Satellite images show Iran destroying nuclear evidence

From ISIS:

Satellite imagery obtained by ISIS shows what appears to be further sanitization activity at the site in the Parchin military complex where Iran is suspected to have conducted high explosive tests pertinent to the development of nuclear weapons.

DigitalGlobe satellite imagery from May 25, 2012 shows that two small buildings at the same site as the suspected testing chamber have been completely razed. There are visible tracks made by heavy machinery used in the demolition process. Heavy machinery tracks and extensive evidence of earth displacement is also visible throughout the interior as well as the exterior of the site's perimeter.

This new round of activity has followed suspected cleanup activities in the explosives testing chamber building, which are visible in an April 9, 2012 satellite image published in an earlier ISIS report. In the April 9, 2012 image, the two support buildings are intact.

These activities raise further concerns of Iranian efforts to destroy evidence of alleged past nuclear weaponization activities. The IAEA has asked repeatedly to visit this site, but so far Iran has refused. In the May 25, 2012 IAEA safeguards report on Iran, the IAEA stated that 'based on satellite imagery, at this location, where virtually no activity had been observed for a number of years, the buildings of interest to the Agency are now subject to extensive activities that could hamper the Agency's ability to undertake effective verification.'

The newest image raises concerns that Iran is attempting to raze the site prior to allowing an IAEA visit. The razing of the two buildings may also indicate that Iran has no intention to allow inspectors access soon. In 2004, Iran razed the Lavisan-Shian site, which held the Physics Research Center (PHRC), interfering with the ability of the IAEA to investigate allegations that the PHRC was involved in military nuclear activities.

Iran should immediately allow the IAEA access to Parchin and explain the significance of these apparent cleanup activities.

I put two of the photos together to make it a bit easier to compare:



Parchin is the complex where IAEA inspectors were turned away in February, and where ISIS had previously identified likely nuclear activity.


Here is the area in Google Maps, which still shows the buildings intact:

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PalArabs celebrate dead terrorists as heroes

From AP:

Israel on Thursday handed over the remains of 91 Palestinian militants, including suicide bombers, to the West Bank government in an effort to induce President Mahmoud Abbas to renew peace talks.

All 91 were killed over the past decades while carrying out suicide bombings or other attacks on Israeli targets, Palestinian officials said. At least one of the attacks dated back to the 1970s.

There is a huge amount of joy over this in the Palestinian Arab media, as the terrorists are called "heroes" and the PA calls them"martyrs" - with their terror acts lovingly described.

In the pro-Fatah Palestine Press Agency, a family talks about how proud they are of their daughter, 19 year old Hiba Daraghmeh, who blew herself up in a mall in Afula, killing 3 - including a Muslim. (Notably, the PA issued one of their fake condemnations for that attack.)

The bodies of terrorists from the Savoy Hotel attack were also released. Fatah also regards these as heroes.

Also being celebrated is the suicide bomber who killed 13 at the Dizengoff Center attack of 1996

The Kfar Darom car bomb attack on a bus that killed 8, including American Aliza Flatow, is also being newly celebrated.

Hamas put out statistics on how many Israelis these "martyrs" killed (163 killed, 692 wounded, they claim) and listed the major attacks they were a part of.

For some reason, I haven't seen any Arabic articles that call for peace talks to be resumed because Israel released the bodies.

PA school principal punished over class trip to Israeli beach

From Gulf News:

Mohammad Abu Samra, the youngest known school principal in the history of Palestinian Territories, paid a huge price for dancing and allowing his pupils to dance with Israelis on the Jafa beach.

The 33-year-old Mohammad Abu Samra, principal of Al Salam Secondary School in the city of Qalqiliya, north of West Bank, was transferred after he organised a picnic for 45 pupils of grade 11 and 12 to the Jafa beach in Israel.

The pupils are now up in arms against the Ministry of Education's decision to transfer the principal to a school more than 30km away from his home.

As Abu Samra was quite popular with his pupils, the latter went on a strike and organised several processions within the premises of the Ministry of Education, demanding Abu Samra be reinstated to the principal's post.

He said each student who went on the picnic had to provide a parental approval, saying that they knew that their sons were heading to the beach that would have women. 'It is illogical and unfair for me to be punished,' he said.

Still photos taken on the beach showed some of the pupils with women in bikinis, which was considered as a disgrace by the pupils' families.

According to Abu Samra, the ministry, in the past, had sent a memo, encouraging schools to organise picnics to the 1948 areas. The Israeli authorities also granted the pupils and their supervisors visit permits, which usually expire at 7pm.

Speaking to Gulf News, Abu Samra said the pupils were all in the age group 17-20 years and it was extremely difficult to control them on the beach. 'It is true that in keeping with the regulations of the Ministry of Education, the pupils were not allowed to swim, but how could I have controlled them once they were there?' he said.

Abu Samra said at sunset, as the Israeli permits were about to expire, he instructed his pupils to get ready to go back home. However, at the same time, a group of Israeli men and women were preparing a dance floor with a DJ around.

'On our way to the bus, my pupils were attracted to the music and I could not say no to them,' he said. 'My pupils started dancing and I also joined them at the beginning to let them have fun,' he said, stressing that their dance had attracted some Israeli men and women to the beach.

'Those Israelis and a child joined us on the dance floor and I could not object or ask them to leave,' he said, adding that the dance lasted for about 10-20 minutes. 'It was purely unintentional and that has affected my future,' he said.

'Volunteers shot a video and took a couple of still photos and forwarded them to the Palestinian Ministry of Education, with a complaint that the incident would imply that there was normalisation of ties with Israel and it exposed the young generation of Palestinians to Israel's illicit code of conduct,' he said.

'I was thereafter given two choices: either be downgraded to the position of a teacher with a final warning or voluntarily seek transfer to a far-away school,' he said.

A pupil told Gulf News the school supports the principal and that they will fight until Abu Samra returns to the institution as principal. 'Our principal did not commit any mistake. It was the Israelis who loved the way we danced and they came forward and shared the dance floor with us,' the pupil said.

A senior official from the Ministry of Education told Gulf News that Abu Samra should not have allowed his pupils to dance in the first place. The fact that some Israeli women shared the dance floor with the pupils further complicated the issue.

The official stressed that Abu Samra had committed several administrative mistakes during the outing. Although the picnic was licensed by the ministry, mixing with Israelis on the beach should not have been allowed, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

'This issue has serious social and political ramifications and trips such as this should be planned and executed in a more conservative way,' the official added.

I could not find this story in Arabic, but the Gulf News in this case seems to have done a reasonable job confirming it by getting quotes from officials and from the principal.

This story reveals much beyond the surface humor. Not only that Palestinian Arab schools are allowed to regularly visit Israel on field trips - but also that they are instructed by the Palestinian Ministry of Education not to actually speak with any Israelis.

It also seems a little strange that 11th and 12th graders are between 17 and 20. But notice that even after a lifetime of anti-Israel indoctrination, they prefer dancing with Israelis to boycotting them, a bit different from what we are constantly told by the hate-Israel crowd.

(h/t Yoel)

Some kinds of apartheid are OK

On Tuesday night, Arabs threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of a Jewish-owned house in Jerusalem and it ignited, torching the room and heavily damaging the house.



This was the culmination of two weeks of incessant harassment of the Jewish residents - where they broke many windows of both houses and cars that belong to Jews in the neighborhood.

But unlike the cases when Jews are accused of attacking Arabs - crimes that are universally condemned and referred to as "racist" - these incidents will be ignored.

The reason? The Jewish homes are in Beit Hanina, a neighborhood that is predominantly Arab. Jews had lived there before 1948 and Jews purchased the property in 1977; finally the Israeli courts recognized the purchase and allowed Jews to move in a few weeks ago, in a move that received widespread  condemnation worldwide.

The EU and the UN condemned Israel for allowing Jews to live in land owned by Jews.

You will not hear a single word of condemnation about the violent - and potentially deadly - attack on the families that live there today.

Because some kinds of violence, and some kinds of apartheid, are acceptable to the world community.

(h/t @JudgeDan48)