Vital Perspective

Ahmadinejad: Britain, Israel and U.S. to Vanish Like the Egyptian Pharaohs

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has predicted that Britain, Israel and the U.S. would eventually disappear from the world like the Egyptian pharaonic kings.

"The oppressive powers will disappear while the Iranian people will stay. Any power that is close to God will survive while the powers who are far from God will disappear like the pharaohs," he said Wednesday. "Today, it is the United States, Britain and the Zionist regime which are doomed to disappear as they have moved far away from the teachings of God," he said. "It is a divine promise."

Ahmadinejad's comments were the latest salvo against the West and Israel. He has repeatedly predicted that Israel is doomed to disappear. The remarks come amid mounting efforts by the P-5 to agree a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

British PM Blair Declares He's 'Never Disputed Hamas's Legitimacy or Mandate'

During a news conference today in which he discussed a push for a Palestinian unity government, British PM Tony Blair declared that he has "never disputed Hamas's legitimacy or its mandate." Blair said he would spell out to Palestinian leaders during a Middle East trip what support they could expect in exchange for recognising Israel, crucial to restarting peace talks.

"It is important for us to say very clearly 'this is what we will do if you are prepared to accept that any negotiations on two states must be on the basis of mutual respect and mutual recognition'," Blair told a news conference.

Physicist Stephen Hawking in Israel, W Bank for Series of Meetings, Lectures

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert met yesterday with physicist Stephen Hawking and expressed his appreciation for his work in investigating the universe and for his contribution to humanity. It is his fourth visit to Israel and the first since 1989. They discussed the Israeli-Palestinian situation including the ceasefire and the possibility of advancing the negotiations between the sides. They agreed strengthening Palestinian moderates – those who support a settlement with Israel and not terrorism – is very important.

Also on Sunday, Hawking presented a prerecorded 45 minute physics lecture to Israeli teenagers at the Bloomfield Museum of Science about black holes and how they warp space-time. His talk also included topics such as Wheeler-Feynman electro-dynamics, the Euclidian approach to quantum gravity, "naked singularities" and the "Cosmic Censorship hypothesis". He finished his presentation by answering questions posed by the winners and finalists of the Intel-Young Israeli Scientists competition.

Before leaving for England on Friday, Hawking will speak to Palestinian science students through a video conference seminar organised by the British Council in East Jerusalem, meet with members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Israeli physicists at the Centre for Excellence at Neve Shalom, visit Tel Aviv University, give a lecture at Birzeit University in Ramallah, and guest lecture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on "The Origin of the Universe". The lecture will also be carried live on the Hebrew University's website.

Blair, Rice to Continue Mideast Peace Efforts; PowerLine's Must-Read Analysis

MediaLine reports that Washington and London will continue their efforts to reboot the Israeli-Palestinian peace process on either side of Christmas. British PM Tony Blair is expected in the Middle East in the next couple of weeks. He is thought to be among those of the opinion that the conflict is one of the key causes of other elements of unrest in the region and of the struggle between the Muslim and western worlds.

Meanwhile, Secretary Rice will pay yet another visit early next year to assess whether there is any chance of moving matters forward. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert indicated willingness this week to consider what has become known as the Saudi initiative. While the plan’s focus is the Israeli-Palestinian issue, it calls for a comprehensive peace between Israel and all its Arab neighbors.

We'd also like to point out some pretty solid analysis from PowerLine this morning. We think some of the 'two-track' diplomacy that they talk about deserves a little more scrutiny, but that hardly detracts from the fact that it's a must-read post.

New Quinnipiac Survey Shows Israel's Image Improving Rapidly in the U.S.

Via Zionism & Israel News: The periodic Quinnipiac survey poll has surprising results regarding the image of Israel in the U.S. The poll asks for people's opinion about how friendly or unfriendly particular countries are toward the U.S. While Americans showed progressively warmer feelings for many countries, support for Israel increased more than support for any other country since March 2006, reaching 68%. Israel is third, behind Britain and Canada. Among Republicans, Israel scored 73.4%, among Democrats 64.4%, among men, 73.1%, among women 63%.

The table below shows the scores of some different countries in surveys taken since last March.

	Nov. 30	Aug. 28	Jun. 12	Mar. 13
Canada	73.4	71.7	71.4	70.9
Britain	78.9	78.3	76	76.4
Israel	68.2	65.9	62.9	61.8
Palestinians	23.8	22.8	25	24.6

Compared with March 13, support for Israel improved among all groups, as shown in the table below:

Perceive Israel as friendly to the U.S.

	Total	Men	Women	White Protestant	White Catholic	White Evangelical	GOP	Dem
March	61.8	65.3	58.4	64.4	62.1	64.0	69.6	56.3
November	68.2	73.1	63.0	69.7	66.8	70.4	73.4	64.4

Contrary to stereotypes regarding "Christian Zionism," support for Israel among white Evangelical Protestants and "born again" denominations was only slightly greater than it was among all Protestants, including mainline Protestants, and it was lowest among Catholics.

Support for Palestinians was low across all groups and deteriorated slightly since March, except among women and white Catholics. As might be expected, women and Democrats, who gave Israel relatively lower scores, tended to give Palestinian government slightly higher scores, as shown in the table below. It is noteworthy that among Catholics and Democrats, both Israel and the Palestinians were perceived as friendlier in November than in March.

Perceive Palestinian Government as friendly to the U.S.

	Total	Men	Women	White Protestant	White Catholic	White Evangelical	GOP	Dem
March	24.6	23.1	26.0	24.4	25.5	24.2	24.5	25.5
November	23.8	23.2	24.4	22.5	26.2	22.0	21.2	25.6

 

Israel made steady gains, either despite or because of the war in Lebanon while support for Palestinians has not improved. Reasons for the improvement in support for Israel probably include the disengagement from Gaza, the rise of Hamas and the war in Lebanon, all of which may tend to support the perception that the conflict is not about "the occupation," but rather about the desire of Palestinian and Muslim extremists to destroy Israel. Israel may be seen as an ally in the war against terror and/or the Iraq war. The reasons for the steady gap in perceptions of Israel between men and women are not clear. They are all the more peculiar given the place of women in Palestinian and Muslim society.

According to these results, support for Israel in the U.S. is not due to "the Jewish vote" or "the Israel lobby" "neoconservatives" or "Christian Zionists," but rather reflects a fundamental sentiment that cuts across practically all sectors of the population, like the affinity for Canada and Britain. While this sentiment fluctuates over time, support for Israel was already relatively high last March. Israel ranked third after Britain and Canada last March, and this relative ranking did not change. U.S. political support for Israel is anchored in this sentiment and is not likely to be much affected by by anti-Israel propaganda. The trends also suggest that the radicalization of the Palestinians, coupled with Israeli disengagement from Gaza have materially helped the image of Israel. Similar improvements were noted in Europe as well, however support for Israel in Europe is much lower.

The survey did not provide data on support for Israel as a function of education, income or age, which would have made possible more secure long term conclusions, as well as giving a better understanding of what the influential strata of U.S. society believe.

Ministry of Defense Confirms British Had to Borrow Ammo from U.S., Canada

Here's an interesting story. British troops in Afghanistan were sent a defective batch of ammunition, and were forced to borrow rounds from Canadian and U.S. troops about three months ago. The Ministry of Defense confirmed the incident last week.

"Three months ago, there was a single defective batch of 0.5 ammunition," a spokeswoman for the MoD said. "Some ammunition was borrowed from the Aermicans and Canadians for the short time it took to be replaced. At present, there are no problems with 0.5 ammunition of any other kind of rounds in theater."

The defective ammo is thought to be from either Pakistan or the Czech Republic, where a round costs about $0.60. British, Canadian or American ammo costs about $1.50 per round, meaning cheaper ammo would likely have saved thousands of punds, given the number of rounds fired.

Radical 'Hook Cleric' Abu Hamza to Have Appeal Ruled on Today in London

Radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza will find out today if he has successfully challenged his convictions for incitement to murder and race-hate offences. Hamza, 48, was convicted of inciting his followers to murder non-Muslims and Jews and sentenced to seven years in February. He was also convicted of stirring up racial hatred and possessing a terror "manual", the Encyclopaedia of the Afghani Jihad.

During recent appeal proceedings it was argued on Hamza's behalf that a fair trial was made "impossible" by the delay in prosecuting him. His attorney argues that 9/11 and the July 2005 bombings in London, along with a campaign against him by the media and leading politicians "prejudiced" his chances of a fair trial.

The prosecution case against him was that in sermons at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London and in Luton, Blackburn and Whitechapel, east London, "he was preaching terrorism, homicidal violence and hatred". A ruling in his case will be announced at the Court of Appeal in London.

UPDATE 11/28 @ 12:21: Hamza has lost the appeal. The decision removes one more hurdle to Hamza's potential extradition to the U.S. for trial over his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of U.S. and other western tourists in Yemen, the sending of recruits to Afghanistan for terrorist training, and conspiracy to establish a "jihadist" training camp in the U.S.

British Govt Sends Warning: Islamic Extremists Are Infiltrating Universities

The British government is warning that the country faces a sustained threat from extremist Islamic groups recruiting in British universities. Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said there was evidence that undergraduates were being "groomed" by groups infiltrating campuses disguised as ordinary students as he released a 20-page booklet designed to root out suspected terror cells.

The document, released to all universities today, warns lecturers to be vigilant of students suspected of circulating extremist literature and extremist speakers visiting campuses. It outlines a series of scenarios based on real events reported by university and college staff to illustrate the kind of threat being posed, including the invitation of a preacher suspected of justifying terrorist attacks against British civilians; the taking over of an Islamic prayer room; and the radicalising of an Islamic students group, in which moderate members are frozen out and bullied into electing hardline leaders.

This includes a teacher who found pamphlets with titles such as "Who is a legitimate target?" and "From Jihad to a new world order" and a tutor who had been approached by students concerned about a speaker delivering a talk entitled "Terrorist or freedom fighter?". It also describes how librarians have reported spotting students looking at computer images of men "dressed in military and civilian clothing holding guns" and concerns over extreme views being aired by members of Islamic societies.

New Peace Plan Rejected by UK, Israel; Road Map to Remain Accepted Plan

Via MediaLine: As the international community seeks ways to end the six-year impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Jerusalem and London have turned down the latest European offering. The Spanish, French and Italians are proposing a new idea, which has angered diplomats in London. They told The Guardian there is already a peace plan backed by Europe, along with the U.S., Russia and the UN, known as the Road Map. Israel also dismissed the new proposal, which includes calls for an immediate cease-fire, an exchange of prisoners, a Palestinian unity government and an international peace conference. The Palestinian government said Israel's rejection of the plan shows Jerusalem is not serious about rebooting the peace process.

Iran Asks IAEA for Help on Heavy-Water Reactor; Talks on Sanctions Continue

Iran has asked the IAEA for technical aid in constructing and applying a heavy-water nuclear research reactor, the Austria News Agency (APA) reported on Monday, quoting diplomats in Vienna. The heavy-water reactor would be built at Arak, about 200 km south of Tehran. The reactor could provide 12 kg of plutonium annually after its completion in 2009. The diplomats said Iran's application would be first discussed by the IAEA's technical assistance committee next week.

According to the Charter of the IAEA, Iran's application would need to be finally ratified by the IAEA's governing board in Vienna. The diplomats said the IAEA would not be likely to provide Iran with technical support in constructing the reactor at present. However, it could be in a position to offer some assistance to help ensure the project goes ahead safely.

Meanwhile, back in reality, the P-5 + 1 is about to take up another exploratory meeting on proposed sanctions against Tehran. They'll be meeting on Wednesday. The draft they'll be discussing urges nuclear and ballistic missile-related sanctions against Iran. It also includes travel bans and financial restrictions on Iranian scientists working on the nuclear and missile programs. Russia and China view the draft as as too tough and counter-productive.