JUNE - JULY 2006 NEWS ARCHIVE

Wednesday, July 26, 2006
WANTING HUMMUS; GETTING HAMAS
The German web site Spiegel Online has an article by an Israeli journalist and peace activist who recounts the general Israeli feelings about peace and war with organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah:

"Every time war footage from Lebanon flickers across the flat screen television in my apartment on the 30th floor of a high-rise in mid-town Manhattan, I am overwhelmed by a deep feeling of sadness. When I scan through the news on the Internet each morning, I'm overtaken by anger. The result is confusion: I go to sleep at night thinking I am a dove and wake up in the morning to find out I am a hawk."

"...I joined the Israeli army in November 1987, I had to deal with one of its side effects: Even as Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was expelled to Algeria, Israel faced resistance from within the occupied Palestinian Territories. The first Intifada began a month after I was drafted. At that point, when I had just joined the army, I was filled with a sense of mission to continue the heritage of Israeli civilians who join the army for three years at the age of 18 to protect the country from its enemies.
But when I got deployed to Gaza and Nablus, fighting an unknown enemy, patrolling streets where, again, civilians drank their tea and played backgammon in cafés, my conviction was shaken. I became confused about who the good guys were and who were the bad. When I finished my mandatory service, I decided never again to be a soldier. When I was called up from the reserves and ordered back to Gaza, I refused and became an outspoken and active opponent of the Israeli occupation. I spent a total of 45 days in military prison for my refusal to serve."

The growing opposition of my generation was our first major contribution to shaping Israeli society and to adding the next layer to our young nation. The first generation of Israelis built the country, fought its war of independence and developed the infrastructure of a nation-state. The second generation fought glorious wars helping establish a Jewish post-Holocaust identity. We, who were born in the mid-1960s and the beginning of the 70s, called for the normalization of Israel. We wanted Israel to become a country like any other; we wanted borders, both geographical and ethical. The war we fought was the one against the convictions of our parents' generation."

"Deep down, of course, we knew that was wishful thinking."

"We pulled out of Gaza and we have no desire to be pulled back in. We want to go to work, study, raise a family, enjoy the beach, and eat hummus as we watch with delight how the Palestinians use the money they get from around the world to build their own infrastructure, to create jobs allowing them to go to the beach, raise families, and eat hummus. We prayed for hummus and instead we got Hamas."

Thursday, July 20, 2006
ANTI-SEMITISM IN SPAIN
ynetnews.com is reporting on the fears of Spain's Jews about the recently elected leadership there, particularly Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain and Secretary General of the Socialist Party:

"Although many experts had foretold of the imminent disappearing of European Jews, nobody expected such a virulent explosion of anti-Semitism in Spain, not even under a Leftist government.

The first signal came on Monday, 5 December, when during a dinner with the Benarroch family, Zapatero and wife began claiming what Vidal Quadras, member of the European Parliament, described on the radio as "a tirade of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism".

By the moment the Benarroch couple had left the table to express their regrets, Zapatero was explaining his lack of surprise about the Holocaust: according to the people present, Zapatero claimed to understand the Nazis. "

haaretz.com has more on Zapatero here.

WILL UN CHARGE ISRAEL WITH WAR CRIMES?
The UK Times online is carrying an article about the possibility of the UN going after Israel with war crime charges:

"Daniel Machover, a London-based human rights lawyer involved in the attempted prosecution of Israeli personnel for alleged war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza, agreed that reports about the number of civilian deaths and the extent of damage to civilian areas mean that Ms Arbor has "a very, very strong point".

International law on war crimes raises the prospect that individuals can be held criminally liable for military action. As Ms Arbor pointed out, such liability is not restricted to the military, but extends to politicians who approve their operations.

"In principle a whole range of people from the Israeli Prime Minister, through senior generals down to air force or artillery gunners could be guilty of war crimes," Mr Machover said."

Tuesday, July 18, 2006
WASHINGTON POST: ISRAEL ITSELF IS A MISTAKE
The Washington Post has been going plethoric lately with wacks at Israel. Last Friday was an examination of the "Israel Lobby" and how it works against the interests of the United States, and a July 11, 2006 piece by PA/Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh wasn't exactly rosey with affection either. The piece published today by Cohen, though, is more dopey than anything else. Historically selective, it also leaves out physical reality of Israeli demographics, which shows that only 76% of Israeli citizens are even Jewish. In fact the 2004 breakdown is 76% are Jews, 16% Arabic, 4% are not affiliated religiously with anything, 2% Christian and 1% Druze. 68% of the Israeli Jewish population was born there. 22% come from the Americas or Europe, and 10% from Asia & Africa (Yemen, Ethiopia etc) This becomes pretty funny when various Jew hating groups demand Israel disband and the people go back to "where they're from."

Cohen wrote in his Washington Post article:

"'The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now. Israel fights Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, but its most formidable enemy is history itself."

Israel's enemy is not whatever version of history being served up by whatever side one chooses to back. Israel's enemy is its disrespect for the Torah, its foundational reason for existence.

There is a blog response to Cohen's assertion of "Israel is a mistake" by by Israel Matsov:

"Cohen's article reflects a total ignorance of Jewish history, and of the Jewish connection to the land of Israel dating back to biblical times, which is inexcusable even for an assimilated Jew (which I assume Cohen to be). In fact, even Christians should be offended by Cohen's writing them out of the history of the Holy Land. Cohen adopts the Arab narrative of the last century of history lock, stock and barrel, without even considering that it might be false. Note, I said Arab and not 'Palestinian,' because the 'Palestinians' by their own admission are a fiction created by that Arab narrative.

The term "Palestina" was invented by the Roman emperor Hadrian. The Romans wanted to rename Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) after the Philistines, the longtime enemy of the Jews. Hadrian believed that by renaming the Jewish homeland after the Jews' archenemy, he would be able to forever break the bond between the Land of Israel and the Jewish people.

The Romans pillage Jerusalem - A Roman bas-relief, still extant on an ancient building in Rome, shows Roman soldiers robbing the menorah and other sacred objects of the Beit HaMikdash HaSheni (the Second Holy Temple)
But even the name of the Philistines, from which the term "Palestine" was adopted, is completely alien to the Land of Israel.

The name Philistines in Hebrew is plishtim, which comes from the Hebrew verb polshim (foreign invaders)."

FLYING WITH ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post has a story on the experiences of an IAF pilot flying over the combat zones in Lebanon:

"'The siren blows. We run to the planes, start the engines, power up the systems. Ground crew running around the plane, the tower gives us permission to take off. We are told to head north, to Lebanon. "Get ready to receive targets," announces the flight controller as we approach. Major E and I read back the information, verifying with the flight controller that we have no mistakes. We head to the coast of Lebanon. It looks so small from above - Israel on the south, Syria in the east. I shake myself - no time to enjoy the view…"

Monday, July 17, 2006
RESPONSES TO THE IDF/HEZBOLLAH FIGHT IN LEBANON
euobserver has a roundup of some European responses:

"'Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja told the BBC on Thursday "The situation has undoubtedly elements of war. Israel has employed a disproportianate force, resulting in unnecessary loss of civilian lives and destruction of a civilian infrastructure."

France's president Jacques Chirac said over the weekend "One may well ask if there isn't today a kind of wish to destroy Lebanon" … "I find honestly - as all Europeans do - that the current reactions are totally disproportionate. In the Middle East we are currently in a situation of great fragility and instability."

Amnesty International said in a statement that EU foreign ministers should on Monday "review relations with Israel" which Brussels currently maintains under an Association Agreement.

"This review is necessary not just because Israel is systematically and deliberately breaching international law by targeting civilians." said Dick Oosting, Director of Amnesty International's EU Office.

But EU states holding strong ties with Israel, such as Germany and the Netherlands, are expected to resist moves and wording which risks offending the Israelis too much.

Meanwhile a meeting of G8 leaders yesterday focused it criticism on Hezbollah.

"These extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos," a G8 statement said adding "We call upon Israel to exercise utmost restraint."

Sunday, July 16, 2006
IRAN PLEDGES "UNIMAGINABLE LOSSES" IF ISRAEL ATTACKS SYRIA
breitbart.com carries a story quoting the Iranian government's pledge to fight Israel if Syria attacked:

"Iran warned its arch-enemy Israel of "unimaginable losses" if it attacks Syria and vowed that it was standing by the Syrian people.

"We hope the Zionist regime does not make the mistake of attacking Syria, because extending the front would definitely make the Zionist regime face unimaginable losses," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

"Iran is standing by the Syrian people," he said of the Islamic republic's sole regional ally.

"...The hardline president, who has calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map" or moved as far away as Alaska, has also compared Israel's military strikes on Gaza and Lebanon to tactics used by Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler.

"Their methods resemble Hitler's. When Hitler wanted to launch an attack, he came up with a pretext," Ahmadinejad said Saturday.

"Zionists say they are Hitler's victims, but they have the same nature as Hitler," said Ahmadinejad, who has previously described the Holocaust of six million Jews in wartime Europe as "a myth."

ROCKET ATTACKS ON HAIFA
Haaretz.com is reporting Israeli deaths from a Hezbollah rocket attack on Haifa:

"At least eight people were killed Sunday morning as rockets fired by Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon struck the northern port city of Haifa.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces on Sunday told Israelis from Tel Aviv northward to "be alert."

The command said that in the event of a rocket strike, a siren will sound, alerting the public to seek shelter inside in a protected room or an area away from doors, windows and exterior walls. "

The Washington Post covers the story here. The Post also has an informative map graphic of air raids and combat events here.

The New York Times has photography of the damage at the Haifa rail station where a rocket hit, plus news coverage here.

ARAB REACTION TO ISRAEL ATTACKS ON HEZBOLLAH
The military affairs web site Strategypage.com offers analysis of Arabic reaction to the conflict now occurring in Lebanon:

"Iran aside, there hasn't been a really noisy response from the Moslem world about Israel's military operations against Lebanon. Notably subdued is the response from the Arab countries; it's mostly been mumbling about the plight of the Palestinians and such. Could this mean that the principal Arab leaders are not all that unhappy to see Hizbollah get it in the neck? After all, most of the Arabs are Sunni, while Hizbollah and Iran are Shia. The exception that proves the rule is Syria, which has a Shia leadership. But most Arabs fear Iran, not because most Iranians are Shia, but because Iranians are not Arabs. Iran has been the regional superpower for over three thousand years. Iran is building nuclear weapons. Iran is backing Shia Arab factions in Iraq that would support turning Iraq into an Iranian ally. Also scary is the fact that Iran is currently run by a religious dictatorship. Most Arabs have noted how that worked in Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan and want no part of it. Worse, the Iranian religious leadership believes that they would do a better job running the Hejaz (the region of Saudi Arabia containing Mecca and Medina and the most holy places in Islam). For centuries, the Turks kept the Iranians out of the Hejaz. But who would keep nuclear armed Iranians out?"

"The Sunni Arab world always saw Hizbollah as an Iranian branch office on the Mediterranean. Hizbollah was also seen as one of the reasons the Lebanese civil war, that began in 1975, went on for so long (until 1990, when everyone called it quits, mainly because of sheer exhaustion). Sunni Arabs also take a dim view of how the Shia Alawite sect has controlled Syria (a majority Sunni country) for two generations. The Syrian Alawites hang on via subsidies from Iran. Sunni Arabs have always despised Shia, and would like to see the Lebanese and Syrian Shia put in their place (subordinate, very subordinate). Having Israel do a lot of the heavy lifting is seen as an added bonus. "

ANNIVERSARY OF DESTRUCTION OF JEWISH COMMUNITY IN 1099 JERUSALEM
July 16th, 1099 is the date recorded when the Crusaders imprisoned the Jews of Jerusalem in the city synagogues and burned them alive. Supposably the Crusaders were singing the Christian hymn "Ta Deum" at the time:

"We praise you, God:
We acknowledge you as Lord.
As the eternal father,
All the earth venerates you."

eyewitnesstohistory.com has an overview of the Crusader siege of Jerusalem in 1099 along with contemporary reports from historical records.

ageofchivalry.com has more.

WASHINGTON POST: ISRAEL & AMERICA, A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP?
Washington Post has a story by Glenn Frankel about the controversy about the "Israel lobby" (the article is subtitled 'In search of the truth about the Israel lobby's influence on Washington'):

"The popular equation goes like this: Israelis equal good guys, Arabs equal terrorists. Working the Hill these days, says Josh Block, spokesman for the premier Israeli lobbying group known as AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, "is like pushing at an open door."

Not everyone believes this is a good thing. In March two distinguished political scientists -- Stephen Walt from Harvard and John Mearsheimer from the University of Chicago -- published a 42-page, heavily footnoted essay arguing that the Bush administration's support for Israel and its related effort to spread democracy throughout the Middle East have "inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardized U.S. security."

The professors claim that our intimate partnership with Israel is both dangerous and unprecedented. "Other special interest groups have managed to skew foreign policy, but no lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national interest would suggest," they argue. They go on to say that the war in Iraq "was due in large part to the Lobby's influence," and that the same combine is "using all of the strategies in its playbook" to pressure the administration into being aggressive and belligerent with Iran. The bottom line: "Israel's enemies get weakened or overthrown, Israel gets a free hand with the Palestinians, and the United States does most of the fighting, dying, rebuilding and paying."

A sweet deal for Israel, in other words, but a very bad one for America.

Some of the lobby's critics hailed the essay as a much-needed breath of fresh air and praised Walt and Mearsheimer for their courage and -- dare we say it -- chutzpah. "

The writer of the article, Glenn Frankel, faces off with online questioning on monday, July 17, 2006, on the Post web site here.

Wednesday, July 14, 2006
ISRAEL AND LEBANON FIGHTING
New York Times on the combat between the IDF and Hezbollah in Lebanon:

"A day after cross-border raids by Hezbollah fighters brought Israeli troops into Lebanon in force for the first time in six years, Israel sent punishing airstrikes deeper into the country, hitting all three runways at Rafik Hariri International Airport, two Lebanese Army bases. Early on Friday, it struck Hezbollah offices in south Beirut and the main highway between the capital and Damascus, Syria, and later, Reuters reported, a base for pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrillas a few miles from the Syrian border.

...Lebanese residents hoarded canned goods and batteries as lines at gas stations stretched for blocks. Supermarkets and bakeries were flooded. It felt, many said, as if the civil war that ended 15 years ago was back.

Israel said that the Lebanese government was responsible for the actions of Hezbollah, which is a member of the governing coalition, and that the cross-border raid that captured two Israeli soldiers on Wednesday was an unprovoked act of war by a neighboring state. Senior Israeli officials said that the military had been unleashed to cut off Lebanon, permanently drive Hezbollah forces back from the border and punish the government for not upholding a United Nations directive to disarm and control the group."

The Jerusalem Post reports on the rumours that the kidnapped IDF soldiers, which prompted the Israeli attacks into Southern lebanon, were being moved to Iran:

"The Iranian Foreign Ministry described as "nonsense" on Friday the allegation that two IDF soldiers captured by the Lebanese Hizbullah were being transferred to Iran.

On Thursday, Israel said it had information that the guerrillas who captured the two soldiers were trying to transfer them to Iran in an apparent move to prevent the IDF from rescuing them. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev did not disclose the source of his information.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi categorically denied the allegation.

"This regime (Israel) is trapped in its homemade crisis and these sort of accusations are simply nonsense," he was quoted as saying by IRNA, Iran's official news agency.

The IDF released the names of the two soldiers on Thursday. According to the IDF Spokesperson, the two reserve are Ehud Goldwasser, 31, from Nahariya, and Eldad Regev, 26, from Kiryat Motzkin.

Hizbullah guerrillas, who are backed by Iran, seized the soldiers Wednesday in a cross-border raid."

Looking for information about this event, I found these comments (Dated July 13th) by a blogger at Lebanese Political Journal:

"The mosques are calling out for the early morning prayer (fajr). In the background, I hear jets and bombs going off in the distance.

The Lebanese TV stations have all gone to sleep. Future is showing daytime footage. New TV is showing soap operas. LBC is replaying earlier discussions, as is NBN.

Lights are still on in my neighborhood. Not many people are still here, but they are awake. And silent."

Also; another comment from that same site:

"Israel is dropping Arabic leaflets in the Southern suburbs that state (rough translation): "Out of our concern for your safety, we advise you to not be around any areas where Hezbollah is known to operate." Basically, evacuate the southern suburbs of Beirut immediately!"

BUSH WEIGHS IN ON LEBANON/ISRAEL CRISIS
Washington Post reports on the United States President's comments:

"Bush had kept a distance from the Lebanon crisis as he focused on persuading summit partners to bring new pressure on Iran and North Korea to give up nuclear programs.

The new conflict threatened to widen divisions with allies. France, Russia and the European Union criticized Israel's actions as disproportionate, while Bush backed what he called Israel's right to respond to abductions of its soldiers and rocket attacks on its soil.

"Every nation must defend herself against terrorist attacks and the killing of innocent life," Bush said at a news conference here with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "It's a necessary part of the 21st century."

The only reservation he expressed was that Israeli attacks could jeopardize the fledgling democratic government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, which does not control the radical Islamic Hezbollah militia that Israel says it is targeting. "Democracy in Lebanon is an important part of laying a foundation for peace in that region," Bush said.

IRAN'S AHMADINEJAD AT IRAQ SECURITY CONFERENCE "LET'S REMOVE ZIONIST REGIME" "WIPE THEM OFF MAP"
Yahoo UK is carrying an AFP story about a "security conference" held in Tehran:

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called on Islamic countries to mobilise against Israel and "remove" the "Zionist regime".

"The basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the region must mobilise to remove this problem," the president said in a speech to regional officials.

He was speaking at the opening of a two-day conference in Tehran on security in Iraq.

...Ahmadinejad has already called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" or moved as far away as Alaska.

The US-based Yahoo carries another AFP article on this same conference:

"The Arab foreign ministers participating in today's Tehran meeting expressed their strong condemnation of this continuing and increasing aggression against the Palestinian people," Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said in a statement Saturday.

Arab officials from Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria were gathered in Tehran Saturday for a two-day conference on security in Iraq.

The statement said the officials also "voiced sorrow over international silence, and held United Nations Security Council members responsible for the dangerous violations of international laws and treaties".

They also "decided to continue consultions among themselves and other foreign ministers of Arab nations to take necessary steps over the aggressive Israeli policies".

NEW DOCUMENTARY ON EXODUS "DECODED"
Jerusalem Post has a review of the screening of this documentary film:

"...The Exodus Decoded, a 90-minute documentary by Canadians James Cameron (the director of Titanic, Aliens and The Terminator) and investigative journalist and producer Simcha Jacobovici.

The Exodus Decoded claims to present proof of the biblical account of Jacob's descent into Egypt, his son's rise to power there, his people's enslavement, and their eventual liberation under the leadership of Moses after a series of miracles.

It's all a matter of knowing where - or rather when - to look. Those scientists who believe the Exodus happened at all (and most don't) date it at between 1213 and 1279 BCE, and remain unable to explain the apparent absence of any supporting evidence.

But, say the filmmakers, start from a stele long suppressed by the Egyptian authorities - these same authorities did nothing to help and much to hinder Jacobovici's inquiries - that describes something very much like the Exodus from the Egyptian point of view but about 200 years earlier, and everything starts to fall into place."

Wednesday, July 5, 2006
DNA RESEARCH ON ASHKENAZI ORIGINS
New York Times writer Nicholas Wade has a story on genetic research of the origins of the Ashkenazi Jewish community in Europe:

"Until now, it had been widely assumed by geneticists that the Ashkenazi communities of Northern and Central Europe were founded by men who came from the Middle East, perhaps as traders, and by the women from each local population whom they took as wives and converted to Judaism.

But the new study, published online this week in The American Journal of Human Genetics, suggests that the men and their wives migrated to Europe together.

The researchers, Doron Behar and Karl Skorecki of the Technion and Ramban Medical Center in Haifa, and colleagues elsewhere, report that just four women, who may have lived 2,000 to 3,000 years ago, are the ancestors of 40 percent of Ashkenazis alive today. The Technion team's analysis was based on mitochondrial DNA, a genetic element that is separate from the genes held in the cell's nucleus and that is inherited only through the female line. Because of mutations - the switch of one DNA unit for another - that build up on the mitochondrial DNA, people can be assigned to branches that are defined by which mutations they carry.

In the case of the Ashkenazi population, the researchers found that many branches coalesced to single trees, and so were able to identify the four female ancestors.

Looking at other populations, the Technion team found that some people in Egypt, Arabia and the Levant also carried the set of mutations that defines one of the four women. They argue that all four probably lived originally in the Middle East."

Monday, June 19, 2006
NEWSWEEK: CHAOS IN GAZA
Reporter Kevin Peraino in Newseek details the growing threats of civil war between Hamas and Fatah:

"Fatah and Hamas are still engaged in talks to avert a civil war and reach an agreement on how to deal with Israel on terms that will satisfy the international community. Popular sentiment is behind that process, and many in Gaza believe that tribal and family ties will help prevent a full-blown conflagration. Khaled Abu Hilal, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, insists that "every family has members of both Fatah and Hamas." Yet Abu Hilal also keeps a 9mm Smith & Wesson in his desk drawer—just in case. And a Palestinian arms dealer in Ramallah, who wished to remain anonymous as he offered to sell NEWSWEEK an unsolicited MP5 submachine gun, says that the price of a U.S.-made M-16 on the black market has doubled, from $5,000 to $10,000, since Hamas took power. "Hamas is buying like crazy," the dealer says."

ARCHIVE OF OLD NEWS
2006 June - July here
2006 April - May here
2006 January - March here
2005 January - April here
2005 May - Sept here
2005 October - December here
2004 January - February here
2004 June - December here
2003 January - October here
2003 November - December here

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