Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Syria, Iran and the Chemical Weapons

Hours after the Syrian regime suffered its greatest setback in the yearlong civil war, the U.S. and U.K. defense chiefs feared that dictator Bashar Assad might use his stockpile of chemical weapons — the results of what may be the largest active chemical program on the planet. But because of the structure of Assad’s extensive chemical weapons effort, stopping him from using his weapons may not be possible, even if the U.S. military suddenly decided to openly intervene.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Assad’s rule was “rapidly spinning out of control” after a suicide bomber in Damascus killed the defense minister and possibly other high-ranking security officials. But that raises questions about whether a desperate Assad would turn to his large stockpiles of sarin, VX and mustard gas in order to cling to power. Reportedly, Assad has begun moving his chemical weapons out of storage.

Source:  U.S. May Not Be Able to Stop Syria From Using Chemical Weapons

Iran's contribution: Iranian trucks with chemicals intercepted en route to Syria

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Hormuz

re: Gog and Magog and the Strait of Hormuz

US military strength beefed up at Hormuz as nuclear talks with Iran fade

The Obama administration released details Tuesday, July 3, of a fresh buildup of its military forces in the Persian Gulf, stressing their task is to fend off any Iranian attempt to endanger international shipping by blocking or planting mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Shortly after the announcement, senior US administration officials said the fourth round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers taking place in Istanbul Tuesday were most probably the last: Tehran has refused to give way on the key issues of the 20-percent grade enrichment of uranium and the closure of its underground nuclear facility at Fordo.

The new war drums sent oil past $100 for the first time in three weeks.

As for the Gulf buildup, US sources said counter-measures were in place in case the extra forces were targeted for Iranian aggression.

Full story: Debka

Also see: U.S. Adds Forces in Persian Gulf, a Signal to Iran

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

A Lesson for Ahmadinejad from King Titus

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on May 12 said that Israel poses little threat to the Islamic Republic and compared it to a pesky insect.

“Israel is nothing more than a mosquito which cannot see the broad horizon of the Iranian nation,” Ahmadinejad said while speaking in northeastern Iran’s Khorassan province, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.  [ Before Nuclear Talks, Iranian President Compares Israel to Mosquito ]

Our Sages tell us: When Titus was traveling back to Rome on a ship with the Jewish captives and the vessels of the Holy Temple, a storm at sea threatened to drown him. He said: "It seems that the G‑d of these people only has power over water. When Pharaoh came, He drowned him in water. When Sisera came, He drowned him in water. Now He is about to drown me in water. If He wants to show His strength, let Him come onto dry land and fight with me there!" 

A Divine voice came forth and said to him: "Wicked one, the son of a wicked one, descendant of Esau the wicked, I have an insignificant creature in My world called a gnat. Come ashore and do battle with it!" Titus went ashore and a gnat [mosquito] came and entered his nostril, and pecked at his brain for seven years. 

One day, Titus was walking past a blacksmith's shop. The gnat heard the noise of the sledgehammer and became silent. Titus said: "There is a remedy!" Every day they brought a blacksmith and he hammered in Titus' presence. To a gentile blacksmith he would give a handsome stipend, but to a Jew he would say: "It is sufficient that you see your enemy suffering!"

For thirty days they brought smiths to hammer in Titus' presence. Then the gnat adjusted to the noise of the hammer, and continued pecking at Titus' brain even when the hammers were struck.

Rabbi Pinchas ben Arova said: "I was with the great men of Rome at the time when Titus died. They examined his brain and what they found in it was the size of a small bird!"

As Titus lay dying, he instructed his servants: "Burn me and scatter my ashes over the seven seas so that the G‑d of the Jews cannot find me and bring me to judgment."  [See: Death of Titus]

Thursday, April 26, 2012

''No Fear'' Video Goes Viral

Hard hitting video on Iranian threat to U.S. goes viral, is featured on Fox News.

A hard hitting video that focuses on the Iranian threat to the U.S. is a hit on the Internet, garnering over 2.3 million views in less than a week. Created and narrated by Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel of TheLandOfIsrael.com, the video's message is that while Iran poses a mortal threat to the U.S. and the West, fear is paralyzing Westerners and preventing them from dealing rationally with the problem.

Read more: Israel National News    [HT: Moriah]

 

Iran Preparing for ''Last Six Months''

Source says leaders expect attack that will usher in 'messiah' 

Despite the recent declaration by Iran that it does not want a nuclear bomb and statements by regime officials that they are willing to negotiate over the nuclear issue, indications from within Iran signal massive preparation for an all-out war as part of its destiny.

Nine years ago a Revolutionary Guards arm, the Holy Defense, published a book, “The Last Six Months,” in which it describes the conditions needed in the last six months prior to the reappearance of the last Islamic messiah. The book was distributed in the hundreds of thousands to all Guards, Basij and army bases throughout the country.

Islam’s Shiites believe their 12th Imam, Mahdi, will reappear at the end of times and kill all the infidels, raising the flag of Islam in all four corners of the world.

The book admonishes the military forces that they must be prepared to do their duties during those six months and that there will be many signs to help the faithful to understand the transition, which will center on Iran.

The book, which relies on Islamic hadiths by the Prophet Mohammad and his descendants from centuries ago, describes the 9/11 attacks and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq as signs that the time is near. But it also prophesies much more significant signs that would launch the six-month time frame for the reappearance of Mahdi: an attack on Syria and then an attack on Iran. 

Both those events are looking increasingly likely as Syria’s Bashar al-Assad continues to murder his own people and Iran continues its quest for nuclear weapons.

Mahdi will only reappear, Shiites believe, when Israel is destroyed and the U.S. is brought to its knees; two-thirds of the world’s population will die in a nuclear exchange, and with this chaos and havoc engulfing the earth, the “coming” will unfold.

 Continue reading at: WND

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Iranian nuclear scientists were present at failed North Korean missile launch

A dozen Iranian nuclear experts visited North Korea last week to observe its failed rocket launch on Friday, South Korean state news agency Yonhap's Washington correspondent reported on Sunday.

"On March 31, 12 Iranians of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG) arrived in North Korea. "The Iranians undoubtedly were there to observe the missile launch and receive test data from North Korea," the correspondent quoted a diplomatic source, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying.

More at: Haaretz

Monday, April 16, 2012

The Coming Summer: Hot and Tense

A major Israel TV station on Sunday night broadcast a detailed report on how Israel will go about attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities in the event that diplomacy and sanctions fail and Israel decides to carry out a military strike. 

The report, screened on the main evening news of Channel 10, was remarkable both in terms of the access granted to the reporter, who said he had spent weeks with the pilots and other personnel he interviewed, and in the fact that his assessments on a strike were cleared by the military censor. 

No order to strike is likely to be given before the P5+1 talks with Iran resume in May, the reporter, Alon Ben-David, said. “But the coming summer will not only be hot but tense.”

Read more:   Israeli TV report shows air force gearing-up for Iran attack, says moment of truth is near

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Ships of Kittim [?]


[HT: Klishlishi]

''For ships of Kittim shall come against him...''[Daniel 11:30] 

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued a strong warning against a military attack on Iran Monday, April 2,, saying that a pre-emptive strike would violate international law. His comments, made during a visit to Armenia, stopped short of threatening (the US and/or Israel) of consequences. But they backed up and were in tune with the explicit threat from Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last Thursday of strong Iranian resistance to foreign intervention in Syria and vow to defend Damascus as the “center of resistance against Israel.” 

Western military observers link the two statements as representing an evolving Russian-Iranian front. After their shared success in delivering Bashar Assad from the revolt against his regime, the two partners are preparing to fend off a potential strike against Tehran’s nuclear program as well as shore up Iran’s regional interests from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. Continue reading at Debka

Friday, March 30, 2012

Bombshell Betrayal: Obama Leaks Info to Thwart Israeli Attack

Source and much more at: Atlas Shrugs [HT: Moriah]

The Obama administration is leaking information to pressure Israel not to bomb Iran. Enemy in the White House. Not only is Obama an anti-semite, he is anti-American (anti-freedom.) His islamophiliac polcies compromises American security. Iran is clearly an American threat. They have been at war with us since '79. Israel was willing to do the heavy lifting because our reckless and feckless president was too weak, too compromised. But to betray an ally like this?

Senior US officials tell 'Foreign Policy' "Israelis have bought an airfield and the airfield is called Azerbaijan."

Is it any wonder that 20% of Americans think Obama is Muslim. But their fruits ye shall know him and so we know him.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

North Korea April Rocket Launch Coverup for Iran Missile Test

In mid-April, North Korea intends to launch it’s long range Unha-3 rocket into space while carrying a satellite, sparking concerns in Washington and Seoul that an agreement to halt Pyongyang’s nuclear missile program is in jeopardy.

On Monday, the Israel Hayom newspaper reported that the scheduled launch is intended to assist the Iranians in testing their long range rocket technology, because Tehran believes conducting such a launch inside the Islamic Republic would aggravate western nations as the two sides head into negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program next month.

“There’s nothing surprising in this. Iran has, for roughly 20 years, used every ruse possible to avoid it’s international obligations, leaving it’s pledges in bilateral and multilateral frameworks. If they were to test through North Korea, it would just be another example of that,” said Gerald Steinberg of the BESA Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv.

President Obama, who is in South Korea for a nuclear security summit, spoke in the capital of Seoul on Sunday.

“North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations,” he said.

“We are preparing measures to track the missile’s trajectory and shoot it down if it, by any chance, deviates from the planned route and falls into our territory,” said South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Source: Algemeiner

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Shimon Peres: A Message for Iran

HT: Miguel

President Shimon Peres extended Iran warm greetings for the Persian new year – and a fateful choice.



Read more at: Israel National News

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Iran's Banks Cut Off

This news is a couple of days old... but here's a video news report.

Iranian banks cut off from SWIFT system
Financial group vital for oil exports cuts business with banks blacklisted by EU to enforce sanctions.
Source: Aljazeera

Obama Preparing for .... ?

Whitehouse releases new Executive Order: National Defense Resources Preparedness - giving them the power to basically do anything they like, and take control of everything and everyone in case of war.

You can read it here: The Whitehouse



"And the king of the north shall again set forth a multitude, greater than the former; and he shall come on at the end of the times, even of years, with a great army and with much substance. And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south; also the children of the violent among thy people shall lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they shall stumble. And the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mound, and take a well-fortified city; and the arms of the south shall not withstand; and as for his chosen people, there shall be no strength in them to withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the beauteous land, and in his hand shall be extermination."

......I heard from Rav Yehuda Sheinfeld Shlit"a and Rav David Hameyahel Shlit"a who explained these verses as referring to a war between Edom and Paras, which is the expected war between the U.S.A. and Iran. The King of the South is Iran, who is in the South, whereas the King of the North is the U.S.A. and Europe who are in the North. [Source: Geula Update: Rav Fish]

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Obama: Live Press Conference

President Obama will host a live press conference today at 1:15p.m. [about one hour from time of publishing this post] - 8.15 pm Israeli time

He is expected to discuss the situation in Syria, concerns about Iran's disputed nuclear program and the U.S. economic situation.

Click here for link to listen live:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Reports: Israel has already decided to attack Iran


Channel 2 in Israel, sourcing a “senior American official”, says that the decision has already been made by the Israeli government to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. “All U.S. intelligence officials are confident the Israeli leadership has already decided to attack Iran, unless a significant change happens in the coming weeks or months with the Iranian nuclear program...''

“All U.S. intelligence officials are confident the Israeli leadership has already decided to attack Iran, unless a significant change happens in the coming weeks or months with the Iranian nuclear program,” Channel 2 reports.

The report comes just hours ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to AIPAC in Washington.

Source: Algemeiner


Video: Obama Netanyahu meeting March 2012

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Ahmadinejad and Haman: Revenge of a Bird

By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

A fascinating Midrash compares Haman to a foolish bird attempting to take revenge on an ocean which destroyed its nest. What this seemingly simple fable tells about the secret behind Anti-Semitism, the inner conflict within the Jewish psyche and the meaning of Jewish history. A journey into the heart of what it means to be a Jew.

The Frog
A lonely frog, desperate for any form of company, telephoned the Psychic Hotline to find out what the future has in store for him.

His Personal Psychic Advisor advises him, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you."

The frog is thrilled and says, "This is great! Where will I meet her, at work? At a party?"

"No," says the psychic, "in a biology class."

The Bird and the Sea
As our imagination is once again consumed by threats coming from Iran and its President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, let us pay heed to a Midrash about the Purim story which also occurred in Iran, in ancient Persia.

There is a fascinating Midrash [1] describing the plot of Haman, the villain of the Purim story:

“What is an apt parable for Haman the Evil One? To what can he be compared? To a bird which made its nest on the shore of the sea, and then the sea came and swept away the nest. The bird said: I will not budge from here until the sea becomes dry land, and the dry land becomes the sea. What did the bird do? It took some water from the sea in its mouth and dropped it on dry land, and took dirt from the land and dropped it into the sea. Its friend came and stood alongside. He said to the bird: You ill-fated, hapless one! How do you ever hope to succeed?

“Similarly, G-d said to Haman the Evil One: Fool of fools! I myself planned to destroy the Jewish people and was, as it were, unsuccessful, as it is written [2] ‘He intended to destroy them [and would have] were it not that Moses, His chosen one, stood before Him in the breach to return His wrath from destroying,’ and you, Haman, think you will be able to decimate and annihilate them?! I swear by your life, that your head will be in place of theirs; they will be saved and you will be hanged.”

At first glance, the Midrash is saying that the annihilation of the Jews is as impossible and ludicrous as the draining of the ocean, beak-full by beak-full, by a bird. The bird is so blinded by its anger at the sea for destroying its nest, that it does not realize the absurdity of its quest.

Yet the Midrash is perplexing.

1) The role of a metaphor in Midrashic and Talmudic literature is to explain and clarify a difficult concept. What is the concept being clarified via this metaphor of a bird attempting to drain an ocean? What component of the Haman story begs for enlightenment to be understood only via this metaphor?

2) In the Midrashic fable, the sea first sweeps away the bird’s nest, arousing its quest for revenge. What is the paralleled meaning of this sequence of events? What did the Jewish people – compared to the sea – do to Haman – compared to the bird -- pre-empting his desire to destroy them? Is the Midrash suggesting that we, the Jews, were guilty of his hatred [3]?

3) The bird was quite foolish in its strategy to dry an ocean drop by drop. It is a ludicrous proposition. Haman -- the viceroy of the greatest empire of the time, who had the full cooperation of the mightiest man in the world, King Achashveirosh – had a well-thought-out plan, and it came dangerously close to fruition. Why then is he compared to the bird trying to drain the ocean, defined as the “fool of fools?”

4) The Midrash relates that “G-d said to Haman the Evil One: Fool of fools! I myself planned to destroy the Jewish people and was unsuccessful.” How can G-d be “unsuccessful?” Who can possibly stop G-d from executing His plans?

Why the Jews?
It is here that we discover, once again, the untold layers of depth contained in the tales of Torah literature. A simple fable in the Midrash captures the secret behind Anti-Semitism, the inner conflict within the Jewish psyche and the ultimate meaning of the long Jewish story. In this Midrashic metaphor, we are invited on a journey into the heart of what it means to be a Jew [4].

What was it that really perturbed Haman about the Jewish people? What was it about the Jews that struck such a deep cord in so many Haman’s throughout the ages, including during our very own times? “Why the Jews?” is one of the oldest mysteries of civilization. Are we really that different?

The Midrash, in its own inimitable way, gives us a perspective. Like that little desperate bird trying to take revenge for a nest which the sea swept away, Haman felt that as long as the Jews were alive, the nest he attempted to build would be washed away.

One millennium before Haman was born, at the foot of a lone mountain, the Jewish people received a gift which transformed their destiny and changed the landscape of human civilization. It was an experience which imbued Jewish life with the nobility of transcendence, the majesty of Divine ethics and the grandeur of holiness. The gift of the Torah inculcated Jewish life with great moral and spiritual responsibility, but it simultaneously bestowed upon the Jewish heart, the Jewish home, the Jewish family and the Jewish community a piece of heaven, a glow of eternity.

But what is heaven for one person may spell hell for another; piano lessons for a 4-year-old Mozart is a paradise, while for another child the lessons may be a living purgatory. Heaven for the Jews was hell for the Haman’s of the world. If G-d exists, then the moral law prevails, and there must be limits to power and self-aggrandizement. If G-d exists the barbarian must vanquish himself. Haman felt that two diametrically opposing and mutually exclusive powers were competing for the heart of humanity. If his “nest” was to take root, the Jews must be obliterated [5].

2300 years later this notion was captured by a contemporary Haman, Adolf Hitler. He remarked that “The Jews have inflicted two wounds on the world: Circumcision for the body and conscience for the soul. I come to free mankind from their shackles."

But Haman, the avid student of history [6], knew that this was no simple task. He had seen many powerful and seemingly permanent “nests” washed away by the Jewish “sea.” He knew what had happened to Pharaoh, Sisera, Goliath, Sancheirav and Nevuchadnezzar; how they each attempted to “drain the sea,” to eradicate the Jew once and for all and how they each ended up eradicated and forgotten themselves. Like that poor frog which ends up having its moment of glory in a biology class, all of these cultures and civilizations today appear only in history classes…

Yet the Jew still remained. Not only in Wikipedia, but in real life as well. What was the secret of this “sea?”

It is here where Haman invented an ingenious strategy. Haman believed that he had the “final solution” which had eluded all of his predecessors; he knew how to solve the “Jewish problem,” this time for real. And that was by taking beak-full after beak-full of water, and dumping it on dry land.

Haman’s Final Solution
The key to this puzzle lies in reflecting on another Talmudic metaphor concerning “sea” vs. “dry land.”

The Talmud relates the following story [7]:

The Evil [Roman] Empire had prohibited Torah study. Pappus the son of Yehuda came and found Rabbi Akiva making large public gatherings and teaching Torah. Pappus said to him: Akiva! Aren’t you afraid of the authorities? And Rabbi Akiva replied: I will give you a parable.

A fox is walking along a river. He sees the fish frantically scurrying from one place to another.

He says to them: From whom are you running?

-- From the nets and traps of the fishermen.

Why don’t you come up to the dry land, and we will live happily together, just as our forefathers did!

The fish replied: Is it really you whom they call the cleverest of animals? You are not clever, rather a fool! If we are afraid in the place of our vitality, how much more so in the place of our death!

Rabbi Akiva concluded: If the life is tough as we are sitting and studying Torah, about which it is written “It is our life and the length of our days,” how much worse it will be if we cease to study Torah.

The Torah – Rabbi Akiva is saying -- is to the Jew what the sea is to the fish. It is his necessary habitat, the source of his vitality, it is where he can live, breathe, thrive and be most creative. Like a fish washed up ashore, the Jewish soul deprived of Torah, will struggle to find real endurable meaning on “dry land,” in an environment unsuitable for his spiritual DNA to flourish and express itself fully. He, like the fish, will flip and flop, experiment with different ideologies and lifestyles, desperately attempting to find solace for his aching soul. He may become a Darwinist, a Marxist, a Bundist, a Buddhist, a Global Warmist, or what have you, failing to realize that by his essential nature he must remain in his water.

Haman therefore understood that what he had to do was dry up the sea; sever the relationship between the Jewish people and their Torah. His goal must be to antiquate the Torah, to teach the Jews how to become “land animals.” He must invite them, in the words of the fox, to “live together with us in peace as our forefathers did.” Once the fish was out of the water, it would be vulnerable to destruction.

And the time seemed ripe for this endeavor.

Out of the Waters
The Talmud asks [8], why was annihilation decreed on the Jews of that generation? Because they enjoyed the feast of that wicked man (Achashveirosh, the Persian king).” As the book of Esther relates in its opening chapter, the Persian monarch threw a major feast, and the Jews of Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire, enjoyed the feast.

Note the words: The Talmud does not state that they were guilty of eating non-kosher food (if so, it would not make a difference who was serving the meal – a wicked or a righteous person, nor is death the penalty for eating non-kosher food), in fact, the Talmud relates [9] that there was a designated kosher section at the king’s feast. The issue was that “they enjoyed the feast of that wicked man.” It was not the food; it was the psychological transformation of the Jewish psyche: Their dignity and sense of inner worth did not stem from their own soul and identity; it came from being invited to the Persian “White House,” from rubbing shoulders with the Iranian celebrities and from having their photos appearing on the front pages of “The Shushan Times.” As they took their places among the Persians, Medians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and the other nationalities at the feast, they felt that they finally “made it.” After seventy years of exile, they had set themselves free from the “Jewish stereotype,” they were now a member of equal standing in the family of nations at Achashveirosh’s table [10].

Alas, the fish left the water and it was given a royal welcome! Everybody was cheering for the fish which finally made it out of its “prison,” the fish was flipping and flopping to demonstrate its excitement. But inside – it was dying…

This, then, was Haman’s strategy: Dry up the sea, take the Jews out of the water, introduce them to dry land, and they will become vulnerable to destruction.

So “G-d said to Haman: Fool of fools! I myself planned to destroy them and was not able to do so … and you, Haman, thought you would be able to decimate and annihilate them?!”

This divine response captures the essence of Jewish existence. G-d Himself, so to speak, could not destroy the Jews. Why?

Because the relationship between the Jew and Torah is innate, intrinsic and essential, and it can never be severed; only eclipsed. Unlike the fish, the Jew can never really leave the water. What occurred at Sinai was that Torah had become part of the very DNA of the Jew; he can love it, he can hate it, but he can’t ignore it. He can embrace it, he can run from it, but he cannot stop being defined by it, if sometimes only negatively.

Jewish DNA
The Anti-Semites of the world never loved secular, modern and assimilated Jews any more than religious and observant Jews. They acutely felt that the Jewishness of the Jew is embedded into his or her very essence, no matter the amount of “nose jobs” or soul-jobs he or she undergoes.

And paradoxically, this very truth has become our very source of eternal life. Since the Jewish people can never sever their relationship from Torah, our sea can never dry, and our existence can never be obliterated.

This is what G-d is telling Haman: Even I have tried… When the Jews sinned, I planned to destroy them, but I could not, because My relationship with them proved deeper than all of our “issues” with each other. It is like the relationship between parents and children: Parents sometimes harbor deep resentment toward the behavior of children who make their lives miserable. Sometimes a parent is tempted to write-off a child, to stop helping him, even to stop loving him. But they can’t… The inner bond proves far more powerful. “A kind is a kind,” a child is a child.

Haman’s strategy was brilliant, but he failed to understand “vos eiz a yid,” what is a Jew. He did not realize that Torah to the Jew is what the piano was to Mozart. The fish will never fully leave the water, and the Jews will never die.

[This essay is based on an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Purim 5724 - 1964]
_________

To post a comment on this article, or to view the footnotes, please click here: TheYeshiva.net

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Amnon Yitzchak: Prepare for War

''Prepare the refrigerators, the war is at the doorway''

“The People of Israel are called to prepare the refrigerators and to buy a stock of canned goods and dried food products. We are located at the entrance on the way to a mess. I know things that you don’t know and it’s forbidden to me to reveal. I can only hint that you need to prepare the refrigerators. Iran is at the doorway!” so said Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak shlita this evening.

Source and more: Palm Tree of Deborah

Monday, February 27, 2012

Ahmadinejad: Plotting his own downfall.....

Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn stressed Sunday that “Lebanon’s people, army and resistance are an invincible fortress in the face of Israel,” noting that the Lebanese "will never forget that Iran stood by them in great difficulties," during talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.

Ghosn also said that Israel would fear Iran's reaction, should it consider moving in a hostile way against any regional country.

Ahmadinejad told the minister that Lebanon and Iran should work toward unity to confront the west and Israel, Iran's official news agency reported.

Read the Full story here


Haman Is The Architect Of His Humiliating Downfall

With regard to Haman's downfall the U'Masok HaOr brings from HaChaim V'Hashalom that there are two ways Hashem saves Klal Yisroel from our enemies. One way is like Hashem did in Mitzrayim. Hashem pulls out all the stops to demolish our persecutors. Ten brutal nature-altering plagues, one after the other in vicious succession. Similarly by Sancherev whose massive army laid siege on the hopeless Yerushalayim and was poised to strike a fatal blow, Hashem miraculously wiped them all out during the night. This show of force, while devastating, is not embarrassing. In both these cases the victim had been bested by forces far more powerful than they could handle.

Another way that Hashem pays back our enemy and provides a salvation is by sending our oppressor into the trap he has laid for us. This is totally humiliating as the cunning calculation and great pride that went into preparing our downfall not only did not provide the desired result , but ended with our enemy lying in the very grave he prepared so meticulously for us. This was the downfall of Haman. The very same tree that he so proudly prepared was the tree he himself hung from. This was the theme all along even before Haman's final death. He schemed to wear the King's clothing and ride his horse by himself, yet he was the one pulling along his arch enemy in disgrace.

This theme repeats itself throughout the megila as a careful look will show Haman's hand in other events, all of which came back to haunt him. The path Haman paved to the top was simply a path he was preparing for his way back down, far down.

Source: Revach L'Neshama

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Strait of Hormuz: US bolsters defences

US aircraft carrier in Strait of Hormuz [photo EPA]
Report: US ups defenses against Hormuz closing
Pentagon seeks to bolster sea- and land- based defenses aimed at thwarting any Iranian attempt to shut down strategic Strait of Hormuz, Wall Street Journal reports

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is bolstering US sea- and land-based defenses in the Persian Gulf in order to thwart any attempt by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The report cited defense officials as saying that the military has notified Congress of plans to preemptively place new mine-detection and clearing equipment and expand surveillance capabilities in and around the strait.

The US military also wants to quickly modify weapons systems on ships to target Iranian fast-attack boats, as well as shore-launched cruise missiles, defense officials told the newspaper.

Source and more: YNET