DTN News - ISRAELI DEFENSE NEWS: Israeli Defense Chief Sounds Ready To Hit Iran, Thanks In Part To Iron Dome

DTN News - ISRAELI DEFENSE NEWS: Israeli Defense Chief Sounds Ready To Hit Iran, Thanks In Part To Iron Dome

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Spencer Ackerman - Wired
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - November 30, 2012: Israel’s retiring defense chief thinks Iran needs to be “coerced” in 2013 from building an atom bomb, despite any U.S. hopes that sanctions will bring Tehran to the negotiating table. And the recent success of his new, U.S.-funded missile defenses seems to have convinced him that Israel is better able than ever to deter its Iran-backed foes.

“Of course, we would love to see some heavenly intervention that will stop them, to wake up some morning and learn that they’ve given up on their nuclear intentions,” Barak told reporters at the Pentagon Thursday during a joint press conference with Leon Panetta, his American counterpart. “You cannot build a strategy based on these wishes or prayers. Sanctions are working and they are more hurting than anything I remember from the past vis-a-vis Iran, but I don’t believe these kinds of sanctions will bring the ayatollahs to a moment of truth where they sit around a table, look into each other’s eyes and decide that the game is over.”

Not exactly what Panetta wanted to hear during what was supposed to be a friendly press conference in which they celebrated how the U.S.-backed Iron Dome rocket defense system stopped Hamas’ rocket attacks cold. The U.S. defense chief, who effused over the retiring Barak as “a man of peace” and praised their long friendship, said the “unprecedented pressure” on Iran from international sanctions present “time and space for an effort to try to achieve a diplomatic solution.”

Not likely, thinks the retiring Barak. “During the coming year and hopefully before they reach what I have called a ‘zone of immunity’” — a point at which Israeli airstrike couldn’t meaningfully hinder Iranian nuclear work — Iran “will be coerced into putting an end to it this way or another way,” Barak said. “The physical attack option is an option that should be there, should remain on the table, never be removed.”

That may be short of a pledge to attack Iran next year, but it’s hardly a vote of confidence in any alternative. And it reflects a lingering divide in U.S. and Israeli goals on Iran, despite the rhetoric of unity. “We will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Panetta said, “and that remains our policy.” Barak’s policy is different: to stop Iran from even getting to the point in its technological nuclear work where an airstrike is senseless, before Iran gets the bomb. The Israeli defense chief acknowledged “sometimes slight differences” with U.S. policy “that should be better discussed behind closed doors.”

However much Barak seems resigned to Iran’s determination “to go in the footsteps of Pakistan and North Korea,” he also mused out loud about Iron Dome as a security game-changer for Israel. Not because a system that was “extremely successful” at stopping unguided Qassam rockets can also stop Iranian Shahab-3 ballistic missiles — it can’t. But because of the demonstration effect that Israeli missile-defense technology can have on Iran and its proxies.

“The very knowing of the other side that you have such an effective system, especially when we’ll be equipped with many more interceptors, it will change the balance of contemplation on the other side,” Barak said. “It creates a logical kind of deterrent, not a psychological one, because any enemy that tries against Israel is exposed to the effectiveness of our efforts that we’ve seen during in this operation.” Especially since, Barak noted, Iron Dome’s big brothers — David’s Sling and the Arrow — are in development to stop more powerful missiles launched by Iran and Hezbollah.

Barak won’t be defense minister next year, as he announced this week he’s retiring from politics. But if other prominent Israeli decision-makers think that Iron Dome restored Israel’s ability to deter adversaries, imagine the value they might place on an Iran attack next year.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Spencer Ackerman - Wired
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DTN News - ISRAELI DEFENSE NEWS: Israel Strike On Iran Would Be Disaster: Netanyahu's Ex-Deputy

DTN News - ISRAELI DEFENSE NEWS: Israel Strike On Iran Would Be Disaster: Netanyahu's Ex-Deputy

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 18, 2012:  A former deputy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday a pre-emptive military strike against Iran over its nuclear program could embroil Israel in a "disastrous war".

Shaul Mofaz, a parliamentary opposition leader who quit Netanyahu's cabinet last month where he served as vice premier, said on Israeli television he thought Israel was "planning a hasty, irresponsible event".

The former general and defense minister said he thought Israel could not do anything to force a strategic change in Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at producing atomic weapons. Tehran says it is for peaceful purposes.

As a member of Netanyahu's security cabinet for two months, Mofaz was privy to deliberations on Iran's nuclear program.

He told Channel 2 television in a studio interview that any Israeli military action "can at the most delay it (Iran's program) by about a year, and it can bring upon us a disastrous war".

Naming both Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, he said he was "very worried at what they are preparing". He added: "I hope very much we don't reach such a war because it would be a disaster."

Days after he quit the cabinet late in July in a dispute about military conscription policy, Mofaz, who heads the centrist Kadima party, cautioned he would not back any Israeli military "adventures".

His comments echoed those of other former Israeli security officials who have spoken against any unilateral attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, with some saying such an assault could spur Tehran to speed up uranium enrichment.

Some officials have also voiced concern that any strike could prompt Iran's proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, to launch rocket attacks on Israel.

Israel, widely believed to be the only atomic power in the Middle East, views Iran's nuclear program as an existential threat, citing threats made by leaders of the Islamist nation to destroy the Jewish state.

There has been an upsurge in rhetoric from Israeli politicians this month suggesting Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities ahead of U.S. presidential elections in November.

Netanyahu is frustrated that Western diplomacy to try to force Iran to rein in its program has so far proved fruitless. Reported intelligence leaks that Tehran has been accelerating rather than scaling back its program have added to tensions.

However senior Israeli officials have said that a final decision about whether to attack Iran has not yet been taken, with ministers disagreeing over the issue and the military hierarchy unhappy about the prospect of going it alone without full U.S. backing.

(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Pravin Char)

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DTN News - SPECIAL REPORT: Israeli Forces Deploy For Protests At Borders

DTN News - SPECIAL REPORT: Israeli Forces Deploy For Protests At Borders
*Israeli security forces in riot gear Friday confronted Palestinian demonstrators after deploying in high numbers along Israel's frontiers on an annual protest day
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources The Telegraph UK
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 30, 2012: By midday, minor skirmishes had broken out between thousands of protesters and security forces in the Jerusalem area. Palestinians threw rocks and Israeli troops responded with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber pellets. No serious injuries were reported.

In Gaza, Palestinians said Israeli forces shot and wounded two men who approached the border during a demonstration by about 15,000 people, organized by Gaza's Hamas rulers. The Israeli military said soldiers shot and wounded one protester Elsewhere, it were calm.
The "Land Day" rallies are an annual event marked by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who protest what they say are discriminatory Israeli land policies.

Supporters in neighboring Arab countries also planned marches near the Israeli frontier, but organizers said they would keep protesters away from the borders.

Last year, demonstrators from Lebanon and Syria tried twice to break across the borders into Israel, setting off clashes with Israeli troops in which at least 38 people were killed.

In southern Lebanon Friday, more than 3,000 Lebanese and Palestinians gathered outside the Crusader-built Beaufort castle 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Israel. Lebanese security forces kept them from moving any closer to the border.

Sobhiyeh Mizari, 70, said she always taught her 12 children "never to forget Palestine."

"We will liberate our land against the will of Israel and its backers," said Mizari, who said her husband was killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon in 1978.

Security forces were preparing for demonstrations in northern Israel, where a large portion of Israel's Arab minority lives.

Several dozen Palestinians who live in east Jerusalem waved their national flag outside Jerusalem's walled Old City. "One, one homeland!" they chanted.

Palestinians were banned from entering from the West Bank except for medical emergencies, and police barred Palestinian men under 40 from praying at a volatile Jerusalem holy site, citing security concerns.

The demonstrators performed their communal Muslim Friday prayers where they stood, praying on their flags instead of traditional mats.

They were surrounded by what appeared to be an equal number of Israeli security forces.

"Israel has no trouble with peaceful protest and respects the rights of people to demonstrate peacefully," said government spokesman Mark Regev.

Many Palestinians, energised by Arab Spring uprisings that have overturned decades-old authoritarian regimes, see massive, coordinated marches as one of the most effective strategies to draw attention to their cause.

"After the Arab revolutions, there's awareness of the importance of popular participation," said Arab activist Jafar Farah. "This has rattled the Arab regimes, and now it's frightening the Israeli government."

 


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DTN News - ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: Fighting Between Israel, Gaza Continues For 3rd Day

DTN News - ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: Fighting Between Israel, Gaza Continues For 3rd Day
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Ibrahim Barzak and Karin Laub - The Washington Post
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 12, 2012: Cross-border fighting between Gaza and Israel, touched off by Israel’s killing of a top Palestinian militant leader, showed no signs of letting up after three days Sunday. Gaza militants fired dozens of rockets at Israeli towns, hitting an empty school, and Israeli airstrikes killed three Gazans, including a boy and a farm guard.

Egypt tried to mediate but failed to end the violence, the worst in more than a year. The fighting has killed 18 Gazans, all but two of them militants, and disrupted the lives of about 1 million Israelis living within range of rocket fire from Gaza.

Even so, Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers seemed eager to avoid a full-scale conflict. A three-week war three years ago left both sides badly bruised, Israel in the diplomatic arena and Hamas on the battlefield.

In the current round, Hamas has pointedly kept its large rocket arsenal and thousands of fighters out of the confrontation, even though it has not tried to stop two smaller Gaza groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, from launching rockets and mortar rounds.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak acknowledged that Hamas did not take part in the rocket salvos. Up to now, Israel has blamed the Islamist movement for all violence directed from Gaza because it rules the territory.

Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, said Sunday, “We are not interested in escalation in and of itself.”

On a visit to southern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that the airstrikes would continue as long as necessary. “We have a clear policy: We will hit anyone who plans to harm us, who prepares to harm us and who harms us,” he said in a meeting with local leaders.

Israel said it launched the initial Friday airstrike, which killed PRC leader Zuhair al-Qaissi in a car in Gaza, to stop a plan by his splinter group to infiltrate into Israel through Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula. Israel says the PRC was behind an August attack on the border that killed eight Israelis.

Palestinians across the political spectrum accused Israel of deliberately escalating tensions. The groups involved in firing rockets dismissed truce offers presented by Egypt.

On Sunday, Palestinians fired more than 30 rockets at southern Israel. One struck the courtyard of an empty school in Beersheba, police said.

Three Israelis have been hurt by rocket fire since Friday, two of them seriously, the Defense Ministry said.

At Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting, Barak asserted success in the first major battlefield test of the Iron Dome antimissile system, which has intercepted 30 of the more than 120 rockets fired from Gaza since Friday, according to a statement from his office. He said anti-rocket batteries were deployed near three southern cities close to Gaza.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Ibrahim Barzak and Karin Laub - The Washington Post
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DTN News - ISRAEL DEFENSE NEWS: Barak Confirms ~ 'Iron Dome' To Be Deployed Within Days

DTN News - ISRAEL DEFENSE NEWS: Barak Confirms ~ 'Iron Dome' To Be Deployed Within Days

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Jpost.com Staff and Yaakov Katz

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 25, 2011: Defense minister says anti-rocket system likely move around to meet operational needs; cautions system is not a 100% solution Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday confirmed that he authorized the deployment of the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Speaking during a tour of the Gaza region, Barak said: "I authorized the IDF in the coming days to authorize the first operational deployment of Iron Dome batteries, here in the southern region."

The test deployment, he said, "will continue for several weeks and the layout will vary with operational needs."

The defense minister praised Iron Dome's technology, calling it an "extraordinary development" by the defense industry. He cautioned, however, that it does not provide a 100 percent solution to the rocket threat.

The Iron Dome system will be part of the IDF's solution to the barrage of rockets fired into southern Israel from Gaza in the last week, a statement from the IDF spokesperson said.

Iron Dome is designed to defend against rockets at a range of 4-70 km and each battery consists of a multi-mission radar manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries and three launchers, each equipped with 20 interceptors named Tamir.

The defense minister also praised the IDF's operations in the southern region. "The IDF is doing a very good job - very professional and creative, with [good] results, along the border and in the Gaza Strip itself," he said.

"Terror organizations in the Strip took a hard hit during the last 10 days," Barak said, adding that the groups had lost fighters during that period.

He noted that "some 100 rockets and mortars that reached communities further [from the Strip] than usual" were hit, including Beersheba, Ashdod, Sderot, Ashkelon, and the Gaza border-region communities. "We have no intention to allow terrorist organizations to renew the situation and breaking the status quo," he said. The defense minister added, "We will act as it is needed to return the operations back to the [border] line itself."

"I don't recommend to Hamas or Islamic Jihad to attempt and return us to the situation when [rockets] were fired at areas deep into the country and at communities in the border region."

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources

By Jpost.com Staff and Yaakov Katz

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DTN News: Israel's Barak To Meet Palestinian Premier On Monday

DTN News: Israel's Barak To Meet Palestinian Premier On Monday

Source: DTN News / AFP

(NSI News Source Info) JERUSALEM, Israel - July 5, 2010: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak will meet with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad on Monday, the minister's office said.

"A meeting between Mr. Barak and Fayyad will be held on Monday," the defence ministry said without providing any details on the venue of the meeting or its agenda. Israeli public radio said the two would "discuss the peace process shortly before the departure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United States, where he will meet on Tuesday with President Barack Obama." A Palestinian official confirmed the meeting, which is due to take place at 1:30 p.m. local time (10:30 GMT). The venue has not been disclosed, probably for security reasons. On Wednesday, Barak said he would meet with Fayyad in the coming days for a rare high-level meeting between the Jewish state and Palestinian Authority. "We are due to meet in the next few days. This is not the first time we are meeting and we will talk, I assume, about the situation on the ground, about security coordination," Barak told reporters. At the time, Fayyad's office confirmed the two would meet and said Palestinians planned to discuss demands that Israel lift its Gaza blockade and stop military incursions into Palestinian cities. High-level contacts between Israel and Palestinian leaders have been virtually frozen since Israel's devastating 22-day war on the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009.

DTN News: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Has Arrived In Southern Iraq

DTN News: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Has Arrived In Southern Iraq *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) TALIL, Iraq - July 29, 2009: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates landed in Iraq today on an unannounced visit to review a newly converted advisory brigade that represents a bellwether for the changing American role in the nation. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks with troops from the 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division's Advise and Assist Mission at COB Adder in Tallil on July 28, 2009. Gates, on a previously unannounced mission, urged Iraq's communities to settle political differences before US troops leave by the end of 2011. The U.S. brigade at Tallil Air Base, in southern Iraq, has been overhauled from its traditional combat role to primarily advise and train Iraqi security forces. In addition, the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division will arrive in Iraq in September as the first such brigade trained in the U.S. As the U.S. draws down forces during the next year, its mission in Iraq is due to shift to one oriented toward a half dozen so-called advisory and assistance brigades. The speed of the transition will depend largely on the success of general elections scheduled for January and talks to resolve sectarian conflicts. During his visit, Gates also plans to meet with officials including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who was in Washington last week to press for more normalized ties with the U.S. that go beyond military engagement to business, education and cultural links. Maliki left open the prospect of a continuing U.S. military presence in Iraq after the deadline for the withdrawal of American troops at the end of 2011. Gates has said in the past that Iraq might need further U.S. military aid. U.S. officials have said the two sides haven’t begun any talks on ties after the scheduled withdrawal. Joint Operations U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police officers working with them on joint operations in and around Tallil seem to have adapted to the change in their roles since U.S. forces pulled back from urban areas on June 30, Gates said after a tour and a series of briefings by officers on both sides. “It is amazingly different from December 2006,” Gates told a combined patrol preparing to go to Nasiriyah on a rotation to assist Iraqi police at a provincial joint operations center. Based on the briefings he had received, he said it was “going well down here.” Iraqi police Lieutenant Anwar Ghani said security in the area is good and the Iraqi government is able to contend with potentially divisive tribal loyalties. U.S. forces are on standby to help as needed, Ghani said in interview through an interpreter. Iraqi security forces recently discovered an insurgent weapons cache in Nasiriyah, complete with rockets, improvised explosive devices and control systems. Iranian Influence Training that the U.S. military provides at the request of their Iraqi partners includes a course next month for police on evidence collection and preserving crime scenes, said U.S. Army Major Sean Kuster. Iraqi Army Staff Major General Habib al-Hussani told Gates in one briefing he is still concerned about border security. As commander of the 10th Iraqi Army division, he urged Gates to make the border a priority and said his forces need more electronic monitoring equipment. Iran remains a source of concern, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Charles Jacoby said. Iran and Iraq share a common border. “We have seen consistent Iranian influence across all domains in Iraq, and we continue to see that today,” Jacoby told reporters. Gates, who flew to Baghdad from Tallil, stopped in Jordan yesterday to meet with King Abdullah II, urged more countries in the region to aid in the transition by normalizing relations with Iraq. Sanctions “The deepening economic and diplomatic ties between Iraq and Jordan offer an example of the type of support needed from other countries to fully re-integrate Iraq into the region,” Gates told reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman. “This is the only way to forge a stable and prosperous Iraq, a goal that is in the interest of all the nations of the Middle East.” Gates also told reporters in Amman yesterday that the U.S. would seek international backing for stiffer sanctions on Iran should the Persian Gulf nation rebuff talks aimed at curbing its nuclear program. “We would try to get international support for a much tougher position,” Gates said. He added that any new sanctions wouldn’t be incremental. Earlier yesterday, in meetings with top Israeli officials, Gates said the U.S. plan to engage Iran over its nuclear program wasn’t open ended, while his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak warned that his country is considering all measures if diplomatic efforts fail. “No options should be removed from the table, despite the fact that at this stage priority should be given still to diplomacy,” Barak said at a joint press conference in Jerusalem with Gates. Barak is a former Israeli prime minister. The U.S. and Israel suspect that Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at building a weapon, while Iran says its atomic pursuits are a legitimate effort to generate nuclear power.

DTN News: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Israel Would Dismantle 23 Illegal Outposts

DTN News: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Israel Would Dismantle 23 Illegal Outposts *Source: DTN News / IMEMC News

(NSI News Source Info) JERUSALEM, Israel - July 7, 2009: Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with US Middle East envoy Senator George Mitchell in London on Monday, for their second meeting in the space of a week. During his meeting with the US Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, stated that Israel would dismantle 23 illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank in the coming weeks or months. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and special US envoy George Mitchell prepare to begin a meeting on June 30, 2009 in New York, New York. Barak travelled to New York in an attempt to reach a compromise with the Obama administration over the issue of continuing expansion of settlements in the West Bank. During the London meeting, the second in one week, Barak said that a progress had been reached on settlements issue but added that ‘there is still a long way to go’ before reaching understandings. Israeli sources reported that the ‘progress’ in talks includes ‘clarifying Israel’s position regarding the construction in existing Israeli settlements, and its readiness to hold peace talks with the Palestinians and the Arab world in exchange for normalization with Israel’. He yet reiterated the Israel demand that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jews, and that they should acknowledge that a future agreement with the ‘Jewish state’ would mark the end of the conflict. He also demanded the Palestinian to provide an answer to the status of Hamas movement and the Gaza Strip, Israeli Ynet News reported. After a previous meeting with Mitchell in New York last Tuesday, Barak said that he is optimistic about the chances of launching a comprehensive peace process. Barak demanded the Arab world to normalize with Israel in exchange for advancing peace talks with the Palestinians. This maneuver, first presented by Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, aims at having Arab countries sign permanent peace deals and normalize with the ‘Jewish state’ before a comprehensive peace deal is signed with the Palestinians. In 2002, Arab leaders presented the Arab peace Initiative in which Arab states offered normalization and peace with Israel in return for its full withdrawal from the Arab and Palestinian territories illegally capture in 1967, including East Jerusalem. Israel refused to accept the deal as a full package, the same way it refused to recognize the Road Map Peace plan as a whole package. Israel still rejects to recognize the internationally guaranteed Right of Return of the Palestinian Refugees, refuses any withdrawal from Jerusalem, and refuses to hold talks on other main issues such as borders and natural resources. Israel also insists on keeping its big settlements and settlements blocs in the occupied West Bank as it demands that those settlements would always be part of the ‘Jewish State’ under any peace agreement. The International law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions regard settlements as war crimes, as an occupying power should not settlement part of its own population in territories it occupies. This is beside the basic fact that occupation itself is considered a war crime.

DTN News: Ehud Barak ~ US, Israel Close On Settlements

DTN News: Ehud Barak ~ US, Israel Close On Settlements *Sources: DTN News / The Jerusalem Post (NSI News Source Info) NEW YORK - July 2, 2009: Before heading back to Israel from New York following his meeting with US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday morning that Israel was close to an understanding with the US on settlements, which he stressed were part of a regional comprehensive peace effort. George Mitchell the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, pose for photos before their meeting in New York, Tuesday, June 30, 2009. "We focused mainly on the need for a comprehensive regional agreement," he told Israel Radio. "That includes other Arab states which have something to give to Israel, not just to take" He stressed that the comprehensive effort would also include strengthening Palestinian institutions, and that the the settlement issue, while being "very important," had to be "taken into proportion." Regarding natural settlement growth, Barak stressed that no one in the US actually believed that "we can stop pregnancies or not build kindergartens where required." The defense minister said that although the US had called for a cessation of all settlement activity, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was not that far from the American position, noting that the prime minister had already stated that "no new settlements will be built, there will be no more settlement projects or expropriation of new land." He emphasized that settlement construction approved recently, for example in Modi'in Illit, was for haredi families who cannot afford homes inside the Green Line. Barak also spoke of the remarks attributed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this week in which he reportedly called on Netanyahu to oust Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and replace him with Kadima head Tzipi Livni. "The makeup of the Israel political arena is an issue for us to discuss internally," he said. "There is no way someone outside can try to explain to us what to do." He said there was "absolutely no reason" to think Lieberman was causing Israel damage in the international area, adding that on all state visits he had expressed himself "responsively and with good judgment." However, Barak said he had taken something positive from the report: Sarkozy's call on Kadima to join a unity government. A statement issued moments before the defense minister's interview with Israel Radio said that Barak and Mitchell "discussed the full range of issues related to Middle East peace and security and the contributions Israelis, Palestinians, their neighbors and the international community should make to this effort." The statement went on to say that their discussions covered a wide range of measures needed to create a climate conducive to peace. "These included measures on security and incitement by the Palestinians; steps by Arab states toward normalization with Israel; and, from Israel, actions on access and movement in the West Bank and on settlement activity," it said. "The discussions were constructive and will continue soon."

DTN News: Israel Launches Extensive Nationwide Drill

DTN News: Israel Launches Extensive Nationwide Drill

(NSI News Source Info) JERUSALEM - June 1, 2009: Israel started on Sunday a five-day civil defense exercise, simulating an attack on the Jewish state, local daily Ha'aretz reported. The drill, named Turning Point 3, will be the most extensive one ever held, and will practice new measures to safeguard civilians, said the report, adding that on Tuesday, the exercise will spread nationwide and include emergency sirens and air-raid shelters. A handout picture released by the Israeli Defense Ministry shows Defense Minister Ehud Barak visiting an army unity during a drill at an undisclosed location in Israel on May 26, 2009. Lieutenant General Gaby Ashkenazi, the chief of staff of Israel's armed forces, expressed scepticism over the dialogue the US administration wants to hold in a bid to convince Iran to give up its nuclear programme. On May 25, Ehud Barak said the chances that talks will halt Iran's nuclear programme are "very low" and that the Jewish state would not rule out military action against nuclear sites in the Islamic republic. The Israeli cabinet held a special session on Sunday on moves during an attack. The ministries will then open their emergency headquarters to rehearse various scenarios. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers during the briefing that the drill was a "routine" procedure and not directed against any regional entity in particular. "This is a routine action intended to prepare the Home Front for emergency and has nothing to do with intelligence information of any kind," he was quoted as saying. "We are required to defend Israel, its cities, various installations, from the possibility of attacks by missiles, rockets or other weapons," said the prime minister. "I think the fact that Israel is preparing more from exercise to exercise and is capable of better protecting its citizens decreases the chance that we'll have to use these tools." A special emergency economic committee headed by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was to convene after the cabinet session, said Ha'aretz, adding that the ministries' directors-general and other officials will discuss maintaining civilian life under attack. On Monday, the government's emergency headquarters will discuss coordination measures. On Tuesday morning, after a siren goes off nationwide, the public will be asked to enter protected spaces and shelters at home, work and schools. Tuesday and Wednesday will see various scenarios exercised in a number of municipalities. On Thursday, the police will practice rescuing people trapped in high-rise buildings. Some 70 foreign officials and military representatives from countries including the United States, Turkey, Japan, France and Germany are expected to observe the drill, said Ha'aretz, adding that Israeli defense authorities will then hold a symposium with the foreign delegates. Last week, Barak told Israel Army Radio that the drill is a "routine" procedure. Some observers see this as an attempt to relieve concerns in Arab countries that Israel may use the drill to mask preparations to attack.

India, Israel To Expand Defence Ties

India, Israel To Expand Defence Ties

(NSI News Source Info) BANGALORE - February 14, 2009: Away from prying eyes, kickback allegations and political sensitivities, India and Israel continue to quietly expand their already expansive defence ties, with joint R&D projects ranging from missile systems to ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) platforms as well as arms deals. "We have a very special defence relationship with India.

It's now moving towards joint development of equipment. There are several new projects in the pipeline,'' Major-General Ehud Shani (retd), the chief of Israeli defence export and cooperation agency Sibat, told TOI on Thursday. India is already the largest customer of Israeli weapon systems, notching up imports worth over a whopping $8 billion since the 1999 Kargil conflict.

From UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and anti-missile defence systems to night-vision capabilities and advanced radar systems, India has bought them all from Israel.

So, it's no wonder that Israeli companies are present in full strength in the ongoing Aero India-2009, displaying even their latest offerings like the G-550 "conformal'' AWAC (airborne warning and control system) at the show here. But with both India and Israel careful about keeping their defence ties under wraps, the Israeli companies are not conducting high-voltage publicity campaigns like others to grab eyeballs. The third-generation G-550 AWAC, however, is one of the main attractions of Aero India.

Only two of these AWACS, with a Gulfstream business jet as the basic platform, have so far been inducted into the Israeli air force, said Yair Ramati of the Israel Aerospace Industries. India, in turn, will get the first of its three `Phalcon' AWACS, ordered for IAF under a $1.1-billion deal in March 2004, before the middle of this year, said Israeli officials.

The AWACS, coupled with the nine more Israeli EL/M-2083 Aerostat radars being ordered to add to the two already inducted, will give India potent "eyes in the skies'' to detect enemy air intrusions much earlier than ground-based radars.

"Israel specializes in ISR platforms, the need for which has become even greater after 26/11. It is one of the few countries which gives us top-notch defence technology without strings attached, even though it charges quite a bit,'' said an Indian defence ministry official.

Major examples of the increasing focus on the joint Indo-Israeli projects are the ones to develop a supersonic 70-km range Barak-2 medium range surface-to-air missile (MR-SAM) for the Indian Navy at a cost of Rs 2,606 crore and its longer range 120-km variant (LR-SAM) for IAF for Rs 10,000 crore.

IAF, incidentally, plans to induct nine air defence squadrons of LR-SAM initially. The two projects had run into some rough weather because of the kickbacks case being investigated by CBI into the original Rs 1,160-crore Barak-I deal.

Though the Left has been demanding scrapping of the two projects, the UPA government has pushed ahead with the projects.