Iran says it has ‘far more advanced’ technology than recent Hezbollah drone
(JNS.org) Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the Hezbollah drone recently shot down in Israeli airspace “was not Iran’s latest technology,” according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.
The Islamic Republic “currently possesses unmanned aircraft with technology that is far more advanced than the drone recently sent by Hezbollah forces to fly in the skies of the Zionist regime (Israel),” Vahidi said Sunday.
An Israeli warplane jet brought down the drone in the Hebron Hills, not far from the Jewish state’s nuclear reactor site at Dimona. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the drone would “not be the last.”
“We can reach any place we want,” Nasrallah said.
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Egyptian circus excludes women to avoid offending Gazans
(JNS.org) The Egyptian National Circus, which began a month-long visit to Gaza on Oct. 26, is putting on a show with no women due to fear over offending conservative Palestinians and Hamas, the Associated Press reported.
Businessman Mohammed Faris said a similar circus act he saw as a child in the 1950s did involve female acrobats, recalling “men and women, pretty women.”
However, Egyptian National Circus organizer Mohammed Silmi said the current circus was concerned Gazans would take offense to leaping women dressed in tights, and that Hamas requested the show abide by Gazan “traditions.”
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Al-Qaeda leader: Capture more hostages like Weinstein
(JNS.org) Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a video posted on jihadist websites, urged Muslims to take more hostages in the mold of 71-year-old Jewish American aid worker Warren Weinstein.
“God the great and almighty granted us success to capture the Jewish American Warren Weinstein,” al-Zawahiri said, Israel National News reported, citing the terror monitoring group SITE intelligence.
“We are seeking, by the help of God, to capture others and to incite Muslims to capture the citizens of the countries that are fighting Muslims in order to release our captives,” he said.
Weinstein has been held captive by al-Qaeda since August 2011 after being abducted from his home in Lahore, Pakistan. At the time of his capture, he had been working in Pakistan for several years as a director of J.E. Austin Associates, a U.S.-based development contractor that advises different Pakistani business and government sectors.
Al-Zawahiri also called on Egyptians to rise up against Israel “to participate in every protest against the Israeli Embassy, against the peace treaty with Israel, against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and against every siege of Gaza.”
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Schools in southern Israel closed as more Gaza rockets hit
(JNS.org) On Sunday morning, two rockets fired from Gaza exploded near the southern Israeli city of Beersheva, prompting the mayor to cancel school.
Fire continued overnight Sunday with more than 15 rockets exploding in Israeli communities bordering the Gaza Strip, with no injuries or damage to structures reported. Hamas’s military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam, took responsibility for the attacks. Despite the renewed hostilities, schools in Beersheva were open on Monday and operated as usual.
“In recent years, missiles were fired directly into educational facilities while they were empty. We are not protected, and as long as there is not full protection within the education system, I will put human life first,” said Mayor Ruvik Danilovich, according to Israel Hayom.
In response, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched an airstrike against a rocket launch squad in Gaza. According to Gaza officials, one terrorist was killed and another was wounded. The IDF later announced it had launched a second airstrike against a rocket-launching site. There were no reports of casualties.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also announced that the government will spend $70 million to provide additional rocket protection and fortification for a greater number of residents near Gaza.
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Sudan blames weapons factory explosion on Israel
(JNS.org) New evidence from satellite photos of a weapons factory in Sudan that the country alleges was bombed by Israel indicates that the site was hit by an airstrike, according to a U.S. monitoring group.
Pictures released by the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) showed six 16-meter wide craters near the epicenter of the explosion that occurred Oct. 24.
Military experts consulted by SSP found the craters to be “consistent with large impact craters created by air-delivered munitions,” SSP spokesman Jonathan Hutson told the Associated Press.
The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. However, Israeli officials have long noted that Sudan is a major transit site for weapons shipments from Iran to its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah as well as for al-Qaeda militants.
“[Sudan is] used as a base to disseminate terror, in Africa and in our direction too,” said Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has blamed Israel for the attack and promised retaliation.
“We will not sit idly by while Israel continues to attack us,” Bashir said over the weekend, “Sudan reserves the right to strike back at Israel,” he added.
This incident is not the first time Israel has been accused of military involvement in Sudan. In early 2009 Israel was suspected of carrying out three airstrikes against weapons convoys in Sudan. In 2011, Sudan blamed Israel for a missile strike in Port Sudan on a vehicle reportedly carrying a top Hamas arms trafficker.
Sudan has a long history of involvement in human rights abuses and terrorism. Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in Darfur. The Sudanese government also gave shelter to al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden during the 1990s. In 1998, the U.S. bombed a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum that had links to al-Qaeda.
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Ethiopian aliyah enters final stages
(JNS.org) Approximately 240 new immigrants were set to arrive at Israel’s David Ben-Gurion airport on Monday as part of a final effort to bring the remainder of Ethiopia’s Jewish community to Israel.
Dubbed “Operation Dove’s Wings,” Monday’s arrival is the first in a series of monthly flights carrying Ethiopia’s Falash Mura—some of the last remaining Jews in the country—that is expected to last until October 2013.
The immigrants will be greeted by a host of dignitaries, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky.
The immigrants are expected to be temporarily housed at the Jewish Agency’s Ibim Absorption Center in the Negev, which can hold up to 600 people at a time. Ibim is located in the Sha’ar Hanegev municipality, which has a sister relationship with the Jewish Federation of San Diego County.
The Falash Mura Jews descend from Ethiopian Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries. Their status as Jews under Israel’s Law of Return was a matter of controversy until a 2003 Israeli government ruling that accepted their eligibility.
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Petition to disqualify anti-Israel Arab Knesset member signed by 15,000
(JNS.org) A petition requesting that Israeli-Arab Member of Knesset Hanin Zoabi (National Democratic Assembly party) be banned from running in Israel’s January elections has been signed by 15,000 people, Israel Hayom reported.
Israel’s Central Elections Committee had received two requests to ban Zoabi and Ahmed Tibi of Raam-Ta’al party from vying for Knesset seats, according to the newspaper.
The petition to ban Zoabi—launched by Likud MK Danny Danon—was signed by her own cousin, Abu Daoud Zoabi, who said Oct. 25 that Hanin Zoabi “doesn’t represent us and is working from within the Knesset against the State of Israel.”
Abu Daoud noted that Hanin “opposes the state and since she represents the Palestinians in Ramallah, let her live there.” MK Ofir Akunis of Likud said Hanin should be disqualified because her stated goals “support armed struggle by a foreign nation or a terrorist organization against the State of Israel.”
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Iran installs 3,000 more centrifuges, works to trade oil with Asia to circumvent sanctions
(JNS.org) International intelligence officials say that Iran has installed nearly 3,000 centrifuges at a nuclear site called Fordo, located under a mountain and inside a military base near the holy city of Qum, the Washington Post reported.
Meanwhile, the Iranian government is seeking to overcome Western sanctions by growing closer to uninvolved Asian markets and by investing in renewable energy in order to reduce its reliance on oil. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been working to grow trade ties with countries such as Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.
“The Iranian economy is so strong that it could live without oil revenues. Our people could get accustomed to that, and I think that things will change in the near future,” Ahmadinejad said at a recent Pan-Asian summit in Kuwait, according to the Washington Times.
However, Turkmenistan recently canceled an oil contract with Iran and other central Asian countries are reevaluating their trade relationship with the country in the wake of the widening gulf between Iran and the West. “Iran has no choice but to turn to Asia for trade. But that, of course, will not solve Iran’s problem of selling its oil since the Central Asian countries, for the most part, do not need Iran’s oil,” said Sasan Fayazmanesh, an economic affairs expert and head of the Middle East Studies Program at California State University, Fresno.
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Negev named among world’s top 10 travel destinations for 2013
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s Negev Desert has been chosen by the Lonely Planet travel guide as one of the top 10 best regions in the world to visit in 2013.
The majestic southern desert ranked second on the popular guide’s top-10 list of travel destinations, under the title “Desert in throes of transformation.” The guide warns that the region is undergoing rapid development and urges travelers to hurry as “time is running out to experience the desert as nature intended.”
“For decades the Negev was regarded as nothing but a desolate desert,” the guide’s editors wrote. “But today, this region is a giant greenhouse of development. Think eco-villages, spa resorts and even wineries. In the next few years a new international airport at Timna is scheduled to open, followed by a high-speed railway to Eilat and more hotels.”
According to the Lonely Planet guide, “this region, comprising 62 percent of Israel’s land mass, may seem sparse but it offers a world of adventure, including mountain hikes, camel treks, 4WD desert drives and Red Sea diving. Yet perhaps the biggest secret of the Negev is Makhtesh Ramon, a crater-like wilderness, which feels like another planet.”
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UN Human Rights Council calls for Israel boycott
(JNS.org) The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) called for a boycott of companies doing business with Israel, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
An HRC report (http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/UN-Report-Sept-2012.pdf) to the UN General Assembly targeted Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, Veolia Environnement, Group 4 Security, the Dexia Group, and the Volvo Group. According to the report, “all companies that operate in or otherwise have dealings with Israeli settlements should be boycotted.”
“The costs to companies and businesses of failing to respect international humanitarian law are considerable, including damage to a company’s public image, impact on shareholder decisions and share price and could result in employees being criminally responsible for rights abuses,” the report says.
The report was issued by the HRC’s “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967,” Richard Falk. Last year, Falk posted an anti-Semitic cartoon on his blog.
The Obama administration decided to join the HRC in 2009 after the U.S. did not participate in that body’s activities during George W. Bush years.
The Israeli UN Mission said the report was “grossly biased.”
“Israel is deeply committed to advancing human rights and firmly believes that this cause will be better served without Falk and his distasteful sideshow,” said Karaen Peretz, spokeswoman for the Israeli Mission. “While he spends pages and pages attacking Israel, Falk fails to mention even once the horrific human rights violations and ongoing terrorist attacks by Hamas.”
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said Falk’s recommendations “do nothing to further a peaceful settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and indeed poison the environment for peace.”
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ADL blasts EU for ignoring Palestinian refusal to negotiate with Israel
(JNS.org) The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) blasted the European Union (EU) for foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s recent comment that Israel’s plans to build 800 new housing units in the Jerusalem Jewish neighborhood of Gilo “threaten to make a two-state solution impossible.” Ashton did not place any blame on the Palestinians.
“The European Union consistently ignores the Palestinian refusal to resume direct negotiations with Israel without preconditions,” Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, wrote in a letter to Ashton. “Considering the EU’s emphasis on the need for negotiations to put an end the conflict, we would hope that the EU would clearly and publicly say to the Palestinian Authority that its intransigence is unacceptable and that this type of conduct will not lead to a resolution of the conflict.”
Gilo is located beyond the 1949 Green Line in the southern portion of eastern Jerusalem, and was land won by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Some 40,000 Jews live there. Ashton said Oct. 19 she “deeply regrets” Israel’s plans to construct new housing there. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed Israel would not “impose any restrictions on housing projects in our capital.”
Foxman’s letter to Ashton noted that Israeli government policy does not distinguish between different parts of Jerusalem because it is Israel’s undivided capital. Ashton, however, had called Gilo a “settlement” that is “illegal under international law.”
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Netanyahu, Lieberman unify parties ahead of elections
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have announced that they are merging their respective parties—Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu, ahead of the January general elections.
“We are [facing] difficult challenges and it is time to unite [our] powers for the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “One ticket will strengthen the government, it will strengthen the prime minister, and it will strengthen the state.”
The formation of the new “mega-party” with Lieberman may raise concerns over the direction of Netanyahu’s leadership, especially on negotiations with the Palestinians, of which Lieberman has been critical. However, Netanyahu’s advisors quickly dismissed those reports.
“Netanyahu hopes that in his third term this will be possible,” the advisor said. “He is ready for a discussion of all the core issues with the Palestinians and is ready to engage with Abbas.”
Israel’s Opposition Leader Shaul Mofaz, who temporarily joined Netanyahu in a coalition last spring, was highly critical of the move and suggested that Israel’s left and centrist parties join together.
“This is a wake-up call for the entire center to unite and put ego aside,” Mofaz said.
A poll conducted by a Lieberman campaign advisor suggests that the new party could gain 51 seats in the new election; currently both parties hold a combined 42 seats.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org and reprinted with permission