JERUSALEM?- Of the Palestinian convicts who will be released in a week by the Israeli government as a gesture to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, 133 were serious convicted offenders who only narrowly avoided civilian deaths.

Included among those who will go free are attempted murderers, shooting attackers, and various bombers and firebombers.

The ministerial committee for the release of convicts, led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, yesterday approved a total of 199 Palestinian terrorists to go free.

Among those being released are two with blood on their hands, whom Mr. Abbas asked for personally.

One of them, Ibrahim Mahmoud Mohammed, was sentenced to two life terms for the murder of a Danish Jewish seminary student Yehoshua Salome in the Old City of Hebron in 1980. Several years later, when the convict was in Israeli prison, he murdered another convict because he suspected him of collaboration with Israel.

The other murderer to be released is Said Itbari, sentenced to life for the murder of Tzila Galili, in the suicide bombing in Petah Tikva, who was arrested in 1977. At the meeting, it was said that both these convicts had served decades, and according to security officials, were no longer dangerous.

On its Internet site, the Israel Prisons Service published the names of convicts to be released

Most of the convicts who appear on the list were convicted of offenses punishable by 20-year terms. These include offenses as mentioned above, as well as espionage.

The list includes:

* Two convicted of murder;

* Two convicted of spying;

* Three convicted of kidnapping’

* Eight convicted of throwing firebombs;

* 12 convicted of stone throwing;

* 18 convicted of terror organization activity;

* 20 convicted of possessing weapons and explosive material;

* 30 convicted of placing bombs;

* 40 convicted of shooting at Israelis;

* and 48 convicted of attempted murder.

Israel government ministers Shaul Mofaz and Avi Dichter adamantly opposed the list approved by the committee.

“The release of convicts is not interpreted as a gesture, but as weakness,” said Mr. Mofaz. “The State of Israel has released hundreds of convicts in recent months, and Abbas’s situation has not changed. Why are we helping Abbas instead of worrying first about the release of Gilad Shalit?’

(Staff Sgt. Shalit is an Israeli POW in Hamas hands.)

Israel Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said it was possible to find terrorists who had not taken the lives of Israelis. “These are two murderers, who beyond the fact that they were responsible for the deaths of Israelis, one of them slaughtered a Palestinian convict in jail for allegedly cooperating with Israel,” he said.

It is believed the release will also be an opportunity by the Palestinian Authority to celebrate and gloat, even at Israel’s expense.

The Israeli government denied requests to ask the PA that they keep the prisoner release quiet and not televise it.

Requests were denied.

Therefore, the stage is set for the Palestinian Authority to conduct a media festival in honor of its freed convicts from Israeli jails.

Critics say the released criminals will be held up as “role models” by Abbas for the rest of the Palestinian population to emulate.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

Iran now constitutes the biggest strategic threat to Israel. This is the essence of the situation assessment that took place recently in the Israel Defense Forces, (IDF) and will soon be presented to the Israeli government inner security cabinet.

The situation assessment for 2009, which will be presented soon to the decision-makers, makes a significant distinction between the Iranian threat and the rest of the threats against Israel. The meetings, which took place in the General Staff’s Forum under the direction of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, mentioned Iran specifically as constituting a threat in the first degree to Israel’s existence.

The combination of Iran’s effort to equip itself with nuclear arms, its developing capabilities in ballistics, its nuclear program, which continues at full force, and its intensive efforts to spread terrorism throughout the world in general and in Israel in particular, have earned Iran its current “supreme status” as a threat to Israel.

It should be noted that the Israel security establishment does not see the launch of the Iranian satellite as a significant or dramatic measure, as it was presented by Iranian propaganda.

More worrisome are Iran’s nuclear program, as mentioned, since at this moment it does not look as though there is enough international energy to stop it, and its investment in terrorism, which reaches enormous amounts set aside by the theocracy from its earnings from oil.

As the Israeli security establishment sees it, the purpose of Iran’s terrorist tentacles is mainly to create a ring of Islamic terrorism around Israel in order to strangle the Jewish state. Hezbollah is seen as an advance Iranian outpost, while Hamas is also influenced by Iran and receives information and inspiration from Hezbollah, even though it is a Shiite terrorist organization.

The IDF’s strategic situation assessment will soon be discussed in the security cabinet once the meetings about it in the security establishment have been completed.

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – According to a report published in Defense News this week, the United States and Israel have signed an agreement to deploy the “X-band FBX-T” early-warning missile radar system, which is linked to a U.S. satellite-based alert network.

Deployment of the X-band comes as part of America’s agreement to help defend the Jewish State against any future strike by a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic.

For the first time ever, military personnel from the U.S. European Command are to be permanently based in Israel, in order to staff the high-powered radar system, built by the Raytheon Company.

Although the original target date for the system’s debut was early 2009, it is likely that the date will be moved up to some time this fall, in order to allow personnel to integrate the system with the Arrow missile defense system.

The new system is expected to double – and possibly triple – the range of identification of incoming missiles aimed at the Jewish State, according to a spokesman for the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency (M.D.A.). The official said the X-band system can track an object the size of a baseball from a distance of more than 2,000 kilometers.

The system currently employed by the IDF, a component of the Arrow system dubbed “Green Pine,” has a range of only 500-600 miles. Once the “X-band” is integrated with the Arrow system that range of identification will expand to 2,000 kilometers.

The new range allows the Israeli public a window of approximately five minutes in which to prepare for a Shehab-3 ballistic missile attack from Iran. It similarly gives the Israeli army about five minutes in which to intercept the Iranian missiles.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – The Palestinian “Popular Resistance Committees,” based in Gaza, announced it has developed a missile with a range of 20 miles. Dubbed Nasser-4, the missile was displayed at a news conference outside Gaza City on Thursday.

The PRC, which is aligned with Hamas, said the missile was capable of striking such Israeli cities as Ashdod and Ashkelon from the Gaza Strip.

Until now, the PRC has been firing missiles such as Nasser-3, with a range of nine miles.

The new missile was said to have been produced at an unidentified facility outside Gaza City. PRC, with an estimated 500 members, took several foreign journalists to the site after they were blindfolded.

Israeli officials have acknowledged PRC, Hamas and Islamic Jihad efforts to extend the range of their missiles. They said these militias have used the current cease-fire with Israel – which began on June 19 – to enhance weaponry and training.

A report issued by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, located in Herzelia, Israel, on the Web at www.Intelligence.org.il, asserts that Hamas and Jihad have significantly increased training and weapons smuggling. The report, asserts that Islamic forces are undergoing advanced anti-tank weapons, naval training and special forces training to prepare for an Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

“The lull in the fighting is used by Hamas and the PIJ to continue their military buildup and prepare for the next round of confrontations with the IDF,” the report, titled “One Month Into the Lull in the Fighting,” said.

“The intensive activities carried out within that context include smuggling weapons and ammunition, including mines, explosive charges and supplies for manufacturing rockets, such as pipes.”

“Since the beginning of the lull, weapons and ammunition have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip on a similar scale to the pre-lull times, despite an improvement in the Egyptian activity against the smugglers,” the report said. “Furthermore, Hamas has significantly accelerated its training activity and its military buildup, publicly announcing it on Palestinian and Arab media.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – Varying reports came out of Iran yesterday of its first successful launch of a domestically-made satellite carrier loaded possibly with a communications satellite.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency had initially reported that the country did indeed launch an Iranian-made communications satellite into orbit.

At press time, reports from respected news sources still varied. U.S. and Israeli sources also confirmed Iranian claims.

Other reports however have stated a “dummy” or test satellite was launched, and the BBC has reported that no satellite at all had been launched. The BBC said only an Iranian-made missile capable of putting a communication satellite in orbit was successfully launched.

In any event, it would appear Iran’s aerospace program -including missiles and warplanes – is making progress.

In October 2005, Iran launched a Russian-made Iranian satellite using a Russian rocket.

Yesterday’s launch added to ongoing concerns over Iran’s nuclear aspirations and capabilities.

Iranian officials further boasted that the country has increased the range of its warplanes, allowing them to fly as far as Israel and back without refueling.

Iranian State TV quoted Iranian air force chief Gen. Ahmad Mighani as saying Iranian warplanes can now fly 2,400 miles without refueling. He didn’t specify the aircraft type or explain how the range was extended.

Israel is about 700 miles from Iran.

Such a range could be achieved by using external fuel tanks attached to the wings or fuselage that can be released when empty.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

Netivot, Israel – When Hamas fired two Katyusha rockets into the southern Israeli city of Netivot, on May 24, the city officially joined the ranks of Sderot and kibbutzim along the border as a target for Gaza-based terrorists.

Despite the recent cease-fire, which was tested by Islamic Jihad on Monday, Netivot still faces various challenges and an uncertain future due to the situation. Unlike Sderot, however, which has been battered by Qassams for the past seven years, Netivot has been able to prepare itself for those challenges, in part thanks to its deep relationship with the Philadelphia Jewish community.

While the threat to the city itself is relatively new, the people of Netivot are not unaccustomed to dealing with the situation.

“It’s not really new to us,” said Noa Cohen-Orlev, who is the coordinator of the Gesher L’kesher program and has lived in Netivot for nine years. “A lot of kids go to school in the kibbutzim (collective communities in Israel) within range, and people have parents, aunts, uncles and other family who live within range.

“Personally, the hardest thing is to, as a mother, send my kids to study within range of the Qassam missiles. ‘Why not move?’ I ask myself. And it’s a hard question, but it’s reality. We deal with questions of life and death every day here.

“The only answer I have is that this is our home, and I believe it is the safest place for Jews. It doesn’t solve everything, but it is still the best option we have.”

Israel is probably one of the most popular causes to which American Jews donate money, but all too often it becomes as impersonal as paying taxes.

“I’m not sure if [people in Philadelphia] understand, or if anybody [outside of the region] understands, but we get donations and e-mails from people in Philadelphia all the time, and we know they sympathize with [our situation],” said Ms. Cohen-Orlev.

The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Partnership 2000 Program attempts to bridge the understanding gap. As part of the program, an American city and an Israeli city (or region) forge a partnership through which the cities interact at an economic, political and social level. The Netivot (and Sedot Negev)-Philadelphia relationship is one such partnership.

Netivot and Sedot Negev are part of the Western Negev region in Israel, which is still in the stages of growth and development first begun in 1997. Through the partnership, the Jewish Agency has been able to use donations from the Philadelphia Jewish community to create opportunities for Netivot and the region to grow, and a sense of brotherhood between the two regions separated by more than 6,000 miles.

“Most of the projects we promote are based on creating personal relationships between the two communities,” Philadelphia schlichah (representative) Talia Lidar said. “We want people to create relationships based not on praying to Jerusalem or sending a check, but based on a sense of brotherhood.”

Philadelphia residents visiting Israel often stop in Netivot and Sedot Negev, where the community welcomes them with hospitality whether they are staying for a few months as part of a program, a few days or just a few hours. For its part, the Jewish Agency tries to inform them on the situation.

“We take visitors on security tours around the region to help give them some perspective on how destructive the situation is and how it changes lives,” said Adina Young-Swissa, who has lived in Netivot for five years and will be taking up Ms. Cohen-Orlev’s position later this year.

One of the many challenges the new situation presents is helping children in Netivot cope, and Philadelphia aid is contributing to that effort.

The Saligman Center, which was built using money from Philadelphia donors, was originally meant to address the realities of children with special needs that required services such as diagnoses or various therapies, Ms. Lidar said.

According to Ms. Cohen-Orlev, it has been a great benefit to the community. Before, families would first have to wait until a teacher noticed signs of a learning disability or other conditions, and then, parents would have to take their children to Be’er Sheva or the center of the country for diagnosis and treatment – not a small task for families without cars or for whom money is tight.

Now, thanks to the donations from Philadelphia and the region, families are able to identify problems early and get professional diagnoses and therapies as early as possible – sometimes before the child starts kindergarten – at an affordable rate close to home.

“We discovered my son had a speech problem when he was young, and we sent him to 10 sessions of speech therapy for about $900, which is almost nothing if you think about it,” she said.

That same early childhood center now also functions as a sort of intervention center for children and their families who are having trouble coping with the situation – adults and children often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders.

In addition to providing service to trauma victims, the agency and the center have focused on creating an infrastructure that promotes outreach, specifically to provide support to children at an early age. These efforts include training teachers to identify signs of PTSD or anxiety disorders and making social workers available, according to Lidar.

One of the popular programs for the children is the Chibuki program, which, roughly translated, means “my hug.” The children receive a plush dog with a sad look on its face and long arms (hence “my hug”), and they are told to take care of and comfort the stuffed animal anytime they face a scary situation.

It is meant to make them feel as if they are in control and responsible for another’s feelings, rather than feeling as if they are simply helpless victims, Ms. Young-Swissa said.

“It’s unfortunate, but everybody has to learn and accept that this is part of life here right now,” and there is nothing we can do except fight through it, she added.

The Philadelphia community has also been a big part of Netivot’s ability to meet some of its practical security and emergency needs.

“The people of Philadelphia feel they have a connection here,” Ms. Cohen-Orlev said. “They know we are like brothers, that when they come to Israel, they have a home in Netivot and Sedot Negev.”

The bond between the two cities is such that, in a sense, the Philadelphia Jewish community went above and beyond the standard duty of the American Jew to Israel in order to contribute to Netivot.

When Israel collected money for its emergency fund, Philadelphia raised $2 million and insisted that it should go directly to Netivot, rather than spread throughout the country, Ms. Cohen-Orlev and Ms. Lidar added. Their donations helped build shelters, security fences, stocking the emergency warehouse with food and water, and supplies for emergency response volunteers.

While it is important to understand that these programs do not solve the root of the security problem in Netivot, Ms. Lidar believes that they help create an infrastructure that promotes resilience, the lack of which has crippled Sderot.

“When you are facing threats to your life every day and cannot trust the government that is supposed to protect you, there is nothing to lean on. It is easy to lose hope in peace, in the future. But resilience and hope are the only things that will see us through this.”

Spencer Ho, Bulletin Middle East staff writer, contributed to this report.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008

Major General Claudio Graziano, force commander of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), took questions from reporters on on the situation in Lebanon yesterday.

Mr. Graziano, blaming Israel and exonerating Hezbollah in regards to abiding by Resolution 1701, said, “Hezbollah is one of the parties that agree with 1701 and support 1701.”

“We have been able to maintain the ceasefire and fulfill the larger part of the mandate,” Mr. Graziano said, claiming that UNIFIL has been successful.

Mr. Graziano denied allegations made by Israeli intelligence sources and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that Hezbollah had rearmed, including south of the Litani River.

“In the country, I cannot make a comment. In terms of our area of operations … we cannot ensure 100 percent, but we are in control,” Mr. Graziano said.

In related news, Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak launched an unprecedented attack on Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni this week, stating that Ms. Livni’s August 2006 accomplishment – U.N. resolution 1701, which mandated that UNIFIL would position troops in Southern Lebanon to ensure the permanent removal of Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon – was “worthless.”

The Bulletin asked Mr. Graziano what UNIFIL could possibly do if it found evidence of rearming in South Lebanon. Mr. Graziano replied, “UNIFIL has no commitment to the disarmament of Hezbollah.” He had also mentioned that, “We are a peacekeeping force, not peace enforcement.”

Mr. Graziano said that Israel had made no official request that UNIFIL change its mandate, something suggested by Mr. Barak. Mr. Graziano cited Israeli flyovers, continued military presence in Lebanese Ghajar, and its refusal to turn over maps for areas filled with cluster bombs as the main obstacles that UNIFIL faces.

When asked about whether or not UNIFIL was patrolling the Syrian-Lebanese border, an area long suspected of being the gateway for arms smuggling, Mr. Graziano said that UNIFIL was not patrolling the area because the government of Lebanon had not asked them to. He reemphasized that UNIFIL only operated south of the Litani River.

Asked about what UNIFIL’s policy would be towards a downed Israeli pilot, Mr. Graziano said that it was policy to turn over any detainees to the Lebanese Army. The Bulletin also asked how robust the UNIFIL patrols are, and if they are indeed substantial enough to catch any arms smuggling.

Mr. Graziano said that UNIFIL was using observation points, checkpoints, and patrols. He also mentioned that UNIFIL was working in South Lebanon with the Lebanese army. Many have reason to be skeptical of how effective the Lebanese Army would be at stopping Hezbollah.

For example, a policy statement drafted and approved by a council of Lebanese government ministers guarantees “the right of Lebanon, its people, army and resistance to liberate or recover [occupied lands] … by all legitimate and available means.” The term “resistance” is understood to refer exclusively to Hezbollah.

Timur Goksel, a former spokesman for UNIFIL, said that the new policy statement had “put an end to any dreams of disarming Hezbollah. It secures Hezbollah’s armed existence.”

Furthermore, Mr. Goksel noted that the Lebanese government had “put its signature to a clause that allows Hezbollah to take actions in the fields listed without seeking government approval.”

For the past two months, the Intelligence Information Center in Herzliya has been publicizing weekly-accumulated documentary evidence that Lebanon and the United Nations forces under UNIFIL have allowed Hezbollah terrorists to once again take up positions throughout Southern Lebanon.

This is in direct violation of U.N. Resolution 1701. That center posted a fully filmed report on its site from May 27 when Hezbollah conducted a military exercise in which its operatives stormed a hill representing an IDF outpost. The information is posted on their website http://www.intelligence.org.il.

As if to confirm the assertions of Mr. Barak and the Intelligence Information Center, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly boasted that Hezbollah has once again resumed its perch overlooking the northern border of Israel, waiting to pounce on Israel once again, fully rearmed and embedded in the civilian population.

Under the noses of the UNIFIL troops, Hezbollah is once again ready for another missile war Israel. Hezbollah knows full well that the Jewish state holds a moral military code of ethics that forbids retaliation against a civilian population even these civilians harbor a missile battery.

One does not need complex intelligence reports to learn of Hezbollah’s return to its positions. Motorists on Israel’s northern road can easily see the yellow Hezbollah flags proudly flying in the wind over the border.

Sam Harari can be reached at harari@thebulletin.us.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – The Middle East Newsline has revealed that after more than six months of negotiations, Israel has approved the delivery of armored jeeps and body armor to the Palestinian Authority.

The equipment was approved by Israel in July and would arrive in several deliveries over the next few weeks. They said PA security forces would use the 142 jeeps and 200 body armor sets for anti-crime and counter-insurgency operations in the West Bank.

“This will provide us with the protection that will allow our forces to impose order in the area,” an Israeli official said.

The PA request for the jeeps and body armor was submitted in early 2008 through the United States. Since then, U.S. security coordinator Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton has pressed the Israeli military to permit the entry of the equipment from neighboring Jordan.

Israel had opposed PA procurement out of concern the armored jeeps would be used in attacks on the Jewish state and its military. Over the last few weeks, they said, Israel and the PA reached agreement on the terms of the use of the equipment and its area of operation.

The PA National Security Force (NSF) would acquire the equipment. The United States plans to expand the NSF to 40,000 troops, trained in anti-riot and counter-insurgency skills.

In the first stage of the U.S. plan, five NSF battalions would be established and trained. An NSF battalion was scheduled to begin a four-month training course in Jordan by September.

So far, two NSF battalions have been sent to a U.S.-financed facility outside Amman, Jordan.

The United States has also overseen the development of the presidential guards, including the establishment of a training center outside the West Bank town of Jericho.

There is one fly in the ointment. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the entity that oversees the Palestinian Authority, remains in a state of war with Israel, since the PLO never ratified the Oslo peace accords of 1993 that were signed by the late PLO leader Yassir Arafat, even though the Israeli Knesset Parliament ratified these accords at the time.

Therefore, any arms in the hands of a PLO can be used against the state of Israel, which is what happened in September 2000 after talks broke down between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors.

The Israeli government spokespeople do not address the fact Israel now supplies weaponry to an entity in a state of war with Israel.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008

The Palestinian Authority has rejected the peace agreement that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed.

A statement issued last night by Nabil Abu Rudeineh, PA President Mr. Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman, noted the Palestinian Authority chairman would not accept the Israeli final status arrangement proposal. Mr. Olmert proposed Israel annex 7 percent of the West Bank and, in exchange, compensate the Palestinians with territory equaling 5.5 percent [of the West Bank] in the Negev.

Mr. Abu Rudeineh said that plan in question was not serious, since it failed to address the Palestinian interests in Jerusalem.

“The Israeli proposal is unacceptable, it is a waste of time,” he said last night to the Israeli media, adding: “The Palestinian people will agree to a state with territorial contiguity only in a way that includes Jerusalem as its capital.”

Senior Palestinian Authority officials told the Israeli media that “Olmert’s proposal, which was submitted to people who work for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, contains nothing new and it is actually just an improved version of two similar proposals that were given in the past by Ehud Barak to Yasser Arafat.”

Nasrallah’s Spies

Khaled Kashkush of the Israeli Arab village Kalansua, a medical student at the University of Goettingen in Germany, will not get the chance to work as a physician at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, as the officers of Hezbollah’s intelligence department planned. It is doubtful whether he will be able to complete his studies. Instead of laboratories and clinical experience, he will apparently sit behind bars for many years.

On Aug. 6, an indictment was filed against Mr. Kashkush, 29, on suspicion of working on Hezbollah’s behalf during his stay in Germany. The General Security Services of Israel (GSS) say that he was not a low-level spy, but rather an attempt by Hezbollah to send into Israel, or recruit, what is known as a “strategic-level spy,” someone who can provide high-quality information in advance of the next round with Israel. Hezbollah, say GSS officials, invested great efforts in recruiting, handling and preparing him for his long-term mission. Had it succeeded, the damage would have been great. The GSS, luckily, was quicker this time.

Why did Hezbollah choose Rambam Hospital? Every beginning intelligence operative knows that activity in a hospital, particularly a central one, which has emergency roles, can give an indication and initial signs of a war alert. In time of war, the hospital is a nerve center, an inexhaustible source of strategic information such as, for example, national morale or even the military rank of the injured and dead soldiers.

The Kashkush file

Fifteen years ago when Hezbollah was still in the early stages of setting up its intelligence network, the organization recruited agents and spies to report on road systems, location of IDF camps and moods in Israel.

Since then, the organization’s intelligence network has improved, thanks to technological changes. The Google Earth software, for example, has become a readily-available, effective and quick tool for obtaining aerial footage, the quality of which would not put to shame photographs taken in the past by fighter planes. Hezbollah has no problem identifying in this footage security installations or population centers that could become a target in the next confrontation.

The Israeli press, including websites, provide a great deal of information that becomes intelligence and research material of great value. Hezbollah’s intelligence has enough Hebrew speakers who can translate all the public material.

A new support player in this department could be Mr. Samir Kuntar, the convicted murderer whom Israel freed in exchange for the bodies of two murdered Israeli POW’s in mid-July. Not only does he speak Hebrew fluently and is quite familiar with the Israeli way of thinking, but he is also the only Hezbollah member with a degree from an Israel university.

Another method in which Hezbollah has been specializing in recent years is listening to phone conversations of soldiers and civilians or military wireless networks.

Germany provides a new theater of action for Hezbollah, if only because the German government has still not defined it as a terror organization. Hezbollah can also operate legally among the Muslim communities in Germany by means of civilian bodies, mainly charity associations and monetary funds. The focus of Hezbollah’s activity in Germany is Palestinian students, not necessarily Israeli Arabs.

The process of finding, recruiting and handling Mr. Kashkush is suspected to have been carried out in the classic textbook manner.

During his studies in the faculty of medicine, Mr. Kashkush met Dr. Hisham Hassan, a Lebanese physician who lives in Germany and serves as head of the German branch of Orphaned Children Project Lebanon.

This NPO, which belongs to Hezbollah, operates in Germany with a legal permit and raises funds for Hezbollah shahids and their families. In Israel, the Martyr’s Institute, for which the NPO in Germany raises funds, has been outlawed. Presumably, Israeli security forces gave German intelligence the information that they held about the NPO and its branches in Europe.

Mr. Hassan, whose role was to spot potential candidates who could serve as Hezbollah agents and prepare them for recruitment, made friends with Mr. Kashkush. For three years he met with him at least once every two weeks. Mr. Hassan used to invite Mr. Kashkush to the offices of the association, and asked him to help with administrative work.

Throughout this period, Mr. Hassan submitted ongoing reports to his Hezbollah commanders about the progress of the “friendship” between him and Mr. Kashkush.

After three years, Hezbollah preparing an operating dossier for Kashkush, which included the definition of his mission as a strategic long-term agent at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. At this stage, Mr. Hassan was given the task of arranging a meeting between Mr. Kashkush and Mohammed Hashem, a 50-year-old Lebanese man who is a senior recruitment operative and handler for Hezbollah.

Mr. Mohammed Hashem is considered one of Hezbollah’s most senior intelligence operatives. He is well known to security organizations in Israel. Two weeks ago, security officials in Israel decided in an unusual step to publish his name in the Israeli media and present him as the organization’s senior handler of agents. The publication was intended to signal to Mr. Hashem that it would be best for him to leave his scene of activity in Europe.

Mr. Kashkush accepted the recruitment offer. The operating and training meetings were held in the cities Frankfurt and Erfurt. At first, his handler demanded of him information about Israeli Arabs studying abroad, including a report of their political tendencies, their economic problems or drug abuse. With time, they spoke about the main mission-to join the medical staff of Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Mr. Kashkush received about $30,000 for his activity – a significant sum for a student.

GSS officials say that this affair illustrates more than anything the importance that Hezbollah attaches to Arabs in Israel as an attractive target for recruitment, handling and carrying out high-quality espionage. From Hezbollah’s standpoint, these are citizens who enjoy freedom of movement in Israel, which enables them to collect intelligence on both the strategic and tactical levels.

An example of this was the recruitment by Hezbollah of a young woman from Umm el-Fahm, a dental student at Amman University. In July 2007, she was arrested upon her return to Israel, after having completed her studies. One of the tasks assigned to her was to transfer a flash memory drive to Hezbollah operatives within Israel.

Going Rate For Attacks

Hezbollah operates under the guidance of Iran, which is a dominant player in the intelligence war against Israel. The combination of Iran and Hezbollah has become a troubling element for Israeli intelligence services, particularly in recent years, when most of Hezbollah’s activity for recruiting and handling agents focuses on Israeli Arabs.

The joint effort by Hezbollah and Iran, aimed at setting up an operational and intelligence infrastructure against Israel, has become intensive since the withdrawal of IDF forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000.

Hezbollah established an extensive network of ties with Israeli drug dealers throughout the country, on the basis of drug smuggling from the northern border, which is carried out under the supervision and control of Lebanese drug lords who operate in its service. Hezbollah makes this trade contingent on receiving intelligence from the Israeli side, in addition to monetary payments for the drugs.

In the past two months, two Hezbollah-inspired al-Qaida cells were exposed, one in Rahat, in the Negev, and other of Arabs students from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who planned to attack President George W. Bush’s helicopter during his landing in Jerusalem. But when it comes to helping Hezbollah against the Zionist enemy or helping Iran, some are willing to undertake the task in order to harm Israel.

Since 2006, Hezbollah’s activity in the territories has decreased, not only due to the intensive activity by the GSS in exposing and arresting cells, but also following Hezbollah’s disappointment in the Arabs of the territories, who did not deliver the goods and during the Second Lebanon War did not succeed in opening a second front of terror against Israel.

Anti-Semitic Messages

Another affair that was revealed recently was the recruitment by Iranian intelligence of Mr. Jeris Jeris, the former chairman of the Fasuta council, an Israeli Arab village. The main objective of the Iranian intelligence officers was to put Mr. Jeris in the Israeli Knesset Parliament and then utilize his status for Iranian goals.

However, Mr. Jeris was arrested in December 2006, and in his questioning, it became apparent that the Iranians had planned to operate him as a long-term agent. Mr. Jeris had been assigned the task of establishing a research center that would serve as a cover for gathering intelligence material.

He was even asked to prepare a review for the Iranians about society and the political establishment in Israel. When he returned to Israel, equipped with his handler’s instructions, Mr. Jeris collected academic articles on society and security in Israel, and joined an Israeli political party with the aim of running for a Knesset seat.

Hezbollah activity against Israel is also conducted by means of the organization’s skilled propaganda mechanisms. It is no secret that Mr. Nasrallah’s speeches received high ratings in Israel. Hezbollah also aims its television broadcasts at the Israeli Arabs and the Palestinians in the territories.

Hezbollah’s official television station, Al-Manar, receives relatively high exposure among Israeli Arabs.

Hezbollah’s messages in the media are filled with hatred for Israel, and include use of anti-Semitic images and incitement. They encourage Palestinian terror and encourage Hamas to adopt the same methods of instilling the myth of Islamic victory as a key tool of the struggle.

Hezbollah still has a score to settle with Israel. It still has not carried out the terror attack promised in revenge for their military commander Imad Mughniyah’s assassination, which they attribute to Israel. The organization’s current focus is on Israeli targets abroad.

Israeli security abroad has been on very high alert in the past months. Israel has indications of preparations for such an attack, but no one can stick a pin into the globe and say with certainty where the revenge will be carried out.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008