Israel news from within Israel

[HisDaughter]

Israel: 'We're in the midst of preparing the home front for war'

jpost.com

According to Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, the country is in one of the most complicated and dangerous periods of its history. And though he does not believe that Israel can be "wiped off the map," in spite of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threats, he is increasingly concerned about the current political instability here, which he blames for delays in projects he deems essential, such as the revamping of the Home Front.

This week Vilnai gave The Jerusalem Post a lengthy interview, during which he covered a wide range of topics, from Labor's coalition talks with Kadima, to how Hizbullah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is a target, to the danger of holding public demonstrations calling for the release of Gilad Schalit.

The former deputy chief of General Staff and deputy commander of the elite commando unit, Sayeret Matkal, says that the IDF is at a most critical juncture. It is the only military in the world, he explains, that needs to be ready at any given moment to fight a guerrilla war in Lebanon, a terror war in the West Bank and a conventional war with Syria, and confront a possible existential threat from Iran.

Since taking up his post just over a year ago, Vilnai, 64, has been immersed in establishing the National Emergency Administration (NEA), which he founded to coordinate among all of the various emergency services, in the event of a missile onslaught. This is necessary, he says, because one of the problems encountered during the Second Lebanon War was that the cabinet had to meet several times to discuss how to get food to shelters in the North. But "the cabinet needs to run the war."

How do you view Israel's current strategic position in the Middle East?
There are existential threats today coming from farther away. The additional complication when dealing with Islamic radical terror is that the war is not just against terrorists, but against a population. In Gaza, you can hit Hamas, but it does not hurt Hamas, since the people there support Hamas. This is the same in Lebanon, where the civilian population supports Hizbullah. This makes the conflict much more complicated. As a result, what is needed is a combined military-diplomatic solution, as well as alliances with other countries.

Is there still a conventional threat?
It exists, and we need to prepare for it, so we can retain capabilities required for war with Syria, like on Yom Kippur exactly 35 years ago. We also need to retain the ability to fight Hizbullah and Iran over the horizon. Today, we need to know how to do different things [simultaneously], and this is difficult challenge. I can't remember such a complicated period in my 40 years in the defense establishment.

What poses the greatest threat?
The state of Israel. Establishing a new government is necessary for stability. The fact that the government changes every two years weakens us. A ministry that starts everything from scratch every two years cannot get anything done.

Are there ongoing processes in the Defense Ministry that will be harmed in the event that general elections are held now?
The change in regime harms and weakens us, and I believe it is of the utmost importance to continue with the same government today.

We are in the midst of preparing the home front for war and this is something that the government has spoken about for decades, but never dealt with or regulated properly. If we change the leadership of the Defense Ministry, I don't know what will happen. If we don't continue what we have been doing here for another two years, it will all go to waste.

What, for example?
The NEA and the annual home front exercises we started. I fear that if we aren't here, everything will go back to the way it was in the beginning. We need continuity.

What is the concept behind the NEA?
The responsibility for the home front has always been in the hands of the municipalities or the local and regional councils, but for years they shirked this responsibility. The concept behind the NEA is for the government offices and services to assist them. The IDF, Israel Police, Fire and Rescue Service, Magen David Adom, the Interior, Welfare and Health ministries will all work for the mayors and regional council heads to make sure that life continues, even during wartime.

The cabinet does not need to meet to discuss food distribution to bomb shelters. A mayor with the right assistance can do this on his or her own.

What will the next war look like?
The home front will be the main front of the war, whether it is missiles from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria or Iran.

Can Israel live with a nuclear Iran?
Israel has the strong advantage of being a resilient nation which has been through wars - and an intifada with buses blowing up. We know how to soldier on like no other country in the world.

I don't believe that Israel can just disappear from the map. There were times like that in the 1950s, when we were a young and small nation. I don't accept the definition of Iran as an existential threat in the sense that Israel will disappear. I do, however, believe that we can get hit and be weakened. They can try to hit us hard, and the IDF is the only military in the world that cannot afford to lose even a single war, since doing so would be a dramatic change in the state of Israel.

But the Iranian threat is not just our problem, but that of the entire free world. I was in Germany for a meeting last week and told people there that Iran should be their main focus. We need an economic siege on Iran. There are not only military solutions to threats.

cont.

[HisDaughter]

cont.


Is there time for sanctions to work?
Time is against us, but I have no doubt that strong and serious sanctions could work. If the entire free world decides to stop the economic flow to Iran, it will have the desired effect. Iran is a country that is connected to the world, not like Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

Nevertheless, can Israel live alongside a nuclear Iran?
As a rule, we can't allow Iran to obtain this capability. Currently, we need to invest all our efforts in preventing it from achieving that capability. We are doing this and the US is doing this, but the entire world is not with us.

When you say we can't allow Iran to achieve nuclear capability, is military force one option for preventing it?
Everything needs to be seriously deliberated. I am not in favor of making warlike declarations, but I think that everything needs to be considered, so we can determine the right course of action. Military force has always been a continuation of diplomacy by other means. This was said by [Prussian military theorist Carl von] Clausewitz.

Why does the world not join the economic campaign against Iran?
Everyone thinks the threat is not against them. They also think in the short term, and look at the profits they are making from deals with Iran, and they think what is happening there will not affect them.

How much time is there?
I believe that 2009 and 2010 will be the critical years. There may be more time, but I think there is less. Two years is a short time for what we are dealing with.

What is going on with the gas masks?
There is a budget disagreement with the Treasury. Most of the masks have already been refurbished, and there is a plan for a civilian company to return them to people at home. However, we will not distribute to everyone at once. We will start with threatened areas - like the North and the center - and then move to other parts of the country. We had hoped to start in January, but did not receive the necessary budget. We went to the cabinet, and are waiting for the money. Hopefully, we will start to distribute in 2009.

Do we really need gas masks?
Yes. We need a protective room and a mask. This issue was studied by the NEA, and it was decided that this is the right protective envelope. We need them against capabilities that are in Syrian and Iranian hands. It is fairly easy to obtain this type of non-conventional capability, and the moment they know we have a protective envelope, they will think twice before using this capability. This serves as a deterrent against them.

Can there really be peace with Syria?
We need to break the axis of evil. It can be broken militarily, but the talks with Syria are meant to do this as well. Syria needs to cut off its ties with Iran. This is our condition, and this is the most important element. But it is not something that will happen immediately.

We saw other Syrian intentions with the nuclear facility that the air force destroyed last September.
I don't know what type of facility you are taking about, but that is why I said we need both elements - military and diplomatic.

It has been two years since the war in Lebanon, and Hizbullah is still building up weapons. Is there a possibility of another war?
They are scared of a war, and while they pretend to be heroic, Nasrallah has for the past two years been holed up inside a bunker.

Why? Is he a target?
Of course he is. He is an enemy of Israel, and he sees what happens to Israel's enemies. Hizbullah does not want another war. It doesn't want a repeat of the destruction we caused in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut. Hizbullah understands it cannot survive another war and grasps what our power is.

Hamas, too, is amassing weapons. What is happening with the Gaza cease-fire?
They are building up all the time. The question we need to ask is what the significance of the cease-fire is where the smuggling is concerned. The answer is that they are smuggling the same amount today as they were before the cease-fire.

The Egyptians are slowly improving their capabilities, and recently arrested Beduin in the Sinai who are connected to the tunnel industry. The Egyptians are an integral part of the Middle East, and peace with it has immense strategic importance for Israel. We would never have had contact with Hamas without the Egyptians.

That is why I thought there was no reason for the cease-fire not to succeed. There were many on the Palestinian side who wanted to end it, but they understand the importance, and if there is not a breakdown, there is no reason not to keep it going.

Do they have weaponry that they did not have before?
There is no doubt that they have extended their rocket range. If, before, they could fire a rocket 10 km., they can now reach 20 km. But they cannot defeat us with missiles. We will not let them expand their military capability, and we may need to use military force to stop this.

[HisDaughter]

Peres declares early elections at opening of Knesset session
By JPOST.COM STAFF

President Shimon Peres formally declared Israel's early elections during the opening of the Knesset winter session later Monday afternoon. Peres informed Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik that the country would be holding elections after it became clear that none of the Knesset factions were capable of building a coalition.

Slideshow: Pictures of the week "This Knesset session opens during both internal and external crises which arouse immense concern in the hearts of every citizen. The difficult process that concludes with the end of the government determines new questions, which concern every home in Israel," Peres said at the beginning of his speech.

"Faith in the ability of governing institutions has weakened, and more so, has the public's faith in its elected officials. We must not hide this unpleasant truth… This is the hour in which the Israeli Knesset and the political systems must undertake heavy self examination. It is never too late to repair."

The president met Knesset faction representatives on Monday morning, who all told him that they supported holding elections as soon as possible, apart from the GIL Pensioners Party, which urged him to delay the vote.

Peres presented the Knesset with five questions he considered imperative for parties to answer before running for representation in Israel's political system. First on the president's list was the question of national security; Peres asked his audience to dwell on how they could ensure Israel's security when considering all of the threats facing the state and emphasized Iran's nuclear plan as well as extreme Islamic forces in general that terrorize the Jewish state.

The president then asked parties to consider their role in the Israeli-Arab conflict, insisting that the 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative was a huge step in distancing the Arab world from a concrete policy of rejecting Israel's existence. Peres said that most of the Arab leaders he has met with were "unwilling to fall in line with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's imperialist approach to Islam," and added that Egyptian President Hossni Mubarak had made it clear that "a peace deal with the Palestinians will inevitably lead to a larger peace agreement in the Middle East." Peres insisted, "We have never been as close to peace as we are now."

The third question Peres presented legislators was how they could assist Israel's economic needs in wake of the international financial crisis. "We must decide upon a clear path," said Peres, who stated that the economy of the Jewish state had "impressed the whole world." He insisted that that once Israel answered social problems, the economy would only strengthen and emphasized how welfare was an issue needed to be dealt with. After quoting statistics regarding Israel's unemployment, Peres declared, "We must allow the observant to pray and work at the same time."

"For Israel," said Peres, "observing the Sabbath is important, but so are the other six days of work."

Peres also discussed the importance of solidarity in Israeli society, calling on MKs to consider better integration and equality among non-Jewish sectors of the population.

The final issue the president wished politicians to consider was the role of Israel's youth - what he called "the future of the state."

Speaking after Peres, incumbent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert congratulated Kadima leader Tzipi Livni on her efforts to form a coalition, saying, "I am sorry for the circumstances which determined that the coalition negotiations would be unsuccessful… I had hoped that a new government would be formed by the person who was voted in from Kadima."

Olmert, who learned Monday that he would continue to serve as premier until the coming elections, reminded the assembled MKs and guests that the country would not be coming to a standstill in the coming months of campaigning. "Friends, members of Knesset," he said, "even if the MKs stop their parliamentary lives for a few months, the interests of the state are not frozen… There are still challenges in the realm of defense."

The prime minister cited Palestinian terrorism and the Iranian threat as two such challenges, saying that, "The leaders of Iran do not cease in their preparation of weapons of destruction while we are preparing for elections… I recommend that they do not test us."

Turning to the family members of captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, who were present in the plenum, Olmert took the opportunity to reiterate that he was still acting incessantly in the effort to bring about Gilad's release, insisting, however, that he could not divulge the nature of his efforts. "Gilad Schalit is still in the hands of his cruel captors in the Gaza Strip, and not a day goes by that I do not occupy myself with him and his fate. As in the past, I will not elaborate or justify [myself], and will not enter into debates with all of his well-wishers, but will rather continue to act quietly, patiently and with determination, as I have thus far."

The remainder of Olmert's speech was devoted to the international financial crisis and the challenges facing Israel's economy. The prime minister praised the country's financial robustness, insisting that "Israel's coping with the crisis began in the years leading up to it, with a series of steps taken that allowed the Shekel to become one of the strongest currencies in the world.

"The last few years have been the best in the history of Israel's economy," he asserted. "There are decision to be made and a country to manage; decisions will be made and the country will be run… [However], it is no secret that the crisis can also harm Israel's economy if we do not take careful measures."

The prime minister also addressed the crisis in higher education and the annual strikes that threaten the academic year. "We have only one natural resource, the human resource," Olmert said, "and I intend to broach the problem of higher education in the coming days."

"The international crisis is not over," Olmert continued, "and I intend to conduct - along with the finance minister and the commissioner of the Bank of Israel - a series of consultations with representatives of various parties, as well as representatives of various sectors in the market, in order to ensure that we will be able to keep managing Israel's economy in an optimal fashion while minimizing the ramification of the global crisis.

"Together," he concluded, "we will discuss a series of necessary steps, for the coming months, in order to insure the stability and strength of the Israeli economy. We will not allow irresponsible behavior and will continue to maintain strict fiscal restraint. I expect all members of this House to enlist and unite for the sake of this mutual interest."

[Shammu]

Poll: Israel votes McCain in US elections

Survey finds 46% of Israelis would vote for Republican nominee if given chance to elect US president; Democrat Barack Obama receives 34% of votes. Almost half of those polled believe McCain would better impact Jewish state

Roni Sofer
10.27.08, 12:41
Israel News

Israel chooses John McCain over Barack Obama in the US presidential elections, a survey conducted by the TNS Teleseker polling agency found.

The Republican nominee defeated his Democratic opponent by a margin of over 12% among the adult Jewish population in the State.

Ynet obtained the results of the poll, ordered by the Rabin Center for Israel Studies and conducted among 500 Israelis aged 18-65, in preparation for a special debate on the US elections and their repercussions on the country's foreign policy in the Middle East, to take place Monday.

The survey found that given the right to vote in the US, 46.4% of Israelis would vote for the Republican nominee, John McCain. Thirty-four percent would vote for Democratic nominee Barack Obama, and 18.6% remain undecided.

Almost half of those polled (48.6%) believe McCain would better impact Israel, while 31.5% thought the country would better benefit from Obama's leadership. Just over 5% believe the candidates would have the same effect on Israel, while 14.2% remain undecided.

The poll found McCain to be Israel's best bet concerning Iran as well. Over half (52.5%) believe he possesses the skills needed to deal with the security threat the country poses to Israel, more so than Obama, who has gained the confidence of just 27.6% of those polled.

However, the Democratic candidate did better on the issue of finance, with 40.9% saying they thought he was better equipped to handle the current global crisis than McCain, who received 34.2% of votes.

The two presidential nominees were equally ranked regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict, with 37.3% saying McCain would better handle the situation and 37% choosing Obama as the better candidate. Fifteen percent remain undecided, while 10.5% said the two were equally capable.

In good company? Georgia prefers McCain

Alon Pinkas, the former consul general of Israel in New York who currently heads the Rabin Center's institute for Israel-US relations, explained the results of the poll. "What we see here is a significant difference in positions between Jews in the US and Jews in Israel," he said.

"Israel is one of just three countries that prefer McCain over Obama. The other two are Georgia and the Philippines," Pinkas added.

Another trend indicated by the poll is the growing concern over Israel's relations with the European Union. When asked about the importance of the State's relationships with countries worldwide the US was ranked most important, with a 98.2% rating.

The EU was not far behind however, as 92.2% of those polled said they believed relations with the world superpower are significant to Israel's prosperity. Relations with Russia were ranked important by 86.3%, similarly to China, with which relations were significant to 84% of those polled. Relations with India received a rating of 65.3%.

Poll: Israel votes McCain in US elections

[Shammu]

McCain has Israel, but Obama has....

Iran

Iraq

Libya

Russia

France

United Nations

I think it is time, we heed Israel's lead!!

[Soldier4Christ]

McCain has Israel, but Obama has....

Iran

Iraq

Libya

Russia

France

United Nations

I think it is time, we heed Israel's lead!!

Amen, I agree with that. Unfortunately it is this very thing that will make many make the mistake of going for Obama.

[Shammu]

Peres: Israel is closer to peace than ever before
By Hannah Glass, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
28/10/2008     

Israel is closer than ever to peace, President Shimon Peres said during a speech given at an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Shimon Peres Center for Peace.

"Never in the past 100 years are we closer to peace than we are now", Peres said during remarks before a crowd of hundreds of international leaders, politicians, businessmen, media representatives, sports and movie stars.

Mohammed Shtayeh, president of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, also addressed the crowd on Tuesday, where he called for the Palestinian people to come together for the cause of peace.

Shtayeh also said the Palestinians will hold a session of national reconciliation on November 9th, bringing together members of the rival Hamas and Fatah parties.

Hamas leaders on Tuesday said the arrests of dozens of its members by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces could hamper Egyptian-sponsored unity talks between them and Fatah.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said the detentions could "poison the atmosphere and block the way" towards reconciliation with Abbas's Fatah faction, which lost control of the Gaza Strip to the Islamist group in fighting in June 2007.

The latest arrests, Abu Zuhri said, raised the number of Hamas members detained by forces loyal to Abbas to at least 400 in the past year.

Hamas says W. Bank arrests could harm unity talks
Hamas said on Tuesday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces had arrested 170 of its members in the West Bank in the past four weeks in a campaign that could hamper Egyptian-sponsored unity talks.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said the detentions could "poison the atmosphere and block the way" towards reconciliation with Abbas's Fatah faction, which lost control of the Gaza Strip to the Islamist group in fighting in June 2007.

The latest arrests, Abu Zuhri said, raised the number of Hamas members detained by forces loyal to Abbas to at least 400 in the past year.

He urged Egypt to press Abbas to halt the campaign before Palestinian factions convene in Cairo on Nov. 9 to discuss reconciliation.

Hamas, Fatah and other groups have welcomed Egypt's presentation of a draft reconciliation paper, but some factions have called on Cairo to make amendments to the document.

Fatah spokesman Fahmi Zarir, denying any political motive behind the arrests, said security forces in the West Bank were trying to restore law and order.

Fatah says more than 120 of its members in the Gaza Strip are in Hamas-run jails.

Human rights groups have accused security forces loyal to Hamas and Fatah of abuses over the past year, including extra-judicial arrests and torture.

The head of the European Union training programme for Abbas's police force in the West Bank, Colin Smith, said security detainees should be dealt with through the criminal justice system.

Peres: Israel is closer to peace than ever before

[Shammu]

General elections to be held in Israel by middle of February
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent, and AP
28/10/2008

A spokeswoman for the Knesset said Tuesday that national elections
will be held in mid-February.

Spokeswoman Hila Mizrachi said elections have been tentatively set for February 10. But she said Tuesday there remains a possibility that lawmakers will pass legislation moving the date a week later, to February 17.
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The announcement came after members of the ruling Kadima party moved to shorten the time frame for the upcoming general elections, bringing the election date closer.

Party MKs opted to forego a three-week interim period before the 90-day countdown to a nation-wide vote. The 21-day period gives parties the chance to propose a new prime ministerial candidate to form a government.

The elections were announced by President Shimon Peres after newly elected Kadima leader Tzipi Livni informed him that she had been unable to form a government. Livni was elected last month to replace outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert, who is stepping down amid multiple allegations of corruption.

Peres formally notified Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik on Monday that Livni had been unable to form a government.

Livni was charged with forming a new government by Peres on September 22, but announced to the president on Sunday that she was unable to put together a coalition, after a key potential partner, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said it would not join.

Olmert has since his resignation on September 21 continued to rule the country at the head of a transitional government that will be in place until a new one is formed after the elections.

The prime minister has so far resisted pressure to step aside as interim premier and allow Livni, his deputy, to take over as acting premier.

Several Kadima legislators have urged him to do so, arguing that entering the elections as an acting premier would give her an edge over her main adversary, former premier Benjamin Netanyahu of the hardline Likud party.

General elections to be held in Israel by middle of February

[HisDaughter]

Anti-Israel Sentiment Grows in Germany     
/CBNnews/

Israeli Foreign Ministry officials are concerned about increasing anti-Israel sentiment in Germany.

While German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her country's strong support for the Jewish state, public opinion against Israel is beginning to sway government officials.

Israeli officials fear that the public's anti-Israel mood will take its toll on Germany's willingness to stand behind Israel, especially with the increasing threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

"The Germans are filled with prejudice against Israel. Our public relations delegates are pulling their hair out in frustration when they meet young and old people there," a senior official told YNet news.

"More than once, they hear remarks like, 'That's not your country,' 'It's a shame that a Jewish country was established on stolen land,' 'Israel is treating the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews,' We are equally responsible for the Palestinians as we are for the Jews,'" he said.

During a recent meeting of the Israel-Germany Friendship Youth Forum, a number of participants disagreed with isolating Iran despite the Islamic Republic's nuclear arms program, reported a staff member at the Israeli Embassy in Berlin.

Germany does more business with Iran than any other European country, with projected exports of 4 billion euros in 2008.

[HisDaughter]

Concern in Israel as Egyptian war games simulate war with Israel       
cnsnews

Israel is upset over Egyptian military exercises in which the simulated “enemy” is Israel, and some are calling on the U.S. to reconsider its aid to Egypt because of it.

Israel and Egypt – two U.S. regional allies – signed a U.S.-sponsored peace treaty in 1979 – Israel’s first with an Arab nation.

The Egyptian navy reportedly carried out the largest exercise in its history last week. Dubbed Victory 41, the military maneuvers marked the Egyptian sinking of the Israeli Naval vessel Eilat 41 years ago, in which 47 Israeli sailors were killed and 91 wounded.

According to the daily Ha’aretz, Oct. 20 was set aside as a holiday marking the sinking of the Israeli vessel for the Egyptian naval forces.

The paper also quoted the Egyptian Navy commander in chief Vice Admiral Mohad Mamish in an interview with the Arabic newspaper Al Ahram, saying that the Egyptian Naval vessels were outfitted with advanced missiles and the Navy had supply contracts with Germany, Russia and the U.S.

“Unfortunately now for more than 10 years most of the big [Egyptian] exercises are simulating war against Israel,” said Dr. Yuval Steinitz, member of the Israeli Knesset’s influential Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

The first time was in 1996 when they imitated a war against “a little country that is bordering Egypt on the northeast,” Steinitz told CNSNews.com on Wednesday.

Looking on the map, it’s clear who they were simulating the war against, he said.

The only new thing this time is that it has been leaked to the press, said Steinitz.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert telephoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to apologize for comments made by a right-wing Knesset member, who noted that Mubarak has never come on a state visit to Israel. Olmert told Mubarak that Israel considered him to be “a strategic partner and a close friend.”

But there are signs of other strains in relations.

The Hebrew daily Maariv reported on Tuesday that on a recent trip to Egypt, the director of the military/political and policy bureau of Israel’s Ministry of Defense, told Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi that Israel was concerned about Egypt carrying out of Egyptian army exercises "that are directed against an Israeli threat and that relate to it [Israel] as an enemy.”

Israel also is concerned that it has become the central focus for Egyptian officers in building their forces and by the lack of “any relations of any kind” between the Israeli and Egyptian armies, Gilad was quoted as saying.

According to the paper, Tantawi said relations between the armies could improve in the future in tandem with progress in regional peace. He also said that security challenges obligate Egypt to build an effective deterrent force.

Steinitz said the military exercises, combined with massive Egyptian force building plus indoctrination of the military against Israel, was “something to be concerned about.”

He also said that despite the peace agreement between the two countries, Egypt is anti-Israel in most international bodies and is also educating the public “for hatred and not for peace.”

Earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that its analysts had found the Egyptian press to be “a leading propagator of anti-Semitic images” for many years and that that trend was now spreading to other newspapers in the region.

Egypt is considered one of America’s allies in the region and has been a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. It is currently mediating reconciliation talks between the military Hamas group and the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Since signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, Egypt has received an average of more than $2 billion annually in economic and military foreign assistance from the U.S. – the second largest foreign aid package after Israel. The administration has requested $1.3 billion in military aid for 2009 – the same amount it received in 2008.

“U.S. policy toward Egypt is aimed at maintaining regional stability, improving bilateral relations, continuing military cooperation, and sustaining the March 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty,” according to a Congressional Research Service report to Congress in August 2008.

Egypt has long been viewed by U.S. administrations as a “moderating influence” in the Middle East. Many congressmen see Egypt as a “stabilizing force” in the region, but others would like to see the U.S. pressure Egypt to, among other things, “take a more active role in reducing Arab-Israeli tensions,” the report said.

The U.S. Embassy here had no comment on the military exercises.

But the Zionist Organization of America criticized the Egyptian “celebration” of its past attacks on Israel and urged the U.S. to reconsider its massive aid to Egypt contingent on Egypt adopting “truly peaceful actions and policies toward Israel.”

“Egypt has shown in a variety of ways that it remains a country deeply hostile to Israel and may indeed be a leading influence in Arab world hostility to Israel,” ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said in a statement.

“In an era of peace that was meant to be ushered in by the 1979 Camp David peace treaty, Egypt should not be celebrating past military assaults on Israel which were fought in pursuit of a policy to eliminate Israel,” Klein said.

“This is not a matter of a country simply honoring its war dead. It is matter of maintaining the hostility to Israel’s existence,” he said.

The ZOA noted that the Egyptian celebrations were in the wider context of Egyptian political, cultural and media hostility toward Israel.

Earlier this year, Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said he would “burn Israeli books himself if found in Egyptian libraries.” In 2006, a poll found that 92 percent of Egyptians regarded Israel as an enemy nation, and 50 percent regarded the U.S. as an enemy, the ZOA reported.

[Shammu]

“Egypt has shown in a variety of ways that it remains a country deeply hostile to Israel and may indeed be a leading influence in Arab world hostility to Israel,” ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said in a statement.

“In an era of peace that was meant to be ushered in by the 1979 Camp David peace treaty, Egypt should not be celebrating past military assaults on Israel which were fought in pursuit of a policy to eliminate Israel,” Klein said.

No matter how hard Egypt tried to avoid Biblical prophecy............... It will happen, just as the Bible tells us. Egypt WILL turn on Israel.

[Shammu]

Israeli company creates drinking water out of thin air
By Karen Kloosterman, 21c
03/11/2008

An Israeli company has developed a clean technology to extract water from the air while using little energy in the process.

The key to the project, launched by the Extraction of Water from Air (EWA), is in its unique water adsorption technology - which employs a solid desiccant to trap the water - and a special energy saving condenser that reuses more than 85 percent of the energy input to the system.

For Dr. Etan Bar, CEO of EWA, it was a question of priorities. His company, which focuses both on solar energy and clean water extraction from the air, had already developed a new solar energy air conditioner that was sparking interest in the industry, but Bar realized that clean water was a far more pressing need.

He put aside the air conditioner and began working on a new technology that could collect humidity naturally present in the air and turn it into clean water.

It sounds like a far-fetched idea, but it's actually thousands of years old. It was mentioned in the Bible and in ancient Jewish prayers, and archaeologists still find the stones Israelite farmers used thousands of years ago to collect dew for watering their crops.

The technology, Bar tells ISRAEL21c, works in three steps: first is the absorption of air's humidity, then the removal of water from a solid desiccant (silica based gel granules) which holds the water, and third, condensation.

The absorption of the humidity is an exothermic process (involving heat release), humidity absorption occurs spontaneously, and only minimal energy is used as the air is pumped through the unit.

Heat recovery techniques are integrated as part of the condenser, reducing the cost for producing water to a reasonable price, similar to other processes, such as desalination.

EWA, which was founded in 2006, is based on nine years of research by Bar, a former researcher at Ben Gurion University.

The company now has representatives in the U.S., India, Jordan, Cyprus, Australia and West Africa where EWA is helping farmers generate carbon credits, on top of providing them with clean water for drinking and irrigating their crops.

EWA, which employs 12, is currently operated out of Be'er Sheva. Last year was the first year the company reported its earnings, at about $100,000, while this year, it predicts sales upwards of $5 million, and $100 million for 2009, mainly due to growing demand from Africa, India and Australia. The bottleneck right now is being able to supply demand, says Bar.

As global warming heats the world, and its population continues to grow, there is less water for everyone: "Due to the effectiveness at extremely wide ranges of environmental conditions and due to its low energy consumption, huge water plants could be built and operated using the novel EWA technology," says Bar.

"The technology answers the world's desires for available, clean and safe water - without air pollution from energy production - and expensive infrastructure," he concludes.

Israeli company creates drinking water out of thin air

[Shammu]

Settlers preparing for war, says Shin Bet chief
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
03/11/2008

A government decision to evacuate more territory may lead to a large-scale violent conflict with settlers, complete with live fire, Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin warned at yesterday's cabinet meeting. The meeting ended with the ministers voting to end all government support, both direct and indirect, for illegal outposts.

"The scope of the conflict will be much larger than it is today and than it was during the disengagement," Diskin warned. "Our investigation found a very high willingness among this public to use violence - not just stones, but live weapons - in order to prevent or halt a diplomatic process."

While Diskin did not comment explicitly on the danger of another political assassination, the timing of his warning - just days before the anniversary of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination - was not lost on cabinet members.

"They [the settlers] don't think like us. Their thought is messianic, mystic, satanic and irrational," Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said, warning of another political assassination.

"What we are seeing today is the result of a deep rift with the faith-based community, and not only in the West Bank," Diskin said. "Their approach began with the slogan 'through love, we will win' during the [Gaza] disengagement, but has now reached 'through war, we will win."

He also warned that right-wing extremists view their "price tag" policy, in which they retaliate for every outpost evacuation with attacks on soldiers and/or Palestinians, as having been successful, and are therefore liable to expand it to within the Green Line.

The Shin Bet believes there are a few hundred extremists of this type.

"There is no clear leadership," Diskin said. "They are motivated by a unity of purpose - not to allow the security forces to evacuate people."

Following the cabinet vote on the outposts, the Yesha Council of settlements termed the decision "scandalous and demagogic," saying there is "no connection" between the outposts and extremist violence.

"The decision constitutes collective punishment and denies essential services to loyal citizens whose only sin is living in communities that the State of Israel built and sold apartments in, but has not yet finished the process of approving," it stated.

The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel also called the decision discriminatory, as many illegal Arab neighborhoods receive services from the state.

In addition to its decision on outposts, the cabinet ordered a ministerial committee headed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to submit recommendations within two weeks on how to tighten law enforcement, including by taking action against civil servants who facilitate illegal outpost construction.

Most of the meeting, however, was devoted to ministerial tirades against violent settlers and attempts by security and law enforcement agencies to pass blame.

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said that about one-tenth of Israel's total police force is already in the West Bank, and that it is impossible to transfer additional forces there, other than temporarily for specific missions. He also said that lenient sentencing by the courts deters the police from pursuing indictments "even when they have a suspect in hand."

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz accused the Knesset of delaying legislation that would allow stiffer penalties for incitement and ban demonstrations opposite the houses of civil servants. He also said the Israel Defense Forces must make greater use of administrative orders barring extremists from the West Bank.

IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi responded that the army recently issued five such orders.

"Because of this, they [the settlers] are harassing GOC Central Command Gadi Shamni," he said.

Deputy Attorney General Shai Nitzan said that some 700 Palestinians are under administrative detention, "but when we wanted to issue detention orders for Jews, the Knesset denounced it."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the problem stems from the fact that Israel has no eastern border, and therefore every government must view setting borders as its primary mission.

Settlers preparing for war, says Shin Bet chief

[HisDaughter]

Time for Israel to appoint a king, scholar says
israeltoday.


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Renowned Israeli biblical scholar and historian David Solomon last week said that conditions in Israel today are ripe for replacing democracy with theocratic monarchy and appointing a king.

Speaking to Israel National Radio, Solomon said that the leadership and religious crises currently facing Israel mirror those during the time of the Prophet Samuel.

Millennia ago, the people of Israel turned to Samuel to help them replace their form of government with a monarchy in order to alleviate the nation's problems.

Just as then, many Israelis today might view a theocratic monarchy as a viable answer to Israel's "disastrous absence of genuine political and spiritual and religious leadership," said Solomon.

[HisDaughter]

Will Israel strike at Iran before Obama takes over?
jpost
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On December 8, 1988, under the cover of night, IDF warplanes, helicopters, guided-missile frigates and an elite force of Flotilla 13 naval commandos and Golani Brigade reconnaissance fighters infiltrated Lebanon.

Their target was a cave-based headquarters 20 km. south of Beirut, serving the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, headed by Ahmed Jibril.

The raid, code-named Operation Blue and Brown, involved the first known use of the IDF's secretive Oketz K9 dog unit.

Four soldiers found themselves left behind, forcing the air force to conduct a dramatic helicopter rescue. The soldiers clung to the helicopters' railings as they choppers took off, with Palestinian gunmen in pursuit.

Lt.-Col. Amir Meital, commander of Golani reconnaissance unit, was killed by enemy fire during the raid.

The operation took place one month after US President George H. Bush was voted into office, and a month before he was sworn in, replacing the popular Ronald Reagan, a leader widely viewed as a staunch ally of Israel.

Operation Blue and Brown says nothing about the likelihood of an Israeli strike on Iran today. But it does show that IDF operations have been ordered in the interim period between the election of a new American president and his inauguration.

And it is this same period in 2008/09 that provides an "attractive date" for Israel to strike Iran's nuclear program, according to historian Benny Morris.

In June, Morris wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in which he theorized that Israel would likely strike Iran between November 5 and January 19, the day before Obama is sworn in.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post this week, Morris said he continued to believe that time period was a "reasonable" one for Israeli action.

"There is certainly a friendly president in the White House until January 20. There is no certainty over what will happen after that, in which direction the wind will blow.

The second thing is the advancement by the Iranians in creating the bomb," Morris said, speaking from his home in Li'on, southwest of Beit Shemesh. Morris said the Iranian regime was guided by messianic clerics who could not be trusted to act logically in a state of mutually assured destruction (MAD).

"These men are not rational like the men who ruled America and Russia during the Cold War. When [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad talks about destroying Israel and denies the Holocaust, we hear no contrary voices from the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei saying that Ahmadinejad is crazy," Morris said.

"So long as Iran makes progress, we are under pressure, if we plan on doing something. Iran is supposed to purchase advanced anti-aircraft guns from Russia at the start of 2009. All of these point to the fact that if the US provides support, an Israeli strike is reasonable," he said.

Acknowledging the lame-duck nature of the Olmert administration, Morris said the difficulties posed by a weak government could be overcome by notifying the leaders of the major political parties in advance of the attack. He even raised the possibility that a date had already been chosen.

But Morris's views were challenged by a number of Israeli defense experts, such as Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, former national security adviser and former head of the IDF's Planning and Operation branches.

"I don't agree that Bush has given us a green light to attack in the next three months. Israel can't attack without US approval, which is vital both tactically and strategically. At the moment, we don't have that approval," he said.

Eiland provided an alternative forecast, according to which Obama will spend some months assembling an international front aimed at applying real pressure on Teheran to ends its nuclear program, something Bush had so far failed to do.

"To make the pressure on Iran effective, you have to cooperate with states like Russia. But the Russians say, 'Our main problem is that you [the Americans] are deliberately harming our interests by criticizing our internal policies, our actions in Chechnya, and with your attempts to drag neighbors like Georgia and Ukraine into NATO. So long as that's the case, don't expect us to help on Iran.'"

Noting that Russia is continuing to supply Teheran with nuclear technology and economic ties, Eiland said it would be impossible to isolate Iran without Russian assistance. This was all the more true in light of the fact that China and India had signaled that they would follow Russia's guidance over Iran, Eiland added.

"So I assume that the Obama government will correctly recognize the Iranian threat, but it will try to construct an international front," he said.

If, however, that policy failed, Obama could seriously consider using force, or support an Israeli strike several months from now, Eiland said.

Col. (res.) Ephraim Kam, formerly of Military Intelligence's Research Division and currently the deputy head of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, said a number of questions needed to be answered before determining whether a strike could go ahead.

"We don't know what Bush wants. In order to know whether the time is right for an attack, the government must know the stance of the Americans, and the state of our intelligence. Do we have the precise information that we need? What is the evaluation of an Iranian response? Is the Iranian threat existential?" Kam asked.

The government did not have those answers at this time, "hence the decision to attack cannot be made," he said.

Dr. Emily Landau, director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Project at the Institute for National Security Studies, said that aside from the diplomatic situation that altered with Obama's election, she could see no changes in "terms of the pros and cons of Israel taking some kind of action."

"Iran is advancing its program all the time. Where is the exact window of opportunity? I don't think the timing can be so fine-tuned as to give an exact date. It all boils down to the larger question of what you want to gain through military action. And this is the situation we've been faced with for the past few years," she said.

Landau said military action would likely not stop Iran's nuclear program, or even delay it significantly. Much of the talk of a strike formed part of an attempt to pressure Iran, and to keep it thinking that "there was a credible threat there. And the purpose of that is to get Iran to finally negotiate seriously," she said.

"Even if military action was used, it would ultimately have to lead to some kind of negotiation to get a deal," Landau said.