Jerusalem, Israel – Had it not been for the fact that an investigation commission concerning the conduct of the war last summer is coming out today, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi’s appearance during yesterday’s weekly cabinet meeting would have made banner headlines in Israel and abroad.

Ashkenazi, less than two months in his position, made a public policy statement that “the Palestinian terror groups’ continued Kassam rocket fire is a clear violation of the cease-fire” and that the only solution to continued Palestinian rocket fire into the western Negev would be to implement a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, and that “while artillery and helicopter fire can reduce terrorism, they cannot stop it.”

Also during the meeting, Ashkenazi announced that Hezbollah is trying to cross over the Litani River and into southern Lebanon, despite being banned from such action by U.N. Resolution 1701.

“Hezbollah is one minister away from controlling the Lebanese government,” Ashkenazi said. “UNIFIL and the Lebanese army are indeed operating, yet arms transfers from Syria are still making it into Lebanon, primarily because there is no effective security apparatus patrolling the border.”

“The organization is attempting to descend south of the Litani River, to open areas. UNIFIL and the Lebanese army are operating, but the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Lebanon continues, as there is no effective mechanism controlling the process along the very long border,” Ashkenazi told the ministers.

David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com..

©The Bulletin 2007

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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