Israel preparing for large scale war: cable

WikiLeaks exposes Israel's plans for war
OSLO: Israel's army chief told a US Congress delegation in late 2009 he was preparing for a big war in the Middle East, probably against Hamas or Hezbollah, a leaked US diplomatic cable shows. ''I am preparing the Israeli army for a large-scale war since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite,'' Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi was quoted as saying in a cable sent from the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. The document, dated November 15, was quoted on Sunday by the Osl...

Report: Israel Planning for Large Scale War
Barrackaid on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-In Denial): GOP Midterms Rout Not a Rejection of Obama’s Policies, Voters Telling us to “Work Together”… commieobamie on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-In Denial): GOP Midterms Rout Not a Rejection of Obama’s Policies, Voters Telling us to “Work Together”… Angry White Mouse on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-In Denial): GOP Midterms Rout Not a Rejection of Obama’s Policies, Voters Telling us to “Work Together̶...

Aftenposten: Israel gears up for Iran attack
OSLO, Norway - Israel believes it would have only 10-12 minutes' warning if Iran launched rockets but that threats from Hamas and Hezbollah are the most pressing, according to leaked U.S. State Department cables published in a Norwegian newspaper. The Aftenposten daily on Sunday cited a cable describing a Nov. 15, 2009, meeting between an American congressional delegation and Israel's Military chief in which he reportedly said Israel was preparing to defend itself against such attacks. The...

Wikileaks: Iranian Rockets Can Reach Israel in 12 Minutes
Iran has test-fired a the Shahab-3 missile, which has a range that puts Israel within reach, back in July 2008. (Novinite) According to leaked Wikileaks documents, the Iranian Regime has rockets that can reach Israel in 12 minutes and Hezbollah now has 40,000 rockets that can reach all of Israel. Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi told a U.S. Congressional delegation in November 2009 that the Islamic Republic has over 300 missiles that can reach the Jewish State in up to 12 minu...

Israel has only 12-minute warning if Iran attacks - WikiLeaks
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi reportedly said in 2009 that Israel would have only between 10 and 12 minutes of warning in the event of an Iranian missile attack, AFP quoted leaked U.S. cables on Sunday. According to the cable authored by the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, Lieutenant General Ashkenazi told the American delegation led by Missourian Congressman Ike Skelton that Iran possesses some 300 Shihab rockets that are capable of reaching Israel within minutes, leaving I...

Mossad estimates Hezbullah can fire 400-600 rockets per day
A cable released by Wikileaks discloses that a 'senior Mossad official' believes that Hezbullah can launch between 400-600 rockets per day in the event of war. Hizbullah would likely shoot between 400 and 600 missiles a day into Israel during a future war, a senior Mossad official told a congressional delegation to Israel in 2009, according to a US diplomatic cable published on Sunday. The cable from November 2009 summed up meetings a delegation led by Ike Skelton (D-Missouri) held with top of...

Leaked cable: Israel was prepared for war
JERUSALEM, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Israel's Chief of Staff told a U.S. congressional delegation in 2009 he was preparing his country for a "large-scale war," a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable said. Details of the cable, from the whistle-blowing Web site Wikileaks, were first published Sunday by Norway's Aftenposten newspaper. The cable summed up a meeting in Israel led by U.S. Congressman Ike Skelton with members of the Israeli intelligence echelon, Israel Radio said Monday. The chief of staff, Lt.Gen. Gab...

How Iran Is Exploiting Palestinian "Resistance" to further its Goal for a New World Order
Over the past week, Iranian media have made repeated reference to the second anniversary of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, citing Palestinian "resistance" (terror) as the only option for resolving the conflict. As Peace Talks between Israel and the Palestinians are stalled, Iran fills the vacuum by encouraging Hamas to continue the armed struggle against Israel and by trying to convince Arabs from moderate states to support Iran's Militant course of action against Israel. Tehran views the "2...

This should help you sleep well tonight
If you're an Israeli, or even if you're not, the latest release from Wikileaks ought to help you sleep well tonight. According to (soon to be former) IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, Iran could attack Israel within ten to twelve minutes. But Ashkenazi fears Hamas and Hezbullah more. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that Iran has over 300 missiles that could reach Israel within 10-12 minutes, according to cables released by WikiLeaks on Sunday. During a November 15, 2009 meeting with a ...

Wikileaks: Israel Plans Total War on Lebanon, Gaza
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has summarized an Israeli Military briefing by Israeli Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi of a US congressional delegation a little over a year ago and concludes that ‘ The memo on the talks between Ashkenazi and [Congressman Ike] Skelton, as well as numerous other documents from the same period of time, to which Aftenposten has gained access, leave a clear message: The Israeli Military is forging ahead at full speed with preparations for a new war in t...

Cable: Israel Planned Another Large Scale War in Late 2009
Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has released a new Wikileaks cable in which Israeli Army Chief Gabi Ashkenazi informed a US Congressional delegation that he was preparing for a “large scale war,” though he hadn’t picked a target yet. The war would’ve been the second large scale war of the year, as Israel had just gotten done invading the Gaza Strip in January of 2009. The document was dated November 15, 2009, and believed it was an opportune time for another war. Ashken...

Now it is Palestine's turn to create facts on the ground | Simon Tisdall
As unfulfilled hopes of peace in the Middle East in 2010 fade from memory, the spectre of war in 2011 looms large. The collapse of Barack Obama's attempt to broker direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians has created a dangerous vacuum. Men of violence vie to fill it. There is another way. It could prevent renewed bloodletting, would potentially provide relief and justice for both sides, would likely be supported by most Israelis and Palestinians, and would help clear the path to a ...

Aftenposten: Israel gears up for Iran attack
OSLO, Norway - Wikileaks documents published in a Norwegian newspaper indicate that Israel would have 10-12 minutes' warning if Iran launched rockets against that country. Norwegian daily Aftenposten cites a cable describing a Nov. 15, 2009, meeting between an American congressional delegation and Israel's Military chief in which he reportedly said Israel was gearing up to defend itself against such attacks. The paper on Sunday cited Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi as telling the delegation that I...

WikiLeaks:Hezbollah threat to Israel: 'Acute', unlike that of Iran ...
"... Ashkenazi told the delegation that "rocket threat against Israel is more serious than ever. Therefore, Israel has a strong emphasis on Missile Defense." He added that although the Iranian threat is serious, the threat from Hamas and Hizbullah, which are funded by Iran, is most acute. Their rockets are more accurate than Iran's, due to their proximity to Israel. "We therefore believe," Ashkenazi said, "that the next war will take place in the same ar...

Increasing Hate from Hamas
Hamas has increased its incitement to violence and Genocide of the Jewish State, despite calls by the international community for Israel to open a new dialogue with the group, according to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. "Over the last few years there has been a steady drumbeat of calls from leading figures in the international community for Israel to open a dialogue with Hamas," writes Jonathan D. Halevi in a new paper. "Unfortunately, there is no evidence of a new pragmatism among th...

WikiLeaks quotes IDF chief: Iran could hit Israel within 12 minutes
Gabi Ashkenazi told U.S. officials in 2009 that Israel was preparing for war against Hamas, Hezbollah and that rocket threat against Israel is 'more serious than ever.'...

America's only on-campus ISM Chapter
New York State's Bard College has a campus chapter of the Terrorist-supporting International Solidarity Movement with the support and approval of the college President, Leon Botstein. Botstein has decided to allow the International Solidarity Movement(ISM), a group that openly admits it works with State Department designated terrorist groups such as Hamas, the PFLP, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to set up shop on his campus using campus facilities and Student activity money to train ISM activ...

"..Israel hawks have doomed themselves to the hell of Sisyphus, forced to roll the same stone up the hill over & over again
"...The memos reveal that none of the goals of Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon and its 2008-9 war on little Gaza were achieved, and that both Hamas and Hizbullah have effectively re-armed. What makes Ashkenazi think things would be different this time? Israel hawks have doomed themselves to the particular hell of Sisyphus, forced to roll the same stone up the hill over and over again with no hope of ever balancing it on the summit. You know, Israel could have a peace treaty with Syria and Le...

U.S. renews Mideast peace bid after holiday break
Jerusalem | Mon Jan 3, 2011 9:05am EST Jerusalem (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday senior U.S. officials will return to the Middle East this week to renew peacemaking efforts with Israel and the Palestinians. Direct Peace Talks collapsed late last year in a dispute over Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank, part of the land Palestinians seek for a state. Netanyahu said White House Middle East aide Dennis Ross and other U.S. officials would ar...

The Economist's Appeasement
[ By Ira Sharkansky , via email.] While I do not claim expertise in the history or politics of Great Britain, my impression is that the Munich Agreement of 1938, involving Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Hitler (" . . . peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.") is an icon of shame in that country. It represented great power pressure on the weak government of Czechoslovakia, and traded away part of another country's territory for the empty hope of peace. You find reference...

Samaritan struggle
The Samaritan community has lived in the Middle East for thousands of years - but they are having to find new ways to secure their future, Helena Merriman reports from the West Bank. On 8 November 2001, during the second Intifada (uprising), Joseph Cohen, a 56-year-old Samaritan, was driving home from the Palestinian town of Nablus. "When I was almost home, I came across two Palestinian boys and they shot me," he says. "The blood ran from me like water." He lost control of hi...

The Rapist Ex-President of Israel
It was not exactly uplifting to read about the conviction of Moshe Katzav, the former president of Israel, on several counts of Rape and other accusations of sexual depredation. And, to tell the real truth, the Jewish State has had a rash of such offenders at high and middle levels that bring no glory to what is otherwise a highly cultured and civilized society - kind, demanding of standards, even sweet. The sordid picture of Katzav lying in court and out--a powerful figure who achieved the hig...

Goldbergs next war sure sounds a lot like his last one
Three months back, Jeffrey Goldberg published a long piece in the Atlantic called "The Point of No Return," making the Israeli case for the United States to attack Iran in Never-again terms: Iran is threatening the existence of “the Jewish people,” Israel is bound to act if the U.S. fails to, the U.S. will do a better job. The piece has stirred a lot of discussion. Goldberg has gone on national media and panels at thinktanks to promote these bellicose ideas. But no one has pointed out that...

Palestinian killed at W.Bank checkpoint
JERUSALEM -- Israeli Troops on Sunday shot and killed a Palestinian who approached them at a West Bank checkpoint holding a bottle, the Israeli Military and Palestinian officials said. A Military spokeswoman said the man, identified by Palestinian officials as 24-year-old Ahmed Muslamani, did not heed orders to halt, and they opened fire as he came closer. Muslamani was shot in the chest and leg, said a Palestinian medical worker who collected the body at the Israeli Military checkpoint near the...

Palestinian killed at West Bank checkpoint
Israeli Troops shot and killed a Palestinian who approached them at a West Bank checkpoint holding a bottle, the Israeli Military and Palestinian officials said. A Military spokeswoman said the man, identified by Palestinian officials as 24-year-old Ahmed Muslamani, did not heed orders to halt, and they opened fire as he came closer. Muslamani was shot in the chest and leg, said a Palestinian medical worker who collected the body at the Israeli Military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Na...