WarSclerotic

Netanyahu Warns Against Iran-U.S. Nuclear-Weapons Deal | New Republic.

The U.N. General Assembly in September is one of two times each year that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can virtually guarantee himself space in the U.S. media, the other being the AIPAC Conference every spring.

Several times in past years, his government has used the weeks preceding these events to drum up concern over his top priority, which is halting Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, so that he can then come to America, put a capper on the weeks of chatter, and then, hopefully, extract promises from President Barack Obama—who, for the record, has pledged to prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb. To take just two examples: Israeli government sources provided ample quotes for two different articles, one in August 2010 and another in January 2012, suggesting that Israel was close to attacking Iran, kicking off much talk stateside and ending in renewed vows of U.S. support, roughly, for the Israeli position.

But this year, Bibi speaks in a climate not of his own making. The election of relatively moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and subsequent diplomatic overtures between him and President Barack Obama have people really talking of a diplomatic deal. Mainstream validators like The New Yorker’s Laura Secor and Abbas Milani in The New Republic counsel cautious optimism, and former hawks like Kenneth Pollack suggest that containment is a viable option for a nuclear Iran.

This state of affairs, in a phrase, freaks Netanyahu out. He considers a nuclear-armed Iran an existential threat to his country, and has spent the past several years threatening to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, both because he really just might and in order to pressure the Obama administration into making its own plans for a future attack. And he does not trust the prospect of a deal with Iran’s new president because Iran’s top leaders are unelected clerics who believe part of the purpose of the Islamic Republic is to “liberate” Jerusalem from “the Zionist entity.” In other words, there are many good reasons to be skeptical of a deal, even if it is probably worth trying to secure one anyway; distrust of Iranian diplomacy is one of Netanayahu’s more reasonable positions.

On Monday, Bibi tried to take some control of events in advance of his U.N. speech a week from Tuesday. An “Israeli official involved in drafting the speech” revealed to The New York Times that in his speech, Bibi will warn, “A bad agreement is worse than no agreement at all.” The official—who, if you met him, would probably bear a strong physical resemblance to Bibi’s right-hand man, future Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer—also said that Netanyahu will compare a hypothetical Iranian bargain to the various ones the U.S. has struck with North Korea, all of which turned out to be worth not even the paper they were written on.

The key paragraph in the Times article, actually, is the final one:

This year, Israeli officials fear, the highest drama may be Mr. Obama greeting Mr. Rouhani on the sidelines of the General Assembly, something that has not happened for decades and which they worry would leave Israel more isolated in dealing with Iran.

Much of the ideological disagreement between the Israeli and U.S. governments over how far Iran should be allowed to progress in its nuclear program and whether there should be an attack comes down to decidedly non-ideological differences. Chiefly: Israel is much closer to Iran, and therefore would be more threatened by a nuclear Iran; and Israel’s military ability to launch an effective strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities pales in comparison to the U.S.’s. (This is why Israel is especially activated over an underground enrichment facility called Fordo: It is buried so deep underground that it would likely withstand Israel’s most powerful bombs. But U.S. bunker-busters are believed capable of destroying it.)

Bibi does not want Israel to attack Iran—he wants the U.S. to attack Iran. And he is right to prefer that. But in order to urge the U.S. toward an attack, he needs to execute a delicate balancing act whereby he pushes the U.S. toward greater strictness while ultimately staying on the same page. Over the past four-and-a-half years, he has done an altogether exceptional job. But he was helped in no small part by the combination of cartoonishness and anti-Semitism of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an ideal enemy. And now Iran has this new guy making nice noises and even bringing Iran’s Jewish parliament member (Democrat from Great Neck?) to the U.N. Suddenly a deal does not seem so far-fetched.

And a deal is terrifying to Bibi because, of course, a bad agreement is worse than no agreement. Besides, he will ultimately almost certainly have to accept whatever deal gets made—remember, it is important that he stay on the same page as the U.S. So even though the best possible outcome is a legitimately good deal that conclusively ends the Iranian path to a nuclear weapon, it is cheaper (and, arguably, wiser) for Netanyahu instead to warn against a deal and implicitly advocate the continued threat of an American military strike.

Depending on how for-real Rouhani is, Netanyahu should be wary of doing this. A real deal would be great for Israel, too. If a nuclear Iran is Israel’s number-one nightmare, the aforementioned state of “more isolated” ought to be a close second.

Terrorist: Nairobi Mall Hit Over ‘Jewish Shops’ – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

Kenyan soldiers fight terrorists in Westgate Mall

Reuters

As Kenyan military forces moved to liberate Nairobi’s Westgate Mall from the hands of Islamist terrorists, a representative of Al-Shabaab, the Somali terror group behind the attack, told Arab satellite network Al Jazeera that the attack was overdue, and that the mall was chosen for the attack because “it is a place where there are Jewish and American shops.”

The attack, which began Saturday, was still underway Tuesday, with the terrorists holed up in the building, holding a number of hostages. At least 69 people have been killed so far, as Kenyan soldiers try to remove the Islamists who are occupying the building.

The Islamist group attacked the mall – a place where innocent civilians shop – because “it is a place where tourists from across the world come to shop, where diplomats gather. It is a place where Kenya’s decision-makers go to relax and enjoy themselves.” As the group demands the imposition of Islamic law in Kenya and the removal of all Western influences – and tourists – Al Shabaab felt justified in attacking the site, the terrorist spokesperson said.

In addition, he said, the attack was justified revenge against the Kenyan government for its actions against other Islamists.

“On civilian deaths, Kenya should first be asked why they bombed innocent Somali civilians in refugee camps, why they bombed innocent people in Gedo and Jubba regions. They should be asked that first before us,” he said, adding that the group had freed all Muslims before taking over the mall.

The Westgate mall is owned by an Israeli group, as are several of the stores; the attackers first entered the mall through an Israeli-owned coffee shop.

“We have been late in attacking Nairobi. We did not attack before because they were expecting us to attack. Our aim is to attack our enemy when they least expect us to attack. This time they were not expecting us to attack. We choose when to attack, and best time to attack,” the spokesperson said.

Iranian Jews Reject Invitation to Meet Rouhani – Jewish World – News – Israel National News.

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani

Reuters

Members of the Iranian Jewish community in the United States have refused an invitation to meet with the new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, despite his recent moderate comments, reports the Jewish Week.

The decision to reject Rouhani’s invitation for a meeting during his visit to New York for the UN General Assembly came after considerable discussion among the leadership of the Iranian Jewish community in New York and Los Angeles over the weekend.

“The impetus of our decision was that when the president had a chance to redeem himself on the question of the Holocaust, he did not do that,” a leader of the Iranian American Jewish Federation in New York told the Jewish Week.

He was referring to Rouhani’s response, when asked by an American journalist whether he believed the Holocaust was a historical fact. The president chose to avoid a direct reply, saying he was a politician, not a historian.

In addition, Sam Kermanian, senior adviser to the Iranian American Jewish Federation in Los Angeles, noted that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, when asked a similar question about the authenticity of the Holocaust, responded by saying that Iran condemns all murders, including “the murder of Palestinians by Israelis.”

“To compare accidental deaths to systematic murder shows that they don’t understand the world’s sensitivities to such a horrific event,” Kermanian said.

The New York and Los Angeles groups, made up primarily of prominent businessmen, are separate but seek consensus on major issues.

A third factor, Kermanian added, was Rouhani choosing to bring to the U.S. with him Iran’s only Jewish member of parliament, Siamak Moreh Sedgh, a 48-year-old doctor who has been an outspoken critic of Israel.

The concern was that Sedgh would be used as a propaganda tool, castigating Zionism and Israel’s policies toward PA Arabs, noted the Jewish Week.

American-Jewish Iranians are in a delicate position, deeply concerned about the fate of the 20,000 Jews still in their homeland, noted the report. The leaders in the U.S. do not want to offend Tehran by rejecting the meeting with Rouhani, but they are unwilling to hold a meeting with him for fear that it would be misinterpreted and actually used to mislead the Obama administration and U.S. public into thinking the Iranian Jewish community has fallen for Rouhani’s charm initiative.

Rouhani, who the West as described as a moderate, has hinted since his election that he would be willing to reach a deal regarding his country’s nuclear program. He recently surprised Jews around the world by tweeting a Rosh Hashanah greeting. Foreign Minister Zarif later tweeted a greeting of his own but, when asked whether Iran’s new government would stop denying the Holocaust, replied by saying, “Iran never denied it. The man who was perceived to be denying it is now gone. Happy New Year.”

The Iranian Jewish leaders told the Jewish Week they had hoped Rouhani would offer some specific proposals or expand the freedom of the Iranian people.

“But we have not seen anything yet,” a local leader said.

The decision not to meet with Rouhani was endorsed by Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, who told the Jewish Week that Rouhani was “a master of charm and deception.”

“He had an opportunity to send a strong signal simply by answering [the Holocaust question] in a different way. The fact that he wouldn’t say it was an historical fact sends a clear signal to everybody,” said Hoenlein.

Hoenlein noted that despite Rouhani’s more benign rhetoric, asserting that he seeks dialogue with the U.S. and a peaceful resolution to the confrontation with Washington, “he and his officials have said they are not going to stop their nuclear program.”

The local Iranian Jewish leaders said that if invited, they might, under certain conditions, agree to meet with Sedgh, the Jewish parliament member, but as one said, “We are hoping he won’t ask.

Obama and the snakes – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Op-ed: Putin proves that, as opposed to Obama, he is loyal to his allies and acts as bitter rival towards their enemies

An alarmed assistant entered Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir‘s office one day and informed him that Labor Party candidates had won the student union elections. “Excellent,” Shamir responded. “Now the snakes will grow there.”

Barack Obama, most likely, hasn’t heard about Shamir’s punch line, but in practice that’s what his foreign policy is based on. After Iraq, after Afghanistan, after the disappointment from the results of his speech at Cairo University, after the revolutions and internal wars which followed the Arab Spring, Obama is leaving the snake breeding to others.

If Putin insists on managing Bashar Assad‘s chemical arsenal, let him enjoy it: Syria will be his headache from now on. America has moved aside: It will no longer be the world’s policeman; it will no longer be the world’s fool, the world’s sucker.

Obama is not the first American president trying to turn his back on the world. Many preceded him. The exceptional thing in his case is the course he took: Presidents usually hope at the beginning of their term to create miracles within America, and are gradually dragged, something willingly, sometimes under compulsion, into foreign issues. Bush Jr. was a remarkable example: Until the attack on the World Trade Center he showed no real interest in what was going on outside the continent’s boundaries. The wars he went on following Bin Laden defined his presidency.

Obama took the opposite course: He began with great aspirations in the foreign policy, and gradually withdrew back home. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which gave him the Nobel Peace Prize at the begging of his first term, selected him just because his name wasn’t Bush. That concluded and concludes, for now, his contribution to world peace.

This void was entered by Vladimir Putin. His starting points are good: He has ambition; he has money and weapons; he has no opposition or restricting conditions at home. He proves to heads of state on a daily basis that, as opposed to Obama, he is loyal to his allies and acts as a bitter rival towards their enemies. Obama is wriggling between Morsi and al-Sisi; Putin never wriggles. Those who have missed the Cold War era, in which two rival world powers nurtured satellite countries, are welcoming Putin’s ambition with open arms.

Big brother has his own interests

Obama’s inward alignment falls into line with the state of mind of large parts of the American public opinion. That doesn’t mean his conduct is winning praise. Hawkish rightists are attacking what they perceive as weakness, softness, escaping responsibility, un-American behavior; those interested in foreign policy are anxiously watching the renewal of the Cold War; the liberal Left is troubled by Obama’s indifference in light of the massacre of civilians and serious violations of human rights. Everyone is bothered by the gap between rhetoric and action.

This week will be filled with diplomatic headlines. Iranian President Rohani will arrive at the UN General Assembly in New York, where he will continue his peace offensive and receive applause everywhere; Obama will also be in New York. They may meet. Even if they don’t meet, messages will be relayed. There will be a feeling that the crisis with Iran is behind us. Early next week Netanyahu will arrive and explain that the nuclear project still stands, and so the crisis still stands. There is no Iranian moderation – just public relations. The world will refuse to be impressed. It’s convenient to let Iran reach the nuclear threshold, hoping it will stop there.

A renewed Middle East is being formed, one which is divided into satellites of two rival world powers and regimes which are being threatened from the inside, with a cold American president who is neck-deep in internal issues, a determined and uninhibited Russian president, an enigmatic and manipulative Iran, and a weak and disintegrated European Union.

It won’t be easy for Israel to move around in this maze. For generations the entire neighborhood knew that we have a big brother who will come down the moment we cry for help. Now the big brother wants to look after his own interests.

Report: Americans among al Shabaab terrorist group behind Westgate Mall massacre | JPost | Israel News.

Witnesses say they heard attackers shouting in English, identifying them as a “multinational collection,” says Kenyan military chief; Twitter suggests Britain’s wanted ‘white widow’ may be alleged female attacker.

“We are fighting global terrorism here,” Kenyan Military Chief Julius Karangi said, adding that some of the al-Shabaab attackers may be of American citizenship.

Many witnesses said they heard the attackers shouting commands at each other in English, during an attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Shopping Center, which killed 62 people. Karangi insisted that the gunmen inside the mall were “clearly a multinational collection from all over the world.”

Al Shabaab, whose name in Arabic means “The Youth,” includes several dozen American recruits, according to Washington Post counter-terrorism analysts.

The Post reported on Tuesday that Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed confirmed “two or three Americans” and “one Brit” were among the militants who perpetrated the attack.

In an interview Monday with PBS Newshour, Mohamed reportedly explained that the American attackers were 18 to 19 years old, of Somali or Arab origin and lived “in Minnesota and one other place” in United States.

One intelligence officer and two soldiers also told Reuters that one of the dead militants was a white woman, and speculation over their identities began to rise.

Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said they were all men but that some had dressed as women.

The British jihadist was a woman who has “done this many times before,” Mohamed reportedly said.

This is likely to fuel speculation that she is the wanted widow of one of the suicide bombers who together killed more than 50 people on London’s transport system in 2005.

Called the “white widow” by the British press, Samantha Lewthwaite is wanted in connection with an alleged plot to attack hotels and restaurants in Kenya. Asked if the dead woman was Lewthwaite, the intelligence officer said: “We don’t know.”

US authorities are urgently looking into information given by the Kenyan government that residents of Western countries, including the United States, may have been among the attackers, US security sources said.

White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said he had no direct information that Americans had participated in the attack, but expressed US worries.

“We do monitor very carefully and have for some time been concerned about efforts by al Shabaab to recruit Americans or US persons to come to Somalia,” Rhodes told reporters traveling with US President Obama to the United Nations in New York.

Twitter

A Twitter account that claimed to be at the fingertips of the al-Qaida-linked al Shabaab terrorist entity has allegedly been documenting the Westgate mall siege with real time updates through the social media site.

Tweets from the account, which has now been blocked, described several of the jihadists as being of Western origins. One tweet even specifically named the “white widow,” Samantha Lewthwaite, saying she is a “brave lady” and they are glad to have her in their ranks.

However, according to the Washington Post, the militant group said Monday — on a different Twitter handle verified by the SITE Monitoring Service, that it had not sent the earlier messages or released the names or any other details about the attackers.

Global Terrorism

From Mali to Algeria, Nigeria to Kenya, violent Islamist groups – tapping into local poverty, conflict, inequality or exclusion but espousing a similar anti-Western, anti-Christian creed – are striking at state authority and international interests, both economic and political.

John Campbell, a former US ambassador to Nigeria, said he believed insurgents such as those who rebelled in Mali last year, the Nigerian Boko Haram Islamist sect and the Nairobi mall raiders were also partly motivated by anger with what he called “pervasive malgovernance” in Africa.

“This is undoubtedly anti-Western and anti-Christian but it also taps into a lot of deep popular anger against the political economy in which they find themselves, in which a very small group of people are basically raking off the wealth,” he said.

Iran president brings ‘charm offensive’ to U.N.; will Obama buy it? – CNN.com.

(CNN) — This week’s United Nations meeting could mark a turning point in the acidic relationship between Iran and the United States.

Will U.S. President Barack Obama shake the hand of newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani? Will the two presidents even hold a meeting?

Those are key questions after Rouhani’s “we must work together” opinion piece published by the Washington Post’s website last week.

His comments have sparked optimism on the streets of Iran’s capital, where residents are hopeful as they take note of their new president’s unprecedented charm offensive pushing for better relations with Washington.

But the Iranian president’s new approach hasn’t played as well in Israel.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is stepping up an effort to blunt Iran’s diplomatic offensive, and plans to warn the United Nations that overtures toward a nuclear deal could be a trap.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful energy, but the United States and others suspect it’s for atomic bombs.

The dispute about why Iran is seeking nuclear capability has prompted international sanctions and escalated concerns about additional warfare in the Middle East.

In his op-ed, Rouhani wrote that he wants “a constructive approach” between his country and the world, including about Iran’s nuclear program.

“We must work together to end the unhealthy rivalries and interferences that fuel violence and drive us apart,” Rouhani said.

Analysts are divided about Rouhani and his sincerity in addressing his country’s nuclear program. But there’s one thing all analysts agree on: the op-ed was a jumping off point for a very high-profile public relations push.

And this week, Rouhani could take things a step further.

Analyst: Rouhani needs to strike a deal quickly

In many ways, Rouhani’s recent election is like Obama’s in 2008: Rouhani enjoys enormous political capital, offering an opportunity to renew U.S.-Iran relations.

Rouhani overcame hard-line conservatives by campaigning as a centrist and a reformer, using a “hope and prudence” slogan.

To keep hard-liners at bay, Rouhani now must deliver something — namely, economic relief as Iran strains under global sanctions — or his critics will prevail as they did against Obama in 2009 when his own venture on U.S.-Iran diplomacy foundered, one analyst said.

“Now the roles are reversed: Rouhani needs to strike a deal quickly,” said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, who authored “A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran.”

This week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting “could be quite decisive,” Parsi said.

“That’s going to be the moment where the two sides have to invest the political capital needed. Otherwise it will go nowhere. It’s going to be costly politically to strike a deal. There’s going to be critics on both sides,” Parsi said. “There is a need for a huge dose of political will to be injected into the process.”

Will the two presidents meet?

Obama and Rouhani are both scheduled to deliver speeches at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. But it’s unclear whether the two presidents will meet.

Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Obama shouldn’t meet with Rouhani during the U.N. gathering, though shaking hands in a corridor would be appropriate.

Abrams says that’s because while Rouhani is Iran’s president, he is not the country’s leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the supreme leader of Iran.

“They are not counterparts, they are not equal,” said Abrams, who also supervised U.S. policy in the Middle East under former President George W. Bush. “So for the president to meet with him, I think confers too great a recognition on him.”

Abrams said Rouhani was a skilled political tactician when he was the country’s chief nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005.

“Remember this is the guy — Rouhani — who wrote several years ago with pride how he tied us up in negotiations while the nuclear program (of Iran) was going forward,” Abrams said. “So we should approach this with skepticism.”

White House weighs in

The Obama administration has welcomed Rouhani’s published column.

“But the fact of the matter is actions are what are going to be determinative here,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “The Iranians, for a number of years now, have been unwilling to live up to their obligations to the international community as it relates to their nuclear program.”

The international community’s economic sanctions against Iran has “taken a significant toll on their economy and put pressure on them to come back to the bargaining table,” Earnest said.

He did acknowledge that Rouhani now enjoys a window of opportunity against his hard-line adversaries at home, but Iran must “demonstrate their seriousness of purpose” and show “their nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful means.”

For now, Obama’s schedule this week doesn’t contain any meetings with Iranian representatives, Earnest said.

Asked if the United States is willing to ease sanctions against Iran, Earnest said such economic pressure “is what has brought the Iranians to the table.”

Optimism in Tehran

On the streets of Iran’s capital, many appear to be hopeful that their president’s overtures toward the United States are a good sign. But they’re also realistic that 34 years of mistrust will not disappear overnight.

“I am 99% sure things will be better,” said Tehran resident Syed Ali Akbar. “I can just feel it.”

Barber Hassan Ahmadi said he wants sanctions to end.

“I want to see better relations,” he said, “so we can live a little easier.”

Ali Hayati wasn’t even born the last time Iran and the United States had diplomatic relations. But now, he feels like there’s a chance for change.

“I want to see Mr. Rouhani and Mr. Obama sit in front of each other and speak about life,” he said.

At the House of Persian Carpets in the famous Tehran Bazaar, merchant Sadegh Kiyaei said he’s optimistic.

“We believe that two nations — Iran and America — they realize that they need each other. They like each other,” he said. “And they feel that it’s the right time to get together and to start talking at least.”

CNN’s Reza Sayah contributed to this report from Tehran. CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet contributed from Atlanta.

US Secretary of State Kerry and Iranian FM Zarif to meet at UN nuclear talks | JPost | Israel News.

Kenya: Forces in control of all mall floors | The Times of Israel.

Interior ministry says operation underway to end standoff — in its 3rd day — with al-Shabab terrorists as two gunmen killed; death toll mounts to 62

NAIROBI, Kenya — The Kenyan police said Monday that special forces involved in ending the siege of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi by al-Qaeda-linked terrorists have taken control of all the floors in the shopping center.

The inspector general of the national police service tweeted Monday forces are now in “control of all the floors,” adding “we’re not here to feed the attackers with pastries but to finish and punish them.”

Earlier, four thunderous explosions rocked the mall as top Kenyan officials said two hostage takers, part of “a multinational collection from all over the world,” had been killed, as the standoff entered its third day Monday.

Kenya’s interior minister said the evacuation of hostages “has gone very, very well” and that Kenyan officials are “very certain” that there are few if any hostages left in the building.

Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku also revised the death toll to 62. Kenyan officials earlier said 59 people have died since the siege on Westgate Mall began on Saturday, while the Red Cross had put the toll at 68, then in a tweet lowered it to 62, saying some bodies had been counted twice.

Dark plumes of smoke rose from the mall for more than an hour after four large explosions rocked the upscale Westlands neighborhood. A person with knowledge of the rescue operation told The Associated Press that the smoke was rising up and out of a large skylight inside the mall’s main department and grocery store, Nakumatt, where goods like mattresses may have been lit on fire.

Kenya Chief of Defense forces Gen. Julius Karangi said fighters from an array of nations participated in the attack claimed by al-Shabab, a Somali group allied with al-Qaeda.

“We have an idea who these people are and they are clearly a multinational collection from all over the world,” he said.

Karangi said Kenyan forces were in charge of all floors inside the mall, though terrorists could still be hiding inside. Earlier witness reports had indicated that a woman was among the estimated 10 to 15 attackers. Lenku said that instead some male attackers had dressed up like women.

The four explosions were followed by volleys of gunfire, then a thick, dark column of smoke that burned for roughly 90 minutes. Military and police helicopters and one plane circled over the Nairobi mall, giving the upscale neighborhood the feel of a war zone.

Westgate Mall is at least partially owned by Israelis, and reports circulated that Israeli commandos were on the ground to assist in the response. Four restaurants inside the mall are Israeli-run or owned, including a branch of Arcaffe, which was reportedly the first location inside the mall targeted by the terrorists.

In Israel, a senior defense official said there were no Israeli forces participating in an assault, but said it was possible that Israeli advisers were providing assistance. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a classified military issue, would not elaborate.

Gilad Millo, a Nairobi-based Israeli, said two Israeli men and a woman who were in the mall when the attack began were unharmed and safe.

Yariv Kedar, one of the three Israelis who was in Arcaffe at the time, told Channel 2 he “heard the gunfire getting closer” and bullets whizzed “over our heads” before he managed to escape.

“We started by hearing gunshots downstairs and outside. Later we heard them come inside. We took cover. Then we saw two gunmen wearing black turbans. I saw them shoot,” said Patrick Kuria, an employee at Artcaffe.

President Shimon Peres, in a Sunday letter to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, said, “I wish to extend my deepest condolences to the people of Kenya on the horrific terror attack in Nairobi. From the Holy Land we pray for the release of the hostages, the full recovery of the injured, and comfort for the families of the victims.”

Israel has close ties to Kenya going back many years. In recent years, Israel has identified East Africa as an area of strategic interest and stepped up ties with Kenya and other neighboring countries, due to shared threats posed by al-Qaeda and other extremist elements. In 2002, militants bombed an Israeli-owned luxury hotel near Mombasa, killing 13 people, and tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner at the same time.

On Sunday, Kenyan officials announced that “most” hostages had been rescued. But no numbers were given. Kenyan officials have never said how many hostages they thought the attackers had, but have said preserving the hostages’ lives is a top priority, greatly complicating the final fight against the attackers.

Kenyans and foreigners were among those confirmed dead, including British, French, Canadians, Indians, a Ghanaian, a South African and a Chinese woman. The UK Foreign Office said Monday it has confirmed the deaths of four British nationals.

From neighboring Somalia, spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage for al-Shabab — the militant group that claimed responsibility for the attack — said in an audio file posted on a website that the hostage takers had been ordered to “take punitive action against the hostages” if force was used to try to rescue them.

At the Oshwal Centre next to the mall, the Red Cross was using a squat concrete structure that houses a Hindu temple as a triage center. Medical workers attended to at least two wounded Kenyan soldiers there on Monday.

Al-Shabab said on a Twitter feed, an account that unlike some others appears to be genuine, that the attackers had lots of ammunition. The feed said that Kenya’s government would be responsible for any loss of hostages’ lives.

A large military assault began on the mall shortly before sundown on Sunday, with one helicopter skimming very close to the roof of the shopping complex as a loud explosion rang out, far larger than any previous grenade blast or gunfire volley. Officials said the siege would soon end and said “most” hostages had been rescued and that officials controlled “most” of the mall. But on Monday the standoff remained.

As the crisis surpassed the 48-hour mark, video taken by someone inside the mall’s main department store when the assault began emerged. The video showed frightened and unsure shoppers crouching as long and loud volleys of gunfire could be heard.

The al-Shabab extremists stormed the mall on Saturday from two sides, throwing grenades and firing on civilians.

Kenyan authorities said they would do their utmost to save hostages’ lives, but no officials could say precisely how many people were being held captive. Kenya’s Red Cross said in a statement, citing police, that 49 people had been reported missing. Officials did not make an explicit link but that number could give an indication of the number of people held captive.

Al-Shabab said the attack, targeting non-Muslims, was in retribution for Kenyan forces’ 2011 push into neighboring Somalia.

Muslim Brotherhood banned by Egyptian court | World news | theguardian.com.

( So much for the best laid plans of mice and Obama… – JW )

Court rules that Islamist party’s assets should be confiscated as crackdown on supporters of Mohamed Morsi escalates

theguardian.com, Monday 23 September 2013 15.35 BST

Muslim Brotherhood supporters protesting in Cairo, Egypt, this month. Photograph: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA

John Kerry to meet with Iranian FM at UN | The Times of Israel.

UN chief negotiator Catherine Ashton says Iran, six key nations to hold nuclear talks in New York on Thursday

By Times of Israel staff and AP September 23, 2013, 7:02 pm

US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton before the Meeting of EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs at the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius, Lithuania, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Susan Walsh)

Iran’s new foreign minister will join talks with six key nations trying to rein in the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program later this week, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Monday.

The Thursday meeting is to include US Secretary of State John Kerry, and will be the highest level meeting between US and Iranian officials since 1979, according to a Wall Street Journal report. 

Catherine Ashton, the chief nuclear negotiator, told reporters after meeting Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that she saw “energy and determination” for talks with the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to move forward. Foreign ministers of the six nations are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

The meeting, Ashton said, would likely be a ”short discussion,” but she hoped it would pave the way for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.

Ashton said she and her team will meet with Zarif again in October to follow up on Thursday’s meeting to continue their discussion on reviving long-stalled negotiations.

“We had a good and constructive discussion,” she said of her half-hour meeting with Zarif. “We didn’t talk about the details of what we would do. The purpose of this meeting was to establish how we would go forward.”

The election of Iran’s new president, Hasan Rouhani, considered a relative moderate in Iran’s hard-line clerical regime, has sparked speculation about possible movement on the nuclear issue.

On Friday, the White House intimated that a meeting between President Barack Obama and Rouhani could be a possibility when both leaders at the UN General Assembly. It was revealed last week that the two leaders have exchanged correspondence.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest said the US would be ready to engage in talks “on the basis of mutual respect” with Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Earnest said the White House wants Tehran to prove that its program is only for civilian purposes.

Earnest’s signals came after similar statements by White House spokesman Jay Carney, who said that Obama would be willing to sit down with Rouhani if he got the impression that Tehran was serious about its intention to curb its nuclear program. 

The UN Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran because of concerns it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. The US and its Western allies have imposed even more punishing sanctions which have severely affected Iran’s economy and drawn criticism from its citizens.

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, aimed only at producing energy and isotopes for medical use.

Asked if she thought a breakthrough was imminent on restarting negotiations, Ashton replied, “I was struck, as I said, by the energy and determination that the foreign minister demonstrated to me.”

“I have worked, I think, very hard to find a way in which we can address this issue of great concern, and I will take every opportunity to try and do that — and I hope this will be one,” she said.

Rohani told NBC last week that Iran has “never pursued or sought a nuclear bomb, and we are not going to do so.”

He said last month that the Foreign Ministry — not the Supreme National Security Council — will lead nuclear talks with world powers, a shift away from security officials being in control.