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Comments (0)Israel and the United States reportedly are attempting to prevent missile sales to Lebanon and Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, in a bid to persuade Putin not to sell P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles to Syria, Haaretz reported last Friday. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is set to make the same case in Moscow this week.
Israel’s case is that Hezbollah used Chinese-manufactured missiles purchased by Syria to target Israeli ships during the 2006 Lebanon war.
Meanwhile, Israel and the United States want to keep France from selling the Lebanese military HOT anti-tank missiles, the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported.
In a Paris-datelined story, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat quoted French officials as saying that they had rebuffed such pressure, and that the delay in the delivery of the missiles was caused by the confusion arising out of Lebanon’s current political crisis arising from tensions over Hezbollah’s role.
Western powers want to prop up the Lebanese military as a means of containing the influence of Hezbollah, a terrorist group, but Israel’s wariness of Hezbollah influence into the military intensified after a Lebanese officer shot over the border and killed an Israeli officer on Aug. 9.
The United Nations and the United States determined that the Israelis under fire were on the Israeli side of the border trimming a tree that could serve as cover for an attack.
A Lebanese newspaper, al Liwa, reported last Friday that U.S. officials warned Lebanon that Israel would destroy Lebanon’s military within four hours should another such incident occur.
Jewish Leaders: German Official Espousing Nazi Racial Ideology
The German official in his new doomsday book on the future of Germany appears to endorse Nazi racial ideology, Jewish leaders said.
Thilo Sarrazin, a board member of the German central bank since May 2009 and a former finance minister for the state of Berlin, in “Germany Abolishes Itself” writes that Muslims are to blame for dumbing down German culture. Jews and others possess superior genes, he suggested in the book, which is to hit stands today.
His racial ideology puts Sarrazin firmly in the far-right extremist camp, according to Stephan Kramer, general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
Sarrazin, a member of the left-of-center Social Democratic Party, should consider joining the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany, Kramer told the Handelsblatt Online newspaper last week.
“At least that would make the battle lines more obvious,” Kramer said, and it would free the Social Democrats from having to kick him out.
In an excerpt of “Germany Abolishes Itself” in this week’s Der Spiegel magazine, Sarrazin writes, “I do not want the land of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be predominantly Muslim, where Turkish and Arabic are spoken in broad sections of the country, where women wear a headscarf and where the daily rhythm of life is determined by the call of the muezzins.”
In a pre-publication interview, Sarrazin said that all Jews “share a particular gene,” as do Basques and other peoples. His remarks drew harsh criticism from German political leaders.
Sarrazin’s comments have caused a ruckus in the past. Last October he said that Turks and Arabs were taking over Germany due to a high birthrate, and that he would be happier if it were “Eastern European Jews” who were reproducing so fast, “since their IQs are 15 percent higher than that of the German people.” He later apologized for the remarks.
At the time, the National Democratic Party credited Sarrazin with “hitting the nail on the head” when it came to Germany’s current course.
Some Social Democratic leaders suggested at the time that he be ousted from the party.
Glasgow Stores Boycotting Israeli Products
About 30 stores in Muslim communities in Glasgow, Scotland, are refusing to stock Israeli products.
The stores, owned by Muslim and Asian shopkeepers, are displaying signs stating that “No Israeli produce sold here,” The Herald Scotland newspaper reported Sunday.
The campaign, which is focusing on Israeli produce, especially dates, is being led by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Friends of Al Aksa Glasgow.
Supporters are distributing flyers to shoppers saying that stores continuing to stock Israeli goods will be “named and shamed,” according to the Herald.
The campaign is expected to go national.