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Newsletter : 8fax0825.txt
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>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN Aug. 25. 1998, Vol. 6, No. 151
Israel Tightens Airport Security
Israel Faxx Staff Report
Israel has stepped up security at its airports following threats of revenge attacks by Saudi exile Osama Bin Laden over U.S. strikes against his alleged terrorist network, an official said Monday. "Without going into concrete details, we have definitely taken a series of steps which we will continue in the coming days," Avi Kostelitz, managing director of the Israel Airports Authority, told Israel Radio. Army Radio said security had been visibly tightened at the country's two main international gateways, Ben-Gurion airport near Tel Aviv and Eilat airport on the Red Sea.
Islamists Threaten Revenge Attacks
By Arutz-7 News Service
Islamists have threatened attacks against the US and Israel, in
retaliation for last Thursday's American missile attack on
suspected terror targets in Sudan and Afghanistan. Both the US and
Israel have placed security personnel on heightened alert
because of the warnings.
Saudi dissident and key suspect in the African bombings, Osama Bin
Laden reportedly threatened to exact revenge. The threat came in a
call, apparently made from Afghanistan, from Bin Laden's spokesman,
according to the editor of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi
newspaper, Abdel-Bari Atwan.
Atwan said Bin Laden promised more attacks against US targets
following the missile strike. He said Bin Laden's spokesman had
said: "The battle has not started yet. The response will be with
action and not words."
The Sunday Telegraph reported that the Kashmiri Harkat group, whose
camp was one of those struck in Afghanistan, also vowed revenge,
saying: "The Americans and Jews should now prepare for their
destruction."
Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, also threatened to retaliate,
telling a weekend Khartoum rally that the regime was "ready to
return a blow in double."
Earlier, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the "spiritual leader" of the
Palestinian group Hamas, told Reuters: "We warn the United States
that it will certainly harvest the fruits of its bloody
aggression."
"We will continue our jihad and resistance against the Israeli
entity because we consider the Zionist occupation to be another
face of American colonialism," he said, adding that Hamas would
"still limit its struggle inside the boundaries of Palestine."
Israel has stepped up security and placed its diplomatic missions
abroad on alert, in what an official told AFP were "routine
measures taken every time threats of attacks are made by terrorist
organizations."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied that Israel helped the
US prepare for the military strikes, calling "a baseless
fabrication" media reports that Israeli officials had a role in
preparing for Thursday's cruise missile attack.
How Bin Laden Escaped Death at the Last Minute
By IsraelWire
Last Thursday must have been the luckiest day in the life of Osama bin Laden, when at the last minute, he dropped the idea of visiting and having dinner at his Harkatul Jihad al-Islami military training camp in Khost, Afghanistan.
If Laden had not postponed the last item in his schedule for that
day, American Tomahawk missiles would have got him and some other
key commanders during their post-dinner Qahwa (Arabic coffee), in
the open skies of Khost, 94 miles southeast of Kabul.
Afghan agents and eyewitnesses have been quoted as saying there was
jubilation in the militant circles in Afghanistan and in the
Pakistani North West Frontier Province, as reports spread that
Laden had, at the last minute, decided not to visit his guerrilla
training base in Khost and that he was safe.
Officials speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed that one
of the camps hit in the missile attack was run and managed for the
militant Harkat-ul Ansar organization by a Pakistani national
identified as Saiful Islam Akhter.
Lesbian Couple Demands Government Recognize their Family
By IsraelWire
A lesbian couple has filed a petition with the High Court of
Justice in Jerusalem, asking that their living arrangement be
recognized by the Ministry of the Interior as a legal family unit.
The Greek woman, living with her Israeli lover, are raising a girl
together, and stipulated in the petition they are a family unit in
every sense of the word, and the Greek woman should be granted
permission to remain in the country as the spouse of her Israeli
lover.
Mazel Suissa, 46, from Haifa, Ismini Sasbatzagolo, 47, from Greece,
have filed with the High Court after the Ministry of the Interior
served Ismini with a deportation order. The two told the court they
are raising a 12-year-old girl and are a family unit.
Their lawyer, Benny Shaked, told the court the women did have a
wedding ceremony and are indeed a couple and should be recognized
as such by the government.
Ismini was arrested for being in the country illegally and was
set free on NIS 30,000 bail. The High Court ordered a delay in the
deportation, pending a decision on the case.
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