 |
||
 |
        |
 |
|
||
| MP3 Radio | Website News Briefs: | |||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
 |
 |
1. Israel: Iranian Warships in Med are a 'Serious Provocation'
by Gil Ronen
Israel is "closely monitoring" Iranian plans to deploy warships in the
Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, Israeli security
officials told daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot Monday.
Iranian officials have announced plans to deploy warships to areas near
Israel and to dock at a Syrian port for a year. Such a move would be a
"serious provocation," a senior official said. There is no justification
for Iran to deploy its battleships to the Mediterranea Sea, he said,
and if it does so, Israel will view the move as "a change in the
situation" and "Israel will know how to deal with it."
Iranian warships are now deployed in Bab el-Mandeb in the Indian Ocean,
as part of international efforts to combat piracy, the paper reported.
It cited Western intelligence officials who said that Iranian warships
in the Red Sea could supply radical Islamic groups from Yemen with
weapons.
UPI reported that earlier this month, Iran's navy chief Rear Adm.
Habibollah Sayyari told the semi-official Fars news agency that the
Islamic republic intends to maintain a "powerful and permanent presence"
to protect the interests of Iran in the "strategic waters north of the
Indian Ocean."
An Israeli submarine passed southward through the Suez Canal in 2009, in a move that was seen as a warning to Iran. Israel currently has three submarines and is preparing for two more.
According to an article in World Politics Review, the submarines
"reportedly carry nuclear-tipped cruise missiles of an unidentified
type."
"The missiles, part of Israel's estimated 100-strong nuclear arsenal,
reportedly have a range of up to 800 miles," the Review reported. "The
subs probably cannot hit Iran without passing through the Suez into the
Red Sea and ultimately the Indian Ocean. The Red Sea is also the best
route to the Gulf of Oman, where Israeli ships and submarines might
enforce a blockade of Iran, during wartime."
2. Iranian Lawmakers Call for Opposition Leaders' Execution
by Gavriel Queenann
In the wake of rising protests Iranian lawmakers have called for the
execution of two opposition leaders for incitement, Iranian State
Television reported Tuesday morning. Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein
Moussavi, both former presidential candidates, were denounced by Iran's
parliament for calling on supporters to gather in Adazi Square in
Tehran, the focal point of protests over Iran's disputed presidential elections in 2009.
Parliamentarians in Iran's plenum raised fiery chants of "death to Karrubi! Death to Moussavi!" on Tuesday.
Calls for Karrubi and Moussavi's execution come in the wake of a
particularly deadly month of January in Iran, during which at least 66
people were executed. Most executions were reportedly for drug related
offenses, but at least three of the executed were political prisoners,
according to the United Nations.
Iran's leaders praised the revolution in Egypt, but sternly warned of a
harsh reaction to any unrest at home. Despite the warnings, tens of
thousands gathered on Monday, clashing with police forces who used tear
gas and warred with protesters in an attempt to disperse the angry
crowds -- the largest to gather since the brutally suppressed protests
of 2009. Videos show protestors being chased and beaten, while dozens
were detained. One protestor was shot and killed, according to the
semi-official Fars news agency. Others were injured and listed in
serious condition due to the shooting.
According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency nine members of
Iran's security forces were injured by protesters, who were dispersed
and cleared from Tehran by nightfall. Iran's Deputy Chief of Police,
Ahmad Reza Radan, characterized the protests as "illegal gatherings"
asserting the gatherings were "directed from America, England, and
Israel." Radan also fumed at opposition leaders saying, "The hands of
sedition leaders [sic] are drenched in blood and they should answer for
these actions."
Much of the information about the protests is flowing through
unconventional sources as foreign journalists were denied visas and
accredited journalists living in Iran were not allowed to cover the
demonstrations. Internet speeds in Iran slowed to a snail's pace in what
many believe is an attempt by the government to impede protest
organization and stanch the flow of information out of the country.
Nevertheless, protest videos showing throngs of demonstrators marching
and burning posters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were uploaded to video
hosting sites on the Internet.
Due to fear of retribution witnesses are not available to authenticate
the videos, but they appear to indicate unrest was not restricted to
Tehran, with videos showing demonstrations in other cities, such as
Ishfazan and Shiraz. Shortly after the crackdown Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the significance of the protests, saying
the protesters wanted to overshadow Friday's rallies celebrating the
32nd anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution. The protesters, the
president insisted, "just wanted to tarnish the Iranian nation's
brilliance."
"It is clear the Iranian nation has enemies because it is a nation that
wants to shine, conquer peaks and change [its international]
relations," Ahmadinijad said. He confidently added, "Of course, there is
a lot of hostility against the government. But they knew that they
would get nowhere." Apparently not sharing their president's insouciant
assessment of the protests, parliamentarians demanded the opposition
leaders' deaths.
The international community has called on Iran to respect the rights of its citizens to protest. Noting Iran's hypocrisy vis-a-vis supporting protests in Egypt,
US President Barack Obama sharply criticized the Iranian regime,
stating, "I find it ironic that you've got the Iranian regime pretending
to celebrate what happened in Egypt, when in fact they have acted in
direct contrast to what happened in Egypt by gunning down and beating
people who were trying to express themselves peacefully."
Israel's President, Shimon Peres, addressing the Conference of
Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem on Wednesday,
said, "It was very unfortunate seeing Ahmadinejad's parliament calling
for the opposition's murder." Peres observed: "We are entering a major
chapter in the history of Israel and the Middle East. An amazing change
is taking place here. What we saw in Egypt was a revolution without
leaders."
3. Embassies Closed Due to Terror Warnings
by Gavriel Queenann
Four Israeli embassies have been closed temporarily, with other
embassies being put on alert, following intelligence reports indicating
potential attacks on Jewish and Israeli sites around the world. The
current threat appears to stem from the desire to avenge the death of
terrorist leader Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in a mysterious
car bombing in Damascus, Syria, in 2008. At the time, foreign officials
blamed Israel for the assassination, but Israel denied responsibility.
On Friday, Israel's Counter Terrorism Bureau issued a travel warning
for all Israelis - due to the approaching anniversary of Mughniyeh's
assassination - against traveling to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt,
Georgia, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Turkey, and Venezuela.
Foreign Ministry reports were intentionally vague to protect sources and
obscure Israeli security deployments. The additional precaution of
closing the four embassies was taken Monday evening.
Such decisions are typically based on concete intelligence data.
Mughniyeh was born to a Shiite-Muslim family in southern Lebanon in
1963. In 1979 he joined Fatah's Force 17, formed for the purpose of
assassinating Israeli leaders following heavy losses by the PLO
leadership during Israel's Operation Spring Youth in 1973. Ultimately,
Force 17 served as bodyguards for Yassir Arafat, his top lieutenants,
and PLO representatives abroad. Following Arafat's deportation from
Lebanon in 1982, Mughniyeh left Fatah to act as the bodyguard for Sheikh
Muhammad Fadlallah, the Lebanese Shia community's spiritual leader, who
died last July.
Shortly after leaving Fatah Mughniyeh became involved with the
Hizbullah terrorist organization, becoming a celebrated figure. He is
known to have participated in the bombing of US targets in Beirut in
1983. A car bomb at the US Embassy in April that year killed 63 people,
including 17 Americans, and a truck bomb at the Marine compound in
October killed 241 American soldiers. In 1985, Mughniyeh was behind the
hijacking of TWA 845, during which US Navy sailor Robert Sethem was
murdered.
Mughniyeh was also suspected of being behind the torture-murder of
William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut in 1984; the
kidnapping-murder of Lieutenant Colonel William Richard Higgins of the
US Marine Corps, who was on peacekeeping duty in Lebanon in 1988; and
through the Islamic Jihad terror group, the seizing of western hostages
in Beirut during the 1980s. Of the aforementioned TWA 845 hijacking,
then US President Ronald Reagan said “We will not rest until justice is
done.”
Following Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, Mughniyeh became
heavily involved in Hizbullah's anti-Israel operations in southern
Lebanon, and during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 reportedly personally
fired Katyusha rockets into Israel. Such rocket attacks targeted
Israeli civilian population centers, causing many to flee their homes.
It is claimed Israel's alleged decision to target Mughniyeh for
assassination was taken as early as 2000, but did not become urgent
until the cease-fire following the second Lebanon war in 2006.
Mughniyeh's demise came while he was walking to the Iranian embassy in
Damascus, where he planned to attend the 29th anniversary celebrations
of Iran's Islamic revolution. Eyewitnesses said the street shook when he
passed a rented car that exploded, obliterating his body. Pieces of
Mughniyeh were later found across the street. Following the
assassination, Hizbullah stated it would avenge the 'martyr' Mughniyeh
at a time and place of its own choosing.
4. Saar: No More Lies, We're Keeping Hevron
by Maayana Miskin
Israel must make it clear that Jews will remain in the city of Hevron,
Education Minister Gidon Saar (Likud) said Tuesday. “We must not mislead
the Arabs into thinking that one day there will be no Jews living in
Kiryat Arba and Hevron,” he said during a tour of Judea.
A Jewish presence in the Biblical city is crucial “in order to maintain
our ability to visit and pray in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, one of the
most important places to the Jewish people,” Saar explained.
He said he would act to bring all Israeli students to visit Hevron,
particularly the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Currently, all Israeli students
are to visit Jerusalem at least once during their school career.
During his visit to Efrat, Hevron and other Israeli towns in Judea, the
minister dedicated a children's science-ecology center in Efrat and
a new school at the Herzog College of Har Etzion Yeshiva in Alon Shvut
for intellectually gifted grade-school children living in the area.
After enjoying the gifted youngsters' creativity exhibition and
talents, Saar also faced tough questions over his party's policies.
]
[Ed. Minister talks to student at school for gifted children] ]]]} }}]
Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language news service asked Saar what he had to
say to Jews in Judea who suffered under the Likud-led Judea and Samaria
construction freeze. “We are in a very difficult and complex situation,
diplomatically speaking,” Saar answered. “I am convinced that we know
how to deal with the problems that stand before us regarding Jewish
settlement.”
The first step Israel should take is to renew construction in
majority-Jewish regions of Judea and Samaria, known as “settlement
blocs,” Saar continued. “It's absurd that there are no land sales in
the cities of Efrat, Ariel, Maaleh Adumim, and Beitar Illit, at a time
when building is taking place in Jewish villages in Judea and Samaria,”
he said.
Efrat has been waiting eight years for government approval to market
1,000 housing units. The Housing Ministry prepared the groundwork for
the housing, spending tens of millions of shekels in the process, yet
the government now refuses to give the project final authorization.
Saar was also asked to explain the difference between the Likud's
platform and that of opposition party Kadima, whose party head, MK Tzipi
Livni, visited Judea several weeks earlier. Livni also said during her
visit that Israel should allow construction in settlement blocs.
[Dedicating children's school at Herzog College, Har Etzion Yeshiva, Alon Shvut]
“You would not want to be shown the difference between Likud and
Kadima,” Saar warned. “Just the most recent documents revealed show that
Kadima is willing to give up the very heart of Jerusalem.”
Recently published documents show that the Olmert administration had
been prepared to give Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the Palestinian
Authority, and to put the Old City and the Temple Mount under
international control.
5. Report: Iran Recovering from Stuxnet Damage
by Gil Ronen
Iran's Natanz nuclear plant may have recovered relatively quickly from the damage inflicted upon it by the Stuxnet virus, the Washington Post says.
Based on surveillance video from the Natanz plant, the International
Atomic Energy Agency knows that Iran had to replace about 10% of
Natanz's 9,000 centrifuges in late 2009 and the first months of 2010,
due to damage believed to have been caused by Stuxnet. "But the IAEA's
files also show a feverish - and apparently successful - effort by
Iranian scientists to contain the damage and replace broken parts, even
while constrained by international sanctions banning Iran from
purchasing nuclear equipment. An IAEA report due for release this month
is expected to show steady or even slightly elevated production rates at
the Natanz enrichment plant over the past year," the newspaper said.
"They have been able to quickly replace broken machines," a Western
diplomat with access to confidential IAEA reports told the Post. Despite
the setbacks caused by the cyberattack, "the Iranians appeared to be
working hard to maintain a constant, stable output" of low-enriched
uranium, said the official.
A draft report by Washington-based nuclear experts from the Institute
for Science and International Security (ISIS) says that the net impact
of the Stuxnet attack was relatively minor. "While it has delayed the
Iranian centrifuge program at the Natanz plant in 2010 and contributed
to slowing its expansion, it did not stop it or even delay the continued
buildup of low-enriched uranium," the draft report says.
The United States and Israel, the countries believed by most analysts
to be behind the Stuxnet attack, have not denied or confirmed their
involvement. A violent military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities by
Israel could set off a wide-scale regional war, and the US under Barack
Obama is loath to carry out such an attack itself. Setting back the
Iranian nuclear program for a few years could have major strategic
importance if, in the intervening period, a new president is elected in
the US, or if a revolution overthrows the current regime in Iran and
replaces it with one the West sees as less dangerous.
6. Hariri Plans Lebanese Anti-Hizbullah Million-Man March
by David Lev
Lebanon's former Prime Minister Saad Hariri doesn't plan to sit back
and let Hizbullah and its allies, whom, he said, displayed "lies,
betrayal and lack of loyalty,” to sit back and enjoy the fruits of their
political coup against him undisturbed.
At a mass rally in Beirut Monday, Hariri said he would not join the new
government being formed by Najb Mukati. Instead, as he told thousands
of protesters at a rally commemorating the the assassination of his
father, Rafik Hariri, he plans to lead a “million-man march” next month,
evoking a similar event six years ago, when some one million protesters
gathered to protest Syria's interference in Lebanese affairs.
The protest will take place on March 14, the date of the earlier
protest and the name of Hariri's former ruling coalition. The coalition
was toppled when Druze leader Walid Jumblatt jumped to Hizbullah's
side, giving the terror group the votes it needed to take control of the
Lebanese parliament. “We are going on March 14 to say no,” Hariri told
the crowd. “No to the betrayal of coexistence… no to [Hizbullah's] armed
internal tutelage, no to moving Lebanon to an axis rejected by the
Lebanese,” an axis which consists of, he said, Iran, Syria, and
Hizbullah.
One of the major issues in Lebanese politics has been the investigation
by an international tribunal of the elder Hariri's murder in 2005. Most
observers expect the tribunal to finger Hizbullah as being behind the
murder, with the terror group threatening violence if it is blamed for
Hariri's death. In his speech, Hariri defended the tribunal, which, he
said, “will accuse members and will not do so randomly," he said. “It
has to be based on evidence and proof.”
Hizbullah had used intimidation to bully its way into office on the
background of the investigation, Hariri said. “We congratulate them on a
majority that was hijacked by the intimidation of weapons and we
congratulate them on a power that was stolen from the will of the
voters."
"Our mistake may have been that we extended our hand truthfully every
time," Hariri said, telling the crowd that he had been trying to work
out an arrangement by which Lebanon could put his father's murder behind
it, and move on to a new spirit of cooperation. “But we were met every
time with deceit, and our genuine intention was taken as a point of
weakness and a sign of fear."
Speaking Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon affirmed the UN's
commitment to the efforts of the tribunal, a day after U.S. President
Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the new
Lebanese government to cooperate with the court.
7. The New Middle East at a Glance-Country by Country
by Hillel Fendel
The New Middle East at a Glance - Part One
Arab countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa are
experiencing unrest. Israel National News brings you a brief review on
what’s happening with the Arabs – and the Jews – in the various states:
ALGERIA
Hundreds of protestors clashed with security forces in the capital city
of Algiers over the past few days, demanding the ouster of President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika. About 100 have been arrested. Bouteflika has
agreed to lift the nearly 20-year-old state of emergency with which the
country has been ruled.
Algeria’s Jewish population can be traced back about 2,600 years, to
when the First Temple was destroyed. After Algeria achieved
independence from France in 1962, most of the country’s 130,000 Jews –
who had long suffered from local anti-Semitism – emigrated to France.
By the 1990’s, most of the remaining Jews had emigrated. In 1994, the
rebel Armed Islamic Group declared war on all non-Muslims in the
country. The Algiers synagogue was abandoned that year and later became a
mosque. Slightly more than 200 Jews remain today in Algeria, mostly in
Algiers.
BAHRAIN
Thousands of people are marching in the streets today, demanding the
regime’s ousting. At least two protestors have been killed and three
police officers hurt. The small island kingdom (population 1.25 million)
has been ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family for nearly two centuries,
since 1820.
After World War II, riots were focused against the middle-class Jewish
community. By 1948, most of Bahrain Jewry abandoned its properties and
evacuated to Bombay, India and later to Israel and the United Kingdom.
As of 2008, 37 Jews remained in the country; the issue of compensation
was never settled. In 2008, King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa called on the Jews who emigrated to return.
EGYPT
Unrest continues despite the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak on
Friday. Banks and the stock market remain closed, while the army
attempts to take control until elections are able to be arranged.
In 1956, the Egyptian government issued a proclamation stating that
“all Jews are Zionists and enemies of the state” and threatened them
with expulsion. As a result, half of Egypt’s 50,000 Jews left, and 1,000
were imprisoned. After the 1967 war, nearly all Egyptian Jewish men
aged 17-60 were either thrown out of the country or incarcerated and
tortured. Fewer than 100 Jews remain in Egypt today.
IRAN
Tens of thousands of anti-Ahmadinejad demonstrators marched in downtown
Tehran on Monday. The Parliament Speaker blamed the United States and
Israel for the protests. Opposition activists continue to call for more
demonstrations, in which security forces have fired tear gas; dozens of
people have been arrested, and two opposition leaders have been placed
under house arrest.
"The parliament condemns the Zionist, American, anti-revolutionary and
anti-national action of the misled seditionists," Speaker Ali Larijani
said during a parliament session.
Jews in Iran, formerly known as Persia, date back 4,000 years. In
1948, the population numbered close to 150,000, and at the time of the
1979 Islamic Revolution, the number was 80,000. From then on, Jewish
emigration increased dramatically. Estimates of today’s population range
from 20,000 to 35,000. Iran's Jewish community, the largest among
Muslim countries, is officially recognized as a religious minority group
and as such is allocated one seat in the Iranian Parliament. Tehran has
11 functioning synagogues.
IRAQ
Though Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s regime does not appear to be in
imminent danger, thousands of people have rallied in recent days and
weeks across the country, protesting poverty, high unemployment, and
shortages of food, electricity and water. Al-Maliki has announced a 50%
cut in his $350,000 salary and that he would not run for a third term in
2014.
Iraqi Jewry dates back at least 2,600 years, and numbered around
120,000 in 1948. Nearly all the Jews left because of persecution
following Israel’s War of Independence, and today fewer than 100 Jews
remain.
TUNISIA
The future of Tunisia is still in doubt, following the fleeing of
longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali as a result of the December
unrest that sparked the protests across the Middle East. The EU’s top
foreign policy official, Catherine Ashton, met yesterday with various
leaders in an attempt to shape a policy for governing the country.
In 1941, Tunisia was home to roughly 100,000 Jews, and a year later
became the only Arab country to come under direct Nazi occupation
during World War II. The Nazis forced Jews to wear the yellow Star of
David, confiscated property, and sent some 5,700 Jews to forced labor
camps, where 150 died in the camps or the bombings. In the 1950’s,
anti-Semitism and other forms of persecution led to the departure of
tens of thousands of Jews; each person was allowed to leave
with approximately $5 of their own money. As of now, 700 Jews live
in the city of Tunis and 1,000 on the island of Djerba.
Amidst the Arab demands for the restitution of Arab refugees from the
1948 war, it is largely forgotten that around that time, more than
870,000 Jews lived in the various Arab countries. In many cases, they
were persecuted politically and physically, and their property was
confiscated; some 600,000 Jews found refuge in the State of Israel.
Their material claims for their lost assets have never been seriously
considered.
8. New Middle East at a Glance-Country by Country: Part II
by Hillel Fendel
Arab countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa are
experiencing unrest. Israel National News brings you a brief review on
what’s happening with the Arabs – and the Jews – in the various states (Part I can be read here):
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
The Cabinet headed by prime minister Salam Fayyad submitted its
resignation to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, and Fayyad was
immediately re-appointed to head the new government. Abbas, whose Fatah
organization runs the Judea/Samaria parts of the Palestinian Authority,
has called for new elections "by September at the latest" – but Hamas,
which controls Gaza, says it will not take part.
Only minor protests have been held, but the Abbas government has been
under criticism for the lack of progress in the talks with Israel, for
having reportedly made concessions to Israel, and in light of constant
Hamas criticism.
Jews, by definition, do not live in the PA-controlled areas. This past
December, Abbas said, “We have frankly said, and always will say: If
there is an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,
we won’t agree to the presence of one Israeli in it." Months earlier,
he even said that he would not agree to a single Jewish soldier in a
NATO peacekeeping in the region, but later backtracked.
JORDAN
Though no acute danger faces King Abdullah's regime, he is experiencing
popular protests, and his wife, Queen Rania, has been accused of
corruption. A letter signed by 36 leading Bedouin representatives says
that Rania must return land and farms expropriated by her family. The
letter endorses several demands expressed by the Islamist opposition,
and warns that Jordan "will sooner or later face the flood of Tunisia
and Egypt, due to the suppression of freedoms and looting of public
funds."
At the same time, Islamist voices are coming to the fore in Jordan; the
country's new Justice Minister has praised the murderer of seven
Israeli girls and called for his release from prison. The lethal attack
occurred on the Israeli-Jordanian border in 1997.
Abdullah has formed a new government in response to the protests, and
U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited
Jordan over the weekend to discuss current events with the leadership.
Jewish history in what is now Jordan goes back to Biblical times, when
Moses granted permission to two and a half tribes to live there after
taking part in the war for the Land of Israel. Over the centuries, the
Jewish population dwindled to nothing. In the 1930's, leading residents
of what was then Transjordan requested that Jews move in to help revive
the economy – but the British, who ruled the area, did not want more
Jewish-Arab problems, and passed legislation banning Jews from living
there.
After the Kingdom of Jordan was created, it ratified this law in 1954,
declaring that any person may become a citizen unless he is a Jew (or if
a special council approves his request and he has fulfilled other
conditions). Jordan has no Jewish community at present.
LIBYA
Underground opposition groups reportedly tried to organize Day of Rage
protests on Monday, and have now rescheduled them for this Thursday.
Moammar Gadhafi, who has ruled the country since 1969, met last month
with political activists and journalists, warned that they would be held
responsible if they took part "in any way in disturbing the peace or
creating chaos in Libya."
In 1931, 21,000 Jews lived in Libya - 4% of the total population -
under generally good conditions. In the late 1930s, the Fascist Italian
regime began passing anti-Semitic laws, and in 1942 – when 44 synagogues
were operative in Tripoli - German troops occupied the Jewish quarter
of Benghazi and deported more than 2,000 Jews to labor camps across the
desert, where more than a fifth of them perished.
After World War II, anti-Jewish violence and murderous pogroms caused
many Jews to leave the country, principally for Israel, and under
Gaddafi's rule, the situation deteriorated so badly that only 20 Jews
remained by 1974. In 2003, the last Jew of Libya, 80-year-old Rina
Debach, left the country.
MOROCCO
A video has been distributed calling for a protest to be held on Feb.
20 to demand "equality, social justice, employment, housing, study
grants and higher salaries," as well as "change, political reforms, the
resignation of the Government and the dissolution of Parliament."
Analysts do not expect the campaign to succeed. Some have said that the
Moroccan government may face unrest in the west, thanks to Algerian
instigators.
Before the founding of Israel in 1948, there were over 250,000 Jews in
the country, but only 3,000 - 7,000 remain today, mostly in Casablanca.
In June 1948, 44 Jews were killed in anti-Semitic riots, and
large-scale emigration to Israel began. Between 1961 and 1964, more than
80,000 Moroccan Jews emigrated to Israel; by 1967, only 60,000 Jews
remained, and four years later, this number was 35,000. Today, the State
of Israel is home to nearly 1,000,000 Jews of Moroccan descent, around
15% of the nation's total population.
SYRIA
In an attempt to head off protests, the Assad government withdrew a
plan to remove some subsidies. President Bashar Assad gave a rare
interview to the Wall Street Journal in which he said he to hold local
elections, pass a new media law, and give more power to private
organizations. A planned "Day of Rage" that was organized via Facebook
for February 5 failed to materialize.
Large Jewish communities existed in Aleppo, Damascus, and Qamishli for
centuries. About 100 years ago, a large percentage of Syrian Jews
emigrated to the U.S., Central and South America and Israel. Anti-Jewish
feeling reached a climax in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and some
5,000 Jews left in the 1940's for what became Israel. The Aleppo pogrom
of December 1947, a pogrom in Aleppo – the third in 100 years - left
many dead, hundreds wounded, and the community devastated. Another
pogrom in Damascus in 1949 left 12 Jews dead. In 1992, the few thousand
remaining Jews were permitted to leave Syria, as long as they did not
head for Israel. The few remaining Jews in Syria live in Damascus.
YEMEN
Tuesday marks four straight days of clashes between pro- and
anti-government protesters in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. At least three
people were injured on Tuesday as 3,000 activists attempted to march on
the presidential palace. They are demanding the resignation of
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years.
Protests have become increasingly violent. Besides poverty and
unemployment, the Saleh government is grappling a secessionist movement
in the south, rebellion in the north, and a regrouping of Al Qaeda on
its soil.
Between June 1949 and September 1950, 49,000 Yemenite Jews - the
overwhelming majority of the country's Jewish population - was
transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet. Only a few dozen mostly
elderly Jews remain in Yemen.
Amidst the Arab demands for the restitution of Arab refugees from the
1948 war, it is largely forgotten that around that time, more than
870,000 Jews lived in the various Arab countries. In many cases, they
were persecuted politically and physically, and their property was
confiscated; some 600,000 Jews found refuge in the State of Israel.
Their material claims for their lost assets have never been seriously
considered.
More Website News:
 |
EU's Ashton Pressing for 'Peace' Talks  |
|
Israeli Academics Call Poland to Boycott Israeli-Made Weapons |
|
Gaddafi to Arab 'Refugees': March on Israel |
|
MK Shamalov-Berkowitz: Feminism Turned into 'Jihad' |
|
Hamas: Gaza Hospital Changes Name to Tahrir |
