An Israeli soldier being lynched and taken hostage and knife-point by the 'peace' activists aboard the Mavi Marmara aid ship. (IDF)

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Lieberman: Turkey will not change
By HERB KEINON
06/09/2010 02:08

Ahmadinejad and Turkey lash out at Israel yet again.
Ankara continued to pile unrelenting criticism on Israel on Tuesday, with President Abdullah Gul saying that Israel would be isolated and "suffer the consequences" of its "mistake against Turkey."

Gul said 21 Asian countries meeting in Istanbul had "expressed their grave concern and condemnation for the actions undertaken by the Israel Defense Forces."

Israel was the only state at the 22-member Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia forum meeting in Istanbul that did not join the call, he said.

Israel managed to block a joint declaration by the group, whose decisions require consensus, forcing Gul to issue a separate statement.

While Israel continued its policy of not responding publicly to the stream of Turkish jibes, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in New York it was a "mistake" to think that it was possible to change Turkey's attitude toward Israel through any gesture or efforts, since the negative change in Ankara reflected a strategic change by the Turkish leadership stemming from deep shifts in Turkish society.

Quartet special envoy Tony Blair said in an interview on Channel 10 on Tuesday that the Turkish change was very worrisome. He expressed hope that out of the crisis a new bridge would be built between Israel and Turkey.

Blair, who advocated Turkey joining the EU in 2005, said the cold shoulder the EU gave Turkey led to Ankara's decision to turn in the direction of Iran.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also used the forum to lambaste Israel, saying the flotilla incident showed Israel's "violence and hatred and war-mongering attitudes."

Ahmadinejad, speaking at a press conference, said "the devilish sound of the uncultured Zionists was coming out from their deceit... They were holding up the flag of the devil itself." The flotilla raid, Ahmadinejad said, "has actually rung the final countdown for its [Israel's] existence. It shows that it has no room in the region and no one is ready to live alongside it. Actually, no country in the world recognizes it, and you know that the Zionist regime is the backbone of the dictatorial world order."

A spokesman in the Prime Minister's Office responded to Ahmadinejad's statement by saying that it made sense for the Iranian president to discuss dictatorial regimes, since "last summer his regime brutally crushed opposition protesters demonstrating for freedom."

Israel's representative at the conference, Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy, walked out when Ahmadinejad addressed the session.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also condemned Israel for the raid at the parley, and called for an international inquiry, saying "the fact that it was conducted in neutral waters evokes special regret and requires separate consideration."

AP contributed to this report.

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Iran's Gaza-bound ships ready for clash with Israel - Ahmadinejad
DEBKAfile Special Report June 8, 2010, 5:19 PM (GMT+02:00)

Ahmadinejad to Erdogan: Now it's our turn to challenge Israel
An Iranian sea convoy will back up the Turkish campaign to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assured Turkish leaders whom he met in Istanbul Tuesday, Jan. 8 that the vessels due to enter the disputed waters within days will not shrink from a head-on clash with Israel's Navy and Air Force exclusion forces. "We'll breach the Gaza blockade," the Iranian president vowed. The Iranian Red Crescent vessels will carry "volunteer marines" of the Revolutionary Guards "who will teach the Israelis a lesson."
Tehran's "humanitarian convoy" for Gaza will consist of three Iranian vessels flying Red Crescent flags.

debkafile's intelligence sources report that he promised Turkish leaders to attach Iranian warships and submarines to the Red Crescent ships for their voyage through the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean. For some months, one or two Iranian submarines have been deployed in the Mediterranean using Syrian naval port facilities.

The showdown between Turkey and Israel, said Ahmadinejad, "will change many issues in the world and mark the final countdown for Israel's existence. It shows that it has no room in the region and no one is ready to live alongside it."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned Iran's plan to send aid boats to Gaza, warning that the move would deliberately aggravate an already tense situation. "It is not helpful, and probably it is not designed to be helpful, he said.
Russian Prime Pinister Vladimir Putin, for his part, promised to join Ankara in bringing the Israeli attack on the Turkish flotilla before the United Nations.
The Iranian and Turkish leaders meeting in Istanbul Monday and Tuesday finalized a plan to synchronize the flotilla's approach to Gaza's shores with the UN Security Council vote on sanctions against Iran, whereupon Turkey, Brazil and Lebanon, who are SC members, will halt the procedure and turn the session around to the unfolding sea battle between Iran and Israel. The sanctions vote will be buried by the sounds of war.
Monday, June 7, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted "Iran would pull some stunt in the next couple of days" to divert attention from the unity within the Security Council.
According to our sources, the Iranian convoy will consist of a cargo ship loaded with food and other essentials, medicines and building materials; the second will carry the "volunteer" marines; and the third will be a floating hospital to be anchored permanently in Egyptian Mediterranean territorial waters opposite the divided Gaza-Egyptian town of Rafah. Small boats will ferry patients between Gaza and the hospital ship.

Tehran calculates that the Israeli navy will not attack boats carrying sick people and will be constrained from venturing into Egyptian territorial waters to hit the floating hospital. By this means, Tehran will dismantle Israel's sea blockade while also gaining a military presence off the shores of Gaza.

AS details of this scheme are drawn up in Istanbul, Israeli leaders are spending hour of hour, day after day, quibbling over the format of an inquiry commission for studying the legal aspects of the hapless commando raid they ordered against the Mavi Marmara on May 31.
Have they formed any plans for countering the Iranian-Turkish scheme to drive Tehran's flotilla through the Gaza blockade? And if so, where will the interception take place? On the Red Sea, where the Iranian Navy has a large presence, at the entrance to the Gulf of Suez or close to Gaza?
An Israel operation against Iranian vessels on any of these sea lanes would pose formidable difficulties.

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Israel, Turkey, Gaza in covert sea war. Hamas frogmen thwarted
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 7, 2010, 11:11 AM (GMT+02:00)

Turkey buries victims of Kurdish PKK attack, suspects Israeli hand
The Israeli commando raid on a Turkish ferry heading to break the Gaza blockade, in which 9 activists were killed, is turning out a week later to have kicked off a semi-clandestine sea war between Israel, Turkey and the Gaza-based Hamas, debkafile's military sources report. Monday, June 7, Hamas frogmen were on their way to a large-scale attack on an Israeli target when their boat was intercepted by Israeli commandos and four or five armed Palestinians killed. Turkey is investigating suspicions of Israel's hand behind a deadly Kurdish terrorist attack on its Iskenderun base on May 31.
Our military sources disclose Iskenderun's quietly growing role in the last two months as a military hub in potential confrontations by Syria and Hizballah with Israel. In mid-May, Turkey moved anti-air missile batteries into the port to defend targets in Syria and Lebanon against potential Israeli air strikes from the eastern Mediterranean. This is the first time Ankara has provided Syria and Hizballah with an air defense umbrella and come down on their side in their conflict with Israel.

Some hours after Israeli commandos clashed with armed men aboard the Mavi Marmara, Kurdish PKK rebel fighters attacked the Turkish naval base at Iskenderun on the Syrian border, killing seven Turkish seamen and injuring another six. If Ankara can prove its suspicions, it will be able to claim that Israel is involved by proxy in terrorist attacks on Turkish soil. Diplomatic relations still in force despite the frictions between the two countries will then be severed, one step before a declaration of war.

Following the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan's fiery abuse of Israel, Interior Minister Besir Atalay said Sunday, June 6: "We have been working hard, especially to ascertain what happened in the Iskenderun incident." Local media have suggested he is looking for Israeli covert invovlement in the planning and execution of the deadly attack on the Turkish naval base in revenge for the violence on the Marmara against the Israeli naval boarding party.

Early Monday, June 7, an Israeli Navy Commando force intercepted a large group of armed Palestinian frogmen, members of the Hamas sea commando, on their way from the Gaza Strip to the Israeli shore to the north early Monday, June 7. Palestinian sources confirmed at least four wet-suited terrorists were killed, and another four were missing in the wake of a shootout in the Nahal Aza area of the Gaza Strip near Nuseirat between their boat and Israeli troops.
The IDF spokesman reported there were no Israeli casualties. debkafile's military sources report the Hamas seaborne unit aimed to prove itself capable by striking an Israeli target of retaliating for the thwarting of the Turkish-led campaign to break the Gaza blockade.

Shortly afterwards, a Palestinian Qassam missile squad was spotted on land near Jebalya preparing to fire into Israel. It was knocked out by the Israeli Air force.
debkafile: Cross-fire from Gaza on Israeli border patrols is frequent, almost daily and Hamas still launches several Qassam missiles and mortar bombs into Israel every week, but attempts attacks by Hamas or related groups from the sea are a new development.

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Israeli students plan counter-flotilla to Turkey

The National Students Union of Israel is planning to launch a counter-flotilla to carry aid to oppressed minorities in Turkey in an bid to unmask the hypocrisy of the international community, and especially Ankara, in the wake of Israel's raid on the Free Gaza flotilla.

Boaz Torporovsky, chairman of the students union, told Ynet that "Turkey, which leads the campaign against Israel and makes all sorts of threats is the same Turkey that carried out a holocaust and murdered an entire nation of Armenians, and oppresses a minority larger than the Palestinians - the Kurds - who deserve a state, who have demanded a state for longer than the State of Israel has existed."

It is the Kurdish minority in Turkey that the group will try to reach with primarily medical supplies. Torporovsky knows the boat will be stopped by the Turkish authorities, which will hopefully reverse the negative attention on Israel.

Torporovsky said the group is currently seeking a suitable vessel and enough funding to carry out its plans. Arik Ofir, a former naval officer and current business owner, has agreed to captain the ship. The group hopes to set sail by the end of the week.

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George Galloway: ‘Break the Embargo' Via Syria and Jordan

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Former British MP George Galloway, standing alongside a Hizbullah flag in London, announced a new land-sea attempt to break the embargo on Gaza. Iran's Red Crescent also said it will send ships to Hamas-controlled Gaza to challenge Israel.

Galloway, who recently lost his seat in the House of Commons, protested outside the Israeli embassy this past Saturday and vowed that the land convoy "will leave Britain shortly after the end of Ramadan in September and travel through Europe, down through Turkey and Syria into Jordan".

He said a flotilla of boats also will sail for Gaza under the sponsorship of the Viva Palestina organization, which has been questioned by activists in the United States as being a charity front for a terrorist group. Galloway vowed that the embargo "won't end by resolutions in the Security Council; it won't end by, by G-d it won't end, with ruminations in the Arab League…. We have to break it down ourselves and we will do so."

Galloway previously has visited Gaza in highly publicized visits ostensibly aimed at bringing aid to Gaza residents. Hamas so far has refused to accept truckloads of aid that Israel has tried to transfer to Gaza after unloading it last week from the Turkish-sponsored flotilla, which the Navy escorted to the port in Ashdod.

In Saturday's protest rally, which was covered by the Iran's Press TV, he declared that the shots fired in a flotilla clash between the Israeli Navy and terror activists aboard the Mavi Mamara ship "reverberated around the world," according to a transcript translated by Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

"This is indeed their [Israel's] Soweto," he said, referring to the 1976 uprising in South Africa. "Just as Soweto began the countdown to the end of racist, apartheid state of South Africa, so the killings of our martyrs on Monday begin the numbering of the days of the Zionist apartheid state of Israel. Be sure, be sure about that," he told the demonstrators.

During his speech, some supporters shouted ‘Allahu Akbar,' (G-d is Great) the Muslim cry often used immediately before terrorist attacks.

"Brothers and sisters, …there can be no peace between the occupied and their occupier," Galloway continued. There can only be eternal struggle between them, struggle until justice has prevailed and freedom has been won, and you are a part of that struggle and freedom will be won." (Photo above: Galloway and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.At left, Galloway in London )

Israel has warned all parties that any attempt to reach Gaza will be blocked in order to prevent any attempt to bring more weapons, terrorists and explosives for Hamas and allied terrorists.

Two days after the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said they could escort a flotilla to Gaza, Iranian Red Crescent director Abdolraoof Adibzadeh said it would send aid would send aid by sea to Egypt and then via the border of Rafiah, a city which straddles Gaza and Egypt.

The Red Crescent last December attempted to send a ship of aid to Gaza, but the Israeli Navy intercepted it.

Last Friday, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah called for the formation of a "Freedom Flotilla II to break the siege on our brothers and sisters in Gaza. This means we will need to form more flotillas of different nationalities and see them on to Gaza."

He promised that "any Lebanese who is on that flotilla will come home safe and sound." (IsraelNationalNews.com)

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3,500 Year-Old Artifacts Unearthed in Israel

Video

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/June/3500-Year-Old-Artifacts-Unearthed-in-Israel/

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a cache of ancient items near a town believed by some scholars to have belonged to the tribe of Asher.

The rare and perfectly preserved set of cups and other items were unearthed in northern Israel by the Israel Antiquities Authority on Monday.

"This is my 42nd excavation in 15 years and the first time I've found more than shards," said Dr. Edwin van den Brink, the IAA archaeologist who directed the excavation.

The items were found inside of a cave in Yokneam while workers were installing a gas pipeline.

The IAA has estimated the 100 items to be more than 3,500 years old and believe the objects were used by a pagan cult in ancient ceremonies.

"The most outstanding or the most expressive, which gives a face to the whole assemblage actually, is a human pottery face of a person," Van den Brink said of one of the artifacts. "We don't know if it's a he or a she. Everybody who takes a look at it has a different opinion."

"Also, our work in the field - the excavation work - has finished now," he added. "But actually now our real work starts to do the research about what we excavated."

Archaeologists say that some of the artifacts may have even come from Greece. The IAA will be placing the artifacts on exhibit in the coming year.