Iran Is Not Only Israel's Problem
by Israel HighWay Staff

Since its revolution in 1979, Iran has shown its disregard and hostility for other nations. Through their adherence to a theologically extremist, messianic version of Shia Islam, the Ayatollahs and the Mullahs (Islamic leaders) have threatened much of the immediate region and beyond. [See Background on Shiite and Sunni Islam below.]

Almost immediately upon taking power, the leaders began their support of terrorist groups like the PLO and assistance to rogue regimes like Cuba. Iran's assistance to Hizballah helped fuel the Lebanese civil war for many years. Hizballah is suspected of being behind the terrorist bombings of the Israeli Embassy (1992) and a Jewish community center (1994) in Argentina. Today, Hizballah controls large areas in southern Lebanon, and Iranian commanders there reportedly have their fingers on the controls of thousands of Iranian-supplied missiles and rockets pointed at Israel.

The U.S. State Department labels Iran as "the most active state sponsor of terrorism" in the world. Evidence is mounting that Iran has links to al-Qaeda and may have hosted some of the 9/11 hijackers.

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Florida Teen Dies of Injuries Suffered in Tel Aviv Bombing
by Ashley Fantz

Daniel Wultz died Sunday of wounds suffered in a suicide bombing last month at a fast food outlet in Tel Aviv. Daniel, 16, of Weston, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, recovered enough to tell his Israeli doctors "I want to live. Please help me," according to Avi Zuri of Davie, Fla., who recently returned home from Wultz's Tel Aviv bedside. The teen was fighting a strong tide, however. "They (the doctors) thought he had a 5 percent chance of living," said Zuri, an escort for 44 students from the David Posnack Hebrew Day School in Plantation, Fla., who flew to Israel to pray for their 10th grade classmate.

"I'm in total shock, said Rachel Keller, director of Judaic Studies at Posnack. "We were sure that all our prayers were going to help."

Wultz, who was the 11th fatality in the April 17 attack, was in Tel Aviv with his parents, Tuly and Sheryl Wultz, visiting his grandparents and celebrating Passover. He and his father had stepped out for a snack at The Mayor's Falafel when a 21-year-old suicide bomber named Samir Hammad detonated 30 pounds of explosives at the entrance to the popular eatery.

"Daniel was thrown into my hands, and asked me to pick him up," Tuly Wultz, who suffered a leg injury, told the Jerusalem Post shortly afterward. "But when I saw the extent of his injuries, I laid him down to wait for an ambulance. I held his hand and told him I loved him, and he told me he loved me."

Wultz's extensive abdominal injuries required 10 hours of emergency surgery, according to Dr. Patrick Sorkin of Ichilov Hospital. A seven-day coma followed, along with surgeries to remove his spleen and a kidney. After his blood stopped circulating properly, doctors amputated a portion of one leg.

When Wultz revived from his coma, "At first we saw improvement," Sorkin said. "Afterwards we witnessed a downturn due to a septic condition." Such infections are common with severe abdominal wounds, he added. Ultimately, Wultz died of organ failure. (Mercury News)

The Book of Daniels - A High School Student Says Good-Bye to Daniel Wultz by Daniel I. Bonner

We all lost a great friend on Sunday. True, none of us met Daniel Wultz. Before April 17th, we didn't even know his name. On that day, Sami Salim Hamad forced us to confront the reality of life amidst terrorists, introducing us to Daniel Wultz. As Daniel and his father were celebrating the holiday of Passover and enjoying lunch, Hamad entered Mayor's Falafel and blew himself up, sending Daniel into a coma and irrevocably shattering the lives of so many.

I immediately felt a particular connection to this fellow young man. Far beyond our common age, and that we share - shared - a first name, I admired and respected Daniel Wultz' fervent passion for his Judaism. He valued the education he received at the David Posnack Hebrew Day School, and most importantly, relished every moment he experienced visiting Israel.

Daniel's story in the month following the Tel Aviv attack was nothing short of extraordinary; it reached its inspirational climax when our peer opened his eyes as his rabbi placed tefillin on his arm and head. In a rousing assertion of bravery, 31 students - accustomed to seeing their friend on the basketball court or engrossed in a lesson - embarked on an emotional trip to Israel (pictured) and became an indestructible support system for the Wultz family.

Emily Dickinson once wrote that "we never know how high we are, until we are called to rise, and then if we are true to form, our statues touch the skies." Daniel's classmates demonstrate that Dickinson's words ring truer than ever. Called to rise, they arrived powerful in numbers and emotional strength, showing the world the power of our people's future. Yet, despite a worldwide outpouring of support, Daniel breathed his last breath at a hospital in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

Contemplating this death - brought about only because Daniel was Jewish - one can't help but think about another Jew who lost his life at the hands of terrorists. True, he may have been older, but this Daniel - Daniel Pearl (pictured right) - possessed the same passion and fervor as Daniel Wultz. In I Am Jewish, a compilation of reflections of Pearl's last words, his mother writes that the most important Jewish values which she sought to instill in her own son, are "empowerment to question, zeal of honesty, reverence for learning, and deep commitment to create a better world for the next generation." These were the exact characteristics Daniel Wultz embodied in his short life.

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Daniel Bonner is an Israel HighWay Student Advisor and a sophomore at Yavneh Academy in Dallas, TX. He is Vice President of Public Relations of Students Against Terrorism. He contributed this article to the Texas Jewish Post. (Special to the Israel HighWay)

Fieldston Feels the Winds of Conflict That Have Buffeted the Middle East by Shlomo Greenwald

The Israeli-Arab conflict came to Riverdale's Fieldston School (NY) last week. On one side were two critics of Israel, New York University history professor Tony Judt and Rashid Khalidi. On the other side were about 70 protesters - including Reform, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis - who waved signs proclaiming "This is not a debate. It is Israel bashing."

Caught in the middle were some 300 students at the Fieldston School, who were attending a day-long series about the Middle East. The panels come in the wake of a previously scheduled event in February, which was canceled after protests that a reputed "balanced" event in fact represented only the anti-Israel side of the argument.

Last week's protest was organized by Rabbi Avi Weiss, spiritual leader of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. Rabbi Weiss was invited to participate in a panel entitled "the Role of Religion in the Region" but withdrew after learning that only Mr. Judt and Mr. Khalidi were scheduled to speak at the final assembly. In a letter addressed to Fieldston's principal, John Love, Rabbi Weiss called the final panel "so profoundly tilted against Israel that it renders your entire program a deep disservice to your students in intellectual, educational and moral terms." (New York Sun)

See also Opinion Section below.

Tech Firms Turning to Israel by Jim Landers

Israel has burgeoned into a global capital for high-tech - home to Intel Corp.'s latest microprocessor fabrication factories and Applied Materials Inc.'s advanced silicon work, as well as operations for Microsoft Corp., Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Comverse Technology Inc.

Information technology represents a crucial part of Israel's economy, accounting for $16.2 billion of $122 billion in gross domestic product. The government hopes high-tech will generate $30 billion by 2010.

An emphasis on math and sciences and a global outlook are frequently cited as keys to Israel's success in the high-tech sector, which employs 60,000 Israeli scientists, engineers and technicians.

"The only treasure we have is between the ears of our people, and that means close connections to the outside world," said Daniel Kutner, a senior economics analyst with Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Luckily, today the outside world has opened to us."

Also cited are the nation's vaunted military, known for its expertise in sophisticated electronics, and the kind of ingenuity that comes from coping with life in a small, volatile corner of the Middle East. (Santa Barbara News Press)

Mellow Israel Fest Draws 42,000 in Los Angeles Staff Report

Maybe it was the relatively cool weather on Sunday. Or maybe it was the stepped-up participation of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. But more people than ever attended this year's Israel Independence Day Festival at Woodley Park in Van Nuys. Organizers put the crowd estimate at about 42,000, a couple of thousand more than last year.

It also helped that organizers did outreach to the Russian community. And that they inked Mashina, a band of aging but still rockin' Israeli heartthrobs, which headlined a full day of music. As usual, there were activities for children, a long line of kosher food concessions and booths representing dozens of Jewish and Israeli organizations. (Jewish Journal of Los Angeles)

Rally for Israel - Montreal
Students Voice Enthusiasm for Israel at Rally by David Lazarus

About 2,000 boisterous, festive Jewish day and high school students -and some 1,000 others - crowded into the Butler Building in the Cote St. Luc section of Montreal to cheer Israel on its 58th birthday last week.

For the past four years, the Jewish community has staged a massive pro-Israel march and rally in downtown Montreal on Yom Ha'atzmaut. The event was deliberately scaled down this year to a Jewish area of town. Opinion was divided on the move. Two veterans of the downtown rallies - ?cole Maimonide's Daniel Rossdutscher, 15, and Bialik High School's Katie Cohen Olidenstein, 14 - said they would have preferred the usual venue because it allowed the general public to see the depth of Jewish community support for Israel. "It's safer here," Olidenstein said, "but better downtown, because more people see how much we appreciate Israel."

Gone from the program were the lengthy speeches of the downtown event. In its place were students from Jewish schools standing on stage to sing their hearts out and show their fellowship with and knowledge of specific parts of Israel. "Today is the proof that the Zionist dream is alive and well!" declared Bialik High School student Corey Omer, who served as MC for the event with Sara Villani, also a Bialik student. "Today, Jewish people throughout the Diaspora can come together and rejoice." (Canadian Jewish News)

Celebrating Israel in Brighton Beach, NY by Brittany Karford

Israeli Independence Day is as important in Brighton Beach as it is in Jerusalem - just ask members of the Russian-Jewish community who celebrated it with a series of events last week. "It's one of the most important points in our lives," said Gregory Davidzon, a major voice of the community on Russian radio.

The 58th celebration of Israeli Independence was highlighted last week with a gala concert at the Millennium Theater. Its finale was a performance by an ensemble of Israeli soldiers and the vocal stylings of Eugene Valevich, a Russian star. "To feel this connection, this unity with the state of Israel connects us to individual communities," Valevich said backstage.

According to Ronnie Vinnikov, director of the Jewish Agency for Israel in New York, "We preserve Jewish identity with this triangle - Russia, Israel, America."

The young people performing in the gala said that it made them feel more deeply their multicultural ties. "You know your family on both sides," said Daniel Atonin, 12, a member of the performing troupe Never Too Much. His partner, Anna Antonova, 12, added, "The Jewish culture is alive here."

"We support Israel as our motherland," says Alec Breok Krasay, though his ancestors emigrated from the Soviet Union. "The former Soviet Union is not our motherland." (New York Daily News)

Some 13,000 Walk with Israel in Eight Chicago-Area Locations

Israel Solidarity Day featuring the Walk With Israel drew 12,900 participants in eight Chicago-area neighborhoods. This year's Walk-which covered routes of 5.8 kilometers in each location-so far has raised $164,482.27 for "Supplies for Success," a program to buy basic school supplies, hot meals, academic enrichment programs and after-school activities for roughly 1,200 Ethiopian-Israeli youngsters in JUF's Partnership 2000 region of Israel. (Chicago Jewish Community Online)

Star Trek's Jewish Captain to Visit Israel on Do-Good Mission
by Ezra HaLevi

Jewish actor William Shatner, famous for his role in the Star Trek series, plans to visit Israel in the coming weeks. Shatner, whose parents immigrated to Canada from Ukraine, is visiting the Jewish State as part of the Jewish National Fund's efforts to raise $10 million for therapeutic riding centers across Israel. Shatner enjoys breeding and showing American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses and has a 360-acre horse farm in Kentucky, where he raises the winning horses.

The actor is excited about the construction of centers using riding as therapy across Israel. One such center is located at Kibbutz Grofit. It offers psychological evaluations and therapy designed to meet the needs of physically, emotionally, and mentally handicapped children. The center, staffed by medical professionals and using horses, runs the length of the school year, September through July.

Shatner said he hopes to create cooperation on the project between Israelis and Arabs from both the PA-controlled areas and the Hashemite Kingdom in Jordan. "What better way to create dialogue than by helping handicapped children from different countries feel good about themselves?" Shatner said of the project. (Israel National News)

Israeli Phys Ed Teacher Uses Movement to Break Down Barriers
by Abby Margulies

At an early age, Levi Bar-Gil discovered that being light on his feet was a great way to stay out of schoolyard fights. Today, the Israeli physical education teacher and dance specialist is teaching others to use movement as a means to replace violence.

Using a self-created method called Movement in Time (MIT) Bar-Gil combines popular music and simple communal movements to promote non-violence and to help cultivate an inner desire for peace. MIT is effective with young children, teenagers and adults, according to Bar-Gil, because it allows people to break down barriers - both within themselves and with the people around them. "I have found that when you build an atmosphere, using humor, love, and play, kids will learn much more than if you force them by giving them orders," he said.

He is in the process of starting a program called "Dancing in Kindergarten" which is a project that combines Palestinian and Israeli kindergartners, and will teach them the fundamentals of coexistence through dancing together.

This will not be the first time that Bar-Gil approaches the daunting task of working towards coexistence through dance. As part of his Master's degree, Bar-Gil did a project with Arabs and Israelis called "Breaking the Walls through Art," in which a group of Arab and Israeli fifth grade students did a special arts exhibit that combined paint, drama and dancing. (Israel21c)

Egypt, Morocco, Israel to Collaborate on Dates Market by Gadi Golan

Representatives of Israel, Egypt and Morocco have signed a regional agreement to develop the global date market at a conference on date growing held under the auspices of the Agritech 2006 16th International Agricultural Exhibition in Tel Aviv. The Peres Center for Peace organized the conference.

At the conference, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said three crops were historically associated with the Middle East: the wine grape, which gladdens the human heart; the olive, the symbol for peace; and the date, a symbol of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. (Globes)

American Singles Seek Israeli Mates by Robert Dominguez

Lauren Shore of Queens is looking for a nice, single Jewish guy to share her interests in sports and outdoor fun. So she's going on a 5,700-mile exodus to find him. Shore, a 31-year-old social worker, is flying to Israel hoping to meet the mensch of her dreams - along with 130 other singletons likewise looking to land Mr. or Ms. Right in the Promised Land.

The 10-day trip is a massive group date organized by JDate, the online dating community for Jewish singles.

"Meeting someone is definitely one of my goals for going," said Shore, who has been clicking onto jdate.com for more than eight years. "I've met a lot of guys through JDate and gone out with some for a few months here, a few months there. But they didn't work out," she added. "This is a nice way to meet new people and experience a different way of seeing Israel."

For those unable to find a match among their fellow travelers, at least the dating pool will be widened considerably their first night there - where the American JDaters will be joined by dozens of Israel-based members at a hotel pool party. "I went on dates three times (through) JDate, and none of them really worked out," said Levi Haskell, 30, an information technology specialist from Manhattan. "So I would be willing to start a serious relationship with a local," said Haskell. "Even if I'm not sure I'm ready to move to Israel right now."

[Editor's note: You must be over 18 years old to participate in JDate.] (Detroit Free Press)

Israel Dreams Big, as in Big League Baseball by Murray Chass

People go to Israel for different reasons. Larry Baras goes to Israel to build a professional baseball league. The man has an ambitious plan, considering that baseball and Israel usually are not mentioned in the same sentence. But interest in the sport has been growing, and the country has an amateur baseball league and three softball leagues as well as youth leagues.

Commissioner Bud Selig is also enthusiastic about the idea. "I am 100 percent not only supportive," he said, "but I have been trying to figure out ways to make it happen. It's a subject very near and dear to my heart."

Baras has another goal: getting Israel into the next World Baseball Classic in 2009. Under Israel's law of return, any Jew is eligible to become a citizen of Israel. That means an Israeli team could include Kevin Youkilis, Gabe Kapler and Adam Stern of Boston, David Newhan of Baltimore, Shawn Green of Arizona, Brad Ausmus of Houston, Mike Lieberthal of Philadelphia, Jason Marquis of St. Louis, Scott Schoeneweis of Toronto, John Grabow of Pittsburgh and Scott Feldman of Texas.

Baras will study soccer stadiums in Israel with the thought of converting them for baseball use for what he expects to be a season of about 48 games with six teams, 20 players to a team. (New York Times)

Matisyahu to Open for Sting by Or Barnea

Hassidic rapper Matisyahu (Matthew Miller) will be the opening act for Sting on June 8 at the Ramat Gan Stadium. Matisyahu last appeared in Israel last December, and attempts have been made since then to arrange another appearance for him in Israel. The Orthodox Jewish rapper has been a star for some time in the United States. In March, Matisyahu became the only singer with two albums in the top 40 of the Billboard music charts. (Ynet News)

Israeli Rappers Take on Torah, Politics and "the Situation"
by Gavriel Fiske

Hip-hop is one of the most influential musical-cultural forms of all time - and it's alive and well in Israel, too. Over the last few years, Israeli rappers have ascended to the highest echelons of celebrity, pushing the music into the mainstream. Artists such as Subliminal (pictured), Mook E and Hadag Nahash have become household names.

Unlike in the United States, where party jams about girls, marijuana and fancy cars have become dominant, in Israel even the best-known rappers never stray far from politics, spirituality or the matzav - the Israeli-Palestinian "situation." Tel Aviv-based Subliminal (Kobi Shimoni), whose breakthrough 2001 album "The Light from Zion" went platinum and was the catalyst for making Hebrew-language hip-hop part of the mainstream, has built his image around a proud Zionistic stance and strong political statements. (Jerusalem Post/Jewish News Weekly)

Time in Israel Helps WNBA's Canty Grow as a Player and Person
by W. H. Stickney Jr.

Israel, one of the most historic and important places on the globe, is in one of the most troubled areas on the planet. But Comets point guard Dominique Canty loved the time she spent there the past two years. It's been a time crucial to her development as a basketball player. And it's contributed to her development as a human being.

"It's very exciting," Canty said of Israel on Monday. "A lot of people think it's all about bombings and dust, things like that. Everybody over there speaks English. You've got the clubs. You've got the malls. You've got the restaurants. I mean, you've got everything that America has."

Canty has played in Israel the past two offseasons. She is entering her eighth season in the WNBA, fourth with the Comets, and arrived at training camp Monday shortly after the completion of her season.

During her first tour of Israel in 2004-05, Canty, 5-9, got to play point guard full-time for the first time as a professional. That helped her make a smooth transition as the primary point guard for the Comets last summer.

When she wasn't practicing or playing for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israel League, Canty took time to learn about Israel. Among the highlights were swimming in the Dead Sea and touring Jerusalem.

"Last year, I got to go to Jerusalem, that was exciting in itself," Canty said. "Going to the Old City, seeing all the sights and everything, going to the Dead Sea and floating in six inches of water. It's an experience that I think everybody should have."

This year, Canty received something else in Israel that is crucial to her development. "Actually, we won the (Israel league) championship," she said. "My first championship ever, so that was pretty exciting. We broke a lot of records over there. We were one of those teams that shouldn't even have made it to the playoffs." (Houston Chronicle)

Felix Adler, Call Your Office by Andrew Wolf

If Fieldston school aspires to the best of university life for its students, it has regrettably also adopted some of the worst aspects of campus culture, a politically correct antagonism toward the Jewish state. It is a deliberate attempt on the part of the school to advance the agenda that is poisoning so many college campuses. This is worse, because some of the students to which this brainwashing endeavor is directed are as young as 12. The proposal of replacing democratic Israel and its values that honor life and Western ethics with an Islamist state run by the terrorists of Hamas is a far cry from the moral ideals of Felix Adler. The Fieldston School was founded by Felix Adler - part of his Ethical Culture movement - more than 125 years ago. Had Adler been alive today, I suspect that he would also be as deeply upset with this unbalanced program at his school as are Rabbi Weiss and the other religious leaders in Riverdale. (New York Sun)

How Europe Unwittingly Fuels Bloodshed in Israel by Daniel Hannan

Palestinians are already, by some measure, the largest per capita recipients of overseas aid in the world. Yet the level of violence in Gaza and the West Bank has risen in proportion to the amount of assistance received. When Hamas was elected earlier this year, the EU brushed aside American objections and handed over 120 million euros. Palestinians responded by ransacking EU diplomatic missions and kidnapping European citizens. The EU, as the largest overseas donor to the PA, has created a subsidy-based society, as sulky, lethargic and corrupt as any on earth. But it doesn't have to be this way. The EU, in its well-intentioned but doltish way, is fueling the conflict.

The Jewish state represents the supreme vindication of the national principle: that is, the desire of every people to have their own country. The EU, by contrast, is founded in the belief that national loyalties are artificial, transient, and ultimately discreditable. Simply by existing, Israel challenges the main assumption on which European integration is based. (Telegraph-UK)

Missing in the Media: Religion of "Peace" Demonstration
by Amanda Bier

A demonstration was held recently in London, organized by Muslim groups including the Muslim Council for Britain and the Muslim Parliamentary Association of the UK. The demonstrators gathered outside the Danish Embassy protesting the Danish journalist Flemming Rose's publication of the Mohammed cartoons, and outside the U.S. Embassy in response to reports of U.S. troops abusing the Koran before Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. There are conflicting opinions regarding whether or not the self-described "Religion of Peace Demonstration" was in fact a newsworthy occurrence.

Many are of the opinion that the demonstration was small and did not have any head-turning effects. The pictures taken at the demonstration are not only closely cropped, but they show demonstrators holding signs that were written in the same handwriting. To many, this implies that the demonstration was small and that perhaps many of the demonstrators did not know in advance for what cause they were demonstrating. Major Jewish newspapers did not cover the demonstration, yet I feel it is important to highlight this issue because of the horrifying threats that were made by the demonstrators, as well as the claim that this demonstration instigated other demonstrations around the world.

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Amanda Bier is a senior at Bruriah High School in Elizabeth, NJ. (Special to the Israel HighWay)

Back to Gaza Paradise - Renana Marmelstein Responds to an Israeli TV Show Depicting the Disengagement by Renana Marmelstein

We said nothing when they took our weapons away, we waved the flag of love, we hugged the people who were actually taking our life away and who drove us out of our homes. More than 10,000 people lost their homes and jobs, [and] are only now moving into trailers. [They] continue to bear the scars of expulsion. When the soldiers came with eviction orders, all of us, the entire family, could do nothing but cry.

When Tamara Weiss sang the song that I love so much - "Let it never end, the sand and the sea, the rustling of the water…" - My entire body got the chills, and it wasn't just me.

The moment took me back to my last glance from the car on the way out of paradise. A last glance at the golden sand, the blue water, my house. The moment took me back to the feeling that I simply don't want this to end. Songs and melodies bring me back all at once to the old feelings.

Maybe if all the families in Gush Katif had holed themselves up in their homes for two weeks, maybe, maybe I would still have a home.

Renana Marmelstein, 18, was evicted last year from her home in Ganei Tal, in the Gaza Strip. (Ynet News)

Although Iran's enemies appear be its immediate Sunni Moslem neighbors and Israel, Iran has already looked over the horizon to target its arch-nemesis. Ayatollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of the revolution, coined the phrase "Great Satan" to refer to the United States. The term was extensively used during and after the Iranian revolution, but it continues to be in use in Iranian political circles. Demonstrations in Iran are often accompanied by shouts of Marg bar Amrika! ("Death to America!"). Israel was subsequently dubbed the "Little Satan."

Pay attention to the terminology. Whereas many assume that Iran and Muslim fundamentalists hate America because of its association with Israel, it is actually the other way around. America in the role of the "Great Satan" is the ultimate evil and Israel is a satellite of that evil.

Some observers claim that America was attacked on 9/11 because of American support for Israel, but Iran's leadership shows that Islamic fundamentalism hates America regardless of Israel. "The hatred of Israel is in large part a surrogate for anti-Americanism," explained commentator Norman Podhoretz. "Israel is seen as the spearhead of the American drive for domination over the Middle East. To rid the region of Israel would thus be tantamount to cleansing an area belonging to Islam (Dar-al-Islam) of the blasphemous political, social, and cultural influences emanating from a barbaric and murderous force. But the force, so to speak, is with America, of which Israel is merely an instrument," Podhoretz noted.

In surveying the comments broadcast from Iran in recent months, most of the focus has been placed on Iranian President Ahmadinejad's statements about Israel and the Holocaust. What have been largely missed are the statements threatening other nations, as well. Dr. Hassan Abbasi, head of the Center for Doctrinal Strategic Studies in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, said there were thousands of martyrs in Iran ready to strike Americans and the British, saying "Britain's demise is on our agenda."

Recently, at the International Atomic Energy Agency's meeting in Vienna to discuss Iran's refusal to stop its nuclear program, Iran warned the U.S. about bringing Iran before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. "The United States has the power to cause harm and pain, but the United States is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll," the statement said.

The Nature of the Iranian Threat

So what is the threat that Iran poses? Apart from funding terrorism and threatening suicide bombing, the largest worry for the world today is an Iran equipped with nuclear weapons. While other nations in the world possess nuclear weapons, only one has actually openly threatened to use them against another sovereign state. As early as 2001, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said "If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel [editor's note: allegedly] possesses now, then the imperialists' strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything. However, it will only harm the Islamic world. It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality." In other words, the ayatollah warns, one atomic bomb can destroy all of Israel, but one bomb against the Islamic world will have little impact.

The most recent pronouncements are even more radical and threatening. At last year's "The World without Zionism" conference, Ahmadinejad said, "As the Imam [the late Ayatollah Khomeini] said, 'Israel must be wiped off the map'… The Islamic world will not let its historic enemy live in its heartland."

There are many assessments of when Iran will acquire a nuclear bomb. The U.S. State Department suggests it will be within the next 5-10 years. Others, especially in Israel, fear it could be sooner. The international community is divided on its reaction to these developments. While some, especially in Europe and the Arab world, wish to see quiet diplomacy and even inducements to Iran to cease its nuclear enrichment, others, led by the U.S. and Britain, are exploring the possible application of sanctions. In the words of U.S. President Bush, "all options are on the table," including military measures.

Iranian Fundamentalism

Last week, President Ahmadinejad sent a letter to President Bush essentially calling on Bush, as the leader of his nation,to adopt Islam. In a practice that has a long history, an Islamic leader writes to a leader of a powerful nation and calls on him to accept Islam as the only alternative. Writing in the Persian Journal last week, a former Iranian explained that the tradition in Islam of writing missives to heads of state was established by Mohammed, who sent letters to the king of Iran and the emperor of Rome. "They did not take the letters as serious and they paid dearly for this inattention."

Professor Fouad Ajami, himself a Lebanese-born Shiite, ominously warned this week, "Ahmadinejad's primitiveness seems... true to Iran's brutal theocratic enterprise.... He is a faithful son of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He hails from the depth of Iranian society; he had his induction into politics through the Basij, a volunteer underclass militia - young foot soldiers who were fed on a diet of 'martyrdom' and sacrifice. What are we to make of Ahmadinejad's millenarianism - the belief he expressed in the return of the Hidden Imam [an Islamic messiah figure], that apocalyptic moment in history when the wicked are punished and the lowly inherit the Earth? A darkness has settled upon Iran. Ahmadinejad and the clerical custodians of the state appear to have convinced themselves that history is on their side, that America is a 'wounded beast' in Iraq."

Blind Faith and Deadly Missiles

Iran has sought to show the world that it is serious about its intentions. Iran purchased ground-to-ground missiles from North Korea with a range of 1550 miles, the head of the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Branch, Major General Amos Yadlin said last month. This means that Iran now has parts of Europe and the East in range; this is a telling fact for a nation that already possessed weapons able to attack Israel and its immediate neighbors.

Iran has also been successfully testing some of its own weapons production. Recently, Iran tested its Shihab-3 ground-to-ground missiles, which could easily reach Israel. The last Shihab missile test resulted in a Bush administration statement expressing "serious concerns" about the Iranian missile project, which is a "threat to the region and U.S. interests."

With Iran mixing a dangerous cocktail of radical fundamentalism, support for terrorism, large oil exports to an oil-starved world, and the near-completion of nuclear weapons, the world faces a threat on the scale of World War Two's battle for world domination. The leaders of Iran have shown few measures of pragmatism in the past and are holding much of the world hostage with their threats. The recent letter to Bush proves that Iran's goals are more than strategic or saber-rattling. What is at stake could be the prevention of World War Three or a nuclear war with millions of lives lost. As recently stated by Senator John McCain, "There is only one thing worse than military action [against Iran], and that is a nuclear-armed Iran." (The Israel HighWay)

Additional reading

Decades of Deception - Iran's Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons, AIPAC

Ahmadinejad's Demons, by Matthias Küntzel, The New Republic

Iran's (Costly) War on America, by Amir Taheri, New York Post

Background: Sunnis and Shiites - Two Schools of Islam Frequently in Conflict by Israel HighWay Staff

The Moslem world is divided into two main branches. Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam, with an estimated 75 percent of the world's Muslims. Shia Islam, also called Shiite Islam, is the second largest denomination, with 25 percent. Iran is predominately Shiite; Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has a large Shiite minority; Iraq is violently split between Shiite and Sunni communities; Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinians are Sunni. While the Sunnis and Shiites are often in conflict around the Moslem world, they cooperate when it comes to their terrorist war against American interests and Israel. Among the terrorist groups, al-Qaeda is Sunni, Hizballah is Shiite and Hamas is Sunni. Al-Qaeda charges that Sunni regimes, such as Saudi Arabia, have corrupted Islam.

The division between the Shiites and Sunnis goes back 1400 years. Shiite Muslims believe that Muhammad's family (the Imams) were the best source of knowledge about the Koran and Islam and the most trusted carriers and protectors of Muhammad's Sunnah (traditions). Muhammad's cousin, Ali, was his son-in-law and father of his only descendants. After Muhammad's passing, Ali, supported by his family and followers, claimed religious and political authority. Shiites believe that by Muhammad's direct order he appointed Ali successor on many occasions, and that to follow Muhammad's true Sunnah one must support Ali's successorship.

Shiites refuse to accept the rule of the initial three Sunni caliphs who proclaimed leadership after Muhammad's passing, believing them illegitimate and inferior to Muhammad's family in all respects. Sunni Muslims give religious allegiance to the caliphs. The Sunnis believe that Muhammad did not choose a successor, and that the caliphs were elected according to Muhammad's instruction of consultation (Shura). Thus, they reject what they called dynastic rights to religious authority that Shiites attribute to Muhammad's family.

The fanatic Iranian President Ahmadinejad believes that a messianic Imam will rule the world. Al-Qaeda's Bin Laden seeks the restoration of the caliphate from China to Spain. (Based on Wikipedia)