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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:
At Least Six Killed in Shootout at U.S. Consulate in Istanbul (AP/Ha'aretz)
Iran Seeks Seat on Security Council - Betsy Pisik (Washington Times)
U.S. Analyst: Israel Has No "Green Light" to Strike Iran - Amos Harel (Ha'aretz)
Israeli Expertise in Ritual Helps Africa Combat AIDS - Joel Greenberg
(Chicago Tribune)
Rights Group Condemns Saudi "Slave" Treatment of Migrant Women - Stephen Coates
(AFP)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Iran has test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles, including a Shahab 3, which it previously said could reach Israel and U.S. bases in the region, state media reported on Wednesday. (Reuters) Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Tuesday for U.S. military bases across the world to be "eradicated." "The military bases in the whole world should be eradicated and removed," he told a press conference after a summit of the "D8" group of developing nations in Malaysia. (AFP) A deadly days-long standoff between inmates and security forces threatened to escalate at a Syrian military prison known for holding Islamist and political dissidents, human rights observers said Tuesday. Rights groups say Syrian security forces have already killed at least 25 inmates and wounded as many as 100 at Saydnaya prison outside Damascus. When inmates rioted on Saturday, the police responded by firing on the prisoners. Human rights activists said the standoff continued despite the government claim that calm had been restored. (Los Angeles Times) An Israel-Hamas truce has boiled down to a simple trade-off: For a day of calm, Israel adds five truckloads of cows and 200 tons of cement to the basics it ships to Gaza, but rocket fire from the territory reseals the border for a day. Under the Egyptian-brokered deal, Gaza's Hamas rulers are to halt rocket and mortar fire on Israeli border communities and Israel is to increase the flow of goods into Gaza. Hamas has not reined in all militants, particularly those from rival groups, and the Israeli army says 15 rockets and mortars have been fired since the truce took effect June 19, including three mortars Tuesday. Lt. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said Hamas' failure is slowing a broader opening of the crossings. (AP) A tiny sliver of rugged mountainside wedged between Lebanon and the Golan Heights is being reassessed by the U.S. and Israel. Israeli troops took the area during the 1967 war. In 2000, the UN ruled that the Shebaa Farms was Syrian territory, and its fate was tied to future peace talks between Israel and Syria. Lebanon, backed by Syria, disputed the ruling and Hizbullah launched a campaign of raids against Israeli troops in the Shebaa Farms. After the 2006 war, the UN, at the behest of the Lebanese government, agreed to reexamine Lebanon's case for the Shebaa Farms, and proposed that Israel pull out of the Farms and hand jurisdiction to UNIFIL. Until recently, Israel was reluctant to yield the Shebaa Farms. But now, as it is engaged in indirect peace talks with Syria, Israel shifted position last month, saying it was willing to pull out its troops and turn the Farms over to UN jurisdiction. The move was given further impetus when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in mid-June that "the time has come to deal with the Shebaa Farms issue." (Christian Science Monitor) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Israeli officials are expected to tell visiting Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini about misgivings over the performance of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. UNIFIL's command is currently under Italy's jurisdiction. Israel maintains Hizbullah is working unhindered to regain the military capacity it lost during the Second Lebanon War. (Ha'aretz) See also Israel to France: UNIFIL Should Act to Block Hizbullah Rearmament - Roni Sofer Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Tuesday and stressed that "Israel cannot accept the ongoing and intensifying gnawing at Resolution 1701 that has not been fulfilled, and the continuing transfer of weaponry, which is damaging the delicate balance at the northern border." Barak said that Israel expects the French minister to act towards halting the transfer of weapons from Syria to Hizbullah, and that UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon should boost activities countering the armament and fortification of Hizbullah. (Ynet News) An Egyptian officer was killed after he and his comrades crossed into Israeli territory in pursuit of Bedouin smugglers. A joint IDF and Egyptian inquiry into the incident in the Har Harif area near the Israel-Egypt border found that Egyptian soldiers who noticed the Bedouin drug smugglers set out in pursuit. An exchange of gunfire ensued, and one of the smugglers shot an Egyptian officer in the stomach, who later died of his wounds. IDF soldiers in the area mistakenly believed the gunfire was aimed at them, and subsequently returned fire. Military sources said no Egyptian soldier was hit by IDF fire. (Ha'aretz) A Hamas cell that was plotting suicide attacks inside Israel with chemical explosives was arrested in May by the Israel Security Agency and the IDF, security officials announced Tuesday. The cell was involved in manufacturing a bomb belt that was discovered in a Tel Aviv apartment on Yom Kippur, last September, and was designated for use in a suicide attack in the city. The IDF arrested four members of the cell, all residents of Nablus. One cell member, Ayman Awad, served a prison sentence in Israel for involvement in dispatching a suicide bomber several years ago. During their interrogation, the four confessed to building a laboratory where they experimented building bombs with different chemical materials, using an instructional video prepared by a senior Hamas bomb-maker. (Jerusalem Post) Palestinian Authority Attorney General Ahmad Al-Mghanni survived an assassination attempt on Tuesday. A bomb detonated in his car in the Al-Maysoun neighborhood of Ramallah in the West Bank as he started the engine. He escaped unhurt. (Maan News-PA) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Israel's integration into NATO, possibly with a separate American security guarantee, would provide Israel with the defense in depth it has yearned for. By placing Iran in the alliance's crosshairs, the deterrent impact would reduce the risk of an Israeli-Iranian war along with serious collateral damage to global oil markets and, arguably, force Tehran to think twice about the benefits of crossing the nuclear-weapons threshold. A codicil to membership would assure NATO did not embroil itself in ongoing Israeli-Palestinian reciprocal attacks. The writer served in the State Department's Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs during the George H.W. Bush administration. (Washington Times) For many years, Israel has been attacked by non-government organizations (NGOs) that invent (or distort) the terms of international law, falsify facts, and violate the universality of human rights. Some of the NGOs promoting the demonization campaigns get more than half their annual budgets from European governments. Additional funds come from the Ford Foundation. Israeli officials should make the case for a halt in this funding of demonization in every discussion with European ambassadors, heads of state and foreign ministers. The writer is executive director of NGO Monitor and chairs the Political Science Department at Bar-Ilan University. (Jerusalem Post) Observations: What Conflict with Iran Might Look Like - Edmund Blair (Reuters)
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