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 »

Florida Governor Charlie Crist   
TALLAHASSEE, FL (AP) -- Eager to embrace all constituencies, Florida Governor Charlie Crist now has a boxed Jewish scroll on his office door at the state Capitol. The mezuzah, an encased portion of sacred Jewish parchment, was placed on the door by the governor with a rabbi's assistance.
According to Jewish custom, displaying a mezuzah adds God's protection to a house. Crist often describes his office as "the people's house."
The mezuzah contains two prayers written on a parchment scroll and attached to the threshold of a room, building or home as a blessing. The word is Hebrew for "doorpost."
A lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida calls the display inappropriate
Original Source
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Warns Against "False Analogy" between Racist and Homosexual Discrimination
By John-Henry Westen
SYDNEY, October 31, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a stirring essay on the coming tensions between the secular world and the Catholic Church, Sydney's Cardinal George Pell has outlined threats to the freedom of religion stemming from biotechnology, gay 'rights' and fears of Islamic violence. The must read piece titled, "Prospects for peace and rumours of war: Religion and democracy in the years ahead," is a serious reflection despite Pell's characteristic use of wit.
Beginning on the hopeful note that the Church, despite the desires of certain atheist fanatics, is here to stay; the Cardinal points to trends which have already commenced which threaten a clampdown on freedom of religion.
Pell points to his own actions in advocating against cloning legislation being considered illegal by some. The concerns were dismissed after an investigation. He points out that in fighting cloning he was "not calling for the "enforcement" of Catholic beliefs, but reminding legislators to fulfil the demands of justice and the common good that follow from the inherent and equal dignity of every member of the human family." He added poignantly, "This is exactly the basis on which the ...   more »

WASHINGTON- A new poll suggests that 55 percent of white evangelical Republicans would consider voting for a conservative third-party candidate if the 2008 presidential race pits Hillary
Clinton against Rudy Giuliani.
The Pew Research Center says the margin of error was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Giuliani is the leading GOP contender in most national polls, but his views on abortion, gays and guns are considered too liberal by many Christian conservatives.
Christian conservative leaders have discussed launching a third-party bid if the former New York mayor is nominated, although some argue that doing so would guarantee a Democratic victory.
Original Source





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By CURT ANDERSON
MIAMI (AP) — A group of men accused of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower were in the final stages of forming a homegrown terrorist cell dedicated to waging an Islamic holy war before they were arrested, a prosecution terrorism expert testified Tuesday.
Raymond Tanter, a Georgetown University professor and terrorism scholar for 40 years, said suspected ringleader Narseal Batiste and the other six had nearly completed the "radicalization process" and moved toward acts of terrorism before their arrests in June 2006.
Hallmarks of this process include religious conversion, operation within a military-style hierarchy and adoption of goals shared by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups to destroy U.S. landmarks, Tanter said. The final stage — which he called "jihadization" — means the group is ready to plan, recruit and prepare for an attack.
"I believe that Mr. Batiste falls in the jihadization, or final stage of the radicalization process," Tanter said, adding the other members of the "Liberty City Seven" also fall into that category.
Evidence introduced at trial shows that Batiste "was talking only about violent jihad" and not other meanings of the Arabic word, such as self-examination, Tanter said.
The oath of allegiance to al-Qaida ...   more »

Over the years, many have wondered about the agenda of secretive groups such as the Council on Foreign Relations.
There's no question the CFR is a club for wealthy elite power brokers who want – or already do – rule the world. But how do they plan to do it? How do spin-off groups like the Trilateral Commission and those with interlocking memberships such as the Bilderbergers plan to create a one-world government?  
Some, including author Daniel Estulin in his new book, "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group," have offered evidence of plans by the globalists to depopulate the world, to crush the middle class and to reduce most people to mere serfs.
And, just two weeks ago, a senior fellow at the CFR let the cat out of the bag in praising China's draconian one-child population control program.
Walter Russell Mead, author of "God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World," explained how China doesn't own the future because it will face a serious worker shortage in 43 years.
"Thanks to the one-child policy, China's population may have peaked – and the U.S. is still rapidly growing," he wrote in the L.A. Times. ...   more »

Senate panel overwhelmingly passes measure empowering U.N. 
The United Nations' Law of the Sea Treaty, a wide-ranging measure critics say will grant the U.N. control of the 70 percent of the planet under its oceans, is now headed to the full Senate for ratification.
The measure passed the Senate Foreign Relations committee today by a 17-4 vote.
"If you want a U.N. on steroids, you want the Law of the Sea Treaty," Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., has said. "I am absolutely convinced it undermines U.S. sovereignty."
A two-thirds vote is required for approval, meaning only 34 "no" votes can kill it.
This is not the first time LOST has come up. International negotiators drafted it in 1982 in an attempt to establish a comprehensive legal regime for international management of the seas and their resources. President Ronald Reagan, however, refused to sign LOST because he realized that the treaty doesn't serve U.S. interests.
In 1994, however, President Clinton signed a revised version of the treaty and forwarded it to the Senate. The record shows the Senate was not convinced the 1994 changes corrected the problems, and it has deferred action on the treaty ever since.
The Heritage Foundation warns the ...   more »

CFR, Bilderbergers, Trilateral Commission insiders usually run for, win White House, shows new book
WASHINGTON – It started in 1952.
Nearly every person elected as president of the United States since then – and nearly every opponent – has belonged to a secretive, globalism-oriented organization known as the Council on Foreign Relations.
Some presidents and their challengers have belonged to additional clubs of internationalists – the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission. Running mates, too, more often than not have had ties to the groups.
That the groups exert enormous influence on public policy is indisputable. What is disputed is whether such groups are, as adherents and members argue, just discussion forums for movers and shakers, or, as critics have long alleged, secret societies shaping a new world order from behind the scenes. On that last point at least, no one could challenge the critics: All these groups operate in considerable secrecy, away from the scrutiny of the American public.
Regardless of how one characterizes them, the fact that virtually all presidents belong to the same secret clubs prompts the author of a new book to wonder if the 2008 election will also be a contest between globalist insiders. Judging ...   more »

Video 'games' in Second Life include rape dungeons, sex playgrounds
Authorities in the United Kingdom are tracking child sex predators on virtual online fantasy sites like Second Life, where realistic 3-D video "games" include rape dungeons and sex playgrounds for kids.
On these sites, investigators say, "avatars," or virtual personalities, are created where fantasies, including sexual ones, can be acted out in realistic fashion.
Games such as 'Second Life' feature avatars who often engage in sexual activity
On Second Life, where some 7 percent of young people between the ages of 12 and 24 regularly visit a virtual world, there is an area called "Wonderland," where children can be seen in a playground offering sex. Other areas offer characters a chance to rape women in clubs and dungeons.
In 1998, police in the UK broke up a private Internet club called "Wonderland" where more than 200 pedophiles in 13 countries had exchanged about 750,000 images of child sex abuse.
The Second Life site was created in 2003 in San Francisco and hosts advertising from major corporations including Coca Cola, eBay and Vodafone.
Authorities in England are debating whether to outlaw computer-generated imagery of child abuse, hard-core porn and torture scenes. ...   more »