Karadi criticizes media

This evening, Chief of Israeli police, Moshe Karadi, criticized what he terms as the hypocritical festival of media criticism of the police.

Karadi is refering to how the media is criticizing the way policemen exhibited serial-rapist, Benny Sela, when the latter was captured last Friday after being at large for two weeks following his escape from captivity.

Sela was displayed before video cameras in live broadcast as he was held by a few policemen, handcuffed and obviously in pain. Sela was captured in the northern town of Naharia. One particular moment showed how policemen dragged Sela's arms down from his face so that the camerapersons would have a clear view of him. Sela protests that he had been beaten repeatedly by the police (a complaint that today has been informally substantiated by an anonymous witness on one of Israel's news programs).

Karadi acknowlegded that some of the images were unpleasant but stated that the media itself requested to be present at the Naharia station and the media displayed those images on live television, so he feels that criticism from that direction is unfair.

Attack on the Palestinian Minister of the Interior

Shots were fired today in Gaza on the vehicle in which Saeed Siam, the Palestinian Minister of the Interior who emerged unscathed. Siam is of the Hamas organization.

The shooters are reported to belong to or affiliated to the Fatah organization.

Hamas and Fatah are rivals for control of the Palestinian street and tensions have risen between the two groups as talks aimed at establishing a national unity government compounded by the two groups floundered lately.

The Palestinian Authority's president, Abu Mazen, of the Fatah, has come under great pressure from people of his own organization who call upon him to initiate another election. The Palestinian parliament is comprised mostly of representatives of Hamas which holds a solid majority as well as control of the government.

Hundreds of thousands in Beirut mass protest

Hundreds of thousands of pro-Hezbollah protesters converged today in Beirut's two main plazas in a massive demonstration against the government of Fouad Siniora. This is the second mass demonstration held by Hezbollah in the last few weeks.

Hezbollah is calling for the resignation of Fouad Siniora as the latter rejected their demand to increase their number of cabinet seats to a third of the total, giving them virtual veto power. Many fear that further steps will betaken against the government and violence may soon ensue.

Hezbollah is expected to declare further steps which will be taken against the government including road blockades and increasing mass protests.

Hezbollah is supported by Syria and Iran and many in the West fear that it has begun a move to take over Lebanon.

Peres addresses the Saban Forum

Former Israeli PM and minister, Shimon Peres, addressed Saban Forum today in Washington DC. Peres stated that the concept of peace in return for territories does not hold when dealing with Hamas whose goal is to establish an Islamic radical state over all of Israel. For Hamas, Peres argued, the destruction of Israel is more important than the establishment of a Palestinian state.

On the subject of Iran, Peres maintained that its apparent strength stems from the weakness of the international community and the disunity it presents when dealing with the rogue nation.

Regarding Syria Peres said that Israel's northern neighbour wants Israel to open doors for her in Washington and is not interested in a true negotiation. Syria hosts several headquarters of known terrorist organization such as Hamas and sends arms to Hezbollah.

A convention on the Holocaust in Teheran

A convention which will address the so called question of whether there was a Jewish Holocaust will begin in Teheran on Monday. Iran's President,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made several remarks regarding what he believes as the historic lie of the death of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis during World War II. Iran attacks the Holocaust as it argues that it is the reason why Israel was established in the first place and why it is an illegitimate regime. Iran finances several anti-Jewish scholars who claim that the Holocaust was a lie. Iran has held several happenings on the subject including a caricature contest.
Several countries have denounced the Iranian convention as disgraceful.
This comes as Iran continues it progress towards a viable nuclear program and supports terrorist groups in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories.