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Newsletter : 2fax0612.txt
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Iran Radio Inaugurates News Show in Hebrew
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Tuesday, for the first time, the official radio station of the Islamic Republic of Iran broadcast a half hour of news in Hebrew, a daily broadcast designed to counteract "Zionist propaganda," according to the station.
Iran joins Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian Authority in broadcasting television or radio news reports in Hebrew. The Hebrew broadcasts from the Muslim world have a very minuscule audience in Israel.
Girl Dies as Suicide Bomber Strikes Israeli Restaurant
By VOA News
A suicide bomber has struck at a restaurant in the Israeli coastal town of Herzliya, just north of Tel Aviv. Israeli police said the blast wounded nine people, including an Israeli girl who later died of her injuries. The bomber also died in the blast. The Palestinian Authority issued a statement condemning attacks on civilians inside Israel.
Earlier Tuesday, a bomb blast in the West Bank injured three Israeli teenagers from the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron. The bombings came as Israeli forces continued to raid Palestinian towns in a hunt for anti-Israeli militants. Israeli forces made more arrests in Ramallah and surrounded the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat for a second day.
The Israeli army said it arrested 30 suspects in Ramallah Tuesday, including the deputy leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- Abdel-Rahim Mallouh. That group killed an Israeli cabinet minister last October after Israeli troops killed its leader.
Also seized was Youssef Tarifi, public prosecutor for the Ramallah area and the son of a Palestinian cabinet minister. Israeli Armored forces also entered the town of Tulkarm and the Deheishe refugee camp near Bethlehem.
In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian boy was killed and another was wounded by Israeli army gunfire near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. And in Hebron, police found the bodies of two Palestinians who were accused of providing information that helped Israeli troops kill a local militant leader in April. The Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades said it killed the alleged collaborators.
Sharon Meets Congressional Members After Bush Backs PA Reform
By IsraelFaxx.com News Services
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met Tuesday with members of Congress, as part of his three-day trip to the United States. Sharon was summoned to Washington last week by President George W. Bush as a precursor to the announcement of a new American initiative aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East.
Congress has passed several pro-Israel measures, including last month's resolution stating clear support for Israel's recent military operations. The resolution expresses "solidarity with Israel, a front-line state in the war against terrorism, as it takes necessary steps to provide security to its people by dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas." It also "demands that the Palestinian Authority fulfill its commitment to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas."
Following Monday's meeting with Sharon in the White House, Bush said, "The conditions [for a regional peace conference] are not even there yet. That's because no one has confidence in the emerging Palestinian government."
Among the issues the two leaders discussed were Syria's support of the Hizbullah terrorist organization, and Sharon told his host that the thousands of Hizbullah missiles aimed at Israel from Lebanon are the "biggest threat facing Israel today."
Also on the table, according to some reports, was imprisoned Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard, who is into the 17th year of a prison sentence for having passed confidential US documents over to Israel, and Azzam, an Israeli Druze imprisoned in Egypt on espionage charges.
At the traditional post-meeting joint press conference, Bush said, "It's my honor to welcome back Israel's Prime Minister to the Oval Office... I reiterated my strong view that we need to work toward two states living side by side in peace..."
Asked about a possible expulsion of Arafat, Bush said, "I don't think Mr. Arafat is the issue. I think the issue is the Palestinian people. And as I have expressed myself, I am disappointed that he has not led in such a way that the Palestinian people have hope and confidence."
ADL: U.S. Anti-Semitism on the Rise Since Sept. 11 Attacks
By IsraelFaxx.com News Services
The Anti-Defamation League announced Tuesday that anti-Semitic sentiment in the United States has risen after the Sept 11. attacks and the upsurge in Palestinian-Israeli violence, reversing a decade-long decline in anti-Jewish sentiment. The ADL said a survey of 1,000 Americans aged 18 or older conducted in early 2002 showed 17 percent of Americans were strongly anti-Semitic, up from the 12 percent seen in the previous survey four years earlier. The survey said 48 percent of Americans hold no prejudices against Jews, down from 53 percent in 1998. It had a margin of error of 3 percent.
"We believe that September 11 and the Mideast conflict have clearly had an impact. As these life-altering events have transformed us as a nation, they have also triggered the anti-Semitism that was already there, but buried beneath the surface," said Abraham Foxman, ADL national director.
The survey showed a slight increase in anti-Jewish sentiment to 12 percent among white Americans from the 9 percent seen in 1998. The number of African-Americans with strong anti-Semitic beliefs remained steady at 35 percent.
Foxman said the survey showed what he called a distressing increase in anti-Semitism from America's fastest-growing ethnic group, Hispanics. The survey showed that 44 percent of foreign-born Hispanics hold strongly anti-Semitic views, while 20 percent of Hispanics born in the United States were strongly anti-Jewish.
