August 20th

Israel Attack on Iran Runs Risk of Massive Missile Retaliation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Barbara Slavin - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am If Israel attacks Iran, the Israeli heartland could face retaliation from more than 10,000 missiles based in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, according to Uzi Rubin, the founder and first director of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization. » Read more

Bibi's Iran Plan Rests on Shaky Ground ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am Israel’s leading television news program, Channel 2 News, now informs us that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak are “on the brink” of approving an Israeli military attack on Iran. » Read more

Why Israel shrugs at retaliation after attack on Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Avi Nave, Daniel Nisman - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am Last week Iran sent a high-level envoy, Saeed Jalili, on a particularly controversial public-relations tour to Lebanon and Syria, the most explosive corner of the region. After ruffling feathers during a Beirut stopover, Mr. » Read more

Zone of Insanity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by James Traub - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am It must drive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crazy that scarcely anybody outside his immediate circle of advisors -- oh, and Mitt Romney -- understands the imperative for war against Iran. Israel's retired security chiefs uniformly consider a war unnecessary right now. Israel's president, Shimon Peres, agrees. A poll released this week found the Israeli public opposed to war by a solid 46 percent to 32 percent. As for the United States, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta insists that "the window is still open to try to work toward a diplomatic solution." » Read more

Israeli threats about Iran -- crying wolf or laying groundwork? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Carol J. Williams - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am They're passing out gas masks in Jerusalem and testing a new text-messaging system for alerting Israelis to incoming rockets. The civil defense preparations follow a week of renewed warnings by Israeli officials that airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities may be imminent, despite U.S. misgivings, to thwart Tehran's alleged pursuit of nuclear bomb-making capability. » Read more

University heads ask court to overturn Ariel status ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post August 20, 2012 - 12:00am The heads of Israel's universities on Monday petitioned the High Court of Justice to overturn a decision granting Ariel University Center (AUC) official university status. The petition was filed against a number of organizations, including The Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria, the IDF OC Central Command, the Israeli government, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. » Read more

Hamas arrests terrorist behind June border attack ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - August 18, 2012 - 12:00am The Hamas government's security forces have arrested a terrorist who was responsible in part for the attack that killed an Israeli civilian working on Israel's southern border fence in June. » Read more

PM to Abbas: Israel will catch firebomb assailants ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Hassan Shaalan - August 18, 2012 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday and offered his greetings for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Netanyahu promised that Israel will spare no effort in bringing those behind the firebomb assault against Palestinians to justice. » Read more

Israeli police arrest suspects in Jerusalem attack ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 20, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli police have arrested a total of five suspects in connection with an attack in Jerusalem early Friday that left a Palestinian citizen of Israel seriously injured, an Israeli police spokesman said Sunday. Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma'an that a special investigation team is looking into the incident and trying to work out the exact nature of the attack. Five suspects, including one female, aged between 13-19 have been arrested in connection with the assault, which took place in the early hours of Friday in West Jerusalem's Zion Square. » Read more

Israel Police: Hundreds watched attempt to lynch Palestinians in Jerusalem, did not interfere ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Oz Rosenberg - August 20, 2012 - 12:00am After initially treating the event as a brawl, police on Sunday for the first time referred to the attack on Palestinian youths by dozens of Jewish teens in Jerusalem early last Friday as a "lynching." A police representative told the Magistrate's Court that hundreds of people watched the event without helping the victims. Witnesses say the attack lasted a short while before police arrived and the attackers fled. » Read more