Levitt Letter Extra News

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

[7] “State Sponsors of Terrorism,” U.S. Department of State, Apr. 30, 2009,
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2008/122436.htm

[8] Mansharof, Y., “Calls in Iran to Topple Egyptian, Saudi Regimes,” Middle East Media Research Institute No. 479, Dec. 12, 2008, http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=IA47908

[9] O’Toole, Pam, “Rice: Iran is terrorism ‘banker’,” BBC News, Feb. 17, 2006,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4722498.stm, accessed July 7, 2006

[10] Harding, Thomas, “Taliban ‘using missiles from Iran to target British troops,” The Daily Telegraph, May 22, 2007; Gordon, Michael R.; Shane, Scott, “Behind U.S. Pressure On Iran, Long-Held Worry Over A Deadly Device In Iraq,” The New York Times, March 27, 2007

[11] Levitt, Mathew A., “Islamic extremism in Europe,” Testimony to the Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats, United States House of Representatives, April 7, 2005,
http://wwwa.house.gov/international_relations/109/lev042705.pdf

[12] Thomas, George, “Iran trains ‘ultimate martyrs,’” Christian World News, May 12, 2006,
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/CWN/051206Iran.asp;
International Institute for Strategic Studies, “Iran’s nuclear programme,” Strategic Comments, Volume 12, Issue 1, Feb. 2006

[13] Thomas, Pierre, “Some Experts Fear Hezbollah Attack in the United States,” ABC News, July 28, 2006, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Mideast/story?id=2246657;
“Hezbollah may activate sleeper cells,” United Press International, May 22, 2006, http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2006/05/22/Hezbollah-may-activate-sleeper-cells/UPI-82771148307908/

[14] “State Sponsors of Terrorism,” U.S. Department of State, Apr. 30, 2009,
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2008/122436.htm

[15] Partlow, Joshua, “U.S.: Iran, Hezbollah Training Iraqi Militants,” The Washington Post, July 2, 2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070200174.html?hpid=topnews

[16] Rotella, Sebastian, “In Lebanon, Hezbollah arms stockpile, bigger, deadlier,” The Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2008,http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/04/world/fg-hezbollah4

[17] U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 1701, Section 15,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4785963.stm

[18] Hughes, Robin, “Iran Replenishes Hizbullah’s Arms Inventory,” Jane’s Defence Weekly, Jan. 3, 2007

[19] Fisk, Robert, “Hizbollah turns to Iran for new weapons to wage war on Israel,” The Independent, Apr. 8, 2008, http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/hizbollah-turns-to-iran-for-new-weapons-to-wage-war-on-israel-805763.html

[20] Shiffer, Shimon, “Hezbollah suspected of setting camp in Venezuela,” YnetNews, Aug. 13, 2009,
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3761491,00.html

[21] “Rafah: Gazan escapes clashes to Egypt, child hit by bullet,” Ma’an News Agency, Aug. 16, 2009, http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=219187

[22] Country Reports on Terrorism, Chapter 6- State Sponsors of Terror Overview-Iran,” U.S. Department of State Web site, April 28, 2006,
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2005/64337.htm

[23] Wurmser, Meyrav, “Iran-Hamas Alliance,” Hudson Institute, Oct. 4, 2007,
https://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=publication_details&id=5167

[24] “Iranian Support of Hamas,” Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Jan. 12, 2009, p. 20,
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/iran_e004.pdf

[25] “Senior Hamas operative figure tells London Sunday Times’ Gaza Strip correspondent about Iranian and Syria military aid, detailing the training received by hundreds of Hamas terrorist operatives and describing the transmission to Hamas of Iranian technical know-how for the manufacture of rockets and IED,” The Intelligence and Terrorist Information Center, Mar. 17, 2008,
http://www.terrorisminfo.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_160308e.htm;
Colvin, Marie, “Hamas wages Iran’s proxy war on Israel,” The Times, Mar. 9, 2008,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3512014.ece

[26] Cohen, Yoram and Matthew Levitt, “Hamas Arms Smuggling: Egypt’s Challenge,” The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policy Watch #34, Mar. 2, 2009,
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3020

[27] Cohen, Yoram and Matthew Levitt, “Hamas Arms Smuggling: Egypt’s Challenge,” The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policy Watch #34, Mar. 2, 2009,
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3020

[28] “Iran says 70,000 volunteer for Israel fight,” The Associated Press, Jan. 5, 2009,
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3Y3DBA09cm20SrlOg47GI4Ixp4gD95H5LI00

[29] “Seizing of the Palestinian weapons ship Karine A,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jan. 2, 2002, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2002/Seizing%20of%20the%20Palestinian%20weapons%20ship%20Karine%20A%20-

[30] Partlow, Joshua, “U.S.: Iran, Hezbollah Training Iraqi Militants,” The Washington Post, July 2, 2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070200174.html?hpid=topnews;
“U.S. commander: Iran still supports Iraq attacks,” USA Today, June 30, 2009,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2009-06-30-odierno-iraq-iran_N.htm

[31] Gordon, Michael R.; Shane, Scott, “Behind U.S. Pressure on Iran, Long-Held Worry Over a Deadly Device in Iraq,” The New York Times, March 27, 2007

[32] Burns, John F., Gordon, Michael R., “U.S. Says Iran Helped Iraqis Kill Five G.I.’s,” The New York Times, July 3, 2007

[33] Wright, Robin, “Iranian Flow Of Weapons Increasing, Officials Say; Arms Shipments Tracked To Iraqi, Afghan Groups,” The Washington Post, June 3, 2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/02/AR2007060201020.html

[34] “Iraqis find Iranian-made rockets after US attacked,” AP, Aug. 19, 2009, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD9A584680

[35] Rubin, Alissa J., “U.S. Suspects That Iran Aids Both Sunni and Shiite Militias,” The New York Times, A12, April 12, 2007

[36] “Iranian fighters tracked in Iraq, general says,” USA Today, Aug. 19, 2007,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-08-19-fighters_N.htm

[37] “Police: Iranian fighters in southern Iraq,” UPI, Sept. 23, 2008,
http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2008/09/23/Police-Iranian-fighters-in-southern-Iraq/UPI-24701222206742/

[38] Straziuso, Jason; Daniszewski, John, “General: Iran aid to Taliban is strategic,” Newsday (Associated Press), June 12, 2006.

[39] Farmer, Ben, “Iranian Weapons Getting through to Taliban,” Telegraph, June 8, 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/5477283/Iranian-weapons-getting-through-to-Taliban.html;
Wright, Robin, “Iranian Flow Of Weapons Increasing, Officials Say; Arms Shipments Tracked To Iraqi, Afghan Groups,” The Washington Post, June 3, 2007;
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/02/AR2007060201020.html;
Blair, Tony, “What I’ve learned,” The Economist, May 31, 2007,
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9257593

[40] Harding, Thomas, “Taliban ‘using missiles from Iran to target British troops,” The Daily Telegraph, May 22, 2007

[41] Joscelyn, Thomas, “Iran and the Taliban, allies against America,” The Long War Journal, July 28, 2009, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/07/iran_and_the_taliban.php

[42] Levitt, Mathew A., “Islamic extremism in Europe,” Testimony to the Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats, United States House of Representatives, April 7, 2005,
http://wwwa.house.gov/international_relations/109/lev042705.pdf

[43] McElroy, Damien, “Iran election: Tehran backs Hizbollah operations around world,” Telegraph, June 26, 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5651837/Iran-election-Tehran-backs-Hizbollah-operations-around-world.html;
Levitt, Mathew A., “Islamic extremism in Europe,” Testimony to the Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats, United States House of Representatives, April 7, 2005,
http://wwwa.house.gov/international_relations/109/lev042705.pdf

[44] Sasinini, Guglielmo, “Hizballah Planned Attacks in Rome and Paris,” Libero, Jan. 31, 2008.

[45] “Iran’s new president glorifies martyrdom,” Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Dispatch No. 945, July 29, 2005, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP94505

[46] Colvin, Marie, Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter, “Iran suicide bombers ‘ready to hit Britain’,” The Sunday Times, April 16, 2006, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article706132.ece

[47] Razi, Farhad, “20 Terrorist training camps in Iran uncovered,” Global Politician, March 1, 2006,
http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=1639&cid=2&sid=4

[48] Partlow, Joshua, “U.S.: Iran, Hezbollah Training Iraqi Militants,” The Washington Post, July 2, 2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070200174.html?hpid=topnews

[49] Jehl, Douglas, “U.S. Looks Away as Iran Arms Bosnia,” The New York Times, April 15, 1995,
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/15/world/us-looks-away-as-iran-arms-bosnia.html

[50] “More than 300 Iranian Intelligence operatives entered BiH from 2004 to 2007,” March 6, 2009,
http://www.necenzurirano.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1275&Itemid=1

[51] “Breakthrough made in ’94 Argentina bombing,” MSNBC, Nov. 9, 2005,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9983810/

[52] Murphy, Jarrett, “Beirut Barracks Attacks Remembered,” CBS News, Oct. 23, 2003, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/23/world/main579638.shtml

[53] “Iranian Cabinet Nominee Wanted in Argentine Attack,” The New York Times, Aug. 21, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/21/world/AP-ML-Iran.html?_r=1

[54] “Hezbollah operation in S. America,” UPI, Aug. 13, 2009,
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/08/13/Hezbollah-operating-in-S-America/UPI-43671250166246/

[55] Shiffer, Shimon, “Hezbollah suspected of setting up camp in Venezuela,” YnetNews, Aug. 13, 2009,
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3761491,00.html

[56] Carter, Sara, “Exclusive: Hezbollah uses Mexican drug routes into U.S.,” The Washington Times, March 27, 2009, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/27/hezbollah-uses-mexican-drug-routes-into-us/

[57] Weinraub, Bernard, “U.S. Says C.I.A. Believes It Is Probable Higgins Was Killed Before Monday,” The New York Times, Aug. 3, 1989, http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/03/world/us-says-cia-believes-it-is-probable-higgins-was-killed-before-monday.html

[58] Loyd, Anthony, “Tomb of the unknown assassin reveals mission to kill Rushdie,” Times Online, June 8, 2005, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article531110.ece

[59] “DPRK-Iranian Cultural and Scientific Exchange Plan Signed,” Korean Central News Agency, Jan. 19, 2007, http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2007/200701/news01/20.htm

[60] Coughlin, Con, “N Korea helping Iran with nuclear testing,” Telegraph, Jan. 24, 2007,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1540429/N-Korea-helping-Iran-with-nuclear-testing.html

[61] Mohammed, Arshad, “North Korea may have aided Hezbollah, LTTE – U.S. report,” Reuters, Dec. 13, 2007, http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-30964520071213

[62] “Report: Missile landed in Syrian market,” UPI, Aug. 15, 2009,
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/08/15/Report-Missile-landed-in-Syrian-market/UPI-49681250310757/

The Israel Project is an international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting security, freedom and peace. The Israel Project provides journalists, leaders and opinion-makers accurate information about Israel. The Israel Project is not related to any government or government agency.

Iran’s proxy army in Lebanon will think twice before launching another round of missile attacks.

By Ronen Bergman,

On October 12, a secret Hezbollah munitions bunker in South Lebanon blew up under mysterious circumstances, injuring a senior official in the organization. This is the second such incident in recent months. The first occurred on July 14, when an explosion destroyed a major Hezbollah munitions dump in the South Lebanese village of Hirbet Salim. Hezbollah immediately pointed fingers at the Mossad. Whether or not Israel was to blame, the explosion caused Hezbollah considerable discomfort by proving that it was in flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which forbids stockpiling weapons south of the Litani River.

The U.N. issued a strongly worded rebuke and sent representatives to investigate. But their efforts were thwarted by Hezbollah fighters, who, with the assistance of Lebanese troops, prevented the foreigners from examining the site. This caused further embarrassment to Lebanon, as it exposed the army’s lack of neutrality and the active aid that it extends to Hezbollah.

The episode also led to heightened tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border. The specter of renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah looms as large today as it has at any time since the end of the Lebanon war in August 2006. Yet senior military officers in Israel’s Northern Command are confident that the embarrassing outcome of the last round will not be repeated.

“By all means, let the Hezbollah try,” one officer told me two weeks ago when I asked if he was concerned about the possibility of warfare. “The welcome party that we are preparing for them is one that they will remember for a very long time.” That sentiment is shared by many of his colleagues.

The recent explosions have highlighted the weakened geopolitical status of Hezbollah, a diminishment which no one could have foreseen at the end of the last war. In 2006, on both sides of the border—and elsewhere in the Middle East—Hezbollah was seen as having triumphed. Not only was it able to withstand the vastly superior invading Israeli force, but it also inflicted heavy military casualties and brought civilian life in northern Israel to a standstill with its rockets. At the end of the war, a commission of inquiry was set up in Israel to investigate the military and political failure. A number of senior army officers resigned, and Israel’s deterrence power was seen as having sustained a severe blow.

If the 2006 war underlined the military might of Hezbollah—a repeat, in a sense, of Hezbollah’s success in driving out the Israeli occupying forces from South Lebanon in May 2000—it also forced Israel to include Hezbollah in any assessment of possible responses to an Israeli attack against Iranian nuclear installations.

As part of its combat doctrine, which eschews reliance on reinforcements and resupply, Hezbollah has stockpiled its weapons throughout Lebanon, but particularly near the Israeli border. According to current Israeli intelligence estimates, Hezbollah has an arsenal of 40,000 rockets, including Iranian-made Zelzal, Fajr-3, Fajr-5, and 122 mm rockets (some of which have cluster warheads), and Syrian-made 302 mm rockets. Some of its rockets can reach greater Tel Aviv. Hezbollah also has a number of highly advanced weapons systems, including anti-aircraft missiles, that constitute a threat to Israeli combat aircraft.

But all is not rosy for Hezbollah. After the war, considerable dissatisfaction with the organization was voiced inside Lebanon. Many blamed its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, for Israel’s retaliatory bombardments that caused widespread damage. Nasrallah stated that had he known Israel would respond as forcefully as it did, he would have thought twice before ordering the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers—the act that sparked the conflict.

Harsh criticism of Hezbollah also came from an unexpected source: Tehran. The Iranian strategy calls for Hezbollah to play two roles. One is to instigate minor border provocations. The other is to launch, on Tehran’s command, a full-scale retaliatory attack should Israel target Iran’s nuclear facilities. The 2006 war met neither criterion, and, as the Iranians complained, merely served to reveal the extent of Hezbollah’s military capabilities.

Then, in February 2008, Imad Mughniyeh, the organization’s military commander and Nasrallah’s close associate, was killed in a car bomb in Damascus. The assassination of the man who topped the FBI’s most-wanted list prior to Osama bin Laden was a severe blow to morale, as well as to Hezbollah’s strategic capabilities. Nasrallah was convinced that the Mossad was responsible, and vowed to take revenge “outside of the Israel-Lebanon arena.”

The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, which is also responsible for protecting the country’s legations abroad, has been on high alert ever since. But as of today, Hezbollah has not exacted its revenge. This fact was a topic of discussion at a high-level, secret forum of Israel’s intelligence services that took place from late July to early September.

Israeli officials raised four possible reasons for Hezbollah’s failure to act, all of which reflect its current weakness.

First, no replacement has been found for Mughniyeh, whose strategic brilliance, originality, and powers of execution are sorely missed by Hezbollah.

Second, Israel’s intelligence coverage of Iran and Hezbollah is far superior today to what it was in the past. Planned attacks, including one targeting the Israeli Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, have all been foiled. The Israeli security services have warned Israeli businessmen abroad of possible abduction attempts by Hezbollah. They also shared information with Egyptian authorities that led to the arrest of members of a Hezbollah network who intended to kill Israeli tourists in Sinai. The arrest of these operatives resulted in sharp public exchanges between Egypt, Hezbollah, and its Iranian masters when Nasrallah admitted that these, in fact, were his men.

Third, Nasrallah cannot afford to be viewed domestically as the cause of yet another retaliation against Lebanon. Any act of revenge that he contemplates needs to be carefully calibrated. On the one hand, it needs to hurt the enemy and be spectacular enough to stoke Hezbollah pride. On the other hand, it cannot be so murderous as to cause Israel to respond with force. To complicate matters further, Israel has made it clear that because Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government, despite the fact that the party that it backed lost in the recent election, any Hezbollah action against Israel would be viewed as an action taken by the Lebanese government. Thus Israel would regard Lebanese infrastructure as a legitimate target for a military response.

Finally, there are the Iranians. Their primary focus is on proceeding with their nuclear program without unnecessary distractions. Tehran’s main concern is that a terror attack that can be linked to Iran would result in the arrest of its agents overseas, who are currently procuring equipment for its uranium-enrichment centrifuges.

Tehran has avoided direct involvement in foreign terrorism ever since 1996, when a group of Iranians were convicted in Germany of murdering political opponents of the Iranian regime. And unlike in the past (as, for instance, in the case of the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in retaliation for the assassination of Nasrallah’s predecessor), it is now reluctant to place intelligence resources at Hezbollah’s disposal. This is a serious blow to Hezbollah, which is not yet able to function internationally as a full-fledged independent operational organization.

Hezbollah is also clearly aware of the severe blow in terms of power and prestige that the Iranian mullahs suffered as a result of the massive protests following June’s presidential election. Automatic support from Tehran is no longer a certainty. For now, at least, the Iranian hardliners have troubles of their own.

In short, despite the fact that Hezbollah today is substantially stronger in purely military terms than it was three years ago, its political stature and its autonomy have been significantly reduced. It is clear that Nasrallah is cautious and he will weigh his options very carefully before embarking on any course of action that might lead to all-out war with Israel. There are some experts in Israel who believe that even Hezbollah’s retaliatory role in the Iranian game plan is currently in question.

Whether or not this is the case, all of this is being considered in Jerusalem as part of Israel’s calculations about whether to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Mr. Bergman, a correspondent for the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, is the author of the “The Secret War With Iran” (Free Press, 2008).

www.nydailynews.com

Dare defend yourself from terrorist attacks and risk international war crimes prosecution.

That is the lesson of the October 16 action by the UN Human Rights Council, which voted 25 to 6, with 11 abstentions, to endorse the Goldstone Report, a document that brands Israelis as war criminals for trying to stop deadly rocket-fire from Gaza 10 months ago.

Ever since Israel’s 2005 pullout from Gaza, Israeli civilians were battered by thousands of mortars and rockets launched by Hamas in its war to destroy the Jewish state and kill its people.

And, straight from the terrorist textbook, Hamas was assembling and launching its rockets from civilian neighborhoods, near mosques, near schools, near hospitals.

Late last year, Israel finally launched a military offensive to stop the terror. Wherever and whenever civilians might be harmed, Israel’s military dropped leaflets to urge civilians to clear out. An innovative new technique of “knocking” on roofs with non-exploding noisemakers was employed as well, to give ordinary Palestinians every opportunity to save themselves.

Because, it was Israel’s objective to punish and disarm the terrorists, no one else.

For this, the Human Rights Council – already known for its anti-Israel bias – opened an investigation, producing a report calling the terrorists and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) equally culpable. Equally guilty of crimes against humanity.

The Council has now formally ratified this libel and urged Israeli and Palestinian authorities to demonstrate that they are investigating the alleged crimes. Or else the charges will be referred to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

In fact, Palestinian Authority officials recenlty visited that court to argue for its jurisdiction over these matters.

Which means Israeli commanders who set out to defend innocent people from indiscriminate attacks, with painstaking plans to protect civilians in the process, could wind up alongside the butchers of Darfur, alongside those tried at Nuremberg.

Only five nations stood with the U.S. in opposition: Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Good for them.

We have to ask, again, what’s the use of Americans sitting on the Council, spitting into its hurricane-force winds? 25 nations are party to the crime—among them: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, and Russia. Shame on them. Do you see a pattern?

France and Britain were among the abstainers. Unlike the abstaining dictatorships, the democracies should have known better; so, double shame on them.

As Elie Wiesel once said, “Silence in the face of evil is always on the side of the aggressor.”

Retired General Says Israeli Attack to Take Out Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Not Only Possible, the U.S. Should Join In

By Dan Raviv, www.CBSnews.com

Expect the unexpected at a conference of Middle East experts.

Several hundred spent a recent weekend at a resort hotel 30 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., forced by cold rain to focus on nothing but Iran and the nearly moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

At this annual gathering of financial backers of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy – joined by diplomats, journalists, and analysts – many had expected a feisty debate between proponents and opponents of a military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Instead, the crowd heard experts suggesting the military option is a very realistic one; and a retired U.S. Air Force general said Israel might open fire first – and that the United States would find it wise to join in.

Gen. Charles Wald, former head of strategic planning and policy for the Air Force who also had been deputy commander at U.S. European Command, said a bombing campaign – while “unpalatable” – could set back Iran’s nuclear work for many years.

“I don’t think Israel can do it alone,” Wald added. “They have a fantastic military, but not big enough for weeks or months of attacks – hundreds of sorties per day.”

Wald said the U.S. would not exactly be dragged into air strikes on Iran, but if “our great ally Israel” decided that it “can’t take it anymore” – the prospect of an Iranian nuclear bomb – then “pressure will mount for us to stand by Israel.”

The general said that after commanding the air portion of the post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan, he thought deeply about neighboring Pakistan and the possibility that it might one day use its nuclear arsenal. “I asked my staff to look into what would happen if there were a Pakistani-Indian nuclear exchange. They said there’d be tens of millions of dead at the low end, and 300 million dead at the high end.”

Wald said he soon discovered what the Pakistani leaders’ reaction to that analysis was: They had not thought of that.

Wald suggested Iran, Israel, and other Middle Eastern nations that were likely to feel compelled to acquire nuclear bombs might also be failing to face facts.

“In 2003, General Jim Jones [now President Obama's National Security Adviser] and I sat down with our Strategic Advisory Group for Europe. I couldn’t get anyone interested in talking about Iran. The subject was always Iraq. And now Afghanistan is sucking all the oxygen out of the room.” Wald added that Arab governments along the Persian Gulf, however, have for years had Iran as their main concern.

Sitting near Wald, a former head of Israel’s military intelligence – retired General Aharon Farkash – agreed that the U.S. Air Force could be far more effective than Israel in crippling Iran’s nuclear program. “The U.S. can destroy the nuclear capacity, and the war would not be long,” Farkash said, though he cautioned that Western intelligence still might not know about all of Iran’s nuclear sites.

Like other Israelis, Farkash stressed the importance of making Iran believe that U.S. and Israeli threats are real. Harsh sanctions might lead to a decision by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, to stop nuclear enrichment.

“The Teheran regime doesn’t seek suicide,” said the Israeli, who heads a new high-tech security company. “When they realize we mean business this time, they won’t want to lose their regime.”

David Makovsky, a senior analyst at the Washington Institute and co-author (with Obama administration official Dennis Ross) of a book on Middle East policy, commented that the generals gave the impression of two different attack philosophies: “The U.S. believes ‘do it huge, and make it overwhelming,’ while Israel would do what it can because not acting is so much worse.”

Makovsky asked General Wald to comment on the suggestion by Jimmy Carter’s former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski – in a Daily Beast interview last month – that the U.S. shoot down Israeli warplanes if they try to fly over Iraq to attack Iran.

“The chance of that,” Wald replied, “is zero. No, less than zero.”

Earlier, the same audience heard a former vice-president of the Islamic Republic of Iran argue that if his country is attacked, the pro-democracy “Green Movement” would be extinguished. Ata’ollah Mohajerani, who resides in London but is considered close to opposition candidate Mehdi Karoubi, said he strongly supports the reform movement, and considers Ahmadinejad’s re-election illegitimate. But he said a military strike or severe sanctions would serve to strengthen the regime.

The Iranian politician’s unexpectedly long speech included references to books by Dostoevsky, Kafka, Walt Whitman, Elie Wiesel, and even Britain’s chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Mohajerani claimed that any good Muslim would not want nuclear weapons, but he made a point of saying that most of the nations putting pressure on Iran now have their own nuclear arsenals, alleging also that the United States and Israel wanted Iran to have atomic bombs when the late Shah was in power.

Responding to questions from supporters of Israel at the conference, Mohajerani refused to condemn Iranian-supported terrorism and declined to say if he thought Israel has a right to exist. Many in the crowd, believing that Mohajerani’s goal in this rare appearance near Washington was to raise money and support for the Green Movement, said they were bitterly turned off. It looked to them like a Green-led Iran would not necessarily be much different from Ahmadinejad’s regime.

Based in Washington, CBS News correspondent Dan Raviv is host of radio’s “CBS News Weekend Roundup,” and co-author of “Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israeli Intelligence.”

Hadas Tzaban at the Ilan Ramon Center: ‘When I heard about the opportunity to conduct a research project at the Ramon Center... I jumped at the opportunity to broaden my horizons.’ Photo: Dani Machlis/BGU

By  Orli Gold-Haklay   www.JPost.com

Hadas Tzaban, an 18-year-old high school student from the development town of Netivot, recently won first place in the international “First Step to Nobel Prize” research project competition held in Warsaw, Poland. To compete, high school students submit projects – in Hadas’s case her final matriculation project – which are then judged by professors of physics for originality and academic excellence.

Tzaban prepared her project as part of a special program for high school students interested in physics at the Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, under the supervision of Prof. Natan Kleeorin from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Three other students from the center took second place in the competition. “Israel is just a tiny dot on the globe, but we are proving that we are a much bigger dot on the scientific map,” says center director Prof. Victor Melamed. “These talented kids are our future.”

The Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center, on the Marcus Family Campus in Beersheba, was established in 2007 by the Rashi Foundation of Israel, collaborating with the Department of Physics to advance hands-on learning activities to high-school pupils from Kiryat Gat to Eilat. The center, named in honor of Israel’s first astronaut, who is originally from Beersheba, is located in the Sacta Rashi Physics Building and includes sophisticated teaching laboratories, a planetarium and rooftop observatory.

In addition to offering applied studies for all southern high-school pupils matriculating in physics, the center also assists pupils in preparing individual projects in physics, and identifies and advances those who are gifted. It aims to increase the number of pupils who take physics at a matriculation level and improve their matriculation results; establish and operate physics centers in schools; and ultimately increase the number of physics and engineering students in academic institutions, explains Melamed.

The fascination for physics runs in the Tzaban family: two years ago, Hadas’ older sister Mor, now 20, took second place for her research paper in the same competition. Originally from Tunisia, the Tzaban family is well known in Netivot. Hadas and Mor’s great grandfather, Rephael Hadir Tzaban, was the town’s head rabbi. Hadas’s father owns a printing press and her mother is a first-grade teacher.

“My parents have always encouraged us to pursue our interests, to work hard in school and excel,” says Hadas, one of five girls. “Natural sciences has always fascinated me and that’s why I joined the physics track at school. When I heard about the opportunity to conduct a research project at the Ramon Center, and I saw how much Mor enjoyed it, I jumped at the opportunity to broaden my horizons.”

Hadas began her research project on “Turbulent Convection in Sciences and Nature” in November of 2008 and completed it this past January. Although professors at the center as well as at the Weizman Institute in Rehovot had told her they were impressed with her work, she never expected to actually win the contest. “One day, I sat down at the computer to check my e-mails. When I read the announcement about the prize, I couldn’t believe it! I wasn’t sure I read it right, so I kept reading it again and again to make sure!”

As part of her prize, Hadas will be traveling to Warsaw, Poland, in November of this year to spend a month pursuing her research. Upon her return home, she will resume her national service, where she plans to help organize after-school activities for school children in Jerusalem’s Katamonim neighborhood – “not teaching them physics, just helping them and taking a ‘time-out’ before I pursue my studies.

“Physics just does it for me,” says Hadas, who hopes to either go to medical school or study at BGU’s Department of Physics. “To me, its just amazing, to see the theories of nature’s wonders come to life. The Ramon Center really makes you want to study. It lets kids get involved. If it wasn’t for the Center, I wouldn’t have done any research, and I never would have believed I could get this far.”

Hadas insists the physics gene isn’t hereditary, “and it isn’t something my mother puts in the food, either!” she says. But the facts speak for themselves: her younger sister, Chen, 16, will join the physics track at school and begin studying at the Ramon Center this fall.

The Ilan Ramon Center is the unique brainchild of the Rashi Foundation, driven by the realization that physics is the key to all advanced sciences. The foundation decided to create a center for youth to develop physics in the Negev and try to get more young people passionate about this area, says Melamed. “The Rashi Foundation does things very scientifically: first they targeted their objective; then they went full-force ahead to make sure it was accomplished.”

Melamed, a physics teacher with many years of experience in local Beersheba high schools, says that the sooner pupils are exposed to physics, the better. “Kids need to taste and smell science, and physics is the ultimate gateway to all sciences. I think anyone can get excited about science if he is exposed to it the right way. It’s hard to say which kids have a ‘natural tendency’ for physics, but there are definitely a lot of talented kids out there who are highly motivated. They have a natural curiosity that just needs to be cultivated, and at the center that’s what we do.”

The center is already yielding results. Over the past three years, there has been a phenomenal 25 percent increase in high school physics track pupils involved in the center, says Melamed, who attributes this dramatic leap to the center and its exciting activities: “Pupils at the center tell their peers what a great learning experience they’re having, and it makes more and more of them want to pursue this path.”

By Amy Teibel, Associated Press

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon on Sunday that Israel “will not hold back” when attacked and holds the Lebanese government responsible for any assault on his country.

Netanyahu delivered the warning after two rockets fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel on Friday. Israel responded immediately with artillery fire, and the exchange ratcheted up persisting tensions between the two countries.

“We view this very gravely,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet. “We will not hold back when Israeli territory comes under fire, and will not reconcile ourselves to missile fire or any other form of terror directed at Israeli citizens.”

It was not immediately known who fired the rockets Friday. But radical Palestinian factions in Lebanon have been blamed in four firings at Israel this year.

The Israel-Lebanon border has been tense since Israel mounted a monthlong war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in the summer of 2006. More than 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 Israelis died in that conflict, which ended in a United Nations-brokered truce.

On Sunday, Netanyahu put the onus of maintaining the cease-fire squarely on the shoulders of the Lebanese government.

“We see it responsible for all these violations and hostilities directed at our territory that originate from Lebanese soil,” he said.

Hezbollah has a large rocket arsenal, but is not believed to have used them against Israel since the 2006 fighting. It has denied involvement in previous rocket attacks on Israel.

But friction between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated as Lebanese politicians wrangle over the formation of a new government. The Hezbollah-led opposition would likely be a part of that cabinet.

In mid-July, a suspected Hezbollah arms depot exploded near the Israeli border. Israel said this was proof the group was rearming and stashing weapons in populated villages.

Lebanon’s An-Nahar newspaper reported Sunday that the U.N. force in Lebanon, which was beefed up significantly after the war to monitor the border, had been warned of a possible attack 10 days earlier.

The U.N. force relayed this information to the Lebanese army two days before the attack, the report said.

A spokesman for the U.N. force, Milos Strugar, said an investigation under way “is pointing in the direction of some extremist groups.” He did not elaborate.

By Todd Baker, To The Jew First mission fund

Later in the evening of the same day my phone was taken, Pastor Ralph Conn gently took me aside and said he felt led of the Holy Spirit to pray with me that God heavily convict this woman, who took the phone, so that she would give the phone back or discard it so that it could be found and returned. Two hours later in an amazing answer to this bold prayer of faith, Tamar Keres, an old friend of mine for many years, called me at the hotel from Tel Aviv to say, “A miracle has happened.” She then explained that an Orthodox man found my old phone on the street called the last number on the phone log, which happened to be Tamar’s number. She informed me that since the man could only speak Hebrew, I should therefore arrange for the phone to be delivered to the hotel by taxi. The man told her that he found the phone lying on the sidewalk next to the bank some two blocks away from the tourist center where I left the phone. I was not at the bank location at anytime and obviously the hostile woman that I talked with at the tourist center must have taken the phone and threw it there. God used this spiteful act from someone having a spirit of anti-Messiah to further give other Jewish people the opportunity to hear about the Messiah’s redemptive love for them, who would not have heard it any other way. Indeed, Psalm 76:10 is true in the case of this spiteful woman when it says: “Surely the wrath of man shall praise you, the remainder of wrath you shall restrain.” The next day our witness for Messiah Jesus continued in Tiberius with a journey to Nof Ginosaur—a beautiful kibbutz in northern Galilee. There we met a young Israeli man working at the café. His name was Iddo.

Iddo and Todd

When I went up to pay for my lunch, I said to him that coming to Israel was like coming home because this was the homeland of my Messiah Yeshua.

I then offered Iddo and the female cashier a Messianic Gospel tract entitled “Love the Jewish People”. When giving this to him, I said that our outreach team does love Israel for what they have given the rest of the world—the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jewish Messiah. Iddo was very excited about hearing this. When I inquired if he had read the Tenach (what Christians call the Old Testament) Iddo immediately replied that he had. I then asked him if he ever looked at the New Testament to learn about Yeshua’s life and ministry in Galilee—a place where He did so much of His ministry. Iddo said he only read excerpts from the New Testament in high school. I decided to offer him a free copy of the New Testament in Hebrew (Brit Hadashah) to which he gladly and gratefully accepted this gift. When giving him the inspired text, I said to Iddo that many Jewish pretenders came to the Jewish people proclaiming to be the Messiah and only one is the true Messiah. He listened with obvious interest and openness. I also remarked that God provided a foolproof method for identifying whom that true Messiah would be when He comes. That method was found in the Messianic prophecies contained in the Tenach that Messiah would fulfill when He came to Israel. Some of these prophecies were: (1) Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:1-2); (2) Messiah would die by crucifixion and rise again (Psalm 16:10; 22); (3) Messiah’s ministry would begin in the region of Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-3). I then plainly told him these and many other Messianic prophecies were historically fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Nazarene. He is alive today and wants to bring the Jewish people to Himself. Iddo could learn of this now by reading the New Testament I gave Him. Iddo was touched by these truths and was very grateful for the gift of the Scriptures he received from this ministry.

Later in the evening, I remembered an old fishing hole (a term I use for a good place in Israel where Jewish people are open to the Gospel of Yeshua). This place was at the restaurant located in the Caesar Hotel in Tiberius. Several past issues of Search the Scriptures (at www.brit-hadashah.org) in the past years have documented these witnessing encounters. When our outreach team arrived, our waitress who came to our table proved to be a very gentle, open, and sensitive soul. Her name was Tohar (which is the word for purity in Hebrew). We asked her how life in Israel was going in the last year after the war in Gaza. Tohar’s response was that life seemed difficult. We encouraged her that the God of Israel will not let His Chosen People be destroyed nor forsaken. He will defend and vindicate them until the end of the present age when Messiah will come and rescue them from the gentile nations’ attempt to eradicate Israel at the battle of Armageddon. Ralph, Debbie, David, and I unanimously expressed our sincere gratitude and deep love for the Messiah’s people to her.

Tohar and To The Jew First missionaries

Tohar was visibly touched to the point of tears. To pay our gratitude of debt to her people, we offered her a copy of a complete Jewish Bible containing both the Old and New Testaments (Tenach and Brit Hadashah). Tohar received it with such reverence that she and three of her co-workers kissed the Scriptures with humble reverence with the same gesture that is regularly done in the Synagogue when the Torah Scrolls are passed around among the attendees. Later on, Tohar came back to our table and said that she did the same thing when praying over her food, like when she ate bread that God gave to sustain her physical life. She then cupped her hands as if she had bread in them and kissed it to show her thankfulness to God for giving her food. And now she was showing the same reverence for the New Testament Scriptures that tell of the Messiah of Israel. We were greatly moved at her response. Right away we pointed out to Tohar that Yeshua compared Himself to physical bread when calling Himself the Bread of Life in John 6. Thus, He meant to say by this metaphor, that when a person receives Him as Lord and Messiah, he or she would have eternal life with God. Deborah Conn plans to keep in touch with this precious young lady in the hope of further teaching her in the ways of Yeshua the Messiah.

LONDON – The settlements are a territorial issue that can be resolved in negotiations with the Palestinians, but the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as the national home of the Jewish people is the core problem preventing a peace agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in their talks on Tuesday, in part of an effort to reframe how world leaders view the conflict.

The settlements are not the cause of the Israeli-Arab conflict, but the result of it, Netanyahu told Brown, pointing out that the conflict long predated the settlements.

Netanyahu, in a briefing with Israeli reporters following his meeting with Brown, said this was a message that he would bring with him to Berlin and his talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well, and a “truth” that his government would repeat until it started to “trickle down.”

Netanyahu’s comments came just hours before Wednesday morning’s meeting in his London hotel, the Intercontinental, with U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell during which the settlements, much more than Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish homeland, are expected to be the focus of discussion.

“What we are trying to achieve with the U.S.,” Netanyahu said at his press conference with Brown, “is to find a bridging formula to enable us to launch the process, but enable those [Jewish] residents [of Judea and Samaria to] continue to lead normal lives.”

There were 250,000 Jews beyond the Green Line who “have children who go to school, they need classrooms, kindergartens, they need a place to house families,” the prime minister said.

“This is very different from grabbing land. I made clear that we are not going to expropriate new land.”

He was, however, extremely careful about divulging any details about the emerging “bridging formula,” with one senior source in his office saying that the talks were at an extremely delicate stage, and any leak could torpedo progress.

Netanyahu stressed in his press conference that Jerusalem was not to be lumped together with the settlements.

“I made it clear in my conversations with President Obama in Washington that Jerusalem is the sovereign capital of Israel, and we accept no limitations on our sovereignty,” he said.

The question of settlements, as well as Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state and the demilitarization arrangements for a future Palestinian state needed to be dealt with in negotiations, Netanyahu said.

“Jerusalem is the united capital of the Jewish people,” and has been that way for 3,000 years, he said.

The prime minister, whom Brown called a “courageous leader” when he opened the press conference, said that courageous leadership was now needed from the Palestinians.

“We are working hard to advance a peace process that will lead to an actual peace result,” Netanyahu said, in a jab at previous diplomatic processes that led nowhere.

“We hope to move forward in the weeks and months ahead, and we are not waiting, we have already moved,” he said.

He noted that in his first four months of power, his government had removed 147 checkpoints and roadblocks, extended operating hours at the Allenby Bridge between Israel and Jordan, and removed bureaucratic barriers to Palestinian economic activity.

Likewise, he said, he had called for the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state next to a Jewish state.

“It wasn’t easy, but this is what we have done in this short period of time,” he said.

He said that Israel expected similar movement from the Palestinian Authority, but instead has been met by additional conditions to negotiations, and problematic rhetoric at the recent Fatah convention in Bethlehem. According to Netanyahu, the Palestinians have not moved forward, but rather backward.

“There has to be not merely a partner on the other side, but a courageous partner, who can show fortitude and leadership,” he said.

“They have to say unequivocally, it [the conflict] is over. We are going to make real peace, a final peace, a peace that will end all claims to further conflict,” he said.

Netanyahu said a number of bilateral issues came up in his talks with Brown, including the need for British legislation that would put an end to efforts to charge IDF officers for war crimes in Britain, as well as what could be done to stem the wave of “boycott Israel” calls inside the country.

As Netanyahu was meeting with Brown at 10 Downing Street, a small group of vocal protesters outside shouted epithets at Netanyahu and Israel, with one holding up a sign reading that boycotting Israel was “kosher.”

Netanyahu would not say whether he discussed with Brown the British government funding of nongovernmental organizations, such as Breaking the Silence, that are very critical of Israeli government positions, saying only that he felt such intervention was inappropriate.

He said he did not, however, know of any proposed Knesset legislation to ban foreign government support for these organizations.

Netanyahu also said nothing about kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit, and when asked what he though of Scotland’s release of the terrorist responsible for the Lockerbie terrorist attack that killed 270 people, he chose his words very carefully and would say only that the issue was “complex” and “complicated.”

Following his meeting with Mitchell in London on Wednesday, Netanyahu will fly to Germany for a day of talks there. He is scheduled to return to Israel early on Friday morning. Schalit is expected to be a major topic of conversation in Berlin.

By Tovah Lazaroff, www.JPost.com

Shlomo Slonim, 81, lays a stone on his mother's grave, which is just one in a number of rows of graves from Hebron massacre. Photo: Tovah Lazaroff

On his freckled forehead, one can still see the scar from the knife wound Shlomo Slonim sustained 80 years ago, when an Arab stabbed him as he huddled in his mother’s arms in their Hebron home.

“It’s not the only wound I have,” Slonim told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. He opened up the palm of his hand to show scars on the insides of his fingers.

“There is one that I cannot bend,” said the 81-year-old, who was dressed in black slacks and a light blue, short-sleeved, button-down shirt.

He wore glasses and a knitted kippa and spoke calmly as he stood in the Hebron cemetery, at the end of a small ceremony marking the Hebrew anniversary of the 1929 massacre of 67 Jewish residents of that city by an Arab mob.

Slonim recounted the details of that fateful day, when he was only a year old. He has no memory of the events, of course, but he has heard the story so many times that he told it as if he were recalling his own experiences.

It was Shabbat morning when an Arab mob armed with knives filled the streets and burst into Jewish homes, Slonim said.

Dozens of Jews, he said, had gathered in his parents’ home for safety. His father, Eliezer Dan Slonim, 29, had been the director of the Anglo-Palestine Bank and a representative of the Jewish community in the Hebron Municipality.

Given the good relationship he enjoyed with his Arab neighbors, local Jews believed they would be safe in his home, said Slonim.

They were wrong. As the Arabs came to the home, the people inside tried to bar the door with their bodies, but they couldn’t hold back the mob, he said.

After bursting in, the Arabs killed 24 people with knives and machetes. Among them were Slonim’s father, his mother, Hannah, 24, and her parents who were visiting for Shabbat. They also fatally wounded his older brother, who was only four. He succumbed to his wounds several days later in Jerusalem and was buried there.

The lone survivor of his immediate family, Slonim comes as often as he can to the cemetery to visit his parents’ graves, which are among the many graves of massacre victims marked by a long row of small headstones.

As is customary in Jewish tradition, he placed a small stone on each grave on Sunday.

The massacre destroyed the Hebron Jewish community, whose roots go back to biblical times, even though there were other periods when Jews were chased out of the city.

Some Jews tried to return to Hebron after the massacre, but the British removed them in 1936.

It was only in 1979 that Jews returned to live in Hebron. While those Jews who came saw themselves as the spiritual descendents of the former community, very few of the survivors or their descendents were among them.

Slonim said that he had thought about returning, but did not want to live among people who had killed his family.

“I would never know if the Arab I passed in the street had a hand in their murder,” he said.

Slonim was not the only survivor to return Sunday to the cemetery for the ceremony organized by the Jewish community of Hebron. Yankele Hillel, 81, said that an Arab neighbor had saved him and his mother.

One woman, Menuha, said that her great-grandmother, for whom she was named, had survived because she hid behind a closet.

Among those who arrived at the cemetery was Rabbi Moshe Levinger, who in 1968 brought Jews back to Hebron to celebrate Pessah. They moved into rooms in a local hotel and refused to leave until a compromise was brokered, which led to the creation of the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Levinger came to the cemetery in a wheelchair on Sunday, hours after he had been released from the hospital. He was inspired, he said, by the spirit of the holy ones who were buried there.

A national ceremony in honor of the victims will be held next month.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) — Israeli warplanes bombed a tunnel under the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt Monday, August 10, the first such attack in almost two months, the Israeli military said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the raid, in which there were no reported casualties, was in response to firing from Gaza and that Israel would respond to every shooting.

“We aren’t ready to accept rocket fire at our communities,” he said at a meeting in southern Israel with former Jewish settlers Israel removed from Gaza under a 2005 pullout.

“Our enemies should know this is our policy. We aren’t ready to absorb rocket fire on our settlements.”

Witnesses and officials of the Islamist group Hamas which rules the enclave confirmed the pre-dawn strike.

Gaza’s smuggling tunnels, which still number in the hundreds despite air attacks and an Egyptian crackdown in which some have been blown up or flooded, are a frequent target of Israeli retaliation for attacks by Gaza’s armed Palestinian groups.

The raid was Israel’s first aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip since June 18.

The aircraft had targeted a tunnel under the border at Rafah which was suspected of being used to smuggle explosives into Gaza from Egypt, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

ROCKETS AND MORTARS

Sunday, two mortar rounds were fired at Israel’s fortified Erez border crossing as medical patients going for treatment in Israel were being ferried out by ambulance.

The rounds exploded about 300 meters from the Erez wall in Palestinian territory but no one was hurt.

On the day before, a rocket fired from Gaza exploded in open ground on the Israeli side of the border.

Some smaller Gaza militant groups say Hamas has been trying to stop them firing rockets and mortars at Israel, which controls the delivery of fuel and food aid to the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the enclave.

Hamas wants Israel to lift its blockade and open the border crossings. Israel says Hamas must first release captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, whom it has held for three years.

Israel launched a ground and air offensive in Gaza in December in which some 1,400 Palestinians were killed. Israel said it was a response to daily rocket fire by Gaza militants directed at southern Israeli towns.

Thirteen Israelis were killed in the 22-day conflict.

Israel has frequently attacked tunnels it says are used to bring in weapons or materials to build weapons, though such raids have been fewer in the past couple of months.

The spokeswoman said some 240 rockets had been fired by Gaza fighters since the end of the offensive on January 18.