[WCUSP] A source of anti-Iran & "Islamofascism" blather = Jerusalem Center 4 PubAffairs

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

    Prepared  for the 
_Conference of Presidents of  Major American Jewish Organizations_ 
(http://www.conferenceofpresidents.org/)  
by the _Jerusalem Center  for Public Affairs_ (http://www.jcpa.org/) 
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DAILY  ALERT

Wednesday,
October 24,  2007
 
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To  contact the Presidents Conference:
_click here_ (mailto:info at prescon.org)    
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In-Depth Issues: 
_U.S.:  Top Iranians Direct Iraq Missions_ 
(http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-usiran24oct24,1,6425179.story?coll=la-news-a_section)  
- Paul Richter (Los Angeles  Times)
Senior State Department Iraq advisor David  Satterfield said Tuesday that 
there was no doubt the top leaders in Tehran  were directing Iranian forces that 
the administration is holding  responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. 
troops in Iraq.
"There is no question in our minds whatsoever" that Iranian  Revolutionary 
Guard troops "are very much under the direction and command  of the most senior 
levels of the Iranian government."
Satterfield's comments come as senior administration officials have been  
speaking out forcefully on Iran.  
 
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_Olmert: Russia  Won't Supply Nuclear Fuel to Iran_ 
(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/916558.html)  - Aluf Benn  (Ha'aretz)
Speaking to a Jewish group in London on  Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud 
Olmert revealed that at his meeting  last week in Moscow with Russian 
President Putin, he learned that "Russia  has decided not to supply nuclear fuel to 
Iran."
Olmert  also said that "if we come to terms today with the Iranian nuclear  
program, in the future we will need to pay an unacceptable price, one that  we 
cannot tolerate."
Olmert said that Israel is part of  an overall international effort against 
Iran that is being led by the  great powers and not, he stressed, by Israel.  
 
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_U.S. to  Transfer $410 Million to PA_ 
(http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3463425,00.html)  - Yitzhak Benhorin (Ynet  News)
The American government is planning to transfer  $410 million to the 
Palestinian Authority in an effort to strengthen it -  the largest aid program ever 
given to the Palestinians by the U.S.  
 
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_Judge  Ginsburg Notes Israeli Judges' Ban on Torture_ 
(http://www.dailyreportonline.com/Editorial/News/new_singleEdit.asp?individual_SQL=10/23/2007@17388_P
ublic_.htm)  - Jonathan Ringel  (Fulton County [Ga.] Daily Report)
U.S. Supreme  Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has expressed admiration 
toward how her  counterparts in Israel deal with suspected terrorists.
Speaking at an Atlanta synagogue Sunday, Ginsburg noted that the former  
president of Israel's high court, Aharon Barak, had said that while the  U.S. had 
its Sep. 11, "we've had our 9/12, our 9/13 and so on. And yet we  have strived 
mightily to remember what we stand for as a  nation."
Ginsburg said that when the Israeli justices  were asked if authorities could 
torture someone who knew when and where a  bomb would go off, "The answer of 
the Supreme Court of Israel was  unequivocal: torture never."
She then mentioned an  article in that day's Atlanta newspaper "about how the 
courts in Israel  have adhered to basic fairness and due process even dealing 
with people  who would terminate the existence of the State of Israel."  
 
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_Trial  of Al-Qaeda Suspects Opens in Bahrain_ 
(http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/October/middleeast_October320.x
ml&section=middleeast&col=)  (AFP/Khaleej  Times-UAE)
The trial of five people charged in  Bahrain with belonging to the al-Qaeda 
terror network and plotting attacks  opened on Tuesday.
The defendants denied the charges of  preparing and executing attacks against 
another country, as well as  training to use arms, being members of a banned 
organization, and  financing terror attacks.
Bahrain is home to the U.S.  Navy's Fifth Fleet and has been designated by 
Washington as a major  non-NATO ally.  
 
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     Related Publications:
_Israel Campus Beat_ (http://www.israelcampusbeat.org/) 
_Israel HighWay_ (http://www.israelhighway.org/)     News Resources - North 
America, Europe, and  Asia:  
    *   _Satellite  Imagery Shows Israeli Target Inside Syria Similar to 
North Korean  Reactor_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102302577.html?hpid=topnews)  - Robin Wright and Joby Warrick
Independent experts  have pinpointed what they believe to be the Euphrates 
River site in  Syria that was bombed by Israel last month, and satellite imagery 
of the  area shows buildings under construction similar in design to a North  
Korean reactor capable of producing nuclear material for one bomb a  year. 
Photographs of the site taken before the Sep. 6 airstrike depict a  tall, boxy 
structure similar to the type of building used to house a  gas-graphite 
reactor. They also show what could have been a pumping  station used to supply 
cooling water for a reactor, say experts David  Albright and Paul Brannan of the 
Institute for Science and International  Security (ISIS). "I'm pretty convinced 
that Syria was trying to build a  nuclear reactor," Albright said in an 
interview. (Washington  Post)  
    *   _Bush:  Missile Defense Needed to Cope with Growing Iranian  Threat_ 
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071023-3.html) 
President Bush said in Washington on Tuesday: "The  need for missile defense 
in Europe is real and I believe it's urgent.  Iran is pursuing the technology 
that could be used to produce nuclear  weapons, and ballistic missiles of 
increasing range that could deliver  them. Last November, Iran conducted military 
exercises in which it  launched ballistic missiles capable of striking Israel 
and Turkey, as  well as American troops based in the Persian Gulf. Iranian 
officials  have declared that they are developing missiles with a range of 1,200  
miles, which would give them the capability to strike many of our NATO  
allies, including Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and possibly Poland,  Hungary, and 
Slovakia. Our intelligence community assesses that, with  continued foreign 
assistance, Iran could develop an intercontinental  ballistic missile capable of 
reaching the United States and all of  Europe before 2015. If it chooses to do 
so, and the international  community does not take steps to prevent it, it is 
possible Iran could  have this capability. And we need to take it seriously - 
now."
"Today, we have no way to defend Europe against the emerging  Iranian threat, 
so we must deploy a missile defense system there that  can. This system will 
be limited in scope. It is not designed to defend  against an attack from 
Russia. The missile defenses we can employ would  be easily overwhelmed by 
Russia's nuclear arsenal. Russia has hundreds  of missiles and thousands of warheads. 
We're planning to deploy 10  interceptors in Europe. It doesn't take a rocket 
scientist to do the  math." (White House)
See also _U.S.  Signals Its Intent on Iran Missile Shield_ 
(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/81afdad0-8191-11dc-9b6f-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=be75219e-940a-11da-82ea-
0000779e2340.html)  - Andrew  Ward
George W. Bush on Tuesday said a missile defense system w as  urgently needed 
to protect the U.S. and Europe from Iran, warning that  Tehran could have the 
capability to strike the U.S. and Europe with  ballistic missiles within 
eight years. Robert Gates, U.S. defense  secretary, on Tuesday sought to mollify 
Moscow by indicating that  Washington might delay activating the European 
facilities until the  threat from Iran was indisputable. "We would consider tying 
together  activation of the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic with 
definitive  proof of the threat - in other words, Iranian missile testing," he said  
during a visit to Prague. (Financial Times-UK) 
News Resources - Israel and the  Mideast:  
    *   _Palestinian  Rocket Hits Apartment Building in Sderot_ 
(http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3463280,00.html)  - Shmulik  Hadad
Palestinians in Gaza fired five Kassam rockets at the Israeli  town of Sderot 
on Tuesday evening. One of them hit an apartment building  and several people 
suffered from shock. More than 10 rockets were  launched at Israel from Gaza 
on Tuesday. One hit near a strategic  facility in Ashkelon's southern 
industrial zone, another landed near  kibbutzim, and others landed near communities 
not far from Netivot.  (Ynet News)
See also _Israeli Defense  Officials: Impose More Sanctions on Gaza_ 
(http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/916359.html)  - Amos Harel, Avi  Issacharoff and 
Barak Ravid
Following extensive Kassam rocket and  mortar attacks on Israeli territory, 
senior defense officials decided  Tuesday to recommend the imposition of 
further sanctions on Gaza  involving additional limitations on the delivery of fuel, 
services and  merchandise. The Defense Ministry is now completing a plan to 
cut  electricity to the Beit Hanun area in northern Gaza for a period of two  
hours every time there is a rocket attack.
Meanwhile,  restrictions in the West Bank will be eased. Israel has recently 
removed  24 physical blockages to ease movement of residents, as well as one  
permanent roadblock, Israeli Defense Minister Barak told U.S. Secretary  of 
State Rice in Washington. (Ha'aretz)
See also  _Amnesty  Blasts Fatah, Hamas Over Civilian Deaths in Gaza Clashes_ 
(http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE210202007)   (Amnesty 
International)  
    *   _Israel Kills  Senior Militant in Gaza Airstrike_ 
(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/916194.html)  - Amos Harel and Avi  Issacharoff
Missile-firing Israel Air Force aircraft attacked a car  in Gaza on Tuesday 
carrying members of a crew which launched rockets  into Israel, killing Mubarak 
al-Hasanat, 37, a senior official in the  Hamas Interior Ministry and deputy 
commander of the Popular Resistance  Committees. (Ha'aretz) 
Global Commentary and Think-Tank  Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):  
    *   _Iran  Divided by Nuclear Policy Power Struggle_ 
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/24/wiran124.xml)  - David Blair
Iran's  regime fell into public infighting on Tuesday when 183 MPs voiced 
their  support for former national security chief Ali Larijani. Larijani's  
resignation as Iran's nuclear negotiator on Saturday revealed a crucial  political 
rift reflecting a power struggle between President Ahmadinejad  and Supreme 
Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, with Ahmadinejad trying to wrest  at least partial 
control of nuclear policy from Khamenei. If Ahmadinejad  succeeds, this would 
probably dash any hope of compromise with the  West.
Despite his resignation, Larijani attended talks  in Rome on Tuesday with 
Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, as  Khamenei's personal 
representative on Iran's Supreme National Security  Council. But the leadership of this 
council and responsibility for  nuclear policy has been transferred to Saeed 
Jalili, a former deputy  foreign minister and ally of the president.  
(Telegraph-UK)
See also _Iran's  New Chief Nuclear Negotiator Close to Same Apocalyptic 
Splinter Group as  Ahmadinejad_ 
(http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380635847&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull)  - Meir Javedanfar
After the sudden resignation of  Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, 
questions are being asked  about the background and beliefs of his successor, 
Saeed Jalili. The  most worrying revelation about Jalili's past appeared 
recently in the  Teheran-based Iran Diplomacy Web site, which said that for most  
of his career at the Foreign Ministry, Jalili worked closely with  Mojtaba 
Hashemi Samare, a leading messianic and a close ally of  Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi. 
Yazdi is a former member of the Hojattieh, a  messianic splinter group which 
was disbanded by Ayatollah Khomeini in  the early 1980s because of its extremist 
views. The sect's goals are to  sow chaos - the goal of which is to incite a 
massi ve war, presumably  necessary to speed up the return of the Shi'ite 
messiah, known as the  Mahdi.
Jalili's appointment as the head of Iran's  Supreme National Security Council 
(SNSC) and as the head of Iran's  nuclear negotiation team shows that the 
messianics have scored another  major victory in placing one of their allies in a 
senior political  position. They currently hold positions of power in the 
Ministry of  Intelligence (Gholam Hosssein Ejehi), Ministry of Interior (Mostafa 
Pour  Mohammadi), and, of course, the Presidency (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad). The  
writer is the co-author of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran - Mahmoud  Ahmadinejad 
and the State of Iran. He runs the Middle East Economic  and Political 
Analysis (Meepas). (Pajamas Media/Jerusalem  Post)
See also _Ahmadinejad  Sees No Need for Nuclear Talks_ 
(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a6dd1cd2-8191-11dc-9b6f-0000779fd2ac.html)  - Najmeh Bozorgmehr and Guy  
Dinmore
Iran's President Ahmadinejad on Tuesday said Tehran had no  need for 
negotiations over its nuclear program. "We believe if you talk  about your 
[inalienable] rights, you will definitely lose part of them,"  he said. (Financial 
Times-UK)  
    *   _Fresh Ways of Turning the  Economic Screws on Iran_ 
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21423715/)  - Daniel Dombey and Stephanie  Kirchgaessner
The U.S. is fizzing with ideas about how to push Iran  in the dispute over 
its nuclear program. Secretary of State Rice has  signalled that the U.S. may 
put the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary  Guard on the U.S.'s terrorist list. 
The U.S. Treasury has banned two  Iranian banks from accessing dollar 
financing, and discouraged  international banks from doing business with Tehran. The 
combination of  executive orders that prohibit third parties from doing 
business in the  U.S. on behalf of the Iranian banks Saderat and Sepah, together with 
a  UN resolution proscribing Sepah, has helped deter many international  
financial institutions from transactions with Iran. The U.S. has been  considering 
issuing an order against a third Iranian bank, Bank Melli,  and has also 
looked at extending measures against the country's central  bank.
Swift, the international financial messaging  group, has made it obligatory 
to identify any underlying benefactor in  bank-to-bank payments. Meanwhile, the 
House of Representatives has  passed a bill that could force President Bush 
to impose sanctions on  foreign energy groups that invest in Iran. At least 
three U.S. states  have also passed legislation that requires or calls for 
divestment from  companies that have invested in Iran's energy sector. (Financial  
Times-UK/MSNBC) 
Observations:  
_Does Bin Ladenism Have Anything in  Common with Fascism?_ 
(http://www.slate.com/id/2176389/)  - Christopher Hitchens (Slate)  
    *   Does Bin Ladenism or Salafism or Islamofascism or whatever we call  
it have anything in common with fascism?  
    *   Both movements are based on a cult of murderous violence that exalts  
death and destruction and despises the life of the mind. Both are  hostile to 
modernity (except when it comes to the pursuit of weapons),  and both are 
bitterly nostalgic for past empires and lost glories. Both  are obsessed with 
real and imagined "humiliations" and thirsty for  revenge. Both are chronically 
infected with the toxin of anti-Jewish  paranoia. Both are inclined to leader 
worship and to the exclusive  stress on the power of one great book. Both have 
a strong commitment to  sexual repression and to its counterparts: the 
subordination of the  female and contempt for the feminine. Both despise art and 
literature as  symptoms of degeneracy and decadence; both burn books and destroy  
museums and treasures.  
    *   Al-Qaeda's demand is that countries like Iraq and Saudi Arabia be  
dissolved into one great revived caliphate, but doesn't this have points  of 
resemblance with the mad scheme of a "Greater Germany" or with  Mussolini's 
fantasy of a revived Roman empire?  
    *   Technically, no form of Islam preaches racial superiority or  
proposes a master race. But in practice, Islamic fanatics operate a  fascistic 
concept of the "pure" and the "exclusive" over the unclean and  the kufar or 
profane. In the propaganda against Hinduism and  India, for example, there can be 
seen something very like bigotry. In  the attitude to Jews, it is clear that an 
inferior or unclean race is  being talked about (which is why many Muslim 
extremists like the grand  mufti of Jerusalem gravitated to Hitler's side).  
    *   This makes it permissible, it seems to me, to mention the two  
phenomena in the same breath and to suggest that they constitute  comparable threats 
to civilization and civilized values. 
 
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