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Newsletter : 9fax0118.txt
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>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN Jan. 18, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 11
Dakar Sailors Memorialized
Israel Faxx Staff Report
A memorial ceremony for the Israeli navy personnel who were lost
aboard the Dakar submarine was held Sunday at Mt. Herzl Cemetery in
Jerusalem. The sub disappeared 31 years ago off the northern Sinai
coast. No trace has been found of the vessel other than a buoy.
Officials say every effort continues to be made to locate the
missing sub.
Mossad Planned to Kill Saddam Hussein
By IsraelWire
According to the London Sunday Times, Israel's elite Sayeret Matkal
commando unit was planning to assassinate Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein last month. The fatal blow was to come from a missile
attack but it was canceled the last minute after it was decided
that there was too high a risk of failure.
According to the Times, the window of opportunity discovered by
Mossad was small with Saddam's arrival at his mistress's village in
northwestern Iraq was difficult to predict, but his schedule rarely
varied once he was there. He was to be hit upon leaving the home.
The Iraqi president usually arrived around dusk. After visiting
relatives in the area, he would spend the night at the mistress's
home. In the morning he would go to a secret military site nearby.
The Mossad had a source, which claimed to know in advance when
Saddam would see the woman. If the accounts of Saddam's routine
were correct, then for 15-20 minutes between leaving her and
reaching the safety of the military site, he was vulnerable. Mossad
believed that was enough to attempt the assassination.
To confirm the quality of the intelligence, a Mossad agent
infiltrated Iraq and surveyed the location. He returned to Israel
with good quality close-up photographs of the dictator. Mossad
experts confirmed that they portrayed Saddam.
Once Mossad was tipped off that Saddam was on his way to his
mistress, about 40 soldiers, the main operational group, would fly
to Iraq on Hercules C-130 planes, landing in a remote location. The
Israelis have identified an air corridor through which they believe
a C-130 can fly below Iraqi radar range.
The group would then divide into two units. The first,
incorporating up to 10 soldiers, would move to within 200 to 300
meters of the site where Mossad says that Saddam can be found.
The main group of about 30 soldiers would wait about six miles
away, equipped with a special Israeli-developed television-guided
missile, code named Midras (Hebrew for footstep).
The forward group would target Saddam, following him on a video
monitor that would be connected to identical equipment held by the
main group. At the right moment, the main group would fire three
Midras missiles at Saddam and his entourage.
After firing at the Iraqi president, and whatever the outcome, the
forces would immediately evacuate. "It is a complicated operation
which will involve many aircraft in the air," an Israeli air force
source said. Israeli sources said the operation was canceled last
month because the schedule for the attack coincided with the
American and British bombardment of Iraq and because Ariel Sharon,
the foreign minister, and Yitzchak Mordechai, the defense minister
refused to give final approval.
The plan, almost certain to be shelved now that it has been
revealed, has been leaked because military intelligence analysts
believed the assassination of Saddam would irreparably damage the
Middle East peace process and Israel's future relations with Arab
countries.
Christian Group Downplays Significance of Millennium
Israel Faxx Staff Report
The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has taken a stand
against what it sees as the growing tendency to distort the
theological significance of the year 2000.
In a statement, the ICEJ said that while its members shared with
Christians worldwide the firm belief in the soon return to earth of
Jesus Christ, it assigned no prophetic significance to the passing
of the years 2000 or 2001.
"We see no scriptural or other basis for giving these coming two
years any inordinate eschatological significance, though they do
have symbolic value. We know of no other accepted, mainstream
evangelical Christian leader or ministry who has made a distinct
connection between the Christian belief in the return of the Lord
and the year 2000. The vast majority of Christians do not take
seriously anyone who may be setting with certainty either 2000 or
2001 as the date for Christ's return."
Fourteen members of the Denver-based "Concerned Christian" cult
were deported from Israel after an Israeli police spokesman
announced they were plotting violent acts in Jerusalem late this
year "to start the process of bringing Jesus back to life."
A member of an Israeli task-force established to handle
millennium-related incidents subsequently admitted that police had
no specific evidence of planned acts of violence. The police
statement was seen as referring to claims by cult leader Monte Kim
Miller that he would die on the streets of Jerusalem and be
resurrected three days later. Miller was not one of those arrested
in Jerusalem.
While the turn of the millennium is generally regarded as the
2000th anniversary of Jesus' birth, most Bible scholars agree that
Jesus was probably born in 4-5 BCE, just months before the death of
King Herod in 4 BCE. Therefore the year 1996 was closer to the
2000th anniversary.
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