General who served in Second Lebanon War says army's premise now completely different than before war which 'proved we were wrong in 2000 when our military power was aimed at Palestinian terror; now we realize that we should be preparing for something completely different'

Haman Greenberg Published:  07.16.07, 15:48 / Israel News  





"The IDF is preparing itself for an all-out war, and this is a major change in the military's working premise following the Second Lebanon War," said Major-General (res) Eyal Ben-Reuven, who served as the Northern Command chief’s deputy during the war.

 "By preparing for an all-out war, we can also deal with Palestinian terror, and not the other way round, as it was believed so far," Ben-Reuven said at an Institute for National Security Studies conference covering the different aspects of war.  
When conflict breaks out with Syria, he said, Israel will face a challenge, because the Syrians "will be willing to take military and civilian hits but will strive to harm the Israeli home front in order to gain future achievements in a political process and to further split Israeli society.  
"Therefore, the IDF's mission will be very focused and will have to be ...   more »

Leaning on lessons learned about the home front in last summer's war, municipality workers survey shelters, analyze risks for central Israel area
Eli Senior
One of the most memorable impressions left by the Second Lebanon War was the lack of preparedness in the homefront. Inadequate shelter in the rocket-plagued north had thousands of Israeli citizens fleeing south to Tel Aviv.  
But with the range of Qassams spreading farther north, and hostile sources in Lebanon hinting that Hizbullah has longer range missiles that will be able to target Tel Aviv, it may be that central Israel will no longer be a place of refuge.  
So how safe is Tel Aviv in the event of an attack? Defense analysts extended hypotheses about the damage that would be incurred in a variety of scenarios, calculating the risks for various streets in Israel's largest city.  
They posited that only one conventional missile hitting in a central street would leave at least 25 people dead and hundreds injured, as well as damaging dozens of buildings.   
If two missiles were to land at the same time, fatalities could more than double. In one such test case, over 800 people would need to ...   more »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An ingredient in curry may help stimulate immune system cells that gobble up the brain-clogging proteins that mark Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
They said they isolated a compound in turmeric, a yellow spice that gives Indian curry powder its distinctive color, that appears to stimulate a specific response against Alzheimer's symptoms.
It may be possible to infuse this compound into patients and treat the incurable and fatal brain condition, Dr. Milan Fiala of the University of California Los Angeles and colleagues said.
Other research has shown that curcumin, an antioxidant found in turmeric, can help prevent tumors from forming in the laboratory and in rats.
Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Fiala's team said they had shown earlier that curcumin may affect the brain cells of Alzheimer's patients. But they wanted to pinpoint the precise factor in curcumin, which is a complex compound.
They isolated bisdemethoxycurcumin and determined it was the most active ingredient in curcumin.
Using blood samples from Alzheimer's patients, they found that bisdemethoxycurcumin boosted immune cells called macrophages to clear a protein called amyloid beta, which clogs the brains of Alzheimer's patients and kills brain cells.
Macrophages ...   more »

In what can only be termed a huge victory for the future of Amateur Radio in Texas, Governor Rick Perry recently signed Senate Bill 11 (SB11) into law in June. Among many disaster response specifications, the new law contains two important Amateur Radio-related provisions: State employees who are ham radio operators may to take up to 10 days of paid leave while participating in a disaster response or training exercise, and Amateur Radio is now allowed in all Texas public schools.
Amateur Radio has been effectively "locked out" of most Texas schools for years, banned right along with boom boxes and cell phones. When school starts this fall, Texas teachers will be legally allowed to conduct classroom-based ham radio activities and students will be allowed form school-based ham radio clubs. Students who hold a ham license will be allowed to use radios at school even if they are not directly involved in a club.
Ham Radio Gets "Equal Access"
A single sentence in Article 2 of SB11 modifies the legal definition of a banned paging device by adding the following ham radio exception: "The term does not include an Amateur Radio under the control of an operator who holds an ...   more »

By KATHERINE SHRADER and ANNE FLAHERTY 
WASHINGTON (AP) - The terrorist network Al-Qaida will likely leverage its contacts and capabilities in Iraq to mount an attack on U.S. soil, according to a new National Intelligence Estimate on threats to the American homeland.
The declassified key findings, to be released publicly on Tuesday, were obtained in advance by The Associated Press.
The report lays out a range of dangers—from al-Qaida to Lebanese Hezbollah to non-Muslim radical groups—that pose a "persistent and evolving threat" to the country over the next three years. As expected, however, the findings focus most of their attention on the gravest terror problem: Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
The report makes clear that al-Qaida in Iraq, which has not yet posed a direct threat to U.S. soil, could become a problem here.
"Of note," the analysts said, "we assess that al-Qaida will probably seek to leverage the contacts and capabilities of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI), its most visible and capable affiliate and the only one known to have expressed a desire to attack the homeland."
The analysts also found that al-Qaida's association with its Iraqi affiliate helps the group to energize the broader Sunni Muslim extremist community, raise ...   more »

A news item appeared in the Financial Times last Friday that received little notice. However, the hidden story behind this report is much deeper and more complex. The FT report stated: "John Mack, Morgan Stanley's chief executive, is to invite senior staff to a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton on Monday [yesterday], in a pointed endorsement of the Democratic presidential hopeful from an important backer of President George W. Bush in 2004.
"Mrs. Clinton, a New York senator, is scheduled to appear at the fundraiser on the 41st floor of Morgan Stanley's headquarters in Times Square.
"The minimum donation for the event is $1000 per person but Mr. Mack urged those attending to give $4,600, the maximum for the 2008 presidential campaign.
"Mr. Mack surprised many on Wall Street in the spring when he said he and his wife, Christy, would support Mrs. Clinton's 2008 bid."
John Mack is not the first Bush supporter to jump on the Hillary bandwagon. Neither will he be the last.
That wealthy and influential supporters of G.W. Bush are now supporting Hillary Clinton only surprises those who have not been paying attention. For the rest of us, this is merely par for the course.
The ...   more »

Protesters believe as many as 10,000 people could assemble in Quebec to demonstrate against the third summit meeting of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the trilateral group some critics see as a stepping stone to a "North America Community."
Canadian state and national police are preparing for a possible violent confrontation when President Bush joins Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Aug. 20, 21 in Montebello, Québec, at the Fairmont Le Château Montebello resort.
Stuart Trew, a spokesman for the Council of Canadians, said his group plans to hold a public forum in Ottawa Sunday, Aug. 19, at about 4:00 p.m., bringing together speakers from the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
"We are then going to encourage people to head to Montebello on Monday and get as close they can to the Fairmont resort where the SPP meeting is going to be held, so they can protest at the site of the summit," he said.
Trew said some of the same groups that brought 15,000 people to Ottawa to protest President Bush's Nov. 30, 2004, meeting with then-Prime Minister Paul Martin are organizing the demonstration against the SPP summit. CBC News estimated the number of protestors in ...   more »