Washington—A leading American scientist who has
worked for the White House and NASA was expected
to appear in court with charges of attempting to
spy for Israel. Stewart David Nozette, 52, was
arrested after a sting operation involving an
undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli agent,
the Department of Justice said, adding that
there was no wrongdoing by Israel. He is charged
with “attempted espionage for knowingly and
willfully attempting to communicate, deliver,
and transmit classified information relating to
the national defense of the United States to an
individual that Nozette believed to be an
Israeli intelligence officer.”
Tehran—Iran’s
military accused the United States and Israel of
terrorism as it held a funeral on Tuesday for
high-ranking commanders killed in the deadliest
attack in the Islamic Republic since the 1980s.
Throngs of mourners carried the flag-draped
coffins of the deputy head of the Revolutionary
Guards’ ground forces, General Nourali
Shoushtari, and other officers blown up by a
suicide bomber in volatile southeastern Iran on
Sunday. Fifteen Guards members were among the 42
people killed, including six senior commanders,
Iranian media reported. Tribal chiefs and other
civilians also died.
Geneva—Roman
Polanski suffered another setback in his fight
against extradition to the United States on
Tuesday when a Swiss court ordered the
76-year-old director kept in jail because he
poses a high flight risk. The Federal Criminal
Court rejected offers by Polanski’s legal team
of bail, house arrest and other measures to
ensure that he stays in Switzerland. The
acclaimed filmmaker is considered a convicted
felon and a fugitive by authorities in Los
Angeles, and the United States is seeking his
extradition for having sex in 1977 with a
13-year-old girl. He was arrested by the Swiss
on Sept. 26 as he arrived in Zurich to receive
an award from a film festival. “The court
considered the risk that Roman Polanski might
flee if released from custody as high,” the
federal court said. “The bail offered by the
appellant does not meet in its form the
requirements set out by the law.”
Tokyo—Japan’s Empress Michiko on her 75th
birthday Tuesday issued a call for the abolition
of atomic weapons and praised US President
Barack Obama’s push for a nuclear-free world.
Michiko said Obama, in a speech in Prague this
year, showed a “strong determination” towards
abolishing nuclear weapons and that the
initiative had helped him win the Nobel Peace
Prize.
NOW even the United Nations Human Rights Council
is “anti-Semitic.” Well, that’s the view of
Israel’s Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is
outraged that the body rubber-stamped the
Goldstone Report on war crimes committed in
Gaza. Some years ago, that accusation would have
had enormous shock-value, whereas, nowadays, the
label has been so propagandized the only thing
it elicits is a yawn. Anti-Semitism is a genuine
scourge on humankind in the same that racism and
bigotry are and should be eradicated, but Israel
is in danger of devaluing the term by attaching
it to anyone who doesn’t agree with its
policies. Moreover, when used loosely as an
insult, it doesn’t help Israel’s cause or
standing in the world.
