Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Aug. 02 – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blasted United States policy in the Middle East and warned of an impending Muslim “jihad”, or holy war, against the West.
“Today, it is clear for everyone that the aggression against Lebanon was a premeditated U.S.-Zionist action as a key step in the path of dominating the Middle East and the Islamic world”, Khamenei said. His comments were reported in the official news agency IRNA and aired in part on state television on Wednesday.
“Today, Muslim nations more than ever despise the U.S.”, he said.
“With its support of the Zionists crimes and criminals and its blatant aggression against the rights of Muslim nations, the U.S. regime must be prepared for a hard slap and a destructive punch by Muslims”, Khamenei said.
“The U.S. is following a policy of creating insecurity, crisis, and war in the region”, he said, adding, “It must know that the more it expands insecurity, the more it will arouse the anger of nations against it and make the world insecure for itself”.
Khamenei praised the Lebanese militia Hezbollah for taking part in a “jihad” against the “enemies of Islam”, stating that the ...   more »

By The Associated Press  
ROME - Jewish shops across Rome were vandalized and defaced with swastikas in an apparent neo-fascist attack linked to fighting in the
Middle East, officials said Wednesday.
Owners of about 20 shops in the center and outskirts of the Italian capital reached their workplace Tuesday morning to find door locks filled with glue, shutters nailed closed and swastikas defacing nearby walls, said Riccardo Pacifici, a spokesman for Rome's Jewish Community.    
Although not all the shops targeted were owned by Jews, the raid was apparently conducted in reaction to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, Pacifici said.
Flyers signed by a group calling itself Armed Revolutionary Fascists were left at the shops denouncing "the Zionist economy" and including pro-Hezbollah slogans, Pacifici said.
"There are still anti-Semites in Italy," Pacifici said. He told The Associated Press that Italian Jewish organizations have been flooded with dozens of e-mails blaming Jews for violence in the Middle East.
Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni condemned the vandalism.
"Rome and Romans are against any form of anti-Semitism," Veltroni, was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera daily. "I hope that the authors of these actions will soon answer for them in ...   more »

 
By Bogonko Bosire - NAIROBI
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on Wednesday called for immediate action after thousands of tonnes of fuel from a bombed Lebanese power plant spread to the Syrian coastline, threatening to unleash an environmental catastrophe.
The Nairobi-based UNEP said the oil slick, caused by the destruction of the Jiyyeh power utility 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Beirut, had arrived on Syria's coast after affecting up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) of the Lebanese coastline.
"It is nearly three weeks since the bombing of the power plant and the initial satellite imagery unfortunately confirms that the oil spill is of a significant magnitude and spreading," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said in a statement released here.
"A coordinated response must urgently be allowed to proceed, so that we can limit the immediate environmental damage as well as the longer terms implications for the economy and the Lebanese people," he added.
"Now it has become even more vital to take immediate action. In addition to the humanitarian circumstances, an environmental catastrophe is threatening the Mediterranean region," said Paul Mifsud, UNEP's coordinator for the Mediterranean Action Plan.
"Hostilities must cease to guarantee immediate safe access to the ...   more »

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHERAN, Iran
Nothing in the office of Iran's sole Jewish lawmaker calls attention to his faith - no Star of David, no menorah or other symbol of Judaism. But like nearly every public building in Iran, it has a portrait of the Islamic Revolution's patriarch, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Moris Motamed's political headquarters highlight the well-practiced survival skills of Iran's remaining 25,000 Jews - caught again in a political no man's land by the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Any public expression of sympathy for Israel would invite a sharp crackdown from authorities and hard-line Islamic groups.
"We are Iranians. We work for what's best for Iran. The fighting, fortunately, does not affect the Jewish community in Iran," said Motamed, who holds the single parliament seat reserved for Jews. Other seats are set aside for the Christian Armenian and Assyrian minorities and followers of Iran's pre-Islamic Zoroastrian faith.
But Iran's Jews have undeniable bonds with Israel - most notably Israel's Iranian-born president, Moshe Katsav. Thousands of Iranian Jewish families have relatives in Israel. The historical links between Persia and the Holy Land go back to antiquity and are celebrated each year with the festival ...   more »

By Associated Press  August 3, 2006  
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel, state-media reported.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel, state-media reported.
In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad also called for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah.
"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," Ahmadinejad said, according to state-run television in a report posted on its Web site Thursday.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev accused Ahmadinejad of trying to rally the region to support Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
"Our operation in Lebanon is designed to neutralize one of the long arms of Iran, Hezbollah," Regev said. "Hezbollah is their proxy, being used as an instrument of Teheran to advance their extremist agenda and the blow to Hezbollah is a blow to Iranian interests and a blow to all extremist Jihadist forces in the region.
Ahmadinejad called on all Muslim states to "cut their open and secret political and economic ...   more »

By Dale Hurd
CBN News
Is this treason?
Is this a potential threat to our safety?
Several thousand people marched through the Detroit suburb of Dearborn a few weeks ago, chanting "Hezbollah" and holding up photos of Hezbollah leader Sheik Nasrallah and posters comparing President Bush to Hitler.
Similar protests took place in San Francisco, New York, and other cities.
The U.S. government calls Hezbollah a terrorist organization, but don't tell that to these Americans.
Osama Siblani publishes the Arab-American News, the largest Arab-American newspaper in the United States. He said, “No, They are not terrorists. Absolutely not. No. They are freedom fighters.”
He told the Chicago Tribune that if the FBI wants to go after Hezbollah supporters in Dearborn, "…they better bring a fleet of buses. I, for one, would be willing to go to jail."
Hezbollah is an Iranian creation, and although it has a measure of independence, it's considered Iran's proxy army in southern Lebanon. As many as 15,000 of Dearborn's Arabs come from the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil, Lebanon.
In fact, the current mayor in Bint Jbeil, Haj Ali Bazzi, is from Dearborn. He has an American passport and a Michigan driver’s license.
The dominant ...   more »

Speaking in kibbutz Sasa, Home Front Command chief, Major General Yitzhak Garshon says army taking seriously Hizbullah threats to fire rockets at Tel Aviv
Miri Chason
Home Front Command chief, Major General Yitzhak Girshon, told reporters in kibbutz Sasa in the Galilee that the army has "dealt in a special manner with the Gulf of Haifa, so that danger to civilians is minimal, if at all. Our situation is much better than at the beginning of the war."
He stressed the issue of hazardous materials saying measures have been taken to prevent a disaster.  
"Despite the surprise, we took all necessary measures to minimize harm to civilians by hazardous materials. We are working with the Ministry of the Environment which is responsible for protecting hazardous substances and we would be able to contain any event in a couple of minutes," he said.  
He said preparations have been made in the Tel Aviv area in anticipation of possible missile attack. "As for residents of the center, we are taking the threats seriously. Our measures are based on a warning siren so we've instructed residents to locate protected places," he added.   
Asked about shelters in Arab communities, Garshon said ...   more »

By Moshe Kempinski   August 2, 2006
Israel has been bombarded alternately with thousands of rockets and with hundreds of articles decrying its "disproportionate" and "immoral" response. Israel's sovereignty is abused and its citizens are attacked, kidnapped and terrorized, and the world clamors to condemn Israel's response.
On the one hand, you have a soldier pushing a child behind him so that he can protect the child. On the other, you have a Hizbullah fighter pushing a child in front of him so that he can be protected by the child. In the ensuing gun battle, the latter child gets hurt and the Hizbullah terrorist is seen as the victim. Which of these actions should be viewed as being disproportionate and immoral? Would it be that of the soldier, or that of the Hizbullah terrorist? Or perhaps that of the world media?
In the recent past, Hizbullah leaders have boasted of their ability to destroy Israel because the Jews revere life while the Muslims glorify death. When a Hizbullah rocket killed two Israeli Arab children in Nazareth, the world viewed the tragedy as a sad accident of war. The terrorists weren't trying to kill Arab children, they were just trying to ...   more »