Hizbullah scuds 'tip of the iceberg'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
04/05/2010 14:41
Baidatz says group has an organized arms supply network.
Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz, head of Military Intelligence's Research Division, gave a rather pessimistic view of the peace process and the threat Israel faced from Hizbullah on Tuesday.
Speaking to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Baidatz warned that the scuds reportedly transferred to Hizbullah by Syria are just the 'tip of the iceberg', saying the group had an organized arms supply and support network. "Weapons are being supplied consistently from Syria, and the transfers are organized by the Iranian and Syrian regimes, so they cannot exactly be called arms-smuggling operations."
He added that Hizbullah currently has thousands of rockets of varying types and ranges, including more precise and longer-range missiles than it once had.
Palestinians already preparing the ground for failure of talks
Regarding the peace process and the upcoming proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Baidatz said the Palestinians were "already preparing the ground for the failure" of the proximity talks, which are expected to soon be launched by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
He said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wanted to try and expose Israel in a negative light in order to bring about its global isolation.
"Although the PA president is interested in an agreement with Israel, his flexibility on the core issues is limited, and we don't see any real attempt at being more flexible on the essential matters," he said.
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'Hizbullah reserves right to rearm'
Meanwhile, Hizbullah deputy head Naim Kassem said the group reserved the right to rearm.
Speaking to Hizbullah's al-Manar television, Kassem added that the "land is our land and no country in the world can restrict our arsenal."
However, he ruled out the possibility of a war with Israel being on the horizon, citing what he called Israel's lack of logistical preparation and its internal issues.
"The hand of Hizbullah is on the safety catch and Israel is well aware of what awaits it," he warned.
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Austria Joins Iranian Axis, along with Indonesia
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Austria's warm welcome this week of Iranian's foreign minister, along with its increasing trade relations with the Islamic Republic, signal Iran's widening axis that already stretches to South America. Indonesia, which hosts the world's largest Muslim population, also has embraced Iran's "strategic ties."
Austria's friendliness with Iran is even more significant because the European country is one of the rotating members of the United Nations Security Council. It has paid only lip service to sanctions against Iran, Simone Dinah Hartmann, director of Stop the Bomb Austria and co-editor of "Iran in the World System," wrote in The Wall Street Journal this week.
"To what degree Austria…would actually support tough sanctions is more than questionable," she stated, noting that trade with Iran has flourished the past several years in contradiction to policies of other European nations to distant themselves from Tehran.
On Sunday, Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger welcomed his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, who delivered the opening speech at Tehran's Holocaust denial conference in 2006.
Hartmann pointed out the bitter irony of Austria's aligning itself with Iran, which vows to "wipe Israel off the map. "Austria prefers to present itself as Nazi Germany's first victim when in fact it was Hitler's -born and raised in Austria-first collaborator," she wrote.
The United States, Britain and France objected to the Austrian welcome mat for the Iranian official, which featured a friendly reception including hoisting the Islamic Republic flag along that of Austria and the European Union.
"Vienna has a long tradition of appeasing the Islamic Republic," according to Hartmann. A former foreign minister and former president Kurt Waldheim were the first Western officials in their positions to visit Tehran in the 1980s and 1991.
She also charged that several Austrian companies are suspected of working with front companies that are associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. "Bilateral business relations between Austria and Iran are excellent, but still expandable," said the president of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce during a visit to Tehran last year. Austria was once described as the "gateway to the European Union" by an Iranian minister.
Indonesia
Indonesia also is in Iran's sights. An Iranian deputy minister, Mohsen Pak-Ayeen, said says that ties with Indonesia "could serve as the main capital for planning strategic, deep and all-out ties," the Iranian Fars News Agency reported.
Jakarta as far back as 2006 labeled as "lies" Western claims that Tehran is aiming for nuclear capability. Last week, an Indonesian official attending the observance of the 60th anniversary of Indonesia-Iran diplomatic relations at the National Museum said, "Indonesia believes that the Iranian nuclear project is for science and technology development." (IsraelNationalNews.com)
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Former US Ambassador John Bolton: Obama Damages Israeli Security
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
John Bolton, former United States ambassador to the United Nations, told Bar Shem-Ur on IDF Army Radio Tuesday morning that " Obama is harming Israeli security and is playing into the hands of Ahmadinejad" by agreeing to talk with Egypt about a nuclear-free Middle East.
Listen to statements by former US ambassador to UN John Bolton
"All of us know this suggestion relates to one country - Israel," Bolton stated. "The question right now is how much pressure he is prepared to apply to achieve his objective. If I were an Israeli, I would be afraid of the results of these contacts because of the very fact that Obama agrees to talk with Egypt" about its proposal.
"It is clear that we are talking about an absurd and very aggravating" action by President Obama, "but this is how it has worked for years since the days of Castro, and the ‘shining" period of Arafat," Bolton told Army Radio.
He also said he is not surprised that the "head of an enemy state can arrive in the United States, take the podium in the center of New York, castigate the United States and Israel and accuse them of mutual nuclear aid.
"This really is not an exceptional step for the U.N. to give the podium to the president of Iran. The best thing I can say about the visit of Ahmadinejad is that his speech was so ridiculous that he actually damages himself more than he does himself any good."
Calling the United Nations an organization "empty of all content" that "lost its legitimacy a long time ago," Bolton suggested the establishment of an alternative body comprising only those countries that are democratic.
"There needs to be a wide-ranging discussion on the lack of effectiveness of the United Nations in dealing with international challenges," he explained. "In its history, it has failed time after time to deal with global threats. This happened with Communism and today it is happening with worldwide terror."
He dismissed the U.N. committee for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons as another "great name of an organization that has no teeth or significance."
Bolton, who advised then-President George W. Bush to stop paying dues to the United Nations, quit his U.N. post out of frustration. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
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Obama tells Palestinians that Israel is to blame
US President Barack Obama made clear in a recent letter to the Palestinians that he views Israel as the obstacle to peace and will approach further peace efforts from that point of view, according to senior Palestinian Authority officials.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed for the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency that such a letter was sent, and that in it Obama "clarified the US stance on the peace process and Israel's intransigence on the issue of settlements."
Erekat said that the letter contained several assurances to the Palestinians, but refused to go into detail.
A day earlier, London newspaper The Guardian reported on what one of those assurances may be - a proposal to start backing official UN condemnation of any and all Israeli "settlement activity."
Washington has traditionally used its veto power to block any UN resolutions that would put Israel in a difficult position vis-Ã -vis allowing Jews to build on their ancestral and biblical lands. If the US were to stop vetoing such resolutions, which would likely result in an increase in condemnation, Israel could be forced to implement an unofficial Jewish building freeze across the board and for an unlimited amount of time.
That report would seem to fit with the more vague account of assurances another Palestinian official said the letter contained.
PA secretary general Tayeb Abdel Rahim on Sunday told reporters that the letter made the usual commitments to an independent Palestinian state with territorial continuity. Rahim also said that Obama promised to start publicly assigning blame to those he sees holding up peace and to force Israel into indefinitely extending its temporary settlement freeze.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implemented the 10-month freeze at the behest of Washington in order to test the Palestinians' readiness to return to the negotiating table. When it was first announced last November, US officials praised Netanyahu for taking "unprecedented" steps for peace. Now that it is clear the Palestinians are not going to respond in kind, the Obama administration appears to be blaming Netanyahu for not having done enough.
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R. Eliyahu Slams Neturei Karta Chief, PA Claims Meah She'arim
by Hillel Fendel
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat, says that Moshe Hirsch of Neturei Karta should not have been buried in a Jewish cemetery, and that now that he has been buried there, no other Jews should be buried nearby.
Hirsch, who died over the Sabbath and was buried on Sunday at the ancient Mt. of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem, was the top leader of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect. He encouraged and met often with Yasser Arafat, and his followers have also met with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, who denies the Holocaust.
Fatah: We Demand Meah She'arim
A delegation of formerly active Fatah terrorists even paid a consolation visit to Hirsch's family on Monday in the Meah She'arim neighborhood of Jerusalem - and threw in a demand for the neighborhood to be included in a future Palestinian Authority capital. Abdel Kader, reponsible for Jerusalem affairs on behalf of Fatah, participated in the visit and said afterwards, "We don't plan to give up our claim to Meah She'arim, nor to the Neturei Karta Jews there."
Meah She'arim lies on the UN recognized, Jewish side of the border that divided Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967. The visitors said it was their first official visit to the neighborhood.
Rabbi Eliyahu spoke on the new Judea-based Galei Yisrael radio station on Monday, using harsh language against Hirsch: "In my opinion, he should have been buried outside the cemetery… This person took himself out of the nationhood of Israel; he is a heretic. 'The name of evil ones should rot' . We are blessed to have been exempted from him; the verse 'when the wicked are lost, there is joy' applies to this situation."
Arafat named Hirsch his "Minister for Jewish Affairs" in the Palestinian Authority. He or his followers often demonstrated around the world against the Jewish State and in favor of Arab rule in Israel.
Rabbi Eliyahu is the son of the former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, who has been hospitalized in serious condition for several months. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
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Arab states spotlight Israel at UN
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/05/2010 20:17
Jordanian FM calls for progress on nuke-free Middle East.
UNITED NATIONS - Arab countries sought to turn attention Tuesday to Israel as delegates from 189 countries debated how to stem the spread of nuclear weapons.
On the second day of the monthlong meeting at the United Nations, Arab countries were reiterating calls for a nuclear-free Middle East with criticism of Israel's unacknowledged nuclear arsenal and failure to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
The first day of the conference was dominated by rhetorical crossfire between the United States and Iran, as Washington pushed for the UN Security Council to approve new sanctions against Iran.
On Tuesday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh expressed frustration at the lack of progress on implementing a nuclear-free Middle East, a goal that was declared in a resolution of a previous meeting of NPT signatories
He said that Israel's failure to sign the NPT and allow international monitoring of its nuclear program "renders the NPT a source of instability in the Middle East."
Egypt has proposed that this 2010 NPT conference back a plan calling for the start of negotiations next year on such a Mideast zone. The proposal may become a major debating point in the monthlong session.
The United States has cautiously supported the idea while saying that implementing the idea must wait for progress in the Middle East peace process. The position reflected a middle ground as the Obama administration sought to satisfy Arab countries while keeping the spotlight of the conference on Iran's nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad continued his campaign to stall the US push for new sanctions. He scheduled a news conference Tuesday afternoon. On Monday, addressing the conference, he rejected the US allegations about Iran's nuclear program, saying Washington has offered not "a single credible proof" that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons. Iran says it only wants the technology for producing nuclear power.
The debate about Iran dominated the first day of the month-long conference on how to improve the NPT. The treaty is formally reviewed every five years at a meeting of treaty members - all the world's nations except India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, all of which either have confirmed or are believed to have nuclear weapons.
The review conference is meant to produce a final document pointing toward ways to better achieve the NPT's goals of checking the spread of nuclear weapons, while working toward reducing and eventually eliminating them.
Because it requires a consensus of all parties, including Iran, any final document would be highly unlikely to censure the Tehran government, which would block consensus.
US officials have said they will be looking to isolate Iran at the conference and to produce an unofficial document calling for stricter enforcement of the NPT that could be signed by the overwhelming majority of signatory countries.
As delegates assess the state of the NPT in UN conference halls, American and European diplomats will be working elsewhere to reach agreement with the sometimes reluctant China and Russia on a fourth round of UN Security Council economic sanctions against Iran.
