Israelis traveling abroad put on high alert
Friday, July 9, 2010
By: ICEJ News

News in brief...

Due to a “concrete, high risk” threat of terrorism, Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued a general warning on Thursday to all Israelis traveling abroad to stay on high alert and refrain from taking up unusual business offers and visiting secluded locations. The advisory is for all Israelis traveling abroad, but businessmen and former public officials are considered more likely targets. “Threats continue to exist against Israelis abroad, particularly business people and former officials of the security apparatus who are at a high risk for kidnapping or murder,” said the bureau. In particular, Israelis may be subject to revenge attacks by Hizbullah, which is still seeking vengeance against Israel for its alleged assassination of its military commander Imad Mugniyeh in Damascus in 2008.

Libyan ship to sail for Gaza
The Libyan embassy in Greece announced on Friday that a ship carrying humanitarian aid from Libya and Greece to Gaza was to set sail from a Greek port today, AFP is reporting. The ship is being funded by an organization headed by the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The Moldova-flagged cargo ship Amalthea (“Hope”) will leave no later than Saturday from the port of Lavrio, south of Athens, carrying 27 pro-Palestinian passengers and 2,000 tons of food and medical supplies, officials said. The steam to Gaza is expected to take up to 80 hours. The aid on board includes sacks of rice and sugar, and corn oil and olive paste mostly donated from Greek companies and charities, organizers said. All these items are already trucked into Gaza by land on a daily basis, but the activists on board say they are interested in breaking the blockade to help “suffering Gazans,” even though Israel has eased the embargo in recent weeks. IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Tuesday that the army had received information about a flotilla from Libya, but that enthusiasm for a similar endeavor from Iran has significantly cooled. The navy’s May 31 boarding of the Mavi Marmara, he added, had a deterrent effect, and the Israeli decision to limit the scope of the naval blockade “increased the legitimacy of Israel’s actions and reduced the international legitimacy of future flotillas.”

Top Hamas prisoner smuggles out blueprint for future war on Israel
A secret 200-page document titled “Resistance - A View from the Inside,” drafted by Mohammed Arman, a senior Hamas man jailed in Israel, was recently smuggled out of prison and distributed among senior Hamas leaders in order to prepare the ground for the "next phase" of Hamas' war against Israel, reports Ynetnews. Arman was among Hamas' most active West Bank commanders until his 2002 arrest and his book is written as a practical guide for field activists. The plan includes calls for rocket fire from the West Bank. "Our enemy fears death more than anyone else... this prompts it to constantly consider abandoning the areas where rockets land." The blueprint devotes great attention to the role of Israeli Arabs in the Palestinian struggle, with an emphasis on Jerusalem Arabs. It notes that securing the release of Palestinian prisoners via abductions is at the top of the Hamas agenda and stresses that Gilad Shalit is an "insufficient" bargaining chip for the Palestinians. "One abduction operation isn't enough," contends Arman, who refers to himself as "the engineer behind the Hebrew University operation," a horrific suicide bombing on the Mount Scopus campus which left eight students dead. He has been sentenced to 36 life terms over his role in the university terror attack, among others. His first book, “Death Engineers,” was also smuggled out of prison and used by Hamas as a technical manual for carrying out deadly terror attacks.

Thousands of Jewish youths gather celebrate 10 years of Taglit
Thousands of Taglit-birthright trip participants currently touring throughout Israel gathered on Wednesday night on the Palmachim Air Force Base to celebrate Taglit’s 10 year anniversary. IDF soldiers and Diaspora Jews from nine nations gathered to mark the Zionist educational program’s anniversary and its partnership with the IDF. “This is your real home,” IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi told the cheering guests. “I can guarantee that it will remain so until the end of time. I hope you will be ambassadors of our justness, our cause, our dreams and our hopes.” Taglit was founded to bring young Jews ages 18-26 from around the world to Israel for a 10-day tour of the country. The annual “Mega Event” on Wednesday honored the 250,000 youth that have participated in the program so far from over 50 nations.

Protests grow over stoning sentence against Iranian 'adulterer'
A growing protest around the world and inside Iran itself may have prevented the execution of a young Iranian woman accused of adultery who has been facing death by stoning. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s story was prominently featured in British newspapers on Thursday, prompting UK Foreign Secretary William Hague to tell reporters during a joint press conference with Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu in London that stoning is a "medieval punishment which has no role in the modern world. If the punishment is carried out, it will disgust and appall the watching world.” Davutoglu told reporters that his country would raise the issue with Iran. Under Iran's Islamic laws, adultery is the only capital offense punishable by stoning. A man is usually buried up to his waist, while a woman is buried up to her neck. Those carrying out the verdict then pelt the accused with stones until he or she dies. Ashtiani was convicted of adultery by an Islamic court in the northern city of Tabriz in 2006, based on a confession which she says was coerced.