Israel can destroy Iran's growing nuclear program, a senior IDF officer was quoted as saying by 'The Canadian Jewish News' Web site on Wednesday.
During an October 22 press briefing in Toronto for a few Jewish journalists, the unnamed brigadier-general said that Israel had the military capability to destroy or damage Iran's program. "Delay can also be helpful," he said.
"We have to be prepared for any eventuality," he was quoted as saying.
The general also said that the UN sanctions had had "some positive effects," although they haven't deterred Iran from pursuing nuclear capabilities.
"We don't see anyone trying to stop Iran," he added. The officer also said that hitting Iran's nuclear facilities would be a great challenge, since its facilities are widely scattered and buried deep underground, the report said.
Israel's policy until now has been to support international efforts to pressure Iran into ceasing its nuclear program, he said, adding that "[Israel] preferred to play a background role."
"Iran is leading the radical resistance movement," he said in a reference to Hizbullah and Hamas.
Addressing the Palestinian conflict, the IDF general was doubtful whether Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was strong enough to implement a peace agreement, ...   more »

Court to debate State's refusal to acknowledge Israeli nationality
Aviram Zino
The Jerusalem Administrative Court on Wednesday ordered the State to justify its refusal to include the term 'Israeli' on the list of possible nationalities inscribed in Israeli identification cards.
"In its response, we as of the State to address, among other things, the manner in which the list of nationalities is set and through which legal means a nationality can be added or removed from that list," wrote Judge Noam Solberg.
The court's decision follows a petition filed by 38 Israeli intellectuals and artists, including former minister Shulamit Aloni, former MK Uri Avnery, Professors Yehoshua Porat, Yosef Agassi and Uzzi Ornan and singer Alon Olearchick.
In their petition the plaintiffs note that there are currently over 132 different nationalities recognized by the State of Israel for use in registering for an ID card but 'Israeli' is not one of them.
The plaintiffs state in their petition that since the days when the list of nationalities was agreed upon, an 'Israeli' identity has been formulated and it must be recognized.  
The petition further states that since 1992 Israeli passports declare their holder to be of 'Israeli Nationality,' therefore the ...   more »

Matthew Wagner ,
Socioeconomic hardships caused by the West Bank security barrier are contributing to the decline in the Christian population in the Holy Land, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
"I recently met with Christians in Bethlehem, people by no means extreme, and they told of the daily burdens driving in and out of the city that were created by the wall," Williams said by telephone during a break in his 24-hour visit to these parts.
Williams did not mention other, long-standing, explanations for the exodus from traditionally Christian towns.
Muslim violence against Christians coupled with Hamas's victory in the latest Palestinian Authority election and economics hardships caused, in part, by Hamas's refusal to recognize Israel, are the most commonly cited reasons for the steady decrease in the number of Christians living in the PA.
Williams said he was aware of "claims" that the project had reduced the number of victims of Palestinian terrorism, but felt that in the long-term, building a barrier between two populations was "causing deeper problems" for the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations.
"The fence does not solve the basic underlying causes of the conflict. ...   more »

By The Associated Press
The Archbishop of Canterbury and Israel's chief rabbis issued a joint declaration Tuesday calling on religious communities worldwide to take
responsibility for protecting all holy sites.
In their second meeting this year, the head of the Anglican church, Archbishop Rowan Williams, and Israel's Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yonah Metzger said the desecration of any holy site is a setback for all religious people.
"Every holy place, for example, synagogue, church or mosque that belong to religious people, keep it as a holy place," Metzger said. "We hope that people will hear it and will keep our decision."
The religious leaders have planned to meet annually while a separate
delegation of religious leaders and academics will meet twice a year. The
annual meetings and the Anglican-Jewish commission are designed to foster an understanding between the religions.
Jerusalem itself is one of the most explosively contested religious centers in the world. A hilltop in the Old City, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound was built over the ruins of the biblical Jewish temples, is claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians. Each side has often charged the other with desecrating the site, and outbreaks of violence over the allegations ...   more »

By Stewart Ain    
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | As delegates from 10 countries gather in New York Sunday for a two-day conference focusing on Jews displaced from their Arab homelands, there is growing concern that this issue will not be a priority for the Olmert government when the topic of Palestinian refugees is raised at the Israeli-Palestinian summit in Annapolis, Md.
Officials of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC), which will hold steering committee meetings here, insist that any discussion of the refugee problem must include Jewish refugees as well, since hundreds of thousands were forced to flee or were expelled, with untold losses in property. Ironically, the current Israeli government has been less than supportive of the effort, and the upcoming meeting here may provide a showdown of sorts since officials of the government will attend.
Of particular concern were recent comments of Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who in September told the Knesset that a Palestinian state is "the integral national solution to the [Palestinian] refugee problem." She mentioned it again last month at the United Nations, but on neither occasion did she mention that there were Jewish refugees whose rights must also be addressed.
Just weeks ago, Israeli ...   more »

'My Job Is to Get the Oil for Israel,' Says Born-Again Christian John Brown
 By SIMON MCGREGOR-WOOD
When I first heard about John Brown, the American born-again Christian looking for oil in Israel, I thought, "well & he's obviously unhinged."
Everyone knows Israel doesn't have oil, right? I mean, Israel celebrates its 60th birthday next year, and if it had any of the black stuff, surely some clever person would have found it by now! So, it was with some skepticism that I approached this story and Brown.
The first impression I had of the man, himself, was that he was charming and not quite the wide-eyed evangelical I had expected. We picked him up at his hotel for the first of several meetings. He proved a good talker, and seemed honest and sincere.
With disarming candor, he described his former life as a high-powered businessman, and how he had run into drinking problems in the early 1980s. He said he had a religious experience in 1981 that changed his life.
"There were some things in my life that needed to be cleared up with the Lord. I felt like God actually took a hose and washed me, and I ...   more »