Israel in the News Jan/Feb 2002

‘Expel the sons of apes and pigs from Palestine’
The deputy chairman of Iraq’s Revolutionary Command Council told about 350 Islamic clerics recently they should support a holy war against Israel to “expel the sons of apes and pigs from Palestine.”

Speaking to representatives from 15 countries, including Canada, France, Germany, and Russia, Izzat Ibrahim spurred his coreligionists on to jihad as they listened to state-hosted talks at a meeting in Baghdad, the Associated Press reported.

A Ugandan delegate, Ibrahim Hassan, head of a group called the Islamic Call, said, “The conference should work hard to adopt serious decisions to back the Palestinians in their struggle against the Zionists (Israelis),” the news service reported.

A cleric from Thailand, Salheen Badir-Din, called jihad (holy war) “the only strategic, practical choice to liberate Palestine.”

The conference, the 10th of its kind, was organized by Iraq’s Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs.

Bin Laden targets America as world’s Muslims cheer him on
Osama bin Laden’s war is against America, not Israel, according to a recent article in California Political Review. And the world’s Muslims are cheering him on as a hero.

“The terrorist career of the No. 1 suspect, Osama bin Laden, has had little to do with Israel. All through decades of Arab-Israeli strife in the Middle East, he was content to live in Saudi Arabia and enjoy his family wealth. It was only when American troops appeared on Saudi soil (ironically, to save the Saudi regime from Saddam Hussein’s aggression) that bin Laden decided that allowing infidels into prophet Muhammad’s land was blasphemy against the Muslim religion,” states an article written by National Law Journal columnist Gideon Kanner and reported by Arutz-7.

Kanner said, “It was only after his [bin Laden’s] entreaties to the Saudi royal family to expel the Americans failed, that he took his $250-million family fortune and left Saudi Arabia to wage war on the Americans.

“Though he undoubtedly hates Israel, his terrorist achievements have been directed solely at Americans. The list is long and bloody: the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed hundreds of American airmen, the bombing of American embassies in Africa, the attack on the USS Cole in a Yemeni port, and now the attack on the World Trade Center. …For a guy… who is motivated solely by his hatred of Israel, that would seem a strange choice of targets. The fact is that bin Laden’s jihad against America is only the latest manifestation of a fundamentalist ideological movement known as Islamism.”

Meanwhile, the Muslim world is bursting with adulation for him. The Jerusalem Post reported that in the southern Philippines, about 5,000 demonstrators shouted, “Long live bin Laden.” In Pakistan his face sells merchandise and inspires street rallies. In the capitals of Bangladesh and Indonesia, 10,000 people marched to support him; and in northern Nigeria, he has “achieved iconic status” (according to Reuters).

The Washington Post reported that Muslims cheer bin Laden “with almost a single voice.” A Saudi explained that “Osama is a very, very, very, very good Muslim”; and one Pakistani declared, “Bin Laden is Islam. He represents Islam.” In France, Muslim youths chant bin Laden’s name as they throw rocks at non-Muslims.

Poll shows Americans feel Israeli concessions will encourage terrorism
THE JERUSALEM POST—Most Americans believe that U.S. pressure to make concessions to the Palestinians will only encourage more terrorism, according to a new survey conducted by the New American Initiative and The Chicago Sun-Times.

In a national poll conducted between October 12 and 14 by Mclaughlin& Associates, 62 percent said that after the World Trade Center attack, forcing Israel to give up territory—including dividing Jerusalem—to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat for a Palestinian state, will encourage terrorism. Twenty-eight percent had no opinion, and 9.7 percent thought that pressuring Israel will end terrorism.

The poll, which has a 3.1 percent margin of error, also indicated continued strong support for Israel.

Asked if the U.S. “should continue support of Israel,” some 80 percent said yes and 14.6 percent said no.

Some 56 percent of the respondents said they have a “favorable opinion of Israel,” while 19.5 percent said they have an unfavorable opinion. By contrast, 12.6 percent said they have a favorable opinion of Arafat and 60.4 percent said they have an unfavorable opinion of him.

Asked whether they think that U.S. support was a “major factor in the terrorist attacks against the United States or whether the attacks would have happened regardless of U.S. support of Israel,” some 63 percent said the attacks would have happened regardless and 30 percent said it was a major factor.

Regarding whether the Arab world seeks the eventual destruction of Israel, 62 percent said they believe the Arab world does seek to destroy Israel, while 14.6 percent said they believe the Arab world sincerely accepts Israel’s right to exist.

U.S. doesn’t need another terrorist state in Middle East
ARUTZ-7—Does the U.S. need another terrorist state in the Mideast? YoramEttinger, Israel’s former liaison to the U.S. Congress, asked this question in his weekly column, “The Jerusalem Cloakroom,” published by the Ariel Center for Policy Research. He answered it with a resounding no.

“The PLO’s track record,” wrote Ettinger, “suggests that a PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] state would have bolstered Saddam [ever] since 1990; aligned itself with Iran; doomed Jordan during the 1970 Syrian invasion; threatened Kuwait and other Persian Gulf sheikdoms; become the prime training ground for international terrorists; provided Russia and China with another Mideast platform; been the most corrupt and oppressive regime in the region; and utilized its initial territory as a springboard to establish a narco-terrorist state from Iraq to the Mediterranean.”

He also noted the pro-Osama bin Laden, pro-Saddam Hussein, and anti-American rallies in PLO-controlled areas, reflect the “eight years of brainwashing by the PLO via schools, mosques and media.”

Placenta blood bank to help people needing bone marrow transplants
A new blood bank using blood collected from afterbirth placentas will soon help people requiring bone marrow transplants.

The National Placenta Blood Bank being started by Magen David Adom will collect blood from the placentas which, until now, were thought to be valueless and were disposed of after the mothers gave birth to their children.

Professor Eilat Shenhar told Arutz-7, “It turns out that the placenta that gives nourishment and life to the fetus while it’s in its mother’s womb can continue to give and save life even after the birth. In the blood that gathers in the placenta, about 100 to 120 milliliters worth of blood, there are blood cells that can help patients who require a bone marrow transplant.”

Arutz-7 reported that the blood will be checked and sorted according to tissue types, as is done when searching for bone marrow donors, and will be stored in a deep-freeze of -190 degrees Celsius. “There are two important advantages,” said Professor Shenhar. “One is that this organ would otherwise have been thrown out. More importantly, precious time is saved when searching for a donor because the blood will already be there when the need arises.”

Armored school buses delivered to front lines

Many Israeli children now ride to school in armored vehicles to protect them from unrelenting Palestinian gunfire.

The Jewish Agency delivered 11 armored school buses to communities under fire and have another nine buses on order. They were purchased with funds raised by world Jewry, an Israeli governmental news agency reported.

The Jewish Agency is transferring the vehicles through the Center of Regional Councils to the various towns and villages, using Israeli Defense Forces guidelines. Jewish people all over the world helped buy the armored vehicles to bus school children, due to continuing terror attacks on roads throughout Israel, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

“This is an expression of deep solidarity by the Jewish people and Israel’s friends around the world, with the State of Israel and its citizens who are under fire,” said JAFI Chairman SallaiMeridor.

Terrorists kill 2 near bus station; Hamas vows to kill Sharon
Two Jewish people were shot dead and 30 more injured as Palestinian terrorists opened fire while running from the Afula Central Bus Station to a nearby open-air market recently. Meanwhile, Hamas declared its intent to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon or another senior government official. Terrorists succeeded in assassinating Tourism Minister RehavamZe’evi in October.

Ten people are listed in serious condition in Afula’s Ha Emek Hospital following the Afula attack. At least one, who is being treated for shock, was injured in a previous terror attack on a bus station in October. Three people were killed then.

Arutz-7 reported that, 20 kilometers to the west, police thwarted yet another serious attack when they caught two Arabs carrying a bag with a bomb and other explosives.

Following the murders in Afula, Interior Minister Eli Yeshai said, “I thank God and the security forces for all the attacks that have been thwarted over the past few weeks. But at the same time, we see that there has been no change in the Palestinian policy of violence, and it is important for the Americans and Europeans to see this. The previous attack in Afula [in which three Israelis were murdered] was carried out by none other than Palestinian Authority policemen.”

Environment Minister Tzachi Ha Negbi told Arutz-7, “It’s very hard to be optimistic when we see not only [American mediator Gen. Anthony] Zinni, but many other world leaders making pilgrimages to Arafat and begging him to stop the violence, and all they hear in response is more violence and fantasies of Israeli uranium plots. We simply have no one to speak with—we never had—and the only choice is to go back to what the prime minister said a few months ago, which is to rely only on ourselves and to fight terrorism with whatever tools we have at our disposal.