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1. ‘Perfect Timing’ for Netanyahu in Toronto ‘Walk for Israel’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu joins Toronto’s Walk for Israel Sunday in what his spokesman said is "perfect timing" for the first Israeli prime ministerial visit to Ottawa in 16 years. The last Israeli prime minister to visit Canada was Yitzchak Rabin in 1994.
The timing is perfect," said Amir Gissin, Israel's consul general in Toronto. "Today Canada is a very close friend of Israel, with both a friendly government and opposition; we just had the premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, in Israel." McGuinty's visit focused on increasing trade with Israel but also included a meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
The enthusiastic welcome expected in Canada will give Prime Minister Netanyahu a positive send-off for his quick visit to U.S. President Barack Obama later in the week and in the wake of the American president’s departure from a 40-year U.S. policy not to pressure Israel to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s planned participation in the march has thrilled the country’s Jewish community, and B’nai Brith Canada is publishing full-page national advertisements thanking Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his support for Israel. The ads also call on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to ensure that Jerusalem remains the eternal undivided capital of the Jewish State.
Frank Dimant, B’nai Brith Canada’s Executive Vice President, noted “the pressure being applied by the Obama Administration on Prime Minister Netanyahu to make concessions to the divided and uncompromising Palestinian factions….The Israeli Prime Minister will be heading to a meeting with President Obama right after his trip to Canada, so it is important that he understands that his position for a united Jerusalem is supported by Jews around the world.”
Shimon Fogel, chief executive officer of the Canada-Israel Committee, stated, "Iran represents the most pressing threat to global security today. The international community cannot allow itself to be distracted from addressing the threat Iran represents, not just to Israel or to regional stability - but in a very real sense to Canada and Canadians both at home and abroad.”
The Canadian Conservative government has been a staunch supporter of Israel since taking office in 2006. "I welcome the opportunity to spend time with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a leader of vision and conviction and a great friend of Israel and a champion of peace," Prime Minister Netanyahu said before arriving Friday for a four-day visit. "The friendship between Israel and Canada is exceptionally warm. We are sister democracies that seek peace with security, progress and prosperity."
"What Netanyahu is trying to do is cement the base," said Dr, David Bercuson, the director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary and author of Canada and the Birth of Israel. The Al Jazeera satellite network quoted him as saying, "The Israeli diplomatic position is deteriorating and he's trying to keep the stalwarts in place."
Canada was the first country in the world to boycott the de facto Hamas government in Gaza in 2006 when it forced out the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in a militia coup. "Not a red cent to Hamas," said then-Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay.
Canada also stood four-square behind Israel’s retaliatory actions in the 2006 Second Lebanon War. "I think Israel's response under the circumstances has been measured," Prime Minister Harper said at the time. He called Hizbullah and Hamas “genocidal.”
2. Jerusalem Restricts Emanuel Bar Mitzvah Party
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s son Zach will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah Sunday at the Davidson Center near the Western Wall but without catering or music. Jerusalem officials accepted a complaint from nationalist activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who pointed out that the law forbids food and music at the Center, adjacent to the Western Wall
Jerusalem court judge has ordered Ben-Gvir and activist Baruch Marzel to remain at least 1,500 feet from Emanuel and his delegation.
Zach Emanuel is celebrating on Sunday morning. Although Western Wall Bar Mitzvah ceremonies are traditionally held on Monday, Thursday or the Sabbath, the days when the Torah is read, Bar Mitzvah celebration parties can be held at any time.
Emanuel’s diverged from traditional Jewish custom during his trip, although he often has been described in the media as “Orthodox.” He ate non-kosher food publicly in Eilat last week and brought his family to an “alternative orthodox” synagogue in the Germany Colony in Jerusalem Friday night.
Foreign and local media have not noted that the Davidson Center where Zach Emanuel's Bar Mitzvah is being held is in an area that the United States does not recognize as being under Israeli sovereignty.
The senior Emanuel is considered the man behind U.S. President Barack Obama’s “hard love” policy that has included labeling Jewish neighborhoods near the Western Wall as ”settlements.”
3. US Trying to Deport ‘Son of Hamas’ Who Exposed Terrorism
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The “Son of Hamas," whose recent book reveals his path to Christianity and exposes Hamas terrorism, says that U.S. Homeland Security wants to deport him on charges that he is a terrorist.
Writing on his publisher’s blog, Mosab Hassan Yousef expressed his “outrage” and described what he called a "security system that is so primitive and naive that it endangers the lives of countless Americans." Yousef wrote that he faces a deportation hearing on June 30 at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration Court in San Diego.
He questioned why he is being deported. “For what? For risking my life fighting terrorism in the Middle East for 10 years? For saving the lives of Israelis, Palestinians and Americans?"
His saga began in January, 2007 when he arrived at an American airport on a tourist visa without interference. “Seven months later, I went to the Homeland Security office, knocked on their door and told them, ‘Hey, guys, I am the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, my father is involved in a terrorist organization, and I would like political asylum in your country.'"
“They were shocked,” Yousef wrote on the blog. “I came to you and told you who I am to wake you up. I wanted them to see that they have huge gaps in their security and their understanding of terrorism and make changes before it’s too late.’
His application for asylum was rejected last February “because there were reasonable grounds for believing he was a danger to the security of the United States and [was] engaged in terrorist activity.”
In a hearing, he presented a draft of his book “Son of Hamas” as evidence in his behalf. Homeland Security senior attorney Kerri Calcador claimed that, “In the book, the respondent discusses his extensive involvement with Hamas in great detail. For example, in one portion of the book, a member of Shin Bet shows the respondent a list of suspects implicated in a March 2001 suicide bombing and asks the respondent whether he knows the individuals. The respondent indicates that he does know five of the people on the list and states that he previously drove them to safe houses.”
Yousef countered that he was working as a secret agent for the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) at the time. “No one — not me, not my father, not even Israel — knew at the time that these men were involved with suicide bombings,” Yousef argued. “I was the one who connected these men with the bombing at the Hebrew University cafeteria in July 2002. And Homeland Security would do well to remember that there were five American citizens among the dead. Apparently the agency needs also to be reminded that I was the one who located the terrorists and led to their arrest or death.”
He also claims that he posed as a terrorist while working for Israel. “Yes, I carried a gun,” he wrote. “Yes, I was in terrorist meetings with Yasser Arafat, my father and other Hamas leaders. It was part of my job. And I passed on to the Shin Bet all the information I gathered during those meetings and saved the lives of many people—including many Americans.
“Homeland Security has absolutely no idea of the dangers that lie ahead. For nearly 30 years, I watched from the inside as Hamas dug its claws deeper and deeper into Israel. They started awkwardly, clumsily, but they got good at it. And al-Qaeda is becoming more like Hamas.
“Al-Qaeda started with huge attacks like September 11. But bin Laden has learned from Hamas’s war against Israel how to bleed its enemy. Al-Qaeda understands how effective the Hamas strategy will be on American soil.”
A former Israeli security agent, identified as “G,” has confirmed Yousef's account as a secret agent and said that Yousef’s spying saved the lives of many Israelis.
4. Israel Submarines Headed for Persian Gulf
by Hana Levi Julian
Israel has allegedly deployed a permanent submarine presence in the Persian Gulf to keep an eye on Iran, according to media reports published Sunday. The three German-built submarines are reportedly equipped with nuclear cruise missiles.
Flotilla 7 is comprised of three submarines that have visited the region before – the Dolphin, the Tekuma and the Leviathan. Each crew includes between 35 to 50 soldiers and is commanded by a colonel.
At least one will remain in the area at all times, until further notice, according to “Colonel O,” the commander of the force quoted in the reports. “We are an underwater assault force, operating deep and far – very far – from our borders,” he said.
The submarines can stay submerged as deep as 1,150 feet below the surface, for as long as a week, and can remain at sea for some 50 days. “We [also] serve as a solid base for collecting sensitive information because we can stay in one place for a long time,” said an officer in the fleet.
The force is intended primarily as a deterrent, however. “The 1,500 kilometer range of the submarines' cruise missiles can reach any target in Iran,” noted a navy officer quoted by British newspaper The Sunday Times.
The deployment was sent in response to the recent delivery of Iranian-produced ballistic missiles from Syria to Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon and the opening of Syria to Hizbullah presence. The missiles have the capability of hitting air bases and other sensitive sites located deep in Israel, as far south as Tel Aviv and beyond.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak reportedly shared satellite imagery of the delivery of the missiles with U.S. President Barack Obama during his recent visit to the White House.
The London Times claimed satellite pictures show a Hizbullah base on Syrian soil which is a depot for arms to be delivered by Hizbullah truck fleet to Lebanon
Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Obama for a quick visit later in the week. President Shimon Peres and possibly Defense Minister Barak will be accompanying him as well. It will be the third such meeting so far this year.
Israel is hoping to acquire two more submarines that are even more advanced in the near future, the Meko A-100 built by Blohm and Voss, a division of Germany's Thyssen-Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS) Group.
If the navy purchases the two vessels, it reportedly will arm them with air-defense capability, thus creating the world's first air defense corvettes – and giving the Israeli surface fleet independent air cover for the first time as well.
5. Obama Government Backs Down on No-Nukes Draft; Israel Objects
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu denounced as “hypocritical” a United Nations resolution calling for a nuclear-free Middle East and said Israel will not participate in a planned conference by members of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The resolution did not mention Iran.
"This resolution is deeply flawed and hypocritical. It ignores the realities of the Middle East and the real threats facing the region and the entire world," government spokesmen stated in Toronto, where Prime Minister Netanyahu is visiting. "It singles out Israel, the Middle East's only true democracy and the only country threatened with annihilation. Given the distorted nature of this resolution, Israel will not be able to take part in its implementation."
NPT members agreed to a draft resolution on Friday after the United States withdrew its objections to the draft that points out "the importance of Israel's accession to the treaty and the placement of all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards."
The resolution calls for a conference in 2012 but did not mention Iran, which Israel and the United States are sure is trying to use its nuclear program to develop and manufacture a nuclear warhead to be aimed at Israel.
The draft also does not mention India and Pakistan, which have nuclear weapons but, like Israel, have not signed the NPT. Israel continues its policy of “ambiguity,” which neither confirms nor denies that it possesses nuclear weapons. Most analysts assume that the Jewish State has at least 200 atomic bombs or warheads.
U.S. President Barack Obama criticized the draft agreement even though American delegates gave up trying to block the wording in order to prevent a collapse in the negotiations to propose a resolution. The president stated, "We strongly oppose efforts to single out Israel, and will oppose actions that jeopardize Israel's national security" even though the resolution itself represents another victory for the anti-Israel movement aimed at weakening Israel's existence.
Pro-Israel leaders warned last month that President Obama was making a mistake in agreeing to an Egyptian demand to discuss the idea of a nuclear-free Middle East, a discernible change from the attitude of the Bush administration..
6. Satellite Pictures Seen of Hizbullah Base on Syrian Soil
by Rachel Sylvetsky
Hizbullah terrorists are running weapons to Lebanon from secret arms depots in Syria where the terrorists have been accorded their own living quarters, arms storage site and a fleet of trucks, according to the London Times, which claims to have been shown satellite images of one of the compounds. It is said to be situated near the town of Adra, northeast of Damascus. Israeli TV's second channel reported that P.M. Netanyahu spoke about the base in a conversation with Italian President Berloscuni.
The Times quoted a security source, who said, "HIzbullah is allowed to operate this site freely. They often move the arms in bad weather when Israeli satellites are unable to track them." The weapons come from Syria itself or are sent from Iran by air or sea.
This is the first proof of Hizbullah guerillas encamping on Syrian soil, leading to fears that if there is another clash between Israel and Hizbullah, Syria could immediately become involved.
Israel reportedly had wanted to bomb one of the arms transfers but yielded to U.S. pressure to rely on its diplomatic efforts to stop the arms flow. These have been unsuccessful, although John Kerry, the head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Syrian President Bassar Assad in Damascus in April and discussed arms and Scud missile transfers from Syria to the Hizbullah. Syria denied the transfer, but Western diplomatic sources said that Syria is "flat out lying".
The Times turned to the Syrian Embassy spokesman in London, Jihad Makdissi, who insisted that all military sites in Syria were exclusive to the Syrian military. "If these military depots really exist it would be for the exclusive use of the Syrian army to defend Syrian soil [from Israel], and it is definitely nobody's business."
IDF Intelligence Officer, Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, told the Knesset recently that even without the Scud transfers, which he called the 'tip of the iceberg', Hizbullah's arsenal contains rockets of all kinds in numbers that exceed by far their arsenal before the last war with Israel. Weapons transfers from Syria had passed the stage of 'smuggling' and were 'organized and official', he said. (For INN's coverage of his report, click here.)
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006, banned the rearming of Hizbullah, but has been totally ignored by the terrorist group and its allies.
7. Air Force Strikes More Terror Tunnels after Continuing Attacks
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyhahu
The Israeli Air Force bombed a weapons manufacturing site and a terror tunnel Friday night following further Hamas rocket attacks on the Western Negev, despite announcements by the terrorist organization and its allies they would cease the rocket attacks. Gaza-based terrorists continued to attack Israel after the Air Force bombings, firing two rockets Saturday night. One of them exploded in an open area south of Ashkelon.
It was the second retaliation in three days and the third in a week. No one was wounded in the six raids, at least two of them scoring direct hits on terrorist targets. A smuggling tunnel was bombed in the area of Rafiah, the city that straddles the border between Gaza and Egypt, and a weapons factory in northern Gaza was targeted.
More than 50 rockets have exploded in the Negev since the beginning of 2010, and more than 350 rockets were fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza into Israel since the end of Operation Cast Lead last year,.
Israel agreed to end the counterterrorism war after the United States promised to set up a monitoring system in the Sinai that was supposed to stop the smuggling network that has enabled Hamas to stockpile advanced arms and rockets, including missiles that can down Israeli planes.
In a separate incident on the Sabbath, six Arabs in Gaza were killed from an explosion of a gas canister that was being smuggled through a tunnel under the Egyptian border.
