Israeli jets reportedly hit target on Lebanon-Syria border
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli forces attacked a target on the Syrian-Lebanese border, a western diplomat and a security source told Reuters on Wednesday, at a time of growing concern in the Jewish state over the fate of Syrian chemical and conventional weapons.
The sources, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, had no further information about what might have been hit or where precisely the attack happened.
Earlier, the Lebanese army reported a heavy presence of Israeli jets over its territory throughout Tuesday night.
“There was definitely a hit in the border area,” the source said.
Israeli vice premier Silvan Shalom said on Sunday that any sign that Syria’s grip on its chemical weapons was slipping, as President Bashar al-Assad fights rebels trying to overthrow him, could trigger Israeli intervention.
Israeli sources said on Tuesday that Syria’s advanced conventional weapons would represent as much of a threat to Israel as its chemical arms should they fall into the hands of Syrian rebel forces or Hezbollah guerrillas based in Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces declined comment.
Morsi aide: Holocaust was U.S. intelligence hoax
“The myth of the Holocaust is an industry that America invented,” said Fathi Shihab-Eddim, a senior figure close to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi responsible for appointing the editors of all state-run newspapers, Israel Hayom reported.
“U.S. intelligence agencies in cooperation with their counterparts in allied nations during World War II created [the Holocaust] to destroy the image of their opponents in Germany, and to justify war and massive destruction against military and civilian facilities of the Axis powers, and especially to hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the atomic bomb,” Shihab-Eddim said.
His remarks came Sunday as the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Shihab-Eddim said he believes the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust were not murdered by the Nazis, but were actually moved to the U.S. in an operation carried out by American intelligence. He said all of the reports about the numbers of Jews killed are lies intended to damage Germany’s image during World War II and to allow the U.S. to split Germany with the former Soviet Union.
Efraim Zuroff, Israel director of the Wiesenthal Center, whose mission is to defend against anti-Semitism and teach the lessons of the Holocaust to future generations, told FoxNews.com that the statements by a top Morsi aide should give other nations pause for thought in evaluating their relationships with the new government in Cairo.
“Government-sponsored Holocaust denial is the most dangerous… as opposed to attempts by individuals to convince people that the Holocaust did not take place,” Zuroff said. “When it comes with a strict Islamic interpretation and one which is basically anti-Semitic, then it becomes much more dangerous.”
Palestinian TV, in latest anti-Semitism, says Europe suffered because of Jews
(JNS.org) For the marking of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, Palestinian Media Watch documented the continuous anti-Semitism of Palestinian Authority TV (PA TV), most recently in a film the channel broadcasted about the Fatah movement.
Earlier in January, the PA TV film opened with the statement that Europe has “suffered a tragedy by providing refuge for the Jews.” The film continued that “faced with the Jews’ schemes, Europe could not bear their character traits, monopolies, corruption, and their control and climbing up positions in government.”
“In 1290, King Edward I issued a decree banishing the Jews [from England]. Following him were France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Spain and Italy,” the film said. “The European nations felt that they had suffered a tragedy by providing refuge for the Jews.” The film also claims that the 1917 Balfour Declaration was supported by European governments as a way to get rid of Jews in their countries.
Yemeni authorities intercept ship with Iranian weapons
(JNS.org) Authorities from Yemen reportedly caught a ship carrying surface-to-air missiles and other weapons that are suspected to have been taken from Iran. The ship, which was stopped Jan. 23, also carried on board military-grade explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and other bomb-making equipment.
The U.S. navy helped Yemen intercept the ship, an anonymous U.S. official told Reuters. Although the report was denied by Iran, another U.S. official said, “this demonstrates the ever pernicious Iranian meddling in other countries in the region.”
In the Middle East, Gulf nations and Sunni religious officials oppose Iran for the Islamic Republic’s backing of Shi’ite Muslims, as well as for interfering in other regional countries such as Yemen.
Bank of Israel chief Stanley Fischer to step down two years before end of term
(JNS.org) The Governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer, has informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will step down at the end of June, two years before the end of his second term.
Considered one of the world’s top economists, the 69-year-old Fischer has served as the chief of Israel’s central bank chief for eight years. He is widely credited for helping to successfully steer Israel through the global financial crisis and reforming Israel’s banking laws. He was also instrumental in elevating Israel to one of the top global economies through joining the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) during his tenure.
“His experience, his wisdom and his international connections opened a door to the economies of the world and assisted the Israeli economy in reaching many achievements, during a period of global economic crisis,” Netanyahu said, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Born to a Jewish family in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) in 1943, Fischer worked as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and was the chief economist at the World Bank as well as deputy managing director (second in command) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before his appointment to the Bank of Israel by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
In 2011, Fischer was also a finalist to for the IMF’s top post of managing director, but was disqualified due to age.
*
Preceding provided by JNS.org
.