Kosovo Albanian Power Struggles and Attendant Factors Overwhelm UNMIK Capacities as Major Violence Looms
Analysis. By Valentine Spyroglou, GIS South-Eastern Station Chief.
The potential for inter-Albanian violence in Kosovo, and not only Albanian nationalistic violence against minority Serbs and neighboring states like the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Montenegro, is becoming more and more likely as the rival Kosovo Albanian politicians plan to enhance their power through all means, from political to intelligence-gathering to violence.
Even though the Albanians are united in their desire for an independent “Kosovar” state, away from Serbia, there are very strong and long-lived divisions and animosities just under the surface, and these could blow up in any time. At present, the two major factors influencing and exacerbating this effect are the growing prestige and power of the Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) extremist movement, and the sudden disappearance of Ramush Haradinaj, the ex-KLA commander and onetime Kosovo Prime Minister, who was sent back to The Hague, on February 26, 2007, to stand trial for war crimes committed in the Kosovo war.
Power vacuum and threat assessment.
With Ramush Haradinaj gone from the picture, for now, the stage is set for a competition for power between Hashim (also transliterated as Hasim) Thaci, who has great ambitions for a heightened future rôle; Agim Ceku (also Çeku), another KLA veteran and current Prime Minister; and Daut Haradinaj (and the rest of the Haradinaj clan), as well as other more marginal players like the publisher-turned-politician, Veton Surroi, who runs the Ora movement.
Hashim Thaci, another KLA veteran leader, is now the lead opposition politician in Kosovo with his PDK party. He has been in recent speeches trying to appear like a moderate, pro-UN leader, and is telling Albanians to accept the plan devised by the Finnish UN chief negotiator for Kosovo’s future status, Martti Ahtisaari, although this plan does not state exactly that Kosovo would be independent.
Thaci also tried publicly to emphasize that the rights of minorities should to be safeguarded, in order to win the approval of international audiences. Serbs are, however, suspicious of Thaci and the entire former KLA leadership, remembering the ethnic cleansing carried out against them by these leaders.
One of the main battlefields for control between the political/paramilitary elite, and which has been used for a very long time already, is the use of private intelligence agencies under political parties or leaders.
Kosovo SHIK, Directly Linked With Albanian SHIK Intelligence Organization, Prepares for “Big Push” For Kosovo Independence.
In Autumn 2006, Prime Minister Agim Ceku decided to create an official intelligence service for Kosovo, despite the cautions of the UNMIK authorities, who did not mandate such a group, with its dangerous implications for the safety of ethnic minorities and, indeed, its own international staff.
However, a task force within the UK Ministry of Defence, the Security Sector Development Advisory Team (SSDAT), was sent to Kosovo in February and April 2005, officially for fact-finding and advisory purposes, but really to retrieve sensitive data of interest to the UK-US intelligence community regarding Kosovo’s potential to be a terrorist “hotspot”, a British source surveyed by GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs stated.
The group’s concluding report, in May 2005, noted that “parallel structures”, including “intelligence structures affiliated to political parties” in Kosovo, are important in “undermining security”.
GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs has learned that the British team confirmed — although it did not publish in its public report — findings that the most potential for upheaval lay with the commonly-known illegal intelligence services associated with the Albanian political parties/paramilitary leaders.
The League for a Democratic Kosovo (LDK), formerly led by the now-deceased Ibrahim Rugova, was long known for having its own private intelligence services, with the tutelage of Rame Maraj, fronting these activities officially through the so-called Institute for Researching Public Opinion and Strategies (IHPSO).
The eyes and ears of Thaci’s PDK, on the other hand, is the SHIK (the same name as the intelligence service of the Republic of Albania), led by Kadri Veseli. In a GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs report , it was revealed that a leading jihad supporter, and former KLA commander, Xhevat Haliti, was another key figure in the K-SHIK, as were Rexhep Selimi, Ljatif Gasi and the notorious gangster, Sabit Geci. The group takes financing partly from the organized crime.
Further, the roots of the K-SHIK lie in the KLA structures and it received early funding from the Kosovo Albanian diaspora (such as the notorious “Homeland Calling” war fundraising movement), and, to keep legitimate front and contact with certain members of the international community who had — and still have — open access to all locations in Kosovo and throughout the Balkans.
A major example of the international contacts sustained by K-SHIK include The Hague Tribunal (the International Criminal Court on the Former Yugoslavia: ICCY). K-SHIK has infiltrated agents into target areas of interest (chiefly, the Serb-populated ones) through apparently good-willed NGOs, mainly, the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (KLMDNJ).
The Haradinaj effect.
There are conspicuous comparisons between the situations in April 2005, when Ramush Haradinaj was first indicted by the Hague, and now, when he has been returned there (as of February 26, 2007) to await trial. In the first period, the departure of the powerful Haradinaj led directly to LDK-PDK infighting, in which the parties’ intelligence services were used in tit-for-tat bombings, raids and intimidation attempts.
It is highly likely, GIS sources say, that with Haradinaj again being gone in The Hague, this time for potentially much longer, and with Thaci’s position rising strongly by each day, a new “intelligence war” marked by inter-Albanian fighting will confuse and exacerbate the situation.
That is, this renewed infighting will occur at the same time that severe nationalist elements, led by Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination movement, strike against the international UNMIK authorities in order to influence the final status negotiations with Serbia and accelerate the à fait accompli of Kosovo independence, by intimidating the international administration into leaving or drastically restricting its activities.
Signs of this have already materialized: the bombing of an OSCE [Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe] parking lot in Pec, Western Kosovo, on February 26, 2007; a bombing of UNMIK vehicles a week before in Priština; a major Self-Determination protest on February 10, 2007, which led to two Albanian protesters being killed, dramatically increasing the anti-UN sentiment of the people; and other actions consistent with this trend, such as numerous weapons seizures and resumed checkpoints in different parts of Kosovo.
Destabilizing neighboring states for political clout.
The Self-Determination movement has also pledged to carry its message and movement into neighboring FYROM, with the intention of causing destabilization there so as to influence again the status negotiations. In fact, the group stated its plan to open an office in FYROM and to agitate for the rights of Kosovo Albanian students who chose to study in the major Albanian-populated city of FYROM, Tetovo.
See: Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis: Arms Smuggling Routes Enhance Extremist Capabilities in South-West Balkans; Albanian Separatists Expected to Mobilize in Spring if Kosovo Does Not Get Independence.
However, the PDK leader, Thaci, has strongly criticized Kurti’s group for this plan, and so has the former militant leader of the Albanian NLA (National Liberation Army), Ali Ahmeti, also one of the founders of the KLA, who is from FYROM.4
On February 22, 2007, Self-Determination Movement deputy chairman Glauk Konjufca declared that the Ceku Government’s official acceptance of Ahtisaari’s plan for Kosovo would anger Albanians – who want nothing less than absolute independence from Serbia, to the extent that FYROM may also be destabilized – and in that stage the Haradinaj-Ahmeti militant groupings would return to action a long and extended theater of operation, from Kosovo through western FYROM to Struga in the south, and terrorist attacks elsewhere and in the centre of the country could not be excluded either.
However, the criticism from Ahmeti, now president of the DUI (Democratic Union for Integration), the main Albanian opposition party in FYROM, is deceptive.
GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs sources in Kosovo reported earlier in the Winter of 2006-07, and it was later confirmed in German reports, that Ahmeti had made a secret visit to the Haradinaj family compound in western Kosovo to plan a scheme of action.
It is in Ahmeti’s interest to challenge the FYROM Government, to force it to allow him to officially return to power, and it is the Haradinaj clan’s interest to take the credit for “liberating” Kosovo, and to exercise the pressure on international administrators in Kosovo to ensure that Ramush Haradinaj, is acquitted and freed from The Hague trial.
Another reason to be skeptical of Ahmeti/DUI’s statement against the extremist movement is the fact that Ahmeti’s uncle, and another founder of the KLA, Fazli Veliu, participated openly in the February 10, 2007, Priština protest in which two people were killed.
Hashim Thaci, who is believed to have allied himself with DUI’s rival, the incumbent DPA (Democratic Party of Albanians), now in coalition in the FYROM Government, openly accused Veliu/Ahmeti of bringing in student protesters by bus for the February 10, 2007, protest from FYROM.
On February 21, 2007, Self-Determination announced opening of offices in Tetovo and Skopje, to organize Albanian students, allegedly to help their civil rights but more realistically to prepare them for future protests and destabilizing acts.
On a related topic, during the 2001 civil war in FYROM — started by Ahmeti’s NLA — it was widely reported that Daut Haradinaj personally oversaw a foreign Islamic Mujahedin brigade which was conducted across the border to the Tetovo theater of conflict, where it then conducted atrocities against Government troops; the connections between the Albanian paramilitary structures and al-Qaida have been widely reported since the mid-1990s.
At the same time, Thaci’s SHIK and the remnants of LDK illegal intelligence structures have been allowed by the UN and KFOR (NATO) forces to remain functioning in Kosovo, because they promise the latter to supply information on Islamic elements.
However, in most cases, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs sources attest, the quality of information they supply is of little value or even deliberately false.
Similarly, the ethnic-Albanians have targeted Montenegro. Montenegrin State Prosecutor Vesna Medenica had announced in November 2006, that some Albanians arrested on September 2006 in Montenegro had been charged among others for terrorist acts.
The Albanians were arrested in the southern border town of Tuzi, in the eve of Montenegro’s September 10, 2006, parliamentary elections, the first since the country declared its independence from Serbia. Tuzi is about 20 kilometers south of Podgorica, close to the border with Albania, and is dominated by ethnic Albanians who account five percent of Montenegro’s population.
The members of the group, which is called The Movement for the Rights of Albanians in Montenegro, were planning terrorist attacks in Tuzi in order to intimidate the non-Albanian population there and gain autonomy for the region. The plan’s code-name was Eagle Flight, according to the State Prosecutor Medenica.
At the time, reports revealed that different weapons, including rocket-propelled grenade launchers, mortars, grenades, explosives, machineguns and ammunition, had been found during a raid on houses in the town and in nearby caves.
The group receives financial support from members of the Albanian diaspora in the West, mainly from immigrants in the United States, which helped it secure the weapons, munitions, forged documents and other means needed to carry out the plans. Medenica also quoted that the group maintained close ties with former members of KLA, with whom it planned to carry out joint terrorist attacks.
No matter who the international community overseers in Kosovo side with, they risk of being manipulated by pro-jihadist or jihad-indifferent criminal elements, therefore, and with the bulk of the Administration’s energy being left for self-protection and watching the political situation of Kosovo, they have not many resources left to verify the “intelligence” they receive from such untrustworthy groups.
Meanwhile, the “civil society” elements on which UNMIK also relies to get information (charities, NGOs, confidence-building groups, legal organizations, sport youth associations, conflict resolution organizations) have been completely infiltrated by Islamist-sympathizing elements, some with direct connections to Iran, Saudi Arabia, and so on.
The cumulative result of these factors is the current existence of an extremely volatile, fluid, and particularly dangerous phase in Kosovo and for the Balkan region in whole. At this stage, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs sources state, the analysis to be made is that, on the ground, UNMIK civilian control is unaware of what will happen on a day-to-day basis.
To isolate them, there are several “hot button” issues which could at any moment spark a new riot from the Albanians. One is the Ramush Haradinaj issue. Another is the question of the minority Serbs and the popular perception that they receiving too many concessions in the UN-supported status solution.
These issues lead to more protests, and thus to the protesters being attacked by police, which history shows from similar revolts in 1968, 1974, 1981, and 1989 (those ones conducted against Yugoslav authorities, of course), have the cumulative effect of radicalizing militancy in the Kosovo Albanian population.
The West seems to have little stomach for more Balkan policing, with more urgent global problems going on, and in this environment it is clear that Kosovo Albanian militants/political clans now possess an unprecedented tactical advantage.
However, while this comes as bad news for Kosovo minorities and even the average Albanians, it also guarantees continued instability and infighting from the major Kosovo Albanian factions, which can be expected to make further use of their intelligence services for intimidation and attacks.
The timetable for violence remains March-June 2007. By not being watched due to all this confusion, however, strengthened Islamic elements funded by Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Islamic states can quietly consolidate their position in Kosovo and wait for the moment when the public’s dissatisfaction with the usual political options allows them to be a real political-social alternative, which is the biggest danger for Kosovo.
Historical Considerations on Kosovo.
Palestinian Coalition Designed to Break International Funding Deadlock, But Collapse Imminent
Analysis. From GIS Stations in Gaza and elsewhere.
Sources within the Palestinian Authority (PA) hierarchy have confirmed to GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs that the fragile sense of “unity” between the Fatah movement and the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS: Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya) to create a new Government of National Unity was merely designed to break the logjam in international financial support for the PA and direct the flow of funds in their respective direction.
Neither Mahmud ‘Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) nor incumbent Prime Minister Haniya have abandoned their resolve to lead the Palestinian movement and persevere in the jihad for the destruction of Israel (a precondition for gaining grassroots support from the increasingly radicalized and embittered population in the West Bank and Gaza).
Not one Palestinian source from either side of the political divide thought that the Saudi-sponsored union would be durable for more than a very short period, possibly only a few months, and all believed that the principal preoccupation of the two sides was related to “turf wars” for control of financial resources. One source noted: “Israel has nothing to do with this situation, although everyone feels more self-righteous justifying their actions on the basis that Israel is the enemy.”
Despite an international campaign to “paper over differences” and to win support for the PA in the international arena by both Fatah leader Mahmud ‘Abbas and HAMAS leader Khaled Mash’al, the underlying and ongoing conflict between HAMAS and Fatah is more deeply fought than merely ideological or religious grounds.
Gaza, in particular, is a war between clans over financial monopolies.
The various factions within Fatah and HAMAS are gravitating to sources of support, regardless of the ideologies involved, and most will say whatever is desired in order to win support in the form of money or weapons.
Mohammed Dahlan is one of the keys to the ongoing — although temporarily less visible — competition within the Palestinian power structures, particularly in Gaza. As Gaza Preventive Intelligence Chief, Mohammed Dahlan was named, in 2002, as then-PA Chairman Yasir Arafat’s advisor on the Security Council.
In April 2003, then Prime Minister ‘Abbas’ candidate, Col. Dahlan, was named as Minister of State for Security, reporting to the Prime Minister and not to Chairman Arafat. Significantly, Dahlan, who has dealt extensively with the extreme elements of the international jihadist movement, also controls many of the financial franchises in Gaza, from gasoline and cigarette monopolies, to smuggling across the border from Egypt.
Significantly, Dahlan easily bridges the gap from the Fatah mainstream of PA Chairman ‘Abbas to the HAMAS extreme elements. It is not surprising, then, that one of his closest friends is someone who is officially his rival: Muhammad al-Dief (Abu Khalid), commander-in-chief (or “commander-general”) of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of HAMAS. Al-Dief has been responsible for bringing more jihadists into Gaza.
Consequently, the Durmush clan which commands the Army of Islam, the operational arm of al-Qaida in the Gaza Strip (under such names as al-Qaida-Palestine, The Holy Jihad Brigade, and Fatah-Brigades of the Islamic Sword), now constitutes one of the pillars of the Fatah’s so-called moderate forces in the Gaza Strip.
The Durmush clan is also instrumental in smuggling of weapons, foreign experts (including Iranians) and goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip: resources which they deliver to all groups including the HAMAS and Islamic Jihad with which they ostensibly fight.
Furthermore, the various clans have reached a tacit but sternly enforced agreement – mediated by the Islamist Ulema – according to which the mujahedin/fighters involved in operations against Israel (such as launching Qassam rockets) enjoy immunity and can move freely through the lines of all factions and groups irrespective of their standing in the internal fighting.
Indeed, several of the recent barrages of Qassam rockets were launched by mixed teams comprised of mujahedin from feuding entities.The situation of competition and chaos is similar, but not as bad, in the West Bank, where almost total economic decay exists. This reinforces the power of traditional families and power structures.
PA Chairman Mahmud ‘Abbas’ Fatah movement and members of HAMAS, which won the general January 25, 2006, legislative elections, agreed in the Saudi city of Mecca on February 8, 2007, to form a government of national unity. The February 8, 2007, agreement was signed by Mahmud ‘Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) on behalf of Fatah and Khaled Mash’al on behalf of HAMAS.
Within the talks, there was apparently an understanding to hold early presidential and parliamentary elections in the first part of 2008 if the experiment in national unity government proved to be a failure. Nine portfolios were to be given to HAMAS, six to Fatah, four to other parties, and five (including the central ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Interior) to independents.
The Interior Ministry controls most of the security forces and was the most contentious issue and it was agreed that Abu Mazen would choose the minister from a list of independents recommended to him by HAMAS. The Prime Minister would remain Ismail Haniya of HAMAS.
PA Chairman Mahmud ‘Abbas, working to offer a comprise to win over international support for the new PA Government, said on February 26, 2007, that he hoped the new coalition Administration would find a way to recognize Israel despite HAMAS’ refusal to do so. HAMAS leader Khaled Mash’al, however, reiterated his movement’s position that the world should respect HAMAS’ stance and not set conditions on the new Government.
However, behind closed doors, Abu Mazen has been urging the Europeans to channel all funds through the Fatah and not the unity Government, so that his forces – spearheaded by the US-trained and -funded Force 17 – will be able to wrestle power from the HAMAS-led jihadists.
The Saudi attempts at mediation — bringing about the “Government of National Unity” — played, where they could, on religious fervor, but to a large extent this was manipulated by the more pragmatic Palestinian efforts to merely find a way to resume the inflow of cash.
The Saudis alone committed $1-billion in financial support to the PA in order to “mediate” the creation of the new Government of National Unity. And Chairman ‘Abbas and Mash’al are each seeking considerably more in the way of support from the European Union and Russia, possibly hoping, too, that the perception of a coalition government in the PA territory would bring some kind of support from the US State Department.
Ultimately, this may be too late because of the irreversible erosion of the social order in the Gaza Strip. As the director of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service, Yuval Diskin, warned in early February 2007, the underlining threat to stability in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is “the crumbling of the Palestinian Authority's governmental control”.
The Gaza Strip has seen "disintegration and a return to the clan stage. There is more clan loyalty today than organizational loyalty." Consequently, Diskin explained, the influence of clans and the commitment to blood-vengeance make the quest for a lasting truce virtually impossible, irrespective of the political desires of the leaders of Fatah, HAMAS, or any other political entity.
Meanwhile, the growing influence of Iran and its protégés, reinforced by a flow of weapons, explosives and funds, exacerbates the radicalization of the population and enshrines the declared commitment to the “liberation of al-Quds [Jerusalem]” and the destruction of Israel.
The aggregate impact of the loss of standing and influence of the political movements, coupled with the grassroots’ commitment to unwavering jihadist causes, is that the emergence of a viable political process – with or without the Mecca Agreement and the “Government of National Unity” – is virtually impossible.
Document of Record
The Hague, February 27, 2007. Statement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
International Criminal Court Investigation Into Alleged War Crimes in Darfur, Sudan
Over the past 20 months, the Prosecution has conducted an investigation into crimes allegedly committed in Darfur. We have completed the necessary investigative steps and this morning we presented the evidence to the judges.
Throughout the investigation, our Office has thoroughly examined incriminating and exonerating facts in an independent and impartial manner, as established in the Rome Statute. The investigation was very complicated.
Reaching the victims was the priority for our Office. Because we have a duty to protect victims and witnesses, we conducted interviews with them outside Darfur. It was not possible to protect the witnesses in Darfur. We interviewed witnesses around the world, reaching people in 17 countries and collecting nearly 100 statements.
The investigation was greatly aided by documents collected by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry. We very much appreciate their efforts.
During the course of our investigation, we also collected and reviewed documents produced by the Sudanese National Commission of Inquiry. It is interesting to remark that many findings were consistent with findings by the UN Commission of Inquiry. We reviewed a report by the Minister of Defense of the Sudan and obtained information from high Sudanese officials.
In accordance with the Rome Statute our Office has focused its efforts on some of the most serious incidents and the individuals who according to the evidence collected bear the greatest responsibility for those incidents.
The Prosecution has concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe that Ahmad Muhammad HARUN and Ali Muhammad Ali ABD-AL-RAHMAN (better-known as Ali KUSHAYB) bear criminal responsibility in relation to 51 counts of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.
These alleged crimes were committed during attacks on the village of Kodoom, and the towns of Bindisi, Mukjar, and Arawala in West Darfur between August 2003 and March 2004.
The attacks occurred during a non-international armed conflict between the Government of the Sudan and armed rebel forces, including the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. The conflict involved rebel attacks on Sudanese Government installations in Darfur and a counterinsurgency campaign by the Sudanese Government.
In April 2003, the rebels carried out an attack on Al Fashir airport in North Darfur, destroying aircraft, killing a number of military personnel, and kidnapping the Sudanese Air Force commander. This was a turning point in the conflict.
After, Ahmad HARUN was appointed Minister of State for the Interior of the Government of the Sudan and tasked to head the “Darfur Security desk”.
His position as head of the “Darfur Security desk” became critical. Why? State and Locality Security Committees in Darfur reported to him, especially on matters relating to the staffing, funding, and arming of the Militia/Janjaweed.
The Security Committees were comprised of representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Police and Intelligence agencies plus the Governors of each state.
Shortly after Harun’s appointment, the recruitment of Militia/Janjaweed greatly increased, ultimately into the tens of thousands.
The vast majority of attacks in Darfur were carried out by the Militia/Janjaweed and the Armed Forces, and were directed at areas inhabited by mainly Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa tribes. The attackers did not target any rebel presence. Rather, they targeted civilian residents based on the rationale that they were supporters of the rebel forces.
This strategy became the justification for the mass murder, summary execution, and mass rape of civilians who were known not to be participants in any armed conflict. The strategy included the forced displacement of entire villages and communities.
In this context, Ahmad HARUN and Ali KUSHAYB, acted together, and with others, with the common purpose of attacking the civilian populations of these four villages and towns.
* * * * *
I have submitted to the Judges a 100-page document containing my evidence. Let me summarize some of them.
The evidence shows that Ahmad HARUN visited Darfur on a regular basis and became known to people in Darfur as the official from Khartoum who recruited, armed, and funded the Militia/Janjaweed in Darfur.
The evidence shows that Ahmad HARUN provided funds to the Militia/Janjaweed from a budget that was unlimited and not publicly audited. The Militia/Janjaweed were paid in cash, and Ahmad HARUN was seen traveling with well guarded boxes.
The evidence shows that Ahmad HARUN personally delivered arms to Militia/Janjaweed in Darfur. He was seen in aircrafts loaded with supplies of arms and ammunition, in some cases G-3s and Kalashnikov rifles. These landings were observed in the three Darfur States, North, West and South.
The evidence shows that Ahmad HARUN incited the Militia/Janjaweed to attack the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit people. Let me give you an example. In early August 2003, HARUN arrived by helicopter in the town of Mukjar as Militia/Janjaweed under the command of Ali KUSHAYB were moving into the town.
Ahmad HARUN met privately with KUSHAYB and then gave a public speech. He stated that “since the children of the Fur had become rebels, all the Fur and what they had, had become booty” for the Militia/Janjaweed. Immediately upon his departure, Militia/Janjaweed looted the entire town.
When victims of the looting complained, they were told that the Militia “could do what they wanted” because “they were acting on the orders of the Minister of State”.
The evidence shows that during a public meeting, Ahmad HARUN said that in being appointed to head of the ‘’Darfur Security desk’’, he had been given all the power and authority to kill or forgive whoever in Darfur for the sake of peace and security.
* * * * *
Let me present some information about Ali KUSHAYB.
Ali KUSHAYB personally led attacks on these four villages and towns. By mid-2003, he was commanding thousands of Militia/Janjaweed.
In one of the attacks in the Kodoom area in August 2003, Ali KUSHAYB was seen issuing instructions to the Militia/Janjaweed. Civilians were being fired upon as they fled.
During the attack on Bindisi on or about 15 August 2003, Ali KUSHAYB was seen in military uniform issuing orders. His forces pillaged and burned homes and shops.
The attack on Bindisi lasted for approximately five days and resulted in the destruction of most of the town and the death of more than 100 civilians, including 30 children.
In Arawala, in December 2003, the evidence shows, Ali KUSHAYB personally inspected a group of naked women before they were raped by men in military uniform. A witness said she and the other women were tied to trees and repeatedly raped.
The evidence shows that Ali KUSHAYB personally participated in a number of summary executions. For example, in or around March 2004 he was involved in the execution of at least 32 men from Mukjar.
The evidence shows Ali KUSHAYB beating these men as they were being boarded into Land Cruisers. The cars then left with KUSHAYB in one of them. About fifteen minutes later, gunshots were heard and the next day 32 dead bodies were found in the bushes.
* * * * *
Based on the evidence the Prosecution has collected, we consider Ali KUSHAYB and Ahmad HARUN to be some of those most responsible for crimes committed in Darfur.
Our evidence shows that they committed crimes against humanity and war crimes including: Rape and other form of sexual violence; murder; persecution; torture; forcible transfer; destruction of property; pillaging; inhumane acts; outrage upon personal dignity; and severe deprivation of liberty.
* * * * *
I would like to say a few words about the admissibility of the case.
According with the Rome Statute I have the duty to assess whether the Sudanese judicial authorities have investigated or prosecuted the same case.
Our Office has conducted five missions to Khartoum where we gathered information on national proceedings from the judiciary, police, and other government departments.
The Government of the Sudan informed the Prosecution that Ali KUSHAYB is under criminal investigation and was arrested on the 28th of November 2006.
Our case is about Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb joining each other to attack the civilian population in Darfur. There is no such investigation in the Sudan.
On this basis, the Prosecution has concluded that the case is admissible. To be clear, the admissibility assessment is not a judgment on the Sudanese justice system as a whole. We are just assessing if the Sudanese authorities are carrying out the same case.
The Pre-Trial Chamber I will review the evidence. If the judges accept that there are reasonable grounds to believe the named individuals committed the alleged crimes, they will decide how to ensure their appearance in court.
* * * * *
Let me conclude.
Thousands of civilians died in Darfur either from direct violence or as a result of disease, starvation and the conditions of life imposed by the crimes. Rape is widespread. The conflict has resulted in more than 2 million internally displaced persons and over two hundred thousands refugees.
Our evidence exposes the facts and the suffering of the victims in Darfur as conveyed by the witnesses we interviewed. Based on their stories we built a judicial investigation to unveil the truth, to prosecute the most responsible and to contribute to the prevention of future crimes.
The Office is continuing to gather information about current crimes committed by all the parties in Darfur and is monitoring the spill-over of violence into Chad, including in the refugee camps, and into the Central African Republic, which are both State parties to the Rome Statute.
Our work sends a signal: those who commit atrocities can not do so with impunity.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Follow Up: Kurdish HRK Guerrillas Down Iranian Helicopter
Kurdish Situation in Iran Report:
"HRK Guerrillas Down Iranian Helicopter" Originally published on 2/24/2007 by Roj TV (Internet Version-WWW) in Turkish.
The East Kurdistan Forces HRK [People's Liberation Forces of East Kurdistan] have downed an Iranian helicopter.
The incident, in which at least eight Iranian military personnel are reported to have been killed, has also been confirmed by Iranian news agencies. It has been learned that the incident took place during the course of the operation that the Iranian military has stepped up in East Kurdistan.
It is reported that eight of the soldiers in the helicopter, which was hit and brought down by a missile in the event that took place in the Qutuli region, were killed. Also included among the information obtained is that one of the soldiers was captured by HRK guerrillas.
Some sources, however, have announced that the number of dead soldiers was approximately 20.
The semi-official Iranian news agencies "Fars" and "Mehr", which confirmed the incident of the helicopter's being downed, have reported that high-level commanders from the Iranian military were also included among the military personnel who perished.
It has been reported that Revolutionary Guards Chief Commander Sayyid Gahari and Hamza Command Special Forces Commander and at the same time Revolutionary Guards Battalion Commander Hanif Dorosti were aboard the downed helicopter.
It is reported that clashes with the Iranian military operation forces continue in the area where the HRK guerrillas brought the helicopter down.
At the same time, Iranian state forces are continuing their repression, attacks, detentions, and arrests aimed against the people. Most recently, in the town of Saqqez, another person was sentenced to a seven-year prison term on charges of membership in the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK).
In Kamyaran as well, an individual was given a three-year prison term, and it has been learned that a prisoner by the name of Fezad Kemanger has been tortured.
Meanwhile, in Mahabad, where a Kurdish youth was killed last week, it is reported that no word has been able to be obtained regarding two other individuals who were taken into custody.
In the rural area around the town of Marivan, in the meantime, it has been learned that pressure is being placed on the family in Orumiyeh of PJAK member Latife Selameti, code-named Zilan Pepule, who lost her life last year in an Iranian military operation.
NOTE:
Tehran - Fars News Agency (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- "Privately-owned " news agency. It began operating in mid November 2002.
Its managing editor is Mehdi Faza'eli, the editor in chief of the Javan daily and a member of the managerial board of the Association of Muslim Journalists.
The other members of the board of directors of the news agency, are:
Alizera Shemirani, of Farda newspaper,
Abdollah Moqaddam and Akbar Nabavi of Resalat newspaper,
the former director of Farabi Foundation Hasan Eslami-Mehr,
and university professor Abolhossein Ruholamin.
"HRK Guerrillas Down Iranian Helicopter" Originally published on 2/24/2007 by Roj TV (Internet Version-WWW) in Turkish.
The East Kurdistan Forces HRK [People's Liberation Forces of East Kurdistan] have downed an Iranian helicopter.
The incident, in which at least eight Iranian military personnel are reported to have been killed, has also been confirmed by Iranian news agencies. It has been learned that the incident took place during the course of the operation that the Iranian military has stepped up in East Kurdistan.
It is reported that eight of the soldiers in the helicopter, which was hit and brought down by a missile in the event that took place in the Qutuli region, were killed. Also included among the information obtained is that one of the soldiers was captured by HRK guerrillas.
Some sources, however, have announced that the number of dead soldiers was approximately 20.
The semi-official Iranian news agencies "Fars" and "Mehr", which confirmed the incident of the helicopter's being downed, have reported that high-level commanders from the Iranian military were also included among the military personnel who perished.
It has been reported that Revolutionary Guards Chief Commander Sayyid Gahari and Hamza Command Special Forces Commander and at the same time Revolutionary Guards Battalion Commander Hanif Dorosti were aboard the downed helicopter.
It is reported that clashes with the Iranian military operation forces continue in the area where the HRK guerrillas brought the helicopter down.
At the same time, Iranian state forces are continuing their repression, attacks, detentions, and arrests aimed against the people. Most recently, in the town of Saqqez, another person was sentenced to a seven-year prison term on charges of membership in the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK).
In Kamyaran as well, an individual was given a three-year prison term, and it has been learned that a prisoner by the name of Fezad Kemanger has been tortured.
Meanwhile, in Mahabad, where a Kurdish youth was killed last week, it is reported that no word has been able to be obtained regarding two other individuals who were taken into custody.
In the rural area around the town of Marivan, in the meantime, it has been learned that pressure is being placed on the family in Orumiyeh of PJAK member Latife Selameti, code-named Zilan Pepule, who lost her life last year in an Iranian military operation.
NOTE:
Tehran - Fars News Agency (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- "Privately-owned " news agency. It began operating in mid November 2002.
Its managing editor is Mehdi Faza'eli, the editor in chief of the Javan daily and a member of the managerial board of the Association of Muslim Journalists.
The other members of the board of directors of the news agency, are:
Alizera Shemirani, of Farda newspaper,
Abdollah Moqaddam and Akbar Nabavi of Resalat newspaper,
the former director of Farabi Foundation Hasan Eslami-Mehr,
and university professor Abolhossein Ruholamin.
Monday, February 26, 2007
TERRORISM NEWS
(Iraq) Baghdad blast kills 6, wounds top officials - VP and cabinet minister injured
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/wl_nm/iraq_dc_34;_ylt=ApYHJ3t3AY819cDTZhobq11X6GMA (Iraq/Iran) U.S. forces in Iraq say found more Iran-made weapons http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/ts_nm/iraq_iran_weapons_dc_1;_ylt=AkQZsUfEAknP3IugXmpnXIRSw60A Iraq: Arms cache with Iranian bomb parts seized http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894521210&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull (Afghanistan) Suicide bomber kills policeman in Afghanistan - Khost http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_asia_afp/afghanistanunrestsuicide_070226080318;_ylt=AmW1YHwgSup9VJ9gljrYPlrOVooA (Somalia) U.S. warship heads for vessel hijacked off Somalia http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/wl_nm/somalia_piracy_dc_3;_ylt=As.DsMBtvJvQMBUXO8Of4r6QLIUD Somalia: Islamists Willing To Negotiate - According To Al-Jazeera Report http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.389876994&par=0 (Pakistan) US concerned by Al-Qaeda build-up in Pakistan http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/ts_afp/usattackspakistan_070226112310;_ylt=Apq.D2OsbywHABUJIsggK0vzPukA (Pakistan) Do more against Taliban, al Qaeda, Cheney asks Pakistan http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/ts_nm/pakistan_usa_cheney_dc_5;_ylt=AvArUwlR0i5Bq8MH3PI6_PvOVooA (Pakistan) Cheney warns Pakistan to act on terror - warns that aid could be cut http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/26/america/web.0226pakistanCND.php (Pakistan) Rice: Pakistan must control border area http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070226/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_pakistan_3;_ylt=AuYNWpXwI5BKNwMbWze9T1DOVooA (Pakistan) "Political Issues" Mar Pakistan's Fight Against Al-Qaeda, Says Rice http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.389795768&par=0 (India/Pakistan) Six bombs were planted on India-Pakistan train http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_afp/indiapakistanblast_070226072831;_ylt=AgN6o2yuw.vNkWwUmdXEss5A7AkB (Iran) Report: "Gulf states to aid attack on Iran" - Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reports Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have told the United States that they would not object to Israel using their airspace - report states NATO negotiating with Turkey to open airspace for potential attack http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg1_10 (Iran) U.N. Council to consider Iran sanctions http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/nuclear_iran;_ylt=Ak0xdQP_abFTOiyvEs1Xwf1Sw60A (Iran) Russia 'worried' about Iran attack talk: minister http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_mideast_afp/irannuclearpoliticsus_070226114837;_ylt=Ap0H4NHLeOeEzQZ4NLZfvDp_5GIA (Iran) French minister Nicolas Sarkozy won't support an attack on Iran http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894523350&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull (Iran) 'Devastating response' if Iran nukes attacked -- Terrorists say Tehran providing instructions in case U.S., Israel strike atomic facilities http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54427 (UK) Radical cleric Abu Qatada loses appeal against deportation from Britain - suspected key Al-Qaeda figure to be deported to Jordan http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_uk_afp/britainattackscourt_070226114541;_ylt=Ao3OlpHwbWTcUZ8Qwm7AiMkwuecA (UK) Al-Qa'eda 'plotted to kill Blair in front of Queen' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/26/nalqaeda26.xml (UK) Jail imams vetted by security services and Muslim books screened for code http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1437916.ece (Spain) 'Brains' of Madrid bombing denies taped phone calls - Rabei Osman, known as Mohammed the Eqyptian http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=81&story_id=36940 Israeli troops besiege Nablus for second day - house-to-house search for weapons caches and wanted militants http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictwestbank_070226111344;_ylt=AjpI0D2KegAdkSgY5tO4k9YUvioA (Israel) Report: Palestinian killed in Nablus operations http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894522671&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Hamas chief in Moscow for Palestinian govt talks http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/wl_nm/palestinians_russia_dc_1;_ylt=AoQJynjuru3.XClQQxiyuZN_5GIA Algeria: Eight Suspected Al-Qaeda Militants Arrested http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.389918319&par=0 (Tunisia) Al Qaeda Smuggling Operation Busted - Tunisian police believe AQ operations headquarters moved to Algeria http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/algeria/articles/20070226.aspx Egypt: Imam Abu Omar Flouts Media Ban (my title) http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.389826614&par=0 (Australia) Terror suspect Hicks turns to Australian court http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070226/ap_on_re_au_an/australia_guantanamo_inmate_1;_ylt=AoGWCJlITaDX9CzUgGkp_RwTv5UB (Australia) Airport security plans 'on track' http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21290301-1702,00.html Philippines: 6 Muslim insurgents killed in clash http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894520020&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Philippine communists say rebel leader abducted http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=MAN305444 Philippine communist rebels say peace talks consultant abducted http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/26/asia/AS-GEN-Philippines-Communist-Rebels.php New DNA technique provides clue to identity of bomb-makers http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200702260921.htm (Jordan) Conference on money laundering and terror funding kicks off http://www.petra.gov.jo/nepras/2007/Feb/25/214000.htm Commentary: Springtime for Al Qaeda http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/500739p-422256c.html Other News: (Australia) Imams to debate Sheik's future - Sheik Taj al-din al-Hilali compared women to uncovered meat http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21288888-1702,00.html Pakistan: Mujahadeen Group Calls For Ban On Music In Buses http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.389836007&par=0 Iran: 'Space Rocket' Launch for Educational Purposes http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,254623,00.html Iranian MPs enraged over test accused of mocking Muhammad http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2020401,00.html Saudi royal says U.S. oil independence a myth http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070225/pl_nm/oil_saudi_usa_dc_1;_ylt=Ag4KR9ib7s9h9nD2nBtIWJfn7SkC
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/wl_nm/iraq_dc_34;_ylt=ApYHJ3t3AY819cDTZhobq11X6GMA (Iraq/Iran) U.S. forces in Iraq say found more Iran-made weapons http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/ts_nm/iraq_iran_weapons_dc_1;_ylt=AkQZsUfEAknP3IugXmpnXIRSw60A Iraq: Arms cache with Iranian bomb parts seized http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894521210&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull (Afghanistan) Suicide bomber kills policeman in Afghanistan - Khost http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_asia_afp/afghanistanunrestsuicide_070226080318;_ylt=AmW1YHwgSup9VJ9gljrYPlrOVooA (Somalia) U.S. warship heads for vessel hijacked off Somalia http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/wl_nm/somalia_piracy_dc_3;_ylt=As.DsMBtvJvQMBUXO8Of4r6QLIUD Somalia: Islamists Willing To Negotiate - According To Al-Jazeera Report http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.389876994&par=0 (Pakistan) US concerned by Al-Qaeda build-up in Pakistan http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/ts_afp/usattackspakistan_070226112310;_ylt=Apq.D2OsbywHABUJIsggK0vzPukA (Pakistan) Do more against Taliban, al Qaeda, Cheney asks Pakistan http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/ts_nm/pakistan_usa_cheney_dc_5;_ylt=AvArUwlR0i5Bq8MH3PI6_PvOVooA (Pakistan) Cheney warns Pakistan to act on terror - warns that aid could be cut http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/26/america/web.0226pakistanCND.php (Pakistan) Rice: Pakistan must control border area http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070226/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_pakistan_3;_ylt=AuYNWpXwI5BKNwMbWze9T1DOVooA (Pakistan) "Political Issues" Mar Pakistan's Fight Against Al-Qaeda, Says Rice http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.389795768&par=0 (India/Pakistan) Six bombs were planted on India-Pakistan train http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_afp/indiapakistanblast_070226072831;_ylt=AgN6o2yuw.vNkWwUmdXEss5A7AkB (Iran) Report: "Gulf states to aid attack on Iran" - Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reports Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have told the United States that they would not object to Israel using their airspace - report states NATO negotiating with Turkey to open airspace for potential attack http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg1_10 (Iran) U.N. Council to consider Iran sanctions http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/nuclear_iran;_ylt=Ak0xdQP_abFTOiyvEs1Xwf1Sw60A (Iran) Russia 'worried' about Iran attack talk: minister http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_mideast_afp/irannuclearpoliticsus_070226114837;_ylt=Ap0H4NHLeOeEzQZ4NLZfvDp_5GIA (Iran) French minister Nicolas Sarkozy won't support an attack on Iran http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894523350&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull (Iran) 'Devastating response' if Iran nukes attacked -- Terrorists say Tehran providing instructions in case U.S., Israel strike atomic facilities http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54427 (UK) Radical cleric Abu Qatada loses appeal against deportation from Britain - suspected key Al-Qaeda figure to be deported to Jordan http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_uk_afp/britainattackscourt_070226114541;_ylt=Ao3OlpHwbWTcUZ8Qwm7AiMkwuecA (UK) Al-Qa'eda 'plotted to kill Blair in front of Queen' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/26/nalqaeda26.xml (UK) Jail imams vetted by security services and Muslim books screened for code http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1437916.ece (Spain) 'Brains' of Madrid bombing denies taped phone calls - Rabei Osman, known as Mohammed the Eqyptian http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=81&story_id=36940 Israeli troops besiege Nablus for second day - house-to-house search for weapons caches and wanted militants http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictwestbank_070226111344;_ylt=AjpI0D2KegAdkSgY5tO4k9YUvioA (Israel) Report: Palestinian killed in Nablus operations http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894522671&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Hamas chief in Moscow for Palestinian govt talks http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/wl_nm/palestinians_russia_dc_1;_ylt=AoQJynjuru3.XClQQxiyuZN_5GIA Algeria: Eight Suspected Al-Qaeda Militants Arrested http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.389918319&par=0 (Tunisia) Al Qaeda Smuggling Operation Busted - Tunisian police believe AQ operations headquarters moved to Algeria http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/algeria/articles/20070226.aspx Egypt: Imam Abu Omar Flouts Media Ban (my title) http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.389826614&par=0 (Australia) Terror suspect Hicks turns to Australian court http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070226/ap_on_re_au_an/australia_guantanamo_inmate_1;_ylt=AoGWCJlITaDX9CzUgGkp_RwTv5UB (Australia) Airport security plans 'on track' http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21290301-1702,00.html Philippines: 6 Muslim insurgents killed in clash http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894520020&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Philippine communists say rebel leader abducted http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=MAN305444 Philippine communist rebels say peace talks consultant abducted http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/26/asia/AS-GEN-Philippines-Communist-Rebels.php New DNA technique provides clue to identity of bomb-makers http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200702260921.htm (Jordan) Conference on money laundering and terror funding kicks off http://www.petra.gov.jo/nepras/2007/Feb/25/214000.htm Commentary: Springtime for Al Qaeda http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/500739p-422256c.html Other News: (Australia) Imams to debate Sheik's future - Sheik Taj al-din al-Hilali compared women to uncovered meat http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21288888-1702,00.html Pakistan: Mujahadeen Group Calls For Ban On Music In Buses http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.389836007&par=0 Iran: 'Space Rocket' Launch for Educational Purposes http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,254623,00.html Iranian MPs enraged over test accused of mocking Muhammad http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2020401,00.html Saudi royal says U.S. oil independence a myth http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070225/pl_nm/oil_saudi_usa_dc_1;_ylt=Ag4KR9ib7s9h9nD2nBtIWJfn7SkC
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ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF SPECIALLY DESIGNATED NATIONALS AND BLOCKED PERSONS:
This US Government list is far too long to post but offers a very detailed list of individual names, groups, companies, banks, ships, organizations etc., which can be Googled by a serious researcher or out of curiosity.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Iranian Ghods (SPECIAL FORCES) Operations in Iraq
MUST READ - DETAILED INTELLIGENCE LEVEL INFORMATION
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click on title/heading to go directly to article or use NEWS VIEWS link in left hand column
PEOPLE'S RESISTANCE MOVEMENT OF IRAN (Former Jondollah)
IntelliBriefs received this statement from People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (former Jondollah of Iran ) which categorically rejected ties to western governments and also Al Qaeda .
Statement of People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (former Jondollah of Iran ) to Media & International community.
After our recent defensive measures to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from the genocide of Baluch people, some news media have published certain allegations that we categorically reject.
People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (former Jondollah of Iran ) is a defensive organization that has been formed to campaign for freedom and democracy in Iran and to protect the Baluch people and other religious and ethnic minorities.
Our mission is to change the present regime and establish a new system in Iran in which every Iranian enjoys equal opportunity and equal rights. We have undertaken to accept the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other United Nations conventions on resolutions.
We only act in self-defence and whenever the Iranian regime kills an innocent Iranian, we act in accordance to all United Nations conventions that allow people and nations to defend themselves against aggression and genocide.
We strive to force the Iranian regime to abandon its brutal policies against the Baluch people and other Iranian citizens. We campaign to stop discrimination, brutality, injustice, corruption and ethnic cleansing in Iran. We categorically announce that we have no any kind of relationships and links with Al Qaedah, Taleban and other fundamentalist groups.
We categorically announce that we have no any kind of relationships with foreign countries including the United States of America and the United Kingdom. We do not receive any support, arms, ammunition, training and financial help from any country.
In such conditions it is not easy for us to live peacefully. Yet, we have been able to maintain our independence in such important geopolitical centre and battlefield. The fact that the Iranian regime labels us as the agents of Taleban, Al Qaedah, the United States of America and the United Kingdom clearly demonstrates that we cannot be part of Taleban and a friend of America at the same time.
We cannot be a member of Al Qaedah and also a friend of United Kingdom and other Western countries.
The Iranian regime has underestimated the potentials of the Baluch people and therefore, has to find an excuse for the killing of the Baluch people. We have a moral right to defend ourselves, our community, our nation and our country.
It is the Iranian regime that is dealing with (using) different terrorist groups and foreign countries.
Thousands of Baluch people have been killed by Iranian regime and so far the United Nations and other international organizations have never raised their voice against the discrimination and genocide that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been committing in our land.
We were a civil society that was forced into armed struggle by the Iranian regime. We commit ourselves to restart our civil campaign as soon as the conditions in Iran allows.
As our recent operations proved that the Iranian regime is too weak to defend itself. It is much less powerful than what it pretends to be. The Iranian security guards and their elite have become aware of the regime's brutality and corruption and therefore, they are not prepared to defend this regime anymore.
All of those security forces that have been arrested by us have confessed that the Iranian regime is financing terrorism in the region because it is too weak from within to defend itself and therefore, it needs other proxies to defend it.
People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (former Jondollah of Iran )
Alan Note: in the recent incident where a busload of Islamic Revolutionary Guards was blown up by a bomb, killing and wounding a good number of them, it took the Islamic Regime a mere FIVE DAYS to arrest someone (a Jondollah suspect), try him and HANG him! Two others imprisoned are still alive but not for long.
Any wonder that the newly named ex-Jondollah movement when "justice" in the Islamic Regime takes this form, meets violence with violence. The Regime needed to set an example and it's not clear if those arrested or hanged had, in reality, anything to do with the bus bombing.
Statement of People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (former Jondollah of Iran ) to Media & International community.
After our recent defensive measures to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from the genocide of Baluch people, some news media have published certain allegations that we categorically reject.
People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (former Jondollah of Iran ) is a defensive organization that has been formed to campaign for freedom and democracy in Iran and to protect the Baluch people and other religious and ethnic minorities.
Our mission is to change the present regime and establish a new system in Iran in which every Iranian enjoys equal opportunity and equal rights. We have undertaken to accept the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other United Nations conventions on resolutions.
We only act in self-defence and whenever the Iranian regime kills an innocent Iranian, we act in accordance to all United Nations conventions that allow people and nations to defend themselves against aggression and genocide.
We strive to force the Iranian regime to abandon its brutal policies against the Baluch people and other Iranian citizens. We campaign to stop discrimination, brutality, injustice, corruption and ethnic cleansing in Iran. We categorically announce that we have no any kind of relationships and links with Al Qaedah, Taleban and other fundamentalist groups.
We categorically announce that we have no any kind of relationships with foreign countries including the United States of America and the United Kingdom. We do not receive any support, arms, ammunition, training and financial help from any country.
In such conditions it is not easy for us to live peacefully. Yet, we have been able to maintain our independence in such important geopolitical centre and battlefield. The fact that the Iranian regime labels us as the agents of Taleban, Al Qaedah, the United States of America and the United Kingdom clearly demonstrates that we cannot be part of Taleban and a friend of America at the same time.
We cannot be a member of Al Qaedah and also a friend of United Kingdom and other Western countries.
The Iranian regime has underestimated the potentials of the Baluch people and therefore, has to find an excuse for the killing of the Baluch people. We have a moral right to defend ourselves, our community, our nation and our country.
It is the Iranian regime that is dealing with (using) different terrorist groups and foreign countries.
Thousands of Baluch people have been killed by Iranian regime and so far the United Nations and other international organizations have never raised their voice against the discrimination and genocide that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been committing in our land.
We were a civil society that was forced into armed struggle by the Iranian regime. We commit ourselves to restart our civil campaign as soon as the conditions in Iran allows.
As our recent operations proved that the Iranian regime is too weak to defend itself. It is much less powerful than what it pretends to be. The Iranian security guards and their elite have become aware of the regime's brutality and corruption and therefore, they are not prepared to defend this regime anymore.
All of those security forces that have been arrested by us have confessed that the Iranian regime is financing terrorism in the region because it is too weak from within to defend itself and therefore, it needs other proxies to defend it.
People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (former Jondollah of Iran )
Alan Note: in the recent incident where a busload of Islamic Revolutionary Guards was blown up by a bomb, killing and wounding a good number of them, it took the Islamic Regime a mere FIVE DAYS to arrest someone (a Jondollah suspect), try him and HANG him! Two others imprisoned are still alive but not for long.
Any wonder that the newly named ex-Jondollah movement when "justice" in the Islamic Regime takes this form, meets violence with violence. The Regime needed to set an example and it's not clear if those arrested or hanged had, in reality, anything to do with the bus bombing.
UK Terror Threat at New High
The threat of homegrown terrorists attacking Britain is greater now than any time since the September 11 attacks in the US, it has been reported.
More than 2,000 British-based Islamic terrorists are believed to be plotting attacks, according to a leaked Government threat assessment. "The scale of al-Qaida's ambitions towards attacking the UK and the number of UK extremists prepared to participate in attacks are even greater than we previously judged," the Daily Telegraph quoted the document as saying.
The newspaper said the document was being circulated between the Home Office, Defence Department, M15 intelligence agency and Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch. The Home Office declined to comment on the report, but said in a statement that security arrangements are under constant review.
"As (MI5 Director-General) Eliza Manningham-Buller has stated publicly, the threat of terrorism in the UK is very real and includes the intent to kill people and damage our economy," the statement said.
Manningham-Buller said in November that 1,600 people were suspected of involvement in terrorist plots against British targets. Security officials say they have foiled at least six plots since the July 7 attacks. Officials expect the number of plots to increase this year.
The report also said Afghanistan is expected to increasingly become a magnet for Islamic extremists seeking to fight Western military forces. NATO is struggling to persuade its members to send more troops to southern Afghanistan where the alliance is fighting a growing Taliban insurgency that left 4,000 dead last year.
Meanwhile, the recent Train Crash:
It could have been sabotage. An aerial view of the crash scene shows how almost the entire train was turned on its side. In echoes of Potters Bar, train crash investigators find four vital bolts lying at the side of the tracks as Network Rail orders checks on 600 sets of points around Britain...
Rail crash investigators were facing up to the possibility that the Virgin train derailment could have been the result of sabotage.
Four vital steel bolts from a set of points that the train had just crossed were found lying at the side of the track. One senior railway executive told The Mail on Sunday last night:
"Four bolts were lying there neatly. They had been removed recently. It's very odd. It's a mystery. We cannot give a rational explanation. We have to try to find out who has been there recently and why somebody would do this. Sabotage cannot be ruled out."
More than 2,000 British-based Islamic terrorists are believed to be plotting attacks, according to a leaked Government threat assessment. "The scale of al-Qaida's ambitions towards attacking the UK and the number of UK extremists prepared to participate in attacks are even greater than we previously judged," the Daily Telegraph quoted the document as saying.
The newspaper said the document was being circulated between the Home Office, Defence Department, M15 intelligence agency and Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch. The Home Office declined to comment on the report, but said in a statement that security arrangements are under constant review.
"As (MI5 Director-General) Eliza Manningham-Buller has stated publicly, the threat of terrorism in the UK is very real and includes the intent to kill people and damage our economy," the statement said.
Manningham-Buller said in November that 1,600 people were suspected of involvement in terrorist plots against British targets. Security officials say they have foiled at least six plots since the July 7 attacks. Officials expect the number of plots to increase this year.
The report also said Afghanistan is expected to increasingly become a magnet for Islamic extremists seeking to fight Western military forces. NATO is struggling to persuade its members to send more troops to southern Afghanistan where the alliance is fighting a growing Taliban insurgency that left 4,000 dead last year.
Meanwhile, the recent Train Crash:
It could have been sabotage. An aerial view of the crash scene shows how almost the entire train was turned on its side. In echoes of Potters Bar, train crash investigators find four vital bolts lying at the side of the tracks as Network Rail orders checks on 600 sets of points around Britain...
Rail crash investigators were facing up to the possibility that the Virgin train derailment could have been the result of sabotage.
Four vital steel bolts from a set of points that the train had just crossed were found lying at the side of the track. One senior railway executive told The Mail on Sunday last night:
"Four bolts were lying there neatly. They had been removed recently. It's very odd. It's a mystery. We cannot give a rational explanation. We have to try to find out who has been there recently and why somebody would do this. Sabotage cannot be ruled out."
Saturday, February 24, 2007
IRAN PRESS SERVICE NEWS BRIEFS
As you can see from the spelling, the site is French language based. Safa Haeri used to work for French Daily - Journal de Teheran - in the "good old days" of the M onarchy and has followed this profession ever since, though he was always somewhat oriented to the left.
//
Protocols of the Mollahs of Qom Aims At Annihilating Sunnis
As religious and sectarian killings in Iraq intensifies, with major Arab nations uniting their forces to stop the growth in strength and popularity of the Sh’ia Muslims, but particularly non Arab that is aiming at becoming the Middle East’s super power, Arab historians, intellectuals, journalists and ulemas have started a vigorous anti-Iranian, anti Shi’a campaign. By Safa Haeri
//
UN Sanctions To Affect Bushehr Plant, Cost Might Rise To US 3 Billion: IRNA
In an article critical to the Russian firm in charge of the construction of Iran’s first nuclear-powered electricity plant, the Iranian official news agency IRNA indirectly blames the Russians for “repeated delays” and hints that possibly, the whole of the project could be stopped because of the sanctions decided by the United Nations Security Council against Iran. By Safa Haeri
//
Iran - Ready to Attack
American military operations for a major conventional war with Iran could be implemented any day. They extend far beyond targeting suspect WMD facilities and will enable President Bush to destroy Iran's military, political and economic infrastructure overnight using conventional weapons. By Dan Plesch
//
Smart Sanctions
Needless to mention, a free and democratic Iran needs rapid development and advanced technology, including nuclear technology. Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) stubbornly needs this technology for the bomb, and maybe, under appropriate form, to put it in the hands of its Islamist terrorists. Who knows, maybe one day, the brutal IRI regime, in order to defend its “divine” lif, would use atom against our “profane” people. By Jahanshah Rashidian
//
Ali Akbar Velayati, Advisor To The Leader: “Everything is negotiable”
Special Advisor to Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who as the last word on every major issue, Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati can be considered as the de facto spokesman for the leader. Foreign Affairs minister of the regime for 17 years, he granted an exceptional interview to Bernard Guetta, the special correspondent of the Italian daily “La Republica”, which was also carried out by the French leftist daily “Liberation” and other publications. By Bernard Guetta
//
Office Of Mohammad Khatami Raided
The office of former reformist president of Iran Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami has been “raided” overnight by unidentified people who have taken away all the computers, documents, fax machines and other equipments at the “Baran” and the International Centre for Dialogue among Cultures and Civilisations, it was reported. Safa Haeri
//
Iran Again Double Speaks
Once again, Iranian clerical leaders resorted to their old “double speak” tactics dear to George Orwell, presenting two versions for one single speech, that of Mr. Ali Larijani at the international security meeting of Munich. By Safa Haeri
//
Iran Suppresses Free Speech
While observers speculate about the risk of Iran developing nuclear weapons and the possibility of a U.S. military attack against Iran, we seem not to be giving adequate attention toward the actual situation of ordinary Iranian citizens. Iranians live under significant oppression from their government, including restrictions on the freedom of expression and many instances of suppression of other basic democratic norms. By Amit Pyakurel
//
Iran’s Ahmadi Nezhad Crackdown Opponents
Growingly unpopular at home and pressed and isolated internationally, the government of the fanatical Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad is increasing pressures and crackdown on Iranian political dissidents. By Safa Haeri
//
Between State And Revolution
"Mizanan, ya na?" (Will they hit or not?) In Tehran these days, this question is the talk of the town. The "they" is seldom spelled out. Yet everyone knows that it refers to the United States. The question is wreaking havoc on Iran's fragile economy by fomenting an atmosphere of uncertainty even before the sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council start to bite. Many in Tehran expect the Security Council to decree even tougher sanctions in March when the ultimatum for the Islamic Republic to halt its uranium enrichment program will end. By Amir Taheri
//
Iranians Do Not Want American Style Democracy
//
Iran's Top Dissident Cleric Urges Open Politics,
//
Iran's Plans: Sticks & Carrots
//
Saudi Arabia To Iran: Don’t Interfere In Arab’s Affairs.
//
Iran To Offer Security Council New Proposals
//
Iranian, Venezuelan Don Quichote To Fight US Super Power
//
Seismic Dangers Obstacle To Iranian President's Atomic Dreams
//
Winds Definitely Turning Against Ahmadi Nezhad
//
Saddam Was A Captured Dictator.
//
In Iran the Debate is Over Escalation
//
Iraq – A Lesson In Abject Political Failure: How To Make A Martyr Out Of A Monster
//
Risks, Perils and Potential Disasters of 2007
//
Wounded But Alive: Could Ahmadi Nezhad Become More Dangerous?
//
Shadow Of Sanctions
//
The Reformers Are Back
//
What The Muslim Nations Should Learn From The Holocaust
//
Circus Of Hate: The Holocaust Conference Shames Iranians
//
In Iran, All Politics Are Local
Alan Note: In editing and removing a double post of this article, I may have also deleted the two comments from a very passionate Garduneh, so to ensure they are not lost, I have added them to the main article.
The anger shown results from frustration of the West "turning the other cheek", with often decades of "irrelevant" negotiation and loss of life by Jihadist murder - and not from a bloodthirsty desire to kill Moslems.
It is the Moslems who carry this fanatical desire to kill every infidel - including "infidel Moslems", who follow a different persuasion of Islam! Not just Sunni and Shia but splinter sects within each of those main denominations.
Garduneh Mehr said...
Who the hell are these f**king TAAZI's presuming to speak for Iranians with bull-shit like "Iranians Do Not Want American Style Democracy"?
What does a barbarous desert roaming goat-molesting TAAZI know about the true culture and civilization of the Iranian people?
The Arabist-Islamist TAAZI's really need to shut the f**k up!
For Christ's sake when are you Americans going to nuke these f**kers? What are you wainting for? Isn't it enough that they murdered some three thousand of your civilians on 9/11 and some three thousand more of your best sons and daughters in Iraq?
What more provocation do you need?
You know as well as I do that if these Islamo-Arab savages had the tiniest fraction of the might of the U.S. they would subject not just your country but all of humanity to such torture and torment that the beasts of the wild would cry rivers for us.
For Goodness' sake you've already paid for those Trident missiles; so let your tax-payer get his money's worth.
Put those Tridents to good use and nuke Mecca, Medina, Ryadh, Damascus, Cairo, Alexandria, Moroco, the area between the Litani river and the Israeli border, Yemen, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Indonesia. Let's have done with it.
9:36 AM
Garduneh Mehr said...
... Oh yeah, also nuke strikes on each of the bases of the "Pasdaran" IRGCstarting with "Bandar-Abbas" and the one south of Tehran.
//
Protocols of the Mollahs of Qom Aims At Annihilating Sunnis
As religious and sectarian killings in Iraq intensifies, with major Arab nations uniting their forces to stop the growth in strength and popularity of the Sh’ia Muslims, but particularly non Arab that is aiming at becoming the Middle East’s super power, Arab historians, intellectuals, journalists and ulemas have started a vigorous anti-Iranian, anti Shi’a campaign. By Safa Haeri
//
UN Sanctions To Affect Bushehr Plant, Cost Might Rise To US 3 Billion: IRNA
In an article critical to the Russian firm in charge of the construction of Iran’s first nuclear-powered electricity plant, the Iranian official news agency IRNA indirectly blames the Russians for “repeated delays” and hints that possibly, the whole of the project could be stopped because of the sanctions decided by the United Nations Security Council against Iran. By Safa Haeri
//
Iran - Ready to Attack
American military operations for a major conventional war with Iran could be implemented any day. They extend far beyond targeting suspect WMD facilities and will enable President Bush to destroy Iran's military, political and economic infrastructure overnight using conventional weapons. By Dan Plesch
//
Smart Sanctions
Needless to mention, a free and democratic Iran needs rapid development and advanced technology, including nuclear technology. Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) stubbornly needs this technology for the bomb, and maybe, under appropriate form, to put it in the hands of its Islamist terrorists. Who knows, maybe one day, the brutal IRI regime, in order to defend its “divine” lif, would use atom against our “profane” people. By Jahanshah Rashidian
//
Ali Akbar Velayati, Advisor To The Leader: “Everything is negotiable”
Special Advisor to Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who as the last word on every major issue, Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati can be considered as the de facto spokesman for the leader. Foreign Affairs minister of the regime for 17 years, he granted an exceptional interview to Bernard Guetta, the special correspondent of the Italian daily “La Republica”, which was also carried out by the French leftist daily “Liberation” and other publications. By Bernard Guetta
//
Office Of Mohammad Khatami Raided
The office of former reformist president of Iran Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami has been “raided” overnight by unidentified people who have taken away all the computers, documents, fax machines and other equipments at the “Baran” and the International Centre for Dialogue among Cultures and Civilisations, it was reported. Safa Haeri
//
Iran Again Double Speaks
Once again, Iranian clerical leaders resorted to their old “double speak” tactics dear to George Orwell, presenting two versions for one single speech, that of Mr. Ali Larijani at the international security meeting of Munich. By Safa Haeri
//
Iran Suppresses Free Speech
While observers speculate about the risk of Iran developing nuclear weapons and the possibility of a U.S. military attack against Iran, we seem not to be giving adequate attention toward the actual situation of ordinary Iranian citizens. Iranians live under significant oppression from their government, including restrictions on the freedom of expression and many instances of suppression of other basic democratic norms. By Amit Pyakurel
//
Iran’s Ahmadi Nezhad Crackdown Opponents
Growingly unpopular at home and pressed and isolated internationally, the government of the fanatical Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad is increasing pressures and crackdown on Iranian political dissidents. By Safa Haeri
//
Between State And Revolution
"Mizanan, ya na?" (Will they hit or not?) In Tehran these days, this question is the talk of the town. The "they" is seldom spelled out. Yet everyone knows that it refers to the United States. The question is wreaking havoc on Iran's fragile economy by fomenting an atmosphere of uncertainty even before the sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council start to bite. Many in Tehran expect the Security Council to decree even tougher sanctions in March when the ultimatum for the Islamic Republic to halt its uranium enrichment program will end. By Amir Taheri
//
Iranians Do Not Want American Style Democracy
//
Iran's Top Dissident Cleric Urges Open Politics,
//
Iran's Plans: Sticks & Carrots
//
Saudi Arabia To Iran: Don’t Interfere In Arab’s Affairs.
//
Iran To Offer Security Council New Proposals
//
Iranian, Venezuelan Don Quichote To Fight US Super Power
//
Seismic Dangers Obstacle To Iranian President's Atomic Dreams
//
Winds Definitely Turning Against Ahmadi Nezhad
//
Saddam Was A Captured Dictator.
//
In Iran the Debate is Over Escalation
//
Iraq – A Lesson In Abject Political Failure: How To Make A Martyr Out Of A Monster
//
Risks, Perils and Potential Disasters of 2007
//
Wounded But Alive: Could Ahmadi Nezhad Become More Dangerous?
//
Shadow Of Sanctions
//
The Reformers Are Back
//
What The Muslim Nations Should Learn From The Holocaust
//
Circus Of Hate: The Holocaust Conference Shames Iranians
//
In Iran, All Politics Are Local
Alan Note: In editing and removing a double post of this article, I may have also deleted the two comments from a very passionate Garduneh, so to ensure they are not lost, I have added them to the main article.
The anger shown results from frustration of the West "turning the other cheek", with often decades of "irrelevant" negotiation and loss of life by Jihadist murder - and not from a bloodthirsty desire to kill Moslems.
It is the Moslems who carry this fanatical desire to kill every infidel - including "infidel Moslems", who follow a different persuasion of Islam! Not just Sunni and Shia but splinter sects within each of those main denominations.
Garduneh Mehr said...
Who the hell are these f**king TAAZI's presuming to speak for Iranians with bull-shit like "Iranians Do Not Want American Style Democracy"?
What does a barbarous desert roaming goat-molesting TAAZI know about the true culture and civilization of the Iranian people?
The Arabist-Islamist TAAZI's really need to shut the f**k up!
For Christ's sake when are you Americans going to nuke these f**kers? What are you wainting for? Isn't it enough that they murdered some three thousand of your civilians on 9/11 and some three thousand more of your best sons and daughters in Iraq?
What more provocation do you need?
You know as well as I do that if these Islamo-Arab savages had the tiniest fraction of the might of the U.S. they would subject not just your country but all of humanity to such torture and torment that the beasts of the wild would cry rivers for us.
For Goodness' sake you've already paid for those Trident missiles; so let your tax-payer get his money's worth.
Put those Tridents to good use and nuke Mecca, Medina, Ryadh, Damascus, Cairo, Alexandria, Moroco, the area between the Litani river and the Israeli border, Yemen, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Indonesia. Let's have done with it.
9:36 AM
Garduneh Mehr said...
... Oh yeah, also nuke strikes on each of the bases of the "Pasdaran" IRGCstarting with "Bandar-Abbas" and the one south of Tehran.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
MOSLEMS DEMAND SCHOOLS BAN ON ALL UN-ISLAMIC Activity Of ANY Kind
Moslem minority "tail" increasingly "wagging the global dog" and being permitted to "contaminate/endanger" traditional Western societies in European countries and cultures. With a threat of death and destruction as the Moslem leverage to get their way!
Religion of peace? Or pieces of the so-called infidels within their own homes and countries? Obey Allah - or die! Let us impose Allah - or die!
Wake up world! Or lose the reverse crusade and perish within a scant generation - or two.
(Actually if Ahmadi-Nejad and Iran get their way it might be only a few months before he starts destroying the world or gets destroyed. Either of which would suit his Hojatieh sect's "religious" philosophy to prepare enough pain and suffering for the return of the Mahdi redeemer to become worthwhile.
DEMANDS for a ban on “un-Islamic” activities in schools will be set out by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) today.
Targets include playground games, swimming lessons, school plays, parents’ evenings and even vaccinations.
And the calls for all children to be taught in Taliban-style conditions will be launched with the help of a senior Government education adviser.
Professor Tim Brighouse, chief adviser to London schools, was due to attend the event at the capital’s biggest mosque.
His presence there was seen as “deeply worrying”, and a sign that the report was backed by the Government.
Tory MP Greg Hands said: “The MCB needs to realise it has to move closer to the rest of the community, not away from it.
“The presence of Tim Brighouse implies Government backing of this report. This is very worrying.”
Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society said the report was a “recipe for disaster”.
He added: “Schools with even just a handful of Muslim kids will find they have to follow these guidelines because there aren’t the staff to have one set of classes for Muslims and another for the rest.
“The MCB shouldn’t try to force its religious agenda on children who may not want it. The Government needs to send the MCB packing. Schools should be about teaching, not preaching.”
The report, Towards Greater Understanding – Meeting The Needs of Muslim Pupils In State Schools, says all schools should bring in effective bans for all pupils on “un-Islamic activities” like dance classes.
It also wants to limit certain activities during Ramadan. They include science lessons dealing with sex, parents’ evenings, exams and immunisation programmes.
The holy month – when eating and drinking is not allowed in daylight hours – should also see a ban on swimming lessons in case pupils swallow water in the pool.
When swimming is allowed, boys should wear clothing covering their bodies “from the navel to the neck”, even during single-sex pool sessions, while girls must be covered up completely at all times, apart from the face and hands.
The MCB adds that schools should ensure contact sports, including football and basketball, “are always in single-gender groups”.
Even school trips are targeted in the report, which wants them all to be made single-sex “to encourage greater participation from Muslim pupils”.
It wants Arabic language classes for Muslim pupils, and says the Koran should be recited in music classes. And all schools should ensure they have prayer rooms with washing facilities attached, it says.
In art classes, Muslim children should not be allowed to draw people, as this is forbidden under some interpretations of Islamic law.
And while the MCB insists that all British children should learn about Islam, it wants Muslims to have the right to withdraw their children from RE lessons dealing with Christianity and other faiths.
The MCB says special treatment and opt-outs are necessary because otherwise Muslim pupils will feel excluded from school activities and lessons.
The MCB claims to be the voice of Britain’s 1.5million Muslims and was heavily courted by politicians including Tony Blair following the September 11 attacks. Its former secretary-general Iqbal Sacranie was awarded a knighthood in 2005.
But other Muslim groups criticised the report. Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain said: “There has been no discussion on these issues in the Muslim community.”
And the Sufi Muslim Council – which claims to represent far more British Muslims than the MCB – said the report misunderstood Ramadan.
It added: “This is not what Islam or Ramadan is about. Ramadan is about training yourself while carrying on with everyday life.”
The Department for Education tried to distance itself from the report last night, and insisted Professor Brighouse was attending the launch only in a “personal capacity”.
A spokesman said it would read the report “with interest”.
The MCB did not comment.
It came as Britain's first Muslim peer called for women to stop wearing veils, claiming that they represent “a barrier to integration”.
Reigniting the debate over the face veil, or niqab, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham said there was no religious reason why Muslim women should wear them – and claimed that veils now cause society more harm than good.
The peer, who has urged the authorities to clamp down on preachers of hate, spoke during a debate held in the heart of the Arab world.
He told a mainly Muslim audience in Doha, Qatar, that he does not want a legal ban on the veil being worn in public – as many other nations are introducing, including Muslim Turkey and Egypt.
But he said: “The face veil is a barrier to integration in the West. The veil is now a mark of separation, segregation and defiance against mainstream British culture.
“There’s nothing in the Koran to say that wearing a niqab is desirable, let alone compulsory. It’s purely cultural. It’s an identity thing which has been misinterpreted.
“They were supposed to be worn so that women wouldn’t be harassed. But women, and communities as a whole, are now being harassed because they are wearing them."
The Muslim Council of Britain’s assistant secretary general, Inayat Bunglawala, said yesterday: “Peoples’ attitudes are responsible for harming integration, not veils.
“And wearing them is very much a matter for individual Muslim women.”
Religion of peace? Or pieces of the so-called infidels within their own homes and countries? Obey Allah - or die! Let us impose Allah - or die!
Wake up world! Or lose the reverse crusade and perish within a scant generation - or two.
(Actually if Ahmadi-Nejad and Iran get their way it might be only a few months before he starts destroying the world or gets destroyed. Either of which would suit his Hojatieh sect's "religious" philosophy to prepare enough pain and suffering for the return of the Mahdi redeemer to become worthwhile.
DEMANDS for a ban on “un-Islamic” activities in schools will be set out by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) today.
Targets include playground games, swimming lessons, school plays, parents’ evenings and even vaccinations.
And the calls for all children to be taught in Taliban-style conditions will be launched with the help of a senior Government education adviser.
Professor Tim Brighouse, chief adviser to London schools, was due to attend the event at the capital’s biggest mosque.
His presence there was seen as “deeply worrying”, and a sign that the report was backed by the Government.
Tory MP Greg Hands said: “The MCB needs to realise it has to move closer to the rest of the community, not away from it.
“The presence of Tim Brighouse implies Government backing of this report. This is very worrying.”
Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society said the report was a “recipe for disaster”.
He added: “Schools with even just a handful of Muslim kids will find they have to follow these guidelines because there aren’t the staff to have one set of classes for Muslims and another for the rest.
“The MCB shouldn’t try to force its religious agenda on children who may not want it. The Government needs to send the MCB packing. Schools should be about teaching, not preaching.”
The report, Towards Greater Understanding – Meeting The Needs of Muslim Pupils In State Schools, says all schools should bring in effective bans for all pupils on “un-Islamic activities” like dance classes.
It also wants to limit certain activities during Ramadan. They include science lessons dealing with sex, parents’ evenings, exams and immunisation programmes.
The holy month – when eating and drinking is not allowed in daylight hours – should also see a ban on swimming lessons in case pupils swallow water in the pool.
When swimming is allowed, boys should wear clothing covering their bodies “from the navel to the neck”, even during single-sex pool sessions, while girls must be covered up completely at all times, apart from the face and hands.
The MCB adds that schools should ensure contact sports, including football and basketball, “are always in single-gender groups”.
Even school trips are targeted in the report, which wants them all to be made single-sex “to encourage greater participation from Muslim pupils”.
It wants Arabic language classes for Muslim pupils, and says the Koran should be recited in music classes. And all schools should ensure they have prayer rooms with washing facilities attached, it says.
In art classes, Muslim children should not be allowed to draw people, as this is forbidden under some interpretations of Islamic law.
And while the MCB insists that all British children should learn about Islam, it wants Muslims to have the right to withdraw their children from RE lessons dealing with Christianity and other faiths.
The MCB says special treatment and opt-outs are necessary because otherwise Muslim pupils will feel excluded from school activities and lessons.
The MCB claims to be the voice of Britain’s 1.5million Muslims and was heavily courted by politicians including Tony Blair following the September 11 attacks. Its former secretary-general Iqbal Sacranie was awarded a knighthood in 2005.
But other Muslim groups criticised the report. Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain said: “There has been no discussion on these issues in the Muslim community.”
And the Sufi Muslim Council – which claims to represent far more British Muslims than the MCB – said the report misunderstood Ramadan.
It added: “This is not what Islam or Ramadan is about. Ramadan is about training yourself while carrying on with everyday life.”
The Department for Education tried to distance itself from the report last night, and insisted Professor Brighouse was attending the launch only in a “personal capacity”.
A spokesman said it would read the report “with interest”.
The MCB did not comment.
It came as Britain's first Muslim peer called for women to stop wearing veils, claiming that they represent “a barrier to integration”.
Reigniting the debate over the face veil, or niqab, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham said there was no religious reason why Muslim women should wear them – and claimed that veils now cause society more harm than good.
The peer, who has urged the authorities to clamp down on preachers of hate, spoke during a debate held in the heart of the Arab world.
He told a mainly Muslim audience in Doha, Qatar, that he does not want a legal ban on the veil being worn in public – as many other nations are introducing, including Muslim Turkey and Egypt.
But he said: “The face veil is a barrier to integration in the West. The veil is now a mark of separation, segregation and defiance against mainstream British culture.
“There’s nothing in the Koran to say that wearing a niqab is desirable, let alone compulsory. It’s purely cultural. It’s an identity thing which has been misinterpreted.
“They were supposed to be worn so that women wouldn’t be harassed. But women, and communities as a whole, are now being harassed because they are wearing them."
The Muslim Council of Britain’s assistant secretary general, Inayat Bunglawala, said yesterday: “Peoples’ attitudes are responsible for harming integration, not veils.
“And wearing them is very much a matter for individual Muslim women.”
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
TRUE OR FALSE? Maliki Letter
Back Channels believe this letter may be "forged" - but forged to out the truth of Maliki and his close ties to Moqtada Al-Sadr and document an overheard discussion which actually took place.
Interesting on its own are the names of the 11 leaders named as pro-Iran activists.
The Iraqi Prime Minister advised the Mahdi Army leaders to hide in Iran, revealed a leaked letter from the office of the prime minister and posted online by the Kurdish website peyamner on Tuesday.
A letter issued by the office of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, with the coordination of the Iraqi National Security Advisor, Muwaffaq al-Rabii, advises Muqtada al-Sadr to hide the leaders of his militants, the Mahdi Army, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, in case they are “arrested or killed by the American forces”.
Al-Maliki, in his letter states, “The current situation requires to keep the leaders of the Mahdi Army, who are affiliated to the organisation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, away from the front line.”
The letter, dated 14 January 2007 and signed by Iraqi Prime Minister, is written after a telephone conversation between Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi Prime Minister.
The Iraqi National Security Advisor, Muwaffaq al-Rabii appears to be part of the operation. The letter is classified as confidential, private and immediate.
The letter states the name of 11 leaders of the Mahdi Army who have links with the Islamic Guards and who are advised by the office of the Prime Minister to leave to Iran.
They are:
Abas al-Kufi,
Amir Muhsin Khwja,
Salim Hussein,
Azhar al-Maliki,
al-Shiekh Farhan al-Sayidi (Najaf),
Fadhil al-Sarii (the adviser of the Prime Minister),
Riyadh al-Nuri (Najaf),
Ali al-Firtusi,
Hayidar al-Araji,
Ahmad al-Darraji,
Amir al-Sayidi.
The letter is copied to the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, the leadership of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the office of al-Sadr.
Sources in the “Ahwaz Revolution Information Center” have alleged the presence of Sadrist elements and cadres in the Ahwaz region of southwest Iran, which has a large ethnic Arab population.
In a statement, the center says its sources have observed some of the leadership of the Mahdi Army and its elements in the two border cities of Muhamra and Abadan, with an escort of Iranian guards, and under the auspices of the administrative area (qa’im maqam) (Deputy chief) of Abadan.
The Sadrists arrived in “not insignificant” numbers, the statement says, and their appearance was noticed on Sunday (February 18th)in these two cities on the border near Basra.
This area of Iran, also known as Khuzistan, has a large Arab population. The Ahwaz Revolution Information Center represents an ethnic Arab movement within Iran, and is opposed to the Iranian regime.
The Ahwaz Center's statement alleges that the administrative area of Abadan prepared the facilities for the Sadrists travel in these two cities, and has supplied them with identification and Iranian permits, so that their presence can go unnoticed.
Interesting on its own are the names of the 11 leaders named as pro-Iran activists.
The Iraqi Prime Minister advised the Mahdi Army leaders to hide in Iran, revealed a leaked letter from the office of the prime minister and posted online by the Kurdish website peyamner on Tuesday.
A letter issued by the office of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, with the coordination of the Iraqi National Security Advisor, Muwaffaq al-Rabii, advises Muqtada al-Sadr to hide the leaders of his militants, the Mahdi Army, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, in case they are “arrested or killed by the American forces”.
Al-Maliki, in his letter states, “The current situation requires to keep the leaders of the Mahdi Army, who are affiliated to the organisation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, away from the front line.”
The letter, dated 14 January 2007 and signed by Iraqi Prime Minister, is written after a telephone conversation between Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi Prime Minister.
The Iraqi National Security Advisor, Muwaffaq al-Rabii appears to be part of the operation. The letter is classified as confidential, private and immediate.
The letter states the name of 11 leaders of the Mahdi Army who have links with the Islamic Guards and who are advised by the office of the Prime Minister to leave to Iran.
They are:
Abas al-Kufi,
Amir Muhsin Khwja,
Salim Hussein,
Azhar al-Maliki,
al-Shiekh Farhan al-Sayidi (Najaf),
Fadhil al-Sarii (the adviser of the Prime Minister),
Riyadh al-Nuri (Najaf),
Ali al-Firtusi,
Hayidar al-Araji,
Ahmad al-Darraji,
Amir al-Sayidi.
The letter is copied to the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, the leadership of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the office of al-Sadr.
Sources in the “Ahwaz Revolution Information Center” have alleged the presence of Sadrist elements and cadres in the Ahwaz region of southwest Iran, which has a large ethnic Arab population.
In a statement, the center says its sources have observed some of the leadership of the Mahdi Army and its elements in the two border cities of Muhamra and Abadan, with an escort of Iranian guards, and under the auspices of the administrative area (qa’im maqam) (Deputy chief) of Abadan.
The Sadrists arrived in “not insignificant” numbers, the statement says, and their appearance was noticed on Sunday (February 18th)in these two cities on the border near Basra.
This area of Iran, also known as Khuzistan, has a large Arab population. The Ahwaz Revolution Information Center represents an ethnic Arab movement within Iran, and is opposed to the Iranian regime.
The Ahwaz Center's statement alleges that the administrative area of Abadan prepared the facilities for the Sadrists travel in these two cities, and has supplied them with identification and Iranian permits, so that their presence can go unnoticed.
INTELLIGENCE MATERIAL FOR ENQUIRING MINDS
This collection of facts/info/and much more will keep you lost in research for the rest of your life - all on Intelligence sources.
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/preface.html
Main Index:
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/maintoc.html http://intellit.muskingum.edu/sources_folder/sourcesmajor.html
Spies in U.S.:
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/spycases_folder/spycasesustoc.html http://intellit.muskingum.edu/refmats_folder/refmatstoc.html
Russia:
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/russia_folder/russiatoc.html
OVER 2,000 NEWLY DECLASSIFIED PAPERS AT THE CIA: http://www.foia.cia.gov/search.asp?pageNumber=1&freqReqRecord=20070214a.txt
http://www.foia.cia.gov/search.asp?pageNumber=1&freqReqRecord=20070214b.txt
Other info: http://www.resourceshelf.com/category/source-file/resources/databases/
webcasts: http://www.resourceshelf.com/index.php?s=webcast http://www.resourceshelf.com/category/search-news/information-retrieval-and-library-science/access-to-information/
Try all the links at the resourceshelf, good info.
ALSO consider this book of Soviet KGB activity - including some 40-pages on Iran leading up to and at the time of the Revolution.
The KGB and the Battle for The Third World by Christopher Andrew & Vasili Mitrokhin (Head of KGB Archives for about 25-years).
Worth reading for non-intelligence community people but quite disappointing for those in the know. Mitrokhin's material leaves a lot to be desired and Andrew had access only to the stuff cleared by SIS, and he destroyed much of this.
MY "HAT TIP" TO "GRANNY" for all this!
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/preface.html
Main Index:
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/maintoc.html http://intellit.muskingum.edu/sources_folder/sourcesmajor.html
Spies in U.S.:
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/spycases_folder/spycasesustoc.html http://intellit.muskingum.edu/refmats_folder/refmatstoc.html
Russia:
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/russia_folder/russiatoc.html
OVER 2,000 NEWLY DECLASSIFIED PAPERS AT THE CIA: http://www.foia.cia.gov/search.asp?pageNumber=1&freqReqRecord=20070214a.txt
http://www.foia.cia.gov/search.asp?pageNumber=1&freqReqRecord=20070214b.txt
Other info: http://www.resourceshelf.com/category/source-file/resources/databases/
webcasts: http://www.resourceshelf.com/index.php?s=webcast http://www.resourceshelf.com/category/search-news/information-retrieval-and-library-science/access-to-information/
Try all the links at the resourceshelf, good info.
ALSO consider this book of Soviet KGB activity - including some 40-pages on Iran leading up to and at the time of the Revolution.
"The World Was Going Our Way"
The KGB and the Battle for The Third World by Christopher Andrew & Vasili Mitrokhin (Head of KGB Archives for about 25-years).
Worth reading for non-intelligence community people but quite disappointing for those in the know. Mitrokhin's material leaves a lot to be desired and Andrew had access only to the stuff cleared by SIS, and he destroyed much of this.
MOSSAWA - the Jewish ACLU?
Lori Lowenthal Marcus, THE JERUSALEM POST
Some of the money mainstream Jewish donors think is being used to help preserve Israel as the Jewish homeland is actually being used to undermine Israel 's existence as a Jewish state.
Most American and other Jews use Jewish Federations as a kind of mutual fund adviser, which makes decisions about and invests their donors' funds in programs they have vetted and determined to be in accordance with the donors' wishes. In turn, most Federations channel funds designated for Israel programs through the Jewish Agency for Israel .
(A very few, such as the Federation in Philadelphia , independently decide which programs in Israel to fund.) JAFI acts as a second-tier investment adviser for Israel programs.
Three of the principal goals of JAFI are to develop Jewish communities in the Galilee and the Negev, encourage aliya, and promote Jewish continuity, with Israel as the linchpin. All three of those goals, however, would be considered illegitimate colonizing enterprises by at least one of JAFI's grantees - the Mossawa Center, an Arab-Israeli thank tank. Mossawa seems committed to eliminating every one of them.
Mossawa, which is funded indirectly by the Jewish Agency, disseminated a report declaring that Israel cannot be both a democracy and a Jewish state. According to that document, which represents the view of many Arab-Israeli elites, and of Arab local authorities - as stated in a separate but nearly identical manifesto - the Jewish state is inherently illegitimate. It must be recast as a bi-national state.
In addition to purging any identification with the Jewish people, Israel must also make reparation to, and elevate everything about, Palestinian Arabs who are Israeli citizens: their culture, history, language and nationalist desires.
Not sated by demanding such changes as de-judaizing the Israeli flag and national anthem, the document also calls for abolishing Israel 's Law of Return. At the same time, Israel must acknowledge and grant Israeli Arabs (and all their descendants) the "right of return" to the places from which they fled during the War of Independence in 1948.
AND WHO provides financial support to the institution from which the report issued? In addition to the usual suspects, there are some surprises.
The New Israel Fund is a non-profit organization which focuses on eliminating any special role for religion in either Israeli society or government. NIF grants reflect that orientation. One of the largest grants the NIF gave in the latest year for which information is available was to an organization it co-founded: the Mossawa Center .
An NIF document states that organization's belief that efforts should be expended to prevent efforts to "judaize the Galilee and the Negev." In other words, there is no part of Israel the NIF thinks should be, or remain, officially "judaized." More than 33 percent of NIF grants go to programs that exclusively serve Arab Israelis, and fully 40 percent of Shatil, NIF's "empowerment center" money is used for assistance to Israel's Arab minority. Those programs actively promote the erasure of any special status for Jews in Israel .
But what about donors to Federations? It is unlikely that many consider the creation of Israel to have been a plot by the Jewish-Zionist elite to further a colonialist policy of "judaization" of Arab land through the "expulsion" of the Palestinian people, as it is described in the Arab Israelis' documents. Nor would many of those donors agree that the creation of the Jewish state was a nakba, or tragedy, that should be rectified through, minimally, the payment of compensation to Palestinian Arabs and the recognition that the Palestinians are "the indigenous people" of Israel ; or that Arabic should be elevated to the status of "mother tongue."
FEDERATIONS, the Jewish Agency and the Joint Distribution Committee base their existence on Jewish support for Jews and, with respect to Israel , a Jewish state and the Jews who live there. Why would those organizations help undermine the birthright of Jews anywhere to become Israeli citizens, or to negate Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people?
Yet a perusal of a recent NIF Annual Report reveals large donations from both the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Joint.
In fact, the Jewish Agency is in the NIF highest-donor category, the one for those giving more than $100,000. The Joint shows up in the donor category of $25,000 to $50,000, as do the Jewish Federation of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Jewish Women's Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago.
There are several other Jewish Federations in the $10,000 to $24,999 category, including those from Durham-Chapel Hill, Greater Los Angeles, Greater Atlanta, Greater Houston and that of New Hampshire . The Jewish Women's Foundation of the Greater Palm Beaches appears in this donor category as well.
IN OTHER words, rather than steadfastly working to support the Jewish nature of Israel , the Jewish Agency and other mainstream Jewish organizations, seem to be unwittingly helping to fund those who are undermining it.
In the mutual fund business, when advisers do not follow an investment policy that accords with their clients' intentions, they can be sued for breach of trust. It is time for Jewish donors who wish Israel to remain a Jewish state - and there is nothing inconsistent with it being a Jewish state and a democracy - to scrutinize the actions of their investment professionals.
The writer is president of the Zionist Organization of America , Greater Philadelphia District.
Some of the money mainstream Jewish donors think is being used to help preserve Israel as the Jewish homeland is actually being used to undermine Israel 's existence as a Jewish state.
Most American and other Jews use Jewish Federations as a kind of mutual fund adviser, which makes decisions about and invests their donors' funds in programs they have vetted and determined to be in accordance with the donors' wishes. In turn, most Federations channel funds designated for Israel programs through the Jewish Agency for Israel .
(A very few, such as the Federation in Philadelphia , independently decide which programs in Israel to fund.) JAFI acts as a second-tier investment adviser for Israel programs.
Three of the principal goals of JAFI are to develop Jewish communities in the Galilee and the Negev, encourage aliya, and promote Jewish continuity, with Israel as the linchpin. All three of those goals, however, would be considered illegitimate colonizing enterprises by at least one of JAFI's grantees - the Mossawa Center, an Arab-Israeli thank tank. Mossawa seems committed to eliminating every one of them.
Mossawa, which is funded indirectly by the Jewish Agency, disseminated a report declaring that Israel cannot be both a democracy and a Jewish state. According to that document, which represents the view of many Arab-Israeli elites, and of Arab local authorities - as stated in a separate but nearly identical manifesto - the Jewish state is inherently illegitimate. It must be recast as a bi-national state.
In addition to purging any identification with the Jewish people, Israel must also make reparation to, and elevate everything about, Palestinian Arabs who are Israeli citizens: their culture, history, language and nationalist desires.
Not sated by demanding such changes as de-judaizing the Israeli flag and national anthem, the document also calls for abolishing Israel 's Law of Return. At the same time, Israel must acknowledge and grant Israeli Arabs (and all their descendants) the "right of return" to the places from which they fled during the War of Independence in 1948.
AND WHO provides financial support to the institution from which the report issued? In addition to the usual suspects, there are some surprises.
The New Israel Fund is a non-profit organization which focuses on eliminating any special role for religion in either Israeli society or government. NIF grants reflect that orientation. One of the largest grants the NIF gave in the latest year for which information is available was to an organization it co-founded: the Mossawa Center .
An NIF document states that organization's belief that efforts should be expended to prevent efforts to "judaize the Galilee and the Negev." In other words, there is no part of Israel the NIF thinks should be, or remain, officially "judaized." More than 33 percent of NIF grants go to programs that exclusively serve Arab Israelis, and fully 40 percent of Shatil, NIF's "empowerment center" money is used for assistance to Israel's Arab minority. Those programs actively promote the erasure of any special status for Jews in Israel .
But what about donors to Federations? It is unlikely that many consider the creation of Israel to have been a plot by the Jewish-Zionist elite to further a colonialist policy of "judaization" of Arab land through the "expulsion" of the Palestinian people, as it is described in the Arab Israelis' documents. Nor would many of those donors agree that the creation of the Jewish state was a nakba, or tragedy, that should be rectified through, minimally, the payment of compensation to Palestinian Arabs and the recognition that the Palestinians are "the indigenous people" of Israel ; or that Arabic should be elevated to the status of "mother tongue."
FEDERATIONS, the Jewish Agency and the Joint Distribution Committee base their existence on Jewish support for Jews and, with respect to Israel , a Jewish state and the Jews who live there. Why would those organizations help undermine the birthright of Jews anywhere to become Israeli citizens, or to negate Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people?
Yet a perusal of a recent NIF Annual Report reveals large donations from both the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Joint.
In fact, the Jewish Agency is in the NIF highest-donor category, the one for those giving more than $100,000. The Joint shows up in the donor category of $25,000 to $50,000, as do the Jewish Federation of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Jewish Women's Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago.
There are several other Jewish Federations in the $10,000 to $24,999 category, including those from Durham-Chapel Hill, Greater Los Angeles, Greater Atlanta, Greater Houston and that of New Hampshire . The Jewish Women's Foundation of the Greater Palm Beaches appears in this donor category as well.
IN OTHER words, rather than steadfastly working to support the Jewish nature of Israel , the Jewish Agency and other mainstream Jewish organizations, seem to be unwittingly helping to fund those who are undermining it.
In the mutual fund business, when advisers do not follow an investment policy that accords with their clients' intentions, they can be sued for breach of trust. It is time for Jewish donors who wish Israel to remain a Jewish state - and there is nothing inconsistent with it being a Jewish state and a democracy - to scrutinize the actions of their investment professionals.
The writer is president of the Zionist Organization of America , Greater Philadelphia District.
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