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MODERATOR: Good morning. We will have our short press conference.
Minister Barak and Secretary Gates will both now give short statements followed by brief questions, two questions from Israel side and two from the U.S. side.
Minister Barak, please.
MIN. BARAK: I welcome the visit to Israel by an old friend, Secretary Bob Gates. You are most welcome here.
We had a good, extensive discussion. We covered a range of strategic and security issues, including the challenges and threats to Middle East security and stability being caused by -- (inaudible) -- relationship between our defense establishment and the developments with the -- (inaudible).
The U.S. and Israel have a long history of a very close relationship. There are common values of friendship and cooperation. And we highly appreciate the commitment of the United States to the security of Israel and to achieve this -- (inaudible).
We also discussed the prospects of regional issues with the Middle East and the need to shape a structure for regional security arrangements when the time comes. And I expressed to the Secretary our top -- (inaudible) -- for the peace process and ending up with security and defense issues -- (inaudible) -- the big -- the top priority for everyone. But that will take time.
Of course, the continuing Iran nuclear program is a central issue in our minds still and we -- and we do welcome a -- (inaudible) -- coordinated international effort to try to block this nuclear, military program. We have -- worried that the continuation of the nuclear Iran could destabilize the whole region and -- (inaudible) -- world order. And Israel remains in its basic position that no options should be removed from the table in spite of the fact that at this stage priority should be given still -- (inaudible) -- sanctions. And I take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the friendship shown by the United States of America and to you, Mr. Secretary both in the previous and the present administration.
And we are looking forward to more open discussion in the future to -- (inaudible) -- and more stable and peaceful region.
Thank you very much.
MODERATOR: Secretary Gates.
SEC. GATES: Let me start by thanking Prime Minister Netanyahu whom I look forward to meeting with shortly, and my old friend, Minister Barak for hosting.
It is wonderful to be back in Israel after an absence of more than two years. During that period, Minister Barak has visited Washington a number of times. So it's a pleasure to finally be able to reciprocate with this trip.
We had a good meeting, during which I reaffirmed the strong commitment of the United States to the security of Israel. As President Obama said in Cairo last month, our bond is unbreakable. We also discussed the regional security challenges we both face from terrorism to the threat posed by Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
As part of our steadfast support for Israel, the United States continues to provide a robust, annual military assistance package. We are contributing both financial and technical assistance to strengthen Israel's defense against the growing threat posed by rockets and missiles. And we will continue to ensure that Israel has the most advanced weapons for its national defense. One example is our ongoing discussion of the Joint Strike Fighter program. Of course, achieving long-term security for Israel is ultimately dependent on a sustainable, comprehensive Middle East peace. The goal is vitally important for regional stability.
To help move the process forward, we will continue to address further Israeli security requirements to make a two state solution possible.
I'm encouraged that all parties share the vision of two states and I'm further encouraged by Special Envoy Mitchell's efforts to bring everyone together. While we know that forging a lasting peace will not be quick or easy, we also know that peace is in the interest of all countries in the region. That it is the only way that Israelis and Palestinians alike can enjoy the safety and security they deserve.
Minister Barak, let me thank you again for your warm welcome, for your valuable insights and for your longstanding friendship with the United States.
MODERATOR: Thank you. We will now have four questions. I want to remind you that we are short in time. So one question -- (inaudible)
Q Thank you. Mr. Secretary, you've previously spoken about the potential of a military strike on Iran. (Inaudible) -- in terms of a disaster -- I want to ask you, sir, what do you consider to be more of a disaster, a nuclear-armed Iran or -- (inaudible) -- to strike these facilities?
SEC. GATES: Well, there's no question that as Minister Barak said a nuclear-armed Iran would be profoundly destabilizing to the entire region and a threat to, certainly, to Israel and a threat to the United States and other states as well.
I think we are in full agreement on the negative consequences of Iran obtaining this kind of capability. I think we also agree that it is important to take every opportunity to try and persuade the Iranians to reconsider what is actually in their own security interests. And we're in the process of doing that, both in terms of the president's offer to engage with the Iranians, but also through sanctions to impose costs on for pursuing that course.
The other thing that we agreed is that the president's offer is not open ended. And we will deal with the situation at that time.
Q (Off mike) -- Associated Press
Q Mr. Minister, is the United States asking you to put your nation at risk if you hold back on a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities?
MIN. BARAK: I'm not sure if I fully understand.
Q Is the United States asking you to place your nation at risk if you hold back on a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? And Secretary Gates, how long is it appropriate to ask Israel to be patient?
MIN. BARAK: May I answer first? I don't think that it makes any sense at this stage to talk about -- (inaudible). Our position is very clear -- (inaudible) -- we are in no position to tell the administration whether to -- (inaudible) -- engagement with Iran or not. But if there is an engagement, we believe it should be short in time -- (inaudible) -- followed by sanctions -- (inaudible). It won't take too much time to verify whether Iran is trying to keep -- (inaudible). And we clearly believe that no options should be removed from the table. This is our policy. We mean it. We recommend to others to take the same position. But we cannot dictate it to anyone.
SEC. GATES: I'd say that as I said earlier, the president has been quite clear that this is not an open ended offer to engage. We're very mindful of the possibility that the Iranians would simply try to run out the clock. I think that the president is certainly anticipating or hoping for some kind of a response this fall, perhaps, by the time of the U.N. General Assembly.
MODERATOR: (Off mike.)
Q (Inaudible) -- President Obama said in November, the end of the year -- (inaudible) -- in light of what's happening in Iran now, the rapid progress in the development of long-range missiles. Would it be something to consider -- (inaudible) -- the timetable the president has set?
SEC. GATES: I think based on the information that's available to us that the timetable that the president has laid out still seems to be viable and does not significantly increase the risks of -- (inaudible).
MIN. BARAK: (Speaking in Hebrew.)
Q -- (inaudible) -- looking forward to serious results. We were expecting more serious sanctions -- (inaudible) -- Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter -- (inaudible).
MODERATOR: Thank you. Last question, Elizabeth Yu, New York Times
Q This past week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked about a defense umbrella over the Middle East. What shape would that really take and would it be a nuclear defense pact along the lines of what we have with South Korea, Japan.
SEC. GATES: Well, there are a number of paths that we are following an effort to try and get the Iranian government to reconsider what appears to be its intent to develop nuclear weapons, the economic sanctions that Minister Barak spoke of are clearly one of those paths.
Another path on the diplomatic and security side is trying to persuade the Iranians that their own security interests are diminished by their policies, not enhanced. And that their security actually -- they would be better off without a nuclear weapons program, partly because it would be destabilizing, partly because it might set off an arms race in the Middle East. But also through our efforts to further develop our bilateral and multilateral security relationships with our friends and allies in the region that we've been working on for the last two years or so in terms of maritime surveillance and air and -- (inaudible) -- defense and missile defense, capabilities in the region, the additional capabilities we put in the region for missile defense.
But the work that we are doing with a number of Gulf states in trying to enhance their security and our mutual security are part of the umbrella -- (inaudible).
MIN. BARAK: I did read the Secretary's speech. I can just say that -- (inaudible) -- clearly prefer to defend ourselves on our own. We are extremely central to the American administration -- (inaudible) -- continued and consistent support, financial and technological -- (inaudible) -- with the best tools to do the job. And I think that, therefore, basically, we are not blind to the fact that whatever we are doing can have implications for neighbors -- (inaudible) -- take into account. And of course it's very good to always know that the United States of America, the leader of the free world, the most powerful nation on the Earth. It is standing on the side of the good -- (inaudible).
UN official says Hezbollah violating 2006 ceasefire
UNITED NATIONS, New York (WJC)—A senior UN official has accused the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire ending the 2006 Lebanon War by maintaining an arms cache near the Israeli border in southern Lebanon. The dump exploded on 14 July. The head of UN peacekeeping operations in Lebanon, Alain Le Roy, told the Security Council in a closed-door briefing that the explosion marked a "serious violation" of Resolution 1701 which ended the devastating 2006 war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is responsible for the monitoring of the 2006 ceasefire and Resolution 1701, which calls for southern Lebanon to be free of Hezbollah militants and arms. "A number of indications suggest that the depot belonged to Hezbollah, and, in contrast to previous discoveries by UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces of weapons and ammunition, that it was not abandoned but, rather, actively maintained," Le Roy said.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah said his organization would hit Tel Aviv if Israel strikes its headquarters in Beirut. "I tell you, and this is not muscle-flexing, the Israeli army will be destroyed in any future war. And any force from the enemy's
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army that steps on Lebanese land, will be destroyed, and that is a fact," he reportedly told a group of Lebanese emigrants.9
Dramatic increase in anti-Semitism seen in Britain
LONDON (WJC)--
An unprecedented 609 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded by the Community Security Trust (CST) in Britain in the first six months of 2009. This represents more than the 544 incidents during the whole of 2008. The CST said that never before more than 600 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in a calendar year. The previous annual high was 598 acts in 2006. Out of the total, 77 incidents were classified as violent assaults. There were also 400 incidents of general abuse, including hate mail to synagogues, along with 62 attacks on property that can be clearly defined as having a religious role.
The level of anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom in the first half of 2009 was more than twice as high as for the same period the previous year, the CST said, and is the highest in 25 years when such statistics were first compiled. The main reason was the unprecedented number of incidents recorded in January and February, during and after the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. However, the number of incidents recorded did not return to normal pre-Gaza levels until April, some three months after the fighting in Gaza ended.
Mark Gardner, of the CST, said: "British Jews are facing ever higher levels of racist attack and intimidation that threaten the wellbeing of our otherwise happy and successful Jewish community. "There is no excuse for anti-Semitism, racism and bias, and it is totally unacceptable that overseas conflicts should be impacting here in this way."
Earlier this year, Muslim leaders issued a joint statement denouncing anti-Semitism, amid fears that violent elements from within their own communities were responsible for the increase in attacks. Cohesion minister Shahid Malik, one of two Muslims in the British Government, said: "This rise in anti-Semitism is not just concerning for the British Jewish communities but for all those who see themselves as decent human beings."
U.S. charges 7 with planning jihad in Israel, Gaza and Jordan
RALEIGH, North Carolina--Seven individuals have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad.
On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a sealed seven-count indictment against the following defendants:
Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo and a U.S. legal permanent resident located in North Carolina
Anes Subasic, 33, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Zakariya Boyd, 20, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Dylan Boyd, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Ziyad Yaghi, 21, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
All the defendants are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, as well as conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad. In addition, Daniel Boyd, Hysen Sherifi and Zakariya Boyd are each charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Daniel Boyd and Dylan Boyd are also each charged with selling a firearm to a convicted felon. Finally, Daniel Boyd is also charged with receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and two counts of making false statements in a terrorism investigation.
The defendants were arrested at various locations Monday morning by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. They made their initial appearances today in federal court in Raleigh, N.C. At that time, the indictment was unsealed.
"The indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd is a veteran of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan who, over the past three years, has conspired with others in this country to recruit and help young men travel overseas in order to kill. Given the weapons allegedly involved in this conspiracy and the seriousness of the charges, the many agents, analysts and prosecutors who were able to bring about this case and safely remove these defendants from our streets deserve special thanks," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division.
"These charges hammer home the point that terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some far away land but can grow and fester right here at home. Terrorists and their supporters are relentless and constant in their efforts to hurt and kill innocent people across the globe. We must be equally relentless and constant in our efforts to stop them," said U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding.
"The threat that extremists and radicals pose to America and our allies has not dulled or gone away. These arrests today show there are people living among us, in our communities in North Carolina and around the US, that are honing their skills to carry out acts of murder and mayhem. Their ultimate goal is to wage war on freedom and democracy. The FBI and our law enforcement partners are doing all we can to stop them from thriving and successfully attacking again," said Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI. "We will remain vigilant, so must the public. If you see or hear something - act - call your local police department or the FBI. September 11th is not a vague memory for us, nor should it be for anyone."
"The cooperation between federal, state and local authorities throughout this investigation has been outstanding. It is only with our ongoing law enforcement partnership through the Joint Terrorism Task Force in conjunction with North Carolina’s fusion center, ISAAC, that we are able to ensure public safety from these terrorist threats," said North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Director Robin P. Pendergraft.
The Conspiracy
According to the indictment, during the period from 1989 through 1992, Daniel Boyd traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan where he received military-style training in terrorist training camps for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad. Following this training, he allegedly fought in Afghanistan.
From roughly November 2006 through at least July 2009, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd and the other defendants conspired to provide material support and resources to terrorists, including currency, training, transportation and personnel. The defendants also conspired to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad during this period. The object of the conspiracy, according to the indictment, was to advance violent jihad, including supporting and participating in terrorist activities abroad and committing acts of murder, kidnapping or maiming persons abroad.
The indictment alleges that, as part of the conspiracy, the defendants prepared themselves to engage in violent jihad and were willing to die as martyrs. They also allegedly offered training in weapons and financing, and helped arrange overseas travel and contacts so others could wage violent jihad overseas.
As part of the conspiracy, the indictment further alleges that the defendants raised money to support training efforts, disguised the destination of such monies from the donors, and obtained assault weapons to develop skills with the weapons. Some defendants also allegedly radicalized others to believe that violent jihad was a personal religious obligation.
Recruitment and Travels
Among other acts, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd traveled to Gaza in March 2006 and attempted to enter Palestine in order to introduce his son to individuals who also believed that violent jihad was a personal religious obligation. Later, in October 2006, defendant Ziyad Yaghi allegedly departed the United States for Jordan to engage in violent jihad.
In June 2007, Daniel Boyd and several other defendants departed the United States for Israel in an effort to engage in violent jihad, but ultimately returned to the United States after failing in their efforts. According to the indictment, after his return to the United States, Daniel Boyd made false statements twice to federal officials about who he had planned to meet on his trip to Israel.
In February 2008, Daniel Boyd allegedly solicited money to fund the travel of additional individuals overseas to engage in violent jihad and in March 2008, discussed with Anes Subasic preparations to send two individuals abroad for this purpose. He allegedly accepted $500 in cash from defendant Hysen Sherifi to be used to help fund jihad overseas and later showed Sherifi how to operate an AK-47 assault weapon.
In July 2008, Sharifi allegedly departed the United States for Kosovo to engage in violent jihad. According to the indictment, Sharifi later returned to North Carolina in April 2009, for the purpose of soliciting funds and personnel to support the mujihadeen.
Weapons and Training
The indictment also alleges that Daniel Boyd obtained a variety of weapons in furtherance of the conspiracy to murder persons overseas and provide material support to terrorists. These included a Bushmaster M4A3 rifle that Boyd allegedly received illegally via interstate commerce in 2006, as well as an ETA M16 V System C-MAG that he purchased in 2006. In 2007, he allegedly purchased a Ruger mini 14 long gun.
During 2008, the indictment alleges that Boyd purchased a Mossburg 100 ATR .270 rifle, a Llama Camanche III .357 revolver, a Century Arms AK Sporter 7.62 X 39 rifle and a Ruger mini 30 7.62 X 39 rifle. During 2009, Boyd allegedly purchased a Ishmash SAGA .308 rifle, a Century Arms Polish Tantal 5.45 X 39 rifle, a Century Arms C91 rifle .308, a Century Arms M70B1 7.62 X 34 rifle, a Ruger mini 14 5.56 rifle, and a Smith & Wesson MP15 .223 rifle.
The indictment further alleges that in February 2009, Daniel Boyd and his son, Dylan Boyd, knowingly sold a Beretta 9 mm handgun and ammunition to a convicted felon. In addition, the indictment alleges that in June 2009, Daniel Boyd and his son, Zakariya Boyd, used firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence, specifically conspiracy to murder.
Finally, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd and several of the defendants practiced military tactics and the use of weapons on private property in Caswell County, N.C., in June and July 2009.
Each of the defendants faces potential life imprisonment if convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad. In addition, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists carries a maximum 15 year sentence. The charges of receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and selling a firearm to a convicted felon each carry a maximum 10 year sentence. Making false statements in a terrorism investigation carries a maximum 8 year sentence, while possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence carries a consecutive 5 year sentence.
This investigation is being conducted by the Raleigh Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Charlotte Division of the FBI and NCISAAC, the North Carolina Information Sharing and Analysis Center.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara D. Kocher and Jason Cowley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and Trial Attorney Jason Kellhofer, of the Counterterrorism Section in the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains mere allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
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