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 »

by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) The IDF Deputy Commander of the Northern Command during the Second Lebanon War says Israel is learning from last summer and preparing for war.
Speaking at a Monday conference at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Gen. (res.) Eyal Ben-Reuven said the IDF is learning the mistakes of last summer's war and is preparing for a comprehensive war.  Ben-Reuven said the war in Lebanon was justified, but turned out "bad" for Israel both militarily and politically.  "It is not good that we failed," he said.
"The year 2000 is when the problems started," Ben-Reuven said.  Israel hurriedly withdrew its forces from Lebanon that year, and Ben-Reuven feels that Israel then began to concentrate mainly on the terrorist threat, as opposed to all-out war.  This led, he said, to a wrong deployment of forces for the war with Hizbullah.
"We can deal with Palestinian terrorism in the course of preparing for all-out war," he said, "but we can't prepare for war while dealing only with terrorism. Until now, we thought that our readiness in the campaign against terrorism would help us in all-out war as well, but this is not the case."
"We were ...   more »

ADL survey of six European countries finds that half of those surveyed believe Jews not loyal to their country; more than one-third say Jews have too much power in business and finance. Hungary exhibits highest level of anti-Semitic attitudes surveyedYnetnews
One half of Europeans believe that Jews are not loyal to their country and more one-third believe they have too much power in business and finance, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.  
The poll, entitled Attitudes Toward Jews and the Middle East in Six European Countries, surveyed 3,000 adults, 500 in each of the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.   
ADL Director slams American Christian group for Israel divestment call    
Abraham Foxman, the ADL's national director, said he was "especially concerned that the survey found a large percentage of all respondents and a majority in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland believe that American Jews control US policy on the Middle East, an old canard that has been resurrected in mainstream American and bolsters existing European attitudes."  
He also told a press conference in Jerusalem that Hungary exhibited the highest anti-Semitic attitudes of the countries surveyed and the ...   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 »

Imagine that an Islamist central command exists — and that you are its chief strategist, with a mandate to spread full application of Shariah, or Islamic law, through all means available, with the ultimate goal of a worldwide caliphate. What advice would you offer your comrades in the aftermath of the eight-day Red Mosque rebellion in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan?
Probably, you would review the past six decades of Islamist efforts and conclude that you have three main options: overthrowing the government, working through the system, or a combination of the two.
Islamists can use several catalysts to seize power. (I draw here on "Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop: How Inevitable is an Islamist Future?" by Cameron Brown.)
Revolution, meaning a wide-scale social revolt: Successful only in Iran, in 1978–79, because it requires special circumstances.
Coup d'état: Successful only in Sudan, in 1989, because rulers generally know how to protect themselves.
Civil war: Successful only in Afghanistan, in 1996, because dominant, cruel states generally put down insurrections (as in Algeria, Egypt, and Syria).
Terrorism: Never successful, nor is it ever likely to be. It can cause huge damage, but without changing regimes. Can one really imagine a ...   more »

By Aluf Benn  
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to arrive in Jerusalem on Tuesday to begin work as the "Quartet" special envoy to the region. Blair has taken upon himself to establish Palestinian institutions as a basis for the future Palestinian state.
Blair's mission will be officially launched at a meeting with Quartet ministers in Lisbon on Thursday.
Blair said he would stay in the region for one week every month. He has appointed as his chief of staff Nick Banner, who worked with Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Blair's foreign policy adviser in Downing Street. He intends to add staff members from the USAID agency, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
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Assad: New country mediating between Syria, Israel


In parliament speech following his reelection, Syrian president says, 'Israelis must remember that the cost of peace is lower than all wars. But if they are only sending messengers to us, this is not serious. They must provide us with guarantees that all of the Golan will be returned'
A new country has begun mediating between Jerusalem and Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad said Tuesday.  
"There were delegations here which brought messages from the Israeli prime minister, saying that he wants peace. One even came here during the war. We said that this is a positive thing, but our stance is that we do not support secret negotiations. What is required from the Israeli officials is an official statement that they want peace," he added.   '
In a speech which dealt with the possibilities for negotiations rather than with threats, Syrian president revealed that "there is one party, which we are proud of, which has begun mediating in the past few weeks and got into the thick of things. The Israeli prime minister said that he wants peace and this is a good thing, but it's not enough.  
"We are waiting ...   more »

In a statement of Middle East policy, the US president stressed that all the participants in such a conference chaired by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice must recognize Israel’s right to exist and a two-state solution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. DEBKAfile: Egypt, Jordan and Qatar are the only Arab rulers likely to attend such a conference.
Referring to the Quartet meeting in Lisbon Thursday, Bush outlined a plan for international sponsorship of the Mahmoud Abbas government in Ramallah.
He pledged $190 m in US aid this year, another $208 m in loans to Palestinian businesses and $80 m for helping to reform Palestinian security services. Bush urged the Palestinians to choose the path of moderation rather than extremism and terror offered by Hamas which he said seized control of Gaza illegally. He commended the new Middle East envoy Tony Blair’s role in helping the Palestinians establish ruling institutions free of corruption.
Bush repeated his frequent assertion that the Palestinians are entitled to a stable viable and contiguous state, adjusted to the current realities, while calling on Israel to remove unauthorized outposts and halt settlement expansion on the West Bank. The US, he said is committed to the security of Israel ...   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 »