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Newsletter : 7fax0313.txt
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Hagee Draws AIPAC Cheers
By Israel Faxx News Services
A fiery pro-Israel speech by an evangelical preacher drew multiple standing ovations from thousands of AIPAC delegates.
Pastor John Hagee, who last year founded Christians United for Israel, spoke Sunday night at the launch of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual policy forum in Washington.
He outlined his vision of a united evangelical-Jewish front lobbying for Israel. Hagee pledged to "stand up for Israel, to financially support Israel until Israel achieves a just, lasting peace. Israel, you are not alone." He finished his speech by leading the crowd in a chorus of "Israel Lives!"
Hamas Leader Mashaal Jabs Israel in Sensitive Spots
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal said Monday that time is working in favor of the "Palestinian dream," as Israel is not ready for peace.
Voice of Israel Radio reported that Mashaal said that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not popular and his government is weak, and that weak leaders cannot make peace. Mashaal also said that the present generation in Israel is "defeatist" and "tainted by corruption."
The Hamas terrorist leader made his statements during a visit in Yemen, where he met with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh reiterated his full support for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and condemned Israel. Mashaal also visited in Iran of late, holding a cheerful meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Hamas currently runs the Palestinian Authority legislature, while Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah faction is the PA chairman. Efforts to form a unity government were snagged partially because of the Hamas refusal to recognize Israel. Though PA leaders now say that the unity government will be formed this week, Hamas continues to refuse to recognize Israel or to renounce terrorism.
In 2004, Mashaal was asked by BBC's Tim Sebastian of the Hardtalk program about the Hamas organization's attitude towards Israel. Excerpts from the interview, which took place on April 19, 2004: Sebastian: Answer me just one question. Does Israel have the right to exist in peace? Do you acknowledge the right of Israel to exist in peace?
Mashaal: We consider Palestine our land and this is our natural right and the occupation must end. Occupation cannot be divided.
TS: Answer the question, yes or no, does Israel have the right to exist? It's a very simple question.
KM: I am saying we have the right to our land and we have the right to be freed from occupation. Any occupation even if time goes by doesn't become legitimate.
TS: So the answer is no. Israel does not have the right to exist. That's what you're telling me.
KM: The occupation doesn't become legitimate even after a long time. You are talking about a fair and comprehensive peace. The Palestinian who was forced to leave his land in Haifa and Jaffa, if he doesn't return to his land, how do you say this is fair? Why do you stick to your rights in Europe and the whole world while you ask us to drop ours?
TS: So Israel does not have the right to exist. Let's just clarify this once and for all. You're saying Israel does not have the right to exist... Let's just clarify that for the sake of the viewers, you're not going to answer my question because it's too difficult.
KM: This is not difficult. I answered in the spirit of the situation. Occupation must end regardless of the duration. Therefore, it is our right to hold on to our land.
Holocaust Denial Conference Attendee Beaten
Israel Faxx News Services
A fervently Orthodox Austrian Jew who embraced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly was assaulted by a group of Israelis in Poland.
Ma'ariv reported Monday that Moshe Aryeh Friedman, who attended the Holocaust denial conference hosted by Ahmadinejad in Tehran in December, was spotted while visiting the former Auschwitz and Birkenau camps over the weekend. A group of fervently Orthodox Jews from Israel also touring the sites set upon Friedman, who was born and raised in Monsey, N.Y.
"We gave him a good beating, the kind we have not given in a long time," a member of the Israeli group, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, told Ma'ariv. "We took off his coat and hat, so he would not look like a Jew." According to the newspaper, Meshi-Zahav, who is one of the founders of the Israeli volunteer emergency service ZAKA, was later honored with a special Torah reading in the synagogue.
Poll: 68.4% of Israeli Jews Fear Israeli Arab Uprising
By Ha'aretz
Sixty-eight point four percent of Israeli Jews fear a civil uprising on behalf of Israeli Arabs and 63.3 percent say they won't enter Arab towns in Israel, according to the results of the 2006 index of Jewish-Arab relations released on Monday.
The poll also showed that 62 percent of the Arab population in Israel fears that the "triangle" area will be ceded to a future Palestinian state and 60 percent say they fear a mass expulsion from Israel.
The survey, administered by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Haifa, polled 1,423 Jewish and Arab Israelis on a wide range of issues dealing with the rift between Jews and Arabs in Israel.
According to the poll, 80 percent of Jews said that in future agreements dealing with the borders and demographics of Israel, the state must retain a Jewish majority. Furthermore, 64.4 percent of Jews polled said they feel that Israeli Arabs pose a security risk to the state through their high birth rate, and 83.1 percent said Israeli Arabs are a security risk due to their support of the Palestinians.
On the other hand, the poll showed that fears among the Israeli Arab population, with 80 percent saying they feared mass land expropriations on the part of the state, and 73.8 percent saying they feared that they would suffer violence from Israeli authorities, and 71.5 percent from Israeli citizens.
Family of Former Iranian Official Denies He Defected
By VOA News
The family of a former Iranian defense official has denied that he defected to the West. Speaking to state media in Tehran, Elham Asghari, the daughter of Ali Reza Asghari accused Israel and the United States of abducting her father.
Asghari's wife Ziba Ahmadi said her husband had an olive oil business in Syria, and vanished in December while on a trip to Turkey. Before retiring from the government, Asghari was a deputy defense minister and a commander in the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Last week, an Arab newspaper, Al Sharq al Awsat, reported that Asghari is currently in northern Europe, being debriefed by American intelligence, before flying to the U.S. The Washington Post, citing a U.S. official, said Asghari is providing information about Lebanon's Hizbullah terrorists.
Churchill's Archives: Jews Blamed for Being Persecuted
By IsraelNationalNews.com
A previously unpublished article by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated that Jews are mainly responsible for being persecuted.
"The central fact which dominates the relations of Jew and non-Jew is that the Jew is 'different'. He looks different. He thinks differently. He has a different tradition and background. He refuses to be absorbed," Churchill wrote in 1937 in an article entitled How the Jews Can Combat Persecution.
The article was published for the first time this week. In it, Churchill described the wave of anti-Semitism sweeping through Europe, "It would be easy to ascribe it to the wickedness of the persecutors, but that does not fit all the facts... It may be that, unwittingly, they are inviting persecution--that they have been partly responsible for the antagonism from which they suffer."
Churchill's secretary advised him at the time not to publish the article.
Israel Plans Manmade Island off Tel Aviv Shore
By YnetNews.com
A manmade island will be constructed off the shores of Tel Aviv, according to an agreement between Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz. The proposed island will be built between 1.5-2.5 kilometers (0.93-1.55 miles) off the Tel Aviv shoreline, and will constitute approximately 250 acres.
Environmental organizations completely oppose the idea, claiming that the island would create severe environmental repercussions that cannot be calculated in advance. "Building artificial islands off of Israel's shores constitutes a serious environmental risk and uncertainty," said Yael Dori, a coordinator for the Israel Union for Environmental Defense.
Nir Papai, the coordinator for the department of Sea and Shore Preservation at the Society for the Protection of Nature, pointed out that there has never been an attempt to build manmade islands in open seas, only in gulfs, making it even more difficult to estimate potential dangers of executing the plans.
The Tel Aviv municipality and the Transportation Ministry want to use the manmade land for a new international airport that would replace Tel Aviv's Sde Dov airfield.
But the committee which examined the plans for the island recommended that it be used for a power station. It prepared a list of 13 possible uses for the island, with an airport only ranking ninth place.
In response, the Tel Aviv municipality said, "In light of the density in Tel Aviv vicinity, there will eventually be no choice but to transfer Sde Dov to the sea."
Ship Excavation Sheds Light on Napoleon's Attack on the Holy Land
By Newswise
Which navy commissioned the boat that sunk off the coast of Acre 200 years ago, which battles was it involved in and how did it end up at the bottom of the sea? The recent findings of marine archaeologists at the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies of the University of Haifa may provide the answers to these questions.
The ship, which sunk off the coast of Acre during a battle between Napoleon, the British navy and possibly the defenders of Acre, 200 years ago, is under excavation and its finds are beginning to shed light on Napoleon's attempt to conquer the Holy Land.
Recent marine excavations found cannon balls, canisters of gunpowder and other items that will help give evidence as to the ship's journey and answer the questions facing marine archaeologists. It is not clear if the boat was involved in battles in 1799 or 1840, if it was a French or British boat or even if the boat sunk or was sunk.
"This is the only shipwreck excavated from the period of the French blockade of Acre and it can teach us a lot about the naval battles of that period," explained Dr. Ya'acov Kahanov from the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies and the Department Of Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa.
This large ship, 30 meters long and 9 meters wide, was discovered off the Acre coast in 1966, but systematic excavations have only just begun under the auspices of the Institute in cooperation with the Nautical Archaeology Society of Great Britain and with the help of the Nautical College for Naval Officers in Acre.
The fact that cannon balls, gunpowder canisters, wineskins and metal buckles were found, attest to the fact that this ship was part of a naval fleet. The question of which battle it was involved in has yet to be answered, but the archaeologists do have some theories.
It seems that the story of this boat begins over 200 years ago. Researchers found a map in a British archive, drawn in 1799 by a British soldier, of the British formation off the coast of Acre, facing a blockade of Napoleon's ships. The map includes a symbol of a sunken ship, at exactly the spot where this ship was found. This map is the source of the theory that this ship was involved in the battles of 1799.
In addition, one of the cannon balls was found wedged into the keel of the boat, exactly at the bottom. The location and the unique angle at which the cannon ball is positioned, has led researchers to believe that it was this cannon ball that sank the ship.
"One of the theories is that this is a "barricade ship" - a ship that the British purposely sunk at the entrance of the port in order to block smaller French ships from entering it. The leather buckles, gun power canisters and the rest of the finds need to be analyzed to verify how the ship ended up at the bottom of the sea. Once we understand these questions, we will be able to understand more about battle tactics of that period," said Kahanov.
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