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1. Ashkenazi: a 'Naval Shield' will Meet Next Flotillas
by Gil Ronen
After taking responsibility for the problematic nature of the May 31 IDF naval raid on the “Free Gaza” flotilla, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday that the next enemy flotillas will be met differently.
“We know that the next flotillas that will try to break through our borders and the weapons ships that will try to arm the terror organizations will be blocked by the naval defensive shield of the State of Israel, of the Navy,” Ashkenazi said at a graduation ceremony of the Navy's Ship Captain Course, at a naval base in Haifa.
"In these times, when the sea and shores of the Middle East are even more stormy than in times of routine, we all look at the de-legitimization campaign that our enemies are conducting against the State of Israel, including the next flotillas,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Ashkenazi testified before the Turkel Committee appointed to probe the raid, and acknowledged there were problems with the IDF's intelligence on the nature of the flotilla, and in the way the raid was carried out.
Brigadier-General (res.) Tzvika Fogel, former Head of Southern Command, said Wednesday that the Chief of Staff's testimony before the Turkel Committee marked a return to sanity. “It is very fortunate that the Chief of Staff took responsibility for the IDF's actions, or they would have summoned the Naval Commando soldiers to testify as well,” Fogel said. “The Chief of Staff put an end to the dishonorable saga that was taking place here, with each person rolling responsibility on the other.”
2. Lebanon to US: 'Keep Your Money, and Israel Too'
by Chana Ya'ar
Lebanon has told the United States to keep its money if America insists that it cannot be used on weapons with which to fight Israel.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr told reporters at a Beirut news conference on Wednesday that those who want to help the Lebanese Army but place conditions on how their funds or weapons are used, should “keep the money.”
Murr's comments followed a U.S. Congressional decision to freeze a previously approved $100 million aid package to Lebanon.
The decision was made only 24 hours before an attack on an IDF unit conducting routine border maintenance last week by Lebanese Army soldiers. Snipers shot and killed an IDF officer and wounded a second.
The ambush took place while the Israeli troops were trimming brush on the Israeli side of the northern border in order to maximize the visibility of a Lebanese village. The incident occurred after the IDF had notified the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) of its plans, which in turn notified the Lebanese Army.
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Howard Berman said he decided August 2 to suspend Lebanon's military funding in light of the increased involvement by the Hizbullah terrorist organization in Lebanese Army affairs, concerned that the money would be spent on weapons with which to attack the U.S. ally.
Berman added in a statement after the attack, “The incident on the Israel-Lebanon border only one day after my hold was placed simply reinforces the critical need for the United States to conduct an in-depth policy review of its relationship with the Lebanese military.”
In response, Murr told journalists at a Beirut news conference, “Whoever sets as a condition that the aid should not be used to protect Lebanon's land, people and borders from the [Zionist] enemy can keep their money.
“Let them keep their money or give it to Israel. We will confront [Israel] with our own capabilities.”
A second Lebanese official had preceded Murr earlier in the week by calling on the Beirut government to turn to Russia, China, Syria and Iran for future support.
3. Response to A‘jad’s Holocaust Denial: Imams’ Tears at Auschwitz
by Hillel Fendel
A group of American Muslim leaders made a first-of-its-kind visit to Nazi concentration camps this week, prompting tears from at least one of them.
Eight imams made a three-day trip Dachau and Auschwitz this week, co-sponsored by a German think tank and the New Jersey-based Center for Interreligious Understanding, and strongly supported by the United States government.
The trip, as reported in the Jewish Forward, was the brainchild of law professor Marshall Breger, an Orthodox Jew and former senior official in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Breger said, “There is a view that there is growing anti-Semitism in the Muslim world, reinforced by people like President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, that there is growing Holocaust denial in the Muslim world. In light of that, the idea was to offer education to those who might not have the kind of knowledge that we’ve had about World War II and the Jewish community, and to do this in a public way.”
The imams prayed at Dachau, with a concluding prayer by Muzammil Siddiqi, imam of the Islamic Society of Orange County, California: “We pray to G-d that this will not happen to the Jewish people or to any people anymore.”
Suhaib Webb, an imam from Santa Clara in the Bay Area, grew up in a white Christian household in Oklahoma and later converted to Islam. Walking around Auschwitz with tears in his eyes, he said, “It was far worse than I imagined.”
“No Muslim in his right mind, female or male, should deny the Holocaust,” said Mohamed Magid, imam and executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society. “When you walk the walk of the people who have been taken to be gassed, to be killed, how can a person deny physical evidence, something that’s beyond doubt?”
Just a few days earlier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinajad reiterated his claim that the Jews "made up" the "so-called Holocaust."
The delegates’ level of knowledge about the Holocaust prior to the trip seemed to be fairly low, the Forward reported. When they met with Max Mannheimer, a survivor of Auschwitz and Dachau, they appeared to particularly affected by seeing the number the Nazis had tattooed on his arm, and asked many questions.
The delegation’s youngest member was Yasir Qadhi, 35, dean of academics at Al Maghrib Institute, in New Haven, Conn. Qadhi has since recanted, both vocally and in print, his Holocaust-denial claims, explaining that he had been ignorant and exposed to materials such as the anti-Semitic “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” “That’s why I was very happy to come on this trip,” he said, “because I wanted to see for myself how wrong I was.”
Breger told the Forward, “These imams all have significant constituents in American Muslim communities as recognized legal scholars, people with mega-mosques, people with radio shows, people on the web, people who reach out to youth.” He said that the Jewish community, in contrast, often looks to engage with Muslims who meet specified criteria but do not have large constituencies.
4. Lebanese Politician Accused of Spying for Israel
by Elad Benari
The string of arrests and charges in Lebanon of alleged spies for Israel is continuing and this time it has hit Lebanon’s political arena.
On Tuesday, a military court in Lebanon charged former army general Fayez Karam of the Free Patriotic Movement with spying for Israel.
Karam is the first political figure to be charged in a wide probe of alleged Israeli espionage activity in Lebanon. He is accused of meeting with Israeli intelligence agents abroad and giving them information by phone. The information he passed along was secured through meetings between his party and Hizbullah.
The military prosecutor also charged Lebanese fugitive Elias Karam with the same offences, said an AFP report. Elias Karam had allegedly introduced Fayez to Israeli officers in Paris.
Karam’s charging is the latest in a string of arrests made in Lebanon over the last several months of people accused of spying for Israel. Lebanon has so far detained as many as 70 people on such suspicions, and more than 20 have been charged. In the last month three men had been sentenced to death. A number of those in custody were military and telecom employees.
Also last month, Beirut's An Nahar newspaper reported that one of the alleged "Telecom” spies had escaped to Israel from Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Information Minister Tareq Mitri said on last month that his country will raise accusations of espionage against Israel at the United Nations Security Council. He said that the ministers in Lebanon’s unity government agreed unanimously “to raise a detailed report on the file of the agents to the (United Nations) Security Council."
5. Iran Warns Against Israeli Invasion of Lebanon
by INN Staff
Iran warns that if Israel were to invade Lebanon, it would be counter-attacked by several countries in the region. Iran's Fars News Agency reported that Ramin Mehman-Parast, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, issued the warning yesterday, saying that while it's unlike Israel will invade Lebanon, the "Zionist regime would be slapped hard in the face by the regional states if it dares to attack Lebanon again."
"What the Zionist regime [Israel] should understand well… is that an aggression against any country in the region or against any Muslim nation in the region will cause the strong reaction of all the regional countries," said Mehman-Parast, when asked about how Iran would react were Israel to attack Lebanon. "Given the regional countries' preparedness and vigilance, they won't allow the Zionist regime and its supporters to make a move in this regard."
The possibility of further clashes between Israel and Lebanon was heightened last week, after Lebanese snipers shot and killed an Israeli officer along the northern border and wounded a second officer, during routine IDF tree-clearing work on the Israeli side of the border. Israeli soldiers returned fire, killing three Lebanese soldiers and a journalist who had been invited to observe the pre-planned Lebanese army ambush.
But the Arabic and Muslim media has been quick to blame Israel for the incident, reversing the chronology of the events and suggesting that the assault was due to an Israeli incursion. The Fars News Agency recalled the events as follows: "...Israeli forces launched several rockets targeting a Lebanese army position on the country's southern border, killing at least three Lebanese soldiers. One Israeli officer was also killed in the resulting firefights, while several other Lebanese and Israeli soldiers were injured. According to a Lebanese army spokesman, the violence broke out after Israeli soldiers entered Lebanon, attempting to uproot a tree on the Lebanese side of the border."
The Lebanese Daily Star reported that Lebanese Foreign Minister Ali Shami applauded Iran’s support of Lebanon against "Israeli aggression." Ali Shami, who was in Tehran over the weekend, said Lebanon was grateful for the “material and moral support of Iran against the Zionist regime.”
Shami met with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili. The Star reported that Jalili said, “The Lebanese Army, which has the backing of the people and the resistance, will not let the Zionist regime cut even one tree in Lebanon.”
Iraninan President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Shami that a united Arab front against Israel symbolized by a tripartite summit in Beirut has "foiled plots of the enemy Zionist regime. Their presence represented solidarity and unity in the entire region and promoted the nation’s front against the Zionist regime and its sponsors.”According to Shami, Lebanon is planning to complain to the the UN Security Council and General Assembly about alleged Israeli spying in Lebanon. “The report is now ready,” he said.
6. Court Rejects Appeal, Perlman to be Released
by Hillel Fendel
The Petah Tikva Magistrates Court has rejected the Shin Bet's appeal, and Chaim Perlman will be released to house arrest.
The original order to send him to five days of house arrest was extended to 15, however, and the judge has also banned Perlman from making any contact with any of the others involved in the case. Perlman's lawyer Adi Keidar of the Honenu legal rights organization said he would appeal the house arrest, as the evidence against him is "weak."
The dramatic decision was made around 10:30 AM, shortly after Perlman's lawyer and supporters were disappointed to learn that the judge assigned to hear the appeal had been abruptly replaced. The new judge, Avraham Tal, had previously ruled that Perlman must be incarcerated without being allowed to meet with his lawyer. This decision was later overturned in the Supreme Court.
The Shabak announced after today's court decision that it still considers Perlman its number-one suspect. Voice of Israel Radio legal commentator Moshe Negbi, who has frequently outraged nationalists with his left-wing views, had sharp words of criticism for the Shabak: "Once the investigation has reached the point where the courts feel he must be released, the Shabak has no right to declare its opinion of the suspect and to say, We still think he's evil! How is the suspect supposed to defend himself against accusations like that?"
Perlman has been in prison under difficult conditions for nearly a month, after police and the Shabak announced that they had "found the murderer" of four Arabs who were stabbed to death in Jerusalem 10 and 12 years ago. Perlman denied the charges against him, and publicized recordings of a Shabak agent attempting to goad him into killing other Arabs.
7. US Jew Flies to Israel to Donate Kidney: 'I Love Jews'
by Eli Stutz
Forty-one year old Eric Steger is man with a mission. Years ago, he decided that he wanted to help the Jewish people by saving lives - by donating from his own body. Three years ago he donated his bone marrow and helped save a leukemia patient. Now, he has flown all the way to Israel just to donate his kidney to a Jewish mother with a large family who is on dialysis. Though the operation has been called off for medical reasons, he continues to promote the cause.
Steger is 41-years-old, single, and hails from Sunnyvale, California. He told his story to Israel National News:
"After I donated my bone marrow, I was on the Gift of Life Bone Marrow donation website, and I saw a link to a site of someone who needed a kidney. I decided to get involved in that type of donation, too. I got in touch with the Halachic Organ Donor Society. They matched me up with a patient in Israel, but that didn't work out. They have people on waiting lists in Israel and the US. After a long process, I was told about Chaya Lipschutz, who has an organization based in New York which is dedicated to matching up kidney donors. Her website is KidneyMitzvah.com."
Lipschutz was very enthusiastic about Steger's being willing to travel so far to donate to a stranger. She writes:
"Eric is a wonderful person and an ideal candidate for kidney donation! I matched him up with a woman with a large family in Israel who is on dialysis. If he is not a match for her, he would be willing to donate a kidney to anyone else in Israel in need! Wow! How many people would be willing to leave their job for many weeks, to go overseas to donate a kidney! Amazing! Eric already saved a life by donating bone marrow! He is also a great piano player. To hear a sample of his great music playing on You Tube, click here."
Lipschutz is currently involved in several other kidney matches in Israel and the U.S. When asked why he wanted to donate a kidney so badly, Steger explains, "You could say that is because of a great love for the Jewish people. I am Jewish. From all the reading I did and people I talked to, it seemed a pretty safe bet. I wasn't concerned it would harm my health."
"I contacted Chaya through her website," says Steger. "We made arrangements to donate to a patient in L.A. That patient backed out for unclear reasons."
The search started again. "Chaya asked if I was willing to travel, and I said yes. She had someone in Israel badly needed a kidney. A long negotiating process began to get me to Israel for the donation."
"In the late spring of this year, we set a date, which was a few days ago. After I got here [Israel], the testing started. There was concern that my blood pressure was too high. So I was given a 24-hour monitor to wear starting yesterday morning. I returned to the hospital in Tel HaShomer this morning. The news I received just minutes ago was not encouraging. I was diagnosed with hypertension and unfortunately the operation has been called off."
Steger is not discouraged that this particular donation isn't working out. "I can help promote the cause even though I can't donate myself. I will certainly be an advocate for kidey and bone marrow donation."
Steger's travel expenses were paid by the patient's medical insurance, but he is missing days of work.
Steger says he received varied reactions from friends and family about his initiatve, which ranged from great positive support to skepticism. "There was some real negativity there too," he relates. "This type of donation is still relatively new. Altruistic donation is a new concept, but it's not generally well known, and so I think there's a lack of information in people's minds about it."
Steger says he's been to Israel once before. "I love Israel and I'd love to come again."
When asked about the side effects and risks of a kidney donation, Steger is nonchalant. "There are no long-term side effects. The donor has to stay 3-4 days in the hospital. There are activity restrictions after surgery and no heavy lifting for several weeks. The risks are the same as the risks there would be in any surgery."
Steger believes that much good has come out of his attempt to donate a kidney. "I think the life being saved was my own," he says. "The Hypertension [from which I suffer] was missed in the US. This could save my life. Because I volunteered to fly around the world and donate my kidney, they found this unnoticed thing which could prevent serious complications for me down the road."
Steger hasn't looked back either. "It's a huge mitzvah to save someone's life this way."
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