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Newsletter : 7fax0305.txt
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New Iranian Currency Features Nuclear Symbol
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Iran is about to release a new currency bill that features the international symbol for nuclear power, according to Iranian newspapers. The bill will serve to highlight the country's nuclear program. The new bill for 50,000 rial (about $5.4 US) will go into circulation next week.
Israel, US Discuss Tightening Iran Sanctions
By Robert Berger (VOA-Jerusalem)
Senior Israeli and American officials are seeking ways to increase the economic pressure on Iran. This is the latest in a series of consultations between the two countries aimed at getting Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed how to tighten sanctions on Iran with Stuart Levey, the U.S. Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Officials say Israel is helping the United States identify firms that do business with Iran and track Iranian funding for nuclear and terrorist activities. Levey told Olmert about U.S. efforts to get international businesses to stop working with Iran. Olmert's office said both men agreed that every effort must be made to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Israel has grown increasingly alarmed about Iran's nuclear program since late 2005, when the Iranian president threatened to wipe the Jewish state "off the map." Israeli officials believe Iran is quickly heading for the point of no return where it will acquire the technology, equipment and know-how to build an atomic bomb.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the international community must take tougher action before it is too late. "I think it is possible to stop Iran. I think it is absolutely necessary to stop Iran."
But Israel believes the international community is wasting precious time on fruitless negotiations that are allowing Iran to stall. Netanyahu hopes the United States will push its European allies toward a tougher approach.
"This requires the amassing of pressure, diplomatic pressure from the international community, economic pressure, moral pressure in public opinion and other pressures," he said. "The bigger the stick the less likely that it will have to be used."
And Israel is carrying a stick of its own to goad the Western powers into action. Officials have warned time and again that if international sanctions fail, Israel might act on its own and launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Was Israel Involved in Iranian General's Disappearance?
By YnetNews.com
A senior Iranian general, Ali-Raza Asgari, went missing nearly a month ago in Istanbul and Iranian officials claim that Israel and the United States may have had a hand in his disappearance.
Several days ago, Iranian website Baztab, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported that during the 1980s Asgari held a senior position in the Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon, and that following his return to Iran he was appointed deputy defense minister.
No official source in Iran has commented on the report about the disappearance, but a top official told Baztab that "some of the claims in the report are unequivocally incorrect."
The general's disappearance was first reported at the end of February in the Saudi newspaper al-Watan. The paper said that at the beginning of February Asgari visited Damascus and later flew o Istanbul in Turkey, where he checked into a hotel.
"Several Turkish citizens reserved a room for Asgari at the Gilan Hotel in Istanbul and paid for it, but haven't heard from him since," the paper stated. "In a meeting held by the Turkish security officials with an Iranian delegation, the possibility was raised that the Mossad and the CIA were involved in his disappearance."
Security sources in Turkey told a local newspaper that so far, the searches for Asgari have yielded no results. According to a Turkish official, "The records do not show that a person under this name left Turkey, but given his sensitive job and the important information he possesses regarding the Iranian nuclear program, the possibility that he left Turkey using a fake passport and an alias is being examined."
Israel Celebrates Purim Holiday under Tight Security
By Robert Berger (VOA-Jerusalem) & IsraelNationalNews.com
On Monday, Israel concludes its celebration of the biblical holiday of Purim. It has been a weekend under tight security with the Jewish state restricting the movement of Palestinians amid concerns of possible terror attacks.
It was a weekend of parties and celebrations as Israelis marked the holiday of Purim with costume parties in homes and community centers and on the streets. The holiday marked the deliverance of the Jews from annihilation in ancient Persia some 2,400 years ago, as told in the biblical Book of Esther.
Security was extremely tight for the holiday. The army sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinians were barred from entering Israel. Police said they had intelligence information that Palestinian terrorists could try to disrupt the holiday with terrorist attacks. It has happened before. A suicide bomber blew up a Purim parade in Tel Aviv in 1996, killing 13 people.
But that didn't stop the celebrations this year. "It's a party. Everybody's coming dressed up as something," says Amit Gabbai, a Jerusalem high school student, who was dressed up as character from a Hollywood hit. "Well, I'm wearing this beautiful green dress and I put on a wig. And I'm dressed as Princess Fiona from 'Shrek 1.'"
Are children worried about the threat of terror? "Yes and no," says Gabbai. "No because, I don't know, I live here and it's usual for me and I know where not to go and I go to safe places, and yes because I mean everybody's dressing up, everybody's putting masks on and like carrying fake guns, and the terrorists could take advantage of that and dress up and, you know, do something bad."
The joyous holiday started Saturday evening as Jews in Israel and throughout the world celebrated the thwarting of a genocidal decree in 356 BCE, which was followed by the two-day killing of tens of thousands of Iranian anti-Semites who were poised to wipe out the Jews.
The Festival of Purim celebrates the hidden hand of God working through a seemingly fortuitous sequence of events that brought a Jewish woman named Hadassah to the Persian King's palace under the assumed name Esther (meaning "hidden") and allowed her to use her position to thwart the genocidal plans of the monarch's Jew-hating advisor Haman.
The holiday, though sometimes erroneously treated as a children's festival, was considered by Jewish sages and mystics to be the holiest day of the year, surpassing Yom Kippur and the high holidays in its stature. The Talmud says that even in Messianic times, after other holy days will no longer be marked, Purim will remain in effect.
The Megillah, or Scroll, of Esther was read both on Saturday and Sunday evening. Jews are also obligated to send gifts of ready-to-eat food to at least one friend and to give charity to a number of poor. A festive meal takes place during the joyous day, during which wine is imbibed, the Purim story recounted, songs are sung and the contemporary relevance of the holiday's lessons are expounded upon.
Though wine plays a central role in the holiday, with the sages exhorting Jews to drink until they can no longer distinguish between the hero Mordechai and the villainous Haman, organizations such as the Orthodox Union have highlighted minority rabbinical opinions that joy should be attained without alcohol, or that the inability to distinguish be attained by going to sleep.
In cities that were walled at the time of the Megillah's events – notably Jerusalem - the Megillah is read on the 15th of Adar (Sunday night/Monday). In Yaffo (Jaffa), Acco, Tzfat and Hebron the Megillah is read on both days due to uncertainty about the walled status in those times.
And in New York Broadway stars from Chicago, Jersey Boys and The Wedding Singer will perform in the third annual Broadway Purimshpiel play Monday night. Proceeds from the event go to the Taglit-Birthright program that has sent thousands of Jews on their first-ever trip to the Jewish homeland.
The event will be held at the famous Hudson Theatre, where the stars will join Constantine Maroulis and Jaclyn Huberman to perform what is billed as a hilarious retelling of the Purim story.
"This really is the most exciting Purim event in town. Where else would you find an 'American Idol,' a 'Broadway Idol,' major Jewish philanthropists, the Israeli Consul General, and hundreds of young people in their twenties under one roof celebrating the holiday of Purim?" says Rebecca Sugar, Director of Alumni Programming for Birthright Israel in New York. "What an incredible way to support Birthright Israel, the most exciting and innovative project in the Jewish community today."
The event begins with the reading of the traditional Megillah (traditional scroll) of Esther, which describes the foolish King Achashuerus. Angered by the refusal of his wife to appear at a drunken party, he married the beautiful Esther, whose uncle Mordechai warned her to keep her Jewish religion secret.
Haman, one of the king's power-hungry aides, hated Mordechai for refusing to bow down to him and paid the king money for permission to kill all the Jews in his kingdom, based in Persia, which today is Iran.
Backed by the repentant Jewish community, Queen Esther revealed her true identity and unmasked Haman's plot. The king named Mordechai as his second in command and hanged Haman.
The actors will take the stage after the reading of the story and will act out their version for 700 guests.
Israelis Choose Sderot Band Mocking Global Jihad for Eurovision
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Israelis have chosen a song ridiculing Islamic terrorists as their representative entry for the annual Eurovision song contest.
The song, called "Push the Button," was composed by the popular Israeli rock group Teapacks, whose members say that they are proud of using the international platform to convey an important message to the world on behalf of the Jewish state. In English, Hebrew and French, the artists humorously dismiss the global Jihad in a fusion of rap, rock and folk music.
"There are some crazy rulers," an English line in the song sung with a thick Israeli accent says, "they hide and try to fool us, with demonic, technological willingness to harm."
Teapacks seemingly refer indirectly to Iran's nuclear ambitions and its hard-line leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Teapacks members and their families experienced the brunt of Islamic terrorism first hand. The band was formed in 1988 in the Kassam rocket-pocked city of Sderot. Lead singer Kobi Oz said that his group knew that the trilingual song crosses accepted norms, but is heartened by the fact that it was chosen by a majority of Israelis in the recent televised voting.
Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_h_rLKTLvs to watch Teapacks perform the song.
Another Teapacks song that was voted upon is called Salaam Salami. The song uses a tongue-in-cheek allegory of a man and his salami sandwich to represent the Jewish people and their homeland. The sandwich owner's willingness to make peace on the basis of compromise with a fellow who wants his salami sandwich leads to the continuous slicing of the salami and ends with the other fellow throwing him out the window and taking the sandwich.
The Israeli choice is particularly significant as past entries have focused exclusively on universal themes of peace and love. The only past Israeli winner was transsexual singer Dana International, whose song Diva was not at all political.
Apparently, Eurovision's organizers have already begun to consider banning Teapacks from the competition. "It's absolutely clear that this kind of message is not appropriate for the competition," contest organizer Kjell Ekholm said. "We'll have all the delegation leaders here in Helsinki next week, and I'm sure we'll talk about this case within the EBU [European Broadcasting Union] group."
Barring a ban, Teapacks will perform the song at the Eurovision finals in Helsinki in May.
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