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UK Telegraph.com:
"Strait of Hormuz standoff: Iran films US aircraft carrier
Iran claimed to have taken surveillance footage of a US aircraft carrier near the Strait of Hormuz as both countries raised the stakes in their standoff over the key oil route.
By Raf Sanchez, Washington
29 Dec 2011
The commander of Iran's navy said the reconnaissance mission was proof that his fleet had "control over the moves by foreign forces" but it was unclear what intelligence could be derived from the grainy video, which was played triumphantly on state television.
Admiral Habibollah Sayyari's statement came as Iranian ships, helicopters and submarines continued a 10-day war game exercise designed to give credibility to the country's threat to close the Strait and choke off the world's oil supplies if the West moves ahead with sanctions.
The drill is underway in international waters near the Strait and only a few hundred miles from America's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet. The US Navy has vowed to prevent any closure of the channel, through which 15 million barrels of oil pass every day.
A Navy spokeswoman would not comment on the footage but confirmed that the USS John C Stennis, one of the fleet's largest carriers, was on a "routine transit" through the Strait to provide support to Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Despite the Fifth Fleet's advantage in firepower, a senior Revolutionary Guard commander vowed yesterday that "Any threat will be responded [to] by threat."
"We will not relinquish our strategic moves if Iran's vital interests are undermined by any means," General Hossein Salami told Press TV.
This afternoon, the US also announced it was selling more than 80 F-15 strike aircraft to Saudi Arabia, an American ally and Iran's main rival for military dominance in the Middle East. Without specifically naming Iran, the State Department said the sale was intended as "a strong message to countries in the region that the United States is committed to stability in the Gulf and broader Middle East."
Barry Pavel, Director of the Brent Scowcroft Centre on International Security at the Atlantic Council, said that Iran's navy was potentially capable of closing the Strait but would be unlikely to do so because of the country's dependence on revenues from oil exports. "It would have to be a very extreme situation for Iran to basically shut down its own economy," he said.
The Iranian threat to close the narrow shipping lane was made after the EU, backed by the US, announced it was tightening sanctions on Iran for pressing ahead with its nuclear programme. Europe buys around 20 per cent of all Iranian oil exports and a full embargo would cause serious damage to Iran's economy."
HAARETZ.com:
"IDF Chief: Nuclear Iran a threat to entire region, not just to Israel
Benny Gantz says Israel, international community can meet challenge of nuclear Iran through 'proper preparations.'
By Gili Cohen
30.12.11
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said on Friday that a nuclear Iran is a regional threat no less than it is a threat to Israel, and that "through appropriate International and Israeli preparations, which I will not specify here, this challenge can be met."
Speaking before high school students in Beer Tuvia near Ashkelon, Gantz was asked by a student about Iran's nuclear program. "Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons and this topic should concern us," he said.
[Photo caption: Iranian navy members take positions during a drill in the Sea of Oman, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011.]
Gantz spoke about the security developments in the region, and said that the current events in neighboring countries may lead to the rise of radical and Islamist organizations. "I would be happy if this phenomenon leads to democratic neighboring countries, but in case of negative developments there is room for concern," he said. According to Gantz, poverty and economic hardship may strengthen radical and Islamists elements, "and that possibility seems more likely."
Gantz also referred to segregation of women in the IDF, and said "there is no place for it." Women "can take pride in their service and in their singing," he said.
Earlier on Friday, Iran proclaimed that it will start testing long range missiles in the Persian Gulf amid a verbal row with the United States over blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route.
"On Saturday morning the Iranian navy will test several of its long-range missiles in the Persian Gulf," navy deputy commander Admiral Mahmoud Moussavi told Fars news agency."
Haaretz.com:
"No stopping the flood
The vocal extremism within the ultra-Orthodox community should be seen as a reaction to their peers' increasing openness to the outside world.
By Yair Ettinger
30.12.11
On Tuesday, ultra-Orthodox newspaper Yated Neeman had no mention of the religious clashes in Beit Shemesh on its front page. Instead, the headline trumpeted a letter signed by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, considered the leader of the non-Hasidic, "Lithuanian" ultra-Orthodox.
"We must protest and warn of all sorts of trends from outside to strike at the cruse of pure oil, to alter the spirit and the essence of the ultra-Orthodox public," blared the headline. The letter called for boycotting all the new study tracks designated for Haredim in academia, and employment programs in the army and civil service, since they were intended to form "a group of ultra-Orthodox subordinate to persons who have thrown off the burden [of obedience to the commandments], their rule and their culture."
[Photo caption: an ultra-Orthodox boy (wearing a spodek, watching a store-front TV) in a Beit Shemesh market.]
The missive was written three weeks ago, but intended for publication during Hanukkah. It had no connection to this week's events, but it does cast new light on them.
The gender-segregated bus lines have been plying the country's roads for several years now, the fanatic ultra-Orthodox ghetto in Beit Shemesh is not new and the modesty signs urging women to avoid places where men congregate or walk are a part of the landscape there. The city's extremists, known as the Sicarii, have been harassing little girls from the modern-Orthodox community for four months now. Why did this flare into a storm at now of all times?"
"No stopping the flood
While some among the secular would say that it's due to growing ultra-Orthodox extremism, which is only now being exposed in the media, Knesset members from United Torah Judaism believe the timing is entirely cynical, a result of the race heating up between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud ), Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu ), opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni (Kadima ) and Labor Party chair MK Shelly Yachimovich. Netanyahu knows he does not have a coalition without the ultra-Orthodox parties UTJ and Shas, and that both parties will leave the government if he launches a conflict with the ultra-Orthodox, even though they have no better coalition option. And in one month, the test period set by the High Court of Justice for determining whether gender segregation on buses is being done voluntarily (rather than by coercion ) will come to an end.
There may be another explanation behind the ultra-Orthodox rabbis' exhortations about the unseen hand reaching for the "cruse of pure oil." Are the rabbis - and the Sicarii - sensing dramatic internal changes within ultra-Orthodox society itself?
This is not the first time Rabbi Elyashiv has denounced higher education, but it's unlikely that he has ever before issued such a sweeping prohibition of participation by the ultra-Orthodox in any kind of framework beyond Torah study. The rabbi is denouncing vocational training, ultra-Orthodox colleges and military and civil service because their initiators "acknowledge openly that the aim of all these trends is to alter the spirit and essence of the ultra-Orthodox public and to introduce all kinds of aspirations, national and 'enlightened,' of which our forefathers never conceived and to promote integration with secular and sinful people."
Fanning the hatred
A broader reference to current events can be found in the remarks of another Lithuanian rabbi, which also appeared in Yated Neeman. Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach wrote, "The spirit of rapprochement with the general [secular] public is causing the great hatred." It is generally believed, or at least said, that the answer to hatred is reconciliation and dialogue. Actually, the Lithuanian leadership believes the answer is distancing and separatism. A more radical approach, both separatist and anti-Zionist, characterizes Those who have sanctified separatism and anti-Zionism are the extremist ultra-Orthodox Eda Haredit, which is descended from descendants of the pre-Zionist Jewish community in Palestine, and which today controls Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet. Most extreme are Unlike the mainstream ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Auerbach, the extremist Sicarii: They do not even want to dissipate the hatred.
"The more you disparage us, the better," they told us in Beit Shemesh this week. This is the essence of the fanatic ideology, which has drawn attention due to several cases in recent years - the ultra-Orthodox mother arrested for starving her child, the fight over opening Jerusalem's Karta parking lot on Shabbat, the ancient graves alongside Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, Jerusalem's Gay Pride Parade and more. Two decades ago, Eda rabbis were already permitting young fanatics from Mea She'arim to move to the increasingly ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Beit Shemesh. The extreme Lithuanian courts of Toldot Avraham Yitzhak, Toldot Aharon and smaller groups like Torah Veyireh and the Pharisees are all sending members to the new neighborhoods there. They have done a remarkable job of establishing a fanatic ghetto. The Sicarii within this ghetto are terrorizing Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet as well as the rabbis. No one in the ultra-Orthodox camp is willing to clash with them."
"No stopping the flood
Yet winds of change are blowing even among the most fanatic camp. Once, former Eda Haredit spokesman Shmuel Pappenheim was frequently dispatched to represent the official, extreme anti-Zionist line and to defend his sect, Toldot Aharon. But Pappenheim, a Beit Shemesh resident, recently came out of the closet as a sworn reformist: He is studying for a degree at Bar-Ilan University and heads an office encouraging ultra-Orthodox employment in Beit Shemesh, on top of his other public activities.
Pappenheim thinks that in the ultra-Orthodox's clash with outsiders, the extremists on both sides are failing to see the powerful processes underway in the ultra-Orthodox mainstream: The ultra-Orthodox are irreversibly opening up, he believes.
"This week I spoke before a Scout troop in Jerusalem, alongside a representative of Yisrael Hofshit [Be Free Israel, an organization that works to advance religious freedom and other democratic values], who denounced ultra-Orthodox extremism," says Pappenheim. "I told her she was missing the entire point. Israel's ultra-Orthodox public has begun to understand that it needs to take its fate into its hands. There are thousands of ultra-Orthodox in the army, in academia, in the free professions. Are they telling us we're in a religious war? On the contrary. The religious public is heading toward something great, and the rabbis' attempts to stop this are like the rooster running in circles after being beheaded."
The Sicarii are acting out of frustration, not ideology, he says. "They see society around them progressing and are frustrated. They do not really think; they just act violently for the sake of causing action and chaos."
Pappenheim believes the rabbis' attempts to turn back time are destined to fail. "I'm not seeing any students dropping out of ultra-Orthdox colleges" due to Rabbi Elyashiv's letter, he says. "That isn't going to help anymore. Maybe this is the rabbis' job, to try to stop the flow so that 16-year-old boys know their only aim in life is to study Torah, but this process is reality."
Pappenheim himself is being smeared by wall posters declaring, "Greeks have ganged up on us!" and draws condemnations from his extremist neighbors, but as the son of an aristocratic Toldot Aharon family, he retains access to the top.
"A married yeshiva student from Toldot Avraham Hasidut is serving in Shahar [a prestigious Israel Defense Forces technology program for married yeshiva students]. Things are happening. I told my rebbe and he asked: 'What? Do you think our married yeshiva students will also be there?' I said it could happen. He said, 'Such a thing should not come to us,' and I told him that while his role may be to prevent it, this is the process. We need to understand this and not shut our eyes. He knows this well. A month ago President [Shimon] Peres visited [Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's daughter] Adina Bar-Shalom's ultra-Orthodox college in Jerusalem. In the first row were three married yeshiva students from Toldot Aharon."
"No stopping the flood
Conflicting changes
Pappenheim's remarks show that the discussion about "growing ultra-Orthdox extremism" ignores the fact that this sector, like the national religious sector, is going through conflicting processes. The public at large is now noticing the modesty revolution, which includes the segregated buses, the "Taliban" women in black cloaks, the gender segregation at the health clinics in Beit Shemesh and the advertising companies' reluctance to post outdoor ads with pictures of women in Jerusalem, but it has been going on for years.
But there are only a few dozen women in cloaks and a few hundred hot-headed Sicarii. Even if we generalize and include the thousands of Gur Hasidim - the largest Hasidic faction, known for its obsessiveness on matters of sexuality and whose functionaries have been pushing segregated buses for years - this is still only a minority within the ultra-Orthodox sector.
This minority certainly is smaller than the large group of ultra-Orthodox women - including women from Gur - working in the free professions and high-tech, the thousands of men and women studying at ultra-Orthodox colleges and the men volunteering for special ultra-Orthodox programs in the IDF and civil service. And many more ultra-Orthodox use computers, smartphones and the Internet, despite the rabbis' loud but futile war against these technologies. Even if these people are still a minority, they are a much larger minority than the extremists.
Economic distress alone is enough to push the ultra-Orthodox to reform, which in turn damages the supreme ultra-Orthodox value of separatism, "the pure cruse of oil." The change in values is keeping the rabbis awake at night. The more openness there is, the more they seek to close things off. That is how Orthodoxy was born 200 years ago, that is how the "Taliban" sect in Beit Shemesh was born and that is likely how innovations like "kosher electricity" will be born - out of the growing push for strictness and the ultra-Orthodox representatives' intoxication with political power - as well as the secular politicians' ignorance."
"No stopping the flood
The segregated buses were not intended to exclude women; they were intended to exclude secular people, to create a sanctified ultra-Orthodox space detached from the threatening outside world. The new ultra-Orthodox suburbs of Beitar Ilit and Modi'in Ilit were intended as sacred ultra-Orthodox ghettoes, sometimes with the help of secret "acceptance committees" that filtered out the newly observant, the national religious and sometimes also Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox. The Lithuanian girls' schools make a point of accepting only students "like ourselves," meaning no Mizrahim. Likewise the Haredim developed their own transportation system under the nose of Egged, Dan and the High Court of Justice.
The radical idea that came out of the Prime Minister's Bureau this week, to split Beit Shemesh into two municipalities based on sectoral affiliation, no doubt appeals to some of the ultra-Orthodox extremists. But Pappenehim says that in order to integrate the ultra-Orthodox into workplaces, colleges and military service, they need unique frameworks that allow for gender segregation. "There is no other way," he says.
Aryeh Goldhaber is an activist in the ultra-Orthodox reformist movement "Tov," in Beit Shemesh. He says ultra-Orthodox people like him are suffering both at the hands of the extremists and from the authorities' blind eye. He, like Pappenheim, favors tough police action against the fanatics, because the "violent campaign against the ultra-Orthodox" is driving moderate members of his community to close ranks with the Sicarii.
Unlike Rabbi Elyashiv, he says, "We are happy to be active partners in the larger Israeli society - in employment, the army and studies, but the more openness there is, the louder the extremists shout." Pressure from Shas and UTJ is pushing the establishment to ignore ultra-Orthodox reformists, "and this is making things difficult for us."
You know it's all over for the Assads and the Alawites in Syria when one of the worst terrorists they hosted is jumping ship, one wanders what will be with all the Nazis they gave cover to, but probably most of those are dead by now:
Israel National News:
"Hamas Leader Khaled Mashaal Flees Damascus
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has fled Damascus together with his family, the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reports.
By Chana Ya'ar
1/1/2012
Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal has fled Damascus together with his family, according to a report published Sunday by the London-based al-Hayat newspaper.
The report, quoted by state-run Voice of Israel radio, added that a number of other Hamas leaders and their families had also fled the Syrian capital. The entire group has reportedly taken refuge in Jordan, according to the report.
Another source likewise told the al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper that Jordan has agreed to accept all of the Hamas families from Damascus -- but only on condition they will not engage in any political activity in the country.
"Jordan's agreements with Israel do not allow it to be entirely open to Hamas, and the Hashemite Kingdom will not let the movement reopen its offices there," the source told the newspaper.
Relations between Jordan and Hamas, at one time less than cordial, have since been "normalized," the source said, following meetings held in the past few weeks between government officials and the terrorist leaders.
The prospect of having to make a sudden departure from Damascus was one that Mashaal had been forced to contemplate for the past several months, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad slowly loses his iron grip on the armed forces that have until this year served him unquestioningly.
There have been increasing numbers of soldiers abandoning their posts and defecting to the opposition as the country's burgeoning civil war grows ever more bloody. More than 5,000 people -- nearly all of them unarmed -- have been murdered by Assad's troops since the anti-government "Arab Spring" grassroots uprising began in mid-March, according to United Nations estimates. Thousands more have been wounded, among them many who have been tortured after being arbitrarily arrested -- including children -- and some who have then "disappeared."
Most of the clashes occurred in hotspots such as the central city of Homs, and other spots like Idlib, Dera'a and Hama. But last month the rivers of blood finally began to seep into the capital, Damascus, as well, with an attack on the nation's intelligence headquarters and then clashes in a local neighborhood.
While the Syrian capital has long been home to the Hamas political bureau, even Mashaal could see that the possible impending demise of his long-time patron meant his lease was up and it was time to go.
A report in the al-Hayat newspaper less than two weeks ago quoted a source that said all leading Hamas officials had already made it out of the country, except for Mashaal. Hamas second-in-command Moussa Abu Marzouk was in Amman at that time, where officials warned his presence was conditional on refraining from political or media activity. Hamas was based in Jordan years ago, but moved to Damascus after an alleged Israeli assassination attempt. Mashaal had been scheduled to visit Amman on Friday."
Israel National News:
"Yossi Peled: Protesters Crazy to Use Yellow Star
Pinning a yellow star on to the chest of a child to make a point at a protest is tantamount to a loss of sanity, says Minister Yossi Peled.
By Chana Ya'ar
1/1/2012
Pinning a yellow star -- the symbol of Jewish slavery to the Nazi murderers of World War II -- on the chest of a child in order to make a point at Saturday night's protest by hareidi religious extremists went beyond the Pale, says government minister Yossi Peled.
Speaking in an interview Sunday morning, the minister-without-portfolio called the use of the Holocaust imagery by the demonstrators in Jerusalem's hareidi religious neighborhood of Mea Shearim "craziness" and a "loss of sanity. There are things that are just unimaginable," he said.
"It doesn't matter if the struggle is just or not -- there are just things that are illogical, and immoral."
Nearly 400 demonstrators had gathered at Shabbat Square to protest what they said was oppression and incitement against them by the media and the government. Adult men, as well as boys, were wearing the Nazi yellow stars pinned to their chests, with the word "Jude" written in the center, and waving signs that said "Zionism is racism," and "Zionists are not Jews."
Kadima MK Yoel Hasson also condemned the protesters' actions Sunday morning, vowing to find a way to prevent others from doing the same.
Hasson said he would introduce a bill in the Knesset to prohibit the cynical use of the Nazi yellow star, the "Nazi" curse, and the wearing of clothes that depict Jewish prisoners in Nazi death camps.
Peled told the interviewer, "My blood froze when I saw the pictures. They have lost something in their value systems. It seems that anything is allowed today. We no longer have any shame."
Shas spiritual leader and former Israel Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef spoke out against the ongoing extremist violence in his sermon on Shabbat, saying, "There are hareidim carrying out forbidden acts, that our Torah forbids. They must be denounced."
Israel National News:
"Aharonovitch: 'Don't Be Afraid to File Complaints'
Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch tells women "don't be afraid" to file complaints if they are harrassed in public venues.
By Chana Ya'ar
12/29/2011
Israeli citizens are being urged by government officials to step forward and file complaints with police if they are harrassed in any public venue.
"Don't be afraid to file a complaint. It's the most important thing to do right now," said Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch. "Once complaints are filed an investigation will begin, and indictments will follow," he said.
Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely boarded a "mehadrin" bus line in Beit Shemesh Thursday in solidarity with those who have been harrassed by the fringe group of hareidi religious extremists on such routes, and to show her support for women who don't want to sit at the back of the bus.
In response, some men did not board the bus, and others sat in the back. "We cannot let certain groups live in a de facto autonomous sate inside the State of Israel," said Hotovely, who is also an observant Jew. She said she would also visit the Beit Orot girls' school in the neighborhood where the trouble began.
The issue has led to violence by a fringe group of hareidi religious men aimed at the little girls and their mothers, including spitting at the children and women, hurling verbal epithets and sometimes vegetables as well. This week more than 10,000 residents of Beit Shemesh and others from around the country who came to offer their support gathered to demonstrate against the phenomenon, which has been seen on occasion in other cities as well...
But what has happened in Beit Shemesh is not an isolated incident.
An indictment was filed Thursday morning against 44-year-old Jerusalem resident Shlomo Fuchs for calling a female IDF soldier a "whore" because she preferred to sit in the front section of the #49 Egged bus line from Neve Yaakov to the city center.
Fuchs was released to house arrest following his appearance in court, with the admonition that he would be prohibited from riding on public transporation. He will be permitted to attend his yeshiva every to continue learning.
At the time of the incident, Matalon was traveling from Neve Yaakov to the Central Command base in Jerusalem.
The #49, which travels from the outlying Neve Yaakov neighborhood through Ramat Eshkol, is considered a "de facto" mehadrin line by virtue of the fact that most of its passengers are hareidi religious Jews and prefer to sit separated by gender. Nevertheless, the bus line itself is a public route and travels through neighborhoods that are populated by a mix of various groups.
Police said that Fuch's behavior was unruly after he tried to intimidate the soldier, Doron Matalon, into moving to the back of the bus. As yeshiva students began to surround her and a conflict began to develop, the driver called police.
In the indictment, he was charged with sexual harassment for calling Matalon a "whore" and a "shiksa" (derogatory Yiddish term for Gentile woman). Matalon retorted that she was "just as Jewish as he is."
During interrogation, Fuchs reportedly told police that it was appropriate to call the soldier a "whore" due to her "provocative behavior."
Similar incidents have also been reported in the past on intercity "mehadrin" lines. The #550 line between Arad and Bnei Brak, and the #554 line between Arad and Jerusalem was the scene of repeated conflicts and even considerable delays due to harrassment of married Chassidic couples by other hareidi religious men, who insisted the men and women must separate, even though they were married."
Shame on these "CHARA"dim! I couldnt sleep all night after seeing what these scum did in kikar hashabbos last night, shame on them and their rabbonim that condone such despicable behavior!
Uoj, im going to steal a line from your holy zeida, "a fire is burning within me and a thousand jews like me" me thinks its many thousands!
Hopefully this has awakened the sleeping masses as to the disgrace thats going on in israel for the last few years with these nutjobs getting more radical by the minute, i hope every one of these shnorrers that come to america get turned away and i would love to see a movement of boycotting anything that has the eidas hechsher on it, maybe even start a campaign of calling the big companies that have those lunatics hechsher to remove it and find a new one, osem would be a great start, dont get me wrong, i have nothing against osem, i actually like their crackers bamba and soup mandel but i will p/u those items from other companies that dont have the eidas stamp on it, anyone with more ideas on how we can get this rolling please post,
uoj your the best, man i missed you, my fault, i wasnt on here for a while.
LVF, good to see you again.
There is actually a split within the Edah. A new generation of fanatics that follow Dayan Weiss have been pushing out or neutralizing old timer moderates. They got rid of Zilbershlag and many others. Dayan Weiss is behind all this crazy stuff like protecting child killer Vallis and trying to stop kollel veiber from working for Intel Computer. Rav Elyashev warned him once before that if he doesn't cut it out, he will send all the Litvisher yeshivaleit to make machuois by his house. The only other nuts acting up now are from Neturei Karta.
Israel National News:
"Muslim Brotherhood Plans to Cancel Peace Pact with Israel
The Muslim Brotherhood comes up with a neat trick to break the peace treaty with Israel without formally doing so: Let a referendum do it.
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
1/1/2012
The Muslim Brotherhood comes up with a neat trick to break the peace treaty with Israel without formally doing so. Egypt’s next likely ruling party says it simply will hold a plebiscite and let the people do it.
Rashad Bayoumi, deputy Supreme Leader of the Brotherhood, told the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat on Sunday it respects international treaties and will leave the issue of the peace treaty in the hands of the people. The pact was signed by then-Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, but a "cold peace" has set in over the past several years.
“People will express their opinions on it. All parties can reconsider the treaty and Egyptians haven't yet had their say,” he explained. “We won't violate the treaty. We can put it for referendum among people or parliament,” Bayoumi said.
The ploy would ostensibly take the onus off the radical Muslim party, which Jeffrey Feltman, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, has said will respect the treaty.
However, Bayoumi’s statements to Al Hayat made it clear that the Brotherhood has no intention of recognizing Israel. “I’ll never allow myself to sit down with a criminal. We will not deal with Israelis by any means,” he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood won approximately 40 percent in the first rounds of voting for the next Egyptian legislature, giving it a plurality. The next popular party is the even more radical Salafi al-Nour party, which won nearly 30 percent of the vote."
"paskunyak said...The only other nuts acting up now are from Neturei Karta."
Not so! How do you explain the Ger Chasidim beating up the Meah Shearimniks and smashing up property to take over Batei Varsha that they (the Gerrer) now claim is "theirs" because they also come from "Varsha" (well sort of, even if Ger was a shtetel far removed from the world of Warsaw.)
And how do you explain the Belzers railroading their way and getting by hook or by crook (lots of by crook, just ask Abe Fruchthandler who lost his land to them) over every property that stood in the way of them building the Belzer mausoleum in Yerushalayim, and they are still pushing like this to get more land for themselves wherever they can, just they do it more like spies under the radar.
How about the pent up anger in ANY Charedi male on a bus in Israel when he sees a female get on, starts to monitor where she sits and is on battle mode ready to scream "shiksa" or "zona" and create havoc with full-blown verbal abuse, that is not just "neturei karta" it's every Charedi and Chadisic male with his hormones pumped up all of them ready to become the "gubernators" against anyone not like them.
How about all those Charedi kids, teens and "unemployed" young adults who roan the stsreets and always have stones and diapers with drek in them to throw at anyone that they decide is their enemy?
So nope, it's not just the "meah shearim" crowd, it's the whole Charedi world that is out of control and they will now be learning some tough lessons, that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
"Power [of Rebbes] tends to corrupt, absolute power [of Rebbes] corrupts absolutely"!
Financial Times.com
"Iran missile test seen as warning to west
By Monavar Khalaj in Tehran
January 2, 2012
Iran launched a long-range missile during a naval exercise in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the latest show of defiance by Tehran as the west weighs tighter sanctions over its nuclear programme.
Iranian state television showed footage of Ghader, a ground-to-sea missile, which was test-fired on Monday and hit the supposed targets. The missile, said to have a range of 200km, is considered by Iran as long-range. However, such a range for a cruise missile is generally regarded as medium.
Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, head of Iran’s navy, told the state television on Monday the exercise showed the country’s “defensive and pre-emptive prowess … despite 33 years of sanctions”.
“Security of the Strait of Hormuz is completely under our [Iran] authority. The control of the Strait of Hormuz is completely under our authority [too],” Mr Sayyari said and added Iran’s armed forces and the elite revolutionary guards would not let “any enemy [the US and its European allies as well as Israel] to put our interests in danger”.
The tests came as Iran completed a 10-day naval exercise. Iran has been test-firing missiles since Sunday.
Tensions rose last week as Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-third of the world’s seaborne oil trade passes, should the west impose oil sanctions on Tehran.
Ehud Barak, Israeli defence minister, said the Iranian exercise was a show of strength intended ”to deter the world from continuing sanctions against it,” the Associated Press reported.
About 13 to 15 supertankers cross the strait every day, most of them heading to Japan, South Korea, Indian and China.
The missile announcement came after Iran claimed at the weekend that it had succeeded in building and testing the country’s first nuclear fuel rod, a step many western observers have considered to be beyond the country’s technological capabilities.
Iranian analysts believe the recent sabre-rattling by Iran was the country’s attempt to prevent European Union from extending sanctions to oil sales and the country’s central bank. Iran also signalled on Saturday it was ready to resume international talks over its nuclear programme.
Meanwhile, Iran’s currency market has been volatile amid concerns over President Barack Obama’s signing into law a bill imposing sanctions on institutions dealing with the country’s central bank.
One US dollar bought 17,000 rials on the open market on Monday, weakened about 11 per cent in a few days. It fuelled anxiety among businessmen that the currency’s fluctuations make trade more expensive and riskier. Financial transactions have already been conducted at higher costs for Iranian businessmen as the consecutive US administration have imposed sanctions on most of Iran’s 28 banks.
Domestic media reported some shops in gold and computer markets receive dollar instead of rial to stem losses over the sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency.
Over the past decade, Iran’s central bank, which channels more than 90 per cent of hard currency into the local market, supported the Iran currency through a managed float system. The system enabled the central bank to pump the national currency into the market when the rial showed signs the weakening.
The mechanism failed much of the last year to bring stability back to the market as the Iranian currency is down about 37 per cent against the US dollar since January 2011.
Iranians reacted jitterily, calling in a social network sites like Facebook to buy dollars. However, Iran’s government remained defiant. Shamsoddin Hossein, economy minister, said Iran was ready for the sanctions which are “failed” options."
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