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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: click here In-Depth Issues:
Palestinian Militants Threaten to Attack Jews Abroad - Nidal al-Mughrabi (Reuters)
Hamas PM Refuses to Stop Rocket Attacks on Israel - Paul Martin (Washington Times)
Professor in Terror Case to Be Deported (Chicago Tribune)
Poll: Palestinians Support Hamas' Refusal to Recognize Israel (Palestinian Center
for Policy and Survey Research)
Keeping Al-Qaeda in His Grip - Craig Whitlock (Washington Post)
Search Key Links Media Contacts Back Issues Fair Use
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
A Palestinian suicide bomber on Monday detonated his explosives at a restaurant in the Neve Shaanan section of Tel Aviv - an act that Hamas, which leads the new Palestinian government, called legitimate. Nine people were killed and sixty were wounded in the blast. The same restaurant was hit by a suicide bomber just three months ago on Jan. 19, injuring 20 Israelis. According to witnesses, a security guard at the entrance stopped the bomber and asked to see his bag. At that moment, the bomber detonated his explosives. Islamic Jihad released a video of the bomber, Sami Hammad, 21, from outside Jenin in the West Bank. (New York Times) See also Hamas Defends Attack on Tel Aviv - Joel Greenberg Officials of the new Palestinian government led by Hamas defended the attack. Ghazi Hamad, the government spokesman, said the bombing was part of "legitimate Palestinian resistance." Calling the bombing "a despicable act of terrorism for which no excuse or justification is possible," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said: "Defense or sponsorship of terrorist acts by officials of the Palestinian Cabinet will have the gravest effects on relations between the Palestinian Authority and all states seeking peace in the Middle East." "Hamas' constant preaching of the destruction of Israel serves as a catalyst for these attacks," said David Baker, a spokesman in the prime minister's office. (Chicago Tribune) "Our ideology, through the way we understand Islam, is that our struggle will only end with the end of the State of Israel. For us it is an existential struggle, it is either us or them," said Abu Ahmad, an Islamic Jihad leader. Stark, uncompromising, and with the utter clarity of the fundamentalist, this was the Islamic Jihad worldview spelled out to The Times in Gaza just days before Monday's bombing. Islamic Jihad claims that by continuing attacks it has recruited dozens of disillusioned hardliners from Hamas' military wing. (Times-UK) See also Islamic Jihad: 70 Suicide Bombers Ready to Attack Israel (Times of India) Qatar said Monday it would give the Palestinian government $50 million in aid to help make up for a shortfall after the U.S. and EU cut off funding. The Bush administration launched a campaign Monday to reverse creeping assistance to the Palestinian government. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said American diplomats "would seek a little clarity" from Qatar "as to exactly what their intentions are, to whom they actually intend to give this money, and under what circumstances." (AP/ABC News) See also Japan to Halt Funding Hamas The Japanese government plans to suspend any new financial support to the PA, in line with similar policies adopted by the U.S. and EU, aimed at forcing the Hamas-led government to change its anti-Israel stance. (Yomiuri-Japan) Israel warned the UN Security Council Monday that a new "axis of terror" - Iran, Syria, and the Hamas-run Palestinian government - is sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century. Recent statements by the Palestinian government, Iran, and Syria, including one by Hamas on Monday defending the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, "are clear declarations of war, and I urge each and every one of you to listen carefully and take them at face value," said Israeli UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman. He urged the international community and the Security Council "to take swift actions to try and prevent the next murder which is already on its way." Israel will not sit idly by and allow "human bombs" or rockets to penetrate the country and kill Israelis - and he asked whether every country wouldn't do the same to eliminate a similar danger. (AP/Forbes) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Philip Balhasan, 45, from Ashdod, traveled to Tel Aviv with his two children, Linor and Uri, after promising to buy them CDs and computer games for Passover. The family was standing next to the fast food stand at the time of the explosion. Uri recalled: "When we heard the blast, Dad wrapped his arms around me and Linor and hugged us tightly. Then he said 'grab the phone, call mom and tell her about the attack.'" Balhasan died on the way to the hospital. (Ynet News) Guy Sadeh, 32, said: "I happened to be passing by...when I heard the blast. I was about 50 meters from there. I'm a trained paramedic, I went over to help the wounded. A store nearby sells belts, so I, together with others, made tourniquets for several people whose legs were amputated." (Ha'aretz) The large amounts of Iranian money flowing to Islamic Jihad clearly is allowing it to draft many volunteers for suicide attacks in Israel. The responsibility for such attacks rests with the Hamas government. Islamic Jihad knows full well that Hamas will not move against it. All of the militant Palestinian organizations are participating in Kassam rocket launchings, including Hamas. One day soon the range of the rockets will be extended. Israel must respond with more forceful fire on the Gaza Strip, and with more arrests, especially of Islamic Jihad activists in the northern West Bank, where most of the suicide bombers originate. (Ha'aretz) For three years, since the traumatic Seder night of 2002, the security forces have managed to prevent terror attacks on Passover. But Monday, on the fourth Passover since the Park Hotel bombing in Netanya, a suicide bomber from Islamic Jihad blew himself up at the old bus station in Tel Aviv. Last week the army reported that 90 would-be suicide bombers had been arrested in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. (Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Monday's suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv restaurant, described as "self-defense" by Hamas, was a wicked act of terrorism (though the BBC once again declined to use the word "terrorism" on its website to describe the slaughter of innocent civilians). The weasel words of Hamas remind us of how right America and the EU were to cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority. (Telegraph-UK) See also Canada's Right to Play Hardball with Hamas - Norman Spector Canada is under no obligation to provide taxpayer dollars to any foreign government. And it's well within our rights to use aid programs - or the withdrawal of aid - to stimulate changes in policies with which we fundamentally disagree. Having said that, Canada will continue to be one of the largest per capita contributors to UNWRA, the special UN relief agency for Palestinians. Diplomatically, Canada's decision helped set the bar for the EU, which gives substantially more direct aid to the PA and, thus, has greater influence over its policies. The author served as Canada's ambassador to Israel. (Globe and Mail-Canada) A French diplomat explained to me recently in Paris why he - and many others in the French foreign ministry - thought the U.S. would, in the end, bomb Iran's nuclear-weapons facilities. Owing to Chinese and Russian obstreperousness, the UN would probably fail to agree on any sanctions. The Europeans - at least the French, Germans, and British if not the Italians - would do a bit better, primarily because the French have developed a strong distaste for the clerics. The mullahs did, after all, once bomb Paris and kill a slew of prominent Iranian expatriates on French soil; and the French don't particularly care for religious Third Worlders joining the nuclear club. France might even lead the sanctions charge against Tehran - an astonishing historical moment for the Fifth Republic, which has usually aligned itself with Muslim Middle Eastern regimes or cultivated a profitable neutrality, especially when the U.S. was involved on the opposite side. (Weekly Standard/American Enterprise Institute) See also Three Reasons Not to Bomb Iran - Yet - Edward N. Luttwak Because of the continuing flow of detailed and timely information out of Iran, it is possible both to overcome the regime's attempts at dispersion, camouflage, and deception and - if that should become necessary - to target air strikes accurately enough to delay Iran's manufacture of nuclear weapons very considerably. At the same time, there is no reason to attack prematurely, because there will be ample time to do so before it is too late - that is, before enough fissile material has been produced for one bomb. (Commentary) Observations: Judge Hamas on What It Says and Does about Terrorism - Editorial (Times-UK)
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