 | ||
 |         |  |
 | ||
| MP3 Radio | Website News Briefs: | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
 |  |
1. IAEA: All Iran Needs Now is a Nuke Delivery System
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
A "secret annex" to a report by the international nuclear energy watchdog says Iran is currently able to build a nuclear 
Senior officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prepared a secret document.
bomb, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, Russia and America spar over a meeting with Iran to negotiate the issue. The AP report claims that senior officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prepared a secret document on Iranian nuclear capabilities. Iran already has "sufficient information" to prepare an atom bomb, the report reveals, but the Islamic Republic is missing a sufficient delivery system. However, the AP says, quoting the secret report, Iran is expected to overcome that limitation.
The United States has claimed that outgoing IAEA Chairman Mohamed ElBaradei had prepared just such a "secret annex". More generally, Israel and the U.S. recently charged that the IAEA was not revealing all it knew about Iranian nuclear weapons development.
On the other hand, as early as 2005, ElBaradei said that it would take Iran only a few months to produce an atomic bomb if production went ahead at the nuclear plants the IAEA was not given access to at the time.
Earlier this month, Glyn Davies, the U.S. envoy to the IAEA, confirmed long-time Israeli intelligence reports that Iran is close to achieving the ability to produce a nuclear bomb. He said that Iran was "very near or already in possession of sufficient low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon."
Talks With Iran
Regardless of these assessments, six major world powers - the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia - will hold talks with Iran in two weeks, on October 1.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki insisted that his country would not hold direct talks with the Americans at the meeting. “The Americans will directly be present at the negotiating table and during this round of negotiations, different subjects and issues will be discussed and studied,” Mottaki said, according to Iran's news agency.
Russia, meanwhile, expressed clear opposition to additional sanctions on Iran in order to coerce its compliance with nuclear development restrictions sought by the international community. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday, “Today there is a real chance to conclude talks whose results should be an agreement restoring trust in the purely peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. Disrupting this chance by demanding swift imposition of sanctions would be a serious mistake.”
Iran denies any of its nuclear programs are for the development of weapons, contrary to American, Israeli and European assessments.
Regarding the use of force against Iran should the Islamic Republic persist in nuclear development, Lavrov said it “would have catastrophic effect for the entire Middle East.”
Obama Drops E. Europe's Defensive 'Umbrella'
Apparently as part of negotiations with Russia over cooperation on the Iran issue, among others, President Barack Obama announced on Thursday that he has dropped Bush administration-era plans for a missile defense umbrella in eastern Europe. According to the plan, American interceptor missiles and radar systems were to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, respectively.
The Bush administration had promoted the “umbrella” plans as defense against long-range missile attack, possibly loaded with weapons of mass destruction, by nations such as Iran and North Korea. Russia, however, saw the planned deployment as a challenge to its own security in the region.
Israel, meanwhile, remains committed to its position on Iran regardless of any international political machinations. In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 TV, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu repeated his familiar formula that Iran must not be allowed to get its hands on nuclear weapons. He provided no further details regarding Israel's plans to prevent that eventuality.
2. Obama's Rosh HaShanah Video Greeting
by Gil Ronen
President Barack H. Obama issued the first ever Presidential Rosh HaShanah video greeting Friday. Obama read a short (2:37) message of holiday well-wishes, and injected an allusion to his plans for peace in the Middle East. Obama looked slightly less buoyant than he did in the initial months of his presidency – a possible reflection of the problems his peace initiative has run into.
Obama is currently trying hard to engineer a three-way summit with Israeli leader Binyamin Netanyahu and PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the upcoming United Nations assembly, but even that symbolic feat is still in doubt. He opened the video statement with an attempt to evoke a conciliatory spirit.
"[his sacred time provides not just an opportunity for individual renewal and reconciliation, but for families, communities and even nations to heal old divisions, seek new understandings, and come together to build a better world for our children and grandchildren,” he said.
"At the dawn of this New Year, let us rededicate ourselves to that work. Let us reject the impulse to harden ourselves to others’ suffering, and instead make a habit of empathy – of recognizing ourselves in each other and extending our compassion to those in need.
A call to worship freely
"Let us resist prejudice, intolerance, and indifference in whatever forms they may take -- let us stand up strongly to the scourge of anti-Semitism, which is still prevalent in far too many corners of our world.
"Let us work to extend the rights and freedoms so many of us enjoy to all the world’s citizens – to speak and worship freely; to live free from violence and oppression; to make of our lives what we will.
“And let us work to achieve lasting peace and security for the state of Israel, so that the Jewish state is fully accepted by its neighbors, and its children can live their dreams free from fear. That is why my Administration is actively pursuing the lasting peace that has eluded Israel and its Arab neighbors for so long.
“Throughout history, the Jewish people have been, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, 'a light unto the nations.' Through an abiding commitment to faith, family and justice, Jews have overcome extraordinary adversity, holding fast to the hope of a better tomorrow.
“In this season of renewal, we celebrate that spirit; we honor a great and ancient faith; and we rededicate ourselves to the work of repairing this world.
“Michelle and I wish all who celebrate Rosh HaShanah a healthy, peaceful and sweet New Year.”
Obama's 2009 Rosh HaShanah message is not very different from the one he delivered last year, which included the lines: “As families come together to mark the High Holy Days, upholding a proud Jewish tradition, let us all rededicate ourselves to the task of repairing this world for our children and grandchildren, and to working to achieve peace and security for Israel."
3. Iranian 'Anti-Israel' Rally Turns on Regime
by Maayana Miskin
Iran's annual Quds Day – a national “holiday” of anti-Israel rallies and speeches – has taken a new turn this year, with protesters shouting down the Iranian regime instead of the Jewish state. According to Israel National News sources in Iran, hundreds of thousands have joined in calls against Iran's leadership.
In Shiraz, protesters who were encouraged to shout “Down with Israel” instead shouted “Down with Russia” (“Marg bar Russie”). Russia has been accused of supporting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in exchange for rights along the Caspian Sea, and of helping Ahmadinejad suppress his opponents.
[weJe Email readers, please click here to watch the video report.
The demonstrators also yelled, “Not for Gaza, not for Lebanon – let my life be sacrificed for Iran.”
Similar outbursts of opposition to the regime were reported in Isfahan, Tehran, and Tabriz Uremia.
Iranian dissidents had encouraged popular resistance on Quds Day in order to inspire renewed protests against the regime. Opponents of Ahmadinejad held massive rallies and riots throughout Iran following Iran's national elections, which they claimed were rigged. However, the rallies died out as Iranian leaders responded with violence, killing dozens of protesters and jailing several hundreds, many of whom were reportedly raped and tortured.
The killings and alleged brutality succeeded in quelling the protests, at least temporarily, but aroused additional opposition to the regime, as even normally pro-government media outlets began to question the use of violence.
4. Church Group Helps Fund Jewish Anti-Zionists
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The United Church of Canada has donated travel expenses to a new Jewish organization that hosted Muslims at a convention backing a boycott of Israel, according to the National Post.
The Protestant church group admitted that it donated $900 to the organization but said that officials did not need to authorize the donation because of its small size. However, United Church officials told the National Post that the description of the event that led to the creation of the Independent Jewish Voices was “consistent with our overall policy that the end of the occupation must come in order to bring peace and justice.”
The expenses were earmarked for a two-day Alliance of Concerned Canadians conference which provided the catalyst for the formation of the new group. Among delegates who were invited and whose travel expenses were defrayed were “members of Jewish-Muslim, Jewish-Arab and Jewish-Palestinian groups."
The Canadian Jewish Congress is furious over the donation, calling it “shocking, outrageous, shameful and scandalous.” The group’s director Bernie Farber declared, “Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and the Canadian Jewish Congress or another mainstream Jewish organization were to have funded a Christian group to be critical of the United Church of Canada.”
Church spokesman Bruce Gregersen emphasized that the money was for travel expenses and was not intended to help get the new anti-Zionist group off the ground, but Farber said, “It is a horse by the same name. The United Church provided funding to establish an organization whose goal it is to target and attack the mainstream Jewish community.”
He asserted that “the average United Church member will be as shocked as am I to discover that money from their church has gone to help create an anti-Zionist organization.”
Among those attending the two-conference in Toronto was Rev. Vicki Obedkoff, who signed a letter in 2007 aimed at pressuring the Rolling Stones not to appear in “apartheid” Israel. Also present were delegates from the Canadian Arab Federation.
5. ‘Holocaust Survivor’ Torah Comes to Life in Miami
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
A 19th century Czechoslovakian Torah scroll, which was stolen by the Nazis and later sold by Communist rulers, will be used for the first time in a Miami, Florida synagogue on the first day of Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, which falls on the Sabbath and Sunday this year.
One of the wooden handles of the scroll bears the date 1878, when the scroll apparently was completed. Also inscribed is the name of the couple who contributed the holy scroll in a synagogue that now is part of the Czech Republic.
After the Allied forces defeated Hitler, a Nazi warehouse of Judaica, including Torah scrolls was discovered. Communist rulers sold more than 1,500 scrolls from the warehouse to a London synagogue 46 years ago, when a Memorial Scrolls Trust began sending them all over the world. “They have come back to life,” Trust curator Evelyn Friedlander told the Associated Press.
The Torah scroll is now safely guarded at Miami’s Ahavat Olam (Love of the World) congregation, which prays in rented space in a Methodist church. One of the synagogue members is Bianca Lerner, an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor who escaped the Nazis by hiding in a Catholic orphanage after she and her parents were forced from their home.
The Nazis murdered her father, and her mother died at the Treblinka death camp. She told AP that she once thought material possessions do not mean much after experiencing her leaving the family’s beautifully furnished Polish home and its antiques and Oriental rugs. Lerner explained that the Torah scroll, although physical, is different because it is a central part of the Jewish faith and is used in prayer.
Ahavat Olam Rabbi Danny Marmorstein said that years ago he placed the community’s name on the waiting list for a Torah scroll from the London-based trust. He explained he wanted to pay tribute to the six million Jews whom the Nazis killed, butchered and gassed, including nine of the rabbi’s great aunts and uncles, grandfather and great-grandparents. His father and uncle survived the Auschwitz death camp.
6. Letter to IDF Radio:"Remember Asaf Ramon When You..."
by Gil Ronen
Arutz Sheva's Hebrew service published a letter Friday sent by an unknown person to Galei Tzahal, the IDF's radio station (also known as IDF Army Radio). Arutz Sheva asked the person who wrote the letter to contact it and make his or her identity known.
The letter reads thus:
Captain Asaf Ramon, his father, the Ramon family and many others like them who symbolize the Return to Zion; the realization of the Zionist vision; the readiness to sacrifice for all of us; the Jewish moral code in defense of our nation, its state and our country; the beautiful Israel; the solidarity in Israeli society; the giving, the Zionist ethos!
Remember him when you report innocently about “demonstrations” at Na'alin by “activists” who hurt the bodies and souls of IDF soldiers and Border Police.
Remember him when a doctor of philosophy at Tel Aviv University disseminates a photo of an IDF soldier and calls him a murderer – yet you remain silent. You did not cover that.
Remember him when IDF reservists turn to the Attorney General and demand that he investigate the Ha'aretz newspaper and Danny Zamir for libel, after they besmirched the IDF during Operation Cast Lead – and again you are silent, you did not cover that either!
Remember him the next time you consider participating in a media lynch against a battalion commander and reservists as you did to the battalion commander who hit violent anarchist Yonatan Pollak while he and his friends destroyed an IDF roadblock, confronted soldiers and harmed them.
Remember him when you give Hamas terrorists an open microphone.
Remember him for not holding an in-depth discussion about the Tel Aviv “Rugatka” pub that prevents soldiers from entering it. You preferred to hide that...
Remember him for the large stage you give to anarchist groups and “Breaking the Silence,” which assassinate the character of the IDF and its soldiers.
Remember him when you prevent discussion and prevent anyone from expressing deep and fundamental opinions against those who defame IDF soldiers without any basis.
Remember him when you do not cover the protest against those organizations.
Remember him when you pillory those who call to make government service conditional on military, civilian or national service, and thus damage all those who serve.
Remember him when you exalt Israeli films that win prizes only because they present the IDF as an immoral army of murderers.
Remember him when you interview the actors who dodged military service and whose only contribution to the IDF was to sling mud at it.
Remember him, because handing out briefs and undershirts to soldiers on (the program) “A Mother's Voice” and pretending that you care about the soldiers, but then slandering them after every operation – that is not being “the soldiers' home” (an IDF Radio slogan – ed.).
Remember him, because when you wear a uniform or enter the gates of the station, you are supposed to be in the same army!
Remember him, because your broadcasts de-legitimize, and even demonize, IDF soldiers in compulsory service and the reserves.
Remember him – because we ask you, Galei Tzahal – are you on our side or that of the enemy?
7. Mazuz Okays Housing for Kfar Darom Expellees
by Maayana Miskin
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has given a green light to a government plan to house the Jewish residents of the former Gaza town of Kfar Darom. The plan was first authorized for the first time more than four years, after Kfar Darom's approximately 100 families were forcibly removed from their homes in the 2005 expulsion known as the “Disengagement".
In the first months following that expulsion, families were put in hotel rooms in Be'er Sheva. Over the past few years, many have stayed in apartments in Ashkelon, while others, despairing of a timely solution from the government, broke apart from the community and found housing in various communities throughout the country.
The long stay in Ashkelon was difficult for many Kfar Darom expellees, many of whom had worked in agriculture prior to the expulsion from Gaza. The farmers who had created a thriving industry selling insect-free vegetables to Israel and the world were left with no land or funds with which to rebuild their businesses.
The planned new community will be built near Nir Akiva, a small farming community outside the city of Netivot. The community will be located 26 kilometers from the demolished town of Kfar Darom.
To read the rest of this thought-provoking article, click here!
