Universities are roiled by strikes as the government wrestles with how to finance a strapped system
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
From the issue dated November 30, 2007
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
The founders of the modern state of Israel considered higher education to be so important that they established the country's first two universities long before the country itself came into existence in 1948.
Today Israel's higher-education system is in crisis, brought to a standstill twice this year alone by student and faculty strikes over tuition, salaries, and controversial government reform programs.
In the past six years, the government has slashed its higher-education budget by 20 percent even as student numbers have soared. Consecutive governments, along with some heavyweight thinkers, have offered conflicting visions of the future: One group imagines an American-style system in which students shoulder a large proportion of their educational expenses, while another argues that the country's vitality rests on its intellectual capital and thus the government should support higher education generously. As the debate rages, many academics here fear that the People of the Book have lost the plot.
"When the university started in 1925 it was one of the crowns of the Zionist venture, a major event," says Menachem Magidor, president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "We're doing world-class research and we've created a world-class institution. But the running of the university is not fulfilling a national mission anymore. Now the feeling that I'm getting from the attitude of the government and the public is that it's in some sense my private business, my private ambition."
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israeli government spending on higher education in relation to the number of students, GDP, and population growth fell from one of the highest among developed nations to one of the lowest between 1998 and 2007. Today it ranks near the bottom; only Greece is lower.
Meanwhile, tuition, which is regulated by the government, was the sixth highest among the 23 nations reviewed by the OECD in 2005, despite a 25-percent cut in tuition five years earlier.
Mr. Magidor says his university has coped with shrinking government support by expanding class sizes and reducing staff. Some classes have grown from a maximum of 25 to a maximum of 40 students. Building maintenance has been deferred because that budget has shrunk by 30 percent. Student papers are no longer graded regularly each week because the university isn't able to hire enough graduate students to help with the task.
"Definitely, the students feel it," Mr. Magidor says. "The quality of the education is declining. There is less attention to the individual student."
Such belt-tightening has not yet had an effect on some key measures of academic quality. Gideon Czapski, a retired chemistry professor at the Hebrew University, publishes an annual report that shows Israeli scientists consistently at or near the top of world rankings of articles published and cited across a range of fields, including computer science and economics. He agrees that the budget cuts are affecting standards, but says it is too early for the problems to show up in statistical analyses.
"Let's assume that the crisis is due to a shortage of funds for equipment and for hiring young new people," says Mr. Czapski. "The majority of people in the universities are still there and the equipment is still operating, so there clearly will be a delay before it shows in the indices."
Immigration and Intifada
The roots of the current crisis can be traced back to the early 1990s, when the rapid immigration of more than one million Jews from the former Soviet Union fueled a sudden demand for higher education.
The government authorized the establishment of a network of colleges to absorb the new students. The number of undergraduates across Israel leaped from 92,530 in 1995 to 155,895 in 2004. Fifty percent of young Israelis now attend college, up from about 30 percent in the mid 1980s.
At first the government matched higher student enrollments with more money, but then new economic policies were introduced by the Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who served as prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and then as finance minister from 2003 to 2005.
Mr. Netanyahu encouraged the privatization of publicly owned companies and cut government spending, including spending on education.
The Labor government of Ehud Barak, prime minister from 1999 to 2001, appointed a commission to look at college tuition. That commission recommended cutting the fees in half. The government agreed in 2000 to cut tuition by 25 percent, planning to make up for that lost revenue by returning government support to earlier levels.
But the second intifada broke out in September 2000, freezing all new spending. Mr. Barak lost a general election, and Mr. Netanyahu refused to restore government financing, a decision he had the power to make when he became finance minister. Colleges and universities were thus hit by a double blow: shrinking tuition revenue and less government support.
Over the next few years, university leaders grew frustrated and lobbied for either a restoration of government support or permission to raise tuition.
Against that backdrop, a government-appointed committee was formed in 2006 to consider a wholesale reform of higher education. A report last July by that panel, led by the former finance minister Avraham Shochat, recommended raising tuition by 74 percent, from $2,125 to $3,700; introducing a student-loan system; and restoring the government support cut during Mr. Netanyahu's administration.
The report triggered widespread student protests and has lain on the shelf ever since.
Different Visions
Today, Israel's most influential thinkers on higher education are divided over how best to strengthen the system.
Gury Zilkha, an economist who served as a senior official in Israel's Council for Higher Education, was the main technical adviser to the Shochat Committee.
"Israel is more or less going toward the Anglo-Saxon model," he says, "which is not to depend totally on government funding, to give the students a reasonable increase in tuition fees and decide on compensation schemes for funding the students so those that are on a low socioeconomic background will be able to participate in the system. Then we plan on creating a multilayer higher-education system, which consists of elite universities, colleges, and community colleges."
But Rabbi Michael Melchior, chairman of the Knesset's Education Committee and a minister in the Barak government that approved the tuition cuts, says the Shochat proposals are unworkable and will deter, not encourage, students from low-income families who seek to enroll in college.
Most students, he notes, enter college after three years of army service, many already married and needing to work to support young families. These students won't want to take out loans because they won't want to burden themselves with debt at that stage in their lives, Rabbi Melchior argues. He says the government should simply put back the money it took out six years ago, instead of taking it from students.
"Israel is not a poor country," he says. "We have zero deficit in the state budget. We have a surplus. These are the years we could use it to really create an educational foundation for the next 10, 20, or 30 years. And we're just blowing it."
One prospective leader says he'll restore government contributions if he gets into office. Avishay Braverman served until last year as president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beersheba. During his 16-year tenure he saw enrollments double, to 17,000. A former division head at the World Bank and an internationally renowned economist, he was elected last year as a member of the Knesset with the avowed intention of becoming prime minister.
Mr. Braverman says it is time to reorder Israel's national priorities, with education at the top. "Israel is not America," he says. "This is the mistake of the officials in the Finance Ministry who don't understand. For small amounts of money, for a couple of hundred million shekels, they have diminished the honor and respect of the academics."
"The economic payback is clear," he adds. "For me what distinguishes Israel is not the physical survival of Jews in a troubled land surrounded by a billion Muslims. It's the creation of something unique. It's something to do with values of justice, of solidarity and the highest regard for education, for culture. This is what was the essence of the Jew the People of the Book."
For now, the book remains firmly closed. The start of the academic year has been delayed for a month by a continuing strike by senior faculty members, and university officials are warning that the entire year might be lost. The attention of Ehud Olmert, the present prime minister, is focused on peace talks, the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb, and a raft of personal corruption scandals.
University reform has slipped down the national agenda, and no one seems to know how this story will end.
http://chronicle.com
Section: International
Volume 54, Issue 14, Page A27 In
Friday, 30 November 2007
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Palestinian Authority prepares for war - with Hamas
WORRY IN THE WEST BANK:
Officials fear Gaza-like takeover in land Fatah controls
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Ramallah, West Bank -- Few Palestinian Authority officials are
expecting anything concrete to emerge from this week's Middle East
peace talks in Annapolis, Md. Instead, the talk is of war.
But the primary enemy for many Palestinians is no longer Israel - it
is Hamas. Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force in June,
supporters of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah
movement have been arrested, humiliated and tortured there by Hamas
security forces. Several have been killed, according to the
Palestinian Center for Human Rights and other agencies.
Many Palestinians fear that Hamas could stage a similar coup in the
West Bank, where Fatah retains control. The rival factions always have
disagreed over policy toward Israel, with Hamas refusing to recognize
the Jewish state's right to exist while Fatah favors peace talks. As
Fatah seeks to negotiate an end to decades of fighting, its supporters
fear that Hamas and its allies risk a civil war that will condemn the
Palestinian people to permanent conflict.
To combat the threat, the Palestinian Authority has created an elite
new counterterror unit. Officers from the unit are currently attending
a monthlong training course in Moscow hosted by counterterror experts
from Russian intelligence.
The new Al Himaya Wal Isnad (Protection and Reinforcement) unit is
commanded by Anwar Al Hilu, a senior commander in the Palestinian
General Intelligence service headed by Tawfiq Tirawi.
A group of 25 General Intelligence officers left for Moscow via Jordan
in the last week of October after several days of physical training
and medical tests at a facility in Jericho. In an interview, one of
the Palestinian officers said the 30-day course includes weapons
training with live fire and computer simulators, exercises in VIP
protection, rescuing hostages from terrorists and simulating the
arrest of armed suspects in buildings and in vehicles.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officer said the course was
held at a snow-covered training facility next to Domodedovo Airport on
the southern outskirts of Moscow. He said the instructors were
attached to the elite Russian anti-terrorist Alpha commando unit which
has fought extremist Muslim Chechen rebels. An official from the
Palestinian Embassy in Moscow acted as translator.
"We were shown the video of the Moscow theater siege in October 2002
where Alpha pumped in gas to put everyone to sleep," said the officer.
"They admitted that it had been a mistake because so many of the
hostages died after swallowing their own tongues while unconscious."
Another officer in the new unit said on condition of anonymity that
similar courses are being held in France, Germany and Algeria, and
there are plans to send some 200 Palestinian security personnel abroad
for training each month.
"We are learning how to confront Hamas, they are the greatest threat
to the Palestinian Authority," this officer said.
"They are getting good training over there," said Dr. Ibrahim
Khraishi, an assistant minister at the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. "They will return with the knowledge they need, waiting to
start work. ... We have well-trained cadres. They are trained not just
in Russia but in different countries, Arab countries and European
countries."
The courses are being held outside the West Bank to distinguish them
from the unarmed civilian police training provided in Jericho by
European Union and American experts.
Colin Smith, a former British police official who now heads EUCOPPS,
the European Union support program for the Palestinian police in
Ramallah, said he is aware of the groups being sent to Moscow and
elsewhere, but his work is confined to the Palestinian civil police
force.
"We don't touch that at all, we don't deal with firearms or weapons.
This is arranged by the Palestinians themselves through bilateral
contacts with Russia and others," Smith said.
Tensions between Fatah and Hamas have been simmering since the Islamic
movement took control of the Gaza Strip in June. Those tensions boiled
over two weeks ago when eight Fatah supporters were gunned down at a
rally in Gaza.
A cell phone video clip currently being passed among Palestinians
denounces "Hamas crimes" in Gaza. Warning viewers of explicit images,
it compares Hamas' execution of Fatah leaders to the treatment of
Palestinian suspects by the Israelis. "Forgive us, oh martyr, have we
descended to these depths?" the clip pleads of Samih El-Madhoun, a
Fatah leader lynched in Gaza in July by Hamas gunmen.
Two weeks ago, Abbas made his first explicit call for the overthrow of
Hamas, describing the group as "a criminal gang killing people in cold
blood."
"We have to bring down this bunch that took over Gaza with armed
force, and is abusing the sufferings and pains of our people," Abbas
said in a speech to mark Palestinian independence day.
Palestinian officials have not explained how Fatah might regain Gaza.
The accepted wisdom is that Abbas cannot be seen to retake Gaza by
relying on Israeli military support. But many Fatah supporters say
they cannot overcome Hamas without Israeli intervention and are coming
to see it as a lesser evil.
One of the Al Himaya Wal Isnad officers said there is endless
speculation among his colleagues that they might be sent to secure
control of the territory.
"We talk about an Israeli invasion of Gaza all the time," said the
officer. "Of course we are training for the day after Israel cuts
Hamas in half and then we can go in and clean up. We know this will
happen, but we haven't been told anything officially.
"We want to go in there and restore the authority of Abu Mazen," he
said, using Abbas' nom de guerre. "We're just waiting for the signal."
This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Officials fear Gaza-like takeover in land Fatah controls
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Ramallah, West Bank -- Few Palestinian Authority officials are
expecting anything concrete to emerge from this week's Middle East
peace talks in Annapolis, Md. Instead, the talk is of war.
But the primary enemy for many Palestinians is no longer Israel - it
is Hamas. Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force in June,
supporters of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah
movement have been arrested, humiliated and tortured there by Hamas
security forces. Several have been killed, according to the
Palestinian Center for Human Rights and other agencies.
Many Palestinians fear that Hamas could stage a similar coup in the
West Bank, where Fatah retains control. The rival factions always have
disagreed over policy toward Israel, with Hamas refusing to recognize
the Jewish state's right to exist while Fatah favors peace talks. As
Fatah seeks to negotiate an end to decades of fighting, its supporters
fear that Hamas and its allies risk a civil war that will condemn the
Palestinian people to permanent conflict.
To combat the threat, the Palestinian Authority has created an elite
new counterterror unit. Officers from the unit are currently attending
a monthlong training course in Moscow hosted by counterterror experts
from Russian intelligence.
The new Al Himaya Wal Isnad (Protection and Reinforcement) unit is
commanded by Anwar Al Hilu, a senior commander in the Palestinian
General Intelligence service headed by Tawfiq Tirawi.
A group of 25 General Intelligence officers left for Moscow via Jordan
in the last week of October after several days of physical training
and medical tests at a facility in Jericho. In an interview, one of
the Palestinian officers said the 30-day course includes weapons
training with live fire and computer simulators, exercises in VIP
protection, rescuing hostages from terrorists and simulating the
arrest of armed suspects in buildings and in vehicles.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officer said the course was
held at a snow-covered training facility next to Domodedovo Airport on
the southern outskirts of Moscow. He said the instructors were
attached to the elite Russian anti-terrorist Alpha commando unit which
has fought extremist Muslim Chechen rebels. An official from the
Palestinian Embassy in Moscow acted as translator.
"We were shown the video of the Moscow theater siege in October 2002
where Alpha pumped in gas to put everyone to sleep," said the officer.
"They admitted that it had been a mistake because so many of the
hostages died after swallowing their own tongues while unconscious."
Another officer in the new unit said on condition of anonymity that
similar courses are being held in France, Germany and Algeria, and
there are plans to send some 200 Palestinian security personnel abroad
for training each month.
"We are learning how to confront Hamas, they are the greatest threat
to the Palestinian Authority," this officer said.
"They are getting good training over there," said Dr. Ibrahim
Khraishi, an assistant minister at the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. "They will return with the knowledge they need, waiting to
start work. ... We have well-trained cadres. They are trained not just
in Russia but in different countries, Arab countries and European
countries."
The courses are being held outside the West Bank to distinguish them
from the unarmed civilian police training provided in Jericho by
European Union and American experts.
Colin Smith, a former British police official who now heads EUCOPPS,
the European Union support program for the Palestinian police in
Ramallah, said he is aware of the groups being sent to Moscow and
elsewhere, but his work is confined to the Palestinian civil police
force.
"We don't touch that at all, we don't deal with firearms or weapons.
This is arranged by the Palestinians themselves through bilateral
contacts with Russia and others," Smith said.
Tensions between Fatah and Hamas have been simmering since the Islamic
movement took control of the Gaza Strip in June. Those tensions boiled
over two weeks ago when eight Fatah supporters were gunned down at a
rally in Gaza.
A cell phone video clip currently being passed among Palestinians
denounces "Hamas crimes" in Gaza. Warning viewers of explicit images,
it compares Hamas' execution of Fatah leaders to the treatment of
Palestinian suspects by the Israelis. "Forgive us, oh martyr, have we
descended to these depths?" the clip pleads of Samih El-Madhoun, a
Fatah leader lynched in Gaza in July by Hamas gunmen.
Two weeks ago, Abbas made his first explicit call for the overthrow of
Hamas, describing the group as "a criminal gang killing people in cold
blood."
"We have to bring down this bunch that took over Gaza with armed
force, and is abusing the sufferings and pains of our people," Abbas
said in a speech to mark Palestinian independence day.
Palestinian officials have not explained how Fatah might regain Gaza.
The accepted wisdom is that Abbas cannot be seen to retake Gaza by
relying on Israeli military support. But many Fatah supporters say
they cannot overcome Hamas without Israeli intervention and are coming
to see it as a lesser evil.
One of the Al Himaya Wal Isnad officers said there is endless
speculation among his colleagues that they might be sent to secure
control of the territory.
"We talk about an Israeli invasion of Gaza all the time," said the
officer. "Of course we are training for the day after Israel cuts
Hamas in half and then we can go in and clean up. We know this will
happen, but we haven't been told anything officially.
"We want to go in there and restore the authority of Abu Mazen," he
said, using Abbas' nom de guerre. "We're just waiting for the signal."
This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, 19 November 2007
Ex-Brooklyn rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz faces extradition to U.S. on kid-sex rap
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, November 19th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
JERUSALEM - A Jerusalem magistrate Sunday ordered a former Brooklyn rabbi accused of raping several boys 20 years ago to jail while American and Israeli officials finalize a U.S. request for his extradition.
Avrohom Mondrowitz, a father of seven, faces extradition to stand trial in New York to answer a 1985 indictment on four counts of sodomy and eight counts of sexual abuse in the first degree.
Mondrowitz, 60, once a popular child psychologist and youth counselor in Borough Park, allegedly sodomized the boys after befriending them or after taking them on trips to the movies and amusement parks.
The U.S. extradition request, resubmitted in September after a change in the treaty between the U.S. and Israel, was delayed after one of the five complainants withdrew from the case.
The U.S. Justice Department is expected to file an amended request this week.
Mondrowitz was arrested early Friday morning at his Jerusalem home and arraigned the same day.
Judge Shimon Feinberg, vice president of the Jerusalem Magistrates' Court, found that Mondrowitz was a possible candidate for extradition and rejected defense arguments that the statute of limitations applied to the offenses, even though they were allegedly committed more than 20 years ago.
Feinberg granted a prosecution request to extend Mondrowitz's imprisonment until Nov. 27 after the prosecution told the court that an Israeli police raid on Mondrowitz's home in May had netted four pedophile movies.
Mondrowitz is due to appear in court again Nov. 27, when Feinberg will decide whether to extend his jailing until the end of the extradition proceedings, which could take several months.
Mondrowitz's wife, Raizel, declared his innocence.
"People can come up 25 years later and say all kinds of things about anybody. No one's had any complaints about him for the last 25 years. This is all old stuff," she said.
Monday, November 19th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
JERUSALEM - A Jerusalem magistrate Sunday ordered a former Brooklyn rabbi accused of raping several boys 20 years ago to jail while American and Israeli officials finalize a U.S. request for his extradition.
Avrohom Mondrowitz, a father of seven, faces extradition to stand trial in New York to answer a 1985 indictment on four counts of sodomy and eight counts of sexual abuse in the first degree.
Mondrowitz, 60, once a popular child psychologist and youth counselor in Borough Park, allegedly sodomized the boys after befriending them or after taking them on trips to the movies and amusement parks.
The U.S. extradition request, resubmitted in September after a change in the treaty between the U.S. and Israel, was delayed after one of the five complainants withdrew from the case.
The U.S. Justice Department is expected to file an amended request this week.
Mondrowitz was arrested early Friday morning at his Jerusalem home and arraigned the same day.
Judge Shimon Feinberg, vice president of the Jerusalem Magistrates' Court, found that Mondrowitz was a possible candidate for extradition and rejected defense arguments that the statute of limitations applied to the offenses, even though they were allegedly committed more than 20 years ago.
Feinberg granted a prosecution request to extend Mondrowitz's imprisonment until Nov. 27 after the prosecution told the court that an Israeli police raid on Mondrowitz's home in May had netted four pedophile movies.
Mondrowitz is due to appear in court again Nov. 27, when Feinberg will decide whether to extend his jailing until the end of the extradition proceedings, which could take several months.
Mondrowitz's wife, Raizel, declared his innocence.
"People can come up 25 years later and say all kinds of things about anybody. No one's had any complaints about him for the last 25 years. This is all old stuff," she said.
Sunday, 18 November 2007
Israel offers U.S. doctors training in emergency response
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Dr. Raymond Rappaport of Redwood City participates in a drill during an emergency medicine course in Tel Hashomer, Israel. Photo by David Blumenfeld, special to the Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Tel Hashomer, Israel -- It wasn't a normal day for Raymond Rappaport, a veteran primary care doctor from Redwood City.
In the space of a few hours, he correctly diagnosed a postal worker suffering from anthrax poisoning and joined a team of emergency doctors to save the life of a young man with a gunshot wound to the chest. Then he entered a trauma room, covered from head to toe in a gas mask, biochemical suit and rubber gloves brandishing injectors filled with antidotes that counter nerve gas poisoning. He later worked on an unconscious patient who apparently had a seizure from a chemical attack.
Rappaport is one of 30 American doctors who recently participated in a grueling five-day course in emergency medicine hosted by Israeli civilian hospitals and military medics. On this day, the group visited the Israel Center for Medical Simulation, a state-of-the-art training center for emergency medicine at the Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer near Tel Aviv.
After each exercise, which was carried out using real equipment on electronic mannequins that breathed and spoke to them, the U.S. doctors watched a video playback and received feedback from Israel's top medical trainers.
"A lot of these things are not available in the United States. A lot of the medicine is different," said Rappaport. "They're up on the cutting edge of the latest technology."
As an example, he held a color-coded auto-injector that Israeli citizens use in case of a chemical weapons strike. Every Israeli is issued a gas mask and an auto-injector the size of a marker pen: white for age 10 and older, orange for age 2 to 10 and green for children under 2. The auto-injectors contain carefully calibrated doses of atropine and TMB4 that restimulate enzymes knocked out by nerve gas.
The U.S. doctors pointed out that the cocktail is not available in the United States because the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the combined dose and suggests victims of chemical weapons give themselves two separate injections.
"In Israel, we don't have the FDA so it's more useful for us to produce a combined auto-injector that has both atropine and TMB4," said instructor Arik Eisenkraft. "Why? Because we think that in case of attack it will be difficult for the casualty to understand and give himself several injections."
This no-nonsense approach impressed Rappaport.
"This is the way they get things done, the way they save lives without worrying about the bureaucracy," he said. "They go right to saving lives, making that the utmost No. 1 importance."
Rappaport, who was on his third professional trip to Israel, said he sees advances in emergency medicine with each visit.
"Americans have a lot to learn from the Israelis. Every American doctor should come on this course, so that they can be prepared and know what to do if these kind of attacks ever happen back home," he said.
Eisenkraft, a pediatrician, has been head of chemical and biological warfare medicine of the Israeli army medical corps for 10 years. He said Israelis take the threat of chemical warfare more seriously than Americans. During the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein pounded the Tel Aviv area with 39 Scud missiles. Many Israelis have prepared sealed rooms in case of a chemical or biological attack.
It's "more imminent and realistic, it's closer to us than to the United States. It's something we must know, practice and remember," said Eisenkraft. "America has great medical education, but only small groups in the Army know this stuff. Most physicians are not familiar with it."
The U.S. doctors also were introduced to Israeli strategies to deal with a sudden influx of people wounded in a mass-casualty disaster. Without planning, a rush of patients can paralyze a hospital, tying up vital equipment, Israeli doctors said. The Americans were shown how Israeli hospitals operate in groups coordinated with ambulance first-responders. Nonurgent cases are directed to other hospitals so trauma services are available for more serious cases.
Several American hospitals have adopted practices based on the Israeli model, according to Michael Frogel, chief of general pediatrics at Schneider Children's Hospital in New York.
But Israeli emergency medicine is not just about surgery.
Within minutes of a suicide bombing or another crisis, a central hot line handles inquiries from concerned families trying to locate their missing loved ones. The hot line provides updated information, including the cataloging of photographs and other details. Areas are allocated to those known as the walking wounded, victims who are suffering from shock, to keep the surgical staff and facilities free. Psychologists are called in to care for those with acute stress to prevent chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.
Solisis Lopez Deynes, a 31-year-old emergency physician at UC Irvine Medical Center, said the Israeli training had been an eye-opening experience.
"Emergency medicine here is very impressive," said Lopez Deynes, who plans to return to her native Puerto Rico to help develop emergency medical services there. "In Israel, they are dealing with emergency situations, war, explosions, suicide bombers that we don't have in the United States. So they know a lot about how to manage that, and they have to apply these techniques on a daily basis."
The Americans visited the headquarters of the Israeli army medical corps, where they joined medics training to treat serious battle injuries. They also met with emergency and disaster management experts and visited Sderot, a city of 22,000 residents that is within range of Palestinian homemade rockets. The city is under almost daily bombardment from Gaza militants.
This was the 10th training course organized by the American Physicians' Fellowship for Medicine in Israel. Frogel, who is vice president of the group, said more than 400 American doctors have acquired skills they can use back home, and some have volunteered to return to Israel during a state of emergency.
"Israel has the best system of dealing with mass casualty incidents. They have the world's finest expertise in these issues," Frogel said. "People are trying to achieve the same level of training that they have here."
This article appeared on page A - 17 of the San Francisco Chronicle
US and Israel 'face up to' Iran bomb
LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
November 18, 2007
By Philip Sherwell in New York and Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
America and Israel are secretly drawing up plans to deal with an Iran
that has acquired nuclear weapons, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
Teheran's two arch-foes are preparing for what they have long declared
is an unacceptable scenario, as the prospects for air strikes to
cripple Iran's nuclear network fade, and China and Russia undermine
efforts to forge an international sanctions regime.
The United States and Israel are sticking publicly to their threats
not to allow the Islamic Republic to develop an atomic bomb. But
intelligence chiefs and military planners have given warning that Iran
has done better at hiding and dispersing its nuclear facilities than
previously assessed, this newspaper has been told.
The revelations come as the United Nations nuclear watchdog has
revealed that Iran has stepped up its production of enriched uranium,
and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tightens his grip on Teheran's
nuclear programme by threatening domestic critics with treason
charges.
Pentagon strategists are updating US deterrence policies for a future
nuclear-armed Iran, even though after the terrorist attack on New
York and Washington in 2001 the Bush administration put a policy of
pre-emptive military action at the heart of national security policy.
"The more they looked at the intelligence and the information they
had, the more pessimistic they have become about what could be
achieved on the operational front by military action," said Dan Goure,
a Pentagon adviser. "Military strikes might only set the programme
back a couple of years, but the current thinking is that it is just
not worth the risks." A political rethink has also begun in Israel,
where security policy is linked to its status - never publicly
admitted - as the region's only nuclear state.
At a security cabinet meeting last weekend, Ehud Olmert, the prime
minister, told officials to draw up proposals for dealing with an Iran
that had built atomic weapons, according to leaks.
"First, we must make clear that this is a threat not just to Israel,
but to the wider world. Second, we must exhaustively consider all
preventive options. Third, we must anticipate the possibility of those
options not working," said Ami Ayalon, a security cabinet minister,
after the meeting.
Israel's air force trains for possible long-range raids, and bombed a
suspected nuclear site in Syria recently. But military chiefs face the
same intelligence problems as the US as well as refuelling
difficulties if they cannot fly over hostile Arab states to reach
Iran.
Israel is believed to be equipping a fleet of German-made submarines
with atomic weapons ready to respond to any nuclear threat from
Teheran, and Ehud Barack, the defence minister, is keen to develop a
sophisticated ballistic anti-missile system.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is only for civilian energy
purposes, but the West and Israel say there is overwhelming
intelligence that it is pursuing an atomic bomb. Estimates of the
time-frame range from two to 10 years.
US hawks linked to Vice-President Dick Cheney have argued that a
co-ordinated aerial and submarine-launched bombardment could set
Iran's nuclear programme back by five to 10 years.
But Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, who has emerged as a White
House counterweight to Mr Cheney, has made concerns about possible
retaliation against US forces in Iraq a top priority.
November 18, 2007
By Philip Sherwell in New York and Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
America and Israel are secretly drawing up plans to deal with an Iran
that has acquired nuclear weapons, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
Teheran's two arch-foes are preparing for what they have long declared
is an unacceptable scenario, as the prospects for air strikes to
cripple Iran's nuclear network fade, and China and Russia undermine
efforts to forge an international sanctions regime.
The United States and Israel are sticking publicly to their threats
not to allow the Islamic Republic to develop an atomic bomb. But
intelligence chiefs and military planners have given warning that Iran
has done better at hiding and dispersing its nuclear facilities than
previously assessed, this newspaper has been told.
The revelations come as the United Nations nuclear watchdog has
revealed that Iran has stepped up its production of enriched uranium,
and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tightens his grip on Teheran's
nuclear programme by threatening domestic critics with treason
charges.
Pentagon strategists are updating US deterrence policies for a future
nuclear-armed Iran, even though after the terrorist attack on New
York and Washington in 2001 the Bush administration put a policy of
pre-emptive military action at the heart of national security policy.
"The more they looked at the intelligence and the information they
had, the more pessimistic they have become about what could be
achieved on the operational front by military action," said Dan Goure,
a Pentagon adviser. "Military strikes might only set the programme
back a couple of years, but the current thinking is that it is just
not worth the risks." A political rethink has also begun in Israel,
where security policy is linked to its status - never publicly
admitted - as the region's only nuclear state.
At a security cabinet meeting last weekend, Ehud Olmert, the prime
minister, told officials to draw up proposals for dealing with an Iran
that had built atomic weapons, according to leaks.
"First, we must make clear that this is a threat not just to Israel,
but to the wider world. Second, we must exhaustively consider all
preventive options. Third, we must anticipate the possibility of those
options not working," said Ami Ayalon, a security cabinet minister,
after the meeting.
Israel's air force trains for possible long-range raids, and bombed a
suspected nuclear site in Syria recently. But military chiefs face the
same intelligence problems as the US as well as refuelling
difficulties if they cannot fly over hostile Arab states to reach
Iran.
Israel is believed to be equipping a fleet of German-made submarines
with atomic weapons ready to respond to any nuclear threat from
Teheran, and Ehud Barack, the defence minister, is keen to develop a
sophisticated ballistic anti-missile system.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is only for civilian energy
purposes, but the West and Israel say there is overwhelming
intelligence that it is pursuing an atomic bomb. Estimates of the
time-frame range from two to 10 years.
US hawks linked to Vice-President Dick Cheney have argued that a
co-ordinated aerial and submarine-launched bombardment could set
Iran's nuclear programme back by five to 10 years.
But Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, who has emerged as a White
House counterweight to Mr Cheney, has made concerns about possible
retaliation against US forces in Iraq a top priority.
Temple Mount discovery leads to dispute in Jerusalem
Workers dig out stones for repair on the plateau of the Temple Mount area, where ancient Israelite remains were reportedly found. Photo by David Blumenfeld, special to the Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Jerusalem -- Israeli archaeologists say that ancient remains from the era of Solomon's Temple were discovered last month for the first time on the holiest site for Judaism, reigniting a historical and political debate over an area that also is holy to Muslims.
While doing renovation at the famed Temple Mount, Israeli archaeologists discovered a sealed layer containing fragments of ceramic table vessels and animal bones. The items have been dated by Israeli scientists to the First Temple in the eighth century B.C. - roughly during the reign of the biblical King Hezekiah. The discovery includes fragments of bowl rims and bases, the base of a small jug used for ladling oil, the handle of a small jug and the rim of a storage jar. All are typical of Israelite vessels from that period, scientists say.
"These finds are important because it is the first time we have ever found a sealed archaeological level clearly dated to the First Temple period within the complex of the Temple Mount," said Jon Seligman, a senior archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority. The group plans to present its findings to scientists in a series of seminars.
The Temple Mount is known not only for the First and Second temples, but also for the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, in reference to Jews mourning the destruction of the temple. Jews from all over the world come to pray by the wall.
But since the seventh century A.D., the Temple Mount has also been known to Muslims as the Haram Al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary for the al-Aqsa Mosque and the golden-roofed Dome of the Rock, the latter where Muslim tradition says the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
The discovery has met with skepticism from an archaeologist with Waqf, the Jordanian-controlled trust that manages the 36-acre compound. And it has not pleased some Muslim leaders, who regard the site as an exclusive Muslim preserve. Some have denied that the Jews ever built a temple there. Sheikh Ikrema Sabri, the former mufti of Jerusalem, recently told the Jerusalem Post that the temples of Solomon and Herod never existed.
"There was never a Jewish temple on al-Aqsa, and there is no proof that there was ever a temple," Sabri said. "Because Allah is fair, he would not agree to make al-Aqsa if there were a temple there for others beforehand."
Sabri also said the Western Wall, revered by Jews as the last remnant of a huge retaining barrier built by King Herod to support the vast plaza where the temple stood, has no historical significance for Jews.
"The wall is not part of the Jewish temple. It is just the western wall of the mosque," he said. "There is not a single stone with any relation at all to the history of the Hebrews."
Israel and the Palestinian Authority claim sovereignty over the site, which remains one of the most intractable problems delaying a settlement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, some analysts say. Waqf has religious, economic, administrative and some security control. But only Israeli police can enforce the law on the site.
A few months before he was elected prime minister in 2001, Ariel Sharon arrived with hundreds of police officers, declaring that the complex would remain under perpetual Israeli control. The following day, Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police confronted each other at the site. The years of violence that followed became known as the al-Aqsa intifada.
The complex on the summit of Mount Moriah forms the southeast corner of the Old City of Jerusalem. The earliest reliable historical record by the Roman historian Josephus identified it as the location of King Herod's Temple. Jewish tradition says an earlier shrine planned by King David and built by his son, King Solomon, was the Temple Mount's first permanent structure.
But there had been no archaeological evidence to support the concept that ancient Israelites had been present - until now.
"We have many finds from the First Temple era from all over Jerusalem, but never from this site," Seligman said.
Last month, workers laying an electrical cable under the auspices of Waqf dug a trench about 300 yards long in the southeast corner of the site. When they checked the trench, inspectors from the Israel Antiquities Authority said they found the ancient fragments.
However, Yusif Natsheh, a Waqf archaeologist, disputed the findings.
"I was present throughout this work and neither I, nor any Waqf official, recall seeing these items in the trench," said Natsheh. "I only heard about them in the press, weeks after the work was finished. If they were found, then why were they taken outside the compound?"
Natsheh said the trench was less than 3 feet deep and wondered how the Israeli archaeologists could hit a layer dating back to the First Temple without first slicing through the Byzantine and Roman periods, which logically would be above them.
"All of this archaeology and science in Jerusalem is manipulated for different political attitudes," said Natsheh. "It is not archaeology, it is not history, it is just spoiled politics."
Seligman dismissed Natsheh's accusation as "outrageous. Categorically, 100 percent of these findings came from the Temple Mount, and we stake our reputation on that."
Professor Seymour Gittin, director of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in East Jerusalem, said the discovery "definitely dates between the seventh and eighth centuries. They were pottery of the kind we normally associate with Israelite culture as distinct from the Moabite and other cultures close to Jerusalem at that time," he said.
Out of deference to Islamic shrines, very little archaeological research has been conducted on the mount. However, underground passageways beneath al-Aqsa show clear signs of Herodian decoration and link to a series of arched doorways in the southern wall that fit contemporary descriptions of the Roman-era entrance to Herod's Second Temple, most archaeologists agree.
Most archaeologists also agree that the Western Wall is typical of Herodian stonework, which can be seen at the shrine that Herod built over the Tombs of the Patriarchs in the West Bank town of Hebron - later transformed into the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque.
Meanwhile, the discovery has sparked anew the issue of who controls a site that is holy to Jews and Muslims.
Just this month, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to withdraw his right-wing Israel Beiteinu Party from the coalition government if the issue is even discussed at U.S.-sponsored peace talks planned by the end of the year between Israelis and Palestinians in Annapolis, Md.
This article appeared on page A - 17 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Saturday, 17 November 2007
Ex-Brooklyn rabbi likely to be dragged back to Brooklyn to face kid-sex charges
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, November 17th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem, JOE GOULD and DAVE GOLDINER in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
An Ex-Brooklyn rabbi accused of raping several boys more than 20 years
ago has been arrested in Israel and could finally face justice.
Avrohom Mondrowitz, 60, a married father of seven, could be headed
back to Brooklyn because a new agreement with the U.S. allows
extradition for the sodomy and sex abuse counts he faces from a 1985
indictment.
"I don't see it as a moment for celebration," said Michael Lesher, who
represents six adult men who claim to have been abused by Mondrowitz.
"This is a moment of gratitude to victims who came forward, who were
willing to expose their pain."
Mondrowitz has a hearing in an Israeli court Sunday that could clear
the way for him to be returned to Brooklyn for trial.
The case was jump-started a few weeks ago after the U.S. and Israel
agreed to extradite suspects who face at least a year in prison.
Mondrowitz was once a popular child psychologist and youth counselor
in Borough Park, where he was especially well-known among
ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews.
He fled to Israel after several boys filed horrific complaints
claiming he sodomized them after befriending them or taking them to
amusement parks and movies.
Sometimes, he would rape them in his counseling office even as their
parents waited outside, the boys claimed.
"Finally, justice will prevail," said Rabbi Mark Dratch of J-SAFE, a
child-abuse prevention group.
Mondrowitz's wife insisted he would fight extradition.
"He's absolutely innocent," she said at their Jerusalem apartment.
Mondrowitz's case attracted controversy because critics claimed
District Attorney Joe Hynes put the explosive case on the back burner
under pressure from Hasidic community leaders. His office has
emphatically denied that charge and insisted it was pushing for a
legal way to try Mondrowitz.
Saturday, November 17th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem, JOE GOULD and DAVE GOLDINER in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
An Ex-Brooklyn rabbi accused of raping several boys more than 20 years
ago has been arrested in Israel and could finally face justice.
Avrohom Mondrowitz, 60, a married father of seven, could be headed
back to Brooklyn because a new agreement with the U.S. allows
extradition for the sodomy and sex abuse counts he faces from a 1985
indictment.
"I don't see it as a moment for celebration," said Michael Lesher, who
represents six adult men who claim to have been abused by Mondrowitz.
"This is a moment of gratitude to victims who came forward, who were
willing to expose their pain."
Mondrowitz has a hearing in an Israeli court Sunday that could clear
the way for him to be returned to Brooklyn for trial.
The case was jump-started a few weeks ago after the U.S. and Israel
agreed to extradite suspects who face at least a year in prison.
Mondrowitz was once a popular child psychologist and youth counselor
in Borough Park, where he was especially well-known among
ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews.
He fled to Israel after several boys filed horrific complaints
claiming he sodomized them after befriending them or taking them to
amusement parks and movies.
Sometimes, he would rape them in his counseling office even as their
parents waited outside, the boys claimed.
"Finally, justice will prevail," said Rabbi Mark Dratch of J-SAFE, a
child-abuse prevention group.
Mondrowitz's wife insisted he would fight extradition.
"He's absolutely innocent," she said at their Jerusalem apartment.
Mondrowitz's case attracted controversy because critics claimed
District Attorney Joe Hynes put the explosive case on the back burner
under pressure from Hasidic community leaders. His office has
emphatically denied that charge and insisted it was pushing for a
legal way to try Mondrowitz.
Friday, 16 November 2007
Israel Will Allow 6 Palestinian Students to Cross Border for Education
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
November 16, 2007
Jerusalem -- Six Palestinian students denied permission to enter Israel in order to attend a higher-education institute have finally been granted entry permits on the orders of the Israeli Supreme Court. The students were victims of a blanket ban imposed by the Israeli army on all Palestinians applying for study at Israeli colleges.
After a yearlong delay, the Supreme Court this month rejected the army’s sweeping criteria and ordered the Israeli Government Coordinator of Activities in the occupied territories to review each Palestinian student’s application on an individual basis.
The six students had been admitted to the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which is affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in the southern part of the country. The institute brings together Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and other Arab students and academics to study regional environmental issues.
In the past, Israeli security officials have said that Palestinians wishing to enter that area of Israel require special permission because of various sensitive security installations nearby.
“We resubmitted our request for the permits immediately after the ruling, and reminded the coordinator of the Supreme Court decision,” said Michael Lehrer, the institute’s director. “I understand that they sent the names to Israeli security services to check that each person had no connection to any terrorist organizations. On Wednesday they called and told us all six permits had been granted.”
Mr. Lehrer said the students could decide whether they preferred to join the course now, with a third of the semester already passed, or to defer to the spring semester in the hope that permits for that period would be issued on time. Matthew Kalman
Posted on Friday November 16, 2007 | Permalink |
November 16, 2007
Jerusalem -- Six Palestinian students denied permission to enter Israel in order to attend a higher-education institute have finally been granted entry permits on the orders of the Israeli Supreme Court. The students were victims of a blanket ban imposed by the Israeli army on all Palestinians applying for study at Israeli colleges.
After a yearlong delay, the Supreme Court this month rejected the army’s sweeping criteria and ordered the Israeli Government Coordinator of Activities in the occupied territories to review each Palestinian student’s application on an individual basis.
The six students had been admitted to the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which is affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in the southern part of the country. The institute brings together Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and other Arab students and academics to study regional environmental issues.
In the past, Israeli security officials have said that Palestinians wishing to enter that area of Israel require special permission because of various sensitive security installations nearby.
“We resubmitted our request for the permits immediately after the ruling, and reminded the coordinator of the Supreme Court decision,” said Michael Lehrer, the institute’s director. “I understand that they sent the names to Israeli security services to check that each person had no connection to any terrorist organizations. On Wednesday they called and told us all six permits had been granted.”
Mr. Lehrer said the students could decide whether they preferred to join the course now, with a third of the semester already passed, or to defer to the spring semester in the hope that permits for that period would be issued on time. Matthew Kalman
Posted on Friday November 16, 2007 | Permalink |
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
A Stem-Cell Prospect for Ailing Hearts
Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007
By MATTHEW KALMAN/Jerusalem
Valentin Fulga dropped out of medicine twice to pursue more-challenging research, but now it looks as though his change of heart could result in saving the lives of thousands--perhaps millions--of cardiac patients. Dr. Fulga, 47, is the scientific brain behind a new treatment for heart disease that is exciting the medical world even though it has yet to undergo full clinical testing.
More than 60 people in need of heart transplants or major surgery have been treated using the new procedure. That's a small number, but the results are nonetheless stunning: all of them improved. That's why TheraVitae, the privately owned company set up by Fulga and his Thailand-based partner Robert Clark, is being hailed as a potential giant.
Fulga's treatment repairs damaged or inactive heart tissue using adult stem cells harvested from the patient's blood and processed outside the body by mimicking the body's environment. Unlike other stem-cell therapies, which make use of bone marrow or--more controversially in the U.S.--the blood of human embryos, Fulga believes the procedure patented by TheraVitae is simpler, safer and less invasive. "The patient is effectively treating himself with his own blood, so there is very little danger of rejection," says Fulga, an ophthalmologist. "It's the safest kind of stem cell you can get."
The procedure takes about a week, including the time needed to fly the blood to TheraVitae's laboratories in Israel. There, a small number of natural cells are exposed to conditions that normally occur inside the human body. The process causes the stem cells to multiply and differentiate into cells that restore damaged heart tissue. The final product, called VesCell, is then injected into the patient's heart, where it appears to trigger the body's natural healing mechanisms, helping the heart tissue recover some of its function.
"We don't actually know the basis of the science," Fulga cheerfully admits, but his research team knows it is on to something. Soon it plans to reveal other discoveries made during its research that Fulga believes will open the way for the use of stem-cell therapy in more areas.
The company treats patients in Bangkok, where medical standards are top-notch and interest in high-tech treatment and medical tourism is booming. The process costs about $30,000 per patient, plus physician's and travel expenses, but Fulga hopes the figure can be reduced to less than $10,000.
And it's good business. Fulga and his colleagues are tapping into the estimated $54 billion--a-year market of cardiac patients in need of treatment. The company projects that it will break even soon. "We want to be the Intel of cell therapy," says Fulga.
Monday, 12 November 2007
Israel OKs extradition of Brooklyn pedophile suspect
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, November 12th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
JERUSALEM - A suspected Brooklyn pedophile hiding from sex abuse
charges in Israel will become the first American extradited to the
U.S. under a revamped treaty, a Jerusalem court ruled Sunday.
Stefan Colmer, 30, was indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury on charges he
sexually abused two 13-year-old boys from the ultra-orthodox Jewish
community in Brooklyn where he lived.
Hoping to avoid arrest, Colmer, a computer technician and salesman,
fled to Israel and changed his name to David Cohen.
Jerusalem police arrested Colmer in June and have held him pending
Sunday's extradition hearing, at which an Israeli judge ruled he must
be returned to face the charges in Brooklyn.
Before a January change to the treaty, Israel and the U.S. had agreed
to extradite suspected sex criminals only if they had been charged
with rape.
Colmer is suspected of performing oral sex on the two boys over
several months last year after luring them to his home from a nearby
yeshiva high school, according to the U.S. Justice Department's
extradition request.
The Brooklyn grand jury indicted Colmer on eight counts of criminal
sexual acts. If found guilty, he could face up to seven years in
prison.
The Justice Department also has requested the extradition of another
alleged Brooklyn child molester, Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz, who fled to
Jerusalem 23 years ago amid allegations the former counselor and
principal molested four boys.
Mondrowitz was arrested last month by Israeli police but was released.
The Israeli Justice Ministry has refused to comment on the case.
Attorney Michael Lesher, who represents six men who have accused
Mondrowitz of molesting them as children, said Mondrowitz must be
returned to face charges.
"I am certainly delighted to see that Colmer will be extradited to
face justice in Brooklyn," Lesher said. "But we certainly will not
rest until the same is done with Avrohom Mondrowitz."
Monday, November 12th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
JERUSALEM - A suspected Brooklyn pedophile hiding from sex abuse
charges in Israel will become the first American extradited to the
U.S. under a revamped treaty, a Jerusalem court ruled Sunday.
Stefan Colmer, 30, was indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury on charges he
sexually abused two 13-year-old boys from the ultra-orthodox Jewish
community in Brooklyn where he lived.
Hoping to avoid arrest, Colmer, a computer technician and salesman,
fled to Israel and changed his name to David Cohen.
Jerusalem police arrested Colmer in June and have held him pending
Sunday's extradition hearing, at which an Israeli judge ruled he must
be returned to face the charges in Brooklyn.
Before a January change to the treaty, Israel and the U.S. had agreed
to extradite suspected sex criminals only if they had been charged
with rape.
Colmer is suspected of performing oral sex on the two boys over
several months last year after luring them to his home from a nearby
yeshiva high school, according to the U.S. Justice Department's
extradition request.
The Brooklyn grand jury indicted Colmer on eight counts of criminal
sexual acts. If found guilty, he could face up to seven years in
prison.
The Justice Department also has requested the extradition of another
alleged Brooklyn child molester, Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz, who fled to
Jerusalem 23 years ago amid allegations the former counselor and
principal molested four boys.
Mondrowitz was arrested last month by Israeli police but was released.
The Israeli Justice Ministry has refused to comment on the case.
Attorney Michael Lesher, who represents six men who have accused
Mondrowitz of molesting them as children, said Mondrowitz must be
returned to face charges.
"I am certainly delighted to see that Colmer will be extradited to
face justice in Brooklyn," Lesher said. "But we certainly will not
rest until the same is done with Avrohom Mondrowitz."
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
Analysis: Wheels turning again on Middle East 'road map' to peace
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Jerusalem -- Is the Israeli-Palestinian peace process back on track?
That's the question occupying diplomats as they prepare for a Middle East meeting called by President Bush for Annapolis, Md., next month or early December. A recent flurry of diplomatic activity appears to have breathed new life into the U.S.-backed "road map," encouraging some to believe it could recover from a near-fatal blow in June with the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip.
The charge is being led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is expected to return next week to Jerusalem and Ramallah for talks for the eighth time this year. Wrapping up her latest round of talks last week, she said her efforts stood a "reasonable chance of success."
But even her personal involvement has so far failed to bridge the gap required for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to sign a joint declaration of principles that would pave the way for a solution to the conflict. Some observers even say it would be better to cancel the meeting than allow it to fail.
"The idea is not to raise expectations that can lead to frustration and to violence, because we need to learn from past experience," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said recently, alluding to the failure of the Camp David summit in July 2000 that was followed by the Palestinian uprising known as the intifada.
Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, has urged Palestinian and other Arab leaders to stay away altogether, calling Bush's invitation a "new door for capitulation. ... We urge our Arab brothers not to go down this dark tunnel."
Writing in the Jerusalem Post last week, David Kimche, a former deputy commander of the Mossad spy agency, said, "Failure is not an option. Its consequences would be too harrowing - the collapse of the moderate, anti-violence and pro-peace camp of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas, victory for Hamas and other extremist factions and the eventual demise of the two-state solution."
While the Annapolis meeting has garnered international attention, work on the ground is being spearheaded by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the newly appointed Middle East representative of the so-called Quartet of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.
Brushing aside skepticism that greeted his appointment in July, Blair has thrown himself into his new job, planting a 10-person team in offices in the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem and promising to spend at least one week a month in the region.
"The most important thing is that things are moving again," Blair said during a recent trip to New York. "There is momentum back in this process. That doesn't mean to say that we are foolishly optimistic after all the difficulties of the past. But things are moving again."
Blair said that by year's end, the Palestinian Authority is expected to create a blueprint for institutions needed to create an independent state, and that he has been working with international donors and private business investors to create the economic conditions necessary to make that happen. His efforts closely mirror the conclusions of three recent reports from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and British government that call attention to the deepening economic crisis in the Palestinian territories and suggest that without an economic solution, a political process is impossible.
Blair is considering a graduated program of action, beginning with issues affecting the daily life of Palestinians - mobility, education and employment. Blair will ask donors to create jobs and improve Palestinian living conditions by funding a slew of major infrastructure projects, ranging from roads and factories to power stations and sewage treatment plants.
Some Palestinian officials, however, say they have heard it all before.
"Palestinians keep hearing about economic recovery plans submitted by this or that envoy or representative, when they, even as individuals, can hardly travel from one city in the West Bank to another," said Walid Awad, a senior official in Fatah, the moderate faction headed by Abbas. "They hear about security plans and wonder about their own security, hear about one peace initiative or another, when in effect, nothing changes on the ground, except for the worse."
But this time, Blair is determined to reach results. He is helped by the fact that Israeli and Palestinian leaders sense that this may be the last chance to save Palestinians from spending the next century in a constant state of war under a fundamentalist Islamic regime led by Hamas.
After Fatah was driven out of Gaza by Hamas in June and left to rule only in the West Bank, Abbas and Fatah officials know they must end corruption and lay the foundations of their future state, many analysts say.
All this requires Israeli cooperation. The Olmert administration must remove military checkpoints in the West Bank, release Palestinian prisoners and make diplomatic progress if ordinary Palestinians are to feel any benefits from Blair's mission, most analysts say.
But the Israelis also are faced with a serious quandary. They are under almost daily rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, where Hamas continues to call for Israel's destruction. Nor is the Hamas threat confined to Gaza. Only last month, a suicide bomb wired in a belt was discovered in Tel Aviv after a huge security operation netted a Hamas bombmaker in a Nablus refugee camp.
"Everyone understands that Tony Blair has a crucial mission here," said Mark Regev, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman. "We have no interest in Israel living next to a failed society with a failed economy. It will only create instability and provide a recipe for further violence. Israel has its own interest in the Palestinians getting their act together - economically, politically and socially. We are behind Blair."
This article appeared on page A - 13 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Jerusalem -- Is the Israeli-Palestinian peace process back on track?
That's the question occupying diplomats as they prepare for a Middle East meeting called by President Bush for Annapolis, Md., next month or early December. A recent flurry of diplomatic activity appears to have breathed new life into the U.S.-backed "road map," encouraging some to believe it could recover from a near-fatal blow in June with the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip.
The charge is being led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is expected to return next week to Jerusalem and Ramallah for talks for the eighth time this year. Wrapping up her latest round of talks last week, she said her efforts stood a "reasonable chance of success."
But even her personal involvement has so far failed to bridge the gap required for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to sign a joint declaration of principles that would pave the way for a solution to the conflict. Some observers even say it would be better to cancel the meeting than allow it to fail.
"The idea is not to raise expectations that can lead to frustration and to violence, because we need to learn from past experience," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said recently, alluding to the failure of the Camp David summit in July 2000 that was followed by the Palestinian uprising known as the intifada.
Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, has urged Palestinian and other Arab leaders to stay away altogether, calling Bush's invitation a "new door for capitulation. ... We urge our Arab brothers not to go down this dark tunnel."
Writing in the Jerusalem Post last week, David Kimche, a former deputy commander of the Mossad spy agency, said, "Failure is not an option. Its consequences would be too harrowing - the collapse of the moderate, anti-violence and pro-peace camp of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas, victory for Hamas and other extremist factions and the eventual demise of the two-state solution."
While the Annapolis meeting has garnered international attention, work on the ground is being spearheaded by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the newly appointed Middle East representative of the so-called Quartet of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.
Brushing aside skepticism that greeted his appointment in July, Blair has thrown himself into his new job, planting a 10-person team in offices in the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem and promising to spend at least one week a month in the region.
"The most important thing is that things are moving again," Blair said during a recent trip to New York. "There is momentum back in this process. That doesn't mean to say that we are foolishly optimistic after all the difficulties of the past. But things are moving again."
Blair said that by year's end, the Palestinian Authority is expected to create a blueprint for institutions needed to create an independent state, and that he has been working with international donors and private business investors to create the economic conditions necessary to make that happen. His efforts closely mirror the conclusions of three recent reports from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and British government that call attention to the deepening economic crisis in the Palestinian territories and suggest that without an economic solution, a political process is impossible.
Blair is considering a graduated program of action, beginning with issues affecting the daily life of Palestinians - mobility, education and employment. Blair will ask donors to create jobs and improve Palestinian living conditions by funding a slew of major infrastructure projects, ranging from roads and factories to power stations and sewage treatment plants.
Some Palestinian officials, however, say they have heard it all before.
"Palestinians keep hearing about economic recovery plans submitted by this or that envoy or representative, when they, even as individuals, can hardly travel from one city in the West Bank to another," said Walid Awad, a senior official in Fatah, the moderate faction headed by Abbas. "They hear about security plans and wonder about their own security, hear about one peace initiative or another, when in effect, nothing changes on the ground, except for the worse."
But this time, Blair is determined to reach results. He is helped by the fact that Israeli and Palestinian leaders sense that this may be the last chance to save Palestinians from spending the next century in a constant state of war under a fundamentalist Islamic regime led by Hamas.
After Fatah was driven out of Gaza by Hamas in June and left to rule only in the West Bank, Abbas and Fatah officials know they must end corruption and lay the foundations of their future state, many analysts say.
All this requires Israeli cooperation. The Olmert administration must remove military checkpoints in the West Bank, release Palestinian prisoners and make diplomatic progress if ordinary Palestinians are to feel any benefits from Blair's mission, most analysts say.
But the Israelis also are faced with a serious quandary. They are under almost daily rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, where Hamas continues to call for Israel's destruction. Nor is the Hamas threat confined to Gaza. Only last month, a suicide bomb wired in a belt was discovered in Tel Aviv after a huge security operation netted a Hamas bombmaker in a Nablus refugee camp.
"Everyone understands that Tony Blair has a crucial mission here," said Mark Regev, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman. "We have no interest in Israel living next to a failed society with a failed economy. It will only create instability and provide a recipe for further violence. Israel has its own interest in the Palestinians getting their act together - economically, politically and socially. We are behind Blair."
This article appeared on page A - 13 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, 22 October 2007
Israeli Academic Year Begins With Faculty on Strike
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Monday, October 22, 2007
By MATTHEW KALMAN
JERUSALEM
Israel's academic year began deep in crisis on Sunday as faculty members at universities throughout the country went on strike in pursuit of a 20-percent pay raise.
Hours earlier, university heads rescinded their threat not to open the campuses, in protest of government delays in honoring a commitment to provide an extra $75-million in support this year. In a compromise with the government, the presidents accepted an infusion of $55-million instead.
The universities opened, but most of the teaching-staff members stayed away. Students spent the day completing administrative procedures, registering for library cards, and shopping for last-minute materials.
Some 120,000 Israeli university students are affected by the strike. They join 600,000 high-school students locked out of their classes as a separate wage dispute by high-school teachers entered its 10th day on Sunday.
Israeli higher education is only just recovering from a crippling student strike over fees last semester. The student action, which went on for 41 days, forced universities to extend classes into the summer-vacation period. And the end of the previous academic year was disrupted by the Lebanon war, which closed down campuses in northern Israel, exiled thousands of students from their homes, and caused hundreds of students and staff members to report for reserve military duty.
In the current dispute, a faculty-union representative, Zvi Hacohen, a professor of desert research at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, said lecturers' salaries had been eroded by 15 percent since the last wage agreement was signed with the government, in 2001.
Israeli university lecturers earn the equivalent of $2,500 to $5,250 a month, much less than their American and European colleagues, even after adjustments for the lower cost of living in Israel.
Mr. Hacohen said the low pay had contributed to a "brain drain," with some 3,000 Israeli professors now working abroad, compared with 4,500 still in their own country.
"The negotiations broke down because we have asked for one thing from the beginning, that there be a mechanism to ensure there will be no more erosion of faculty salaries," said Mr. Hacohen. "Salaries rise automatically in the public sector. That doesn't happen among academics."
An education ministry official criticized the professors for going on strike instead of continuing talks. The walkout "will unnecessarily harm the students and the higher education system," the official said.
The president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Menachem Magidor, said he had some sympathy for the professors' plight, but he said their decision to strike was "counterproductive."
He said the university heads had settled their dispute with the government by compromising on their original demands, and he urged professors to do the same.
"There was some attrition in their salaries, compared with the public sector and definitely with the overall economy," Mr. Magidor said. "But I don’t think it's as large as they claim and I don't think it's realistic to expect to get the full thing now. I think that what would be reasonable would be to have a formula to compensate for some attrition that happened in the past and a guarantee that there will be less or no attrition in the future."
Some classes went ahead on Sunday, taught by part-time or junior staff members who are not represented by the senior-faculty organizations. Students were divided between those concerned about losing yet more hours of study and those who support the lecturers' demands.
Ronit Tirosh, a former director general of the education ministry who is now a member of parliament, called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to take radical steps to solve the burgeoning education crisis by reordering the government's priorities and dramatically raising salaries. Ms. Tirosh, who is a member of Mr. Olmert's Kadima Party, conceded that such a move would cost "billions of shekels."
Monday, October 22, 2007
By MATTHEW KALMAN
JERUSALEM
Israel's academic year began deep in crisis on Sunday as faculty members at universities throughout the country went on strike in pursuit of a 20-percent pay raise.
Hours earlier, university heads rescinded their threat not to open the campuses, in protest of government delays in honoring a commitment to provide an extra $75-million in support this year. In a compromise with the government, the presidents accepted an infusion of $55-million instead.
The universities opened, but most of the teaching-staff members stayed away. Students spent the day completing administrative procedures, registering for library cards, and shopping for last-minute materials.
Some 120,000 Israeli university students are affected by the strike. They join 600,000 high-school students locked out of their classes as a separate wage dispute by high-school teachers entered its 10th day on Sunday.
Israeli higher education is only just recovering from a crippling student strike over fees last semester. The student action, which went on for 41 days, forced universities to extend classes into the summer-vacation period. And the end of the previous academic year was disrupted by the Lebanon war, which closed down campuses in northern Israel, exiled thousands of students from their homes, and caused hundreds of students and staff members to report for reserve military duty.
In the current dispute, a faculty-union representative, Zvi Hacohen, a professor of desert research at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, said lecturers' salaries had been eroded by 15 percent since the last wage agreement was signed with the government, in 2001.
Israeli university lecturers earn the equivalent of $2,500 to $5,250 a month, much less than their American and European colleagues, even after adjustments for the lower cost of living in Israel.
Mr. Hacohen said the low pay had contributed to a "brain drain," with some 3,000 Israeli professors now working abroad, compared with 4,500 still in their own country.
"The negotiations broke down because we have asked for one thing from the beginning, that there be a mechanism to ensure there will be no more erosion of faculty salaries," said Mr. Hacohen. "Salaries rise automatically in the public sector. That doesn't happen among academics."
An education ministry official criticized the professors for going on strike instead of continuing talks. The walkout "will unnecessarily harm the students and the higher education system," the official said.
The president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Menachem Magidor, said he had some sympathy for the professors' plight, but he said their decision to strike was "counterproductive."
He said the university heads had settled their dispute with the government by compromising on their original demands, and he urged professors to do the same.
"There was some attrition in their salaries, compared with the public sector and definitely with the overall economy," Mr. Magidor said. "But I don’t think it's as large as they claim and I don't think it's realistic to expect to get the full thing now. I think that what would be reasonable would be to have a formula to compensate for some attrition that happened in the past and a guarantee that there will be less or no attrition in the future."
Some classes went ahead on Sunday, taught by part-time or junior staff members who are not represented by the senior-faculty organizations. Students were divided between those concerned about losing yet more hours of study and those who support the lecturers' demands.
Ronit Tirosh, a former director general of the education ministry who is now a member of parliament, called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to take radical steps to solve the burgeoning education crisis by reordering the government's priorities and dramatically raising salaries. Ms. Tirosh, who is a member of Mr. Olmert's Kadima Party, conceded that such a move would cost "billions of shekels."
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Palestinian Students Accepted at Israeli Universities Wait in Limbo
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
Palestinian students on the West Bank are being prevented from taking their places at Israeli universities and colleges under a blanket government ban that was challenged almost a year ago by the Israeli Supreme Court.
But as the new academic year begins, the Israeli military commander in the West Bank has so far failed to comply with the court's request to provide clear criteria for denying Palestinian students access to Israel so they can attend class.
In December 2006, the court asked the Israeli government to explain its refusal to extend the six-month entry permit of Sawsan Salameh, a 30-year-old Palestinian woman who is a doctoral student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (The Chronicle, January 12). Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch said that, in the absence of a "security or private reason preventing the extension of the permit, we assume the renewed permit will be granted."
Ms. Salameh's permit has been extended every six months since then, but each time the court has met to hear the army's criteria for banning other students, the government has requested an extension.
At the last hearing, in September, the three-judge panel headed by Justice Beinisch rejected requests for a further extension and set November 1 as the date for a hearing.
Enforcing Unwritten Criteria
Sari Bashi, executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human-rights group that sued the government, said the delay had effectively forced Palestinian students to miss the start of another semester. The Israeli academic year is scheduled to begin this month.
Gisha is also representing Saed Hasan, a West Bank student who was due on Monday to begin an executive M.B.A. program run jointly by Northwestern University and Tel Aviv University. Israel refused to give Mr. Hasan a permit, telling Tel Aviv University that he "does not meet the criteria." But the government has told the court that it has not yet drawn up the criteria.
"Since 2000 the unpublished criteria have apparently become stricter and stricter," said Ms. Bashi. "As a result, there has been a steady decline and a chilling effect on the willingness of Palestinian students to apply to Israeli universities and the willingness of the universities to accept them because they don't know if they will get permits."
Another petitioner to the court is the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, in southern Israel. The institute brings together Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and other Arab students and academics to study regional environmental issues.
"Seven of our Palestinian students for this academic year need permits, and we put in a request two months ago and called almost every other day," said David Lehrer, executive director of the institute. "Last week we received a negative answer that none of the Palestinian students would be allowed to come to the institute. They had not checked the individual students but imposed a policy not to allow Palestinian students to study long-term programs in Israel."
"We challenged this ban in the Supreme Court last winter, and the court agreed with us that the ban was unreasonable," he said.
Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for the Coordinator of Israeli Government activities in the occupied territories, said that for security reasons, Palestinian undergraduates would be allowed to study in Israel only if the courses were not available in the West Bank. He said there was a specific problem with the Arava Institute because Palestinians were not allowed into that area of Israel except in exceptional cases and not for long periods.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
Palestinian students on the West Bank are being prevented from taking their places at Israeli universities and colleges under a blanket government ban that was challenged almost a year ago by the Israeli Supreme Court.
But as the new academic year begins, the Israeli military commander in the West Bank has so far failed to comply with the court's request to provide clear criteria for denying Palestinian students access to Israel so they can attend class.
In December 2006, the court asked the Israeli government to explain its refusal to extend the six-month entry permit of Sawsan Salameh, a 30-year-old Palestinian woman who is a doctoral student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (The Chronicle, January 12). Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch said that, in the absence of a "security or private reason preventing the extension of the permit, we assume the renewed permit will be granted."
Ms. Salameh's permit has been extended every six months since then, but each time the court has met to hear the army's criteria for banning other students, the government has requested an extension.
At the last hearing, in September, the three-judge panel headed by Justice Beinisch rejected requests for a further extension and set November 1 as the date for a hearing.
Enforcing Unwritten Criteria
Sari Bashi, executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human-rights group that sued the government, said the delay had effectively forced Palestinian students to miss the start of another semester. The Israeli academic year is scheduled to begin this month.
Gisha is also representing Saed Hasan, a West Bank student who was due on Monday to begin an executive M.B.A. program run jointly by Northwestern University and Tel Aviv University. Israel refused to give Mr. Hasan a permit, telling Tel Aviv University that he "does not meet the criteria." But the government has told the court that it has not yet drawn up the criteria.
"Since 2000 the unpublished criteria have apparently become stricter and stricter," said Ms. Bashi. "As a result, there has been a steady decline and a chilling effect on the willingness of Palestinian students to apply to Israeli universities and the willingness of the universities to accept them because they don't know if they will get permits."
Another petitioner to the court is the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, in southern Israel. The institute brings together Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and other Arab students and academics to study regional environmental issues.
"Seven of our Palestinian students for this academic year need permits, and we put in a request two months ago and called almost every other day," said David Lehrer, executive director of the institute. "Last week we received a negative answer that none of the Palestinian students would be allowed to come to the institute. They had not checked the individual students but imposed a policy not to allow Palestinian students to study long-term programs in Israel."
"We challenged this ban in the Supreme Court last winter, and the court agreed with us that the ban was unreasonable," he said.
Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for the Coordinator of Israeli Government activities in the occupied territories, said that for security reasons, Palestinian undergraduates would be allowed to study in Israel only if the courses were not available in the West Bank. He said there was a specific problem with the Arava Institute because Palestinians were not allowed into that area of Israel except in exceptional cases and not for long periods.
Monday, 15 October 2007
Israeli Arab farmer has 8 wives and 67 children
![[]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s6RB-aIK9p_qK1GODCCI2HvhH3oD9Nqg3j-LDWkDSDIWkhRMOjDyl1LQ8FxkoGtw9tOAdk338vbOkZWE5vbP68OK1deh5pwOcvQ5aaxhd17_c7hILzBBRnXexPcn4smpn9quygmiTDeSi5o9-w6qra-f0ga-bZKzU_-vhW9-eQPCT8oFE=s0-d)
Shehadeh Abu Arar with some of his 67 kids in village of Burgata
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, October 15th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
JERUSALEM - He has eight wives, 67 children and two more on the way.
And Shehadeh Abu Arar says he couldn't be happier.
The Israeli Arab farmer and camel breeder boasts of knowing all his
little ones by name and brushes off questions about his unusual
lifestyle.
"I am happy I have kids, this is what God gave us," said Abu Arar, 58.
"This is what He wants, and I do what He tells me."
Abu Arar has more children than any man in Israel, where Arab
population growth causes some to fear that Jews will someday be a
minority.
He first married in 1967 and had 31 children from his first two wives.
His eldest son is 37 and his youngest child is less than 1. So far, he
has 20 grandchildren.
All of them live with him in an extended family compound in the
village of Burgata, where he shuttles from one lovely to another.
"Every night I decide which wife to go to," Abu Arar recently told the
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
His youngest wife is only 23, a Palestinian from the Jenin refugee
camp in the West Bank.
Abu Arar is not stopping there - eight wives, apparently, is not enough.
"Now I am thinking about a new wife, No. 9, and I am already preparing
for the marriage," he said. "There are many women who wish to marry
me."
The family grows flowers and vegetables near its home. It also raise
cows, sheep and goats that provide food for the extended clan.
Every morning, a bus comes and takes 30 of the children to the local school.
It's not all milk and honey for the wives.
"Each one has to take care of her own children, and I have my own
chores," Abu Arar told Yedioth Ahronoth. "It's very difficult. But,
thank God, my children help out, and we make a good living."
Under Israeli law, Bedouins like Abu Arar may take as many wives as
they like without being considered a polygamist.
In a quirk of law, only 53 of the children are Israeli citizens - the
other 14 are considered Palestinians because their mothers came from
the West Bank.
Some Israeli nationalists fret that higher birthrates may one day make
Arabs, who represent about 20% of the Israeli population, a majority
in the Jewish state.
Friday, 12 October 2007
Leonardo's lady protests
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, 12 October
Leonardo DiCaprio's Israeli model girlfriend, Bar Rafaeli, is suing
her native country's largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, for libel
after claiming she said, "I am not sorry for not serving in the army
... Why is it good to die for our country? Isn't it better to live in
New York?" Rafaeli's lawyer Dror Arad Alon said the statements are
false and that she was "wickedly manipulated by the newspaper's
reporter and editors," The News' Matthew Kalman reports.
Friday, 12 October
Leonardo DiCaprio's Israeli model girlfriend, Bar Rafaeli, is suing
her native country's largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, for libel
after claiming she said, "I am not sorry for not serving in the army
... Why is it good to die for our country? Isn't it better to live in
New York?" Rafaeli's lawyer Dror Arad Alon said the statements are
false and that she was "wickedly manipulated by the newspaper's
reporter and editors," The News' Matthew Kalman reports.
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Israel's top secret sites on Google Earth
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Jerusalem -- Israel's most top secret security installations have been
jeopardized by a new version of Google Earth, Israeli military experts
say.
Satellite photographs of the sites, downloaded from Google Earth, were
published last week on the front page of Israel's largest-selling
newspaper. The latest version of the popular Internet mapping tool
clearly shows sites viewed by the government as sensitive - such as
the nation's classified nuclear research station in the Negev Desert
city of Dimona, the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency, Israeli air
force bases, the location of the Arrow missile defense system and the
central military headquarters and Defense Ministry compound in Tel
Aviv.
Yediot Ahronot, the Israeli daily that published the photographs on
its front page, said the upgraded Web site is an "asset" to enemy
states and a "treasure" to terrorists. Israel has spent decades and
millions of dollars hiding these sites from public view. All are
heavily guarded round-the-clock, and the location of the Mossad
headquarters is a closely guarded secret. Reporters in Israel are
forbidden from photographing or revealing any details about these
locations under strict military censorship.
Israeli government and security officials refused to comment on the
photographs. But a former military intelligence officer, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said: "Anything I say will be
counterproductive. I think I'll avoid that issue completely."
But Professor Gerald Steinberg, chairman of the political science
department at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, disagrees. He says
Israel has been prepared for the new Google Earth images, which he
says do not endanger Israel's security.
"Israel has had 10 years to prepare for this," said Steinberg, who
helped draft an agreement with the United States limiting satellite
resolution imagery. "It was the Clinton administration's policy to
make available high-resolution imaging. Israel was granted a cushion
which for clear security reasons does not put all the available
information on the Internet.
"The satellite pictures were available before now to anyone with a few
thousand dollars. They are not real-time pictures, and they were not
taken yesterday. I don't think this is a major change in security."
The new high-resolution images, made available to Google Earth users
last week, consist of one pixel per 2.4 square yards. Until now,
previous images of Israel were limited to one pixel per 12 to 24
yards.
Cordy Griffiths, a Google spokesperson in London, said the images were
upgraded last week in line with a Google Earth policy of improving its
service to users. But Griffiths said all Google Earth images are
bought from commercial satellite imaging companies and governed by the
U.S.-Israel agreement.
"These new images fall within the law," said Griffiths. "It is higher
resolution than the imagery we had before, but it is freely available
material that we buy from third parties. The onus is on them to check
that everything is legal."
Griffiths preferred not to answer whether Israeli officials have
complained to Google since the new images were posted. "We would be
happy to discuss any concerns the Israeli government might have," she
said. "None of the images have been changed since the imagery update
for Israel in Google Earth last week."
Griffiths also denied reports that Google images of India were
deliberately blurred or distorted to protect security installations in
that country.
"Google does not intentionally degrade or distort image quality.
However, we use the imagery that comes to us from our data suppliers,
some of which includes clearly blurred or degraded imagery. For
example, an airbase in the Netherlands, the vice president's residence
in Washington, D.C.," she said.
According to Israeli experts, the photographs in question are a year
or two years old, and clearly show the layout of top-secret buildings.
The photograph of the nuclear plant at Dimona shows the approach
roads, internal walkways and individual buildings in a facility that
is off-limits and hidden behind electric fences with large warnings
signs and a complex array of cameras and other security devices.
The images also include Camp Rabin, the heavily guarded defense
headquarters in central Tel Aviv that is surrounded by anti-terrorist
blockades, a high wall and buildings with bomb-proof windows. It
contains the underground bunker from which Israel's top generals
command their military campaigns, as well as the offices of the prime
minister, defense minister and Shin Bet secret service.
Moreover, the alleged Mossad headquarters, whose location is a highly
protected secret, was identified and labeled by a Google Earth user.
"This contains a stock of information in which any intelligence body
would be willing to invest a great deal of money and effort in order
to get its hands on it," said Alex Fishman, Yediot Ahronot security
correspondent. "Locating sensitive strategic and security facilities
in Israel is a major objective for countries like Iran and Syria."
But political scientist Steinberg recalls similar fears when the first
satellite photos of Dimona were declassified by the United States some
10 years ago.
"There was concern this would have a negative impact on Israeli
security," he said. "It doesn't seem to have given any information to
anyone that was used to carry out attacks."
This article appeared on page A - 13 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Jerusalem -- Israel's most top secret security installations have been
jeopardized by a new version of Google Earth, Israeli military experts
say.
Satellite photographs of the sites, downloaded from Google Earth, were
published last week on the front page of Israel's largest-selling
newspaper. The latest version of the popular Internet mapping tool
clearly shows sites viewed by the government as sensitive - such as
the nation's classified nuclear research station in the Negev Desert
city of Dimona, the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency, Israeli air
force bases, the location of the Arrow missile defense system and the
central military headquarters and Defense Ministry compound in Tel
Aviv.
Yediot Ahronot, the Israeli daily that published the photographs on
its front page, said the upgraded Web site is an "asset" to enemy
states and a "treasure" to terrorists. Israel has spent decades and
millions of dollars hiding these sites from public view. All are
heavily guarded round-the-clock, and the location of the Mossad
headquarters is a closely guarded secret. Reporters in Israel are
forbidden from photographing or revealing any details about these
locations under strict military censorship.
Israeli government and security officials refused to comment on the
photographs. But a former military intelligence officer, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said: "Anything I say will be
counterproductive. I think I'll avoid that issue completely."
But Professor Gerald Steinberg, chairman of the political science
department at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, disagrees. He says
Israel has been prepared for the new Google Earth images, which he
says do not endanger Israel's security.
"Israel has had 10 years to prepare for this," said Steinberg, who
helped draft an agreement with the United States limiting satellite
resolution imagery. "It was the Clinton administration's policy to
make available high-resolution imaging. Israel was granted a cushion
which for clear security reasons does not put all the available
information on the Internet.
"The satellite pictures were available before now to anyone with a few
thousand dollars. They are not real-time pictures, and they were not
taken yesterday. I don't think this is a major change in security."
The new high-resolution images, made available to Google Earth users
last week, consist of one pixel per 2.4 square yards. Until now,
previous images of Israel were limited to one pixel per 12 to 24
yards.
Cordy Griffiths, a Google spokesperson in London, said the images were
upgraded last week in line with a Google Earth policy of improving its
service to users. But Griffiths said all Google Earth images are
bought from commercial satellite imaging companies and governed by the
U.S.-Israel agreement.
"These new images fall within the law," said Griffiths. "It is higher
resolution than the imagery we had before, but it is freely available
material that we buy from third parties. The onus is on them to check
that everything is legal."
Griffiths preferred not to answer whether Israeli officials have
complained to Google since the new images were posted. "We would be
happy to discuss any concerns the Israeli government might have," she
said. "None of the images have been changed since the imagery update
for Israel in Google Earth last week."
Griffiths also denied reports that Google images of India were
deliberately blurred or distorted to protect security installations in
that country.
"Google does not intentionally degrade or distort image quality.
However, we use the imagery that comes to us from our data suppliers,
some of which includes clearly blurred or degraded imagery. For
example, an airbase in the Netherlands, the vice president's residence
in Washington, D.C.," she said.
According to Israeli experts, the photographs in question are a year
or two years old, and clearly show the layout of top-secret buildings.
The photograph of the nuclear plant at Dimona shows the approach
roads, internal walkways and individual buildings in a facility that
is off-limits and hidden behind electric fences with large warnings
signs and a complex array of cameras and other security devices.
The images also include Camp Rabin, the heavily guarded defense
headquarters in central Tel Aviv that is surrounded by anti-terrorist
blockades, a high wall and buildings with bomb-proof windows. It
contains the underground bunker from which Israel's top generals
command their military campaigns, as well as the offices of the prime
minister, defense minister and Shin Bet secret service.
Moreover, the alleged Mossad headquarters, whose location is a highly
protected secret, was identified and labeled by a Google Earth user.
"This contains a stock of information in which any intelligence body
would be willing to invest a great deal of money and effort in order
to get its hands on it," said Alex Fishman, Yediot Ahronot security
correspondent. "Locating sensitive strategic and security facilities
in Israel is a major objective for countries like Iran and Syria."
But political scientist Steinberg recalls similar fears when the first
satellite photos of Dimona were declassified by the United States some
10 years ago.
"There was concern this would have a negative impact on Israeli
security," he said. "It doesn't seem to have given any information to
anyone that was used to carry out attacks."
This article appeared on page A - 13 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
Israelis accuse French network of staging film of Gaza slay
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, October 3rd 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
JERUSALEM - A senior Israeli official is accusing a French TV station of staging news footage to make it look like the Israeli Army was to blame for the shooting death of a Palestinian boy.
Images of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Dura bleeding to death in his father's arms in Gaza in September 2000 swept the world and became a central image of the Palestinian intifadeh.
The army at first apologized for Mohammed's death, but a subsequent investigation by the Israeli Defense Forces said it was more likely he was killed in crossfire by Palestinian bullets than by the Israelis.
The boy's family rejected Israeli requests at the time to examine the boy's body to determine which side killed him.
Until now, Israeli officials have kept a low profile on the case. But last week, Daniel Seaman, director of the Israel government press office, openly accused the correspondent who aired the footage, Charles Enderlin, and the Palestinian cameraman who captured it, Talal AbuRahma, of a "blood libel" against Israel.
"Israel was accused of murdering a small child after the event by the world press, and his image has been burned into the collective Arab memory as a symbol of the brutality of the Zionist state," Seaman wrote in a letter to the Israel Law Center Shurat Hadin, which had demanded he rescind the press credentials of the network that aired the film, state-owned France 2.
"The events of that day were essentially staged by the network's cameraman in Gaza," wrote Seaman, but he said he would not withdraw the network's press passes.
Israel has asked France 2 to release the full 27 minutes of footage filmed that day in Gaza, but the network has so far refused.
Earlier this year, Enderlin and France 2 won a libel suit in a French court against media watchdog Philippe Karsenty, who accused them of staging the incident. Karsenty is appealing the verdict.
Enderlin told the Daily News he stood by the original broadcast. "The video is authentic and we will continue filing libel suits against people who say contrary," said Enderlin. "The story was not staged."
He said France 2 had refused to release the full footage on principle, "just as any newspaper will refuse to show the private notes of journalists." But he said he welcomed a decision by the French appeals court to screen the 27 minutes of film to a judge next month.
In Gaza, Jamal al-Dura, Mohammed's father, said there was no question an Israeli soldier had fired the fatal bullets.
"The Israelis killed my son. Now they are trying to deny responsibility. They want to erase the case of my son," he said.
Wednesday, October 3rd 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
JERUSALEM - A senior Israeli official is accusing a French TV station of staging news footage to make it look like the Israeli Army was to blame for the shooting death of a Palestinian boy.
Images of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Dura bleeding to death in his father's arms in Gaza in September 2000 swept the world and became a central image of the Palestinian intifadeh.
The army at first apologized for Mohammed's death, but a subsequent investigation by the Israeli Defense Forces said it was more likely he was killed in crossfire by Palestinian bullets than by the Israelis.
The boy's family rejected Israeli requests at the time to examine the boy's body to determine which side killed him.
Until now, Israeli officials have kept a low profile on the case. But last week, Daniel Seaman, director of the Israel government press office, openly accused the correspondent who aired the footage, Charles Enderlin, and the Palestinian cameraman who captured it, Talal AbuRahma, of a "blood libel" against Israel.
"Israel was accused of murdering a small child after the event by the world press, and his image has been burned into the collective Arab memory as a symbol of the brutality of the Zionist state," Seaman wrote in a letter to the Israel Law Center Shurat Hadin, which had demanded he rescind the press credentials of the network that aired the film, state-owned France 2.
"The events of that day were essentially staged by the network's cameraman in Gaza," wrote Seaman, but he said he would not withdraw the network's press passes.
Israel has asked France 2 to release the full 27 minutes of footage filmed that day in Gaza, but the network has so far refused.
Earlier this year, Enderlin and France 2 won a libel suit in a French court against media watchdog Philippe Karsenty, who accused them of staging the incident. Karsenty is appealing the verdict.
Enderlin told the Daily News he stood by the original broadcast. "The video is authentic and we will continue filing libel suits against people who say contrary," said Enderlin. "The story was not staged."
He said France 2 had refused to release the full footage on principle, "just as any newspaper will refuse to show the private notes of journalists." But he said he welcomed a decision by the French appeals court to screen the 27 minutes of film to a judge next month.
In Gaza, Jamal al-Dura, Mohammed's father, said there was no question an Israeli soldier had fired the fatal bullets.
"The Israelis killed my son. Now they are trying to deny responsibility. They want to erase the case of my son," he said.
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Israel to Syria: Use chem weapons & we'll wipe you off map
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, September 20th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem and BILL HUTCHINSON in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Israeli officials vowed to wipe Syria off the map if it is attacked
with chemical weapons like one that reportedly exploded in July at a
secret Syrian base staffed with Iranian engineers.
Politicians in Israel said yesterday they were not picking a fight
with their neighbor, but pledged to forcefully retaliate if chemical
warheads come screaming across its shared border.
"We will not attack them first. But if they ever use these weapons
against Israel, then we must be clear — it will be the end of this
evil and brutal dictatorship," Yuval Steinitz, a right-wing member of
the Israeli parliament, told the Daily News yesterday.
Sparking shock waves across the Middle East was a report in Jane's
Defence Weekly about an accidental explosion at a top secret Syrian
base in July.
Citing Syrian intelligence sources, the report claimed a team of
Iranian and Syrian engineers were killed July 26 while trying to arm a
Scud-C missile with a mustard gas warhead.
Syrian official news agency, SANA, reported that least 15 Syrian
military personnel had been "martyred" and 50 others injured in the
blast near the northern city of Aleppo on the Turkish border. It
claimed the early morning explosion was caused by the high
temperatures.
The SANA report mentioned nothing of Iranian personnel killed in the mishap.
Jane's said dozens of Iranian workers were among those who died when a
fire in the missile's engine triggered the explosion and release of a
toxic cloud of lethal chemical agents banned under international law.
U.S. intelligence sources played down the report saying they've seen
no credible evidence chemical weapons were involved in the Syrian
accident.
Thursday, September 20th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem and BILL HUTCHINSON in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Israeli officials vowed to wipe Syria off the map if it is attacked
with chemical weapons like one that reportedly exploded in July at a
secret Syrian base staffed with Iranian engineers.
Politicians in Israel said yesterday they were not picking a fight
with their neighbor, but pledged to forcefully retaliate if chemical
warheads come screaming across its shared border.
"We will not attack them first. But if they ever use these weapons
against Israel, then we must be clear — it will be the end of this
evil and brutal dictatorship," Yuval Steinitz, a right-wing member of
the Israeli parliament, told the Daily News yesterday.
Sparking shock waves across the Middle East was a report in Jane's
Defence Weekly about an accidental explosion at a top secret Syrian
base in July.
Citing Syrian intelligence sources, the report claimed a team of
Iranian and Syrian engineers were killed July 26 while trying to arm a
Scud-C missile with a mustard gas warhead.
Syrian official news agency, SANA, reported that least 15 Syrian
military personnel had been "martyred" and 50 others injured in the
blast near the northern city of Aleppo on the Turkish border. It
claimed the early morning explosion was caused by the high
temperatures.
The SANA report mentioned nothing of Iranian personnel killed in the mishap.
Jane's said dozens of Iranian workers were among those who died when a
fire in the missile's engine triggered the explosion and release of a
toxic cloud of lethal chemical agents banned under international law.
U.S. intelligence sources played down the report saying they've seen
no credible evidence chemical weapons were involved in the Syrian
accident.
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Israeli air strike 'took out Syria's secret nuclear site'
DAILY MAIL : Tuesday 18 September
From Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
ISRAEL destroyed a fledgling Syrian nuclear weapons system in an air
raid 12 days ago, it was claimed last night.
The suggestion fuelled speculation that the air strike on a remote
area of northern Syria wiped out a secret nuclear programme
established with North Korean equipment.
John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told
Israeli television: 'I think it would be unusual for Israel to conduct
a military operation inside Syria other than for a very high value
target, and certainly a Syrian effort in the nuclear weapons area
would qualify.'
He added: 'I think this is a clear message not only to Syria. I think
it's a clear message to Iran as well that its continued efforts to
acquire nuclear weapons are not going to go unanswered.'
Israel imposed a rare news blackout after the raid.
But Syria claimed Israeli warplanes were forced to drop their
munitions and fuel harmlessly in the desert after coming under
anti-aircraft fire.
Syria has also protested to Israel about the breach of its airspace
and threatened to retaliate.
In a marked escalation of the crisis last night, Iran reportedly
threatened to rally to Syria's defence if its Arab ally is attacked by
either by Israel or the U.S.
Israeli radio claimed a Persian-language website had suggested Iran
has 600 Shihab-3 missiles that it will launch at Israel on the first
day Iran or Syria is attacked.
With a possible range of up to 1,260 miles, the Shihab-3 could reach
all of Israel, including its nuclear reactor in the south. The website
also said that Iran would launch up to 15 missiles at U.S. targets
inside Iraq if either Iran or Syria is attacked.
The air raid came amid heightened tensions over Iran's nuclear
ambitions and fears that another country in the Middle East may be
aligning itself with North Korea over an atomic programme.
Syria continues to host Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other deadly terror
groups in its capital Damascus.
It has also been accused of allowing Iran to ship huge amounts of
military hardware across its territory to the Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has always made clear it will respond if attacked, perhaps with
its own, far superior nuclear capability.
The news blackout means Israeli newspapers have been forced to recycle
speculation from around the world.
One of the most common claims is that the target of the attack was a
shipment of nuclear weapons from North Korea bound for use by Syria or
possibly to be passed on to Hezbollah.
The Israeli daily newspaper Maariv quoted 'foreign reports' of a raid
by combined air and ground forces more than 200 miles inside Syrian
territory.
It suggested 'the operation carried out was one of the most dangerous
and brilliant in the history of the Israeli defence forces'.
Andrew Semmel, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear
non-proliferation, said Syria was on the country's nuclear 'watch
list'.
'There are indicators that they do have something going on there,' he added.
'We do know there are a number of foreign technicians that have been
in Syria. We do know that there may have been contact between Syria
and some secret suppliers for nuclear equipment.'
The few tight-lipped comments coming from Israeli leaders seemed,
however, to suggest that any danger was past – at least for now.
The raid is said to have involved a group of up to eight Israeli F-15
warplanes, which penetrated Syrian airspace before dawn on September
6.
Two jettisoned fuel tanks were later discovered in Turkish territory.
It was the first Israeli raid into Syria since October 2003, when
Israeli jets attacked a terrorist training camp on the outskirts of
Damascus.
If it is confirmed that the air strike was to destroy a nuclear site
in Syria, it will evoke memories of Israel's 1981 raid on an Iraqi
nuclear reactor at Osiraq.
The facility was crippled in a surprise attack aimed at preventing
Saddam Hussein from acquiring the means to make nuclear weapons.
From Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
ISRAEL destroyed a fledgling Syrian nuclear weapons system in an air
raid 12 days ago, it was claimed last night.
The suggestion fuelled speculation that the air strike on a remote
area of northern Syria wiped out a secret nuclear programme
established with North Korean equipment.
John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told
Israeli television: 'I think it would be unusual for Israel to conduct
a military operation inside Syria other than for a very high value
target, and certainly a Syrian effort in the nuclear weapons area
would qualify.'
He added: 'I think this is a clear message not only to Syria. I think
it's a clear message to Iran as well that its continued efforts to
acquire nuclear weapons are not going to go unanswered.'
Israel imposed a rare news blackout after the raid.
But Syria claimed Israeli warplanes were forced to drop their
munitions and fuel harmlessly in the desert after coming under
anti-aircraft fire.
Syria has also protested to Israel about the breach of its airspace
and threatened to retaliate.
In a marked escalation of the crisis last night, Iran reportedly
threatened to rally to Syria's defence if its Arab ally is attacked by
either by Israel or the U.S.
Israeli radio claimed a Persian-language website had suggested Iran
has 600 Shihab-3 missiles that it will launch at Israel on the first
day Iran or Syria is attacked.
With a possible range of up to 1,260 miles, the Shihab-3 could reach
all of Israel, including its nuclear reactor in the south. The website
also said that Iran would launch up to 15 missiles at U.S. targets
inside Iraq if either Iran or Syria is attacked.
The air raid came amid heightened tensions over Iran's nuclear
ambitions and fears that another country in the Middle East may be
aligning itself with North Korea over an atomic programme.
Syria continues to host Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other deadly terror
groups in its capital Damascus.
It has also been accused of allowing Iran to ship huge amounts of
military hardware across its territory to the Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has always made clear it will respond if attacked, perhaps with
its own, far superior nuclear capability.
The news blackout means Israeli newspapers have been forced to recycle
speculation from around the world.
One of the most common claims is that the target of the attack was a
shipment of nuclear weapons from North Korea bound for use by Syria or
possibly to be passed on to Hezbollah.
The Israeli daily newspaper Maariv quoted 'foreign reports' of a raid
by combined air and ground forces more than 200 miles inside Syrian
territory.
It suggested 'the operation carried out was one of the most dangerous
and brilliant in the history of the Israeli defence forces'.
Andrew Semmel, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear
non-proliferation, said Syria was on the country's nuclear 'watch
list'.
'There are indicators that they do have something going on there,' he added.
'We do know there are a number of foreign technicians that have been
in Syria. We do know that there may have been contact between Syria
and some secret suppliers for nuclear equipment.'
The few tight-lipped comments coming from Israeli leaders seemed,
however, to suggest that any danger was past – at least for now.
The raid is said to have involved a group of up to eight Israeli F-15
warplanes, which penetrated Syrian airspace before dawn on September
6.
Two jettisoned fuel tanks were later discovered in Turkish territory.
It was the first Israeli raid into Syria since October 2003, when
Israeli jets attacked a terrorist training camp on the outskirts of
Damascus.
If it is confirmed that the air strike was to destroy a nuclear site
in Syria, it will evoke memories of Israel's 1981 raid on an Iraqi
nuclear reactor at Osiraq.
The facility was crippled in a surprise attack aimed at preventing
Saddam Hussein from acquiring the means to make nuclear weapons.
Monday, 17 September 2007
Emigre at center of murder investigation remains missing
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, September 17th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN in Herzliya, Israel
and BILL HUTCHINSON in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
The whereabouts of a Russian emigre at the center of a murder
investigation into the deaths of two New York women grew more
mysterious yesterday when his wife insisted she hasn't seen him in
years.
Detectives probing the deaths of Larysa Vasserman, 48, and Tatiana
Korkhova, 54, would like to talk with Eugene Perchikov, who is the
beneficiary in both women's life insurance policies.
But finding Perchikov might take a global dragnet as he jets around
the world from Russia to Israel and the United States.
"We have been separated for two years. He hasn't lived here since
then," Perchikov's wife, Natalia, told the Daily News from her
suburban Tel Aviv home. "We don't live together anymore."
The wife refused to answer questions about her estranged husband,
saying, "I can't tell you anything about him and I don't want to talk
about him."
While Perchikov has not been charged with any crime, he has been
accused in two lawsuits ofmurdering Vasserman and Korkhova.
In both cases, the medical examiner failed to determine the cause of death.
Meanwhile, the Manhattan district attorney's office is pursuing a
fraud investigation.
Perchikov collected more than $1 million on Vasserman's insurance
policy after she was found dead in her Manhattan home in 2004.
He was also named beneficiary on Korkhova's $1 million policy when she
was found dead in her Brooklyn apartment in 2002. Perchikov's Israeli
friend Larisa Yurkov-Shkolnik was listed as a beneficiary on a second
Korkhova insurance policy. Both insurance companies refused to pay.
Contacted yesterday by The News at her home in Raanana, Israel,
Yurkov-Shkolnik declined to discuss her involvement with Perchikov.
"I can't talk about anything to do with the court case in America,"
she said. "I don't want to talk about it."
Monday, September 17th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN in Herzliya, Israel
and BILL HUTCHINSON in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
The whereabouts of a Russian emigre at the center of a murder
investigation into the deaths of two New York women grew more
mysterious yesterday when his wife insisted she hasn't seen him in
years.
Detectives probing the deaths of Larysa Vasserman, 48, and Tatiana
Korkhova, 54, would like to talk with Eugene Perchikov, who is the
beneficiary in both women's life insurance policies.
But finding Perchikov might take a global dragnet as he jets around
the world from Russia to Israel and the United States.
"We have been separated for two years. He hasn't lived here since
then," Perchikov's wife, Natalia, told the Daily News from her
suburban Tel Aviv home. "We don't live together anymore."
The wife refused to answer questions about her estranged husband,
saying, "I can't tell you anything about him and I don't want to talk
about him."
While Perchikov has not been charged with any crime, he has been
accused in two lawsuits ofmurdering Vasserman and Korkhova.
In both cases, the medical examiner failed to determine the cause of death.
Meanwhile, the Manhattan district attorney's office is pursuing a
fraud investigation.
Perchikov collected more than $1 million on Vasserman's insurance
policy after she was found dead in her Manhattan home in 2004.
He was also named beneficiary on Korkhova's $1 million policy when she
was found dead in her Brooklyn apartment in 2002. Perchikov's Israeli
friend Larisa Yurkov-Shkolnik was listed as a beneficiary on a second
Korkhova insurance policy. Both insurance companies refused to pay.
Contacted yesterday by The News at her home in Raanana, Israel,
Yurkov-Shkolnik declined to discuss her involvement with Perchikov.
"I can't talk about anything to do with the court case in America,"
she said. "I don't want to talk about it."
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