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French President: Israel's a Miracle
 Ehud Olmert won rare French endorsement for Israel and its diplomatic policies. The Israeli prime minister, on a European tour to drum up support ahead of his U.S.-sponsored peace conference with the Palestinians, was hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Monday. Israeli officials quoted Sarkozy as telling Olmert that he considers Israel's creation a "miracle" of the 20th century. Though the French president had a Jewish grandfather, he described his pro-Israel sentiments as less a matter of ancestry and more an acknowledgment of the country's role in introducing democracy to the Middle East. In a further departure from France's traditional equivocation on Middle East affairs, Sarkozy came out against the Palestinians' demand that their refugees get a "right of return" to land now in Israel. According to Israeli officials, Sarkozy said it is unreasonable for Palestinians to expect statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip while wanting their compatriots resettled in the neighboring Jewish state. (JTA News)
IDF Colonel: 'Hamas Is Creating Humanitarian Crisis'
by Yaakov Katz
Hamas is unnecessarily endangering Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip by generating phony humanitarian crises, head of the Gaza Coordination Liaison Administration (CLA) Col. Nir Press said last week. Press dismissed the claims and said that in a meeting he held last week with Palestinian Health Ministry officials he was informed that the hospitals were running "low" on the anesthetic. On Monday morning, less than 24 hours after making the request, Israel transferred 151 nitrous oxide gas balloons to Shifa Hospital. "It is the Palestinians' responsibility to order the supplies," Press said, noting that despite the daily rocket attacks on Israeli towns - on Monday 10 rockets and shells pounded the western Negev - Israel continued to transfer medical goods and supplies into Gaza whenever they were ordered. (Jerusalem Post)
See also Israel to Begin Gaza Power Cuts after Court Approval (Jerusalem Post)
Satellite Imagery Shows Israeli Target Inside Syria Similar to North Korean Reactor
by Robin Wright and Joby Warrick
 The Euphrates River site in Syria that was bombed by Israel last month, and satellite imagery of the area shows buildings under construction similar in design to a North Korean reactor capable of producing nuclear material for one bomb a year. Photographs of the site taken before the Sep. 6 airstrike depict a tall, boxy structure similar to the type of building used to house a gas-graphite reactor. They also show what could have been a pumping station used to supply cooling water for a reactor, say experts David Albright and Paul Brannan of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS). "I'm pretty convinced that Syria was trying to build a nuclear reactor," Albright said in an interview. (Washington Post)
See also Alleged Site of Israeli Attack on Syria Cleared - Joby Warrick and Robin Wright (Washington Post)
UN Report Suggests Syrian Role in Arming Hizbullah
by Colum Lynch
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon issued a report last week strongly suggesting that Syria has helped smuggle weapons to Hizbullah and other armed groups, and that it sponsored Islamic militants involved in a military confrontation with the Lebanese army earlier this year. The report also cites Israeli assertions that Hizbullah has rebuilt its fighting capacity to a level not seen since its 2006 war with Israel. The assessment portrays Lebanon as a country facing threats to its survival not only from Syria but also from an array of armed groups linked to Islamic extremists and pro-Syria opposition parties. (Washington Post)
See also Syrian Intelligence Linked to Al-Qaeda-Affiliated Fatah al-Islam Terrorist Group - Benny Avni (New York Sun)
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Shin Bet: Palestinian Authority Forces Recently Attempted to Assassinate Olmert
by Ronny Sofer
 A group of gunmen affiliated with Fatah attempted to hit Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's convoy as it made its way from Jerusalem to Jericho for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on August 6, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet ministers last week. Israel learned of the plan from intelligence information received several days before the visit. The attack was eventually thwarted by the Shin Bet and the Palestinian Intelligence Service headed by Tawfik Tirawi. Following the incident, the Palestinians arrested three suspects, who were later released, according to Israeli officials. (Ynet News)
Israel Joins Effort to Starve Iran Atom Program
by Nehemia Shtrasler
  The threat of the Iranian nuclear program is the talk of Washington at the International Monetary Fund conference, though the subject isn't a purely economic one. But when the United States wants to push a topic, it can. Israeli Finance Minister Roni Bar-On is in Washington too, doing what he can to build an economic front against Iran's nukes. Israel naturally stands by America's side regarding Tehran, which has its vulnerabilities. It's general knowledge that Iran's economic situation is shaky because it's starved for foreign investments. That renders the Middle Eastern power more vulnerable, and that's why economic sanctions could be meaningful. Some 80 percent of Iran's revenues from exports comes from oil. So 50 percent of the Iranian government's budget originates from the oil business. (Ha'aretz)
Google Earth Used to Target Israel
by Clancy Chassay and Bobbie Johnson
  Palestinian militants are using Google Earth to help plan their attacks on the Israeli military and other targets, the Guardian has learned. Members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a group aligned with the Fatah political party, say they use the popular internet mapping tool to help determine their targets for rocket strikes. "We obtain the details from Google Earth and check them against our maps of the city centre and sensitive areas," Khaled Jaabari, the group's commander in Gaza who is known as Abu Walid, told the Guardian. Abu Walid showed the Guardian an aerial image of the Israeli town of Sderot on his computer to demonstrate how his group searches for targets. (Guardian-UK)
Arava Institute: Comic Sarah Silverman Is Serious about the Arava
by Nathan Burstein
  The star of Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program set to headline a fund-raiser next month for the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, the ecological and coexistence center located at Kibbutz Ketura, near Eilat. The fund-raiser, scheduled for November 29 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, will feature the entire cast of the comedienne's TV show - including her sister and co-star, Laura Silverman - as well as a stand-up routine by former sitcom actress Roseanne Barr. Besides the Arava Institute fund-raiser, the star's philanthropic work has included a contribution to I Am Jewish, the 2005 book in which figures ranging from a U.S. Supreme Court justice to an Olympic gold medal winner share their thoughts on the final words of Daniel Pearl. (Jerusalem Post)
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