U.S. extends remand of would-be Israel spy

QUOTE: One of Nozette's Jewish neighbors in Chevy Chase told Haaretz on Tuesday that he was surprised to learn both of the allegations and also of the suspect's Jewish identity.

[NOTE: the only reason for noting that he's Jewish is that in the past Jewish organizations have accused the government of anti-Semitism and singling out Jews for special surveillance. Don't be surprised if we hear those charges here too.]

By Yossi Melman and Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies

Stewart David Nozette, the former NASA scientist who was arrested for offering to pass along classified information to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer, appeared in court on Tuesday for the first time since arrest.

Nozette waived his right to detention hearings at the U.S. district court in Washington DC until October 29. His remand has been extended until then.

Israeli and American sources said on Tuesday that Nozette had business dealings with Israel Aerospace Industries. Nozette, who is credited with helping discover evidence of water on the moon, was arrested by federal authorities on Monday.

According to the Israeli and American sources, Nozette was hired as an outside consultant to the company. An IAI spokesperson refused to comment on the matter, only to say that it was checking the reports. IAI is Israel's largest exporter of defense and aerospace technology.

During the hearing on Tuesday, a State Prosecutor said the allegations would be viewed with utmost severity.

"Nozette planned to betray the U.S. and was captured on surveillance trying to convey top secret information to the foreign governments. Due to the potential of causing grave damage to U.S. security he most likely faces incarceration for the rest of his life."

The Justice Department said Nozette, 52, of suburban Chevy Chase, Maryland, was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information to an individual he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer.

The complaint does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf violated U.S. law.

One of Nozette's Jewish neighbors in Chevy Chase told Haaretz on Tuesday that he was surprised to learn both of the allegations and also of the suspect's Jewish identity.

"He was not really neighborly. He kept to himself. He was a smart but weird guy and we didn't even know he was Jewish," said the neighbor.

In Jerusalem, where the story broke late at night, Israeli government officials had no immediate comment.

Nozette was arrested Monday by FBI agents. He is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Washington on Tuesday.

Last update - 21:08 20/10/2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1122349.html

Sources: Would-be U.S. spy worked for Israeli arms firm

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service, and The Associated Press

[NOTE: it’s interesting that Israel has no official comment on the case. Usually they are quick to deny things.]

Israeli and American sources said on Tuesday that Stewart David Nozette, the former NASA scientist who was arrested for offering to pass along classified information to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer, had business dealings with Israel Aerospace Industries.

IAI is Israel's largest exporter of defense and aerospace technology.

The sources said Nozette was hired as an outside consultant to the company. An IAI spokesperson refused to comment on the matter, only to say that it was checking the reports.

Nozette, who is credited with helping discover evidence of water on the moon, was arrested by federal authorities on Monday.

The Justice Department said Nozette, 52, of suburban Chevy Chase, Maryland, was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information to an individual he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer.

The complaint does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf violated U.S. law.

In Jerusalem, where the story broke late at night, Israeli government officials had no immediate comment.

Nozette was arrested Monday by FBI agents. He is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Washington on Tuesday.

Last update - 15:24 20/10/2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1122349.html

U.S. arrests ex-NASA scientist over bid to spy for Israel

[NOTE: there’s nothing in this story indicating Israeli involvement, but it shows that people are willing to betray the US when they think it’s for Israel. This is reminiscent of the Walker spy case, in which an American with Zionist leanings was induced to betray his country because he thought the information was going to Israel, though in reality it was going to the Soviet Union.]

By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

A former scientist at the United States' space agency has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to spy for Israel, the U.S. department of Justice announced on Monday.

According to a statement by the department, the suspect, Stewart David Nozette, is a Maryland scientist who once worked in varying capacities for the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The department said Nozette, 52, was contacted via telephone by an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer, but who was in fact an undercover employee of the FBI (UCE).

"During that call," the statement said, "Nozette agreed to meet with the UCE later that day at a hotel in Washington D.C. According to the affidavit, Nozette met with the UCE that day and discussed his willingness to work for Israeli intelligence."

The complaint, unsealed Monday, does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf violated U.S. law. Nozette is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Washington on Tuesday.

The statement added that Nozette allegedly informed the UCE that he had, in the past, held top security clearances and had access to U.S. satellite information.

Nozette also allegedly said that he would be willing to answer questions about this information in exchange for money.

"The UCE explained to Nozette that the Israeli intelligence agency, or 'Mossad,' would arrange for a communication system so that Nozette could pass information to the Mossad in a post office box," the department said. "Nozette agreed to provide regular, continuing information to the UCE and asked for an Israeli passport."

Furthermore, the department noted that, "At the Department of Energy, Nozette held a special security clearance equivalent to the Defense Department Top Secret and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information clearances. Department of Energy clearances apply to access to information specifically relating to atomic or nuclear-related materials.

Last update - 23:44 19/10/2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1122206.html

$200/bbl Oil "Christmas Present" Coming from Israel?

'Israel planning to attack Iran after December'

By Haaretz Service

The French Magazine Le canard enchainé reported Thursday that Israel is preparing to attack Iran after December.

Israel has ordered combat rations for its elite army units from a French supplier and Israel Defense Forces reservists overseas have been ordered to return to their units between November and December, the magazine quoted French sources as saying.

According to the report, during his brief visit to France IDF chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi told his French counterpart, Jean-Louis Georgelin, that "Israel will not bomb Iran, but may carry out ground operations in the area."

The French source further reported that Israel is planning to assassinate scientists linked to the Iranian nuclear program and take military action against Hamas and Hezbollah.

[NOTE: a few days prior to this it was reported that an Iranian nuclear scientist had disappeared, and Iran was blaming the US.]

Last update - 05:52 15/10/2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1121284.html

The Jews Israel Doesn't Want But Can't Keep Out

Ultra-Orthodox Jews accused of fight to keep 'Jews for Jesus' out

Sheera Frenkel and Yonit Farrago in Jerusalem

Israel is using an ultra-Orthodox group to crack down on Messianic Jews - who believe that Jesus is the Messiah - and prevent them from staying in the country, officials have told The Times.

The Messianic Jews have been accused of Christian missionary activities and complain of harassment and intimidation by the state.

An official at the Interior Ministry said that an anti-assimilation group called Yad L'Achim was working with the ministry to prevent Messianic Jews - known as Jews for Jesus - from being allowed to live in Israel, which they consider their spiritual home.

"There is a known history of Yad L'Achim working directly with the ministry. They play a distinct role in the ministry's decision about citizenry," the official said.

Jews have an automatic legal right to settle in Israel. Yad L'Achim, which opposes any form of assimilation between Jews and other faiths, said that it was defending the faithful from missionary efforts by what it terms a Christian organisation.

A doctoral student of German-Jewish heritage known as B, said that she had been discriminated against and denied visas after she became involved with the Messianic Jewish movement at an Israeli university. She has been studying in Israel for the past eight years without a visa, making it impossible for her to leave the country.

"I understood that people were intentionally trying to make problems for me from the start," she said. "There were strange encounters, someone would approach me and tell me who I am and where I lived and try to intimidate me. And another incident where they approached a friend of mine."

She added: "I have Jewish roots in my family, it was part of the reason I came here. I wanted to connect to my national identity."

A report to be published today in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz suggests that dozens of such cases of harassment exist. Under Israeli citizenship laws, any person with Jewish grandparents is eligible to move to Israel and qualify for citizenship.

The case of Messianic Jews has raised doubts in the minds of some ultra-Orthodox, who see them as a threat to the Jewish identity.

"The title Messianic Jews is a false statement," Rabbi Dov Lifschitz, the chairman of Yad L'Achim, said. "There is no such thing. These people are 100 per cent Christians ... They are trying to present themselves as a stream in the Jewish nation, so they can stay here and carry out their mission to convert as many Jews as possible into Christianity."

The US State Department has accused Yad L'Achim of using violence against those who go to Israel seeking to persuade Jews to abandon Judaism. Yad L'Achim accused the State Department of publishing the report without a proper investigation of the claims.

From The [London] Times October 2, 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6857571.ece

Abu Quisling Leaves "Summit" With Brown Nose and Dirty Knees

May Quislings always be treated thus.

Analysis: Tripartite summit undermines Abbas

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah have not hidden their disappointment with the tripartite summit that was held in New York and which brought together US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Binymain Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

On Wednesday, the officials said they were not only disappointed with the outcome of the summit which, they noted, did not achieve any breakthrough in the stalled peace talks, but also with the circumstances under which the meeting was arranged.

Even many representatives of Abbas's Fatah faction voiced their deep disappointment over his agreement to meet with Netanyahu unconditionally. Some went as far as accusing Obama of "humiliating" Abbas by forcing him to meet with Netanyahu against his will and contrary to his pledges.

Last Friday, following yet another meeting between US special Middle East envoy George Mitchell and Abbas in Ramallah, senior officials in the PA president's office rushed to announce for the 1000th time that he would not agree to meet with Netanyahu.

The officials told reporters that Abbas had "reaffirmed" during the meeting with the US emissary that he remained "strongly opposed" to the idea of meeting with Netanyahu or resuming peace talks with Israel unless all construction in the settlements was halted.

But the surprise came only hours later when the White House announced that Obama would meet with Netanyahu and Abbas on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly deliberations in New York.

Asked to explain the discrepancy between the two positions - that of Abbas's aides on Friday and the White House invitation - a top Palestinian official said: "The president [Abbas] couldn't resist the heavy pressure the Americans put on him. In fact, he went to the meeting with Netanyahu against his will."

Another official complained that the meeting with Netanyahu had caused "grave damage" to Abbas's credibility and standing among Palestinians.

"For the past seven or eight months, President Abbas has been declaring day and night that he wouldn't meet with Netanyahu or resume the peace talks unless Israel froze all settlement construction, including new homes that are being built in east Jerusalem," the official pointed out.

"What are the Palestinians supposed to think of their president when they see him doing the exact opposite of what he had promised them? How will anyone from now on take him seriously?"

The official also noted that the meeting with Netanyahu was being used by Hamas and several other Palestinian factions to discredit Abbas and depict him as a puppet that receives orders from the Americans.

In an effort to curtail or minimize damage, Abbas and his spokesmen have since taken advantage of every podium available to explain their stance.

Their defense is based mainly on the argument that Abbas went to New York "out of respect for Obama" and to brief the US president on the PA's position regarding the resumption of the peace talks with Israel.

"Our position after the meeting is the same as it was before the meeting in New York," Abbas explained in a statement. "We came to New York out of respect for President Obama and his tireless efforts in favor of the Palestinian people in various fields."

Political analyst Khaled Mansour said that Abbas's decision to participate in the tripartite summit came as a "new disappointment" because it showed to what extent the PA leadership was willing to succumb to American pressure.

Abbas, he added, is under the illusion that the US is a fair and honest broker in the Israeli-Arab conflict. Mansour said that Palestinians across the political spectrum had been encouraged by Abbas's decision to boycott the peace talks as long as Israel was continuing to build in the settlements.

Another political analyst, Hani al-Masri, said that Abbas agreed "grudgingly" to attend the summit because he felt that the Arab countries were not supporting him enough. "They [the Arab countries] have been asking him to remain steadfast and persistent, but none of them have done anything to support his steadfastness and persistence," he noted.

According to al-Masri, some of the Arab countries had even asked Abbas secretly to accept the invitation to meet with Netanyahu.

Summing up Abbas's predicament, the analyst added: "When he says yes, he's accused of compromising Palestinian rights; when he says no, he's accused of failing to grasp the reality."

Sep 24, 2009 1:11 | Updated Sep 24, 2009 1:23

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1253627551483&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Israel Assisting Honduran Dictator?

Israeli government involvement in this should not be assumed: Israeli mercenaries serve in many foreign countries around the world, even in violation of UN sanctions. But the Israeli government, in its search for "friends," has also worked with many of the vilest governments on earth, such as Dictator Idi Amin of Uganda, the Apartheid regime of South Africa, and the Shah of Iran. So who knows whether these are just private Israeli mercenaries or minions sent by the Israeli government? 

Ousted Honduran president: Israelis sent to kill me

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who returned to his country this week after three months in exile, is accusing his government of hiring Israeli mercenaries to torture him with high-frequency radiation in his safe haven in the Brazilian Embassy.

In a conversation with the Miami Herald, Zelaya said that he has begun to suffer from throat pains resulting from poisonous gases being leaked into the embassy in Tegucigalpa. He also said that he fears mercenaries will enter the building and murder him. "They are threatening to kill us," he said.

Witnesses said that soldiers were noticed installing some kind of satellite in front of the embassy on Friday that emitted loud noises.

Israeli sources in Miami whom the newspaper contacted said that they cannot confirm the presence of Israeli mercenaries in Honduras.

Zelaya, who was deposed in a military coup in June, also said, "I prefer to walk on my own two feet than to live on my knees under a dictatorship." He turned to the American administration with a request to take action in his favor. "I said to President Obama, to Secretary of State Clinton, to the US ambassador, and to anyone willing to listen: they know what to do, but have been very cautious until now."

The de facto Honduran government announced Wednesday that it will initiate talks with Zelaya if he recognizes the election results that were held in the country in November.

"I am ready to meet with anyone, anywhere, including former President Manuel Zelaya," said the interim President Roberto Micheletti. This statement represents a significant change in the president's position, as he previously declared he did not intend to be drawn into conflict with Brazil and that Zelaya "can stay in the embassy five to 10 years if he wants."

Published: 09.25.09, 10:52 / Israel News

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3781844,00.html

Dual Citizenship May Land Israeli Officer in Hot Water

Dual citizenship is normally an advantage: if things get hot in one country, the person can easily skip out to the other. In this case, however, dual citizenship may result in an Israeli Army officer being tried for war crimes (in absentia, of course).

QUOTE: The officer - a dual citizen of Israel and South Africa, where he was born . . . The ICC has until now refrained from trying IDF officers, as it lacks authority to do so, since Israel is not a signatory to the 2002 Rome Treaty that founded the court. South Africa, however, did sign the treaty, so the ICC is authorized to indict its citizens.

ICC may try IDF officer in wake of Goldstone Gaza report

By Yotam Feldman

A senior prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague said Monday that he is considering opening an investigation into whether Lt. Col. David Benjamin, an Israel Defense Forces reserve officer, allowed war crimes to be committed during the IDF's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip this winter.

The officer - a dual citizen of Israel and South Africa, where he was born - served in the Military Advocate General's international law department, which authorized which targets troops would strike before and during the operation.

Newsweek magazine released an interview Monday with ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina in which he said he is convinced his office has the authority to launch an investigation into Benjamin's actions.

The ICC has until now refrained from trying IDF officers, as it lacks authority to do so, since Israel is not a signatory to the 2002 Rome Treaty that founded the court. South Africa, however, did sign the treaty, so the ICC is authorized to indict its citizens.

Moreno-Ocampo's remarks are in line with the recommendations of a UN fact-finding commission on the Gaza war headed by South African justice Richard Goldstone. Last week, that panel urged the UN Security Council to refer both Israel and the Hamas leadership in Gaza for prosecution in the ICC unless both launched fully independent investigations into alleged war crimes by the end of this year.

The ICC began looking into Benjamin's case after receiving material from pro-Palestinian organizations in South Africa. The material included a transcript of an interview Benjamin gave to the web site Bloomberg.com, in which the officer recounted his involvement in legal consultations with the IDF ahead of army operations.

"We were intimately involved in planning," Benjamin said, including "authorizing the targets that could be struck, war materiel - everything passed by us."

Benjamin served for many years as legal adviser to the GOC Southern Command, and later headed the Military Advocate General's department on international law.

In August, he visited South Africa to attend a conference organized by the local Jewish community on international law during wartime, with special reference to the Gaza war. Benjamin later described the trip as a "personal hasbara [public diplomacy] trip."

The pro-Palestinian organizations promptly asked South African state prosecutors to open an investigation into suspicions that Benjamin had committed war crimes in Gaza. To avoid a potential confrontation with local authorities, Benjamin left South Africa several days earlier than he had planned.

At the conference, Benjamin rejected claims that the IDF committed war crimes in Gaza, as well as demands that Israel's wartime conduct be subject to an external investigation.

Dennis Davis - a South African district court judge and international law lecturer at the University of Cape Town, who directed the conference - said he firmly opposed the remarks delivered by Benjamin, who was once his law student. Davis added that were Benjamin still his student, he would "fail him."

Benjamin resigned from the IDF in late January of this year, though his official retirement vacation began in November 2008. When the Gaza operation began, however, he returned to his former position in the Military Advocate General's office.

But Benjamin says he was not directly involved in planning operations during the war. He told Haaretz yesterday that during the Bloomberg interview, he was speaking not of himself personally, but of the army, and the Military Advocate General's office, as a whole.

"I spoke in the name of the army, and of the Military Advocate General, so I told them what we're like in the collective sense," he said. "We authorized and we carried out, but I wasn't [directly] involved in Gaza."

"What's important is that the State of Israel doesn't need Goldstone to tell it what needs to be done," he added. "There is a human rights agenda in the world, but those who work with this agenda have the luxury of not needing to balance human rights needs and security needs, and we do need to have that balance."

"Presumably the military advocate general, who personally authorized the IDF's actions, will himself be investigated?" he continued. "There is a supervisory mechanism - the attorney general is above the military advocate general, and he can intervene. The High Court of Justice can also intervene."

The IDF Spokesman's Office said yesterday that "Lt. Col. David Benjamin is a respected officer who served for many years in legal positions in the IDF, and assisted the military in managing its activities in accordance with the rules of international law."

"Although during Operation Cast Lead, Lt. Col. Benjamin was on retirement vacation abroad, he returned to Israel on his own initiative in order to aid the military in its public diplomacy efforts," it continued. "Any attempt to initiate legal proceedings, as described in the article, is perverse and driven by political motives, and ultimately [the allegations] will be revealed as baseless."

Col. (Res.) Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, who headed the Military Advocate General's international law department during the Gaza War, refused to comment on Moreno-Ocampo's remarks.

The ICC Office of the Prosecutor said officials had examined the material the court received as part of a preliminary investigation intended to determine whether it has the authority to hear cases on war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza.

Last update - 08:46 24/09/2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1116647.html

Interesting EU-US Conflict Over Israel

EU policy is to boycott things associated with illegal Israeli settlements, but the US is sponsoring the competition from which Israel is now banned.  Who will win in the end? Will the US try to force Spain to allow Israel in and thus violate EU policy? HINT: money talks, especially political contributions to US Congress.

Spain: Israel team out of contest over West Bank

Housing Ministry reiterates group of Israeli academics disqualified from solar power design competition in line with EU policy of opposing settlements. National Union of Israeli Students slams 'irrelevant, faulty political motives'

Associated Press

Spain's Housing Ministry says it has disqualified a group of Israeli academics from a solar power design competition because their university is in the West Bank.

The move is the latest in a series of low-level European sanctions against Israel over its West Bank settlements.

A ministry official says Spain has acted in line with EU policy of opposing the settlements.

The ministry has disqualified a team from Ariel University Center of Samaria from the Solar Decathlon. Samaria and Judea are the two Biblical names for the land now known as the West Bank.

The contest is sponsored by the US Energy Department, but Spain is hosting it in 2010 and 2012.

The Spanish official spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with ministry rules.

Following the decision, the National Union of Israeli Students sent a protest letter to the Spanish student union and to the European student union.

The Israeli students wrote, "It's unfortunate that irrelevant, faulty political motives have led to the decision to remove the application. We condemn the blatant harm caused to academic freedom and ask you to help us act against this troublesome phenomenon."

Published: 09.24.09, 14:51 / Israel News

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3781534,00.html

Will Israel be the Same After Bart Simpson?

Sacha Baron Cohen to guide the Simpsons around Israel March 28, 2010

By City Mouse Online

Several episodes of the hit animated series The Simpsons have dealt with Jewish issues, and even the Middle East conflict over the years. However, it wasn't until the series' 21st season that Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie will finally visit Israel and meet a bitter and angry Israeli tour guide, played by Sacha Baron Cohen (whose characters Bruno and Borat have made him a household name.)

In the episode, tentatively set to air in the U.S. on March 28, 2010, the Simpsons find themselves in Israel, and Homer develops Jerusalem Syndrome and becomes convinced that he is the messiah.

Simpsons producer Al Jean told Entertainment Weekly that Baron Cohen will partake in aggressive dialogue with Marge Simpson. "He's trying to get Marge to give him good grades on the comment card, and she goes, 'You people are pushy,' and he goes, 'What do you mean, you people? You try having Syria for a neighbor! What do you have -Canada?'" Jean said in an interview.

The episode, named "The greatest story ever D'ohed," is scheduled to coincide with Palm Sunday. "It'll be a show that all faiths can come together and be offended by," Jean promised fans of the show.

Last update - 21:34 20/09/2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1115718.html