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DEBKAfile Special Analysis
May 3, 2008, 9:47 PM (GMT+02:00)
What brought the unnamed accuser from America to the door of the Israeli police at this time? According to an Israeli paper, he laid before police investigators strong evidence of a new and grave corruption charge against prime minister Ehud Olmert, the fifth case opened against him thus far – all predating his two-year term as prime minister. The attorney general Menahem Mazuz found the material substantial enough to order the police to question the prime minister under caution within 48 hours, raising one of the many questions on which a court gag order has condemned the public to ignorance. Israeli politicians are in a dither but treading on eggs until they too find out what it is all about, why now and whether Olmert can weather the new scandal. Until Saturday, May 3, the government rested on a slender majority of 67 out of 120 Knesset members, of which Olmert’s Kadima holds 27. Some members of his senior coalition partner, Labor, began demanding his suspension. But Labor’s...
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DEBKAfile Special Report
April 28, 2008, 9:51 AM (GMT+02:00)
Some serious stock-taking in the Afghan capital and US-led NATO command has followed the Taliban’s success in breaking up the Afghan army parade in Kabul Sunday, April 27. Scheduled for the 16th anniversary of the Soviet Army’s defeat and expulsion from Afghanistan, it was staged to showcase the progress made by Hamid Karzai’s regime and its US-led NATO allies in the war against the country’s ousted Taliban rulers and their al Qaeda partners. Afghanistan’s government, tribal and military elite were seated on the platform together with Western dignitaries. Karzai reviewed the smartly-turned out troops from a mobile armored turret. As a 21-gun salute boomed with the last strains of the Afghan anthem, half a dozen Taliban fighters opened up with anti-tank RPGs, mortars, heavy machine guns and Kalashnikov rifles. The dignitaries were hustled to safety, each by his personal bodyguards. The episode had four outstanding features: 1. The bodyguards moved so swiftly to whisk their...
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DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
April 28, 2008, 7:00 PM (GMT+02:00)
Cheney with US troops at Balad air base, Iraq
“Iran has got to be very high on that list,” said a senior aide ahead of the talks US Vice President Dick Cheney will hold during his 10-day tour of the Middle East and Turkey, which began Monday, March 17 in Iraq. Singling out Oman, the aide noted that the US and Oman are co-guardians of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. “The Omanis, like a lot of other people,” he said “are concerned by the escalating tensions between the rest of the world community and Iran and by some of Iran’s activities, particularly in the nuclear field, but outside its borders as well.” According to DEBKAfile, the official was referring to Tehran’s meddling in Iraq, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Our military, Washington and Gulf sources report that US Vice President Dick Cheney is again talking about possible US military action to shut down Iran’s covert nuclear program. Cheney stopped over in Oman Wednesday, Wed. March 19, after two days in Iraq. He will travel next to Saudi Arabia, is due in Jerusalem next...
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DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
April 28, 2008, 9:25 AM (GMT+02:00)
Hamas APC blown up by IDF
Once again, after two previous successes, Hamas proved Saturday, April 19 it was capable of ramming through Israel’s border defenses against the Gaza Strip. This time, Israeli troops acted expeditiously and boldly enough to prevent a major Palestinian breakthrough at the Kerem Shalom crossing and fatal casualties. Thirteen members of the Southern Command’s Bedouin Desert Patrol Battalion were injured, none of them seriously. These troops performed their mission of foiling a Hamas killing-cum-kidnap rampage, although they were not armed with advance warning or the anti-tank weapons for dealing with the Palestinian group’s two armored personnel carriers and two explosives-packed jeeps. Hamas was found to have seriously upgraded its tools of war and achieved a first in the world’s terrorist warfare against a regular army, even overtaking al Qaeda and Taliban. Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, chief of the IDF southern command was unstinting in his praise for the Bedouin Desert Patrol Battalion...
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From DEBKA-Net-Weekly 341 Exclusive
April 21, 2008, 4:02 PM (GMT+02:00)
New Sudanes defense minister
To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE . Iran jumped in with gusto to meet Sudan president Omar al-Bashir’s application for a military package including arms and training of his army. The application was received after the horrendous Darfur tragedy and Khartoum’s backing for Chad rebels finally convinced Sudan’s traditional arms suppliers, Russia, China and Libya, to back away from arming Sudan’s 120,000-strong army. Beijing came last, sensitized to its international image by the approaching Olympic Games in August. Libya has a major beef with Khartoum for backing the rebels fighting to overthrow Chad president Idriss Debby. The pacts were signed on March 8 by Iran’s defense minister Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Majjar and his Sudanese counterpart, Gen. Abdul Rahim Mohammad Hussein, a fighter pilot appointed defense minister last month. For years Tehran has been building up its military ties with Khartoum with an eye on its...
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DEBKAfile Special Report
April 21, 2008, 4:03 PM (GMT+02:00)
German-made Dolphin submarine
Some unusual aspects stand out in the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s four-day official visit to Israel starting Sunday, March 16. One is her arrival with seven of her top ministers, including foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and defense minister Franz Josef Jung. Both will hold bilateral talks with their Israeli counterparts. Three items of business bring the German chancellor to Israel: One: To honor Israel on the 60th anniversary of its founding as a state. She will be the first German chancellor to address the Knesset on Tuesday. Ahead of the event, she said: "Those who keep the Nazi-era history in mind know that the stable and friendly relations of today are one of the miracles of history." Chancellor Merkel will not hold talks with Palestinian officials on this visit. Before setting out, she spoke on the telephone to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to explain this was not a normal working visit but of special significance to German-Israel...
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