Simulation: Israeli strike on Iran would work

An Israeli newspaper recently hosted a war simulation that showed an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities causing severe damage and the Jewish state not suffering any major consequences for that action.
The Makor Rishon newspaper brought together former government officials and army generals, university professors who are experts on regional players, and journalists who know the current conflicts inside and out to participate in the exercise.
According to the premise of the game, Israel's intelligence community suddenly learns that Iran is moving sensitive and critical nuclear equipment to protected underground sites. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quietly authorizes and immediate aerial strike, during which 10 Israeli jets are shot down over enemy territory. The strike succeeds in setting Iran's nuclear program back at least seven years.
The simulation put the date of the attack on either October 14 or 15. That was somewhat prescient considering that Netanyahu is now expected to announce early elections for the beginning of September, and many believe one of the reasons is so that he can deal with Iran unencumbered in mid-October.
Following the initial strike, the simulation shows US President Barack Obama issue an angry reply and blast Israel for "intervention" in the American presidential election. Obama is frustrated that the Israeli strike will bring up the price of oil at a time when he is trying to win reelection. However, the White House does not threaten Israel or issue any ultimatums. At the same time, Obama tells Israel it is on its own should Iran choose to retaliate.
Then comes Iran's response. Ground forces mass near the border with Iraq, Hizballah fires missiles from southern Lebanon, a series of large-scale terrorist attacks (including a "dirty bomb" in Tel Aviv) kill large numbers in Israel, and Iranian long-range missiles strike the Jewish state.
At home, Netanyahu and his government enjoy a large degree of support, even from the usually critical media. Back in America, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney demands Obama immediately support Israel, making Romney the clear "pro-Israel" candidate, while Obama privately threatens an Israeli minister on the phone, telling him, "I may still be president on November 7. This will have a price, as far as you are concerned. I will not elaborate right now, but you should take this into consideration."
Iran likes the direction Israel-US relations are going, and tries to drive a further wedge by offering Obama unlimited oil supplies. The ploy apparently ignores, or fails to take into account the broad American support for Israel, and Obama eventually threatens Iran with US military action if it does not cease ongoing large-scale terrorist attacks against Israeli targets.
Commentators noted that while the simulation seemed dramatic and severe, nothing in it was outside the realm of possibility, especially considering Israel's proven willingness to preemptively strike nuclear programs it believes pose an existential threat.
(Israel Today)

Vidal Sassoon's Zionist legacy

Israelis on Thursday joined millions around the world in mourning the passing of celebrity hairstylist Vidal Sassoon, but likely for a different reason than most of his admirers.
Most people remember Sassoon for his "wash-and-wear" haircutting technique that revolutionized women's hair fashion, as well as for his famous line of haircare products. Fewer know that before he became a household name, Vidal Sassoon was battling Nazi anti-Semitism and defending the newly reborn Jewish state against invading Arab armies.
Sassoon was born to a Jewish family in London, but was sent to a local Jewish orphanage at age 3 when his father left. Sassoon left the orphanage at age 14 and became an apprentice hairdresser. It was around this time that Sassoon said his mother declared he was to become a career hairdresser.
But he had other business to attend to first.
With World War II winding down, Sassoon joined a Jewish veterans' group that combatted anti-Semitic fascist activity in London. A few years later, at the age of 20, Sassoon joined the Hagannah (the precursor to the Israel Defense Forces) and headed off to help defend the newborn Jewish state.
"That was the best year of my life," Sassoon later said of his time in Israel. "When you think of 2,000 years of being put down and suddenly you are a nation rising, it was a wonderful feeling. There were only 600,000 people defending the country against five armies, so everyone had something to do."
Upon his return to London, Sassoon resumed a hairstyling career that would eventually see him reach the pinnacle of the fashion world. But he never forgot what he was ultimately fighting for, nor the threats continuing to face his people.
In 1982, Sassoon returned to Israel to establish the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. The Center continues to produce in-depth studies and surveys of global anti-Semitic trends. The Vidal Sassoon Foundation also regularly supports educational and cultural projects in Israel.
( http://www.israeltoday.co.il/News/tabid/73/Default.aspx)

Many Palestinians support massacre of Jewish family

It has already been noted that the Palestinian leadership’s denunciation of last month’s massacre of the Fogel family in northern Samaria rang insincere, considering the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing demonization of Jews and glorification of anti-Israel terrorists.

A poll published on Wednesday showed that the Palestinian Authority is succeeding in keeping a sizable portion of the Palestinian population on track with its violent anti-Israel agenda, despite two-faced conciliatory remarks in English.

One-third (32%) of the 1270 Palestinian adults polled by Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research said they support the March 11 terrorist infiltration of the Samarian Jewish community of Itamar, during which Uri and Rachel Fogel and three of their young children were butchered with knives.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/tabid/178/nid/22738/Default.aspx

Within First Week of 2011: Over Ten Rockets Launched from Gaza Strip into Israel

06 January 2011 , 18:02

The first week of 2011 has already seen more than 10 rockets and mortar shells launched at Israel’s southern communities, with the IDF responding to attacks targeting the Hamas organization’s terror activity sites, a weapon manufacturing site and a smuggling tunnel.

IDF Website

Within the first week of 2011, more than 10 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel’s southern communities.

-On Saturday (Jan. 1), a Qassam rocket was fired at the Sha’ar Hanegev regional council, home to approximately 6,500 residents.

-On Sunday (Jan. 2), a rocket was fired into the Eshkol Regional Council, home to approximately 10,000 residents.

-On Tuesday (Jan. 4), a Qassam rocket was fired and hit the Ashkelon Shore regional council, home to approximately 13,000 residents.

.On Wednesday (Jan. 5), seven mortar shells were fired into the Eshkol Regional Council.

-On Thursday (Jan. 6), a rocket was fired into Sdot Negev Regional Council, home to approx 8,000 residents.

In response to these attacks, the IDF struck several terror-related sites. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) targeted and hit a terrorist activity center in the northern Gaza Strip as well as a weapons manufacturing facility in the central Gaza Strip, both belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization.

Later in the week, in a joint operation between the Israel Security Agency and the IDF, the IAF also struck one of the Hamas terrorist organization’s terror activity centers in the central Gaza Strip and a smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.

Throughout the year 2010, over 235 Grad missiles, Qassam rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory.

The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for maintaining the calm in the Gaza Strip and for any terrorist activity emanating from it. The IDF will also continue to respond harshly to any attempt to use terror against the State of Israel.
source:http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/2011/01/0602.htm

Arab world in uproar over Zionist spy birds

Israel’s Ma’ariv daily newspaper reported on Tuesday that Saudi Arabian officials have “arrested” a wounded vulture that landed in a rural area of the country wearing a transmitter and a leg bracelet etched with the words “Tel Aviv University.”

The bird is part of ongoing long-term research into bird migration patterns, but the residents of Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries had far more fanciful ideas. For them, this bird is a winged Zionist spy, and the transmitter he was wearing was sending vital classified information back to the “Zionist regime.”

Saudi Arabia’s Al Weeam newspaper was the first to report about the incident. It noted that the vulture had landed near the house of a local sheikh, and was not afraid of people. The reporter and the people he interviewed asserted that the aggressive nature of the bird and the foul odor that came out of its mouth were evidence of a Zionist plot, rather than tell-tale signs that this was in fact a vulture.

That article led to an explosion of comments on Arabic news websites and online forums, where people across the region were convinced that “the Zionists” had somehow trained the beasts of the wild to do their bidding.

Iran’s Tabnak news agency said as much when it reported that “spy personnel number of X63 [the identification number on the bird’s leg bracelet] leaves no doubt that other birds are going to be sent by the Zionist regime for espionage against Saudi Arabia and other countries.”

The story of the spy bird comes just weeks after Egyptian officials claimed that a string of shark attacks at resorts in the Sinai Peninsula were the work of Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=79