Levitt Letter Extra News

By David Wainer and Tal Barak Harif, www.Bloomberg.com

Israel’s benchmark bonds are poised to fall, pushing yields up as much as 0.4 percentage point, as the central bank persists in raising interest rates to curb inflation, according to Excellence Investments Ltd.

The yield on the shekel-denominated bond due February 2017 may climb to 4.8 percent over the next 12 months from 4.38 percent yesterday, said Shlomo Maoz, the Ramat Gan, Israel-based brokerage’s chief economist. The benchmark Mimshal Shiklit security fell was unchanged at 110.87 at the close in Tel Aviv and the yield one basis point to 4.39 percent.

“The bank still has to rein in inflation,” said Maoz, one of two economists to predict the August rate increase, the first by a central bank since the global economy began to recover. “It’s very cheap to borrow in Israel and the real interest rate, taking inflation into account, is still very low.”

Inflation accelerated in October to 2.9 percent from 2.8 percent the previous month, the Central Bureau of Statistics said on Nov. 15. The inflation rate will rise to as high as 3.7 percent two months from now, above the 3 percent upper end of the government’s target range, according to Arie Tal, the chief strategist at Alumot- Sprint Investment House, who forecast yesterday’s increase.

Bank of America Corp. expects Israeli central bank Governor Stanley Fischer to increase the benchmark interest rate to 1.25 percent by year-end, according to an Oct. 30 report.

Fischer, 66, raised the lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point yesterday to 1 percent following a similar move in August. Twelve of 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, including Maoz had forecast no change yesterday. Five had predicted the increase.

The shekel was little changed, dropping 0.3 percent to 3.7822 per dollar at 5:21 p.m. in Tel Aviv. The currency jumped yesterday following the rate increase, climbing to as high as 3.7685 per dollar, a 1 percent increase.

“This is a momentary reaction by the market to a surprise move,” said Yaron Chechik, a currency trader at Financial Immunities Ltd. in Rehovot, Israel. “The higher rates make Israeli yields more appealing. In the long-term, the shekel will follow the global trend of risk appetite.”

The benchmark Mimshal Shiklit bond last yielded about 4.8 percent on Aug. 31, up from a record low of 4.1 percent on Feb. 17.

The economy grew an annualized 2.2 percent in the third quarter, its fastest pace in more than a year, after expanding 1 percent in the second quarter. The bank expects economic growth to accelerate to 2.5 percent next year from zero expansion in 2009.

The Washington-based International Monetary Fund is forecasting growth of 0.5 percent and average annual inflation of 1.1 percent next year in the European Union. U.S. gross domestic product should expand 1.5 percent and inflation average 1.7 percent in 2010, according to the IMF.

Israel’s decision to increase rates “will help to establish inflation one year ahead firmly within the target range,” the bank said in its statement. “National accounts data for the third quarter indicate recovery in economic activity, reflecting a significant increase in private consumption, exports and investments.”

The government’s annual target is for 1 percent to 3 percent inflation.

“The Bank of Israel still has a loose monetary policy, while at the same time signaling that they are serious about fighting inflation,” said Tevfik Aksoy, a London-based economist for Morgan Stanley, who forecast the increase. “The decision won’t hinder growth at all.”

Associated Press

The U.S. State Department announced the Tuesday before Thanksgiving that it is offering a reward of up to $5 million for a Palestinian bomb-maker suspected of once targeting commercial airliners and of aiding the Iraq insurgency.

Abu Ibrahim, whose real name is Husayn Muhammed al-Umari, stands accused of a spate of bombings in the 1980s. He was indicted in the 1982 bombing of Pan Am Flight 830 that killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded more than a dozen passengers as the plane headed to Honolulu from Tokyo.

The FBI has been trying to catch Ibrahim for decades. It has upped its efforts recently, releasing an age-enhanced sketch of him earlier this year and working to dramatically increase the potential reward for information leading to his capture. He is about 73 years old.

Previously, the reward for Ibrahim had been $200,000 – apparently not enough to get someone to turn on him. With the new amount, former law enforcement officials who hunted Ibrahim say the FBI might finally nab him.

“If he is still out there and functioning, we’ve got a good chance now. Better than we had before. Money talks,” said Denny Kline, a retired FBI explosives expert who investigated Ibrahim’s terrorist organization.

Ibrahim ran the organization, called 15 May, according to federal court documents and terrorism experts. The group was named for the day after Israel was founded, when Arab armies launched an attack against the new country.

Former CIA operatives who also tracked Ibrahim say he lived in Iraq, beyond the long reach of the spy agency and the FBI, for about three decades and thrived with the help of the Iraqi Intelligence Service. Before the 2003 Iraq invasion, Ibrahim – known as The Bomb Man – lived in a suburb of Baghdad, and his terrorist group received a monthly stipend from the IIS, according to captured Iraqi documents.

The Iraqi government used him to conduct terrorism operations against Syria and Iran. In his book, former CIA spy master Duane R. Clarridge wrote that Ibrahim had a talent for constructing ingenious machines of death, such as refrigerator trucks whose cooling pipes were filled with liquid explosives.

Ibrahim is accused of teaching the art of bomb-making to a slew of operatives, including Mohammed Rashed, who’s behind bars at a maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado. Rashed was convicted in the 1982 Pan Am bombing. He is scheduled to be released in 2013.

In April, the AP published a story about Ibrahim, whom many people thought dead.

Court documents indicate Rashed has agreed to cooperate in the case against Ibrahim as part of a plea agreement, meaning the FBI needs to catch Ibrahim before Rashed’s release. But Rashed disputed he’ll testify against Ibrahim. In a May letter to The Associated Press, he wrote: I am not a witness against nobody.

In 2004, the military raided a bomb-making factory in Mosul and found telltale signs of Ibrahim and his devices, suggesting that he or his pupils were supporting the insurgency. Federal law enforcement officials also confirmed they had had no reason to believe Ibrahim had given up his deadly trade.

Experts believe his bomb-making signature can be seen in other bombings or attempted bombing in the 25 years since his indictment, according to an FBI news release.

The FBI also put Ibrahim on its list of most-wanted terrorists, a group that includes Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

In May, the AP reported that Ibrahim, a devout Sunni, had fled to Tripoli, a city in northwest Lebanon, where his second wife, Selma, was born.

The FBI said Ibrahim could be in either Lebanon or Iraq and is known to carry a gun at all times. Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S., but is a member of Interpol, which has also issued an alert seeking Ibrahim’s arrest.

Ibrahim has been linked to several terrorist organizations, including Black September and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He broke away from the PFLP in 1979 and founded the Baghdad-based 15 May. He’s believed to have received training from the Soviet Union’s KGB and Irish Republican Army.

The State Department says people with tips should contact its Rewards for Justice program, any U.S. embassy or consulate or any U.S. military commander in Iraq.

Ibrahim was also indicted by the French for his alleged role in the 1985 bombing of the Marks and Spencer Department store in Paris and the Leumi Bank. One person was killed and 14 others injured at the store; nobody was killed in the bank bombing.

By Marcy Oster, JTA  www.JewishJournal.com

Thanksgiving was always a day spent eating good food and watching some (hopefully) good football at my house. But in my husband’s family, Thanksgiving was truly a day of giving thanks, as each year his grandfather, J. Alex Link, spoke about his gratitude to the United States for taking him in on the eve of the Holocaust.

So when it came to our first Thanksgiving in Israel nine years ago, we had no doubt that we would celebrate—even though my three sisters-in-law, who grew up in the same household as my husband and made aliyah (moved to Israel) before us, do not mark the day.

As part of our support system in those first weeks after aliyah, we spent much time commiserating with another American family who had moved to Israel during the same year, and we found that we had kindred spirits where Thanksgiving was concerned.

That first Thanksgiving together has evolved into an annual tradition, though we have moved the meal to Friday night after waiting that first year until late in the evening when our two husbands returned from work.

In addition to a spread that includes the favorite traditional Thanksgiving foods of both families, we ask the children and adults to talk about what we have had to be thankful about since last year.

Sometimes the children are thankful for things as simple as the turkey or a good teacher. Other times their thanks are for not being caught in a Molotov cocktail attack or in bomb shelters like the children of Sderot—a poignant reminder that we are celebrating this most American of holidays in Israel.

The first year that my asking the meat and poultry counter of my local supermarket if I could order a whole turkey set off a flurry of discussion. The woman at the counter had to call the manager; the manager had to call the distributor; the distributor had to call the slaughterhouse. But in the end I got my turkey.

Now when the middle of November rolls around each year, the ladies behind the counter remind me to order my whole turkey. They even let it thaw for a couple of days in their giant refrigerator before I take it home.

Last year I had an audience when I took my turkey from the oven on the erev Shabbat (eve of the Sabbath) of our Thanksgiving celebration. My Israeli neighbor, who the previous day had seen me lugging home my turkey—it’s the size of a hefty newborn—had asked if she could come over and see what in the world I do with a whole turkey. She brought her mother, too, and they oohed and aahed over my perfectly browned bird and the savory stuffing peeking out from inside.

At least 300 Anglo families live in our community, mostly Americans, but I don’t think many celebrate Thanksgiving. Many came here too young to have established the bountiful American holiday as a tradition in their homes. Others have tried hard to become as Israeli as possible, leaving behind all the trappings of their American lives, like Thanksgiving.

I see no contradiction in celebrating a quintessential American Thanksgiving.  I will always be an American and I am thankful for all that America has done for me, my family, Israel and the world. I want my children, who were very young or not even born when we made aliyah, to feel that same gratitude.

So each year we sit down to a turkey with stuffing made following my husband’s grandmother’s recipe, to sweet potatoes that our friends make according to their family’s tradition. The apple pie recipe also comes from grandma, and the pumpkin pie tastes just like it was made by our friend’s mother. In place of cranberry sauce we serve a cranberry kugel (casserole).

Kiddush (blessing) precedes the meal, accompanied by fresh-baked challah (egg bread) and completed with Birkat Hamazon (saying grace after a meal)—and we drink a fine Israeli wine with dinner.

And maybe, if we are lucky, we can catch a football game on one of the satellite TV sports stations late Thursday night or early Friday morning, just to get us in the mood for our Thanksgiving dinner.

From The Israel Project

The head of the Palestinian Central Elections Committee on Thursday announced that Palestinian legislative and presidential elections cannot be held on January 24, as declared by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The committee chief informed Abbas of his decision earlier in the day. He blamed the inability to hold elections on Hamas, which had threatened to punish any residents of the Gaza Strip that dared to vote in the poll.

Many in Israel viewed Thursday’s announcement as just part of a larger ruse by Abbas to remain in power after telling the world he would not seek reelection due to what he called Israel’s inability to make peace. Abbas will now be viewed as the “reluctant moderate” leader who will only stick around as long as Israel is pressured into making the kind of concessions that will keep him happy.

www.IsraelToday.co.il

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, Nov 11 passed a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad via French President Nicolas Sarkozy urging an immediate resumption of peace talks between the two Middle East nations.

Arabic news network al-Arabiya cited “knowledgeable sources” as saying that during their meeting in Paris, Netanyahu told Sarkozy he is prepared to withdraw from the Golan Heights for the sake of a peace deal with Syria. According to the report, Netanyahu asked Sarkozy to passed that message on when he met with Assad on Friday.

Netanyahu’s office immediately responded by admitting that a message had been transmitted to Assad via Sarkozy, but firmly rejecting that the Israeli leader had offered to surrender the Golan. The Prime Minister’s Office refused to release further details regarding the peace overture.

A day before traveling to Paris himself, Assad claimed that he, too, is ready to restart negotiations with Israel without preconditions, though in the past the Syrian leader has refused direct talks with Israel without a prior commitment to meet Syrian territorial demands.

Assad also revealed that even if he enters talks with Israel, they will be accompanied by continued support for terrorist violence against Israel.

“The essence of peace is not just negotiations but rather, resistance as well,” Assad was quoted as saying by official Syrian media.

Meanwhile, Arab affairs expert Prof. Moshe Sharon warned in an interview with Arutz 7 Radio that all the Syrians want is to take Israel’s water.

“The Syrians want us to sign a peace agreement with them so that they can draw Sea of Galilee water from us,” said Sharon. “They don’t want peace; they want water.”

By Timothy Williams and Sa’ad Izzi, www.NYTimes

BAGHDAD — After weeks of political stalemate, Iraq approved a law on Sunday to administer a critical national election in January, a significant milestone for its fragile democracy and a step that will allow the rapid withdrawal of American combat forces early next year.

Nuri Kamal al-Maliki

The election, only the second national vote since the fall of Saddam Hussein, will be a crucial step toward popular sovereignty and stability in Iraq. But the election law had been stymied by a political battle over the northern province of Kirkuk, claimed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens, each of whom hoped electoral power would give them control of the region’s oil wealth.

The compromise reached Sunday, which satisfied all three groups, was hailed by Iraqi and American leaders as a triumph for Iraq’s emerging democracy and a demonstration of Parliament’s ability to resolve sticky sectarian disputes for the national benefit.

“Accomplishing this law is not a victory for anyone in particular, but a victory for the entire Iraqi people,” said Faryad Raundozi, a member of Parliament’s Kurdish Alliance.

The United States had said that a delay of the election could set back the scheduled withdrawal of American combat troops.

On Sunday, President Obama called the Parliament’s action “a significant breakthrough” that would ease fears about an American military withdrawal.

“This agreement advances the political progress that can bring lasting peace and unity to Iraq, and allow for the orderly and responsible transition of American combat troops out of Iraq by next September,” Mr. Obama said at the White House.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq said in a statement that the passage of the law had been a “historic victory of the will of the people” and a “strong response” to those seeking to undermine Iraq’s democracy.

American military commanders have said they intend to begin a rapid withdrawal of the 120,000 American troops still in Iraq after the election. The United States has pledged to withdraw all combat forces from Iraq by the end of next August, leaving about 50,000 troops in an advisory and support role. All American troops are scheduled to leave the country by the end of 2011.

After the vote, the American ambassador to Iraq, Christopher R. Hill, said the withdrawal would proceed as planned. “What is important is that with the election law, we are very much on schedule for the drawdown,” he said.

American and Iraqi officials hope the election will cement democracy here at a time when many people have grown discontented with their leadership and fed up with continued violence, corruption and high unemployment.

The previous parliamentary vote, in 2005, was boycotted by many Sunni Arabs, an act that allowed the insurgency to fester and fueled subsequent sectarian bloodshed. This time, each of the major political parties and Iraqi’s major religious and ethnic groups have all said they will participate.

Khalid Ataya, the deputy speaker of Parliament, told members of the legislature that they were taking a momentous step in the country’s young democratic history. “The Parliament has done something important for the people of Iraq,” he said. “This is a big blow to terrorists.”

As an indication of the election’s importance to the United States, Mr. Hill was seen shuttling back and forth between the offices of various political parties all day Sunday in an effort to pressure them to reach a deal.

“Go upstairs and vote!” he shouted at a pair of slow-moving lawmakers as they climbed a set of stairs to the chamber before the session.

The election had been scheduled for Jan. 16, but as the parliamentary session ended late Sunday, officials said it appeared that it would be delayed by a few days to give election officials time to print ballots and to make other preparations.

For weeks, the legislature had wrestled with how to determine voter eligibility in Kirkuk, which sits on billions of barrels of oil. The issue threatened to undermine the election, and Parliament’s inability to resolve it had become a symbol of Iraq’s political dysfunction.

Tens of thousands of Kurds were forced out of Kirkuk by Saddam Hussein, who replaced them with Arabs in order to tighten his grip on the region’s oil. Since the United States-led invasion that ousted Mr. Hussein in 2003, thousands of Kurds have moved back.

Arabs and Turkmens in Kirkuk had favored using voter registration lists from 2004 or 2005, while Kurds wanted to use voter rolls from 2009 that reflected their substantially higher numbers.

The agreement reached Sunday, brokered by the United States and the United Nations, will use voter lists from 2009, but if the number of eligible voters in a particular area is deemed by members of Parliament to be suspiciously high, a committee overseen by the United Nations will be formed to determine whether fraud has occurred, according to a draft of the law.

The compromise satisfied each of the groups competing for dominance in Kirkuk. “We have passed a stage, a crisis, and no one is a loser,” said Abbas al-Bayti, a Turkmen legislator.

Osama al-Najafi, an Arab legislator, said: “There will be no injustice for the people of Kirkuk. This is a great victory for their historical rights.”

The election will also allow voters to choose individual candidates as part of an “open list,” as opposed to the closed-list ballot in which voters pick political parties, who in turn choose people to occupy seats in Parliament.

The 2005 election used a closed list, which helped protect candidates from assassination, but it strengthened organized parties rather than individual candidates and was unpopular with voters.

The new law, which also reserves a quarter of the next Parliament’s seats for women, must be approved by President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents, which is expected to happen in a few days.

Under the Constitution, the election must take place before the end of January, but an important Shiite religious observance comes during the last week of that month.

Hamdia al-Hussaini, a member of the Independent High Electoral Commission, the Iraqi government agency that oversees elections, said Sunday that the vote would have to be delayed at least several days past the scheduled date of Jan. 16.

“It can’t be held on the 16th because Parliament was late in passing the law,” she said.

On Sunday, some Sunni Arab members of Parliament said they were unhappy about interference with the legislation by the United States, particularly the American insistence that elections not be delayed.

“Unfortunately, the Americans are insisting on certain dates more than they are insisting on the objectivity of their decisions,” said Saleh al-Mutlaq, a Sunni member of Parliament.

Parliament has the final decision about when to hold the election.

Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal

By Huw Borland, News.Sky.com

Iran has charged three detained US citizens with espionage, the Islamic republic’s judiciary has told reporters.

The foreigners were arrested after they strayed into Iran, from northern Iraq, at the end of July.

“We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on a visit to Berlin.

Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, crossed the border accidentally, their families have insisted.

But Tehran general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told news agency IRNA: “The three are charged with espionage. Investigations continue into the three detained Americans in Iran.”

Under Iran’s Islamic sharia law, espionage is punishable by death.

The republic’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested in September that the detainees’ release might be linked to the release of Iranian diplomats he said were being held by US troops in Iraq.

But America has kept urging Tehran to release the trio, calling for “compassion” towards them.

Some Iranian authorities have linked the hikers’ illegal entry to violence that erupted after the country’s disputed presidential election in June.

Mr Ahmadinejad’s re-election sparked the republic’s worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Authorities deny vote-rigging and portrayed the dissent as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic state.

On Wednesday, police clashed with supporters of Iran’s opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi in Tehran.

Wednesday's anti-US rally in Iran

Crowds had used anti-US rallies to revive the protests against the clerical establishment after June’s vote.

The detainees’ families have been campaigning for their release at freethehikers.org.

By Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi and Jennifer Packer,   www.TheIsraelProject.org

Photos of Israeli naval force intercepting ship with 500 tons of arms (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

A cargo ship filled with tons of Iranian weaponry en route to Iran-backed terror groups that was intercepted Tuesday (Nov. 3) 100 miles (161 km) from Israel’s coast provides further evidence of the Islamic Republic’s status as the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. The ship, carrying hundreds of tons of advanced weaponry and missiles,[1] including Katyusha rockets, assault rifles, mortar shells, grenades, and anti-aircraft platforms, was to be delivered to the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.[2]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (Nov. 5) said Iran’s attempted shipment of arms to terrorists – and the Islamic Republic’s intent to kill Israeli civilians — was a war crime the UN Security Council should investigate. “Their goal was… to kill as many civilians as possible,” Netanyahu said. The weapons shipment also constitutes yet another breach of UN Security Council resolutions 1747 and 1701, which forbid the Islamic Republic from exporting or trading weapons.

Also on Nov. 3, Israeli military intelligence revealed that the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hamas successfully tested a rocket with a range of up to 37 miles (60 km), which places Israel’s second largest city Tel Aviv within firing range.[3] Hamas also possesses other Iranian-manufactured rockets like the Fajr-3, which has a range of up to 29 miles (47 km).[4]

Since 2001, Iran-backed terrorist groups have fired over 12,000 rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel.[5] Hezbollah launched over 4,000 rockets into Israel in 2006 during Israel’s defensive war against Hezbollah, also known as the Second Lebanon War, and has stockpiled more than 20,000 rockets in southern Lebanon since the end of the war.[6]

Following is important background information about Iran’s financial support of terrorism worldwide.

Iran: Leading State Sponsor of Terror Across the Globe

Iran is widely recognized as the world’s leading state sponsor of international terrorism.[7] Both directly and indirectly, Iran funds, trains and arms groups that share the regime’s stated goal of destroying Israel and the West, as well as overthrowing regimes in Muslim countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia[8]. These groups include Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.[9] Iran also provides support to insurgent groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan which have inflicted casualties on American, British, Australian and other multinational forces.[10]

Iran is expanding its terror network beyond the Middle East, using Hezbollah and splinter groups of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to recruit and train sleeper cells in foreign countries.[11] The terror network that Iran has created and continues to sustain, combined with the regime’s determination to become a nuclear power, is a serious international security issue and a growing global concern.[12]

FBI officials have also noted that Hezbollah has a sizeable presence in the United States, and suspects that Hezbollah may be planning to activate sleeper cells in the New York City area.[13]

Iran poses different threats to nations and regions across the globe.

Middle East

The terrorist group Hezbollah, which operates primarily out of Lebanon, is one of Tehran’s primary weapons against Israel and Western interests in the region. Iran helped found, organize and train Hezbollah and gives the group over $200 million a year,[14] in addition to an estimated $300 million after the war with Israel in 2006.[15] It also continues to provide arms to the group,[16] despite the demands of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. [17]

Since Israel’s defensive war against Hezbollah in 2006, Iran has replenished Hezbollah’s arsenal of artillery rockets, and has supplied more advanced anti-tank weapons and surface-to-air missiles.[18] At least 4,500 Hezbollah operatives have received intensive training from Iran.[19] In August 2009, Egypt intercepted a group of Hezbollah militant cells planning the assassination of Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, as well as its link to another group planning on targeting Israeli tourists to Jordan.[20] That same month, Egypt was hit by a barrage of mortars launched by militant Islamic groups in Gaza.[21]

Iran also supports Palestinian terror groups opposed to a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.[22] From 1993-2006, Iran provided approximately $30 million in annual subsidies to Hamas.[23] Since Hamas’ electoral victory in 2006, Iran has transferred several hundred million dollars annually to Hamas.[24] The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has trained approximately 950 Hamas terrorists in rocket and bomb construction, tactical warfare, weapons operation and sniper tactics.[25]

Iran also provides the vast majority of Hamas’ weaponry.[26] Since Israel’s defensive Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, Iran has supplied Hamas with advanced weaponry, including dozens of Iranian-produced 122mm Grad rockets which have significantly increased the range of Hamas’ rocket arsenal.[27] During the operation, the Iranians claimed that more than 70,000 Iranian college students from universities throughout Iran volunteered to serve as suicide bombers to carry out attacks against Israel. The rush of volunteerism came after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a religious decree stating that anyone who carried out an attack against Israel on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza would be considered a martyr.[28]

In 2002, the Israeli Navy intercepted “Karin A,” a ship carrying 50 tons of advanced weaponry and rockets supplied by Iran and Hezbollah that was bound for Palestinian terrorist groups through Gaza’s waterway.[29]

Iraq

In Iraq, Iran has fomented violence by giving insurgents about $3 million monthly and providing arms and training for them.[30] Iranian-supplied explosively formed penetrators (EFP’s) are a serious concern for U.S. soldiers; the weapons were responsible for 18 percent of U.S. combat deaths in the last quarter of 2006, and 30 percent in -dominated areas.[31] In July 2007, Iran planned an operation that killed five American servicemen, according to the U.S. Army.[32] Shia groups now use Fajr-3 rockets bearing the markings of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard dated 2007, and Hezbollah also uses the Fajr-3.[33] Attacks on U.S. bases have included the use of these rockets as well.[34] Iran has sought to provoke sectarian violence in Iraq, and to that end, arms Sunni groups as well.[35] Iran has sent revolutionary guard units to Iraq to train Shia militia fighters,[36] and sent explosive-laden motorcycles across the border.[37]

Afghanistan

Iran arms the Taliban’s campaign against NATO forces and civilians in Afghanistan even as it publicly supports Hamid Karzai’s government.[38] Iran provides the Taliban with 107mm mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, C-4 explosives and small arms.[39] Iran also gave the Taliban surface-to-air missiles, which they use against British troops.[40] Iran is the main supporter of Hekmatyar,[41] a major warlord and drug trafficker.

Europe and beyond

Europe serves as a popular location for Hezbollah operatives to conduct fundraising activities, accruing an estimated $198 million a year.[42] E.U. officials have identified 900 Hezbollah terrorists residing in Germany and sleeper cells in 20 E.U. nations.[43] Hezbollah cells are using key European capitals as intelligence-gathering centers. In 2008, evidence suggested Hezbollah had planned terrorist attacks in Rome and Paris, as well as the kidnapping of major figures.[44]

Iran has worked directly and through proxies, including small groups linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, to recruit potential suicide bombers to attack Israel, Europe and the United States. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has praised martyrdom as an “eternal art.”[45] The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign, backed by the regime and linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, has reportedly enlisted 40,000 people to carry out suicide attacks.[46]

Iran maintains terrorist training camps within its borders and abroad. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, an extra-territorial arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, operates 20 known terrorist training camps and centers.[47] Hamas, Hezbollah and groups in Iraq send fighters to camps in Iran for months and even years of intensive training. Through Hezbollah, Iran trains insurgents in Iraq.[48]

During the 1990s, Iran sent arms to the Muslim-led Bosnian government, a move violating a United Nations embargo on all sides of the civil war.[49] Additionally, between 2004 and 2007 it was reported that over 300 Iranian operatives had entered Bosnia-Herzegovina.[50]

Latin and South America

Hezbollah also carried out terrorist attacks in Argentina,[51] and killed 241 Americans in the 1983 suicide bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut.[52] On Aug. 21, Iranian President Ahmadinejad nominated Ahmad Vahidi, wanted for his part in planning the 1994 Argentinean attack that killed 85 at a Jewish community center, as defense minister.[53]

Hezbollah is very active in Venezuela, Bolivia and Uruguay, as well as other Latin American countries, seeking to plan new attacks against Israeli or Jewish targets in the continent.[54] In 2009, the anti-American Hugo Chavez of Venezuela continued to strengthen his ties with Iran.[55] Additionally, Hezbollah has been using Mexican smuggling routes, to smuggle drugs and people into the United States, in order to bring in money to finance terrorist operations.[56]

Attacks on U.S. and British citizens

In 1988, an Iran-backed terrorist organization was responsible for the kidnapping, torture and murder of Col. William Higgins, a U.S. Marine officer serving under a UN mandate in Lebanon.[57] Additionally, Iran has placed a death warrant on British author Salman Rushdie, attempted to assassinate him in 1989 and has kept a $2.5 million bounty on him.[58]

Asia

North Korea and Iran have maintained strong ties. In 2007, the two countries signed a cultural and scientific exchange plan.[59] Additionally, North Korea has shared its nuclear technology know-how with Iran[60] and North Korea has provided arms and training to Hezbollah through this relationship.[61] Such ties have also involved rocket experiments; in May 2009, a Scud missile reportedly tested by North Korea, Syria and Iran killed more than 20 people in a Syrian market.[62]

********************

Footnotes:

[1] Katz, Yaakov, “Over 60 tons of advanced arms and missiles found on vessel” The Jerusalem Post, Nov. 4, 2009,
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799077483&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

[2] Katz, Yaakov, “Over 60 tons of advanced arms and missiles found on vessel” The Jerusalem Post, Nov. 4, 2009,
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799077483&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

[3] Waghorn, Dominic, “Hamas Rocket ‘Could Hit Tel Aviv From Gaza’,” Sky News, Nov. 4, 2009,
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Israel-Claims-Hamas-Has-Test-Fired-Rocket-That-Could-Hit-Tel-
Aviv-From-Gaza-Hamas-Is-Denying-Claims/Article/200911115433590?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_Article_Teaser_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15433590_Israel_Claims_
Hamas_Has_Test_Fired_Rocket_That_Could_Hit_Tel_Aviv_From_Gaza%2C_Hamas_Is_Denying_Claims;
Teibel, Amy, “Israel, PM accuse Iran of war crime over arms ship,” Associated Press via The Baltimore Sun, Nov. 5, 2009,
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-ml-israel-arms-boat,0,251054.story

[4] “Gaza rockets can now hit Tel Aviv,” UPI, Nov. 3, 2009,
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2009/11/03/Gaza-rockets-can-now-hit-Tel-Aviv/UPI-73651257283344/

[5] “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gaza Facts,” Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nov. 4, 2009. http://www.mfa.gov.il/GazaFacts/

[6] “Explosions at Two Hezbollah Arms Caches in villages in South Lebanon” Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. Oct. 14, 2009, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hezbollah_e0142.htm;
“Behind the Headlines: The Second Lebanon War – Three years later,”  Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 12, 2009, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/The-Second-Lebanon-War-Three-years-later-12-Jul-2009.htm

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