VIENNA – A Syrian complex bombed by Israel bore features ‘resembling’ those of an undeclared nuclear reactor, and Syria must cooperate more with UN inspectors, the IAEA said on Wednesday. The report said ‘significant’ amounts of uranium particles were found at the site by inspectors in June, but it was not enough to prove a reactor was there, and further investigation was needed. The confidential report, obtained by Reuters, said the IAEA would ask Syria to show debris and equipment it whisked away from the site after the Sep 2007 Israeli air raid. “While it cannot be excluded that the building in question was intended for non-nuclear use, the features of the building, along with the connectivity of the site to adequate pumping capacity of cooling water, are similar to what may be found in connection with a reactor site,” said the IAEA report, sent to its 35-nation board of governors ahead of a Nov 27-28 meeting. It noted that Syria has not produced requested documentation to support its declarations about the nature of the building, nor agreed to follow-up IAEA visits to three other locations seen as harboring possible evidence linked to Israel’s target. “The agency … intends to request Syria to permit the agency to visit the locations of the debris from the building and any equipment removed from it, for the purpose of taking samples,” the report said. ElBaradei had urged Syria, the report said, to “provide the necessary transparency, including allowing visits to the requested locations and access to all available information, for the agency to complete its assessment.”
The IAEA will ask Israel to provide information pertaining to Syria’s remarks about the provenance of the particles of processed uranium. The report also stressed that the investigation had been “severely hampered by Israel’s unilateral use of force” and by a US failure to hand over relevant intelligence until seven months after the bombing, after Syria carted off rubble, swept the area clean and erected a new building on the spot. “In light of that, the agency’s verification of the situation has been made more difficult and complex, as well as more time and resource consuming,” the report said. A senior UN official said the investigation also had urgent need of high-resolution pictures of the site he said must have been taken in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, before the remains were removed. He said eight countries, which he declined to identify, had access to such imagery but had not turned it over to date.
In another incident demonstrating the escalating tensions between rival camps within the haredi community, the son of United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush was beaten and knocked to the ground Monday. Yisrael Porush confirmed that he had been attacked but added that he did not want to provide details of the incident for fear it would lead to the desecration of God’s name. The Ger hassidic sect, the nation’s largest, has been embroiled in a serious dispute with a constellation of smaller hassidic sects represented by Porush’s Shlomei Emunim faction in Agudat Yisrael. The tension between the two groups intensified after Rabbi Ya’acov Aryeh Alter, the Gerer Rebbe, did not support Porush in the Jerusalem mayoral elections. Many Ger hassidim actually voted for his secular rival, Nir Barkat, helping him win. Porush’s followers, who feel the Ger hassidim broke an unwritten rule to uphold haredi unity, have called for a revamping of Agudat Yisrael‘s political leadership. Currently Ger effectively controls Aguda. Porush’s followers are also trying to establish a new haredi daily to compete with the Ger-controlled Hamodia. Ger hassidim say that Porush forced himself on the haredi public without receiving rabbinic backing for his candidacy. The Litvak rabbinic leadership has also criticized Porush for the same reason. The tension between the camps has led to violent incidents. UTJ faction chairman Ya’acov Litzman was beaten and had food thrown at him during a family event in Me’a She’arim on Shabbat.
TEL AVIV – Stunned by projected program costs for their Israel-unique version of the F-35, Israeli air force and defense officials are struggling to pare a hefty list of customized subsystems and add-ons that threaten to ground the aircraft as unaffordable. Meanwhile, the CEO of F-35 JSF prime contractor Lockheed Martin dangled the possibility of more workshare for Israeli firms if the government places its orders promptly. In September, US program officials gave rough price and availability data to their Israeli counterparts, who reacted with sticker shock to the price tag of $200m per plane. Since then, both sides have been seeking a new configuration that can meet IAF performance and budget requirements. The Israeli General Staff had been expecting to pay about $2b for the first 25 aircraft. “It’s unbelievable,” a member of the General Staff said. “First it was $40m to $50m, and then they told us $70m to $80m. Now, we’re looking at nearly three times that amount, and who’s to say it won’t continue to climb?”
Pentagon estimates put total program costs for Israel’s planned 75-aircraft buy as high as $15.2b. That figure includes all 75 aircraft, engines, electronic warfare and C4I systems, training and logistics support and a host of other services, features and capabilities, including “unique systems for sovereign requirements.” A fairly detailed summary was published in a Pentagon notification to Congress dated Sep 29. In a meeting last month with reporters here, Tom Burbage, Lockheed’s vice president and general manager of the JSF program, estimated flyaway costs at $47m in 2002 dollars or about $80m in projected 2014 dollars. In meetings here the week of Nov 10, Lockheed CEO Robert Stevens noted that seven Israeli firms already have secured a combined $200m in contracts for JSF. Burbage, in his visit last month, was more explicit, citing a potential $500m worth of Israeli content for inclusion in the program.
World renowned peace activist and left-wing anti-war icon Howard Zinn recently told an audience that he didn’t care if 9/11 was an inside job, echoing the disdainful and apathetic rhetoric of fellow liberal gatekeepers Noam Chomsky and Alexander Cockburn in dismissing the efforts of the 9/11 truth movement. Buddy Moore, Independent Candidate for US Senate in Colorado, asked Zinn if he would join him in voicing doubts about the official 9/11 story and in particular the demolition of the twin towers and Building 7. Zinn said he was skeptical of the official story but then stated, “I don’t know much about the situation and the truth is, I don’t care that much about it, that’s past … that’s a diversion from what we really have to do,” adding that debating who was behind 9/11 “gets in the way of dealing with the immediate situation.” Moore attempted to ask Zinn a follow-up question about allowing the perpetrators to go free, but was largely shouted down by Zinn’s fawning army of left-wing sycophants. […]
The parents of a Fort Benning Army soldier who was brutally beaten by other soldiers two months ago in what appeared to be a case of anti-Semitism are upset that criminal charges were not leveled against the individuals responsible for the attack. They also criticized the director of the southeast chapter of the ADL for entering into secret discussions with Fort Benning officials earlier this month to apparently negotiate closure of the matter without including them or the head of the military watchdog organization that first exposed the attack, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). The discussions Fort Benning officials had with the ADL’s southeast regional director were coincident with one soldier being kicked out of the Army under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and “administratively separated for misconduct.”
That soldier, whose name was not released by Fort Benning officials, was believed to be the one primarily responsible for the assault on Pvt. Michael Handman, 20, which occurred on Sep 24 after Handman was lured into a laundry room by other soldiers, four days after he had complained to his parents that one of his drill sergeants had used anti-Semitic slurs against him because he wore a yarmulke, and that another had ordered him to remove it while he ate dinner. The drill sergeants were reprimanded for their actions. The MRFF’s involvement led the US Army’s Chief of Staff, General George W. Casey, to make an unprecedented, personal phone call to Fort Benning shortly after Pvt. Handman’s beating was reported by the Public Record, and others, to inquire about Pvt. Handman’s safety, the Pentagon confirmed. The ADL’s southeast director met with Fort Benning officials as well as the Army’s Chief of Chaplains Major General Douglas Carver, Senior Army Rabbi Jacob Goldstein, and Col. Chuck Durr, Fort Benning Chief of Staff. Mikey Weinstein said:
We at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation are thunderstruck that, after our many weeks of assiduously working around the clock to bring the perpetrators of the wretched hate crime to military justice, the ADL would suddenly come waltzing into this travesty of justice against Pvt. Handman and his family, unilaterally ‘declare victory’ and then actually praise the Army for its hideous racist actions. Sadly, it seems that in this pathetic matter the acronym ‘ADL’ now stands ignominiously for ‘Apologists Defense League.’ It seems the Army and the ADL had an eleventh hour, secret, get-together ‘star chamber’ which specifically excluded MRFF and the Handman family. The net result was the ADL thanking the Army for its fine efforts and walking off into the sunset claiming yet another ADL triumph; except there has been no such thing, save a ‘triumph’ for a disgraceful miscarriage of justice. MRFF and the Handman family were conveniently, deliberately and completely shut out.
Niqnaq 