Chief of Staff: Next War will be
Short and Harsh
Maj.
Gen. Gantz: Eight Syrian divisions between Golan and Damascus could become
active "tomorrow morning."
By
Gil Ronen
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 10:57 PM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152346
Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, painted a
worrying picture of the military threat to Israel in a
speech at the annual Herzliya Conference on Wednesday.
"The threats against Israel have not disappeared," he said.
"What was relevant in the past remains relevant. Eight Syrian military
divisions are stationed between the Sea of Galilee and Damascus. These forces
are currently inactive, but that may change tomorrow morning."
"An extraordinary amount of ordnance covers every region of
Israel," Gantz said. "Every region in Israel is currently under
threat. Our enemies are trying to create a military system that skips over
Israel's defense capabilities and directly targets the strategic depth of the
State of Israel."
The enemy wants to damage Israel's ability to function in the next war, he
explained. They want to "wreak destruction and generate a victory story
for the day after. They understand that the campaign will be short and harsh,
but they will try and hit us hard to generate these achievements." All
this, he said, is part of the ongoing Arab strategy of "strategic
attrition" against Israel, adopted when conventional wars proved unable to
defeat the Jewish state.
Gaza and Lebanon are "two of the largest ammunition and weapon 'storage facilities' I know," he
said, owned by Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, and other terror organizations. "The
Middle East is currently arming more than any other region in the world, and we
are the target of all this ammunition."
"Our enemies acknowledge the strength of the IDF, they have seen it in
the past and they understand what a western force with high-tech weapons is
capable of." Besides conventional military means, he said, they have taken
to operating from within urban regions, where they take advantage of innocent
civilian populations. "In Lebanon there are buildings that contain both
civilian residential apartments
and a 'rocket room '– in the same building."
According to Lt. Gen. Gantz, aside from complex fronts our enemies are also
"planning attacks using high-tech rockets, portable systems such as
anti-tank missiles, and accurate, target-specific and long-distance missiles.
We saw this during the Second Lebanon War. Our Navy forces and strategic posts
in the Mediterranean Sea are also under threat."
The enemy is mainly targeting the Israeli home front and civilian
population, "as an attempt to harm our operative capabilities."
Lt. Gen. Gantz stressed that in the face of the different threats the IDF
must continue to develop offensive capabilities, alongside accurate
intelligence capabilities and air defenses for defending civilian populations.
"It is crucial to ensure our infantry maneuvering capabilities. It must be
strong, well-trained and well-equipped, since it will be required to operate in
a field more challenging than ever. This is not an anti-tank missile fired from
300 meters we are taking about – this is an anti-tank missile that is
accurately fired from six kilometers away."
Lt. Gen. Gantz said that the IDF has grown much stronger in the past few
years but needs to maintain this trend. "We are a powerful nation and if
we don’t maintain this strength, we simply will not exist."
Gaza
Rocket Salvo Targets Negev Communities
A
salvo of rockets were fired by terrorists in Gaza into Israel; no property
damage of physical injuries reported
By
Gavriel Queenann
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 9:44 PM
Kassam
rockets
Israel
news photo: Wikimedia Common
Gaza terrorists on Wednesday evening launched a slavo
of six Qassam rockets at Israel's southern communities.
All of the rockets landed in open fields in the western Negev. No
property damage of physical injuries
were reported.
Earlier
on Wednesday terrorists in Gaza fired a single Qassam rocket into Israel, which
also landed in an open council western Negev.
No
property damage of physical injuries were reported in that attack, either.
The
attacks are the latest in an uptick of violence emanating from Gaza that began
last Friday evening after nearly a month of relative calm.
The
spokeswoman said the border area had been used in the past for
planting explosives, "thereby endangering the citizens of Israel and the security forces operating in the
area."
The Shejaya area where
the shooting took place was the scene of terrorist activity late last Friday
night. At approximately 10:50 PM on Friday terrorists opened fire on an IDF
watchtower overlooking the fence.
The ambush prompted an
IDF raid which resulted in brief clashes. After the raid terrorists fired a rocket at the Israeli community of Nachal Oz.
The rocket landed in an empty field.
The following day a flare fired by an
Israeli tank to illuminate the area struck a house.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Earlier on Wednesday, IDF forces wounded a Gaza man who ignored warning shots when approaching the security fence adjacent to Shejaya.
Winter
Storm Turns Israel into Ski Resort
Israel,
known for its beaches and hot weather, has become a ski resort in the Golan -
but it was closed Wednesday due to a heavy snowstorm.
By
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 12:10 PM
Snow
blankets Hermon in Golan Heights
Israel
news photo: Silviya/Tapuz weather forum
Several feet of snow have blanketed the Hermon ski resort
on the Golan Heights – but it was closed Wednesday due to a heavy storm.
Nearly six feet of the white stuff has piled up on the upper slopes and up
to three feet on the slower slopes, where rain
fell Wednesday morning before turning to snow.
Thousands of Israelis have been fleeing the rainy center of the country to
be in the snow, which is rarely seen in most other areas in Israel. A
misjudgment on the part of the ski resort last week left frustrated visitors
trapped during a heavy snowstorm, and IDF snowplows cleared the roads for
visitors to leave.
In the rest of the country, rain returned Tuesday night to all of the
country as far south as the Negev, but most of the heavy precipitation was in
the central and northern regions by mid-morning. More than two inches of rain
drenched metropolitan Tel Aviv, and gale force winds ripped through hilly
areas.
The forecast calls for the rain and snow to end by Thursday morning,
followed by a warming trend that should dry out Israel for several days. More
rain is predicted for next Wednesday, but it is not yet clear how much will
fall.
Despite the electricity outages and discomfort from the wettest January on record in terms of the number of
days of precipitation, Israelis are welcoming every drop.
The Kinneret continues to rise and before the end of the week will rise past
the upper red line,” the level at which ecological damage may occur.
The lake still is lacking 4 meters before dams would have to be opened to
prevent flooding of farmland
and the beachside city of Tiberias. The last time the dam was opened was in the
winter of 1992-3.
Runoff from the hills and
more rain in February that is on the long-range radar screen might add another
meter to the Kinneret before summer and leave the lake in its best shape since
three years ago.
Sweden
to Chabad: No Jewish Homeschooling
Religious
freedom is at risk in Sweden, where the government is trying to force Chabad
emissaries to send their children to public school.
By
Hana Levi Julian
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 11:01 AM
Gothenburg,
Sweden
Israel
news photo: courtesy of Lubavitch.com
Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries to Sweden have been
threatened by the city of Gothenburg with thousands of dollars in fines for
home schooling their children, as the Swedish government attempts to force this
Jewish family to send its children to public school.
On January 26, Rabbi Alexander Namdar and his wife Leah, representatives of
the worldwide Chassidic movement to Sweden for the past 21 years, were served
at their home with a notice by the Gothenburg school authorities.
According to the notice, four of their children who currently study at an international online school must be
delivered to a Swedish school by today (Wednesday). Failure to do so could
result in a fine of 16000 crown - the equivalent of $2,400 -- per week.
The children's education is not lacking by any means -- and they are not the
first in the family to have been educated at home. Six of the family's 11
children also learned at home in their early years, and now live and study
abroad at Jewish high schools, teaching seminaries and rabbinic colleges. All
are pursuing careers in education.
In addition to the international online
school attended by the children -- and 500 of their classmates
around the world -- the Namdar children are also receiving private tutoring.
Their secular curriculum includes English, Swedish, mathematics, geography,
science, music, art and gymnastics. All the children are fluent in English,
Swedish and Yiddish, and can read Hebrew by age 5.
The notice came following a change on January first in Sweden's law that
tightened restrictions on home schooling. The amendment permits home
schooling only in "extraordinary" circumstances -- and religious
issues are explicitly excluded as a valid reason for home schooling one's child.
Sweden does not tolerate differences very well, notes Leah Namdar. The
longtime ban on shechita (Jewish ritual preparation of kosher meat), and recent
laws tightening restrictions on Jewish ritual circumcision are warnings of what
Leah Namdar said could become "the last battle against Communism."
"We're two parents fighting city hall for the right to give our children a Jewish education,"
she told Lubavitch.com.
The family's lawyer agrees:
the Gothenburg v. Namdar case will be a critical test of Sweden's record on
religious freedom, said attorney
Richard Backenroth.
The lawyer has been careful
not to attribute the city's action to anti-Semitism. However, European Jewish
Congress president Dr. Moshe Kantor recently noted that Sweden is the only
nation within the European Union unwilling to discuss domestic anti-Semitism
with the EJC. Anti-Semitism has risen in Sweden
in recent years, along with a trend towards the extreme right. Jews in the city
of Malmo in particular have begun to flee the
community as a result of the rising trends.
Backenroth, who is appealing the notice and the "exorbitant fine"
that arrived while the case is still pending, told Lubavitch.com,
"Sweden's schools cannot possibly accommodate the needs of the Namdar
children with respect to their religious requirements."
More ominously, forcing the Namdar children -- the only Orthodox Jews in the
city -- to attend a Swedish school, could expose them to real danger, the
movement warned. Swedish schools are notorious for their bullying problems and
the children would become a certain target for
anti-Semitic harassment.
Guy Linderman, a Jewish citizen of Sweden, agrees the Namdar children need
not attend Swedish schools.
Active in politics while living in Sala, he told Lubavitch.com he
had originally supported the new law when it was drafted years ago, but
believes it should not be applied to the Namdars. The law, he said, was
intended to ensure that Sweden's immigrant population was education, "many
of who... had grown up illiterate, incapable of signing their names."
The Namdar children, who he knows well, "are more educated than their
Swedish peers," Linderman said.
"This is a stain on the reputation of a country that takes pride in
equality as a fundamental value," said Rabbi Namdar. Both he and his wife
said they regard education as their "highest priority."
Canada solidifies position as Israel's
staunchest friend
Mittwoch, 1. Februar
2012 | Ryan Jones
Among Western powers, America may be Israel's greatest ally, but Canada has
been making a play for the title of "staunchest friend."
Speaking at the opening of the 12th annual Herzliya Conference on Monday,
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird blasted efforts to delegitimize Israel and
its claim to the land as nothing short of anti-Semitism.
"Harnessing disparate anti- Semitic, anti-American and anti-Western
ideologies, target the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, Israel,
as the source of injustice and conflict in the world, and use, perversely, the
language of human rights to do so," Baird said. "We must be relentless
in exposing this new anti-Semitism for what it is."
Baird declared that Canada would not be among those nations that engage in
anti-Israel rhetoric out of some misguided obligation to be
"even-handed."
During a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Baird said that
while Canada officially supports a two-state solution to the conflict, it views
the Palestinian Authority's efforts to unilaterally wrest control of the land
via the UN Security Council as "profoundly wrong."
Back in Jerusalem, Baird told Israeli President Shimon Peres that
"Israel has no better friend than Canada," and stressed that
"Canada does not stand behind Israel; Canada stands shoulder to shoulder
with Israel."
Like in the neighboring United States, the topic of Israel has become a
major point of policy debate in Canadian elections.
[Ed. Note - We want to emphasize that the focus of this story is on
relations between Israel and the national governments of its allies. Israel
Today is well aware that the Jewish state enjoys enormous support from the
people of America.]
IDF
Re-Arrests Shalit Deal Terrorist
Mamun
Ismail Salame Stut has become the first terrorist released under the deal to
free Gilad Shalit to be re-arrested for terror activity.
By
Gavriel Queenann
First
Publish: 1/31/2012, 6:14 PM
Paratroopers
Israel
news photo: Flash 90
Soldiers from the Golani Brigade arrested Mamun Ismail Salame Stut on
Tuesday. Stut was one of 1,027 terrorists
released in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in October. Over
100 of them were allowed to return to their homes in Judea and Samaria.
His arrest makes him the
first released prisoner to be re-arrested since the Shalit deal.
According to an IDF spokesperson, Stut was arrested for being a security
threat in the area of Dura near Hebron.
Stut was first arrested in 2002 and indicted for attempted murder,
membership in a terror organization, assembling bombs, and providing asylum to
terrorists. An Israeli court sentenced him to 38 years in prison. He was
slated to be released in 2040.
Israeli security officials had tried to defend the controversial deal for
Shalit's freedom on the grounds that those released had said they
would abandon terror and that none of those released "returned to
terror activity."
Several of the released terrorists, however, have made credible pledges to
return to terror activity – as Stut did.
Sources in the IDF Central Command touted the arrest saying it sent “a clear
message that people who return to terrorism will pay.”
Netanyahu
Wins Likud Leadership, Says General Elections Far Off
Prime
Minister Netanyahu wins the race for the leadership of the Likud party,
achieves nearly 80 percent support.
By
Elad Benari
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 1:40 AM
Netanyahu
Votes
Flash
90
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has won Tuesday's race for the leadership of the Likud
party with an overwhelming 74 percent of support, according to initial results.
Netanyahu’s rival in the race, Moshe Feiglin, garnered 25 percent of votes,
according to the initial count.
In a victory speech he made shortly after initial results came in, Netanyahu
clarified that the general
elections for the Knesset are still a long way off.
In his speech, the Prime Minister thanked the Cabinet ministers for working on behalf of Israel, and
also thanked Knesset members, mayors and party activists.
“I thank you all for your confidence and the renewed support you have given
me,” Netanyahu said, adding that the Likud is a movement which “is committed to
settle in the land of Israel and is committed to the future of Israel.”
Some speculated that Netanyahu’s decision to hold the leadership race
earlier than scheduled meant that the general elections would be held earlier
as well, but Netanyahu outright rejected these speculations.
“There’s still time until the elections to the Knesset,” he said to the
sound of loud cheering. “We proved that the Likud is a strong and united
movement. It is a democratic, open, transparent, national, liberal movement,
which respects the law and abides by its responsibility to the State of Israel.”
“We will continue to lead the country in unity and with responsibility for
all its citizens,” said the Prime Minister. “We are facing challenges which are
not easy and I believe we can overcome them together.”
The polling stations closed at 11:00 p.m. (Israel time) Tuesday evening with
about only about 50 percent of voters having taken part. Final results are
expected later, but initial counts found that Netanyahu won the most votes
in most of the polling stations in the country. Feiglin, however, made a good
showing in some areas of Judea and Samaria, such as Elon Moreh, where he
received 127 votes out of 130 and in Har Bracha, where he received 285 votes
compared to four received by Netanyahu.
Netanyahu made an "urgent speech" Tuesday
afternoon urging Likud voters to cast their ballots due to low
turnout. Political analysts said Netanyahu fears an embarrassing outcome
against rival Moshe Feiglin. According to the analysts, a final result which
will give Netanyahu less than 80 percent of support would be considered a
failure for the Prime Minister.
Earlier on Tuesday, Feiglin’s headquarters said that contrary to the Likud
Elections Committee’s decision, Netanyahu’s supporters were removing Feiglin
supporters from some polling stations.
The head of Feiglin’s headquarters subsequently ordered observers to
physically block the counting of ballot boxes wherever they are not present.
“It is very unfortunate that the Likud was humiliated by anti-democratic
conduct of the lowest kind,” he said.
Assad may
start regional war if UN tells him to step down – Gulf sources
Syrian
officers visit Russian aircraft carrier in Tartus port
In confidential conversations with his advisers, Syrian President Bashar
Assad is reported by Persian Gulf sources Tuesday, Jan. 31 to have threatened
to start up armed hostilities in the region if the UN Security Council Tuesday
night endorses the Arab League proposal for him to step down and hand power to
his deputy.
Those sources told debkafile
that the heads of the Syrian armed forces and intelligence have been given
their orders and some units are on the ready. Other Middle East sources
reported that the Lebanese Hizballah has also shown signs of military
preparations in the last few hours. And the Russian flotilla berthed at the
Syrian port of Tartus, led by the Admiral Kutznetsov aircraft carrier, also
appears to be on the alert for ructions in the wake of the Security Council
Syria session.
During the day, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov warned that
pushing the Arab League's UN resolution was "the path to civil war."
Our Moscow sources report that top-level discussions are still going back and
forth in the Kremlin over a final decision on a veto.
debkafile reports that the
military flurry in advance of the critical Security Council session included US
naval movements. Sunday, Jan. 29, the nuclear submarine USS Annapolis,
escorted by the guided missile destroyer USS Momsen sailed through the
Suez Canal to the Red Sea. This looked like a Washington warning for Tehran to
keep its military fingers out of Syria if the confrontation there escalates.
It was not the first time Assad has threatened Syria's neighbors. On Aug. 9,
2011, four months into his savage crackdown against protesters, he warned
Turkey that, six hours after the first shot was fired against Syria, he would
"destroy Tel Aviv and set the entire Middle East on fire."
That was his answer to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu when he
came to Damascus with a demand from his and other NATO governments that
the Syrian ruler stop the slaughter. .
Davutoglu urged Assad to take a look at Libya and try to understand that if
he carried on, he might be in for the same fate as Muammar Qaddafi – a strong
hint at military intervention by NATO, including Turkey.
Earlier still on May 10, one of Assad's close kinsmen, the international tycoon
Rami Makhlouf, warned: "If there is no stability in Syria, there will be
none in Israel. No one can be sure what will happens after that. God help us if
anything befalls this regime."
Israel
Leads in Defense against Cyber Attacks
Israel
leads the world in cyber war defense. Cyber war can “hit a country without
shooting a single bullet,” says Israel’s cyber adviser.
By
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First
Publish: 1/31/2012, 11:17 AM
Israel
prepared for cyber warfare
Israel
news photo: Jangelo9397 Wikimedia Commons
Israel is among the three leaders in readiness to fight
cyber warfare, which most global experts think is already taking place,
according to a new report from McAfee and Security & Defense Agenda (SDA),
a leading defense and security think-tank in Brussels.
”If you want to hit a country severely, you hit its power and water supplies. Cyber technology can do this without
shooting a single bullet," said Isaac Ben-Israel, cyber security advisor
to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Finland and Sweden are the other top nations prepared for cyber attacks,
while China, Russia and India rank low on the totem pole.
The report is based on interviews with global experts, of whom 57 percent
believe a cyber arms race is underway.
Other findings are:
-- 36 percent believe cyber-security is more important than missile defense;
- -- 43 percent identified damage or disruption to
critical infrastructure as the greatest single threat posed by cyber
attacks with wide economic consequences;
-
- -- 45 percent believe that cyber security is as
important as border security.
The readiness of the United States and Britain ranks behind that of Israel,
according to the report, which also cited the need for international standards
and law enforcement to combat
cyber-crime.
“Until we can pool our data and equip our people and machines with
intelligence, we are playing chess with only half the pieces,” said Phyllis
Schneck, McAfee’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for the Global
Public Sector.
The report called on industry to increase “cyber exercises.”
Global treaties are not enough and “delude western countries into thinking
they have some protection against tactics that have been unilaterally abandoned
by other treaty signatories,” Stewart Barker, the former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security under President
George W. Bush, stated in the report.
Hamas Terror Offices in Jerusalem Shut Down
Israeli police have closed two offices in Jerusalem belonging to the Hamas terrorist group.
By Chana Ya'ar and Yoni Kempinski
First Publish: 1/30/2012, 9:53 PM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152273
Israel's Border Police tracked down and closed two offices in Jerusalem this week that were found to belong to the Hamas terrorist organization.
Both were located in the ancient City of David (Silwan) neighborhood.
One of the offices allegedly raised money for “charity.” The other ostensibly housed the activities of a “soccer team.”
The offices were closed for a minimum of 30 days.
"This is part of the Israeli policy to prevent any Hamas activity inside Jerusalem,” said Israel Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. “Over the last year we've closed down altogether 10 buildings in connection with Hamas activities,” he noted.
He added the closures were viewed as part of routine Israeli law enforcement in the city of Jerusalem.
The Kingdom of Jordan is also continuing its policy not to allow Hamas officials to open offices in the Hashemite kingdom, despite a recent visit by Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal. The politburo chief was expected to arrive in Iran, the group's generous patron, on his region-wide tour by Monday
Palestinians praise killer of Jewish family
Montag, 30. Januar 2012 | Ryan Jones
The mother and aunt of a young Palestinian man who brutally slaughtered nearly an entire Jewish family last year went on Palestinian Authority television recently to praise his murderous actions and to denounce Israel for having the audacity to put him in jail.
Hakim Awad was given five life sentences by an Israeli court last August for his role in the March 2011 massacre of the Fogel family in the northern Samaria Jewish community of Itamar. During the home invasion attack, Hakim and his cousin, Amjad Awad (who also received five life sentences), mercilessly stabbed to death Udi and Ruth Fogel and three of their young children, including a four-month-old baby.
The Fogel massacre sent shockwaves through Israeli society both because of the brutality and the purposeful targeting of young children, at least two of whom were sleeping when they were set upon by the Awad cousins.
Palestinian society views the murders and the murderers much differently.
Last week, Palestinian Authority TV aired a program called "For You" decrying Israel's imprisonment of convicted Palestinian terrorists. Hakim Awad was one of the stars of the show.
Phoning in to the show, Awad's aunt read a poem she had written for Hakim and referred to the blood-soaked killer as a "hero" and a "legend" among his family, friends and peers. Awad's mother also got on the line to lament that she was being prevented from visiting her son due to the severity of the "Itamar operation" - Palestinians regularly refer to the murder of Israeli Jews, even children, as military "operations."
The hostess of the "For You" program also added her own greeting to Hakim Awad.
This continued justification and even glorification of the murder of Israeli Jews is for most Israelis the primary reason the peace process is going nowhere. As part of the original "Oslo Accords," both sides were obliged to educate their populations for peaceful coexistence.
Remarks such as those expressed by the Awad matriarchs suggests that Palestinian society has actually been educated to hate Jews even more. And it is a certainty that at least some young Palestinians watching "For You" took away the lesson that they, too, can become "legends" by murdering Jews.
[Translation of the 'For You' program was provided by Palestinian Media Watch]
IDF covert operations rise significantly over past year
By YAAKOV KATZ01/31/2012 01:47
By IDF Spokesman's Unit
The IDF has significantly increased the number of overseas covert operations it has conducted over the past year, an indication of the growing threats Israel faces in the region, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
Most of the details about the operations are classified, including the exact number, but according to foreign reports, the IDF has operated in places such as Sudan, Lebanon and Iran.
- Ashkenazi: Israel must have military option against Iran
- 'Israel among top 3 in cyber attack defense'
The one confirmed covert operation in the past year was in March 2011, when commandos from the navy’s elite Flotilla 13 – or Shayetet 13 – boarded the Victoria cargo ship sailing in the Mediterranean from Turkey en route to Egypt.
The ship was carrying 50 tons of weaponry, including a number of advanced radar-guided anti-ship missiles destined for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In December, foreign reports claimed the Israel Air Forcebombed two arms convoys on their way to the Gaza Strip in Sudan. One of the reports claimed an Israeli helicopter was spotted over an island near Sudan and that a submarine was also detected in the area.
Last April a car was bombed near Port Sudan. Arab media reports accused Israel of the strike against the car whose occupants were reportedly Islamist terrorists involved in arms-smuggling to Hamas.
The IDF has a number of units that specialize in covert operations – the Air Force is in command of Shaldag, Military Intelligence in command of the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal) and the navy in command of Shayetet 13.
While the number of operations conducted by Israel’s special forces has increased over the past year, there has been a feeling within the General Staff since the Second Lebanon War that the units could do more if they worked closer together and if there was better coordination between their respective branches.
In an effort to improve their capabilities, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz decided in December to establish the “Depth Corps” – a new unit that will oversee operations deep in enemy territory.
The corps will be headed by Maj.-Gen. Shai Avital, a former commander of the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, who has been out of the IDF for over a decade. Gantz selected Avital due to his expertise in deep-covert operations.
The purpose of the corps will be to enable each unit – Sayeret Matkal, Shaldag and Shayetet – to retain their unique capabilities and at the same time create better coordination between themselves.
PM Confirms: Israel to Remain in Jordan Valley
Israel will not leave the Jordan Valley, regardless of whatever final status agreement is made with the Palestinian Authority, says the PM.
By Chana Ya'ar
First Publish: 1/30/2012, 8:43 PM
PM Binyamin Netanyahu
Israel news photo: Flash 90
A spokesman for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says Israel will not leave the Jordan Valley, regardless of whatever final status agreement is made with the Palestinian Authority.
Responding to rumors claiming that he was prepared to compromise on an Israeli presence in the region, Netanyahu told a Likud faction meeting Monday evening, “I will sign a final status agreement only if Israel remains in the Jordan Valley. I believe that we are thus acting sensibly, and looking out for the welfare and security of Israel,” he told party MKs.
An earlier, unconfirmed report published in the Hebrew-language Ma'ariv newspaper Monday morning claimed that Netanyahu had agreed to relinquish sovereignty over the Jordan Valley.
In a speech to the Knesset plenum last year at its special Herzl Day session, the Prime Minister laid down five conditions for a peace treaty with the Palestinian Authority – but the Jordan Valley was not listed among the items.
On June 14, 2009, Netanyahu laid out in a speech delivered at Bar Ilan University the conditions by which Israel would agree to the establishment of a PA state alongside the Jewish State. In that speech, he invited “all Arab leaders” to cooperate in building together with Israel an economic peace in any areas – including the Jordan Valley. “An economic peace is not a substitute for a political peace,” he noted at the time, “but an important element to achieving it.... Together we can develop industrial areas that will generate thousands of jobs and create tourist sites that will attract millions of visitors eager to walk in the footsteps of history,” he said, listing “the baptismal site of the Jordan” among them, but not once intimating that Israel would ever withdraw from the site.
Spokesman Mark Regev added in a subsequent interview with Arutz Sheva Monday night, “The Prime Minister has said many times that an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley is a necessity. That has not changed."
When asked whether Netanyahu's position might not change, however, if an agreement were to pivot on that one item alone, Regev reiterated, "The Prime Minister has said an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley is a security issue.
“Security is not negotiable," he emphasized.
US foresees May as tentative date for clash with Iran. Floating SEALs base for Gulf
USS Ponce - future SEALs Persian Gulf platform
A hurried decision not to de-commission the USS Ponce helicopter marine carrier after duty in Libya - but to refit it for deployment by May in the Persian Gulf as a floating base for commando teams - was confirmed by the US Pentagon and Navy Sunday, Dec. 29. This transportable floating base will expand the commandos' range in coastal areas and support counter-measure against mines which Iran has threatened to plant in the Strait of Hormuz in reprisal for the US-EU oil embargo. The SEALs will also take on Iran's menacing fleet of military speedboats.
debkafile reports Tehran operates four different kinds of these craft in the Persian Gulf:
1. Small, fast vessels, each armed with a small missile for striking tankers and coastal oil targets around the Gulf region, such as export terminals. Earlier this month, Tehran claimed to have developed stealth cruise missiles capable of disabling aircraft carriers with a single shot.
2. Small, extra-fast boats armed with torpedoes. Iranian publications claim several such boats are capable of stealing up on US aircraft carriers and large warships from several directions without being detected and cause serious damage.
3. Floating bombs for kamikaze missions. These fast boats cannot be deflected after locking in on target, whether on sea or shore, and explode on contact.
Iran used these floating missiles piloted by suicide squads to attack oil tankers in the Gulf in November 1987. Since then, their naval tacticians have upgraded this fleet with the technology gained from the British Bladerunner 51, a model of which Iran purchased some years ago.
Since early January, the Pentagon has reported four cases of harassment by Iranian military boats sailing close to American warships in the Persian Gulf.
4. Boats carrying teams of Iranian marine frogmen trained for secret suicide underwater missions: One member of the boat's three-man crew dives close to the targeted ship and attaches a magnetic bomb to its hull.
Iran has scattered hundreds of speedboats of different types around uninhabited islands off the Iranian mainland, tucking them out of sight in well-hidden inlets and bays. The US commando teams based on the Ponce platform will have the task of ferreting out and destroying this fleet.
The US Defense Department aims to get the Ponce ready for its new mission as a floating commando base with all possible speed. To save time, the US military published one no-bid contract for the engineering work, waiving normal procurement rules on the grounds that any delay presented a "national security risk."
The contract carries pointers to the timeline expected in Washington for a military confrontation to erupt between the United States and Iran, as well as the form it may take, say debkafile's military sources.
The target date for deploying the commando platform in the Persian Gulf in four or five months indicates Washington is preparing for military clashes to blow up with Iran in the late spring or early summer.
But according to debkafile's Iranian and military sources, the Iranian administration has expressed its determination to respond instantly to any diplomatic or military move or action of an offensive nature against the Islamic Republic. And so confrontation may come earlier than anticipated.
Sunday, the Iranian parliament was due to vote on a motion to cut off oil supplies to Europe in response to the EU embargo declared last week. Tehran has made it clear it has no intention of standing idle until US and European oil sanctions go fully into effect on July 1 and knows that EU nations are not set up to forego 400,000 barrels of oil a day right now.
Saudi Arabia, which pledged to make up the shortfall arising from oil sanctions against Iran, will not have the missing quantities on stream before May – at about the same time as the Ponce and its complement of SEAL commandoes are due to take up position in the Persian Gulf. Tehran may decide not to wait and opt for letting its speedboats loose before then to try and pre-empt American and European plans.
Former IDF Chief: Israel Must Prepare for War
Ashkenazi: Israel must not cut its budget because shifting strategic realities demand it prepare for war.
By Gavriel Queenann
First Publish: 1/27/2012, 1:08 PM
Chief of Staff Ashkenazi
Flash 90
Former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi warned, Thursday, that Israel could not afford to cut its defense budget and should prepare itself for war.
“In comparison to 10 years ago, the possibility of a conflict is not something that we just need to talk about," Ashkenazi said during a lecture at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
"We never saw it coming. It happened on my watch, so it must be said. But if it's any consolation, Egypt never saw it coming either," Ashkenazi said of the so-called Arab Spring protests that have no turned into an Islamic winter in elections throughout the Arab world.
"The Middle East's plates are shifting. What the Egyptian army didn't know, I couldn't have known. (Egypt's) leaders did not know either," he said, adding the ultimate strategic picture was still changing.
Ashkenazi told attendees that confronting Iran's nuclear ambitions required a multi-disciplinary approach that included covert, economic, and potentially military action.
"In my opinion, the strategy vis-à-vis Iran should be to do whatever is possible under the radar coupled with painful and crippling sanctions. However, we should also keep a viable military option on the table," he said.
While Ashkenazi said sanctions were having an effect on Iran, he warned that time was running out since the Iranian nuclear program was moving forward at a rapid pace.
“Our mission now needs to be to slow down the clock and to speed up the clock of sanctions and hope that it works,” he said.
Ashkenazi cautioned that Iran's strategic acumen should not be overestimated, saying Tehran had made some strategic blunders and was threatening to make others as pressure mounts.
"I believe Iran would be making a strategic mistake if it blocks the Strait of Hormuz. Another mistake was trying to kill the Saudi ambassador at a restaurant in the US capital. The Iranians are liable to make more mistakes under pressure," he said.
Ashkenazi served as IDF chief of staff from 2007 until 2011 and certainly played a key role in preparing the military for a possible attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities. A 2007 strike against Syria’s nuclear reactor widely ascribed to Israel also happened on his watch.
Ashkenazi, who oversaw operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, said the new regime in Cairo made a new Gaza incursion a "complex" undertaking.
"The possibility of conducting another extensive operation in Gaza has become more complex following the events of the past year in Egypt and the change of government in that country," he said.
"I think that this government will not act like Mubarak. I do not think he was a Zionist, but you cannot ignore the fact that he was an anchor of stability in the region considering the not-so simple tests he passed – the wars in Lebanon or the intifada."
Iranian Religious Leader: We're Already Nuclear
Senior Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami: Iran is already nuclear, U.S. too blind to realize that.
By Elad Benari, Canada
First Publish: 1/27/2012, 10:16 PM
Iranian flag
Israel news photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain
Senior Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said on Friday that Iran is already a nuclear state and that Americans have not realized that.
“The United States says it will not allow Iran to be nuclear, but it is so blind that it hasn’t noticed that Iran has already become a nuclear state,” Khatami was quoted by Channel 10 News as having said. He added that the U.S. has become isolated in the region, after its four “slaves” were removed from power. He was referring to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, former Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi, former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Khatami also addressed the EU’s embargo on Iranian oil imports, which was announced this week, and said that the Europeans decided to wait with the implementation of the sanctions until July because their economic situation is no better than Iran’s.
“Why did the Europeans decide to wait half a year before implementing the sanctions? The answer is simple - the Europeans have their own serious trouble - they were hit by the financial crisis,” he said.
Khatami added the embargo will hurt Europe more than it will hurt Iran, because Saudi Arabia will not be able to provide the required amount of oil to Europe, while the sanctions will only hurt 18 percent of Iran’s oil exports.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
Hackers Publish Iranians' Credit Card Details
An Israeli hacker group publishes the credit card details of some 4,000 people, mostly Iranians. They promise: More on the way.
By Elad Benari, Canada
First Publish: 1/27/2012, 11:03 PM
Hackers (illustrative)
Flash90
The hacker war continues: An Israeli hacker group on Friday joined the ongoing cyber war between pro-Israeli and pro-Arab hackers and published the credit card details of some 4,000 people.
According to a Channel 2 News report, most of the credit cards on the list published by the group, which calls itself the Nuclear Group, belong to Iranian citizens.
“We wanted peace, you wanted a war. So you got one,” Channel 2 quoted the group as having written on the internet site on which it published the credit card details.
The group was also quoted as having said they have not yet said the last word and that they plan to take additional steps.
“We have more than half a million credit cards in our computers,” the group members said. “They won’t mess with us.”
On Thursday, an Israeli hacker team called "IDF Team" succeeded in temporarily disabling the website of the Iranian English language television station, and of the Teheran Health Ministry. The sites were hacked at about 4:30 p.m. Israel time and were operational again about one hour later.
The attack was in retaliation for Muslim hackers' attacks yesterday that hitthe Haaretz news website, the Dan bus company, Assuta Hospital and the Cinematheque.
The team reportedly brought down the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange website, and the United Arab Emirates stock exchange website, nine days ago. That attack was in retaliation for Muslim hackers' attacks that disabled the websites of Israeli banks and of El Al.
The team posted a warning that read: "If the lame attacks from Saudi Arabia will continue, we will move to the next level which will disable these sites longer term may come to weeks or even months. You have been warned."
Last week Saudi hackers aimed at the website of Rabbi David Grossman's 'Migdal Or' organization as well.
The “Saudi hacker” – also known as “OxOmar” – was quoted in Arabic media last weekend as having threatening to “finish Israel electronically.” The hacker exposed thousands of Israeli credit card account details earlier this month.
Israel's National Cyber Command (NCC) and the Counter Terror Bureau (CTB) launched the nation's first official cyber emergency drill, dubbed “Lights Out,” on Wednesday, to train cyber security personnel in dealing with the latest form of warfare.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
Israeli belief in God on the rise
Freitag, 27. Januar 2012 | Ryan Jones
Even as Israel becomes increasingly liberal (see recent report on Tel Aviv being rated top gay travel destination), it is also becoming increasingly religious, or, perhaps more accurately, increasingly God-fearing.
A survey conducted by the Guttman-Avi Chai Foundation in 2009, and whose results were finally published on Thursday after more than two years of analysis, revealed that over 80 percent of Israeli Jews believe in God. The Guttman-Avi Chai Foundation started conducing this survey over two decades ago. The 2009 poll registered by far the highest level of belief in God yet.
Furthermore, over 70 percent of Israeli Jews accept the biblical principle that the Jewish people have been "chosen" by God for a specific prophetic destiny. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they want increased biblical studies in Israeli schools.
But that doesn't mean Jews in general are becoming more religious, at least not in an Orthodox Jewish way. Only 37 percent of Israeli Jews had a problem with fellow Jews not following the biblical commandments, and nearly 70 percent said they want more entertainment venues to be open on the Shabbat.
The numbers coincide with other recent findings and observations suggesting that Israelis are increasingly hungry for a deeper spiritual life. It also highlights the growing rift in the nation, as one portion of Israelis moves closer to God and the Bible, while the other clings ever more tightly to Western liberal humanism.
UN urges halt to demolitions of Palestinian homes
01/28/2012 00:06
Chief of Staff: Next War will be
Short and Harsh
Maj.
Gen. Gantz: Eight Syrian divisions between Golan and Damascus could become
active "tomorrow morning."
By
Gil Ronen
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 10:57 PM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152346
Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, painted a
worrying picture of the military threat to Israel in a
speech at the annual Herzliya Conference on Wednesday.
"The threats against Israel have not disappeared," he said.
"What was relevant in the past remains relevant. Eight Syrian military
divisions are stationed between the Sea of Galilee and Damascus. These forces
are currently inactive, but that may change tomorrow morning."
"An extraordinary amount of ordnance covers every region of
Israel," Gantz said. "Every region in Israel is currently under
threat. Our enemies are trying to create a military system that skips over
Israel's defense capabilities and directly targets the strategic depth of the
State of Israel."
The enemy wants to damage Israel's ability to function in the next war, he
explained. They want to "wreak destruction and generate a victory story
for the day after. They understand that the campaign will be short and harsh,
but they will try and hit us hard to generate these achievements." All
this, he said, is part of the ongoing Arab strategy of "strategic
attrition" against Israel, adopted when conventional wars proved unable to
defeat the Jewish state.
Gaza and Lebanon are "two of the largest ammunition and weapon 'storage facilities' I know," he
said, owned by Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, and other terror organizations. "The
Middle East is currently arming more than any other region in the world, and we
are the target of all this ammunition."
"Our enemies acknowledge the strength of the IDF, they have seen it in
the past and they understand what a western force with high-tech weapons is
capable of." Besides conventional military means, he said, they have taken
to operating from within urban regions, where they take advantage of innocent
civilian populations. "In Lebanon there are buildings that contain both
civilian residential apartments
and a 'rocket room '– in the same building."
According to Lt. Gen. Gantz, aside from complex fronts our enemies are also
"planning attacks using high-tech rockets, portable systems such as
anti-tank missiles, and accurate, target-specific and long-distance missiles.
We saw this during the Second Lebanon War. Our Navy forces and strategic posts
in the Mediterranean Sea are also under threat."
The enemy is mainly targeting the Israeli home front and civilian
population, "as an attempt to harm our operative capabilities."
Lt. Gen. Gantz stressed that in the face of the different threats the IDF
must continue to develop offensive capabilities, alongside accurate
intelligence capabilities and air defenses for defending civilian populations.
"It is crucial to ensure our infantry maneuvering capabilities. It must be
strong, well-trained and well-equipped, since it will be required to operate in
a field more challenging than ever. This is not an anti-tank missile fired from
300 meters we are taking about – this is an anti-tank missile that is
accurately fired from six kilometers away."
Lt. Gen. Gantz said that the IDF has grown much stronger in the past few
years but needs to maintain this trend. "We are a powerful nation and if
we don’t maintain this strength, we simply will not exist."
Gaza
Rocket Salvo Targets Negev Communities
A
salvo of rockets were fired by terrorists in Gaza into Israel; no property
damage of physical injuries reported
By
Gavriel Queenann
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 9:44 PM
Kassam
rockets
Israel
news photo: Wikimedia Common
Gaza terrorists on Wednesday evening launched a slavo
of six Qassam rockets at Israel's southern communities.
All of the rockets landed in open fields in the western Negev. No
property damage of physical injuries
were reported.
Earlier
on Wednesday terrorists in Gaza fired a single Qassam rocket into Israel, which
also landed in an open council western Negev.
No
property damage of physical injuries were reported in that attack, either.
The
attacks are the latest in an uptick of violence emanating from Gaza that began
last Friday evening after nearly a month of relative calm.
The
spokeswoman said the border area had been used in the past for
planting explosives, "thereby endangering the citizens of Israel and the security forces operating in the
area."
The Shejaya area where
the shooting took place was the scene of terrorist activity late last Friday
night. At approximately 10:50 PM on Friday terrorists opened fire on an IDF
watchtower overlooking the fence.
The ambush prompted an
IDF raid which resulted in brief clashes. After the raid terrorists fired a rocket at the Israeli community of Nachal Oz.
The rocket landed in an empty field.
The following day a flare fired by an
Israeli tank to illuminate the area struck a house.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Earlier on Wednesday, IDF forces wounded a Gaza man who ignored warning shots when approaching the security fence adjacent to Shejaya.
Winter
Storm Turns Israel into Ski Resort
Israel,
known for its beaches and hot weather, has become a ski resort in the Golan -
but it was closed Wednesday due to a heavy snowstorm.
By
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 12:10 PM
Snow
blankets Hermon in Golan Heights
Israel
news photo: Silviya/Tapuz weather forum
Several feet of snow have blanketed the Hermon ski resort
on the Golan Heights – but it was closed Wednesday due to a heavy storm.
Nearly six feet of the white stuff has piled up on the upper slopes and up
to three feet on the slower slopes, where rain
fell Wednesday morning before turning to snow.
Thousands of Israelis have been fleeing the rainy center of the country to
be in the snow, which is rarely seen in most other areas in Israel. A
misjudgment on the part of the ski resort last week left frustrated visitors
trapped during a heavy snowstorm, and IDF snowplows cleared the roads for
visitors to leave.
In the rest of the country, rain returned Tuesday night to all of the
country as far south as the Negev, but most of the heavy precipitation was in
the central and northern regions by mid-morning. More than two inches of rain
drenched metropolitan Tel Aviv, and gale force winds ripped through hilly
areas.
The forecast calls for the rain and snow to end by Thursday morning,
followed by a warming trend that should dry out Israel for several days. More
rain is predicted for next Wednesday, but it is not yet clear how much will
fall.
Despite the electricity outages and discomfort from the wettest January on record in terms of the number of
days of precipitation, Israelis are welcoming every drop.
The Kinneret continues to rise and before the end of the week will rise past
the upper red line,” the level at which ecological damage may occur.
The lake still is lacking 4 meters before dams would have to be opened to
prevent flooding of farmland
and the beachside city of Tiberias. The last time the dam was opened was in the
winter of 1992-3.
Runoff from the hills and
more rain in February that is on the long-range radar screen might add another
meter to the Kinneret before summer and leave the lake in its best shape since
three years ago.
Sweden
to Chabad: No Jewish Homeschooling
Religious
freedom is at risk in Sweden, where the government is trying to force Chabad
emissaries to send their children to public school.
By
Hana Levi Julian
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 11:01 AM
Gothenburg,
Sweden
Israel
news photo: courtesy of Lubavitch.com
Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries to Sweden have been
threatened by the city of Gothenburg with thousands of dollars in fines for
home schooling their children, as the Swedish government attempts to force this
Jewish family to send its children to public school.
On January 26, Rabbi Alexander Namdar and his wife Leah, representatives of
the worldwide Chassidic movement to Sweden for the past 21 years, were served
at their home with a notice by the Gothenburg school authorities.
According to the notice, four of their children who currently study at an international online school must be
delivered to a Swedish school by today (Wednesday). Failure to do so could
result in a fine of 16000 crown - the equivalent of $2,400 -- per week.
The children's education is not lacking by any means -- and they are not the
first in the family to have been educated at home. Six of the family's 11
children also learned at home in their early years, and now live and study
abroad at Jewish high schools, teaching seminaries and rabbinic colleges. All
are pursuing careers in education.
In addition to the international online
school attended by the children -- and 500 of their classmates
around the world -- the Namdar children are also receiving private tutoring.
Their secular curriculum includes English, Swedish, mathematics, geography,
science, music, art and gymnastics. All the children are fluent in English,
Swedish and Yiddish, and can read Hebrew by age 5.
The notice came following a change on January first in Sweden's law that
tightened restrictions on home schooling. The amendment permits home
schooling only in "extraordinary" circumstances -- and religious
issues are explicitly excluded as a valid reason for home schooling one's child.
Sweden does not tolerate differences very well, notes Leah Namdar. The
longtime ban on shechita (Jewish ritual preparation of kosher meat), and recent
laws tightening restrictions on Jewish ritual circumcision are warnings of what
Leah Namdar said could become "the last battle against Communism."
"We're two parents fighting city hall for the right to give our children a Jewish education,"
she told Lubavitch.com.
The family's lawyer agrees:
the Gothenburg v. Namdar case will be a critical test of Sweden's record on
religious freedom, said attorney
Richard Backenroth.
The lawyer has been careful
not to attribute the city's action to anti-Semitism. However, European Jewish
Congress president Dr. Moshe Kantor recently noted that Sweden is the only
nation within the European Union unwilling to discuss domestic anti-Semitism
with the EJC. Anti-Semitism has risen in Sweden
in recent years, along with a trend towards the extreme right. Jews in the city
of Malmo in particular have begun to flee the
community as a result of the rising trends.
Backenroth, who is appealing the notice and the "exorbitant fine"
that arrived while the case is still pending, told Lubavitch.com,
"Sweden's schools cannot possibly accommodate the needs of the Namdar
children with respect to their religious requirements."
More ominously, forcing the Namdar children -- the only Orthodox Jews in the
city -- to attend a Swedish school, could expose them to real danger, the
movement warned. Swedish schools are notorious for their bullying problems and
the children would become a certain target for
anti-Semitic harassment.
Guy Linderman, a Jewish citizen of Sweden, agrees the Namdar children need
not attend Swedish schools.
Active in politics while living in Sala, he told Lubavitch.com he
had originally supported the new law when it was drafted years ago, but
believes it should not be applied to the Namdars. The law, he said, was
intended to ensure that Sweden's immigrant population was education, "many
of who... had grown up illiterate, incapable of signing their names."
The Namdar children, who he knows well, "are more educated than their
Swedish peers," Linderman said.
"This is a stain on the reputation of a country that takes pride in
equality as a fundamental value," said Rabbi Namdar. Both he and his wife
said they regard education as their "highest priority."
Canada solidifies position as Israel's
staunchest friend
Mittwoch, 1. Februar
2012 | Ryan Jones
Among Western powers, America may be Israel's greatest ally, but Canada has
been making a play for the title of "staunchest friend."
Speaking at the opening of the 12th annual Herzliya Conference on Monday,
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird blasted efforts to delegitimize Israel and
its claim to the land as nothing short of anti-Semitism.
"Harnessing disparate anti- Semitic, anti-American and anti-Western
ideologies, target the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, Israel,
as the source of injustice and conflict in the world, and use, perversely, the
language of human rights to do so," Baird said. "We must be relentless
in exposing this new anti-Semitism for what it is."
Baird declared that Canada would not be among those nations that engage in
anti-Israel rhetoric out of some misguided obligation to be
"even-handed."
During a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Baird said that
while Canada officially supports a two-state solution to the conflict, it views
the Palestinian Authority's efforts to unilaterally wrest control of the land
via the UN Security Council as "profoundly wrong."
Back in Jerusalem, Baird told Israeli President Shimon Peres that
"Israel has no better friend than Canada," and stressed that
"Canada does not stand behind Israel; Canada stands shoulder to shoulder
with Israel."
Like in the neighboring United States, the topic of Israel has become a
major point of policy debate in Canadian elections.
[Ed. Note - We want to emphasize that the focus of this story is on
relations between Israel and the national governments of its allies. Israel
Today is well aware that the Jewish state enjoys enormous support from the
people of America.]
IDF
Re-Arrests Shalit Deal Terrorist
Mamun
Ismail Salame Stut has become the first terrorist released under the deal to
free Gilad Shalit to be re-arrested for terror activity.
By
Gavriel Queenann
First
Publish: 1/31/2012, 6:14 PM
Paratroopers
Israel
news photo: Flash 90
Soldiers from the Golani Brigade arrested Mamun Ismail Salame Stut on
Tuesday. Stut was one of 1,027 terrorists
released in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in October. Over
100 of them were allowed to return to their homes in Judea and Samaria.
His arrest makes him the
first released prisoner to be re-arrested since the Shalit deal.
According to an IDF spokesperson, Stut was arrested for being a security
threat in the area of Dura near Hebron.
Stut was first arrested in 2002 and indicted for attempted murder,
membership in a terror organization, assembling bombs, and providing asylum to
terrorists. An Israeli court sentenced him to 38 years in prison. He was
slated to be released in 2040.
Israeli security officials had tried to defend the controversial deal for
Shalit's freedom on the grounds that those released had said they
would abandon terror and that none of those released "returned to
terror activity."
Several of the released terrorists, however, have made credible pledges to
return to terror activity – as Stut did.
Sources in the IDF Central Command touted the arrest saying it sent “a clear
message that people who return to terrorism will pay.”
Netanyahu
Wins Likud Leadership, Says General Elections Far Off
Prime
Minister Netanyahu wins the race for the leadership of the Likud party,
achieves nearly 80 percent support.
By
Elad Benari
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 1:40 AM
Netanyahu
Votes
Flash
90
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has won Tuesday's race for the leadership of the Likud
party with an overwhelming 74 percent of support, according to initial results.
Netanyahu’s rival in the race, Moshe Feiglin, garnered 25 percent of votes,
according to the initial count.
In a victory speech he made shortly after initial results came in, Netanyahu
clarified that the general
elections for the Knesset are still a long way off.
In his speech, the Prime Minister thanked the Cabinet ministers for working on behalf of Israel, and
also thanked Knesset members, mayors and party activists.
“I thank you all for your confidence and the renewed support you have given
me,” Netanyahu said, adding that the Likud is a movement which “is committed to
settle in the land of Israel and is committed to the future of Israel.”
Some speculated that Netanyahu’s decision to hold the leadership race
earlier than scheduled meant that the general elections would be held earlier
as well, but Netanyahu outright rejected these speculations.
“There’s still time until the elections to the Knesset,” he said to the
sound of loud cheering. “We proved that the Likud is a strong and united
movement. It is a democratic, open, transparent, national, liberal movement,
which respects the law and abides by its responsibility to the State of Israel.”
“We will continue to lead the country in unity and with responsibility for
all its citizens,” said the Prime Minister. “We are facing challenges which are
not easy and I believe we can overcome them together.”
The polling stations closed at 11:00 p.m. (Israel time) Tuesday evening with
about only about 50 percent of voters having taken part. Final results are
expected later, but initial counts found that Netanyahu won the most votes
in most of the polling stations in the country. Feiglin, however, made a good
showing in some areas of Judea and Samaria, such as Elon Moreh, where he
received 127 votes out of 130 and in Har Bracha, where he received 285 votes
compared to four received by Netanyahu.
Netanyahu made an "urgent speech" Tuesday
afternoon urging Likud voters to cast their ballots due to low
turnout. Political analysts said Netanyahu fears an embarrassing outcome
against rival Moshe Feiglin. According to the analysts, a final result which
will give Netanyahu less than 80 percent of support would be considered a
failure for the Prime Minister.
Earlier on Tuesday, Feiglin’s headquarters said that contrary to the Likud
Elections Committee’s decision, Netanyahu’s supporters were removing Feiglin
supporters from some polling stations.
The head of Feiglin’s headquarters subsequently ordered observers to
physically block the counting of ballot boxes wherever they are not present.
“It is very unfortunate that the Likud was humiliated by anti-democratic
conduct of the lowest kind,” he said.
Assad may
start regional war if UN tells him to step down – Gulf sources
Syrian
officers visit Russian aircraft carrier in Tartus port
In confidential conversations with his advisers, Syrian President Bashar
Assad is reported by Persian Gulf sources Tuesday, Jan. 31 to have threatened
to start up armed hostilities in the region if the UN Security Council Tuesday
night endorses the Arab League proposal for him to step down and hand power to
his deputy.
Those sources told debkafile
that the heads of the Syrian armed forces and intelligence have been given
their orders and some units are on the ready. Other Middle East sources
reported that the Lebanese Hizballah has also shown signs of military
preparations in the last few hours. And the Russian flotilla berthed at the
Syrian port of Tartus, led by the Admiral Kutznetsov aircraft carrier, also
appears to be on the alert for ructions in the wake of the Security Council
Syria session.
During the day, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov warned that
pushing the Arab League's UN resolution was "the path to civil war."
Our Moscow sources report that top-level discussions are still going back and
forth in the Kremlin over a final decision on a veto.
debkafile reports that the
military flurry in advance of the critical Security Council session included US
naval movements. Sunday, Jan. 29, the nuclear submarine USS Annapolis,
escorted by the guided missile destroyer USS Momsen sailed through the
Suez Canal to the Red Sea. This looked like a Washington warning for Tehran to
keep its military fingers out of Syria if the confrontation there escalates.
It was not the first time Assad has threatened Syria's neighbors. On Aug. 9,
2011, four months into his savage crackdown against protesters, he warned
Turkey that, six hours after the first shot was fired against Syria, he would
"destroy Tel Aviv and set the entire Middle East on fire."
That was his answer to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu when he
came to Damascus with a demand from his and other NATO governments that
the Syrian ruler stop the slaughter. .
Davutoglu urged Assad to take a look at Libya and try to understand that if
he carried on, he might be in for the same fate as Muammar Qaddafi – a strong
hint at military intervention by NATO, including Turkey.
Earlier still on May 10, one of Assad's close kinsmen, the international tycoon
Rami Makhlouf, warned: "If there is no stability in Syria, there will be
none in Israel. No one can be sure what will happens after that. God help us if
anything befalls this regime."
Israel
Leads in Defense against Cyber Attacks
Israel
leads the world in cyber war defense. Cyber war can “hit a country without
shooting a single bullet,” says Israel’s cyber adviser.
By
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First
Publish: 1/31/2012, 11:17 AM
Israel
prepared for cyber warfare
Israel
news photo: Jangelo9397 Wikimedia Commons
Israel is among the three leaders in readiness to fight
cyber warfare, which most global experts think is already taking place,
according to a new report from McAfee and Security & Defense Agenda (SDA),
a leading defense and security think-tank in Brussels.
”If you want to hit a country severely, you hit its power and water supplies. Cyber technology can do this without
shooting a single bullet," said Isaac Ben-Israel, cyber security advisor
to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Finland and Sweden are the other top nations prepared for cyber attacks,
while China, Russia and India rank low on the totem pole.
The report is based on interviews with global experts, of whom 57 percent
believe a cyber arms race is underway.
Other findings are:
-- 36 percent believe cyber-security is more important than missile defense;
- -- 43 percent identified damage or disruption to
critical infrastructure as the greatest single threat posed by cyber
attacks with wide economic consequences;
-
- -- 45 percent believe that cyber security is as
important as border security.
The readiness of the United States and Britain ranks behind that of Israel,
according to the report, which also cited the need for international standards
and law enforcement to combat
cyber-crime.
“Until we can pool our data and equip our people and machines with
intelligence, we are playing chess with only half the pieces,” said Phyllis
Schneck, McAfee’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for the Global
Public Sector.
The report called on industry to increase “cyber exercises.”
Global treaties are not enough and “delude western countries into thinking
they have some protection against tactics that have been unilaterally abandoned
by other treaty signatories,” Stewart Barker, the former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security under President
George W. Bush, stated in the report.
Hamas Terror Offices in Jerusalem Shut Down
Israeli police have closed two offices in Jerusalem belonging to the Hamas terrorist group.
By Chana Ya'ar and Yoni Kempinski
First Publish: 1/30/2012, 9:53 PM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152273
Israel's Border Police tracked down and closed two offices in Jerusalem this week that were found to belong to the Hamas terrorist organization.
Both were located in the ancient City of David (Silwan) neighborhood.
One of the offices allegedly raised money for “charity.” The other ostensibly housed the activities of a “soccer team.”
The offices were closed for a minimum of 30 days.
"This is part of the Israeli policy to prevent any Hamas activity inside Jerusalem,” said Israel Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. “Over the last year we've closed down altogether 10 buildings in connection with Hamas activities,” he noted.
He added the closures were viewed as part of routine Israeli law enforcement in the city of Jerusalem.
The Kingdom of Jordan is also continuing its policy not to allow Hamas officials to open offices in the Hashemite kingdom, despite a recent visit by Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal. The politburo chief was expected to arrive in Iran, the group's generous patron, on his region-wide tour by Monday
Palestinians praise killer of Jewish family
Montag, 30. Januar 2012 | Ryan Jones
The mother and aunt of a young Palestinian man who brutally slaughtered nearly an entire Jewish family last year went on Palestinian Authority television recently to praise his murderous actions and to denounce Israel for having the audacity to put him in jail.
Hakim Awad was given five life sentences by an Israeli court last August for his role in the March 2011 massacre of the Fogel family in the northern Samaria Jewish community of Itamar. During the home invasion attack, Hakim and his cousin, Amjad Awad (who also received five life sentences), mercilessly stabbed to death Udi and Ruth Fogel and three of their young children, including a four-month-old baby.
The Fogel massacre sent shockwaves through Israeli society both because of the brutality and the purposeful targeting of young children, at least two of whom were sleeping when they were set upon by the Awad cousins.
Palestinian society views the murders and the murderers much differently.
Last week, Palestinian Authority TV aired a program called "For You" decrying Israel's imprisonment of convicted Palestinian terrorists. Hakim Awad was one of the stars of the show.
Phoning in to the show, Awad's aunt read a poem she had written for Hakim and referred to the blood-soaked killer as a "hero" and a "legend" among his family, friends and peers. Awad's mother also got on the line to lament that she was being prevented from visiting her son due to the severity of the "Itamar operation" - Palestinians regularly refer to the murder of Israeli Jews, even children, as military "operations."
The hostess of the "For You" program also added her own greeting to Hakim Awad.
This continued justification and even glorification of the murder of Israeli Jews is for most Israelis the primary reason the peace process is going nowhere. As part of the original "Oslo Accords," both sides were obliged to educate their populations for peaceful coexistence.
Remarks such as those expressed by the Awad matriarchs suggests that Palestinian society has actually been educated to hate Jews even more. And it is a certainty that at least some young Palestinians watching "For You" took away the lesson that they, too, can become "legends" by murdering Jews.
[Translation of the 'For You' program was provided by Palestinian Media Watch]
IDF covert operations rise significantly over past year
By YAAKOV KATZ01/31/2012 01:47
By IDF Spokesman's Unit
The IDF has significantly increased the number of overseas covert operations it has conducted over the past year, an indication of the growing threats Israel faces in the region, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
Most of the details about the operations are classified, including the exact number, but according to foreign reports, the IDF has operated in places such as Sudan, Lebanon and Iran.
- Ashkenazi: Israel must have military option against Iran
- 'Israel among top 3 in cyber attack defense'
The one confirmed covert operation in the past year was in March 2011, when commandos from the navy’s elite Flotilla 13 – or Shayetet 13 – boarded the Victoria cargo ship sailing in the Mediterranean from Turkey en route to Egypt.
The ship was carrying 50 tons of weaponry, including a number of advanced radar-guided anti-ship missiles destined for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In December, foreign reports claimed the Israel Air Forcebombed two arms convoys on their way to the Gaza Strip in Sudan. One of the reports claimed an Israeli helicopter was spotted over an island near Sudan and that a submarine was also detected in the area.
Last April a car was bombed near Port Sudan. Arab media reports accused Israel of the strike against the car whose occupants were reportedly Islamist terrorists involved in arms-smuggling to Hamas.
The IDF has a number of units that specialize in covert operations – the Air Force is in command of Shaldag, Military Intelligence in command of the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal) and the navy in command of Shayetet 13.
While the number of operations conducted by Israel’s special forces has increased over the past year, there has been a feeling within the General Staff since the Second Lebanon War that the units could do more if they worked closer together and if there was better coordination between their respective branches.
In an effort to improve their capabilities, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz decided in December to establish the “Depth Corps” – a new unit that will oversee operations deep in enemy territory.
The corps will be headed by Maj.-Gen. Shai Avital, a former commander of the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, who has been out of the IDF for over a decade. Gantz selected Avital due to his expertise in deep-covert operations.
The purpose of the corps will be to enable each unit – Sayeret Matkal, Shaldag and Shayetet – to retain their unique capabilities and at the same time create better coordination between themselves.
PM Confirms: Israel to Remain in Jordan Valley
Israel will not leave the Jordan Valley, regardless of whatever final status agreement is made with the Palestinian Authority, says the PM.
By Chana Ya'ar
First Publish: 1/30/2012, 8:43 PM
PM Binyamin Netanyahu
Israel news photo: Flash 90
A spokesman for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says Israel will not leave the Jordan Valley, regardless of whatever final status agreement is made with the Palestinian Authority.
Responding to rumors claiming that he was prepared to compromise on an Israeli presence in the region, Netanyahu told a Likud faction meeting Monday evening, “I will sign a final status agreement only if Israel remains in the Jordan Valley. I believe that we are thus acting sensibly, and looking out for the welfare and security of Israel,” he told party MKs.
An earlier, unconfirmed report published in the Hebrew-language Ma'ariv newspaper Monday morning claimed that Netanyahu had agreed to relinquish sovereignty over the Jordan Valley.
In a speech to the Knesset plenum last year at its special Herzl Day session, the Prime Minister laid down five conditions for a peace treaty with the Palestinian Authority – but the Jordan Valley was not listed among the items.
On June 14, 2009, Netanyahu laid out in a speech delivered at Bar Ilan University the conditions by which Israel would agree to the establishment of a PA state alongside the Jewish State. In that speech, he invited “all Arab leaders” to cooperate in building together with Israel an economic peace in any areas – including the Jordan Valley. “An economic peace is not a substitute for a political peace,” he noted at the time, “but an important element to achieving it.... Together we can develop industrial areas that will generate thousands of jobs and create tourist sites that will attract millions of visitors eager to walk in the footsteps of history,” he said, listing “the baptismal site of the Jordan” among them, but not once intimating that Israel would ever withdraw from the site.
Spokesman Mark Regev added in a subsequent interview with Arutz Sheva Monday night, “The Prime Minister has said many times that an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley is a necessity. That has not changed."
When asked whether Netanyahu's position might not change, however, if an agreement were to pivot on that one item alone, Regev reiterated, "The Prime Minister has said an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley is a security issue.
“Security is not negotiable," he emphasized.
US foresees May as tentative date for clash with Iran. Floating SEALs base for Gulf
USS Ponce - future SEALs Persian Gulf platform
A hurried decision not to de-commission the USS Ponce helicopter marine carrier after duty in Libya - but to refit it for deployment by May in the Persian Gulf as a floating base for commando teams - was confirmed by the US Pentagon and Navy Sunday, Dec. 29. This transportable floating base will expand the commandos' range in coastal areas and support counter-measure against mines which Iran has threatened to plant in the Strait of Hormuz in reprisal for the US-EU oil embargo. The SEALs will also take on Iran's menacing fleet of military speedboats.
debkafile reports Tehran operates four different kinds of these craft in the Persian Gulf:
1. Small, fast vessels, each armed with a small missile for striking tankers and coastal oil targets around the Gulf region, such as export terminals. Earlier this month, Tehran claimed to have developed stealth cruise missiles capable of disabling aircraft carriers with a single shot.
2. Small, extra-fast boats armed with torpedoes. Iranian publications claim several such boats are capable of stealing up on US aircraft carriers and large warships from several directions without being detected and cause serious damage.
3. Floating bombs for kamikaze missions. These fast boats cannot be deflected after locking in on target, whether on sea or shore, and explode on contact.
Iran used these floating missiles piloted by suicide squads to attack oil tankers in the Gulf in November 1987. Since then, their naval tacticians have upgraded this fleet with the technology gained from the British Bladerunner 51, a model of which Iran purchased some years ago.
Since early January, the Pentagon has reported four cases of harassment by Iranian military boats sailing close to American warships in the Persian Gulf.
4. Boats carrying teams of Iranian marine frogmen trained for secret suicide underwater missions: One member of the boat's three-man crew dives close to the targeted ship and attaches a magnetic bomb to its hull.
Iran has scattered hundreds of speedboats of different types around uninhabited islands off the Iranian mainland, tucking them out of sight in well-hidden inlets and bays. The US commando teams based on the Ponce platform will have the task of ferreting out and destroying this fleet.
The US Defense Department aims to get the Ponce ready for its new mission as a floating commando base with all possible speed. To save time, the US military published one no-bid contract for the engineering work, waiving normal procurement rules on the grounds that any delay presented a "national security risk."
The contract carries pointers to the timeline expected in Washington for a military confrontation to erupt between the United States and Iran, as well as the form it may take, say debkafile's military sources.
The target date for deploying the commando platform in the Persian Gulf in four or five months indicates Washington is preparing for military clashes to blow up with Iran in the late spring or early summer.
But according to debkafile's Iranian and military sources, the Iranian administration has expressed its determination to respond instantly to any diplomatic or military move or action of an offensive nature against the Islamic Republic. And so confrontation may come earlier than anticipated.
Sunday, the Iranian parliament was due to vote on a motion to cut off oil supplies to Europe in response to the EU embargo declared last week. Tehran has made it clear it has no intention of standing idle until US and European oil sanctions go fully into effect on July 1 and knows that EU nations are not set up to forego 400,000 barrels of oil a day right now.
Saudi Arabia, which pledged to make up the shortfall arising from oil sanctions against Iran, will not have the missing quantities on stream before May – at about the same time as the Ponce and its complement of SEAL commandoes are due to take up position in the Persian Gulf. Tehran may decide not to wait and opt for letting its speedboats loose before then to try and pre-empt American and European plans.
Chief of Staff: Next War will be
Short and Harsh
Maj.
Gen. Gantz: Eight Syrian divisions between Golan and Damascus could become
active "tomorrow morning."
By
Gil Ronen
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 10:57 PM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152346
Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, painted a
worrying picture of the military threat to Israel in a
speech at the annual Herzliya Conference on Wednesday.
"The threats against Israel have not disappeared," he said.
"What was relevant in the past remains relevant. Eight Syrian military
divisions are stationed between the Sea of Galilee and Damascus. These forces
are currently inactive, but that may change tomorrow morning."
"An extraordinary amount of ordnance covers every region of
Israel," Gantz said. "Every region in Israel is currently under
threat. Our enemies are trying to create a military system that skips over
Israel's defense capabilities and directly targets the strategic depth of the
State of Israel."
The enemy wants to damage Israel's ability to function in the next war, he
explained. They want to "wreak destruction and generate a victory story
for the day after. They understand that the campaign will be short and harsh,
but they will try and hit us hard to generate these achievements." All
this, he said, is part of the ongoing Arab strategy of "strategic
attrition" against Israel, adopted when conventional wars proved unable to
defeat the Jewish state.
Gaza and Lebanon are "two of the largest ammunition and weapon 'storage facilities' I know," he
said, owned by Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, and other terror organizations. "The
Middle East is currently arming more than any other region in the world, and we
are the target of all this ammunition."
"Our enemies acknowledge the strength of the IDF, they have seen it in
the past and they understand what a western force with high-tech weapons is
capable of." Besides conventional military means, he said, they have taken
to operating from within urban regions, where they take advantage of innocent
civilian populations. "In Lebanon there are buildings that contain both
civilian residential apartments
and a 'rocket room '– in the same building."
According to Lt. Gen. Gantz, aside from complex fronts our enemies are also
"planning attacks using high-tech rockets, portable systems such as
anti-tank missiles, and accurate, target-specific and long-distance missiles.
We saw this during the Second Lebanon War. Our Navy forces and strategic posts
in the Mediterranean Sea are also under threat."
The enemy is mainly targeting the Israeli home front and civilian
population, "as an attempt to harm our operative capabilities."
Lt. Gen. Gantz stressed that in the face of the different threats the IDF
must continue to develop offensive capabilities, alongside accurate
intelligence capabilities and air defenses for defending civilian populations.
"It is crucial to ensure our infantry maneuvering capabilities. It must be
strong, well-trained and well-equipped, since it will be required to operate in
a field more challenging than ever. This is not an anti-tank missile fired from
300 meters we are taking about – this is an anti-tank missile that is
accurately fired from six kilometers away."
Lt. Gen. Gantz said that the IDF has grown much stronger in the past few
years but needs to maintain this trend. "We are a powerful nation and if
we don’t maintain this strength, we simply will not exist."
Gaza
Rocket Salvo Targets Negev Communities
A
salvo of rockets were fired by terrorists in Gaza into Israel; no property
damage of physical injuries reported
By
Gavriel Queenann
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 9:44 PM
Kassam
rockets
Israel
news photo: Wikimedia Common
Gaza terrorists on Wednesday evening launched a slavo
of six Qassam rockets at Israel's southern communities.
All of the rockets landed in open fields in the western Negev. No
property damage of physical injuries
were reported.
Earlier
on Wednesday terrorists in Gaza fired a single Qassam rocket into Israel, which
also landed in an open council western Negev.
No
property damage of physical injuries were reported in that attack, either.
The
attacks are the latest in an uptick of violence emanating from Gaza that began
last Friday evening after nearly a month of relative calm.
The
spokeswoman said the border area had been used in the past for
planting explosives, "thereby endangering the citizens of Israel and the security forces operating in the
area."
The Shejaya area where
the shooting took place was the scene of terrorist activity late last Friday
night. At approximately 10:50 PM on Friday terrorists opened fire on an IDF
watchtower overlooking the fence.
The ambush prompted an
IDF raid which resulted in brief clashes. After the raid terrorists fired a rocket at the Israeli community of Nachal Oz.
The rocket landed in an empty field.
The following day a flare fired by an
Israeli tank to illuminate the area struck a house.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Earlier on Wednesday, IDF forces wounded a Gaza man who ignored warning shots when approaching the security fence adjacent to Shejaya.
Winter
Storm Turns Israel into Ski Resort
Israel,
known for its beaches and hot weather, has become a ski resort in the Golan -
but it was closed Wednesday due to a heavy snowstorm.
By
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 12:10 PM
Snow
blankets Hermon in Golan Heights
Israel
news photo: Silviya/Tapuz weather forum
Several feet of snow have blanketed the Hermon ski resort
on the Golan Heights – but it was closed Wednesday due to a heavy storm.
Nearly six feet of the white stuff has piled up on the upper slopes and up
to three feet on the slower slopes, where rain
fell Wednesday morning before turning to snow.
Thousands of Israelis have been fleeing the rainy center of the country to
be in the snow, which is rarely seen in most other areas in Israel. A
misjudgment on the part of the ski resort last week left frustrated visitors
trapped during a heavy snowstorm, and IDF snowplows cleared the roads for
visitors to leave.
In the rest of the country, rain returned Tuesday night to all of the
country as far south as the Negev, but most of the heavy precipitation was in
the central and northern regions by mid-morning. More than two inches of rain
drenched metropolitan Tel Aviv, and gale force winds ripped through hilly
areas.
The forecast calls for the rain and snow to end by Thursday morning,
followed by a warming trend that should dry out Israel for several days. More
rain is predicted for next Wednesday, but it is not yet clear how much will
fall.
Despite the electricity outages and discomfort from the wettest January on record in terms of the number of
days of precipitation, Israelis are welcoming every drop.
The Kinneret continues to rise and before the end of the week will rise past
the upper red line,” the level at which ecological damage may occur.
The lake still is lacking 4 meters before dams would have to be opened to
prevent flooding of farmland
and the beachside city of Tiberias. The last time the dam was opened was in the
winter of 1992-3.
Runoff from the hills and
more rain in February that is on the long-range radar screen might add another
meter to the Kinneret before summer and leave the lake in its best shape since
three years ago.
Sweden
to Chabad: No Jewish Homeschooling
Religious
freedom is at risk in Sweden, where the government is trying to force Chabad
emissaries to send their children to public school.
By
Hana Levi Julian
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 11:01 AM
Gothenburg,
Sweden
Israel
news photo: courtesy of Lubavitch.com
Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries to Sweden have been
threatened by the city of Gothenburg with thousands of dollars in fines for
home schooling their children, as the Swedish government attempts to force this
Jewish family to send its children to public school.
On January 26, Rabbi Alexander Namdar and his wife Leah, representatives of
the worldwide Chassidic movement to Sweden for the past 21 years, were served
at their home with a notice by the Gothenburg school authorities.
According to the notice, four of their children who currently study at an international online school must be
delivered to a Swedish school by today (Wednesday). Failure to do so could
result in a fine of 16000 crown - the equivalent of $2,400 -- per week.
The children's education is not lacking by any means -- and they are not the
first in the family to have been educated at home. Six of the family's 11
children also learned at home in their early years, and now live and study
abroad at Jewish high schools, teaching seminaries and rabbinic colleges. All
are pursuing careers in education.
In addition to the international online
school attended by the children -- and 500 of their classmates
around the world -- the Namdar children are also receiving private tutoring.
Their secular curriculum includes English, Swedish, mathematics, geography,
science, music, art and gymnastics. All the children are fluent in English,
Swedish and Yiddish, and can read Hebrew by age 5.
The notice came following a change on January first in Sweden's law that
tightened restrictions on home schooling. The amendment permits home
schooling only in "extraordinary" circumstances -- and religious
issues are explicitly excluded as a valid reason for home schooling one's child.
Sweden does not tolerate differences very well, notes Leah Namdar. The
longtime ban on shechita (Jewish ritual preparation of kosher meat), and recent
laws tightening restrictions on Jewish ritual circumcision are warnings of what
Leah Namdar said could become "the last battle against Communism."
"We're two parents fighting city hall for the right to give our children a Jewish education,"
she told Lubavitch.com.
The family's lawyer agrees:
the Gothenburg v. Namdar case will be a critical test of Sweden's record on
religious freedom, said attorney
Richard Backenroth.
The lawyer has been careful
not to attribute the city's action to anti-Semitism. However, European Jewish
Congress president Dr. Moshe Kantor recently noted that Sweden is the only
nation within the European Union unwilling to discuss domestic anti-Semitism
with the EJC. Anti-Semitism has risen in Sweden
in recent years, along with a trend towards the extreme right. Jews in the city
of Malmo in particular have begun to flee the
community as a result of the rising trends.
Backenroth, who is appealing the notice and the "exorbitant fine"
that arrived while the case is still pending, told Lubavitch.com,
"Sweden's schools cannot possibly accommodate the needs of the Namdar
children with respect to their religious requirements."
More ominously, forcing the Namdar children -- the only Orthodox Jews in the
city -- to attend a Swedish school, could expose them to real danger, the
movement warned. Swedish schools are notorious for their bullying problems and
the children would become a certain target for
anti-Semitic harassment.
Guy Linderman, a Jewish citizen of Sweden, agrees the Namdar children need
not attend Swedish schools.
Active in politics while living in Sala, he told Lubavitch.com he
had originally supported the new law when it was drafted years ago, but
believes it should not be applied to the Namdars. The law, he said, was
intended to ensure that Sweden's immigrant population was education, "many
of who... had grown up illiterate, incapable of signing their names."
The Namdar children, who he knows well, "are more educated than their
Swedish peers," Linderman said.
"This is a stain on the reputation of a country that takes pride in
equality as a fundamental value," said Rabbi Namdar. Both he and his wife
said they regard education as their "highest priority."
Canada solidifies position as Israel's
staunchest friend
Mittwoch, 1. Februar
2012 | Ryan Jones
Among Western powers, America may be Israel's greatest ally, but Canada has
been making a play for the title of "staunchest friend."
Speaking at the opening of the 12th annual Herzliya Conference on Monday,
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird blasted efforts to delegitimize Israel and
its claim to the land as nothing short of anti-Semitism.
"Harnessing disparate anti- Semitic, anti-American and anti-Western
ideologies, target the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, Israel,
as the source of injustice and conflict in the world, and use, perversely, the
language of human rights to do so," Baird said. "We must be relentless
in exposing this new anti-Semitism for what it is."
Baird declared that Canada would not be among those nations that engage in
anti-Israel rhetoric out of some misguided obligation to be
"even-handed."
During a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Baird said that
while Canada officially supports a two-state solution to the conflict, it views
the Palestinian Authority's efforts to unilaterally wrest control of the land
via the UN Security Council as "profoundly wrong."
Back in Jerusalem, Baird told Israeli President Shimon Peres that
"Israel has no better friend than Canada," and stressed that
"Canada does not stand behind Israel; Canada stands shoulder to shoulder
with Israel."
Like in the neighboring United States, the topic of Israel has become a
major point of policy debate in Canadian elections.
[Ed. Note - We want to emphasize that the focus of this story is on
relations between Israel and the national governments of its allies. Israel
Today is well aware that the Jewish state enjoys enormous support from the
people of America.]
Chief of Staff: Next War will be
Short and Harsh
Maj.
Gen. Gantz: Eight Syrian divisions between Golan and Damascus could become
active "tomorrow morning."
By
Gil Ronen
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 10:57 PM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152346
Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, painted a
worrying picture of the military threat to Israel in a
speech at the annual Herzliya Conference on Wednesday.
"The threats against Israel have not disappeared," he said.
"What was relevant in the past remains relevant. Eight Syrian military
divisions are stationed between the Sea of Galilee and Damascus. These forces
are currently inactive, but that may change tomorrow morning."
"An extraordinary amount of ordnance covers every region of
Israel," Gantz said. "Every region in Israel is currently under
threat. Our enemies are trying to create a military system that skips over
Israel's defense capabilities and directly targets the strategic depth of the
State of Israel."
The enemy wants to damage Israel's ability to function in the next war, he
explained. They want to "wreak destruction and generate a victory story
for the day after. They understand that the campaign will be short and harsh,
but they will try and hit us hard to generate these achievements." All
this, he said, is part of the ongoing Arab strategy of "strategic
attrition" against Israel, adopted when conventional wars proved unable to
defeat the Jewish state.
Gaza and Lebanon are "two of the largest ammunition and weapon 'storage facilities' I know," he
said, owned by Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, and other terror organizations. "The
Middle East is currently arming more than any other region in the world, and we
are the target of all this ammunition."
"Our enemies acknowledge the strength of the IDF, they have seen it in
the past and they understand what a western force with high-tech weapons is
capable of." Besides conventional military means, he said, they have taken
to operating from within urban regions, where they take advantage of innocent
civilian populations. "In Lebanon there are buildings that contain both
civilian residential apartments
and a 'rocket room '– in the same building."
According to Lt. Gen. Gantz, aside from complex fronts our enemies are also
"planning attacks using high-tech rockets, portable systems such as
anti-tank missiles, and accurate, target-specific and long-distance missiles.
We saw this during the Second Lebanon War. Our Navy forces and strategic posts
in the Mediterranean Sea are also under threat."
The enemy is mainly targeting the Israeli home front and civilian
population, "as an attempt to harm our operative capabilities."
Lt. Gen. Gantz stressed that in the face of the different threats the IDF
must continue to develop offensive capabilities, alongside accurate
intelligence capabilities and air defenses for defending civilian populations.
"It is crucial to ensure our infantry maneuvering capabilities. It must be
strong, well-trained and well-equipped, since it will be required to operate in
a field more challenging than ever. This is not an anti-tank missile fired from
300 meters we are taking about – this is an anti-tank missile that is
accurately fired from six kilometers away."
Lt. Gen. Gantz said that the IDF has grown much stronger in the past few
years but needs to maintain this trend. "We are a powerful nation and if
we don’t maintain this strength, we simply will not exist."
Gaza
Rocket Salvo Targets Negev Communities
A
salvo of rockets were fired by terrorists in Gaza into Israel; no property
damage of physical injuries reported
By
Gavriel Queenann
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 9:44 PM
Kassam
rockets
Israel
news photo: Wikimedia Common
Gaza terrorists on Wednesday evening launched a slavo
of six Qassam rockets at Israel's southern communities.
All of the rockets landed in open fields in the western Negev. No
property damage of physical injuries
were reported.
Earlier
on Wednesday terrorists in Gaza fired a single Qassam rocket into Israel, which
also landed in an open council western Negev.
No
property damage of physical injuries were reported in that attack, either.
The
attacks are the latest in an uptick of violence emanating from Gaza that began
last Friday evening after nearly a month of relative calm.
The
spokeswoman said the border area had been used in the past for
planting explosives, "thereby endangering the citizens of Israel and the security forces operating in the
area."
The Shejaya area where
the shooting took place was the scene of terrorist activity late last Friday
night. At approximately 10:50 PM on Friday terrorists opened fire on an IDF
watchtower overlooking the fence.
The ambush prompted an
IDF raid which resulted in brief clashes. After the raid terrorists fired a rocket at the Israeli community of Nachal Oz.
The rocket landed in an empty field.
The following day a flare fired by an
Israeli tank to illuminate the area struck a house.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Earlier on Wednesday, IDF forces wounded a Gaza man who ignored warning shots when approaching the security fence adjacent to Shejaya.
Winter
Storm Turns Israel into Ski Resort
Israel,
known for its beaches and hot weather, has become a ski resort in the Golan -
but it was closed Wednesday due to a heavy snowstorm.
By
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 12:10 PM
Snow
blankets Hermon in Golan Heights
Israel
news photo: Silviya/Tapuz weather forum
Several feet of snow have blanketed the Hermon ski resort
on the Golan Heights – but it was closed Wednesday due to a heavy storm.
Nearly six feet of the white stuff has piled up on the upper slopes and up
to three feet on the slower slopes, where rain
fell Wednesday morning before turning to snow.
Thousands of Israelis have been fleeing the rainy center of the country to
be in the snow, which is rarely seen in most other areas in Israel. A
misjudgment on the part of the ski resort last week left frustrated visitors
trapped during a heavy snowstorm, and IDF snowplows cleared the roads for
visitors to leave.
In the rest of the country, rain returned Tuesday night to all of the
country as far south as the Negev, but most of the heavy precipitation was in
the central and northern regions by mid-morning. More than two inches of rain
drenched metropolitan Tel Aviv, and gale force winds ripped through hilly
areas.
The forecast calls for the rain and snow to end by Thursday morning,
followed by a warming trend that should dry out Israel for several days. More
rain is predicted for next Wednesday, but it is not yet clear how much will
fall.
Despite the electricity outages and discomfort from the wettest January on record in terms of the number of
days of precipitation, Israelis are welcoming every drop.
The Kinneret continues to rise and before the end of the week will rise past
the upper red line,” the level at which ecological damage may occur.
The lake still is lacking 4 meters before dams would have to be opened to
prevent flooding of farmland
and the beachside city of Tiberias. The last time the dam was opened was in the
winter of 1992-3.
Runoff from the hills and
more rain in February that is on the long-range radar screen might add another
meter to the Kinneret before summer and leave the lake in its best shape since
three years ago.
Sweden
to Chabad: No Jewish Homeschooling
Religious
freedom is at risk in Sweden, where the government is trying to force Chabad
emissaries to send their children to public school.
By
Hana Levi Julian
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 11:01 AM
Gothenburg,
Sweden
Israel
news photo: courtesy of Lubavitch.com
Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries to Sweden have been
threatened by the city of Gothenburg with thousands of dollars in fines for
home schooling their children, as the Swedish government attempts to force this
Jewish family to send its children to public school.
On January 26, Rabbi Alexander Namdar and his wife Leah, representatives of
the worldwide Chassidic movement to Sweden for the past 21 years, were served
at their home with a notice by the Gothenburg school authorities.
According to the notice, four of their children who currently study at an international online school must be
delivered to a Swedish school by today (Wednesday). Failure to do so could
result in a fine of 16000 crown - the equivalent of $2,400 -- per week.
The children's education is not lacking by any means -- and they are not the
first in the family to have been educated at home. Six of the family's 11
children also learned at home in their early years, and now live and study
abroad at Jewish high schools, teaching seminaries and rabbinic colleges. All
are pursuing careers in education.
In addition to the international online
school attended by the children -- and 500 of their classmates
around the world -- the Namdar children are also receiving private tutoring.
Their secular curriculum includes English, Swedish, mathematics, geography,
science, music, art and gymnastics. All the children are fluent in English,
Swedish and Yiddish, and can read Hebrew by age 5.
The notice came following a change on January first in Sweden's law that
tightened restrictions on home schooling. The amendment permits home
schooling only in "extraordinary" circumstances -- and religious
issues are explicitly excluded as a valid reason for home schooling one's child.
Sweden does not tolerate differences very well, notes Leah Namdar. The
longtime ban on shechita (Jewish ritual preparation of kosher meat), and recent
laws tightening restrictions on Jewish ritual circumcision are warnings of what
Leah Namdar said could become "the last battle against Communism."
"We're two parents fighting city hall for the right to give our children a Jewish education,"
she told Lubavitch.com.
The family's lawyer agrees:
the Gothenburg v. Namdar case will be a critical test of Sweden's record on
religious freedom, said attorney
Richard Backenroth.
The lawyer has been careful
not to attribute the city's action to anti-Semitism. However, European Jewish
Congress president Dr. Moshe Kantor recently noted that Sweden is the only
nation within the European Union unwilling to discuss domestic anti-Semitism
with the EJC. Anti-Semitism has risen in Sweden
in recent years, along with a trend towards the extreme right. Jews in the city
of Malmo in particular have begun to flee the
community as a result of the rising trends.
Backenroth, who is appealing the notice and the "exorbitant fine"
that arrived while the case is still pending, told Lubavitch.com,
"Sweden's schools cannot possibly accommodate the needs of the Namdar
children with respect to their religious requirements."
More ominously, forcing the Namdar children -- the only Orthodox Jews in the
city -- to attend a Swedish school, could expose them to real danger, the
movement warned. Swedish schools are notorious for their bullying problems and
the children would become a certain target for
anti-Semitic harassment.
Guy Linderman, a Jewish citizen of Sweden, agrees the Namdar children need
not attend Swedish schools.
Active in politics while living in Sala, he told Lubavitch.com he
had originally supported the new law when it was drafted years ago, but
believes it should not be applied to the Namdars. The law, he said, was
intended to ensure that Sweden's immigrant population was education, "many
of who... had grown up illiterate, incapable of signing their names."
The Namdar children, who he knows well, "are more educated than their
Swedish peers," Linderman said.
"This is a stain on the reputation of a country that takes pride in
equality as a fundamental value," said Rabbi Namdar. Both he and his wife
said they regard education as their "highest priority."
Canada solidifies position as Israel's
staunchest friend
Mittwoch, 1. Februar
2012 | Ryan Jones
Among Western powers, America may be Israel's greatest ally, but Canada has
been making a play for the title of "staunchest friend."
Speaking at the opening of the 12th annual Herzliya Conference on Monday,
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird blasted efforts to delegitimize Israel and
its claim to the land as nothing short of anti-Semitism.
"Harnessing disparate anti- Semitic, anti-American and anti-Western
ideologies, target the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, Israel,
as the source of injustice and conflict in the world, and use, perversely, the
language of human rights to do so," Baird said. "We must be relentless
in exposing this new anti-Semitism for what it is."
Baird declared that Canada would not be among those nations that engage in
anti-Israel rhetoric out of some misguided obligation to be
"even-handed."
During a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Baird said that
while Canada officially supports a two-state solution to the conflict, it views
the Palestinian Authority's efforts to unilaterally wrest control of the land
via the UN Security Council as "profoundly wrong."
Back in Jerusalem, Baird told Israeli President Shimon Peres that
"Israel has no better friend than Canada," and stressed that
"Canada does not stand behind Israel; Canada stands shoulder to shoulder
with Israel."
Like in the neighboring United States, the topic of Israel has become a
major point of policy debate in Canadian elections.
[Ed. Note - We want to emphasize that the focus of this story is on
relations between Israel and the national governments of its allies. Israel
Today is well aware that the Jewish state enjoys enormous support from the
people of America.]
IDF
Re-Arrests Shalit Deal Terrorist
Mamun
Ismail Salame Stut has become the first terrorist released under the deal to
free Gilad Shalit to be re-arrested for terror activity.
By
Gavriel Queenann
First
Publish: 1/31/2012, 6:14 PM
Paratroopers
Israel
news photo: Flash 90
Soldiers from the Golani Brigade arrested Mamun Ismail Salame Stut on
Tuesday. Stut was one of 1,027 terrorists
released in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in October. Over
100 of them were allowed to return to their homes in Judea and Samaria.
His arrest makes him the
first released prisoner to be re-arrested since the Shalit deal.
According to an IDF spokesperson, Stut was arrested for being a security
threat in the area of Dura near Hebron.
Stut was first arrested in 2002 and indicted for attempted murder,
membership in a terror organization, assembling bombs, and providing asylum to
terrorists. An Israeli court sentenced him to 38 years in prison. He was
slated to be released in 2040.
Israeli security officials had tried to defend the controversial deal for
Shalit's freedom on the grounds that those released had said they
would abandon terror and that none of those released "returned to
terror activity."
Several of the released terrorists, however, have made credible pledges to
return to terror activity – as Stut did.
Sources in the IDF Central Command touted the arrest saying it sent “a clear
message that people who return to terrorism will pay.”
Netanyahu
Wins Likud Leadership, Says General Elections Far Off
Prime
Minister Netanyahu wins the race for the leadership of the Likud party,
achieves nearly 80 percent support.
By
Elad Benari
First
Publish: 2/1/2012, 1:40 AM
Netanyahu
Votes
Flash
90
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has won Tuesday's race for the leadership of the Likud
party with an overwhelming 74 percent of support, according to initial results.
Netanyahu’s rival in the race, Moshe Feiglin, garnered 25 percent of votes,
according to the initial count.
In a victory speech he made shortly after initial results came in, Netanyahu
clarified that the general
elections for the Knesset are still a long way off.
In his speech, the Prime Minister thanked the Cabinet ministers for working on behalf of Israel, and
also thanked Knesset members, mayors and party activists.
“I thank you all for your confidence and the renewed support you have given
me,” Netanyahu said, adding that the Likud is a movement which “is committed to
settle in the land of Israel and is committed to the future of Israel.”
Some speculated that Netanyahu’s decision to hold the leadership race
earlier than scheduled meant that the general elections would be held earlier
as well, but Netanyahu outright rejected these speculations.
“There’s still time until the elections to the Knesset,” he said to the
sound of loud cheering. “We proved that the Likud is a strong and united
movement. It is a democratic, open, transparent, national, liberal movement,
which respects the law and abides by its responsibility to the State of Israel.”
“We will continue to lead the country in unity and with responsibility for
all its citizens,” said the Prime Minister. “We are facing challenges which are
not easy and I believe we can overcome them together.”
The polling stations closed at 11:00 p.m. (Israel time) Tuesday evening with
about only about 50 percent of voters having taken part. Final results are
expected later, but initial counts found that Netanyahu won the most votes
in most of the polling stations in the country. Feiglin, however, made a good
showing in some areas of Judea and Samaria, such as Elon Moreh, where he
received 127 votes out of 130 and in Har Bracha, where he received 285 votes
compared to four received by Netanyahu.
Netanyahu made an "urgent speech" Tuesday
afternoon urging Likud voters to cast their ballots due to low
turnout. Political analysts said Netanyahu fears an embarrassing outcome
against rival Moshe Feiglin. According to the analysts, a final result which
will give Netanyahu less than 80 percent of support would be considered a
failure for the Prime Minister.
Earlier on Tuesday, Feiglin’s headquarters said that contrary to the Likud
Elections Committee’s decision, Netanyahu’s supporters were removing Feiglin
supporters from some polling stations.
The head of Feiglin’s headquarters subsequently ordered observers to
physically block the counting of ballot boxes wherever they are not present.
“It is very unfortunate that the Likud was humiliated by anti-democratic
conduct of the lowest kind,” he said.
Assad may
start regional war if UN tells him to step down – Gulf sources
Syrian
officers visit Russian aircraft carrier in Tartus port
In confidential conversations with his advisers, Syrian President Bashar
Assad is reported by Persian Gulf sources Tuesday, Jan. 31 to have threatened
to start up armed hostilities in the region if the UN Security Council Tuesday
night endorses the Arab League proposal for him to step down and hand power to
his deputy.
Those sources told debkafile
that the heads of the Syrian armed forces and intelligence have been given
their orders and some units are on the ready. Other Middle East sources
reported that the Lebanese Hizballah has also shown signs of military
preparations in the last few hours. And the Russian flotilla berthed at the
Syrian port of Tartus, led by the Admiral Kutznetsov aircraft carrier, also
appears to be on the alert for ructions in the wake of the Security Council
Syria session.
During the day, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov warned that
pushing the Arab League's UN resolution was "the path to civil war."
Our Moscow sources report that top-level discussions are still going back and
forth in the Kremlin over a final decision on a veto.
debkafile reports that the
military flurry in advance of the critical Security Council session included US
naval movements. Sunday, Jan. 29, the nuclear submarine USS Annapolis,
escorted by the guided missile destroyer USS Momsen sailed through the
Suez Canal to the Red Sea. This looked like a Washington warning for Tehran to
keep its military fingers out of Syria if the confrontation there escalates.
It was not the first time Assad has threatened Syria's neighbors. On Aug. 9,
2011, four months into his savage crackdown against protesters, he warned
Turkey that, six hours after the first shot was fired against Syria, he would
"destroy Tel Aviv and set the entire Middle East on fire."
That was his answer to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu when he
came to Damascus with a demand from his and other NATO governments that
the Syrian ruler stop the slaughter. .
Davutoglu urged Assad to take a look at Libya and try to understand that if
he carried on, he might be in for the same fate as Muammar Qaddafi – a strong
hint at military intervention by NATO, including Turkey.
Earlier still on May 10, one of Assad's close kinsmen, the international tycoon
Rami Makhlouf, warned: "If there is no stability in Syria, there will be
none in Israel. No one can be sure what will happens after that. God help us if
anything befalls this regime."
Israel
Leads in Defense against Cyber Attacks
Israel
leads the world in cyber war defense. Cyber war can “hit a country without
shooting a single bullet,” says Israel’s cyber adviser.
By
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First
Publish: 1/31/2012, 11:17 AM
Israel
prepared for cyber warfare
Israel
news photo: Jangelo9397 Wikimedia Commons
Israel is among the three leaders in readiness to fight
cyber warfare, which most global experts think is already taking place,
according to a new report from McAfee and Security & Defense Agenda (SDA),
a leading defense and security think-tank in Brussels.
”If you want to hit a country severely, you hit its power and water supplies. Cyber technology can do this without
shooting a single bullet," said Isaac Ben-Israel, cyber security advisor
to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Finland and Sweden are the other top nations prepared for cyber attacks,
while China, Russia and India rank low on the totem pole.
The report is based on interviews with global experts, of whom 57 percent
believe a cyber arms race is underway.
Other findings are:
-- 36 percent believe cyber-security is more important than missile defense;
- -- 43 percent identified damage or disruption to
critical infrastructure as the greatest single threat posed by cyber
attacks with wide economic consequences;
-
- -- 45 percent believe that cyber security is as
important as border security.
The readiness of the United States and Britain ranks behind that of Israel,
according to the report, which also cited the need for international standards
and law enforcement to combat
cyber-crime.
“Until we can pool our data and equip our people and machines with
intelligence, we are playing chess with only half the pieces,” said Phyllis
Schneck, McAfee’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for the Global
Public Sector.
The report called on industry to increase “cyber exercises.”
Global treaties are not enough and “delude western countries into thinking
they have some protection against tactics that have been unilaterally abandoned
by other treaty signatories,” Stewart Barker, the former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security under President
George W. Bush, stated in the report.
Israeli police have closed two offices in Jerusalem belonging to the Hamas terrorist group.
By Chana Ya'ar and Yoni Kempinski
First Publish: 1/30/2012, 9:53 PM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152273
Israel's Border Police tracked down and closed two offices in Jerusalem this week that were found to belong to the Hamas terrorist organization.
Both were located in the ancient City of David (Silwan) neighborhood.
One of the offices allegedly raised money for “charity.” The other ostensibly housed the activities of a “soccer team.”
The offices were closed for a minimum of 30 days.
"This is part of the Israeli policy to prevent any Hamas activity inside Jerusalem,” said Israel Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. “Over the last year we've closed down altogether 10 buildings in connection with Hamas activities,” he noted.
He added the closures were viewed as part of routine Israeli law enforcement in the city of Jerusalem.
The Kingdom of Jordan is also continuing its policy not to allow Hamas officials to open offices in the Hashemite kingdom, despite a recent visit by Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal. The politburo chief was expected to arrive in Iran, the group's generous patron, on his region-wide tour by Monday
Palestinians praise killer of Jewish family
1. Small, fast vessels, each armed with a small missile for striking tankers and coastal oil targets around the Gulf region, such as export terminals. Earlier this month, Tehran claimed to have developed stealth cruise missiles capable of disabling aircraft carriers with a single shot.
2. Small, extra-fast boats armed with torpedoes. Iranian publications claim several such boats are capable of stealing up on US aircraft carriers and large warships from several directions without being detected and cause serious damage.
3. Floating bombs for kamikaze missions. These fast boats cannot be deflected after locking in on target, whether on sea or shore, and explode on contact.
Iran used these floating missiles piloted by suicide squads to attack oil tankers in the Gulf in November 1987. Since then, their naval tacticians have upgraded this fleet with the technology gained from the British Bladerunner 51, a model of which Iran purchased some years ago.
Since early January, the Pentagon has reported four cases of harassment by Iranian military boats sailing close to American warships in the Persian Gulf.
4. Boats carrying teams of Iranian marine frogmen trained for secret suicide underwater missions: One member of the boat's three-man crew dives close to the targeted ship and attaches a magnetic bomb to its hull.
Iran has scattered hundreds of speedboats of different types around uninhabited islands off the Iranian mainland, tucking them out of sight in well-hidden inlets and bays. The US commando teams based on the Ponce platform will have the task of ferreting out and destroying this fleet.
The US Defense Department aims to get the Ponce ready for its new mission as a floating commando base with all possible speed. To save time, the US military published one no-bid contract for the engineering work, waiving normal procurement rules on the grounds that any delay presented a "national security risk."
The contract carries pointers to the timeline expected in Washington for a military confrontation to erupt between the United States and Iran, as well as the form it may take, say debkafile's military sources.
The target date for deploying the commando platform in the Persian Gulf in four or five months indicates Washington is preparing for military clashes to blow up with Iran in the late spring or early summer.
But according to debkafile's Iranian and military sources, the Iranian administration has expressed its determination to respond instantly to any diplomatic or military move or action of an offensive nature against the Islamic Republic. And so confrontation may come earlier than anticipated.
Sunday, the Iranian parliament was due to vote on a motion to cut off oil supplies to Europe in response to the EU embargo declared last week. Tehran has made it clear it has no intention of standing idle until US and European oil sanctions go fully into effect on July 1 and knows that EU nations are not set up to forego 400,000 barrels of oil a day right now.
Saudi Arabia, which pledged to make up the shortfall arising from oil sanctions against Iran, will not have the missing quantities on stream before May – at about the same time as the Ponce and its complement of SEAL commandoes are due to take up position in the Persian Gulf. Tehran may decide not to wait and opt for letting its speedboats loose before then to try and pre-empt American and European plans.
Former IDF Chief: Israel Must Prepare for War
Ashkenazi: Israel must not cut its budget because shifting strategic realities demand it prepare for war.
By Gavriel Queenann
First Publish: 1/27/2012, 1:08 PM
Chief of Staff Ashkenazi
Flash 90
Former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi warned, Thursday, that Israel could not afford to cut its defense budget and should prepare itself for war.
“In comparison to 10 years ago, the possibility of a conflict is not something that we just need to talk about," Ashkenazi said during a lecture at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
"We never saw it coming. It happened on my watch, so it must be said. But if it's any consolation, Egypt never saw it coming either," Ashkenazi said of the so-called Arab Spring protests that have no turned into an Islamic winter in elections throughout the Arab world.
"The Middle East's plates are shifting. What the Egyptian army didn't know, I couldn't have known. (Egypt's) leaders did not know either," he said, adding the ultimate strategic picture was still changing.
Ashkenazi told attendees that confronting Iran's nuclear ambitions required a multi-disciplinary approach that included covert, economic, and potentially military action.
"In my opinion, the strategy vis-à-vis Iran should be to do whatever is possible under the radar coupled with painful and crippling sanctions. However, we should also keep a viable military option on the table," he said.
While Ashkenazi said sanctions were having an effect on Iran, he warned that time was running out since the Iranian nuclear program was moving forward at a rapid pace.
“Our mission now needs to be to slow down the clock and to speed up the clock of sanctions and hope that it works,” he said.
Ashkenazi cautioned that Iran's strategic acumen should not be overestimated, saying Tehran had made some strategic blunders and was threatening to make others as pressure mounts.
"I believe Iran would be making a strategic mistake if it blocks the Strait of Hormuz. Another mistake was trying to kill the Saudi ambassador at a restaurant in the US capital. The Iranians are liable to make more mistakes under pressure," he said.
Ashkenazi served as IDF chief of staff from 2007 until 2011 and certainly played a key role in preparing the military for a possible attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities. A 2007 strike against Syria’s nuclear reactor widely ascribed to Israel also happened on his watch.
Ashkenazi, who oversaw operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, said the new regime in Cairo made a new Gaza incursion a "complex" undertaking.
"The possibility of conducting another extensive operation in Gaza has become more complex following the events of the past year in Egypt and the change of government in that country," he said.
"I think that this government will not act like Mubarak. I do not think he was a Zionist, but you cannot ignore the fact that he was an anchor of stability in the region considering the not-so simple tests he passed – the wars in Lebanon or the intifada."
Iranian Religious Leader: We're Already Nuclear
Senior Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami: Iran is already nuclear, U.S. too blind to realize that.
By Elad Benari, Canada
First Publish: 1/27/2012, 10:16 PM
Iranian flag
Israel news photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain
Senior Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said on Friday that Iran is already a nuclear state and that Americans have not realized that.
“The United States says it will not allow Iran to be nuclear, but it is so blind that it hasn’t noticed that Iran has already become a nuclear state,” Khatami was quoted by Channel 10 News as having said. He added that the U.S. has become isolated in the region, after its four “slaves” were removed from power. He was referring to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, former Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi, former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Khatami also addressed the EU’s embargo on Iranian oil imports, which was announced this week, and said that the Europeans decided to wait with the implementation of the sanctions until July because their economic situation is no better than Iran’s.
“Why did the Europeans decide to wait half a year before implementing the sanctions? The answer is simple - the Europeans have their own serious trouble - they were hit by the financial crisis,” he said.
Khatami added the embargo will hurt Europe more than it will hurt Iran, because Saudi Arabia will not be able to provide the required amount of oil to Europe, while the sanctions will only hurt 18 percent of Iran’s oil exports.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
Hackers Publish Iranians' Credit Card Details
An Israeli hacker group publishes the credit card details of some 4,000 people, mostly Iranians. They promise: More on the way.
By Elad Benari, Canada
First Publish: 1/27/2012, 11:03 PM
Hackers (illustrative)
Flash90
The hacker war continues: An Israeli hacker group on Friday joined the ongoing cyber war between pro-Israeli and pro-Arab hackers and published the credit card details of some 4,000 people.
According to a Channel 2 News report, most of the credit cards on the list published by the group, which calls itself the Nuclear Group, belong to Iranian citizens.
“We wanted peace, you wanted a war. So you got one,” Channel 2 quoted the group as having written on the internet site on which it published the credit card details.
The group was also quoted as having said they have not yet said the last word and that they plan to take additional steps.
“We have more than half a million credit cards in our computers,” the group members said. “They won’t mess with us.”
On Thursday, an Israeli hacker team called "IDF Team" succeeded in temporarily disabling the website of the Iranian English language television station, and of the Teheran Health Ministry. The sites were hacked at about 4:30 p.m. Israel time and were operational again about one hour later.
The attack was in retaliation for Muslim hackers' attacks yesterday that hitthe Haaretz news website, the Dan bus company, Assuta Hospital and the Cinematheque.
The team reportedly brought down the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange website, and the United Arab Emirates stock exchange website, nine days ago. That attack was in retaliation for Muslim hackers' attacks that disabled the websites of Israeli banks and of El Al.
The team posted a warning that read: "If the lame attacks from Saudi Arabia will continue, we will move to the next level which will disable these sites longer term may come to weeks or even months. You have been warned."
Last week Saudi hackers aimed at the website of Rabbi David Grossman's 'Migdal Or' organization as well.
The “Saudi hacker” – also known as “OxOmar” – was quoted in Arabic media last weekend as having threatening to “finish Israel electronically.” The hacker exposed thousands of Israeli credit card account details earlier this month.
Israel's National Cyber Command (NCC) and the Counter Terror Bureau (CTB) launched the nation's first official cyber emergency drill, dubbed “Lights Out,” on Wednesday, to train cyber security personnel in dealing with the latest form of warfare.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
Israeli belief in God on the rise
Freitag, 27. Januar 2012 | Ryan Jones
Even as Israel becomes increasingly liberal (see recent report on Tel Aviv being rated top gay travel destination), it is also becoming increasingly religious, or, perhaps more accurately, increasingly God-fearing.
A survey conducted by the Guttman-Avi Chai Foundation in 2009, and whose results were finally published on Thursday after more than two years of analysis, revealed that over 80 percent of Israeli Jews believe in God. The Guttman-Avi Chai Foundation started conducing this survey over two decades ago. The 2009 poll registered by far the highest level of belief in God yet.
Furthermore, over 70 percent of Israeli Jews accept the biblical principle that the Jewish people have been "chosen" by God for a specific prophetic destiny. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they want increased biblical studies in Israeli schools.
But that doesn't mean Jews in general are becoming more religious, at least not in an Orthodox Jewish way. Only 37 percent of Israeli Jews had a problem with fellow Jews not following the biblical commandments, and nearly 70 percent said they want more entertainment venues to be open on the Shabbat.
The numbers coincide with other recent findings and observations suggesting that Israelis are increasingly hungry for a deeper spiritual life. It also highlights the growing rift in the nation, as one portion of Israelis moves closer to God and the Bible, while the other clings ever more tightly to Western liberal humanism.
UN urges halt to demolitions of Palestinian homes
01/28/2012 00:06
By Reuters
A senior United Nations official on Friday called upon Israel to immediately halt the demolition of Palestinian homes in theWest Bank.
“Israel, as the occupying Power, has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being,” said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories and Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.
The UN official's comments followed a visit to the Arab village of Anata, where he said he saw the ruins of seven Palestinian homes that were destroyed earlier in the week.
Gaylard's visit fell on the same day the UN released a new report stating that 2011 saw a dramatic rise in the number of Palestinians displaced in the West Bank as a result of of house demolitions by Israel. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' (OCHA) report, almost 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank, over half children, were displaced last year - an 80 percent increase from the previous year.
The report echoes a statement released at the end of 2011 by a consortium of left-wing groups.
“Israeli authorities have stepped up unlawful demolitions in the West Bank including east Jerusalem over the past year, displacing a record number of Palestinian families from their homes,” the statement released by over 20 groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam International said.
In the statement, Jeremy Hobbs, executive- director of Oxfam International, said “the increasing rate of settlement expansion and house demolitions is pushing Palestinians to the brink, destroying their livelihoods and prospects for a just and durable peace."
Ben Hartman contributed to this report
“Israel, as the occupying Power, has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being,” said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories and Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.
The UN official's comments followed a visit to the Arab village of Anata, where he said he saw the ruins of seven Palestinian homes that were destroyed earlier in the week.
Gaylard's visit fell on the same day the UN released a new report stating that 2011 saw a dramatic rise in the number of Palestinians displaced in the West Bank as a result of of house demolitions by Israel. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' (OCHA) report, almost 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank, over half children, were displaced last year - an 80 percent increase from the previous year.
The report echoes a statement released at the end of 2011 by a consortium of left-wing groups.
“Israeli authorities have stepped up unlawful demolitions in the West Bank including east Jerusalem over the past year, displacing a record number of Palestinian families from their homes,” the statement released by over 20 groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam International said.
In the statement, Jeremy Hobbs, executive- director of Oxfam International, said “the increasing rate of settlement expansion and house demolitions is pushing Palestinians to the brink, destroying their livelihoods and prospects for a just and durable peace."
Ben Hartman contributed to this report
SWI NEWS: Fri, Jan 27, 2012 3 Shevat, 5772
War of attrition brewing with Iran over Gulf oil routes
DEBKAfile Special Report January 26, 2012, 10:50 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tags: 
Strait of Hormuz
Military tensions in the Persian Gulf shot up again Thursday, Jan. 26, after Dubai police commander Gen. Dhahi Khalfan said on Al Arabiya television that an imminent Gulf war cannot be ruled out and first signs are already apparent. "The world will not let Iran block Hormuz but Tehran can narrow the strait to the maximum," he said.
He echoed debkafile's predictions that Iran will not shut down the Strait of Hormuz completely, but gradually cut down tanker traffic which carries 17 million barrels, or one-fifth of the world's daily consumption, through the waterway. Our Iranian sources report that the rule of thumb Tehran has devised for confront sanctions is to respond to the tightening of an oil embargo by having the Revolutionary Guards gradually narrow the tankers' shipping lanes through the strategic strait. This will progressively cut down the amount of oil reaching the markets.
Tehran will go all the way and shut the channel down completely for fear of provoking a military showdown with the United States. But each time Washington manages to stop Iran supplying a given country, the IRGC will shut down another section of the strait.
General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff admitted on Jan. 8 that Iran has the capacity to block the Strait of Hormuz temporarily but the US would get it reopened within a short time.
Saudi Arabia and Dubai are skeptical about the ability of the American navy and Gulf forces to keep the Strait of Hormuz open at all times in the face of continuous Iranian attacks.
The prevailing view in Gulf capitals is that for the six months from February through July 1, when the European embargo on Iranian oil and the Iranian national bank freeze kick in, a war of attrition will unfold as Iran carries out sporadic strait closures, either by mining the waterway or firing missiles at tankers from unmarked speedboats.
These operations will push up the price of oil and so drum home to oil-dependent Asian and European governments the high cost to them of the alternate opening and closing of the Strait of Hormuz.
A Saudi official said Wednesday, Jan. 1, that Tehran's threats to punish Riyadh for offering to make up the shortfall incurred from the oil embargo against Iran "could be seen by Saudi Arabia as an act of war."
The Iranian threats followed the pledge made this week by Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi to raise daily production by up to 2.7 million barrels per day to supply the countries caught short of supplies from Iran.
However, the Saudi minister could not say how the oil would make its way out of the Persian Gulf to destination if the Strait of Hormuz were to be shuttered partially or fully.
debkafile's military and Gulf sources report that Persian Gulf capitals are talking less these days about an outbreak of armed hostilities over Iran's nuclear program and more about the coming war over the oil shipping routes out to market.
The Dubai general's remarks Thursday about an imminent conflict referred not only to the flow of American reinforcements to the Gulf region but also to the new deployments of the armies of Gulf Cooperation Council states. They are moving into position in expectation of a military confrontation with Iran.
Turkey Agrees to Help Hamas Financially
Hamas' chief Ismail Haniyeh’s official tour opened the door to cooperation between the terror group and Turkey.
By Elad Benari
First Publish: 1/27/2012, 5:14 AM
Gaza chieftain Ismail Haniyeh
Israel news photo: Flash 90
Hamas' Gaza chief Ismail Haniyeh’s recent official tour opened the door to financial cooperation between the terror group and Turkey, a high-ranking Hamas official told the Al-Sharq newspaper on Thursday.
The official told the newspaper that Turkey has agreed to carry out a project to support Hamas and rebuild Gaza. According to the official, Hamas will open an official office in Turkey in the coming weeks.
Iran recently cooled its relations with Hamas, after Hamas refused to support Syrian president Bashar Assad.
Despite the cool relations, however, Haniyeh indicated Wednesday he has added Iran to the itinerary of his next international tour.
Haniyeh is expected to depart for the Persian Gulf, where he will meet with officials in Qatar, Barain, and Iran, on January 30.
The addition of Iran to Haniyeh's itinerary comes after Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent Haniyeh a letter on Tuesday congratulating him on the anniversary of Hamas' victory over Fatah in its bloody June 2007 seizure of Gaza.
Hainyeh recently returned from his first official tour since Hamas violently took over Gaza in 2007. In addition to Turkey, during the tour he also visited Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan.
Top U.S. Gen.: Israel, U.S. See Iranian Threat Differently
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey: Israel sees the Iranian threat differently. It's existential to them.
By Elad Benari
First Publish: 1/27/2012, 3:15 A
General Martin Dempsey
Israel news photo: Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Defense
The current U.S.-led push to force Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions through steadily increasing economic and diplomatic pressure is beginning to show results and it would be “premature” to resort to military force, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said on Thursday.
In an interview with the American weekly National Journal, Dempsey said that the U.S. remained committed to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and was prepared to use force if necessary. He cautioned, however, that a conflict with Iran would destabilize the region and potentially have a severe economic impact on the U.S.
“I do think the path we're on—the economic sanctions and the diplomatic pressure—does seem to me to be having an effect,” Dempsey told National Journal. “I just think that it’s premature to be deciding that the economic and diplomatic approach is inadequate.”
He added, “A conflict with Iran would be really destabilizing, and I'm not just talking from the security perspective. It would be economically destabilizing.”
Dempsey, who made the comments just one week after his visit to Israel, said he delivered a similar message of caution to Israel's top leadership during last week’s high-level talks. He admitted that he and the Israelis each argued their positions “aggressively” during the talks, but conceded that the two sides see the threat very differently.
“We have to acknowledge that they ... see that threat differently than we do. It’s existential to them,” he said. “My intervention with them was not to try to persuade them to my thinking or allow them to persuade me to theirs, but rather to acknowledge the complexity and commit to seeking creative solutions, not simple solutions.”
Dempsey said he and the military supported the administration's determination to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon by any means necessary. He said the U.S. was increasing its economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran while making preparations—if there was no other option—for a possible military intervention into the country.
“We are determined to prevent them from acquiring that weapon, but that doesn't mean dropping bombs necessarily,” he said. “I personally believe that we should be in the business of deterring as the first priority.”
The London Times reported this week that Israeli officials told Dempsey that Israel would give President Barack Obama no more than 12 hours notice if and when it attacks Iran.
The Netanyahu government also will not coordinate with the United States an attack on the Islamic Republic, according to the report.
Romney: Obama 'threw Israel under the bus'
01/27/2012 05:41
By REUTERS
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Thursday night that US President Barack Obama "threw Israel under the bus" by designating the pre-1967 borders as a starting point for peace talks, while Newt Gingrich reiterated his controversial remark that the Palestinians are an "invented" people.
Speaking at a CNN Republican debate in Florida ahead of Tuesday's primary, the two candidates skewered Obama for not being a strong enough ally to Israel.
Romney said Obama had "disrespected" Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. When Obama spoke at the United Nations, Romney said, he raised the issue of settlement building, but said nothing about rockets being fired on Israel from Gaza.
During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Obama touted his credentials on Israel, indicating his efforts to impose tough sanctions on Iran and saying, "Our ironclad commitment to Israel's security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history."
Gingrich, who drew fire in December for calling the Palestinians an "invented" people, stood by his statements Thursday. Prior to 1970s, he said, Palestinians simply considered themselves Syrian and Jordanian Arabs.
The candidates' statements came in response to a question from a Palestinian-American audience member (who specified that he was also a Republican: "We exist," he said).
Both Romney and Gingrich blamed the Palestinian leadership for lack of progress in peace negotiations with Israel.
"There's the belief that the Jewish people do not have a right to a state" Romney said of Palestinians, offering Hamas's presence in the Palestinian government, schoolbooks that advocate killing Jews and rejectionist political discourse by Fatah as examples.
Gingrich said his goal was for Palestinians to live in peace with Israel, and that "they can achieve it any morning they say Israel has a right to exist."
The former speaker of the House noted that 11 rockets were fired at Israel in November. "How many of you would be for a peace process and how many would say 'that looks like an act of war?'"
While Romney promised "I will stand with our friend Israel," if he were elected president, Gingrich promised to issue an executive order moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on his first day in office.
