Iran's Ahmadinejad in new verbal attack on Israel

Aug 23 04:58 PM US/Eastern AFP

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad renewed his verbal attacks on arch-foe Israel on Saturday, accusing it of dragging the world into turmoil and predicting its demise.
"About 2,000 organised Zionists and 7,000 to 8,000 agents of Zionism have dragged the world into turmoil," Ahmadinejad told a rally in the central Iranian city of Arak carried live on state television.

He said that if the West does not restrain Zionism, "the powerful hand of the nations will clean these sources of corruption from the face of the earth," without specifying which nations.

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(August 20) AMIA slams Iranian President's remarks


Argentina. AJN (20/08/08).- AMIA's Secretary General, Julio Schlosser, warned in a dialogue with Argentina's Jewish News Agency (AJN) that Ahmadinejad poses a "risk" to the international community. He also called on the international community to condemn "the harsh remarks" of the Iranian leader, who maintained that "the extirpation of the corrupt Zionist regime" is close.



In relation to the warning sent by the Israeli government to its citizens travelling abroad for possible kidnapping attempts by Hezbollah, the leader said that Argentina "is not exempt from international terrorism".


AMIA's Secretary General, Julio Schlosser, warned on Wednesday that the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, "poses a risk to the Jewish community" and said that Argentina "is not exempt from international terrorism", especially after the attacks perpetrated against the Jewish center and the Israeli Embassy, in 1994 and 1992.


In statements to Argentina's Jewish News Agency (AJN), Schlosser condemned the remarks recently made by the leader of the Islamic Republic, saying that "the extirpation of the corrupt Zionist regime" is close .

Schlosser also urged international organizations to condemn the Iranian President's statements, in light of his repeatedly threatening Israel and the international community.
The leader said that it "no analysis can be made of the statements made by this person", referring to Ahmadinejad.

"We are used to the harsh remarks of this man, we are not surprised, that is why it is not possible to make a political analysis of this statement", Schlosser insisted.

He also called for the international condemnation of the statements made by the Iranian leader. "The international community is supposed to respond to this kind of statements", AMIA's Secretary General said.

"This man (referring to Ahmadinejad) has always maintained a constant behaviour, and this is not the only reason why he is posing a risk on the international community, he does not abide by the United Nations resolutions and continues with the nuclear power plan", Schlosser stated.

Regarding the warning sent by the Israeli government to the Israeli citizens travelling abroad, on possible kidnapping attempts from Hezbollah, the leader noted that Argentina has been a victim of the international terrorism and that it is not exempt of being attacked again.

"Argentina has already been a target (of a terrorist attack) and if
it continues to be one today, we do not know, but the only target in the region has been Argentina", he noted.

Schlosser also spoke about the risk that the Tri-Border area represents for Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

"The Tri-Border is an open door and, if someone is telling us 'be careful', we will", the AMIA official said in reference to the warning sent by the Israeli government.

Nevertheless, Schlosser highlighted that this threat "is not a problem to be concerned about, but a problem to take care of and to take all the necessary precautionary measures."

That is why Schlosser held that "security measures have to be taken to be alert, as alert as we are every day, and a bit more".

Sooner or later, someone's going to have to start paying attention to this stuff.


Ahmadinejad says Israel will be removed soon
The Associated Press Published: August 20, 2008

TEHRAN, Iran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling Israel a "germ of corruption" that will be "removed soon."

The comments were posted Wednesday on his presidential Web site. They appear to be part of an effort to defuse criticism by hard-liners over recent remarks made by a high-level official.
Last week, Iranian media quoted Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashai as saying Iranians were "friends of all people in the world — even Israelis."

The comments were rare from a government official in Iran, whose president regularly calls for Israel's destruction. They sparked domestic criticism of Mashai, with some officials calling for his resignation.

[By the way, Mashai, the great friend of Israel, apparently has a nuanced view of friendship --Mark

Following are excerpts from an interview with Iranian Vice President Esfandyar Rahim Mashai, which aired on Al-Manar TV on July 28, 2008. Mashai reportedly said earlier this week that Iran is the friend of the citizens in Israel and the U.S. The translation is based on the Arabic voiceover. [From MEMRI]

Esfandyar Rahim Mashai: The Islamic Republic of Iran did not, does not, and will not accept the legitimacy of this Zionist entity. No Iranian citizen or party will ever accept this... ]

In 2005, Ahmadinejad said he believed Israel should be "wiped off the map."

Georgian olim: We're home

Israel absorbs 75 new immigrants from Georgia during past week in wake of war; Immigrant Absorption Ministry approves assistance plan for newcomers; one immigrant says he'll do everything 'to defend the homeland'

Yael Branovsky Ynetnews.com August 16, 2008

The war in Georgia may be waning, but those who fled its horrors are still living with its aftermath. And dozens of them have found new homes in Israel. A total of 75 new immigrants arrived in Israel last week from Georgia, with most of them settling in the cities of Bat Yam and Ashdod.

The Immigrant Absorption Ministry has already approved an assistance package for the newcomers that will include Hebrew schooling, employment offers and subsidized rent. Underprivileged immigrants will also receive a grant of several thousand shekels. According to the Jewish Agency, some 120 additional Georgians are preparing to immigrate to Israel within the coming months.

The Memisashvili family abandoned its home in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and arrived in Israel last week. Vaj'a and his wife, both in their thirties, and their two children, aged 3 and 8, have taken up temporary residence in Kibbutz Messila in northern Israel, as part of a collaborative program between the Jewish Agency and the Kibbutz Movement.

"I feel like I've come home," said a proud Vaj'a, who has already managed to squeeze in a visit to Jerusalem. "Here, I am not afraid of a war starting. As an Israeli citizen I will do whatever is necessary to defend the homeland. I feel like we've come home, and I know everything will work out for the best."

The kibbutz, he says, has welcomed his family with open arms. "I have a lot of family in Israel, and I heard stories of when they first immigrated, I was surprised by the way people responded to us. They come over, they visit, they bring us clothes and things for our home, and we were even invited over for Shabbat dinner. It warms the heart."

Natia Zurshvili, a single mother of two, was a resident of Gori. The town became the epicenter of the violent clashes between Russia and Georgia, and is currently still under Russian occupation.

"Our house was bombed, almost all of it collapsed," she told Ynet. "My father took me, he children and my mother to Tbilisi, and then went back to collect our belongings. Now he can't get out of there, because the Russians have closed it down. But he will immigrate too, because there's no choice left. There is nothing there."

Zurshvili, her children are currently staying at an absorption center in Ashdod along with her sister and her sister's family.

"We came with nothing, not even a change of clothes," recalls Natia. "It's hard to describe the hell we've been through. I'm in daily contact with my father, he doesn't leave the house – what's left of it, and we're very worried about him."

In the coming days Zurshvili is expected to move into a larger apartment along with her children and mother, and she has been declared eligible for the welfare grant.
"I'm still in shock because of everything that's happened, but I hope we'll manage. I'm an accountant, I hope I can find work and make a living here."

Memorial in China for 11 Israeli Athletes Killed in '72

(IsraelNN.com) A ceremony in memory of the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by PLO terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics will be held this evening in Beijing's Olympic Village. In addition to the current Olympic Commission representatives, the head of the German Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and Honorary President of the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) Juan Antonio Samaranch will take part in the memorial.

In 1972, a Fatah terrorist front group going under the name of Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village in Germany and took 11 Israeli athletes hostage. After negotiations, and a botched rescue attempt, the bound Israeli captives were killed. The mastermind of the Munich attack, Mohammed Daoud Oudeh, or Abu Daoud, revealed in his 1999 memoir that current Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas handled the financing for the Munich attack.

Saudi Columnist: Bomb Iran Now, Let Chips Fall Where They May
or, "Iran is not the problem [of the U.S. Israel, and Europe alone] "--Mark

In his August 4, 2008 column in the liberal Arab e-journal Elaph, Saudi columnist Saleh Al-Rashed argued that the Gulf states should urge the West to attack Iran before it acquires nuclear weapons.

Following are excerpts from the column: [1] as translated by and aggregated from MEMRI

A Nuclear Iran is Like a Nuclear Bin Laden
"'There's no avoiding what there's no avoiding' - this adage came to mind when I read the pronouncement by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Mohammad 'Ali Ja'fari, who said: 'My country is easily capable of closing the Straits of Hormuz, the main passageway for oil freighters, if the country is attacked due to its nuclear program.'

"In my estimation, confronting this country, which is trying to gain the time necessary to acquire nuclear weapons, is unavoidable. The possession of nuclear weapons by a state like Iran, which is ideological to the core, is more or less like Osama bin Laden having a nuclear bomb. They are two of a kind. Despite the difference in their turbans and in their religious beliefs, the end result is the same.

"Perhaps it is our bad luck that we [i.e. Saudi Arabia] and the Gulf states would be the first to suffer from a military confrontation with Iran and from its response, and the problem would become even more grave if Iran succeeded in closing the Straits of Hormuz, as the IRGC commander threatened. But our situation with Iran is like that of the sick man who refuses to have his illness treated with cauterization. Yes, the pain of the burning is horrible, but this malady can only be treated through this military confrontation -cauterization.

"History has taught us that ideological countries only pay heed to victory over their ideology… They never accept any halfway situation, even when they find themselves on the brink of disaster."

"Confrontation Is The Solution"; "The Absolute Priority Must Be Our Strategic Security in the Gulf"

"Confrontation is the solution, and there is no solution but confrontation. The game of the carrot and the stick played by the U.S. and E.U. will be to no avail.

"At present, we are suffering from two things: Iran's attempts [to gain] regional hegemony, and its attempts to impose its influence via its sectarian allies - the fifth column of Arab Shi'ite fundamentalists. Imagine what Iran's influence, hegemony, and fifth column would be like if Iran had a nuclear bomb.

"Perhaps it is a strange coincidence that, this time around, our strategic interests coincide with those of Israel. The regime of the mullahs in Iran is our enemy, and at the same time it is an enemy not just of Israel, but of world peace and security.

"I know that the Arab demagogues stand together indiscriminately with anyone who is against Israel and America. But we need to not be swept away by these demagogues as we were in the past. This time, the absolute priority must be our strategic security in the Gulf, which is threatened by Iran - even if this comes at the expense of the Palestinian cause.

"In politics, nothing prevents you from allying with the devil for the sake of your interests. This is what confronting the Iranian danger - which is close - demands of us. This issue, in my estimation, cannot suffer delay or hesitation. Every passing day benefits Iran.

"Thus, we need to push the world powers, and especially the U.S. and the E.U., towards military confrontation to neutralize the Iranian enemy, whatever the cost, before the nuclear bomb makes it too late - even if it is against the will of the Arabs of the north."

[1] www.elaph.com, August 4, 2008.

Jordan bars Jews with religious items

Aug. 14, 2008
Matthew Wagner , THE JERUSALEM POST
Jordanian border officials refused to allow a group of Israeli tourists carrying religious objects such as talitot and tefillin to enter their country on Tuesday, saying it was "a safety measure" to avoid potential terror threats.

Thirty-six Israeli tourists on their way to Amman for a three-day tour were detained at the Sheikh Ali Hussein Crossing near Beit She'an at 6:30 a.m. and notified of a new regulation that prohibits entry into Jordan with tefillin, talitot, prayer books, Bibles or the Talmud.

"Our group was presented with two options," said Alan Novetsky, a recent immigrant from New York who was accompanied on the tour by his wife. "Either enter Jordan without religious objects or go back to Israel."

Novetsky said the group's suitcases were thoroughly searched for religious items. "They seemed to know exactly what they were looking for.

"It was very demeaning to have such a negative experience in what is billed as a friendly country. People in the group, including the tour guides, were quite shocked. No one had ever heard that Jordan imposed religious restrictions," he said.

"What made it worse was that the whole thing seemed to be directed solely at Jews. I saw Christians walking through into Jordan openly wearing crosses. Apparently, Christian religious symbols did not seem to be a problem for the Jordanians. I can well imagine the international outcry if Islamic tourists were to encounter such restrictions on their entry into Israel."

A Jordanian security official said the decision was taken only for "security reasons."

The official said that the decision had been in effect for a long time and Israeli authorities were aware of it.

"The Jordanian security authorities are responsible for the safety of all visitors to the kingdom and it is our duty to take all measures required in this regard," the official explained. He expressed regret that the tourists had been offended by the measure.

Novetsky said that at first the the guides tried to bargain with the Jordanian officials, promising to keep the religious items hidden and to pray inside the hotel. But the suggestions were rejected.

"The vast majority of the group decided that as proud Israelis, we were either going to be allowed to walk into Jordan holding our religious objects or we would not go in at all."

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1218446197326&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Jewish Community in Yemen

The Jewish community in Yemen faces a challenge.

Aggregated from Israelmatzav.blogspot.com

I have no idea what brought this on, but CNN did a report that was posted to the web on Friday about the Jewish community in Yemen. The Yemenite Jewish community, which has a very rich and ancient heritage, mostly lives in Israel these days with smaller pockets in the US and in London. But the small community just outside of Sana very strongly keeps to its traditions, as you will see in this video. I fear that this community may reach a bad end - God forbid - unless it leaves Yemen soon.

Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: NYNana who found it after CNN removed the original). [If the video is not included in your e-mail, go to jcommunitynews.blogspot.com