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Peres Slams Columbia for Hosting Ahmadinejad
by Aviram Zino
 President Shimon Peres on Tuesday criticized Columbia University for hosting Iranian President Ahmadinejad and giving a stage to "the world's biggest lying leader." "I am all for the freedom of expression, but what happened there is giving a stage to lies that harm the world. After all, there is no one that doesn't know that Iran is building an atomic bomb and is a hotbed for global terror, out of the aspiration to impose radical-religious hegemony over the entire world. All the countries of the free world must unite against Ahmadinejad. Remember that dictatorship goes hand in hand with lies, murder, and terror, just as is happening in Iran at the hands of the greatest and most dangerous radical leader," Peres said. (Ynet News)
"A Modern Hitler Honored"
by Yaakov Lappin
 Jewish organizations in the United States held large-scale demonstrations - involving thousands of protesters - this week to express their mounting anger at Columbia University's invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Dani Klein, Campus Director of the pro-Israel activism group Stand With Us, said: "Our message to Columbia University is that of disgust. This is the second year in a row that they have extended their hand to Ahmadinejad. We [were] not asking Columbia University to cancel the event in the name of free speech, rather we are showing our disappointment and disapproval of inviting him to begin with." Klein added that buses filled with students and community members [were] "organized from Brooklyn College, Queens College, and Rutgers University. ... large turnouts from Baruch College, Hunter College, and NYU. Yeshiva University, directly north of Columbia, ... encouraged their students to join us on Monday." (Ynet News)
British Union Deems Israeli Academic Boycott Illegal
by Liz Ford
 The union that represents academics in the UK announced On Friday it will not proceed with plans to debate a boycott of Israeli universities following legal advice. The University and College Union, whose members passed a motion at its conference in May to circulate and discuss a call to boycott, has been told by lawyers that the move would be unlawful. The legal advice states: "It would be beyond the union's powers and unlawful for the union, directly or indirectly, to call for, or to implement, a boycott by the union and its members of any kind of Israeli universities and other academic institutions; and that the use of union funds directly or indirectly to further such a boycott would also be unlawful." (Guardian-UK)
Israelis Abduct Hamas Chief
by Marie Colvin and Uzi Mahnaimi
The secret Israeli raid into the heart of Hamas-controlled Gaza could hardly have been more audacious. Mahawash al-Qadi, a senior officer in Hamas’s militia, was driving home from Friday prayers three weeks ago at about 7pm. A broken-down lorry blocked his route so he turned into another track. Suddenly four men dressed in the black T-shirts, blue camouflage trousers and black boots of the Executive Force, the Hamas police, leapt into the road ahead of him. But they were no allies: they were Israeli special forces in disguise. To the Israelis the most interesting thing about al-Qadi was that he ran the zone where Palestinians had forced Gilad Shalit, 21, an Israeli  soldier, through a tunnel under the border in June 2006. The Gaza operation signalled a robust new approach by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) under Ehud Barak (pictured), the recently appointed defence minister. (Times-UK)
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Key Arab Nations Invited to Peace Talks
by Matthew Lee
 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that key Arab nations, including Syria, would be invited to President Bush's planned Mideast peace conference this fall and expressed hope they would attend. Formal invitations haven't been issued yet but Rice said it "would be natural" for Syria, Saudi Arabia and 10 other Arab League members looking at a broad peace deal with Israel to participate. "We would hope that the invitations would include the members of the Arab follow-up committee," Rice said. Committee members include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. (AP/Washington Post)
UN: We Have Criticized Israel Unfairly
 The United Nations Human Rights Council has not managed to deal fairly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the council's president Doru-Romulus Costea told a Spanish newspaper last week, according to Israel Radio. Doru admitted that he was dissatisfied with the fact the council had overly focused on the degree of human rights violations by Israel. "The body which I head must examine the actions of both sides equally, and we have not done that," said Costea. "Clearly, from now on things need to change." (Jerusalem Post)
Iran Shows Off New Missile, Taunts Israel
I ran last week showed off a longer-range missile in public for the first time and proclaimed a string of anti-Israel slogans, in a military parade held amid warnings of conflict with the West. The official announcer at the parade told reporters that the weapon had a range of 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles), sufficient to put US bases in the Middle East and Iran's arch enemy Israel within reach. "The Iranian nation is ready to bring any oppressive power to its knees," read a slogan from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei inscribed on a massive board on a truck. The head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Jaafari, warned bluntly: "My message to the enemy is that they will regret it (an attack). Do not do it." The parade was marked by a litany of slogans calling for "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." Western military attaches, apparently warned of this in advance, boycotted the rally for the second year running. "Israel should be eliminated" and "No Iranian Muslim, no Muslim recognizes Israel," were among the slogans borne on the back of military vehicles, quoting the words of Iran's revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. (AFP/Ynet News)
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