uncorroborated, unsourced bullshit

How Israel Foiled an Arms Convoy Bound for Hamas
Time Magazine, Mar 30 2009

Israeli fighter-bombers, backed by unmanned drones, were responsible for a mid-January attack on a 23-truck convoy in the Sudanese desert carrying arms to Hamas militants, two highly-placed Israeli security sources revealed to Time. The attack was a warning to Iran and other adversaries, showing Israel’s intelligence capability and its willingness to mount operations far beyond its borders in order to defend itself from gathering threats. The sources revealed exclusive details about the bold air attack on what they said was an Iranian weapons convoy, which had been transporting rockets and explosives destined for Gaza during the Israeli assault on the small Palestinian territory. They denied earlier news reports that US aircraft had been involved in the attack on the arms convoy as it crossed at night through the Sudanese desert heading for Egypt’s poorly guarded border. “The Americans were notified that Israel was going to conduct an air operation in Sudan, but they were not involved,” a source said. He denied prior claims by a US television network that a ship and a second convoy were destroyed. “There was only one raid, and it was a major operation,” he said, adding that “dozens of aircraft” were used.

F-16 fighter-bombers carried out two runs on the convoy, while F-15 fighter planes circled overhead as a precaution in case hostile aircraft were scrambled from Khartoum or a nearby country. After the first bombing run, drones mounted with high-resolution cameras passed over the burning trucks. The video showed that the convoy had only been partially damaged, so the Israelis ordered a second pass with the F-16s. During the 2800km journey to Sudan and back, the Israeli aircraft refueled in midair over the Red Sea. The bombing raid came after an intelligence tip-off. In early January, at the height of Israel’s assault on Gaza, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad was told by an informant that Iran was planning a major delivery of 120 tons of arms and explosives to Gaza, including anti-tank rockets and Fajr rockets with a 40km range and a 45kg warhead. With little time to plan the operation, naval vessels and helicopters were rushed to the Red Sea in case Israel had to rescue a downed pilot, and the plan was rushed through. “The Israelis had less than a week to pull this all together,” a source said.

The Iranian shipment was bound for Port Sudan. From there, according to the security sources, the Iranians had organized a smuggler’s convoy of 23 trucks that would take the weapons across Egypt’s southern border and up into the Sinai. Hamas would then take charge of the weapons and smuggle them into Gaza through the tunnels unscathed by Israeli bombardments. It was a route used occasionally by Hamas, but never before on such a large scale, sources said. “This was the first time that the Iranians had tried to send Hamas a shipment this big via Sudan — and it is probably the last,” he said. Several Iranians were killed in the raid, along with Sudanese smugglers and drivers, the source claimed. “No doubt the Iranians are checking back to see who might have leaked this to the Israelis,” he said. Even if the shipment had reached Gaza, it’s doubtful that it would have changed the outcome of the battle, in which Israeli forces sliced into the heart of the Palestinian enclave, killing over 1,300, many of them civilians. But the deadly new armaments and missiles would almost certainly have raised the Israeli death toll, both among soldiers and civilians living within the range of the Fajir rockets. Eleven Israelis died during the Gaza offensive.

One Hamas official (??- RB), while not denying that the arms convoy was theirs, said it numbered only 15 trucks and was laden with fewer weapons than the Israeli source claims. “The Israelis are trying to overplay the quantity of arms as a way to justify this raid, and to mobilize the Europeans to crack down on smugglers in the Mediterranean,” he said. In January, Cypriot authorities seized an Iranian freighter that the US and Israel claim was shipping arms to Hamas in Gaza. Israel never officially admits to carrying out overseas actions against its foes, but it is suspected of sending planes to destroy a Syrian nuclear facility (?- RB) in 2007, and is also blamed for the Damascus car bomb killing in February last year of Hizballah military commander Imad Mugniyeh. Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who will step down on Tuesday, hinted that Israel was behind the Sudan raid, saying: “We operate in many places near and far, and carry out strikes in a manner that strengthens our deterrence.”

Meanwhile, the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Monday that a few days before the alleged Israeli raid, a senior US official warned Sudan to stop smugglers from bringing weapons to Hamas in Gaza, but Sudan failed to comply. A Hamas security official (?? – RB) contacted by Time waved off Israeli reports that the destruction of the weapons convoy was a major setback to the Islamic militants who govern Gaza. “We have our own ‘home delivery’ set-up for weapons,” he said with a laugh, explaining that Sinai’s tribes of Bedouin smugglers are still bringing arms to the many secret tunnels snaking into Gaza. This is no idle boast. On Sunday, a senior Israeli security chief told Olmert’s cabinet that since Israel ended its 22-day offensive in Gaza on Jan 1, Hamas had smuggled in 22 tons of explosives and “tens” of rockets, readying for another round of fighting. Israeli officials can breathe easier knowing that the longer-range Fajr missiles did not get through. Iran and Hamas, no doubt, will try again.

malka spigel is the goddess incarnate (really)

Githead: Drive By (2007)

I notice that, after all these years, Malka Spigel (video-maker and bass guitarist with Minimal Compact, Githead, and other line-ups) is finally changing her first name to “Maya’. Some Jews, in their arrogance, will call this ’self-hating,’ but I think it is more likely that she is sick of being identified with Israelis and their increasingly overt Nazi behaviour.

what b’nai brith subscriptions pay for

ADL Disappointed in Governor Kaine Signing Senate Bill 817 Into Law
FOX Business, Mar 30 2009

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ The Anti-Defamation League expressed disappointment over Governor Kaine’s decision to sign into law Senate Bill 817, an act that would permit Choose Life license plates and require Virginia to contribute funds to a pervasively religious organization whenever a Choose Life license plate is issued. ADL believes that permitting Choose Life license plates and providing taxpayer funded subsidies to a sectarian institution is incompatible with the separation of church and state. The separation of church and state, as embodied in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, safeguards religious liberty because it enables Americans to practice their various religions freely, without government interference, endorsement, or support. ADL recognizes that each person in our society has a right to express his or her view concerning abortion, to explain that view, and to try to persuade others to accept that view. However, we are concerned that this bill is in violation of both the Establishment Clause of the United States constitution and the Virginia constitution because it requires the Commonwealth to contribute state revenue to a sectarian organization whenever a Choose Life license plate is issued. Virginia should take great pride in its heritage as the birthplace of religious freedom, says David C. Friedman, ADL’s Regional Director. These license plates stand as a reminder that the separation of church and state and the values of religious pluralism need to be safeguarded in our own day as well as in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry. SOURCE Anti-Defamation League http://www.adl.org Copyright 2009 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.

northern ireland pseudo-solution totally unglued

Dissidents burn hijacked vehicles in Belfast attacks
David McKittrick, Independent, Mar 31 2009

A series of hijackings and vehicle burnings across Belfast during yesterday’s tea-time rush hour caused major traffic jams as dissident republicans again went on the rampage. Some vehicles were set on fire while others were abandoned close to police stations, sparking security alerts in the north and west of the city. The M1 motorway, one of Northern Ireland’s busiest roads, was shut down after a hijacked vehicle was abandoned close to one of its intersections. Disruption was also caused in the Craigavon area, where a police officer was recently shot dead by dissidents. The tactic of causing multiple bomb alerts was a familiar one in past years in Belfast, where experience showed that even if no actual explosive devices were used the security forces could take no chances. This meant that even a few abandoned vehicles caused diversions which, at busy times of day, would result in major traffic snarl-ups. This happened yesterday, when police had no choice but to close off various important routes. The use of a number of vehicles put the army’s resident bomb disposal unit, which has been scaled back in recent years, at full stretch, meaning that hours pass before all suspect cars and vans can be declared safe. By late last night many of the incidents had been dealt with but some areas remained sealed off. The disruption is regarded as the work of either the Real IRA or the Continuity IRA, the small groups which earlier this month were responsible for killing a policeman and two soldiers. For the terrorists the disruption represents a low-risk and low-cost means of bringing a major city to a halt using only a few dozen of their members. Few arrests have been made in the wake of such dislocation. Television images of burning vehicles provides violent images which give viewers the impression that all of Belfast is aflame. The incidents were condemned by a range of local political figures, most notably Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Peter Robinson. He said:

The criminal terrorists responsible for the series of bomb-scares and hijackings are beneath contempt and have no support whatsoever in the community. In recent weeks, Northern Ireland has sent these murderers the message loud and clear. We will not be dragged back into death and mayhem. These criminals will fail because of the resolve of the people of Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein said:

These actions are wrong and counter-productive to anything that our communities want. We would like the spokespeople of those behind these alerts to come forward and explain how this will in any way achieve a united Ireland.

pathetic frauds feel the pinch

Leviev losses force Chabad to fund-raise
Haviv Rettig Gur, Allison Hoffman, JPost, Mar 30 2009

Chabad is turning to small donors to stave off a financial crisis in its Russian operations, as major donors like diamond and real estate mogul Lev Leviev are pulling back after suffering heavy losses in the global economic recession. Rabbis told JPost on Monday that new donors were responding to emergency appeals, though critical programs like schools remained at risk for cuts amid a crisis stretching back to the collapse of the US-based Lehman Brothers investment bank in September. Rabbi Zvi Pinsky, manager of the Chabad house in St. Petersburg, vowed that his Pessah Seder plans would continue as usual, and said he was preparing for as many as 500 people next week, telling JPost:

The budget problem is serious. People used to tell us, ‘You’re taken care of, you don’t need me.’ Now they feel needed, they see the distress … We’re surviving because of these new donors. The Seder will not be harmed – we’re trying to make sure the recession is only felt behind the scenes, not by Jews who consume our services.

Officials at Chabad’s worldwide headquarters in New York’s Crown Heights neighborhood declined to comment specifically on budget cuts due to Leviev’s losses, but said that outposts in the former Soviet Union had been successful in drumming up new donors to keep critical programs intact. The Federation of the Jewish Communities of the CIS (FJC), an umbrella of Chabad communities and outposts throughout the FSU, announced it would host nearly 1,000 Seders on Pessah in hundreds of communities from Latvia to Kyrgyzstan, with help from Jewish students. Leviev, whose Africa Israel development company announced steep losses Monday, reiterated his personal commitment to the program in a statement on Sunday. Leviev said in the statement:

Every Jew, even those who cannot afford it, should be able to celebrate the Passover Seder and feel part of the chosen people.

The initiative includes distributing some 200 tons of Pessah food to needy Jews in these communities, including specially made matzot, grape juice, chicken and basic necessities. At Moscow’s Marina Roscha Synagogue, Russia’s chief Chabad rabbi, Berel Lazar, will host a 3,000-member Seder in which participants will be divided in 74 groups according to occupation, age and language. There will be Seders in English, Russian, French, Hebrew and even Yiddish. While the impact of Leviev’s losses is mostly confined to operations in the former Soviet Union, major donors are pulling back worldwide. Zalman Shmotkin, who serves as Chabad’s spokesman in New York but also oversees its global on-line operation, recently sent out an emergency fund-raising appeal, telling prospective donors that the economic crisis had hit his unit “crushingly hard,” with a budget gap of about $1m that had so far prompted layoffs and the suspension of new on-line initiatives. Shmotkin told JPost that he was trying to replicate the grassroots fund-raising model that fueled US President Barack Obama’s successful election campaign last year. Shmotkin said:

It’s a matter of reaching new donors or preexisting donors, people who haven’t given in the past six to nine months.

farrakhan makes a lot more sense than foxman

ADL slams Louis Farrakhan for ‘bigoted’ comments on Israel lobby
Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz, Mar 31 2009

The ADL lashed out at Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Monday for remarks he made earlier this month in which he accused “the Israeli lobby” of controlling the government. At one point during his address, Farrakhan implied that the validity of Holocaust records should be open to debate. Farrakhan told supporters in Rosemont, Illinois in a Mar 1 speech:

When the people of Gaza were being slaughtered, the pro-Israeli lobby sent messages to the House and the Senate of words that they wanted them to use, gave them the language, and now you have bipartisan support. You cannot deny the pro-Israeli lobby and get re-elected. Ask Cynthia McKinney. Ask David Hilliard. Ask our mayor in Oakland, California. Ask Percy. Ask Jimmy Carter. You can’t criticize, you can’t say nothing because if you do, you’re branded as an anti-Semite. Why, US Congress, will you not speak? It is because you fear a lobby that has money and influence that will turn you out of your seat? So you’re terrorized. That’s why you don?t act for the American people that sent you to Congress. You are not their representative. You are the representative of the money and interests that have bought your soul. There’s not a vote that the pro-Israeli lobby wants that doesn’t get bipartisan support. Why? Because the Israeli lobby controls the government of the United States of America. You can’t even engage in constructive argument over the veracity of the figures of the Holocaust. We know something happened, sure, but you can’t talk about it. In certain cities in Europe they arrest you and put you in prison for denying such.

The remarks were met with strong condemnation by ADL chief Abe Foxman, who responded:

Louis Farrakhan is at it again. After his near-silence on Jews over the last several years, we thought Minister Farrakhan had put his long history of anti-Semitism and racism behind him, or at least had held his views in check. Apparently, that was wishful thinking. Once again he is clearly comfortable with putting his bigotry on display, unfettered and unhidden for his supporters and the world to see.

it isn’t antisemitic to combine israel flag & swastika

(Let me just preface this by explaining that the so-called ‘Star of David’ was not considered to be the premier Jewish religious symbol until the 1700s or even 1800s e.v., but was generally regarded as a magical device. The premier Jewish religious symbol was (and, formally, still is) the menorah, or seven-branched candlestick. – RB)

Study cites dramatic rise in anti-Semitic attacks in Europe
Assaf Uni, Haaretz, Mar 31 2009

The number of anti-Semitic incidences in Europe through the first three months of this calendar year exceeds the total number of such occurrences from all of 2008, according to a report issued by the European Jewish Congress. The findings were announced by EJC president Moshe Kantor during a special session of the European Parliament which was devoted to the subject of anti-Semitism on the continent. The report cites the reaction to this past January’s Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza as one of the key triggers of anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish communities in Europe. In addition, the current financial crisis is giving rise to age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes suggesting ‘Jewish control of the global financial system.’ EJC members from all over Europe who gathered in Brussels for the special session reported a significant rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents. The head of official Jewry in Finland, Rony Smolar, said that the 25,000-strong Jewish community living in the Scandinavian countries is subject to repeated harassment due to its support for Israel. “Public opinion links Israel with the local Jewish community, which turns us into enemies,” Smolar said, adding that his country has seen “a dramatic rise” in the number and severity of anti-Semitic attacks. Smolar said that Molotov cocktails have been thrown into synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in Sweden and Norway have been vandalized. He also cited a shooting incident in which two Israelis were wounded by a gunman in Denmark during Israel’s recent Gaza operations. Smolar said:

Cartoons likening the Star of David to the Nazi swastika have become commonplace in Scandinavia.

Richard Prasquier, the head of the umbrella organization representing the Jewish community in France (CRIF), also pointed to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents. Prasquier said:

France is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe and the largest Muslim community in Europe.

hinting that the sizable immigrant community from North Africa is most responsible for instigating the anti-Jewish violence. European politicians have shied away from blaming Muslim immigrants for attacks against Jews. The EU’s human rights arm, the FRA, told the gathering that increases in anti-Semitism have been reported in Holland, Belgium, France, and Britain. An organization representative said the reasons for the phenomenon must be studied and examined. Peter Feldmeier, the head of the Jewish community in Hungary, said that anti-Semitism in his country still features historical overtones “as we knew them in the interwar years.” While noting that “there is barely a Muslim community in Hungary,” Feldmeier brandished a copy of a widely circulated newspaper affiliated with a far-right party. The newspaper made waves after featuring on its cover a Hungarian politician bearing a fictitious yellow Star of David. The paper demanded that the politician admit to his Jewish roots.

smoke, mirrors and chaos at debkafile

So who did bomb the Iranian arms trucks in Sudan?
DEBKAfile, Mar 29 2009

The only solid fact emerging from the fanciful “reports” traded between Western and Middle East media over the bombing of an Iranian arms convoy bound for Hamas in January is that Tehran’s arms shipments to Hamas via Sinai and the Gaza tunnels continue at full spate. Somehow, as the “reporting” unfolded, the US attacker morphed into the Israeli Air Force. Western imagination outdid itself on Sunday Mar 28, when the London Sunday Times claimed that Israeli intelligence used drones to bomb the convoy in Sudan, possibly even Eitan UAVs, whose wing span is like that of a Boeing airliner, and that missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv were the target. If this claim and reports in other Western media, asserting glibly that Israeli drones or warplanes had sunk an Iranian ship in the Red Sea, are correct, they would signify:

1. That Israel and Iran are at war;

2. That Tehran has decided to take Israeli attacks on the chin and not respond. Does this sound like the Iranian leaders we know?

3. Israel has declared war on Sudan with two attacks:

4. And, most importantly, Israel’s armed forces have failed to stem the flow of Iranian arms to Gaza.

In the original disclosure which started the hare, the Egyptian newspaper El Shorouk reported on Tuesday Mar 24 that in January, a USAF AC130H taking off from Djibouti destroyed an Iranian arms convoy of 17 trucks in North Sudan on its way to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, killing 39 passengers. The Egyptian paper ran the story the day before Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir arrived in Cairo. It stressed that the Sudanese authorities had concocted a “full-blown dossier’” on the attack, consisting of “images, forensics as well as remains of weapons and satellite phones.” The El Shorouk article quoted Egyptian and Sudanese military sources. This was taken as a sign that the two governments had cooked up a stratagem to signal the Obama administration that anything the West could do to gather evidence against Sudan and its president, Cairo and Khartoum could match with proofs of US violations of international law in the Middle East. It was suggested in a later report that the victims were African refugees (Khartoum later claimed 900 people were killed in the attack) rather than passengers ferrying an arms convoy from Iran. The US it was hinted, hit noncombatants almost once a week in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Oddly, the Israeli media, which are wont to rerun lengthy reports from the Arab press, however unreliable, missed this one, although it indicated a chill had crept into Cairo’s relations with the Obama administration. No official comment came from Washington – at least not directly. However, a few hours later, CBS television news cited unidentified sources at the Pentagon as stressing that the attack was not carried out by American but Israeli aircraft. By lobbing the hot potato back into the Middle East court and… Israel, Washington saved itself an argument with Cairo over whether the air strike was ordered by the former US administration or by Obama as his first anti-terror operation in the Middle East. This story, still uncorroborated, made front pages everywhere and began to take on a life of its own, embroidered freely as media competition kicked in.

First , Cairo had never intended its disclosure to be seized on by radical regional elements as an expose of Israeli military might. Since Mar 24, all Egyptian sources of information have been shut down. Israel has held officially silent too. Why look a gift horse in the mouth when your pro-Iranian foes talk up your military capabilities? Second , Disclosure of an American attack on Sudan, Tehran’s ally, especially if more than one took place, as some have reported, would interfere with Obama’s plans for a profound rapprochement with Tehran. It might embarrassingly recall the failed US attack on Osama bin Laden’s Sudan bases ordered by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Obama would not wish to be associated with any failed enterprises in the past. Third , the event was seized on hungrily by the Israeli media, fed constantly by invented or copied “details.” The Qatar emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani who is hosting the Arab League summit opening in Doha on Tuesday Mar 31, was also glad of a boost for this event.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the chain of propaganda and counter-propaganda could have been easily snapped by the Khartoum government: A single photograph or solid datum from its “full-blown dossier” attesting to the bombs, missiles, anti-air ordnance in the trucks, or the aircraft alleged to have destroyed them, would have put to rest the torrent of unrestricted published hyperbole by identifying the attacker and the contents of the trucks transiting the Sudanese desert. But why should the Al Bashir regime go to the trouble? Since Clinton attacked targets wrongly identified as al Qaeda bases 13 years, Sudan has never enjoyed so much publicity. Its president, the subject of an international arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, will be the hero of the Arab summit and bask in unaccustomed limelight.

bloody brits, antisemitic as per usual

Britain defends West Bank labelling
Jonny Paul, JPost, Mar 30 2009

The British government has denied reports that a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the labelling of West Bank produce will lead to a boycott of Israeli goods. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said on Friday that the roundtable meeting, which is hosted by the Cabinet Office, is only an industry consultation to look at the feasibility of giving the public more details on the origins of produce. The meeting will also look at ways DEFRA can advise food producers who decide voluntarily that they want to provide the public with more information. Providing country-of-origin labelling on foods is voluntary in the UK, with some producers choosing to state if a product comes from Israel or the West Bank. DEFRA and the Food Standards Agency provide voluntary guidance and advice on how producers can make origin labelling more informative for consumers. DEFRA said the guidance is in response to enquiries from the food industry and members of the public regarding what origin should be stated on food and drinks produced and packed in the West Bank. A DEFRA spokesman told JPost:

It is a small roundtable meeting as part of an industry consultation process, to discuss the draft of new, voluntary guidance on origin labelling of produce sourced from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The objective of the guidance is to help retailers and traders to provide clearer origin-labelling for products sourced from the OPTs, with particular focus on the West Bank.

The roundtable participants will comprise representatives from food retailers, trading organizations, consumer groups and an NGO, thought to be Oxfam, a charity that on its Web site lists the countries it works in, with Israel listed as “Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel.” Jeremy Newmark, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, has questioned the agenda of the meeting, saying:

It risks encouraging those working for a wider program of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel. No meetings have taken place at this level to discuss produce from other territories that the British Government considers occupied. By involving groups which campaign for a boycott and a ban on all settlement goods, the government is making it harder to believe that this meeting is purely about giving consumers choice. These plans also risk harming the incomes of over 20,000 Palestinian workers whose earn their livelihoods in the production of such goods.

Other government departments and agencies attending will be the Food Standards Agency; Revenue and Customs; the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office.

news from ‘the symbol of jewish rebirth’

For many Tel Aviv residents, high-rise construction is ruining the city
Zafrir Rinat, Haaretz, Mar 30 2009

The Tel Aviv municipality is marking the city’s centennial this week with a major conference on urban sustainability, focusing on local long-term, eco-friendly planning. However, many local residents and environmental groups say the city is moving ahead with several residential high-rise projects that will damage certain neighborhoods. On Monday the Tel Aviv District Planning and Construction Committee is to discuss a 27-story (130-meter-high) residential tower that will be built instead of a structure adjacent to the Beit Lessin Theater on the corner of Dizengoff and Frishman Streets. The committee will hear the objections of area residents who fear the streets will become clogged due to the construction of a three-story, 280-space parking garage in the basement of the planned building. Another concern is over the possible impact on the climate of such a structure, which will block out the sun and affect the winds. “This means a total change in the quality of life of the residents of the small, quiet streets nearby,” says Ehud Gavrieli, a local resident. Anat Barkai-Nevo, of the Tel Aviv office of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, says the tower near Beit Lessin is only one example among many. In the area north of the gentrified Neveh Tzedek quarter of south Tel Aviv, at least four high-rises are planned in addition to the one that already exists. A controversial tower is also to go up on the site of Assouta Medical Center in north Tel Aviv, and a number of towers are slated for the city’s posh Kikar Hamedina neighborhood. In all cases residents have lodged objections, distributed leaflets and held protests. The residents’ objection to the project near Beit Lessin, as formulated by attorney Joseph Fruchtman, decries the lack of a policy for the construction of high-rises:

that defines the areas where they will be built and where they will be prohibited … There are no principles protecting the interrelationship between high-rise construction projects and the existing fabric.

The SPNI supports the construction of multistory buildings, among other reasons, to protect open spaces. But it frequently finds itself opposing high-rise construction in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem because of its impact on the existing city fabric. Says Barkai-Nevo:

They’re going to build a kind of Manhattan here and nobody has asked the people who live here whether that’s the way they want the city to develop. These high-rises are mainly for the wealthy and they push out members of the middle class, on which urban life is based.

SPNI says it would not oppose multiple-story construction in areas like the Ayalon Freeway or along parts of Allenby Street, which would not harm the existing city. Meanwhile, the organization favors freezing high-rise projects until an overall, long-term policy is created. The Tel Aviv municipality said on Sunday that high-rise construction is essential due to demand for residential housing and is not being done for profitability. The municipality also noted that anyone who lives in the city has to know that residential and business towers are going to be built, but that the city is aware of the need for regulation so as not to harm the urban fabric. The city concedes that it does approve high-rise construction in areas slated for conservation, but some projects were approved before conservation policy was instituted. In the case of the multiple-story building slated for Assouta’s property, which borders on an area slated for conservation, the city says it ordered a reduction of the number of floors from 35 to 20. It also notes that only eight percent of the projects it approves involves high-rise construction