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Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with the Fairness Project by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
Iran Establishes Rocket Training Centers in Lebanon
As part of a $150 million program to bolster its proxy presence in the region through such groups as Hizballah and Palestinian insurgency movements, Iran has agreed to finance training bases in Lebanon to train insurgents aligned with Teheran to fire short-range missiles.
U.S. Money Helps Glorify Palestinian Terrorist
U.S. aid money is being used to renovate the Dalal Mughrabi girls' high school in the Hebron district.
Dalal Mughrabi participated in the bus hijacking and murder of 36 Israelis and American Gail Rubin in 1978. Numerous schools, summer camps, and sports teams are named for terrorist-murderers. (IMRA/Palestinian Media Watch)
See the Jerusalem Archaeological Park next to the Temple Mount - a unique visual Internet Experience offered by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Useful Reference:
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions on
Palestinian Violence and Terrorism
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News Resources - USA and Europe:
Letter to Hamas Spiritual Leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin: "According to news reports, Hamas has claimed responsibility for at least 23 suicide bombings that have targeted and killed civilians....All attacks that target civilians constitute crimes of the gravest sort. There can never be any justification for such blatant disregard of basic principles of international human rights and humanitarian law." (Human Rights Watch) At Camp Koby, each of the 30 boys, aged 9 to 13, has lost a father, a mother, a brother, or a sister to suicide bombings or armed attacks. "The invaluable thing they encounter here is each other," says Rabbi Seth Mandell, whose 13-year-old son was murdered near his home in Tekoa in May 2001. "When tragedy like this happens, your whole world divides....There are those who have suffered this pain and those who haven't. For those who have, no explanation is necessary. There is an instant bond." At Camp Koby, the instructors are trained therapists specializing in trauma and bereavement. Of the more than 200 children hosted this summer, Mandell says the oldest group bonded intensely. "The day they left one of them started up an Internet chat room," he says. "They have a community now. A support group to get them through the winter before we bring them back next year." (Toronto Star)
News Resources - Israel and Mideast: Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told PA officials earlier this week that Israel would initially withdraw from positions in Gaza in exchange for a Palestinian clampdown on militant groups. "The plan could succeed in Gaza because the PA security forces were not badly damaged there and the PA still wields influence - through [Mohammed] Dahlan," said a senior security source. (Ha'aretz) Continuing its pinpoint actions against wanted terrorists, the IDF on Wednesday arrested Yahya Da'amseh, 40, an expert bomb-maker and senior Fatah operative from the Deheisheh neighborhood of Bethlehem. According to the Shin Bet, Da'amseh was responsible for the suicide bombing in Jerusalem's Beit Yisrael neighborhood this March that killed 11 people, including several children. The previous month he sent a suicide bomber to Jerusalem who blew himself up at a roadblock, killing a policeman. In July 2001, he allegedly planted a bomb that killed an IDF officer near Hebron. Da'amseh also sent suicide bombers into Israel on three other occasions, including his own 14-year-old niece, who was arrested before she could carry out her attack. After his arrest, the IDF destroyed his house. (Ha'aretz) Yassra Bakhri, 27, was charged Wednesday with failing to prevent Sunday's terrorist attack on a bus at the Meron junction in which 9 people were killed and dozens injured. Bakhri was sitting behind the back door of the bus when the bomber boarded and sat down next to her. Hearing her speaking Arabic, he told her, "Get off the bus, something bad is going to happen on the bus." Bakhri then got up, told her friend Samia Assadi, 20, to come with her, rang the bell, and left the bus. (Ha'aretz) "My son [Sgt. Rani Ranem of the Druse village of Mughar] sat down next to the bomber in place of the young women who got off," said Kamal Ranem. "He was getting on as she was getting off. Why didn't she warn him?" (Maariv)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis
(Best of U.S., UK, and Israel): According to Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute, the mullahs recently conducted a poll that found that only about 4% of the Iranian people thought the government was legitimate. Reza Pahlavi, the late Shah's son, said that Iran is a "ticking time bomb" that may explode in the mullahs' faces, but all that Iran needs now is for President Bush to "stay on message." He believes the people of Iran are "getting fed up" and may soon rid themselves of the mullahs. One of the ways for us to knock off the Axis of Evil is to help the oppressed peoples of those nations overthrow the tyrants themselves. (The American Prowler) It had been an article of faith that "the Europeans" were strongly opposed to U.S. action in Iraq. Now the British, French, and perhaps the Italians are making military preparations to join the U.S. expedition - a British aircraft carrier has left for the Mediterranean. The Europeans realize that the United States will win such a war, and they want a share in drawing up the peace. Unless the United States overthrows Saddam, there will be a conflagration in the Middle East, a serious threat to the Saudi regime, and an Israeli-Palestinian dispute without end. (Chicago Sun-Times) Hizballah is a terror organization par excellence, responsible for the killing of hundreds of American soldiers and citizens in Lebanon and others outside it. A determined American campaign to defeat Hizballah would send a clear message to the rogue nations in the region and the world not to threaten the U.S. or its allies, and it would free the region - particularly Lebanon - from a power factor that endangers regional stability. (Jerusalem Post) The CIA believes Saddam possess 2,650 gallons of anthrax. German intelligence indicates he already has enough uranium for three nuclear weapons by 2005. Destroying that arsenal before he uses it but leaving the regime in place means allowing him to build more weapons in the future - with even greater destructive capacity and with even more opportunities to shield them from our reach. (New Republic) The suggestion that atrocities such as the bombing at Hebrew University were meant to "avenge" the death of Hamas leader Shehada is a distortion of reality: It suggests that, were Israel to have spared Shehada's life, Hamas would have stopped killing Israelis. The reality is that, ever since it was founded in December 1987, Hamas has been violently opposed to the existence of Israel in any form. (Washington Times) Talking Points: What Do We Do Now? - Maj. Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor (Jerusalem Post) A strategy to address the present security situation should include:
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