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* Islam and Sex in the Afterlife <#post-2869>
* Has God Rejected Israel? <#post-2864>
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Islam and Sex in the Afterlife

<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/10/islam-and-sex-in-the-afterlife/>
October 10th, 2010
By James Zumwalt, www.HumanEvents.com
Islamic extremists quote the Koran to justify violence. They believe the
words in the Koran are not open to interpretation by man. As the words
are Allah’s, communicated to the Prophet Mohammed through the Archangel
Gabriel, they have only the meaning Allah—and not man—intended.
Yet many words and phrases in the Koran are open to interpretation due
to man’s imperfection in understanding Allah’s intent. Resolving this
interpretation is difficult, as no single authoritative, spiritual
leader exists for all Islam. While Muslims rely on the Koran for
spiritual guidance, a schism within Islam after Mohammed’s death left
Sunnis and Shias adhering to different beliefs and interpretations due
to these ambiguities.
But these ambiguities provide the vehicle by which Islamic extremists
issue their violent interpretations of Allah’s words. Lost upon
followers in accepting them is, in offering their interpretation, the
extremists violate their own basic tenet that the Koran’s words are
those of Allah alone. If, as Islamic extremists suggest, the Koran is
given Allah’s interpretation alone, upon what basis do they claim the
right to interpret Allah’s message?
It is interesting to examine an origin of modern day Islamic extremist
thinking, which, ironically, was triggered in the U.S. by an act of
kindness seeking to include a visiting Muslim scholar.
Egyptian educator Sayyid Qutb came to the U.S. in 1948 to study the
educational system. Invited to a church social dinner and dance, he
fumed as he watched women dancing suggestively close to their male
partners. A confirmed bachelor unable to find a woman of sufficient
“moral purity and discretion” to marry, Qutb—in an article very critical
of America’s immorality—recorded his observations: “The dance floor was
replete with tapping feet, enticing legs, arms wrapped around waists,
lips pressed to lips, and chests pressed to chests. The atmosphere was
full of desire.”
Qutb’s revulsion over America’s animalistic sexuality dominated many of
his later writings, which claimed only Islam offered salvation from the
West’s decay. Returning to Egypt in 1950, he went on to lead the
fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood—before being executed in 1966 for
plotting against the government. His writings and ideas ultimately were
an inspiration for Osama bin Laden, shaping al-Qaeda.
It is interesting to compare Qutb’s criticism of Western moral decay to
the debauchery of the afterlife the Koran promises loyal followers. What
Qutb witnessed in America was quite tame in comparison.
Mohammad Asghar is a former Muslim who left Islam only after coming to
understand its true teachings. In an interview with FrontPageMagazine a
few years ago, he shared insights, described in the Koran, as to what
believers and martyrs are told they can expect in Heaven’s “Gardens:”
/“Everything in the Gardens will be for the enjoyment of their
residents. In them, their male residents will have companions who will
provide them with immense pleasure without feeling shame… Bashful with
dark eyes and virgins … will provide them constant company and sex.
Those men who will not have interest in sex with the female Hurs
(maidens), Allah has made arrangement for them as well: they shall be
attended by boys graced with eternal youth… Allah will make them drunk,
so that they can serve their clients to their entire satisfaction… The
male residents of the Gardens and their virgin companions will be doing
only one thing: sex.”/
The wives of Muslim men who make it to Heaven, Asghar says,
/“will chase their husbands to satisfy their sexual needs. Orgies will
always take place in the Gardens. With their male residents’ desire for
sex always remaining present in them due to the presence in their midst
of, perhaps, naked Hurs, they will have nothing to do, but to have sex
with them with no barriers to shield their activity from the next
copulating man and Hur. Fathers will be having sex with the Hurs before
the eyes of their sons and daughters, and sons will be having sex with
the Hurs before their fathers and mothers… Muslims believe in every word
of the Koran, as it is from Allah. Many of them wish to die as martyrs
so that they can drink and have sex with the Hurs. Not to make them
wait, until the Day of Judgment, to enjoy the bliss He has promised to
Muslims, Allah transports the martyrs to the Garden as soon as they lay
down their lives in His cause.”
/
The Koran’s sex theme spills over to Hell and the fate of non-believers.
Asghar reports there is an interpretation that even sinners will have
sex “while burning in the fire of Hell.”
The Koran explains Allah uses deception, when necessary, to dupe
mankind. It would appear in preaching their violent interpretations of
the Koran, so too do Islamic extremists.
Posted in 2010-11 Nov Levitt Letter
<http://www.levitt.com/news/category/levitt-letters-expanded-articles/2010-11-no
v-levitt-letter/>,
Islam <http://www.levitt.com/news/category/islam/>, Levitt Letters
expanded articles
<http://www.levitt.com/news/category/levitt-letters-expanded-articles/>
| No Comments »
<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/10/islam-and-sex-in-the-afterlife/#respond>
Has God Rejected Israel?

<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/10/has-god-rejected-israel/>
October 10th, 2010
By Ludwig Schneider, /Israel Today/
There is only night or day. Everything else, whether dawn or twilight,
leans towards either day or night. The same thing applies to our
attitude toward Israel. We either bless Israel or we curse it (Numbers
24:9*Numbers 24:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Numbers+24%3A9>*
9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, As a lioness; who shall rouse him
up? Blessed be everyone who blesses you, Cursed be everyone who curses you.
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>). It is
not possible to be indifferent toward Israel.
In other words, there are just two camps. One teaches that God has
abandoned the nation of Israel and set up the Church in its place. This
is known as Replacement Theology. The other says that God will never
abandon His people Israel. Both camps cite the Bible, but the former
ignores the context.
For example, opponents of Israel refer to Jeremiah 7:29*Jeremiah 7:29
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Jeremiah+7%3A29>*
29 Cut off your hair, Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a
lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>: “The
Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.” The
rejection of Israel was an issue even in the prophet’s time, as God
bemoans in Jeremiah 33:23-24*Jeremiah 33:23-24
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Jeremiah+33%3A23-24>*
23 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, ^24 Don’t you consider
what this people has spoken, saying, The two families which Yahweh did
choose, he has cast them off? thus do they despise my people, that they
should be no more a nation before them.
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>: “Have
you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families
[Judah and Israel] which the Lord chose, He has rejected them?’”
Friends of Israel on the other hand quote Judges 2:1*Judges 2:1
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Judges+2%3A1>*
2 ^1 The angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, I made
you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I
swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you:
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>: “I
brought you…into the land (Israel) which I have sworn to your fathers;
and I said [or promised], ‘I will never break My covenant with you.’”
God confirms this in Jeremiah 31:37- 38*Jeremiah 31:37- 38
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Jeremiah+31%3A37-+38>*
Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se začne z ^1 ! Vrstica ^0 ne obstaja!
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>: “Thus
says the Lord, ‘If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations
of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the
offspring of Israel for all that they have done.’”
The Bible is full of promises from God that He will not reject His
people Israel, but also of warnings that He will reject Israel. Which is
right? What is relevant for the times we are living in now?
The answer is in the timing—whether God has rejected Israel temporarily
or permanently. The early Christians in Rome also had a problem with
this issue, for Paul responds to the question as to whether God has
rejected His people Israel with a clear, “May it never be!” (Romans
11:1*Romans 11:1
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Romans+11%3A1>*
11 ^1 I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I
also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>).
However, a few verses later, he writes that God has rejected His
covenant people for a limited time through the “partial” hardening of
their hearts. Why? So that during this period, salvation may come to the
gentiles (11:25-29).
This rejection, however, is temporary; it will only last “until the
fullness of the gentiles has come in”—i.e., until the full number of the
chosen gentiles has entered the Church of God. Then “all Israel will be
saved.” At that point, God’s permanent covenant with His people Israel
will be restored. The bottom line: When God speaks of His rejection of
Israel, this is only a temporary state.
Indeed, the “stone which the builders rejected has become the chief
cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22*Psalm 118:22
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Psalm+118%3A22>*
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>). While
Peter correctly interprets this as referring to Jesus (Acts 4:11*Acts 4:11
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Acts+4%3A11>*
11 He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the
builders, which has become the head of the corner.’
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>), it
also refers to the nation of Israel in the End Times.
Zechariah 8:23*Zechariah 8:23
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Zechariah+8%3A23>*
23 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: “In those days, ten men will take hold,
out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the
skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we have
heard that God is with you.’”
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/> clearly
indicates that the Jewish people have not been permanently rejected and
will still play a role in salvation history: “Thus says the Lord of
hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the
garment of a Jew[!] saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that
God is with you.”’” At this time Israel will move out of the state of
temporary rejection and will once again, in the sight of the whole
world, become God’s eternal covenant nation.
Whenever Israel was disobedient to God, He rejected His people for a
period of time—temporarily—in order to reinstate them after they had
repented. He has not rejected Israel forever, for “the Lord will not
abandon His people on account of His great name” (1 Samuel 12:22*1
Samuel 12:22
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=1+Samuel+12%3A22>*
22 For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake,
because it has pleased Yahweh to make you a people to himself.
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>).
The Lord also says: “I have chosen you and not rejected you” (Isaiah
41:9*Isaiah 41:9
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Isaiah+41%3A9>*
9 you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called
from the corners of it, and said to you, You are my servant, I have
chosen you and not cast you away;
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>); “Yet
in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not
reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My
covenant with them” (Leviticus 26:44*Leviticus 26:44
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Leviticus+26%3A44>*
44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will
not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and
to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God;
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>). Here
God confirms His eternal covenant with Israel, which was not annulled by
His temporary rejection of the nation.
This is why He is leading Israel back again into the Land of the
fathers; “and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I
have given them” (Amos 9:15*Amos 9:15
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=Amos+9%3A15>*
15 I will plant them on their land, And they will no more be plucked up
out of their land which I have given them,” says Yahweh your God.
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>). Just
as God keeps His oath regarding His people Israel, so He also keeps His
word to the Christian household of faith.
<http://www.levitt.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/pic-has-God-rejected-Isra
el.bmp>
PUTTING DOWN ROOTS: The Bible says Israel will never again be uprooted
from the Promised Land
v-levitt-letter/>,
Israel <http://www.levitt.com/news/category/israel/>, Levitt Letters
expanded articles
| No Comments »
<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/10/has-god-rejected-israel/#respond>
An Israeli Patriot: An Interview with Druze MK Ayoub Kara

<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/10/an-israeli-patriot-an-interview-with-
druze-mk-ayoub-kara/>
October 10th, 2010
By Sara Lehmann, www.JewishPress.com
<http://www.levitt.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/pic-Druze-MK-Ayoub-Kara.j
pg>
Druze MK Ayoub Kara
Non-Jews are no strangers to Israel’s policy of inclusivity in its

government. What is strange is finding a non-Jewish Knesset member (MK)
who is more Zionistic than most of his fellow parliamentarians. Ayoub
Kara, a Druze Likud Knesset minister, is proud to consider himself one
of the most right-wing members of the Knesset.
Kara, who was appointed deputy minister of the development of the Negev
and Galilee by Prime Minister Netanyahu, was first elected to the
Knesset in 1999. He was appointed Speaker of the Knesset, served as
chairman of the Committee on Foreign Workers and later as chairman of
the Anti-Drug Committee.
In a unique position to reach out to others, Kara spoke with the mufti
of Turkey following the flotilla incident in an effort to mend bridges.
He defended Israel as “the most humanitarian country in the Middle East”
and urged the mufti to preach brotherhood “because there are no winners
in war, and the way of peace and dialogue is preferable to the miseries
of war.”
Kara lives in the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel near Haifa with his
wife and five children.
*The Jewish Press: Can you explain the history and attitudes of the
Druze people?*
*Kara: *The Druze descend from Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Both
Jethro and Moses are prophets of the Druze, and we share the same book
of religion as the Jews. The Druze believe, through the prophet Jethro,
that the land of Israel is for the Jews and should be defended for the
Jews.
Around a hundred years ago, when the Jews wanted to make a state of
their own, the Druze helped them. They defended Jewish kibbutzim and
gave the Jews in the North guns. They even cooperated with the Druze in
Syria to support the Jews. There are around two million Druze in Israel
living in the North, in the Galilee, the Carmel, the Golan Heights, and
we serve in the Israeli army. Unlike the Palestinians, we have no
aspirations for our own state.
*Do Druze in other countries share the same beliefs regarding Israel?*
This is the philosophy of most Druze, but they’re scared to speak out
about it. The Druze are afraid of the Muslims. Privately they say they
share a historical religion with the Jews, but out loud most of the
Druze don’t speak like that. There is no democracy and free speech in
Arab countries and many of the Druze are pressured to convert to Islam.
In Israel it’s different because we have freedom to say we’re Druze, and
we even have a Druze flag next to the Israeli flag. We can’t do this in
Arab countries. I was in Lebanon and Syria, and I know how the Druze
there feel. They feel like outsiders and are scared of the Muslims.
*To what extent has your family been involved in Israel’s struggle for
survival? *
Before 1948, my grandfather helped the Jews and paid a big price. His
son, my uncle, was the first Druze to be killed by the Arabs in 1939. He
was an officer on the side of Chaim Weizmann, the first president of
Israel, and he was killed by Arabs in Acco [Acre] because they said that
he supported the Jews. My father fought with Tzahal (IDF) in 1948 in the
Galilee. Another uncle of mine was killed by Arabs at that time. And my
two brothers were killed in the Lebanon War in 1982 near Beirut.
I was also severely injured in the Lebanon War, and my parents died soon
after from heartbreak. I returned to my village near Haifa and started
my own family after that. I need peace. I don’t like war, but I speak
about my tragedy because it’s important to hear how my family paid such
a price to defend Israel. I believe the ultimate importance for me, more
than anything, is that I live in a democratic state with human rights.
In all the surrounding Arab countries there are no human rights, no
courts, no justice.
*You serve as deputy minister of the Galilee and Negev. What do you
consider the most significant challenges you face in these areas? *
The big problem in the Galilee and Negev is the migration of people from
these areas to the center of Israel. They move there to study and work
because we don’t have companies and business in the north and south to
provide work for the young people. And when they move to the center,
that means the Arabs gain in these areas. President Peres keeps talking
about demographics as the reason to give the Palestinians another state.
In the future a new Peres could come and say we have to give the Arabs
in the north and south another state. I am afraid of that because there
will be more Arabs than Jews.
*What efforts are you making to combat this problem?
*
I am trying to introduce new initiatives in the government. One is in
the area of education. We now offer soldiers who finish the army the
opportunity to study for free in the Galilee and Negev, and we’re also
building a big college for medicine in the Galilee. We are trying to
build new big roads for people to commute more quickly from the center
[of Israel]. We support companies who come to these areas and provide
incentives for them. We allowed Intel to open a big factory in the Negev
with many rights from the government. This is our opportunity to change
the demographics. If we don’t pursue this we will find ourselves with
more Arabs than Jews in these areas. In 1948 there were 20,000*re 20,000
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=re+20%2C000>*
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/> Bedouin
in the Negev. Now, with no immigration, there are 200,000*re 200,000
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se začne z ^1
! Vrstica ^0 ne obstaja!
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/> Bedouin.
*You spoke out very strongly against the Gaza Disengagement. Do you
think the Israeli public has learned anything from the results of that
withdrawal?*
I think the Jewish people are very naïve. I was against the withdrawal
from Lebanon and was alone in my opposition. I said that Hezbollah will
be motivated from this. In 1982 most of the public in Lebanon were more
liberal—Christian, Druze, and secular Muslims—and we were mostly at
peace with them. I told [then-prime minister Ehud] Barak that it was
important for us to support this group. But we withdrew quickly, and
Hezbollah gained power in this area as a result of the withdrawal.
The same thing happened when Sharon withdrew from Gaza. I led the
opposition to this plan in the government, but when I spoke out I was
accused of opposing peace and supporting war. I tried to stop the
Disengagement through the finance committee in the Knesset, but I was
told if I don’t agree with them they will throw me out of the
parliament. Now it’s different. More than 90 percent now understand that
what happened in Gush Katif and South Lebanon was a mistake. They know
that if there are any withdrawals in Yehudah and Shomron, the same thing
would happen and there would be an Iranian ascendancy in those areas.
But we have the Supreme Court and other liberals in Israel who think we
are negotiating with people who have the same mentality as Jews,
Europeans, or Americans. But in the Middle East, the Arabs tell you what
you want to hear and not what you have to hear. The Jews did not
understand this until now.
I don’t want Israel to make another mistake. This is my state. For me
the religion is not important—Druze, Jewish, or Christian. I am an
Israeli patriot.
*Yet you serve as a deputy minister in a Likud coalition whose prime
minister endorsed the two-state solution and is in direct talks with the
Palestinians. Do you see this as a contradiction? *
I support Netanyahu and am one of his close friends. I don’t think
Netanyahu would give up any land, but he’s realistic and knows he would
look bad to the world if he opposes Obama. Obama has an agenda to give a
state to the Palestinians. But he doesn’t live here. We do. When they
pushed us on Gush Katif, we gave them land; and when we were attacked
afterward, I didn’t see the U.S. come to defend us.
It’s very popular to say two states for two people, but when you speak
about this you have to have a partner and leadership to give them a
state. Who would lead this state? Abbas and Fayyad cannot cross the
border of Hebron. If there were an election in the West Bank, Hamas
would win. And Abbas and Fayyad don’t lead in Gaza. They are not
relevant there. If they crossed the border into Gaza, Hamas would kill
them. That’s why I laugh when they talk about two states.
In all history, there was never a Palestinian state. I don’t support the
two-state solution. We have to look at the Palestinians’ intentions.
Most of the Palestinians don’t believe Israel should exist. The state of
the Palestinians is Jordan. More than 90 percent of Jordan is
Palestinian. If they want us to go back to the 1967 borders, then Jordan
should lead the Palestinian cities in Judea and Samaria civilly, not in
defense, while Israel should [maintain its presence] in the big cities
and all the areas in between. And Egypt should retake control of Gaza.
We should end any relationship with Gaza. We don’t have any other
solution for Gaza. De facto, we have another state there.
*But what if Egypt doesn’t want a relationship with Gaza? *
So what? We are being pushed to give another state and we don’t want
that either. If they want us to move to the 1967 borders, then they have
too also. Egypt has problems with the Muslim Brotherhood, but we have
our problems too. If the Egyptians kill a few thousand people in Gaza in
broad daylight, no one would say anything; but if Israel kills one
Palestinian, it makes news around the world. If we do not give Gaza to
Egypt, there’s no other solution. The same thing with Jordan and the
West Bank.
We need real peace in the Middle East, but I am not going to agree with
Obama’s plan. No Obama and no Osama can push us to enable Iran to come
into Jerusalem.
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Set To Visit Israeli Border

<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/10/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-set-to-visit-isra
eli-border/>
October 10th, 2010
By Ian Black, www.Guardian.co.uk
<http://www.levitt.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/10-10-10-pic-Poster-image
-of-Mahmoud-A-006.jpg>
A Lebanese worker prepares a poster of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of the
Iranian leader s state visit. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Lebanon looks set to allow the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,

to make a highly controversial visit to its border with Israel this
coming week.
The U.S. has been leading diplomatic efforts to persuade the Beirut
government that Ahmadinejad’s presence in strongholds of the Shia
movement Hezbollah in south Lebanon will pose a security risk that could
provoke serious violence. But the signs are that the trip will go ahead,
diplomats said.
According to some reports Ahmadinejad will symbolically throw stones
across the border fence into Israel, which he regularly attacks as an
illegitimate entity, as well as questioning the truth of the Nazi
Holocaust. Israel is also concerned by Iran’s nuclear energy program,
which it claims is intended to produce nuclear weapons which would
challenge its own undeclared atomic arsenal.
The reported two-day itinerary for Ahmadinejad’s first state visit to
Lebanon includes Kana, where he is to lay a wreath on the graves of
Lebanese killed by Israeli forces. Another likely stop is Bint Jbeil,
the scene of heavy fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in the 2006 war.
Posters welcoming Ahmadinejad in Arabic and Persian have already
appeared in the area amid reports that the Iranian leader, with a
business delegation in tow, will bring investment, financing for oil
exploration, and a controversial offer to sell weapons to the Lebanese army.
Iranian embassy officials in Beirut have refused to confirm details of
the southern leg of the trip, but Hezbollah is said to be massing
supporters to welcome Ahmadinejad as a hero of the resistance.
Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, has warned that the U.S. and
Israel have no right to oppose the visit, which its TV channel al-Manar
hailed as “a non-conventional bomb in the face of enemies wherever they
are”.
Representations have been made to the Beirut government by the U.S.,
France and the UN. Britain believes a direct appeal to cancel the visit
to the border would be counterproductive as it could be seen as
infringing Lebanese sovereignty. But it and other western governments
have urged the exercise of caution in a highly volatile area.
Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, raised the issue with
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman at the UN in New York last week. U.S.
officials also stress that Iran is undermining Lebanon’s sovereignty by
backing Hezbollah. The Shia organization has refused to yield its
largely-Iranian supplied weaponry to the Lebanese armed forces and is
listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.
Israel is urging that the visit should be cancelled as it will undermine
regional stability as well as strengthen the axis between Iran, Syria
and Hezbollah.
The well-informed Beirut daily /an-Nahar/ reported that Ahmadinejad’s
visit would go ahead despite objections. But observers in Beirut said
one possibility was that he would only visit Iranian-financed
reconstruction projects and not go right up to the Israeli border for
the stone throwing — on obvious security grounds. Iran’s foreign
minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, insisted on Tuesday that it was natural
for the president to visit such projects.
Ahmadinejad is due to meet Suleiman, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri,
Speaker Nabih Berri, and Hezbollah leaders.
Supporters of Hariri’s March 14 group have attacked the visit as a bid
to underline Iran’s ability to disrupt regional peace efforts. Hariri’s
bloc is also concerned about Hezbollah maneuvering around the tribunal
investigating the 2005 murder of his father Rafiq.
Israeli officials say they fear the visit will go ahead and are ramping
up border security following an armed clash in August that left five
dead. Aluf Benn, a respected liberal columnist with the /Haaretz/
newspaper, has suggested that Ahmadinejad be abducted and tried in
Israel for incitement to genocide and Holocaust denial.
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From Sderot to Kiryat Shmona: Sheltering for the Next War

<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/08/from-sderot-to-kiryat-shmona-shelteri
ng-for-the-next-war/>
October 8th, 2010
By Giulio Meotti, www.CommentaryMagazine.com
Fertile, warm, and humid is the plain leading to the town of Sderot. The
houses are yellow and white on the Negev, the desert dreamt by David Ben
Gurion, the founder of modern Israel. Before the road leading into the
town, there is a cafeteria full of Israeli soldiers in transit to
military bases. It’s the border with Gaza and the Hamas rockets.
A few kilometers from here lies Havat Shikmim, the ranch of former prime
minister Ariel Sharon. Once protected and fortified, the place is now
neglected. The Hamas rockets have fallen near the grave of Sharon’s
wife, Lily, and the flowers placed by the general have been burned by
Islamist hatred. Hamas claims ownership of the Sharon ranch, which is
located near Huj, an Arab village destroyed in the war of 1948.
Sderot was once famous for having one of the highest unemployment rates
in Israel. Today, this poor town of North African and Soviet immigrants
boasts the sad record of having received the highest number of rocket
attacks by Hamas. It is now the place most at risk in Israel. But severe
risk also marks other southern cities, such as Ashdod, Beersheba,
Netivot, and Ashkelon–the latter provides much of Gaza’s electricity but
nevertheless is bombarded by Grad missiles. The fact that a large part
of the country is living much as those in Sderot do—running for shelter
and fearing for their lives—creates a whole new sad reality: a sense of
solidarity.
Bulldozers are hard at work in Sderot. Every street is dotted with
concrete huts: the bus shelters have them, the /souk/ (market) has them,
and now the cranes and bulldozers are all over town making good on the
government’s promise to put a missile-proof security room in every
Sderot home. A few days ago, another rocket fell into the city. The
militants of the terrorist movement have been improving their missiles.
The people in Sderot used to call them “toys made in the kitchen.” Then
the rockets began to kill and produce an array of disabled citizens.
They are no longer considered “toys.”
Sderot is preparing for the next war against Hamas. “There are 5,000*re
5,000
WP-Bible plugin <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-bible/>
additional shelters under construction in Sderot,” says Noam Bedein,
director of the Sderot Media Center. Five thousand new shelters are a
huge number for a small town of just 20,000*st 20,000
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=st+20%2C000>*
inhabitants. That’s why Sderot was dubbed “the world capital of bomb
shelters.” In the courtyard of the police station are stored the remains
of the launched missiles. The red ones were launched by Hamas. The
yellow rockets came from the Islamic Jihad. Since the war ended in
January 2009, hundreds of new rockets have fallen into the Negev desert
and its /kibbutzim/.
In Sderot you have only 15 seconds to find a shelter once the alarm
warns that Hamas has just launched a rocket. Gaza is less than a mile
from here. In Sderot, many motorists do not wear seat belts so that they
can rush out of their cars when the alarm sounds. The school on the hill
bears the marks of shrapnel bombs, and the army has nestled the building
under huge slabs of steel. “People abroad do not realize what is
happening here,” says the mayor of Sderot, David Buskila, an Israeli of
Moroccan descent, as are most of those who came to Sderot in the 1950s
to found the city.
Dr. Adriana Katz is an accidental hero of this endless war, because for
years she has cared for the people here. “We just did a test for
chemical warfare,” says Katz, who directs the trauma center in Sderot,
where all the victims in shock arrive after the missiles fall. Katz
belonged to the Meretz Party of Shulamit Aloni and Peace Now. “I needed
time to understand that something bothered me. When the discomfort
became pain, I immediately knew I had opened myself too much to the
Palestinians. Then I realized the mistakes. Israel is a hard place, but
special. We won’t run away.” Every week, her trauma center receives
around 150 to 170 people for medical treatment.
When the situation is critical, the children of Sderot are sent by
relatives to live elsewhere in Israel. The young mothers buying socks
with their children still keep an eye out for the nearest bomb shelter.
They still hurry home as quickly as possible. The 24,000*he 24,000
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=he+24%2C000>*
residents of Sderot have come out of their bomb shelters—but slowly,
hesitantly. And the signs of a new tranquility, made possible by the
Gaza operation against Hamas, are seen everywhere. At night, groups of
men are talking in fast-food restaurants and cafes. This was
unimaginable a year and a half ago. People are still driving with the
windows down so that they can hear the alarm if it sounds. In such a
case, the driver must get out and lie on the ground, even if it’s
raining. “A lady stopped the car without getting out and now must
undergo rehabilitation because she was injured seriously by the rocket,”
says Katz. “I refuse to lie down on the ground. It’s like an instinct
that prevents me—it’s too humiliating.”
Usually Hamas terrorists fire rockets on Sderot during the morning, when
there is the maximum concentration of Jewish children going to school.
Many Holocaust survivors in the city must take sedatives and
tranquilizers. In Sderot there are large stocks of medicine for shock
treatment. It is estimated that more than half the population of Sderot
suffers from stress or other psychiatric syndromes. After years of
missile fire on the city, groups of children are in “regression”; they
do not want to sleep alone, receive low grades at school, and fear
leaving home.
But this is Sderot, the involuntary capital of torn psyches: the
tranquilizers Lorivan, Clonex, and Valium are in plentiful supply; the
antidepressants Seroxat, Cipralex, and Cymbalta are for deeper
treatment, and severe psychoses are treated with the neuroleptics
Zyprexa, Geodon, and Clopixol.
The new gas masks just distributed to the population have a benign name:
Candy. The mask first appeared in 1991, when Saddam Hussein’s Iraq
rained rockets on Israel. In February, Israel announced a new
anti-missile system known as Iron Dome. It’s the great hope of Sderot,
but some analysts have serious doubts that it can protect the city. The
project has cost a billion dollars—to ward off the $25-a-piece rockets
of Hamas. Iron Dome takes 30 seconds to intercept a rocket, which is
probably too long for the /kibbutzim/ in the Negev and the towns in the
north of Galilee. To make matters worse, Hezbollah and Hamas now have
new Iranian missiles that can reach Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
In Sderot there is a park named after a four-year-old boy, Aphik
Zahavi-Ohayon, Hamas’s first victim in the city. At Givat, “the hill,”
you can see Beit Hanoun. It’s Hamas territory, just half a mile away.
Yet houses with red roofs, tidy and comfortable, are under construction
in this hill—the most frightening face of the new Sderot’s “normality.”
The mayor of Sderot explains that “there is a real possibility that we
will pass on to a new conflict against Hamas. In the future we expect a
new missile wave. We have built 2,500 new shelters. New shelters will be
finished for schools by the beginning of the school year. I hope to see
better days, although I’m not sure.”
Yet the people of Sderot did not abandon their homes. The few families
who left did so because they could afford to leave this trenched city.
“People try to learn again to live, they drive with the windows closed
because it is too hot,” says Dr. Katz. “Many find it difficult to
separate from the vault and they sleep in the shelters. In many houses
the shelters are used for games by the children.” In Katz’s clinic, you
will find a shelter that looks like an anonymous waiting room: a table
and a small sofa with a blanket thrown over. “An alarm can bring you
back to the fears, the insomnia, and my clinic is filled with people in
anguish,” says Katz. “There is a poor seller of melons that can no
longer shout on a megaphone to sell his wares, because it is too similar
to ‘Tzeva adom,’ the siren alarm, and someone passed out when they heard
him.”
In this atmosphere of surreal “peace,” people wait. “Here we are sitting
on a barrel of explosives,” says Katz. “The only question is when you
blow up.”
Few can understand better the plight of Sderot than their counterparts
in Kiryat Shmona, the town near the border with Lebanon. The higher you
climb in Galilee, the more palpable become the security needs of Israel.
The road to Kiryat Shmona, “the city of eight,” built in memory of the
Jewish pioneers who came up here to defend the /kibbutzim/, is scorched
by bombs and fires. Even the water reservoir Eskhol, named for an
Israeli prime minister, is a treasure protected by an electrified fence,
cameras, and armed guards. The terrorists can poison even the water.
There is silence in Kiryat Shmona. The local Israelis call it the “so
called” silence because it is more the faint vibration of a war to
come—the calm before the storm. As in Sderot, many houses in Kiryat
Shmona are equipped today with new shelters. Row houses are interrupted
by new buildings, where families can escape in case of rocket fire. The
greatest fear of the 20,000*he 20,000
<http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?id14=1&pos=0&set=5&m=he+20%2C000>*
inhabitants is that the alarm will sound when their children are just
down the street.
In the summer of 2006, Hezbollah launched thousands of missiles on roofs
and roads. Most of the 200 public shelters of Kiryat Shmona have been
restored, ready for use again. Hezbollah has just staged a new show of
force in southern Lebanon against a UNIFIL contingent of international
forces, triggering many accidents, especially in the area under Italian
command. The “Party of God” wants to show who controls the territory,
because the struggle against Israel is never finished. Kiryat Shmona can
become again the first target of Shia rockets. According to Jerusalem,
Hezbollah controls 160 villages in southern Lebanon, ready to become
strongholds in case of war, as they did in 2006.
More than 4,000 Katyusha rockets, which have a longer range and carry a
bigger explosive payload than do Kassams, fell on Kiryat Shmona between
1968 and May 2000, when the IDF withdrew from Lebanon in full compliance
with UN Security Council Resolution 425. During that same period, some
20 people, according to municipality statistics, were killed as a result
of rocket attacks, and another 16 as a result of terrorist activities
and infiltrations. Over the same period, rockets damaged more than 6,500
homes, in addition to factories, public buildings, schools, and
kindergartens, as well as cars and other vehicles. Hundreds of people
were physically and psychologically wounded. Three hundred thousand
Israelis were forced to move to the south, and a third of the Israeli
population hid in shelters. In many cases, the city could not afford to
wait for the slow government bureaucracy to build the needed shelters
but turned to private charity instead. Some shelters in Kiryat Shmona,
which people here have dubbed Kiryat Katyusha, were made possible thanks
to donations from the American Jewish community, and Livnot U’Lehibanot
is the organization that collected money to renovate defensive
structures for the population in the Galilee.
During the last war, local children drew pictures of beautiful domes
that protected the city from the sky. That fantasy is almost a reality.
Alan Schneider, director of the Bnai Brith World Center in Jerusalem,
explains what his organization is doing to help the city: “We have
funded an anti-missile system made by the Elbit Systems. It can provide
precious information in case of attack.” The leader of Bnai Brith is
expecting another round of attacks from Hezbollah: “UNIFIL’s mission has
failed, and there is frequent passage of weapons from Syria to
Hezbollah. So we fear the worst. Today the Lebanese terrorists have more
weapons than they had before 2006.”
Not far from here stands Metulla, the city where in 1970, Arafat’s
killers murdered Jewish students and tourists. During the last war, one
third of the Israeli population fled. Today there is an unreal calm. It
is impressive to see that the mountains, which had become black from
bombs, are now green and that the traffic is again intense. There is no
trace of the effects from the explosions in Kiryat Shmona. Yet the
oldest trees of Israel—oaks, pines, and carob—which had grown like
children, one by one, are no more.
Unlike before and during the war, you can now stand on a terrace
overlooking the villages of Ataybeh, Markab, and Telkabe—all scenes of
bloody battles. In these villages, Hezbollah is still hiding weapons and
taking note of Israeli movements. Behind this green quietness there is
the work of rearmament and reconstruction, even in the absence of yellow
Hezbollah flags and posters that displayed the head of Israelis. “From
those houses up there we never see a family, a child, nothing,” the
locals explain. The houses are called the “eyes of Hezbollah.”
The Golan Heights are not far. The city of Quneitra lies low and close
below the hills. Here you can physically feel the strategic fragility of
Israel. If Jerusalem cedes the heights to Damascus, the Syrians will be
able to look inside Israel. What would happen if, instead of the Assad
regime, another government took power, one with Islamist genocidal
ambitions toward the nearby Jewish state?
On the Golan there are no Palestinians, only Jews and Druze, who live
together in harmony. Even the Golan “settlers” are different from those
of the West Bank. They are nonreligious nationalists devoted to the
defense of Israel. The Druze of the surrounding villages suffer the
separation from relatives across the border, and often the families
speak with megaphones, asking for news of their loved ones. The Golan is
a place where signs of mourning remain intact. A local artist has made
sculptures from pieces of missiles and tanks. There is the gaping mouth
of a house gutted by bombs. A plaque commemorates the loss of a
20-year-old son. The memorial to the Egoz brigade, which patrolled the
Israeli border with Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, is not far away from 30
bronze plaques engraved with the names of the fallen.
In the settlement city of Katzrin, nobody is expecting Israel to
withdraw from the Golan. The city is a pearl of modernity and
Israeliness. Red-roofed houses are under construction. These abodes are
cheap because their future was always uncertain. Trucks full of bottles
of the famous wine of the Golan, boycotted by the anti-Israeli
activists, are leaving all the time. The “settlers” are planting new
vines. Before the 1967 war, the Jewish state had built a row of trees
along roadsides to protect pedestrians from the Syrian snipers. Those
trees are still there, silent witnesses to a truce always under discussion.
Back in Tel Aviv, the Indian conductor Zubin Mehta has just finished
performing in honor of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by
Hamas. Back in 1991, when Saddam Hussein launched his rockets on Tel
Aviv, the orchestra was playing Bach when the sirens suddenly began to
scream. Zubin Mehta and Isaac Stern put on gas masks. The missiles fell,
but the music won. Twenty years later, Zubin Mehta is still in Tel Aviv,
as Israel waits again for a new wave of rocket fire. From Sderot to
Kiryat Shmona, the Jewish state faces a new terror assault. Its citizens
are sheltering again. And the world that isolates and hates Israel
deepens the awful wounds.
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Man caught with uranium in India

<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/07/man-caught-with-uranium-in-india/>
October 7th, 2010
PURULIA: A criminal with alleged links to gangs across the country and
even Afghanistan was nabbed in Purulia with nearly 1 kg of uranium on
Sunday, Oct 2. The market value of the radioactive element is said to be
about $7 million.
When police raided Ishtaq Ahmed’s house at Dubra village after a
tip-off, they found a box with “URM, Made in USA” stamped on it. An
automatic revolver, a pipe gun, and 21 rounds of ammunition were also
discovered during the search. Ahmed was arrested and a case filed at the
police station mentioning uranium seizure.
Police haven’t opened the sealed box as the substance inside could be
dangerously radioactive. It is being sent to the Central Forensic
Science Laboratory for tests.
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Egypt Destroys Four Gaza Smuggling Tunnels

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nnels/>
October 6th, 2010
<http://www.levitt.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/10-6-10-pic-Gaza-tunnels.
jpg>
A Palestinian man receives goods from Egypt through a tunnel dug 50 feet
underneath the border in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip. Photo
by: AP
By DPA, www.Haaretz.com
Egyptian security forces have destroyed four tunnels leading across the
border to the Gaza Strip, one of them large enough to smuggle cars,
officials said.
The tunnels were being used to smuggle essential goods, petrol, and cars
into the blockaded enclave, according to authorities.
Egypt has said it destroyed over 20 tunnels in September alone along its
7-mile border with the Palestinian territory, as part of its most recent
effort to clamp down on smuggling.
In addition to providing a lifeline for the 1.5 million inhabitants of
the enclave, the tunnels are believed to be used to transport weapons
for militants.
Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip was tightened after Hamas took
control of the territory in 2007.
The Egyptian government has faced domestic criticism for its destruction
of tunnels and its partial blockade on Gaza. However, after Israel
violently prevented an aid flotilla from reaching Gaza, Egypt lifted
some of the restrictions at its Rafah border crossing, allowing entry to
Palestinians needing medical attention, and to pilgrims.
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Mass European Rally for Israel

<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/05/mass-european-rally-for-israel/>
October 5th, 2010
By Hillel Fendel, www.IsraelNationalNews.com
A mass rally/demonstration entitled “For the Truth, For Israel” will be
held in Rome this Thursday. It is being organized by Fiamma Nirenstein –
journalist, MP, and vice president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
of the Italian Chamber of Deputies – and other leading European
personalities. Nirenstein forwarded the information about the rally to
IsraelNationalNews.
The rally will be held at the Temple of Hadrian (Tempio di Adriano),
Piazza di Pietra, on Thursday, October 7 at 6:00 PM. Ironically, it was
the Roman Emperor Hadrian who, late in his reign, suppressed the Bar
Kokhba revolt in Judea in 145 C.E., and renamed the province Syria
Palestina.
The rally is billed as “the first European, bipartisan event aimed at
restoring the truth regarding Israel, putting an end to the barrage of
lies that are hurled at Israel every day and to the double standard used
by the media and international organizations.” More than 80
personalities, politicians, intellectuals, artists, and journalists from
all over Europe are registered to take the floor for a maximum of five
minutes each. Opening the event will be former Spanish Prime Minister
José Maria Aznar, president of “Friends of Israel.”
In addition to MP Nirenstein, other promoters of the initiative are
• Giuliano Ferrara, editor in chief of /Il Foglio/ daily;
• French philosopher Shmuel Trigano;
• Dutch MEP Bastiaan Belder (Epp);
• former German MP Gert Weisskirchen (Spd);
• president of the Jewish Community of Rome Riccardo Pacifici;
• professor and writer Giorgio Israel;
• journalists Giuseppe Caldarola,
• Angelo Pezzana,
• Daniele Scalise,
• Carlo Panella;
• producer of musical events David Zard; and
• Anita Friedman, president of “Appuntamento a Gerusalemme.”
Among those who have joined the initiative are the following Members of
the European Parliament:
• Hannu Takkula (Finland),
• Marco Scurria (Italy),
• Bastiaan Belder (NL),
• Corina Cretu (Romania),
• Pablo Arias (Spain),
• Magdi Cristiano Allam (Italy), and
• Antonio Lopez Istùriz (Spain).
Still others who have joined include
• Nobel Prize and Senator for life Rita Levi Montalcini;
• professor and Senator Umberto Veronesi;
• Israeli Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Yosef Kuperwasser;
• Israel’s Vice PM Silvan Shalom;
• Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora
Affairs;
• Franco Frattini, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs;
• Bruce Bawer, author of /While Europe Slept/;
• Melanie Phillips, journalist;
• Phyllis Chesler, professor emerita of psychology and women’ studies at
the College of Staten Island;
• writer Roberto Saviano, author of /Gomorrah/;
• Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN;
• Amir Fakhravar, Iranian dissident in exile;
• Farid Ghadry, President of Syrian Reform Party;
• Russian Senator Vladimir Sloutsker;
• Tomas Sandell, Director of the European Coalition for Israel (Finland);
• Mara Carfagna, Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities;
• Renato Brunetta, Italian Minister of Public Administration;
• Gideon Meir, Israeli Ambassador to Italy;
• writers Nicolai Lilin and
Rosa Matteucci;
• singers Lucio Dalla,
Massimo Ranieri,
Chiara Iezzi,
Raiz (ex “Almamegretta”);
• Israeli historian Benny Morris;
• film director Cristina Comencini;
• Giorgio Albertazzi;
• film producer Riccardo Tozzi (Cattleya);
• Davood Karimi, President of Association of Iranian Political Refugees
in Italy;
• Dounia Ettaib, President of Arab Women in Italy;
• editors-in-chief of the newspapers,
/Libero/ (Maurizio Belpietro),
/Il Tempo/ (Mario Sechi),
/L’Occidentale/ (Giancarlo Loquenzi),
/Il Riformista/ (Antonio Polito),
Libertiamo.it (Carmelo Palma);
• journalists Paolo Mieli,
Massimo Bordin,
Giulio Meotti,
Toni Capuozzo,
Alain Elkann,
Ernesto Galli Della Loggia,
Maria Latella,
Pierluigi Battista,
Barbara Palombelli;
• many MPs from all the political parties, among them:
Walter Veltroni,
Furio Colombo,
Enrico Pianetta,
Francesco Rutelli,
Italo Bocchino,
Gianni Vernetti,
Benedetto Della Vedova,
Giovanna Melandri,
Fabrizio Cicchitto,
Ferdinando Adornato,
Gaetano Quagliariello,
Margherita Boniver, and many others.
The organizers say that the “de-legitimization of Israel comes from all
latitudes and without any restraints. Israel, the most openly threatened
country in the world, is condemned by the international institutions and
media for whatever it does, whether it is seeking to defend itself from
terrorist attacks, trying to stop the supply of weapons to Gaza, or
simply doing the normal activities that any democratic country does.”
They add that Israel’s “scientific, cultural, social, economic, and
sport achievements are constantly boycotted, even with violence. The
double standard is the normal standard applied to Israel: the UN,
dedicating to it 80% of its resolutions, condemns Israel at every step,
while countries that systematically violate human rights and commit
massacres, are never punished.”
“But a large part of the public opinion is tired of this lie,” the
organizers state. “The de-legitimization of Israel undermines democracy,
and corrupts international institutions that should protect peace and
fight against terrorism. It legitimates oppressive and violent cultures
against women, homosexuals, and freedom of thought. In fact, it
justifies anti-democratic cultures. For this reason we want to say
‘enough’ to all the lies about Israel and to claim that Europe loves
Israel and wants it living in peace.”
Posted in Informational
<http://www.levitt.com/news/category/informational/>, Israel
<http://www.levitt.com/news/category/israel/> | No Comments »
<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/05/mass-european-rally-for-israel/#respond>
Israeli ‘aid ships’ carry 4-legged animals to Turkey

<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/04/israeli-%e2%80%98aid-ships%e2%80%99-c
arry-4-legged-animals-to-turkey/>
October 4th, 2010
<http://www.levitt.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/10-8-10-pic-elephants-to-
Turkey.jpeg>
Photo by: Adi Philipsborn
By Melanie Lidman, www.JPost.com

Israel is sending a ship to Turkey today with a large and noisy cargo on
board. This shipment is part of a decades-long struggle, but one against
nature: it aims to calm ties between the two countries while
simultaneously saving Asian pachyderms from extinction.
The cargo consists of three elephants, zebras, a hippo, and a handful of
lemurs, courtesy of the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens in Jerusalem –
commonly known as the Biblical Zoo – and the Ramat Gan Safari.
The destination: the Gaziantep Zoo in southeastern Anatolia, which is
Turkey’s largest zoo.
Gaby the elephant spent his last day in Jerusalem on Sunday, and was
sent to Haifa on Sunday night, where he boards a ship bound for Turkey
with the other animals. It will take about a day for the animals to dock
in Turkey, where they will travel overland to Gaziantep, not far from
the Syrian border.
Gaby was born at the Biblical Zoo in 2005, a bouncing 100 lb. boy. He
was the first elephant to be born in Israel using artificial
insemination, which was a huge success for the zoo.
Shmulik Yedvad, the zoo’s head curator, who raised Gaby from the day he
was born, said it was hard to part from the animal he had worked so hard
to raise.
“He’s becoming more mature and we needed to find a different place for
him,” he said.
Male adult elephants are difficult to keep in captivity because they are
very aggressive.
“It’s hard, but we know he’s going to a place where they will take care
of him and where he’s wanted,” Yedvad said.
Gaby’s trainers at the Biblical Zoo hope that he will be able to start
his own family in Turkey, increasing the number of Asian elephants
surviving in captivity. The three elephants from Jerusalem and Ramat Gan
will be the first elephants at the Turkish zoo.
“There’s no connection to politics.
At the end of the day, everyone wants them to be in a good place,”
Yedvad said. “It’s very easy to take this in the direction of a new
flotilla to Turkey, but we’re not working government to government,
we’re working zoo to zoo. Happily, everyone is working together for the
good of the animals, and all the politics are just not relevant.”
Posted in Islam <http://www.levitt.com/news/category/islam/>, Middle
East <http://www.levitt.com/news/category/middle-east/> | No Comments »
<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/04/israeli-%e2%80%98aid-ships%e2%80%99-carry
-4-legged-animals-to-turkey/#respond>
Israel-bound Submarines Banned From Testing In Norway’s Waters

<http://www.levitt.com/news/2010/10/04/israel-bound-submarines-banned-from-t
esting-in-norways-waters/>
October 4th, 2010
<http://www.levitt.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/10-4-10-pic-sub-in-Israel
.jpg>
One of the navy’s Dolphin submarines off the Israeli coast in 2008.
Photo by: Tomer Appelbaum
By Anshel Pfeffer, www.Haaretz.com

Israel-bound submarines will no longer be allowed to undergo tests in
Norwegian territory, as part of the country’s ban on security exports to
Israel, Norway has informed a German shipbuilder.
In early 2011, the Israeli navy is due to receive one improved Dolphin
submarine built by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), a German
shipbuilding company based in Kiel. It is scheduled to receive another
one in 2012.
HDW leases a Norwegian submarine base to test its new submarines. The
first new Dolphin submarine has begun water trials, supervised by an
Israeli team in Germany. Following Oslo’s decision, the German
shipbuilder will have to carry out its deep-water testing at another site.
The Israeli navy’s Squadron 7 has been using three Dolphin submarines
for the past decade. The two new submarines will cost about $1.8
billion, according to German media reports, and Germany is funding a
third of that.
The navy is expanding its submarine capabilities and doubling the number
of operational crews, enabling them to undertake long-range missions far
from their home port. The new submarines have an advanced propulsion
system that enables them to stay submerged for up to three weeks. In
addition to their combat and intelligence gathering missions, Dolphin
submarines are equipped with nuclear-head cruise missiles, according to
foreign media reports.
Israel and Germany recently discussed building a third submarine,
Defense News reported.
Four months ago a Dolphin submarine passed southward via the Suez Canal
in what was seen as an Israeli move to position a submarine in Persian
Gulf waters.
HDW shipyards, one of the largest in the world, leases from the
Norwegian government the Marvika submarine base on Norway’s southern
shore as a base for testing new submarines. During WWII this port served
as a base for the German fleet’s submarines.
The port serves as a departure point for deep-water experiments of up to
700 meters, and Israel’s first three Dolphin submarines were tested
here. Such experiments are necessary to locate structural weaknesses in
the submarines’ system, and are part of every new submarine’s trial process.
Norway’s foreign ministry advised HDW several weeks ago that it will no
longer allow it to use its territory for naval experiments on submarines
intended for the Israeli navy.
This is not Norway’s first security boycott on Israel. A year ago the
Norwegian State Pension Fund announced it was dropping Elbit Systems due
to the manufacturer’s involvement in building the West Bank separation
fence. The Norwegian treasury said the fence was infringing on
Palestinians’ human rights. Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
Norway’s foreign ministry commented that it does not respond to specific
decisions regarding the export of military equipment and services.
When asked about these developments on Norwegian television last week,
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said, “We have extremely
rigorous restrictions on exporting security goods and services … we
don’t export materials or services to states at war or in which there is
a danger of war.” He did not mention Israel directly.
The German Thyssenkrupp group, which owns the shipyards that manufacture
the Dolphin submarines, declined to comment.
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ng-in-norways-waters/#respond>
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