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1. Car Bombs in Iran Kill Nuclear Scientist
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Two explosions in Tehran Monday morning killed one nuclear scientist
and seriously wounded another. Both were university lecturers and worked
on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Both men, and their wives, who also were wounded, were attacked shortly
before 8 a.m. as they drove to work. Iranian media said that the
assassinations were carried out by motorcyclists who placed a bomb in or
next to the cars and then shot at the passengers.
Pictures on Iranian television show evidence of gunshots but not of
bomb explosions. One of the cars was identified as a Peugeot, model 206.
The semi-official Iranian Fars News Agency accused the United States
and “Zionists,” meaning Israel, as being behind the assassinations.
Iranian media also quoted an analyst who said the method of using
motorcyclists is a “known Israeli system.”
Iran’s state television reported, “In a criminal terrorist act, the
agents of the Zionist regime attacked two prominent university
professors who were on their way to work.” It identified the scientists
as Dr. Majid Shahriari, who was killed, and Dr. Fereydoon Abbasi.
Dr. Shahriari was a member of the nuclear engineering department of
Shahid Beheshti University and Dr. Abbasi worked on nuclear research at
the Iranian defense ministry.
Assassinations are rare in Tehran, where the secret police ands the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are ever-present.
Another Iranian nuclear scientist was killed nearly a year ago,
reportedly by a bomb that was planted on a motorcycle. Previous
“accidents,” along with the Stuxnet virus, have been attributed to Israel.
The explosions occurred hours after the WikiLeaks report
report that Israel has advised the United States to topple the Iranian
regime and that Saudi Arabia asked the American government to attack
Iran in order to stop Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from
continuing his program to develop and manufacture nuclear weapons.
He has denied the charges, saying that the nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.
2. WikiLeaks: Good for Israel
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Initial reactions from Israeli officials show that the WikiLeaks revelations were good for Israel and did not damage national security.
“If anything, the leaks were positive and did not damage Israel’s image
at all,” former National Security Adviser Giora Eiland told Voice of
Israel government radio Sunday morning. “There was no contradiction
between what Israel has said in public and in private. Several events
happened as Israel said they would,” such as Syria’s building a nuclear
site.
Eiland added, “What was said in discretion now is formally known. It is
no secret that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu thinks [Iranian
President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad is another Hitler, and it is no secret
that the Mossad advises the United States that his regime should be
toppled.”
The leaked diplomatic cables mostly disclosed comments by American
officials that at worst are unpleasantly embarrassing but not damaging,
according to Eiland. U.S. diplomats often described foreign officials in
derogatory terms, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy being called
the “naked emperor” while he labeled Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as
"crazy" in talks with top U.S. officials.
Eiland added that the United States has a problem with Israel on leaks
that come from Israeli governments. “We always have had problems
explaining to the United States why there are leaks here,” Eiland said.
“American often told us that there is no need to listen to us because
everything we have to say already has been published in Israeli
newspapers.”
Concerning Iran, he stated, “There is no contradiction between what Israel told the United States and what was leaked.”
He emphasized that there are few secrets in the diplomatic cables
exposed by WikiLeaks, pointing out that everyone knows that Saudi Arabia
funds Hamas and that Saudi Arabia is worried about the Iranian threat.
The leaked cables are hard evidence that the American and other
governments are just as worried about Iran as is Israel and view several
Middle East countries with trepidation even more than Israel. The
documents also show that Israel is well-respected as a source for the
United States.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said, "There's nothing to get
excited about… As someone who knows Israel-US relations from up close, I
can say that our joint interests are the basis of the relationship, and
not small issues here and there. No document can damage our friendship
with the United States."
The only major revelations in the WikiLeaks reports that raised
questions about Israel were warnings from Jerusalem that Iran might have
a nuclear weapon as early as several years ago. One cable revealed that
U.S. officials said Israel’s warnings should be “taken with a grain of
salt.”
On the other hand, the leaked cables clearly showed that Egypt consider
a nuclear Iran as the world’s biggest threat, with Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak reportedly telling a U.S. official that a nuclear Iran
would be the greatest threat since the Cuban missile crisis nearly 50
years ago.
Saudi leaders called Iran "evil," and King Abdullah said the United
States should attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program and “cut off
the head of the snake.”
3. WikiLeaks: Iran’s Supreme Ruler has Terminal Cancer
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has terminal cancer, according to a document exposed by WikiLeaks document reports. His death could cause an upheaval in the Islamic Republic
Rumors that Khamenei has cancer have circulated since 2009, but a
WikiLeaks document, quoted by the French daily LeMonde, revealed a
diplomatic cable to the United States.
The cable is based on a report from a businessman – not from Iran – who
learned of the Ayatollah’s disease from a contact in Iran. It was
dated August 2009, when reports based on rumors stated that Khamenei
collapsed, was taken to his special clinic, and that no one except his
son and the doctors were allowed to visit.
However, expectations that he would die in several months, as indicated the leaked cable, were not fulfilled.
The death of the supreme Muslim ruler, who is superior to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, could spark an uprising against the Iranian regime - a scenario that Israel and the United States have been hoping for.
One blog on Iranian.com reported last year that billions of dollars
were moved to Turkey to ensure the funds would be available to Khameni's
family in case they have to flee Iran in the face of a revolution.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards and riot police violently subdued
a growing street revolution in June 2009, when Ahmadinejad won
re-election in voting whose results were widely considered to be
fraudulent.
The source for the WikiLeaks report also told U.S. officials that
former president Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, a leading critic of Ahmadinejad,
was preparing himself to be a successor.
4. WikiLeaks: Israel Discussed War on Hamas with Abbas and Egypt
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Israel consulted with Egypt and Abbas before the Cast Lead campaign against Hamas, WikiLeaks
revealed. Documents also show that North Korea armed Iran, Iranian
Revolutionary Guards smuggled arms to Hizbullah in ambulances, and
Israel warned the United States 17 years ago that Iran would develop a
nuclear weapon.
Most of the documents simply confirm reports previously published in
media by unidentified sources, but the significance of the leaked cables
is that they offer hard evidence.
It is generally assumed that Egypt and the Palestinian Authority,
headed by Mahmoud Abbas, would be happy with any Israeli action that
would weaken Hamas, despite their public statements against IDF
counterterrorist actions. Hamas took over control of Gaza from Abbas’
Fatah movement three years ago in a bloody militia coup that embarrassed
the Palestinian Authority and the United States, which trained Fatah
armed forces.
During the three-week Operation Cast Lead war against Hamas two years
ago, Abbas was uncharacteristically silent, and the WikiLeaks documents
explain why.
In telegrams to U.S. deputy ambassador Luis Moreni, Defense Minister
Ehud Barak “explained that the GOI [government of Israel] had consulted
with Egypt and Fatah prior to Operation Cast Lead, asking if they were
willing to assume control of Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas.”
Barak added that the answers were “not surprisingly” in the negative.
The crowded and poor Gaza region has been considered an unwanted area
even before the Six-Day War in 1967 when it was part of Egypt, which
happily refused offers to take it back.
The North Korean-Iranian connection also has been known, and North
Korean’s link with the Iranian axis was proven three years ago when
Israel bombed a Syrian nuclear facility being built with North Korea's
help. However, the WikiLeaks documents exposed a diplomatic cable from
last February that Iran bought acquired 19 advanced North Korean
missiles that were manufactured using Russian-based technology.
The Obama government then realized the accuracy of Israel’s warnings
that Iran had far more advanced weapons than previously assumed.
The terrorist organizations' known use of ambulances and medical
supplies to camouflage weapons, in violation of the Geneva Convention,
was also proven by WikiLeaks. Red Crescent ambulances smuggled weapons
into Lebanon for Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War four years ago.
Israel previously has provided evidence that Hamas used the same
technique in Gaza and that the Palestinian Authority smuggled suicide
terrorists on ambulances during the Oslo War, also known as the Second
Intifada, which began in 2000.
5. WikiLeaks: Ahmadinejad Is Hitler
by Maayana Miskin and Elad Benari
United States diplomats' criticism of foreign leaders was made public
Sunday as the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel published some details
of the WikiLeaks trove of U.S. diplomatic cables. The magazine was
accidently released too early, and while it was quickly pulled from the
stands, readers who had obtained copies posted some of the content
online.
The leaked documents showed criticism of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, who was compared in one case to Hitler, readers reported.
Ahmadinejad is unpopular with Arab leaders as well as with the Western
world, the files suggest, with leaders in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and
Egypt terming him “evil” and an “existential threat.”
However, the files also show that U.S. leaders have ignored Israel's
warnings regarding Iran's nuclear capabilities. When Prime Minister
Netanyahu warned that Iran was months away from constructing nuclear
weapons, U.S. leaders dismissed his report as a ploy.
Other WikiLeaks documents published by Britain's The Guardian indicate
that Mossad Israeli intelligence chief Meir Dagan tried to convince a
senior United States official to overthrow the regime in Iran with the
help of local groups.
In an August 2007 memorandum, Dagan gave Undersecretary of State
Nicholas Barnes details of five focal points regarding Iran, including
recruiting student groups to instigate a revolt against the regime of
the Islamic Republic. Dagan said during that meeting that more must be
done to agitate the surface in order to overthrow the Iranian regime,
and if possible to enlist the support of student organizations that
support democracy.
The leaked documents also include criticism of Afghan President Hamid
Karzai, who is said to be “driven by paranoia,” of President Nicolas
Sarkozy of France, who is called a “naked emperor,” and of Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev, who is termed “hesitant.”
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said that the full content of the
leaked diplomatic files will be bigger than the files leaked on the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Officials in the U.S. and elsewhere have called on Assange and
WikiLeaks to back down on the planned expose, saying that the release of
the files could have serious repercussions and could even endanger
lives. Assange has dismissed their fears as an attempt to avoid being
held to account.
6. Driest November Since '62 Unites Secular & Religious in Prayer
by Hillel Fendel
The sore lack of rain this winter has united the religious and secular populaces in public prayers for water.
Public
prayer services for rain have been called throughout the country in
recent weeks, with increasingly growing participation. For instance, in
the traditionally anti-religious kibbutz Givat Brenner near Rehovot,
dozens of secular farmers took part in prayers and shofar-sounding for
rain last week.
The Givat Brenner event was organized by Ayelet
HaShachar (Morning Star), an organization dedicated to giving a taste
of religious Judaism to non-religious kibbutzim and moshavim around the
country. The organization also sponsored similar prayers in Kibbutz Ein
Harod last Wednesday, followed the next day by prayers on a boat in the
middle of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).
The Kinneret is
currently 214.07 meters below sea level – 107 centimeters lower than the
forbidden “red line,” and only 80 centimeters above the even more
forbidden “black line.” It has lost 20 centimeters in height over the
past month, which has been the driest in Israel in the past 48 years.
This marks the seventh consecutive year of near-drought conditions.
Chief
Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar have called a day of fasting and
prayers, the second time this month. A massive prayer service is called
for 3:30 PM today at the Western Wall, and individual synagogues will
hold their own special prayer services.
Prayers have been held
in schools around the country as well. In Ramat Gan today, for instance,
Rabbis Shmuel Artziel and Yisrael Amitai led over 100 students,
teachers and even parents in special prayers in the yard of the Moreshet
Moshe school. It was also announced that special rain prayers were to
be held in the 85 schools of the Amit network around the country.
Barring
Divine intervention, no rain is expected for at least the coming week,
and possibly even two. A winter system is said to be making its way
slowly over from Europe, where it is manifest in record low temperatures
and snow, but it will apparently take two weeks to arrive.
7. New Rep. Congress Emboldens Netanyahu
by INN Staff
The new Republican-led Congress will be more pro-Israel – but it might not be manifest in foreign aid.
The
incoming majority leader of the House, for instance, will be Rep. Eric
Cantor of Virginia, a staunch pro-Israel lawmaker, and the incoming
House speaker-designate is Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, who has
outspokenly criticized the Obama Administration for pressuring Israel
regarding construction in Judea and Samaria.
On the other hand,
as The New York Times has reported, newly-elected senator from Kentucky,
Rand Paul, with isolationist, Tea Party tendencies, bluntly told AIPAC
(the influential American Israeli Public Affairs Committee lobbying
group) that they were "going to disagree about the need for foreign aid"
to Israel.
The Times reported that the Israeli government was
viewed by some as one of the big winners of the midterm elections. “The
administration has to take into account that Israel now has a friendlier
forum,” Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation
League, told the Times. “It will therefore think carefully about doing
things.”
In addition, an up-and-coming Tea Party star, new
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Baptist, celebrated his election victory
with a personal trip to Israel; he is planning an official visit after
he takes office.
The Times provided two examples of the
emboldening of Netanyahu caused by the recent elections. In his visit to
the U.S. earlier this month, Netanyahu delivered a speech calling on
Obama to harden his policy toward Iran, because, he said, “containment
will not work.” The Americans rejected this approach, with Defense
Secretary Robert Gates announcing, “We are prepared to do what is
necessary, but at this point we continue to believe that the
political-economic approach that we taking is in fact having an impact
in Iran.”
Additionally, the prime minister responded sharply
after Obama criticized Jewish housing projects in parts of Israel’s
capital, Jerusalem. “Jerusalem is not a settlement,” his office
announced. “Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel. Israel
never took upon itself any limitations on construction in Jerusalem.”
8. Dutch Issue Arrest Warrant for Escaped Nazi
by Elad Benari
Dutch authorities are asking Germany to extradite a former SS volunteer
who faces a death sentence in Holland dated 1947, The Irish Times
reported on Sunday.
Authorities in The Hague have confirmed that a European arrest warrant
for has been issued for Klaas Carel Faber, now 88, who served in a
firing squad at the Westerbork transit camp during World War II, the
same camp from which Anne Frank and her family were transferred to
Auschwitz.
Faber along with his brother Pieter were dubbed by a Dutch court after
the war as “two of the worst criminals of the SS”. While Pieter was
executed in 1948, Klaas Faber escaped to Germany with in 1952 and
settled in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt.
A German court acquitted Faber of any wrongdoing in 1952, and several
Dutch attempts to extradite him since have failed. He received German
citizenship in 1952 under a Nazi-era law which granted citizenship to
foreign Nazi collaborators.
The latest extradition request is the third one, but while a Bavarian
justice official was quoted by The Irish Times as saying the new request
would be considered, he added that “as far as I know, there is nothing
new”.
Faber is number five on the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s list of wanted
Nazis. The center has called on Germany to extradite him due to his
being a member of the Sonderkommando Feldmeijer execution squad, which
executed members of the Dutch resistance, Nazi opponents and those
hiding Jews.
The Sun, a tabloid which claims to have exposed Faber’s whereabouts in
July, quoted Dr. Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center as
saying about the arrest warrant for Faber: “It is fantastic news and a
hugely significant step. We urge the German authorities to arrest Faber
immediately so he can finally serve his well-deserved punishment.”
In August, Bavarian authorities reported that Faber’s case was unlikely to be re-opened,
despite a request by Israeli Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to his
German counterpart, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, asking to see if
Faber’s case can be re-examined. A spokesman for the Bavarian justice
ministry had said then that there was only a “theoretical” chance of
re-opening investigations into the case. The local justice ministry was
quoted as saying that “new facts not known until now” would be required
in order to re-open the case.
Israeli lawyer David Schonberg was quoted by The Sun on Friday as
saying: “Justice needs to be done. We owe it to the victims - heroes of
Holland who tried to combat the evils of Nazism.”
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