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1. Netanyahu Reassures Public: No Freeze in Jerusalem
by Gil Ronen
In an interview with Channel 2 television news, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that there will not be a construction freeze in Jerusalem, and that there is “a full understanding that there must not be preconditions for negotiations.”
“Our policy on Jerusalem will not change,” he said, noting that his government's policy on the 3,000-year-old Jewish capital was the same as that of all Israeli governments in the last 43 years.
He tried to play down the perception that US President Barack Obama humiliated him in his recent visit to Washington. “He is not humiliating me,” he muttered in an undertone, then asserted: “The United States does not agree with us about everything. There are ups and downs. There are difficult things and there were some even more difficult things. But there is a very strong fabric of relations that lets us overcome these problems.”
The meaning of independence
When pressed by interviewer Yonit Levy on Jerusalem, Netanyahu asked: “Why should I give up in Jerusalem?” Turning from defense to offense, he asked her where she was born. She told him that she was originally from French Hill in Jerusalem. Netanyahu, who may have known the answer in advance, explained that the current argument is over parts of Jerusalem like French Hill, which were unpopulated when they were liberated in 1967.
The United States reportedly wants Israel to freeze construction in the sections of Jerusalem that were under Jordanian occupation from 1948 to 1967.
Asked whether he could trust the US to lead the campaign against Iran, Netanyahu said Israel preferred a scenario in which the Americans take the lead. He reminded viewers, however, that Israel had just celebrated Independence Day – and that Jewish independence meant “first and foremost a Jewish state, and the ability to defend ourselves. Israel will always retain the right of self-defense.”
2. US Envoy Mitchell Makes Surprise Visit
by Maayana Miskin
United States envoy George Mitchell arrived in Israel Thursday for a surprise visit. Mitchell is expected to remain in Israel until Sunday, and to meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Thus far, no official statement has been made regarding the purpose of his visit.
The visit may be tied to reports of recent progress in US-moderated peace talks between Israel and the PA. Progress is thought to have been made during a visit by the Obama administration's Senior Director of Middle East at the National Security Council, Dan Shapiro.
Shapiro visited Israel this week along with David Hale, Mitchell's deputy, and met with aides to Netanyahu and Abbas.
Freeze fight
US officials recently asked Netanyahu to freeze construction for Jews in neighborhoods of Jerusalem that were under Jordanian control between 1948 and 1967. The PA has insisted that Israel stop building in those areas, which it claims as the future capital of a PA state in Judea and Samaria.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Netanyahu informed the White House last weekend that Israel would continue to allow construction throughout Jerusalem. Other U.S. officials claimed that Netanyahu promised Obama a two year building freeze in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in northern Jerusalem.
A recent WorldNetDaily report stated that the Obama administration has told the PA that US emissaries will pressure Israel to extend the current construction freeze in Judea and Samaria, which is slated to expire in late September. A senior PA official told WND that the PA had “reached an understanding” with America according to which Israel would extend the freeze and would stop construction for Jews in Jerusalem.
3. Report: PA Forces Turn to Hamas
by Maayana Miskin
While Palestinian Authority officials put the focus on winning concessions from Israel, a recent WorldNetDaily report indicates that they may face a greater challenge – a Hamas uprising from within. Support for Hamas is growing within PA ranks, WND said, as it did in Gaza prior to the 2007 Hamas takeover of the region.
Quoting PA sources, WND said several members of Fatah had recently been arrested for helping Hamas to establish an infrastructure in Shechem. Fatah members helped a doctor smuggle roughly $1 million to Hamas for the purpose of buying weapons, the sources said.
Hamas is suspected of rebuilding its terrorist infrastructure in other Judea and Samaria cities as well. Hamas terrorists in Jenin recently managed to obtain hundreds of high-powered assault rifles, PA officials said.
In addition, PA officials suspect that Hamas is infiltrating Fatah by secretly recruiting members, including those in the PA armed forces. Many young members of the forces have received military training from the US, as part of a plan to train the PA to fight terrorist uprisings.
Hamas is believed by many PA analysts to have infiltrated Fatah in Gaza prior to its takeover of Gaza in 2007. The fight for Gaza was relatively swift and bloodless – of the several tens of thousands of armed Hamas and Fatah members in Gaza, slightly more than 100 were killed, and Hamas completed its takeover in under one week. Some analysts believe the Hamas victory was swift because many Fatah fighters stood aside and willingly allowed the Islamic group to seize control.
Hamas has previously threatened to conquer Judea and Samaria, but more recently has made overtures to Fatah and is seeking reunification.
PA Troops Jailed for Terrorism
The WND report came as PA officers were arrested on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. According to PA media, Israeli troops arrested two members of the PA's US-trained forces, one of them a member of the elite Presidential Guard unit.
A third PA officer, Salim Ubayat, was recently convicted and sentenced for terrorist attacks on Israel. Ubayat was convicted of membership in the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, of planning bombing attacks and of carrying out shooting attacks in Judea and Samaria.
4. Washington Think Tank Predicts New Mideast War
by Hana Levi Julian
A U.S.-based think tank has issued a report saying that a new Middle East war may be looming on the horizon.
If hostilities do in fact break out, writes David Schenker of The Washington Institute, “fighting could take on a regional dimension not seen since 1973.” The prediction comes in response to reports that Syria has supplied the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization with advanced Russian-made 9K38 Igla-S anti-aircraft missiles. Transfer of the shoulder-fired ordnance to the terrorist group has previously been marked by Israeli officials as a “red line” issue.
Schenker also cited pronouncements posted in late February on the internet by the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization hinting the group might renew its aggression against the Jewish State. The statement followed an unprecedented trilateral summit / dinner meeting on February 26 in Damascus between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
A new development
Meetings between the Syrian and Iranian presidents have become very common in the past several years; however, Nasrallah's presence at the table marked a new chapter in the development of the Evil Axis. Little was publicized about the discussion, other than what was later posted on the Hizbullah website, said Schenker, noting the account recounted “the escalating strategic response of the axis of the confrontationist, rejectionist, and resistance states” to the so-called U.S.-Israeli threat.
Schenker also noted Nasrallah's sabre-rattling earlier in February, during a speech delivered on Hizbullah's Martyred Leaders Day, in which the terrorist laid out the new strategy for reprisals against Israel:
“If you [meaning Israel -ed.] bomb Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, we will bomb Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. If you bomb our docks, we will bomb your docks. If you bomb our oil refineries, we will bomb your oil refineries. If you bomb our factories, we will bomb your factories. And if you bomb our power plants, we will bomb your power plants,” Nasrallah declared.
Recent reports that Syria has provided the terrorist group with Scud missiles capable of reaching deep into Israel's central and southern regions have supported and underscored Nasrallah's threats. The U.S. State Department summoned the Syrian Ambassador, Imad Mustafa, to “inform his government about the level of danger if the missiles crossed the border” but did little more.
Syria 'broke the code'
The Institute has also concluded that “Damascus has finally broken the code to Europe, and appears to be on the verge of doing so with the Obama administration as well. Currently, Syria appears to be in a position where it can cultivate its ties with the West without sacrificing its support for terrorism.”
In addition, the report noted IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi's testimony in mid-March before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hizbullah was “building up its forces north of the Litani [River].” Ashkenazi reported at the time that the northern border was secure and calm, but that “this can change.”
The fact that Hizbullah continues to stockpile weapons in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, the ceasefire agreement that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, and that Iran and Syria continue to provide the group with illegal arms, observed the Institute, has contributed to the deterioration of the security situation in the north.
“Hizbullah retaliation against Israel for the 2008 assassination of its military leader Imad Mughniyeh could spark a war,” writes Schenker. “So could Hizbullah firing missiles in retribution for an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. The transfer of sensitive Syrian technology to [Hizbullah] could also prompt an Israeli strike. Regrettably, even if Israel continues to try and defuse tensions in the north, given the central role Tehran has in determining Hizbullah policy, a third Lebanon war may be inevitable.”
5. Report: Egypt Asks UN to Pressure Israel on Nukes
by Maayana Miskin
Egyptian officials have been attempting to rally support in the United Nations for pressure on Israel over its alleged possession of nuclear arms. The attempt was revealed by the New York Sun, which obtained copies of a document circulated by Egypt among UN ambassadors.
The document includes possible resolutions for the planned 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In the document, Egypt recalls the UN's 1995 Resolution on the Middle East, which called to make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone.
Egypt wishes to see Israel relinquish any nuclear arms in its possession and to grant the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency access to all nuclear facilities. Egypt is also hoping to convince Western countries to reveal the details of any nuclear-related sales to Israel, in an attempt to deal a blow to Israel's current policy of nuclear ambiguity.
Nuke-free zone?
Among the suggested resolutions is one that “calls upon Israel to promptly accede to the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation] Treaty as soon as possible as a non-nuclear-weapons State and place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards.”
Another suggests “the establishment of the nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.”
Egypt also aims to bring pressure to bear by barring sales that could boost Israel's nuclear facilities. The document suggests a Conference resolution that “reaffirms that any supply arrangements for the transfer of source or special fissionable material or equipment or material especially designed or prepared for the processing, use or production of special fissionable material to Israel should require, as a necessary precondition, Israel’s accession to the Treaty as a non-nuclear-weapon State and the placement of all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards.”
The clause, if accepted, would bar the United States, Russia, China, and European states from selling equipment or materials to Israel that could be used in a nuclear facility.
Iran not mentioned
In addition, the document “requests States parties to disclose to in their national reports on the implementation of the resolution on the Middle East all information available to them on the nature and scope of Israeli nuclear facilities and activities, including information pertaining to previous nuclear transfers to Israel.”
The document does not mention any other country by name. Pakistan is a nuclear power that has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Iran is developing its nuclear capacity while ignoring international calls to allow oversight of its facilities.
The IAEA, suggested by Egypt to oversee Israel's nuclear facilities, was headed until recently by Mohammed ElBaradei, an Egyptian who is currently weighing the possibility of running for his country's presidency. ElBaradei recently expressed support for terrorism against Israel, stating that Israel “only understands the language of violence.”
6. Does the World Need Another 9/11 to Wake Up?
by Derek Cling
David J. Rusin is a former astrophysicist who is now the director of the Islamist Watch of the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based foreign affairs think tank. He recently spoke with Israel National Radio's Tovia Singer about educational work he is doing with Islamist Watch to raise awareness in the United States concerning the internal threat of Radical Islam.
Rusin explains that 9/11 was an eye-opener for him, motivating him to give up astrophysics and pursue a career in combating Islamic Fundamentalism.
He warns about the non-violent manifestations of Radical Islam as perhaps being one of the Western World's biggest threats. "Violent Islamism, terror attacks... are only part of the story," he says, "There's also what you might call a slow-motion, or stealth Jihad, which, rather than trying to blow up the foundations of our country and our civilization, seek to chip away at those foundations slowly from within."
Muslims take on US from inside
He also looks at Radical Islam in Europe and sees another warning sign that the United States and the rest of the world should take seriously. "Many of the problems with radical Islam are more advanced in Europe," Rusin admits. However, "we see radical Muslims working within the system in the United States using the media, the courts, and the government, trying to impose aspects of Islamic law into our system and into our lives. They try to win certain privileges for Muslims and try to shut down criticism of Islam."
Islamist Watch tries to rally the support of moderate Muslims, "who believe in their faith, but who also believe in tenets of freedom and liberty," in order to stand together against the threat of Radical Islam. "There is such an Islamist current in mainstream Muslim organizations in this country," Rusin explains, "that a lot of moderates are starting to step forward and say 'we need to be a little bit more proactive here.' At Islamist watch, one of our chief priorities is to promote these individuals and organizations, and promote their message."
Rusin and his organization are also concerned with governmental support going to the radical Muslim groups, rather than the moderate ones. "When you look at Muslim groups in the United States," he says, "it is the more radical Muslim groups that have risen to the surface. These are the groups, unfortunately, that both the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration always seek out when they want to do their outreach to the Muslim community.
'A big negative change'
“There is a long track record, at this point, of the Obama Administration pursuing policies that have been detrimental to our conduct of the war on terror. We're [the U.S. -ed.] not even mentioning radical or extremist Islam in our national security documents. This is a big negative change from previous years where the Bush Administration's defense and national security strategies specifically talked about militant Islam as the number one threat facing this country."
When asked what non-violent threat concerns him most in America, he answers ‘free speech’, which he believes is "under threat like never before on a number of different levels." Some examples of ways in which free speech is under threat, says Rusin, "is the UN Human Rights Council passing resolutions urging member governments to restrict speech that might be deemed offensive to certain religious groups, and one facet of ‘law fare’, the use of predatory lawsuits to try to silence researchers and activists looking into or opposing radical Islam."
An even more ominous threat to free speech, according to Rusin, is something he terms "self censorship - the belief that tolerance and diversity trumps everything and we have to try and make sure that we do not offend anybody, and therefore, we do not say the things that need to be said."
The academic world also seems to be encouraging Radical Islam, he says. "There is a strong Anti-American, Anti-Israel, anti-Capitalist culture prevalent in academia," he explains, "There is also a very strong strain of multi-cultural fundamentalism, the belief that there truly is nothing that separates us from other cultures – no culture is better than any other culture. They are not comfortable speaking out against the atrocities that we see committed in the name of radical Islam and the lack of freedom that we see characterizing societies that are governed by radical Islam."
Campus Watch
Rusin explains that the Middle East Forum is trying to speak out against these concerns with a project called Campus Watch. "It looks at Middle East studies in the United Sates," he explains, "with an eye towards criticizing and improving them." He admits, however, that "the academic world is very, very difficult to combat.
Islamist Watch believes that the mainstream media need to be combated by alternative forms of media. As Rusin relates, "The major media not only distorts the news, but they give you some of it and hold some of it back. There are great innovations that the new media has presented, such as talk radio, cable television, and most importantly, the Internet and the blogosphere. These alternative sources fill in a lot of the cracks that the major media outlets would prefer to go unfilled."
"9/11 opened my eyes”, he concludes. “It made me question what's going on in the world. It made me see that the liberties that are so precious to us are under threat. 9/11 woke a lot of people up, and we remained awake for a year or two, but then we started bickering, and finally, we started forgetting. I hate to say it, but it may take something terrible to happen in order to open many of the eyes that have been closed."
7. Ed Koch Predicts Anti-Democrat 'Tsunami' in November
by Gil Ronen
Former New York mayor Ed Koch predicts that the Democratic party will face a 'tsunami' in the November mid-term elections, in an interview with Israel National Radio's Yishai Fleisher.
The legendary three-term mayor said that President Barack Obama had “betrayed” the Jews who voted for him en masse. “I must say,” he added, “that Jewish support – according to the polls here in America – for President Obama has gone down about 20 percent, from 78 to 58. I'm going to try to make it lower.”
"I believe that there is going to be a tsunami in November and that the Democratic party is going to suffer enormous defeats,” he said.
He said that Jews need to rethink their unwavering support for liberal candidates like Obama. “Jews are liberals, we want people to have their rights,” he explained, “and regrettably too often they forget about their own rights and the rights of their brothers and sisters in Israel.”
Throwing Israel under the bus
In a commentary piece, Koch had written: “I believe Obama’s policy is to create a whole new relationship with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq as a counter to Iran, which we are now prepared to see in possession of a nuclear weapon. If throwing Israel under the bus is needed to accomplish this alliance, so be it.”
“I am shocked by the lack of outrage on the part of Israel’s supporters. The members of AIPAC, the chief pro-Israel lobbying organization in Washington, gave Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a standing ovation after she had carried out Obama’s instructions and, in a 43-minute phone call, angrily hectored Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
“Members of both the House and Senate have made pitifully weak statements against Obama’s mistreatment of Israel, if they made any at all. The Democratic members, in particular, are simply afraid to criticize him.
“What bothers me most is the shameful silence by community leaders – Jew and Christian. Where are they?”
