Posts by Jon_i_Cohen

Outcry at the UN

Jon_i_Cohen — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:23:48 +0100

I am still waiting for the "Outcry at the UN".

Nato says its air raids are to protect Libyan citizens.

The Libyan government says Nato air raids have killed more than 700 civilians since bombing began in March.

Where are the left wing nutters and BDS supporters - they seem silent on this issue!

Is it a case of "No Jews - No News"

.....and once again

Jon_i_Cohen — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:42:20 +0100

"The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity".
As in this timeless quotation from Abba Eban, the Arabs never learn.
By Abbas and Fatah aligning themselves with the international proscribed terrorist grouping of Hamas, Fatah have embarked on a self-destructive course of action, the result of which will mean, no "peace talks", no "Palestinian State", this is all off the agenda now, for at least a generation.
The alignment is no surprise, Abbas,(a "graduate" of the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a Candidate of Sciences "degree", the Soviet equivalent of a PhD, the theme of his doctoral dissertation was "The Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement 1933 - 1945"), is now stating in English to the Western world exactly what he has been stating in Arabic for years to the Arab world, "NO PEACE with Israel, NO recognition of Israel and NO negotiation with Israel".
All this is good news for Israel as Israel can now concentrate on its further economic development, ensuring that it continues to be the beacon of world technological deveolpment and medical breakthroughs that it has become renowned for.
Israel will now tighten its borders, reinforce the Iron Dome - and thanks to President Obama, "targeted assassinations" are back on the agenda.

Saudi Arabia: Second Fukushima if Iranian Bushehr activated in May

Jon_i_Cohen — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:06:49 +0100

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant - a ticking bomb?Saudi and Kuwait officials have warned the US that if Iran activates its first nuclear reactor at Bushehr in May as planned, there is a good chance it will blow up and the entire Gulf region suffer a nuclear disaster on the scale of the misfortune at Japan's Fukushima and expose millions to radiation contamination.

This issue was urgently raised in recent Saudi-US talks – first on April 4 with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and again Monday, April 11, with the National Security Adviser to the US President Tom Donilon.

The two high-level US official visits to Riyadh in six days attest to the fierce discord between Saudi King Abdullah and the administration - not just over Iran and its nuclear activity but the entire gamut of US Middle East policy.
When he met the defense secretary, the king took Gates to task, charging that the White House ignored Saudi intelligence evidence passed to the CIA that Tehran and Hizballah were actively fomenting the unrest in Bahrain with a view to igniting parallel disturbances in the eastern Saudi oil regions among the two million Shiites living there. Abdullah complained bluntly that President Obama refuses to budge from his course of engagement with Iran no matter what evidence is put before him.
The king declared angrily that the lax American attitude toward the Islamic Republic's nuclear aspirations places the very existence of Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf nations in peril.
Washington had twisted Saudi arms to refrain from challenging the Bushehr nuclear plant when preparations for its activation were completed last year, despite its harmful potential for the region. (debkafile reported last August that similar pressure was applied to Israel.) Even the Iranians, Abdullah told Gates, were scared to switch it on out of concern for their own people.
It was the first time the Saudi monarch linked the Iranian plant with the Japanese nuclear calamity. Tuesday, April 12, Japan raised its severity to maximum seven the same as Chernobyl.

Four months ago, on Jan. 26, Moscow acted outside the rules of conventional diplomacy when the Russian ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin publicly demanded a NATO investigation into the effects of the Stuxnet malworm on the Bushehr reactor. He repeated a previous warning to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that, "The virus attack on a Russian-built nuclear reactor in Iran could trigger a nuclear disaster on the scale of Chernobyl."

debkafile's intelligence and Russian sources report that Moscow's concerns focused on the discovery of the unexplained entry of small pieces of metal into the cooling system. This told them that the Iranians had not managed to stop Stuxnet or its impact on the reactor's control systems and there was no guarantee that more malfunctions capable of causing the plant to blow up were not in store.

These warnings were initially heeded: Russian-Iranian preparations to active the reactor were suspended and it was emptied of nuclear fuel.
But then Friday, April 8, the fuel was reloaded. The next day, the head of Iran's Nuclear Energy Commission Fereydoun Abbasi said: "Even before the earthquake and nuclear contamination crisis in Japan, Iran had accepted the Russian experts' proposal to reconsider the plan to load fuel into the core of the Bushehr power plant's reactor."

Iran had never before referred to the Fukushima in relation to Bushehr.

Debka's sources add that the Abbasi statement clearly held Moscow responsible for any potential nuclear disaster that beset the Iranian facility. It also confirmed the Saudi claim. Riyadh has accordingly demanded that Washington act without delay and by all means possible to prevent Bushehr from going on line next month..
Such US action would be diametrically opposed to the Obama administration's Iran policy at present. However, failure to meet the Saudi demand would deepen the acute crisis in Saudi-US relations and mistrust sparked by the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak - with effect on other related issues such as Yemen and even Pakistan.

"their terrorist activities will not be tolerated"

Jon_i_Cohen — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:03:35 +0100

Syria again,

In a statement late on Monday, the interior ministry said: "The course of the previous events... have revealed they are an armed insurrection by armed groups belonging to Salafist organisations, especially in Homs and Baniyas."

It warned "their terrorist activities will not be tolerated".

Come on you Israel bashers, let's have some comment!

What are the Arabs Up To? Just killing their Own, but who cares?

Jon_i_Cohen — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:47:31 +0100

Why don't the "useful idiots" continualy bashing Israel on this website, Joe Millis, simoneq, Lukas etc etc have a winge about what the Arabs do to their people:-
Assad's own smuggling network commandeered for arming his opposition. Long lines of trucks for Syria wait at Lebanese border Syrian troops were fanned out Sunday, April 17, along the country's borders with Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to choke off the smuggled arms, funds and foreign agents streaming in recent weeks to the aid of the opposition whose uprising has spread to every corner of the country. Independence Day Sunday was marked by a display by the authorities of a collection of automatic weapons allegedly smuggled through Iraq, as well as processions calling for the president's removal. In Homs, security forces shot dead four protesters and injured more than fifty. Some demonstrators wore shrouds proclaiming: Death is better than shame!
Large sections of the Syrian economy have ground to a halt, debkafile's sources report, because 2,500 supply trucks are backed up on the Lebanese border and 3,000 trucks on the Jordanian and Iraqi frontiers for meticulous, time-consuming searches. The Syrian authorities suspect Saudi Arabia of smuggling weapons to the opposition through Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, having commandeered the infamous Middle East smuggling ring of which the Assad regime was an organizer and key link - and which has now turned around to bite its master.

The searches of convoys have caused the Syrian economy critical damage: Imported foodstuffs and raw materials are withheld from stores and factories and exports are almost at a standstill.

Syria's political, business, military and intelligence elites, including the Assad family, amassed personal fortunes by creating and running those networks, whose pathways run from Sudan in the south through Sinai and Jordan up to Iraq in the east and Syria in the northwest.

debkafile's military sources report that the Syrian regime was also its best customer, using the network to transfer contraband weapons to the Lebanese Hizballah, Palestinian extremists such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip and allied groups on the West Bank, and Sunni terrorists, including al Qaeda, in Iraq.

Assad and his security chiefs have now decided that Damascus' role as the smuggling hub of the Levant threatens their hold on power because Saudi Arabia has begun using three network branches for spiriting arms and financial aid to the Syrian opposition:.
1. Jordan: Syrian intelligence suspects Riyadh of establishing a headquarters in Amman headed by Prince Bandar bin Sultan Secretary-General of the Saudi National Security Council for aiding and arming the uprising.
The town of Daraa, which leads the protest movement in southern Syria, lies athwart the only overland route linking Syria to Jordan. It is 100 kilometers from Damascus and 88 from Amman. More than 1,500 supply trucks, some from Saudi Arabia, are awaiting Syrian security checks before they can drive through.
Syrian tanks and undercover forces also lie in wait for suspect traffic along the Yarmouk River which flows into Jordan.
2. Iraq: Assad suspects the Saudis of pushing into Syria arms, money and provocateurs for stirring up riots with the help of the Sunni militias of the western Iraqi province of Al-Anbar. These locals are familiar with the paths to the Syrian border hidden by the dense wooded vegetation of the Euphrates and Tigris riverbanks between Husaiba in Iraq and Abu Kamal in Syria. The latter is the center of the Shammar tribe whose lands spill over into Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Since the Syrian army closed the only regular border with Iraq at Rabiyaa-Tall Kujik, another 1,500 trucks are piled up awaiting permission to pass through.
3. Lebanon: Syria has clamped its most stringent security measures on its border with Lebanon, especially the goods terminal on the Abboudiyeh border. Damascus accuses Lebanese lawmaker Jamal al-Jarrah, a member of the Mustaqbal Movement headed by Saad Hariri, the Sunni prime minister ousted by Hizballah, of running the Saudi arms and funds route for sustaining the Syrian uprising.

Yet, more deaths today in Homs, Syria, over 200 killed this week, and NO outcry from the UN, Goldstone, or any one else - who cares? No-one, Israel is not involved so NO-ONE is interested.
Double-standards, yet again.

"Settlements" the left wing myth exposed

Jon_i_Cohen — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:17:57 +0000

The word "settlement" is misleading and is a myth in itself.
The areas in Israel referred to have population centres larger than Edgware, Stanmore or Radlett. The idea of a "settlement" is of a temporary "tent city". This is very far from the truth. We are talking about Towns and Villages with established infra structures, schools, libraries, shopping malls, all with populations in each of the major areas in excess of 30,000 people.
These Towns are there to stay, they are not temporary and will not be evacuated in the way that the towns and villages of Sinai and Gaza were given up for "Peace".
The areas are different, Sinai and Gaza were a question of security, there has never been a Jewish historical claim to those areas. Judea and Samaria however are completely different, these are areas with the strongest possible historical connection to the Jewish people.
The world is slowly coming to realise that these areas will not be given up to appease the latest left-wing fad in political correctness, it doesnt matter how loud the friends of George Galloway and his Guardian reading, climate-change believing, open-toed sandal wearing, political correct lefties shout and scream, the facts on the ground are the reality.
Israel's legal rights to the areas have been explained by the distinguished Anglo-Canadian jurist, Professor Gerald Adler, in a painstaking analysis of Jewish claims stretching back to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 and the Palestine Mandate of 1922.
Professor Adler demonstrates that Jews have a right to "close settlement" on the West Bank, and that this right was in fact specifically preserved, and carried forward on the demise of the League of Nations, through the deliberate wording of article 80 of the founding charter of its successor body, the United Nations organisation.

The documents are available for anyone to read.

The Geneva Convention (1949), which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own civilian population into occupied territory that the Galloway loving Guardian reading, Climate Change believing, Open Toed Sandal Wearing Lefties love to quote is irrelevant.

Why is it irrelevant - because no Israeli is compelled to live in Judea or Samaria - people live in these areas out of choice.

For Jews to live in these areas is a right – not only is it an historical and biblical right it is a right enshrined in International Law, a right granted by the League of Nations and guaranteed by the UN at its foundation. No-one, least of all the Left Wing, Self Hating,Trendy Lefties have the moral or legal authority to interfere.
.

Allan Bloom?

Jon_i_Cohen — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:46:51 +0000

Posted by Allan Bloom

Reuters in Hebron
The Guardian, Friday 20 July 2001 01.49 BST

Allan Bloom directs us to a link from 2001?
A TEN year old link?
Wow, youv'e been saving that one!
And your point is what?
A 10 year old incident justifies Friday nights slaughter of Jewish children - welll done Allan, are you proud of yourself?
Are you Jewish?

Time For Negotiations Has Passed

Jon_i_Cohen — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:51:32 +0000

Abbas' double game: His Fatah tipped to endorse Itamar murders

Mahmoud Abbas wants to ride the Arab uprisings bandwagon. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas received a stern ticking-off when he called Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Saturday night to condemn the savage murder Friday night by Palestinian terrorists of the parents and three small children of an Israeli family while they slept at their home at Itamar on the West Bank.

The Prime Minister knew Abbas had quietly ordered heads of his Fatah organization to throw its support behind the atrocity – which was why Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was careful earlier to denounce "violence by any quarter" only in general terms.

In his address to the nation Saturday night, Netanyahu accused Palestinian leaders of hypocritically mouthing peace slogans abroad while promoting anti-Israel incitation and propaganda on a daily basis in Palestinian schools and mosques.

He warned that terrorists would not be allowed to determine the settlement map.

debkafile's sources report that the Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has been caught out playing a double game, which has yet to be fully clarified: Is he supporting an operation by the rival Islamist Hamas action so as to ride the Arab unrest galloping across the Middle East and boost his faltering prestige at home? Is he trying to stir up another Palestinian uprising (intifada)?

It would appear that Abu Mazen is opportunistically hoping to exploit the Palestinian street's sympathy for the Arab uprisings and divert its anger over the corruption deeply entrenched in his regime by letting Fatah terrorists off the leash for a fresh wave of attacks on Israel that could fit the slogan of the Third Palestinian Uprising. Hamas adherents might even rally behind his leadership.

Israeli security chiefs fear that even if Abbas does not mean to let the violence go to those lengths, Fatah activists may take his sympathy for the Itamar outrage as the green light for more attacks. In the last two weeks, Palestinian organizations and left-wing elements in Israel and aboard have been pushing for a Palestinian Day of Rage on Tuesday, March 15 and for two days on March 20-21 the following week, which coincide with the Jewish festival of Purim. Israel's army, intelligence and police have been placed on the highest level of preparedness for terrorist attacks, focusing on the West Bank, Jerusalem and mixed Jewish-Arab towns until after Purim. Security measures have also been clamped down on West Bank traffic in a major operation to net the killers. Itamar has been declared a closed military zone.

This report from Debka is on the button

http://www.debka.com/article/20759/

J Street - the truth about this anti-Israel group

Jon_i_Cohen — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 11:21:39 +0000

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142587

A must watch video for all those who are under the misconception that J Street is pro-Israel, the truth is exposed here and shows J Street to be the exact opposite of what you might think.

In response to the Swiss-funded J Street conference being held this week in Washington, the Republican Jewish Coalition (a national grassroots organization of Jewish Republicans) has put out a video presenting the truth about the supposedly pro-Israel J Street organization.

The video is entitled ‘The Mystery of J Street’ and it deals with the question of how J Street can say that it is a pro-Israel group when it continuously comes out against Israel.

The proof of J Street being anti-Israel, says the video, is in the fact that the organization attacks Israel for defending itself against terrorists, that it backs candidates who do not support Israel, and that it lies about accepting donations from George Soros.

The video then presents the facts: J Street has endorsed and is actively raising money for the ‘Gaza 54’ (a group of Congress members who wrote a letter calling for Washington to pressure Israel to end the Gaza blockade, while Hamas terrorists were firing rockets from Gaza and hitting innocent Israeli civilians). It also notes that J Street was caught lying and that it has indeed received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Soros.

Another fact presented by the video is that J Street co-founder Daniel Levy has called Israel’s creation “an act that was wrong.”

All these facts mean that J Street is no friend of Israel and that it does not reflect Jewish values, concludes the video.

The conference, which is being held through Tuesday, is being attended by three Israeli members of Knesset, from Labor and Kadima. Other MK's refused the invitation. US Ambassador Daniel Oren refused a J Street invitation to a previous conference.

Journalist David Bedein, director of the Israel Resource News Agency and The Center for Near East Policy Research, told Arutz Sheva last week that he had asked the MKs who are planning to take part in the conference how their Zionist stance goes along with taking part in such a conference. He noted that MK Daniel Ben Simon (Labor) responded by denying that J Street is anti-Israel, while MKs Nachman Shai and Shlomo Mulla (Kadima) did not respond at all.

“When you see that during this conference there will be a broad discussion on the boycott of Israel, when you see participants who clearly and blatantly support the Arab right of return and have expressed their regret that the state of Israel exists, when you see that UN officials who have criticized the very existence of Israel have been invited, this is crossing a red line,” said Bedein.

Gaza to revert back to Egyptian Control

Jon_i_Cohen — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:20:15 +0000

As the uprisings continue throughout the Arab Middle East, more and more pundits are of the view that Gaza should revet to Egyptian control.

Foreign media continue to try to resuscitate ideas that have been rejected for years. The widely respected Christian Science Monitor on Tuesday published an opinion article by Dashiell Shapiro, described by the newspaper as a “tax lawyer who has worked in the Middle East, who suggested that the uprising in Egypt gives the country an opportunity to take over Gaza.

Egypt ruled Gaza until the Six-Day War in 1967 and has consistently refused to take any responsibility for the crowded and terror-ridden region.

Nevertheless, he reasoned that Gaza Arabs are culturally closer to Egyptian Arabs than those in Judea and Samaria. Admitting that “the idea of returning Gaza to Egyptian control has always been rejected out of hand, mainly by Egypt itself,” he argued that a post-Mubarak regime will feel less threatened by Hamas, especially if the Muslim Brotherhood is part of the new regime.

Further details here:-
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142624

Jordan Is (Arab) Palestine

Jon_i_Cohen — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:16:33 +0000

To His Majesty
The King of Jordan
King Abdullah the Second
&
The Government and Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

To be presented the 25th of May 2011
The 65th Independence Day of the Kingdom of Jordan

As the cries for democracy reach us from Tunis, Egypt, and all around the Arab world, we call upon the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to declare itself the democratic nation state of the Palestinian people.

80% of the population of Jordan are disenfranchised Palestinians. This declarative step would correct that injustice and provide the foundation for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace between the Jewish and Arab peoples.

The late Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin wrote: "A Palestinian State can be created only on the ruins of the State of Israel".

That needn’t be the case. That shouldn’t be the case.

Let Jordan be democratic and free, and let the Palestinian people accept upon themselves the full mantle and responsibility of democratic statehood in Jordan - without the destruction or diminishment of the state of Israel and without the physical transfer of any population, neither Jew nor Arab.

We the undersigned, citizens of the world, representatives of hundreds of thousands around the world, ask the Government of Jordan and King Abdullah the Second, to proclaim the Hashemite Kingdom the democratic nation state of the Palestinians, and with this symbolic and declarative step, make a decisive contribution to Middle East and world peace.

We remind you of the brave words of your father:
“I wish democracy and peace to be my legacy to my people and the shield of generations to come.” - King Hussein I of Jordan

Support the petition, go to:-
http://www.ipetition.com/str-asp-PetitionID_9-end-SignPetition.htm

(Gaza increase rocket attacks on Israeli civilians) in response, Israel increases aid to Gaza

Jon_i_Cohen — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:53:15 +0000

Israel national News reports
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/news.aspx/

Humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza are continuing without a break, despite the stepped-up rocket attacks on southern Israeli communities emanating from the region.

On Wednesday a Kassam rocket badly damaged a factory in the Sdot Negev region. No one was physically injured in the attack.

That same day, 128 trucks filled with humanitarian aid supplies were sent through the crossings into Gaza, as they are every day except Friday and the Sabbath. The trucks carried various foodstuffs, diesel fuel for the Gaza electric power generator, cooking gas and 82 electric wheelchairs from the flotilla.

In addition to Wednesday's attack, Hamas terrorists in Gaza fired more than 10 other missiles and mortar shells at southern Israel over the past week, and several more the week before. No one was wounded.

More than 90 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza since January. Since the end of Operation Cast Lead, Israel's 2008-2009 winter war against Hamas, Gaza terrorists have fired more than 330 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel.

Humanitarian Aid Flow is Stepped Up. Since Sunday, 541 trucks laden with food stuffs, fuel, gas and medical supplies have made their way through the Gaza crossings in order to deliver humanitarian aid to the region.

About 10 days ago, a government order led to a 30 percent increase in capacity at the crossings, resulting in a rise in the number of trucks that make the daily aid deliveries.

U.S. Middle East special envoy George Mitchell visited the Kerem Shalom Crossing on Wednesday to observe the transfer of goods with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (CoGAT), Major-General Eitan Dangot.

Sharply criticizing Hamas in a news conference held at the crossing, Mitchell called the terrorists' continued captivity of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit “unacceptable and inhumane.” He noted that the group continued to block the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting the soldier, a violation of international law.

“We condemn the kidnapping, and the conditions under which the soldier is being held, without allowing the Red Cross to visit him. We call upon [Hamas] to immediately release Gilad Shalit,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell also praised the Israeli government for its increased capacity at the crossings, and its other measures designed to ease the situation for Palestinian Authority Arabs in Gaza.

(Hamas fires Grad rockets on Beer Sheva) in response, Israel Helps Gaza Export Cherry Tomatoes

Jon_i_Cohen — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:47:37 +0000

Israel National News reports
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/news.aspx/142564

It’s business as usual for the Israeli government, and this includes the continued economic aid to the Gaza Strip.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza announced on Sunday that Israel will be expanding its agricultural assistance to farmers in the Strip by giving approval for an additional phase in an export project headed by the Dutch government.

A spokesperson for the unit reported that based on a decision by the Ministerial Committee on Security to expand economic activity in Gaza and to expand exports from the Gaza Strip, an export of cherry tomatoes will begin this week from the Gaza Strip. The tomatoes will be taken through the Kerem Shalom crossing to markets in Europe.

It was also reported that the beginning of the export of cherry tomatoes from the Strip was made possible after much work by the Coordinator of Government Activities, General Eitan Dangot, who worked with the director of security in the border crossings as well as representatives of the Dutch government and the Palestinian Authority.

The spokesman stressed that Israel attaches great importance to the international community's involvement in implementing policies towards the members of the civilian population in Gaza who are not involved terrorism against Israel, and noted that Israel will continue to implement economic projects in the Gaza Strip

The project known as the Dutch Government Project also includes exports of 367 tons of strawberries from the Gaza Strip, about 5.3 million carnations, and 6 tons of peppers.

The announcement on the expansion of exports from Gaza comes despite the recent escalation in rocket attacks by terrorists from the Strip. Just last Wednesday, Gaza terrorists fired two Grad rockets at Be'er Sheva. One rocket exploded in a building and caused heavy damage to the place. Six adults and four children were taken to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva after suffering from trauma following the explosion.

Meanwhile, kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit continues to be held captive and incommunicado by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Just over a week ago, a protest was held in Jerusalem near the official residence of the Prime Minister marking 1,700 days since Shalit’s kidnapping. The demonstration was attended by Shalit's parents and other family members. People held homemade signs reading “Gilad is a son to all of us.” The Red Cross has never been allowed to visit him.

Last week, Information Minister Yuli Edelstein addressed, during an interview with Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew website, the Israeli government policy towards the Gaza Strip in the wake of the continued terror attacks from Gaza and Shalit’s continued captivity. He described the situation as ‘absurd’ and said that it is a result of the 2005 "Disengagement" from the Gaza Strip which left Israel, in the eyes of the world, still responsible for the Gaza Strip despite its total withdrawal from the area and the terrible personal price its Israeli residents paid for that expulsion

Arab "Democracy" Protests spread

Jon_i_Cohen — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:43:47 +0000

Trouble now in Bahrain, outside Bahrain's Pearl Monument despite security police efforts to dislodge them, anti-government protesters continued to occupy the main square of Manama, Bahrain Tuesday night, Feb. 15, even after its ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa made a rare television appearance to regret the two deaths in the demonstrations and promised a full investigation.

Today in Libya, protests starting in Benghazi, where eyewitnesses report police responded to stone-throwers with water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets.

In Yemen, security forces stayed on alert after five days of disturbances by protesters demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh's removal from power although he promised not to run again when his term ends in 2013. Today sees security forces in Jordan and the army in Syria on high alert.

Saudi Arabia is especially alarmed by the swelling protest in its small but strategic neighbor, Bahrain, site of US Fifth Fleet headquarters for the Gulf region. For the first time, Sunni Muslims joined the majority Shiite protest against the rule of the Al Khalifas who have been in power since 1971. debkafile discloses that shortly before dawn Wednesday, Feb. 16, the Bahraini king secretly asked the Saudis for riot dispersal gear for his security forces to break up the protests. He also asked Saudi Arabia to place its security forces on the ready in case they got out of hand.

Riyadh had already taken action out of fear that its own large Shiite minority in the eastern oil-rich regions of the kingdom catch fire from Bahrain. Tuesday, security and military forces were rushed to those regions and security stepped up at the oil facilities and ports of eastern Saudi Arabia, most of which are manned by Shiites who are close to their coreligionists over the bridge in Bahrain.

To the north, Jordan too was rocked by serious street protests, a serious menace to the throne because they are staged with increasing intensity by indigenous Bedouin tribes, the traditional backbone of the Hashemite royal house. Overnight, armed tribesmen blocked Highway No. 1, the main road into the capital Amman, demanding the restoration of lands, which they claim were stolen from them over the years by the royal family and the Jordanian government.

Last week, 36 Bedouin tribal chieftains sent a letter to King Abdullah II with demands that he cede some of his prerogatives including the right to appoint prime ministers and ministers and cut down on extravagant royal spending, especially by Queen Rania, when more money should be diverted to helping the poor.

Unrest against the Jordanian king has been simmering for weeks posing his rule with a double problem.

For now, the Bedouins are making the most noise while the Muslim Brotherhood and the majority Palestinian population are biding their time, waiting to jump in when the see the first crack in the royal stand against the disturbances.

The second problem is more serious. The Jordanian army consists of Bedouin fighters belonging to the same tribes as the protesters out on the streets. The royal security services have the same makeup. A crackdown against the demonstrations could spark a wholesale Bedouin mutiny against the Hashemite royal house or even the first Bedouin coup against a Jordanian monarch.

Intelligence sources say that this peril and a range of responses were discussed Saturday, February 12, when US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen visited Amman and met King Abdullah. Mullen also discussed the situation in Jordan, Israel's second peace partner, with Israel leaders Sunday and Monday (February 13-14). Tuesday night, US President Barack Obama warned "autocratic rulers" that they cannot maintain their hold on power through coercion and force and must recognize the "world is changing."

In Syria, too, although President Bashar Assad Tuesday put on a big show of unconcern by mingling unescorted among a crowd of affectionate admirers in Damascus, the situation is very tense. Early Wednesday, he placed Syrian security forces and the army on high alert in readiness for the Day of Anger called for Friday, Feb. 18, by opposition organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood. After Syrian intelligence received word that it was planned to be the most serious attempt to date to shake the dynastic Assad regime, police and security strength in Syrian cities were beefed up. Heavy reinforcements were moved into the Kurdish areas of the north, where the most violent protests are anticipated.

Assad has adopted the Iranian tactic of exerting maximum force to break up crowds as they form and giving security forces a free hand to open fire with live ammunition without having to ask for permission.

An earlier Syrian opposition demonstration attempt - Saturday February 5 – was quickly nipped in the bud by the preponderance of security forces in the streets. A small demonstration of several hundred took off in the northeastern town of Hasaka but nowhere else.

Sources say this coming Friday may be different: Opposition groups in the universities, and among the Sunnis, Kurds and Palestinians, are all gearing up for a large turnout in Damascus.

Priorities, priorities, it certainly seems unlikely that the imminent First Grand Prix of the Formula 1 season in Bahrain can go ahead now, what a waste of money that was!

And what does The Guardian have to say about all this? Israel's fault somewhere down the line, no doubt.

Iranium - Iran The Sponsor of Worldwide Terrorism

Jon_i_Cohen — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:45:23 +0000

http://www.iraniumthemovie.com/drip/resnicoff.html

A must see movie; with the turmoil in Egypt and Iran manipulating "The Moslem Brotherhood", the real danger has yet to be seen.

WikiLeaks: Iran searching for nuclear bomb materials

Jon_i_Cohen — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 20:04:49 +0000

This report confirms what we have all known for some time now.

As reported by YNet
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4014509,00.html

Iran has been developing contacts in more than 30 countries to acquire technology, equipment and raw materials needed to build a nuclear bomb, a Norwegian newspaper said on Sunday, citing US diplomatic cables.

Aftenposten said that according to the cables, obtained by WikiLeaks, more than 350 Iranian companies and organizations were involved in the pursuit of nuclear and missile technology between 2006 and 2010.
Iran says its nuclear program has purely peaceful aims but the West suspects is designed to develop a weapons capability.

"For years, Iran has been working systematically to acquire the parts, equipment and technology needed for developing such weapons, in violation of UN sanctions against the country's nuclear and missile program," Aftenposten said.

Aftenposten has said that it has all 250,000 US cables leaked to WikiLeaks, most of which have not yet been published, and is gradually releasing them.

It cited sources as saying Iran is racing to develop nuclear weapons before its already crippled economy succumbs to the sanctions. "A race exists between the bomb and financial collapse," the daily cited a cable quoting a French nuclear expert.

Iran was practically out of uranium, which it needs to enrich for use in weapons, forcing Tehran to look abroad for more radioactive material, cables said.

"Iran's limited domestic supply of uranium makes it practically impossible to supply the nation's current and future nuclear power plant capacity," said a US State Department note from February 2009.
"Consequently, the Iranians are likely to be forced into dealing with foreign suppliers to get uranium for their domestic nuclear industry," it added.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said earlier this month that the sanctions had set back Iran's nuclear program, giving major powers more time to persuade Tehran to change tack.

Tehran is due to hold talks with the major powers on the nuclear program in Istanbul on January 21-22.

We need more spokespeople with this clear insight

Jon_i_Cohen — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:57:49 +0000

http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/columnists/43512/dubious-claims-...

Another brilliant piece by Melanie Phillips.

When are you "lefties" going to "get it"?

Come on Jose we want another and another and another...............

Jon_i_Cohen — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:28:16 +0000

stellasolomons and Joe Millis have interrupted jose's run of blogs, only 4 consecutive blogs. Come on Jose you can do better?

We Want Another Post From Jose

Jon_i_Cohen — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 12:54:41 +0000

Come on jose, you're slacking, only 5 consecutive posts, you can do better.

Time Is Up For The Leftists Who Work Against The Interests Of The State Of Israel

Jon_i_Cohen — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 09:45:02 +0000

Be Very Afraid, Fifth Columnists

MK Danny Danon told Arutz Sheva that he will be the Knesset member heading the committee of inquiry into ultra-leftist groups' sources of funding that the Israeli parliament voted to establish.

Danon said that he "recommends to [Peace Now Director] Yariv Oppenheimer and the other directors of the NGOs that are a fifth column within Israel to start sprucing up their CVs, because soon they will be unemployed."

Among the organizations and persons Danon intends to invite to the committee, he lists:

•B'tselem - director, Jessica Montel
•The Center for Defense of the Individual - director, Dalia Kirstein
•Yesh Din - director, Roi Maor
•Ir Amim - director, Yehudit Oppenheimer
•The Public Committee against Torture in Israel - director, Yishai Blanc
•Adallah - director, Mahmoud Yazbek
•Peace Now - director, Yariv Oppenheimer
•Gisha - director, Kenneth Mann
•Association for Civil Rights ion Israel - President, Sami Michael
•Mousawa - Anwar Jamal, Tariq Bashir, Jafer Farah
•as well as: Breaking the Silence, Machsom Watch, The Israeli Committee against Home Demolitions and the Center for Alternative Information.
Danon said that "it is time to find our the sources of the monies for these groups that act without letup against the state of Israel." He added: "We will try to find out who are the ones who arrange the riots at the Bil'in checkpoint, who funded the legal motions in the matter of Highway 443. We will reveal the bodies that roam the Galilee and purchase private lands with Saudi money. The leftists seem afraid and they must have a reason for fearing this committee."

The committee does not have powers of subpoena and is no different from other Knesset committees as far as its powers. Danon is optimistic, however: "I hope we can stop these groups, which received 40 million shekels from the European Union in the last five years alone... We will try to discover the truth and in the end we will recommend changes in legislation as well.

As reported by Israel National News
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141600