{"id":12980,"date":"2009-06-07T23:32:09","date_gmt":"2009-06-07T21:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=12980"},"modified":"2011-09-02T11:35:34","modified_gmt":"2011-09-02T08:35:34","slug":"debka-files-exclusives-in-week-ending-june-4-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/06\/07\/debka-files-exclusives-in-week-ending-june-4-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"DEBKA file&#8217;s Exclusives in Week ending June 4, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Untitled Document<!--  --><\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"1\" cellpadding=\"2\" width=\"630\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"311\" valign=\"top\"><strong>Muslim gang leader confesses to  three-year old torture, murder of French Jew <\/strong><strong>29  May:<\/strong> Yousouf Fofana, leader of the self-styled  Parisian &#8220;Gang of Barbarians,&#8221; has confessed at his trial to the brutal murder  of Ilan Halimi, a 23-year old Jew, three years ago, after torturing him for 24  days. The anti-Semitic crime appalled the 600,000-strong French Jewish  community, which accuses the government of still neglecting to curb the rising  tide of anti-Semitism sweeping France.<\/p>\n<p>The trial is proceeding behind  closed doors because two of the 26 accused were juveniles at the time.<br \/>\nHalimi&#8217;s body was found in February 2006 at a Paris suburban railway  station, naked, handcuffed and covered in burn marks from cigarettes. He died of  stab wounds to his neck on the way to hospital.<\/p>\n<p>The victim&#8217;s mother Ruth  Halimi has published a book about her son&#8217;s ordeal, comparing it to the  kidnapping of Daniel Pearl, the American-Jewish journalist beheaded by Muslim  terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>US failure to  block North Korea&#8217;s nuclear armament is a lesson for Iran<br \/>\nDEBKAfile Special  Analysis<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>30  May: <\/strong>&#8220;We will not stand idly by as North Korea  builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in the region or on  us,&#8221; US defense secretary Robert Gates said in a speech Saturday, May 30. But he  insisted the next step would be political, not military and called for stronger  sanctions against internationally censured North Korea and Iran.<\/p>\n<p>DEBKAfile notes: Clearly, no military response is contemplated for now  against North Korea, although Pyongyang has threatened military action against  any attempts to stop and search its ships.<\/p>\n<p>Gates insisted that the  &#8220;transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state  entities&#8221; would be a grave threat to the United States and its allies.&#8221; But he  avoided mentioning North Korea&#8217;s blatant nuclear and missile transfers to Iran  going back years.<\/p>\n<p>DEBKAfile&#8217;s Washington sources affirm that US  President Barack Obama is preparing America and the world to accept the  necessity of living with a nuclear-armed North Korea, with Tehran taking careful  note.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Hamas cells to  launch full-blown West Bank terror war<br \/>\nDEBKAfile Exclusive  Report<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>31  May:<\/strong> DEBKAfile&#8217;s military sources disclose that  Sunday night, May 31, Hamas commanders in Damascus and Gaza ordered all West  Bank cells to unleash a terrorist assault on the West Bank with bomb cars,  roadside bombs, snipers and missiles. They were told to set their sights against  all Palestinian Authority officials including Mahmoud Abbas as well as taking  aim at Israeli cities north of Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n<p>Israel&#8217;s homeland defense  authority was notified of Hamas&#8217; declaration of war Sunday as it embarked on  &#8220;Turning Point 3&#8221;, Israel&#8217;s largest civil defense exercise ever, designed to  simulate simultaneous missile attacks from Iran, Syria, Hizballah from Lebanon  and Hamas from the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<p>Hamas leaders&#8217; decision to unleash  violence was triggered by three events:<\/p>\n<p>1. In 48 hours, the  fundamentalist Palestinian terrorists lost two top West Bank leaders in battle.  Friday morning, May 29, an Israeli Border Guard counter-terror unit shot dead  its Hebron commander when he resisted arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Two days later, a special  Palestinian Authority unit killed Hamas&#8217; northern Samaria commander after a  seven-hour shootout in Qalqilya.<\/p>\n<p>2. They believe the Palestinian  Authority US-trained security force directed by Gen. Keith Dayton is not up to  much and easily blown away.<\/p>\n<p>3. Hamas is determined to scuttle Obama-Abbas  cooperation and disrupt the US president&#8217;s forthcoming speech to Muslims from  Cairo.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>May 31  Briefs:<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Ex-Mossad officer Haggai Hadas appointed negotiator for Gilead  Shalit.<br \/>\nMinisterial legislative panel votes down Israel  Beteinu&#8217;s Loyalty Bill. Thousands march in annual Salute to Israel parade on  New York&#8217;s Fifth Avenue.<br \/>\nIsrael transport minister Katz: Government will  not freeze legal settlement activity.<br \/>\nBomb defused on  Iranian domestic passenger plane in more campaign violence.<br \/>\nIsraeli FM  Lieberman to hold talks in Moscow with Russian president, prime minister.<br \/>\nBarak heads to Washington to meet Gates, Jones, congressmen.<br \/>\nThree Palestinian security men, three senior Hamas terrorists killed in  firefightin Qalqilya, West Bank Saturday night.<br \/>\nOne was Hamas commander of N.  West Bank.<br \/>\nCivil defense drill Turning Point 3 begins Sunday for emergency  teams and government offices.<br \/>\nTuesday, sirens to summon general public to  shelters.<br \/>\nAbbas tells Mubarak he is ready to restart peace talks by  July.<br \/>\nIn Washington, Abbas said no talks until Netanyahu government toppled  under US pressure.<br \/>\nState funeral Sunday for Prof. Ephraim Katzir, fourth  President of Israel.<br \/>\nCeremonies take place at the Weizmann Institution of  Science, Rehovoth.<br \/>\nProf. Katzir who died aged 93, was internationally  distinguished for achievements in biochemistry, biophysics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Enough fissile  material for Iranian nuke by year&#8217;s end &#8212;AMAN  officer<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>01 June:<\/strong> Brig. Gen. Yossi  Baidatz, director of Israeli military intelligence (AMAN) research division  estimates that Iran will have accumulated enough fissile material to build its  first nuclear bomb by the end of this year.<\/p>\n<p>Iran&#8217;s nuclear clock, he  said, is ticking away faster than international diplomacy. As he spoke, the  country&#8217;s biggest civil defense exercise configured for possible rocket attacks  from four directions, including Iran, coupled with a mega-terrorist attack, was  in progress.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Obama commits to  close ties with Israel &#8211; but demands settlement freeze<br \/>\nDEBKAfile Special  Report<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>02 June:<\/strong> Ahead of his  speech of reconciliation to the Muslims world June 4, US president Barack Obama  vowed to sustain close US ties with Israel but said the status quo in the region  was &#8220;unsustainable&#8221; for Israel&#8217;s security.<\/p>\n<p>In a NPR interview Monday,  June 1, he said: &#8220;We do have to retain a constant belief in&#8230; negotiations that  will lead to peace&#8221; and &#8220;I&#8217;ve said that a freeze on settlements, including  expansion to accommodate successive generations of settlers, is part of that.&#8221;<br \/>\nEarlier Monday, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that halting  construction in West Bank settlements would be equal to &#8220;freezing life,&#8221; and,  therefore, &#8220;unreasonable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>DEBKAfile&#8217;s Washington sources report that  Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak has no hope of modifying administration&#8217;s  tough stance on West Bank settlements and a Palestinians state during his  current talks with US officials. Therefore the Netanyahu government&#8217;s strategy  of skirting the real issues to avoid a clash will not work. He would do well to  stop being defensive and stress that, even if every single settlement was  removed from the West Bank, Iran would not stop developing nuclear weapons, the  Taliban would not stop fighting, Hizballah would not be prevented from winning  Lebanon&#8217;s general election, and Hamas would not give up its bid to capture the  West Bank as its next terror base.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Fellow Democrats  in Congress criticize Obama&#8217;s tough stance on Israel<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>3  June: <\/strong>Some of President Barack Obama&#8217;s fellow  Democrats in the US Congress have criticized him for &#8220;going beyond where it is  appropriated for us to go in dealing with another democracy,&#8221; as Representative  Anthony Weiner put it.<\/p>\n<p>His comments were echoed by other congressmen  despite the staunch backing of Obama&#8217;s policy by the senior Democratic Party  leadership.<\/p>\n<p>The Obama administration has repeatedly demanded that Israel  commit to the creation of a Palestinian state and halt all settlement activity  in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<p><em>Cont. Next  Column<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"302\" valign=\"top\">Israeli Prime Minister  Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads a largely right-wing cabinet, has so far refused  to do both. &#8220;To say that a family that introduces a new child to their house  can&#8217;t build a wing onto their home, I think goes beyond what I think should be  U.S. policy,&#8221; Weiner told a news conference.<\/p>\n<p>New York Congressman  Joseph Crowley said he was &#8220;very careful in questioning another democracy and  the decisions that they make that would impose on their  sovereignty.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Israel, he added, &#8220;has demonstrated over and over again her  willingness to work towards a lasting peace within the Middle  East.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>French surveillance  gear enabled Lebanon to crack alleged Israel spy rings<br \/>\nDEBKAfile Exclusive  Report <\/strong><strong>3  June:<\/strong> DEBKAfile&#8217;s intelligence sources reveal that  Lebanon is enabled to crack alleged Israeli spy rings by ultra-sophisticated  surveillance equipment recently consigned to Lebanon by French intelligence  services. French president Nicolas Sarkozy handed it over against a personal  pledge from Lebanese president Michel Suleiman that it would be used exclusively  against subversive Syrian and Hizballah targets to help him weather the June 7  general election.<\/p>\n<p>But General Suleiman broke his word. Gen. Ashraf Rifi,  head of Lebanon&#8217;s General Security Office, had the top-notch surveillance  devices installed to snoop on suspected Western and Israeli assets; Syrian or  Hizballah agents were left with a clear run.<\/p>\n<p>Beirut has just passed its  findings together with the captured electronic paraphernalia to Syrian and  Iranian intelligence, handing them the data for overhauling their defenses  against foreign espionage.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Sarkozy strongly  condemns Ahmadinejad&#8217;s new denial of the Holocaust <\/strong><strong>3  June:<\/strong> French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued  Wednesday a strong condemnation of new remarks from Iranian leader Mahmoud  Ahmadinejad denying the Holocaust. He told Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr  Mottaki during a meeting in Paris that such comments were &#8220;unacceptable and  profoundly shocking.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The extremist Ahmadinejad, who is seeking a second  term in office, reiterated Wednesday that<br \/>\n&#8220;The identity of the liberal  democracy has been exposed to the world by its protection of the most criminal  regime in the history of humanity, the Zionist regime, by using the big  deception of the Holocaust.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Obama arrives in  Middle East to red carpet and al Qaeda threats<br \/>\nDEBKAfile Special  Report<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>03  June: <\/strong>Received in Riyadh by King Abdullah and an  honor guard, Barack Obama said: &#8220;I thought it was important to visit the place  where Islam began.&#8221;<br \/>\nDEBKAfile&#8217;s Middle East sources report that over and  above the genuine warmth of the royal welcome and assent on the need for a new  Middle East peace conference, Saudi leaders strongly disapprove of the US  president&#8217;s insistence on dialogue with Tehran. Over last weekend, giant  transports unloaded at Cairo airport a fleet of armored vehicles, White House  helicopters, counter-terror weapons and the vanguard of the 3,000 Secret Service  officers backed by CIA and FBI personnel who are securing the US president  during his stay in Egypt. Many Cairenes chose to stay home as the city&#8217;s traffic  was brought to a halt by security measures.<\/p>\n<p>Some 30,000 Egyptian security  personnel including army units stationed in Cairo are on special duty until the  American president leaves.<\/p>\n<p>His convoy will be escorted by vehicles  equipped with sensors for detecting firearms and explosives and covered by  Marine helicopters overhead.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Bin Laden: Obama  plants seeds of Muslim hatred for United States<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>3  June:<\/strong> Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden warned  Americans &#8220;to be prepared to receive the consequences of the Obama and Bush  administrations.&#8221; In a new recorded audiotape released by Arabic Al Jazeera TV  Wednesday, June 3. he accused Obama of planting the seeds for &#8220;revenge and  hatred&#8221; toward the United States in the Muslim world. Tuesday, his deputy, Ayman  Zawahiri, called on Egyptians to confront the &#8220;criminal&#8221; Barack Obama whose  &#8220;bloody messages&#8221; to Muslims have been received&#8230; and would not be covered by  &#8220;public relations campaigns or theatrical visits or polished words.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Obama reshuffles  America&#8217;s Middle East allies<br \/>\nDEBKAfile Exclusive  Analysis<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>4  June:<\/strong> In his two day stay in the Middle East,  crowned by a speech from Cairo to the world&#8217;s Muslims on June 4, US president  Barack Obama held private talks with Saudi King Abdullah and Hosni Mubarak in  which he cemented a new coalition between the US, Saudi Arabia and Egypt,  DEBKAfile&#8217;s Middle East sources report. The three nations forged their first  strategic bond ever to combat Islamic radicalism, chiefly al Qaeda and Taliban,  and applying the brakes to Iran&#8217;s drive for a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday,  Osama bin Laden warned Muslims that &#8220;alliances with Christians and Jews would  turn them into apostates.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This seismic transformation means that  President Obama proposes to gradually minimize America&#8217;s strategic ties. Instead  of conferring with Israel on America&#8217;s military and undercover moves the Middle  East and Muslim world, Washington will focus its teamwork on Cairo and Riyadh.  Obama seeks to enter into negotiations with Iran unencumbered by Israeli  baggage. The same applies to Obama&#8217;s talks with Arab and Muslim governments such  as Syria, which he wants to harness to his new Arab line-up.<br \/>\nWhen he said in  his epic speech &#8220;America will align its policies with those who seek peace,&#8221; he  was saying that his hands are free to henceforth pick and choose US allies  without being bound by the past.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Obama raps  Israel, Palestinians, Arabs for Middle East  stalemate<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>4  June: <\/strong>The US president Barack Obama stressed the  need for mutual respect and tolerance among the world&#8217;s faiths, denigrated al  Qaeda and extremism, said the US &#8220;does not accept the legitimacy of continued  Israeli settlements,&#8221; will respect all elected peaceful governments provided  they respect their peoples, and called for universal human and women&#8217;s rights to  be upheld. His much awaited speech to more than a billion Muslims which quoted  extensively from the Koran, but also the Bible and the Talmud, won cheers from  the selected 3,000 strong audience in Cairo University&#8217;s Great Hall Thursday,  June 4.<\/p>\n<p>Along with a declaration that the US bond with Israel is  unbreakable, President Obama demanded that Israel and the Palestinians uphold  their obligations to the roadmap. &#8220;America will align its policies with those  who seek peace &#8211; Israelis, Palestinians or Arabs,&#8221; he declared. Israel must let  Palestinians live a normal life in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, he said, but  they must abandon violence.<\/p>\n<p>Rockets on sleeping children or bombs  killing old people on a bus are intolerable, but the US does not accept the  legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements and Israel must recognize the  Palestinian right to dignity and a state of their own, but so must the Arab  world recognize Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Obama began his speech by saying: &#8220;I have come to  Cairo to seek a new beginning of mutual respect between America and Muslims:  Salaam Aleikum.&#8221; America and Islam are not mutually exclusive; they share common  principles.&#8221; Muslims have enriched America in many fields.<\/p>\n<p>But no one  should tolerate al Qaeda which killed members<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Untitled Document Muslim gang leader confesses to three-year old torture, murder of French Jew 29 May: Yousouf Fofana, leader of the self-styled Parisian &#8220;Gang of Barbarians,&#8221; has confessed at his trial to the brutal murder of Ilan Halimi, a 23-year old Jew, three years ago, after torturing him for 24 days. The anti-Semitic crime appalled [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":62157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[978],"class_list":["post-12980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-depka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}