Policeman killed in W. Bank attack
By YAAKOV LAPPIN AND JPOST.COM STAFF
06/14/2010 12:33
2 other officers wounded in terror shooting in Hebron Hills area.
One of the Israeli police officers, Yehushua "Shuki" Sofer, who was shot in a terror attack on a patrol car Monday morning in the Hebron Hills area has succumbed to his wounds.
Sofer was rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem from the scene of the attack by Magen David Adom where he died from gunshot wounds to the chest approximately two hours after the attack.
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Sofer, 39, was a police veteran having served 19 years on the Hebron police force and resident of Beersheba.
His funeral will be held in the military section of Beersheva's old cemetary at 6 p.m. this evening.
Two other police officers were injured in the attack, as they were driving northwards on Route 60 in the West Bank, south of the of settlement of Bet Hagai, in the Hebron Hills region.
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, who is currently in Romania, released a statement following the attack, saying, "Today we have seen that the relative quiet is deceitful and we cannot know when it will be broken. I send my condolences to the family of F.-Sgt. Shuki Sofer, and I hope the injured will recover swiftly." Ahronovitch added that the police, IDF and Shin Bet would "do everything to quickly capture those responsible for this terrorist attack."
The shooter was likely a lone terrorist or a local cell operation on its own, without direction or backing from a larger group, IDF sources assessed.
According to IDF officers, the trend in terrorism in recent years has been attacks carried out by individuals, without working with a larger organization.
"It's very difficult to collect intelligence on an individual, and then to prevent what that individual plans to carry out all by himself," an IDF officer said.
The officer referred to an incident in the West Bank earlier this year, in which a bulldozer driven by a Palestinian man struck an Israeli vehicle and caused a second motorist to swerve into a road ditch.
IDF troops were still searching for the perpetrator of Monday's attack, though it remained unclear whether the shots were fired from a passing car, or a sniper lying on the side of the road.
One policemen shot in chest has improved from serious to moderate condition, while the third officer was shot in the arm and is in light condition, Magen David Adom paramedics said.
In March 2009, two Judea and Samaria police officers, Yehezkel Ramazreger and David Rabinovitch, were shot dead in the Jordan Valley in a terrorist ambush.
The policemen had stopped to provide assistance to a Palestinian terrorist who pretended that his car had broken down.
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Iranian flotilla leaving for Gaza
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS
06/14/2010 16:23
Half will be sent through Istanbul; Iranian MPs will fly to Gaza.
Two Iranian cargoes of humanitarian aid for Gaza will leave next week and one of them will be shipped through Istanbul, the official Iranian news agency, IRNA reported Monday.
The announcement quoted Mohammad Ali Nouraee, an aid official, who said one cargo will be sent to Turkey, and then shipped to Gaza from Istanbul while the other will leave from the port of Khorramshahr.
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Nouraee said that the ships would sail without protective security because the Iranians "do not want to fight", however he emphasized that "we are willing to become martyred in this way."
According to IRNA, a senior official of the the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, Deputy Commander Hossein Salami, has said that escorting the two cargo ships "was not on the guards agenda."
In addition three Iranian parliamentarians are planning to visit Gaza through Egypt, Iranian news agencies reported Monday.
Lawmaker Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash was quoted as saying that he and two other members of the Majlis, the Iranian parliament, would travel to Gaza by way of Egypt later this week.
Bighash said that some 200 out of the 290 Iranian MPs had wanted to make the visit but the three-man team will go instead. He said that the
Egyptians had expressed willingness to allow the Iranians to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
Iranian MP Mahmoud Ahmadi-Biqash said on Sunday that the Egyptian government has agreed to issue visas to 70 Iranian parliamentarians who have registered to travel to the Gaza Strip.
The Iranian efforts to aid Gaza are inspired by the recent Gaza-bound flotilla, during which an Israeli effort to take control of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara resulted in the death of nine Turkish activists.
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Iranian Marines Set to Escort Flotilla 'To Teach Israel Lessons'
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Two Iranian ships intended to head for Hamas-controlled Gaza are waiting for their government's approval to challenge Israel on the high seas, escorted by "volunteer marines" that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to send "to teach Israelis a lesson."
An Iranian Red Crescent official said the two ships are waiting for the Iranian foreign ministry to give the green light for launching, according to the French news service AFP, quoting the Iranian Mehr news service. The Red Crescent said a third ship probably would join the fleet.
Red Crescent official Mojtaba Majd also claimed that more than 100,000 Iranians have signed up to board the ships, but only those with "expertise" would be accepted. Majd did not define the area of expertise required.
Ali Shirazi, the Revolutionary Guard's spokesman for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said it was "Iran's duty to defend the innocent people of Gaza."
A Red Crescent ship to Gaza was stopped by the Israeli Navy a year and a half ago, but the charged anti-Israeli atmosphere following the latest flotilla clash has encouraged Arab and left-wing colleagues to try to break Israel's blockade over free passage to the Gaza coast.
An Iranian maritime convoy to Israel could provoke a military clash on the high seas, but it also would highlight Israel's claim that lifting the blockade would allow Iran to directly send advanced arms, ammunition and terrorists for the de facto Hamas government in Gaza.
The Iranian Red Crescent ships were prepared with cooperation from the Turkish government, according to the London Express. Ahmadinejad reportedly told Turkish leaders in Istanbul last week that the vessels would be prepared for a direct clash with the Israeli Defense Forces.
Turkey was one of two countries that voted against new sanctions imposed on Iran last week by the United Nations Security Council. Once considered a friend of Israel and distant from Iran, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has totally reversed government policy over the past two years and has joined the Syrian-Iranian-Hizbullah axis while stating that it still wants goods relations with Israel. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
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Ankara doesn't 'trust' Israel probe
By JPOST.COM STAFF
06/14/2010 13:18
Turkey: Country that attacked civilians shouldn't run inquiry.
Ankara does not trust the probe Israel is planning into the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying Monday.
"We have no trust at all that Israel, a country that has carried out such an attack on a civilian convoy in international waters, will conduct an impartial investigation," AFP quoted Davutoglu as saying.
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He called for an investigation to be held "under the direct control of the United Nations... with the participation of Turkey and Israel."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on June 5 that the IDF raid of the Mavi Marmara should be investigated by a New Zealand-led committee, with Israeli and Turkish deputies.
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‘Middle Ages Haunt Middle East,' Says Netanyahu
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The dark days of the Middle Ages "are raging" against Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Likud party Knesset Members Monday.Speaking at a party caucus meeting, the Prime Minister's warning of further anti-Zionist slanders in wake of the flotilla attack.
The flood of hate is being led by Israel's enemies all over the world," Netanyahu added. "They are trying to…revoke Israel's right to defend itself as well as the rights of IDF soldiers to protect their own lives. The government decision will make it clear to the world that Israel is acting legally, responsibly, and with complete transparency."
Israel's announcement of a probe of the May 31 clash with Turkish terror activists already has been met with catcalls by anti-Israeli elements and total rejection by Turkey, whose role in the clash will be part of the investigation.
"We have no trust at all that Israel, a country that has carried out such an attack on a civilian convoy in international waters, will conduct an impartial investigation," said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "To have a defendant acting simultaneously as both prosecutor and judge is not compatible with any principle of law."
The inquiry panel will be headed by retired High Court Judge Yaakov Turkel, who also chairs the Yad VaShem Holocaust Memorial Center's committee that decides which non-Jews receive the award for Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during the Nazi regime.
The inquiry panel is unprecedented by its inclusion of three foreigners, but the government made it clear they will not have authority to question IDF officers or demand any information that would endanger national security.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said he welcomed an investigation but complained that the Israeli probe does not meet the demands of a United Nations Security Council resolution. The Council condemned Israel for the deaths of nine Turks even after Israel produced evidence that they assaulted the Navy soldiers trying to stop the ship from reaching Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Israeli Cabinet ministers admitted Monday afternoon that the government had no choice but to set up an inquiry committee, but the Prime Minister warned Israel to "prepare for difficult days" in which even Israel's allies may express non-supportive statements that could "surprise" Israel.
"There is a certain price we are paying, but under the present circumstances it is our best move," Prime Minister Netanyahu said at the Likud meeting. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
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YouTube Removes 'Flotilla Choir'
Here The Song
http://wejew.com/media/8629/Flotilla_Choir_Parody:_We_Con_The_World/
or: http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/checker.aspx?v=XdaGaGkU4z
JERUSALEM, Israel - Citing copyright infringement, YouTube removed Latma's "We Con the Word" on Friday, despite the video having received over 3 million hits in one week.
YouTube claimed their decision came from Warren Chappel Music Inc., which owns the rights to "We Are the World," co-written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. The song was used the first time in a 1985 fundraiser for Africa.
Caroline Glick, editor-in-chief of Latma and deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, rejected the explanation.
"YouTube's decision to pull Latma's hit son, "We Con the World," after 3 million viewers shows that Israel's enemies are afraid of us," Glick wrote on her website.
"Since they cannot refute our points, they are trying to silence us," she said.
Click here for the complete article.
By Saturday afternoon, the video had been reposted on WeJew and Ed Morrisey at Hot Air reposted it at Eyeblast.
Interested viewers can embed either copy and Glick predicted more websites would be forthcoming.
