Netanyahu: 'Dark Days Ahead'JERUSALEM, Israel - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said difficult days lie ahead for the Jewish state.
"Dark forces from the Middle Ages are raging against us," Netanyahu told a Likud faction meeting on Monday.
"The [Turkish-led] Gaza flotilla was not a one-time thing. We find ourselves in the midst of a difficult and continuous battle against the State of Israel. The flood is being led by Israel's enemies all over the world," he said, people who are trying "to revoke Israel's right to defend itself, as well as the rights of IDF soldiers to protect their own lives."
According to Hamas, new flotilla initiatives are underway in Lebanon, Sudan, Iran, Britain, Germany, Norway, and Turkey. They're anticipating at least 10 more flotillas between now and October.
By the weekend, two more flotillas may attempt to break the Gaza naval blockade.
Iran is sending two ships this week. The first, which set sail on Monday, will make a stop in Istanbul, and the second will sail directly from Iran to Gaza.
"The ship is named "Toward Gaza" and will be dispatched to the region from Bandar Abbas ," Deputy Chief of the Iranian Society for Defending Palestinian Rights Mohammad Ali Nourani told the Fars News Agency on Monday.
"They will confiscate our ship or martyr our people at most. Otherwise, the ship will reach Gaza safely and the humanitarian aid will be delivered to the people there. Either way, we will be the winner," Nourani said.
On Monday, Egypt approved the entry of Iranian parliamentarians into Gaza.
Yasser Kashlak, head of the Lebanese-based Free Palestine Movement, said the two-vessel flotilla he is organizing is not connected to any terrorist group.
"There is no connection between my boats and Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran," Kashlak said. "Israel's threat to use force against the two vessels will not prevent us from achieving our legitimate goal, which is to break the savage Israeli blockade on Gaza," he said.
"Israel's claim that the two vessels belong to Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas is a cheap attempt to distort the facts and is merely an excuse to attack the boats and kill the activists on board," Kashlak said.
At a press conference 10 days ago in Beirut, the Free Palestine Movement and Reporters without Borders called on "anyone who sees himself as a free man" to sail with them on the Naji el-Ali "to break the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip."
"The ship will leave the Beirut coast on the weekend with 50 journalists and 25 European activists aboard…and several European parliament members," a spokesman for Reporters without Borders said.
The second vessel, the Miryam, is said to be carrying medicines and humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday morning that "a port in Gaza would pose a major security threat to Israel."
"There is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip," Diskin said. The problem is not "a loosening of trade restrictions from Israel to Gaza," he said. "The smuggling that endangers Israeli security is coming from the tunnels in the Sinai," Diskin said.
The Shin Bet chief said Hamas and Islamic Jihad have accrued about 5,000 medium-range rockets, some of which can reach Tel Aviv.
YNet news contributed to this report.
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Ireland expels Israeli diplomat
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS
06/15/2010 15:03
Investigation concludes Israel responsible for forged passports used.
Ireland expelled an Israeli diplomat on Tuesday, in reaction to the Dubai assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January.
The move was an expression of displeasure by the Irish government over the use of forged Irish and other countries' passports in the suspected Mossad hit.
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Israeli officials had expressed hope in March in the aftermath of the assassination that Ireland would not follow Britain's lead and expel Israeli diplomats.
Israel has refused to confirm or deny its agents' involvement, though Dubai officials say assassins using 32 fake passports participated in the hit squad.
Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said Tuesday his government was expelling one member of Israel's embassy staff in Dublin after an investigation reached "the inescapable conclusion that an Israeli government agency was responsible."
Martin said that the unnamed official was not being specifically blamed for forging passports.
Eight Irish passports were allegedly used by the presumed hit squad that killed Mabhouh.
Herb Keinon contributed to this report
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'Jordan seeks to be nuclear power'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
06/15/2010 11:55
Abdullah tells 'Wall Street Journal' Israel trying to sabotage deals.
Jordan is set on becoming the Middle East's newest nuclear power, Jordanian King Abdullah told the Wall Street Journal in an interview over the weekend.
In the interview, King Abdullah accused Israel of pressuring countries like South Korea and France not to provide nuclear technology to Jordan. He said Israel's "underhanded" actions had helped bring Jordan-Israeli relations to their lowest point since a 1994 peace agreement.
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"There are countries, Israel in particular, that are more worried about us being economically independent than the issue of nuclear energy, and have been voicing their concerns," King Abdullah stated. "There are many such reactors in the world and a lot more coming, so go mind their own business."
Large deposits of uranium were found in Jordan and the government is eager to develop these energy resources to increase its independence from oil imports.
The US, on the other hand, would like Amman to commit to importing its nuclear fuel to prevent the possibility of any uranium being diverted for military purposes.
Under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that Jordan has signed, Amman retains the right to produce its own uranium fuel.
In a seeming reference to Iran's contentious nuclear program, King Abdullah advocated an open approach to Jordanian nuclear development to assuage international security concerns.
"I believe nuclear energy in Jordan will be done in such a way where it is a public-private partnership so everyone can see exactly what's going on," Abdullah said in the interview. "If we can be the model of transparency, it will push others."
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Security Chief: Hamas Still Smuggling, Can Strike Tel Aviv
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyah
Terrorists in the de facto Hamas government continue to smuggle weapons into Gaza, and possess 5,000 medium-range rockets with a range of 25 miles, including several that can bomb Tel Aviv, security chief Yuval Diskin said Tuesday.
Speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Diskin warned that lifting the maritime embargo on Hamas would "be a huge security breach." Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu already has rejected a proposal by the Quartet's Middle East envoy Tony Blair that Israel allow aid to reach Gaza by sea after it is inspected at Cyprus.
Diskin also informed the committee that 80 percent of the Gaza rockets, or about 4,000, are in the hands of Hamas, while the remainder are scattered among the Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups.
"Hamas also possesses several rockets that can reach central Israel," meaning metropolitan Tel Aviv, he added. During last year's Cast Lead war against the Hamas terrorist infrastructure, missiles exploded as far north as Ashdod, several miles from Tel Aviv's suburban communities.
Diskin said that although there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, an easing of the blockade could be implemented in order to allow the supervised transfer of a wider variety of goods and merchandise.
The flotilla clash two weeks ago has resulted in unprecedented international pressure on Israel to end the embargo, placed into effect three years after Hamas wrestled power from the rival Fatah faction in a deadly militia war. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
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NATO Watches Syria Smuggle Weapons to Hizbullah
by Hana Levi Julian
NATO submarines have been watching the Syrian coastline and searching for ships suspected of smuggling weapons to terrorist organizations - among them, Hizbullah in Lebanon.
As part of the body's Active Endeavor anti-terrorist operation, the Spanish submarine Sirocco S-72 snapped a photo of a ship sailing from the Syrian port of Tartus on March 2, bearing dozens of military vehicles. The ship's flag, and its destination, were deemed classified information, and are not available to the media.
However, the Defence Forum of India noted that it took less than a month for Israel's President Shimon Peres to announce to reporters that Syria had transferred Scud missiles to Hizbullah.
That message, noted the report, was quickly followed up by one from King Abdullah II of Jordan, who began to talk of the "high risk" of a looming conflict in the region.
Last month the British newspaper The Times claimed to have access to satellite images showing a Hizbullah complex near the Syrian town of Adra, northwest of Damascus. The images allegedly revealed shelters, weapons and a fleet of trucks, presumably to be used for transfer.
Israeli intelligence sources have maintained for more than a year that Hizbullah has rearmed its weapons stockpile to levels significantly higher than the group possessed prior to the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The weapons allegedly are being sent to the group from Iran, through Syria, and are also being supplied by Damascus as well.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) warned from the outset, when the Second Lebanese War ceasefire Resolution 1703 was signed, that it could not enforce the document, which calls for the disarmament of Hizbullah and any other "foreign armed force" in Lebanon. The document also stipulated that UNIFIL was to ensure that no arms were smuggled in to Hizbullah.
Syria has repeatedly denied that it has transferred weapons to the terrorist organization - but Israeli military intelligence has continued to emphasize the group is receiving Scud missiles and Syrian-made M-600 mid-range missiles from Damascus.
The M-600 is an improved version of the Iranian Fatah-110 missile, carrying a 1,000-pound warhead. It is fitted with a GPS-aided inertial navigation, upgrading it from a simple terrorist weapon to an outright military threat. Moreover, because it is solid-fueled, it can be fired without preparation, as opposed to the Scud missile, which must be protected from air strikes during fueling because it requires liquid fuel.
According to an article published in the May 17 issue of Aviation Week, the latest Syrian variant of the Scud missile is equipped with a 500-meter CEP (complex event processing) system - meaning that the missile can identify and proceed to the most meaningful target among thousands of possible options within a 500-meter range. The same article noted that the CEP of the M-600 was approximately 200 meters - nearly Scud class.
The ranges of both reportedly extend to at least 600 kilometers, enabling them to reach beyond Tel Aviv or Jerusalem from southern Lebanon.
Up to this point, Syria has operated the Hwasong-6 upgrade to the Scud-B. According to Jane's, the Hwasong-6, also known as the Scud-C, was developed by North Korea in 1984 as an improvement of the R-17 SS-1 Scud-B missile, which it had received from Egypt. Among the changes made by the North Koreans was an expansion of the missile's range from its original 300 kilometers to 500 kilometers.
A quiet discussion spotted recently between defense and military personnel on an Internet military aviation forum posed the question, "Has anyone even considered what it would take for Hizbullah to manage and launch such weapons?"
The writer went on to note that even though the terrorist group had "used that cruise missile a while back.... still, does anyone really think a third-world terrorist group has sufficiently trained personnel to handle such weapons? Methinks one will find more than a few Syrians, Iranians and North Koreans among the service personnel. And if that is true, why isn't a bigger fuss being raised over such support of terrorism?" (IsraelNationalNews.com)
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Iranian Speaker Larijani plans to reach Gaza-Israel border Saturday
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 14, 2010, 11:12 PM (GMT+02:00)
Aims to challenge Israel from Gaza border
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani and foreign affairs and security committee chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi are preparing an epic descent on the Gaza Strip next Saturday, June 19 and a tour of the Israeli border debkafile's Iranian sources reveal. Tehran has applied to Cairo for visas for 200 Iranian lawmakers, leaning hard on Cairo for its assent - up to and including President Hosni Mubarak.
Monday, June 14, Iran submitted a formal request for Egypt's permission to land an Iranian passenger plane at Cairo International Airport or at El Arish in northern Sinai, carrying this large parliamentary delegation and a consignment of food and medicines for Gaza
debkafile's intelligence sources note that if Cairo allows the delegation to enter Gaza, it would be the first time a high-ranking Revolutionary Iranian delegation was ever permitted to tour the Gazan-Israeli border under the eyes of IDF border positions. Larijani is planning to stand up at some point on the border fence, flanked by the enclave's Hamas rulers, and deliver a message of hate for Israel and support for the Palestinian Hamas extremists.
Tehran has another ulterior motive for grandstanding in this style. One is to steal the international limelight Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan attracted by his blockade-breaking flotilla of May 31 - and go one better. The scenario Larijani has scripted will take his flock of Iranian lawmakers right into the Gaza Strip and show themselves on the Israeli border as a provocative challenge for the Israeli patrols on the other side.
Meanwhile, the first Iranian aid ship for Gaza set sail from Khomanshahr Monday, with a second due to leave port Saturday.
To build up the pressure on Cairo to allow his visit, Larijani Monday instructed four Majlis members to set out for Egypt without delay to try and reach the Gaza Strip and prepare the delegation's grand tour - that is if they receive visas and permission from Cairo.
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Apparent major terrorist attack thwarted at big US base in Florida
DEBKAfile Special Report June 15, 2010, 8:26 AM (GMT+02:00)
The suspect sports vehicle searched at MacDill Air Force Base gate
Two heavily-armed individuals, a man and a woman, were stopped at the Bayshore Gate of MacDill Air Force Base outside Tampa, Florida early Tuesday, June 15. When searched by a robot, their sports utility vehicle was found packed with military-style uniforms, rifle-type weapons and ammo - but no explosives. Air Force spokeswoman, Elizabeth Gosselin said the pair was in custody and being questioned in what was described as an "on-base incident" indicating an attempted terrorist attack - without further details.
The US Central Command headed by Gen. David Petraeus runs the Afghanistan and Iraq war from this base, as well as well as Special Operations Command for the Middle East.
debkafile's counter-terror sources add: Had the couple gained entry to MacDill base,donned the uniforms and used the rifles they brought with them, they could potentially have carried out the biggest attack ever on a US military facility inside America.
Their names or information suggesting their identity have not been released as yet. The incident recalls the deadly attack in Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, in which a US army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Malik "AbdulWali" Hassan murdered 13 US servicemen in the name of jihad.
So stringent are security precautions at MacDill Air Force Base that a man involved in a violent altercation on May 19 was shot dead when he resisted arrest and tried to escape on a motor bike after being challenged to surrender. No more information about this incident was released excepting that it was not terror-related.
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'There is no West without Israel'
A group of respected former world leaders and academic figures came together in Paris earlier this month to establish the Friends of Israel initiative to combat what they called the "delegitimation of the State of Israel."
The group was led by former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and included Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former First Minister of Northern Ireland David Trimble, former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, Italian philosopher Marcelo Pear, British historian Andrew Roberts and former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton.
In a press release prior to the Paris event, the group expressed its outrage over the "unprecedented delegitimation campaign against Israel, driven by the enemies of the Jewish state and perversely assumed by numerous international authorities."
The Friends of Israel initiative differs from and compliments other pro-Israel movements because it "is promoted by people who are not Jewish and whose motivations are based on the deep conviction that Israel is part of the Western world. In fact, today Israel is a fundamental actor for the future of the West."
Aznar, Trimble, Bolton and the rest said that while they view the Israeli-Arab peace process as important, they believe disproportionate attention is being focused on it, while Islamic terror and a nuclear Iran are far greater threats to world peace and stability.
At the inaugural event in the French capital, the group stressed that it is not wrong to disagree with Israel, but that such disagreements over policy should never "be used as an excuse to question Israel's right to exist, its legitimacy or its national rights."
They concluded by declaring that "there is no West without Israel."
News of the initiative's launch was severely muted as it took place less than a day after Israel's raid on the Free Gaza "humanitarian aid" flotilla that was trying to break Israel's blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
David Trimble has since been named as one of two foreign observers on Israel's panel of inquiry into the flotilla raid
