaza on Monday, hours after they took him from his car near the southern town of Khan Younis


10-30-06 - Newly sworn-in Lieberman already set to visit US Lieberman is already set for his first trip abroad as a minister. He will travel to the United States on December 8 to take part in the prestigious Saban Forum at the Saban Center For Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC


10-30-06 - B'Tselem Urges the Security Forces to Prepare for the Olive Harvest


10-30-06 - Prisoners' swap deal would be more than humanitarian process


10-30-06 - Hamas official denies meeting with Israeli academicians On Sunday, Israel's state-run television reported that Yousef met with Israeli academicians and financial experts behind closed doors in London.


10-30-06 - Olive Harvest campaign starts in Hebron Despite the restrictions imposed by the settlers and the Israeli Military Forces prohibiting farmers to reach their lands, 90 volunteers and farmers including 20 foreign volunteers participated in olive picking near Asfer settlement in the town of Sa'er near Hebron .



10-30-06 - Online Exhibition: Memorial of the 50th Anniversary of the Kafr Qasem Massacre


10-30-06 - Israeli Jets Trouble German Troops on UN Mission Germany was taken by surprise by the most recent incident, as Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz recently smoothed over ruffled feathers after a confrontation on Tuesday between Israeli aircraft and a German vessel patrolling Lebanon's coast.



10-30-06 - West Bank exodus on hold In hard numbers, the settlers have far and away reversed the numerical setback of the Gaza pullout, having added another 14,000 people to their ranks in the past year for a total population of 261,000, according to the interior ministry's population registrar. All of the Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention (article 49).


10-30-06 - Saudi ambassador calls for U.S. pressure on Israel


10-30-06 - Family: State ignores kidnapping of Israeli-Arab "Had it been a Jewish Israeli or a foreign citizen, the world would have jumped through hoops to get them freed. But because it is an Arab citizen, no one cares. Neither the District Coordination Office, nor the IDF nor any other authority is interested. We were not informed of anything that goes on,"


10-30-06 - Israeli air force shells a Palestinian house in Khan Younis


10-30-06 - West Bank disco one of few places where Palestinians can let loose


10-30-06 - McCormack sidesteps Israeli operation in Gaza question, says it is


10-30-06 - UN investigates Israel's 'uranium weapons' The Harwell laboratory for mass spectrometry in Oxfordshire confirmed the concentration of uranium isotopes in the samples, but the European experts were puzzled about what weapons Israel might have been using and why.


10-30-06 - Rice: I think I know what the ?Palestinians? want Condi grilled by bible-thumping Christian Zionist Cal Thomas. The more these folks lambaste her, the more I know that she is doing something right.


10-30-06 - "Never Forget, Never Forgive": Kafr Qasem 50 Years Later


10-30-06 - Israeli troops arrest local Hamas leader


10-30-06 - Security Council urges disarming of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias


10-30-06 - Confrontation off Lebanon Leads to Questions The Alster though is no run-of-the-mill battleship. It is a spy boat loaded with highly sophisticated technology. Sensitive antennas are able to not only identify radar locations and monitor flights, but they can also listen in on radio and mobile-phone conversations. And the crew is not just made up of sailors, but also German secret service agents. Don't get the Liberty treatment.


10-30-06 - Iran sounds an awful lot like Iraq ** Recent months have seen the creation of an "Iran directorate" at the Pentagon, using some of the same personnel as the Office of Special Plans, the shadowy Pentagon outfit led by former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith that was accused of massaging raw intelligence on Iraq to make the case for war look far more solid than in fact it was.
Iran has now supplanted Iraq as the greatest single threat to the United States, according to the National Security Strategy released earlier this year. Articles in the New Yorker and Time describe an accelerated rate of contingency military planning in an environment in which many senior officials ? on the military and civilian sides ? consider war with Iran more a question of when rather than if. And just why has Iran been placed at the fore, folks? I wonder. And again. More. Another. You get the point.


10-30-06 - Labour minister quits over Lieberman's role He said that Yisrael Biteinu had a platform with "racist ingredients" and its leaders were tainted "by racist declarations and declarations that harm the democratic character of Israel".


10-30-06 - Egypt eases security measures along Gaza border Egypt relaxed security on its border with Gaza on Monday, days after sending thousands of police there following a report Israel might bomb tunnels it said were used to smuggle arms to Palestinians,an official said. "The number of police was reduced after the Israeli threats receded, the border area was calm and no unnatural movements were observed," a border official said, asking not to be named.


10-30-06 - Cheney Pushing Israel Towards Fascism


10-30-06 - Canada: Israel?s new friend in North America MacKay made it clear that a threat on Israel meant a threat on Canada in his speech at an event honoring Canadian businessman Ralph Benatar, one of Canada?s veteran leaders of the North American Jewish community


10-30-06 - Shift in Lebanon's sectarian politics


10-30-06 - Israeli attack on Germany Israel doesn't like those surveillance ships getting too close for comfort - even if they're in international waters. Ask these guys. It is my belief that Israel sought to sink the USS Liberty and all aboard - leaving no eyewitnesses to report just who it was that attacked it. It was because of the sheer heroism of our men that that ship and the survivors made it out alive. God bless 'em.


10-30-06 - Presbyterian-Jewish Forum to Shape Understanding of Interfaith Relation The General Assembly had approved to initiate the divestment process from multinational corporations that the denomination believed were unduly profiting form violence surrounding the Israeli government?s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and from construction of the "security barrier" between Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The issue had sparked debate in the PCUSA and drew criticism from Jewish groups and Presbyterian opponents. One op-ed article in the Los Angeles Times had called PCUSA's action a "grievous sin" as it contributed to anti-Jewish bigotry.


10-30-06 - My Name is Rachel Corrie extends The Off-Broadway production of My Name is Rachel Corrie has extended its limited run through December 30th. The engagement was set to end on November 19th.


10-30-06 - Terrorist scampers naked to elude capture Another article by guess who? A 'Palestinian terrorist's' favorite confidante, or so we are to believe.


10-30-06 - In Lieberman race, Jewish vote seems to turn on Israel support


10-30-06 - Jewish groups urged to boycott Hunger Walk Church World Service, an American group with ties to Protestant and Orthodox churches, has been critical of Israeli actions toward Palestinians and the Lebanese Oh dear.


10-30-06 - Israel Refuses Entry to Le Pen's Daughter He was convicted and fined in 1990 for inciting racial hatred and for saying in 1996 that the gas chambers used by the Nazis were "merely a detail in the history of World War II."



10-30-06 - MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE riveting play under the deft direction of Alan Rickman, who also co-edited it, with the journalist Katharine Viner. The bright, fine-boned Megan Dodds, who radiates a sense of both privilege and pluck, resuscitates from diary entries and e-mails the voice and being of the American pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie, who, at the age of twenty-three, was crushed to death by an Israeli Caterpillar when she tried to shield the home of a Palestinian civilian in the Gaza Strip


10-30-06 - UN to map disputed Shaba farms area on Israel-Lebanon border


10-30-06 - Israeli Arab lawmaker raps Ahmadinejad A leading Israeli Arab lawmaker came out against the anti-Jewish statements of Iran?s president.


10-30-06 - Doves urge U.S. intervention in Gaza Americans for Peace Now urged President Bush to intervene immediately in the Gaza Strip.


10-30-06 - Former Israeli Prime Minister to Speak at IU Hasbara coming to a campus near you.

posted by Somebody @ 6:37 AM Permanent Link 0 comments



Monday, October 30, 2006


Some headlines and summaries from JTA

Judge dismisses Air Force suit

A U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit charging the Air Force with violating the constitutional rights of its troops through the promotion of evangelism.
In ruling last Friday, federal Judge James Parker of the U.S. District Court in New Mexico said the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue the Air Force.

However, he left open the possibility that they could sue the Air Force secretary, Michael Wynne.

The lead plaintiff, Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force officer who helped publicize allegations that evangelists at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., were coercing cadets into attending services, said he would refile the case.

“While we respect Judge Parker’s ruling, we are deeply disappointed that our efforts have been delayed to protect the rights of the brave and honorable men and women serving in our nation’s armed forces,” Weinstein said in a statement.

“We will refile our lawsuit as quickly as possible.”

Parker also faulted the plaintiffs for not properly filing an amendment to their complaint and for not showing sufficient evidence of a pattern of abuse and of the damage the plaintiffs suffered.


Israeli Arab lawmaker raps Ahmadinejad

A leading Israeli Arab lawmaker came out against the anti-Jewish statements of Iran’s president.
Ahmed Tibi, whose United Arab List is openly anti-Zionist, said in an interview published Monday that he was opposed to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s call for Israel to be eliminated.

“I am opposed to his statement,” Tibi told Ha’aretz.

“I am even more opposed to his Holocaust denial. I don’t understand his need and his obsession in repeating these things. There is no reason to deny the Holocaust, which was the worst crime in human history.”

Tibi has often courted controversy in Israel by serving as confidant to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and more recently by criticizing Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Foxman: No moderate Muslims

There are no moderate Muslims with whom to dialogue, Abraham Foxman said.
The Anti-Defamation League’s national director made the comment last Friday at the group’s National Commission meeting in Atlanta

in response to a call by Seymour Reich, president of the Israel Policy Forum, for the ADL to focus on dialogue with moderate Muslims.

“There’s always someone to dialogue with,” Reich, an ADL lay leader, told JTA.

Foxman responded that since Muslim groups refuse to issue a blanket statement rejecting terrorism regardless of the cause, “I don’t know what there is to dialogue about.”

In response, Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the group repeatedly had condemned terrorism.

Doves urge U.S. intervention in Gaza

Americans for Peace Now urged President Bush to intervene immediately in the Gaza Strip.
“The situation in the Gaza Strip is becoming critical,” said the letter sent Monday by the group’s chairman, Franklin Fisher.

“Chaos and lawlessness are close to transforming into full-scale armed conflict that is liable to engulf not only the Gaza Strip itself, but spill over into Israel and spread to the West Bank, with possible destabilizing impacts elsewhere in the region.”

The letter urged Bush to make Gaza security the primary consideration for the Quartet, the grouping of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia that guides the peace process; to consider contacts with Hamas, the terrorist group governing the Palestinian Authority; and to explore the possibility of a U.N. role in Gaza.

http://www.jta.org/

posted by Somebody @ 11:54 PM Permanent Link 0 comments




News for 10-29-06

10-29-06 - Palestinian resident killed by Israeli military fire in the Gaza Strip Palestinian medical and security sources reported on Sunday that one resident was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers stationed at the Gaza International Airport, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.


10-29-06 - Israelis annex north Bethlehem Today, even this one-sided check on Israel's sweeping land-theft has been discarded. The dispossession of Palestinian property-owners and their families, Christians and Muslims alike, is now undertaken by soldiers and bureaucrats outside of any scrutiny.



10-29-06 - Hamas and Israel held secret meet in London: TV The Israelis who took part in the talks described Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's moderate Fatah party as a "has-been" and said it was necessary to engage in dialogue with Hamas


10-29-06 - Israeli barrier and settlement to leave West Bank village with nowhere to go On the hills to the south and east of the village is a rapidly expanding ultra-orthodox Jewish settlement built on Palestinian land seized by the Israeli government and declared "state land".....Within months, the village will be sandwiched between the growing settlement of Beitar Illit and the barrier, with a large chunk of its farmland gone This is wholesale robbery - another policy supported by the United States. For, the US could withhold the billions in aid to Israel to get Israel to halt this unlawful activity. It doesn't.


10-29-06 - Israel backs down on visas for Palestinians from US


10-29-06 - At-Tuwani Update: 1-18 October In the village of Birki, the soldiers entered another house shortly after
midnight. They destroyed several windows and beat a woman, who required
medical attention. Due to the Palestinian civil strike, the public
hospital was closed, and she had to pay a great sum of money to be treated
at the private hospital in the town of Yatta. The soldiers also broke
glass in neighboring cars and houses.



10-29-06 - No Qatar trip for senior Israeli A spokesman said she decided not to go after learning Hamas members would represent the Palestinian government.


10-29-06 - Fatah agrees to end clashes with Hamas in Gaza


10-29-06 - FEATURE-A divided house, and divided lives, in Jerusalem The white community has installed a small playground for their children, which black children are not allowed to use, says Segal. The armed guards stop them. The black children play on grass nearby or in the street. "I don't want my kids playing with black kids, and they don't want to play with each other,"
Play on words. You get the point. Same sh#t, different decade.


10-29-06 - Israel sorry for 'misunderstandings' in shooting incident


10-29-06 - An international force in Gaza is long overdue In a recent interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper, D'Alema said that he sees the formation of peacekeeping force for Palestinian areas taking place at the same time as other critical steps are taken.


10-29-06 - Cairo to host Hamas men for talks on swap


10-29-06 - Iran's foreign minister urges Hamas leader to work for national unity Iran's foreign minister told Hamas' political leader Sunday that the Palestinian people must solve their problems through national unity and reconciliation, the official Iranian news agency reported


10-29-06 - Child detainees facing unbearable conditions in Israeli prisons


10-29-06 - Indictment: Tira resident planned terror attack in Raanana District prosecutors issued a severe indictment Sunday to the Tel Aviv District Court against Wurood Kassem, an Arab-Israeli woman, accused of conspiracy to aid the enemy in time of war, contact with a foreign agent, illegally carrying a weapon, and membership in a terrorist group.


10-29-06 - So much for another kind of olive harvest Members of the Yesh Din-Volunteers for Human Rights organization, who go out to the field every day, reported yesterday that the IDF had completely blocked access to groves in five West Bank villages. The IDF prevents farmers in three villages from entering their land on the west side of the separation fence. Another six villages were informed their lands had been closed or seized by the military. In at least one case, farmers were thrown off their land without being presented any orders at all. Farmers in 10 villages were ordered to harvest olives on specific dates and seek advance permission from security officials before entering their land.



10-29-06 - Peretz to meet German counterpart Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized on Sunday to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for an incident that occurred last week between an Israeli fighter jet and a German naval boat that was patrolling the waters outside Lebanon. ......Peretz vehemently denied reports that the Israeli jets had fired on the German vessel in his talk with Jung......Also Sunday, UN officials denied reports that Israeli jets had fired on a German navy vessel in a separate incident in the waters off southern Lebanon late Thursday night.


10-29-06 - 3 Qassams fired at Western Negev Rockets land in sheep farm near Sderot and in surrounding area; some sheep hurt, several people treated for shock


10-29-06 - Labor accepts inclusion of ultra-nationalist in Israeli government


10-29-06 - Peretz denies Egyptian troop reports Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Sunday denied media reports that Egypt has reinforced its troops along the Gaza border.


10-29-06 - Stuck in the Canal


10-29-06 - Stung by Republican ads on Israel, Democrats defend part in online chat These candidates would SEEM to be running in an election to serve Israel, not the US.


10-29-06 - In heavily Jewish Florida district, perception of Israel support is key Congressional support for Israel will remain steadfast whoever controls the House, said Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen, the Republican chairwoman of the House's Middle East subcommittee who represents Florida's 18th District......."Iran is the biggest threat to Israel right now," he said. "I think we should be refocusing our attention on the real threats. The longer we're mired in this civil war in Iraq, the less it allows us to lead other countries in restricting Iran's ability to export terrorism." Regarding the title of this article -it's that way in most of America.


10-29-06 - Israelis put nuclear bunkers in gardens "Israel will not allow Iran to build an atomic bomb, and even if it did, the Iranians know very well that we'll bomb them back to the Stone Age before they've launched a single missile."
However, the government is quietly updating its preparations for a possible nuclear strike.



10-29-06 - Open door Some months ago, the Guardian published two articles dealing with Israel's apartheid-like system. It is a well-respected news outfit of Britain. There's a big difference between what THEY report, and what OUR MEDIA reports. And that is exactly why a staunchly pro-Israel outfit such as CAMERA seeks to detract/obfuscate/dismiss/etc etc etc these reports. Report one. Report 2. Looks like CAMERA had a complete sh#t fit about those reports since it couldn't get away with what it does in the US MSM. My how the tables have turned over the centuries, eh? America has (silently) become (re-)occupied territory. And if the American people knew what grip those people have on our government..

posted by Somebody @ 6:43 AM Permanent Link 0 comments



Sunday, October 29, 2006


News for 10-28-06

10-28-06 - Palestinian woman dies from wounds, rockets fired from Gaza Strip A Palestinian woman shot by Israeli troops during an incursion into the north of the Gaza Strip earlier in the week died in hospital.


10-28-06 - Child injured after Israeli settler attack near Bethlehem The boy was hit by a stone in his face and was transferred to the town hospital.


10-28-06 - Israeli considering Abbas request for entry of PLO Bader Brigade into Gaza The force is composed of several thousands of Palestinians, most of them long-time PLO activists.


10-28-06 - Abbas may dissolve Hamas government Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he will replace the Hamas-led government with a panel of professionals if the militant group doesn't agree to govern with his party, suggesting a new, tough line in a bid to ease crippling sanctions.


10-28-06 - West Bank under lockdown The number of roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank has risen by 40 per cent since the start of 2006, with 528 permanent and temporary checkpoints and physical roadblocks disrupting all aspects of Palestinian life, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Jerusalem.


10-28-06 - Egypt beefs up security at border with Gaza "The security forces have deployed along the entire border... following threats by Israel... to drop 'smart' bombs in the Philadelphi corridor," the agency said, referring to a strip along the border from which Israeli troops withdrew a year ago.


10-28-06 - Palestinian economy near collapse - Abbas loyalist


10-28-06 - Palestinian GDP dropped from $4.04 billion to $2.9 billion in the past year, official says


10-28-06 - Soldiers take three senior P.A officials prisoner in Ramallah


10-28-06 - Army closes a gate in the wall and stops farmers from reaching their lands near Tulkarem


10-28-06 - UN unable to confirm radiation spike after Lebanon war The UN, which has been studying the ecological damage in Lebanon caused by the war between Israel and Hezbollah, said it would soon be able to say whether uranium-based munitions were used


10-28-06 - Rice presses for Hezbollah's disarmament Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stepped up international pressure on Hezbollah to disarm, saying the guerrilla group must surrender its weapons if it wants to remain part of Lebanon's political process.


10-28-06 - Robert Fisk: Mystery of Israel's secret uranium bomb Israel has a poor reputation for telling the truth about its use of weapons in Lebanon. In 1982, it denied using phosphorous munitions on civilian areas - until journalists discovered dying and dead civilians whose wounds caught fire when exposed to air.


10-28-06 - New aid convoy heads for Palestine


10-28-06 - Israeli Arab MPs urge world to boycott govt over far-right party


10-28-06 - Internationals start to arrive in West Bank for 2006 olive harvest Olives are the agricultural backbone of Palestine, and the harvest is of tremendous importance to those who earn their livelihood from the production of olive oil. This year is expected to yield a particularly abundant harvest, and farmers hope they will be able to pick the fruit of their trees without violent attacks or denial of access to land.



10-28-06 - UN urges Solana to pressure Israel on Lebanon overflights Bagga said there were "sometimes between nine and 15 flights a day, which is quite a lot actually ... (they occur) sometimes late at night."
"It is very discomforting for the Lebanese, it could easily lead to some incident,"


10-28-06 - Old order in Iraq Democratization of Iraq has created anarchy, and in the Palestinian Authority it has led to the rise of the Hamas government ? that since then no longer recognizes democracy Really. Is it that the Hamas government no longer recognizes democracy? Or is it that Israel (and consequently the US) no longer recognize the party that the Palestinians democratically elected (and they did so due to the corruption of the previous administration, the Fatah party)? You know the answer.


10-28-06 - EU backs Palestinian technocrat government -Solana


10-28-06 - Egypt to develop roadmap plan with specific timetable: FM


10-28-06 - Israel experts uphold nuclear vagueness Sneh suggested that after an attack the damage would be so great that perhaps retaliation would be pointless, recommending that Israel develop the capability to hit many targets far from its borders.


10-28-06 - Official: No imminent Fatah-Hamas meetings in Cairo


10-28-06 - Trailing in Polls, GOP Senator Reaches Out to Jews "He finds a lot of common points on intersection between himself and the Jewish people and the land of Israel," said a top Santorum aide with ties to right-wing pro-Israel circles, Barbara Ledeen.


10-28-06 - U.N. Security Council Edicts Challenged Historically, Israel is one of the few member states to consistently defy the Security Council by refusing to accept or violating over 40 resolutions, primarily because of the unwavering support it has from the United States.



10-28-06 - On Israel's Lebanon border, a surprising optimism


10-28-06 - Solana expresses support for Lebanese gov't


10-28-06 - Israel and Palestine Explored in an Unlikely Friendship Do I detect a note of bias in favor of Israel in this book review by the 'deputy foreign editor of The Times' (NY Times, that is)?


10-28-06 - Make Assad an offer he can't refuse


10-28-06 - Dolls toy with the idea of beauty The collection includes a gourd head doll from Mali. Another incorporates cactus fibers and the Palestinian flag ("representing the 531 Palestinian villages and towns destroyed since the 1948 war," according to the artist). One from Samoa is made of bark cloth and coconut husk fiber.


10-28-06 - Israeli, Palestinian debaters spar at 'Clash of the Titans'


10-28-06 - Palestinian speaks of his faith He is an Israeli citizen and a Christian who has been cited for his efforts to build peace



10-28-06 - Bearing witness to the intifada

posted by Somebody @ 9:49 AM Permanent Link 0 comments



Saturday, October 28, 2006


News for 10-27-06

10-27-06 - Israeli troops kill 3 Palestinians


10-27-06 - Israeli army injures 16 protesters demanding to be able to harvest their olives in Bil'in Hundreds of Palestinian residents of Bil'in village, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, and dozens of Israeli and international peace activists held their weekly protest in Bil'in Friday, pleading with the assembled Israeli military force to allow them to harvest their olives. Israeli soldiers used excessive violence against the protesters and injured 16.



10-27-06 - Palestinian rivals agree to ease tension


10-27-06 - Abbas to announce decision on new govt in days: EU officials


10-27-06 - UN appeals for end to Mideast stalemate amid Palestinian suffering


10-27-06 - UN lays out function of office for Palestinians to claim damages from Israeli barrier


10-27-06 - PA security officials: Israeli Arab man kidnapped in Gaza Strip


10-27-06 - Israel may bomb along border with Egypt: paper


10-27-06 - Shin Bet to upgrade security in LA Airport Los Angeles International Airport invites team of security experts from Shin Bet, Ben Gurion Airport to examine airport's security arrangements. Say what? We allow the secret intelligence unit of a FOREIGN country offer up security advice to one of our major airports? How moronic is that?


10-27-06 - Israel and U.S. to expand civil air defense cooperation It's outrageous that our security systems continue to be outsourced to Israel.


10-27-06 - A Jewish Hitler? - The rise of Avigdor Lieberman As hard-right ideologues embark on a campaign of aggression aimed at creating a "Greater Israel," will U.S. tax dollars continue to fuel the Israeli war machine? Why wouldn't they? All of the despicable acts Israel has committed over the years has not stopped the flow of US cash. Israel kills Americans, and our government doesn't do a damn thing about it. The taxpayer aid runneth over.


10-27-06 - Report: FBI In Expanded Aipac Probe the allegations - along with the upcoming trial of Rosen and Weissman, and the recent book deal signed by two of the pro-Israel lobby's most prominent and vocal critics, scholars Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer - are likely to trigger increased media and public scrutiny of the pro-Israel lobby's efforts to influence the decision-making process in Washington.
Oh dear.


10-27-06 - Israeli minister to visit Qatar Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has accepted an invitation to a conference in the Gulf state of Qatar.


10-27-06 - Israel denies German ship clash This is a denial of the first incident.


10-27-06 - Chris Bellamy: An enigma that only the Israelis can fully explain The initial tests on samples taken from the site of the Israeli strike on Khiam present an enigma which will only be solved when the people who produced and deployed the weapon explain themselves.


10-27-06 - Hebron Reflection: Strangers in my home


10-27-06 - Rice?s Counselor Gives Advice Others May Not Want to Hear , in choosing Mr. Zelikow as her counselor, she eschewed Elliott L. Abrams, a darling of neoconservatives and the pro-Israel lobby.



10-27-06 - Christian Zionism: An Egregious Threat to US-Mideast Understanding Christian Zionists have pushed the militarist policies of both Israel and the U.S. in an effort to secure the Holy Land in preparation for the coming of the "promised land." As part of this strategy, the U.S. occupation of Iraq is deemed absolutely necessary.


10-27-06 - UN peacekeepers unlikely to disarm Hezbollah: Russia Ivanov said that concern over this aspect of the peacekeepers' mission was one of the reasons Moscow decided to send a peacekeeping contingent to Lebanon under an accord reached separately with the Lebanese government, instead of under the UN mandate


10-27-06 - Germany says Israel fired shots over unarmed ship The incident, which Israel has so far denied, was one of two involving the Israeli military and German forces in the region this week, defence spokesman Thomas Raabe told reporters Friday. "There have been two incidents, one involving a helicopter and another the Alster" a German electronic surveillance and reconnaissance ship.
A second incident.


10-27-06 - Israeli PM accuses world of doing 'nothing' over Iran


10-27-06 - Bush: World must 'double' effort on Iran nuclear program Israel says "Jump!", the US says "How high?".


10-27-06 - Olmert compares Iran with Nazi Germany Look in the mirror. The Palestinians : have been forcibly expelled from their properties, had their properties seized, have been ghettoized and walled in, are deemed inferior by Zionists both past and present, are deemed a 'demographic problem' by Zionists both past and present, are collectively punished for the sins of a few, are impoverished and starving as most of the 'civilized world' turns a blind eye, are severely dehumanized in the Western media (at the behest of pro-Israeli media 'watchdogs'), are in need of a homeland.


10-27-06 - All must play their roles As long as the Israelis, irrespective of their policies and ideological positions, are accorded preferential treatment by western governments or international bodies it is doubtful that any peacemaking will succeed.


10-27-06 - High radiation levels said to be found after Israel's Lebanon bombing


10-27-06 - A 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldier hugs a young Iraqi boy in central Baghdad's Karradah district There's the difference between US soldiers and those of Israel.


10-27-06 - US to rebuild Mideast's highest bridge, damaged by Israel The United States will pay to rebuild the Mdairej bridge in Lebanon, the highest in the Middle East, which was damaged by Israeli bombs during the war this summer, a senior US official said. Deduct it from the billions in aid we give Israel. American taxpayers shouldn't have to pay any extra (to clean up after Israel) than they already do now.


10-27-06 - 50 Years After Suez, US Hegemony Ebbing Fast the Bush administration's failure to exercise any demonstrable pressure on Israel to seriously engage the Palestinians in a peace process, its transparent support for Israel's military offensive and bombing campaign in Lebanon last summer's war with Hezbollah, and its rejection to date of renewed Arab efforts to promote the 2002 Saudi peace plan in the wake of the Lebanon conflict have effectively destroyed the image of Washington as an honest broker. Thus far in his Presidency, Bush Jr. has refused to stand up to Israel like his old man did.


10-27-06 - Palestinian village inside Israel goes on strike in protest of the Israel's government continued confiscation of land belonging to the village.


10-27-06 - US Affairs: Is there an ally in the House? Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the only Holocaust survivor in Congress, is in line to become chairman of the House International Relations Committee if the Democrats win. But some rumblings suggest other lawmakers - namely Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) - may bypass him because of Lantos' support for the Iraq war. Privately, congressional aides say Lantos has been reassured by Pelosi that he will get the chairmanship; both men are considered strong backers of the Jewish state...... the new foreign operations subcommittee chair would be Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), a strong, proactive Israel backer. Lantos is an Israel-firster.


10-27-06 - Mediterranean leaders to push for relaunch of peace process


10-27-06 - Palestinian banks walk economic tightrope Adding to the headaches, Israeli troops have raided banks three times since the uprising began six years ago, taking millions of dollars from accounts they suspected were connected to militant groups, the Monetary Authority said.


10-27-06 - French twist on border France?s foreign minister now thinks Israel?s West Bank security barrier is a good idea.


10-27-06 - Injured and sick detainees appeal for medical treatment


10-27-06 - From 2002: Lieberman and Cheney March In the Footsteps of Joe McCarthy Among the agencies engaged in this coordinated witch-hunt are: View the article to check out the list of offenders, the usual (pro-Israeli) suspects. He forgot to include WND and FrontPage mag.


10-27-06 - Palestinian 'humiliation'? Another Israel-defender does damage control regarding Condi's comments about Palestine.


10-27-06 - 1993 interrogation described Nadav also testified that in 1993 Judith Miller, then a New York Times reporter, visited the detention facility where Salah was being held.
Nadav said he asked Salah questions at Miller's direction. Strange.


10-27-06 - Breaking the Silence: Fmr. Israeli Soldier Tours U.S. to Expose Abuse of Palestinians by Israeli Military


10-27-06 - Feed Palestine, or Breed War Israel gains by reducing Palestinians to starving 'savages'. It's great PR, or Hasbara for Israel.


10-27-06 - Why Is No One Talking About The 400-600 Israeli Nukes ?


10-27-06 - Analysis: Aid could impact Muslim opinion And here's the key to winning hearts and minds: deeper American assistance directly to the people, following their expressed priorities."
A better idea: end the unconditional support of Israel's policies vis a vis the Palestinians. That would be the single greatest boost for America in not just the ME, but the world.


10-27-06 - Former militia chief does not foresee civil war


10-27-06 - Vatican urged to halt beatification Israel has urged the Vatican to halt procedures putting Pius XII, the controversial wartime Pope, on the path to sainthood.


10-27-06 - Republican staffer threatened TAU funds

A Republican congressman reprimanded a staffer for threatening to cut U.S. funds to Tel Aviv University unless a donor agreed to stop backing his opponent.



10-27-06 - Jewish groups condemn U.N. official


10-27-06 - Dovish groups balk at Lieberman Two dovish U.S. groups expressed reservations about Avigdor Lieberman?s new role in the Israeli Cabinet.



10-27-06 - Democracy in Name Only


10-27-06 - Fans ask Philharmonic to denounce occupation A petition is circulating among fans of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra asking the institution to denounce Israel?s West Bank presence on the eve of a U.S. tour.

posted by Somebody @ 12:12 PM Permanent Link 0 comments



Friday, October 27, 2006


Some headlines and summaries from JTA

Republican staffer threatened TAU funds

A Republican congressman reprimanded a staffer for threatening to cut U.S. funds to Tel Aviv University unless a donor agreed to stop backing his opponent.
According to Thursday’s Chicago Sun-Times, Caryn Garber, a staffer for Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), wanted to force Robert Schrayer, an insurance magnate, to drop his backing for Dan Seals, a Democrat challenging Kirk. Schrayer, chairman of the Tel Aviv University American Council and a board member of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, had supported Kirk in earlier campaigns.

Garber e-mailed Sam Witkin, president of TAU’s American Council, to ask him to contact Itamar Rabinovich, TAU’s president and a former Israeli envoy to Washington. “Itamar should call Bob and tell him his actions can have a very bad effect on the university,” the e-mail reportedly said. “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” Kirk is on the U.S. House of Representatives’ powerful Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee.

Garber’s e-mail “does not reflect my view,” said Kirk, whose district in Chicago’s northern suburbs has a large Jewish population. “When I heard about it I was upset.” He said he reprimanded Garber and told her she would be fired if it happened again.

U.S. wants to ban Iranian physicists

An American draft resolution at the United Nations calls for a ban on Iranians studying subjects related to nuclear development.

The resolution, a copy of which was obtained this week by JTA, would require countries to prohibit Iranians from studying physics and other subjects that could be used to advance the country’s nuclear program. Britain, France and Germany presented Russia and China with the draft Wednesday. It also calls for a ban on financial or technical assistance for Iran’s nuclear activities.

Jewish groups condemn U.N. official

Jewish groups condemned the appearance before the U.N. General Assembly of a fiercely anti-Israel U.N. official. Jan Ziegler, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, also is vice president of the Moammar Khaddafi Human Rights Prize, established by the Libyan government in 1989.
“The credibility of Mr. Ziegler’s mandate as a human rights expert is jeopardized by the fact of his being politically and financially beholden to a dictator responsible for some of the world’s most brutal abuses,” said a statement issued by U.N. Watch, a watchdog organization based in Geneva.

U.N. Watch claims Ziegler was involved in establishing the prize, which has been awarded to Louis Farrakhan, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

Dovish groups balk at Lieberman

Two dovish U.S. groups expressed reservations about Avigdor Lieberman’s new role in the Israeli Cabinet.

Meretz USA said it was “alarmed” at the deal that brought Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu Party into the centrist Cabinet, noting his earlier calls for forcing Israeli Arabs to join a Palestinian state. “Avigdor Lieberman has consistently supported an aggressive militarism as an alternative to diplomacy,” it said in a statement. Americans for Peace Now said it was “deeply concerned” at the deal, which reinforced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s shaky coalition.

“His joining the Cabinet sends a belligerent signal to Israel’s Arab citizens, to Israel’s neighbors, and to the international community,” it said. “It is now incumbent upon Prime Minister Olmert and his coalition partners to refute the impression that their Cabinet is turning its back to peace.”

Fans ask Philharmonic to denounce occupation

A petition is circulating among fans of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra asking the institution to denounce Israel’s West Bank presence on the eve of a U.S. tour.
“Some of us are Israelis now living in the U.S.,” said the letter initiated by Women in Black, an anti-occupation group started in Israel during the first intifada. “We grew up attending concerts of the orchestra, and remember the experience with so much joy. We have the deepest appreciation for artists, musicians in this instance, and see you as being on the leading edge of Israeli society and as powerful opinion leaders in your communities.”

The letter argues that a statement by the orchestra against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem will have a snowball effect. “Imagine that the Israel Philharmonic’s denouncement of the occupation and call for peace and justice will have a huge positive ripple effect on Israeli society,” it says. The orchestra is coming in February.

French twist on border

France’s foreign minister now thinks Israel’s West Bank security barrier is a good idea.
“I have significantly evolved on the matter of the separation fence,” Philippe Douste-Blazy told TFJ, a French Jewish television channel, according to the European Jewish Press. “Although the wall was a moral and ethical problem for me, when I realized terror attacks were reduced by 80 percent in the areas where the wall was erected, I understood I didn’t have the right to think that way.”

The French Foreign Ministry later clarified the statement to say that the problem was always the barrier’s route, not its existence. The barrier has been harshly criticized in Europe because it does not hew exactly to pre-1967 boundaries

http://www.jta.org/

posted by Somebody @ 10:54 PM Permanent Link 0 comments




News for 10-26-06

10-26-06 - Three Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in Gaza In Beit Hanun, in the north, 37-year-old farmer Suheil al-Majdalawi was fatally shot by Israeli soldiers while in his fields, a medical source said Thursday.


10-26-06 - Israeli forces kill Palestinians policeman, second man in Gaza gun battles


10-26-06 - Two residents, international peace activist injured by Hebron settlers


10-26-06 - Israel court rejects Palestinian plea against West Bank barrier The plea concerned a six-kilometre (four-mile) section scheduled to incorporate the Jewish settlements of Immanuel, Karnei Shomron and Maale Shomrom that encroaches on Palestinian land in the northern West Bank. This fence we will build down on the Mexican border, will we build it such that it confiscates large swaths of Mexican land, you think? Why is that? So why do we allow Israel to do just that with respect to the unlawful confiscation of Palestinian land?


10-26-06 - Solana: Time to end occupation The European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said following a meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah Thursday that "the Palestinian people have suffered and suffered a lot, and it is time that the occupation that started in 1967 is over."


10-26-06 - Abbas calls Haneya for talks on coalition government


10-26-06 - Settlers attack Palestinian olive harvesters, soldiers stand by


10-26-06 - EU chief ask Israel to reopen border


10-26-06 - Barred from Contact: Violation of the Right to Visit Palestinians Held in Israeli Prisons Holding these prisoners and detainees in Israel flagrantly breaches international humanitarian law, which prohibits the transfer of civilians, including detainees and prisoners, from the occupied territory to the territory of the occupying state


10-26-06 - What's for Dinner? The dinner was hardly an unusual one for AIPAC. The group often arranges such elite pow-wows at the homes of senior members of Congress and government officials (one in the mid-1990s was hosted by then Vice President Al Gore) as a way for AIPAC to both demonstrate its political clout and to provide a perk for major donors.


10-26-06 - Israel's DM reiterates continuation of overflights Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz reiterated on Thursday that Israeli Air Force (IAF) overflights would continue in Lebanon as long as the UN cease-fire resolution had not been fully implemented.


10-26-06 - A deadly scandal continues in Gaza


10-26-06 - Massacre of Arabs to be remembered The villagers were shot because they were in violation of a wartime curfew that had not been announced in advance. By the time the shooting stopped that evening in 1956, Israeli troops had killed 49 peaceable residents, half of them women and children, in the village of Kafr Kassem, about 10 miles east of Tel Aviv. All the dead were Arabs and all were full Israeli citizens, headed home at dusk from work in fields and factories--and unaware that a military curfew prohibiting movement after sundown had been imposed an hour or so earlier.




10-26-06 - European politicians delay Israel trip A visit by a European Parliament delegation to Israel was postponed due to Israel's concern over a far-right French delegate. Hypocrisy.


10-26-06 - Peres: West bolsters Iran Shimon Peres chided the international community for not being firmer in its efforts to curb Iran?s nuclear program.



10-26-06 - Waxman blasts Justice on Harman A top congressional Democrat called on the Justice Department to publicize what it knows about an investigation into relations between AIPAC and a Jewish congresswoman.


10-26-06 - Hamas Gets $2 Million to Help Offset Cutoff


10-26-06 - U.N. sees hold-ups in Lebanon withdrawal Talks have been under way for weeks on Israel?s demand that the bolstered United Nations peacekeeper force in southern Lebanon impose new security regulations in Ghajar to ensure Hezbollah does not use the village as a conduit for attacks or drug smuggling.


10-26-06 - Lieberman urges discretion on Iran "We have to wait and see what the European Union, United States, Russia and China do about Iran," Lieberman said. "We don't need to be on the front line on this issue. We just have to sit and wait."


10-26-06 - No aggression intended, Israel says after German ship incident The confrontation occurred when Israeli jets scrambled after a helicopter took off from a German frigate serving with a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) task force. German Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said six Israeli F- 16s had flown very low over the German vessel and one of them fired two shots into the air. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the helicopter took off without having coordinated this with Israel


10-26-06 - Indonesia to buy Israeli surveillance drones


10-26-06 - In pictures: Lebanon oil spill clean-up Fishermen who were badly affected by the war and Israel's sea blockade of Lebanon have been employed to clean the beaches.


10-26-06 - Iran denies Argentina bomb charge Mr Hoseyni said the charges were intended to divert "world attention from the perpetration of crimes by the Zionists against women and children in Palestine".


10-26-06 - Israel to provide F-15 fighter components Israel's Elbit Systems unit Cyclone has been awarded a $19 million contract with Boeing Co. to provide components for U.S. F-15 fighters.


10-26-06 - Berlin wants 'smooth cooperation' with Israel after warplane incident "Shots were fired by Israeli planes. It is under investigation," a spokesman said. Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz has denied that the planes had fired at the German forces



10-26-06 - Bush: Returning Shalit would help Syria President Bush said facilitating the return of a captured Israeli soldier would help Syria in American eyes.


10-26-06 - Palestinian injured by land mine blast in Greece


10-26-06 - U.S. Stays Mum On Israel's Lieberman "The Baker report may be the key," Reich said. "I cannot envision that he won't recommend changes not just with respect to Iraq, but to other issues, including a second Madrid conference on the Middle East."



10-26-06 - Army takes prisoner three residents from Tulkarem The Israeli army took prisoner three residents from the West Bank city of Tulkarem and the nearby Nur Shams refugee camp on Thursday morning.


10-26-06 - Israel thwarting Hamas effort to set up West Bank security force The conflict between Israel and Hamas is likely to escalate soon in light of the Israel Defense Forces' decision to try to thwart the establishment of a Hamas security service in the West Bank.



10-26-06 - A Palestinian Question: Where Has America Gone?


10-26-06 - Progress on Israel-Palestinian prisoner swap: Hamas The leader of Hamas, who lives in exile in Syria, is expected to travel to Egypt soon for talks on a prisoner swap with Israel that could see hundreds of Palestinians freed in exchange for an Israeli soldier.


10-26-06 - Sierra Leone: Palestinians Gain Sympathy


10-26-06 - Israeli president rape charges spurred by Lebanon war: Putin


10-26-06 - U.S. evangelicals on mission in Israel The Christians support the extreme Israeli right-wing position which opposes any territorial compromises to the Palestinians.


10-26-06 - Letter: Support divestment Israel has imposed a strict siege on Palestine, isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world, and continues to construct the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank. In addition, Palestinian farmers have been denied access to their agricultural lands. These crimes against humanity represent your tax dollars at work. Please support Somerville's divestment from Israel.


10-26-06 - Don't mention the war: Israel seeks image makeover "In the wake of 9/11, the objective now is to place Israel among the coalition of the moderates, facing off against Islamic radicalism," Gissin said


10-26-06 - Letter: Accusations were false against Web site That people like Mr. Brociner must rely on false accusations shows that they cannot find anything "anti-Jewish" or untruthful about Israel in the SDP Web site


10-26-06 - Letter: Ignore the lobbies, vote yes Israeli historians have documented that most of the land was not purchased but rather captured by an Israeli militia that massacred Palestinians who resisted being forced off their homeland. These horrifying acts were condemned by many courageous Jewish Americans of the time, including Albert Einstein who, in an open letter to the "New York Times," labeled an Israeli political party as "akin to ... the Nazi and Fascist" parties and described the Israeli militia as "terrorist" who "massacred" peaceful Arab villagers


10-26-06 - 'Rachel Corrie' Was a Liar Rabid Israel-supporters furiously attempt to smear the memory of Rachel Corrie. Can't have Americans getting the truth.


10-26-06 - Agent's testimony contradicts Salah's torture claims The Salah case marks the first time that Israeli intelligence agents have testified on U.S. soil, and extraordinary security measures are in place to keep their identities secret


10-26-06 - Argentine Jewish groups welcome call for Iranian arrests in AMIA case The prosecutors' call reprises the original investigative tack - first suggested by the Mossad and CIA - that pointed to Iran as the intellectual author of the attack.


10-26-06 - Lebanon's celebrity hangout shakes off war hangover


10-26-06 - American Arabs and Muslims begin to flex political muscle From 1990 through 2004, Arab Americans gave $788,968 in individual donations, political action committee contributions and soft money to federal parties and candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research and advocacy group. During the same period, pro-Israel groups and individuals donated $56.8 million.




10-26-06 - Israeli hippies dream of pot-fueled Mideast peace


10-26-06 - Chacour pleads for peace Despite his critique of U.S. foreign policy, Chacour praised the former Secretary of State James Baker for his help creating schools, summer camps and the first Christian Arab Israeli University in Galilee.


10-26-06 - Letter: Support human rights, vote yes


10-26-06 - Dems to host Israel online meeting Top U.S. congressional Democrats will host an online "town hall meeting" on Israel on Friday


10-26-06 - Letter: Yes on right of return Did you know that Israel was accepted into the United Nations on condition that it accepts the right of return of the Palestinian refugees?

posted by Somebody @ 12:04 PM Permanent Link 0 comments



Thursday, October 26, 2006


Some headlines and summaries from JTA

U.N. sees hold-ups in Lebanon withdrawal

The United Nations said there are hold-ups in negotiating the final withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.
Israel this month quit all Lebanese territory that its forces overran during the war with Hezbollah, except for the northern part of Ghajar, a village straddling the border.

Talks have been under way for weeks on Israel’s demand that the bolstered United Nations peacekeeper force in southern Lebanon impose new security regulations in Ghajar to ensure Hezbollah does not use the village as a conduit for attacks or drug smuggling.

The UNIFIL force said Thursday that it has had “productive” meetings with Israel on Ghajar and hoped for a troop withdrawal there soon.

“Minor administrative issues with relations to Ghajar residents are still pending. UNIFIL hopes they will be solved at the next meeting early next week,” it said in a statement.

Bush: Returning Shalit would help Syria

President Bush said facilitating the return of a captured Israeli soldier would help Syria in American eyes.
Bush was asked at a news conference Wednesday what would persuade him to work with Syria, a nation his administration has shunned for its sponsorship of terrorism.

Bush listed helping Iraq succeed; not interfering in Lebanon; and ending sponsorship of anti-Israel terrorism.

“Help Israel get back the prisoner that was captured by Hamas,” he said, referring to Cpl. Gilad Shalit, captured by gunmen affiliated with the terrorist group in a June 25 cross-border raid. “Don’t allow Hamas and Hezbollah to plot attacks against democracies in the Middle East.”

Syria allows Hamas to headquarter in Damascus and runs weapons to Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group that launched a war with Israel this summer.


Waxman blasts Justice on Harman

A top congressional Democrat called on the Justice Department to publicize what it knows about an investigation into relations between AIPAC and a Jewish congresswoman.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives Government Reform Committee, said in the letter sent Thursday that allegations of improper relations between Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee seem “absurd.”

Reports have alleged that AIPAC lobbied Democrats to keep Harman in her Intelligence Committee leadership position in exchange for Harman’s favorable treatment of classified information charges against two former AIPAC staffers.

“The Intelligence Committee has no jurisdiction over a Justice Department prosecution of AIPAC employees, and it is unlikely that she, as a Democrat, could tell this Republican administration what to do on this matter,” Waxman wrote.

He suggested the department was retaliating for Harman’s tough criticism of its zeal in prosecuting leaks. Waxman and Harman are both Jewish.


Peres: West bolsters Iran

Shimon Peres chided the international community for not being firmer in its efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
“Iran is not strong. The reaction to Iran is weak, and that is what strengthens it,” the Israeli vice premier said Thursday after talks with visiting European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

The U.N. Security Council has agreed to discuss sanctions against Iran for its refusal to halt atomic procedures that could be used to produce a bomb, but implementation of the council decision has been held up by internal disagreements.

“There is a need to place sanctions on the Iranians so that they understand that the world cannot accept their way of promoting the nuclear system or nuclear program while trying to negotiate the terms of this program with the world,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.

Dems to host Israel online meeting

Top U.S. congressional Democrats will host an online “town hall meeting” on Israel on Friday. Participants in the meeting at noon, Eastern Time, include Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the minority leader; Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), both likely committee chairmen if Democrats win the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 7; and other members of the Democrats’ Israel Working Group.

Questions for the group may be posted at http://demcaucus.townhall.house.gov.

European politicians delay Israel trip

A visit by a European Parliament delegation to Israel was postponed due to Israel’s concern over a far-right French delegate.
The trip by 16 politicians, scheduled for Oct. 28-Nov. 4, was delayed, according to EUobserver.com, because of the presence of Marine Le Pen, a member of the National Front and daughter of anti-immigration politician Jean Marie Le Pen, who has made anti-Semitic comments in the past.

“The composition of the delegation, which includes a person coming from a party whose ranks are linked to anti-Semitism and Holocaust deniers, made it very, very difficult for us,” an Israeli diplomat reportedly told EUobserver.com.

The Parliament members now are deciding whether to propose a trip without Le Pen or to cancel the meeting altogether.

Massacre of Arabs to be remembered

Israeli schools will hold first-ever memorial ceremonies for a 1956 massacre of Arabs.
Education Minister Yuli Tamir this week ordered that schools hold special coexistence study sessions Sunday, the 50th anniversary of the killing of 47 residents of the Israeli Arab village of Kafr Kassem by border policemen.

The villagers were shot because they were in violation of a wartime curfew that had not been announced in advance.

The three policemen involved were jailed.

Tamir has said the incident should be used to teach Israelis about the need to question authorities in matters of moral urgency.

http://www.jta.org/

posted by Somebody @ 11:05 PM Permanent Link 0 comments




News for 10-25-06

10-25-06 - West Bank Settlers attack Palestinian farmers Ibrahim Salah said about 30 family members were tending to their field west of Nablus when some 50 settlers descended on the area wielding rocks and metal bars, and some holding guns. He said his son Basel, 31, was hit in the head by a metal bar and taken to a hospital. Witnesses said four others were lightly wounded


10-25-06 - 'US withdrawal from Iraq would be disastrous for Israel' ** "...And what if the US becomes trigger-shy? No one else except the US has the military might to set back Iran's nuclear program. Maybe Israel, but it's not certain. If the US gets trigger-shy, then we're in trouble." .....The result would be that "the terror efforts currently directed against US forces in Iraq would be turned against Israel," Ahh. I see. So the US military is being used as a type of human shield.


10-25-06 - Palestinian PM unhurt in convoy attack: Hamas


10-25-06 - CRS packages help Gaza Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr Using money from a special CRS fund established over the summer to assist with needs in Gaza and Lebanon, CRS was able to assist almost 25,000 people belonging to 3,200 needy families with food packages to help them celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday


10-25-06 - Palestinian economy withers under Israeli curbs


10-25-06 - Shin Bet foils bid to smuggle 6kg of TNT from Gaza to West Bank


10-25-06 - Labor Arab MKs vow to 'settle score' over Lieberman partnership "How would Peretz and (Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert respond if the government of France, for instance, had brought in a man who calls for expelling Jews from France?"


10-25-06 - UAE's Khalifa discusses Lebanon's reconstruction with Siniora


10-25-06 - Out of the shadows: Israel's Minister of Strategic Threats One of the largest blocs of Israel?s citizen army, the Russians are assigned some of the toughest spots in the West Bank and Gaza, often their first experience of meeting "Arabs".


10-25-06 - Ayalon: Focus on Palestinians before Iran "Taking care of the Iranian threat begins with achieving a diplomatic accord with the Palestinians," Ayalon told Israel Radio, adding that such an accord would help Israel enlist pan-Arab support for a tough stand against Tehran's nuclear program.


10-25-06 - Israel, Germany at odds over Lebanon air incident Israel denied a German newspaper report on Wednesday that two of its air force planes had fired twice as they flew over a German navy ship patrolling the Lebanon coast as part of an international peacekeeper force. This story sounds familiar...


10-25-06 - Military Build-up in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf: Israel and NATO sign Framework Agreement ** This Israel-NATO framework agreement not only has a bearing on the military build-up in the Eastern Mediterranean, which in practice is directed against Syria and Lebanon, it is also related to the massive deployment of US naval forces in the Persian Gulf, oppositie Iran.


10-25-06 - Israeli Arab's rising voice of opposition Look at another nice spin job by Ilene Prusher of the CSM (who else?). She puts the main issue of this week's headlines in Israel (extremist Lieberman's inclusion into Olmert's govt) at the very bottom of the article, and instead focuses the story on Israeli Arabs to make THEM look like the extremists.


10-25-06 - Iran charged over Argentina bomb Chief prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused the Iranian authorities of directing Hezbollah to carry out the attack.


10-25-06 - Olmert's dangerous choice The Moldovan-born politician enjoys wide support among the million or so Russian speakers who came to Israel during the demise of the Soviet Union, and brought with them a strident nationalism, a taste for blunt-speaking leaders and anti-Arab prejudice


10-25-06 - Dodd: U.S. wrong to urge Palestinian vote He joined Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who also addressed the conference, in urging final passage before the year is out of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, which would isolate the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority....McCain said a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would endanger Israel.



10-25-06 - Experiments on elderly echo Nazis Three Israeli doctors are under arrest over illegal experiments on thousands of patients, including an elderly concentration camp survivor who narrowly escaped being a victim of the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.


10-25-06 - Palestine banks walking an economic tightrope


10-25-06 - "I will only leave this house in a coffin" Palestinians living in Iraq have increasingly come under threat since the US-led occupation of the country began in 2003, according to a recent report by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.



10-25-06 - Iran, Syria rapidly rearming Hezbollah Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday.....He met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, among others, on a visit to Washington this week in advance of U.S.-Israel security talks set for December.


10-25-06 - Israeli jets fire over German navy ship off Lebanon The daily Der Tagesspiegel quoted a German junior defence minister as telling a parliamentary committee that two Israeli F-16 fighters had flown low over the ship, firing twice.


10-25-06 - The newly formed executive force starts to recruit personal in Bethlehem


10-25-06 - NATO: Israel ties must remain strong


10-25-06 - 'Syria increasing preparedness following IDF maneuvers' According to the report, a Syrian source added that Israel?s military activity is increasing tensions in the region. He mentioned Chief of Staff Dan Halutz?s Monday to a Golan Heights division exercise as contributing to the heightened tensions.


10-25-06 - AP photographer recounts Gaza kidnapping


10-25-06 - Mideast solution possible: ElBaradei A solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is within grasp if the international community commits to a blueprint and pursues dialogue, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said on Tuesday.


10-25-06 - Qatar offers to host Israeli delegation Long-term, Israeli leaders want to build contacts with moderate Arab states to counter the influence of Iran's anti- Israel government.


10-25-06 - Solana testy with Israeli politician "I am here to meet with a man I have disagreed with my entire life," Solana told reporters as he sat next to Lieberman in the Knesset, or parliament. "Now that he is a member of the government, I would like to see the position he has."


10-25-06 - Cross on Israel Museum brochure sparks religious stir A religious Jerusalem city councilman on Wednesday called for the immediate resignation of the director of the Israel Museum following the distribution of a museum brochure featuring a girl wearing a cross on its cover.


10-25-06 - U.S. Jews skeptical of Arabs, trust Israel on Iran, survey shows Harris contends that Jewish voters are willing to let other issues determine their vote, provided they believe both parties are "rock solid" in their support for Israel.


10-25-06 - Jewish Billionaires versus AIPAC Despite the misleading double-talk, this campaign represents a real and serious threat to Israel. AIPAC is possibly the greatest success story of any American lobbying group. It has one overriding role: To support Israel and Israel government policies Were AIPAC to initiate policies conflicting or inconsistent with the objectives of the Israel government it would lose its grassroots support overnight. Note the source. After such a frank admission, doesn't it follow that AIPAC should register as a FOREIGN agent?


10-25-06 - Lowy implicated in Israeli PM corruption row


10-25-06 - Report: UN mediator in talks with Hezbollah so far unsuccessful


10-25-06 - AIPAC condemns Republicans for 'loyalty' jibe The American Israel Public Affairs Committee condemned Republican activists who said failure to support their candidate amounted to "disloyalty" to Israel.


10-25-06 - U.S. lawmaker chides Carter on 'apartheid' In his statement Tuesday, Conyers said he called Carter "to express my concerns about the title of the book, and to request that the title be changed. President Carter does not build upon his career as a proponent of peace in the Middle East with this comparison and I hope he and his publisher will reconsider this decision."


10-25-06 - Candidates speak out on the issues On Israel What role should the United States play in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist groups, Hezbollah and Hamas, and their "benefactors," Iran and Syria?


10-25-06 - Israel's experience with harsh questioning may provide guidance Mohammed Barghouthi - the labor minister for the Palestinian Authority, which is led by the militant group Hamas - was held and questioned for 48 days this summer before being released without charge. He said he was shackled to a chair in a painful position for hours at a time. But more painful, he said, were the threats against his family, the screams of interrogators and the humiliation of other Palestinian lawmakers that he was forced to witness. The problem is, Dion, this is exactly where the US got the ideas in the first place. It's where the term 'Palestinian hanging' came from and it's why it was used on Iraqi prisoners. This nation is heavily under the influence of a foreign entity.


10-25-06 - Exclusive: Hillary Clinton On Israel, Iraq And Terror Sen. Clinton: First, I don't think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake.
If we were going to push for an election, we should have made sure we did something to determine who was going to win instead of signing off on an electoral system that advantaged Hamas.
"If we were going to push for an election, we should have made sure we did something to determine who was going to win"........


10-25-06 - Palestinian man finally wins fight to call U.S. home Mohamed Aboushaban, 53, a Palestinian refugee, said he doesn't know why it took a court order to get the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to complete the paperwork he needed to get permanent residency, but he's happy it will now be done


10-25-06 - Hamas expert's testimony continues in Salah trial On cross-examination, Levitt testified that many Palestinians also have been killed in the conflict and that living conditions in Gaza and the West Bank are often desperate


10-25-06 - Israeli illegals arrested in Egypt They apparently had walked across, circumventing the border terminal.

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Wednesday, October 25, 2006


News for 10-24-06

10-24-06 - Hebron Update: 15-21 October 2006 In the evening, CPT learned that the Palestinian family whose home had been
invaded the evening before (see Hebron Update 06-10-08-14. October 14th entry)
discovered that the Israeli soldiers who had invaded took 5000 Israeli Shekels
and 100 Jordanian Dinars...CPT learned from Palestinian colleagues that settlers took more than 150 dunams
of land belonging to three families near the village of Susiya southeast of
Yatta It's not enough to impose a seige on a whole people, they've got to rob them of what little they have to boot.


10-24-06 - Kidnapped Gaza journalist freed A Spanish photographer who was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip has been released, it has been confirmed.


10-24-06 - Olive harvest sparks tensions For years settlers have been attacking Palestinian farmers and chopping down their trees.....Palestinian farmers often require a permit from the army to visit their lands which lie close to Jewish settlements.


10-24-06 - Abbas orders deployment of 20,000 Fatah forces in Gaza Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday has ordered more than 20,000 security forces to be deployed in Gaza Strip during the Muslim's holiday Eid al-Fitr, in the wake of the Israel's military operation, Israel's newspaper Ha'aretz reported on Tuesday.


10-24-06 - Troops isolate Beit Hanoun, shells several areas One day after the Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles surrounded Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and bulldozed farmlands and hothouses in the area.


10-24-06 - Lutheran leader calls for Israeli and Palestinian action on education A Lutheran leader in the Holy Land, who was shocked to encounter school children begging by the road side, has pleaded for Palestinians, Israelis and the international community to get more than 700,000 Palestinian students back to school - writes Annette Young for Ecumenical News International.


10-24-06 - Israel to carry out more Gaza operations


10-24-06 - Olmert pins hopes on Lieberman to stop Iran ** Beside Olmert's faith in President Bush and the United Nation to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms, the prime minister is seeking to speed up Israel's preparations for a possible confrontation with Iran.


10-24-06 - Settlements grow on Arab land, despite promises made to U.S. The data also shows that in many cases the construction was carried out on private Palestinian land. In the masterplans, more often than not, Palestinian properties were included in the construction planned for the future. These included Palestinian properties to which the state had promised access...exploiting the intifada and arguing that the settlers should not be exposed to security risks, Palestinian farmers were prevented access to their properties that were annexed by Israeli settlements. Nothing new.


10-24-06 - Air Force to Establish New Cyberspace Operations Command Lani Kass, director of of the service's Cyberspace Task Force, served in the IDF. She also served at the Pentagon - what a surprise. And it looks like I answered one of my own questions from last week.


10-24-06 - Russia: Go easy on Hamas Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published Tuesday that it?s unrealistic for Western powers to shun the radical Islamist group to get it to recognize Israel?s right to exist and renounce terrorism.



10-24-06 - The $228 million question: How to rebuild Israel?s North? Increasing the Jewish population in the Galilee and investing in its development has been a long-term goal of the Israeli government, which is wary of the current demographic situation. A little more than half of the Galilee population is Arab.


10-24-06 - Despite friendly words, Olmert visit to Russia highlights Iran differences "It is necessary to act on Iran, but that action should be in direct proportion to what is really happening," the RIA-Novosti Russian news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. "And what is really happening is what the" International Atomic Energy Agency "reports to us. And the IAEA is not reporting to us about the presence there of a threat to peace and security."


10-24-06 - Report that Jews backed Harman for help on AIPAC trial dismissed The lead Democratic Party donor making the case for Harman was Haim Saban, the Power Rangers toy and TV-show magnate, who also has been a major donor to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Brookings Institution, where a center for Middle East studies was established in his name. Saban, a dual Israeli citizen, also is a donor to Israel's Labor Party....Sources close to Harman, who is Jewish, and Pelosi acknowledged that there has been such lobbying, but added that it's par for the course and not illegal, though Pelosi has made it clear she resents the pressure


10-24-06 - Under Occupation - An American who was kidnapped in West Bank shares his experience My studies and travels exposed me to the Palestinians' lack of freedom and equal rights. But I knew that to really understand it, I had to live it. And because my government supplies the massive financial and diplomatic support that makes Israel's occupation of the West Bank possible, I wanted to see the effects of those policies firsthand Mr. Phillips seems to have taken the Harriet Challenge. But of course, be extremely cautious if you do just that.


10-24-06 - Iran warns of U.S., Israel ME schemes He cautioned peoples of the region -- "especially the Lebanese and Palestinians" -- as well as all Muslim nations not to fall for the U.S. plan or act in a way that serves Washington's and Israel's schemes


10-24-06 - Israeli deputy PM warns of Iranian nuclear threat "We discussed the Iranian issue which is a threat not only against the state of Israel but it is a threat against all the Western countries," Mofaz told reporters after meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Nicholas Burns, the State Department's number three, in charge of the Iranian nuclear issue.


10-24-06 - 'Major attacks against Israel on their way' Terror leaders tell WND of 'imminent' plans to strike from Gaza
Note the author (Aaron Klein), the publication (World Net Daily), and note that the information contained therein likely won't be found anywhere else. But other respectable news sources may pick it up from the former. Call me a cynic, but it's a mite strange that Palestinian 'terrorists' are going to tell WND (and only WND) of their forthcoming terror attacks on Israel. Mmmm k.


10-24-06 - FEATURE-Palestinians in Nablus lament their "dying" city


10-24-06 - Israeli dignitaries and supporters converge on Savannah The Savannah Jewish Federation joined as a co-sponsor of "Convergence 2006" after the controversy over a paper published by the London Review of Books in May claiming an expansive Jewish lobby is undermining American political interests.


10-24-06 - Opinion: A response to President Reid?s letter on divestment


10-24-06 - Editor: U.S. media favors Israel


10-24-06 - 'World not getting real ME story'


10-24-06 - Mossad angry over British espionage series?


10-24-06 - Congressman: Help Bangladeshi journalist A U.S. congressman called on the Bush administration to intervene on behalf of a Bangladeshi journalist facing sedition charges for advocating ties with Israel. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice


10-24-06 - B´nei Brak Rabbis Call for Supervision of Arab Workers The crackdown stems not from security concerns, although Arabs transported across checkpoints together with groups headed for the area have carried out attacks in the past. Rather, the rabbis are concerned with the rise in incidents of romantic involvement of Hareidi-Religious women with the Arab workers.



10-24-06 - Germany backs combating hate as extremists win more elections Jewish leaders are welcoming announcements that Germany will continue to finance programs aimed at combating right-wing extremism. What about the right-wing extremism in Israel? This is especially relevant given Olmert's choice of party he has chosen to ally with - which was announced just this week.


10-24-06 - Balance Kills: Media, Good Will, and Israeli Oppression in Palestine


10-24-06 - Government expert tells terrorism trial of Mideast violence A terrorism expert told a federal court jury Tuesday that suicide bombers have killed hundreds of Israelis but a defense attorney said five times as many Palestinians have died amid the violent conflict. Palestine on trial in the US courts.


10-24-06 - Democratic leaders: Carter wrong on Israel Both parties must pander to the Israeli lobby - lest they be perceived as hostile to Israel, and thus lose the elections. The interests of the majority of Americans (who do not make up the Israeli lobby) do not factor in.


10-24-06 - Student admits bomb hoax in bid to delay flight The 21-year-old, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to a felony count of conveying false information of a threat targeting an airplane. He faces from probation to five years in prison at sentencing Jan. 29.


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