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A Strange Relationship: Israel, Egypt, and introducing Ghost!

August 22, 2011 / / 1 Comment

If there is anything bizarre about the Middle East, besides permitting genocide in Syria, it is Israel’s strange relationship with an Egypt that still exists in a state of formless static – still no elections, alas no formal government. After a coordinated terror attack on the road to Eilat that left eight Israeli nationals dead (The Popular Resistance Committee claimed responsibility) IDF soldiers accidently killed four Egyptian police officers, victims of friendly fire.

The IDF also was successful in their retaliation by killing the top commanders of the Popular Resistance Committee and setting off cross-border exchanges of gunfire.

Needlessly, Israel released a public apology for the incident. But on Friday as evening prayers were winding down, the people of Cairo rioted, vandalizing the Israeli embassy, burning Israeli flags and calling on Hamas to attack Israel. Dually noted, as the Associated Foreign Press reported, Egyptian Presidential hopeful, Hamdin Sabahi, praised the actions of the demonstrators.

Despite the fact that Ilan Grapel, the alleged Mossad agent arrested back in June in Egypt, (an American citizen who served in the IDF Paratrooper’s Brigade during the Second Lebanon War and interned at the Israeli Supreme Court) is still being held in custody, Israeli President Shimon Peres held a Ramadan dinner for senior Arab sector officials at his home in Jerusalem. Peres told Egyptian diplomat Mustafa al-Kuni that “he has great respect for the Egyptian people.”
Meanwhile, Israel remains under a rain of rocket fire, while Hamas claims to be in fire of an immediate ceasefire.

In other news, over the weekend, Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled its latest development in the secret unmanned aerial vehicles sector – a tiny aircraft weighing four kilograms, known as GHOST. According to Haaretz, “GHOST has a low acoustic signature, and can stay airborne for half-an-hour including a payload for both daytime and nighttime observations.” The unmanned aerial vehicle can be used by both the military company as well as fighters in the field. The system can be carried in two backpacks by fighters, and it includes two aircrafts, several batteries and a portable computer that is used to oversee and control the device, including communication.

Southern Terror Attack August 2011

Conflict: where does Egypt stand?

August 22, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Southern Terror Attack August 2011The Egyptian government’s state of Tohu Bohu is evident during the nation’s behavior amidst recent warfare between Israel and terrorist factions in the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of protesters congregated in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo last Friday after prayers, torching Israeli flags and calling on Hamas to attack the Jewish state.

Seven Israelis were killed and at least 26 wounded on Thursday in a series of terrorist attacks near Eilat. IDF soldiers who rushed to the scene were hit by several explosive roadside devices that detonated alongside the IDF vehicle. At about 12:35, another mortar was fired from Egypt.

A senior Egyptian official said that the death toll among security forces after Thursday’s attacks in Israel had reached six.

Israel says the men were killed by the same terror cell that killed eight Israelis Thursday.

So, given the terror attack’s juxtaposition to the border, Egyptian forces assisted Israeli forces. However, al-Jazeera falsely reported that the six Egyptian soldiers were killed by an Israeli airstrike.

However, protesting in Egypt persists. The protesters, demonstrating against the deaths of the six Egyptian soldiers, waved
Palestinian flags and called out, “Israel will be torched” and “Death to Israel”. They also shouted, “Jihad, jihad!” and “The army of Mohammed will return” and “We want fire, we want war!” and “The people demand an end to Camp David Accords!”
Officials hold that Thursday’s attacks were carried out by the Popular Resistance Committees, but the terror group denies involvement after the IDF killed five of its members. A separate terror group affiliated with al-Qaeda, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the fire of a Grad rocket at Ashdod Friday morning, saying it was in response to “Israel’s crimes”.

Meanwhile, Saturday the rockets continued to be fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel. Four were fired at Ofakim, injuring two Israeli children. Another mortar shell was fired from Gaza toward Eshkol Regional Council; no injuries or damage were reported

Luckily, the new Iron Dome anti-missile system shot down a Grad rocket fired from the Gaza Strip at Beersheba, southern Israel’s largest city.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office says that over 45 rockets have been fired at Israel from the Gaza since the action started

Thursday. Police bomb squad officers have successfully retrieved the remains of 18 rockets. The Lachish sub district was hit with 28 rockets and nine in the Negev region. Three Palestinians working in Israel were also injured when a number of Grad rockets exploded in southern Ashdod.

Jordan’s Petroleum Woes

August 18, 2011 / / 0 Comments

You probably thought that you would not live long enough to hear of a nation in the Middle East complain of not having enough oil to supply its population. Well, this is exactly what the Kingdom of Jordan in the Middle East is facing today.

Unlike many other Arab states and Kingdoms in the Middle East, Jordan does not have its own natural source of oil. It therefore imports natural gas and heavy oil from Egypt. However, supplies from Egypt were recently disrupted following an attack on the Arab Gas Pipeline that occurred last month. This attack marked the second Sinai explosion in a period of one month. According to officials in Cairo, the repairs will take between 7 and 10 days to complete.

This however, is unacceptable for Jordan, which relies on Egypt’s natural gas and heavy oil supplies for 80% of its energy production. The Kingdom reports having experienced a loss of up to JD637 million in the first half of this year as a result of the continuous disruptions in the supply of oil from Egypt. The Kingdom is currently purchasing oil from the international market at a cost of more than $3 million per day.


The current high cost of fuel in the international market and the continuous disruptions in oil supplies has led officials from Amman to seek alternative sources of energy. Although the Kingdom is set to receive oil from neighboring Iraq at an $88 per tonne discount, the Kingdom officials still continue to seek alternative sources of energy that are more reliable and pocket friendly.

This is good news for various energy firms around the globe. Plans are underway for the construction of an offshore terminal for liquefied gas at the Port of Aqaba. Construction is set to begin in 2013 and various international firms have expressed interest in the project including Royal Dutch Shell, Al Fijr, Lemont/General Electric and British Petroleum. If all goes according to plan, the Kingdom would greatly reduce its current 30 000 tonnes a day consumption of heavy oil.

The country’s switch to alternative power will also see a reduction in government spending. Jordan currently spends one-fifth of its gross domestic product on the importation of energy to meet the nation’s needs. The country currently imports 97% of its energy. Amman officials are also exploring energy sources such as nuclear power, wind, solar and oil shale.

BREAKING NOW – Eilat Bus Attack Near Egyptian Boarder

August 18, 2011 / / 1 Comment

There is initial news of an attack on an Eged Bus near Eilat on HWY 12 running close to the Egyptian border. The shooting was by three gunmen who stormed the bus as it was making its way 28 KM north of Eilat. There are apparently 4 injured on the bus that continued without stopping. Emergency crews are on the scene.

= UPDATED =

On Thursday shots were fired at an Egged bus on Route 12, connecting Mitzpe Ramon to Eilat.

The bus, line 392, was fired upon by a long-barreled hand gun from a vehicle.

The terrorists escaped in the direction of the Egyptian border.

Eilat sub-district police set up road blocks throughout the entire area, including at the entrance to Eilat, as part of police efforts to assist the IDF in capturing the gunmen.

It remains unclear whether the shots were fired from Egypt or whether gunmen had infiltrated the border.

The terrorists either came from Egypt or Gaza, firing across the border, or the gunmen had crossed into Israel.

While the government has been working on completing a border barrier along the Sinai peninsula, it has yet to be finished.

Soon after the shooting, multiple roadside bombs were used against IDF forces patrolling the Israel Egypt border fence.

Then at around 1pm rockets were fired at IDF vehicles near the border.
Casualties were reported in all incidents.

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee’s sub-committee on foreign operations is promoting a bill which intends to suspend U.S. assistance to three units in the Israeli Defense Forces on grounds they are guilty of human rights abuses in Judea, Samaria.

Leahy Blues

Leahy’s legislation will seek to withhold assistance from the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 unit, the undercover Duvdevan unit and the Israeli Air Force’s Shaldag unit.

Leahy began pushing the bill recently after allegedly being approached by pro-Palestinian constituents in his home state of Vermont. Yet more recently, another pro-Palestinian activist group protested in front of Leahy’s office demanding that he condemnd Shayetet 13 for killing nine Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara.

Other News

Glenn Beck will be in Jerusalem for the “Restoring Courage” rally starting on August 24th.
The roughly 600 tickets for the event at Jerusalem’s Davidson Center are sold out, but the event will be broadcasted in Israel and internationally.

Despite being a self-proclaimed, ardent Zionist, Beck dismissed the recent youth protests in Israel about high taxes come “from the far left” and evidence the protesters “hate the rich.” He added, “That worked out well for the Soviets…”

He also said, “I wonder if there’s any financing behind [the protests] … look to see if there’s any leftist global financing in Tel Aviv…And don’t look to see if there’s any Islamist group that’s joining them…Well, the National Socialists [Nazis] got together with [Islamists] but that’s completely … OK, the communists and the Islamists got together, but that’s completely isolated … well, it’s happening in Egypt and in Libya, but there’s nothing to look into there.” He continued, “Why even look if there is any leftist global financing involved?…Do not look to see if there is any Islamist movement that is joining them.”

Sinai Not Safe?

August 16, 2011 / / 0 Comments

My first impression of the Sinai Peninsula in the north of Egypt was a pleasant surprise. I travelled there with two of my comrades in the spring of 2006. We took a bus from our kibbutz in the north overnight through Israel and crossed the border at Eilat. After crossing the Egyptian border check (the Sinai Peninsula was ceded to Egypt by Israel in 1982 with an Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty) we entered a Jeep accompanied by European tourists (presumably non-Jews) who drove us through the desert in blistering dry desert heat – the temperature must have exceeded 45 degrees Celsius.

Staying for five nights in the resorts of Dahab and Sharm el-Sheik was great. The tourist complexes were filled mostly with scuba diving enthusiasts from England who opted to spend their holiday exploring the exotic marine life in the Gulf of Aquaba from Egypt rather than Eilat.

Just two days upon our return to the kibbutz in the North, however, CNN reported of a series of deadly explosion in Dahab. The incident happened right at the beginning of Sham Al-Nasseim, the Islamic spring celebration. 80 people were wounded and at least 23 were dead. The al-Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Last week, the Egyptian army detained al-Qaeda militants in the Sinai region. According to the Maan news agency, al-Qaeda cells infiltrated the peninsula in the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution.

The Sinai also connects Egypt to the Gaza Strip. A crucial natural gas pipeline that runs through the Sinai was bombed five times this year, and post-Mubarak Egyptian authorities hold the al Qaeda responsible for the attack.

An Egyptian intelligence general told CNN:
“Al Qaeda is present in Sinai mainly in the area of Sakaska close to Rafah,..They have been training there for month, but we have not identified their nationalities yet…Units from the 2nd infantry division, with support from general security and the border guards…We plan to clean out those criminal pockets around the area of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid…”

General El-Sayed Abdel-Wahab Mabrouk, the governor of North Sinai confirmed that a flier entitled “Al Qaeda Sinai Branch” circulated outside a mosque in el-Arish last Wednesday. The document called for an Islamic state in Sinai and declared that the group is planning attacks on police stations and security forces.

“A security cordon has been placed around the entrances of el-Arish and reinforcements arrived outside the police stations and the el-Arish central prison in anticipation of an attack on Friday…” said Wahab.

photo by Scott Krane

Crises and Solutions

August 16, 2011 / / 0 Comments

photo by Scott Krane

As the Knesset has decided to build homes in East Jerusalem and settlements in Judea and Samaria such as the town of Ariel, a wave of adverse sentiments stress that this solution is counter-intuitive.

Sever Plocker of Ynet wrote that “east Jerusalem, West Bank settlements and the Golan Heights in Israel’s statistic figures reduces the per capita income and increases inequality.” He gets his facts from a recent study done by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Have a look at data done by the study:
Israel’s population within the Green Line included 6.7 million residents in 2009. An additional 440,000 residents lived in east Jerusalem, 290,000 in West Bank settlements, and 41,000 in the Golan Heights. From 1997 to 2009, the east Jerusalem population grew by 40% and the settlement population rose by almost 100% – at a pace of 8% a year. The Israeli population within the Green Line grew at a pace of only 2.2% a year during that period.

The economic inequality in the territories, which include the settlements and east Jerusalem, is 10% higher compared to the inequality in income within the Green Line – and in both cases it is one of the highest among OECD members.

The poverty rate in Israel, both within the Green Line and in the territories, is the second highest among developed countries – after Mexico.

The inclusion of the settlements and east Jerusalem adds about 4% to Israel’s gross domestic product, but reduces the GDP per capita by a significant rate of 6.5% a year. “Without east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the settlement, the GDP per capita within the Green Line would have been 6.5% higher. The post-1967 territories pushed Israel’s GDP per capita down,” the OECD rules.

In the budget year of 2007, the Israeli government spent some NIS 12.5 billion (NIS 14.5 billion in 2011 prices) on the West Bank settlements, Golan Heights and the annexed part of east Jerusalem – a 10% addition to the State Budget. In addition, NIS 5.5 billion were invested that year in the settlements and east Jerusalem, NIS 2.4 billion of them on housing construction.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the Knesset Finance Committee in response to the month long protests for social justice said the issues will “not be solved in days, but in weeks”.

Bibi said told reporters,

“They lived beyond their means using financial leverage and loans. That bubble has now popped… In addition to global issues Israel has specific problems. The first is housing, because Israelis pay three times the Americans do for housing and that’s not fair. The second one is deformity in taxes, and the third is that we have cartels and monopolies and we will take care of this. The last problem is the distribution of the burden…Certainly not in days, but we will do it in weeks…”

Syrian Gunboats Murder Citizens of Coastal Town of Latakia

August 16, 2011 / / 0 Comments

The situation in Syria is getting worse and worse. On Sunday, at least three gunboats pounded the indigent Mediterranean coastal city of Latakia, once a summer tourism hot spot, killing 10 people and wounding at least 30.

As the gunships blasted waterfront districts, ground troops and tanks stormed nearby neighborhoods. Latkia is made of a population Sunnis, Alawites (Assad’s sect) an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and a small minority of Christians, ethnic Turks and other groups.

On Saturday, some 20 tanks carrying armored personnel rolled into the city’s al-Ramel district amid intense rebellion gunfire sending residents fleeing. At least ten people died in the shooting in al-Ramel.

Amateur videos posted on the Internet by activist showed at least one gunship patrolling the coast opposite al-Ramel, as well as tanks moving along the waterfront. Syria has banned most foreign media and has put a strong restriction on local coverage.

So far at least 1,700 civilians have been killed in bloody crackdowns on protests calling for the ouster of the Assad regime.

The United States has called for a global trade embargo on oil and gas from Syria, warning America’s closest allies they must “get on the right side of history” and cut links with a government that uses violence to repress protesters.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry said that the European Union may decide in the next week or two to broaden sanctions against the Syrian regime and its state-run businesses.

Canada has also broadened economic sanctions on Syria by banning additional members of Assad’s government from traveling to Canada and freezing assets of entities linked to the regime.

The Syrian uprising was mostly inspired by revolts and calls for reform sweeping the Arab world, as activists and rights groups say most of those killed have been unarmed civilians. An aggressive new military offensive which began with the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan at the start of August has killed several hundred people in just one week.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that Washington believes President Bashar al-Assad’s government is responsible for more than 2,000 deaths asserting that Washington believes Assad has “lost his legitimacy to govern the Syrian people”.

Clinton said:

“We are working around the clock to try to gather up as much international support for strong actions against the Syrian regime as possible…I come from the school that actions speak louder than words…with actions that will send a very clear message to the Assad regime, the insiders there, that there’s a price to pay for this kind of abuse and attacks on their own people.”

One Way to Solve the Housing Crisis

August 15, 2011 / / 0 Comments

In a story broken by NYGrime’s Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Ethan Bronner, the US State Department said it would withdraw $100m of funds to the Gaza Strip, if Hamas insists on the audit of American-financed charitable operations in the region.

Such funds go to health care, agriculture and water infrastructure. Hamas officials suspended International Medical Corps operating in Gaza upon their refusal to submit to Hamas inspections in their offices.

Now, despite the Fatah/Hamas merger meant to strengthen the Palestinian Authority, after slight guerilla warfare and a war of attrition between the factions called the Wakseh, the United States still forbids any kind of direct contact between American-backed groups and Hamas, which is considered by the State Department as terrorist organization.

Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nounou told the NYGrimes:

“These organizations do not recognize and do not want to recognize the Palestinian law. We do not kneel down to any threat. Any organization that wants to operate in the Palestinian territories must respect the laws.”

Hamas has been tightening the noose on NGOs in Gaza, demanding that they register with the central government, pay a fee and submit financial reports.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking, despite adversity coming from Israel, the US and other heavyweights, a state without Jewish settlements.
To prove how far away the issue is from any feasible solution, on Thursday Israel’s Interior Ministry gave approval to build a 1,600-apartment complex in East Jerusalem in Ramat Shlomo and will soon be approving an additional 2,700 housing units there. Last week, Israel planned 936 new homes in Har Homa also in East Jerusalem, Jerusalem being the proposed capitol of a Palestinian State. Housing in East Jerusalem makes up more than 35% of projects in the city.
Interior Minister and Shas leader Eli Yishai suggested that expanding Ramat Shlomo was meant to alleviate a housing shortage which partly ignited a wave of protests throughout the country demanding social and economic reforms.

42 lawmakers, more than a third of Israel’s parliament, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to solve the housing crisis by building tens of thousands of new units. This includes Judea and Samaria.

Peace Now, the Israeli NGO who advocates the dismantling of the settlements said there is no connection between expanding Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator said the building was “further proof that this government is committed to investing in occupation rather than peace…Recognizing the State of Palestine on the 1967 border and supporting our admission to the UN is the appropriate response to Israel’s rejectionist and expansionist agenda…”

Palestinian Permission

August 12, 2011 / / 0 Comments

On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers opened a thoroughfare in Nablus for the first time in nine years. On Monday, Palestinian liaisons of the Israeli army presided over the opening of the road that stretches from Nablus to the Palestinian village of An-Naqura. The governor of Nablus has made re-paving the road a priority in hopes that it will be fully functional as soon as possible.

The road being shut down in 2002 forced villagers to take long detours, and even prevented many villagers from accessing their fields so that they can go to work. With the road open, villagers in the north should have direct access to Nablus and to their livelihoods in the fields.

During the Second Intifada, the IDF closed many roads and built many checkpoints, a number of which, despite a lull in violence, are still in place. However, with terrorism such as what happened to the Fogel family a few months ago, it is no wonder the IDF opts to closely patrol roads throughout the area.

In other news, the Palestinian general consul in Alexandria Jamaal Al-Jamal said Tuesday upwards of 2,000 Palestinians have returned to live in the Gaza Strip from Libya, yes, Libya. More than 34,000 Palestinian families live in Libya, numbering in the ball park of 160,000 persons. Some who are trying to flee the war zone have visas which permit them to return to their jobs in Libya.

President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered PA authorities to facilitate the return of more Palestinians in Libya. Palestinian embassies in Tripoli, Alexandria and Cairo are coordinating with each other assisting their return.

In Alexandria, the Palestinian consulate has appointed a team to coordinate the arrival of passengers at the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is even offering health care and meals to assist Palestinians in Libya fleeing from the war there.

Al-Jamal says that he is grateful for the assistance of the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations before thanking the Egyptian authorities for helping to facilitate the return of Gazan Palestinians.

Recent Earthquake Guide for Israelis

August 12, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Lately there has been a lot of talk about the inevitable Earthquake Israel is facing. There have been earthquakes in the region over the years, some deadly, and geologists warn that a “big one” is on the way. So to all the locals that want the information, here is a presentation put out the homeland security (sort of) department.

Earthquake guide israel

View more presentations from suntrader

Cleaning up the Streets

August 12, 2011 / / 0 Comments

On Wednesday, four boys aged 13 were arrested by the police after having sex with a girl of their own age. They had consumed massive quantities of vodka and had gotten the girl drunk too. They took advantage of her in her state of intoxication.

Police received four calls about seeing the boys in a Ramat Gan park with the girl. Patrol cars arrived at the scene and spotted the party.

According to a Dan Region police investigation led by one Chief Superintendent Rafi Regev, the group of adolescents sexually attacked the girl for several hours while they went through a number of parking lots in the area.

The four youths suspected of the attack are awaiting a pending trial at the Juvenile Court and the police seek to extend their detention.
In other news, Ynet had a feature story about IT Works, an independent charity that has been operating in Israel since 2006. They are now introducing the Youth Empowerment Program (YEP). This is a holistic program for at risk Israeli teens that combines technological education with peer volunteering and personal mentoring. The program seeks to prepare high school dropouts for national army service and skilled employment in local communities.

Most at-risk Israeli youth are susceptible to poverty because of unemployment in their young and stupid years. Those who have left school without attaining a high school education often turn to criminal careers. Many of these otherwise good kids lack proper family support and live in foster homes.

YEP encourages positive engagement within the community by teaching useful employment skills, and prepares at-risk Israeli youth for integration into the skilled workforce by building vocational skills.

YEP courses are open to Jewish, Druze and Arab kids between the ages of 15 and 18. The program will occur in six low-income communities throughout the country in the first year of the program. Every class is comprised of 25 students from the local area.

The country’s National Insurance Institute has committed to fund 50% of 18 YEP cohorts over the next three years.
IT Works will be running two programs this year in Kiryat Gat and Netanya for Israeli Jews; in Umm al-Fahm for Israeli Arabs, and last but not least, in Usfiya and Shfaram for Israeli Druze.

Phew

Phew!

August 8, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Last Sunday, the Tel Aviv stock exchange suffered a sharp nose-dive following Standard & Poor’s downgrading of US credit ratings from AAA to AA+ before stabilizing on Monday. Sunday registered as the worst day on the exchange since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Discount Investments loses 17.5%, Africa Israel tumbles 16%, Fishman’s JEC weakened by 12%, Tshuva’s Delek Group slips 8% and Israel Corporation under Ofer family sheds 6.5%.

By 10:30 am on Monday, the TA-25 was back up to 2.45 percent. The TA-100 climbed 2.44 percent and the blue tech 50 added 2.55 percent.

Last week’s tailspin was exaggerated by the United States raising of their debt ceiling. As a result, US treasury bonds are now not the safest investment in the world.
Riding the dismal wave, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange benchmark TA-100 index fell 9% over the last 10 days and is 16% below its peak level from January.
As a result of last week’s sliding, the shekel was down 0.62% against the US currency to NIS 3.542/$, and dived 2.22% against the euro to NIS 5.089/€.

While G7 leaders promise to restore stability to global markets Bank of Bank of Jerusalem (TASE: JBNK) thinks the dollar’s potential to continue strengthening against the shekel is limited at best, and influenced by the political and economic uncertainty and concern about growth on global markets.

The Bank of Jerusalem holds that while the dollar may continue to strengthen in the coming days, it is only a temporary strengthening bound to end when calm return to the markets. The Bank of Jerusalem wrote in its daily survey, “The dollar will reach a stronger resistance threshold at NIS 3.55/$ and crossing it will be a serious obstacle, but we do not rule out this happening.”
Ami Ginsburg of Haaretz offers a list of concerns for local investors:

1. Fears the U.S. is bound for another recession
2. The European debt crisis is getting worse
3. Worry over growth slowdown for developing countries
4. The possibility that social protest signals a crisis
5. Harm to Israeli exports
6. Israel’s rising risk premium from the wave of debt settlements
7. Fear of economic sanctions following declaration of Palestinian state

I ran to see Israeli and NATO forces?

August 8, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Will Iran be stumbling back on to world stage soon? According to a popular American news network, Israel has created a military cyber command to launch a computer war against Iran as the thought of a conventional attack on Tehran’s nuclear sites could end in failure.

The new cyber command will directly report to the Israeli Prime Minister who has placed the program at the heart of Israel’s defense capability.

The center already has conducted some 8200 “soft” espionage missions, including hacking into Iran’s version of Facebook as well as other social networking sites.

While the Stuxnet malware virus, which severely affected Iran’s nuclear program in 2009 by sabotaging the delicate centrifuges needed for enriching uranium, is widely held to have been developed by Israeli technicians in concert with American technicians, the true source of the malware offense is unknown. The Stuxnet virus did not only infect Iran. Actually, in Indonesia 18.22% of the virus was spread, in India 8.31%, 2.57% in Azerbaijan. In the United States 1.56%, Pakistan 1.28% and Iran 58.85%.

Last April, Iranian government offices came under attack from another malware virus to which Tehran officials gave the name Stars.

They said the damage had been contained but admitted it was the second mysterious virus found since the Stuxnet attack.

Last week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned Syria’s Assad that he faced a “sad fate” if he failed to introduce reforms.

Moscow’s envoy to Dmitry Rogozin accused the organization of planning a military campaign against Syria to help overthrow the Assad regime “with the long-reaching goal of preparing a beachhead for an attack on Iran.”

In an in Izvestia article on Friday, Aug. 5, Rogozin said:

“This statement means that the planning [of the military campaign] is well underway. It could be a logical conclusion of those military and propaganda operations, which have been carried out by certain Western countries against North Africa.”

Rogozin says he thinks Syria and later Yemen will be NATO’s last steps on the way to launching an attack on Iran:

“The noose around Iran is tightening…Military planning against Iran is underway. And we are certainly concerned about an escalation of a large-scale war in this huge region.”

The Russian envoy made a point of citing NATO and not mentioning the United States once during the interview.

According to DebkaFile: The Libyan campaign taught NATO that without US military strength, alliance members were incapable of defeating even a small army on the scale of Muammar Qaddafi’s six brigades, much less muster the ground, air and sea forces for striking Syria and Iran. The only power with the requisite military strength is the United States, which was therefore the unspoken address of Rogozin’s warning…Russian diplomats have repeatedly cautioned Tehran that it incurs the danger of American attack on its nuclear facilities. Now Syria has been included. Rogozin remarked that having “learned the Libyan lesson, Russia will continue to oppose a forcible resolution of the situation in Syria.”

The combined military spending of all NATO members comes to over 70% of the world’s defence spending. The United States on its own accounts for 43% of the total military spending of the world with France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy making up 15%.

Over 275,000 In Israel’s Largest Social Revolt Demonstrations

August 6, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Over 200,000 in Israel's Largest Social Uprising

Over 200,000 in Israel's Largest Social Uprising

It was 70,000 two hours ago, then it started to rise and its still going strong. Israel Rail is asking people to step off the trains as more people are trying to get to the demonstrations. People have had enough. Tired of the political side stepping the injustice, tired of the 16% VAT, tired of carrying on their backs the orthodox organizations that leach on the rest of the population. Not being able to get to a home because of the cost of living. Tired of funding the pathetic excuse for government ministers whose only concern is stuffing their own pockets with complete disregard to the public, and office they are supposed to uphold. The public is demanding social justice. This can’t be ignored. This will not go away.

Over 200,000 in Tel Aviv

Over 200,000 in Tel Aviv

Who is missing in this demonstration? The orthodox groups and political representatives are not here. They are not here because they are partly to blame for the fleecing of the country and its people.

Israel has had a tradition of quite acceptance to what its leaders have dictated. Constantly playing on the fear of a lower defense budget. This is a time of change. This time the spell is broken. Empty promises by Benjamin Netanyahu and his finance minister, Yuval Steinitz and constant under estimation of this uprising is turning into the ideal climate for this fire to burn. Tonight it’s burning bright, and can no longer be ignored.

We may not place Bibi in a steel cage and put him on trial but in an advanced, civilized society, this is as close as his going to get.

Pictured Ynet

World Media Blind To Israeli Protests

August 5, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Maybe we need a few bodies thrown into the mix. A social uprising is going on for three weeks and none of the leading media channels seem to think this is important. Do we need to blow shit up to get the attention of the media?

So here there is something truly unique going on, that has nothing to do with the Palestinians, or the Arab world. Does that mean its not news worthy? Demonstrations all over the country, people living in tents in the center of every major city, protest marches of 150,000 people and growing, ministers and politicians trying to wiggle themselves into the public’s favor by publicly “supporting” the protestors – all this doesn’t count as news?

Do we need to put Bibi in a cage like they do in Egypt? Will that sell?

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