Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

[robertik1]

Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:48:04




Israel has reportedly started to set up an 'Iran Command' within its air force as part of preparations for a possible war against Iran.

According to reports by unnamed Israeli military sources, the regime's air force has launched 'Iran Command' to coordinate operations to 'confront the growing threat from Tehran'.

The command's operations are aimed at improving coordination among Israeli ballistic missiles and air and missile brigades which deploy the Arrow and Patriot missile systems.

The report comes amid ramped up Israeli rhetoric against Iran over the country's nuclear program.

Earlier this week, Israeli deputy prime minister Shaoul Mofaz accused Iran of running a nuclear weapons program and threatened to launch a military strike on Iran with the help of US if Tehran continues with its nuclear program.

This is while Iran insists that it is conducting its nuclear program under the regulations of the UN nuclear watchdog and insists that its program is aimed at generating electricity for a growing population.

Israel, believed to be the sole possessor of 'at least 150 nuclear warheads' in the Middle East, seeks to persuade US President George W. Bush to halt Iran's nuclear program by military rather than diplomatic means before the end of his term in office.

CS/BGH

[robertik1]

Re: Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=60791&sectionid=351020101

Israel silent on rehearsal for Iran war
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:59:11

Israel declines to elaborate on its early June military exercise, which is believed to have been launched in preparation for war with Iran.

A New York Times report published Friday quoted Pentagon officials as saying that over 100 Israeli F-16s and F-15s staged a maneuver over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece in the first week of June.

According to the report, the Israeli jets flew more than 900 miles, roughly the distance from Israeli airfields to an Iranian nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. The exercise also consisted of refueling tankers and helicopter operations for rescuing downed pilots.

In a statement released on Friday, the Israeli military claimed that the air force 'regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel'.

When asked to elaborate on the issue, Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, provided no information other than that provided by the military statement.

In a recent interview, Ehud Olmert said the current international sanctions against Iran would probably not yield a positive result for Israel.

On June 6, Israeli deputy prime minister Shaul Mofaz threatened to wage war on Iran should the country continue its nuclear activities.

The Israeli regime accuses Tehran of pursuing a military nuclear program. Iran, however, insists that its enrichment activities are in line with the Non-Proliferation Treaty and that nuclear weapons have no place in its defense doctrine.

[Azad]

Re: Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

Iran has full rights to lunch a preemptive strike on israel and it should. The Iranian defense ministry should at least issue a statement of its preemptive rights so it won't be labeled as terrorist (as if that will work with the joo media).

[Azad]

Re: Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

'confront the growing threat from Tehran'.

Their twisted lies have no end to them. Watch the stock market on Monday.

[yerazhishda]

Re: Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

Israel would be making a huge mistake if they started a war with Iran - it would just give an excuse for other Israel-hating countries to join in against Israel. You can basically guarantee that Israel would be "wiped off the map".

[Federate]

Re: Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

The range of the Shahab-3 which is an Iranian made ballistic missile:

[Siamanto]

Re: Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

Iran has full rights to lunch a preemptive strike on israel and it should.

I hope that the Iran is wise enough not to consider an option - i.e. a preemptive strike - that would give Israel legitimate reasons to strike back.
How would Iran justify the "preemptive" strike???? With references to a press article???

[Siamanto]

Re: Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

Israel would be making a huge mistake if they started a war with Iran - it would just give an excuse for other Israel-hating countries to join in against Israel. You can basically guarantee that Israel would be "wiped off the map".

Israel has already made many mistakes, and instead of repairing the errors of the past, they seem to be accumulating more. Israel's behavior is typical to any bully who believes to be invincible. They need to learn to behave; unfortunately, bullies/skinheads do not learn until it's far too late.


I frequently see footages showing their atrocities on TV, but the following is still fresh on my mind

'xxxish settler attack' on film
By Tim Franks
BBC News, Jerusalem

Advertisement

Footage of West Bank attack

Footage from a video camera handed out by an Israeli human rights group appears to show xxxish settlers beating up Palestinians in the West Bank.
An elderly shepherd, his wife and a nephew said they were attacked by four masked men for allowing their animals to graze near the settlement of Susia.

The rights group, B'Tselem, said the cameras were provided to enable Palestinians to get proof of attacks.

A spokesman for the Israeli police said that an investigation was under way.

So far, no-one has been arrested.


Baseball bats
For the past year, B'Tselem has handed out video cameras to Palestinians as part of its "Shooting Back" project.

Video of alleged attack near Susia (08 June 2008) (Footage courtesy of B'Tselem)
The Palestinians said they were attacked after refusing to move

The BBC has been given exclusive access to the footage of this particular attack, which happened earlier this week. The date and time on the camera footage shows that it is Sunday afternoon.

Over the brow of the hill walk four masked men holding baseball bats. To the right of the screen, in the foreground, stands a 58-year-old Palestinian woman.

Thamam al-Nawaja has been herding her goats close to the xxxish settlement of Susia, near Hebron in the southern West Bank.

Within a few seconds, she, along with her 70-year-old husband and one of her nephews, will be beaten up.

As the first blows land, the woman filming - the daughter-in-law of the elderly couple - drops the camera and runs for help.


'Ten-minute warning'
Mrs Nawaja spent three days in hospital after the attack.

Returning to the small Palestinian encampment close to the red-roofed houses of Susia, she stepped slowly and unsteadily out of the minibus.


Thamam al-Nawaja returns to her village following the attack
They don't want us to stay on our land, but we won't leave - we'll die here
Thamam al-Nawaja

A dark stain showed through the white gauze covering her broken right arm. Her veil was lifted gingerly away from her lined face. A bloodshot eye and intersection of scars revealed a fractured left cheek.

"The settlers gave us a 10-minute warning to clear off from the land," she told me, her voice a tired, cracked whisper.

She and her husband had stood their ground. It is at this point that her voice grows louder.

"They don't want us to stay on our land. But we won't leave. We'll die here. It's ours," she added.

Indeed, the rest of the world regards xxxish settlements in the West Bank such as Susia, as illegal, built on occupied territory.

Those settlements have been a large part of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis for the last 41 years. The daily confrontation is not often caught on camera. That, now, is beginning to change.


Video proof
The attack near Susia was filmed with one of 100 video cameras that B'Tselem has handed out to Palestinians in the region.


When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened - they now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon
Oren Yakobovich
B'Tselem

The thinking behind the project is that when trouble flares, rather than just giving a statement to the Israeli police or army, video carries much more weight.

"The difference is amazing," says Oren Yakobovich, who leads the Shooting Back project.

"When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened. They now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon."

We asked a spokesman from the Susia settlement for a comment on Sunday's incident. He declined.

Inside one of the tents belonging to the Palestinians living near Susia, we watched the footage of the aftermath of the attack - the victims slumped by the roadside, bloodied, waiting for an ambulance.

The bright, wide eyes of the children shone with the light of the small television screen.

Violence against xxxs as well as Palestinians has long scarred this place. Video may now may be giving us a new and raw view.

But for most people here, the only answer - a political deal - remains out of sight.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7451691.stm

Israeli settlers' attack on Palestinian family captured on video
The recording's release comes as the UN Security Council prepares to discussa resolution demanding the halt of Israeli settlement construction.
By Arthur Bright

posted June 13, 2008 at 10:00 am EDT

A Palestinian family's brutal beating by Israeli settlers has been captured on video and aired just a week before the UN Security Council is set to consider a resolution condemning construction of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.

The BBC reports that the video, recorded last Sunday, shows four men attacking an elderly shepherd, his wife, and his nephew after the four told the shepherd to move his flock, which was grazing near the settlement of Susia in the West Bank. The BBC describes the film, which is available on its website:

Over the brow of the hill walk four masked men holding baseball bats. To the right of the screen, in the foreground, stands a 58-year-old Palestinian woman.

Thamam al-Nawaja has been herding her goats close to the xxxish settlement of Susia, near Hebron in the southern West Bank.

Within a few seconds, she, along with her 70-year-old husband and one of her nephews, will be beaten up.

As the first blows land, the woman filming - the daughter-in-law of the elderly couple - drops the camera and runs for help.

The BBC writes that Mrs. Nawaja was hospitalized for three days after the attack with a broken arm and fractured cheek. After returning home, she told the BBC that her attackers "don't want us to stay on our land. But we won't leave. We'll die here. It's ours." Agence France-Presse reports that an Israeli police spokesperson says an investigation has been opened, but no arrests have been made.

The International Middle East Media Center, a joint media effort between Palestinian and international journalists, reports that "Attacks by extremist Israeli xxxish settlers against the indigenous Palestinian population of the West Bank are common, and the incidents have increased as Israeli settlements have expanded on Palestinian land over the last 15 years."

The recording of this particular attack was made possible by the "Shooting Back" project launched by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. On its website, B'Tselem writes that by handing out more than 100 video cameras to Palestinian families in the West Bank, it hopes to provide them with a tool to prove illegal abuses they suffer at the hands of settlers.

Citizen journalism – a phenomenon that has garnered much attention of late – is particularly relevant in the context of the Israeli occupation, in which various types of abuse occur on a frequent basis and impact the daily lives of Palestinians. The ever-present violations of human rights constitute the mundane, ongoing reality of military occupation and settler enterprise, and are too often overlooked.

B'Tselem also uses this footage as a powerful tool for filing complaints with the army and the police, and as supporting evidence in court cases. In the West Bank, victims of abuse by settlers or soldiers are often discouraged from lodging complaints by weighty bureaucratic obstacles. B'Tselem now uses video as one way to promote accountability and seek legal redress for Palestinian complainants.

A B'Tselem spokesperson told the BBC that the project is proving effective.

The thinking behind the project is that when trouble flares, rather than just giving a statement to the Israeli police or army, video carries much more weight.

"The difference is amazing," says Oren Yakobovich, who leads the Shooting Back project.

"When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened. They now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon."

We asked a spokesman from the Susia settlement for a comment on Sunday's incident. He declined.

The release of the attacks comes just a week before the UN Security Council is set to consider a resolution demanding a halt to Israel's ongoing construction of settlements in Palestinian territory. Haaretz reports that the the resolution was spurred in part by the Israeli government's announcement of plans to build several hundred more settlements in largely Palestinian East Jerusalem.

UN sources told Haaretz that the draft is the first that addresses the settlement issue in "a sweeping, unequivocal and direct manner." According to the sources, the driving force behind the resolution is Saudi Arabia, although officially, it was an initiative of the Arab League.

Diplomats affiliated with the Arab bloc said that Arab representatives at the UN have been discussing the new resolution for several weeks, during which time the draft has undergone several revisions. ...

If the resolution is put to a vote, most Security Council members are expected to vote in favor of it. However, the United States' position on the issue is not yet clear. Although the American administration has consistently opposed Israeli construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the U.S. nonetheless generally vetoes Security Council resolutions critical of Israel, viewing them as unhelpful interference in the peace process.

Haaretz adds that the Arab bloc was also inspired to submit the resolution by recent comments made by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. In a message read June 3 during the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, Mr. Ban condemned the settlement construction, saying:

Continuing settlement activity contravenes both international law and Israel's obligations under the Road Map. Also, the construction of the barrier in the occupied Palestinian territory contravenes the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. These activities must cease at once.

Voice of America reports that the White House would prefer that Israel not build more settlements, but that Israel does not believe it is doing anything wrong.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the Bush administration does not believe Israel should build any more settlements. She said the moves exacerbate tension in peace talks with Palestinians.

The road map peace plan requires Israel to freeze all settlement activity. Israel says it never agreed to freeze construction in Jerusalem, and says neighborhoods in the city have a different status from settlements in the occupied West Bank.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0613/p99s01-duts.html

[yerazhishda]

Re: Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

I hope that the Iran is wise enough not to consider an option - i.e. a preemptive strike - that would give Israel legitimate reasons to strike back.
How would Iran justify the "preemptive" strike???? With references to a press article???

The U.S. would probably consider an Iranian strike on Israel as an act of aggression against the U.S. It would give the neo-cons a reason to go from Iraq straight into Iran.

Anyway I think a lot of it is just cold-war type of bullxxxx - you know one side trying to intimidate the other.

[Armanen]

Re: Israel launches 'Iran Command' for war

But during the cold war the forces were about even, or at least the opposing sides thought so. In this case israel is better equipped (or so it thinks) then Iran and has various forces within the american government on its side. The zionist cabel is trying to provoke more than intimidate.