Archive for June 4, 2012

Stopping Syria’s chemical weapons from spreading

Analysis: IDF beefing up defenses along border by laying new minefields, fortifying security fence.

When considering the potential fallout from Bashar Assad’s downfall, at the top of Israel’s list of concerns is the possibility that Syria’s chemical weapons will fall into rogue hands, possibly al-Qaida or even Hezbollah.

That is why – depending on developments in Syria – the day may come soon when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will need to make a critical decision if presented with intelligence that the weapons are on the verge of proliferating.

Started in the mid-1970s, Syria’s chemical weapons program is run by the Scientific Studies and Research Center and includes the industrial production of Sarin and VX nerve agents as well as mustard gas, all deployable in warheads that can be carried by its operational Scud missiles. Continue Reading »

Shopping mall guards turn away haredi man

Security guards at the Ramat Aviv shopping mall explain that they were acting on specific instructions. The mall management says that store owners and customers have complained about Chabad activity in the mall. The haredi community doesn’t intend to let this pass

 

Last week, security guards at the swanky Ramat Aviv shopping mall refused to allow an Ultra-Orthodox man in, claiming that they were acting according to instructions from the mall’s management. A few mall workers who knew the man tried to intervene, but to no avail.

When asked to explain the incident, the management said that it had received numerous complaints from both store owners and shoppers saying they felt harassed by Chabad representatives active in the mall. Continue Reading »

Zionist youth movement says being forced out of Israeli town on ‘ideological’ grounds

Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed movement claims it’s being forced out of Galilee town on ‘ideological’ grounds.

The Kfar Tavor municipality in the Lower Galilee has ordered the town’s only youth movement to cease all activities, following advice from the directors of the local community center. For 20 years the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed movement was Kfar Tavor’s only youth group. However, officials of the community center, which is responsible for the town’s informal education programs, said it was “dissatisfied” with the group’s performance.

 

Members of the  Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed youth group.

Members of the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed youth group. - Photo by Yaron Kaminsky

 

The youth group, whose name means “working and studying youth,” claims the decision was made because community center officials were rebuffed in their efforts to influence the movement’s programming. Continue Reading »

Israel to Unveil World’s Smallest Missile

Israel’s Rafael Defense Systems will unveil the world’s smallest missile at the annual Eurosatory exhibition in Paris next week.

 

Israel’s Rafael Defense Systems will unveil the world’s smallest military missile at the annual Eurosatory “Land and Airland Defense and Security” exhibition in Paris next week, Israel Defense reports.

Spike missile

Spike missile - Israel news photo: PR from Rafael Systems

The Mini-Spike electro-optic guided missile is the first missile to implement an anti-personnel precision attack missile. It has range of approximately three quarters of a mile (1.5 km) and is intended for deployment against enemy forces in shelters or trenches.

The entire missile weighs only 8.8 pounds (4 kilograms) and uses wireless communications to view and guide the missile to its target. Continue Reading »

Auschwitz to ban football items during Euro 2012

Museum says visitors to Nazi death camp during the EU Championship will not be allowed to enter with accessories likes scarves, trumpets, banners and flags

Death Showers -Photo: Phillip Pasmanick

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum says visitors, who will tour the Nazi death camp during the European Championship will not be allowed to enter with stadium accessories likes scarves, trumpets, banners and flags.

Auschwitz-Birkenau Photo: Shutterstock

Auschwitz-Birkenau - Photo: Shutterstock

Auschwitz is located in Poland that is co-hosting the tournament with Ukraine. The Euro 2012 runs from June 8 to July 1.

The state-run memorial museum has posted visiting guidelines for the duration of the tournament on its website Thursday. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu orders swift deportation of 25,000 illegal African migrants

Orders acceleration of holding facility construction for citizens of Eritrea and Sudan who cannot be deported due to conditions in their home countries.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his ministers to accelerate efforts to deport citizens of South Sudan, the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Ethiopia who are living in Israel illegally on Sunday.

Speaking at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that while it is not possible to expel citizens of Eritrea and Sudan, whose lives would be at risk in their home countries, holding facilities for them must be built in the Negev as quickly as possible.

African migrants after crossing the border from Sinai.

African migrants after crossing the border from Sinai.

Continue Reading »

Romney Widens Lead; Obama Worried about Jewish Vote

Romney is leading Obama in the polls by a new high of four percent as the president tries to win back sagging support from Jews.

 

Republican de facto presidential candidate Mitt Romney is leading President Barack Obama in the polls by a new high of four percent as the president tries to win back sagging support from Jews. Romney has sewn up the nomination and is scheduled to be officially nominated at the GOP’s summer convention.

Obama greets Jews at White House

Obama greets Jews at White House - Photo by Reuters

The latest daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday by Rasmussen gives 48 percent of the vote to Romney, 44 percent to Obama, 4 percent to other candidates and the rest undecided.

Continue Reading »

Egyptians foil infiltration attempt

Infiltration of 36 African migrants to Israel prevented due to coordination between IDF, Sinai security forces

 

Egyptian forces prevented the infiltration of African migrants into Israel over the weekend. On Friday, an IDF force stationed in the Eilat Mountains detected a group of 36 people trying to cross the border, where a fence has yet to been erected. They then alerted the Egyptian forces who foiled the attempt, unlike most cases.

According to available details, IDF soldiers had warned the infiltrators not to cross the border as the Egyptian officers arrived at the scene and prevented the infiltration.

IDF forces deployed along the border witness shooting incidents involving the Egyptian forces and Bedouins who try to smuggle narcotics, weapons and infiltrators into Israel on a daily basis. Continue Reading »

Iran builds new space center to launch satellites

Iran’s defense minister says that his country will soon be able to launch domestically made satellites into orbit.

Iran is finishing construction of a new space center that will allow it to soon launch more domestically made satellites into orbit, the country’s defense minister said Saturday.

The remarks by Gen. Ahmad Vahidi’s were the first confirmation that Iran is building a new space facility amid the standoff with the West over Iran’s controversial nuclear program. The West is concerned the program masks efforts to make atomic weapons, a charge Iran denies, insisting it’s only for peaceful purposes.

 

Iran space program Feb. 29, 2012 (AP)

Iranian technicians work at the satellite data receiving site of the Alborz station, in Mahdasht 40 miles west of the capital Tehran, Iran.

Continue Reading »

‘Muslim Brotherhood will Terrorize Christians,’ Warns Candidate

Presidential candidate Shafiq hits Muslim Brothers twice: “They think Palestine’s the capital of Egypt, would intimidate Christians.”

 

Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq hit hard at the Muslim Brotherhood on two fronts Sunday, warning that an Islamist victory will lead to terrorizing Christians and accusing the Brotherhood of trying to make “Palestine” the central issue for Egyptians.

 Ahmed Shafiq talks during a news conference in Cairo

Ahmed Shafiq talks during a news conference in Cairo - Photo by Reuters

Shafiq was a close aide to ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and the Brotherhood took the offensive after Saturday’s life sentence for Mubarak, instead of death, and the acquittal of his two sons regarding their involvement in the murder of hundreds of protesters last year. Continue Reading »

Boycott of Israeli scholars sinks university anthology

 

Arab contributors for collection of writings by Middle Eastern women bolt over Israelis’ inclusion

 

The University of Texas. (photo credit: CC-BY rutlo, Flickr)
The University of Texas. Photo: CC-BY rutlo, Flickr

NEW YORK (JTA) — A planned anthology of Middle Eastern women’s writing will not be completed because of an academic boycott of two Israeli authors’ work.

The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin had planned to publish an anthology of writing by Middle Eastern women in honor of Elizabeth Fernea, a professor emerita at the university who died in 2008, and who focused on women’s issues in the Middle East.

But, according to Inside Higher Ed, one of the anthology’s 29 authors said that she would withdraw her work from the anthology unless it excluded the work of two Israeli writers who were also asked to contribute to the anthology. Continue Reading »

CAROLINE B. GLICK’S Column One: The reign of the fantasists

The Obama administration insists on clinging to the fantasy that it can convince the Iranians to give up their nuclear weapons program.

Defense  Minister Ehud Barak has done it again. Speaking on Wednesday at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Barak warned that if Israel can’t cut a deal with the Palestinians soon, it should consider surrendering Judea and Samaria in exchange for nothing.

Iran nuclear talks in Istanbul -Photo: REUTERS/Tolga Adanali/Pool
Iran nuclear talks in Istanbul -Photo: REUTERS/Tolga Adanali/Pool

Even the diehard leftists in the media had a hard time swallowing his words. After all, when Barak was premier, he oversaw Israel’s unilateral surrender of south Lebanon in 2000. Continue Reading »

Thousands take to streets in demand of social justice

‘This summer’s protest will be the real thing,’ says one protester, as thousands in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem resume social protest

 

Thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and other cities across Israel to reignite the social protest on Saturday. Four thousand people marched on Tel Aviv’s Eben Gvirol street banging on pots and pans and reiterating last summer’s slogans.

“There’s a feeling that what happened last summer is just the first wave,” said one of the protesters, Raz Levin. “This summer will see the real thing. We’ve grown up and won’t let those in power get away with it this time. Continue Reading »

Report: German officials confirm submarines sold to Israel can fire nuclear-tipped cruise missiles

Remarks cited by German weekly Der Spiegel regarding Dolphin-class submarines contradict past remakes by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said that the vessels do not have nuclear weapons capabilities.

Submarines produced by Germany and supplied to Israel as part of an extensive arms deal are equipped to enable the launch of nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Sunday

Last month, Israel received its fourth Dolphin –class submarine from Germany, expected to become operational in 2013.

According to a senior Israel Navy officer speaking upon the arrival of the craft, the “submarine has a range for everything,” adding that it needs to refuel and charge its batteries only once in a long while. Continue Reading »

German controversy over Israel boycott

Politicians reject German mayor’s Israel boycott. Schröter: goal is to label goods from ‘illegal’ settlements.

BERLIN – Social Democratic, Left Party and Christian Democratic politicians rejected last week Jena Mayor Albrecht Schröter’s campaign for a wide-ranging boycott of Israeli products.Critics accused Schröter, 57, the Social Democratic mayor of Jena in Thuringia state, of fostering modern anti-Semitism with his support for a call by the German branch of Pax Christi, an international Catholic “peace movement,” to not buy Israeli goods.
Schroter (second left) - Photo: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Schroter (second left) - Photo: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Wiltrud Rösch-Metzler, Pax Christi vice president, wrote last week, “I am not buying goods with the origin specification ‘Israel’ because under this designation products could come from the settlements.

Continue Reading »