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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:
German Intelligence: Bombed Syrian Reactor Was for Iranian A-Bomb Development (AFP)
Hamas Acquires Secure Radio Technology (IMRA)
Europeans Trained in Terror Camps in Pakistan - Pierre Thomas and Jack Date (ABC News)
Young UK Muslims "Are Turning to Extremism" - Patrick Sawer (Telegraph-UK)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Smuggling into Gaza will not stop, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya told worshippers before Friday prayers. Reacting to Haniya's remarks, Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, underlined that the Egyptian-brokered truce explicitly stated that arms smuggling must halt. "The agreement with Egypt states clearly that there must not be any contraband arms heading for Gaza and no attacks from Gaza towards Israeli territory by any of the armed groups." Israeli security sources say Hamas has smuggled more than 100 tons of explosives into Gaza, including rockets and anti-tank missiles, since the Islamists seized control in June 2007. (AFP) See also Hamas: Negotiations with Israel Out of the Question A spokesman for Hamas, Ismail Radwan, on Saturday said negotiations with Israel are out of the question and the Islamic movement will never recognize "the enemy." "We are not thinking of trying the ridiculous negotiations that the others have tried," he said. (Xinhua-China) Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Sunday in Damascus, "We are not worried about the impact (of the Syrian-Israeli negotiations) on relations between Syrian and Palestinian resistance movements." As a condition for progress, Israel is demanding that Damascus break off its ties with Iran, Hamas, and Hizbullah, but Syria said it would reject any preconditions in the talks that call on it to change its relations with other countries or groups. Meshaal reiterated a Hamas pledge to observe a cease-fire with Israel in Gaza. (AFP) Israel is increasing the flow of supplies into Gaza as an Egyptian-mediated truce that began last Thursday holds. "If the quiet is sustainable, and I hope it will be, then in the coming days you will see the gradual easing of the sanctions on the Gaza Strip," said Israeli spokesman Mark Regev. However, "Hamas has to know that we will not get anywhere close to normalization on the crossings as long as [abducted Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit is being held hostage," he said. (VOA News) The U.S. government spends $100 million a year on a news channel in Arabic called "Al Hurra" to explain America to the Arab world. Yet a review of what Al Hurra is putting on the air found that it has supported terrorism and denied the Holocaust. The station aired a live speech by Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hizbullah, and covered a Holocaust deniers' conference in Iran. More recently, one of the guests on a talk show said that Israel's policies toward the Palestinians amounts to, in his words, a Holocaust conducted by a racist state. The speaker was neither challenged by the host, nor balanced by another guest. (60 Minutes-CBS News) See also U.S. Network Falters in Mideast Mission - Craig Whitlock (Washington Post) French President Nicolas Sarkozy proclaimed his friendship for Israel at the start of a three-day visit on Sunday. "I have always been Israel's friend," Sarkozy said during the first visit by a French president in 12 years. (AFP) See also Concerns Rise in France after Jewish Teen Is Attacked Rudy Haddad, a 17-year-old French Jew, was attacked Saturday night in Paris by youths of African origin with iron bars. The Union of French Jewish Students said Haddad had been identified as Jewish because he was wearing a kippa, and had suffered several broken ribs, a fractured skull and was now in intensive care. (International Herald Tribune) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) has identified a recent increase in terrorist activity in Gaza, Yuval Diskin, the head of the intelligence agency, said Sunday. He added that arms smuggling had been stepped up, as well as training. Diskin added that major terror attacks were in the works on the eve of the cease-fire. On June 22, Hamas planned to drive two booby-trapped vehicles into Israel through a hole in the fence to have been made by an armored tractor. However, one of the booby-trapped vehicles exploded in a Hamas operative's home. (Ha'aretz) IDF Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Sunday he believed Syrian President Bashar Assad was "in a win-win situation" in regards to peace talks with Jerusalem. "Alleviating the tensions (between Israel and Syria) and creating a far calmer atmosphere allows him to, on the one hand, keep building up his military and make it through the summer in peace - while, on the other hand, the world looks upon him favorably, even when he doesn't have to give anything in return." (Ynet News) Three Israelis were injured Friday by Palestinians in a shooting attack in Wadi Zarka near Neve Tzuf, northwest of Ramallah in the West Bank. Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. (Ynet News) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The exploits and stratagems of the prophet Muhammad still serve as an example to modern-day jihadists. In 2006, former top Pentagon official William Gawthrop noted, "We still do not have an in-depth understanding of the war-fighting doctrine laid down by Muhammad, how it might be applied today by an increasing number of Islamic groups, or how it might be countered." Based on the words and deeds of Muhammad, most schools of Islamic jurisprudence agree that the following are all legitimate during war against the infidel: the indiscriminate use of missile weaponry, even if women and children are present (catapults in Muhammad's 7th century, hijacked planes or WMD by analogy today); the need to always deceive the enemy and even break formal treaties whenever possible; and that the only function of the peace treaty, or hudna, is to give the Islamic armies time to regroup for a renewed offensive, and should, in theory, last no more than ten years. One of Islam's more "eternal" doctrines is the Abode of War versus the Abode of Islam dichotomy, which in essence maintains that Islam must always be in a state of animosity vis-a-vis the infidel world and, whenever possible, must wage wars until all infidel territory has been brought under Islamic rule. (Middle East Strategy at Harvard) Is al-Qaeda going to dissipate as a result of the criticism from its former mentors and allies? Probably not in the short term. Al-Qaeda, on the verge of defeat in 2002, has regrouped and is now able to launch significant terrorist operations in Europe. However, encoded in the DNA of apocalyptic jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda are the seeds of their own long-term destruction: their victims are often Muslim civilians; they don't offer a positive vision of the future (but rather the prospect of Taliban-style regimes from Morocco to Indonesia); they keep expanding their list of enemies, including any Muslim who doesn't share their precise world view; and they seem incapable of becoming politically successful because their ideology prevents them from making the real-world compromises that would allow them to engage in genuine politics. Which means that the repudiation of al-Qaeda's leaders by its former religious, military and political guides will help hasten the implosion of the jihadist terrorist movement. The writers are research fellows at New York University's Center on Law and Security. (Independent-UK) Observations: Lessons of the Second Intifada - Sever Plocker (Ynet News)
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