Thursday 12 March 2009

ISRAEL WARNS THAT IRAN IS CAPABLE OF MAKING NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Israel warns that Iran is capable of making nuclear weapons


THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday, March 9th 2009, 1:09 AM


JERUSALEM - Iran is capable of producing atom bombs, Israel's top military intelligence officer said Sunday, sounding the highest-level warning that Israel's archenemy has achieved independent nuclear capability.


At a cabinet meeting, the chief of military intel, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, did not say Iran already has the bomb, but he did insist that Iran has "crossed the threshold" and has the expertise and materials needed for one.


The participants spoke on condition of anonymity because the cabinet meeting was closed. They said Yadlin told them that Iran continues to accumulate uranium for enrichment and hopes to exploit the Obama administration's intention to open a dialogue as a cover for developing nuclear weapons.


Yadlin's comments follow a similar assessment by the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen. He said a week ago Iran has enough fissile material to build a bomb now.


Israeli officials have long identified a nuclear Iran as the most serious threat to the Jewish state.
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, and Iran has tested long-range missiles that could strike Israel.


Israel's long-held policy is that the world must cooperate to defuse the Iranian nuclear threat.

IRAN, MILITANT GROUPS SUPPORT SUDANESE PRESIDENT

Iran, militant groups support Sudanese president
(International Herald Tribune)


The Associated Press
Published: March 6, 2009


KHARTOUM, Sudan: Senior leaders of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah offered international support Friday to Sudan's president after he was charged with war crimes in Darfur, a sign that the bid to prosecute him could sharply radicalize his regime

.
For a third straight day, President Omar al-Bashir's supporters marched and vowed to defend him against what his government called a "colonial" conspiracy to overthrow him. Hundreds emerged from mosques after Friday prayers, chanting "jihad," or holy war, and shouting, "With our souls and blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, al-Bashir."


After the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for al-Bashir, Sudan's government responded by expelling 13 of the largest aid organizations in Darfur.


The U.N. human rights office said in Geneva that it was examining whether the expulsion could itself constitute a war crime.


The order opened a giant hole in the safety net that has kept many Darfur civilians alive during six years of war in the vast, arid region of western Sudan. Without the groups, 1.1 million people will be without food, 1.5 million without health care, and more than 1 million without drinking water — and outbreaks of infectious disease are a greater danger, the U.N. said.


"To knowingly and deliberately deprive such a huge group of civilians of means to survive is a deplorable act," said its spokesman, Rupert Colville. "To punish civilians because of a decision by the ICC is a grievous dereliction of the government's duty to protect its own people."

U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid urged Khartoum to allow the workers back. "The forced departure of these organizations immediately and seriously threatens the lives and well-being of displaced populations," he said.

The quick show of support from Iran and Middle East militant groups underscores the political risk from the warrant: that al-Bashir could turn to a deeper alliance with the region's hard-line, anti-West bloc. If he does, he could become more resistant to any compromise with the West and take a harder line at home.

Jennifer Cooke, head of the Africa program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Western reaction "may drive al-Bashir further to the hard-line radicals."

"He is framing the ICC's decision as yet another Western attempt to undermine the sovereignty of a Muslim developing state," she said. "And realizing he can rally support, whether from the Arab League or more radical elements, and possibly the (African Union), it gives him less incentive to move back on his decisions."

Khartoum's government is dominated by Islamic fundamentalists, it provided a base for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, and it has long been close to Iran, Syria and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas.

At the same time, however, al-Bashir has often shown a pragmatist's willingness to compromise when needed. Under international pressure, he made concessions in Darfur, such as letting in peacekeepers, and took the larger step of signing a 2005 peace deal with his biggest rivals — southern rebels that Khartoum battled for two decades. He has quietly cooperated with Washington on counterterrorism in recent years, even while under U.S. sanctions.

Those shows of flexibility could be shut off if al-Bashir digs in with a harder line. A more radical regime could heighten violence in Darfur and lead to a strain in ties with the southern Sudanese — or even to a collapse of the north-south peace deal.

The visiting delegation included Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani, Hamas' deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk, and a top official from Lebanon's Hezbollah, as well as Syria's parliament speaker and the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. Before they met with al-Bashir, Larijani told reporters at the airport that the ICC's arrest warrant is an "insult directed at Muslims."

"This group today indicates a readiness, a will and unified position to support Sudan, its government and people," Larijani said later at a news conference. He said supporters of prosecution "miscalculated" by thinking they "can sit and issue orders to have others behave as they wish. This has changed. They have to play with a new chessboard."

Abu Marzouk accused Washington of double standards. "The leaders who should be tried and criminalized are those who killed the children and women in Gaza ... Iraq, Afghanistan," he said. Hamas supporters held a large march supporting Sudan in Hamas-run Gaza on Friday.

The Hague-based ICC accuses al-Bashir of leading a counterinsurgency against Darfur that involved rapes, killings and other atrocities against civilians. Khartoum has been accused of unleashing Arab militiamen to attack Darfur civilians to put down a revolt by ethnic Africans in the region. Up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million driven from their homes in the conflict since 2003, according to the U.N.
Al-Bashir rejects the charges and refuses to deal with the court. Arab and African nations are pressing the U.N. Security Council to defer any prosecution for at least a year, hoping to defuse the crisis.

Last month, al-Bashir's intelligence chief warned that Khartoum could respond to a warrant by turning to a more Islamic fundamentalist line. At Thursday's demonstrations, al-Bashir hinted at moving closer to the region's militants. He saluted Hezbollah and Hamas, then said, "We call for a new front to reject all forms of colonialism. ... We in Sudan will lead this front."

Meanwhile, most staff from the expelled aid agencies have left Darfur, either going to Khartoum or leaving Sudan altogether, aid workers said. The government also ordered the closure of SUDO, the largest Sudanese non-governmental aid organization in Darfur, which was providing food, drilling water wells and operating clinics, said Ibrahim Mudawi, SUDO's head.

Alun McDonald, a Kenya-based official for Oxfam, said its 25 foreign staffers were in Khartoum. He warned that water pumps maintained by Oxfam will run out of fuel in two weeks, affecting 400,000 people who depend on them.

World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib warned of the spread of infectious disease without aid workers' monitoring. There is an outbreak of meningitis in Nyala, South Darfur, where one of the expelled groups, Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland, was to begin vaccinations next week.

Sudanese Foreign Ministry official Mutrif Siddique said the Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Ministry and other authorities "have made arrangements to avoid a food shortage or a medical crisis." He acknowledged that "there will be a partial effect, and they (authorities) will work to avoid any shortage."

Asked about U.N. comments that the expulsion order could be a war crime, he said only, "Their campaign against us continues."

___
Associated Press writer Frank Jordans in Geneva, Switzerland, contributed to this report.

SILENT EXODUS OF JEWISH REFUGEES

Silent Exodus of Jewish Refugees

In 1948 nearly one million Jews lived in Arab lands. But In barely twenty years, they have become forgotten fugitives, expelled from their native lands, forgotten by history and where the victims themselves have hidden their fate under a cloak of silence.

A people whom legend have always associated with "wandering" many of these Jews from Arab lands had lived there for thousands of years and accepted their fate, through good times and bad times.

But 1948, the beginning of their exodus, also saw the birth of the State of Israel.

And, while the Arab armies were preparing to invade the young refugee-country, the survivors of the Shoah were piling up in rickety boats. Meanwhile a few hundred thousand Arabs from Palestine were getting ready to flee their homes, convinced that they would return as winners and conquerors.

Soon - by a terrible twist of fate they, as well, began to fill up refugee camps and passed on their refugee status to new generations.

The Jews, however, did not receive refugee status.

They had just rediscovered the land of their birthright.

And if they came from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq or from Yemen, if they had lost everything, even their relatives and their cemeteries, they were ready to rebuild their lives in the West and for many - in Israel - and try to forget their past.

Without ever asking for compensation or the right of return, or even wishing that their story be told...

(My thanks to LatterDays for posting this in his blog)

Israel Matzav: Reverend Wright and Chas Freeman#links#links

Israel Matzav: Reverend Wright and Chas Freeman#links#links

Israel Matzav: UN Human Rights Council: Human rights for everyone except Jews#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: UN Human Rights Council: Human rights for everyone except Jews#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Purim and the World's oldest hatred#links#links

Israel Matzav: Purim and the World's oldest hatred#links#links

Israel Matzav: Chas Freeman doesn't get it#links#links

Israel Matzav: Chas Freeman doesn't get it#links#links

THE VANISHING DIASPORA JEW






Since the destruction of the Second Temple until very recently, the masses of the Jewish people did not dwell in the Land of Israel. For 2000 years. the majority of Jews dwelled in the Diaspora, among non-Jews. Jews were dispersed in far flung places such as Poland, Morocco, Iran, Ethiopia and even China. They spoke different languages, like Yiddish, Ladino or the local tongue, and differed very much in customs, cuisine and clothing from other Jews in other exiles. Yet, despite intense persecution, massacres, pogroms, suffering and poverty, the Jewish nation survived intact, the many generation since Sinai until the today. Through the force of their dedication and commitment to Judaism, they were able to withstand the most brutal and horrible of circumstances.

Generally, the second or third generation of immigrants assimilates quite fully into the host culture. The only reminder of their origins may be the occasional family cultural celebration, a grandparent with a heavy accent or maybe a trip back to their home country. It is incredible that Jews, dispersed and separated for 2000 years, did not assimilate but always maintained their own identity. Away from their land, with no country to go back to, Jews were able to survive.

Within the span of several generations, a new and frightening trend has emerged. All Jews, until a hundred or so years ago, were religiously observant, fully and wholly committed to Judaism. Because of this, Jews were able to survive the harsh Diaspora. However, today assimilation is taking a frightening toll on Jewish communities in the United States, Canada, Russia and Western Europe.

Consider the following statistics*:

Jewish identity is declining sharply.

Of 5.6 million Jews, 2 million American Jews live in households identified as non-Jewish

60% of Jews below 40 years of age live in households identified as non-Jewish

20% of Jews over 60 years of age live in households identified as non-Jewish

Intermarriage rates are increasing dramatically.

Before 1965, 10% of Jews who married, did so outside the faith.

Since 1985, 52% of Jews who married have done so outside the faith.

Children are being raised as non-Jews.

1 million, or 54% of all American Jewish children under the age of 18 are being raised as non-Jews or with no religion.

Fertility Rates are not high enough to replenish the religion.

The average fertility rate of American Jewish women is 1.4 children per household. The replacement level is 2.1 children.

Less emphasis is being placed on a Jewish education.

In 1962, 540,000 Jewish children were attending afternoon weekend schools, and 60,000 were enrolled in day schools. By 1990, fewer than 240,000 Jewish children attended afternoon /weekend schools and 140,000 attended day schools.

NET LOSS -- 220,000 Jewish children.

Traditional Shabbat observance is extremely low.

Only 36% of Jewish households light the Shabbat Candles.

Of the population that consists of people who were born Jewish and are Jewish by choice, only 11% attend synagogue weekly.

* All Statistics taken from Council of Jewish Federations' 1990 National Jewish Population Survey. This is the most comprehensive source of American Jewish data available

The Jewish population worldwide is sharply decreasing, ravaged by the scourges of intermarriage and assimilation. A census taken before Rosh HaShana 5769 found that the Jewish population worldwide increased by 70 000, only due to natural increase in Israel. A very shocking study found that within 3 generations, 97% of non-Orthodox Jewry in the United States will be extinct.

This is a tragedy of epic proportions. The nation that stood at Sinai and received G-d's Torah barely knows about Purim and Shavuot. The Chosen People eat cheeseburgers, not even knowing that they might be unkosher! Taught by the Jewish Establishment Organizers that "thou shalt melt", Jewish parents sent their kids to public schools, creating a generation of Jewish illiterates who know little more that Fiddler on the Roof, gefilte fish and a Yiddish expression or two. This is the most pressing threat facing the Jewish people today. The apathy of young Jews and their total disconnect and alienation from Judaism should frighten and worry every single Jews who is committed to the future of his people.

During Israel's recent operation in Gaza, Jewish leaders were extremely concerned over the alarming increase in anti-Israel around the world. Not to deny the seriousness of these anti-semitic attacks, the biggest danger threatening the Jewish today comes not from anti-semitism but from assimilation and intermarriage. There is a silent Holocaust going on in the Diaspora as young Jews marry outside of the faith, their Jewishness completely irrelevant to them, a mere accident of birth. Yet, the Jewish leaders are completely silent, doing nothing to try and reach out to our brothers and sisters who are slowly drowning in goyishkeit. If these current rates continue, the future does not bode well for Jewish continuity.

Raised in completely secular environments devoid of spirituality, young Jews look for meaning in other paths and belief systems. They travel to India and live in ashrams, or become Buddhists or Zen followers. These alienated Jews make easy prey for missionary groups like Jews for Jesus who thrive on Jewish illiteracy and ignorance. Most have only the faintest inklings of Jewish rituals, a quick show at "temple" on the high holidays, boring and irrelevant classes at Hebrew School, or a family seder. They have never been exposed to the incredible spirituality in Judaism and are often amazed when they discover that Judaism has a deep spiritual legacy. Intermarriage is only the last step in complete assimilation, finalizing the irrevocable break with the tradition and lineage that extends to Sinai and before, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For generations of Jews, the question of "why be Jewish?" is unimportant. They were sent to public schools, encouraged to interfaith and integrate with non-Jews and now their own Jewish identities are nil.

To any Jew who is reading this article, I beg them please to seriously consider their own Judaism. Their ancestors gave their lives in order that they should live as Jews. Imagine their great-great grandfathers in the shtetls of Ukraine or the juderias of Spain, and how much it would pain them to know that they overcame pogroms and Inquisitions, Crusades and Auschwitz, only for their children to willingly give up their Judaism. Please, I beg you to return home, to your roots and to your people.

May HaShem merit that all of His children should come home very soon

taken from : For Zion's Sake (http://masada1234.blogspot.com/)

MUSLIM ENTERS SYNAGOGUE AND STARTS PROCLAIMING JIHAD



March 10, 2009


Muslim enters synagogue and starts proclaiming jihad


Brooklyn. New York. The United States.


"Violent Intruders Attack Brooklyn Synagogues,"
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz for Israel National News,
March 10


For the second time in less than a week, a packed Brooklyn, New York, synagogue has been the target of threats of violence by intruders.


On Monday, according to Yeshiva World News, an Arab man in his mid-30s entered Boro Park's 'Sephardish Shul' and began making proclamations of jihad. Members of a Jewish volunteer security organization, the Shomrim, apprehended the threatening individual. They held him until police officers arrived at the scene, arresting the suspect. Detectives spoke with the "Middle Eastern man" at a station house near the synagogue....


Just two days earlier, a man wielding a butcher's knife burst into a Kerestir Chassidic synagogue in Williamsburg. He initially turned up unarmed and began throwing soda cans at the gathered worshipers, which hit one of them, and returned shortly thereafter with the bladed weapon.The attacker was prevented from using the butcher's knife on anyone by a young man, described as a "friend" of the knife-wielding intruder, who then fled together with him.


The recent attacks come just over a month after Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn was targeted in a series of English-language jihadist videos posted on the Internet. The videos and accompanying texts singled out "770," but also intimated that all Orthodox Jewish organizations were equally worthy of attack by Muslims. The threatening material included images of the 770 synagogue and study house, pictures of the police van out front, and indications of which parts of the building are crowded at what times.


The source of the thinly-veiled threats, a group called Revolution Muslim, is domestic to the United States.
taken from : B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

REMEMBER OUR BROTHER JONATHAN POLLARD



Posted by Mordechai Friedfertig


[from "Ma'ayanei Ha-Yeshua" – Parashat Tetzave 5769]


Our brother, Jonathan Pollard,
We are extremely distressed that we did not succeed in freeing you.
You are surely also extremely distressed. We are distressed for you.
We are distressed for the Nation of Israel. We are distressed for truth and justice.

But nothing has changed. We continue to fight for you.
The United States did not reject the request. It is still open.


Nothing has changed, it is just more difficult.
But this is our obligation, our eternal ethical obligation,
Our eternal national obligation and our eternal communal obligation.
Pollard is not just a person. He is also a banner and an ideal,
And we will struggle until we are victorious.
All of our efforts were not for naught.
We are grateful for all of the toil, all of the prayers and all of the phone calls.
The senior American officials support a pardon based on humanitarian reasons.
If so, why didn't we succeed? It has been clarified that we lacked one thing:
The support of the Israeli Government, a request from the Israeli Government.
The President therefore did not see why he should free him.


We are now working on various fronts:
We continue to pray for our brother who is in distress and captivity.
We talk about Jonathan at every opportunity to galvanize the Nation and the Government will follow the Nation. We demand that the Government definitively and clearly work for his release: by including his name among those in captivity and making an official request to the US that he is an Israeli citizen and was an Israeli spy.
The current Government contains many high-ranking officials who support his release.


Please turn to the Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
His fax in the Knesset: 02-649-6659. His office in the Likud: 03-538-7165.
Please write to Jonathan with encouragement, support and love.
It is physically and emotionally difficult for him after he saw his freedom before his eyes.
Our letters give him oxygen.
When he sees that the Nation is with him, this is what gives him strength to hold fast.
Yes, we the Nation of Israel has not forgotten him.
from:Torat HaRav Aviner (http://www.ravaviner.com/)

THE JEWS CONTROL THE WORLD



This post will have no links because I've only got a few moments.


The other day I went on record for not caring about this Chas Freeman character, one way or the other. In the meantime he has been forced not to take the job in the intelligence community he was hoping to have. Predictably, this is sending his fans ballistic (go look at Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Sullivan for starters). Their thesis is that the case proves (once again, I might add) that public discussion of Israel is censored in the United States, with large swathes of discourse being forbidden by the awesomely powerful Israelis and their stooges.


There is of course nothing new to this claim; it's been around for centuries (well, the power of the Jews. The United States as a target, that's newer). I admit to being puzzled by their line of reasoning, because for the life of me I can't imagine what might be verboten (Greenwald's word) to say? That Israel's policies are all wrong? That Israel commits war crimes and worse? That Israel is forcing the Palestinians into slavery? That Israel's behaviour is the source of the Islamic ire at America? That Israel muzzles free discussion and thought? That Israel shouldn't exist?


All of these ideas are broadcast widely and continuously not only in Arab World, nor in the Guardian, but also in the American public arena. If Israel were so good at blocking discussion, how come it's so bad at it? Andrew, Glenn, Juan and many others say these things with regularity, and no-one blocks them? True, the Freeman fellow, after being onthe Saudi payroll, was deemed unsuitable for that job, but that hardly proves the point. The entire case proves the opposite, it seems to me.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...