Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, March 02, 2012

Russians communicating with Syrian opposition through Druze Knesset member!

From Arutz-7, February 22:

A Syrian opposition figure confronted a Russian diplomat through Internet telephony program Skype Wednesday.

The unusual conversation took place when Russian Ambassador to Israel Sergei Yakovlev was holding a meeting with Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara in Kara's Knesset office. Arutz Sheva's Hezki Ezra was on hand to provide exclusive video coverage.

In the course of the meeting between the two politicians, Kara's aides added an unnamed Syrian opposition leader to the conversation, through Skype.

"I just want to pass this message from the Syrian opposition to the Russian leadership through you," said the Syrian.

"OK," said the Russian – "Why don't you do [that] through the Russian ambassador in Damascus?"

"Because I can't reach him," explained the Syrian opposition man. "If I come close to the Russian embassy in Damascus, I will be shot dead. Because there are snipers. Iranian snipers now cover the top of the Russian embassy in Damascus. You can ask your colleague in Damascus and he can tell you what is going on there."

Yakovlev said little in response, except an occasional "uh huh."

"Mr. Ambassador, please pass this to your leadership," the Syrian went on. "Don't be surprised, if you find the names of the high leaders in Russia in a file being introduced to the international tribunal… Russia is sharing with everything in doing this crime. Arms, diplomacy […], intelligence help, and the military experts who are now leading the cannons of Bashar al-Assad."

"We are ready to discuss things with both sides," Yakovlev told Kara after the opposition leader had gone offline. "The Friends of Syria will meet on the 24th in Tunisia [an international forum in which the U.S. and European countries will be represented, but not the Syrian National Council opposition -- ed.]. Why to discuss it only with the opposition, not with the government? This is no way to peace, friend. If you talk to one side, if you strengthen one side, then it will be a fight for, I don’t know, forever."

According to Israeli site Megafon, there was a seemingly different meeting a few days later, also in Kara's office, between Yakovlev and two members of the Syrian opposition - in person. The ambassador started to indicate that Russian support for Assad is wavering, saying that he should or will be "lifted" from office.

The two unnamed opposition figures discussed various scenarios after Assad's removal, including elections or dividing Syria into Sunni and non-Sunni states. They discussed Russia's possible role afterwards as well.

When Megafon asked Kara about this meeting, he said that there was only the one through Skype, The sound of the second video seems like the conversation was in person, though. On the other hand, the Russian ambassador is wearing the same tie, so maybe it was the same meeting, or a different part where he was speaking to Ayoub's aides.

(h/t Ron)

Saudi Apartheid Week poster #2

"Moderate" Fatah still firing rockets at Sderot

The Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade is the Fatah military wing that was supposedly dismantled years ago. But they still have a webpage.

I just noticed that they took credit for one of the rockets fired into Israel last week:

Praise to God, our fighters bombed Sderot with a Noaa maximum missile 103 on Thursday, 23/02/2012 at 7:08 PM , accurately wounding a usurper.

O sons of our struggling people:

As we are witnessing today the repeated attacks by the Zionist killing machine and some of the charlatans of the descendants of apes and pigs on our people and the Al Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards which is pure sacrilege.

...Our enemy does not understand the lessons of history that the will to freedom and independence is never defeated and we will not kneel down...we are in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and with us all the free world and the absolute conviction that freedom will not come without the option of armed struggle. The Palestinian identity is being lit to illuminate the sky of the universe; our freedom is coming from the barrel of a gun.

It is a revolution until victory.

Bombardment for bombardment ... death ... killing horror horror

Al- Aqsa - Palestine
Martyr Brigade Commander

This sounds exactly like the original Fatah ideology from the early 1960s. What a coincidence.

In other news, several rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel today. Apparently the terrorists are now taking advantage of rainy weather to fire rockets without (they hope) being seen.

Netanyahu: Israel's strong economy is critical for national security

From a great Bloomberg article on Netanyahu and Israel's economy:

Since the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated Netanyahu began selling state assets and loosening labor laws as finance minister from 2003 to 2005, Israel’s economy has boomed, growing at an average 4.2 percent each year. The expansion will help ensure Israel’s survival, as an “island of democracy that is surrounded by a sea of troubles” in the Middle East, the 62- year-old premier told U.S. Jewish leaders at a Feb. 19 conference in Jerusalem.

“If we are to address our defense needs that we are being challenged with, we have to continue this growth,” Netanyahu said at the meeting. “It is not a question of living standard. It’s a question of national security.”

As part of his plan to spur growth, Netanyahu has set up a committee to boost competition, introduced reforms to lower the cost of living after social protests, passed a law to free up public land for private development, maintained fiscal discipline, and introduced a two-year budget, a move praised by the International Monetary Fund.

Israel’s economy probably expanded 4.8 percent in 2011, according to the IMF, matching the 2010 figure and exceeding the 1.7 percent growth in the U.S. The Finance Ministry estimates gross domestic product will increase 3.2 percent in 2012.

With Stanley Fischer steering monetary policy at the Bank of Israel, Netanyahu says there’s scope for the nation to match some of the world’s most developed economies. Fischer was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s thesis adviser at MIT.

“There’s no reason why we can’t eventually surpass Britain and France in GDP per capita,” Netanyahu said during a Feb. 20 interview in his Jerusalem office, kept warm by two free- standing electric radiators. “We have to keep growing at 5 percent.”

The IMF calculates Israeli GDP per head was $32,300 last year, compared with $39,600 in the U.K. and $44,400 in France. Unemployment was 5.4 percent in Israel in the fourth quarter, the lowest since at least 1985. The jobless rate was about 9.3 percent in France and 8.4 percent in Britain.

I fully agree that Israel's economy is critical for its political well-being. As it becomes a more integral piece in the global economic scene, it becomes harder for nations who profit from trading with Israel to marginalize it to appease the Arabs.

And as alternative and non-Arab energy sources gain ground, the economic leverage that the haters have against Israel keeps decreasing.

There's lots more in that article.

(h/t Yoel)

Israel saving the world, yet again

From Israel21C:

Israeli researchers have developed a simple and cheap blood test that was found to provide early detection for many types of cancer in clinical trials.

The promising new blood test, developed by scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheva, can detect minuscule changes in the blood of a person with a cancerous growth somewhere in the body, even before the disease has spread.

Early diagnosis of cancer could save thousands of lives. Every day in the United States alone, 1,500 people die of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the US after heart disease, accounting for one in four deaths.

Medical specialists believe that earlier detection greatly increases the chances for successful treatment. It also prevents the need for long, painful and costly treatments when the cancer reaches a more advanced stage.

Illuminating cancer cells in the blood

The researchers, led by Prof. Joseph Kapelushnik of BGU's Faculty of Health Sciences, have developed a device that illuminates cancer cells within less than a teaspoonful of blood. The test uses infrared light to detect tiny changes that indicate cancer, because the light is absorbed slightly differently due to various molecules released into the bloodstream.

In a clinical trial involving 200 patients and a control group, the test identified specific common cancers such as lung and ovarian cancer in 90 percent of the patients and found other types of cancer, as well.

"This is still research in the early stages of clinical trials," said Kapelushnik, who is also head of the department of pediatric hemato-oncology at Soroka hospital.

"But the purpose is to develop an efficient, cheap and simple method to detect as many types of cancers as possible. We want to be able to detect cancer while a patient is still feeling good, before it has a chance to metastasize, meaning fewer treatments, less suffering and many more lives saved."

More clinical trials will be conducted in the next 18 months.

A simple blood test to detect (and apparently distinguish between) early cancers! This could save millions of lives worldwide.

This is huge. But par for the course for Israel.

And, as any anti-Israel activist can tell you, they only invent miracle procedures like these in order to distract the world from Zionist crimes. You know....med-washing.

On Monday, February 27, a program, sponsored by Chabad [and StandWithUs] entitled “Israeli Soldier’s stories” was scheduled at UC Davis. Ran, a Israeli reservist, and Ranya, a Druze woman whose father and brother fought in the IDF maintained their dignity and composure in spite of a consortium of haters from Students for Justice in Palestine, the MSA and JVP who had planned to disrupt their presentation. This young man, claiming to be a Medieval Studies major at Davis repeatedly interrupted the proceedings in a coarse and vulgar manner, while UC Davis security and police stood on and did nothing.

The heckler writes in the comments page on YouTube:

Alright, so I'm gonna throw my two cents in. I'm the dude in the video. First of all I wanted to say that I am not part of MSA, JVP, I do not represent their views. Secondly, rape and prostitution have nothing to do with any of it that is very true. But consider this implication. I was there to piss people off, because I am pissed off. You don't piss people off by making intelligent remarks, you piss them off by accusing them of stuff the worst things possible however irrelevant they maybe.

Oh one more thing I should clear up. I'm not a Muslim, I'm an Atheist. So no I'm not some crazy fanatic. I am mad at the double standard of Israel and so I heckled. Was it meaningful:no, was it intelligent: absolutely not, Did I talk about actual issues: You gotta be kidding me, Did it work: oh yeah.

Free speech, to haters like this, is a one-way street. They can spout whatever they want - including absurd lies - as long as any pro-Israel voices are drowned out.

And the UC Davis security did nothing.

I wonder, if an audience member would blast an air-horn during the entire speech, would that also be considered "free speech" by these "progressive" colleges? Because that's pretty much what the many people who disrupt any vaguely Zionist speech on campus are.

They don't care if their words are heard: they only care that the others' words are not.

(h/t John Brooks)

UPDATE: A number of people in the YouTube comments and via email tell me that the heckler went up to the speakers afterwards, apologized and said he was paid $50 to disrupt the speeches.

Here is another write-up of the talk, by Gail Davis of StandWithUs:

Despite hostile hecklers, protestors, and angry students shouting "rapists" "child molesters" and "liars", the two Israeli reservists brought by StandWithUs as part of its Israeli Soldiers Stories told their stories and handled themselves with dignity. Ran, the 28 year-old IDF reservist, and Ranya, the 20-something Druze woman, spoke from the heart about their lives in Israel and how they wish for peace. While the protestors represented the true face of Israel-haters, Ran and Ranya represented the heart of Israel. This event was co-sponsored by the UC Davis Chabad student club "Chai.” What the group lacks in numbers is made up by their courage and convictions, that the story of the Jewish people and the mitzvah of defending Israel remain paramount.

As fear of physical altercations mounted, several "911" calls were made. The campus police appeared but refused to remove, reprimand or otherwise take any action against the disrupters. The police stated they were given "orders' not to take action against the disrupters, but instead, to close down the program if it got out of hand. What happened to our first amendment rights of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, and the University of California's "principles of community" to ensure a "hate-free" campus?

The program continued, punctuated by slanderous and heinous bellowing from members of the audience. In all, at various times, there were approximately 150 in attendance. There were some 20 or so hecklers that would act as the cheerleaders who would cause the others to erupt with hoots and howls during the presentation. One protesting student was heard shouting out that the star of David worn by our StandWithUs Northern California, Oregon and Washington campus professional , Matthew White, was a Nazi symbol. At another juncture, the Chabad Rebbetzin, Sorele Brownstein, despite being very pregnant, got up to speak in front of this hostile audience to defend the Jewish people. Even she was jeered at. The behavior of the disrupters was quite despicable.

The ringleader was a self-identified Indian who was extremely hostile, shouting that he was there to shut down the event, and begging to be arrested. After the event, this Indian young man approached Ran and Ranya, our speakers, and apologized to them for his behavior, and said he was paid $50 to disrupt the event. Apparently, the same Indian heckler told others in the audience that he was paid $50 to disrupt and shut down the talk.

When the program ended, a few Arabic-speaking girls approached Ranya, and apologized to her for the bad behavior of the others. Ran also recounted that at the end one Muslim student thanked him for coming and that he felt he learned some things he had never heard before.

I am told that the two speakers have confirmed that the heckler told them he was paid; but he did not say who did it.

(h/t StandWithUs)

Bridge planned between Egypt and Saudi Arabia

From Al Ahram:

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have agreed to begin work on a bridge between the two nations.

The bridge will cross the Red Sea and link Aqaba in Egypt with Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.

It will be called the King Abdallah Ben Abdel Aziz Bridge.

According to General Fouad Abdel Aziz who heads the project, in the next few weeks an outline for the 50 km bridge will be made and the work will probably begin in 2013.

The project is expected to cost approximately $3 billion.

Saudi Arabia has a large Egyptian expat community, many of whom depend on ill-maintained ferries to cross the sea.

During the Lausanne conference in 1949, where the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine tried to forge an agreement between Israel and the Arab states, the US and Britain repeatedly pressured Israel to give up parts of the Negev to Egypt (and, effectively, cut itself off from Eilat and the Red Sea) because it was considered tremendously important for the Arab worlds in Africa and Asia to be contiguous, and Israel's presence in the Negev was a "wedge" that would forever cause problems.

That argument has not been heard in decades.

This bridge, though, is still psychologically important, especially for Egypt to have a physical and economic link to the center of the Arab and Muslim world. Not to mention the possibility of taking a bus from Cairo to Mecca for Hajj.

Ayatollah Khamenei's website says "Israel" in Farsi, not "Zionist Entity"

Remember last month when Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, said Israel was a "cancerous tumor" that must be removed?

Here are his words from his English-language website:

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei says Iran will stand by and support any nation or group that chooses to stand up to Zionist regime.

"We will continue to support any nation or group that fights or confronts the Zionist regime and we are not afraid of saying this," Ayatollah Khamenei said in the Friday prayers sermons in Tehran.

The Leader rejected Iran's interference in the affairs of regional countries, including Bahrain, and said Iran only had a role in the fight against Zionist regime during the 33-day war Zionist war on Lebanon and Tel Aviv's 22-day war against Gaza which both resulted in the regime's defeat.

"The Zionist regime is a cancerous tumor that must be removed, and God willing it will be," he said.

Interestingly, in the Farsi text of his speech, he doesn't only say "Zionist regime" - but he explicitly says "Israel" as well.

I'm not sure why the well-known historic refusal of many Muslims to say Israel's name is not in force by Iran's Supreme Leader when speaking in Farsi.

(h/t Max)

Campus BDS Fail: UCSD votes down divestment attempt

From the University of California San Diego Guardian:

After nearly eight hours of discussion, council takes a stance on the divestment resolution for the first time, and fails it 13-20-0.

After more than two years of hesitation, A.S. Council made UCSD history last night by voting 13-20-0 to fail the divestment resolution proposed by Students for Justice in Palestine.

The resolution called for the UC system to divest, or withdraw its investments, from General Electric and Northrop Grumman. Both companies have contracts with the Israeli Defense Forces; they create the Apache helicopter engines and radar technology, respectively, used by the IDF. SJP’s legislation, originally titled “Resolution in Support of UC San Diego Corporate Accountability Through Divestments From Corporations Profiting from Violent Conflict” argued that since the UC endowment fund — which does not draw from student fees or tuition — is not invested in companies supporting the Palestinian military, divesting from GE and Northrop Grumman promotes neutrality and corporate responsibility. But members of Tritons for Israel stated that the resolution used biased language to specifically target Israel and create a hostile and divisive campus community.

This is the third year that SJP has introduced a divestment resolution to council. In 2010, the A.S. Campus Affairs Committee voted 7-8 to table the measure indefinitely. In 2011, council voted 13-10-4 to postpone voting on divestment until members of SJP and Tritons for Israel could produce a joint resolution agreeable to both sides. The two groups were unable to do so. Both years, council ultimately tabled the resolution without taking a stance. As of the Feb. 29 decision, UCSD is the second UC campus to fail the resolution. In 2010, UC Berkeley’s then-A.S. President Will Smelko vetoed a similar divestment resolution after it passed in Berkeley Senate. According to a Daily Californian article dated April 16, 2010, the Senate was unable to garner the 2/3 majority required to overturn Smelko’s veto.

But here's the problem with always playing defense:

According to the A.S. Bylaws, failed resolutions can be brought back before council as early as the next meeting.

Members of both Students for Justice in Palestine and Tritons for Israel have stated that — though they will continue to engage in dialogue — the two groups have mutually exclusive interests when it comes to divestment.

Friedman said he hopes that, if the divestment resolution is reintroduced next year, Tritons for Israel would continue to oppose it.

Kamil and Abu-Gheida said that SJP will reintroduce the legislation next year.

It is obvious that the SJP is motivated by nothing more than pure hate for Israel. And that hate is so all-consuming that they will spend hundreds of man-hours - and waste the time of many others - just to try to gain, one time out of a hundred, a symbolic victory that ultimately means nothing.

You can read the resolution at the SJP UCSD site. You can also learn fascinating lies like Hamas never targeted any civilians and only attacks Israeli troops in occupied territories:

Hamas (the Movement of Islamic Resistance) was founded in 1987 during the first Palestinian intifada along religious-nationalist ideological lines. A vast social organization, Hamas provides schools, medical care, and day care for a number of Palestinians who otherwise live difficult lives. Hamas also has a militia established to fight Israeli troops in the occupied territories, and has turned out to be a counterweight to Fatah, given its long record of opposition to the Oslo Accords and its clean record as far as domestic corruption in governance was concerned. Democratically elected, Hamas officials have often stated that they are ready for a long-term truce with Israel during which time final status negotiations can occur.

PA deception about TV broadcast agreements

From Ma'an:

The Palestinian Authority is describing Wednesday's raids on TV networks in the occupied West Bank as the possible beginning of a "frequency war" over limited broadcasting space.

The confiscation of equipment from Watan TV and Al-Quds Educational TV deprives Palestinians of their right to have frequencies for building modern wireless communication networks, the PA says.

Ramallah Prime Minister Salam Fayyad visited one of the stations, Watan TV in Ramallah, and said the Israeli operation was "oppressive and monstrous" and violated "all international laws".

Suleiman Zuheiri, undersecretary of the Palestinian ministry of telecommunication in Ramallah, said Israel had breached Article 36 of the Oslo agreement, which requires consultations with the PA.

The accord says a joint committee of technical experts representing both sides shall be established to address any issue arising on the topic of communications, including the growing future needs of the Palestinian side.

Let's look at Article 36 (excerpted by IMRA):

ARTICLE 36
Telecommunications
...
B. Principles

1. Israel recognizes that the Palestinian side has the right to build and
operate separate and independent communication systems and infrastructures
including telecommunication networks, a television network and a radio
network.
...
5. Both sides shall refrain from any action that interferes with the
communication and broadcasting systems and infrastructures of the other
side.

Specifically, the Palestinian side shall ensure that only those frequencies
and channels specified in Schedule 5: List of Approved Frequencies (herein -
"Schedule 5") and Schedule 6: List of Approved TV Channels and the Location
of Transmitters (herein - "Schedule 6") shall be used and that it shall not
disturb or interfere with Israeli radio communication activity, and Israel
shall ensure that there shall be no disturbance of or interference with the
said frequencies and channels.

6. A joint committee of technical experts representing both sides shall be
established to address any issue arising out of this section including the
growing future needs of the Palestinian side (hereinafter referred to as
"the Joint Technical Committee" or "JTC"). The JTC shall meet on a regular
basis for the purpose of solving all relevant problems, and as necessary in
order to solve urgent problems.

...

SCHEDULE 6
List of Approved TV Channels and the Locations of Transmitters

Pursuant to Article 36, paragraph B.5 of this Appendix:

Jericho Channel 24
Nablus (Mt. Gerizim) Channel 5
Jenin Channel 31
Ramallah Channel 25
Hebron Channel 30
Gaza Channel 31

It seems clear that the raided TV stations were broadcasting on channels that were not allowed under Oslo, and they had been for some time. I find it hard to believe that Israel never once told the PA about this since the stations started broadcasting. While we don't know all the details about the extent of communication between the two sides, it is entirely possible that in the context of the current impasse in talks the PA refused to discuss this issue or to allow a meeting of the Joint Technical Committee.

(These are the kinds of things that the clueless Israeli spokespeople should be telling the media.)

(h/t CHA)

Massive BDS Fail: British trade with Israel up 34%

From JPost:

Matthew Gould

UK-Israel bilateral trade soared 34 percent to £3.75 billion ($6b.) last year – proving there is no economic boycott of Israel, British Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, said Wednesday.

Israeli exports to the UK stood at £2.18 billion ($3.5b.) and British exports to Israel reached £1.57 billion ($2.5b.) in 2011. This made Israel the UK’s largest trade partner in the Middle East and its 29th largest export market overall, according to UK Trade & Investment.

“These figures are big enough to be important to both countries,” Gould told economic reporters at his Ramat Gan residence. “They also implicitly give a very good answer to anyone who talks about economic boycott, and that answer is: ‘What economic boycott?’”

Economic growth is UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s top priority, the ambassador said, pointing out that the government’s 2011 White Paper on Trade and Investment for Growth named Israel as a key strategic partner for the future.

Gould said 250 Israeli companies currently operate in the UK, including Israel Chemicals, Elbit Systems and Teva Pharmaceuticals, and added that one of his focuses was to attract more Israeli firms to establish operations there.

“Like the US, we have an enormous source of capital… [but] unlike the US, we are less than a five-hour flight away, almost in the same time zone,” he said.

Referring to the British embassy’s recently established Hi-Tech Hub – which aims to create technological partnerships between the UK and Israel – Gould said the two countries complemented each other perfectly in a number of industries, including water, pharmaceuticals and financial services.

Gould said next week’s scheduled visit by Culture, Communications and Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey – who will lead a delegation, including executives from the BBC and Samsung – provided a good example of why the UK and Israel work well together.

“Britain is world-class at producing content: TV, Internet, and so on. Israel is absolutely world-class at producing the technology that can take the content to the consumer and monetize it,” Gould said. “There is a fantastic synergy there. Our content and your technology go incredibly well together.”

Israel HaYom adds that Israel just signed a billion dollar contract with China to sell it water technologies for agriculture.

Lebanese blogger crushed that Dr. Ruth is a Zionist

From Now Lebanon, by blogger Louisa Ajami:

You know when you like a celebrity, only to find out there’s something terribly unlikeable about them, like they charge for autographs or are bad tippers at restaurants?

Well, I used to love Dr. Ruth. She’s an 83-year-old German sex doctor who’s been part of American popular culture for generations with her radio shows and TV specials. She’s funny and spunky, and it is so cute when she, this tiny little old lady, delivers advice on sex in her spoon-bending German accent.

But it just came out that not only is Dr. Ruth a Zionist, she was active in the paramilitary (read: terrorist) group Irgun after moving to Palestine in the wake of World War II.

“I can still put five bullets in a red circle” she bragged to Garage Magazine recently.

Damn. She’s dead to me now. Does anyone know of another octogenarian sex doctor I can transfer my liking to?

Garage Magazine seems to be a little off; apparently Dr. Ruth was in the Haganah, not the Irgun.

The future Dr. Ruth was born Karola Ruth Siegel in Germany in 1928, the only child of an Orthodox Jewish couple. In 1939, after young Karola's father had been taken by the Nazis, her mother and grandmother sent her to Switzerland to get her out of harm's way. She did not see her family again, as her mother and grandmother lost their lives in the Holocaust.

At 16, the orphaned girl moved to Israel and joined Haganah, an underground Jewish military organization. She served as a lookout and sniper but never killed anyone. Says Dr. Ruth of that interval:

"When I was in my routine training for the Israeli army as a teenager, they discovered completely by chance that I was a lethal sniper. I could hit the target smack in the center further away than anyone could believe. Not just that, even though I was tiny and not even much of an athlete, I was incredibly accurate throwing hand grenades too. Even today I can load a Sten automatic rifle in a single minute, blindfolded."

Not that this would matter to poor, disillusioned Ms. Ajami. She was the same Now Lebanon blogger who was so upset at seeing the billboard of Natalie Portman in Beirut.

So Ajami's hate has nothing to do with the Irgun or Haganah or someone being a trained sniper; it is just hate for people who believe that the Jewish nation has the right of self-determination.

(h/t Onion Tears News)

Iran upset at $1.5 billion arms sale from Israel to Azerbaijan

Another BDS failure...

From Al Arabiya:

Azerbaijan on Wednesday dismissed an Iranian protest over its reported deal to buy arms worth $1.5 billion from Tehran’s foe Israel amid increased tensions between the neighboring states.

Azerbaijan’s ambassador was summoned to Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday to explain the weapons and to receive a warning that Israel must not be permitted to use Azerbaijan to stage “terrorist acts” against Iran.

But the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said that the reported weapons purchases -- which it did not confirm -- were not intended to threaten Iran.

“Our foreign policy is not directed against anyone else,” foreign ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev told a news conference.

Iranian news agencies reported Tuesday that Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Tehran, Javanshir Akhundov, had acknowledged the arms deal.

Akhundov explained that the weapons were bought “to liberate occupied Azerbaijani land”, according to the reports -- a reference to the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh which was seized from Azerbaijan by Armenian forces during a war in the 1990s.

The Tehran Times, when reporting this story, adds more good news:

Meanwhile, Israeli media outlets have reported that Angolan Finance Minister Carlos Alberto Lopes traveled to Israel last week to sign a military agreement. Reports say the Israeli-Angolan deal is worth about one billion dollars.

Israeli goalkeeper kicks ball into wind; flies back into goal

Mother Nature 1, Maccabi Haifa 0:

February 29th, 2012: Maccabi Haifa took on Dynamo Kiev in a friendly today, ahead of Israel's friendly with Ukraine, and the match was played in ridiculous weather conditions as the wind took on biblical proportions.

The friendly match was only 60 minutes long but there was enough time for one of the strangest goals ever seen. Kiev's second saw Haifa goalie Assaf Mendes take a goal kick.

Mendes' punt forward did travel some distance before incredibly coming back on itself past the stunned custodian.

(h/t Times of Israel)