Quote of the day:
"The first thing needed to make peace is to respect the other side, to see the other side in human terms, as an enemy but not as demonic.''
--Uri Avnery, the 90-year-old peace activist and former politician, talks about whether Israel has what it takes to exist in the future.
- Will Israel still exist 90 years from now? Should it? (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) Uri Avnery has lived a life as forward-thinking peace activist. At age 90, he may still be ahead of his time, and also right, both about Israel's future and the present.
- Israeli attacks on Palestinian olive groves kept top secret by state - Olive orchards are being destroyed in the West Bank, but defense and media officials have agreed yet again that everything should be done to respect the public's right not to know. (Haaretz+)
- Yeshiva students from abroad will receive funds in exchange for studying Zionism - In coalition agreement, Yesh Atid was adamant to completely cancel the high payments. But Yesh Atid leader Lapid and Hatnua MK Stern decided: Ultra-Orthodox who arrive in Israel will be funded on condition that they visit IDF bases and battle sites. (Maariv, p. 18)
- Assad's 'spy device' - weather meter from Beit Dagan - Syrian rebels boast they locate an ‘Israeli bug’ which parachuted via Syrian army airplane, ‘a collaborator of Zionists.’ What they do not know yet is that Israel's Meteorological Service would be happy to get it back. How did it get there? (Ynet)
- Paula Abdul to mark bat mitzvah in Israel - American singer-dancer, 51, who says she always felt proud being Jewish, arrives in Holy Land for first time, as a guest of the Tourism Ministry. Visit to include coming of age ceremony at Western Wall, meeting with President Peres. (Haaretz and Ynet)
- Ex-U.K. FM denies anti-Semitic remarks on 'Jewish money' - Jack Straw says he has always 'strongly supported' Israel 'and its right to live in peace and security.' (Haaretz+)
- Jewish support for U.S. Iran strike drops, AJC poll shows - Smaller drop recorded for an Israeli attack in case diplomacy fails to halt nuclear program. (JTA, Haaretz)
- Netanyahu to Kerry: Let Iran buy fuel rods from third nation - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry: Iran must not be allowed to enrich uranium. Senior Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi: Iran will never agree to shut down nuclear facility at Fordo. (Israel Hayom)
- Israel army intel chief: Iran undergoing 'significant, strategic' changes - Yet despite reformist shift, Tehran still seeks 'nuclear threshold' capacity, IDF position paper states. Netanyahu received paper a few days before he left for US in late September. But both in his UN address and in other speeches, interviews and statements that he gave in the following days, he made almost no reference to the internal changes happening in Iran, and when he did mention them, he downplayed their importance. (Haaretz+)
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