Israel Update for April 2009



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"The Jewish people have experience with dictators, and therefore cannot overestimate megalomaniac dictators who threaten to destroy it," the Premier told his Knesset colleagues, adding that the very worst thing for both Israel and the entire world would be for "a radical regime to obtain nuclear weapons." He made clear that Israel has nothing against the religion of Islam per se, but is only concerned with "the spread of extremist Islam in the region and the world," which he noted also "threatens moderate Arab countries" in the region.

Netanyahu's pledge to take significant action during his time in office was dramatically amplified in a pointed comment he made during an interview with the American Atlantic Monthly magazine, published in April. The new Premier said he backs the Obama administration's policy shift to engage the Iranian regime in dialogue "as long as the goal remains the swift ending of Iran's nuclear program." But he also implied that military action might be the best way to halt the threatening program, saying that "how you achieve this goal is less important than achieving it."

Indirectly referring to the chilling comments made in the past by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that violent upheaval in the Middle East could end with the coming of the Madhi, a medieval Shiite cleric who, according to Shiite religious tradition, is supposed to appear again in public in the last days and transform the world into an Islamic paradise after a final worldwide apocalypse, Netanyahu added that "you don't want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs.

Ahmadinejad

Just how dangerous Shiite-ruled Iran is becoming was vividly demonstrated by several highly disturbing things that occurred during late March and April. First came reports in the Iranian government controlled media that Ahmadinejad had told his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad in a phone conversation that Israel and the United States were "weakening with Allah's help." He was said to have added that "the strong camp of friendly countries such as Iran and Syria are on their way to victory, with regional conditions working in favor of the Muslim countries and against the Zionist regime and its allies." Assad reportedly responded that Syria and Iran are "in the same fortress," which some Israeli analysts viewed as a pledge of military support from Damascus if Iran's nuclear program comes under Israeli attack.

Speaking at a controversial international UN racism conference convened in Geneva in mid April, the rogue Iranian leader drew swift condemnations for equating the fight against racism with his regime's strident vow to annihilate Israel. "Governments must be encouraged and supported in their fight to eradicate barbaric racism. Efforts must also be made to put an end to Zionism," he said. As he has done many times before, Ahmadinejad averred that Israeli leaders "use the pretext of Jewish suffering" under Hitler to persecute the Palestinian people. He went on to denounce the United States over its successful effort six years ago to topple Saddam Hussein's brutal regime in Iraq, maintaining that the superpower "arrogantly rules the world" by using its veto power at the United Nations, and other nefarious methods.

The Israeli Tourism Ministry issued an emergency alert on April 7 warning Israelis to say away from the nearby Egyptian-ruled Sinai Peninsula during the Passover holidays, due to intelligence indications that Iranian-backed terror groups were plotting to attack Israelis there as terrorists have in the past, possibly even kidnapping some for ransom.

Although similar warnings are issued almost every year, this time the government made clear that it possessed more substantial evidence of danger than ever before: specifically that agents working for the Lebanese Shiite Hizbullah militia were planning to avenge the 2008 assassination in Damascus of the group's senior terrorist planner, Imad Mugniyeh, which Hizbullah leaders blamed on Israeli operatives.

A mere two days later, Egyptian official's announced that a major Hizbullah-linked terrorist ring had been discovered and dismantled in the Sinai. The group of 49 terrorist operatives were said to include Egyptian Bedouins, Lebanese nationals, Palestinians and even some agents from Sudan. They were indeed charged with plotting to destabilize the Mubarak government by kidnapping and killing Israeli tourists and other international visitors from nations considered hostile to radical Islam.

Several days earlier, another cell comprised of 15 Egyptian Bedouins was apprehended in a Sinai village. Egyptian officials discovered high grade explosives and shotgun shells hidden in their homes.

Terror Again

Israeli officials said interrogators later learned that among the attacks being planned by the Sinai-based terrorist cells was a major assault upon Jewish civilians in Tel Aviv. They were also gearing up to attack Israeli vessels traveling in the Suez Canal, and to smuggle additional weapons and foreign fighters into the nearby Gaza Strip.

These disturbing revelations came soon after details emerged of a daring Israeli military strike last January against an Iranian arms convoy in the troubled African nation of Sudan, due south of Egypt. Israeli security sources said dozens of F-15 and F-16 warplanes and drone aircraft took part in the long range mission which intercepted Iranian weapon supplies on their way to aid Hamas forces then battling the IDF in the Gaza Strip. The weapons, including Fajr rockets and some 500 tons of explosives, were reportedly destroyed while being transported on trucks in northern Sudan.

Security sources in Cairo stated that all the apprehended Sinai terrorists admitted to being backed by Iran, which Egypt's pro-western government believes is trying to wrest control over the entire Middle East with the aid of its regional allies, including Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas.