Mission & Justice

4/10/08

Some members of the United Nations Security Council have done things “infinitely worse” than Iran, which is seeking a seat on the council, the president of the UN General Assembly said on Friday. Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, who was foreign minister in the left-wing Sandinista government that ruled Nicaragua from 1979-1990, was asked whether he thought Iran should be on the 15-nation Security Council when the country is under UN sanctions over its nuclear program. “There are members of the Security Council right now who have done things infinitely worse than Iran could ever do,” D’Escoto told a news conference.   When asked who he was referring to, D’Escoto, who has a history of criticizing U.S. administrations, quoted a Spanish saying: “For those who have the power of understanding, you need only a few words.”

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3/10/08; Time Magazine

Security sources in Israel voiced concern that a new American radar system, to be deployed in the Negev next month, will expose Israel’s military secrets as it records every movement in Israel’s skies, Time Magazine reported Thursday. One top official complained “It’s a like a pair of golden handcuffs on Israel.” According to the sources, the U.S. also offered the same radar system to Turkey and Jordan, but they declined. They expressed concern over the fact that the system will be operated exclusively by U.S. military personnel, leaving Israel with no direct access. The U.S. radar will be able to monitor the take-off of any aircraft or missile up to 1,500 miles away - giving Israel a vital extra 60-70 seconds to react if Iran fired a missile, Israeli military sources told Time Magazine. Israel has its own radar system trained on Iran, but its range is much shorter.

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30/9/09

Respected Middle East expert Michael Rubin’s assessment of the threat from Iran (”A threat bigger than Wall St”, 27-28/9) is pretty depressing but realistic. After all, Iran is on the way to developing nuclear weapons; its President threatens to eventually use these weapons against Israel and Iran already supports Hezbollah and Hamas who are at war with Israel. Why shouldn’t Israel take all these threats against its existence seriously? President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not sound like he is bluffing. Israel is all alone and must take whatever action is necessary to prevent or delay Iran’s future nuclear aggression.

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Jason Koutsoukis; 30/9/08

The United States has deployed a sophisticated long-range radar system in Israel capable of providing crucial early warnings in case of missile attacks. There is a growing anxiety that Iran, which makes no secret of its long-range ballistic missiles or its uranium enrichment program, could launch an offensive against Israel.According to the US newspaper Defense News, the radar system was flown to Israel in parts over the last week and will be installed at a military base in the Negev Desert in the south of the country.

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26/9/08

The British newspaper The Guardian on Thursday quoted European officials as saying that the United States earlier this year refused to agree to an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. According to the report, “European diplomatic sources” said that “Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites but was told by President George W. Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency.” The Guardian quoted the sources as saying that the issue was raised during a one-on-one meeting between Bush and outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert during the American president’s trip to Israel in May to mark its 60th anniversary.

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Shenaz Kermali; 25/9/08

Jamia Tuz Zahra is Iran’s largest women’s seminary and houses 800 of its 3,000 local and international students Deep within the theological heartland of Iran lies the city of Qom, also known as the “Shia Vatican”. Situated 100km southwest from Tehran, the city is reknowned for its seminaries, or hawzas, which are home to about 60,000 clerical students who come from across Iran and elsewhere to train in everything from religion and jurisprudence to modern political thought and the Greek Classics. While many of the female students attend the hawza solely to attain the status of Aalima (a senior preacher), some also choose to take courses as part of a ‘gap year’ before beginning university. Zahra Merali, a 21-year-old Kenyan Muslim, has been living and studying at Jamia Tuz Zahra, Qom’s largest women’s hawza, that houses 800 of its 3,000 foreign and local students.

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Shlomo Shamir; 22/9/08

A group of Iranian organizations working in the U.S. is preparing to stage a rally against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of the Iranian President’s visit to New York on Monday for the United Nations General Assembly. The Iranian activists, some of them known as human rights activists, are organizing a mass demonstration on Tuesday, titled “Ahmadinejad, why are you executing children?” Within the framework of the rally, to be held in the plaza adjacent to the United Nations building in New York, organizers plan to erect a “wall of shame” which will include a series of pictures and documented proof of Iran’s abuse of jailed minors.

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Linda S. Heard, 16/9/08

The clock is ticking. The demise of the aggressive “do-anything-for-Israel” Bush administration is nearing. The window of opportunity for a US-backed/tolerated Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities may be closing. And as they have done throughout recent years, politicians and pundits are speculating as to whether or not Tel Aviv will present the world with an October/November surprise. Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev is a believer. “We know that certain players are planning an attack against Iran,” he said on Friday, while warning that its implementation would endanger the entire world.

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Shlomo Shamir and Natasha Mozgovaya; 12/9/08

Five American religious organizations said they plan to host a dinner to break the Ramadan fast with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his upcoming visit to the United States. The Mennonite Central Committee, the Quakers, the World Council of Churches, Religions for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee are sponsoring the meeting with President Ahmadinejad on September 25 in New York City.The dinner to break the Ramadan fast, called an Iftar, is being billed as ?an international dialogue between religious leaders and political figures? in a conversation “about the role of religions in tackling global challenges and building peaceful societies.”

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9/10/08

Iran’s parliamentary committee has thrown out a proposal that activists feared would have encouraged polygamy in country, according to media reports on Tuesday. Activists have lobbied against the bill on families, which they said would have allowed a man to take a new wife without the consent of the first one. The bill also covered other family issues. Parliament is expected to vote on the amended version.

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