Pardoned terrorist plans another attack

Dec. 4, 2008

While I was in Jenin facing not a hint of terrorism, Tel Aviv was under a terrorist threat that shut down the city on Tuesday. The threat went largely unreported because it was just that, a threat. Had it been more, we would've heard more. Police arrested three Palestinians at the scene.

So imagine my surprise when I found out today that two Palestinian masterminds behind the attack were previously pardoned by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Also, WorldNetDaily reporter Aaron Klein quoted a senior member in the Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigades who said that Hizballah helped pay for the planned attack. The Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Jenin coordinated the planned attack with Al Aksa, but did not take the usual credit because of the prime minister's plan to free another 250 terrorists as a "goodwill" gesture to the Palestinians, Klein explained.

Another terrorists involved in planning the attack was Mohammed Abu Drei, who was killed by the Israeli army in a counterterrorist operation in Nablus earlier this week.

According to Israel National News:

The PA ostensibly has taken responsibility for maintaining law and order in Nablus and Jenin, but the deployment of armed special forces has mostly acted as a showcase for the United States and the PA to convince Israel that terror is under control. However, while the special forces fight crime, they do [not deal with counterterrorism (my words)].

The planned Tel Aviv bombing was to be carried out with explosives that police discovered in a bag after the initial arrest of a Jenin resident in a house near Tel Aviv.

Government spokesmen announced that Islamic Jihad was behind the foiled operation and did not make any mention of Fatah, which the Olmert administration is trying to prop up through concessions and counterterrorist operations aimed mostly at rival terrorist gangs.

The pardoned terrorist who was arrested is Ahmed Amire, a member of Al Aqsa from Jenin and who may have provided Israeli intelligence with more information about the imminent attack. Prime Minister Olmert granted amnesty to him, and to Drei as well as more than 100 comrades from Al Aqsa in return for a promise to turn in their weapons, remain in the custody of the PA for three months and not return to terrorism.

Report: Israel preparing Iran attack options

Dec. 4, 2008

Israel isn't leaving anything to chance. The Jerusalem Post reported this week that the Israeli army is drawing up plans for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities on its own. Just in case.

"It is always better to coordinate," one top Defense Ministry official explained last week. "But we are also preparing options that do not include coordination."

Israeli officials have said it would be difficult, but not impossible, to launch a strike against Iran without receiving codes from the US Air Force, which controls Iraqi airspace. Israel also asked for the codes in 1991 during the First Gulf War, but the US refused.

In September, a Defense News article on an early warning radar system the US recently sent to Israel quoted a US government source who said the X-band deployment and other bilateral alliance-bolstering activities send parallel messages: "First, we want to put Iran on notice that we're bolstering our capabilities throughout the region, and especially in Israel. But just as important, we're telling the Israelis, 'Calm down, behave. We're doing all we can to stand by your side and strengthen defenses, because at this time, we don't want you rushing into the military option.'"

The "US European Command (EUCOM) has deployed to Israel a high-powered X-band radar and the supporting people and equipment needed for coordinated defense against Iranian missile attack, marking the first permanent US military presence on Israeli soil," Defense News wrote. The radar will shave several precious minutes off Israel's reaction time to an Iranian missile launch.

Iran's nuclear chief Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said last week that the country has more than 5,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant. Israeli intelligence estimates predict Iran will have a nuclear bomb by late next year.

Air Force Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan said in an interview with Der Spiegel the air force would be ready if asked to attack.

Teheran said it didn't take Israel seriously.

Jenin in pictures

Dec. 4, 2008

There's lots going on today. Hebron is about to boil over into civil war (Jewish settlers vs. Israeli army); Israel will go ahead and attack Iran without US permission if they want; and assurances are coming out of DC and Jerusalem that Obama and Netanyahu would work great together, contrary to suspicions that they'd butt heads over policy and final status negotiations.

But first, here's some photos and facts from my trip to Jenin:

The city has been synonymous through the intifada as a hotbed of terrorism. Indeed, Gov. Qadoura Mousa spent 12 years in Israeli prisons presumably for terrorist activities and was the head of Fatah's armed wing under Yasser Arafat. He is an appointee to the position.
The refugee camp is right in the middle of the city, in the valley, surrounded by the entire town. About 40,000 people live in the city with more than 200,000 including suburbs. Part of the camp has so far been rebuilt with money from the Emirates, while the other part still languishes with decrepit housing, posters of martyrs and litter-strewn streets. You can see it from this hilltop.

Israel invaded the Jenin refugee camp in 2002 because it was believed to be one the primary places where bombs were being manufactured for use in terror attacks against Israelis. When Israel went in, reports began to circulate and got widespread coverage of a massacre by Israel of the Palestinians. Thousands dead. In the end, the final death toll was confirmed at 52 to 56 Palestinians – anywhere between 5 and 26 of whom were estimated to have been civilians – while 23 IDF soldiers were killed as well. Israel met with severe opposition by armed gunmen. The bomb from a 2002 suicide bombing in which 17 people were killed and 42 wounded, came from an explosives laboratory in this very camp.In 2002, the army also found a number of mortar shells, homemade grenades, and bullets in a building, and another explosives factory in a cave there along with Israeli army uniforms, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the middle of the camp is a symbol of the long and painful memories: a metal horse made from parts of cars and ambulances destroyed during the Israel invasion in 2002.