Battalion Of Deborah

Last Fanatic

Publisher — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:04:00 -0500

The Oslo Accords and the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza are now widely recognized as tragic errors of immense proportions. Now, we face an even greater danger as the Israeli government, in the wake of the Annapolis summit, is scrambling to give away parts of Israel piece by piece in the pursuit of yet another false peace. We must respond ....

1948, Israel, and the Palestinians—

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:49:00 -0400

The True Story
EFRAIM KARSH
Sixty years after its establishment by an internationally
recognized act of self-determination, Israel remains the only
state in the world that is subjected to a constant outpouring of
the most outlandish conspiracy theories and blood libels; whose
policies and actions are obsessively condemned by the
international community; and whose right to exist is constantly
debated and challenged not only by its Arab enemies but by
segments of advanced opinion in the West.
During the past decade or so, the actual elimination of the
Jewish state has become a cause célèbre among many of these
educated Westerners. The “one-state solution,” as it is called,
is a euphemistic formula proposing the replacement of Israel by
a state, theoretically comprising the whole of historic
Palestine, in which Jews will be reduced to the status of a
permanent minority. Only this, it is said, can expiate the
“original sin” of Israel’s founding, an act built (in the words
of one critic) “on the ruins of Arab Palestine” and achieved
through the deliberate and aggressive dispossession of its
native population.
This claim of premeditated dispossession and the consequent
creation of the longstanding Palestinian “refugee problem”
forms, indeed, the central plank ...

In honor of Yom HaZicharon From Rabbi Lazer Brody

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:48:00 -0400

The Miracles of Hanit
Image at left courtesy of Haaretz.com shows the Israeli Missile boat "Hanit" being tugged into Ashdod port after having been hit by a Hizbulla missile off the Beirut shore on July 14, 2006, during the Second Lebanon War.
A young Israeli Naval sergeant boarded the northbound train in Tel Aviv. I was on my way to a present a lecture in the Haifa area and he was returning to his base in the Haifa port. He sat down across from me, looking at me intently while I was learning my Gemorra. I looked up at him, smiled, said "Shalom aleichem!"
He sighed deeply, as if relieved, and sheepishly asked, "Can I talk to you, Rav?"
"Of course," I answered, asking him how he knows that I'm a "rav". He said that he heard me eulogize one of his fallen friends during the recent war. The sailor had a relatively new beard, an almost new knitted kippa on his head, and the beautifully pure innocence in his eyes of a new Ba'al Tshuva. To make a long story short, he was a crewman on board the Israeli Navy ship Hanit (Hebrew for bayonet) when it was hit ...

Birthing pains

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:48:00 -0400

ABRAHAM RABINOVICH
Arieh Handler participated in Israel's birth on two separate occasions. The lesser event, in his view, was on May 14, 1948, when he was among some 200 persons invited to the Tel Aviv hall where David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the state. Handler, 93 this month, is believed to be the only one of those present still alive.
The other occasion took place a month earlier in the auditorium of a girls' school on Tel Aviv's Rehov Frug. The Va'ad Hapoel Hatzioni, the parliament of the world Zionist movement, met there for six days to weigh the imminent departure of the British and the prospect of all-out war. Handler, a delegate of the religious Hapoel Hamizrahi movement, recalled in a recent interview the electric atmosphere at that April meeting as the participants took their places in the small hall, delegates grouped at separate tables according to party. At the front, facing them, sat Ben-Gurion and other leaders of the Labor movement, including Golda Myerson (Meir) and Moshe Shertok (Sharett).
Fighting with Palestinian Arabs was already raging around the country, Jerusalem was surrounded, and several Arab armies were preparing to invade in a month on the heels of ...

Obama's World

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:49:00 -0400

By Jacob Laksin
Until recently, Barack Obama's presidential campaign was premised on the future. The senator from Illinois orated floridly about bringing "change" to the country; a New Political Man, he pledged to soothe the feuds of old and usher in a national reconciliation amid troubled times. With the emergence of divisive figures like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's longtime friend and acerbically Afro-centric pastor, the focus has shifted to the past, and with good reason. As FrontPageMag.com senior editor Jacob Laksin discovered in his recent reporting from Chicago's South Side, the predominantly black community where Obama launched his political career in the eighties and nineties, Wright may be the best known of Obama's friends and allies, but he may not even be the most controversial. In a series that will appear in FrontPage over the next three days, Laksin explores Obama's ties to the South Side personalities who helped propel him to power, but whose continuing – and reciprocated – friendship with the candidate raises troubling questions about his ability to forge a new political consensus, especially on the fractious issue of race. To evaluate Obama's campaign and its grand promises, readers must first come to know the world of ...

FBI confirms stateside terror cells, credits U.S. Muslim community

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:41:00 -0400

FBI Director Robert Mueller said last week that the FBI has uncovered small groups of Al Qaida terrorists in the United States, although he declined to provide details.
In House Judiciary Committee testimony, Mueller was asked about cells of Al Qaida in the country.
"As to your first question as to whether we have found affiliates or, as you would call them, cells of Al Qaida in the United States, yes, we have. Again, I cannot get into it in public session, but I would say yes, we have."
Mueller defended the FBI's Muslim outreach program that critics say have put the bureau in a role of providing legitimacy to Muslim groups that support overseas extremists.
Original Source

Bush Signs Bill To Take All Newborns’ DNA

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:38:00 -0400

Steve Watson
President Bush last week signed into law a bill which will see the federal government begin to screen the DNA of all newborn babies in the U.S. within six months, a move critics have described as the first step towards the establishment of a national DNA database.
Described as a "national contingency plan" the justification for the new law S. 1858, known as The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, is that it represents preparation for any sort of "public health emergency."
The bill states that the federal government should "continue to carry out, coordinate, and expand research in newborn screening" and "maintain a central clearinghouse of current information on newborn screening… ensuring that the clearinghouse is available on the Internet and is updated at least quarterly".
Sections of the bill also make it clear that DNA may be used in genetic experiments and tests.
Read the full bill here.
One health care expert and prominent critic of DNA screening is Twila Brase, president of the Citizens’ Council on Health Care who has written a detailed analysis (PDF) of the new law in which she warns that it represents the first program of populationwide genetic testing.
Brase ...

U.S. officials urged to avoid linking Islam, jihad with terrorism

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:32:00 -0400

By SHAUN WATERMAN
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- U.S. officials are being advised in internal government documents to avoid referring publicly to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups as Islamic or Muslim, and not to use terms like jihad or mujahedin, which "unintentionally legitimize" terrorism.
"There's a growing consensus (in the administration) that we need to move away from that language," said a former senior administration official who was involved until recently in policy debates on the issue.
Instead, in two documents circulated last month by the National Counter-Terrorism Center, the multiagency center charged with strategic coordination of the U.S. war on terrorism, officials are urged to use terms like violent extremists, totalitarian and death cult to characterize al-Qaida and other terror groups.
"Avoid labeling everything 'Muslim.' It reinforces the 'U.S. vs. Islam' framework that al-Qaida promotes," reads "Words that Work and Words that Don't: A Guide for Counter-Terrorism Communication," produced last month by the center.
"You have a large percentage of the world's population that subscribes to this religion," noted the former official. "Unintentionally alienating them is not a judicious move."
Urging officials not to use the word Islam in conjunction with terrorism, the ...

Fluoride: Miracle drug or poisonous chemical?

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:16:00 -0400

Safety debate over public water treatments
heats up with release of shocking new studies
WND POLL
Drink to your health
What do you think about fluoride?
Fluoride: Miracle drug or poisonous chemical?
Safety debate over public water treatments heats up with release of shocking new studies
Water treatment plant
WASHINGTON – From Pennsylvania to Nebraska and from Europe to New Zealand, there is growing and fierce opposition to plans to fluoridate public drinking water, fueled by a battery of shocking new studies that seriously question a practice routine among U.S. municipalities for nearly the last 50 years.
In Clearfield, Pa., the municipal authority asked the state Department of Environmental Protection for permission to stop adding fluoride to its water. But before city officials got an answer, they got a lawsuit threat from the Pennsylvania Dental Association, which promised not only an injunction against any plans to stop adding the chemical to drinking supplies but litigation against the individual board members who approved the action. The city backed down and continues to fluoridate water.
In Port Huron, Mich., officials are considering a halt to fluoridation that began in 1974, as residents have argued the treatment poses health risks to newborns and ...

The Mediterranean Union

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:11:00 -0400

The European Union is continuing its expansion with plans to form a new entity called the Union for the Mediterranean. The Union for the Mediterranean is an international community made up of EU member states and countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The potential members include Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian Territories, and much of northern Africa. The new union will be established at a summit scheduled to take place in Paris this summer.
The Union for the Mediterranean was put forward by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is strongly opposed to Turkey's EU bid. The new union was first proposed as a means by which the EU could avoid granting Turkey full membership status in the European community. However Turkey has refused to participate unless it is given a guarantee that the Mediterranean Union would not be viewed as an alternative to EU membership. Despite the controversy surrounding Turkey, and some disagreement between France and Germany over membership, it would appear that plans for the Mediterranean Union are on track.
Europa Rising
The strategic geopolitical horizon of past half-century has been dominated by two superpowers: the United States and the USSR. But it is becoming clear that ...

'Willful blindness' to the Jihad

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:08:00 -0400

By David Limbaugh - You might expect the lead prosecutor against the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to tout the criminal justice system as the premier strategy to fight terrorism. If so, you're wrong.
It is precisely because of Andy McCarthy's experience in that capacity that he understands — in a way others can't — the crippling limitations of law enforcement and criminal prosecutions in combating global terrorism.
Though he led the Justice Department prosecution team that convicted Omar Abdel Rahman, the "Blind Sheik," Mr. McCarthy is painfully aware that "as a class, Baby-Boom attorneys know nothing of war. Prosecutors included." Even this successful effort left way too many militants in place and encouraged the idea they could attack us with impunity.
The entire orientation of the criminal justice system is to protect the rights of innocents, affording the accused due process and a litany of other constitutional protections.
But we are at war with an enemy who doesn't fight wars according to conventional rules. If we continue to treat them as criminal suspects rather than enemy combatants, they'll always be many steps ahead of us in a war only they are fighting. While our government frets ...

The coming crisis

Jodie A. — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:04:00 -0400

By Daniel L. Davis - For more than a decade, English petroleum geologist Colin Campbell has been sounding the warning bell about the coming of peak oil and its disturbing ramifications for the world. Since 2005 Dr. Robert Hirsch has been giving specific warnings for the United States through a series of Department of Energy-sponsored reports outlining the dangers to America if the peak finds us unprepared. And in the past year, the GAO, the National Petroleum Council, and scores of other organizations and governments around the world have reported on the severe consequences the world might incur once the peak has been achieved.
The issue is not simply a concern that we will have to pay outrageous prices for a gallon of gas. If that were the worst of it, the situation would be difficult but manageable. The reality, however, goes deeper and is much more troubling. There are multiple problems affecting the world that are having a decidedly negative net effect: a global rise in demand for crude oil, the plateau in the production of crude oil (which may indicate the peak has already been reached) and continued global population growth. Together, these three factors are serving to ...

Only in Israel

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:20:00 -0400

by Sara Yoheved Rigler The joys of living with the family.
Jews in Israel live in the midst of their mishpacha -- their family. We are an unruly, bickering, sometimes dysfunctional family, but we are one family nonetheless. And that family in action shines from these true vignettes.
Only in Israel:
On the minor holiday of Lag B'Omer, almost 10% of the population of Israel flocks to the tomb of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mt. Meron in the north. A few years ago, my friend Uriela Sagiv joined the pilgrimage. Around 9:30 p.m. she caught a public bus for the 3-4 hour trip home to Jerusalem. Confident that the last stop would be Jerusalem's Central Bus Station, from where she would catch a cab to her home, Uriela fell soundly asleep.
Hours later, she was awoken by a voice, "This is the last stop." She looked up. It was not the Central Bus Station, but rather a totally unfamiliar Jerusalem neighborhood.
"Where is the Central Bus Station?" she asked in bewilderment.
"Oh, that was three stop ago," the driver of the now empty bus answered. "The bus is on its way to the yard -- ...

US Secret Service 'raids' Israeli Knesset

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:10:00 -0400

A contingent of 30 US Secret Service agents meticulously inspected security arrangements at Israel's Knesset this week in preparation for the upcoming visit of President George W. Bush.
Israel's Ynet news portal reported that the Secret Service insisted that Israel put up a special fence around the Knesset to prevent eye contact between Bush and external elements.
All of the other security arrangement were apparently deemed suitable by the American agents.
Bush is scheduled to arrive in Israel on May 15 to take part in events marking the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state's rebirth, including an address to the Knesset.
Original Source

Should Olmert quit, Kadima and Shas may back Livni to prevent early elections

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:07:00 -0400

Attila Somfalvi
Even if most politicians continue to remain silent in front of the cameras when they are asked about the new investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the question faced by the political system at this time is “what’s going to happen?” The gag order on the affair prevents the politicians from embarking on significant political moves, mostly based on bitter past experience of probes against politicians that started with a bang and ended with a whimper.
Yet everyone knows that soon we may see a political earthquake, particularly if an indictment is served against the prime minister. Should Olmert be forced to leave the Prime Minister’s Office, all eyes will turn to one person: Ehud Barak. If this scenario comes true, the Labor Party’s chairman would have to take a dramatic decision that means early elections.
Labor Party officials estimate that Barak would not be able to miss out on another opportunity to go to elections over a moral issue. He indeed stayed in the government in the wake of the Winograd Commission report, yet shying away from new elections in case the prime minister resigns will place him in the position of being perceived as ...

Some 2,500 emigrants return to Israel

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:03:00 -0400

Absorption Ministry's campaign to bring Israelis back results in record-breaking numbers
Itamar Eichner
The Absorption Ministry campaign to return emigrants to Israel ahead of the country’s 60th anniversary has been a great success so far. Since the campaign’s onset, 2,500 people have returned to Israel, the highest number to date. Another 4,500 people are in the process of returning.
In November of 2007, the ministry launched a campaign in an attempt to bring Israelis back to the country. The initiative was launched in correlation with the country’s 60th anniversary celebrations, and those who return will be granted various perquisites.
On the Rise
North American aliyah continues to climb
Jewish Agency anticipates that immigration to Israel from North America will increase by 5 to 10 percent in 2007
Full story
Amongst the benefits are discounts on flights and on the shipment of belongings, a reduction on income tax in the countries from which they came, health insurance, Hebrew lessons, assistance in job placements, business loans, scholarships for researchers and scientists and facilitating in the scheduling of matriculation exams for teenagers.
The Ministry of Absorption presumed that many families that left Israel are just waiting for an ...

The importance of the creation of the State of Israel

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:47:00 -0400

It is not really possible to exaggerate why David Ben Gurion’s declaration – 60 years ago this May, of the independence of the State of Israel for the people of Israel – is one of the most important historical happenings ever to impact the world.
Why was the creation of Israel on May 14, 1948 so significant?
It was important on many levels for the Jews themselves, but not only for the Jews:
It marked the arrival of the Jewish people at a – for them – long-feared unreachable milestone in their millennia-old history – the end of their worldwide Diaspora or dispersion.
It signified the total failure of Adolf Hitler – and the myriad antisemites before him: the Vatican, the Crusaders, the Inquisition, the Cossacks, the rulers of Austria, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Belgium, Slovakia, The Netherlands, France, England, Poland, Bohemia, Russia and all the other nations that expelled their Jews – to do away with God’s Chosen People.
It established a port of safety – a haven – for a nation whose people for 2000 years had been denied acceptance and lived precariously virtually wherever they sought to dwell among the gentiles.
It gave a long-scattered people a ...

Alexander the Great's "Crown," Shield Discovered?

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:30:00 -0400

Sara Goudarzi
for National Geographic News
April 23, 2008
An ancient Greek tomb thought to have held the body of Alexander the Great's father is actually that of Alexander's half brother, researchers say.
This may mean that some of the artifacts found in the tomb—including a helmet, shield, and silver "crown"—originally belonged to Alexander the Great himself. Alexander's half brother is thought to have claimed these royal trappings after Alexander's death.
The tomb was one of three royal Macedonian burials excavated in 1977 by archaeologists working in the northern Greek village of Vergina (see map of Greece).
Excavators at the time found richly appointed graves with artifacts including a unique silver headband, an iron helmet, and a ceremonial shield, along with a panoply of weapons and an object initially identified as a scepter.
"[Archaeologists] announced that the burial in the main chamber of the large rich [tomb] was that of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, who was assassinated in 336 B.C," said Eugene N. Borza, professor emeritus of ancient history at Pennsylvania State University.
But recent analyses of the tombs and the paintings, pottery, and other artifacts found there, suggest that the burials are in fact one ...

Watch for G.O.T.S.B. in Denver

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:20:00 -0400

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin in Denver in just 111 days.
Merely the announced intention of the Democrat high command to exclude all of the delegates from Florida and Michigan for their states' disobedience in holding primaries early suggests that Denver may be as wild as Chicago in 1968 – though with much less actual blood in the streets.
What is even more politically explosive is the growing possibility that neither candidates Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton will arrive in Denver with enough votes to win the nomination before the balloting begins.
That and reported threats from polled backers of both these candidates that if the other is nominated, they will not support the nominee.
This is why there are reports of G.O.T.S.B. (Gore on the Second Ballot) with the former vice president and now Nobel Prize winner thought of as possibly prestigious enough to unite a savagely divided party.
Given the result of the Pennsylvania Primary and the latest in Sen. Obama's Wright Crisis, there might be a possibility that the senator from Illinois will withdraw.
Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer asks:
"How does one explain campaigning throughout 2007 on a platform of transcending racial divisions, while ...

Scrapped vessels haunt Coast Guard

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:19:00 -0400

By Jen Haberkorn
U.S. Coast Guard cutters sit unused at the shipyard in Baltimore after the costly Deepwater project encountered problems with extensions and cracked hulls. Commandant Adm. Thad Allen said problems were too numerous to repair when the vessels were decommissioned in 2006. (Katie Falkenberg/The Washington Times)
Eight ships that were supposed to be the government's latest, best weapon for stopping terrorists, illegal immigrants and smugglers now float unused in a U.S. Coast Guard shipyard in Baltimore, the symbol of a nearly $100 million taxpayer debacle.
Instead of patrolling, the ships were deemed unfit for the high seas after just a couple of months of use and eventually will be dismantled without ever fulfilling their promise.
The Coast Guard hopes to finally put the problems with its much maligned "Deepwater" program behind it, taking ownership this month of a brand new 418-foot national security cutter that was built from scratch after contractors bungled the modernization of the earlier eight ships.
Commissioning of the USCGC Bertholf will be the next major step in a 25-year, $24 billion project to extend the Coast Guard's reach further than ever before beyond U.S. shores. Taxpayers, however, won't see much benefit until the Bertholf ...

What's Up with the Secret Cybersecurity Plans, Senators Ask DHS

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:14:00 -0400

By Ryan Singel S
The government's new cyber-security "Manhattan Project" is so secretive that a key Senate oversight panel has been reduced to writing a letter to beg for answers to the most basic questions, such as what's going on, what's the point and what about privacy laws.
The Senate Homeland Security committee wants to know, for example, what is the goal of Homeland Security's new National Cyber Security Center. They also want to know why it is that in March, DHS announced that Silicon Valley evangelist and security novice Rod Beckstrom would direct the center, when up to that point DHS said the mere existence of the center was classified.
Those are just two sub-questions out of a list of 17 multi-part questions centrist Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) sent to DHS in a letter Friday.
In fact, although the two say they asked for a briefing five months ago on what the center does, DHS has yet to explain its latest acronym.
The panel, noted it was pleased with the new focus on cyber security, but questioned Homeland Security's request to triple the center's cyber-security budget to about $200 million.
They cited concerns about the ...

Methodists abandon Israel divestment

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:56:00 -0400

MICHAL LANDO,
Jewish activists are hailing the overwhelming decision by the United Methodist Church to abandon efforts to divest from companies that allegedly contribute to Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
Five divestment resolutions were shot down at the United Methodist Church General Conference in Texas last week, after a protracted campaign by Jews to halt the effort.
The resolutions called on the denomination to identify companies that profit from sales of products or services that "harm the Palestinians and Israelis" and begin a phased divestment from them. Firms targeted included Caterpillar, which manufactures tractors used to raze Palestinian homes and olive groves, and Motorola, which manufactures security systems.
"I think this general conference is an important and positive milestone," said Ethan Felson, the associate executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a public policy umbrella group. "We clearly have many friends and have made many friends community by community, and that's a lot of what this is about."
Though the recent decision is a "turning point," said Felson, the divestment campaign, once thought to be dormant, is still active among mainstream Protestant churches. A 2004 decision to begin a phased divestment by the Presbyterian Church was amended ...

The Apple of God's Eye Turns 60

Jodie A. — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:05:00 -0400

The Nation of Israel is preparing to celebrate its 60th birthday. Despite its position as the world's only Jewish state, surrounded by hostile Arab states, Israel has survived and prospered for six decades.
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion met in the Tel Aviv Museum with Jewish representatives from across Israel and declared Israel's independence. Within 24 hours, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon attacked. Ever since, Israel has been in constant state of self defense. Like Nehemiah's workers at the wall, Israel's nation builders have had to shovel mortar with one hand and grip a spear with the other.
During its first 15 months of life, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fought off invaders and over 6000 Israelis were killed. Despite the attacks, some 50,000 Jews - mostly Holocaust survivors – had poured into Israel by the end of the summer of 1948. Nearly 700,000 would arrive by the end of 1951 - 300,000 of those from Arab lands.
In January, 1949, Israel held national elections in which nearly 85 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. The first 120-seat Knesset went into session shortly thereafter.
On 11 May 1949, Israel became the 59th member ...

Putin defends Russia's military parade

Jodie A. — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:54:00 -0400

Putin defends Russia's military parade
Russia's use of heavy weapons at this week's World War II commemoration parades is not intended as a threat to any nation, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.
"For the first time in many years heavy military equipment will be used. This is not sabre-rattling. We are not threatening anyone and don't plan to," Putin said ahead of the traditional Victory Day parade on Friday.
"This is a demonstration of our growing defence capability.... We are capable of defending our people, citizens, our state, our wealth, which is not small," he said.
Putin was speaking at his last cabinet meeting before stepping down as president on Wednesday and sat with president-elect Dmitry Medvedev at his right hand.
The two are due to swap places as Medvedev is to appoint his mentor Putin to the prime minister's post on Thursday.
This year the annual Victory parade is to feature heavy weapons including the Topol strategic rocket launcher, for which Red Square outside the Kremlin has been specially reinforced.
The parade comes amid heightened tension with Russia's pro-Western neighbour Georgia.
Original Source

Israel food giant Strauss seeks to become Starbucks of world

Jodie A. — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:48:00 -0400

By Yoram Gabison
Tags: Starbucks, Israel, Strauss
Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a private equity firm, is buying 25% of Strauss' coffee subsidiary for $288 million. The deal values Strauss' global coffee enterprise at $1 billion.
The announcement of the initial, but binding, agreement was made yesterday by Ofra Strauss, the chairperson of the Strauss Group, and CEO Erez Vigodman. TPG was also granted a two-year option to acquire a further 10% of the coffee company's shares at the same company value of the present transaction, plus 6% interest per year.
Strauss owns the coffee firm through a wholly-owned Dutch subsidiary, and therefore is expected to have only a small tax obligation on its about $85 million capital gain on the sale. UBS was Strauss' investment banking advisor on the deal.
Strauss chose Texas Pacific as a financial partner after a process that included three other competitors. In the end it was TPG against Blackstone, the world's largest private equity firm. TPG is number four, with over $50 billion of assets under management.
Ofra Strauss said: "We chose to introduce a financial investor with leading global competencies to our coffee company, who, together with us, will accelerate the realization of our ...

Sunday Times Hints: Israel's Evidence on Iran Justifies Strike

Jodie A. — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:43:00 -0400

by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) The Sunday Times of London reports that Israel's intelligence information on Iran's nuclear capabilities appears to belie the official United States stance on the issue. The US National Intelligence Estimate of last December concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons development program in 2003. However, the Times reports, Israel has made a breakthrough in intelligence-gathering within Iran, and now fears that Iran has in fact made significant advances towards attaining nuclear power.
A source quoted by the Times said the new information was "on a par with intelligence that led Israel to discover and then destroy a partly constructed nuclear reactor in Syria last September."
The head of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency, Sir John Scarlett, is scheduled to visit Israel later this month, and will be briefed by Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan. Iran’s nuclear program is expected to be high on their agenda in an intelligence-sharing process described by Israeli officials as a “strategic dialogue;" both Israel and Britain have extensive spy networks in the Middle East.
Israeli officials have briefed US and British officials on their findings, and Israel expects the US to revise its analysis of Iran’s program in the near future. ...

As goest Israel ...

Jodie A. — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:39:00 -0400

If the Jewish state can't survive the onslaught of militant Islam, neither can the rest of the civilized world
Lorne Gunter, National Post
Amir Cohen, ReutersAn Israeli explosives expert examines the remains of a rocket fired into Sderot.
Israel is Western civilization's canary in the coal mine. If Israel cannot survive, perhaps Western civilization -- pluralistic, democratic, individualistic, secular, free-trading and devoted to the rule of law -- will be unable to last, either.
On the eve of Israel's 60th anniversary, those of us who cherish our own fundamental freedoms had better hope the Jewish state makes it through its second 60 years; or else our own right to think, say or worship as we please (unless, of course, we come under the scrutiny of a so-called human rights commission) is in jeopardy.
To many Canadians, that may seem a farfetched warning.
What has Israel's survival got to do with us? Israel is far away. It has different enemies than we do. Even among Islamic extremists, they are battling Hamas, Hezbollah, the PLO and Islamic Jihad, while the West is confronting the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Besides, if we're nice and accommodating of diversity, the terrorists will respect our attempts to ...

Rice to Israel: Tear down anti-terror roadblocks

Jodie A. — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:35:00 -0400

Last time Jews were attacked hours after lifting barriers
By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM – In meetings here today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israeli officials to remove more antiterror roadblocks from the West Bank.
Upon Rice's previous visit to the region last month, she reportedly urged the removal of specific West Bank roadblocks. Within hours of the elimination of one of the barriers, a knife-wielding Palestinian attempted to attack two Jews near the area from which the roadblock had been removed. Israeli lawmakers then charged Rice's demands were responsible for that attempted attack.
"Let's get to work," Rice was quoted as saying as she sat down with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to discuss the issue.
When she was here in March, Rice asked Israel to remove 61 barriers and roadblocks, but a U.N. survey released last week stated only 44 had actually been taken away.
"The first thing we are going to do is to review the ones that were supposedly moved," Rice said in a briefing with reporters.
"Not all roadblocks are created equal," Rice said.
Israeli defense officials strongly opposed roadblock removals, saying the obstacles impede the mobility of terrorists. Palestinians complain checkpoints and roadblocks make ...

Another quake rumbled this morning

Jodie A. — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:29:00 -0400

By Kim Bell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
The U.S. Geological Survey said a 2.7 magnitude quake rumbled this morning. But this time, its epicenter was near Valley Park.
The quake came at 6:25 a.m., centered two miles southeast of Valley Park, according to Jessica Sigala, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center based in Colorado. Its epicenter was somewhere between Valley Park and the Sappington area.
Sigala said this morning's quake was not connected to the 5.2 magnitude quake that struck at 4:37 a.m. on April 18 in the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone, some 130 miles east of St. Louis.
When this morning's quake hit, an officer with St. Louis County police in the Affton precinct said he felt the ground shaking for perhaps five seconds and the roof moving, "like someone was moving something around." Police had no reports of damage or injuries.
Timothy M. Kusky, director of the Center for Environmental Sciences at St. Louis University, said today's quake in St. Louis came from "some small faults outside the Wabash and New Madrid zones. They're active every once in awhile." Kusky said he's still studying the readouts from this morning's quake to pinpoint the exact ...

Evolutionist compares rabbi to Hitler!

Jodie A. — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:25:00 -0400

Religious leader responds with challenge to debate, again
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Author and evolutionist Richard Dawkins has compared Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a leading voice for the belief system that relies on an intelligent designer and competes with faith in evolution, to Hitler, prompting the rabbi to challenge Dawkins to another debate.
"Since we were once friends, and since we both have a responsibility to act justly and humanely, I propose a follow-up to our debate, either here in the United States or in the UK, to focus on your recent book on atheism and whether G-d is necessary for morality," said Boteach, host of the daily "The Rabbi Shmuley Show" on XM Satellite Radio and author of 19 books.
His suggestion came in an open letter to Dawkins, a prolific proponent of evolution and author of the 2006 book, "The God Delusion."
"Since, in your letter, you mention my 'lamentable but vocally confident ignorance of Darwinian evolution,' no doubt you will make mincemeat of me and even the score. I would appreciate if you would propose dates that are suitable," Boteach wrote.
The letter came in response to Dawkins' own posting about a conference in Canada at which both speakers ...