Philadelphia native Harriet Levin doesn’t ask herself “what if” it hadn’t happened. Harriet Levin believes in destiny. Her son’s destiny was to die in a war for Israel and become part of this country.

“Mikey did what I always wanted to do and never did. He made aliyah (immigrated) to Israel and enlisted in the IDF (the Israel Defense Forces),” she said. “I always dreamed of doing more for my country, of coming and volunteering.

“After all, it’s the easiest thing live in a big, beautiful house in the United States and to write a check for a pro-Israeli organization every once in a while. I wanted to give a lot more, but I didn’t think I’d give so much, that I’d give my son.”

Harriet Levin saw, last year and from afar, the Lebanese village where her son, Sgt. Michael Levin, 22, was killed by a Hezbollah sniper in 2006.

She spoke with his friends from the unit who we were with him in his final moments, asking for every detail. She keeps in touch with the medic who tried to save him.

Last Monday night, Harriet Levin participated in a special ceremony for IDF personnel fallen from the Jewish diaspora, organized in Jerusalem by the Jewish Agency for Israel’s MASA project and attended by thousands of current and former members of Jewish Agency diaspora projects.

When Mikey’s good friend, Aaron, spoke at the ceremony of his choice to immigrate to Israel, a decision he made the day after the sergeant was killed, Harriet Levin broke down.

“He succeeded in his life’s mission – Zionism, not in his life, but with his death,” she said.

‘Zionism Was

His Dream’

This is Harriet Levin’s third Memorial Day in Israel.

“I can’t be in the United States on this day,” she said. She added that this year’s ceremony at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem, the same place she saw her still-living son receive his red paratrooper’s beret several years ago, was particularly hard.

“Since his birth, I knew he would come to Israel and enlist in the Israel Defense Forces,” she said. “It was his dream, and every visit to Israel just made it stronger.”

During 2001, at the height of the Intifada, he studied in Israel for several months. After witnessing the security situation, he determined not only to enlist, but to go to a combat unit.

Michael Levin followed his dream, enlisted and joined the paratroopers. When the Second Lebanon War broke out, he was visiting family in Philadelphia. He packed his bags and told his family, “I have to go back.”

“After the war, we were told that he was originally assigned to guard in Hebron during the war, but he insisted on joining the fighting, even though the IDF prefers not to send lone soldiers (those with no family in Israel) to the front line,” Harriet said.

Before he left, he was resolute in talking to his father about what would happen if he didn’t make it back from the war. He said he wanted to be buried at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl.

When the family took him to the airport, his twin sister, Dara, said she knew at that moment that it would be the last time she would see him.

She missed his last phone call and only heard his voicemail saying, “It’s crazy what’s happening here, it’s just hell. We’ll talk when it’s over.” They never got to.

Can’t Escape

The Memories

On Memorial Day, Harriet can’t escape the memories of Aug. 1, 2006, the day her son died.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she recalled. “I went to work with a feeling that something bad was going to happen. All of a sudden, a representative from the consulate and the congregation’s rabbi arrived and told me that Mikey had been killed. After the first shock had passed, we were asked where we would like him to be buried. We answered immediately – Mount Herzl.”

Harriet was accompanied to the ceremony by a close friend and her son who came with her from the U.S. The former director for new immigrants at the Jewish Agency, considered the “father of the lone soldiers” who was closely acquainted with Mikey, also joined to lend her his support, as did several of her son’s friends from the army.

Harriet returns to Philadelphia next week, but part of her roots will forever be in Plot D, Row 6, at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

A new Washington Institute report indicates the Obama administration’s efforts to reconcile with Iran has made Egypt uneasy and caused alarm in Cairo.

The report, authored by researchers David Pollock and Mohammad Yaghi, said Egyptian and other Arab diplomats have not been comforted by the administration’s efforts to reassure them its change in policy toward Iran does not mean abandoning its opposition to Tehran’s nuclear and regional destabilization efforts.

According to the report, titled “Egypt’s Campaign against Iran Sends Washington a Signal,” Egypt’s announcement of the presence of a Hezbollah network in Cairo and the Sinai Peninsula was meant to express President Hosni Mubarak’s dismay over U.S. policy toward Iran.

The Egyptians have been particularly concerned over Iranian attempts to infiltrate Arab states. The Hezbollah cell, reportedly financed by Iran, has been regarded as part of Tehran’s policy of destabilizing pro-U.S. allies in the Middle East.

“At a recent State Department briefing for a select group of friendly Arab states, including Egypt, the U.S. message reportedly emphasized that its efforts to engage Iran now would improve the prospects of confronting Iran later, if necessary,” the report said. “The Arab diplomats apparently did not find this message entirely reassuring, with some asking pointedly about more immediate Iranian threats. Egypt’s new revelations about the Hezbollah plot on its own territory present the most vivid case in point.

“Cairo is sending a signal to Washington that the nuclear file is not the only – or even the most urgent – aspect of the Iranian threat.”

The report also revealed that Egypt arrested the commander of the Hezbollah network in November 2008, but the Mubarak regime refrained from disclosing the network until it decided to try to influence U.S. and Arab policy toward Tehran.

“It clearly reflects that Cairo is taking sides in an increasingly polarized pan-Arab debate on Iranian influence in the region,” the report said. “Especially striking in this case is Cairo’s outspoken challenge not just to Hezbollah, but also to its Iranian patrons.”

The authors of the report urged the Obama administration to help Egypt battle Iranian destabilization efforts. They wrote the Egyptian campaign against Hezbollah could provide Washington with an opportunity to demonstrate its support for its allies in the Arab world.

“The United States should move quickly to provide strong public support and tangible assistance to Egypt and other Arab governments in their efforts to counter Iran’s increasingly brazen subversion,” the report said. “Such a stance is not incompatible with Washington’s search for a way to engage Iran. On the contrary, the essence of smart statecraft lies precisely in the ability to talk while simultaneously protecting one’s interests and preserving one’s principles.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman plans to leave next week for his first visit to Europe. Mr. Lieberman will visit Italy, Germany, France and the Czech Republic, where he plans to meet with heads of state.

His trip will focus on obtaining European support in the struggle against Iran’s nuclear program.

Mr. Lieberman will begin his five-day trip in Rome, where he will meet with his Italian counterpart Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Monday.

From there, he will continue to France, the Czech Republic and Germany to meet with those countries’ foreign ministers.

He plans to warn against the danger of alleviating existing economic sanctions against Iran due to the threat Iran poses to global stability.

Mr. Lieberman also hopes to preserve positive relations between Israel and the European Union during his meetings with the foreign ministers. He also aims to stop an initiative to suspend the planned upgrade in those relations.

There have been mounting calls within Europe to suspend the upgrade in relations until the policies in which the new Netanyahu government states his explicit support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian question.

At the traditional meeting with the diplomatic corps based in Israel that was held Wednesday at the President’s Residence, Mr. Lieberman shook hands with the Egyptian ambassador to Israel, Yasser Rida, who exchanged pleasantries with him.

The Jordanian ambassador to Israel, Ali al-Aid, also shook Foreign Minister Lieberman’s hand.

Mr. Rida told Ma’ariv on Wednesday that “there is no crisis in relations between Egypt and Israel, but, like between brothers, there are sometimes differences in terms of the approach and views, and that is normal.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

At a time when global economic boycotts of Iran are being widely reported, Mehdi Ghazanfari, head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization, has told IRNA, an official Iranian news agency, that five European countries have been Iran’s main trade partners during the past year.

The European countries trading with Iran include: Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and France and are worth $15.4 billion.

“Despite the sanctions imposed on Iran by some Western countries and U.S., the European states are keen on continuing bilateral economic cooperation with Iran,” he said, referring to the figure of trade exchange between Iran and those states.

Meanwhile, Iran’s ambassador to Turkey, Bahman Hosseinpour, has told another official Iranian news agency, Fars News, the volume of trade between Iran and Turkey has reached a record $12 billion. This follows efforts by officials on both sides. He expressed hope the two countries’ trade exchanges would increase to $20 billion in the near future.

Mr. Hosseinpour made his remarks while speaking at a seminar on expansion of Iran-Turkey trade ties and investments.

Reminding the significant role businessmen play in Turkish-Iranian relations, Mr. Hosseinpour said: “Iran and Turkey as two great states do not deserve such a meager level of trade exchanges. And promoting the volume to a proper level is merely possible through [enhanced activity of] traders.”

He further said although the private sector plays a significant role in international trade on a global scale, the two countries’ governments currently run Turkish-Iranian trade exchanges.

Iranian Minister of Commerce Masoud Mirkazemi is currently in Ankara, Turkey to discuss ways for expansion of commercial cooperation. Mr. Mirkazemi heads an Iranian delegation to Ankara that includes 170 businessmen and exporters from the Iranian private sector.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI), a national American synagogue organization comprising 150 synagogues throughout the United States, issued a harsh condemnation yesterday of the Palestinian Authority’s decision to sentence a Palestinian man to death after he was accused of selling land to Jews.

The death sentence, issued by the Palestinian Authority’s military court, was based on a longstanding Palestinian policy that prohibits Palestinians from entering into real estate transactions with Jews.

The court’s decision comes in the wake of a recent reminder to Palestinians by Palestinian Authority Chief Justice Sheik Tayseer Rajab Tamimi that selling land to Jews is considered “high treason,” a crime that carries with it a death sentence.

“The Palestinian Authority’s decision to punish people for selling land to Jews is a racist policy that should be viewed by the entire international community with disgust and disdain,” said NCYI President Shlomo Z. Mostofsky, Esq. “Equating a real estate transaction with a death sentence is unconscionable and must be condemned in the strongest terms possible.”

The National Council of Young Israel also called on the Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to denounce the Palestinian policy and to demand its renunciation by the Palestinian Authority.

“The United States cannot in good faith engage in a conversation about peace with the Palestinians while they continue to advocate a policy that is so deeply rooted in hatred,” said Mr. Mostofsky. “Before the U.S. can contemplate partnering with the Palestinian Authority in an attempt to achieve peace in the Middle East, it must insist that they abandon these bigoted policies that incite hatred and ill-will against the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

The war between Arab nationalist regimes and Islamic insurgency groups continues.

The Middle East Newsline says Algerian security sources have said Abu Harith al-Libya, a leading commander of the al-Qaida Organization (AQIM) in North Africa, was killed in a clash with security forces in the southern part of the country.

“Abu Harith was a key operative who helped AQIM smuggle weapons and drugs as well as abduct Westerners,” a security source said.

Abu Harith, his nomme de guerre, was killed on Monday in Tanan, near the Algerian border with Mali. They said Abu Harith, believed to be a Libyan, was the No. 2 figure in the Tariq Bin Ziyad, a leading element of AQIM.

In the clash, another AQIM operative was killed in Tanan, about 1,500 miles south of Algiers.

Algerian special forces had spotted a suspected AQIM squad amid the state of alert along the Algerian-Mali border. Algerian security forces had been on high alert amid AQIM’s threat to kill a British national by mid-May. AQIM has demanded the release of a leading al-Qaida operative, Abu Qatada, held in Britain and set for extradition to Jordan.

Tariq Bin Ziyad was established by Amari Saifi, who helped establish the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call, which merged with al-Qaida in 2006 to form AQIM. Tariq Bin Ziyad has been operating in southern Algeria near the border with Mali, which has become a stronghold for al-Qaida.

Last Saturday, Mali announced the arrest of four Algerians said to work for AQIM. Mali has come under African and Western pressure to launch a crackdown on the Islamic insurgency in the wake of AQIM’s abduction of Westerners in late 2008 and early 2009.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

According to a report issued by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a group of senators has introduced legislation that would allow President Barack Obama to impose sanctions on foreign fuel suppliers to Iran.

U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., organized the initiative.

“I’m very proud of the breadth of the coalition that has come together,” said Mr. Lieberman, who serves as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

The legislation would grant presidential powers to impose sanctions on gasoline and refined petroleum imported to Iran. Mr. Lieberman said liberal and conservative members of the Senate supported the bill.

The Obama administration is expected to oppose the legislation, titled the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act. Mr. Obama has launched a dialogue meant to reconcile with the Islamic regime in Tehran.

The cosponsors of the legislation, introduced on Tuesday, include: U.S. Sens. Evan Bayh, Barbara Boxer, Susan Collins, Russell Feingold, Jon Kyl, Barbara Mikulski, James Risch, Charles Schumer and John Thune. In all, the legislation has garnered 20 co-sponsors, both Democrats and Republicans. U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., has introduced similar legislation in the House.

“We must not allow anyone to mistake our willingness to engage with the Iranians as a sign of weakness, least of all, the Iranians themselves,” Mr. Lieberman told AEI on Monday. “Yet frankly, that is precisely the conclusion that some in Iran and elsewhere in the region are drawing.”

Mr. Lieberman said the bill would amend the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act, which called for a boycott of companies that invest $20 million or more in Iran’s energy sector.

The new legislation would allow the president to sanction foreign companies involved in the sale of fuel, fuel delivery insurance and maintenance of Iranian refineries.

“The logic behind our approach is simple,” Mr. Lieberman said. “Although blessed with immense oil wealth, Iran – due to the economic mismanagement of its leaders – lacks the capacity to meet its domestic demand for gasoline and other refined petroleum products. As a result, it must rely heavily on imports for as much as 40 percent of its gasoline needs.”

Mr Lieberman said the proposed sanctions would reassure U.S. allies in the Middle East, under threat from Iran and its nuclear weapons program. He said both Israel and Arab states have agreed on the Iranian threat.

“In the Middle East today, there is an unprecedented convergence of concerns about Iran among Arabs and Israelis alike,” Mr. Lieberman said. “The question is whether we can seize this moment to help usher into place a new strategic architecture for the Middle East – not necessarily a formal alliance, at least initially, but a series of understandings, arrangements, and policies that strengthen the sovereignty and security of the states that

are being threatened by Iranian extremism and expansionism, and that can bind them closer together until the day they are ready to become formal allies.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

SANA, the official Syrian news agency, reported yesterday Syria and Turkey signed a technical military cooperation agreement on Monday in the fields of defense industries and the exchange of technical and scientific information.

This cooperation agreement followed two days of joint Syrian-Turkish military maneuvers.

Israel Minister of Defense Ehud Barak said yesterday at an Israel Memorial Day event that “a Syrian-Turkish military maneuver is taking place, definitely a disturbing development. But I believe that the strategic relationship between Israel and Turkey will overcome Turkey’s necessity to participate in this drill as well.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

The Middle East Newsline reports Jordan’s King Abdullah has warned the Obama administration that Iran was expanding its presence throughout the Middle East.

Kiing Abdullah, in his first meetings with the Obama administration, told the White House and Congress that Iran has established strongholds in such places as Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The king was quoted as saying that Iran was using proxies, particularly Hamas and Hezbollah.

“I met with King Abdullah, who said that Hamas ministers [in Gaza] all directly follow the orders of Tehran,” U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a leading Republican on the House Foreign Appropriations Committee, said on April 23.

The Jordanian warning came as the administration has sought to funnel $840 million in aid to the Gaza Strip as well as any Palestinian unity government that included Hamas ministers.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged Jordan’s concern, but said the Hamas regime, which has considered a coalition with the ruling Fatah movement in the West Bank, was not completely loyal to Tehran.

“We do believe that there has been some efforts to try to, you know, get more authority and opportunity on the part of those in Gaza,” Ms. Clinton said.

In testimony to the United States House Foreign Appropriations Middle East Subcommittee, Ms. Clinton urged Congress to provide “flexibility” for U.S. aid to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The secretary stressed that Washington would not directly assist Hamas.

“We don’t want to bind our hands in the event that such an agreement [on a Fatah-Hamas coalition] is reached, and the government that they are part of agrees to our principles,” Ms. Clinton said.

But administration officials and members of Congress said Jordan has warned of any arrangement that would aid the Hamas regime or movement. Abdullah was said to have stressed Iran’s expansion in every meeting in Washington during his visit in late April.

“So it’s a worry that we would provide taxpayer subsidies to a government with Hamas ministers,” Kirk said. “That’s sort of like saying, ‘Well, we would provide taxpayer subsidies to a coalition government. If it only has a few Nazis in it, but it’s okay.’“

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

In fiery speech delivered in Ramallah yesterday, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas said he does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state. He also underscored his rejection of the new Israeli government’s demand for recognition.

A senior official in Mr. Abbas’ office said the PA president was trying to make the world aware of the deadlock with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Bureau responded by saying there would be no progress in the negotiations unless the Palestinians recognize the State of Israel’s right to self-determination as a Jewish state.

“This is a fundamental demand. We won’t sweep the Palestinian refusal to recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state beneath the carpet,” officials in the Prime Minister’s Bureau said.

The prior government refused to press the issue with the Palestinians during the 2007 Annapolis Conference, but the Prime Minister’s Bureau promises the Netanyahu government will not follow the same path.

“They want to be given a nation-state, but aren’t prepared to recognize our right to a Jewish state. If one wants to reach peace then ultimately one has to accept the basic legitimacy of the other side. They have to say these things to their people,” Mr. Netanyahu recently said on the subject.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “Recognition of Israel is a vital and necessary stage in the historic reconciliation.”

An Israel Government Minister and former Israeli Army commander in chief, Moshe Yaalon, and said that the Palestinians’ actions demonstrated their true intentions.

“They want in Judea and Samaria [The West Bank] a country that has been purged of Jews and in the rest of the land an Israeli state, for the time being, that is secular and democratic, with Arabs, which, at some point, in keeping with their perception, will become part of the greater Palestinian state,” Mr. Yaalon said. “That is the realization of the stages strategy, or the realization of the Hamas charter. The disagreement they have is about the route, not about the goal.”

Israeli Arab Knesset member Ahmed Tibi, former chief of staff to PLO leader Yassir Arafat, said Mr. Abbas’ statements were logical: “The recognition does not include recognition of the political substance, but, rather, of its right to exist, its independence and borders.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com