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Virginia Tech: Israeli Lecturer Among Those Killed in Massacre at Virginia University
  An Israeli lecturer who died in the massacre at a U.S. university saved the lives of several students by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before he was fatally shot, his son said last week. Students of Liviu Librescu, 75, an engineering science and mathematics lecturer in at Virginia Tech for 20 years, sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said the son, Joe. (AP/International Herald Tribune)
See also Israeli Professor Dies Heroically Saving Lives in Virginia Tech Massacre (Israel21c)
See also Liviu Librescu - Holocaust Survivor, Campus Hero (YouTube)
Hamas: We'll Attack If Israel Won't Accept Prisoners’ Deal
 Hamas spokesmen are threatening to resume terror attacks if the prisoners’ deal offered for the release of captured Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, does not show progress. Hamas representative in Lebanon, Usama Hamdan, said the movement would never renounce armed resistance until the occupation ends. Hamas' spokesman Isma'il Radwan called last week for the release of all the Palestinian prisoners, "by all means possible." Radwan, in a sermon he delivered two weeks ago in the Gaza mosque of Sheikh Zayyid Bin Sultan, also cited the following Quranic verse: "The Day of Judgment will not arrive until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them." (Media Line)
See also Hamas Calls for More Kidnappings of Israeli Soldiers (Maan News-PA)
Saudis Continue to Boycott Israel
by Michael Freund
 Despite a promise made to Washington nearly 18 months ago to drop its trade embargo against Israel, Saudi Arabia continues to enforce the Arab League boycott. In November 2005, Riyadh pledged to abandon the boycott after Washington conditioned Saudi Arabia's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) on such a move. A month later, on December 11, Saudi Arabia was granted WTO membership. Nonetheless Saudi officials continue to bar entry to products manufactured in Israel or to foreign-made goods containing Israeli components. "Goods made in Israel are not allowed here in Saudi Arabia," Khaled A-Sharif, assistant manager of the Saudi Customs Department at King Abdul Aziz Airport outside Jidda, told the Post by phone. "Of course it is not permitted," he said. (Jerusalem Post)
Palestinians Disavow 'Right of Return'
by Yaakov Lappin
A large and growing number of young Palestinians born abroad have no interest in coming to the Palestinian Authority or Israel, according to Palestinians in London. They expressed anger at Palestinian leaders for continuing to trumpet a "right of return," a call which is neither desirable nor realistic, the men said, adding that the demand is merely an attempt to force concessions out of Israel during peace talks. (Ynet News)
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Olmert, Abbas Discuss Gaza Weapons Smuggling
by Ronny Sofer
  Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas last week, where Abbas presented a deployment plan for Palestinian presidential guards along the Philadelphi Route, in an effort to prevent weapons' smuggling to Gaza via Egypt. Olmert requested that Abbas work to stop Kassam rocket launchings from Gaza at Israel immediately, prevent Hamas armament, and secure the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. (Ynet News)
Israel Urges Tough Diplomacy this Year on Iran
by Sue Pleming and Carol Giacomo
 There is still time this year to deal with Iran diplomatically to halt its nuclear program, but a military option may await if such pressure fails, Israel's envoy to the United States said last week. In an interview with Reuters, Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor (pictured) said it appeared Tehran was going "full speed" with its effort to have mastered the technology of enriching uranium needed to produce a bomb and that world powers must act. (Reuters)
Syria Threatens to "Liberate Golan Heights"
by Roee Nahmias
 "If Israel rejects the Arab League peace proposal, resistance will be the only way to liberate the Golan Heights," Syrian Information Minister Muhsen Bilal said in Damascus last week. Bilal also referred to Syrian-American Ibrahim Soliman's visit to Israel, saying, "Nobody elected Soliman to represent Syria. He does not speak for any Syrian institute." (Ynet News)
Walt, Mearsheimer Walk Back From Iraq Claim
Two professors who published a controversial paper on the "Israel lobby" appear to have walked back from their claim that pro-Israel voices were principally responsible for the Iraq war. In a lengthy reply to their critics, John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt, do not acknowledge error in their original paper's contentions about the lobby's role in the Iraq war. However, their new conclusion is considerably less definitive then their original remarks: "Israel's endorsement was hardly the only reason why the United States went to war, of course, but to say that Israel did not encourage it is wrong," they now say. That's considerably softer than their original contention that pressure from the pro-Israel lobby was "a critical element" in the decision to attack Iraq and that "the main driving force behind the Iraq war was a small band of neoconservatives, many with close ties to Israel's Likud Party. (JTA News)
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