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1. Sen. Kerry in Israel: Praise for Israel, Worried over Iran
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. Senator John Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on Sunday and said, “Iran has not left anybody very much choice but to move down the road that we are going.” He refrerred to tougher sanctions on Iran but did not mention the military option.
“No one in the United States underestimates or mistakes the challenge that Iran is posing to the region,” Sen. Kerry added. “We have put some tough sanctions into place… and in the Senate; we just went further last week."
The sanctions that the Democratic-controlled Congress wants has placed it at odds with U.S. President Barack Obama, who faces increasing criticism for failing to push harsher measures through the United Nations Security Council.
The senator’s visit is viewed as a warm-up for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the White House next month, one week after King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia will travel to Washington. The Arab world has held out for Israel to accept the Saudi 2002 Initiative, demanding a surrender of all of the land restored to the Jewish State in the 1967 Six-Day War as well as allowing the immigration to Israel of approximately five million Arabs claiming to be descendants of former residents of Israel.
“President Obama, I know, is very much looking forward to the meeting with the Prime Minister,” Sen. Kerry stated. “Let me begin by congratulating you.” Referring to Israel’s relaxing the partial land embargo on Hamas-controlled Gaza, he added, “I think everyone in Congress, and in the administration, and in our country was pleased and excited by the steps that Israel has taken now. We are very sympathetic to your right to defend yourself… I personally visited Sderot, I know the problem of the rockets coming in, and how many have come in, this needs to change, and that’s what we are all working on.”
He used the opportunity to promote the American-mediated “proximity talks” under the leadership of U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell. “[Former] Senator Mitchell will be back here continuing to work on it… I think time is the enemy for all of us here. We need to get this moving because the patience of people who have been waiting a long time on both sides, on all sides, has been tried."
Sen. Kerry previously has visited Syria and Gaza in an effort to win backing for a regional peace summit, even though the United States considers Syria a country that supports terrorism.
President Peres told Kerry, “I do not believe that we can move without the leadership of the United States.… We are very grateful to the United States for its strong support of Israel. It is important to raise the level of discussion between Israel and the Palestinians from proximity talks to direct talks. It is also necessary to have a secret channel, because everything made public is no longer negotiations, but rather public relations.”
2. Iran and Gaza behind 15th Meeting of US, Israel Military Chiefs
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen is meeting his Israeli counterpart IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi for the 15th time in three years on Sunday, an extraordinary reversal in top consultations following 10 years without direct discussions.
The unscheduled visit in Israel was described by the IDF as a “brief professional visit,” but it will be long enough to include discussions with five top IDF officers, including the head of the navy and of military intelligence.
The United States formerly has ignored the Iranian nuclear threat, angering Israel with its assessment, disclosed in late 2007, that American intelligence had concluded that Iran had suspended its efforts to build a nuclear weapon.
Events in the Islamic Republic since then have thoroughly disproved the conclusion, and the prospect of a military strike by Israel on Iran’s nuclear sites, possibly with the approval or even participation of the United States, has been raised from time to time. U.S. President Barack Obama has consistently opted for diplomacy and sanctions against Iran while Tehran continues to produce enriched uranium, a key element for a nuclear weapon.
Most estimates are that Iran will be able to manufacture such a weapon within a year but will not have the capacity to atttack Israel with a nuclear warhead for three years. However, fears remain that Iran could transfer a nuclear weapon, in the form of a “dirty bomb” or some other means, to terrorist groups such as Hizbullah, based in Lebanon, Israel's northern neighbor.
Following previous meetings with Chief of Staff Ashkenazi, Mullen has stated that there is a “shared recognition that there remains a potential for Iran to develop nuclear weapons and to threaten its neighbors.”
Mullen’s visit on Sunday, his fourth in Israel, follows a trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The inclusion of the head of the Israeli navy in Sunday’s discussions indicates they will include on their agenda the flotilla clash on May 31 and current threats to break Israel’s control of the Gaza coast. The navy also may be involved in what were reported last week as routine maneuvers in which 11 U.S. warships sailed through the Suez Canal under extraordinary Egyptian army protection. One Israeli ship reportedly joined the armada.
3. Venezuelan-Syrian Axis Renewed in Caracas
by Hana Levi Julian
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez welcomed Syrian President Bashar Assad during his “historic” first visit to Caracas on Saturday.
“For the first time, the Syrian president crossed the Atlantic and chose Caracas as his first stop,” Chavez boasted. The two met last in Damascus in September 2009. Chavez said that Latin America and the Arab world would together play a “key role in freeing the world” by fighting “Imperialism, capitalism and “neo-liberal hegemony that today threatens the survival of the human race.
“But one day the genocidal state of Israel will be put in its place, and let's hope that a really democratic state emerges there, with which we can share a path and ideas,” the Venezuelan leader reportedly remarked during his meeting with Assad. “It has become the assassin arm of the United States; no one can doubt it. It is a threat to all of us. Not just to you but to us as well. A threat to the countries who fight for their freedom,” Chavez added, according to the Reuters news agency.
Assad praised the Venezuelan leader for “supporting just causes both in Latin America, our own region and throughout the world. Few politicians are brave enough to say 'no' when it's needed,” he told Chavez, who had broken ties with Israel during the three-week war against Hamas terror in Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009.
The two cemented economic ties with a $100 million deal to create a trade and development fund between the two nations. Venezuela and Syria are also expected to agree on a joint project to build an oil refinery in Syria that would produce up to 140,000 barrels of crude per day. Venezuela is home to the world's largest natural deposit of oil outside of the Middle East.
Assad is scheduled to travel to Brazil, Argentina and Cuba after leaving Venezuela.
4. Shin Bet Agent Breaks Cover in US for 'Son of Hamas'
by Hana Levi Julian
A Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) agent has broken his cover in an attempt to help his former fellow agent avoid deportation from the United States.
Gonen Ben-Yitzchak, who left the service four years ago, worked for 10 years as one of the handlers of Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of the book “Son of Hamas.”
Yousef is the eldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founder of Hamas, and for a decade was also an informant for the Jewish State. The team was responsible for preventing countless terrorist attacks, among them assassination attempts on the life of President Shimon Peres and Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
Yousef subsequently emigrated to the United States, and converted to Christianity. But he now faces what might be a life-threatening situation, having revealed his identity to the American authorities in an application for asylum. The former agent said he did not realize that publishing the details of his life in his autobiography might jeopardize his chances of remaining there, rather than prove his intent to sabotage Hamas.
Ben-Yitzchak has avoided cameras up to this point and was known in the organization as “Captain Loai” or “G.” However, early last week he traveled to the United States to testify on his former protege's behalf at an immigration hearing. The intelligence operative will appear before a judge in San Diego on June 30.
Ben-Yitzchak allowed himself to be photographed on Wednesday at a Washington dinner honoring Yousef and others. The honorees received the Endowment for Middle East Truth's Rays of Light in the Darkness Award.
“He risked his life every day in order to prevent” terrorism,” Ben-Yitzchak said of Yousef. “The truth is Mosab always prevented killings. Mosab is not a terrorist!”
In his book, Yousef noted that many Shin Bet operations were canceled “because of [Ben-Yitzchak's] command” in order to avoid endangering his life. Numerous advocates for the former agent have said that his life would be endangered if he is deported to Judea and Samaria.
The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, has declined to comment on the case. Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO), another honoree at the dinner, said he had sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano also requesting that Yousef not be deported.
5. Iran to Hide Behind Hizbullah in Lebanon Sail to Gaza
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Iran apparently is trying to save face by hitching a ride to Gaza with Hizbullah-Lebanese ships, after having backed down three times from its bravado that it would launch its own ships to risk challenging the Israeli navy on the way to Gaza.
"A Lebanese ship is heading to Gaza in a few days and Iranian lawmakers are trying to reach Gaza via this ship which is threatened by the Zionist regime," Iranian legislator Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash said Saturday. He blamed Egypt for Iran’s backing down from its announcement that its Red Crescent organization would set sail for Hamas-controlled Gaza, saying Egypt had refused to allow Iranian Members of Parliament to reach Gaza by land.
“Egypt wants to misuse Iranian parliamentarians' plan to visit Gaza to improve its reputation ruined during the 22-day war between Hamas and the Zionist regime", said Bighash, referring to last year’s Operation Cast Lead. "The Zionist regime wants to spread pressures across land borders of Gaza …due to presence of aid flotillas in Gaza coast."
Iran announced Thursday it is scrapping its plan to sail, two weeks after it first ditched the launching of a ship to try to challenge Israeli sovereignty over the Gaza coastal waters. The United States and the European Union have backed the Israeli embargo to prevent the open delivery of advanced weapons from Iran, Hizbullah and Syria to the Hamas terrorist organization.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad originally said that Iranian Revolutionary Guards would escort a ship, but Iranian officials later denied the boast.
One of the boats from Lebanon apparently has finally received clearance to sail after several political obstacles kept it and another vessel in port. Cyprus reportedly has reversed its previous refusal to allow the ships to dock at its ports on the way to Gaza, the Associated Press reported Saturday.
"We have been granted permission to go to Cyprus and we are now in the process of making final preparations," said Yasser Kashlak, a Syrian millionaire who is sponsoring one ship. He did not disclose a departure day, but one news site has reported it will sail this Wednesday.
One explanation for Kashlak's claim of Cyprus’ reversal is that the boat actually will sail via a breakaway Turkish Cypriot island. A second boat, named the Maryam and scheduled to carry a group of women, still is docked in Tripoli, and it is not yet known if it will receive clearance to leave port.
Using Cyprus as a port in transit would circumvent Israel’s claim that a ship from Lebanon, a declared enemy, cannot be allowed to reach Israel.
Israel has said it will stop all ships from reaching Gaza, as it did May 31 when Turkish terrorist activists attacked Navy commandos before the Navy overpowered the Mavi Mamara ship. An inspection of its cargo proved that it was not carrying any humanitarian aid, contrary to its organizers' claims.
6. IDF Stops Sinai Bedouin Drug Smugglers
by Hana Levi Julian
IDF troops stopped a group of five Sinai Bedouin drug smugglers from reaching their destination after they infiltrated Israel's southern border on Saturday.
According to IDF sources, soldiers shot two of the group after they refused to halt on command. One died on the way to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva, and the second was admitted and is listed in stable condition. The other three other smugglers were arrested in the incident.
Last week, Egyptian security forces also shot two Bedouin tribesmen in the El-Omar Valley, near the El-Auja border crossing with Israel. The two were taken for treatment to a hospital in El-Arish.
The two were allegedly involved in an attack by Bedouin bandits on a convoy of security vehicles that were idling at the crossing. Local eyewitnesses complained to The Examiner, however, that police had fired rocket-propelled grenades at buildings in villages near El-Omar.
Bedouin tribes in the northern Sinai have turned increasingly to smuggling drugs, food and weapons for the various terrorist groups in Gaza.
The Israel Counter Terrorism Bureau issued an unusually severe alert to citizens several months ago, warning that terrorist groups were operating in the Sinai Peninsula and planning to kidnap and murder Israelis. Shortly thereafter, members of a group of Hizbullah, Lebanese, Egyptian, Sudanese and Palestinian Authority terrorists were arrested by Egyptian security forces and subsequently convicted in Cairo on charges of planning attacks against Israeli tourists and smuggling Iranian weapons into Gaza.
7. Bahrain Red-Faced for ‘Kissing Camel’ Toy with Name ‘Israel’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
A red-faced Bahrain toy dealer has admitted to officials that he made a mistake by importing a toy of two “kissing camels,” one of which bears the name Bahrain in Arabic and the other which bears the name Israel in English.
The novelty toy features the two camels embracing each other and saying “I love you,” Gulf Daily News reported. Bahrain does not recognize Israel as a state, but Israel maintained a diplomatic mission in Bahrain before it was closed in 2000 at the start of the Second Intifada, also known as the Oslo War.
The toy camels are supposed to say "Bahrain” and the name of the store where they are sold when a button is pressed.
"I am so happy that I didn't display it, otherwise my customers would have asked questions and some might have shattered the window of my shop out of anger…. They hate Israel,” Valley Emporium store owner Sayed Ahmed Kahn told Gulf Daily News.
The store had purchased 16 different kinds of toys, but Khan said he initially did not notice the word “Israel” on the toy camels.
A spokesman told the Gulf newspaper and web site, "It is definitely a mistake and we don't know how this toy came to Bahrain. We ordered two containers, each 40 feet long, full of such stuffed toys. Mistakes can happen and we understand there was only one toy with Israel's name on it.
Bahrain pulled out of the Arab boycott of the Jewish State after Israel expelled its citizens and withdrew the IDF from the Gaza region in 2005. However, the Bahraini parliament voted for a non-binding resolution asking for Bahrain to return to participating in the boycott.
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