ࡱ> Root Entry FG^CompObjnWordDocumentu4ObjectPool5^5^ u  !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstvwxyz{|}~ SummaryInformation(  FMicrosoft Word 6.0 Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q_Oh+'0$ H l   D h*C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD\TEMPLATE\DAVNEWS2.DOTNEWS FROM ISRAEL 27-MAY-09 Dr Golombock Dr Golombock@^@Mq@B^@ Microsoft Word 6.03ܥe- $e?u4$z# F+F+F+V+l+.z#l3F++"+++++++,,,..,6/>23T4o\2+++++\2++++++++++P* +++>+News FROM ISRAEL 6-Nov-09 UN Assembly endorses Goldstone Report by E.B. SOLOMONT, Jerusalem Post The UN General Assembly approved on Thursday an Arab-backed resolution endorsing the Goldstone Report, paving the way for the matter to be sent to the Security Council. A total of 114 nations voted in favor of the resolution and 18 voted against it, with 44 members abstaining. Israel and the US voted against the decision, as did Germany, Holland, Canada, Australia and several eastern European nations. Most EU states abstained. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer, called the resolution "an important night in the history of the General Assembly and the history of fighting against impunity and seeking accountability." The nonbinding resolution on the Goldstone document, which alleges war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the IDF's offensive in Gaza last winter, aims to open doors toward prosecution in the international courts. But as the debate dragged into its second day on Thursday, European nations threatened to abstain from a vote just as others feverishly tried to negotiate softer terms. Of particular concern was language fully endorsing the report and requiring Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take up the issue within three months or send the matter to the Security Council. Absent from the debate was US Ambassador Susan Rice, whose deputies were present but were not among some 50 scheduled speakers. "Our position on the Goldstone Report is well-known," a US official said. "The US is prepared to speak when and if there is an occasion to advance the debate." The official said representatives of the US mission attended Wednesday and Thursday's debate. "It's not unusual for ambassadors to attend portions of a debate that lasts several hours or in this case this body launches yet another campaign against the victims of terrorism, the people of Israel," she said. UN 'detached from reality' by Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz, and News Agencies Israel on Friday rejected the United Nations General Assembly resolution urging an investigation into a report saying war crimes were committed in Gaza, and condemned the world body vote as "completely detached from realities". In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said in response to Thursday's vote that Israel "maintains the right to self-defense", and would "continue to act to protect the lives of its citizens from the threat of international terrorism". The resolution, endorsing a report on the Gaza war commissioned by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, was non-binding and seen as unlikely to force either Israel or Islamist Hamas rulers in Gaza to investigate the findings. But Israel has responded with outrage to the findings issued in September by a panel led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, seeing the document as an Arab bid to undermine the reputations of its military and political leaders. "Israel rejects the resolution of the U.N. General Assembly, which is completely detached from realities on the ground that Israel must face," the Foreign Ministry statement issued by spokesman Yigal Palmor said. Palmor also maintained that Israel had "demonstrated higher military and moral standards than each and every one of this resolution's instigators", during the war in December in which more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. The report on the Gaza war was drafted by a UN panel chaired by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, and concluded that both Israel and Palestinian militants committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. The harshly worded UN draft resolution, composed by Arab member states, has not been softened despite U.S. and European efforts. The draft resolution includes a demand for the Israeli government to carry out an "independent and credible" internal investigation of its own conduct during Israel's 3-week offensive in Gaza. Hamas is not mentioned by name in the UN draft resolution. Instead, it calls on the "Palestinian side" to carry out an investigation into the Goldstone report findings that relate to Palestinians. The draft resolution also includes a recommendation to convene the signatories of the fourth Geneva Convention treaty for an emergency session to discuss Israel's violations of the treaty. There is no veto in UN General Assembly votes, but the assembly's resolutions are non-binding. However, resolutions adopted by the General Assembly grant legitimacy to Security Council initiatives. But the five permanent members of the Security Council have the power to veto any resolution put up for a vote. Thus, any Arab initiative for an extreme resolution against Israel, such as the submission of the Goldstone report to the International Criminal Court, will likely be torpedoed by the veto-wielding U.S. If the matter is put up for a Security Council vote, there is also the possibility that the U.S. and its alliesBritain or France, will block an official resolution, and instead issue a presidential statement or a press release. An Israel delegate denounced the adoption of the resolution as a "mockery of reality" after Israel seized a vessel packed with weapons believed to have been sent by Iran to Hezbollah. Israel's Deputy Ambassador Daniel Carmon told the assembly the resolution "endorses and legitimizes a deeply flawed, one-sided and prejudiced report of the discredited Human Rights Council and its politicized work that bends both fact and law." U.S. Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the resolution was flawed in several respects, including its failure to name the Hamas militant movement that rules Gaza. He also said a demand for international supervision of any Israeli and Palestinian investigations was "unhelpful." Jerusalem Post reports: A day after the UN General Assembly endorsed the Goldstone Report, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Friday said he was pleased with the vote, which showed "Israel has a moral majority." A total of 114 nations voted in favor of the resolution and 18 voted against it, with 44 members abstaining. Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Netherlands, Palau, Panama, Poland, Slovakia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine, United States voted against the resolution. "The majority that supported Israel shows that Israel has a moral majority. Saudi Arabia and Somalia, which voted in favor of the resolution, will not preach morality to us," Lieberman stressed. "The results of the vote were known in advance because there is an automatic majority against Israel. We are neither surprised nor disappointed with the vote, and are pleased that 18 democratic 'top league' states voted in line with Israel's position, while 44 South American and African states abstained," said the foreign minister. Lieberman criticized those who accused Israel of committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead, saying that the international community was realizing the Goldstone Report was biased. "It proves that Israel is succeeding in getting across the message that the report is one-sided and not serious," Lieberman said of the vote. IDF already investigating some Goldstone allegations by Amir Oren, Haaretz While the IDF is opposed, in principle, to setting up a committee of inquiry into the allegations against Israel made in the Goldstone Report on the fighting in the Gaza Strip, the military advocate general, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit, has ordered investigations into a number of allegations, currently being carried out by the Military Police. Mendelblit has ordered investigations into 12 incidents that were, even before the report, the focus of Military Police investigations or part of operational investigations. Two involved civilian deaths, based on Palestinian claims. In the 10 other incidents, Palestinians claimed their property had been destroyed. Coordination of the investigations is being handled by the chief of Military Police in the Southern Command, Lt. Col. Gil Mamon. Mendelblit is part of a team of senior legal experts the government established last week to formulate recommendations on dealing with the report. The findings are to serve as the backbone for a counter-Goldstone report that is expected to be ready in a month. One of Mendelblit's arguments against creating a committee of inquiry following the Goldstone Report is that such a committee has never been set up as a result of external pressure, and says that surrendering to international pressure will constitute a dangerous precedent. In his view there is no reason for an internal investigation into the policy decided by the government and then implemented into legal orders. He does believe, however, that it is possible to carry out an investigation into specific incidents. According to the Goldstone Report, government policyor the orders on the use of forcewas allegedly to purposely violate Palestinian human rights in the Gaza Strip. Mendelblit's starting point contradicts that of the Goldstone commission, and relies on a Supreme Court ruling on providing Gaza with electricity, which also determined that with the pullout from the Strip in 2005, Israel's occupation of the territory came to an end. As such, the military attorney general argues that IDF operations in the Gaza Strip should fall only within humanitarian international law and international law governing warfare, and not the law on human rights. Abbas withdraws from presidential race by KHALED ABU TOAMEH, Jerusalem Post Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Thursday that he has "no desire" to run in the presidential election in the PA territories, slated for January 24. In a televised speech from Ramallah, Abbas said he informed Fatah and PLO officials of his decision late on Wednesday night. He said that he was planning to take other steps in the future, but did not elaborate. PA officials said that Abbas's decision came in protest of the US administration's failure to exert pressure on Israel to stop construction work in the West Bank settlements. They did not rule out the possibility that Abbas would change his mind, noting that his decision was not final. They also said it was too early to discuss who would replace Abbas as a candidate in the elections. Abbas said in his speech that his decision not to seek reelection was not intended as a manipulation or maneuver. The two-state solution was facing "many dangers," he said. Addressing the Israeli public, he said: "Peace is more important than any achievement for a political party. Peace is more important than any government coalition. For many years, my opinion and vision have been that peace was still possible and I have sincerely worked to achieve this goal." Abbas said that he still believes in the two-state solution despite the "many dangers" facing this option. The PA president outlined eight main principles for achieving peace in the region: the implementation of all UN resolutions pertaining to the Israeli-Arab conflict, an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders, making east Jerusalem the capital of the Palestinian state, solving the problem of the Palestinian refugees on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative, removal of "illegal" Jewish settlements, reaching security arrangements along the border between the Palestinian state and Israel, the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and solving the problem of water in accordance with international laws. Abbas criticized Israel for its policy of settlement construction and demolition of illegal houses. He also criticized the US for endorsing a more conciliatory approach toward the issue of settlement construction. In addition, Abbas accused Hamas of playing into the hands of Israel by refusing to sign a "reconciliation" accord with Fatah in Cairo last month. Abbas's close aides explained that he did not close the door completely to the possibility of reconsidering his decision. One aide noted that Abbas did not state in his speech that his decision was final. "The president only said that he has 'no desire' to run in the election," the aide told The Jerusalem Post. "This means that he hasn't made a final decision and was leaving the door open for all options." Muhammad Shtayeh, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, said that he too did not rule out that Abbas would eventually change his mind. "If there's a real change in the peace process, I believe that President Abbas will reconsider his position not to seek reelection," Shtayeh said. He added that several Arab leaders, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, had phoned Abbas in the past few days urging him to run as head of Fatah in the presidential election. Shtayeh said that the PA leadership does not want the Arab and world leaders to call Abbas to ask him to seek reelection. "We want them to put pressure on Israel if they want stability in the Middle East," he said. "Abbas represents the two-state peace strategy and his absence from the scene would be regarded a severe blow to this vision." Shtayeh attributed Abbas's decision to three factors: the change in the US administration's policy vis-a-vis the settlements, failure of the Arab leaders to back the PA leadership in its confrontation with Israel and the US, and strong criticism of Abbas following his decision to withdraw a motion that was presented to the UN Human Rights Council regarding the Goldstone Report into Operation Cast Lead. Another senior Fatah official, Nabil Sha'ath, attributed Abbas's decision to his "deep disappointment with the international community, including the Arab world." Sha'ath said that Abbas was particularly disappointed because he did not achieve anything through negotiations with Israel despite his commitment to the road map plan for peace in the Middle East. Fatah legislator Husam Khader said that Abbas's speech shows that the Palestinians have other options, such as armed struggle against Israel or dissolving the PA. He said that Abbas could be the last Palestinian leader willing to talk to Israel. Hamas said that Abbas's speech was mainly directed toward his "friends in the US and Israel." Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said he did not rule out that the speech was part of a show orchestrated by Abbas's advisers. He said that the Palestinians were hoping that Abbas would declare the failure of the Oslo process instead of focusing on his personal decision not to run in the election. Abbas's decision is meant to "warn his American and Zionist friends," another Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said on Thursday. "He wants to let them know he's not happy with them," Zuhri said. The Hamas spokesman went on to urge Abbas to "face the Palestinians, and tell them honestly that negotiations have failed." He said that the PA president should bring all talks with "the occupation" to a halt, and take "practical steps toward reconciliation." Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed hope that despite Abbas's announcement, efforts to renew negotiations and achieve a regional peace deal would not be undermined. Barak said that he believes it is important that both sides still believe in the two-state solution. At the same time, he said, while Israel will make every effort to achieve peace it will do so while ensuring the security and safety of its citizens. The White House praised Abbas. "Whatever he decides, we look forward to continuing to work with him and to continue in that collaboration to make the lives of Palestinians better," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Thursday. "We have tremendous respect for President Abbas. He has been an important and historic leader for the Palestinian people and a true partner for the United States," Gibbs said. MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta'al) on Friday predicted that if Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas does not run in the presidential elections in the PA territories, the next PA leader will not negotiate with Israel about the 2-state solution. The political circumstances had to change before Abbas would reconsider, Tibi told Israel Radio. "Who says that Abbas's job is to safeguard Netanyahu and Lieberman's coalition?" Tibi said. Israel releases arms ship said destined for Hezbollah by Jack Khoury, Barak Ravid and Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Israeli security forces has released the ship believed to have been carrying tons of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah, which it seized early Wednesday in Mediterranean waters, and allowed the ship to continue on its originally planned route. The ship was set to continue to Turkey and then to Egypt. Israel completed unloading the cargo on Thursday morning and decided that the crew manning the vessel had no connection to the weapons found on board. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group on Thursday denied any connection to the 500 tons of weapons seized by Israeli commandos during a raid on the ship. "Hezbollah denies any link to the weapons that the Zionist enemy claims it removed from the vessel Francop," the group said in a statement. "At the same time it condemns Israeli piracy in international waters." The Hezbollah response came after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said reports that Iran had shipped weapons to Hezbollah were fabricated. Israel's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, invited foreign ambassadors to the Ashdod port to view the tons of seized weapons. The Francop was captured by Israel Navy missile boats and naval commandos before dawn Wednesday in an operation dubbed Operation Four Species. The arms shipment began its journey about 10 days ago aboard an Iranian ship that sailed from the port of Bandar Abbas to the Mediterranean port of Damietta (Dumyat) in Egypt. The cargowhich, according to a ship manifest, was destined for Syriawas unloaded in Egypt, and then loaded three days later onto the Francop, a German-owned ship operated by a Cypriot company. The ship's crew reportedly did not know what the containers really held. The navy, which tracks suspicious activity at sea along known smuggling routes in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, located the Francop shortly after it left Damietta on Tuesday on its way to Limassol, Cyprus, and thence to Syria. Toward evening, an Israeli navy missile boat made contact with the Francop and asked to conduct a routine inspection of its cargo. Israeli naval commandos boarded at around midnight on Tuesday, in rough seas, and met with no resistance from the ship's crew of 11. The Israeli naval personnel checked the ship's manifest, which showed that the cargo was going to the Syrian port of Latakia, and began opening the containers. They found sacks of polyethylene near the opening and along the walls of the containers, but behind the sacks, they discovered numerous crates of ammunition and artillery shells. At that point, they ordered the crew to sail to Ashdod. YAAKOV KATZ, Jerusalem Post, reports: The IDF issued Thursday what it said were damning photos showing Katyusha rockets discovered last week by UNIFIL troops in Lebanon that are of the same make as the rockets seized by the Navy when it boarded the Francop cargo ship Wednesday. On Thursday, the IDF finished removing the weaponry from the containers and transferred it from Ashdod to a base in the center in the country where it will be inspected and reviewed by munitions experts. The final weight of the cache was 320 tons and included 9,000 mortar shells, thousands of 107-mm. Katyusha rockets that have a range of 15 kilometers, some 600 Russian-made 122-mm. rockets with a 40-km. range and hundreds of thousands of Kalashnikov bullets. IDF sources said they were surprised by the significant quantity of mortar shells. "This is the most we have seen in a single shipment," one senior officer involved in reviewing the arms cache said Thursday. Other officials said it was possible that Hizbullah was lacking mortar shells or was planning on using them more prominently in the event of a future conflict with the IDF. Most of the weaponry, the senior officer said, appeared to have come from the Far East and Russia, while some of it was made in Iran. Most of it appeared to have been manufactured in the past few years, the officer said. In one of the photos released by the IDF, several 107-mm. Katyusha rockets are seen on launchers in the yard of a home in southern Lebanon, the identical location from where a rocket was fired into the Galilee last week. "This is the same type that was on the ship and is shipped from Iran to Hizbullah in Lebanon," the IDF said. Meanwhile Thursday, defense officials issued criticisms of Egypt, which they said had failed to properly inspect the Iranian containers as they sat waiting to be loaded onto the Francop at the Diametta Port on the Mediterranean side of the Suez Canal. The containers were clearly marked as belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), which is a company that is known to assist the regime in illegal arms trafficking to Hizbullah. "United Nations Security Council Resolution 1803 explicitly asks countries to board and inspect IRISL ships and containers," one official said. "The Egyptians could have done more." How Flotilla 13 seized the 'Francop' by YAAKOV KATZ, Jerusalem Post The seizure of the Francop cargo ship on Tuesday night joins a long and mostly secret list of missions credited to the Israel Navy's elite commandos from Flotilla 13. While most of their operations are hidden from the public, navy commandos have played a key role in all of Israel's recent conflicts, including the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last winter. On Tuesday night, the commando teams waited on a small, fast patrol boast as the INS Eilat, one of the navy's Sa'ar 5-class corvettes, blocked the Francop's course as it made its way toward Lebanon filled with hundreds of tons of weaponry en route from Iran to Hizbullah. After Cmdr. Ziv, commander of the Eilat, received permission from the Francop's captain to board the freighter, he radioed the commandos and gave them the green light to close in. A senior IDF officer said on Thursday that two ships were used since the navy was not absolutely certain that there were not armed men aboard the Francop. For this reason, the Sa'ar 5-class ship was deployed; it has greater firepower than some of the navy's smaller vessels. The commandos scaled ropes and climbed aboard the ship without encountering any resistance. They lined up the crew and, while several sailors kept an eye on them, others searched the cargo containers until they discovered the weaponry. The last operation in which Flotilla 13 is known to have participated was during the 2006 war, when a team entered the Lebanese coastal town of Tyre in an attempt to capture a senior Hizbullah operative and take out some of the group's long-range missile capability. The flotilla was also behind the capture of the Karine A arms ship in the Red Sea in 2002, as its made its way to bring weaponry to terrorists in the Gaza Strip. During the second intifada, the elite unit participated in ground operations as well, and was credited with the capture and killing of several senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. One of the concerns during the Tuesday night interception and seizure was the possibility that some of the containers were booby-trapped. "We took all the necessary precautions," said Ziv. Haaretz reports: The United States informed Israel of the ship carrying tons of weapons allegedly en route from Iran to Hezbollah, but vetoed Israel's plans to attack, the A-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Friday. In its report on Friday, A-Sharq Al-Awset cited Israeli sources as saying that Israel had intended to attack the ship but had refrained at the insistence of the U.S. No other source could confirm the report. Complaint at UN over Iranian arms shipment by Jerusalem Post Israeli ambassador to the UN Gabriella Shalev filed a complaint with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the president of the UN security council on Thursday, following the capture of the ship which had set out from Iran carrying a large quantity of weapons allegedly intended for use by Hizbullah. Shalev cited the contents of the vessel's cargo and its route as pointing to severe breaches of Security Council resolutions. In response, an Iranian official denied the shipment was sent from Iran, Israel Radio reported. Further Israeli "tricks" should be expected in the near future, as part of an Israeli attempt to divert attention from the Goldstone Report, the official was quoted as saying. Five MKs will travel to the UK Sunday to hold discussions with British lawmakers concerning the Francop Iranian weapons shipment, MK Nahman Shai (Kadima) announced in a statement Thursday. Shai, who serves as the head of an Israel-British inter-parliamentary friendship association, said that nearly two months ago, he was asked by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to advance relations between the two nations' parliaments and improve Israel's image in the UK. The British public, judicial and economic spheres have witnessed an increase in anti-Israel leanings in recent years. MKs attending the trip Sunday will include Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), Anastasia Michaeli (Israel Beitenu), Majallie Whbee (Kadima) and Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas). They will meet with members of the British parliament, government officials and members of the press. Shai said in his statement that "in the war on terror, including the Goldstone report, Israel is uniquely positioned and fights an international, just and moral battle." Ayalon: Threat of Iran strike no bluff by Jerusalem Post Israel is not bluffing when it warns that all options are still on the table and that it may strike Iranian nuclear facilities, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in an interview with the British Sky television channel on Friday. "The one who's bluffing is Iran, which is trying to play with cards they don't have," Ayalon reportedly said. The deputy minister's interview came a day after the Guardian reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has demanded that Iran explain evidence that it has experimented with advanced nuclear warhead technology. "All the bravado that we see and the testing and the very dangerous and harsh rhetoric is hiding a lot of weaknesses," Ayalon explained. Ayalon went on to accuse Iran of using stalling tactics and "buying time" instead of responding to the UN-brokered nuclear fuel deal. "If Iranian behavior and conduct continues as they have exhibited so far, it is obvious that their intentions are only to buy time and procrastinate," Ayalon said. On Monday, Iran asked to modify the West's proposal for Russia and France to turn the Islamic republic's uranium stockpile into nuclear fuel. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, however, urged Teheran to fully accept the offer, as it would not be changed. "We continue to press the Iranians to accept fully the proposal that has been made, which they accepted in principle," Clinton said. Iran should accept the deal as it stands, "because we are not altering it," she said. The International Atomic Energy Agency has demanded that Iran explain evidence that it has experimented with advanced nuclear warhead technology, The Guardian reported overnight Thursday. According to the report, the technology, called "two-point implosion," is considered to be a secret in the US as well as the UK. It allows development of smaller, simpler warheads, which are easier to place on missiles than older designs. The British paper reported that, according to an IAEA dossier, Iran may have experimented with the technology. Nuclear experts interviewed by the paper described the development as "remarkable" and "breathtaking," explaining that this could indicate a far more ambitious and possibly more advanced nuclear weapons program than previously thought. In an interview with the New York Times published Thursday, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog found "nothing to be worried about" at Iran's recently-revealed uranium enrichment site at Qom. ElBaradei said that the site was built as a back-up, in case the enrichment plant at Natanz was destroyed. "The idea was to use it as a bunker under the mountain to protect things," he was quoted as saying. "It's a hole in a mountain." ElBaradei's comments came two days after Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the Qom site had "no possible civilian use." He said that the facility was designed for the enrichment of uranium, and at full capacity can hold 3,000 advanced centrifuges. The revelation of the previously clandestine plant under construction near Qom increased concerns by the United States, France and other powers that Iran may be enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is strictly civilian, for research and energy purposes, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has claimed that the facility was built solely for peaceful purposes. Still no meeting set for Ne tanyahu with Obama by TOVAH LAZAROFF and HILARY LEILA KRIEGER, Jerusalem Post Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu leaves on Sunday morning for Washington, where he is to address the 2009 General Assembly of the UJC/Jewish Federations of North America the next day. The Prime Minister's Office said no formal meeting had been scheduled with US President Barack Obama during the visit, which could last through the week. No departure date has been set. Netanyahu and Obama last met in New York in September on the sidelines of the opening of the United Nation's General Assembly session. Obama plans to speak at the UJC event on Tuesday, in what will be his first speech to a Jewish audience at a public event since his election a year ago. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor told The Jerusalem Post that nothing had been planned in terms of a Netanyahu-Obama sit-down while the prime minister is in town. "There is no scheduled meeting," he said. Several American Jewish leaders told the Post that they expected a meeting would take place, but that the White House wanted to be assured it would be receiving something from Netanyahu in return. They said the US administration had also felt somewhat blind-sided by how the expectation of a meeting had played out. Still, a number of Jewish leaders indicated that their optimism about a White House visit taking place was waning as the date of Netanyahu's arrival neared with no meeting being announced. The three-day annual conference, which opens on Sunday, is one of the largest communal gatherings of Jewish activists in the US, generally attended by thousands. The UJC is the umbrella organization for more than 150 federations across the United States and Canada. A government source said the GA was one of the most important yearly meetings of the North American Jewish community, and that Netanyahu's attendance at that meeting was the sole reason for his visit. The prime minister understands full well the importance of the relationship between Israel and the North American Jewish community, and his trip is recognition of the significance of those ties, the source said. According to the source, the prime minister plans to speak of the challenges and opportunities that Israel faces, along with discussion of Iran and possibly the peace process. Defense Minister Ehud Barak plans to travel with the prime minister to Washington. The trip comes in the aftermath of a flurry of diplomatic activity in the region, in which Netanyahu as well as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met in the past week with visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the administration's special envoy George Mitchell. Senators: move US embassy to Jerusalem by Agence France Presse WASHINGTONSeven US Senators on Thursday unveiled legislation to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a step perennially resisted by US presidents including Barack Obama. "It is long overdue for America to recognize the sovereign right of Israel to choose Jerusalem as its capital city," said Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, the measure's lead author. While the move is technically required under a 1995 law, that measure also includes a presidential waiver on national security grounds, which every US leader has invoked to block the change. Brownback's measure would strip out the waiver authority, and would block some US State Department money until the embassy is built and in use. In June, Obama delayed for six months moving the US embassy from Tel Avivwhere other foreign embassies are locatedto Jerusalem, a bureaucratic ritual that exemplifies the controversy over the city's status. US policy on Jerusalem has not changed: Jerusalem is a final status issue to be resolved in peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, a White House official said on condition of anonymity. Israel declared Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, then annexed Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the future of the city is a key stumbling block in negotiations with the Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. On May 21, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Jerusalem would remain Israel's capital "forever." State Department: Israel not a tolerant society by Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Israel dismally fails the requirements of a tolerant pluralistic society, according to a new report from the U.S. State Department. Despite boasting religious freedom and protection of all holy sites, Israel falls short in tolerance toward minorities, equal treatment of ethnic groups, openness toward various streams within society, and respect for holy and other sites. The comprehensive report, written by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, says Israel discriminates against groups including Muslims, Jehova's Witnesses, Reform Jews, Christians, women and Bedouin. The report says that the 1967 law on the protection of holy places refers to all religious groups in the country, including in Jerusalem, but "the government implements regulations only for Jewish sites. Non-Jewish holy sites do not enjoy legal protection under it because the government does not recognize them as official holy sites." At the end of 2008, for example, all of the 137 officially recognized holy sites were Jewish. Moreover, Israel issued regulations for the identification, preservation and guarding of Jewish sites only. Many Christian and Muslim sites are said to be neglected, inaccessible or at risk of exploitation by real estate entrepreneurs and local authorities. The report makes it clear that practices that have become routine in Israel are considered unacceptable in enlightened countries and should be corrected. Among other examples, the report notes that more than 300,000 immigrants who are not considered Jewish under rabbinical law are not allowed to marry and divorce in Israel or be buried in Jewish cemeteries. Israel Islamic leader guilty of assault by ABE SELIG, Jerusalem Post Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, was convicted in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Thursday of assaulting a policeman during a riot in the capital's Old City nearly two years ago. The incident took place in February 2007, near the Dung Gate, when Salah and four other Israeli Arabs allegedly took part in riots in protest of Israeli archeological excavations that were being conducted next to the Mugrabi Gate. According to the indictment, Salah spat in the face of a Border Guard officer and yelled, "You are racists and murderers! You have no respect!" Salah and his cohorts also attempted to force their way into the excavation site. Judge Yitzhak Shimoni said that he had received "reliable testimony from the police, which was later verified by video footage from a nearby security camera." Shimoni also said footage that had been recorded by police cameras installed on the Temple Mount had backed up the allegations against Salah found in the indictment. After the verdict was read, Salah's attorney, Khaled Azbarga, said, "Sheikh Salah accuses the Israeli government of committing crimes at the Aksa Mosque. In an attempt to cover these real crimes up, the court accuses Salah of other crimes." Salah found himself in legal trouble recently as well, when police accused him of fomenting unrest in the Old City during Succot. Scores of rioters were arrested and a number of police officers were injured in disturbances that sprang up throughout east Jerusalem, including in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. Salah, who was was arrested at the time, was found guilty of incitement and barred from the Old City for a limited period. Sentencing for Salah's conviction in the 2007 case is expected on December 24. IDF arrest two wanted Palestinians by Jerusalem Post IDF troops arrested two wanted Palestinians during operations in the West Bank overnight Thursday. The two were taken for questioning. Health Ministry refutes African refugees bring in disease by RON FRIEDMAN, Jerusalem Post Earlier this week, Interior Minister Eli Yishai spoke out about the dangers of allowing asylum seekers to enter Israel. Among the risks he cited were claims that foreigners from African countries would introduce diseases like AIDS, hepatitis and tuberculosis among the Israeli population. Data received Thursday from the Ministry of Health revealed that Yishai had little evidence to back his statement and that the single study that has been conducted on the matter showed a relatively low morbidity rate among asylum-seekers tested. A study conducted in 2007 in Eilat revealed that among asylum seekers arriving form Africa (mainly from Sudan and Eritrea) only 0.55% tested positive for AIDS and a similar number tested positive for latent syphilis. The tests were conducted on a voluntary basis on 361 refugees. Out of 820 refugees tested by the Ministry of Health for tuberculosis in 2007, only five were found to be carrying the disease. The ministry spokeswoman told The Jerusalem Post that other tests, which were given to refugees held in the Ketziot detention center in recent years, revealed similar findings. Tests for salmonella and shigella revealed that only a single person out of 100 tested carried the harmful germs. "It's important to note that these infiltrators and asylum seekers went through a long, difficult and often dangerous path on their way from their country of origin to Israel. Naturally, only those who are healthy and physically tough can stand the journey," said Health Ministry spokeswoman Einav Shimron-Greenboim. Volunteer organizations that treat asylum seekers in Israel also say they are unaware of widespread disease among the refugee population. There are two organizations that offer medical services to non-documented foreigners, both operating in south Tel Aviv. Together they treat roughly 100 patients a day and both say they were surprised by Yishai's statement, because if there is indeed such a phenomenon, they'd be the ones to know about it. We don't have statistics on the types of diseases people come in with, but there is certainly no regular recurrence of the types of symptoms you'd see with these diseases," said Raviv Maizel from the Israeli Medical Association (IMA), which runs a clinic in the central bus station area of Tel Aviv. The clinic, which has been operating for the last year, relies on volunteer doctors and nurses as well as medical students who come in several times a month to help treat the patients. One organization that receives no help from the government is Physicians for Human Rights. The non-profit organization relies entirely on donations and the good will of their team of volunteer doctors to run their open clinic in Jaffa. "We have 24,000 patient files and we keep records of every visit. If their was pervasive evidence that infiltrators and asylum seekers bring in diseases, we would be able to tell, but there is nothing that I know of that confirms the fear," said Dr. Ido Lurie, the medical director of the clinic. In recent weeks the government has been deliberating ways to reduce the inflow of asylum seekers into the country. Various suggestions have been made ranging from a wall across the Egyptian border, to setting up camps where the asylum seekers can stay until their status is determined and they either get recognized as refugees or are sent back to their home countries. "We in Israel hate to hear the word 'camps' because of the horrific connotations, but there is talk that if they are instituted the people will receive medical treatment from the state. That at least is one positive element of the bizarre suggestion," said Maizel. Police nab alleged organ traffickers by ABE SELIG, Jerusalem Post Two Jerusalemites have been arrested on suspicion of organ trafficking. Police on Thursday lifted the gag-order on an ongoing investigation of Sammy Shem-Tov and Dimitry Orenstein, allegedly middlemen in deals that brought together patients in need of kidney transplants and others who agreed to sell their organs for profit. Shem-Tov, 67, who had previously worked at Hadassah-University Hospital, Ein Kerem, together with Orenstein, published advertisements in newspapers, including Russian-language dailies, that called on people willing to donate their organs for a fee to contact them, police said. Shem-Tov also approached patients in need of transplants in the hospital and told them he could find the organs they needed, investigators said. Police stressed on Thursday that neither Hadassah Ein Kerem or any doctors or medical personnel were under suspicion in the case, although the investigation is continuing. On Sunday, investigators waited for Shem-Tov and Orenstein at the hospital, where they were arrested. The two are believed to have arrived there to perform a check-up on two potential donors. Similar check-ups for those who answered the ads were allegedly conducted in Israel, including at Hadassah Ein Kerem, but the operations to remove the organs were always performed abroad, police said on Thursday. Investigators added that some of the operations were conducted in South America and the Philippines, while they suspect that others were performed elsewhere. Each operation cost around $200,000, and for their efforts as middlemen, Shem-Tov and Orenstein allegedly received tens of thousands of dollars. Donors who sold their kidneys received only a small part of this sum, and police said on Thursday that they were still investigating how many deals took place and how long the trafficking lasted. According to the Organ Transplant Law, which went into effect last year, organ trafficking and selling is forbidden and is considered a criminal offense. Missing crewman's body found on Ashkelon shore by Jerusalem Post A port employee drowned and two others were found unharmed on Thursday afternoon after a tugboat capsized near the shores of Ashkelon. The drowning victim was identified as Aryeh Gabai, a 40-year-old worker on the Trans-Israel pipeline. He was survived by his wife and three children. According to Ashkelon Port manager Itzik Levy, a tugboat was sent out to sea to assist a ship which had reported a motor fault. The smaller boat, however, apparently hit the ship which began to sink with three crew members on board. "Two of the three crewmen who had manned the tugboat were rescued, but the third went missing," Levy said in an Army Radio interview conducted two hours after the incident occurred. How smells conjure strong memories by Reuters CHICAGOThe aroma of Grandmother's fresh-baked biscuits etch themselves into the brain's emotional memory, but so does a whiff of rotten fish, Israeli scientists said in a finding that might help in treating trauma patients. They said bad smells make the biggest first impressionwhich is likely an evolutionary defense mechanismbut early pleasant scents also make an imprint on the brain. "We found that the first pairing or association between an object and a smell had a distinct signature in the brain," even in adults, Yaara Yeshurun of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, whose study appears in the journal Current Biology, said in a statement. "This 'etching' of initial odor memories in the brain was equal for good and bad smells, yet was unique to odor." To test smell-related memories, the researchers presented a group of volunteers with a set of objects, and then associated each with a smell and a sound. Some of the smells and sounds were pleasant, such as a pear or a guitar, and others were unpleasant, such as a dead fish or the screech of a power drill. A week later, they asked people to recall the objects and found people tended to remember the unpleasant associations best, whether they were smells or sounds. Next, they did similar experiments while people's brains were being scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI. In these experiments, they noticed that a part of the hippocampus and amygdala lit up when smells were first associated with a new object, but not sounds. Much more study is needed, but they said the findings could lead to better ways to help improve memories, or even offer better ways to help erase early, traumatic memories. Abbas: Political foil by Aluf Benn, Haaretz Several weeks ago Israel embarked on a mission politically to foil the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. The man who was a favorite of Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert became, in the age of Benjamin Netanyahu, a dangerous rival. Abbas' refusal to negotiate with Netanyahu, or even meet with him in private, cost him an Israeli counter-attack: He was pressured to give up bringing the Goldstone Report to the United Nations for deliberations. Abbas capitulated on that, but then reneged and was exposed in his isolation. No one came to his assistance when his Hamas rivals ridiculed him for being a collaborator working for Israel. Not Egypt and Jordan, and not even the Obama administration. Abbas was enticed to believe that Obama and he would pressure Netanyahu into a corner and lead to his downfall. Therefore he insisted that there would be no negotiations unless there was a freeze in settlement construction. But Netanyahu held out and has even become stronger, leading the Americans to abandon their dictate on freezing the settlements and leave Abbas alone in his refusal to resume talks. Netanyahu celebrated a diplomatic victory: The US. Administration pulled back from its efforts to resume negotiations and the blame fell on the Palestinians. Netanyahu told the Americans that he could not comprehend the Palestinian refusal. The prime minister is of the opinion that the Palestinians are prisoners of a notion that the current Israeli government is unwilling to compromise, instead of giving it a chance. Netanyahu's temporary victory may prove to be a defeat for Israel if Abbas carries out his threat to resign from politics. Then there will really be no one to talk to, and Israel will find itself exposed against Hamas and the initiative for the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian independent state, or an imposed agreement. Like Netanyahu, President Obama is also not pleased, as is reflected by his efforts to avoid a meeting with Netanyahu, who is due in Washington next week. In the absence of a political process, Netanyahu is focusing on his favorite pastime: public relations. The capture of the arms shipment from Iran has given him a new tool with which to fight against the Goldstone Report. Netanyahu is not concerned that the report will result in Israelis being brought to the international court as war criminalsonly that it would undermine the legitimacy of Israeli operations. The commando raid on the ship gave Netanyahu his little victory in the cold war between Israel and Iran: It was clean, without casualties, and the silence on the international scene has been translated as legitimising the operation. Analysis: Iran's investment of Israel's borders by JONATHAN SPYER, Jerusalem Post The seizure by Israeli forces of an Iranian-commissioned arms smuggling ship on its way to Syria and/or Hizbullah in Lebanon offers a further glimpse into the daily, silent war under way between Israel and the Iranian-led regional bloc. It is evidence of Iran's ongoing strategy of arming its Islamist clients to Israel's north and south. The strength of these forces on the ground constitutes an important asset for the Iranian regime. Iranian aid and weaponry is not doled out for its recipients to use at will. Iran's investment is likely to be called in at a moment of the Iranian regime's choosingmost likely in the event of a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran makes use of all its regional assets and allies in its effort to supply arms to Hamas and Hizbullah. These two organizations play a vital role in Iran's strategy for regional hegemony. They currently maintain the two "hot" fronts in the Israeli-Arab conflict (which might today more accurately be referred to as the "Israel-Islamist" conflict). So maintaining the smooth flow of supplies is a strategic priority of the first order for Teheran. In January, an Israeli bombing of an arms convoy in Sudan laid bare an arms trail leading from Iran to Sudan, across Egypt, across Sinai, and finishing in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The Sudan-Sinai-Gaza part of the trail was created and administered by Hizbullah men, acting on behalf of their Iranian patron. In April, an unidentified warship sank an Iranian vessel carrying arms to the Gaza Strip, as it sought to dock in Sudan. This latest seizure of the arms ship bound for Syria lays bare a similar collective effort by Iran's allies to supply the parallel northern frontapparently along a similar route. The latest indications are that the ship docked first in Yemen, then in Sudan, before making its way to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. But the destination of the arms shipeither a Syrian or a Lebanese port, according to sourcespoints to one of the essential differences in the two fronts maintained by Iran against Israel. Hamas in Gaza is boxed in and lacks strategic depth. Egypt to its south is aligned with the pro-western bloc in the region, and as such is a partner (sometimes even an energetic partner) in Israeli efforts to stem the flow of weaponry to Gaza. Syria, however, is a card-carrying member of the pro-Iranian regional bloc. The porousness of Lebanon's eastern border with Syria is a vital asset for Hizbullah. And the Shi'ite Islamist movement has complete freedom of operation on Lebanese soil. UN Resolution 1701 tasks UN forces in Lebanon with preventing the Syrian supply of arms across the border to Hizbullah. But no serious effort has been made to implement this clause. Journalists working in Lebanon are aware that the crossings at the eastern border are off limits, and few attempt to report events there. Even UN investigators themselves concur that since August 2006, a steady supply of Iranian and Syrian arms has been making its way across Lebanon's eastern border to the Hizbullah forces in the south of the country. It may be assumed that this was the intended final destination for the arms found Tuesday night on the ship bearing the Antiguan flag. The events of the last 18 months in Lebanon have indicated that Hizbullah is the de facto ruler of that countryin the simple sense of being the force that can impose its will on matters it considers vital without consulting with other elements. Six months after the much-vaunted election victory of the pro-western March 14 movement, Lebanon still has no government in sight. In the meantime, the parallel pro-Iranian Hizbullah state pursues its policies unhindered. If the ship turns out to have been bound for a Lebanese portthis will offer the latest indication of just how free Hizbullah's hand in Lebanon now is. The apprehending of the arms ship represents a propaganda coup for Israel, which may help it draw attention to the reality of an ongoing Iranian effort to amass powerful proxy military forces to Israel's south and north. However, it us unlikely to put a major dent in Iranian efforts to rearm Hizbullah. The evidence suggests that the process of replenishing the large-scale destruction suffered by Hizbullah in 2006 has been mostly trouble-free and has largely been completed. Hizbullah is thought by Israel now to possess around 80,000 rockets and missiles directed at the Jewish state. The frenetic armament efforts undertaken by Iran and its clients do not mean that conflict is necessarily imminent. The Iranians were displeased at Hizbullah's provocation that led to the war of 2006. The war destroyed costly resources and undid intensive Iranian efforts. Rather, weaponry is making its way to south Lebanon and Gaza, via Syria, Sinai and the Mediterranean, to place the Israeli population within the range of Iranian-directed short and medium range missiles. The implicit threat is that these assets would be activated should Israel (or anyone else) dare to move against the Iranian nuclear program. Israelis may take justified pride in its navy's significant achievement in stopping the arms ship bound for Syria. But the result of the larger contest of which the ship was a part, however, still lies ahead. The writer is senior research fellow at Global Research in International Affairs Center, IDC, Herzliya Focus: Come home safely, Bibi by Yoel Marcus, Haaretz One day a few decades back, the Haaretz editorial board was summoned to a background briefing by then defense minister Moshe Dayan. Instead of global issues, the participants focused on the day's headlines: Syria had acquired Scud missiles with half-ton warheads. Dayan, who pooh-poohed such trivialities, looked at us with scorn and set us at ease by explaining that the Scud was a highly inaccurate weapon. "They'll aim at the General Staff HQ and hit Marcus' house," he said. "And that is not what will win the war for them." But in 1991, 39 Scuds were fired into Israel from Iraq, and the whole country quaked with fear. Tens of thousands fled Tel Aviv for Eilat and Jerusalem. Ultimately, Dayan was right and the damage was minimal. But in time we discovered that it's not the size or even the accuracy that matters, it's the range. Neither during the Yom Kippur War nor after did either Egypt or Syria dare to attack Israel's home front. Hamas, which began by shooting tiny Qassams at civilian targets near the Gaza Strip has increased the range and improved the accuracy of its rockets. And let's not forget the hundreds of rockets Hezbollah fired at northern Israel, down to Haifa. Now that Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran have identified this as our weak spot, they are manufacturing and stockpiling long-range rockets in the hope of one day realizing their dream of bombarding Tel Aviv. This week, one day after it was reported that Hamas had rockets with a 60-kilometer range and that Hezbollah had amassed tens of thousands of rockets of all kinds, came the report of the capture of an arms boat en route to Hezboll, two days." But officials privately said the blustery debate was a distraction from another goal: urging Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks. On Thursday, European countries were still trying to soften the text of the draft resolution. Most European nations expressed discontent with parts of the resolution, including language endorsing the report and referring the matter to the Security Council. "There's been progress, but there's also been backpedaling," a European diplomat said. European coah, just as undulating sirens were sounded. Some people wondered what was happening, until they realized that it was only a pre-announced civil defense exercise, part of the preparations for a possible missile attack on civilian population centers. What many are worried about is that these preparations, on the eve of the departure for Washington by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, indicate that they do not have any plans for a negotiating breakthrough and that peace is not just around the corner. The main accomplishment of these two is their own political survival. Despite Netanyahu's declaration that he accepts a two-state solution, he has not brought a solution one millimeter closer, and the status quo remains intact. One Internet comment I saw even compared Bibi to Yitzhak Shamir, who lasted two terms as prime minister saying very little and not budging an inch in the territories. The only thing he accomplished was to get home for his wife Shulamit's chicken soup every lunchtime. The Bibi-Barak duo have been in government for seven months now, and apart from "two states for two peoples" they have said nothing and done nothing. Israelis are like passengers in a jumbo jet, sitting comfortably in their seats without sensing that the plane is cruising at 1,000 kilometers per hour, even as a storm rages outside. It is a storm of delegitimization of Israel and a revival of anti-Semitism, set off by the Goldstone commission and that has created a dangerous climate by allowing terror organizations to do what Israel is barred from doing. Not a single cabinet minister has had the courage to stand up and deplore the government's performance and to say that the emperor is naked. Israel will not be able to maintain the role of chronic naysayer for much longer. The Palestinians are counting on the time factor, and the more Israel dithers the greater the danger that the wombs of Palestinian women will defeat us. A miracle like the immigration of 1.2 million Jews from the former Soviet Union will not happen again. There is no huge reservoir of potential immigrants to Israel. Bibi and Barak are off to the United States, their positions carefully synchronized on both Iran and the peace process. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who saw fit during her visit here to praise Israel's concessions, changed her tone on her way home. On her stopover in Morocco she said that Israel's positive steps were still not enough, and by the time she reached Washington she was back at her old, tougher stance on what is expected from Israel. Obama is the first president to maintain a certain distance from Israel and to link his attitude to it with an improvement in America's relations with the Islamic world. Yes, he has mentioned the Holocaust, but he has not said anything about the biblical link between the people of Israel and its land. For its part, Israel has not really stopped construction in the settlements. Unlike many previous prime ministers, and Ariel Sharon in particular, Netanyahu is not a frequent caller at the White House and he does not often pick up the phone to call the president, as his predecessors did with previous presidents. It is important to show the world, which has been captivated by the charms of the Goldstone report, that it is the Palestinian side that is delaying the peace process, piling one new demand on top of the other. Netanyahu's visit will be a success if he succeeds in significantly improving his relationship with Obama. And if the report citing a knowledgeable source is correct, and the note Israel is willing to deposit with the president for the start of negotiations with the Palestinians is indeed "unprecedented," we can only wish Bibi a safe return. Comment: The poisonous well of anti-Jewish rhetoric by Mordecai Paldiel, Haaretz Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is famously remembered for his reported response to the Kristallnacht burning of German synagogues, 71 years ago this coming Monday, when he commented to a colleague, "If the synagogues are set on fire today, it will be the churches that will be burned tomorrow." It is not clear what he meant by this. Perhaps he was simply warning of the Nazis' intention to target the churches as well, without any reference to the distress of the Jewish people. For, in June 1933, three months after the Nazi rise to powerafter the publication of the first anti-Jewish laws, which dismissed all Jewish teachers and professors from their positionsBonhoeffer wrote, in a church periodical, that ever since the Jews had "nailed the Redeemer of the world to the cross," they had been forced to bear an eternal "curse" through a long history of suffering, one that would end only "in the conversion of Israel to Christ." At the same time, Bonhoeffer, who is often remembered as a staunch and courageous anti-Nazi, initially and half-heartedly excused the Nazi regime for its anti-Jewish measures. "Without a doubt the Jewish question is one of the historical problems which our state must deal with," he asserted in the same article, "and without a doubt the state is justified in adopting new methods here." The only instance in which the Church was, in his words, obligated to object would be if the state took steps to prohibit missionary work by the Church among Jews. The post-war exculpatory words of another anti-Nazi theologian, Martin Niemoeller, are displayed in many Holocaust museums and often quoted. Indeed, he lamented that he did not speak out on the Jewish issue at the time, "because I was not a Jew." Sadly, the record shows that Niemoeller did speak out about the Jewsthough not in their defense. In a 1935 sermon, he spoke of the Jews as a people that "can neither live nor die, because it is under a curse which forbids it to do either." He also noted, in case his meaning is in doubt, that whatever the Jews take up "becomes poisoned, and all that they ever reap is contempt and hatred," because the world "notices the deception and avenges itself in its own way." As for the future, he added, the Jewish people must continue to suffer for the crime of deicide, and indeed, "now it bears the curse." Karl Barth was another staunch anti-Nazi Protestant theologian who dipped into the well of anti-Jewish rhetoric, while at the same time condemning anti-Semitism. In the 1930s, he too charged the Jews with the death of Jesussomething they undertook not "in foolish over-haste" or misunderstanding, but, he asserted, as a "deliberate" act. Then, in 1942, from his base in Switzerland, in his theological work "Church Dogmatics," Barth castigated Judaism as a "synagogue of death," a "tragic, pitiable figure with covered eyes," a religion characterized by "conceited lying," and the "enemy of God." If the church needed the Jews, he felt, it was only as a negative symbol, for they are a mirror of man's rebellion against God, against which Christians must continually struggle. The Catholic cleric Bernhard Lichtenberg reacted differently. As Kristallnacht was taking place outside, with synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses and other institutions under attack, he declared from the pulpit of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin: "Let us pray for the persecuted ones, the non-Aryan Christians and the Jews ... Outside, the temple is in flames. That too is a place of worship to God." He included all Jews in his prayers, not only (as did some others) ones who had been baptized. In mid-October 1941, Lichtenberg responded this way to an anti-Jewish publication by Josef Goebbels: "This pamphlet states that every German who supports Jews with an ostensibly false sentimentalituntries, concerned with "grave accusations," want accountability and have demanded that accusations be addressed by both sides. The European Union took a similarly moderate approach in the debate. "The EU takes note of the recommendations of the mission and emphasizes the obligations of all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law," said Swedish Ambassador to the UN Anders Liden, speaking on behalf of the 27 EU countries on Wednesday. "In this regard the EU believes that appropriate follow-up will be necessary." The EU comments were welcomed by Israeli officials, who delivered a blistering assault on the Goldstone mandate and report in their speech on Wednesday. "Rather than confronting terrorism, the General Assembly chose again to detach itself from reality," said Israel's top UN official, Gabriela Shalev. "Today's debate is anything but genuine and candid. Rather than discuss how to better stop terrorist groups who deliberately target civilians,y ... practices treason against his people. Let us not be misled by this un-Christian way of thinking, but follow the strict command of Jesus Christ, 'You shall love your neighbor as thyself.'" He was arrested a short time later, and in his interrogation by the Gestapo, he admitted having prayed for the Jews, and added, "I totally reject the 'evacuation' [i.e. deportation] with all the accompanying measures, since it stands in opposition to the Christian command of 'Love your neighbor as thyself.' And I consider the Jews also as my neighbor since they too were created in the divine image." In March 1942, Lichtenberg was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Berlin Bishop Konrad von Preysing told him the Gestapo had offered not to re-arrest him upon his release, on the condition that he remain silent, but Lichtenberg declined to accept. He died while being transported to Dachau, and appears on Yad Vashem's list of Righteous Among the Nations. In 1978, Emil Fackenheim wrote, "How different would Bonhoeffer's struggle have been if he had repudiated the 'Christian tradition of the curse' from the start! How different would Jewish fate have been in our time had his whole church repudiated it!" Bonhoeffer, Niemoeller and Barthall fierce opponents of Nazismcould not divorce themselves from a poisonous theological anti-Semitism, although they paradoxically condemned anti-Semitism as un-Christian. They joined the chorus of those who pilloried the Jews, even if it was for reasons the Nazis cared little about, such as because of the Jewish refusal to acknowledge the Christian messiah. Therefore, they too must bear responsibility for contributing to the climate that made possible the burning of synagogues during Kristallnacht. Mordecai Paldiel, a former director of the Righteous Among the Nations Department at Yad Vashem, is a consultant for the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. Israel Information Office in Scotland, 222 Fenwick Road, Glasgow G46 6UE. E-mail: ezra@isrinfo.demon.co.uk News from Israel: http://www.isrinfo.demon.co.uk PAGE  PAGE 1  .Ae 7 13 6K L lp !!q!r!''c(d(Q*R***,,f-g-3/4/0011x2y2 4 4J5K5556677P8Q8<<B>C> A A1B2B\D]D0H1HKKOOQPRP S2S_S`SXX^^aarbsbdd3e4eee8i9iUVVn UV[]cUV[]bc0\9ijjwnxnqqYvZvzzdzez}}bcɁʁuvʎˎ*+WXġšΥϥST~|}+, EF+,z%&IJAB,-89 pvmn{|uv VV^nb"#56ABop~$%&,-.01789:;>?[\]^_`bcdu PU]cuDPU]cP uDPU] V]`cV]cV]VV^n9@a 8 ClUz`VpH !"#$ %U%k%&)*8,.A.f. 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"U"k"#&'8)+A+f+,l./@034#67O9:;P<G=>?@CB8CCDEEFFG5IIAJJLN P#QQRrTPUVWYxlxx`yz<{ |~a܂ۃP D6S2B4:]o0Pqh&d!ݦ#:̩y:ήg±ͱUִ ɷwjDf~l zX5nQ8V^:9DlW}>""""""""""""""""""""" 9idf.^=%c> !!> Dr Golombock.C:\NETSCAPE\PROGRAM\WEBPAGES\NEWS\DAVIDFRI.DOC@HP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843CLPT1:winspoolHP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843C DC 4d,,A4DINU"<$WVK$$$$13MD`8HP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843C DC 4d,,A4DINU"<$WVKRoot Entry F^CompObjnWordDocumentu4ObjectPool5^5^  !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstvwxyz{|}~SummaryInformation(  FMicrosoft Word 6.0 Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q_Oh+'0$ H l   D h*C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD\TEMPLATE\DAVNEWS2.DOTNEWS FROM ISRAEL 27-MAY-09 Dr Golombock Dr Golombock@^@Mq@D ^@ Microsoft Word 6.04ܥe- 4e?u4$z# F+F+F+V+l+.z#l3F++"+++++++,,,..,6/>23T4o\2+++++\2++++++++++P* +++>+News FROM ISRAEL 6-Nov-09 UN Assembly endorses Goldstone Report by E.B. SOLOMONT, Jerusalem Post The UN General Assembly approved on Thursday an Arab-backed resolution endorsing the Goldstone Report, paving the way for the matter to be sent to the Security Council. A total of 114 nations voted in favor of the resolution and 18 voted against it, with 44 members abstaining. Israel and the US voted against the decision, as did Germany, Holland, Canada, Australia and several eastern European nations. Most EU states abstained. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer, called the resolution "an important night in the history of the General Assembly and the history of fighting against impunity and seeking accountability." The nonbinding resolution on the Goldstone document, which alleges war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the IDF's offensive in Gaza last winter, aims to open doors toward prosecution in the international courts. But as the debate dragged into its second day on Thursday, European nations threatened to abstain from a vote just as others feverishly tried to negotiate softer terms. Of particular concern was language fully endorsing the report and requiring Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take up the issue within three months or send the matter to the Security Council. Absent from the debate was US Ambassador Susan Rice, whose deputies were present but were not among some 50 scheduled speakers. "Our position on the Goldstone Report is well-known," a US official said. "The US is prepared to speak when and if there is an occasion to advance the debate." The official said representatives of the US mission attended Wednesday and Thursday's debate. "It's not unusual for ambassadors to attend portions of a debate that lasts several hours or in this case, two days." But officials privately said the blustery debate was a distraction from another goal: urging Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks. On Thursday, European countries were still trying to soften the text of the draft resolution. Most European nations expressed discontent with parts of the resolution, including language endorsing the report and referring the matter to the Security Council. "There's been progress, but there's also been backpedaling," a European diplomat said. European countries, concerned with "grave accusations," want accountability and have demanded that accusations be addressed by both sides. The European Union took a similarly moderate approach in the debate. "The EU takes note of the recommendations of the mission and emphasizes the obligations of all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law," said Swedish Ambassador to the UN Anders Liden, speaking on behalf of the 27 EU countries on Wednesday. "In this regard the EU believes that appropriate follow-up will be necessary." The EU comments were welcomed by Israeli officials, who delivered a blistering assault on the Goldstone mandate and report in their speech on Wednesday. "Rather than confronting terrorism, the General Assembly chose again to detach itself from reality," said Israel's top UN official, Gabriela Shalev. "Today's debate is anything but genuine and candid. Rather than discuss how to better stop terrorist groups who deliberately target civilians,y ... practices treason against his people. Let us not be misled by this un-Christian way of thinking, but follow the strict command of Jesus Christ, 'You shall love your neighbor as thyself.'" He was arrested a short time later, and in his interrogation by the Gestapo, he admitted having prayed for the Jews, and added, "I totally reject the 'evacuation' [i.e. deportation] with all the accompanying measures, since it stands in opposition to the Christian command of 'Love your neighbor as thyself.' And I consider the Jews also as my neighbor since they too were created in the divine image." In March 1942, Lichtenberg was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Berlin Bishop Konrad von Preysing told him the Gestapo had offered not to re-arrest him upon his release, on the condition that he remain silent, but Lichtenberg declined to accept. He died while being transported to Dachau, and appears on Yad Vashem's list of Righteous Among the Nations. In 1978, Emil Fackenheim wrote, "How different would Bonhoeffer's struggle have been if he had repudiated the 'Christian tradition of the curse' from the start! How different would Jewish fate have been in our time had his whole church repudiated it!" Bonhoeffer, Niemoeller and Barthall fierce opponents of Nazismcould not divorce themselves from a poisonous theological anti-Semitism, although they paradoxically condemned anti-Semitism as un-Christian. They joined the chorus of those who pilloried the Jews, even if it was for reasons the Nazis cared little about, such as because of the Jewish refusal to acknowledge the Christian messiah. Therefore, they too must bear responsibility for contributing to the climate that made possible the burning of synagogues during Kristallnacht. Mordecai Paldiel, a former director of the Righteous Among the Nations Department at Yad Vashem, is a consultant for the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. Israel Information Office in Scotland, 222 Fenwick Road, Glasgow G46 6UE. 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