Friday, October 11, 2013
'A Bad Deal is Worse than No Deal', Says Netanyahu
In excerpts of an interview with the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published in advance and quoted by AFP, he called for sanctions on the Tehran regime to be stepped up rather than eased.Netanyahu to Britain: Iran must stop calling for destruction of Israel
"A bad deal is worse than no deal," the prime minister was quoted as saying.
Iran "will ask for a partial lifting of sanctions for cosmetic concessions that would leave them with the ability to have a nuclear weapons capability," Netanyahu told the German newspaper.
While the message was similar to the one he communicated in the US, he did frame it around distinctly European points of reference.In show of military might, Israel drills long-range air force attack
For example, Netanyahu referred to a picture in his office of Winston Churchill, and recalled what Churchill said about arming the Nazis.
“He said don’t let the Nazis arm themselves,” Netanyahu said. “Don’t let an implacable, radical regime have awesome power. And he was right, and there is a lesson to be learned here.”
In a display of muscle-flexing to Tehran ahead of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, Israel made a rare announcement Thursday that its air force had conducted a series of drills in which fighter aircraft practiced midair refueling and a simulated strike on a distant target.Dore Gold: Iran's first 'charm offensive'
A video, unprecedentedly uploaded to YouTube by the IDF Thursday, shows F-15 and F-16 fighter jets refueling midair over the water. It was published shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to a series of European TV interviewers, warning the EU not to ease sanctions against Iran. “When a murderous regime engages in soft diplomacy and uses calming words of peace, but nevertheless continues to acquire immense power — it must be stopped, immediately,” Netanyahu said.
The first Iranian charm offensive required two parties to succeed: Iranians who skillfully employed a campaign of deception and gullible commentators in the West, who took at face value what the Iranians said. It can only be hoped that this time, with Rouhani's charm offensive, this dangerous combination will not reappear, leading the U.S. and its allies to repeat the errors in interpreting Iranian intentions, that were committed in the earliest days of Khomeini's rule.Iranian liberal attacks pro-Rouhani propaganda of the Guardian’s Saeed Kamali-Dehghan
Rouhani was nominated by Saeed Kamali-Dehghan, who has served as one of the paper’s chief promoters of the lie that the new Iranian president is a “moderate” despite Rouhani’s involvement in terror attacks abroad and his role in crushing the pro-democracy movement at home.Iran cancels annual anti-Zionism conference
Responding to the Guardian readers’ poll was a liberal Iranian blogger (currently living in London) named Potkin Azarmehr (whose blog serves as a platform for the voice of secular pro-democracy activists) who argued that the nomination of Rouhani evokes, for many liberal Iranians, memories of Ayatollah Khalkhali of Iran’s ‘Soviet puppet‘ Communist Party (Tudeh) after the 1979 revolution.
As part of an apparent effort to rebrand the Islamic Republic in post-Ahmadinejad times, the New Horizon Conference, scheduled to take place in November, was cancelled by the Foreign Ministry, reported The Telegraph.Iran FM on Hypocrisy of Personally Using Banned Facebook and Twitter: “That’s Life”
Hardliners in Iran blasted the decision, which they see as another concession on the part of the new government. Iran’s recently elected president, Hassan Rouhani, has made a concerted effort to put a new face on the regime in Tehran. This after eight years of his Holocaust-denying predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
When asked why some top Iranian officials use Facebook and Twitter despite the regime banning access to the platforms, Vaezi tersely responded “you should ask them.”Internal Conflict, Not Mossad, Suspected in Death of Iranian Scientist
As it happens someone has asked one of Iran’s top officials exactly that. David Keyes, executive director of Advancing Human Rights, last month pressed Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif on the topic. The Western-education Zarif, who maintains a verified Twitter account as well as a Facebook page, has been broadly described as one of the more nuanced and moderate members of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet. Zarif’s response to Keyes was somewhat less than nuanced:
When a key Iranian scientist was gunned down last week, many observers figured Israeli spy agency Mossad had struck again. But new signs point to deadly intrigue within the rogue nation’s fractious leadership.Italy conference exposes 'Iran's true face'
It was meant to be a conference dubbed “The New Face of Iran – the opportunities for dialogue opening before an international audience during the days of President Rohani.”Hamas Leader to Visit Tehran
The Italian Institute for Asia and the Mediterranean Basin arranged a formal event on Tuesday at the Italian Parliament in Rome, sponsored by the Iranian embassy in Italy. The institute invited the public to participate and sent invitations to media representatives. An Italian citizen working at the Israeli Embassy also registered for the event.
Having realized that the embassy worker had confirmed his attendance at the conference, the Iranian ambassador to Italy, Jahanbakhsh Mozaffari, said he would not attend that event, if the worker would be present. He requested that his attendance be blocked.
Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, will visit Iran soon, the movement confirmed on Thursday, according to Kol Yisrael radio.Cutbacks in U.N. Food Assistance Set Off Outcry in Gaza
Hamas used to be heavily backed by Iran but the relations between the Islamic Republic and the terror group have been strained for the past two years because of the civil war in Syria.
Hundreds of women and children protested cutbacks in a United Nations food-assistance program on Wednesday, the latest in a growing backlash by Palestinian refugees and their offspring in this forlorn coastal strip against the agency that for decades has provided them with nutrition, education and health services.Chemical arms watchdog wins Nobel Peace Prize
“People are getting poorer, and the agency’s directors nurture bellies,” they chanted outside the locked gates of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. “We are under siege!”
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to stop the chemical warfare that has haunted the world from Hitler’s gas chambers to the battlefields of Syria.Security Council authorizes UN chief’s Syria plan
Based in The Hague, Netherlands, the OPCW was formed in 1997 to enforce the Chemical Weapons Convention, the first international treaty to outlaw an entire class of weapons.
International inspectors have so far visited three sites linked to Syria’s chemical weapons program, a spokesman said Thursday, as the team races to destroy the country’s stockpile and delivery systems amid a raging civil war.US raked over the coals by Arab media over its approach to Syria's chemical weapons disposal
The Arab media report that some Arab governments are irate about US Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement on Monday – that he was “very pleased” that experts had begun the process of dismantling Syria’s chemical weapons.Saudi Arabia Bails on US; Forms Own Rebel Alliance in Syria
Sunni Arab states, particularly from the Gulf, were already upset with US President Barack Obama’s decision not to enforce his own red line and attack Syria.
Before deciding to bankroll a new Sunni rebel alliance, Bandar flew secretly to Moscow to speak directly to Putin in the hope of getting him to stop propping up Assad. According to the UPI report, Bandar offered to write a check for $15 billion of Russian arms and to prevent Saudi opposition to Russia's natural gas deals. Putin didn't bite. Bandar also moved to knock rival Qatar out of the picture -- possibly to the extent of having taken a hand in the out-of-nowhere abdication of Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad, in favor of his more malleable son, Sheik Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani.Rights group accuses Syrian rebels of war crimes
The August 4 attacks on unarmed civilians in more than a dozen villages in the coastal province of Latakia were systematic and could even amount to a crime against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a 105-page report based on a visit to the area a month later.Senior Israeli Official: Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty Will Outlive Cuts in U.S. Military Aid to Egypt
Witnesses said rebels went house to house, in some cases executing entire families and in other cases killing men and taking women and children hostages. The villagers belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam which forms the backbone of President Bashar Assad’s regime — and which Sunni Muslim extremists consider heretics.
According to the Israeli official, a group of Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have offered between $12 billion and $15 billion in unrestricted aid to Egypt’s military rulers. As well as to support stability in the broader region, the two heavyweight donors are seen acting to counter Qatar, which has been financially supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.Violence Plagues Sinai: Egyptian Commander Survives Attack, Military HQ Bombed
“The Saudis don’t want Islamists in power in Egypt, or anywhere,” he said, describing a theological arms race being played out in mosque building across Europe, where Saudi Wahabi Islam vies for more new pulpits to counter the Qatari support of venues for Muslim Brotherhood preachers, and in Syria, where the two countries are supporting rival rebel groups seeking to overthrow Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.
Egypt’s state-run MENA reported that General Said Abdel-Karim and at least three other soldiers were wounded by a bomb placed on the highway linking Al-Qusaima and Al-Housna in central Sinai on Thursday.4 Egyptian Security Men Killed by Car Bomb
In the northern town of Rafah, assailants exchanged fire with security forces at a military intelligence headquarters, MENA reported. At Al-Arish, in the North, unidentified assailants opened fire on an armored personnel carrier and a security checkpoint. Israel’s Walla news said Israeli Border Police closed the Sinai crossing of Nizzana after shooting on the Egyptian side of the border.
They said the bomber slowly approached the checkpoint, waited for soldiers and policemen to start searching the car before he blew himself and his vehicle up. Five other people were wounded.Egyptian TV Host: Our Enemy Is Israel for All Eternity
Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy declared Wednesday that the country's army would act against targets in Gaza, if necessary. Military sources pointed out that a list of targets in the Hamas-ruled area has been put together.
Top Lebanon Official: Hezbollah Trying To Create Underwater Drilling Crisis To Open New “Front With Israel”
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea today slammed Hezbollah for trying to use purported threats to energy resources near the country’s coast as a pretext for generating tensions with Israel.Canada: Mosque Mural 'Encourages Jihad'
Caretaker Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, a politician from the Hezbollah-allied Free Patriotic Movement, has begun a process by which energy companies will bid to explore and eventually exploit contested maritime ‘blocks’ near the Israeli-Lebanese border. The move is a de facto claim of sovereignty over the contested territory, and – per the Israeli daily financial newspaper Globes – Israel will be forced to respond:
Reformists from the Canadian Muslim community published a petition in which they called on the mayor of Toronto to remove the mural, because of the meaning of the quoted verse. They said that terrorist Islamist groups like Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Pakistani army use the same verse to indoctrinate their fighters.
Tarek Fatah writes in the Toronto Sun that according to Quran scholars, the verse, “assistance from Allah is near and the quick victory assured,” is a blessing from Allah to Muslims who are about to achieve a victory against non-Muslims and conquer enemy territory. “This brings us to the question," he continues, "what is the enemy that the mural in Toronto wants the Muslims to fight against? Where is the non-Arab land that this mural wishes Muslims will conquer and be victorious in? Could it be Canada?”
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