YIISA SEMINAR SERIES
 
THURSDAY, NOV. 8 @ 4:15 PM | Linsly-Chittenden Hall Rm. 102 ( 63 High St .)
“Varieties of ‘Jewish Antisemitism’”
Speaker: Professor Kenneth Levin, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
 
RELATED EVENTS OF INTEREST AT YALE
 
TUESDAY, NOV. 6 @ 11:45 AM | Allwin Hall Seminar Room Rm. 108 ( 31 Hillhouse Ave. )
"Demanding a Voice: Christian Palestinians in the Greek Orthodox Church and the British Mandate"
Speaker: Laura Robson, Department of History, Yale University
Part of an ongoing series hosted by the ISS Colloquium in International History and Security
Lunch is provided. Please RSVP to susan.hennigan@yale.edu.
 
TUESDAY, NOV. 6 @ 4:00 PM | Slifka Center at Yale ( 80 Wall St .)
“Hebrews, Jews, and the Republic: Roots and Branches of an American Civic Faith”
Speaker: Jim Sleeper, Lecturer in Political Science, author of The Closest of Strangers and Liberal Racism
With comments by Prof. Jeffrey Alexander, Deptartment of Sociology, Yale University
 
TUESDAY, NOV. 6 @ 7:00 PM | Luce Hall Auditorium ( 34 Hillhouse Ave. )
“Born in Baghdad ”
A performance by Shosha Goren, renowned Israeli performer
Sponsored by the Council on Middle East Studies, Judaic Studies Program, the Arab Students' Association, and the Yale Friends of Israel
 
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
 
Hillel Neuer, Director of UN Watch, Releases Report on Antisemitism and the United Nations at YIISA Luncheon in Manhattan
 
UN Watch: UN must combat anti-Semitism
( Jerusalem Post) While some "unprecedented" steps have been made by the United Nations in recent years to recognize and reject anti-Semitism, the world body has yet to "to fully live up to its promise," according to a UN Watch report released Thursday. While much of the report deals with UN "inaction" on anti-Semitism, it also finds that anti-Semitism is "aided and abetted" by "an infrastructure of manifestly one-sided and irrational UN measures designed to demonize the Jewish state."
Click here to read
 
Canadian top UN official ignores anti-Semitism, watchdog charges
(Canada.com) An extensive study of anti-Semitism at the United Nations accuses Louise Arbour, the former Canadian Supreme Court justice who is in her third year as UN human rights high commissioner, of having "failed to take any public action" on bias against Jews. In its 64-page report, the respected monitoring group UN Watch says it was unable to find any examples of Arbour publicly confronting anti-Semitism while serving as the UN's chief advocate of human rights.
Click here to read
 
MIDDLE EAST
 
'USAF struck Syrian nuclear site'
( Jerusalem Post) The September 6 raid over Syria was carried out by the US Air Force, the Al-Jazeera Web site reported Friday. The Web site quoted Israeli and Arab sources as saying that two US jets armed with tactical nuclear weapons carried out an attack on a suspected nuclear site under construction. The sources were quoted as saying that Israeli F-15 and F-16 jets provided cover for the US planes.
Click here to read
 
Iran Adapts to Economic Pressure
( Washington Post) Confronted by mounting U.S. and U.N. pressure, Iran has been steadily shifting its trade from West to East and, with the benefit of record high oil prices, is likely to be able to withstand the new U.S. sanctions, according to U.S. , European and Iranian analysts. The U.S. Treasury said that more than 40 banks, mostly in Europe, have curbed business with Iran as a result of U.S. pressure, but smaller banks, Islamic financial institutions and Asian banks are likely to step in and replace the Western financial institutions through which Iran has long sold oil on the international market.
Click here to read
 
Revolutionary Guard runs Iran 's Baghdad embassy, opposition group claims
(International Herald Tribune) Iran 's Revolutionary Guard is using Iran 's Embassy in Baghdad to coordinate covert operations in Iraq , an Iranian opposition group has claimed. Mohammad Mohadessin, a spokesman for the Paris-based National Council Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, also said the guard had taken over some of Iran 's most lucrative companies and was profiting from trade with the European Union.
Click here to read
 
Bahrain accuses Iran of nuclear weapons lie
(Times Online) A polished silver Spitfire on the desk of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa recalls two centuries of close and cordial ties between Britain and Bahrain . But even its most powerful friends cannot guarantee the security of this strategic island caught in the Gulf between worsening Iranian threats and “deadly serious” talk of a US military strike. It is not a position from which to mince words. In an interview with The Times the Crown Prince has become the first Arab leader to jettison the language of diplomacy and directly accuse Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons.
Click here to read  
 
Olmert seeks German support for tougher sanctions against Iran
(Haaretz) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday asked for Germany 's support on tougher sanctions against Iran over its refusal to accept international demands to halt its nuclear program, the Prime Minister's Office said. Olmert discussed the Iranian issue and ongoing peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians during his meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Click here to read
 
Germany backs tougher sanctions against Iran
( Jerusalem Post) Dispelling fears that Germany is reluctant to back new sanctions against Iran because of its strong commercial ties with Teheran, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier made it clear Thursday that Germany is in sync with other Western powers. Speaking at a news conference in Tel Aviv after talks with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Steinmeier made it clear that Germany would not stand in the way of tougher sanctions.
Click here to read
 
Hamas: We'll take control over West Bank in autumn
(Ynet) Senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan said that the Islamist group would soon take control over the West Bank . "In the autumn Hamas supporters will be praying in the Muqata compound in Ramallah (site of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' offices)," he said during a rally in Gaza .
Click here to read        
 
Muhammad Deif: We'll strike in heart of Israel
(Ynet) Muhammad Deif, the commander of Hamas' military wing, has said that the movement will strike in the heart of Israel   in the near future, said a senior Hamas member. The man, Sheikh Ahmed Hamdan from the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis , said that he recently met with Deif in his hiding place, and heard from him that Hamas will soon replace its defensive fighting policy with an offensive one.
Click here to read
 
IDF's tactical upper hand over Hamas in Gaza is diminishing
(Haaretz) The casualties Israel has suffered during offensive operations in the Gaza Strip­- three dead in the past three months - hint at a troubling trend: The Israel Defense Forces' tactical advantage over Hamas in Gaza is shrinking.
Click here to read
 
Fatah targets mosques in latest anti-Hamas campaign
(The Guardian) The Palestinian Fatah-led government has mounted a crackdown on preachers from the rival Hamas movement, arresting or sacking clerics accused of spreading political dissent. The Fatah campaign, which is being enforced across the West Bank , is a reaction to the violent Hamas takeover of Gaza in June and marks a widening divide between the two factions and territories.
Click here to read
 
Fatah policemen 'defect to al-Qaida'
( Jerusalem Post) Scores of Fatah policemen who used to serve in the Palestinian Authority security forces in the Gaza Strip have now joined the al-Qaida-affiliated group calling itself the Army of Islam, sources told The Jerusalem Post Thursday.
Click here to read
 
Israel to UN: Hezbollah has tripled its land-to-sea missile arsenal
(Haaretz) Hezbollah has tripled its arsenal of C-802 land-to-sea missiles and has rehabilitated its military strength north of the Litani River , according to information handed over by Israel to the United Nations. The information was included in a report compiled by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought the Second Lebanon War to an end.
Click here to read
 
Hezbollah Says It Has Grown Stronger
( Washington Post) The leader of the militant Hezbollah group said Thursday that his organization has grown stronger as Israel has weakened. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah's comments came a day after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a new report that said Israel claims that Hezbollah has rearmed with new long-range rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv.
Click here to read
 
IAEA chief lashes out over Israeli raid in Syria
(Ynet) Chief UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei Sunday accused Israel of taking “the law into their own hands: with a raid on Syria , and demanded more information about what was hit. He added “if countries have information that another country is working on a nuclear-related program, they should come to us.”
Click here to read
 
The Kingdom
(Wall Street Journal) “King Abdullah caused an uproar ahead of a visit to Britain this week by scolding his hosts about terrorism. But as long as the Saudi monarch has raised the subject, by all means let's debate the kingdom's role in promoting radical Islam.”
Click here to read
 
How the Saudis used oil money to export a hardline ideology that fuels Islamist terror
(Independent) King Abdullah's complaint that British authorities ignored Saudi warnings of an imminent attack on the UK before the atrocities of 7 July 2005 might be more convincing if they came from the ruler of a country less sympathetic to the Islamist agenda.
Click here to read  
 
NORTH AMERICA
 
Expert: Miami Group Ready for Holy War
(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.
Click here to read
 
Anti-Israeli agenda borders on sacrilege
( Boston Herald) Increasingly over the years mainline Protestant and Catholic church leaders have tired of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, and they have made it simple - there are Palestinian victims and there are Jewish oppressors. Old South Church will host a conference sponsored by North American Friends of Sabeel entitled “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel” and headlined by Episcopal Archbishop Desmond Tutu. There will be no effort to be fair to both sides.
Click here to read
 
Tutu Tut-Tuts
(The New Republic) Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached in Boston on Saturday "in a lengthy and emotional address to a packed Old South Church ," according to Sunday's Globe. And what did he preach about? The same topic he's always preaching about these days: the evil the Jews are inflicting on the Palestinians. You wonder why a South African cleric of the Anglican Church is fixated on Israel , or at least I wonder. It could be for the same reason that many Christian clerics have always found reason to damn the Jews.
Click here to read  
 
EUROPE
 
Berlin and Vienna Stand Against the West: European Divisions on the Iranian Bomb
(World Politics Review) If there is any world power that is in a position to force a change in Iranian policy without the use of military force, then it is the European Union. Forty percent of all Iranian imports come from the EU. Twenty-five percent of all Iranian exports flow to the EU. Germany was and remains Iran 's number one trading partner.
Click here to read
 
Secret move to upgrade air base for Iran attack plans
(Herald) The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran 's nuclear facilities, according to military sources.
Click here to read
           
Saudi king's state visit to Britain faces protests and boycotts
(Guardian) Britain's most sensitive and controversial relationship in the Middle East faces protests and boycotts during a state visit by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, just weeks after a lucrative new defence contract made clear that it was business as usual between the two countries.
Click here to read
 
Prague again bans neo-Nazi march
( Jerusalem Post) Prague City Hall said it has restored a ban on a march planned for next month by a right-wing extremist group through the Czech capital's Jewish quarter. The event - organized by the Young National Democrats, which is linked to the National Resistance, a neo-Nazi group - was condemned by Jewish leaders and Czech President Vaclav Klaus said it was a "politically and morally unacceptable act which dishonors the memory of the victims of Nazi crimes."
Click here to read
 
Jewish graves desecrated in New Zealand – again
( Jerusalem Post) For the third time in as many years, Jewish graves in Wellington have been defaced with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel graffiti. Karori Cemetery , previously untouched, was the target in an attack that was evidently set off by a front page article in Wellington 's Dominion Post two days earlier. Six graves were desecrated - some with stencils and some in freehand - and all in vivid blue paint.
Click here to read

Australian PM tinged by anti-Semitism flap
(JTA) Australian Prime Minister John Howard has refused to distance himself from an evangelical pastor with links to an anti-Semitic organization.Pastor Danny Nalliah, the head of the Melbourne-based Catch The Fire Ministries, addressed the Australian League of Rights in 2005 and has accepted another offer from the far-right organization, which has denied the Holocaust.
Click here to read
 
 
BOOK REVIEWS
 
The Truth about Syria , by Barry Rubin
( Jerusalem Post) Asaf Romirowky writes, “ Syria has long presented a solemn problem for the region, US foreign policy and Israel . Its mix of competing religious and ethnic groups, radical ideologies and political repression makes it a 72,000-square-mile time bomb waiting to explode.This reality has become increasingly self-evident since Bashar Assad took over for his father Hafez in 2000. In his latest book, The Truth about Syria , Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center , dissects some of the volatile and enigmatic issues we confront when dealing with Syria .”
Click here to read
 
New era is born
The Israel Lobby, by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt,
(Ynet) Unlike previous critics, Mearsheimer & Walt promote anti-Israeli views by focusing on Jewish lobby. Michael Kotzin writes, “Last year it was a widely noticed, controversial book by former President Jimmy Carter. This year it is one by professors from two of America ’s leading universities. It seems that a trend is afoot that is changing the landscape regarding the way Israel is treated on America ’s campuses and beyond.”
Click here to read

 
WEEKLY QUOTES  (Source: Canadian Institute for Jewish Research)

“My fear is that if we continue to escalate from both sides that we will end up into a precipice, we will end up into an abyss.” ­International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, claiming on CNN's “Late Edition” program he hasn't seen “any concrete evidence” of a secret Iranian weapons program. Still, ElBaradei said Iran should open its nuclear program to inspections and halt attempts to enrich uranium, a step necessary to build an atomic bomb, as demanded by the UN. He said U.S. officials estimate that Iran is still several years away from being able to refine material for a weapon. U.S. President George W. Bush has insisted he wants a diplomatic solution, although he has not ruled out military action. “What the president has also said is [he] would not take any option off the table­but the option that we are pursuing right now is diplomacy,” said Bush spokesperson Dana Perino. (National Post, Oct. 29)

“This is a warning shot across the bow, not that the U.S. is going to invade Iran , but that Iran has pushed the level of escalation, particularly inside Iraq , to unacceptable levels.… In many ways this kind of warning is more a demonstration of restraint than a signal we’re going to war.”­ -Anthony H. Cordesman, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, commenting on the U.S. sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, a giant military and industrial operation with 125,000 fighters, four state-owned Iranian banks financing Iran ’s nuclear and missile industries. The Quds Force branch is also cited for supporting the Taliban, Hezbollah, and Hamas. The non-military financial action should impede the Guard from operating legitimately internationally and send a message to the general Iranian population regarding its international reputation. (Wall Street Journal, New York , New York Post, Oct. 26; Jerusalem Post, Oct. 29)

“Behind almost every conflict that we have in the Middle East , one can see the long arms and shadow of Iran …. If this dangerous regime [ Iran ]...masters the technology of developing nuclear weapons, then the stability that we are trying to build in the Middle East will vanish.” -­Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in a speech to university students in Beijing about Iran 's support for anti-Israeli terror groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Livni, seeking Chinese support for new United Nation sanctions, said  “China on this has a crucial role as a member of the Security Council of the United Nations,” adding that past efforts to impose sanctions had been diluted by compromise. While keeping solid ties with Israel , Beijing has sought to maintain strong ties with other Middle Eastern states that are traditional partners or supply much of its imported oil. Iran is China 's third biggest supplier of imported crude oil, behind Angola and Saudi Arabia . (Ha’aretz, Oct. 29)

“We believe that a peaceful resolution of the Iran issue through negotiation is the best choice… China has always maintained that in international relations sanctions should not be rashly applied.” -­Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao, at a news conference yesterday, responding to Tzipi Livni’s request that China support tougher sanctions on Iran for its ongoing work on a nuclear program. (Ha’aretz, Oct. 30)

 “It’s clearly very suspicious…. The Syrians were up to something that they clearly didn’t want the world to know about.” -­Joseph Cirincione, an expert on nuclear proliferation at the Center for American Progress in Washington, stating that photographic evidence of the site “tilts toward a nuclear program,” but did not prove that Damascus was building a reactor. New commercial satellite photos indicate that the main building on the Syrian site, bombed by Israel last month, appeared to have been a partly-built nuclear reactor, and was well under way in September 2003 -- ­four years before the Israeli attack. In an interview last week with The Dallas Morning News, Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to the United States , denied that his country was trying to build a reactor: “There is no Syrian nuclear program whatsoever…. It’s an absolutely blatant lie.” Later in the interview he added, “We understand that if Syria even contemplated nuclear technology, then the gates of hell would open on us.” (New York Times, Oct. 26)

“There was disagreement about what Syria was interested in and how much we should be monitoring it…. There was activity in Syria that I felt was evidence that they were trying to develop a nuclear program.” -­John R. Bolton , in an interview yesterday with the New York Times, discussing a 2003 disagreement  between him and intelligence analysts. Bolton was then the State Department’s top arms control official. At the time, Bolton ’s testimony on Capitol Hill was delayed after a dispute, in part over whether Syria was actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. Some intelligence officials said Bolton overstated the Syrian threat. Bolton declined to say whether he had knowledge at the time about the site that the Israelis struck in September. Spokesmen for the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council declined to comment.(New York Times, Oct. 27)

“Each side should have its own nation-state.… It is not reasonable for the Palestinians to demand both an independent state and also the refugees' return to the state of Israel , which even today has a minority of one million Arabs.” -­French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Oct. 22, explaining that Palestinian refugees should be resettled in a Palestinian state, not in Israel . Sarkozy, who hosted Olmert at the Elysée Palace , expressed strong support for Israel , describing its establishment as “the most significant event of the 20th century.”  “They say that I support Israel because my grandfather was Jewish, but this isn't a personal matter… Israel introduces diversity and democracy to the Middle East . It's a miracle that out of the remnants of the...scattered Jewish people, such a state has arisen…” he stated. According to Sarkozy, “ Israel 's security is a clear red line, which is not up for negotiation… That is an inviolable condition, which we will never concede.” (Ha’aretz, Oct. 23) 

“I know that whenever I step out of my house, the terrorists and the militants and extremists are going to try to get me.... There are some people who have voiced their sympathy for suicide bombings. They don’t want a transition to democracy.  If there is a transition to democracy then the forces of militancy and extremism will lose out. So of course they are going to do whatever they can to stop this transition.” -­Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, commenting on the recent assassination attempts against her since her return to Pakistan. Meanwhile, yesterday a suicide attacker struck just outside the home General Tariq Majid, one of Pakistan ’s most senior generals, less than half a kilometre from President Musharraf’s office, killing seven people. (Globe and Mail, Oct. 27)

 
SHORT TAKES

ISRAEL ’S PALESTINIAN COUNTER-TERRORISM MEASURES ­( Jerusalem ) Israel began reducing fuel it supplies to the Gaza Strip in an effort to increase pressure against Hamas terrorism. Despite sanctions, Israel has agreed to another money transfer from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip for Fatah salaries Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is committed to paying. Meanwhile, a synagogue near the Dolev settlement in the West Bank was set ablaze last week, and 10 mortar shells and two rockets were fired from the Strip into Israel yesterday. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio that while Israel would prefer to avoid it, “every day that passes brings us closer to a broad operation in Gaza .” (Ha’aretz, October 26, 29, 30; National Post, October 29)

EGYPT PLANS TO GO NUCLEAR ­( Cairo ) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak informed a television audience of plans to produce nuclear power plants. He pledged Egypt would work with the U.N. and would not develop a bomb, but that diversifying its energy resources would preserve oil and gas. A U.S. State Department spokesperson applauded Mubarak’s forthrightness and stated that the U.S. would not object to the program as long as Egypt adheres to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines, unlike “the case of Iran, where you have a country that has made certain commitments, and in our view and the shared view of many [is] cheating on those obligations.” ( New York Sun, October 30)

TURKEY, IRAQ ON DIFFERENT PAGES ­(Ankara, Baghdad) As Turkey continues to consider the situation of Kurdish rebels along its border with Iraq, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the Iraqi offer to station American troops in the Qandil Mountains, a disputed border area that has never been completely controlled by any one government. Although Turkey ’s parliament voted to allow its military to cross the border to attack the guerrillas, it has held off, due in large part to reservations by the U.S. Sunday, the group killed 12 Turkish soldiers and took another eight captive. In Iraq Monday, a suicide bomber rode his bicycle by a group of police recruits near Bagdhad killing 27 and wounding another 20, while the American military transferred the southern Shiite province of Karbala to Iraqi control. (New York Times, Oct. 27; New York Sun, Oct. 29) 

HOLOCAUST RECORDS, EXHIBIT OPENED ­(Jerusalem) An exhibit opening this week at Yad Vashem titled “BESA: A Code of Honor, ­Muslim Albanians Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust”, is a collection of photographs of Albanians who were proclaimed “Righteous Among the Nations” and their families, by Norman Gersham, accompanied by short texts. The exhibit will be on display for two months before relocating to New York where the U.N. will display it for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. Also, the world’s most extensive archive of Nazi documents, maintained by the Red Cross in Bad Arolsen, Germany , and until now available only to survivors and their families, was approved last week for public consultation. (Ha’aretz, Jerusalem Post, October 29) 

INTERNET HATE-PROPAGANDA ­( Ottawa , Madrid ) A Calgary woman and self-described “full-time Nazi” has been fined $1,500 and ordered to pay $3,000 in compensation to Ottawa ’s Richard Warman for posting hate messages on the Internet. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal upheld the complaint against Jessica Beaumont. This is the tenth of 15 complaints Warman has lodged regarding Internet hatred that has been upheld by the Tribunal in six years. Last week, Spanish authorities arrested five North African men and one woman believed to belong to an international network that promotes militancy and recruits fighters over the Internet. The cell is suspected of collecting money for Islamist prisoners, and is part of a “more extensive and extensive” international group, according to the Interior Ministry. (New York Times, October 25; National Post, October 27)
 
 
 

Australian PM tinged by anti-Semitism flap
(JTA) Australian Prime Minister John Howard has refused to distance himself from an evangelical pastor with links to an anti-Semitic organization.Pastor Danny Nalliah, the head of the Melbourne-based Catch The Fire Ministries, addressed the Australian League of Rights in 2005 and has accepted another offer from the far-right organization, which has denied the Holocaust.
Click here to read


BOOK REVIEWS

The Truth about Syria , by Barry Rubin
( Jerusalem Post) Asaf Romirowky writes, “ Syria has long presented a solemn problem for the region, US foreign policy and Israel . Its mix of competing religious and ethnic groups, radical ideologies and political repression makes it a 72,000-square-mile time bomb waiting to explode.This reality has become increasingly self-evident since Bashar Assad took over for his father Hafez in 2000. In his latest book, The Truth about Syria , Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center , dissects some of the volatile and enigmatic issues we confront when dealing with Syria .”
Click here to read

New era is born
The Israel Lobby, by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt,
(Ynet) Unlike previous critics, Mearsheimer & Walt promote anti-Israeli views by focusing on Jewish lobby. Michael Kotzin writes, “Last year it was a widely noticed, controversial book by former President Jimmy Carter. This year it is one by professors from two of America ’s leading universities. It seems that a trend is afoot that is changing the landscape regarding the way Israel is treated on America ’s campuses and beyond.”
Click here to read

WEEKLY QUOTES (Source: Canadian Institute for Jewish Research)

“My fear is that if we continue to escalate from both sides that we will end up into a precipice, we will end up into an abyss.” ­International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, claiming on CNN's “Late Edition” program he hasn't seen “any concrete evidence” of a secret Iranian weapons program. Still, ElBaradei said Iran should open its nuclear program to inspections and halt attempts to enrich uranium, a step necessary to build an atomic bomb, as demanded by the UN. He said U.S. officials estimate that Iran is still several years away from being able to refine material for a weapon. U.S. President George W. Bush has insisted he wants a diplomatic solution, although he has not ruled out military action. “What the president has also said is [he] would not take any option off the table­but the option that we are pursuing right now is diplomacy,” said Bush spokesperson Dana Perino. (National Post, Oct. 29)

“This is a warning shot across the bow, not that the U.S. is going to invade Iran , but that Iran has pushed the level of escalation, particularly inside Iraq , to unacceptable levels.… In many ways this kind of warning is more a demonstration of restraint than a signal we’re going to war.”­ -Anthony H. Cordesman, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, commenting on the U.S. sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, a giant military and industrial operation with 125,000 fighters, four state-owned Iranian banks financing Iran ’s nuclear and missile industries. The Quds Force branch is also cited for supporting the Taliban, Hezbollah, and Hamas. The non-military financial action should impede the Guard from operating legitimately internationally and send a message to the general Iranian population regarding its international reputation. (Wall Street Journal, New York , New York Post, Oct. 26; Jerusalem Post, Oct. 29)

“Behind almost every conflict that we have in the Middle East , one can see the long arms and shadow of Iran …. If this dangerous regime [ Iran ]...masters the technology of developing nuclear weapons, then the stability that we are trying to build in the Middle East will vanish.” -­Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in a speech to university students in Beijing about Iran 's support for anti-Israeli terror groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Livni, seeking Chinese support for new United Nation sanctions, said “China on this has a crucial role as a member of the Security Council of the United Nations,” adding that past efforts to impose sanctions had been diluted by compromise. While keeping solid ties with Israel , Beijing has sought to maintain strong ties with other Middle Eastern states that are traditional partners or supply much of its imported oil. Iran is China 's third biggest supplier of imported crude oil, behind Angola and Saudi Arabia . (Ha’aretz, Oct. 29)

“We believe that a peaceful resolution of the Iran issue through negotiation is the best choice… China has always maintained that in international relations sanctions should not be rashly applied.” -­Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao, at a news conference yesterday, responding to Tzipi Livni’s request that China support tougher sanctions on Iran for its ongoing work on a nuclear program. (Ha’aretz, Oct. 30)

“It’s clearly very suspicious…. The Syrians were up to something that they clearly didn’t want the world to know about.” -­Joseph Cirincione, an expert on nuclear proliferation at the Center for American Progress in Washington, stating that photographic evidence of the site “tilts toward a nuclear program,” but did not prove that Damascus was building a reactor. New commercial satellite photos indicate that the main building on the Syrian site, bombed by Israel last month, appeared to have been a partly-built nuclear reactor, and was well under way in September 2003 -- ­four years before the Israeli attack. In an interview last week with The Dallas Morning News, Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to the United States , denied that his country was trying to build a reactor: “There is no Syrian nuclear program whatsoever…. It’s an absolutely blatant lie.” Later in the interview he added, “We understand that if Syria even contemplated nuclear technology, then the gates of hell would open on us.” (New York Times, Oct. 26)

“There was disagreement about what Syria was interested in and how much we should be monitoring it…. There was activity in Syria that I felt was evidence that they were trying to develop a nuclear program.” -­John R. Bolton , in an interview yesterday with the New York Times, discussing a 2003 disagreement between him and intelligence analysts. Bolton was then the State Department’s top arms control official. At the time, Bolton ’s testimony on Capitol Hill was delayed after a dispute, in part over whether Syria was actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. Some intelligence officials said Bolton overstated the Syrian threat. Bolton declined to say whether he had knowledge at the time about the site that the Israelis struck in September. Spokesmen for the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council declined to comment.(New York Times, Oct. 27)

“Each side should have its own nation-state.… It is not reasonable for the Palestinians to demand both an independent state and also the refugees' return to the state of Israel , which even today has a minority of one million Arabs.” -­French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Oct. 22, explaining that Palestinian refugees should be resettled in a Palestinian state, not in Israel . Sarkozy, who hosted Olmert at the Elysée Palace , expressed strong support for Israel , describing its establishment as “the most significant event of the 20th century.” “They say that I support Israel because my grandfather was Jewish, but this isn't a personal matter… Israel introduces diversity and democracy to the Middle East . It's a miracle that out of the remnants of the...scattered Jewish people, such a state has arisen…” he stated. According to Sarkozy, “ Israel 's security is a clear red line, which is not up for negotiation… That is an inviolable condition, which we will never concede.” (Ha’aretz, Oct. 23)

“I know that whenever I step out of my house, the terrorists and the militants and extremists are going to try to get me.... There are some people who have voiced their sympathy for suicide bombings. They don’t want a transition to democracy. If there is a transition to democracy then the forces of militancy and extremism will lose out. So of course they are going to do whatever they can to stop this transition.” -­Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, commenting on the recent assassination attempts against her since her return to Pakistan. Meanwhile, yesterday a suicide attacker struck just outside the home General Tariq Majid, one of Pakistan ’s most senior generals, less than half a kilometre from President Musharraf’s office, killing seven people. (Globe and Mail, Oct. 27)

SHORT TAKES

ISRAEL ’S PALESTINIAN COUNTER-TERRORISM MEASURES ­( Jerusalem ) Israel began reducing fuel it supplies to the Gaza Strip in an effort to increase pressure against Hamas terrorism. Despite sanctions, Israel has agreed to another money transfer from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip for Fatah salaries Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is committed to paying. Meanwhile, a synagogue near the Dolev settlement in the West Bank was set ablaze last week, and 10 mortar shells and two rockets were fired from the Strip into Israel yesterday. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio that while Israel would prefer to avoid it, “every day that passes brings us closer to a broad operation in Gaza .” (Ha’aretz, October 26, 29, 30; National Post, October 29)

EGYPT PLANS TO GO NUCLEAR ­( Cairo ) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak informed a television audience of plans to produce nuclear power plants. He pledged Egypt would work with the U.N. and would not develop a bomb, but that diversifying its energy resources would preserve oil and gas. A U.S. State Department spokesperson applauded Mubarak’s forthrightness and stated that the U.S. would not object to the program as long as Egypt adheres to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines, unlike “the case of Iran, where you have a country that has made certain commitments, and in our view and the shared view of many [is] cheating on those obligations.” ( New York Sun, October 30)

TURKEY, IRAQ ON DIFFERENT PAGES ­(Ankara, Baghdad) As Turkey continues to consider the situation of Kurdish rebels along its border with Iraq, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the Iraqi offer to station American troops in the Qandil Mountains, a disputed border area that has never been completely controlled by any one government. Although Turkey ’s parliament voted to allow its military to cross the border to attack the guerrillas, it has held off, due in large part to reservations by the U.S. Sunday, the group killed 12 Turkish soldiers and took another eight captive. In Iraq Monday, a suicide bomber rode his bicycle by a group of police recruits near Bagdhad killing 27 and wounding another 20, while the American military transferred the southern Shiite province of Karbala to Iraqi control. (New York Times, Oct. 27; New York Sun, Oct. 29)

HOLOCAUST RECORDS, EXHIBIT OPENED ­(Jerusalem) An exhibit opening this week at Yad Vashem titled “BESA: A Code of Honor, ­Muslim Albanians Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust”, is a collection of photographs of Albanians who were proclaimed “Righteous Among the Nations” and their families, by Norman Gersham, accompanied by short texts. The exhibit will be on display for two months before relocating to New York where the U.N. will display it for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. Also, the world’s most extensive archive of Nazi documents, maintained by the Red Cross in Bad Arolsen, Germany , and until now available only to survivors and their families, was approved last week for public consultation. (Ha’aretz, Jerusalem Post, October 29)

INTERNET HATE-PROPAGANDA ­( Ottawa , Madrid ) A Calgary woman and self-described “full-time Nazi” has been fined $1,500 and ordered to pay $3,000 in compensation to Ottawa ’s Richard Warman for posting hate messages on the Internet. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal upheld the complaint against Jessica Beaumont. This is the tenth of 15 complaints Warman has lodged regarding Internet hatred that has been upheld by the Tribunal in six years. Last week, Spanish authorities arrested five North African men and one woman believed to belong to an international network that promotes militancy and recruits fighters over the Internet. The cell is suspected of collecting money for Islamist prisoners, and is part of a “more extensive and extensive” international group, according to the Interior Ministry. (New York Times, October 25; National Post, October 27)