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1. Former US Ambassador John Bolton: Obama Damages Israeli Security
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
John Bolton, former United States ambassador to the United Nations, told Bar Shem-Ur on IDF Army Radio Tuesday morning that ”[U.S. President Barack] Obama is harming Israeli security and is playing into the hands of [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad” by agreeing to talk with Egypt about a nuclear-free Middle East.
“All of us know this suggestion [of Egypt] relates to one country - Israel,” Bolton stated. "The question right now is how much pressure he is prepared to apply to achieve his objective. If I were an Israeli, I would be afraid of the results of these contacts because of the very fact that Obama agrees to talk with Egypt” about its proposal.
“It is clear that we are talking about an absurd and very aggravating” action by President Obama, “but this is how it has worked for years since the days of Castro, and the ‘shining” period of [Yasser] Arafat,” Bolton told Army Radio.
He also said he is not surprised that the “head of an enemy state can arrive in the United States, take the podium in the center of New York, castigate the United States and Israel and accuse them of mutual nuclear aid.
“This really is not an exceptional step for the U.N. to give the podium to the president of Iran. The best thing I can say about the visit of Ahmadinejad is that his speech was so ridiculous that he actually damages himself more than he does himself any good.”
Calling the United Nations an organization “empty of all content” that “lost its legitimacy a long time ago,” Bolton suggested the establishment of an alternative body comprising only those countries that are democratic.
“There needs to be a wide-ranging discussion on the lack of effectiveness of the United Nations in dealing with international challenges,” he explained. “In its history, it has failed time after time to deal with global threats. This happened with Communism and today it is happening with worldwide terror.”
He dismissed the U.N. committee for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons as another “great name of an organization that has no teeth or significance."
Bolton, who advised then-President George W. Bush to stop paying dues to the United Nations, quit his U.N. post out of frustration.
2. US Links De-Nuking Israel with Removing Iranian Threat
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The United States, which already has tied Israel’s agreeing to Palestinian Authority demands with solving the Iranian nuclear threat, now cites Israel’s nuclear arsenal as the key.
Ellen Tauscher, U.S. Undersecretary of State for arms control, was quoted by the London Guardian as saying last week, "The best chance we have to achieve a WMD-free zone in the Middle East is to reach an agreement on a lasting and just peace in the Middle East." A proposal for a ban on mass destruction weapons in the Middle East is being circulated by the Obama administration and Russia.
Egypt also is circulating a proposal that links removing nuclear weapons from Israel with eliminating the Iranian threat to become a nuclear power. Egyptian Ambassador to the United Nations Maged A. Abdelaziz said last week, “Success in dealing with Iran will depend to a large extent on how successfully we deal with the establishment of a nuclear-free zone" in the Middle East, meaning Israel.
Cairo also is using its “Israel card” to refuse to participate in the chemical weapons convention, arguing that Israel first must sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
Israel’s “ambiguity” policy does not admit or confirm that it has nuclear weapons. It has declined to sign the NPT, which would require opening up state secrets on nuclear capability.
The United Nations this week opened its NPT conference and heard Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad charge, “The Zionist regime continues to threaten the countries of the Middle East with its arsenal. It continues to threaten the world's countries with acts of terror and invasion, and even gets the necessary assistance for its nuclear program.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton revealed to the conference Monday that the United States has 5,113 nuclear weapons, nearly 50 percent less than most estimates.
However, she did not disclose how many weapons have long-range capability. The United States and Russia have “enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world many times over,” she said. American officials noted that the United States has reduced its nuclear capability by 84 percent since the mid-1960s and 90 percent since 1991.
Revealing the classified information in the American nuclear arsenal is designed at putting pressure on China to do the same.
An American-inspired Middle East peace, with Israel at the core, remains in the background of the official statements. Besides the Russian-American proposal, Egypt’s position paper calls for countries signing the non-proliferation treaty "to disclose all information available to them on the nature and scope of Israeli nuclear capabilities, including information pertaining to previous nuclear transfers to Israel."
The proposal is buried in its working paper being circulated in New York, according to the Washington Post’s Walter Pincus.
Pincus noted, “How the Obama administration deals with the nettlesome problem of Israel's nuclear arsenal and the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East will determine U.S. success or failure at the NPT conference.”
3. Obama ‘Reassures’ Bibi in Phone Call as Mitchell Arrives
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday and led a 20-minute conversation in which he “reassured” the Prime Minister and discussed “how to best work together” for an agreement for a Palestinian Authority country.
His direct intervention came as U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell arrived to resume American-mediated talks between Israel and the PA.
The tone of Monday’s phone call was far different from that of conversations between the two leaders when Netanyahu visited Washington several weeks ago. The Obama administration was up in arms over Israel’s advancing plans to build homes for Jews in parts of Jerusalem that the PA, backed by the United States, wants as part of a new Arab state.
However, deep distrust lurks behind Monday's official statements. A warm Washington welcome last week for Labor party coalition chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak underscores the Obama administration’s reported attempts to topple or at least change the makeup of the Netanyahu government.
Remarks on Monday by Barak, whose views are close to those of President Obama, were evidence that the welcome mat in Washington provided him with a catalyst for weakening the Prime Minister.
He told the Labor caucus, “If it turns out that the government must be expanded, we will have to seriously consider an expansion,” which would meaning adding the Kadima party, headed by Tzipi Livni.
Meanwhile, the PA is heading into the talks without any offers of compromise on its demands. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas previously has said that he "has time” and can wait until the time is ripe to turn to the United Nations to recognize the PA as an independent country without any formal agreement with Israel.
4. FIFA Reverses Hijab Ban After Iranian Protest
by Hana Levi Julian
The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) had earlier banned Iran's female football squad from wearing the hijab at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, slated for August 14-26 in Singapore.
The head of the Iranian Football Federation, Ali Kaffashian, and the federation's International Relations director, Omid Jamali, met in Switzerland to discuss the issue with FIFA president Sepp Blater and secretary-general Jerome Valcke.
The two Iranian officials told FIFA, “The entire world should respect Muslims' rights and consider Islamic rules and values as a crucial factor when dealing with the Muslim countries' women football teams,” according to the state-run Iranian FNA news agency.
FIFA subsequently ruled in a letter to the Iranian federation that if the hijab covers the hair without violating the rules of the game, the female footballers can use it and the Iranian players could participate in this summer's Olympic games in Singapore.
The Iranian team members, age 14 and under, will be registered by the Olympic authorities, the letter added.
5. US, Britain, and France 'Disengage' Ahmadinejad
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The United States, Britain and France led a walkout on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the U.N. nuclear non-proliferation conference Monday as he accused countries with nuclear weapons of threatening those without them. "How can the United States be a member of the board of governors when it used nuclear weapons against Japan," he said
New York Rep. Steve Israel called for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel “to be wiped off the map,” to be arrested and tried for "incitement to genocide.” Rep. Israel stated, "Incitement to genocide is a punishable act and instead of giving him another platform at the U.N., he should be tried.”
The lower house of Congress three years ago passed a resolution calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Ahmadinejad.
The only head of state to address the General Assembly conference, he challenged anyone to provide evidence that Iran is developing nuclear arms. There is “not a single credible proof.” he declared. Before he spoke, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the “onus” is on Iran to prove its nuclear program does not include the development of nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad did not spare Israel from his usual diatribe against the Jewish State. “The Zionist regime continues to threaten the countries of the Middle East with its arsenal. It continues to threaten the world's countries with acts of terror and invasion, and even gets the necessary assistance for its nuclear program," he charged.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to address the conference later on Monday. Last week, she warned that if Ahmadinejad tries to "divert attention from this very important global effort or cause confusion that might possibly throw into doubt what Iran has been up to ... I don't believe he will have a particularly receptive audience.” Ahmadinejad’s aides said they expected a walkout but that it makes no difference because “his message” will be heard.
Security in New York City was tight, particularly following Saturday night’s failed car bomb attack in Times Square.
6. French Anti-Semites Tear Gas Elderly Man at Synagogue
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Three men sprayed tear gas on an elderly Jew outside a French synagogue Sunday, the second violent attack on Jews in the country in three days. The attackers of the elderly man left behind an anti-Semitic slogan, according to the London Telegraph.
The attackers, still at-large, launched the attack as the man, described as being in his 80s, was waiting outside to attend daily prayer services, Nimes Jewish community leader Paul Benguigui told the newspaper. Nimes is located in southern France.
Friday night, assailants brutally attacked a 42-year-old man in Strasbourg, hitting him across the back of the head with a metal rod and stabbing him in the chest. Authorities charged a 38-yer-old man, said to be mentally deranged, for attempted murder.
Sunday's tear gas attack “triggered certain worries” in the Jewish community, Benguigi said. Three years ago, a Muslim gang tortured and killed Ilan Halimi, a young French Jew, in a Paris suburb.
Approximately half a million Jews live in France. Local Zionist groups, along with the Jewish Agency, have been trying to encourage them to move to Israel as anti-Semitism rises throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
During his tenure as Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon urged French Jews to immigrate to Israel "immediately.”
7. Times Square Bombing Suspect Arrested Trying to Flee US
by Hana Levi Julian
U.S. authorities have arrested a suspect trying to flee the country after last week's attempted car bomb in New York City's Times Square. Shahzad Faisal, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, was arrested by Customs and Border Protection officers Monday night at JFK International Airport in New York.
The Nissan Pathfinder, parked in the heart of the city on Broadway and West 45th Street, was rigged with two 5-gallon containers of gasoline, three canisters of propane and some firecrackers, eight bags of fertilizer and several alarm clocks. No motive has been established.
A surveillance video showed a man walking away from the scene where the Pathfinder was parked, looking over his shoulder. He was seen quickly stripping off a dark shirt and stuffing it in his bag, and walking away wearing a red shirt instead.
A Pakistani Taliban group initially claimed responsibility, but one U.S. security official interviewed on an American radio station Monday evening said its veracity could not be confirmed. “They claim credit for everything, including traffic jams, in New York,” he said.
The vehicle had been parked at the curb with its engine running and the flashers on. Two street vendors flagged down a mounted police officer when they noticed smoke drifting up from the empty vehicle. The officer later said that he noticed a flash, which intensified his suspicions, prompting him to immediately call for backup and to evacuate the area.
NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told The New York Times that the bomb “would have caused casualties, a significant fireball.”
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force has taken over the investigation of the incident from the NYC Police Department due to possible links with international terrorism, a senior security official told the Washington Post.
Earlier reports said a possible suspect had traveled recently to Pakistan, but they did not name the source due to the sensitivity of the investigation. The suspect had allegedly paid cash weeks ago for the SUV that he parked in Times Square.
NBC News reported there was other evidence linking the owner of the vehicle, a Connecticut resident, to the attempted bombing, including an email with his name on it that had been sent to the seller of the car last month.
Investigators have also discovered that the license plates on the vehicle did not belong to the Pathfinder. A dealership sticker on the car led investigators to an auto sales shop in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut – but the business owner said the identification numbers that were on the Pathfinder's engine and axle did not match any vehicle that he sold.
Worldwide Terror Directed from Pakistan?
At least one Pakistani-based terrorist group appears to be extending its reach into the worldwide arena, although it is not clear whether in fact this group has had any connection with last week's failed bombing attempt in Times Square.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, literally Army of the Righteous, is one of the largest and most active Islamist terror organizations in southern Asia, based near Lahore, Pakistan.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is also known to have ties with the Taliban, as well as the international al Qaeda terrorist organization that carried out the “9/11” terror attack on the NYC World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It is banned as a terrorist organization by the United States, as well as India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, the EU, Russia and Australia.
The group was responsible for the massive November 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, India in which 175 people were killed and 308 were injured. Among the dead were Rabbi Gavriel and Mrs. Rivka Holtzberg, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries to the city, and four of their guests at the Nariman Chabad House.
