Roberto Abraham Scaruffi: Paranoias as a cover of the Israeli militarist-police dictatorship

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Paranoias as a cover of the Israeli militarist-police dictatorship

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Tuesday, Sep 11 '12, Elul 24, 5772
Today`s Email Stories:
Israel Fears Arab Spring Anarchy in PA
Academics' Plan to Boycott Ariel U Revealed
Prayers at the Kotel: Blot Out Wicked Enemy Iran
Obama’s Jewish Support Continues to Drop
Israel, U.S. Spar Over 'Red Lines' for Iran
'Ketzaleh' Signs Unity Pact with Bennett
'Obama Oy Vey' Campaign Takes on Florida
  More Website News:
Former Ambassador: Israel Alone Again, As Usual
Video: Obama Helplessly Bear-Hugged into the Air
Doctor from Tekoa Killed in Tragic Accident
Remembering Jewish 9/11 Heroes
Swedish Metalheads with Israeli Flag and Army Food
  MP3 Radio Website News Briefs:
Talk: Media Terrorists
Using a Strong Arm
Music: Lively Hassidic Selection
Piyutim for Yom Yerushalayim




1. Report: Jerusalem Within Range of New Iranian Missile
by Rachel Hirshfeld Jerusalem Within Range of New Iranian Missile

Iran is set to unveil a “domestically produced” cruise missile capable of being launched “from land, sea, and air” and reaching major Israeli cities, including Jerusalem, Iranian media reported.

Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Mehdi Farahi announced the existence of the long range Iranian missile, dubbed “Meshkat,” over the weekend, the Mehr News Agency reported.

According to the report, the missile, with a range of 2,000 kilometers, or 1,250 miles, could easily reach Israeli cities, including Jerusalem.

The weapon will serve as “the upper hand of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. … [The] Meshkat cruise missile, which Allah willing will be unveiled soon, has a range of more than 2,000 kilometers,” the report quoted Farahi as telling Iran’s Press TV.

The cruise missile will also be capable of hitting targets as far away as the vital American military base at Diego Garcia, described by the U.S. military as the “tip of the spear” for U.S. military operations in the Persian Gulf, with lies 2,400 miles from Iran.

Diego Garcia hosts the strategic B-1 bomber and is a major U.S. military depot, Mashregh news, a media outlet run by the Revolutionary Guards intelligence division, reported.

The report said the GPS-equipped cruise missile, with a precision fault of less than 32 feet, is equipped with components to counter anti-cruise missile defenses.

The Iranians unveiled several cruise missiles in the last two years, some called game changers in the Gulf as having the capability to sink an aircraft carrier.

Iran has armed all of its vessels with long-range ballistic missiles and plans to navigate into the Atlantic Ocean and near the Gulf of Mexico.

Many of Iran’s missiles are reported to be in underground silos across the country, and even if its ships and aircraft come under fire, many of the ballistic and cruise missiles could be launched before the “enemy” can target them, Mashregh news reported.




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2. Israel Fears Arab Spring Anarchy in PA
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Israel Fears Arab Spring Anarchy in PA

Israeli military and government leaders fear the new social protests in the Palestinian Authority will lead to anarchy and are seeking a rush aid package for Ramallah.

Senior security officials urgently old Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that funds should be transferred immediately to PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to prevent a collapse of the government, Israel’s Channel 2 television reported.

Violent protests have spread throughout Arab areas in Judea and Samaria, and demonstrators have demanded Fayyad’s resignation.

Israel collects tax revenues on behalf of the PA for goods transferred at checkpoints.

The government reportedly has sent an urgent letter to the United States and European Union with requests to rush financial aid to Ramallah, according to the Maariv newspaper.

Fayyad, who earned university degrees in the United States and worked there for years, was virtually hand-picked by the Bush administration to be Abbas’ prime minister. His Western style has made him suspicious in the eyes of the Fatah party, headed by Abbas, and in the view of the Arab “street.”

The president of the Political Science Department at the University of Bir Zeit, Sameeh Hammoudeh, was quoted by the Arab news channel and website Alresalah as saying  the “Fatah movement itself is stirring the public to change the  government."

Thousands of Palestinian Authority Arabs flooded the streets of Hevron on Monday as a general strike halted public transport across the Palestinian Authority.

Clouds of black smoke poured into the air across the Israeli-occupied territory as furious demonstrators set light to tires, kicking off a second week of protests against the spiraling cost of living, high gasoline prices and unemployment.

Arabs, who are used to attacking Israelis because of a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, burned tires and threw rocks at Palestinian Authority police as well as at IDF soldiers, an AFP correspondent reported.

Public transport was at a complete halt throughout Judea and Samaria Arab areas as union bosses called a mass strike over the rising cost of gasoline.

PA spokesman Adnan Damiri told AFP, "We completely understand these protests, the president and the leadership's instructions were clear and affirmed the peaceful nature of these protests.  

"We are not interested in clashing with the people because we don't want to complicate things, but at the same time we are seeking to maintain the peace."

Abbas has tried to deflect the social protests by putting the blame for economic woes on the Israeli government and the Paris Protocol, an economic agreement that was annexed to the Oslo Accords.




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3. Academics' Plan to Boycott Ariel U Revealed
by Gil Ronen Academics' Plan to Boycott Ariel U Revealed

Some of Israel's leading academic figures who identify themselves as protectors of democracy have revealed their intolerant side in an email exchange regarding Ariel University Center, which is poised to be recognized as Israel's eighth university.

In a new webzine called Mida, Akiva Bigman quotes from an e-mail message board that serves Israeli lecturers on social sciences.

Prof. Emanuel Sivan of Hebrew University wrote thus to his colleagues: "We can use our international connections to prevent publications by researchers from Ariel. We simply need to avoid discussing their proposals for research and publication, especially in the periodicals where we serve as members… In addition we should not present papers, not take part in conferences and not give lectures together with lecturers from that supposed university."

Sivan added that it is possible to avoid "accepting their researchers to post-doctorates programs, research scholarships and visits as guest lecturers in universities in Israel and abroad."

Apparently aware of the illegality of his call, Sivan adds that "all of the above is, of course, is up to the personal decision of each and every one of us."

The widely admired Prof. Ruth Gavison writes that the struggle against Ariel's recognition should be taken to the High Court – as it subsequently was – and explains: "What we are witnessing now is the culmination of a long five-year process, that there was no organized protest against. Maybe we hoped, then, that history is moving in a direction opposed to the Occupation. Now it appears that history is going in the opposite direction."

Prof. Chaim Ganz suggests drastic measures: "Stopping our work at the universities for at least one day in the course of the first or second week of studies while holding protests and informational gatherings, seems to me to be a minimum. We can also think about stopping studies for one day a week in each of the first six weeks. As a minimum."

Prof. David Levy-Faur of Hebrew University encourages his colleagues to take heart: "Do not despair. We gave back Sinai, we left Gaza, we will solve the problem of the other territories as well… but unfortunately it will cost another war or two. We are in the midst of a change in the tactics of the struggle. From a civil protest that characterized our actions since 1967, to civil resistance. The goal should be to bring all of the settlers home by the fiftieth year of the occupation, 2017."

Prof. Menachem Hofnung suggests that everyone resort to calling the institution at Ariel a "college" even if "the government" decides to approve it as a university.

Prof. Alon Harel of Hebrew U. suggests that Ariel's academicians and degrees be treated as those of "a foreign country."

Dr. Julia Chaitin of Sapir College suggested that Ariel U. be made to accept lecturers and students from the Palestinian Authority (PA). She may have been unaware, writes Bigman, that it was the PA that jailed several lecturers who participated in a conference at Ariel several months ago.

Chaitin has another creative idea: Lecturers who leave Ariel will be rewarded with two articles in his name for his CV, and anyone who persuades another lecturer to leave will receive three such articles for his CV.

"If this is the behavior of the men of science who are in charge of promoting tolerance and education in the general public," sums up Bigman, "Ariel is the least of our problems. The big problem lies within the other five universities."




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4. Prayers at the Western Wall: Blot Out Wicked Enemy Iran
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Prayers at the Kotel: Blot Out Wicked Enemy Iran

Thousands of Jews prayed at the Western Wall Monday night for G-d “to blot out the thoughts of those who hate us and of the wicked enemy Iran.”

Rabbis from dozens of cities and yeshivas arrived at the holy site for the nightly “Slichot” prayers recited in the period before the Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur holidays.

Tzfat Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu told Arutz Sheva, “We are praying that G-d will decree life for the People of Israel. We are not complacent, and we know we must act with both prayer and action, like Mordechai and Esther,” referred to in the Book of Esther.

The Biblical account relates Mordechai and Esther's prayers and actions that led the King of Persia, now Iran, to overturn a decree from his deputy Haman, who plotted to kill all of the Jews in the empire.

“We need to pay back our enemies with their ‘just reward,'” said Rabbi Eliyahu, son of the late Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

“We came to pray that G-d will give our leaders strength,” he added

.




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5. Obama’s Jewish Support Continues to Drop
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Obama’s Jewish Support Continues to Drop

President Barack Obama’s support among Jews continues to drop although most polls show his standing is n the rise among the general population.

A survey by TIPP, which says it was the most accurate presidential pollster in the 2004 and 2008 elections, show that only 59 percent of likely Jewish voters will vote for the president, down from 68 percent in Gallup polls in June and July and far from the 78 percent in the final results in 2008.

The TIPP poll, carried to for The Investors Business Daily/Christian Science Monitor, shows Obama leading Mitt Romney by a 59-35 percent margin among Jews.

Overall, the survey gave Obama a two percent lead, while a CNN survey shows the president ahead of Romney by 6 percentage points. Romney and Obama were running nearly neck-and-neck in previous polls, with leads of 1-2 percent.

Obama’s overall support still is less than his 53 percent victory in the last presidential elections.

The importance of the Jewish vote was magnified earlier this year when Republican Bob Turner surprised Democrats with a stinging victory in a special election in Ney York’s 9th district, where there is a large Jewish population. Dissatisfaction of Jews with Obama was largely attributed to his policies towards Israel.

Florida’s large Jewish population is viewed as critical for Romney because all polls show that the state’s Electoral College votes could go to either candidate.

The 35 percent Jewish support for Romney is not far from the 40 percent number in support of Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, the highest backing be Jews for a Republican in nearly a century.

The Democrats still are reeling from the fiasco at last week’s Democratic National Convention, when the party platform omitted any reference to Jerusalem and to G-d. President Obama intervened and restored both topics to the platform, which still did not declare that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.




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6. Israel, U.S. Spar Over 'Red Lines' for Iran
by Elad Benari Israel, U.S. Spar Over 'Red Lines' for Iran

Israel and the United States sparred on Monday over remarks made by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about setting “red lines” for Iran regarding its nuclear program.

Israel was not thrilled with Clinton’s remarks that the Obama administration has no “deadline” for Iran.

She told Bloomberg Radio that negotiations still are “by far the best approach” to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Canadian television Sunday night that Iran “doesn’t see a clear red line from the international community.”

In response, a senior official in Jerusalem said, “Without a clear and firm red line, Iran will not stop its nuclear arms race. Such statements do not stop the Iranian centrifuges, but vice versa. Such statements not only do not deter Iran, they calm it down.”

The State Department later once again distanced Washington from the Israeli stance, with spokeswoman Victoria Nuland telling reporters, “The American people know that the president has said unequivocally he will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

“So, you know, we are absolutely firm about the president's commitment here, but it is not useful to be parsing it, to be setting deadlines one way or the other, red lines,” she added, promising “intensive consultations with Israel.”




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7. 'Ketzaleh' Signs Unity Pact with Jewish Home Candidate
by Elad Benari 'Ketzaleh' Signs Unity Pact with Bennett

The National Union party, headed by MK Ya’akov “Ketzaleh” Katz, signed on Monday night an agreement with Naftali Bennett, who is running for the position of leader of the Jewish Home party. Katz and Bennett agreed to form a joint list for the next Knesset.

The agreement states that if Bennett is elected as Jewish Home chairman, the two parties will form a broad joint national-religious list for the next election. The platform of the joint list will focus on education, Jewish identity, social welfare, settlement and the political struggle over the Land of Israel.

The order of the names on the joint list for the Knesset will be determined by both the National Union and the Jewish Home parties, states the agreement. It was also decided that a joint election headquarters would be set up and would work in “full and productive” cooperation between the parties for the success of the joint list.

The new joint party is expected to announce the details of the agreement to the Knesset Speaker in the coming days.

Officials told Arutz Sheva that the National Union party recently approached the two other contenders for the leadership of the Jewish Home, Rabbi Daniel Hershkowitz and Zevulun Orlev, but did not receive a clear reply from either of the two.

“Only Bennett rose to the challenge and realized the importance of unity,” the officials said. Arutz Sheva has also learned that the rabbi of the city of Tzfat, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, mediated between the parties.




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8. 'Obama Oy Vey' Campaign May Convince Jews to Move to Israel
by Rachel Hirshfeld 'Obama Oy Vey' Campaign Takes on Florida

Dozens of members of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) rallied in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday to show their support for Mitt Romney while protesting against President Barack Obama, the WPTV news channel reported.

The group has sponsored several billboards that appear along Interstate 95, which read "Obama Oy Vey.”   

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton addressed the crowd and spoke out against the president's stance on Israel, saying he left the Jewish state "exposed, alone, and vulnerable."

"Being president is more than just giving speeches," Bolton said. "It's not like being a legislator."

Marcia Kalecky-Stern, a member of the RJC who was among the demonstrators, said, "Obama is no friend of Israel."

Romney "embraces Israel,” she said. “He considers Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and I have no doubt he will always have Israel's back."

"I might move to Israel if Obama gets re-elected," Kalecky-Stern asserted.

Teresa Shelton, another protester, said she wouldn’t vote for Obama because "he's created more debt than the beginning of all the presidents since George Washington," the news station reported.




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More Website News:
Former Ambassador: Israel Alone Again, As Usual
Video: Obama Helplessly Bear-Hugged into the Air
Doctor from Tekoa Killed in Tragic Accident
Remembering 9/11 Heroes Abe Zelmanowitz and Daniel Lewin
Swedish Metalheads with Israeli Flag and Army Food