20130129

Iran nuclear refinery tests West's mettle- blows up in their faces- trapping many- including North Korean accomplices

Approximately 200 people trapped underground by fears of radiation 

World Net Daily, the first publication to report on Reza Kahlili's revelations regarding the debilitating explosion at Fordow, today reports: "Despite severe international pressure and sanctions, Iran had refused to halt the 20 percent uranium enrichment process at Fordow. It takes only weeks to further enrich the stock at the 20 percent level to weaponization grade for a nuclear bomb.


Radio host John Batchelor - following on-air conversation with ex-Iranian Revolutionary Guard agent for the CIA, Reza Kahlili, reports on his site and in on-air interview on CNBC's The Kudlow Report:

Reza Kahlili reported Friday 25 Jan that there had been an underground 
explosion at the secret Fordo nuclear enrichment facility in Iran. The details included the closure of a major roadway nearby following the event. The report also mentioned many technicians trapped underground, perhaps more than 200. Reza Kahlili and I then discussed the report earlier in the week of an emergency meeting in Ahmadinejad's office in Tehran. We reported on Wednesday evening 23 January that the meeting in Tehran was in anticipation of a covert operation by Israel or the US at Iranian nuke facilities. But then on Friday we reasoned that perhaps the meeting on Tuesday was to assess the damage of the explosion. We spoke at length at approximately 18:40 of the Friday 25 January podcast.

Am told the explosion was so catastrophic that the underground cavities have collapsed and that the rescuers believe there is radiation contamination throughout the facility, all three levels. Am told that the explosion was timed on Monday morning 21 January Tehran time while a delegation of North Korean military men were visiting the facility. Am told that Israel is anticipating a retaliatory strike along its northern border. The event at Fordo is profound and may well change the calculus of the United Nations Security Council in negotiation with Tehran.
Video from CNBC:

Reza Kahlili continues in WND:  Iranian authorities fear that opening the site from the outside in a rescue mission could possibly release radiation and uranium gas or cause further explosions, which could contaminate thousands of people living nearby, the source said. 
As of Monday, the regime had not come up with any concrete rescue plan, though more than 200 people remain trapped, including the North Koreans, he said. He added that an agreement reached last September between North Korea and Iran called for further collaboration on Iran’s nuclear bomb project and the arming of missiles with nuclear warheads.
Another source in the Intelligence Ministry said that in a meeting 
Monday among top officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it was decided that the international community would be kept in the dark about the disaster because any validation would undermine their current negotiating power with the 5+1 world powers.
It would also undermine the regime from within should Iranians react to its illicit nuclear activity and the international sanctions it caused, which are being felt deeply.


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/new-details-surface-on-iran-nuclear-explosion/#zML2uWpMUVdWwt1w.99

20130120

Israel election special: original video of the candidates in their own words - filmed in Jerusalem

Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday, January 22, 2013. Get to know the candidates on the issues and policies of their parties. Filmed by DemoCast in Jerusalem around the last election in 2009. 

Danny Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister's address 6th Jerusalem Conference, January 2009  

Israeli leaders address policy issues with Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, led by Malcolm Hoenlein- on their convention in Jerusalem 

Jerusalem Conference: Danny Yatom, Martin Kramer, Yuval Steinitz, Arye Eldad 



Tzipi Livni of speaks (English translated) at Jerusalem Conference


Moshe Feiglin: "Returning the Jewish State to the Jewish People"- recorded on visit to America.

20130117

Israeli Amb. Michael Oren fortifies the American Zionism that Obama scapegoats for the opposition to his cabinet nominees

Only days before the U.S. re-inaugurates Obama for a second 4-year term, and a week before Israelis vote to elect a government to replace the ruling one Benjamin Netanyahu formed in 2009, Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren appeared before a packed L.A. theater house to shore-up core support for the bilateral relationship between America and her greatest Mid-East ally, Israel.  Pres. Barack Obama has been criticized for meddling to damage Netanyahu's Likud Beitenu party re-election. 

Over the course of his term, for U.S. government leadership roles which deal with Islamism and Zionism,  Pres. Barack Obama has nominated candidates with strong pro-Islam, pro-Palestine, (and, in some cases, anti-Zionist) worldviews- starting  in 2009 with Chas Freeman (not approved) and Samantha Power (approved).  The issue has been revived with Congressional opposition to Obama's nomination of U.N. Amb. Susan Rice for Secretary of State recently.  The Obama Administration has endeavored to scapegoat supporters of Israel as a disloyal, fifth-column impediment to the approval of his philo-Muslim, cabinet nominees-  Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense,  John Brennan for Director of the C.I.A., and Sen. John Kerry for Secretary of State.

While Obama's Administration works to demonize those who support Israel, Amb. Michael Oren (who has taught history at Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown Universities) appeared in Los Angeles to boost the morale and dedication for support for Israel.  In his 3rd year of making history as Israel's U.S.-based, chief diplomat, the 1979- American-emigrant to Israel reminded the Saban Theater audience about the long-standing commonalities between America's founding fathers and the re-establishment of Jewish Israel, their respective countries' biblical guiding principals, and their common dedication to freedom and democracy.  In this half-hour talk, video-chronicled by DemoCast, Amb. Oren addresses the historic reciprocal support among Americans and Israelis. 



Mr. Richard Sandler, chairman of the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, who along with the Israeli Consulate to the Southwestern U.S., co- sponsored the event, introduces Amb. Oren to a standing ovation from the Saban Theater audience.

Amb. Oren talks about the history of Zionism in the establishment of America - and America's contribution to the establishment of Israel.   Amb. Oren also reminds the audience of Israel's affinities for America- as the only country in the Middle East with statue memorials to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the victims of September 11, 2001 attacks.

Amb. Oren followed his speech with this revealing, wide-ranging interview with TV journalist and anchorman of Good Day L.A., Steve Edwards, of Channel 11- KTTV.



Here is a cameraphone video of the West Point Choir joining the IDF Choir in singing the Israeli National Anthem, Hatikvah ("The Hope") which Amb. Oren referenced in his remarks.



The Israeli newspaper, Makor Rishon, has reported that Amb. Oren has requested to end his tenure in the spring of 2013, when he will have completed 4-years.   The newspaper reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu favors his political adviser, Ron Dermer, to succeed Michael Oren in the U.S.   Mr. Dermer co-authored the book, “The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror’’ along with former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician Natan Sharansky.

20130104

L.A. mayoral candidates debate at temple- original video; Kevin James professes greater objectivity

The five leading Los Angeles mayoral candidates appeared at a "debate" organized by Civic Care at Cong. Beth Jacob in Beverly Hills on Thursday, 3 January.  Civic Care is an organization which educates Jewish voters in the greater L.A. community.

Councilman Eric Garcetti, Controller Wendy Greuel, former assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin James, executive Emanuel Pleitez, and Councilwoman Jan Perry each answered questions presented by David Suissa of the Jewish Journal about their positions on individual issues- and how they are better suited to serve Los Angeles as mayor.
Candidates at 1/3/13 L.A. mayoral debate (l-r) Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel, Kevin James, Emanuel Pleitez, Jan Perry


Reporter, Hillel Aron, clarifies in L.A. Weekly:  Kevin James' Mayoral Dreams Get Legs

"Two finalists will emerge in the March 5 primary from among the four leading candidates, and the math says those two must win at least 25 percent of the vote to shut out the rest of the big field and get on the ballot for the May runoff. Yet only about 20 percent of registered voters in L.A. are Republican. Even if James got most of them, he wouldn't get all. He needs lots of independents and Democrats — a very difficult thing for a newbie to pull off.



But James is moving up in the world, from no shot to dark horse. While his standout debating style has been leaving the politically experienced but often deadly dull top candidates Perry, Garcetti and Greuel in the dust, mayoral debates — ignored by most voters — don't elect anyone. ...

As 2013 begins, James faces a new problem with the media: Journalists will focus on where the top mayoral fundraisers get their fat campaign war chests. Already, media have reported that Greuel and Garcetti are beholden, moneywise, to city government employee unions who wield outsized influence on the City Council's positions."