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WHEN INTELLIGENCE FALTERS
By Avi Davis
When we think these days of faulty intelligence leading to a prolonged military entanglement, one recent image comes to mind: the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq . But exactly 35 years ago another failure of intelligence led to a confrontation that would have a similarly long lasting impact on the Middle East.
Throughout September and early October, 1973, Israel intelligence services had been reported Egyptian troop build ups on the Western bank of the Suez Canal to the government of Golda Meir. Facing the Egyptians across the canal were a series of Israeli fortifications, known as the Bar Lev Line and set in place following Israel’s lightening victory over Egyptian troops in the Sinai Peninsula, during 1967’s Six Day War. On the Golan Heights in the country’s north, over 1600 Syrian tanks had massed below the Hermon Range. The idea of a new coordinated attack by the two nations had, however, been dismissed by the IDF’s military intelligence service AMAN. It was a matter of doctrine in Israeli intelligence circles that Syria would not attack without Egyptian support and that Egypt, although arming for war since its ignominious defeat by the Israelis six years earlier, was not yet ready for such a new military confrontation.
What, then, were the obvious military build ups in the south and the north all about?
Eli Zeira, the new installed chief of intelligence, who was informed ( as his predecessors had been) by a source close to Anwar Sadat, considered the Egyptian President unwilling to go to war until he had fulfilled two ambitions: the receipt of sufficient Soviet fighter bombers capable of neutralizing the Israeli air force and long range Scud missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv. Both were necessary to deter an attack on the Egyptian heartland, as had occurred in 1967. Since Sadat had neither in his possession, Zeira considered an Egyptian attack ( and thereby a Syrian invasion) as of very low probability. Over the objections of Israel’s Chief of Staff, and dire reports from the field, he was able to convince Golda Meir’s government that the Arab troop deployments amounted to little more than maneuvers and war games.
Ignoring what has happening on the ground and considering only military intentions was not a new phenomenon in the history of military intelligence. In November and December, 1941, American military intelligence, aware of an ominous naval flotilla being readied in Japan, ignored the threats of an attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. At the time, the Navy was listening for a signal of intent to deploy that flotilla while ignoring the reality of the fleet’s positioning and movement. Similarly, in 1914, British intelligence failed the British government in its assessment of German and Austrian troop deployments by focusing on the political and diplomatic intentions of the German Kaiser and his High Command, assuming that none of the Great Powers intended to go to war.
For Israel, the failure to appreciate the approaching dangers, led to near catastrophic results. When war broke out on the Day of Atonement, 1973 the Israeli military was unprepared and only possessed relatively thin defenses on the Bar Lev Line and the Golan Heights. Egyptian early successes in punching through the Bar Lev Line and advancing several miles into the Sinai Desert, shattered the IDF’s confident assessment of Arab tactical and strategic weakness and placed the Middle East conflict on an entirely new footing. The rout of the Syrian attack in the north, which took several days and was only achieved with great casualties, has given the Israeli political establishment ever since, pause when asked to rely exclusively on military intelligence.
It should be no news that intelligence can often be dangerously refracted through doctrinaire thinking, political bias or personal idiosyncrasy. But that is often the case and one made by Douglas Feith in his recent book War and Decision( Harper, 2008) . As Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon, Feith has taken enormous heat as one of the chief architects of the policy decision to invade Iraq. Feith’s 500 page tome is a carefully documented attempt to reveal how that decision was made and identify the actors responsible for any errors or misjudgments. In the course of the book, Feith reserves special venom for the failures of the intelligence community, whom, he feels, not only got the data wrong, but used bad information to hurt the Bush Administration politically. Since a number of high level CIA officials opposed the President on an ideological level, they found it to their own political advantage to chastise the Administration over its own policy errors. Once the war turned sour, they turned on Bush and through a series of leaks, claimed that Administration officials themselves had manipulated or distorted the very information supplied by CIA operatives.
Of course Feith’s book is only his own view of events and books written ( as there surely will be ) by State Department officials or members of the CIA itself, may contradict many of his claims. Nevertheless, Feith makes an excellent point that commentators who worry so much about policy officials filtering or distorting intelligence, should be just as worried about intelligence officials who may undertake the same kind of filtering or distortions of their own. His summation includes some vital recommendations to intelligence communities around the world in this regard, that all governments would be wise to heed:
1. Don’t pretend to know more than you know. ( The CIA apparently knew little about Iraq and made up for its deficiencies with speculation)
2. Seek out important information ,even when it hard to obtain
3. Don’t scorn information from scholars, exiles and other open sources
4. Don’t be wedded to pre-conceptions
5. Oppose politicization of intelligence
6. Be honorable about government secrets and prevent leaks
7. Stand behind the government decisions and do not work against them.
These simple admonitions would normally be taken as givens in any modern democracy. But to consider them par for the course is our mistake Intelligence briefings, like all human communications, are words spoken and written with a desire to influence the opinions, beliefs or understanding of intended recipients. As the events of October 1973 prove, relying too earnestly on intelligence from one source, even one apparently trusted, can lead to dire consequences. Accepting that all men and women possess prejudices and idiosyncrasies that can distort the information they gather, must therefore remain a key understanding of any modern day leader attempting to address the security issues of his nation. In a time of increasing threats from rogue regimes and terrorist organizations using as many sources to obtain information and then maintaining an apparatus to process and vet that information, is mandatory
Avi Davis is the Executive Director and Senior Fellow of the American Freedom Alliance.
NEWS: EUROPE AND AMERICA
PR Firm Launches Campaign To Get Kidnapped Soldier Gilad Shalit Released
 Paris campaign calls for Shalit's freedom-Ahiva Raved
French PR firm launches bid to rope public interest in fate of kidnapped soldier; 16th Arrondissement first to respond in campaign advocates hope will sweep Europe A public relations firm in France has launched a new campaign promoting public interest in the case of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, with the hope of putting pressure on President Nicolas Sarkozy's government to act on the issue. The campaign's first step was to post a giant sign before the municipality building of Paris' 16th Arrondissement. The campaign was conceived two weeks ago, at which time Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, was visiting the French capital. The PR agency, Euro RSCG, applied to the heads of Paris' various municipalities, and the first to respond was the 16th Arrondissement. Noam Shalit expressed hopes that eventually the campaign would encircle all of Paris and other European capitals. He stressed that the campaign was being handled exclusively by volunteers, and that it was expected to spread throughout Europe. Gilad Shalit has dual citizenship in France and Israel, and the French government has faithfully supported appeals for his release. Sarkozy has even transferred a letter from Noam Shalit to Syria, in an attempt to transport it to the kidnapped soldier. Sarkozy expresses his commitment to Gilad Shalit from time to time, and has said that he sees him as a standard French citizen. During a press conference last month he stated, "We have not forgotten. France is always willing to be recruited in support of a man held unjustly." (Ynetnews.com)
Looking For Jurors That Will Be Fair In Trial Against Muslims
7 qualified jurors so far in Fort Dix case-Geoff Mulvihill AP
CAMDEN, N.J. - The complex and sometimes tedious process of probing the biases of prospective jurors began Tuesday in the case of five men accused of planning to attack soldiers on Fort Dix. Lawyers on Tuesday asked questions of 29 potential jurors, examining whether they could be fair even if they thought Islam encouraged violence or they had family in the military, among other questions. Ten were excused , mostly because of financial hardships. The rest remain in a pool of qualified jurors and have a chance of sitting in judgment of the five defendants. The suspects were arrested in May 2007 and are accused of plotting to raid Fort Dix, an Army installation used largely to train reservists for deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. No attack was carried out. The men, all foreign-born Muslims in their 20s who have lived many years in southern New Jersey suburbs, could face life in prison if they're convicted on all counts, which include attempted murder and conspiracy to murder uniformed military personnel. The case received massive attention around the world in early days as the government presented it as one of the most frightening examples of homegrown working terrorists in the U.S. Because of the sensitivity of the case, the attention it's received, and the expectation that the trial could last about two months, picking a jury was expected to be challenging. About 1,500 jurors were asked to appear. After some didn't respond and hundreds were excused because of various reasons, including economic hardship, more than 600 filled out questionnaires last week. By Tuesday morning, the pool had been whittled down to just under 300. (Philly.com)
UK’s 42-Day Detention Suspended
42-day detention dropped as unworkable-Sean O’Neill, Crime and Security Editor, and Francis Elliott, Deputy Political Editor
Gordon Brown is preparing for a humiliating climbdown over his proposal to hold terrorist suspects for 42 days after being told that it will be defeated in the House of Lords. Ministers admit privately that there is not “a cat in Hell’s chance” of the legislation, which returns to the Lords this week, being passed into law. The Government has decided against using the Parliament Act to force the measure through after peers reject it, The Times has learnt. That decision will effectively confine the controversial proposal — which the Prime Minister fought tooth and nail to get through a Commons vote in June — to the legislative dustbin. The Terrorism Act 2006 increased the pre-charge detention limit from 14 to 28 days. The imminent abandonment of the proposal to extend this further to 42 days comes after mounting criticism from senior figures in the fight against terrorism. Writing in The Times today, the former police chief who was in charge of anti-terrorism operations across Britain described the proposed mechanism for triggering the emergency detention power as “not fit for purpose”. Andy Hayman, former Assistant Commissioner for Special Operations at Scotland Yard, gave the clearest signal yet that police chiefs are unhappy with the proposals before Parliament. Mr Hayman said that concessions made to secure the Counter-Terrorism Bill’s passage through the Commons had created a scheme that was “bureaucratic, convoluted and unworkable”. He added: “The draftsman’s pen has introduced so many hoops to be jumped through that a police case for detaining a terror suspect will become part of the political game. “It would have been my job to make these proposals work, but just trying to understand them gives me a headache.” Mr Hayman’s intervention in the debate is significant. He was the first police officer informed by the Prime Minister in July last year of his plan to seek extra detention powers. (TimesOnline.co.uk)
Researcher Claims Radical Islam On The Rise In Bulgaria
NEW ‘RADICAL ISLAM IN BULGARIA’ CLAIMS-Clive Leviev-Sawyer
Just days after Sofia hosted a forum on how teaching at schools could be used to forestall radical Islam, a researcher gave an interview alleging that extremist Islamic sects were operating in eastern Bulgaria. In an interview with Bulgarian news agency Focus, associate professor Tatyana Dronzina – described as an expert on conflict and terrorism research – was quoted as saying that Turkish-linked radical sects Nurju, Suleymandj and Miligurush were believed to be active in the eastern part of the country. There were some grounds for believing that people linked to these sects were trying to make contact with pupils in Muslim religious schools in Shoumen, Rousse, Momchilgrad and in the Islamic Institute in Sofia as well, Focus quoted Dronzina as saying. While several intelligence and media reports have highlighted the rise of radical Islam in the former Yugoslavia and especially in Bosnia, earlier in 2008 US journalist Christopher Deliso said in his book The Coming Balkan Caliphate: Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West that Bulgaria was among Balkan countries where radical Islam activists were present. Most intelligence reports have suggested that any such activity in Bulgaria is on a small scale. After the forum in Sofia, Bulgarian National Radio interviewed Kamen Velichkov of the Foreign Ministry, who is in charge of the country’s participation in the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations Initiative. “The prevention of radicalisation in all creeds from an early school age is paramount, if we wish to have a dialogue among the various religions and cultures not only within the European Union,” Velichkov told BNR. “The issue of Islam’s radicalisation is a complex one. It is above all within the competence of the state administration. Bulgaria has been trying to draw on the European experience, and in particular that of Spain, as well as non-European countries by participating in various formats, such as the Mediterranean Co-operation. (Sofiaecho.com)
Mounted Police To Start Patrolling Schools In Paris’s Most Violent Neighbourhoods
Nicolas Sarkozy sends mounted police to patrol worst Paris schools-Peter Allen
Mounted police are to start patrolling schools in Paris's toughest suburb as gang violence among pupils increases
France's public security department, the DDSP (Direction départementale de la sécurité publique) announced the initiative following a bottle of acid being thrown at teachers last week. It was the latest in a series of attacks involving delinquents, most from tinderbox suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis, the centre of widespread rioting three years ago. The acid was thrown in the entrance of Nelson-Mandela College, close to the ring road north of Paris in the town of Le Blanc-Mesnil. Nobody was injured in the attack, but the authorities believed that urgent action was necessary. Mounted police officers are now set to stand guard at the entrance of the college, with a DDSP spokesman explaining: “These mounted officers will be visible from a long way away, and what's important for adolescents is that they understand that the forces of law and order are present and living with them. “The presence of a horse will be welcome to some, but it will also bring respect.” Until now police officers have generally only be used for crowd control during sporting events or public demonstrations. (Telegraph.co.uk)
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
The Muslim Brotherhood At University California Irvine
 Welcoming Terror on Campus-Jacob Laksin
As the fountainhead of global Islamic terrorism, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has long had a public-relations problem. For years the Brotherhood has struggled to veil its reputation as a violent and reactionary religious movement without moderating the substance of its politics, which continue to include support for terror attacks and the institution of hard-line Sharia law. At the University of California at Irvine (UCI), the Brotherhood has now found an audience receptive to its efforts.
This Wednesday, four separate UCI programs – including the department of history; the Center for Research on International and Global Studies at UCI’s School of Social Sciences; the school’s Middle East Studies Student Initiative and its Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies – will host Ibrahim el-Houdaiby, a young member of the Muslim Brotherhood and the leader of its new generation of self-styled “moderate Islamist” activists. Still in his twenties, the Cairo-based Houdaiby has a long lineage in the Brotherhood: His grandfather was Hassan el-Houdaiby, a prominent Brotherhood ideologist. Houdaiby has carried on the family tradition, writing a column for the Brotherhood’s official English-language website, IkhwaWeb.com, and generally trying to arouse foreign sympathy for a movement still regarded as dangerous in the West. On the UCI faculty, at least, Houdaiby has made a favorable impression. In particular, he has impressed history professor Mark LeVine, who helped organize this week’s event. In an interview, LeVine said that he met Houdaiby in Cairo while conducting research for his recent book, Heavy Metal Islam: Religion, Popular Culture and Resistance in the Middle East, and came away convinced that the young activist truly represents a new breed of Muslim Brother – a clear break with the rigid fundamentalists who dominated the movement throughout its 80-year history. (Frontpagemag.com)
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Amidst Much Controversy, The Jewel Of Medina Is Released Nine Days Ahead Of Schedule In The US
 Prophet bride novel published in US
The US publication of a controversial book about the child bride of the Prophet Mohammed has been brought forward after its British publisher’s office was bombed.
Beaufort Books went ahead and released The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones on Monday, nine days ahead of schedule. The novel has been described by an American academic as an "anti-Islamic polemic".
It tells a fictionalised account of the experiences of Aisha, one of the Prophet's brides. The marketing material reads: "Married at nine to the much-older Mohammed, Aisha uses her wits, her courage, and her sword to defend her first-wife status even as Mohammed marries again and again, taking 12 wives and concubines in all." Last month the London office of Gibson Square Books director Martin Rynja was firebombed. It was planning to publish the book in the UK later this month. Now Beaufort Books, which has also published OJ Simpson's hypothetical confessional 'If I Did It' about the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown, has gone ahead with publication. Eric Kampman, the publisher's president, said he felt it was "better for everybody ... to let the conversation switch from a conversation about terrorists and fearful publishers to a conversation about the merits of the book itself."In August the publisher Random House US announced it was pulling publication because it had been advised that the book "might be offensive" to some Muslims and "could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment".
“It Is Outrageous That Many Of Those States Pushing For Changes In International Law Are Among The Worst Offenders Themselves When It Comes To Protecting The Rights Of Minorities”
Islamic states draw new battle lines over Freedom of Expression- Submitted by Admin
On 2/3 October, over 200 national delegates and NGO representatives attended a unique two-day expert seminar at the UN Geneva to discuss limits to Freedom of Expression. Convened by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the request of the Islamic States, a dozen experts and many other speakers took the floor to explore the links between Freedom of Expression and incitement to religious hatred.
Many of the experts urged caution in proposing new legislation that could have negative consequences for the very people whose rights we are striving to protect, and while implementation of the existing legislation permitted under Articles 19 and 20 of the ICCPR (the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) is still so patchy in its adoption. Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia and the representative of the OIC were joined by former UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Doudou Diene, in calling for a review of Articles 19 and 20 of the ICCPR, and tighter restrictions on Freedom Expression in the aftermath of 9/11 which, they argued, has created an entirely new set of circumstances. This view was strongly opposed by several Western delegations (as well as IHEU) on the grounds that today’s tensions are nothing new, that the limits already offered by Articles 19 and 20 are entirely adequate – and in any case have still to be fully adopted by many states. Said IHEU representative, Roy Brown, after the meeting: “It is outrageous that many of those States pushing for changes in international law are among the worst offenders themselves when it comes to protecting the rights of minorities”. (Iheu.org)
Danish PM Calls For EU To Uphold Basic Freedoms
Denmark calls for fight for freedoms after cartoons row-AFP
(COPENHAGEN) - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called Tuesday on the European Union to strengthen its commitment to basic freedoms, and in particular freedom of expression, saying it remained under threat. Publication in 2005 in a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, deemed blasphemous in the Islamic world, created outrage in many countries. "Denmark is working for the EU to step up its fight for the right to basic freedoms, which are universal and inviolable," Rasmussen told the opening of the 2008-9 parliamentary session in Copenhagen. Europe should stand together with "the other free democracies of the world in the global defence of these rights," he said, adding that "the freedom of expression is the most important of all freedoms. Freedom to speak, write and draw what one thinks is democracy's vital nerve." That freedom is "under pressure. We saw that in the affair of the cartoons which still has serious repercussions," Rasmussen said. The cartoons had been "exploited", he said, as a "grotesque reason to justify the bombing of the Danish embassy in (the Pakistani capital) Islamabad in June." "We saw it last year when a series of Muslim countries had a resolution adopted at the United Nations seeking to restrain the freedom of expression in respect of religion," he said. "It is an insult to human rights that the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) should be abused to put freedom of expression in chains." In March 2007 Pakistan, acting in the name of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, persuaded a majority of countries on the HRC to adopt a statement limiting freedom of expression with regard to religion, arguing that Muslims often felt that their religion was not treated with respect. (Eubusiness.com)
Three Canadian Muslims Facing Death Threat For Criticising Islam
Barbara Kay, The Islamist elephant in the room no politicians will acknowledge
I had the privilege of spending a few hours today, October 2, amongst the bravest people in Canada. One, Marc Lebuis, is a name you won't recognize, because up to now he's kept a low profile as the one-man show running www.pointdebasculecanada.ca. This is an anti-Islamist site that brings francophone Quebecers the news and frank opinions on the relentless push of the soft jihadists in our midst to Islamicize society, opinions that the mainstream media are too politically correct to publish. Marc and some close associates organized today's press conference on the subject, "Political Islam - A Threat to Our Freedoms." The three other brave people appearing with him should be household names, but their courage and eloquence is, shamefully, only known and saluted by a relative handful of grateful Canadians: Salim Mansur, Tarek Fatah and Raheel Raza, three Canadian Muslims facing death threats by other Canadian Muslims for exposing the dangers of Islamism, a totalitarian ideology that wears the mask of religion. The room at the Omni hotel in Montreal was filled to capacity, reverberating with frequent applause to statements like these from Salim Mansur: "Islam is my private life, my conscience...[but] my faith does not take precedence over my duties...to Canada and its constitution, which I embrace freely;" "I am first and most importantly a Canadian;" "only in a free society will you find Islam as a faith and not a political religion." (NationalPost)
A Partial Victory In The Fight Against Islamist Lawfare
A Shield for Free Speech, but no Sword against Islamist Lawfare, Yet-Aaron Eitan Meyer
Assistant Director, the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum Legal Correspondent, the Terror Finance Blog
On September 27th, the House of Representatives took a significant step towards ending the predatory practice of libel tourism, whereby certain wealthy Islamists would file frivolous and malicious defamation lawsuits with the aim of abolishing public discourse critical of Islam. The House, by unanimous voice vote, passed H.R. 6146, a bill that prevents any domestic court from enforcing or even recognizing foreign defamation judgments unless the court makes a determination that the foreign judgment is in accordance with First Amendment principles. As such, it is a first step against libel tourism, perhaps the most well-known, though not most widely used, tactical application of Islamist lawfare. Unfortunately, this bill does not represent a major counter-strike against the strategy of Islamist lawfare itself. Islamist lawfare presents a clear and present danger to the United States, by seeking to silence critics of radical Islamist ideology through various legal methods ranging from defamation suits to unsubstantiated claims of “Islamophobia,” a modern day ad hominem attack somehow amalgamated into United Nations Human Rights resolutions,1 and even some US domestic policies. 2 Prior to the introduction of this bill, a more comprehensive bill was brought in both the House and the Senate, by Representative Peter King and Senators Arlen Specter and Joseph Lieberman, respectively. Known as the Free Speech Protection Act of 2008, that bill included a federal cause of action for those targeted by these foreign judgments, to be brought after the domestic court made the determination that the foreign judgment was not in accordance with First Amendment principles. (Terrorfinance.org)
ANTISEMITISM
"We Oppose the beatification of Pius XII. We Cannot Forget His Silence On The Holocaust”
 In address to Catholic bishops, Israeli rabbi opposes beatification of Pius XII and condemns Ahmadinejad
VATICAN (AFP-EJP)---An Israeli rabbi who made an unprecedented address to Catholic bishops added his voice to Jewish opposition to the beatification of Nazi-era pope Pius XII, in remarks published Tuesday.
"We oppose the beatification of Pius XII. We cannot forget his silence on the Holocaust," Shear-Yashuv Cohen, the chief rabbi of the Israeli city of Haifa, said. "He should not be seen as a model and he should not be beatified because he did not raise his voice against the Holocaust. He didn't speak because he was afraid or for other personal reasons," the rabbi said. "He may have helped in secrecy many of the victims and many of the refugees but the question is could he have raised his voice and would it have helped or not? We, as the victims, feel the answer is yes, and I am not empowered by the families of the millions of deceased to say we forget, we forgive," said Cohen, who is a member of Israel’s chief rabbinate's commission for relations with the Vatican. Cohen, who became Monday the first Jew to address a synod of Catholic bishops, the supreme representative body of the Catholic Church, said his presence sent a "signal of hope" after a history of "blood and tears" between Christians and Jews. He noted efforts to improve relations that began under Pope John XXIII and that reached a climax under John Paul II. The rabbi was invited to speak about the significance of the Torah for the Jewish people. Launched in 1967 and close to completion, the process of beatifying Pius XII -- which would place him one step away from sainthood -- has sparked bitter debate and tensions between Catholics and Jews. Opponents, including the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, accuse Pius, who headed the Roman Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958, of remaining silent during the Holocaust that killed more than six million Jews.
Bitter debate
Supporters, including the US-based Pave the Way foundation that organised a symposium on the issue last month, claim the pope worked intensively to save Jews and is the victim of a slander campaign. (EJP)
“Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called on his countrymen to embrace the “spirit of October”’
Arab World Celebrates Anniversary of 1973 "Victory"-Ze’ev Ben-Yechiel
(IsraelNN.com) With Arab countries throughout the Middle East marking the 35th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called on his countrymen to embrace the “spirit of October,” while a Syrian newspaper called for unity among Arab nations. Speaking on Sunday in Cairo, Mubarak called on the people of Egypt to strengthen their nation by demonstrating the victorious spirit that supposedly prevailed in Cairo during their last war with Israel. An Egyptian media outlet also called on the government to release documents about the war that have been classified up to now, in order to underscore the “great Arab victory” in 1973. Meanwhile, the Syrian newspaper Tishrin called on the Arab nations to unite “just as they did 35 years ago.” The newspaper also pointed to the ongoing negotiations with Israel over the Golan Heights, and reminded readers that “even the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, said that there would not be peace with Damscus unless all of the land was returned.” Syria has been in an official s35htate of war with Israel since 1973, as it continues to refuse to sign any kind of armistice deal with its neighbor.
Arab nations are known to regard the Yom Kippur War as a victory against the Zionist aggressor. According to some historians, Egypt, which started the war by attacking Israeli fortifications along the Suez canal, knew that it would not be able to completely destroy the Jewish state. Rather, Egyptian and Syrian leaders hoped to use the war to awaken Israel to the reality of a much stronger Arab military and to force Israel to negotiate away some of the land it won in the previous 1967 war. Within a decade of the 1973 war, Israel indeed gave away the entire Sinai peninsula, and is currently considering the return of the Golan Heights to Syria. Therefore, according to certain analysts, the Arab nations can indeed claim victory. According to Army Radio, another Egyptian media source used the opportunity to urge the Egyptian government to release classified documents about the war. Declassifying the documents, the news agency said, would help maintain the "heritage of the great Arab victory." (INN)
A New Study Claims That NGO’s Are Exploiting The Internal Justice System To Bash Israel
'NGOs exploit int'l law to bash Israel'-Shelly Paz
Non-governmental organizations exploit the international justice system to further their campaign against Israel and officials who operate on the state's behalf, a new study claims. NGO Monitor, an Israeli organization established to promote accountability and to advance discussion on NGOs' human rights reports and activities in the framework of the Arab-Israeli conflict, held a press conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday to present their third study, "Lawfare." The Lawfare research examines at least 10 cases of lawsuits against Israeli officials filed at international courts between 2001 and 2008 - nine of which, the research reveals, were dismissed by the international court judges. The 10th case, filed at the International Court of Law in Spain by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) against National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, is still pending. The lawsuit against Ben-Eliezer deals with Israel's "selective assassination" of Salah Shehade, the leader of Hamas's military wing, Izzadin Kassam, in 2002. In the operation, the IAF bombed Shehade's apartment, killing Shehade, his assistant and 11 children. From 2004 until 2008, PCHR filed different lawsuits against six different Israeli officials who were allegedly involved in the assassination, in different international courts. The cases against Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, former IDF chiefs of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe Ya'alon and Lt.-Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz , Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, and former OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. (Res) Doron Almog were dismissed. In 2005, Almog - against whom three lawsuits have been filed to the UK and the Spanish international courts - learned upon arriving in London for a fundraising trip that a warrant had been issued for his arrest. He was accused of violating the Geneva Conventions in connection with the destruction of homes in Gaza. Almog did not leave the plane and flew back to Israel. The arrest warrant was canceled a few days later.
"In the years 2002 to 2003, as the OC Southern Command, I was responsible for thwarting more than 12,000 terror attacks that tried to get out of the Gaza Strip. This period was busy and stormy, and every day we had intelligence on 30 plans for different terror attacks. During this time, not a single attack managed to make it into Israel's territory, while at the same time, about 100 terror attacks made their way from Judea and Samaria to Israel and hundreds of innocent civilians were killed," Almog said at a press conference on Tuesday. (Jpost.com)
TERRORISM, INTERNET, JIHAD
Hamas Offers Online Courses In Explosives
 Hamas Offering Online Courses in Practical Jihad-Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
(IsraelNN.com) The Islamist Hamas terrorist organization has initiated an online course in explosives, military weapons and tactics for would-be jihad fighters. Aimed at the population of the Palestinian Authority, the course is called "Get Ready" and is designed to prepare the population for war with Israel. First exposed outside Palestinian Authority and jihadist circles on Monday by Israel's Channel 10 TV, the sophisticated course includes highly detailed practical and theoretical lessons, as well as sample videos of jihadist attacks. All manner of weapons are described, analyzed and their proper use explained by masked Hamas instructors. Students also learn about such things as the manufacture and detonation of explosives, the functioning of rocket launchers, weak points on IDF tanks, and the physics of firing at a moving vehicle. Lessons cover possible scenarios such as an IDF ground incursion into Hamas-controlled Gaza or an airborne Israeli commando assault. Each instructive section concludes with test questions. For example, a fatigues-wearing Hamas teacher asks, "A truck is moving at a rate of 15 meters per second, at a distance of 200 meters, from left to right. How will you succeed in hitting this truck?" In its report, the Channel 10 corespondent speculated that the instruction was not only intended to teach Hamas members to more effectively fight Israel, but also to prepare them for confrontation with the rival PA terrorist movement, Fatah. Such a confrontation has already occurred periodically in recent years, but Hamas hopes that an armed clash with PA Chairman's Fatah forces in Judea and Samaria would end with the Islamists in control of the entire PA. (INN)
Steve Emerson Reports On Holy Land Trial
Terror on Trial: 'It Is Time for You to Pledge Death-Steve Emerson
DALLAS – From donations urging violence to advertisements and videos lauding one of the fathers of global jihad, evidence in the Hamas-support trial against former officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) Thursday took a decidedly bloody tone. The five defendants are accused of illegally funneling $12 million to Hamas through a series of charities, or zakat committees in the West Bank and Gaza. FBI agent Lara Burns has been on the witness stand all week, presenting evidence establishing the group's stated and passionate support for Hamas. A mistrial was declared last October after jurors could not reach unanimous verdicts on most counts. Defendant Mohamed El-Mezain was acquitted on all counts against him with the exception of a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. This time, added care seems to be taken to identify all the players and define their connections to the case. In addition, some of the exhibits were not entered into evidence last year. Defense attorneys argue the men merely sought to alleviate suffering by needy Palestinians living under occupation. The images displayed Thursday rarely invoked those needy people, but focused instead on the need to attack. Several exhibits showing HLF's invocation Abdullah Azzam, an iconic Palestinian jihadist, are among the new evidence presented by the government. Azzam moved to Pakistan after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan to set up the Office of Services of the Holy Warriors (Mujahideen) and is considered a mentor to Osama bin Laden. (Familysecuirtymatters.org)
From the Hamas English Site: Hamas Blames Israel For America’s Financial Crisis
“It Is Well Known That Israel, Through The Numerous Zionist Lobbies Or Pressure Groups, More Or Less Controls America’s Politics, Media And Financial Institutions.”
Israel is destroying America financially When Will America wake up from her slumber?-Khalid Amayreh in Jerusalem-
When future Historians look into the factors that ultimately brought down the American empire, one of the main factors they will feature prominently is the “Israeli factor.” It is well known that Israel, through the numerous Zionist lobbies or pressure groups, more or less controls America’s politics, media and financial institutions. I am not going to provide statistical data showing the extent to which nearly every aspect of American life is infiltrated and penetrated by Zionism. Such data are readily available for those seeking the truth about Zionist dominance in America. Instead, I suggest that skeptics speak to some of those senators or congressmen and women who dare to “tell it like it is,” or privately ask some people in the media and show-business about their respective experiences with regard to the “Lobby.” Undoubtedly they will hear stories they have never thought they ever will hear. In the late 1970s, the American Jewish intellectual Alfred Lilienthal wrote an extremely important book on the Jewish lobby that controls contemporary America. The book is titled “The Zionist Connection: What Price Peace,” and is in my opinion one of the greatest books written in the twentieth century. The reason I mentioned Lilienthal’s book is because the Zionist control of American political life and institutions is today deeper, tighter and more encompassing than ever before. And there is no doubt under the sun that America’s steady downfall is imputed first and foremost to this impenetrable Israel-worshiping lobby which utilizes America’s power and resources for the sake of serving and promoting Zionist goals both in the Middle East and at the global level.
Didn’t Israeli emissaries in the 1990s, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, tell the rulers of Central Asia and Eastern Europe that “we control the US government, and the way to America’s mind and heart goes through Jerusalem?”!!! Sounds anti-Semitic? Well, don’t be too sure, just listen to what Zionist leaders and rabbis in Israel are saying! Maybe you will change your views. Some of the most strident and audacious acts Israel and her agents in America have taken to destroy America from within has been the American invasion and occupation of Iraq. That unnecessary and manifestly disastrous war was conceived in and planned by Israel through the mostly Jewish neocons in Washington, D.C. Interestingly, not only has this criminal war killed more than a million Iraqis and several thousand American soldiers, but it has also ruined the United States financially and dealt the American currency, the dollar, what seems to be an irreversible crushing blow. Needless to say, the current mega crisis in America, on the one hand, and the ongoing Israeli-conceived wars America is fighting in many parts of the world, on the other, are inextricably entwined. American leaders and politicians won’t say that openly. But America doesn’t lack the brain power to find out the truth about the umbilical connection between the Israeli factor and the ravaging financial crisis now facing the US. Again, if you are in doubt, ask those who dare to speak in Washington and they will tell you what you can’t count on the Zionist-controlled media to tell you. After all, Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Time and Newsweek, to mention a few of the so-called “agenda setters,” are not really answerable to the American people. They are answerable to the lobby, because if and when officials at these outlets don’t go with the flow, they get fired immediately. Now Israel has got America deeply sinking in the futile war on terror, which is actually another meaningless war on Israel’s enemies, namely the Muslims, for supporting the just Palestinian cause and demanding Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab land. Like the Iraq war and the Afghan war, the apparently nihilistic war on terror is being waged on Israel’s behalf because, in the final analysis, there is really no conflict between Muslims and America. Yes, “9/11”, we are told, was carried out by a few terrorists who held Muslim names and who wrongly thought that they were serving the Palestinian cause and the cause of Islam by killing innocent people. But these misguided individuals, if indeed they were the real villains (because there is a growing mass of evidence prompting honest people to doubt and question the authenticity of the official American narrative in this regard) only represent a tiny part of the Muslim world. Muslims generally don’t hate America and the American people. Most people don’t hate other people, regardless of religion and culture. It is only due to grievances that oppressed people harbor ill feelings toward their oppressors. Otherwise, I am sure a hundred per cent that Palestinians and Muslims in general have no inherent ill-feelings toward the American people. Of course, Zionist Jews, some of whom are now distributing anti-Islamic DVDs in America to instill hatred and fear of Islam and Muslims in the hearts of Americans in order to serve Israeli interests, dread the day Americans will know the truth about Israel, e.g. that Israel is nothing less than a crime against humanity and that it represents the ultimate antithesis of everything the American people hold dear and stand for. Yesterday, America had to allocate 700 billion dollars to bail out another ramshackle American financial institution. I am afraid there will be more bad news in this regard if America doesn’t reclaim its liberty from the Zionist Rober Barons who have come to tightly control the American financial establishment. Moreover, should the US decide to act on Israel’s instructions (or orders) and go to war against another Muslim country, this time Iran, one could imagine the magnitude of the financial and therefore economic disaster that would befall America and the world. A few years ago, it was rumored that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, that certified war criminal, told Shimon Peres, then Israel’s foreign minister, during an acrimonious cabinet meeting “that we control America from California to New York and the stupid Americans know it.” And while I am not completely sure about the authenticity of the statement, it is amply clear that the disgraceful pandering to Zionism by American politicians, including Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain and their running mates, vindicates the veracity of that statement, uttered or unuttered. Today, Israel is trying to consummate its hateful enterprise of ethnic cleansing in the Middle East, using American money and American power. Israel will fight the Muslim world to the last American dollar and the last American soldier. Hence, it is time ordinary Americans wake up from their slumber to reclaim their country from rapacious Zionism. Because their very future is at stake.
Radical ENVIRONMENTALISM
Radical Animal Rights Group Targeted Companies On The NYSE That Did Business With HLS
Animal rights activists' 'blackmail campaign spanned Europe and US'-Fran Yeoman
A core group of animal-rights activists co-ordinated a blackmail campaign that spanned Europe and America from a cottage in Hampshire in a bid to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), a court heard today. Their campaign against companies that did business with the animal-testing laboratory was so broad that they considered anyone who dealt with the New York Stock Exchange, where HLS shares are listed, to be a legitimate target. Senior members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) ran a business-like campaign that targeted companies in at least eight countries from their headquarters at Little Moorcote, near Hook, Hampshire, Winchester Crown Court was told. Before one key meeting on Easter Sunday last year they gathered intelligence on SHAC activities in America and across Europe and prepared a secret report that outlined demonstrations held and “direct action” taken in Britain over the past three months, said Michael Bowes, QC, for the prosecution. The document also discussed “future tactics” and in that section they decided that “actually anyone who deals with the NYSE is a legitimate target for us because they might put pressure on the NYSE to de-list the shares,” Mr Bowes said. The hard copies of this report, which were “highly dangerous” for the SHAC members involved, were burnt on a bonfire after the meeting, the prosecution believe. Police who raided the Little Moorcote cottage and other properties last May discovered a map pinpointing targets in Switzerland. On a seized computer they found fragments of deleted spreadsheets with “quite meticulous” information on targets and the actions taken against them, which included hoax bombs, late-night vandalism of homes and letters alleging paedophilia that were sent to victims’ neighbours. (TimesOnline.co.uk)
Society and CULTURE
"Terrorist-Chic": New German Film Glorifies Baader-Meinhof Gang
Victims' Families in Uproar over New German Terrorism Film
 "The Baader-Meinhof Complex," a new film chronicling the murderous exploits of the Red Army Faction, a German left-wing terrorist group, is stirring anger among relatives of the group's victims. The head of one family says she will return Germany's top civilian honor in protest.
Amid accusations its makers are guilty of "hero worship" and glorifying murderous activists with "terrorist-chic," a new German film that recreates the dramatic history of 1970s terrorist gang the Red Army Faction (RAF), is becoming a lightning rod for impassioned protests from spouses and children of those killed by the group. Just over a week after its release, the deabte over the "Baader-Meinhof Complex" continues to rage in Germany.
Launched and led by radical history professor Andreas Baader and journalist Ulrike Meinhof, the RAF, or the "Baader-Meinhof Gang" as they are sometimes called, claimed 34 lives in a wave of attacks against businesses, industrialists, bankers and government officials in West Germany that spanned a three-decade period that began in the late 1960s and continued into the '80s.
One of those lives belonged to Jürgen Ponto, the former head of Dresdner Bank. As a protest against the film his widow, 79-year-old Ignes Ponto, says she will return the Federal Cross of Merit, Germany's highest civilian honor, that she received in 1988 for founding a group committed to promoting the teaching of music in the country's schools. The decision by Ponto, a professional musician, to return her award was made public on Tuesday by her daughter, Corinna Ponto.
The film has been roundly criticized for glamorizing the RAF and for exploiting its aura of "terrorist-chic" in order to make a splash at the box-office. Meinhof's own daughter, journalist Bettina Roehl, went so far as to call the film's depiction of her mother's crimes the "worst-case scenario," saying "it would not be possible to top its hero worship."
The film, which is based on a book by former SPIEGEL editor in chief Stefan Aust, has been selected as Germany's official entry for best foreign film in the 2009 Oscar race.
According to Ponto's daughter, who was 19 years old when her father was killed, the family has been forced over the years to accustom itself to painful public discussions of their family's tragedy. She says that the release of the film, however, reaches a "whole new level of public indignity."
Liberal Activist And Actor Paul Newman Supported Nuclear Energy
 Paul Newman - the nuclear secret he took to his grave-William Tucker and Stephanie Gutman
Paul Newman, who died recently, took a carefully guarded secret to his grave - something that would have disgraced him in Hollywood. Did he have a secret mistress? (No, that wouldn't disgrace him.) Did he have a clandestine fleet of SUVs? (That's more like it.) Was he addicted to McDonald's hamburgers? No, Paul Newman was a closet but increasingly open supporter of nuclear power. Newman's journey from garden-variety left-wing environmentalism to nuclear advocacy began in 1992 when he played the role of General Leslie Groves, supervisor of the Manhattan Project in the movie "Fat Man and Little Boy", which was re-titled 'Shadow Makers' in the UK. Richard Rhodes' book, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, which won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction, was a primary source for the film and Rhodes had just written Nuclear Renewal, making the case for a revival of the technology. Rhodes and Newman both lived in Connecticut and became social friends. Over the course of the next few years, the two men discussed nuclear power and Newman gradually became a convert to the technology. Through Rhodes, Newman met Denis Beller, a professor of engineering at the University of Nevada, who is also an expert on nuclear energy. "In all the meetings I had with Paul Newman, he struck me as very open-minded and inquisitive," says Beller. "He came out to Nevada in 2002 and visited the Harry Reid Centre for Environmental Studies, where several faculty members showed him research on the transmutation of nuclear waste. "They also discussed why ideas like launching nuclear waste into the sun were not really practical. The visit ended with a trip to Yucca Mountain where Kevin Phillips, the mayor of neighboring Caliente, whose front porch is only 50 yards from the rail line where waste would be transported, told Newman he was not opposed to the project. "He came out to Nevada in 2002 and visited the Harry Reid Centre for Environmental Studies, where several faculty members showed him research on the transmutation of nuclear waste. "They also discussed why ideas like launching nuclear waste into the sun were not really practical. The visit ended with a trip to Yucca Mountain where Kevin Phillips, the mayor of neighboring Caliente, whose front porch is only 50 yards from the rail line where waste would be transported, told Newman he was not opposed to the project. "Later he told me, 'That's the most impressive thing I've seen.'" (Telegraph.co.uk)
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