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3,000 Missiles Found on Seized Arms Ship
by Aron Heller
 At least 3,000 missiles were on board the Francop, a vessel stopped by Israel off the coast of Cyprus and towed to the port of Ashdod. Containers with dark green missiles inside bore writing in English that said "I.R. Iranian Shipping Lines Group." Israel alleged that the shipment of hundreds of tons of rockets, missiles, mortars, grenades and anti-tank weapons - the largest it ever seized - was headed for Hizbullah in Lebanon. The ship had departed an Iranian port for Syria. Deputy Israeli navy commander Roni Ben-Yehuda said the ship carried ten times as many weapons as the Karine A, a weapons ship captured by Israeli forces in the Red Sea in January 2002. (AP)
See also Video: Weapons of Terror Ship Seized by Israel (BBC News)
U.S. House Condemns Goldstone Gaza Report by 344-36
by Ann Sanner
 The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, in a 344-36 vote, passed a nonbinding resolution that urges President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton "to oppose unequivocally any endorsement" of a UN report that accuses Israeli forces of war crimes in Gaza last winter. Twenty-two representatives voted "present." (AP/Washington Post)
See Point-Counterpoint Goldstone and Gold Debate the UN Report on Gaza
Israel Keen on Abbas Staying in Office
by Ron Bousso
 Israel is keen on Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas staying in office despite his announcement that he will not seek re-election, officials said on Friday, as the Arab League urged the moderate to reconsider. The Israeli government has refrained from officially commenting on Abbas's announcement late on Thursday that he would not stand in the Palestinian general election he has called for January. "This is an internal (Palestinian) affair," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told public radio. "We don't interfere in others' internal affairs. But it is evident that Israel and the United States are interested in a Palestinian leadership that is responsible and pragmatic," he said. A senior Israeli official told AFP that hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees Abbas "as a partner for peace." (AFP)
Palestinian Youth Grow Weary of Political Stalemate
by Majeda El Batsh
As the rift between the two main Palestinian factions widens, many West Bank youths, for decades the shock troops of their national movement, are growing increasingly disenchanted with their feuding leaders. Membership numbers are hard to come by, but dozens of interviews with students on university campuses across the West Bank revealed growing bitterness at the failure of Palestinian leaders to end the Israeli occupation or even construct a unified front to oppose it. Earlier this month Birzeit University hosted an event to protest  perceived Israeli threats to the Al-Aqsa mosque. Organizers expected around 9,000 students to come to express their outrage. Only 60 showed up. (AFP)
Israel: Top Exporter of Hippos
 Israel has become the world's top exporter of hippopotamuses, having successfully sent 14 of the artiodactyls to zoos in Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam in the past few months, said Sagit Horowitz, spokeswoman for the Ramat Gan Safari outside of Tel Aviv. With more than 40 hippopotamuses in the zoo and a high birth rate, the zoo had to find a way to scale down their population. (AFP)
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UN Gaza Report "Was Conceived in Hate and Executed in Sin"
by Gabriela Shalev, Israel's Ambassador to the UN
 Prior to the UN General Assembly's endorsement of the Goldstone report on Gaza, Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev told the body on Wednesday: "Terrorism deprives people of their most basic human right - the right to life. States have not only the right, but indeed the duty, to pursue those who engage in the barbaric tactics of terrorism. Yet rather than discuss how to better stop terrorist groups who deliberately target civilians, the General Assembly chose again to launch another campaign against the victims of terrorism, the people of Israel. The report before you was conceived in hate and executed in sin. From its inception in a one-sided mandate, the Gaza fact-finding mission was a politicized body with predetermined conclusions." (Israel's Foreign Ministry)
See also UN General Assembly Endorses Report on Gaza by Neil MacFarquhar (New York Times)
Palestinian President Says He Won’t Seek Re-election
by Ethan Bronner and Mark Landler
 The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas,warned Thursday that he would not seek reelection in the January elections he called, the latest sign that the Obama administration’s drive to broker Middle East peace talks have fallen into disarray. There is no immediate prospect of Mr. Abbas’ stepping aside, but his announcement, coming immediately after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit to revive talks between Israel and the Palestinians, illustrated the rising tensions over the Obama administration’s failure to produce an Israeli settlement freeze or any concessions from Arab leaders. (New York Times)
Hamas Minister Reveals Government Support for Terrorism
 On Oct. 28, Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad gave a speech describing the close ties between the ministry and the terrorist organizations operating in Gaza, and the support it gave to the various organizations. As quoted by the Hamas-affiliated Safa News Agency, the ministry "coordinates with all the factions of the resistance in Gaza" [i.e., the terrorist organizations]. The ministry makes every effort "to protect them and make it easier for them to carry out every aspect of their jihadist missions." "We routinely meet with the commanders of the factions." (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center)
Report: Iran Tested Advanced Nuclear Warhead Design
by Julian Borger
 The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design. According to a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of a "two-point implosion" device which allows for the production of smaller warheads, making it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile. "It is breathtaking that Iran could be working on this sort of material," said a European government adviser on nuclear issues. (Guardian - UK)
Start-Up Nation: Israel's High-Tech Success
by Amity Shlaes
 A survey last May of non-American companies on the Nasdaq counted three Korean companies, five Irish businesses, five from the UK and six from Japan. Israel had 64. In 2008, Israel drew more than twice the venture capital per citizen than the U.S. It drew 30 times as much VC cash as continental Europe. As Dan Senor and Saul Singer point out in Start Up Nation, the Israeli record of innovation has to do with a high level of education for both men and women, financial reforms, Israeli tolerance for failure, the immigrant personality - that of the self-selected risk-taker willing to start over, and advantages related to military service. (Bloomberg)
See also Video: Israel - Leader of Business Innovation (CNBC)
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