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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:
Senior Iranian Commander Led Hizbullah Drill in South Lebanon (Ha'aretz)
U.S., Israel Work to Hinder Iran Nuclear Plans - Yossi Melman (Ha'aretz)
Al-Qaeda-Style Extremism Gaining Power within Hamas - Jonathan Spyer (Jerusalem Post)
University of Ottawa Agency Snubs Hillel for "Relationship to Apartheid Israel" - Barbara Kay
(National Post-Canada)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged EU parliamentarians on Tuesday to support U.S.-backed peace talks with the Palestinians rather than promote separate initiatives. "Even if it takes more time, we do not need intervention by the international community with bridging proposals," she said in Brussels. "The eagerness of the international community can lead to a failure that nobody can afford," she added. Israelis generally see the Europeans as overly sympathetic to the Palestinians. An EU proposal to deploy an international force in the administered territories was coolly received by Israel. (Reuters) NATO and Israel agreed Tuesday to boost cooperation in the fight against terrorism and to increase military ties, an alliance official said. "We have updated, to reinforce it, the individual program of cooperation signed by NATO and Israel in October 2006," the official said, noting that "the fight against terrorism and the organization of joint military maneuvers were part of the sectors where the agreement was boosted." (AFP) New reports suggest that both Indian and American intelligence agencies had foreseen the threat to Mumbai. On Sept. 18 and 24, India's top intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, intercepted two satellite phone calls in which a member of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba discussed an operation that would attack Mumbai by boat, according to the Hindustan Times. One call mentioned the Taj Mahal Hotel. Moreover, a U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN Tuesday that "the United States warned the Indian government about a potential maritime attack against Mumbai at least a month before last week's massacre in Mumbai." (Christian Science Monitor) See also Mumbai Gunmen Used Technology as Tactical Tool - Emily Wax The Mumbai attackers made sophisticated use of high technology in planning and carrying out their assault. The attackers who set out for Mumbai by sea navigated with Global Positioning System equipment, according to Indian investigators and police. They carried BlackBerrys, CDs holding high-resolution satellite images like those used for Google Earth maps, and multiple cellphones with switchable SIM cards that would be hard to track. They spoke by satellite telephone. "The terrorists would not have been able to carry out these attacks had it not been for technology," said G. Parthasarathy, an internal security expert at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. (Washington Post) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
With Syria and the EU set to initial an association agreement formalizing ties on Dec. 14, Israel called on the EU not to rush into normalizing relations with an un-reformed Damascus. Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy called upon the Europeans not to "act hastily toward reaching an agreement with Syria in a way that will grant them a gift they don't deserve at this stage." Levy said Syria had done nothing since 2004 to show that it was genuinely interested in peace or calm in the region. "There is an unbearable discrepancy between what they say and what they do," Levy said. "They speak about peace and tranquility, but supply Hizbullah with arms, host the headquarters of terrorist organizations in their capital and are engaged in various unsavory activities in the Middle East." (Jerusalem Post) Israeli defense officials said Tuesday they were opposed to the deployment of a NATO force in the West Bank following an Israeli withdrawal, a plan supported by president-elect Obama's choice for U.S. national security adviser, Gen. James Jones. A top IDF officer said, "NATO is a very bad idea....No other country in the world has successfully dealt with terror like Israel has. There is a need for continuous combat; NATO will not want to endanger its soldiers on behalf of Israeli citizens." (Jerusalem Post) Palestinians fired eight mortar shells at Israel on Wednesday, one of which damaged a power cable transferring electricity to Gaza, Army Radio reported. (Ha'aretz) See also Palestinian Rocket Fire Continues - Shmulik Hadad Palestinian gunmen fired two Kassam rockets from Gaza at Israel on Tuesday. The Israel Air Force killed two Gaza terrorists near Rafah responsible for firing mortar shells at Israel. Four other gunmen were injured. (Ynet News) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The Mumbai attacks were a ghastly reminder of the threat still posed by al-Qaeda and related terrorist groups. What would happen if roving gunmen infiltrated U.S. cities and started shooting? "Mumbai is a worst-case 'active shooter' problem," says a former CIA officer who helped organize a Department of Homeland Security program on the subject for police chiefs. "It had multiple shooters, multiple locations, mobile threats, willingness to fight the first responders and follow-on SWAT/commando units, well-equipped and well-trained operatives, and a willingness to die. Police department commanders in America should be scratching their heads and praying." The Mumbai attacks are a powerful demonstration of the danger for cities around the world. The reason to discuss such threats isn't to feed anti-terrorism hysteria. The challenge is to understand the adversary so that if an attack comes, the authorities will respond with cool heads and steady aim. (Washington Post) Why kill the rabbi? Why invade the small headquarters of a small outreach sect of a small religion? The one surviving attacker said his group came largely from rural southern Punjab in Pakistan. It is therefore unlikely that any of them had even encountered a Jew, or knew anyone else who had. Yet last week, Nariman [Habad] House was chosen for special murderous attention. It reminded me of the 2003 Istanbul bombings when - post Iraq war - specifically British and American targets were augmented, for some reason, by blowing up synagogues belonging to the much diminished Jewish population of that city. The only possible reason for going to such lengths to seek out a few Jews is ideology - because someone has told you, and you have accepted, that these people are your particular enemies. One sees here a psychosis in search of a grievance, not an expression of an existing grievance. There isn't anything that will persuade such people, once radicalized, not to try to kill us. (Times-UK) Why would a terrorist group of Islamists from Pakistan whose primary goal is to have Pakistan gain control of the third of Kashmir that belongs to India devote so much of its efforts to killing a rabbi and any Jews with him? For the Islamists, as for the Nazis, the destruction of the Jews is central to their worldview. With all the Pakistani Islamists' hatred of Hindus, the terrorists did not attack one Hindu temple. With all their hatred of Christian infidels, they did not seek out one of the 700,000 Christians in Mumbai. Great evils often begin with the murder of Jews, and therefore non-Jews who dismiss Jew-hatred (aka anti-Semitism, aka anti-Zionism) will learn too late that Jew- and Israel-haters only begin with Jews but never end with them. (Town Hall) See also Double Standards Becloud War on Terrorism - Abraham Cooper and Harold Brackman At Mumbai's Habad House of fellowship and prayer, six religious people - none of them intelligence officers - were bound, tortured, and executed because they were Jews, just as Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl had his head cut off in Pakistan because, as he told his kidnappers, "I am Jewish." What else must murderous groups like al-Qaeda and its cohorts have to do to convince the media and the world that Mumbai is just the latest in their murderous global jihad against any nation or any believer - Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim - who opposes them? Rabbi Abraham Cooper is Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Dr. Harold Brackman, a historian, is a consultant for the center. (New York Post) Observations: Decoupling Syria from Iran: Constraints on U.S.-Syrian Rapprochement - David Schenker (Institute for Contemporary Affairs - Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
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