New intelligence shows Iran closer than ever to a bomb
(JNS.org) The UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has received new and significant intelligence over the past month indicating that Iran is closer than ever to having the ability to build a nuclear weapon, The Associated Press (AP) reported, citing diplomatic sources.
The diplomatic sources say the intelligence, gathered from the U.S., Israel and at least two other Western countries, shows that Iran has advanced its work on calculating the destructive power of an atomic warhead through a series of computer models that it ran sometime within the past three years.
Nuclear experts state that computer modeling is a key component of an advanced weapons program. “You want to have a theoretical understanding of the working of a nuclear weapon that is then related to the experiments you do on the various components,” said David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security, a frequent source for the U.S. government on Iran.
The computer models “typically assess how high explosives compress fissile warhead material, setting off the chain reaction that results in a nuclear explosion,” the AP report said.
Such computer-run modeling is “critical to the development of a nuclear weapon,” Albright added.
The latest intelligence may help bolster Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s case for stronger “red lines” to be set for Iran.
*
Hamas-Egypt ties continue to grow
(JNS.org) Egypt has agreed to allow Hamas to open a diplomatic mission in Cairo, according to Yedioth Ahronoth, which cited a report in Al-Hayat.
The latest understanding between Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Egypt reflects the growing cooperation between the two Islamist groups. According to the report, Hamas and Egypt have reached various security understandings such as Hamas handing over the terrorists involved in the Rafah attack that killed 16 Egyptians last month. The two sides will also discuss the possibility of opening a free trade zone at an upcoming meeting.
In a recent op-ed in The New Republic, Middle East expert Jonathan Schanzer viewed the growing ties with Egypt as part of an effort by Hamas to eventually declare independence for Gaza.
“It’s no secret that Hamas, has long considered exchanging its underground smuggling tunnels to Egypt for a policy of above-board trade. What has only recently begun to register is that Hamas may be contemplating a bolder political gambit still: Cutting its financial ties to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank, in preparations for declaring full independence on behalf of Gaza,” Schanzer wrote.
*
Middle East could turn into ‘One Islamic caliphate,’ Israeli minister warns
(JNS.org) The Middle East may one day turn into “one Islamic caliphate,” Israeli Homefront Defense Minister Avi Dichter said on Monday at a conference of the International Institute for Counterterrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel Hayom reported.
“The Arab world, especially our neighbors, has embarked on a long journey which will end in the Middle East becoming a bloc of countries controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, and could even turn into one Islamic caliphate,” Dichter said.
He also said that Arab and Western intelligence agencies failed to predict the events of the Arab Spring.
“The theory that the Muslim Brotherhood cannot launch a revolution proved to be false,” Dichter said. “The Muslim Brotherhood adopted a strategy of taking over states, and that was the big surprise. We all put together intelligence pictures and forecasts based on what Arab intelligence and security agencies saw. But when they misread [the situation], all those who fed off their information were equally mistaken. Arab intelligence agencies failed at understanding what was happening beneath the surface and Western intelligence bodies received rotting fruits from trees that were dying.”
*
NY conference highlights the reliability of investing in Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel is a solid investment, despite the many challenges it faces, Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told the “Innovate. Invest. Israel.” conference in New York on Monday.
The one-day conference, organized by the Israeli Finance Ministry, together with The Wall Street Journal, Barrons and the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry, hosted dozens of business leaders and economists from across the U.S. and Israel.
“No other country got such an offer from The Wall Street Journal, and there is no country in the world that would not want such exposure,” Steinitz told Israel Hayom after the conference.
The conference brought together world economic decision makers, officials of firms invested in Israel, private equity owners and venture capitalists, as well as global financial institutes and chief analysts. Among the keynote speakers were News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, Citigroup Inc. Vice Chairman Lewis B. Kaden, Better Place founder Shai Agassi, and Nobel Prize laureate economist Daniel Kahneman.
Steinitz told the conference that Israel was known as a country that bounces back quickly after crises, and outlined the reasons it was a good investment: “First of all, we have the best human capital—Israelis always think outside the box, and therefore Israel is first in the world in start-ups per capita. Government incentives—corporate taxes for exports for firms in the Tel Aviv region are 12 percent and in the periphery they might be as low as 5 percent, which is the lowest tax rate in the modern world. The government constantly provides benefits to encourage exports. In addition, the Israeli economy keeps its macro-economic framework stable, which generates more investments in the country.”
*
Unholy sermon: Ahmadinejad expected to speak at UN on Yom Kippur
JNS.org
.(JNS.org) The holiest day of the Jewish calendar could see one of the Jewish state’s most vocal opponents thrust into international spotlight.
On the fast day of Yom Kippur Sept. 26, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is likely to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Israel National News reported.
Last month, Ahmadinejad continued his pattern of anti-Israel rants by telling ambassadors from Muslim countries in advance of Quds Day—an Iranian display of solidarity for Palestinians—that “those who love freedom and justice must strive for the annihilation of the Zionist regime to make the world more just and free.”
“For 400 years the revolting Zionist tribe has been controlling the world’s affairs and pulling strings behind the scenes in politics, the media, and the financial sphere,” Ahmadinejad said, according to the IRNA news agency.
West Bank Jewish community attacked by PA Arabs
(JNS.org) The Jewish village of Esh Kodesh in the West Bank suffered attacks from hundreds of Arabs from Palestinian Authority-controlled territory last weekend, Tatzpit reported. Jewish residents said a large group of Arabs from the PA town of Kotzra assaulted them with clubs and sticks.
“Children in the village are crying,” community spokesman Aharon Katzuf said on Saturday, according to Israel National News. “They can’t sleep because of the screams of ‘Yitbach al Yahud’ [Slaughter the Jews – ed.] and ‘Allahu Akbar.’”
Rick Moran, writing for American Thinker, noted that Esh Kodesh has been the site of prior Arab attacks and said he believed the Palestinian Authority “either organized the attack or stood by and did nothing while it was being carried out.”