Quick Takes: News From Israel You May Have Missed

A high level U.S. commission’s recommendations for an eventual withdrawal from Iraq and for dialogue with Iran, Syria and Iraqi insurgents proves “Islamic resistance” works and that America will ultimately be defeated, according to senior terrorist leaders interviewed by WorldNetDaily.

The militants, from the largest Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, welcomed the policies outlined by the Iraq Study Group, led by former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, claiming the study recognizes Islam is the “new giant of the world.”

“The report proves that this is the era of Islam and of jihad,” said Abu Ayman, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank town of Jenin.  “[With the Iraq Study Group report], the Americans came to the conclusion that Islam is the new giant of the world and it would be clever to reduce hostilities with this giant.”

According to Abu Abdullah, a leader of Hamas’s so-called military wing, Baker’s report is a victory for Islam brought about by “Allah and his angels.”

“It is not just a simple victory,” he said. “It is a great one. The big superpower of the world is defeated by a small group of mujahedeen (fighters).” Abu Abdullah said that following a withdrawal from Iraq, the U.S. will be defeated on its own soil.

“America must understand that with anti-American governments in Latin America and with Islam growing and reinforcing, including in the U.S. itself, the next step would be a total defeat on their (American) land, not a relative one like they are facing in Iraq,” he said.

Abu Nasser, the second-in-command of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades terror group in the West Bank, called the Iraq Study Group report a “great victory” from which other jihadist organizations can learn. He  said that after the U.S. “defeat” in Iraq is finalized, insurgents there should move to the West Bank and Gaza to help destroy Israel.

“We hope that after chasing the occupation from Iraq, these jihad efforts and experiences will be transferred to Palestine, and yes, I mean that we expect these fighters will come to Palestine….”

A group of prominent rabbinic leaders in Israel and abroad issued a call for Israeli citizens to launch a democratic uprising to bring down the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

“Out of love for each and every Jew, we call on the people of Israel and its leaders to begin a democratic uprising to immediately replace this government, which constitutes an ominous threat to the nation of Israel,” the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of over 1,200 rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis, said in a statement.

Among the Rabbinical Congress members who signed the statement were Mordechai Eliyahu and Abraham Shapira – both of whom served as chief rabbis for the State of Israel – and Rabbi Meir Mazuz, head of the Tunisian Jewish community in Israel and one of the country’s most well-respected rabbis.

The rabbis were responding to a national address last week commemorating the death of Israel’s founder and first prme minister, David Ben-Gurion, in which Olmert stated he is willing to give up most of the West Bank in exchange for “real peace.”

During the speech, Olmert called for immediate negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Olmert said he would release “many, many” Palestinian prisoners as part of a deal.

If Israel does not vacate the Golan Heights within months, a guerrilla organization allegedly formed in Syria will soon launch “resistance operations” against Israeli positions and Jewish communities in the Golan, an official from Syrian President Bashar Assad’s Baath party said.

“If in the coming months an agreement is not forged between Israel and Syria [for an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan], the Committees will begin attacks,” said the official, who spoke on condition his name be withheld during an in-person interview with WND and on G. Gordon Liddy’s national radio show.

The official was referring to the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, a Hizbullah-like guerrilla organization Baath party sources claim was formed in Syria to attack Israeli positions in the Golan.  Israel says it has information the Committees is in the process of being formed.

The Baath official’s claim of possible attacks against Israel follows a warning this week by the intelligence branch of the Israel Defense Forces that Syria is preparing its army for war against the Jewish state.  Assad reportedly ordered increased production of long-range missiles and instructed the Syrian military to position antitank missiles closer to the Syrian border with Israel.

In response to the information, senior military officials say the IDF is preparing for a possible breakout of hostilities with training exercises for reservists and with the beefing up of military positions in the Golan.

A key Hamas official has confirmed reports from anonymous Hamas sources that the terror group allegedly held meetings with “important Democrats.” Ahmed Yousuf, chief political advisor to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, claimed Hamas officials met recently with high-ranking American figures, “especially members of the Democratic party.”

Yousuf did not say when the meetings took place or which members of the Democratic party the terror group allegedly held dialogue with, but he stated the meetings were fruitful in introducing the Hamas “political vision.”

Last week, Maannews,  a Palestinian website, quoted a Hamas source claiming the terror group met with a delegation of Democrats who expressed interest in relations with Hamas even if it doesn’t recognize the right of Israel to exist.