 | ||
 |         |  |
 | ||
| MP3 Radio | Website News Briefs: | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
 |  |
1. Gaza Terrorists Digging Tunnels to Infiltrate Israel
by Arutz Sheva Staff
One of the tunnels destroyed in the Israeli Air Force strike over the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night was an underground tunnel starting in the center of the strip and ending opposite Israel's Kibbbutz Be'eri that faces northern Gaza. It was intended for use as a means for terrorists to infiltrate Israel, an army source told the INN Hebrew site, Arutz Sheva.
The source reported that this is concrete proof that terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip are engaged non stop in plans to attack or kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians or to perpetrate suicide attacks. They noted that Gilad Shalit was kidnapped when terrorists emerged from a tunnel they had dug near the Kerem Shalom crossing and attacked his tank, killing two of its crew and overpowering him.
Two tunnels bringing weaponry from Egypt to Gaza near Kerem Shalom were also destroyed in the IAF raid, as well as an arms manufacturing installation in the central part of the strip, located opposite Kibbutz Kissufim
The IAF used F-161, nicknamed"Sufa" (Storm), fighter planes in the raids on Gaza. Exactly a year ago, on August 3, 2009, the F-161 were also used in attacking tunnels. The "Sufa" fighter planes, manufactured by Lockheed Martin but equipped according to IAF specifications with Israeli developed advanced systems such as Israel Aircraft Industries' enlarged fuel tanks (CFT), helmet mounted information displaying goggles and advanced warfare and communications systems, also played a significant role in the Cast Lead Operation launched in December 2008 in response to rocket launching from Gaza.
(translation: R. Sylvetsky)
2. Iran Social Network Supports Ayatollah
by Elad Benari
A new social network which has recently been launched in Iran was created especially for supporters of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The social network is called Velayatmadaran, a reference to “followers of the velayat,” (Iran's Supreme Leader), and is part of an attempt by Iranian officials to get in on the social networking craze which ncludes sites like Facebook and Twitter, to name a few.
According to a recent report published by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, the social network’s creators established the site in order to give an appropriate response to what is described as the “soft war” being held online by enemies of Iran. It is also meant to create a friendly online environment for supporters of Khamenei, allowing them to engage in conversations and exchange ideas, as well as to become familiar with the methods used by Iran’s enemies to conduct their struggle against the Islamic republic.
Similar to other social networking sites on the web, Velayatmadaran allows its users to upload audio, video, and photos to the site. The network is open to Khamenei supporters around the globe, and particularly from what the site’s creators call “Occupied Palestine”, meaning Arabs from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. The site is also open to users from what is called “Dear Palestine”, referring to Arabs who reside within the 1948 UN created Israeli borders.
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center also reported that recently, Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Alam al-Hoda, the leader of Friday prayers in Mashhad, said that all “cyber war” capabilities must be used in the campaign waged by Iran’s enemies on the Internet. He claimed that the Internet has been taken over by the enemy and turned into a battlefield.
According to the report, al-Hoda said that Muslims cultural activists’ top priority is to make themselves heard online by creating blogs and websites or attacking websites, using any tactics and any means permissible in war. He added that if the Muslims do not strike the enemy, the enemy will strike them first.
Radio Free Europe, which reported on the new social network at the end of July, said that so far the site has attracted some 3,000 members. Users have uploaded posts of pictures of “Imam Khamenei,” as well as articles about the teachings of ultra-hard-line Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, and cartoons skewering the opposition Green Movement.However, Iranians in parts of the world have criticized the new website and said that it is unlikely to attract young Iranians. Ali Honari, a 32-year-old sociology student currently living and studying in Holland told Radio Free Europe that the new website appears to be an attempt by the Iranian authorities to funnel their supporters away from mainstream social networking. "A friend of mine who taught some courses at the Qom seminary said that even there, students are becoming increasingly modern," he said. "They have access to the Internet, they watch the latest movies. [The establishment] needs to make sure they remain loyal."
Iranian blogger Arash Kamangir, who lives in Toronto, said: "It's not difficult to launch a new social site. What is difficult is to attract members. [Iranian leaders] cannot do it, because they don't want to open these sites to those who are opposed to them and their supporters don't seem to be many."
3. Gulf States Pushing for Attack on Iran
by Hillel Fendel
First it was the United Arab Emirates ambassador in Washington, now it’s a Saudi Arabian editorial, and John Bolton says the entire Persian Gulf feels the same: an attack on Iran is the only option - if it's not too late.
An editorial in an official Saudi Arabian newspaper indicates that a military attack against Iran might be the only way of stopping it from obtaining nuclear weapons. “Tehran is moving its conflict with the international community into high gear,” the Al Madina daily wrote this week, “and [in this case] some may consider the military option to be the best solution.”
Delaying recourse to this option, the paper continues, “may lead to a point where it is impossible to implement it - if Tehran manages to produce a nuclear bomb of its own.”
Former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton goes a bit further, saying it is the only way of stopping it – but adds that it might already be too late.
Just last month, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Washington said at a conference, "A military attack on Iran by whomever would be a disaster, but Iran with a nuclear weapon would be a bigger disaster."
Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba was unusually candid in his remarks, saying, "I think it's a cost-benefit analysis. I think despite the large amount of trade we do with Iran, which is close to $12 billion… there will be consequences, there will be a backlash and there will be problems with people protesting and rioting and very unhappy that there is an outside force attacking a Muslim country; that is going to happen no matter what… Am I willing to live with that, versus living with a nuclear Iran? My answer is still the same: 'We cannot live with a nuclear Iran.' I am willing to absorb what takes place at the expense of the security of the U.A.E."
Former Ambassador Bolton feels that many states in the Persian Gulf region feel the same. He told Army Radio today (Thursday), however, that it might very well be too late to attack Iran because of the radioactivity that will emanate from the bombed reactor, harming the civilian population.
"Diplomacy and sanctions against Iran have failed," Bolton told Army Radio's Nitzan Fisher on the Ma Bo'er program, "and don't think the West took seriously enough Iran's efforts over the course of decades to get nuclear power. Frankly, I think the most likely outcome now is that indeed Iran does get nuclear weapons. I think the only possibility of stopping this is the use of military force - an extremely unattractive option, but it's even more unattractive to consider a world in which Iran has nuclear weapons."
He explained, though, that it might be too late: "With Russia beginning to supply fuel in Bushehr [two days from now], it makes the reactor essentially immune to attack, except in the most dire circumstances - because to attack it would mean, almost inevitably, the release of radioactivity into the atmosphere and possibly into the waters of the Persian Gulf."
"I don't think there's a ghost of a chance that the Obama Administration will use force against Iran's nuclear weapons program," Bolton said. "If anyone will do it, it's going to have to be Israel - and I don't know what Israel is going to do... I am very worried that Obama's fallback position is to accept an Iran with nuclear weapons. I think that can have potentially catastrophic consequences in the Middle East and beyond - but I think that's where the Obama Administration is."
Iran's Defense Minister Ahmed Wahidi said this week that Israel's existence will be endangered if it attacks the Bushehr reactor. He said such an attack would be an "international crime."
4. Last US Combat Troops Leave Iraq
by Chana Ya'ar
The last American troops pulled out of Iraq Thursday, seven years after U.S. President George W. Bush launched the War on Terror in response to the Al-Qaeda terror attack on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The soldiers of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division crossed into Kuwait in the wee hours of the morning, officially the last combat unit to leave the country.
Welcoming the returning troops, Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the end of the combat mission in Iraq, and the future of the American mission in that country, as seen in the following video:
Video produced by the White House
The total death toll – 4,415 as of Wednesday, according to the Pentagon – is probably not final, however, since other soldiers remain in place.
Another 50,000 troops are expected to remain for an additional year to carry out noncombat functions. All will be armed, and a number of special forces units will continue to hunt down terrorists together with Iraqi soldiers. Some will assist the Iraqis on missions, at the request of their government.
President Barack Obama had set August 31 as the deadline to end American combat operations in Iraq, one of the campaign promises under which he was elected in 2008.
But whether the war was won remains a question.
Troop movements were severely curtailed during the day in keeping with the U.S.-Iraq security pact, and in order to stay safe. A brigade intelligence officer quoted by an Associated Press reporter embedded with the troops said moving the convoys overland had put the soldiers at risk – and not from the 50 degree Celsius (120 degree Farenheit) heat.
The biggest danger, said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Gus McKinney, came from the roadside bombs planted by Shi'ite extremist groups who still maintain a strong foothold in the south.
In the north of the country, five Iraqi government workers were killed by terrorists in roadside bombings and other attacks. One day earlier, 61 army recruits were murdered by a suicide bomber in central Baghdad.
The country has been locked in a stalemate for five months over forming the next Iraqi government.
5. More Americans are Seeing Obama as Muslim
by Chana Ya'ar
A new poll has found that many Americans perceive their president as a Muslim, even though he's not. Even more are just plain confused about which religion it is that President Barack Obama observes, according to the findings released Thursday.
The Pew Research Center and its affiliate, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, conducted the survey before the White House controversy erupted over construction of a 13-story mosque two blocks from Ground Zero in New York. Grassroots organizations across the country are continuing to organize demonstrations and protests against the project, including one slated for this coming Sunday in New York.
Nearly one-fifth of all respondents -- 18 percent of those polled -- said they believe Obama's religion is Islam, up from 11 percent just one year ago.
Obama said at a White House ifta dinner breaking the daily fast in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan last Friday night that he supports the right of the organizers to build a mosque on the site. He backpedaled a day later, however, over whether the project should proceed.
Almost half of the respondents – 43 percent – said they don't know the president's religion, an increase from 34 percent in 2009. Only 34 percent answered the question correctly, saying that the president is a Christian.
Sixty percent of those who said that Obama is a Muslim also said they got their information from the media, with 16 percent saying their information came from television. Another 11 percent said they got their information from the president's words and behavior.
Barack Hussein Obama, born to a Kenyan Muslim father and a mother from Kansas, lived in Muslim-majority Indonesia from the age of six to 10, with his mother and an Indonesian stepfather. Early in his presidency, he bowed down to King Abdullah during his first encounter with the Saudi Arabian monarch, a move seen by many as an unspoken Islamic deference to the foreign king's authority.
The poll, supervised by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, was conducted July 21 – August 5 through land line and cellular phone interviews with 3,003 randomly chosen adults in the United States. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points.
6. First Ever: Zionist Wikipedia Editing Course
by Hezki Ezra and Yoni Kempinski
A first-of-its-kind course opened this week in Jerusalem: "Zionist Editing for Wikipedia." The patriotic "Yisrael Sheli" (My Israel) organization, which recently organized the demonstrations outside the Turkish Embassy after the flotilla incident, was motivated to open the course in order to address Israel's public relations problems.
The course, which was organized with the help of the Yesha Council, conducted a one-day seminar, and will continue online.
The strategy and goal of the course is to educate and enable an 'army' of editors of Wikipedia, giving them the professional skills to write and edit the online encyclopedia's content in a manner which defends and promotes Israel's image.
The participants of the course were chosen from a long list of candidates, with 80 students in total slated to participate.
Seminar workshops were led by professionals and senior Wikipedia editors, and included an overview of the Wikipedia project and practical training on web editing, writing, and values.
Organizers said the initial seminar was a success, and there is a great demand for more meetings in the future.
7. Despite (Because of?) Rabbis’ Rally, Another Rabbi is Arrested
by Hillel Fendel
Hundreds of rabbis gathered in Jerusalem on Wednesday night to protest police intervention in Torah study, and a few hours later, another rabbi was arrested.
Rabbi Yossi Elitzur, a contributing author to the controversial Torah work Torat HaMelekh (Torah of the King), was arrested around 2:30 this morning in his hometown of Yitzhar, in the Shomron (Samaria). So reports the Honenu civil rights organization.
The arrest followed by just a few hours a show of strength by hundreds of rabbis, who gathered in Jerusalem last night to protest the arrest and/or interrogation of Torah scholars because of their Torah opinions. The police are demanding 5,000 shekels in bail for Rabbi Elitzur's release; he will be brought to court in Rishon LeTzion at 11:30 this morning.
The case began nearly four weeks ago, when the work's author, Rabbi Yitzchak Shapiro, was arrested in the middle of the night in his home in Yitzhar. The police also confiscated 33 copies of the book, which discusses the legal aspects of life-and-death issues between Jews and non-Jews, especially in times of war. The rabbi was released after several hours.
Two weeks later, least two other rabbis were summoned for questioning for having given approbations to the book. Neither of the two, Rabbi Dov Lior and Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, showed up for questioning – but the very summons infuriated a large sector of the rabbinical world. Last night’s event was the result, at which leading rabbis asserted that the Torah and rabbis’ scholarly opinions thereof are immune to police investigations.
Despite, or because of, the event, the police have now proceeded to arrest Rabbi Elitzur, for the second time. He was taken to the offices of the Serious and International Crimes Unit in Lod.
The State Prosecution was reportedly surprised to learn that relatively “moderate” rabbis also took part in last night’s protest. Even Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, though he did not take part, expressed support, telling Arutz-7, “I oppose a situation in which a rabbi writes a letter of blessing or approbation for a Torah work, and then is accused or taken for questioning.” He said that he does not necessarily support the publication of the book, “because those who are not Torah scholars could misunderstand what is written there… But I suggest that the police come to the Chief Rabbinate for explanations about the significance of an approbation and suffice with that.”
Rabbi Metzger further remarked on the double standard applied by the police, in that “university professors express anti-Zionist, anti-Israeli, and anti-Jewish positions, and support Bishara, Hanin Zouabi and other enemies of Israel, and are allowed to do this in the name of democracy and freedom of expression.”
More Website News:
 | BBC Airs 'Fair' Presentation on Flotilla Clash  |
| Minister Edelstein: No More Disengagements |
| Iran Asks IAEA for Sanctions Help |
| Aid Hike for Shoah Survivors as Holidays Approach |
| Turkey Asks Israel to Secure Embassy |
