Archive
The Japanese Red Army’s Black Widow — Fusako Shigenobu
Posted on December 27, 2012 by Akashma Online News
Principal story by John S. Craig, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Japanese Red Army (JRA)
UPDATED with materials from the internet from different sources by Marivel Guzman.
All the information provided in this article is done with the purpose of informing the public of events that occurred more than 30 years ago. Events that had shaped our present reality.
All the material presented here needs to be revised. The official story had been the only story known to the public at the time of publication from the original sources.
The JRA was considered a terrorist organization by the government of Japan. But there is always the other side of the story. The story behind the curtain that covers the life of ordinary citizens.
As you read this compendium, research the works of Prof. Rachael M. Rudolph, who has done studies on resistance movements and had published books on the matter. Also, consider the role of mainstream media and the dissemination of information, which could have not been verified.
“I regard myself as a political prisoner, in as much as I fought with all my strength to improve Japanese and international society, and to help the Palestinian people,” Fusako Shigenobu.
The JRA was an international group formed in Japan around 1970 after breaking away from the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction. Shigenobu was one of the known leaders of JRA up until her arrest in Japan in November, 2000.
The movement was officially disbanded by Shigenobu on 2001 from her prison cell and proclaimed the armed struggle over. “If I am released I will continue the fight, but through peaceful means. The armed struggle was closely related to historical circumstances, and what is right in one time and place may not be right in another,” she said during her interview to the Guardian..
Fusako Shigenobu
The JRA’s historical goal has been to overthrow the Japanese government and monarchy and to help foment world revolution. After her arrest, Shigenobu announced she intended to pursue her goals using a legitimate political party rather than revolutionary violence, and the group announced it would disband in April, 2001. JRA may control or at least have ties to the Anti-Imperialist International Brigade (AIIB) and also may have links to the Antiwar Democratic Front—an overt leftist political organization—inside Japan. Details released following Shigenobu’s arrest indicate that the JRA was organizing cells in Asian cities, such as Manila and Singapore. The group had a history of close relations with Palestinian resistance groups—based and operating outside Japan—since its inception, primarily through Shigenobu.
Shigenobu could be very well known as on of the survivors of the first Nuclear blast in history; Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a devastating terrorist attack on the unarmed civilian population of Japan.
She was one of the principal leaders of the group known as the Japanese Red Army, Shigenobu, nicknamed “Mata Hari” by her revolutionary colleagues and also known as the “Red Queen of Terror.”
Fusako Shigenobu-The Children of the Revolution, The story told by the daughters of two revolutionary Japanese leaders of a movement that started on the 60’s-May and Bettina.
Shigenobu was born in 1945 only a few weeks after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Her father was a member of right-wing organization, the Blood Oath League, dedicated to ridding Japan of corrupt politicians. Due to her family’s poverty, she was unable to afford college. A remarkably beautiful young woman, she eventually married and supported herself as a topless dancer writing, “I hated the men who pawed me . . . I had murder in my heart . . . I saw every kiss turn into a rice ball for the Red Army.” Her social misery led her to the promise of communism’s elimination of hunger and social status. Determined to place the JRA on the terror map, she allied her group with terrorists that already had made their mark in the world: the Palestinian terror groups, claiming that the “revolution is my lover.”
At a 1972 meeting the Japanese Red Army was asked by Dr. Wadi Haddad, a founder of the PFLP, to help avenge the failure of a hijacking of an El Al plane. On May 30, 1972 three Japanese Red Army terrorists, in a suicidal fervor akin to the ancient Japanese spirit of kamikaze, fired indiscriminately in the Tel Aviv airport with VZT-58 Czech automatic rifles killing 24 , and injuring 78. Many of the victims were Puerto Ricans on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
One of the shooters was Takeshi Okudaira, the husband of Fusako Shigenobu. Due to a previous arrest, Shigenobu was unable to leave Japan and travel to the Middle East to expand the Japanese Red Army’s revolution. She married Okudaira and the marriage of convenience allowed her to leave the country with a new name. She then conveniently ordered her husband to be part of a suicide squad that would attack bystanders at the Tel Aviv airport. All three were trained for seven weeks by PFLP. Two of the three attackers were killed, Yasuda Yasuyuki and Okudaira. The surviving Japanese Red Army , Kozo Okamoto, used a fake passport with the name Daisuke Namba, the name of the man who had attempted an assassination of Crown Prince Hirohito in 1923.
The connection with the PFLP had started in 1970 when an Iraqi revolutionary, Bassim, traveled to Tokyo and established contact with the Japanese Red Army. The two groups made a film called Revolutionary War Declared. Okamoto was involved in the showing of the film at a university and eventually became involved in the Japanese Red Army. Before being convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in an Israeli court, Okamoto described the link between his Japanese Red Army and the PFLP as a means to propel the Japanese Red Army on the world stage, claiming the Arab world lacked “spiritual fervor, so we felt that through this attempt we could stir up the Arab world. The present world order has given Israel power, which has been denied the Arab refugees.” The PFLP praised the attack. The PFLP’s Abu Sherif rationalized the atrocity as an attack against Zionism and imperialism. Shigenobu declared the massacre was to “consolidate the international revolutionary alliance against the imperialists of the world.”
Okamoto was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released in 1985 during a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Palestinians. During his prison time he converted to Islam, then wished to be converted to Judaism and tried to circumcise himself with a pair of nail clippers. In 1975 he called himself a Christian. When he was released in Libya in 1985 he was greeted as a hero and met by Fusako Shigenobu. He was later arrested in 1997 with five Japanese Red Army companions in Lebanon for carrying false identity papers and again did some jail time.
Black September was encouraged by the success of the Japanese Red Army. In August of 1972, the group successfully destroyed a Trans-Alpine oil terminal at the Adriatic port of Trieste, Italy but failed in another mission when they tried to blow up an Israeli El Al Boeing 707 in mid-air. However, their next and most infamous attack would occur in the RAF’s backyard: the Munich Olympics. Abu Iyad and Abu Daoud were the main masterminds. Iyad would eventually be murdered in 1991 by direct orders of Sadam Hussein through one of Abu Nidal’s hitmen, possibly because Iyad condemned Hussein’s attack on Kuwait.
Shigenobu secretly returned to Japan and was arrested in Osaka in November 2000 and remains imprisoned in Japan. In February of 2006, she was sentenced to 20 years for involvement in kidnapping of embassy workers of a French Embassy in The Hague during a 1974 Japanese Red Army operation. She is also believed to have played key roles in a 1975 seizure of the U.S. consulate in Kuala Lumpu, a 1977 hijacking of a Japan Airlines jet over India, and a bomb attack on a club for U.S. servicemen in Naples in 1988 that resulted in the death of five Americans.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Shigenobu, 63, said: “It is time that Japanese people like me, who fought for a political cause in an attempt to create a better society, are offered a political way out of the deadlock.”
Israel Target Assassinations of Palestinian Leaders
Posted on December 28, 2012 by Akashma Online News
Various Sources
- Benjamin Netayahu best known by Bibi in 1986 co-authored a book called TERRORISM How The West Can Win. In the Chapter “Defining Terrorism”, you find the following statement.
“For in addition to random killing, terrorist often engage in assassinations of society’s leaders. Assassinations, in fact is important to the genesis of modern terrorism, emerging from an older tradition that maintains that a society can be reshaped, or a creed cleansed, by eliminating its leaders or ruling class. For the TERRORIST, assassination is the precursor of mass murder, and both constitute the principal weapons in his arsenal.” Benjamin Netayahu, 1986 in his book TERRORISM
After reading the book few times to get acquainted with the mind of a TERRORIST I will present to you excerpts of the book followed by past and present actions from Israel TERRORIST activities and State Policy of Terror Against Palestinian population and its supporters. This list does not include the previous assassinations of Palestinians before the creation of Israel Pre-1948, which by all mean could be considered a genocide. Most of the massacres were done started at beginning of the 19 century and subsequently by the Irgu militias and other groups that Planed the Terror that created Israel.
“It is the horrific story of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, a crime against humanity that Israel has wanted to deny and cause the world to forget. Retrieving it from oblivion is incumbent upon us; it is the very first step we must take if we ever want reconciliation to take a chance, and peace to take root, in the torn land of Palestine and Israel.” lan Pappé – the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
The next it is a comprehensive list of Israel Target Assassinations of Palestinian Leaders and supporters
July 13, 1956 Gaza Strip Mustafa Hafez Egyptian Army Lieutenant-Colonel
July 14, 1956 Amman Salah Mustafa Egyptian Military attache Parcel bomb
September 11, 1962 Munich, Germany Heinz Krug West German rocket scientist working for Egypt’s missile program Abducted from his company offices on Munich’s Schillerstrasse, his body was never found. Swiss police later arrested two Mossad agents for threatening the daughter of another scientist and found that they were responsible for the killing. Part of Operation Damocles.
November 28, 1962 Heluan, Egypt 5 Egyptian factory workers, Workers employed at Factory 333, an Egyptian rocket factory. Letter bomb sent bearing Hamburg post mark. Another such bomb disfigured and blinded a secretary. Part of Operation Damocles. Mossad
February 23, 1965 Montevideo, Uruguay Herberts Cukurs Aviator who according to Israel had been involved in the death of Latvian Jews during the the WWII, he was Lured to and killed in Montevideo by agents under the false pretense of starting an aviation business. Mossad
July 25, 1972 Beirut Attempted killing of Bassam Abu Sharif Member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who held a press conference with Ghassan Kanafani during the Dawson’s Field hijackings justifying the PFLP’s actions. He lost four fingers, and was left deaf in one ear and blind in one eye, after a book sent to him that was implanted with a bomb exploded in his hands. Mossad
October 16, 1972 Rome Abdel Wael Zwaiter Libyan embassy employee and PLO representative, considered by Israel to be a terrorist for his alleged role in the Black September group and Munich 72. Shot by two gunmen in his apartment. Mossad
July 8, 1972 Beirut Ghassan Kanafani Palestinian writer and a leading member of the PFLP, and claimed to be one of the planners behind the Lod Airport massacre. Killed by car bomb. Mossad-12 surviving families of the deceased on the attack placed a civil law suit against the Democratic Republic of Korea for the massacre attached find the court papers.
December 8, 1972 Paris Mahmoud Hamshari PLO representative in France and coordinator of the Munich Olympic Games massacre. Killed by bomb concealed in his telephone.
January 24, 1973 Nicosia Hussein Al Bashir Fatah representative in Nicosia, Cyprus Killed by bomb in his hotel room bed.
April 6, 1973 Paris Basil Al-Kubaissi PFLP member and American University of Beirut law professor Killed by two gunmen.
April 9, 1973 Beirut Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar Black September Operations officer and PLO official Killed during Operation Spring of Youth. Sayeret Matkal
April 9, 1973 Beirut Kamal Adwan Black September commander and member of the Fatah central committee[14] Killed during Operation Spring of Youth. Sayeret Matkal
April 9, 1973 Beirut Kamal Nasser PLO spokesman Killed during Operation Spring of Youth. Sayeret Matkal
April 11, 1973 Athens Zaiad Muchasi Fatah representative to Cyprus Killed in hotel room.
June 28, 1973 Paris Mohammad Boudia Black September operations officer Killed by pressure-activated mine under his car seat.
July 21, 1973 Lillehammer, Norway Attempted killing of Ali Hassan Salameh High-ranked leader in the PLO and Black September who was behind the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre Ahmed Bouchiki, an innocent waiter believed to be Ali Hassan Salameh, killed by gunmen. Known as the Lillehammer affair. Mossad
March 28, 1978 German Democratic Republic Wadie Haddad PFLP commander, who masterminded several plane hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s. Killed by a poisoned chocolate, sent to him, which caused his death several months later. Claimed to be Mossad (Israel never claimed responsibility)
July 26, 1979 Cannes Zuheir Mohsen Leader of the pro-Syria as-Sa’iqa faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization Shot in the front of casino. Mossad
January 22, 1979 Beirut Ali Hassan Salameh High-ranked leader in the PLO and Black September who was behind the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre Killed by car bomb, along with four bodyguards and four innocent bystanders. Mossad
1980s
Date Place Target Description Action Executor
June 13, 1980 Paris Yehia El-Mashad Egyptian nuclear scientist, lecturer at Alexandria University Killed in his room at the Méridien Hotel in Operation Sphinx. Marie-Claude Magal, prostitute, client of El-Meshad, pushed under a car and killed in the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Mossad
August 21, 1983 Athens Mamoun Meraish Senior PLO official Shot in his car from motorcycle. Mossad
June 9, 1986 Athens Khalid Nazzal Secretary of the DFLP (Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine) Assassinated in Athens by Mossad agents who enter Greece with fake passports, shot Nazzal while leaving his hotel, and fled the country. Mossad
April 16, 1988 Tunis Abu Jihad Second-in-command to Yassir Arafat Killed in Tunis Raid.[10] Israeli commandos
1990s
March 20, 1990 Brussels Gerald Bull Canadian engineer and designer of the Project Babylon “supergun” for the Iraqi government Shot at door to his apartment Mossad (speculation and denied by Israel)
February 16, 1992 Leader of the Lebanese resistance Abbas al-Musawi Secretary-General of Hezbollah Killed in his car convoy by missiles launched from two Israeli helicopters, with his wife and their son. Mossad
June 8, 1992 Paris Atef Bseiso Palestinian official involved in Munich Massacre Shot several times in the head at point-blank range by 2 gunmen, in his hotel (Aaron Klein’s “Striking Back”) Mossad
October 26, 1995 Sliema, Malta Fathi Shaqaqi Head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad Shot and killed in front of Diplomat Hotel.
January 6, 1996 Gaza Strip Yahya Ayyash “The Engineer”, Hamas bombmaker Killed by bomb in cell phone. Shabak
September 25, 1997 Amman Khaled Mashaal (failed attempt) Hamas political leader Attempted poisoning. Israel provided antidote, after pressure by Clinton. Canada withdrew Ambassador. Two Mossad agents with Canadian passports arrested
According to an Israeli research centers, Israel carried out 135 assassinations until May 2003, killing 249 members of various Palestinian resistance factions
November 22, 2000 Gaza Strip Jamal Abdel Raziq Senior official of the Fatah faction Tanzim Killed with driver, Awni Dhuheir, when their car was fired upon by IDF troops. Two bystanders in car in front of them also killed (Sami Abu Laban, 29, baker, and Na’el Al Leddawi, 22, student). IDF
December 17, 2000 Qalandiyya Samih Malabi Senior Fatah member using Mobile phone bomb. It is unclear whether he had been killed by his own explosive device or by Israeli security forces.
February 3, 2001 Gaza Strip Massoud Ayyad Lieutenant-colonel in Force 17, who allegedly led a Hezbollah cell involved in firing on Jewish settlements, plotting to kidnap Israeli soldiers and smuggling arms. Killed while driving in Jabaliya refugee camp by three helicopter-launched rockets.
June 24, 2001 Nablus Osama Jawabiri Member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade Bomb planted in public phone
July 17, 2001 Bethlehem Omar Saada Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades regional commander Two wire-guided missiles fired into his home. One other Hamas member killed.
July 31, 2001 Nablus Jamal Mansour High-ranking official of Hamas’ West Bank political wing Killed when office struck by helicopter-launched missiles.
August 5, 2001 Tulkarim Amr Hadiri Hamas student activist Missiles fired at car.
August 20, 2001 Hebron, West Bank Imad Abu Sneneh Leader of Tanzim Shot and killed. Israeli undercover team
August 27, 2001 Ramallah, West Bank Abu Ali Mustafa Secretary General of the PFLP Killed in his office by two missiles fired from an Apache helicopter. IAF
January 14, 2002 Tulkarem, West Bank Raed Karmi Head of al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades Killed by blast.
January 22, 2002 Nablus, West Bank Yusif Suragji West Bank head of Izzaddinal_Qassam Brigades. Three other Hamas members also killed. Palestinian Authority claims it was an assassination.[29] Killed in a raid on an alleged explosives factory. Israeli army
January 24, 2002 Khan Yunis, Gaza strip Adli Hamadan (Bakr Hamdan) Senior Hamas member missile attack on car. Israeli Air Force
February 4, 2002 Rafah Ayman Bihdari DFLP member wanted for 25 August 2001 raid in which three Israeli soldiers were killed. missile attack on car. Four other DFLP members killed. Israeli Air Force
March 5, 2002 Ramallah Mohammad Abu Halawa and Fawzi Murrar Wanted AMB members Missile fired at car from helicopter.
June 24, 2002 Rafah Yasir Raziq, ‘Amr Kufa. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades leaders. Missiles fired at two cars. Four other Palestinians killed.
July 22, 2002 Gaza City Salah Shahade Leader of Hamas Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Killed by 2,205-pound explosive dropped by F-16. The attack also killed fourteen other Palestinians including his wife and 9 children.
August 6, 2002 Jenin Ali Ajuri, Murad Marshud al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades members. Killed by air to surface missile.
August 14, 2002 Tubas Nassa Jarrar Senior Hamas member. Rockets fired into house from helicopters. The victim was wheelchair bound.
March 8, 2003 Gaza City Ibrahim al-Makadmeh He and three of his aides killed by helicopter-fired missiles
August 21, 2003 Gaza Strip Ismail Abu Shanab High-ranking Hamas official, Missile strike
December 25, 2003 Gaza Strip Mekled Hameid PIJ commander. Helicopter gunship attack on car. Two PIJ members and two bystanders also killed. IAF
February 28, 2004 Jabaliya refugee camp Muhammad Judah PIJ military commander Missiles at his car. Two passengers are also killed and eleven bystanders wounded.
March 3, 2004 Gaza City Tarad Jamal, Ibrahim Dayri and Ammar Hassan Senior Hamas members Missiles from helicopter fired at car.
March 22, 2004 Gaza Strip Ahmed Yassin Co-founder and leader of Hamas He, 2 bodyguards, and 9 bystanders killed by Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache-fired Hellfire missiles. IAF
April 17, 2004 Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi Co-founder and leader of Hamas, and successor of Ahmed Yassin as leader of Hamas after his death Killed by helicopter-fired missiles, along with his son.
October 21, 2004 Gaza Adnan al-Ghoul Hamas weapons expert He and Imad Abbas killed when Apache helicopter fired missiles at their car.
May 25, 2006 Sidon, Lebanon Mahmoud al-Majzoub Commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Injured in car bombing, and died the next day. Islamic Jihad blamed Israel, though Israel denied it.
June 8, 2006 Jamal Abu Samhadana Founder of the Popular Resistance Committees militant group, a former Fatah and Tanzim member, and number two on Israel’s list of wanted terrorists. Killed by Israeli airstrike, along with at least three other PRC members.
February 12, 2008 Damascus Imad Mughniyah Top Hezbollah commander Killed by car bomb. Some news reports indicated the Mossad was responsible, though Israel denied carrying it out.
August 1, 2008 Muhammad Suleiman Syrian General, and top liaison between Syria and Hezbollah Killed by sniper fire. Israel never takes credit for the killing, but is widely suspected.
January 1, 2009 Nizar Rayan Top Hamas military commander and decision maker, Killed in Israeli airstrike, along with his 4 wives and 11 of their children. He is the most senior Hamas member to be killed since 2004. According to Israel, Rayan was not the target, rather, the strike aimed to destroy Hamas’ central compound which included several buildings that served as storage sites for weapons. Israel further stated that phone warnings were delivered to the residents.
January 3, 2009 Abu Zakaria al-Jamal Senior Hamas military wing commander, and leader of Gaza City’s rocket-launching squads Killed in Israeli airstrike.
January 15, 2009 Jabalia Said Seyam Hamas Interior Minister Killed in Israeli airstrike with his brother, his son, and Hamas general security services commander Salah Abu Shrakh.
March 4, 2009 Gaza Strip Khaled Shalan Senior member of Islamic Jihad Killed in Israeli airstrike, in retaliation for[dubious – discuss] Palestinian rocket attacks on the Israeli city of Ashkelon. IAF
2010s
January 12, 2010 Iran Masoud Alimohammadi Iranian nuclear scientist Killed in a car bomb. Mossad (Alleged)
January 19, 2010 Dubai Mahmoud al-Mabhouh Hamas senior military commander, believed to have been involved in smuggling weapons and explosives into Gaza. Widely reported to have been killed by Israeli intelligence members. Israel stated that there is no proof of its involvement, and refused to confirm or deny the allegations. Dubai police report that Israeli agents used Australian, French, British, Irish, and Dutch passports. Mossad
July 31, 2010 Gaza Strip Issa al-Batran Hamas military commander in central Gaza, thought to have been involved in manufacturing rockets Killed in retaliation for earlier rocket attack on city of Ashkelon IAF
November 3, 2010 Gaza Strip Mohammed Nimnim al-Qaeda affiliated, Army of Islam commander Car explosion, due to either a bomb planted by Israel or an Israeli airstrike. IAF, with Egyptian intelligence
November 17, 2010 Gaza Strip Islam Yassin al-Qaeda affiliated, Army of Islam commander Israeli airstrike on his car, killing him, his brother, and injuring four others. IAF
November 29, 2010 Iran Majid Shahriari Iranian nuclear scientist Killed in a car bomb. According to the German newspaper Der Spiegel Israel was behind the killing. Mossad
November 29, 2010 Attempted killing of Fereydoon Abbasi in Iran. Iranian nuclear scientist Wounded in a car bomb.Mossad
January 11, 2011 Gaza Strip Mohammed A-Najar Islamic Jihad operative, suspected of planning attacks against civilians and launching rockets at Israel Attacked by the Israel Airforce while driving his motorcycle in the Gaza Strip. IAF
April 9, 2011 Gaza Strip Tayseer Abu Snima Senior Hamas commander Killed along with 2 of his bodyguards by the Israeli air force during a period of escalated rocket fire from Gaza. He was the most senior Hamas commander killed since 2009.[60] IAF
July 23, 2011 Iran Darioush Rezaeinejad Iranian nuclear scientist Killed by unknown gunmen on motorcycle. The German Newspaper Der Spiegel claimed Mossad was behind the operation. He is the third Iranian nuclear scientist killed since 2010. Mossad
August 18, 2011 Gaza Strip Abu Oud al-Nirab and Khaled Shaath Popular Resistance Committees Commanders Killed hours after a terrorist attack killed 7 Israelis in southern Israel. 4 additional members of the group were killed in the strike.IAF, Shin Bet
January 11, 2012 Iran Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan Iranian nuclear scientist The bomb that killed Ahmadi-Roshan at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, and another unidentified person was a magnetic one and the same as the ones previously used for the assassination of the scientists, and the work of the Zionists [Israelis],” deputy Tehran governor Safarali Baratloo said. Mossad
March 9, 2012 Gaza Strip Zuhir al-Qaisi Secretary-General of the Popular Resistance Committees According to Israeli intelligence, he was planning an imminent attack. IAF Preempty strike
November 14, 2012 Gaza Strip Ahmed Jaabari Commander of Hamas’ military wing Killed in an airstrike at the start of Operation Pillar of Cloud.
References-Use your common sense, some of the references and information are taken from some Israeli sites, use caution. Taking in consideration the modus operandi of Israel, which is, lying, distorting the truth always to serve their agenda. The ultimate truth in this article is to give you the toll on the number of Israel Target Assassination. Being the point of the opening statement. Statement taken from Benjamin Netayahu book -TERRORRISM 1986.
^ Abraham D. Sofaer (March 26, 2004). “Responses to Terrorism / Targeted killing is a necessary option”. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
^ name=USA: ‘Targeted killing’ policies violate the right to life|url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/usa-%E2%80%98targeted-killing-policies-violate-the-right-to-life%7Cdate=16 November 2012
^ name=Targeted Killings|url=http://www.aclu.org/national-security/targeted-killings%7Cdate=16 November 2012
^ a b Burns, Lieutenant-General E.L.M. (1962) Between Arab and Israeli. George G. Harrap. Page 164
^ Sirrs, Owen L. (January 2006). Nasser and the missile age in the Middle East. Routledge. p. 61.
^ a b Lavy, George (October 1996). Germany and Israel: moral debt and national interest. Routledge. p. 63.
^ Josifs S̆teimanis (2002). History of Latvian Jews (Illustrated, revised ed.). East European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-493-2, 9780880334938.
^ Guerin, Orla (June 29, 2002). “BBC Article”. BBC News. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
^ a b Palestinians’ Way Forward Al Jazeera English, June 19, 2009
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Israeli “Hits” On Terrorists, Jewish Virtual Library, last updated December 18, 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2007.
^ Bar-Zohar, Michael & Eitan Haber. Massacre in Munich. The Lyons Press, 2005, p. 146
^ Stich, Rodney. “FBI, CIA, the Mob, and Treachery”. 2007. p.188
^ Strategic intelligence, Volume 1 By Loch K. Johnson, p. 67
^ The terrorist list: A-K, By Edward Mickolus. p.28
^ a b “Death of a Terrorist”. Time Magazine. 1979-02-05. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
^ a b Poisoned Mossad chocolate killed PFLP leader in 1977, says book. Middle East Times. May 6, 2006
^ http://www.science.co.il/ilan-ramon/Osiraq.pdf Ford, Peter S., Major, USAF, “Israel’s Attack on Osiraq: A Model for Future Preventive Strikes?”, INSS Occasional Paper 59, USAF Institute for National Security Studies, USAF Academy, Colorado, July 2005, p. 15
^ a b Ostrovsky, Victor, “By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer”, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1990, p. 23f.
^ “Agent Livni Makes British Headlines”. YNet News. June 1, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
^ Toolis, Kevin (26 August 1990). “The Man Behind Iraq’s Supergun”. The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
^ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the US State Department, February 23, 2001. Retrieved October 14, 2006.
^ Israel’s death squads: A soldier’s story, Donald Macintyre, The Independent, March 1, 2009.
^ Mid-East peace hopes shift to US, BBC, 17 December 2000
^ The Independent, 14 February 2001
^ Philips, Alan. “Arafat aide killed in helicopter ambush”, Telegraph, February 14, 2001. Retrieved October 14, 2006.
^ Profile: Hamas activist Jamal Mansour, BBC News, July 31, 2001. Retrieved October 14, 2006.
^ “Palestinian activist shot, killed”, CNN, August 20, 2001. Retrieved October 14, 2006.
^ “Killing sparks fresh Mid-East violence”. BBC News. January 14, 2002. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
^ a b c d Journal of Palestine Studies. XXXI, no. 3 (Spring 2002), University of California Press, pp. 172-194.
^ Journal of Palestine Studies. XXXI, no. 4 (Summer 2002), University of California Press, p 203.
^ “Hamas terrorist Ismail Abu Shanab – 21-Aug-2003”. Mfa.gov.il. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
^ Journal of Palestine Studies, Summer 2004, Volume XXX111, no 4 (132). Page 189, Chronology compiles by Michele K. Esposito. citing Agence France-Presse, New York Times, Washington Post and Washington Times.
^ JoPS. Page 190. cites Ha’Aretz, Palestine Report.
^ “Al Jazeera English – The Life And Death Of Shaikh Yasin”. Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on August 16, 2007. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
^ PIWP database: Assassination of Majzoub brothers in Sidon
^ Hamas defies ‘security force’ ban, BBC News Online, 21 April 2006.
^ [1], Haaretz, June 8, 2006.
^ [2], Yediot Acharonot, June 8
^ Mahnaimi, Uzi; Jaber, Hala; Swain, Jon (February 17, 2008). “Israel kills terror chief with headrest bomb”. London: The Sunday Times. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
^ Powell, Robyn (February 26, 2008). “Israel denies assassinating Hizbollah chief”. London: The Telegraph. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
^ Yoav Stern (August 3, 2008). “Sniper kills Syrian Pres. Assad’s Hezbollah liaison”. Haaretz. Archived from the original on 2009-05-08.
^ Harel, Amos (September 28, 2010). “ANALYSIS / In bombing Sudan, Israel sends message to Iran”. Haaretz. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
^ a b Kalman, Matthew; Kennedy, Helen (2009-01-01). “Israel fells key Hamas strongman, escalating conflict; says it’s ready for ground invasion”. New York Daily News. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
^ Factual and Legal Aspects, IMFA, July 2009
^ Israeli ground troops enter Gaza
^ Katz, Yaakov (January 3, 2009). “Tens of thousands of IDF combat reservists called up”. The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
^ Yaakov Katz (Jan 15, 2009). “IAF kills Hamas strongman Siam”. The Jerusalem Post.
^ al-Mughrabi, Nidal (March 4, 2009). “Israel kills Gaza rocket commander in airstrike”. Reuters. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
^ Issacharoff, Avi; Harel, Amos (2010-01-31). “Mystery explosion kills senior Hamas militant in Dubai”. Haaretz. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
^ “Israeli politician Livni hails Dubai Hamas killing”, BBC News, February 23, 2010.
^ Ravid, Barak (July 30, 2010). “Hamas vows revenge after Israel kills commander in Gaza strike”. Haaretz. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
^ Yitzhak Behorin (November 11, 2010). “Egypt ‘tipped’ Israel on terrorist”. ynetnews.
^ Anshel Pfeffer, Avi Issacharoff and News Agencies (November 3, 2010). “Israel claims assassination of top Islamist militant in Gaza”. Haaretz.
^ Avi Issacharoff (November 17, 2010). “IDF kills senior Gaza militant planning to abduct Israelis in Sinai”. Haaretz.
^ Yaakov Lappin (November 17, 2010). “IAF kills Army of Islam leader in Gaza”. The Jerusalem Post.
^ Robert Zeliger (August 2, 2011). “Report: Mossad behind string of assassinations in Iran”. Foreign Policy.
^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/bomb-blast-blamed-on-israel-and-us-kills-iran-nuclear-scientist-2146996.html
^ http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/sabotaging-iran-s-nuclear-program-mossad-behind-tehran-assassinations-says-source-a-777899.html
^ a b “Israeli air strike kills one Palestinian in Gaza”. Thaindian News. Jan 12 2011.
^ Kevin Flower (April 9, 2011). “Arab League meeting urged over Gaza”. CNN.
^ “‘Der Spiegel’: Mossad behind Iran scientist assassination”. The Jerusalem Post. August 2, 2011.
^ Elior Levy (August 18, 2011). “Revenge: 2 Top terrorists killed”. ynetnews.
^ The Express Herald Tribune’s reporter Web Desk (February 10, 2012). “Mossad training hit-squads in Iran to kill nuclear scientists: Report.”. Tribune.
^ MSNBC’s reporter Brian Williams (February 9, 2012). “Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News.”. MSNBC.
^ BBC’s reporter Mohsen Asgari (January 11, 2012). “A university lecturer and nuclear scientist has been killed in a car explosion in north Tehran.”. BBC.
^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4201508,00.html
^ Kershner, Isabel; Fares Akram (14 November 2012). “Ferocious Israeli Assault on Gaza Kills a Leader of Hamas”. The New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
Global Social Dissease Child Abuse
Posted on June 06, 2012 by Akashma Online News
Originally posted on Metropolis Japan Magazine
Thanks to increased government involvement and greater public exposure, child abuse is gradually emerging from the shadows. But Japan’s youngest citizens remain vulnerable to violence at the hands of those who care for them. Tama Miyake reports.
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Kenji* bears the scars of a battle lost years before. The 5-year-old has been burned and beaten, held underwater, and singled out as the youngest boy in a family of five children. He is emotionally troubled, panics easily, and is still afraid to take a bath. But this little boy is one of the lucky ones.
Kenji has spent the past three years living with his two sisters in a residential care center run by the prefectural government in northern Saitama. Today, he gets regular counseling, a hot meal at the end of every day, and the affectionate attention of a troop of care workers.
Kenji is a survivor, a battle-hardened victim of what is now being recognized as one of Japan’s greatest social ills: child abuse. His mother is in jail; his father is out of the picture. His grandparents want nothing to do with them, and one of his older siblings is dead. Care workers suspect that child died from abuse inflicted by the parents, but no evidence was ever uncovered.
Yet for all the hardship Kenji has faced in his short life, his is just one story of out of thousands. In the last fiscal year alone, consultation centers around the country received 25,000 reports of suspected child abuse, an increase of nearly 25 percent over the previous year and testimony to what experts say is a breakdown in the traditional family unit, a rise in the number of single and young parents, and the growing tendency toward isolation from friends, family and the community at large.
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Despite efforts by the government and volunteer organizations to halt the cycle of violence, many Japanese children never live to see the inside of a care center. Earlier this month, a 3-year-old boy was beaten to death by his father and a 14-month-old boy starved to death under his mother’s care, adding to the more than 60 children who have already died of abuse since the enactment in November 2000 of the Child Abuse Prevention Law.
As more and more children become victims, the Japanese government is finding itself increasingly involved in issues long considered private, and struggling to protect the very people who represent its future. But with the country’s care centers bursting at the seams and resources stretched ever thinner, the question remains: Is it enough to save them?
Warning signs
Here, as in most developed countries, child abuse encompasses physical, sexual and psychological abuse, as well as neglect. And in keeping with most other countries, it’s the mothers who are most often the perpetrators of abuse. But there are several factors that make the situation in Japan far different, and at times far more troubling, than the rest of the world.
According to reports issued by the Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry, the number of suspected abuse cases reported to consultation centers around the country in fiscal 2000 reached 18,804, a rise of 60 percent over the previous year and a 17-fold increase over 10 years earlier. The actual number of cases is believed to be much higher, with the ministry’s release last month of a research study showing an estimate of 35,000 for that year.
The startling increase was attributed in part to the enactment of the prevention law, which obliges doctors, teachers and child welfare officers to report suspected abuse to the consultation centers, and a new system of counting all reported cases rather than only those in which action was taken. But it was also a reminder that, like the bruises and burns that mark so many of its victims, child abuse had become a problem Japan could no longer ignore.
Indeed, the number of cases and the fact that 85 percent of abusers reported in 2000 were the victims’ parents—with mothers making up 60 percent—highlighted the precarious state of the Japanese family, which many say faces unprecedented strain.
“The family is a very stressful unit when you stop and think about it,” says Yuko Kawanishi, a sociologist and professor at Temple University. “And there’s really no period in human history that only the mother and the nuclear family were raising the children.”
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With the tendency of Japanese husbands to focus on climbing the corporate ladder and the nation’s rapid development post-WWII, the past 40-50 years have seen the burden of child rearing fall ever more heavily on the mother. “The husband is always busy, he’s almost married to the company. So more and more, the wife gets isolated,” explains Kawanishi, who notes that just one generation ago Japanese families shared child rearing responsibilities among extended relatives and close neighbors.
It’s this growing isolation combined with the immense pressure that many Japanese mothers feel to raise well-behaved, well-groomed and well-adjusted children that experts say can make for a deadly combination. “Typically they are excessively serious about rearing their children and strict about teaching manners so their kids can behave in front of other people,” says Yasuko Takahashi, a clinical psychologist and counselor to abusive mothers in Saitama, of the women she sees in her group therapy sessions. “They believe they are doing it for their children’s sake.”
Another factor adding to the strain felt by many Japanese parents is the increasing lack of communication with the outside world. “I think a lot of it has to do with urbanization,” says Kawanishi. “Nowadays, it’s basically like living with a bunch of strangers. I’ve never even talked to my neighbors. And the worst is this apartment-complex life; it’s not helping lonely mothers at all.”
Isolation, whether in the form of separation from concerned relatives and friends, or in the secluded apartments of high-rise Japanese cities, is in fact a prime factor in most cases of abuse.
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Child abuse expert Dr. Eli Newberger cites the issues surrounding discipline and punishment as among the most confused in childcare
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“Most severe cases of abuse, in virtually every instance, were in homes where there were no lines of connection to family or professional support,” notes Dr. Eli Newberger, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School with 32 years of experience dealing with abuse as founder of the Child Protection Team at Children’s Hospital in Boston.
The past few decades have seen the rise of another trend relatively new to the Japanese family dynamic: dekichatta kekkon (shotgun marriages). “Most shotgun marriages are among very young people,” says Kawanishi, who attributes this to a loosening of sexual practices and a lack of birth control options. “So we’ve seen this kind of polarization between sexually educated women who are waiting longer and longer on the one hand and on the other hand this very different group of very young, uneducated women who are getting pregnant very early.”
Lacking much life experience outside their own homes, these young parents also have the potential to join another group that’s at high risk of becoming abusers: single parents. Forced to support themselves and their children in a depressed economy, Japan’s single parents have been identified by the government as needing particular support.
“Since single parenthood is one of the causes of child abuse, people should extend a helping hand to single-parent families,” says Mr Ohta, head of the children’s consultation division at the health ministry.
Breaking the chain
Having established child abuse as a rapidly growing social problem, the Japanese government is now charged with finding ways to stop it. In addition to the recently enacted prevention law, which allows it to challenge custody rights by banning abusive parents from having contact with their children, the federal government has strengthened support services by allotting subsidies to municipalities, distributing manuals on detection and treatment of abuse to childcare workers and police officers, and conducting studies on the handling of abuse cases.
“We must work on manuals designed to respond to cases, and as far as deaths are concerned, quick discovery is necessary, so the involvement of police and other related authorities is necessary,” says Ohta. “Comprehensive involvement is necessary, as has been carried out until now.”
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But those on the front lines say these efforts are far from enough. “Right now the governmental eye goes more to the older generation and their care,” says Chizuko Yaita, the sole therapist at the residential care center housing Kenji and his sisters. “I know you can’t compare, but they have to realize that kids are also very important for Japan’s future.”
Yaita has been counseling abused children for the past two years at a center housing 80 children from 3 to 18 years old. But the US-trained therapist says the salary the government offers is so low she can only afford to work at the center three days a week. Meanwhile, the care workers who deal with the children on a daily basis are stretched to the limit.
“The hardware is getting better, but the software is not enough,” Yaita says, noting that almost every care center has had to turn children away because they’re already full. “We need more care workers for the situation to get better. Sometimes it’s impossible to do even the simple things because they don’t have enough time or hands.”
According to a survey conducted by the health ministry, many prefectures and large cities have only one child consultation center, the first point of contact for intervention in abuse cases. Even more troubling, most workers at these centers receive only one or two days of training. With local governments controlling these centers as well as elementary schools and day-care facilities, the level of protection for young Japanese can vary widely from city to city and prefecture to prefecture.
Volunteer organizations have made efforts to fill in where government support runs out, staffing emergency hotlines for children and parents, offering local childcare services, and reaching out to isolated families. But old habits can be hard to break, particularly in Japan, where psychological care is still in its relative infancy.
“The word counseling scares people,” says the psychologist Takahashi, adding that it has taken her a year to establish a level of trust with the mothers she counsels. “There has to be some kind of unique cultural adaptation of counseling.”
According to Yaita, the concept of counseling was only introduced to most residential care centers two years ago, when the government made funding available to hire therapists. But with budgets still stretched, most care centers cannot afford more than two therapists for up to 80 residents. Perhaps more worrisome, outside of volunteer groups and the efforts of concerned care workers, there is no established system to counsel the abusers.
“The parents are the problem, right?” says Yaita. “This is very bad; because of a lack of number of care workers, they don’t have time for [the parents]. In the States, those parents must do something, like group therapy, but we don’t have those regulations.”
Adding to this is the fact that while there are strong grassroots efforts as well as newly enacted laws, including one obliging medical workers to look for signs of child abuse at mandatory health checks for children aged 18 months to 3 years, there are no penalties for not reporting suspected abuse. The handling of child abuse in the courts is also relatively new, with convicted offenders receiving widely varying jail terms—or, as was the case with a Fukui Prefecture couple convicted of causing the death of their 11-month-old daughter early this month, suspended sentences.
Therefore, as the country struggles to come to grips with abuse and all its elements, it appears unlikely to most that the situation will improve anytime soon. “Judging from the past,” says Ohta, “it does not look like cases will decrease this year or next.”
To learn more about child abuse, report a suspected case, or get involved in its prevention, contact any of the following organizations.
Main child consultation center in Tokyo
Report a suspected case, talk to counselors, and receive information from the local government. Tel: (03) 3208-1121. In case of emergency, call police at 03-3212-2111 (English) or 110 (Japanese).
Center for Child Abuse Prevention
Call the hotline, learn about prevention, and volunteer for events and other services. Tel: 03-5374-2990 (Japanese).
Child Research Net
Read articles on all aspects of child development, share ideas, and attend conferences.
www.childresearch.net
Tokyo English Life-Line
Talk to counselors, receive support, and volunteer as a counselor.
Tel: 03-5774-0992.
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