Middle East Update

by Hana Julian Ten Iranian Jewish families - 40 Iranian Jews in all — began new lives Tuesday night December 25, when they came home to Israel. “How they were brought to Israel and information about who they are is classified information,” Jewish Agency spokesman Michael Jankelovitch said in an exclusive interview with Israel National [...]

In a side meeting to the Annapolis conference this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov informed Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that Russia has decided to supply the nuclear fuel rods needed to activate Iran’s power station at Bushehr.

Rory McCarthy (Guardian-UK)There remains a Jewish community in Iran of around 25,000 people. Yet large numbers have left and settled across the world, particularly in Los Angeles, and this year around 150 are expected to head to Israel.

“In the past year there has been a major increase in immigration from Iran,” says Yossi Shraga, [...]

(National Council of Resistance of Iran-UK)
On Tuesday November 12, a series of explosions rocked the Parchin military complex, 30 km. south of Tehran, where missiles, including cruise missiles, are manufactured. Several military personnel at the site were injured. The explosions reportedly started in the missile industries section of [...]

Israel is discreetly gearing up for a possible nuclear attack from Iran although publicly it is declaring there is no way for Iran to pose an “existential threat,” according to political and defense officials on Thursday November 15. They added that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered cabinet authorities to write up solutions on [...]

Lieberman: Findings ‘unacceptable’
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei issued his long anticipated report on the status of Iran’s nuclear program on Thursday November 15.

Gesture won’t stave off new sanctions
After years of delaying tactics, Iran has handed over to the UN nuclear agency blueprints showing how to shape uranium metal into atomic warheads, diplomats said Tuesday, in an apparent concession meant to stave off new UN sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been seeking possession of the blueprints [...]

David Brooks
This peace process is unlike any other. It’s not really about Israel and the Palestinians; it’s about Iran. There is a feeling among Arab and Israeli leaders that an Iran-Syria-Hizbullah-Hamas alliance is on the march and that the nations that resist that alliance are in retreat.

Military intelligence updates Knesset on threats
In a briefing on threats to Israel presented to the Knesset’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday November 6, IDF Brig. Gen. Yossi Baidatz, head of research at Military Intelligence, warned that Iran’s current regime is not in danger of collapsing and could go nuclear by [...]

The UN Security Council’s five permanent members agreed to proceed towards a third set of sanctions on Iran, contingent on how Iran responds to crucial questions regarding its nuclear program, the British Foreign Office said on Friday November 2.