Count your blessings. Only 2 items this evening due to the combination of a meeting that I had to attend and to the news in the newspapers. Of course there is in addition to the 2 items below some news about the Clinton-Netanyahu talks. The best part of that report is the picture of the two, Clinton with a big big smile on her face, Bibi lips tightly closed and looking quite unhappy. Would almost seem to suggest that Clinton said something that clipped Bibi’s wings. But I doubt it, unfortunately. You can see the picture here http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-serious-on-peace-talks-netanyahu-tells-clinton-1.324198
To get down to serious matters (not that peace is not a serious matter; only that I don’t believe that these talks even if they resume will end in anything peaceful). You Americans should be screaming bloody murder! With economic conditions as they are in the US, you can hardly allow your tax dollars to stuff arms manufacturers pockets. It’s time that you woke up to what is happening to your hard earned money. And on top of that, the last thing that Israelis need is more weapons! $400 million on top of the $3 billion for military equipment and also $10 billion in credit guarantees, while many of you in the States are jobless and hungry! Come on! Tell your leaders that they are taking food out of babies’ mouths. Israel has more than enough weapons. It does, it does, it does!!!!
The 2nd item is about instances of Israeli racism. Isn’t it amazing that Jews can be racist!?!
May tomorrow bring happier news.
Dorothy
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1.Haaretz,
November 11, 2010
U.S. to store another $400m worth of emergency military equipment in Israel Equipment to stand at Israel’s disposal in an emergency; hike will bring the value of American military equipment stockpiled in Israel to $1.2 billion by 2012.
The U.S. government is to move an additional $400 million worth of military equipment to emergency storage in Israel over the next two years.
The equipment, which includes so-called smart bombs, will stand at Israel’s disposal in an emergency.
The U.S. Congress approved the hike last month, which will bring the value of American military equipment stockpiled in Israel to $1.2 billion by 2012. The story was first reported this week by Defense News magazine’s reporter in Israel, Barbara Opall-Rome.
The U.S. stores equipment in Israel by virtue of a special clause in U.S. foreign aid law governing war reserves stockpiles for allies. According to the clause, the equipment can be utilized by American forces throughout the world, and also, in an emergency, by the military in the country where the equipment is stored.
The clause was originally intended to allow South Korea use of American equipment in case of a surprise attack by North Korea.
The type of equipment stockpiled in Israel is determined through dialogue between the Israel Defense Forces and the U.S. Army’s European Command. The issue was raised in discussions last week during the visit by the IDF’s logistics and technology chief, Maj. Gen. Dan Biton, at the Pentagon in Washington.
The agreement between the two armed forces also includes conditions under which the IDF may use the equipment. It is believed that a great deal of the equipment will include precision weapons launched from the air.
IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said this week that in Israel’s future wars, much more precise weaponry will be needed to strike urban targets from the air without injuring civilians.
During Operation Cast Lead, 81 percent of the missiles and bombs launched from the air on and by IDF artillery were of the precision type.
Use of the the American equipment is allowed with permission of the American administration; Israel used such U.S. weaponry during the Second Lebanon War.
The first time equipment was stockpiled in Israel was in 1990, when a ceiling of $100 million in value was set, which was raised to $300 million during the first Gulf War and later raised to $400 million. It was doubled in 2007 after the Second Lebanon War, and, as noted, will reach $1.2 billion by 2012.
It is assumed in Israel that the U.S. administration asked Congress to increase the value of U.S. emergency equipment to signal its continued commitment to Israel’s security. It is also believed the increase is meant to as an indication to Israel that it will not need to mount a surprise attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities and that it can take risks for peace.
Israel is also expected to be allowed more involvement in selecting the types of equipment and weapons to be stored here and greater freedom to use it in an emergency. The equipment is stored in special bases for emergency supplies that are under American supervision.
Ben-Gurion International Airport and a base in Nevatim are expected to stockpile U.S. equipment arriving by air during both war and peacetime.
The agreement on the additional stockpiling is part of the very significant upgrading in security relations between Israel and the United States, which also involved an increased number of joint exercises with the United States, during which joint command over complex operations were also drilled. The upgrading of relations in the security realm also involved the special allocation of $500 million to finance the purchase of an Iron Dome battery, and the signing two months ago of an agreement to supply the IAF with the first squadron of the future F-35 fighter aircraft.
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2. Haaretz,
November 11, 2010
Gang suspected of attacks on Arabs in Jerusalem
Young men have reportedly been roaming in and around Independence Park seeking Arabs to attack, trying to identify them by their accent.
Two Arabs have been attacked on central Jerusalem’s Hillel Street recently, near the place where a Chilean tourist was assaulted last week, mistaken for an Arab.
The tourist, Jose Toledo, was moderately injured Thursday after he was attacked by a group of young men as he was walking through the capital’s Independence Park.
Young men have reportedly been roaming in and around Independence Park seeking Arabs to attack, trying to identify them by their accent. Haaretz has learned of two attacks over the past two weeks, and the stabbing of an Arab in July.
Annan Yagmor, 21, of Silwan, said that on Saturday night he was approached by a group of men in Independence Park as he was walking home. They asked him for a cigarette, accompanied him a short way, jumped him and beat him. He said they wanted to see his ID card and shouted “Arab, Arab.” They also sprayed him with tear gas.
Adem Sabih said he was similarly attacked on October 31 in the same area, by 20 or 30 skullcap-wearing young men. They asked him his name and then jumped him; one shouted “kill that Arab.” He said he was smashed in the head with a rock several times before he could flee.
Jerusalem City Councilman Meir Margalit said it appeared that “a gang of thugs,” some with large knitted skullcaps and others with black skullcaps, were terrorizing East Jerusalem Arabs. He said he could not “shake the feeling that if the situation were reversed, if Jews were being attacked by Arabs, the authorities’ response would be different.”
The Chilean media has been in an uproar over the attack on Toledo by what he said was a gang of youths who thought he was an Arab. Members of Chile’s parliament have also protested, and Israel’s ambassador to Santiago, David Dadon, was summoned Tuesday to the Chilean Foreign Ministry for clarifications.
The incident was widely reported in South American media outlets.
According to the Chilean press, Toledo, 43, was attacked as he was walking through Independence Park by eight young men who injured him in the head and eyes. According to the reports, he was hospitalized over the weekend.
Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said in a statement he expected Israel to explain the incident.
Two Chilean members of parliament raised the issue, claiming that it was one of a series of cases in which Chileans of Arab descent had been attacked on visits to Israel.
Unable to ignore the protests, the Chilean Foreign Ministry summoned Dadon to meet with the director general of the consular section, Carlos Klammer, who asked Dadon to obtain information urgently on the events leading up to the attack.
The case also provoked anger in Chile’s Jewish community, which released a statement yesterday protesting the summoning of the Israeli ambassador to the Foreign Ministry. The president of the Chilean Jewish community, Gabriel Zaliasnik, criticized what he said was the way a criminal incident had become political. He said that “even before the details were known, certain members of parliament said this was a racist incident.”
The incident was also publicized outside Chile. According to Peruvian radio, “A Chilean tourist was cruelly attacked in Jerusalem because he was believed to be an Arab.” Venezuelan newspaper El Universal reported extensively on the incident and Dadon’s summons to the Foreign Ministry, as did newspapers in Argentina, Equador and other countries.
The Chilean press quoted Dadon as saying that it was “absurd” to think Toledo had been attacked because he looked like an Arab, because “half the population in Israel looks Arab, because they are of Eastern origin, and the other half look like Chileans.”
Dadon was also quoted as saying the park had seen violent incidents in the past when men had been attacked because they were suspected of being gay.
“The incident has been blown up here out of all proportion also by members of parliament of Palestinian extraction who took advantage of it to accuse Israel of racism after it was reported that he might have been attacked because of an Arab appearence,” Dadon told Haaretz yesterday. “Following our swift and tough response, the matter was immediately removed from the media’s agenda.”
