Today’s Overview of Leading News & Views: 16 July 2007
By Anthony David Marks and Hannah Amit
(IHC News 16 July 2007)
1. American diplomats and tourists have been advised to leave Gaza as soon as possible and to avoid entering the West Bank. The US State Department, in an urgent travel advisory, has warned its citizens and tourists in Israel of possible terror attacks. A special cautionary alert has been issued for visitors to Jerusalem and those in the vicinity of the American Embassy. The US government has received repeated threats of possible terrorist attacks against American citizens, businesses and buildings in Jerusalem and throughout the Jewish State. (Sources: J.Post)
2. For those who have daughters who take summer babysitting positions abroad, the following is a chilling report: in Saudi Arabia, a 19-year old domestic helper from Sri Lanka is on death row because a baby for whom she was caring died while she was bottle feeding him. Rizana Nafeek is scheduled to be taken to a public square this week to be publicly beheaded. Only a last minute pardon by the infant’s parents will spare her life or an appeal by the Sri Lankan government which has yet to be filed and processed. If her execution takes place, it will be the latest in a surge of 102 beheadings, including that of three women, in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of 2007. Beheading has always been the death sentence allotted to murderers, drug traffickers, rapists and armed robbers in Saudi Arabia. Lately it seems this barbaric form of punishment is being meted out for lesser offenses, or in cases where a death has occurred but intent to murder has not been determined. (Sources: Dhimmiwatch/IHC)
3. Tourism is high and flights to and from Israel are sold out for the summer months. In spite of this, major foreign airline companies are threatening to discontinue service to Israel. This time it is not due to politics, sanctions or recent terrorist attack warning, but rather to radio frequency interruption by pirate radio stations, which the country has been unable to prevent. Illegal broadcasts are interrupting radio contact between Ben Gurion Airport control and planes landing and taking off. The interruptions have resulted in delays of up to two and-a-half hours in plane departures, causing airline companies vast financial losses and inconvenience to passengers who miss connecting flights abroad. (Sources: INN/IHC)
4. With nothing to lose in his political career, PM Ehud Olmert is dashing ahead with moves that make him seem the best friend of terrorists and murderers and the worst enemy of the State of Israel. While victims and their families agonize over their dead and paralyzed loved ones blown apart in brutal terrorist attacks, Olmert is bumping up the release of imprisoned Fatah members, handing out guns and munitions to men who avowedly hate and wish to destroy Israel, and most recently granting amnesty for mass murderers. In spite of an earlier denial by the Prime Minister’s office, he’s even included Zacharia Zbeidi, head of the Fatah Tanzim militia one of the highest-profile Fatah commanders on Israeli wanted lists, to be kept safely from justice. Some 75% of Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades most dangerous and wanted men have been offered amnesty in return for signing a document to refrain from terrorism. How many times has Israel fallen for the trick of granting criminals and mass murderers reprisal from justice for merely signing a paper in which they agree to become good guys in the future, only to have them blow up more innocent Israeli citizens within months? Of course Al-Aqsa men are signing the documents as fast as they can, and no doubt laughing their heads off as they do so. Not only will the amnesty release the terrorists from any accountability for the murders of hundreds; it will also give them complete freedom to plan and carry out more attacks without the slightest fear of assassination, or penalties. Moshe Feiglin, who is running for the head of the Likud party against Benjamin Netanyahu, describes Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's action of releasing terrorists in one sentence. "Only one who undervalues Jewish lives can come up with such an agreement to give freedom to murderers with so much blood on their hands." (Sources: Ha’artez/Manhigut Yehudit/IHC)
(IHC News 15 July 2007)
1. Can a Russian philanthropist worth some four billion dollars with warrants against him from the French government for illegal arms dealings and tax evasion, also detained for money-laundering in Israel, determine who becomes the next prime minister in the Jewish State? Arcadi Gaydamak’s history and fortune have roots in oil, blood diamonds, Marc Rich, (an international commodities trader who fled the United States in 1983 to live in Switzerland while being prosecuted on charges of tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran) and Pierre Falcone,(key player in a huge scandal involving French politicians and the sale of half a billion dollars worth of Eastern European weapons to Angola). Gaydamak has been involved in alleged bribes to Jean-Christophe Mitterrand (the son of the former French president), KGB activities, Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Menatep bank (the one linked to the money-laundering at Bank of New York) and ties to Dick Cheney’s Halliburton, (the company that helped Saddam Hussein exploit the oil-for-food program in the mid-1990s. The person who headed Halliburton at the time of the scheme was Vice President Dick Cheney). Arcadi Gaydamak, in November 2006 boasted "I have enough public support today to be elected as prime minister with a large majority. Since then the billionaire businessman claims he is not personally interested in an active political life, but wants to be the man who determines who becomes prime minister. Gaydamak days ago announced his new “Social Justice” party will back Likud Party Chairman Bibi Netanyahu for prime minister in the next elections. The announcement took place at the founding meeting of his party, Thursday night 12 July, at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel in Jerusalem. Gaydamak also restated his intention to run in the next municipal elections for Mayor of Jerusalem. For billionaire Gaydamak, who months ago said he was not interested in an active political life, the focus has apparently shifted and ambitions are presently running high. (Sources: INN/IHC)
2. A major foreign espionage ring operating on the borders of Iran has been cracked according to Teheran intelligence. Iranian Operatives claim they have arrested 14 squirrels working as spies for unnamed Western powers “determined to destroy the Islamic Republic.” The announcement came on Iran’s state-sponsored news agency IRNA. “The rodents were stopped before they could act, thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services,” said one intelligence official. Iranian police commander Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moqadam confirmed the report, saying that a number of squirrels had been caught, bearing foreign spy gear within Iran's borders. Granted, in the past, dolphins, pigeons and chickens have been used for various espionage purposes but this is the first report of rodents (other than moles) being inducted into world of James Bond. If Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were a mentally well-balanced man, this would perhaps not be such a serious issue. As it is, the imprisoned squirrels are in grave danger of undergoing torture to make them talk, having their tails (and heads) cut off, and creating an international crisis while Western powers attempt to negotiate their release. (Sources: Ynet/IHC)
3. Homosexuality and AIDS can now be added to Fatah’s many faceted legacy of corruption: A leading Palestinian terrorist leader has confirmed Yasser Arafat, who is said to have had numerous homosexual relationships, died of AIDS in a French hospital. Ahmad Jibril, founder and leader of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, disclosed the confirmation had come earlier this month during a conversation with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his staff. Jibril inquired what had happened to the investigation into Arafat’s death, as the world was still in an uproar over the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri. The group was silent before one staff member responded, “To be honest, the French gave us the medical report, that stated the cause of Arafat's death was AIDS.” Jabril, reportedly was greatly angered his former mentor had died of a sexually transmitted disease rather than at the hands of an Israeli assassin which has been the generally accepted reason among Palestinians for Yasser Arafat’s demise. (Sources: Israel Today/IHC)
4. Making a point long overdue; according to a proposed legislation to be decided on this week, the US President would be required to order all official representatives of the United States that “explicit reference to Palestinian refugees be matched by a similar explicit reference to Jewish and other refugees, as a matter of law and equity.” The 19 July hearing in Washington, D.C., under the heading of "Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries: Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation," will be held in conjunction with B'nai Brith International and Justice for Jews from Arab Countries. The proposed measure will address the issue of hundreds of thousands of Jews who were forced to flee their homes in Arab countries as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It will be the first time the US Congress will hear testimony of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. The hearing will include a screening of “The Forgotten Refugees,” produced by the David Project. The film, a documentary addresses the mass exodus of almost one million Jews from Arab countries. What Arab nation will step forward to offer “right of return” to a million Jews and their millions of offspring plus compensation for lands and property confiscated? (Sources: Dhimmi Watch/IHC)
Source: Israel Hasbara Committee, www.infoisrael.net.
Authored by Anthony David Marks, IHC Chairman and Hannah Amit, 15 – 16 July 2007
Permission is granted to use this material on condition the Israel Hasbara Committee is properly credited and that it is not for commercial purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment