Madush, Udayanga, Mahendran not on INTERPOL ‘Red Notice’

:13 PM MAR 15 2019

The International Police (INTERPOL) have placed 14 Sri Lankans on the ‘Red Notice’ but, the country’s most wanted underworld operative, known as Makandure Madush, is not on that list.

The Sri Lankan Authorities have repeatedly requested the INTERPOL to assist in the investigations towards the arrest of Madush, who is wanted in the country for high profile criminal activities, including drug trafficking, murder, armed robbery, money laundering, and fraud, the intimidation of witnesses in pending Court cases and for involvement in the alleged assassination plot of Very Very Important Persons.

Madush is currently in remand prison in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) along with several accomplices, after he was arrested for the alleged use of narcotic substances at a hotel party in Dubai on 4 February.

Earlier, Interpol assistance was also sought to trace Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador to Russia and the Ukraine Udayanga Weeratunga, who is currently residing in the UAE, but there has been zero response. Weeratunga is a person of interest in a Police investigation on the alleged wrongful procurement of military aircraft for the Sri Lankan Air Force also known as the ‘MiG Deal’ in 2006. Weeratunga is currently absconding despite several Court warrants for his immediate arrest.

Sri Lanka also sought an Interpol ‘Red Notice’ on former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran for his alleged role in the Central Bank Treasury Bond scam. He remains a fugitive and is currently residing in Singapore.

However, placed on the Interpol ‘Red Notice’ are four others wanted by the Authorities in Sri Lanka. They include Jagamuni Sujeewa alias Kosgoda Sujee, Viknarasa Selvanthan (31), Antony Emil Luxmi Kanthan (42) and Munisamy Tharmaseelan (46).

Meanwhile, 10 more Sri Lankans have been issued red notices and they are wanted by the Authorities in India, Romania, Canada and Cyprus.

A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

Explosives weighing 250 kg found

High-power explosives weighing approximately 250 kg were taken into police custody from Pahala Andarawewa in Hambanthota today.

15 March 2019

Sri Lankan women ever open to harassment – Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake

Nirmali Samaratunga presenting a token to Mayor Rosy Senanayke. Pic by Dharamasena Welipitiya

By Steve A. Morrell-March 14, 2019, 8:38 pm 

Sri Lanka's women are in a constant limbo of uncertainty and open to unfettered harassment both in public and even in their homes, Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake, Chief Guest and keynote speaker at the recent National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka ( NCCSL) International Women’s Day celebrations said.

In a ‘no – holds – barred’ speech to a mixed audience of activists and the press, she said even in their homes domestic violence is now at ‘horrendous’ levels so much so that in Sri Lanka to be a woman meant that such persons were reduced to the level of second class citizens. Apart from domestic violence, in public transport, buses, trains, for example, women are constantly intimidated and face sexual harassment.

The mayor added - 'According to complaints received, some 90 percent of women are constantly harassed while traveling in public transport. It was also not safe traveling in three wheelers. Single women traveling from point A to B were objects of intimidation. Unfortunately, low income groups who are forced to travel in such transport are most exposed to such harassment.

'If complaints are made to the police, the latter treat all such complaints as a joke, and no action is taken against men who indulge in such harassment.

'The biggest hindrance in this country is to be a woman. This disadvantage is so acute that in most walks of life women are always considered inferior and not adequately recognized.

'This situation is unacceptable. Particularly considering that 80 percent of those who pass out of universities are women.

'At the Colombo Municipal Council when women are recommended by me to hold key positions, quite often, I have to face severe criticism. The position was that men should be appointed. But on my insistence, the position now is that by 2020, 50 percent of key positions at the Colombo Municipality will be occupied by women.

'In most other countries currently, women are recognized and given equal status when it comes to work and appointments. This position does not exist in Sri Lanka. The World Bank and UNFPA have recognized the importance of female recognition and their tangible contribution to most areas of endeavour.

'The 2019 budget was a step in the right direction. It provides for 25 percent of positions in the public sector to be occupied by women.'

Also present at the head table at the event was the only woman to hold the position of president NCCSL so far, Ms. Nirmali Samaratunga. She held office from 2005 to 2007. This is an outstanding achievement. Since she relinquished office the NCCSL is yet to find a female to follow her to lead the NCCSL.

Nirmali Samaratunga presented a token of appreciation to Mayor Rosy Senanayake.

President NCCSL Asela de Livera said a woman’s wing was established in the NCCSL, led by Ms. Renuka Jayamanna.

Guest speakers included Dr. Dhananja Ariyawansa, Consultant Dermatologist, Sri Jayawardenapura General Hospital and Dr. Champa Nelson of the Apeksha Women’s Health Foundation.

Renuka Jayamanna delivered the vote of thanks.

Feeling the heat... That’s the gift from climate change! Combating it is in your hands!

Left: Farmers in drought-hit Giribawa village in Kurunegala District. Right: Flood victims in Molkawa, Kalutara District. The 2019 Long-Term Climate Risk Index, published by Germanwatch, identifies Sri Lanka as the second-most vulnerable nation for climate change, coming behind just Puerto Rico. This report further presents the disastrous floods and landslides Sri Lanka experienced during 2016 and 2017, resulting in hundreds of tragic casualties as examples of the disastrous impact of climate change in Sri Lanka – Pix by Shehan Gunasekara

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By Manasee Weeratunga-Thursday, 14 March 2019

It’s the prosperous season of the island with new year festivities beckoning around the corner. However, obviously all of us have been feeling the heat lately, in such an intense manner. Many have questioned what the reasons could be for this unbearable heat. Surely you must have heard an elderly person remark gravely, “We never experienced such a heat in our time.”

Many such remarks have logic and truth behind them although most of us are unaware of it. It is true that it has never been this hot in our lifetime because Earth has been passing its hottest years on record for the past five years, each year recording higher temperatures than the previous.

What exactly is the science behind this intense heat we feel? Is it really the end of the world, predicted in various beliefs, when seven suns are supposed to shine on Earth? Science has yet to discover when that is going to happen, or if it is going to happen at all. However, science has another logical explanation which can be summed up into one commonly heard term: Climate change.

Climate change can be defined simply as changes occurring in global climatic parameters such as temperature and rainfall as a result of global increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels due to increased consumption of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is the major resultant of fossil fuel burning and carbon dioxide thus released to the atmosphere will result in enhanced greenhouse effect. Enhanced greenhouse effect yields to increased retention of heat within the atmosphere making the Earth’s surface warmer. There we find the key to uncovering the root of intense heat we are feeling.

Although this has been a fact revealed by scientists with tons of facts and figures proving it, the ugly truth of it has not seemed to hit the humankind for so long. Bramble Cay melomys coming to the limelight as the first mammal to go extinct due to climate change and the Great Barrier Reef, the largest living structure in the world, making headlines by being declared dead due to coral bleaching resulting from climate change bear evidence for this.

All these examples for climate change may still feel so distant to you because they happen in continents far away, to animals you’ve never heard of before. As award-winning Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio mentioned “...humankind looked at climate change in that same way: as if it were fiction, happening to someone else’s planet, as if pretending the climate change wasn’t real would somehow make it go away.”

Therefore, extinction of the Bramble Cay melomys and many other species attributed to climate change may not call us Sri Lankans to action against climate change. Nevertheless, would it be an eye-opener if I pointed out that Sri Lanka is the second most vulnerable country for climate change?

The 2019 Long-Term Climate Risk Index, published by Germanwatch, identifies Sri Lanka as the second-most vulnerable nation for climate change, coming behind just Puerto Rico. This report further presents the disastrous floods and landslides Sri Lanka experienced during 2016 and 2017, resulting in hundreds of tragic casualties as examples of the disastrous impact of climate change in Sri Lanka.

Does this ugly revelation of Sri Lanka hitting the ranks on such a list and being the only South Asian country among the top ranks on that list hit you as a fact that we can be proud as a nation? Isn’t this enough proof for you to stand up against climate change before Sri Lanka becomes a victim of climate change and is wiped out from the map of South Asia? You will be surprised how one small act in your day-to-day lives will make an unending ripple of action against climate change.


1. Make the most of the amount of sunshine we are blessed with

Having ample sunshine year-round is a blessing that we do not appreciate enough, when comparing the status of some countries such regions such as Alaska, Siberia and Scandinavia where sunshine is available for just two to three months a year.

Utilising solar power for fulfilling the daily household energy requirement is a key step that we as Sri Lankans can take against climate change. Installation of solar power cells to the household can fulfil the energy requirement of households, especially in Colombo and suburbs, which is will make a significant contribution towards reduction of power generation with burning of fossil fuels.

Although one might argue that installation of solar cells for a household requires a capital of a fortune, the benefits that solar generated electricity will bring you will convince you that it is an investment. To start with, solar generated electricity will be much slimmer on the pocket than the thumping bills of fossil fuel generated electricity. Secondly, the Electricity Board of Sri Lanka has loan schemes which would allow the payment of the cost of solar cell installation in monthly instalments.

Giving loans at subsidiary rates for purchasing solar cells is a promising avenue for bankers of Sri Lanka, especially for those who wish to improve the green practices of the bank. Moreover, if the consumer produces solar power from his household grid in excess he can channel it to the National Grid where the Electricity Board will pay the consumer for his contribution. Using an electric car would be the icing on the cake because in that case, you would be paying Rs. 0 for fuel as well as electricity while contributing to saving the planet from climate change.


2. Garbage is your friend in disguise

Use of household garbage for generation of domestic energy is an answer for multiple environmental questions which have been haunting Sri Lanka for decades. Many city residents as well as municipalities in Sri Lanka are plagued with the problem of lack of a proper method of garbage disposal, while malpractices in garbage disposal resulted in some tragedies resulted from collapse of garbage dumps and outbreak of pandemics like dengue during the last few years. However, it is fair to conclude that Sri Lanka has been suffering from all these with a solution available right at the doorstep.

Generation of bio-energy from kitchens will require just a simple Google search which would give you comprehensive step-by-step directions of a DIY project of generation of bio-energy at your doorstep. It will not only make you a warrior fighting for the planet’s survival but will also furnish you with your own household power source that relieves you of heavy bills of fossil fuel generated energy and rising prices of LP gas. As a starter-pack I would like to hint you that you would just need a barrel, some tubing and kitchen waste!


3. Don’t use it unless you really need it!

Burning lights, rotating fans and switched-on air conditioners in empty rooms are common sights in Sri Lanka, especially in public places. Moreover, there is an increasing trend in installation of air conditioners in houses that are being built lately in Sri Lanka, giving rise to a generation of Sri Lankans who find it unable to survive without air conditioners.

Using a fossil fuel operated vehicle even to run to the next-door grocery shop is another similar emerging trend. Unfortunately, we are not in an era where we could afford such luxuries at the cost of our living space. The over-generous use of such luxuries has brought us to the time where we have to draw the line at deciding whether or not we really and truly need to keep the air-conditioner going 24/7.

Furthermore, remaining behind in a lecture hall or office room and switching off the fans and lights on your way out would be enough for you to play your part in the fight against climate change. Most importantly, showing your children to do that or taking them along as you walk or cycle to the grocery shop instead of taking a ride on your motor-bike will do good for your health and also for your conscience since you are doing your part in making Earth a better place for the future generation.


4. Make your living-room your arena for saving the planet

Sri Lanka is one of the few countries blessed with a large forest cover, which cradles a significant portion of the Earth’s biodiversity. However, deforestation for timber harvesting purposes is a threat that has been looming over these vast forest canopies of Sri Lanka for decades.

Many Sri Lankans show a preference towards adorning their living rooms and bedrooms with furniture carved from exquisite timber species like Ceylon ebony, satin wood, teak and jak. However, nowadays positive progress can be observed in items made from renewable woods such as treated rubber becoming trending items in the market.

Credit can be given to timber manufacturers and furnishers for producing furniture with renewable timber while maintaining the quality and finish in line with that made of forest wood. Therefore, opting for renewable wood furniture instead of forest wood furniture will allow you to brag to your visitors, not about having a couch made of exquisite forest wood, but of being an ambassador in the fight against climate change.


5. Grow and grow and grow

Although Sri Lanka is blessed with a vast extent of forest cover, deforestation due to logging is not the only threat it faces. Although developed nations with a high industrial capacity contribute most towards global carbon emissions, developing nations are more affected by them. The reason for that is developing nations such as Sri Lanka possessing the natural resources such as rainforests, coral reefs and fisheries stocks that are harmed by carbon emissions.

This results in the very pathetic plight of the group of people who least contribute to climate change having to pay the toll for it most, because in most developing nations these natural resources have a large contribution to the income of its people. Even with the situation being so, we are not in a position to go waging war against President Trump, asking to reduce carbon emissions to reduce the risk of climate change on Sri Lanka.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of things that we Sri Lankans can do for that just by being in our home gardens. In a nutshell, growing as much as you can in whatever the space you have is the solution. In that way you will not only get be the owner of a beautiful garden which will give you toxic-free food but will also contribute to increase the forest cover of the country. Increased forest cover enables the Government to claim carbon benefits from high-carbon-emitting countries under schemes such as UNREDD.

Furthermore, it is another positive trend to observe that Sri Lankan researchers are developing an app which allows you to enter the amount you contribute for carbon cleaning in the atmosphere with the tree growth you have and thus claim financial benefits for it at individual level.

[The writer is a research intern of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan, and holds a B.Sc. (Special) in Zoology from University of Kelaniya.]

Four Palestinians die by Israeli fire

Relatives of Muhammad Abd al-Fattah Shahin mourn during the 23-year-old’s funeral in Salfit on 13 March after he was shot and killed by Israeli forces the previous day.

 Shadi Jarar’ahAPA images

Maureen Clare Murphy -13 March 2019

Israel’s prime minister has admitted that the isolation of Gaza – under land, air and sea blockade since 2007 – is intended to undermine the establishment of a Palestinian state.

During a meeting of his Likud faction on Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu said that the transfer of Qatari funds to Gaza is “part of a broader strategy to keep Hamas and the Palestinian Authority separate,” as The Jerusalem Post stated.

Quoting a source paraphrasing Netanyahu, the Post added, “ ‘whoever is against a Palestinian state should be for’ transferring the funds to Gaza, because maintaining a separation between the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza helps prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

In case you (still) thought Gaza's isolation was about legitimate security needs, Bibi reveals more truths this week: Maintaining a separation between the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza helps prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. https://t.co/0NvCHqRSxt

— Tania Hary (@taniahary) 12 March 2019

Around 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during mass demonstrations against the siege on Gaza since the launch of the Great March of Return on 30 March last year.

Protesters are also demanding that Palestinian refugees – two-thirds of Gaza’s population of two million are registered refugees – be allowed to exercise their right to return to lands on the other side of the boundary with Israel.

Palestinians die from Gaza protest injuries

Since last Friday’s weekly Great March of Return protests, two Palestinians died from injuries sustained during demonstrations.

Bassam Sami Uthman Safi, 22, died on Sunday after being hit in the head with a tear gas canister on 22 February.

Safi is the fourth Palestinian in Gaza to be killed after being struck by a tear gas canister so far this year.

Musa Muhammad Musa, 23, died on Monday from injuries sustained during protests on 1 March.

“If someone thinks this blood was spilled in vain, then he is seriously mistaken,” an unnamed Hamas official recently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The paper added that Israeli officials said that measures to ease the dire situation in Gaza “would be interpreted as a capitulation, which could hurt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects in the upcoming election.”

Meanwhile, Israeli intelligence and military officials reportedly believe the Palestinian Authority could collapse in as few as two months after Israel withheld some $138 million in Palestinian tax revenue.

The Palestinian Authority has refused to accept the reduced tax transfer in protest, delaying payment of civil servants’ salaries.

An Israeli law passed last year allows the state to deduct payments made to Palestinian prisoners and their families from Palestinian Authority tax revenue, which Israel controls.

The timing of the sanctions, along with other increased repressive measures, is seen as motivated by electionsin the country in early April.

Withholding tax revenue “is tantamount to collective punishment prohibited under international law,” according to the Palestinian human rights group Al Mezan.

The tax revenue sanctions come after the US cut half a billion dollars in aid to Palestinians last year, and Congress enacted a law suspending funding to the PA until it terminates payments to the families of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and those of slain alleged attackers.

“The US government has played a major role in developing the capacity of our hospitals,” Walid Nammour, director of the Augusta Victoria hospital in Jerusalem, where women living in Gaza are treated for cancer, told media.

Video:
At the start, see an iIsraeli using his foot to move a knife on the ground by the door: the knife pic is itself alone conclusive, for many Israelis, in proving Shweiki's intention to commit an attack [no Israeli was injured] + justifying his death. pic.twitter.com/uAneaSrnaF

— Marian Houk (@Marianhouk) 13 March 2019

“This was the case until our great man Trump came. They’re using sick children’s lives, human lives to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority, and this is inhumane, illegal and unacceptable,” he added.

Read More

Israel strikes back at Gaza Strip following missile attacks

Aircraft bomb Hamas facilities in Gaza hours after two rockets were launched towards Tel Aviv

Israel launches strikes on Gaza after two rockets triggered Tel Aviv missile defence sirens (Reuters)

By MEE staff-14 March 2019 

Israeli military aircraft bombed Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip just hours after two rockets were launched from the Palestinian enclave towards Tel Aviv in the first such attack since a 2014 war.

There was no immediate word of casualties from the air strikes that hit six buildings used by Hamas's security forces and which had been evacuated as a precaution, Reuters reported.

Witnesses told the news agency that powerful explosions from the air strikes rocked buildings in Gaza and lit up the skies over targeted sites.

The Israeli military said it was targeting "terror sites" in Gaza, and that rocket sirens had been sounded in Israeli communities near the Gaza border.

Earlier on Thursday evening , the two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards central Israel, the Israeli army said.

The army said neither of the rockets were intercepted by the country's missile defense system (Iron Dome). Still "no damage or injuries were reported," it added in a statement to reporters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rockets.

Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, citing an unidentified Israeli official, said the Palestinian faction Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, did not fire the rockets.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Gaza faction, also denied being involved in the incident, Reuters reported.

Israel says Hamas responsible

Despite not knowing who fired the rockets, Israel blamed Hamas.

"We are still checking which group did the firing. We don't know who carried it out," Israel's chief military spokesman, Brigadier-General Ronen Manelis, told Israel Radio, as quoted by Reuters.

'The Hamas organisation is the main organisation in the [Gaza] Strip. It is responsible'

- Ronen Manelis, Israeli army spokesman

"The Hamas organisation is the main organisation in the strip. It is responsible for what happens within the strip and what emanates from it," he said.

That was echoed by US President Donald Trump’s special representative for Middle East negotiations, who only minutes after the first reports were issued on Thursday said Hamas was responsible.

"Hamas violently suppresses its own people demonstrating against Hamas’ rule & failures today and NOW fires rockets at cities in Israel. OUTRAGEOUS!" Jason Greenblatt wrote on Twitter.

"We strongly support Israel in defense of its citizens. Always!"

The attacks occurred two weeks before the anniversary of the Gaza border protests, which began last 30 March, in which thousands have demonstrated weekly against Israel's occupation.

The protests in Gaza have resulted in hundreds of Palestinian deaths and thousands more wounded. Since the protests began, one Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper along the frontier and another was killed during an undercover raid into Gaza.

Elections next month

The last time rocket sirens were activated in Tel Aviv was two years ago during a false alarm, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and military leaders are holding security consultations in response to the rockets, Israeli media also reported.

The incident comes only weeks before Israeli parliamentary elections, set for 9 April.

Gaza's future hangs in the balance as Egypt looks to broker Hamas-Israel truce

Read More »

Netanyahu hopes to hold onto power in the upcoming poll, but his ruling Likud Party faces a serious challenge from Benny Gantz, a former chief of staff of the Israeli army.

Political observers raised concerns that the rockets fired from Gaza may be used as a pretext for Israel to launch a military assault on the besieged Palestinian territory.

Taking aggressive military action against Palestinians has long been a way for Israeli politicians to shore up support at home, or distract the Israeli public from other pressing domestic issues.

Earlier this week, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, one of Netanyahu's allies, said Gantz was Hamas's preferred candidate to win the elections.

"Gantz is Hamas' wet dream," Bennett tweeted on Wednesday morning, as reported by far-right news outlet Israel National News. "If Hamas leaders had the right to vote, they would vote for Benny Gantz, the 'hesitating general'."

Impostor Lures Activist to Israeli Police Sting

An interview with Frank Romano conducted by renowned documentary film director Guy Davidi.

Watch the VIDEO below, by director Guy Davidi:

Frank Romano, interviewed in Paris by Guy Davidi.
(March 6th, 2019)

(SALEM, Ore.) - An interview with Frank Romano has been released, a precursor to the larger story, conducted by renowned documentary film director Guy Davidi.

Guy Davidi and Emad Burnat co-directed the film “5 Broken Cameras” which was nominated for a 2013 Academy Award and won the 2013 International Emmy Award. It also won a 2012 Sundance Film Festival award, as well as the Golden Apricot at the 2012 Yerevan International Film Festival and Armenia, for Best Documentary Film.

Activist Romano's work in Palestine and Israel is discussed, and in particular, the attempts by himself along with other activists to prevent the destruction of “Al Khan al Ahmar,” the Bedouin village.

Romano warns Netanyahu of the strong ICC case against him as a “war criminal,” especially if he destroys “Al Khan al Ahmar!”

In fact, many believe the ‘Regulation Law’ directly violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, and will be grounds for a case against Israel in The Hague. The ‘Regulation Law’ allows for the seizure of private Palestinian property, in an effort to retroactively legalize settlements built on stolen land.

The Palestinian village of Khan al Ahmar is at imminent risk of demolition because it is located near Jerusalem on land between an Israeli settlement and one of its elite suburbs.

Simply put, Israel's plan would link the Israeli settlements with West Jerusalem, and completely cut off Palestinian access to Jerusalem.

The residents of Khan al Ahmar were forcibly relocated to this area in 1951 from the village of Tel Arad in Israel’s Negev Desert. The residents are mostly Bedouin, who make their living by herding livestock.

Today, the village has 160 structures including a school, clinic, mosque, and many homes. The school serves nearly 200 students, including many girls, from the village and surrounding area.

Romano describes his arrest, imprisonment in Jerusalem, and his eventual release. He explains why he was later forced to go underground in Ramallah, a city controlled by Palestinian police, to avoid arrest by Israeli police.

Romano was lured out of Ramallah to return to “Al Khan al Ahmar,” in Area C which is controlled by Israeli police, on February 23rd, for an interview with a well-known French journalist.

Eager to publicize the struggle for survival of Khan al Ahmar, Frank Romano agreed to the meeting. Unfortunately, the people he trusted were actually Israeli agents.

It was a trap!

As soon as the interview had begun, standing in front of the village of “Al Khan al Ahmar” with the impostor journalist, 4-5 Israeli police cars drove up and arrested Romano, returning him to prison.

He was deported to France the next day, on February 24th. This interview was conducted in Paris, France, on March 6th, 2019.

What can you do for Khan al Ahmar?

PLEASE MAKE TWO CALLS, TO THE ISRAELI EMBASSY AND THE STATE DEPARTMENT:

• Contact the State Department through your usual channels. Urge U.S. Consul General Donald Blome to visit Khan Al Ahmar school this week and to do all he can to prevent demolition. (Please note: Diplomats from the U.N., the E.U. and many European governments, along with Palestinian officials, visited and are expressing concern to their Israeli counterparts. Staff from the U.S. Consulate visited Khan Al Ahmar on March 5th.)
• Call the Israeli Embassy to say you care about peace, and you care about the children of Khan al Ahmar. Please express your concern about the destruction of their school, and their families' homes and livelihoods. Please say that the demolition of a school does not serve the cause of peace.
• Ask that Justice Sohlberg recuse himself for conflict of interest from further deliberations on this case and all future cases involving villages in Area C.
• Ask the Government of Israel to instead approve the master plan of the village of Khan al Ahmar and recognize the human right of Palestinians in Area C — including the Bedouin— to live, build, earn a living and go to school in their communities.

Iran Is Mastering the Final Frontier

Tehran’s military is advancing ever farther into outer space—and the threat is bigger than Washington is letting on.

An image grab taken from the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN) on Feb. 4, 2008 shows a large rocket fired from the country's first space center in a desert in northern Semnan province. (AFP/Getty Images)

BY KEVJN LIM, GIL BARAM

 | MARCH 14, 2019, 11:13 AM

In mid-January and early February, Iran attempted two satellite launches intended for environmental monitoring purposes. The Payam (Message) and Doosti (Friendship) ascended aboard Iranian-made satellite launch vehicles (SLVs). Both launches failed to place the satellites into orbit. The United States nevertheless protested the space launches—mostly because the SLVs used the same base technology as multistage intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

In an anticipatory tweet on Jan. 3, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had warned that “The launch will advance [Iran’s] missile program. US, France, UK & Germany have already stated this is in defiance of [United Nations Security Council Resolution] 2231. We won’t stand by while the regime threatens international security.” The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has even reportedly revived a Bush-era secret program to sabotage Iran’s missile and space program by planting “faulty parts and materials into Iran’s aerospace supply chains.”

Yet the national-security significance of Iran’s space program far surpasses its implications for ICBMs. Iran’s growing presence in outer space, especially when combined with its growing capabilities in cyberspace, strengthens all aspects of its hard power.

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s space program evolved from its indigenous missile program, which began in the late 1980s with assistance mainly from North Korea, China, Libya, and the Soviet Union. In 2003, when the reformist Mohammad Khatami was president, the Iranian parliament approved the creation of the Supreme Space Council (SSC) and the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) as its executive arm, with both in turn linked to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.

The space program received a big boost under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hard-line presidency beginning in 2005, just as Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West intensified. In February 2009, during the 30^th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, Iran successfully launched its first indigenous satellite, Omid (Hope), using the Safir (Ambassador) SLV, placing it among the dozen or so spacefaring nations with independent satellite launch capability. Iran has so far successfully employed Safir-class SLVs to place in orbit four satellites carrying various telecommunications, earth-imaging and environmental monitoring equipment. Eight other documented orbital launches have failed.

In 2010, Iran unveiled its two-stage Simorgh (Phoenix) SLV, which improves on the Safir by harnessing not one but four missile engines (all based on North Korea’s Nodong missile), in turn permitting a payload capacity of up to 550 pounds—five times more than what it had thus far placed in orbit. Since 2016, Iran has attempted several launches with the Simorgh, but none, including the Payam this January, has yet proven successful. In January 2013, however, Iran reportedly dispatched a monkey into space, bringing it closer to human spaceflight, which so far only Russia, the U.S., and China have achieved. In 2013, Iran also inaugurated a space monitoring center, a crucial first step toward improved awareness of natural and man-made objects, events, and activities occurring in space.

Iran’s successes have so far focused on low Earth orbit (LEO), the highest-traffic band of space, located up to 1,200 kilometers from Earth. This area is generally used for Earth observation, some limited communications systems and, most famously, as a perch for the International Space Station. Iran is now aiming to take a variety of satellites farther afield into the next two bands of space, known as medium Earth orbit (MEO) and geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO). Located at up to 12,500 miles and 22,000 miles from Earth, these are used for navigation systems such as GPS, as well as internet, television, and radio broadcast systems.

As with its nuclear program, Tehran has argued for the exclusively peaceful purposes of its space program. But Iran, a state persistently sensitive to threats against it, is likely at the very least to treat space as a potential security vulnerability. It will almost certainly try to degrade, deny, and deter attempts by others to weaponize space.

Tehran meanwhile is surely already assessing the offensive efforts of other countries. In June 2018, Trump instructed the Pentagon to establish a “space force” separate from the Air Force as the U.S. military’s sixth branch, in order to dominate space. Russia and China demurred in response, insisting on purely peaceful uses for space. But while no space wars have yet occurred, an arms race has been quietly building up between China and the United States, with Russia also quickly edging in. Back in 2007, China successfully tested an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon on one of its own retired weather satellites in orbit, the first since similar tests by the Cold War superpowers in the 1980s. A 2018 U.S. Department of Defense report warned that both China and Russia are investing in weapons capable of attacking U.S. satellites and space assets, which could transform space into a battlefield. The emerging security dilemma has accordingly prompted even other states to develop counterspace capabilities aimed essentially at mastering the new terrain.

Iran, for its part, has been slowly but steadily improving capabilities linked to intelligence, reconnaissance, and early-warning systems. It has reportedly already managed to use space technologies to spoof the GPS system of an American drone, blind a U.S. spy satellite using directed energy, and use advanced jamming techniques against western commercial satellites. More hypothetically, with improved tracking and positioning technology, further ballistic advances could offer Iran the potential to develop Earth-based direct-ascent or on-orbit ASAT missiles, which could also target the satellites and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance platforms (known as C4ISR) that adversaries such as the United States increasingly use in integrated military operations.

 

Notwithstanding the 1967 U.N. ban on nuclear weapons in outer space which Iran has signed but not yet ratified, Iran could potentially combine its nuclear ambitions with its outer space ambitions. This could take the form of weaponry not unlike the Soviet Union’s Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, which would have used suborbital flight to achieve a global strike range. Similarly, a nuclear weapon detonated by Iran from space could be used to generate an electromagnetic pulse to incapacitate electrical and electronic systems in orbit.

It’s still premature to talk of Iran employing or possessing advanced space capabilities like those of China and Russia. But even if Iran’s space doctrine firmly eschews offense, self-defense space operations involving means already at its disposal such as lasers, jammers, or hacking could still disrupt a sprawling range of services the international community is increasingly dependent upon, including navigation and communications. Moreover, instead of striking space assets, states could target the other two more accessible components of space systems—ground control and telemetry facilities, and the radars which ensure Earth-space communications links.

One recent assessment by a U.S. think tank persuasively challenged the premise that Iran is using its space program to mask ICBM development, thereby questioning the Trump administration’s characterization of the threat. But as competition among the world’s spacefaring nations gears up, space as the ultimate high ground of strategy will only grow in importance for Iran—especially given the relatively sparse instruments of deterrence otherwise at its disposal.

Florida advances bill to shield Israel from criticism

US lawmakers continue to promote laws punishing supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights. (Joe Catron)

Nora Barrows-Friedman - 14 March 2019

A resolution recently introduced in the Missouri state legislature would affirm that boycotts are protected political expression.

The measure, sponsored by Black progressive lawmaker Brandon Ellington, says that “criticism of a nation by individuals, including as a nonviolent citizens’ boycott, does not constitute bigotry against the citizens of that nation.”

It upholds the constitutional right to boycott “any entity when [people] have conscientious concerns with the entity’s policies or actions,” adding that the state should not “punish individuals” for supporting boycotts by denying them contracts.

According to the resolution, boycotts are “an expression of encouraging the government of the nation to modify its policies and practices to uphold the inalienable human rights of all people within its borders.”

Lara Friedman@LaraFriedmanDC

Rare good news: resolution intro’d in Missouri that "Celebrates diversity and affirms the right to boycott"https://www.house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HCR49&year=2019&code=R …

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11:33 AM - Mar 12, 2019

Though Ellington’s resolution does not name Israel, it is being introduced at a time when state and federal lawmakers are pushing laws that punish supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights.

Under pressure from Israel lobby groups, many politicians claim that criticizing Israel’s human rights violations, or its state ideology Zionism, is tantamount to anti-Jewish bigotry.

Last year, during a debate on a state anti-BDS bill that ultimately failed to pass, Ellington explained that the measure “is the definition of white masculism and an example of white supremacy.”

“When we talk about Israel, we’re talking about a country that has practiced ethnic cleansing of 700,000 Palestinians,” he added.

Ellington also described Israel’s expulsion of thousands of asylum-seekers from African states as ethnic cleansing.

Meanwhile, in Florida, a bill that equates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism advanced with bipartisan support this week.

The Florida bill has sparked free speech concerns among civil rights experts.

The measure focuses on college campuses and conflates criticism of Israel or Zionism with anti-Jewish bigotry.

It uses language similar to the so-called IHRA definition of anti-Semitism which has been pushed by Israel lobby groups.

“Applying a double standard to Israel by requiring behavior of Israel that is not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation, or focusing peace or human rights investigations only on Israel” is considered anti-Semitic, according to the measure.

“Delegitimizing Israel by denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination and denying Israel the right to exist” is also defined as anti-Semitism.

This means that someone advocating for a single democratic state in which Israeli Jews, Palestinians and all others have full, equal rights could fall afoul of the law.

The bill claims that these and other examples of alleged anti-Semitism related to criticizing Israel do not “diminish or infringe upon any right” to free speech and “shall not be construed to conflict with state or federal laws.”

But FIRE, a free speech advocacy organization, calls this caveat “an inadequate attempt to salvage the constitutionality of the bill.”

FIRE states that the bill’s “overbroad and vague definitions of anti-Semitism show that even core political speech can, and likely will, be censored by the bill based on the viewpoints espoused.”

Tomorrow, the Florida House of Representatives will hear HB 741, an unconstitutional campus anti-Semitism bill.

We urge legislators to reject or replace it with legislation that complies with the First Amendment.https://t.co/LGqUQYEHza

— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) 11 March 2019

“Silencing questions”

The legislation is related to another Florida measure, House Bill 371, that would punish organizationsinvestigating Israel for “peace or human rights violations.”

That bill, introduced in January, would allow Florida residents to sue or file complaints against teachers or administrators who criticize Israel, according to the Miami New Times.

In defining anti-Semitism to include peace or human rights investigations only focused on Israel, the measure “lays bare what these laws are about: silencing any questions about Israel’s human rights record,” Palestine Legal staff attorney Meera Shah told The Electronic Intifada.

Florida’s US Senator Marco Rubio sponsored the AIPAC-backed Combating BDS Act, which passed through the Senate in February.

The bill would uphold the rights of states and local governments to pass measures that punish or criminalize individual contractors, pension funds and corporations that support the BDS campaign for Palestinian rights.

Rubio’s legislation faces mounting opposition in the House, where many say it will probably not pass in its current form.

Palestine Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union have warned lawmakers that the bill blatantly infringes on free speech.

These kinds of legislative attempts to police speech and suppress boycotts for Palestinian rights are “alarming on multiple fronts,” Shah said.

Not only do they trample on free speech rights, Shah said, but “they conceal the ongoing violence against Palestinians by changing the subject and they fail to provide meaningful solutions to growing threats of racism at home and abroad.”

Newspaper publisher pushes challenge to anti-BDS law

A newspaper publisher in Arkansas is pursuing his constitutional challenge to that state’s law requiring contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel.

Alan Leveritt, the publisher of The Arkansas Times, has appealed at the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 2017 law “requires Arkansas to create a blacklist of companies that boycott Israel, and require public entities to divest from blacklisted companies,” according to Palestine Legal.

Leveritt, represented by the ACLU, filed the initial lawsuit after the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College “informed the Times that it had to sign a certification that it would not engage in a boycott of Israel if it wanted to continue to receive advertising contracts” from the the university, the newspaper reported.

Leveritt declined, and the paper lost the university contract.

A federal judge threw out Leveritt’s initial case in January, ruling that political boycotts are not protected under the First Amendment.

But the ACLU says that the law clearly violates constitutional protections “by penalizing disfavored political boycotts.”

The civil rights group has appealed the case on Leveritt’s behalf.

“Allowing the government to force people to relinquish their First Amendment rights or pay a penalty for expressing certain political beliefs disfavored by the government would set a dangerous precedent,” Rita Sklar, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas, said.

“This ‘pay-to-say’ tax is blatantly unconstitutional and we’re committed to seeing the law struck down,” Sklar added.

The ACLU and the Council on American-Islamic Relations have brought cases against state anti-BDS laws.

In Arizona and Kansas, federal judges have blocked those states’ measures, citing constitutional violations.

However, Republican lawmakers in Arizona are trying to pass another version of the state’s anti-boycott measure, which “appears to attempt to circumvent the court injunction against the current anti-BDS law,” according to the Phoenix New Times.

Brian Hauss, an ACLU attorney, called it a “transparent attempt to avoid another defeat in court by passing a face-saving measure that would narrow the law into practical oblivion.”

The proper response, Hauss added, “would be to repeal this unconstitutional law in its entirety.”

Other lawsuits have been filed against anti-BDS laws in Texas and Maryland.

To date, 26 states have passed anti-BDS measures, while federal legislation is pending.