European Jewish Press, Nov.4 - French thinker Claude Levi-Strauss dead at 100...

Paris (AFP) - French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, who helped shape Western thinking about human civilization, has died at the age of 100 - …Trained as a philosopher, Levi-Strauss shot to prominence with his 1955 book "Tristes Tropiques" (A World on the Wane), a haunting account of travels and studies in the Amazon basin and one of the 20th century's major works.  

….Levi-Strauss was a leading proponent of structuralism, which sought to uncover the hidden, unconscious or primitive patterns of thought believed to determine the outer reality of human culture and relationships.  

Structuralism was also, Levi-Strauss liked to say, "the search for unsuspected harmonies."  

…Among the more striking conclusions of his work was the idea that there is no fundamental difference between the belief systems and myths of so-called "primitive" races and those of modern Western societies.  

…In a 2005 television interview, Levi-Strauss expressed worry about ending his days in "this world that I do not love….What I see are the current devastation, the frightening disappearances of living species, be they plants or animals. Because of its current density, the human species is living in a type of internally poisonous regime."   …Levi-Strauss was born in Brussels in 1908, the son of French Jewish parents from the German-speaking region of Alsace. He studied philosophy and in 1935 went to Brazil, where he became a professor at the University of Sao Paolo.  

He studied the lives of the tribes of the Mato Grosso and the Amazonian rainforest, collecting material for theories on the underlying structures of human relationships and myths shared by various cultures.  

Returning to France in 1939 he was conscripted, but after the Nazi invasion he was, as a Jew, forced to flee to the United States, where he taught while awaiting his chance to return home and restart his career.  

He was given the chair in social anthropology at the College de France in 1959, where he worked until retirement in 1982.  

"He had an ecological approach to the world and to individuals that was ahead of its time."  

ISRAEL

Ynet News, Nov 4 - IDF: Hamas Has Rocket that Could Reach Tel Aviv - Amnon Meranda - Head of IDF Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday that Hamas has held a successful trial launch of an Iranian-made rocket with a 60-km. range that could reach Tel Aviv from Gaza. During the fighting in Gaza Hamas fired missiles with a 40-km. range that reached Beersheba.

Memri,Nov 5 - Iranian Revolutionary Guards Training Yemen Rebels - The Saudi daily Al-Watan reported on Oct. 31 that Yemen had captured an Iranian ship smuggling armor-piercing weapons to the Houthi rebels. The sixth war between the Yemen military and the Houthis broke out about ten weeks ago. Senior Yemen officials say Iran is finding more and more ways of supporting the Houthis - through funds, weapons, and media support.
   
Al-Watan reported that the Yemen government has information that "there are Houthi training camps in Eritrea, and in them there are units of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC); it is assessed that they are training the rebels and equipping them with weapons via the Eritrean port of 'Asab. [These units] are facilitating rebel movements from 'Asab port to Maydi port in Yemen - a distance of only a few kilometers." One Houthi commander, Sheikh Abdallah Al-Mahdoun, said in a newspaper interview that "the Houthis had received unlimited help in arms and supplies, under the oversight of the IRGC and also of experts from Hizbullah." 

Haaretz - 5 November 2009 - Analysis - Arms ship seizure just another battle in the secret war with Iran - By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent - The significance of Israel's interception of a ship carrying hundreds of tons of weapons, which defense officials are saying were Iranian arms meant for Hezbollah, is not in the quantity or the quality of the weapons seized. The importance, as far as Israel is concerned, is that the Israel Navy, which has long viewed the Mediterranean Sea as "our sea", is stepping up efforts to intercept cargo coming out of Iran.

Wednesday's operation, in which Israeli forces seized the Antigua-flagged Francop and unloaded the largest arms shipment Israel has ever commandeered, is the latest in a long line of operations with a similar goal, some of which Israel took credit for, and some of which were attributed to Israel's air force or navy. In fact, Israel is waging a secret war, which is sometimes not so secret, with Iran, against the backdrop of Iran's constant efforts to arm the organizations it supports, especially Hezbollah and Hamas.

This war began far from Israel's beaches, in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. In January, in the midst of the war in Gaza, an attack of a fleet of weapons-carrying ships sailing from Iran on its way to Gaza was attributed to the Israel Air Force, as were the sinking of several similar ships.
 
Israel's daring, in terms of its actions against Iranian arms smuggling, is supported by an international diplomatic embrace, and intelligence. The diplomatic legitimacy and the legal justification for Israel's actions stem from United Nations Security Council resolutions forbidding Iran from exporting weapons to Syria, to be transferred into the hands of Hezbollah. Israel is acting with the full cooperation of international NATO forces that patrol the Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Mediterranean, in efforts to battle arms smuggling.

…The Iranians know that they can't use Iranian ships to transport these weapons, so they tend to lease foreign ships, as was the case last month with a German ship, waving a German flag.

In this instance, in order to prevent surveillance, the Iranians used a ship that appeared to carry civilian cargo out of the Iranian port, headed for Egypt. The Iranians believed that it would be easier to conceal the arms shipment if they used the Egyptian port as the point of transfer, loading the ship with the weapons there, hoping that it wouldn't be traced back to Iran. But they failed.

…Israel shouldn't congratulate itself too much for this success, because it is just another operation in a string of operations comprising an ongoing cat and mouse endeavor. The Iranians will continue to smuggle weapons to their proxies and Israel will continue trying to expose and intercept them. 

Jerusalem Post, Nov 4 - Why Does the U.S. Play Iran's Game? - Barry Rubin - Do you know how many years the talks with Iran have gone on without yielding fruit and letting Tehran develop nuclear weapons every day? Answer: Seven. Iran's increased power in having nuclear weapons will not consist merely of firing them off.

Aside from far higher levels of Arab and European appeasement will be the huge leap in the appeal of a seemingly mighty Iran and victorious Islamism to millions of Muslims who will join or support radical Islamist groups. Instability in the Arab world and terrorism in Europe can be expected to skyrocket.
   
To pretend that Iran's possession of nuclear weapons will be neutralized by U.S. guarantees is a fantasy. That's why it is so important to stop Iran from ever obtaining nuclear weapons. If this does not happen, the entire strategic balance will change against Western interests. But nothing can even begin to happen until the U.S. concludes that the Iranian regime has shown that it doesn't want any real deal that precludes it from becoming a nuclear power.

THE  EUROPEAN  UNION

Israel and European Union sign agricultural agreement - Communicated by the MFA Spokesperson), Nov. 5 - …Access to the markets of both sides has been greatly improved under the new agreement. In the processed agricultural products sector, over 95% of the products will be exempt from all taxes or levies. Considerable liberalization was undertaken in regards to all areas of fresh produce and approximately 80% will be exempt from all customs restrictions.

….The agricultural agreement constitutes one element in the wide range of existing agreements between Israel and the EU, which include the Israel-EU Association Agreement, the Israeli-EU Action Plan as part of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, as well as Israel's participation in a score of European programs and agencies, such as the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development.

Approximately one billion USD of Israeli agricultural and processed food products are exported to the EU each year. Europe is Israel's most important trading partner in the agricultural field, with more than 25% of Israel's agricultural product and more than 75% of its total fresh agricultural products exported to Europe. The Ministry of Agriculture predicts that the new agreement will serve to expand agricultural exports, an important development given that more than 60% of exports to Europe come from the Arava and Negev regions.

Israel uses the world's leading technologies in the intensive production of fruits, vegetables and flowers. Most of Israel's agricultural activities are conducted in periphery and desert areas. Both Israel and the EU view the existence of active and modern rural areas as essential as they are used to preserve open spaces and prevent rapid urbanization

New York Times, November 4, 2009 - European Union Reform Moves Ahead - Prague - The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, signed the document hours after the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that it was compatible with the Czech Constitution….Mr. Klaus was the last European Union leader to approve the so-called Treaty of Lisbon, which will try to increase Europe’s clout on foreign policy issues and will streamline the organization’s decision-making. The treaty required ratification by all 27 member states.

….The treaty aims to give the European Union a bigger role internationally by creating a full-time presidential post with a two-and-a-half-year term and setting up a more powerful foreign policy chief supported by a network of diplomats around the world. It will put in place a new voting system that reflects countries’ population size, while reducing the opportunities for individual countries to block a proposal.

India deepens defense ties with Israel - The Jerusalem Post, Nov. 4 - Amid Israeli efforts to bolster military ties and export military hardware, the Indian Chief of Staff Gen. Deepak Kapoor arrived in Israel on Saturday for talks with IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.

Kapoor will hold talks with Ashkenazi as well as other senior Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He will visit Yad Vashem in Jerusalem during his four-day visit, as well as the IDF's Southern Command.

Israel and India enjoy close defense ties and Israel last year overtook Russia as the number-one supplier of military platforms to India after breaking the $1 billion mark in new contracts signed annually.

According to press reports, India is interested in working with Israel on submarine-launched cruise missiles, ballistic missile defense systems, laser-guided systems, satellites as well as unmanned aerial vehicles.

The visit to Israel comes just before the first anniversary of the attacks last November in Mumbai against a hotel as well as a Chabad House, during which over 170 people were killed, including the Chabad emissary to Mumbai and his pregnant wife.

Since the attack, Israel has assisted India in beefing up its security, particularly along its coast, where the terrorists allegedly infiltrated from nearby Pakistan.

Last Tuesday, Kapoor was quoted as saying that South Asia was infested with terror groups and there
was a possibility that attacks of the sort that happened at Mumbai could happen again. …

AFGHANISTAN

Politiken.danemark - Nov. 6 - Editorial -Meaningless Afghan war - A clear exit strategy for Danish soldiers who are fighting an unsuccessful battle.

“As far as I am concerned the perspectives are chilling, because it is increasingly difficult to explain to relatives why their sons have to offer their lives. We should have a clear exit strategy.”
That was the clear statement from the Chairman of the Danish Officers Association Commander Bent Fabricius who said in Jyllands-Posten that he wishes to ‘question the entire project’ - a statement supported by the chairmen of the organisations of both NCOs and Privates.

The remarkable statements came the day after several Danish politicians acknowledged the fact that the goal of democracy in Afghanistan is no longer credible – instead pointing to the War on Terror.
But even that argument is unable to justify a continuation of the war. The latest terrorist threat came from Chicago, with kingpins in Pakistan, and not Afghanistan.

The theory that Danish anti-terrorism is best served by activities in Central Asia, is a doubtful one – not just because terrorism is global, but because the war has clearly given rise to more Taleban in Afghanistan and more terrorists in Pakistan.

We have supported Denmark’s participation in the war because it was the right answer to 9-11. But we can no longer support a war that has no prospects of success and which creates much greater problems than it solves.

Mistaken war strategy

President Obama has declared a hiatus in Washington as he revamps a mistaken war strategy. The absence of realistic goals will soon make it unavoidable that he formulates an exit strategy.

In Denmark we can be proud of the fact that our soldiers have fought in the front lines and have belonged to the minority of coalition countries who have not evaded even the most difficult tasks.
But a Danish battalion is naturally unable to win a war that increasingly does not make sense.
We are the only country in the international coalition where a majority still supports the war. But political support neither changes the facts, nor the prospects.

Our politicians must come out in the open and admit that they are no longer able to explain what we are fighting for, and how the war will provide results.

BBI around the world November 6, 2009

• B’nai B’rith denounces U.N. vote to refer Goldstone Report to Security Council House. Condemns Goldstone report.
• BB offers condolences after tragic shootings at Fort Hood.
• BB meets with Deputy Foreign Minister of Czech Republic.
• BB’s successful program in Paraguay
• BB meets with Turkish Embassy
• BB admitted as member of Christian-Jewish Group.
  

                            
LIFE  IN  THE  WEST  BANK

Haaretz, Nov 8 - West Bank movie theater comes back to life - By Avi Issacharoff  - The traffic on the recently-refurbished road from Jalameh checkpoint north of Jenin into the city reflects the changes over the past two years. Much has been written about the Palestinians' improving living conditions in the West Bank, but the revolution taking hold of Jenin never ceases to amaze.

The road was opened three weeks ago to pedestrians and Israeli Arab vehicles, though with a daily limit of 500 cars. The center of Jenin is packed with shoppers, most of them Israeli citizens. One of the city's northern neighborhoods boasts a giant playground built through the donation of a prominent local journalist.

The armed militants who symbolized the city during the first years of the second intifada are no longer to be found. Instead, downtown, near the central transportation hub, a different sight catches the visitor's eye: Jenin's old movie theater is being renovated.

The cinema, closed in 1987 during the first intifada, is expected to be up and running within four months.

The Cinematheque will open in the historic building that housed a movie theater since the 1950s. The building's refurbishment is being carried out by local construction crews assisted by German volunteers.

In August, the theater will host Cinema Jenin, the city's first international film festival. On the Palestinian side, the project is being led by Fakhri Hamad and Ismail Khatib. German film director Marcus Vetter has also joined the effort.

Khatib is well known to many in the Israeli peace camp. Four years ago his 11-year-old son Ahmed died from gunfire by the Israel Defense Forces - the soldier responsible said he had spotted a child carrying a rifle, though it turned out to be a plastic toy gun. Khatib donated Ahmed's organs to Israeli recipients, a decision that shocked his friends and family.

"Even my brother was in shock," he told Haaretz from the Jenin office where he raises funds for the theater. "But eventually he became convinced. For me there is no difference between one child and another, Israeli or Palestinian."

Of the plan to renovate the theater, Khatib said that "Marcus was making a film about Ahmed, and we were walking around the city. When we went past the old cinema, he asked me if there was still a theater in the city and I said there wasn't. That's when we decided to take on the mission."

Khatib said the Palestinian Culture Ministry donated funds for the effort, and the German Foreign Ministry added 170,000 euros.

"We're a traditional conservative society, and that's why it was agreed that a special committee would determine the nature of the films to be shown here," he said of the festival. "Cinema Jenin is more than cinema for us. It's a center of culture, and that's why the films we'll bring here must be meaningful, so people can learn from them."