India-Israel Co-operation and Challenges

[Guest]

<b>Israel hits Lebanon bridges, gas stations</b>

[Guest]

Post 120:<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->read book "Israel's secret war". <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Thanks for the suggestion. Will keep an eye out for it.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->They are not only lazy, but completely brainwashed by gangsters and Mullahs<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Their present religion is very much their downfall as a civilised people. In the past, the ancient heathen Arabians of the region were very thrifty, prosperous, hard-working people. Some of the monuments from Greco-Roman times still remain to attest who they were before Christianity and Islam. They were clearly a civilised, intelligent, proudly heathen people (displaying the Mediterranean Gods everywhere).

Christianity, when it was enforced on them, ended all this, of course. Then Islam befell them, being no better. So fast do people fall when these religions overtake them. Their allegiances change (Ummah world-over supports Kashmiri terrorists whilst being unrelated in all accept ideology, Pakis support Palestinian claim to Israel) and formerly irrelevant hatreds are created (the heathen Arabians didn't really have an opinion on Judaism and its followers, now they hate them as if it's the first commandment of their religion - which it nearly is).

[Guest]

On July 4, Amazon spammed its customers with advertisement of Norman Finkelstein's virulently anti-Semitic book, Image and Reality of the Israeli-Palestine Conflict. On May 30, Amazon similarly advertised Beyond Chutzpah: on the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History. I have never received any other ad from Amazon.

On April 4, in an unprecedented move, Amazon deleted all reviews of Obadiah Shoher's Samson Blinded: A Machiavellian Perspective on the Middle East Conflict. A few days later, Amazon forced its subsidiary Booksurge to terminate publishing contract with Shoher whose book is now available for download from www.samsonblinded.info . Google earlier banned advertising of the Samson Blinded for "unacceptable content." Shoher, indeed, is pro-Israeli, yet realistic and critical of Israeli policies.

Obadiah Shoher, an anonymous politician, abandons myths and moralizing in favor of realpolitik. He argues for raw efficiency of antiterrorist operations and shedding liberal idealism. Shoher asks inconvenient questions and gives honest answers. Amazon does not like that. Anti-Semitic lampoons by Norman Finkelstein are more to Amazon's taste.

[Guest]

Post 123:
Amazon never had my custom. Besides being too expensive, its reviewing 'facility' is also annoying instead of being helpful.
- Comparable (but on a smaller scale) to how the wikipedia allows anyone to pretend they are scholars and allows them to write text-book articles, Amazon allows everyone to pretend they are critical reviewers. It gives equal legitimacy to all opinions - be they educated, hateful or ignorant. This is a great problem.
For instance, it has too many born-agains reviewing books - including science books that teach unChristian facts (warning potential Christian readers away from scientific theories that would cause them to doubt).
- Amazon's rating system is also very much abused. Good factual books lose deserved ratings, because of reviewers whose ideology has been offended (and who've mostly not even read the books) rushing up in unison and posting 1 star ratings along with incoherent arguments like how the book 'is not true, because it is not true'.
With Amazon's 'reader reviews' one never knows if a non-fiction book is bad for legitimate reasons (badly written, too technical, too non-technical, unfactual, biased) or because it goes against popular opinion.
- Amazon's reviewing facility also allows particular kinds of hatespeech. Example, there were several reviews by Christians warning others off from reading Buddhist books on the Dalai Lama - because of the Lama's 'satanist' teachings that will take followers to hell.

I don't even visit the Amazon site anymore.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->On July 4, Amazon spammed its customers with advertisement of Norman Finkelstein's virulently anti-Semitic book, Image and Reality of the Israeli-Palestine Conflict. On May 30, Amazon similarly advertised Beyond Chutzpah: on the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History. I have never received any other ad from Amazon.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Probably there are anti-semitic nasties working in Amazon. Vote with your wallet. At the very least, you can take your custom to its competitors. It's what I do.

[Guest]

<b>Indian Communists speaks again from their behind</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW DELHI, JULY 14:  The CPI(M) on Friday asked the UPA government to suspend arms purchase from Israel in the wake of recent attacks on Lebanon in which more than sixty people were killed<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<b>Israel steps up raids after Haifa attack </b>

<b>Israel bombs Palestinian Foreign Ministry </b>

<b>Lebanese report wave of Israeli airstrikes </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->BEIRUT, Lebanon - A wave of Israeli airstrikes on Monday hit the Lebanese city of Tripoli and Hezbollah strongholds in eastern town of Baalbek, witnesses said.

Gunboats were also reported to kill four people in a village south of Beirut.
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Israel is hitting Shia and Sunni terrorist at the same time. <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<b>Israel hammers at Lebanese infrastructure </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes pummeled Lebanese infrastructure Monday, killing at least 17 people. <b>Hezbollah patron        Iran said a cease-fire and a prisoner swap were possible, and the international community signaled willingness to send peacekeepers to back a diplomatic solution.</b>

The militant Islamic group, meanwhile, fired rockets that flew farther into        Israel than ever before, while <b>Israel said it had briefly sent ground forces into southern Lebanon for the first time in its six-day-old offensive in escalating violence.</b>
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[Guest]

<b>India evacuates 49 nationals from Lebanon, issues safety advisory</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi - As Israel continued to pound Lebanon and the entire Middle East region became vulnerable to the escalating conflict, India Monday evacuated 49 Indians from Beirut and issued a safety advisory to nearly 12,000 Indians living in that country.

<b>An Indian Army soldier with the UN peacekeeping force was ’slightly’ wounded </b>as Israel stepped up its offensive in Lebanon, officials here said.

There were, however, <b>no plans to move out the remaining 600-odd Indian troops as the UN would have to take this decision</b>, the officials added
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[Bharatvarsh]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Israelis feel Mumbai’s sorrow, India’s pain
Nina Martyris
[ 18 Jul, 2006 0946hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

JERUSALEM: In Israel, a country in a region where the vocabulary of terrorism has an unfortunately high currency, the 7/11 attacks have been followed with deep concern and interest. As rockets and bombs flying through the dust and smoke over the border with Lebanon threaten to turn the battle with Hezbollah into full-scale war, Israelis at every level seek to make common cause with India against the forces of terror.

An Indian delegation of MPs, business leaders and mediapersons, currently in Israel on an invitation from the American Jewish Committee, a powerful lobby in Washington , were met almost everywhere with expressions of sympathy and concern for the people of Mumbai.

Barely an hour before the 7/11 attack, Silvan Shalom, a former deputy prime minister of Israel, met the delegation for an informal discussion in a Tel Aviv hotel on the Mediterranean. Naturally, terrorism was central to the discussion.

Asked about how 9/11 had affected Israel, Shalom said, “In 9/11 the world realised that terrorism wasn’t Israel’s problem only. Until then they tried to convince us that Israel was being attacked because of the West Bank and Gaza). But after 9/11, they realised that there was a radical Islamist movement at work. It was the first time that the West came together to fight back.’’

India and Israel have been moving closer at many levels—from trade to strategic affairs—since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992. And thanks to some 70,000 Jews of Indian origin spread across Israel, India enjoys a kind of special status here. The Indian embassy in Tel Aviv issues 40,000 visas every year to young Israelis who flock to the Himalayas in the north and the beaches in Goa after they complete their three-year compulsory stint in the army.

Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies and an expert on foreign relations, said he was delighted at the growing warmth between the two countries.

“For many years, India shied away from having relations with Israel. But after the Cold War was over, one of the adaptations was better relations with Israel,’’ he said. “We are a flourishing country, which is what makes Israel attractive to India. The main enemy of both countries is radical Islam. For India, Pakistan is an area of concern because of the weapons it possesses and its military dictatorship. We are less concerned about Pakistan, but Saudi Arabia is an area of concern for us, ‘’ he added.

Yael Guter, a research fellow at the Bar Ilan University, who has travelled extensively in India, especialy Cochin from where thousands of Jewish families emigrated to Israel, said, “India is not a country it’s a whole world. I express my sympathy for what happened in Bombay.’’

“I travelled in India for seven months and I loved it there. There was a tragic incident in India and a tragic incident in Israel,’’ she added, referring to the abduction of two Isreali soldiers by Hezbollah. At the Israeli ministry of trade and industry, it was pointed out that one of the common areas between the two countries was the resilience their peoples.

But those who were really rocked by the 7/11 news were Israel’s newest immigrant families from Mumbai. In the port town of Ashdod, at what is known here as an Absorbtion Centre, an institution where immigrants are put through a comprehensive orientation course including Hebrew lessons, the director had organised a short informal ceremony after she heard of the Mumbai blasts— the lighting of a candle placed before a poster which said: No Terror. At the centre were six families from Mumbai who have moved to Israel recently. They were anxious for news about the attacks.

Asher Gasulkar, a welder from Mumbai once an employee in the control panel division of a company owned by Madhuri Dixit and his family, were glued to CNN , watching in disbelief as the mangled anatomy of the seven trains flashed endlessly on TV. Another lady, formerly from the Sandhurst Road, also listened stunned when she heard of the death toll.

There is a large Marathi-speaking Jewish population in Israel, which even has its own newspaper. Many of the young generation do not speak Marathi any more, but when one of them heard of the blasts, she exclaimed in horror, “Kay boltes.’’

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...768071.cms<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I hope Israel keeps up the bombing until these SOB's are completely disarmed.

[Guest]

<b>Israeli ground troops enter Lebanon</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->JERUSALEM -        Israel declared Tuesday it was ready to fight Hezbollah guerrillas for several more weeks, raising doubts about international efforts to broker an immediate cease-fire in the fighting that has killed more than 260 people and displaced 500,000. The military said early Wednesday <b>it sent some troops into southern Lebanon searching for tunnels and weapons</b>.

Despite the diplomatic activity, Israel is in no hurry to end its offensive, which it sees as a unique opportunity to crush Hezbollah. The Islamic militants appear to have steadily built up their military strength after Israel pulled its troops out of southern Lebanon in 2000.
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[Guest]

<b>Israeli warplanes bomb Beirut bunker</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->JERUSALEM - Israeli warplanes dropped bombs late Wednesday on a bunker in south Beirut where senior Hezbollah leaders were thought to be, the military said.

Military officials said a wave of <b>aircraft dropped 23 tons of explosives on the bunker</b>. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters, said<b> top Hezbollah figures were thought to be there, possibly including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The officials said the bunker was in the Bourj al-Barajneh section of southern Beirut</b>.

The military said the attack occurred about 11 p.m., but reporters in Beirut said the last loud explosion heard there was 2 1/2 hours earlier.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:clapping--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Fried potatoes with chills.

[Guest]

<b>Karat wants India to press for sanctions against Israel</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Thiruvananthapuram, July 20: Slamming the Centre's "mild" response against "Israeli aggression" on Lebanon, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat today asked the government to demand international sanctions against Israel and to suspend arms purchases from that country.

"We have been mild on israel. The Government of India should demand that Israel stop aggression on Lebanon and press for international sanctions being imposed on israel," Karat told a meet-the-press programme here.

Holding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been soft towards Israel as he did not speak against that country when it raided the Gaza Strip in the past, Karat said on this count, the government had been toeing the line of the previous nda regime.

He said there was no justification for israel to destroy the whole of Lebanon for the abduction of two of its soldiers, which was condemned by all.

Asserting that the people of india would not accept this "blatant aggression", he said, "We demand the suspension of weapons purchases from israel to register our strong displeasure on the development and that is the least india can do."

He said the West Asian developments are of grave concern for India, as there are about 12,000 indians in lebanon. Three indians were reportedly killed and india should demand compensation from Israel, he said<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Indian commie will never disappoint us.

[Guest]

<b>India condemns arrest of Palestinian ministers by Israel</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi also voiced "deep concern" over continued "disproportionate" Israeli military action in West Bank and Gaza and asked all parties to renounce violence and resolve their differences through peaceful means.

"India condemns the wholly unjustified arrest and continued incarceration of ministers of Palestinian National Authority and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters in New Delhi.

"There can be no justification whatsoever for taking such action against the duly-elected representatives of the Palestinian people," he said.

Sarna said India "remains deeply concerned that Israeli armed forces have continued to maintain their large-scale operation mounted in West Bank and Gaza in Palestine in disproportionate retaliation" for the abduction of an Israeli soldier.

"We also reiterate our call for all parties to renounce violence and resolve their differences through peaceful means," the spokesman said.
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They are not coward like Indians. If you can't fight or protect your own citizens, let others do.

[Guest]

<b>Israel: Half Hezbollah's military strength destroyed</b>
<i>Annan: 'Hostilities must stop' </i>

Somebody ask Annan, who started ?

<b>Israel hints at a full-scale invasion of Lebanon</b>

[Guest]

<b>An Indian Navy ship evacuates its nationals from Beirut. </b>
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/0...8d48ec3d3061d5a

<b>Israel warns Lebanese to flee </b>

<b>Israel calls up troops, warns Lebanese</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->BEIRUT, Lebanon -        Israel called up reserve troops Friday and warned civilians to flee Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon, as it prepared for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>IDF: Hizbullah preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon</b>
  link - live journal
The IDF has found that Hizbullah is preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon. Roadblocks have been set up outside some of the villages to prevent residents from leaving, while in other villages Hizbullah is preventing UN representatives from entering, who are trying to help residents leave. In two villages, exchanges of fire between residents and Hizbullah have broken out.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

They should occupy south lebanon and stay there.

<b>In Scramble to Evade Israeli Bombs, the Living Leave the Dead Behind</b>

[Guest]

Interesting discussion in Hardball. If you have time read rest of transcript from link.
link<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>BOB BAER, FMR CIA OPERATIVE:</b>  The threat is right now ideological. 

BAER:  Well, you‘re going to get a lot of people that are angry and out to take revenge.  It may take 10 years for them to do it.  It may 20 years.  It happened with bin Laden.  <b>Secondly Hezbollah could turn to terrorism</b>.  We don‘t see that right now because it would take an order from Iran to do it.  Hezbollah is a very disciplined organization and it looks to the spiritual leadership in Tehran before it does anything
...............

BAER:  Absolutely.  And this is—you know, what happened <b>when we invaded Iraq was we essentially turned the country over to radical Shia, and the leadership in Baghdad is radical Shia.</b>  I know most of these guys.  In the ‘90s, they took refuge in the southern suburbs of Beirut, with Hezbollah.  There‘s a close connection between the government in Baghdad and Hezbollah. 

And <span style='color:red'>what we‘re seeing now is the development of a radical Shia arc, which goes from Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, and Beirut now, which is what has the Sunni—and that‘s Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf and Egypt and Jordan—so worried, and this is why they‘ve come out against Hezbollah</span>
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BAER:  Chris, this is a catastrophe, Iraq, and this is going to go on for years. <b> Iraq is going to change us.  We‘re not going to change Iraq</b>.  I got calls from Damascus just before I got on the phone with you, and the <b>Sunni are worried.  They‘re leaving Damascus, afraid that this war in Lebanon is going to spread to Syria, and they‘re going to pay the Sunni</b>.  You know, they‘re going to flee to the Gulf, wherever they can. 

The division between the Shia and the Sunni in the Middle East is our greatest threat to the United States.  <b>When people talk about World War III, it‘s not a traditional war against us from nuclear bombs or anything, it‘s from the split that will lead to a regional war which will ultimately and I repeat—will affect oil supplies. </b>

MATTHEWS:  <b>God help us if we get involved in Syria</b>.  Anyway, thank you, Bob Baer.  Your book is called “Blow the House Down.”
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[Guest]

yesterday, Tim Russert's CNBC programme, yesterday guest was Tom Friedman, he said there is a rumor that India is planning to send peace keeping force to Leabnon.

[Guest]

if i know rigt india already has a few soldiers there. india provides the highest number of soldiers in the un peace keeping force, though usa is the greatest financer still.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Indian forces are in area</b>
<b>Lebanon :</b>
The remaining 671 officers and men of the <b>fourth battalion of the Sikh Regiment </b>serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFL) were safe, he stated
Colonel S.C. Panwar commands the unit.
The Indian Army along with a contingent of troops from Ghana are stationed at all five "hotspots" in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel and the exchange of hostilities between Israeli defence forces and Hezbollah militants is taking place across their positions

<b>Golan Height</b>
Another 187 Indian Army officers and men are deployed as UN peacekeepers on the Golan Heights on the Israel-Syria border but are not affected by the hostilities in the region.
The Army Headquarters said troops posted at Golan Heights and led by Lt. Col Ajay Singh were safe.<b> The soldiers are from 17 Poona Horse, Corps of Engineers, Electronic & Mechanical Engineers, Signals, medical, Army Service Corps, Military police and Army Postal Service.</b>
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A total of 8,675 Indian Army officers and soldiers are currently serving with UN peacekeeping forces worldwide.

Of them, 3,756 are deployed in Congo, 2,420 in the Sudan, and 1,625 in Ethiopia/Eritrea. In addition, eight officers are deployed in the Ivory Coast, six in Burundi and two with the Department of Peacekeeping at the UN headquarters in New York. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

There are going to increase no of Indian force. But Israel want NATO forces.

[Guest]

<b>Israelis pound Beirut with new airstrikes </b>
Israel had bombed banks and even Bank Manager/owners residence used by Hazebullah terrorist.