Turkey and Israel should have fruitful dialogue: Israeli PM

REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool

Turkey and Israel share common interests and would benefit from resuming “a fruitful dialogue,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently during an interview with Jerusalem Post.

“We both have a border with Syria, and I am sure we both want to see a stable and peaceful Syria,” Netanyahu told the Jerusalem Post.

“That is a common interest. There are other common interests that come to mind. I think it is in our common interest to find a way to be able to stop – to arrest – the slide in our relationship and resume a fruitful dialogue,” he said.

The prime minister also said Israel was considering a form of apology for the 2010 Mavi Marmara raid as a possible move to restore bilateral relations between the countries.

Turkey has said it will not accept anything less than an official apology before it mends ties with Israel, dismissing Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s earlier suggestion of issuing a text similar to Washington’s message containing works of regret and sorrow that was released to Islamabad in the wake of a U.S. air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last year.

Ties between Turkey and Israel have been tense since May 31, 2010, when Israeli commandos attacked a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza, killing eight Turkish citizens and one American of Turkish descent. (Hurriyet Daily News)

Iran accuses US, Israel of fresh cyber attack

Iran has detected a planned “massive cyber attack” against its nuclear facilities, state television said June 21, after talks with major powers this week failed to resolve a row over Tehran’s disputed nuclear activities.

Iran’s Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said the country’s arch enemies the United States and Israel, along with Britain, had planned the attack. “Based on obtained information, America and the Zionist regime (Israel) along with the MI6 planned an operation to launch a massive cyber attack against Iran’s facilities following the meeting between Iran and the P5+1 in Moscow,” Iran’s English-language Press TV quoted him as saying.

“They still seek to carry out the plan, but we have taken necessary measures,” he added, without elaborating. Security experts said last month a highly sophisticated computer virus, dubbed “Flame,” had infected computers in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.

Iranian officials were quick to say the country had defeated the virus, capable of snatching data and eavesdropping on computer users. It was not clear if the cyber attack referred to by Moslehi was “Flame,” or a new virus. Iran’s nuclear program came under attack in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm which caused centrifuges to fail at the main Iranian enrichment facility. Tehran accused the United States and Israel of deploying Stuxnet. Iran has been locked in a row for nearly a decade with Western countries over its disputed nuclear program which the West believes is aimed at making nuclear weapons. (TEHRAN - Reuters)

US, Israel made Flame virus to thwart Iran: report

The United States and Israel collaborated to create the Flame computer virus as part of an effort to slow Iran's suspected nuclear weapons drive, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The newspaper, citing "Western officials with knowledge of the effort," said the sophisticated malware was designed to spy on Iran's computer networks and send back intelligence used for an ongoing cyberwarfare campaign.

The Post said the US National Security Agency and CIA worked with Israel's military on the project.

A number of reports had linked Israel and the United States to Flame and another virus called Stuxnet which caused malfunctions in Iran's nuclear enrichment equipment.

US officials have not publicly discussed the matter except to say that they are focused on cyber efforts as part of defense and intelligence.

"This is about preparing the battlefield for another type of covert action," one former high-ranking US intelligence official told the Post.

The Russian security firm Kaspersky, first credited with discovering Flame, said last week the malware had strong links to Stuxnet.

Kaspersky said its research shows the two programs share certain portions of code, suggesting some ties between two separate groups of programmers.

The New York Times reported June 1 that President Barack Obama accelerated cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear program and expanded the assault even after the Stuxnet virus accidentally escaped in 2010.

The cyberattack, aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons and keeping Israel from launching a preventive military strike, sowed widespread confusion in Iran's Natanz nuclear plant, the Times said. (WASHINGTON - Agence France-Presse)

Israel considers building artificial islands

An aerial view of the 321 meter tall Burj Al-Arab (L) luxury hotel built on an artificial island off Jumeirah in the Gulf emirate of Dubai. AFP Photo

Israeli politicians are floating an idea to expand their seaside country: Artificial islands.

The Cabinet voted today to explore options for creating artificial islands to make room for infrastructure like water treatment plants, power plants and an airport.

Most of Israel's 8 million people living in a narrow strip along the Mediterranean coast, and the country is running out of space there. Most Israelis live in apartment buildings, and even cemeteries are beginning to bury the dead in multi-level structures.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says manmade islands could bolster Israel's economy, ensure its security and protect what little open space remains in the center of the country.

A government committee will present more specific proposals within a year, according to the Cabinet decision. (JERUSALEM - The Associated Press)

With eye on Turkey, Israel debates Armenia deaths

AP photo

The Israeli parliament has begun a debate over whether to recognize the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I as genocide.

Such a move would enrage Turkey and further strain the already tense ties between the two countries.

For years, Israel has refrained from commenting on the matter for fear of angering Turkey, which until recently was its closest ally in the Muslim world. But as ties have frayed under the Islamic-oriented rule of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Israel appears to be changing course.

Parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin denied that Tuesday's debate was related to deteriorating ties with Turkey. In a radio interview, he said there is no intent to provoke, only to remember.

It was unclear if there would be a vote Tuesday. (JERUSALEM - The Associated Press)

Israel offered $6 mln to Turkish raid victims: lawyer

Turkey and Israel fell out badly in 2010 when Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara humanitarian aid ship and killed nine. Hürriyet photo

A Turkish lawyer said on Thursday that Israel had offered to pay $6 million to victims of Israel's storming of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid flotilla to settle lawsuits against the Israeli military.

However, a senior Israeli official who declined to be named said that Israel, having indicated last year that it was prepared to indemnify victims without accepting blame, had not renewed its offer.

Turkey and Israel fell out badly in 2010 when Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara humanitarian aid ship to enforce a naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip and killed nine Turkish activits in clashes with activists.

Ramazan Arıtürk, one of several lawyers representing 465 victims and victims' relatives, told Reuters that the Israeli government had made a proposal to him through an intermediary foreign ambassador in Ankara just over one month ago.

He said the money would have been paid to a Jewish foundation in Turkey for distribution, and been followed by a statement of "regret" for the raid by the Israeli government.

"I told the ambassador I did not think the offer was appropriate or moral and also discussed the issue with the victims and their friends and they also stated that they could not accept this," Arıtürk said.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry agreed with his decision, saying Israel should have contacted it directly, he said.

Arıtürk declined to disclose the nationality of the ambassador or reveal the name of the Jewish foundation to which the payment would have been made.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry could not be reached for immediate comment, while Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to comment.

Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador and froze all military cooperation with its former ally after a U.N. report into the incident last September largely exonerated the Israeli state.

Turkey has demanded a formal apology from Israel alongside compensation for victims and the families of the dead, but Netanyahu has only voiced "regret".

On Wednesday an Istanbul prosecutor submitted an indictment seeking life sentences for four former Israeli military commanders in connection with the raid, including the Chief of General Staff at the time.

The U.N. report on the raid last September was meant to encourage a rapprochement but ultimately deepened the rift when it concluded Israel had used unreasonable force but that its blockade of Gaza was legal. (ANKARA - Reuters)

Israel seeks to deploy 20,000 commandos in Greek Cyprus

An Israeli soldier patrols near a building occupied by Israeli settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron. AP photo

Israel wants its energy projects in Greek Cyprus to be run by Israelis and is seeking to deploy as many as 20,000 commandos for their protection, Anatolia news agency reported today.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Greek Cypriot counterpart, Demetris Christofias, met on Feb. 16 to discuss the two countries' joint ventures. Details of the talks between the two leaders were kept secret.

Anatolia cited a source it said was close to the Greek Cypriot government who reportedly said Christophias specifically asked Netanyahu to convince Israeli businessmen to halt their investments in Turkish Cyprus during the meeting.

Netanyahu reportedly offered during the same meeting to undertake all the expenses required to construct a gas plant needed to extract the natural gas found in the Mediterranean Sea, the report said. In exchange, Netanyahu asked that all the 10,000 personnel that would work at the plant be brought in from Israel with their families, which would increase the number to nearly 30,000.

The high number of Israelis in Greek Cyprus would present a security issue, which Netanyahu suggested be solved by sending as many as 20,000 Israeli commandos to safeguard both the Israelis and the natural gas plant, the agency said.

Israel's offer sought to place the personnel and commandos in Limassol in Greek Cyprus.

Anatolia's source in Greek Cyprus reportedly said, "The Israelis were coming here to settle for good." (NICOSIA - Anatolia News Agency)

Turkey asks Israel to explain airspace 'violation': report

AFP Photo

Turkey has sought an explanation from Israel in protest over an Israeli "violation" of the airspace of the Turkish northern part of Cyprus, the Anatolia news agency reported on Thursday.

Turkey's diplomats telephoned the charge d'affaires at the Israeli embassy in Ankara, Yosef Levi-Sfari, and demanded and explanation, Anatolia said, citing diplomatic sources.

Contacted by AFP, Turkish foreign ministry officials said Ankara "has taken the necessary initiative on the issue," without elaborating further.

The Israeli aircraft violated the airspace of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus five times in Monday's incident which saw Turkish fighter jets chase out the Israeli plane, the Turkish army command said in a statement.

It gave no other details about the incident nor the type of Israeli plane involved in the alleged incursion over the Turkish Cypriot part of the island, which is recognized only by Ankara.

Israel and Greek Cyprus have both discovered huge offshore natural gas deposits in the Mediterranean Sea and have tentatively discussed cooperation on delivering gas to European and Asian markets.

The drilling for gas and oil in the seabed off Cyprus which began last year angered Turkey, which says it abuses the northern Turk Cypriots' rights to the same resources.

In April, Turkey launched its own exploratory drilling in the seabed offshore the TRNC in the north, drawing a sharp response from the government of Greek Cyprus, which labelled the action as illegal.

Turkey's relations with Israel have soured since Israeli commandos in 2010 stormed a Turkish ship carrying activists trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, killing nine Turks.

Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and lowered diplomatic relations with the Israeli state to a second secretary level. (ANKARA - Agence France-Presse)

Israel marks 64th Independence Day

Fireworks explode over Jerusalem during celebrations for Israel's Independence Day, marking the 64th anniversary of the creation of the state, April 25, 2012. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

Israel's leaders marked their country's 64th year of independence today with a ceremony in Jerusalem, singing classical Hebrew songs and honoring outstanding soldiers.

"Israel does not threaten its region, does not seek to rule another people, and does not wish ill for any other nation," President Shimon Peres said. "Israel, despite its strength, prefers bridges of peace over fences of hostility." Israelis flocked to beaches and thronged parks for barbecues across the nation, filling the air with the scent of grilled meat and charcoal. Military bases were open to visitors for the holiday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to award the Israel Prize in the evening, a prestigious honor in the fields of entertainment and academia.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulated Israel.

"For many around the world, Israel remains a beacon of hope and an inspiring example," she said Wednesday in an official statement.

Government statistics showed that Israel's population grew by 137,500 since last year to 7,881,000. The Central Bureau of Statistics said 75 percent of the population is Jewish, 21 percent is Arab, with the remainder belonging to tiny minorities or immigrants who are not Jewish.

Also, more than 500,000 Israeli citizens live as settlers in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas Palestinians claim for their future state.

While Independence Day is a joyful celebration in Israel, Palestinians will mark the creation of the Jewish state in mid-May with a day of mourning. (JERUSALEM - The Associated Press)

US eyes best possible Turkey-Israel ties

An Afghan policeman stands guard near the wreckage of a NATO helicopter that crashed in Kabul March 16, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board and four Afghan civilians. REUTERS photo

The United States wants to see the best possible relationship between Turkey and Israel, Washington’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said April 23.

It is in the interest of Turkey, Israel and the U.S. to develop better ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv, Marc Grossman said after being asked about news reports that Turkey vetoed Israel’s participation in next month’s Chicago NATO summit.

Grossman made the comments during a visit to Ankara to exchange views with Turkish officials on Afghanistan ahead of an upcoming NATO summit in Chicago to discuss the country, Anatolia news agency reported. Grossman said he wanted to thank Turkish authorities for their contributions to Afghanistan. Turkey and the U.S. have been pursuing the same policy on Afghanistan, according to Grossman, who said the U.S. hoped this would continue after 2014 when NATO withdraws its forces from Afghanistan. The two countries will continue to play important roles in maintaining security and stability in the Central Asian country, the U.S. official said. When he was told that some in Turkey had started to question their country’s presence in Afghanistan after a helicopter crash in Kabul killed 12 Turkish soldiers, Grossman said such concerns were common to all NATO members, adding that Afghans, Americans, Turks and other nationalities had made many sacrifices in the past decade.
Within the scope of an agreement reached in Bonn, Turkey and the U.S. will continue to contribute to the transition process after the 2014 withdrawal.

Four NATO troops died

Two service members were killed in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan, while two others died from non-battle related injuries, NATO said yesterday, according to the Associated Press. The coalition said in statements that one service member was killed by an improvised explosive device yesterday, a day after another was killed in similar fashion. NATO said the two other service members died April 24 of non-battle related injuries. (hurriyetdailynews)

Google launches Street View in Israel

Google on Sunday launched Street View in Israel, the US Internet giant said, putting on show streets and sites of interest from the Holy Land's three major cities with its 360-degree street-level images.

The imagery of "Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Jaffa and Haifa includes sites of interest such as the Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Armenian quarters of Jerusalem's Old City, the Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Western Wall, Mount of Olives, old port of Jaffa, the Baha'i Gardens," a Google statement said.

Street View, which was launched in 2006, lets computer users view panoramic street scenes on Google Maps and take a virtual "walk" through cities such as New York, Paris or Hong Kong.

Panoramic images are taken by cars equipped with special cameras which photograph an area while driving through the streets; the images are then processed in the US, where details such as faces and registration plates are automatically blurred before being published on Google Maps.

In August, Israel's justice ministry gave Google the green light to start photographing the streets, but asked that Street View provide the public with a reliable way to request that further details be blurred after the images are published online.

Google said on Sunday that users would be able to ask for "additional blurring of themselves, their home or their car." To the images available now at www.google.co.il/streetview Google will later add pictures of other cities and sites, including the Dead Sea, Nazareth, Tiberias, Acre and Eilat. (Agence France-Presse-hurriyetdailynews)

Israel honors 6 million victims of Nazi Holocaust

Israelis flocked to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial Thursday to read the names of loved ones who perished at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, a rite that has become a centerpiece of the country's annual commemoration for the 6 million Jews killed in the genocide.

The ceremony, known as "Every Person Has a Name," tries to go beyond the huge numbers to personalize the stories of individuals, families and communities destroyed during the war.

Zvi Shefet, an 87-year-old survivor, carried a list of 48 names, including those of his parents, his lone sister, his grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. Having fled to the countryside, he remained not only the lone survivor of his family but also one of the few Jews to escape from the village of Slonim then part of Poland, today in Belarus where Nazi troops massacred nearly 30,000 Jews and dumped their bodies into open pits.

"These people have no grave, no tombstone. Their names are written nowhere," said Shefet, who later migrated to Israel and now has three children and eight grandchildren. "When I go to Yad Vashem, it is like I am going to the cemetery, to remember my family but also my community all those who died and have no one left behind to even remember them or commemorate them." Israel came to a standstill Thursday morning to honor the victims when sirens wailed for two-minutes across the country. Pedestrians stood in place, buses stopped on busy streets and cars pulled over on major highways their drivers standing on the roads with their heads bowed.

In homes and businesses, people stopped what they were doing to pay homage to the victims of the Nazi genocide, in which a third of world Jewry was annihilated.

A wreath laying ceremony at Yad Vashem followed, with Israeli leaders and Holocaust survivors in attendance. Other ceremonies, prayers and musical performances took place in schools, community centers and army bases.

The annual remembrance is one of the most solemn on Israel's calendar. Restaurants, cafes and places of entertainment shut down, and radio and TV programming were dedicated almost exclusively to documentaries about the Holocaust, interviews with survivors and somber music. The Israeli flag flew at half staff.

A public reading of names also took place at Israel's parliament, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders recited names of relatives who were killed.

At the opening state ceremony Wednesday night at Yad Vashem, Israeli leaders linked the Nazi genocide to Iran's suspected drive to acquire nuclear arms and urged the world to stop it.

"Those who dismiss the Iranian threat as a whim or an exaggeration haven't learned a thing from the Holocaust," said Netanyahu, who has been criticized by some in Israel for making the connection.
Iranian leaders have repeatedly made references to the destruction of Israel.

Iran denies its objective is to build nuclear bombs. Many in Israel believe that even if it does, a comparison to Nazi death camps, gas "showers" and crematoria is unwarranted.

"The question is whether additional speeches laden with pathos and cliches, and whether the airing of hollow threats will serve the shared goal of disarming Iran of nuclear weapons?" wrote columnist Ben Caspit in the Israeli Maariv daily, asking, "Isn't it a bit excessive to compare Tehran's threats of war to the Nazi extermination machine, the theories about racial superiority, the creation of a murder machine that was unprecedented in the history of humankind that not only exterminated 6 million Jews but dragged the entire world into the flames?" The link drawn between the Holocaust and Iran shows how more than six decades later, the mass murder of Jews during World War II is still a central part of Israel's psyche. The nation was created just three years after the end of the war, and hundreds of thousands of survivors made their way to Israel.

One of those was Shefet, who joined the Polish resistance movement, met his future wife, then sailed with her to Israel.

Today, they are among fewer than 200,000 elderly survivors in Israel.
(JERUSALEM - The Associated Press-hurriyetdailynews)