Israel makes arrests in alleged plot against Bush

[onehandle]

Source: Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al Qaeda cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by President George W. Bush.

Israel's Shin Bet counter-intelligence agency said one of the suspects had used his mobile phone to film helicopters at a sports stadium in Jerusalem that was used as a landing site for Bush's delegation.

The suspect then posted queries on Web sites frequented by al Qaeda operatives, asking for guidance on how to shoot down the helicopters, the agency said in a statement.

Bush visited Israel in January and again in May.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080718/ts_nm/security_israel_qaeda_dc

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Watch what you say on the Internets, kiddies.

[choie]

1. are they going to try to blame this on Iran?

[notadmblnd]

2. obviously this didn't happen, nor was there any attempts to make it happen

since this was in January and May.

[Solly Mack]

3. Well, bully for Bush! Now the twins can claim "They tried to kill my daddy!"

and another family tradition continues!

[14thColony]

4. and this is the average calibre...

of "the greatest threat of our time." Reality is most 'al Qaeda cells' are wannabee knock-offs with little or no concept of what they're doing, and no contact with anything resembling the core AQ leadership.

[BunkerHill24]

5. question: who controls torture tactics of Israel's Shin Bet?

[dipsydoodle]

6. What were they going to do

prune him :shrug:

[Virginia Dare]

7. I wonder what they had to do to those "suspects" to get that admission..

See? Waterboarding saved the Lord Chimpykins' liiiiiife..

[MiaCulpa]

8. Report: Bush assassination plot?

Source: Raw Story with Wire Service

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al Qaeda cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by President George W. Bush.

Israel's Shin Bet counter-intelligence agency said one of the suspects had used his mobile phone to film helicopters at a sports stadium in Jerusalem that was used as a landing site for Bush's delegation.

The suspect then posted queries on Web sites frequented by al Qaeda operatives, asking for guidance on how to shoot down the helicopters, the agency said in a statement.

Read more: http://rawstory.com//news/2008/Israel_makes_arrests_in_alleged_plot_0718.html

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Call me ignorant, but, aren't Israelis 'Arabs'? I dunno, just curious.

-Diane

[End Of The Road]

9. No, Diane, Israelis aren't Arabs.

If they were, there would be fewer problems in the MidEast.

[MiaCulpa]

11. Wasn't sure, thanks

Wondered why the emphasis on 'Arabs'

[hlthe2b]

15. Some ARE Arabs.... n/t

[devilgrrl]

19. Pfft!

:eyes:

Yeah, that would solve everything, wouldn't it? :eyes:

[heliarc]

25. By law... Israel is not limited by ethnic group.

and there ARE Arabs who are also Israeli (since that denotes a nationality and not an ethnicity). There are also Arabs who participate in government.

That being said: The law of return offers preference of voting rights to Jewish immigrants who can prove a certain percentage of Jewish ethnic makeup... Arab or other ethnicities of immigrants who wish to be naturalized do not enjoy the same rights as Jewish immigrants where governance is concerned.

[dipsydoodle]

10. aren't Israelis 'Arabs'?

Don't go there - your post could get moved to the humour section. :rofl:

[MiaCulpa]

13. 'k, got my coffee now.

I'm better. :P

[hlthe2b]

16. Twenty Percent of Israel's population ARE ARABS

Latest Population Figures For Israel, 2008
On the eve of Israel’s 60th Independence Day, the country’s population stands at 7,282,000, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Some 5,499,000 of the population (75.5 percent) are Jews, 1,461,000 (20.1%) are Arabs and the remaining 322,000 (4.4%) are immigrants and their offspring who are not registered as Jews by the Interior Ministry.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/newpop.html

[Cambist]

12. Isralies are the Citizens of Israel

Which was created by the United Nations in 1948 as a modern homeland for the Jews. The Arab peoples who lived in that land are now referred to as Palestinians.

[Cassandra]

14. Prior to 1948, Jews living in the area referred to themselves...

as Palestinians, while the Arabs in the area preferred to be called Arabs (there was a popular wave of Pan-Arabism at the time). There are, of course, some current citizens of Israel who are Arabs but I'm not sure how they currently refer to themselves (Israelis, Israeli Arabs, Arabs, Palestinians?).

[bdamomma]

23. thanks for that clarification.

[Virginia Dare]

17. What a surprise that this story comes out of Israel...

truly, I would have never seen that coming..:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[havocmom]

18. LBN rules: OP subject to match news story headline

4. When posting articles, always use the published title of the article as the title of the discussion thread. Additional information may be included in a thread title (in parentheses) if it helps to make the title more clear.

I know it is too late for an edit, but a gentle reminder for future.

[Zynx]

20. There are some Arabs in Israel, but most Israelis are basically European stock.

[bikebloke]

22. A melting pot.

Ashkinazi Jews are of European descent, while Sephardic Jews could be called of Arab descent - mostly from Morocco. There's been friction between the two. And there are Muslim Arab Israelis. As well as Christian Arab Israelis. Then there's all the rest.

During the four years I worked there, you sometimes even heard discussions about who was more a Jew. Blimey. For myself, being a secular commie pagan, as much as I liked the kibbutz life, I knew I'd always be an outsider in Israel.

[LeftishBrit]

27. Not quite...

Very roughly, the proportions are about 20% Arabs; 40% Europaean Jews; 40% non-Europaean (mostly Middle Eastern) Jews.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[fbahrami]

24. Juan Cole clarified

the term Arab for me after years of misconception. An Arab is a person who speaks Arabic. Arabs can be of many races and religions (mostly Abrahamic).

The way the 'establishment' uses words (which is invariably the way end up using them) definitely affects the way we think about the underlying concepts and realities. For example, "the Arabs and the Jews".

[LeftishBrit]

26. About 20% of Israelis are Arabs - the other 80% are Jews.

They would be very surprised at being called an Arab country.

But then, Iran isn't either, despite often being referred to as one.