Details on How To Contribute to Brit-Am
http://britam.org/contribute-Brit-Am.html
JN-922
Jerusalem News
11 October, 2010, 3 Cheshvan,
5771
Contents:
1. Isreali
Military and Civilian Activity in Space.
In space the costs are high, the rewards higher By Karin
Kloosterman
2. Isreali and Arab Computer Warfare.
Welcome to the world of cyberwar
By Guy Grimland
3. Binyamin Netanyahu "a deep affinity between the two peoples" [i.e. USA and
Israel].
Poll shows Israel is an important issue to US voters By HERB
KEINON
1.
Isreali
Military and Civilian Activity in Space
In space the costs are high, the
rewards higher
By Karin Kloosterman
http://www.israel21c.org/201009218358/
technology/in-space-the-costs-are-
high-the-rewards-higher
Extracts:
Israel is kick starting a national space program with an $80m. injection of cash
every year for the next five years. The goal: to create a thriving and lucrative
civilian space industry.
For Star Trek fans, space is the final frontier. In Israel it's the next
frontier - to be more specific the next high tech business frontier. It's no
surprise really. Israel already has a lucrative $5 billion a year defense
industry, combined with highly developed communications and IT industries. These
make a solid base for the leap into space.
Money is also now forthcoming. The Israeli government has promised an $80
million injection of cash every year for the next five years, in an effort to
kick-start a potential $10 billion-a-year business in the world's $250 billion
space industry.
Israel first began looking towards space following the peace treaty with Egypt
in 1979. Israel could no longer send aircraft over Egyptian territory to monitor
activities in the Sinai desert, so the country decided to use space satellites.
US reconnaissance satellites were not for sale, so Israel had to build its own.
In 1982, the Israel Space Agency was established for reconnaissance missions
against enemy states Iran, Iraq and Syria. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) won
the contract, and designed Israel's first space rocket, Shavit (Hebrew for
'comet'), and its first artificial moon, the Ofek (horizon) satellite.
In 1988, Israel became the seventh nation in the world to launch an indigenous
satellite into space. It was a pivotal moment. In the years since then Israel
has become an expert in satellite technology, products for satellites and ground
stations.
Not only are its satellites lighter than conventional satellites - they weigh a
fifth of US and European satellites yet have the same capabilities - but Israel
has also developed expertise in the optical and radar photography of the Earth
that the satellites supply.
This expertise has encouraged the US and other countries to take part in joint
research and development projects with Israel in the fields of solar and
planetary research, black holes, and the universe.
Over the years, Israel has signed cooperation agreements with space programs
ranging from the CSA in Canada, to France's CNES, Russia's RKA and with NASA in
the US.
While Israel's space industry began for defensive purposes, it has moved
increasingly towards civilian applications. "An Israeli defense satellite can be
sent over Iran in a reconnaissance mission, but you can take the same satellite
and use it over your own territory to detect pollution, and what's happening in
the sea, or to study global warming," says retired Maj. Gen. Itzhik Ben-Israel,
chairman of the ISA, and previously the head of R&D at Israel's Ministry of
Defense.
"Once you have it, the same infrastructure can be used for other applications,
civilian or scientific. Satellites, for example, are dual technologies that can
be produced on the same assembly lines that Israeli companies such as IAI are
already using to build satellites for defense," he tells ISRAEL21c.
Israeli satellites are now being used for anything from communications, to
defense, to early warnings of natural disasters such as storms or locust swarms.
In 2005, Israel signed an agreement with France's Space Agency, CNES to research
an earth-observation technology onboard a satellite, with environmental and
agricultural applications.
NASA, which is planning to map out Venus, is also interested in Israel's hyper
spectral cameras which can detect land, air and sea pollution from space and
classify types of soils and minerals. There was also discussion of Israeli
developments in the field of satellite antennas aimed at analyzing photos using
radars.
The two agencies will work together in new fields connected to earth and space
sciences, life sciences and additional fields. The main intention is to expand
the exchange of information and provide inspiration for the next generation of
researchers, scientists and engineers.
2. Isreali and Arab Computer Warfare
Welcome to the world of
cyberwar
By Guy Grimland
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/
business/welcome-to-the-world-of
-cyberwar-1.318320
Extracts:
A few months after the aerial attack on the Syrian nuclear facility,
which the foreign press attributed to Israel, the New York Times reported a
twist to the story. It seems that prior to the attack, the Syrian radar and
anti-missile batteries were paralyzed by a computer virus, reported the Times
and a few other papers. That enabled the bombers to enter Syrian air space and
attack the nuclear plant unimpeded.
That may have been the first incident to show the general public just what
digital warfare really is in the modern age, not to mention Israel's ostensible
talent at it.
The Stuxnet worm attack on the Iranian nuclear systems - and tens
of thousands of other computer systems around the world - also has been widely
attributed to Israel, though the truth isn't known. One thing experts agree on
is that Stuxnet wasn't the brainchild of some kid in his parents' basement. It
had to have been created by a big organization, maybe even a country.
Some think the worm was hyped, though it unquestionably was a clever one,
targeting industrial systems quite exclusively. Shai Blitzblau, CEO of Maglan
Information Defense Technologies Research, says Stuxnet has proven relatively
trivial to frustrate. If it had been hostile computer code written by a
state-of-the-art intelligence organization, it would have been developed to
evolve and evade anti-virus systems, he surmises.
The nature of worms
What is a computer worm, anyway' It is malicious software code ("malware" ) used
to take advantage of loopholes in system defenses to extract information or
cause damage.
A worm can be disseminated as simply as by e-mail: click on a link or file in an
e-mail and the worm loads itself onto your computer without you knowing a thing
about it. Once inside, it might do any number of things. It might upload Trojan
horses that extract information from your computer. It might seize control of
your computer. The worm usually also causes your system to try to infect other
computers.
Avi Weissman, academic adviser to the Technion University's information security
department and chairman of the Israeli Forum for Information Security, thinks
Stuxnet was probably disseminated not by low-tech e-mails, but by flash drives.
That indicates its creator knew the target wasn't connected to the Internet, he
suggests. It also means that a human agent was needed to infect the Iranian
computers, possibly even a person who didn't know he was carrying the virus,
such as a technician from Siemens, which built the system.
Israel may or may not use digital attacks for its own ends. It's also in the
cross-hairs of very real enemies, say experts.
Nir David, an expert on information security, says enemies have been waging
cyberwar on Israel for years. "During the Second Lebanon War, it turned out that
Hezbollah had much more advanced cyber abilities than had been thought," he
says. Systems and training were provided by Iran. The Winograd Report on
Israel's failures during the war cited information leaks from the army,
including at the tactical level.
During and after the war, Israel took pride that Hezbollah hadn't managed to
break into the encrypted communications network Vered Harim, says Weissman. But
the fact that Hezbollah even tried to break into the network attests to its
sheer ability, its ambitions and the tack that Israel's enemies are taking, he
warns. Israel might have assumed they are technologically inferior, but they
know where to invest effort, he says.
Nir David mentions another case of digital attack against Israel - Hezbollah
leader Hassan Nasrallah's boast that in 1997, the militant group intercepted
drone transmissions, and then mounted its attack against Israel's Navy Seals. "I
don't know if it's true," David says, but it could be, based on Hezbollah's
abilities and the poor quality of information security at the time. Back then
awareness was low, he adds.
The Israeli Defense Forces encountered digital attacks during Operation Cast
Lead as well, David says. According to Aviation Week, the enemy tapped into the
Amos communications satellite and tried to upload propaganda. The satellite's
security systems foiled the attempt but the fact is, it happened and almost
succeeded. The enemy is honing its digital skills, he concludes.
3. Binyamin Netanyahu "a deep affinity
between the two peoples" [i.e. USA and Israel].
Poll shows Israel is an important
issue to US voters
By HERB KEINON
10/11/2010 02:02
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx'id=190906
Extracts:
With key US midterm elections less than a month away, a poll published Friday by
the Emergency Committee for Israel showed that some 53 percent of the US public
would be more likely to vote for a candidate perceived as pro-Israel, with 24%
saying they would be less likely to vote for such a candidate.
Likewise, according to the poll, some 54% of the public said that even if they
agreed with a candidate on 'most other issues,' they could not vote for the
candidate if he were 'anti-Israel,' while 31% said they could do so.
The ECFI was established in the summer as a type of right-wing counterbalance to
J Street, and ' according to the Politico website ' united two major strands of
Israel supporters: the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party, and
Evangelical Christians.
The new group's board includes Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and Gary
Bauer, the former Republican presidential candidate who leads the group American
Values.
Since its establishment, the organization has taken out a number of aggressive
television ads against Democratic candidates it perceives as weak on Israel.
According to the McLaughlin & Associates poll carried out between October 3-5
among 1,000 potential voters, 48.2% of the respondents said they approved of the
job US President Barack Obama was doing in handling America's foreign policy,
while 47.6% said they disapproved.
When it came to Obama's handling of America's relations with Israel, however,
some 43.2% of the respondents said they approved, while 44.3% said they
disapproved.
Furthermore, 43% said that Obama's Middle East policies were harming Israel's
security, compared to 30% who said these policies were improving Israel's
security. Fifty two percent of the respondents said they agreed with the
statement that Obama was less friendly to Israel than other presidents; 35%
disagreed with that characterization.
During the tense days with the Obama administration earlier in the year, Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was quoted as having said in some private meetings
that Israel and the US enjoyed a unique relationship that transcended
governments and was based on a deep affinity between the two peoples.
Pleased with what you read'
The Brit-Am enterprise is a Biblical work.
God willing, they who assist Brit-Am will be blessed.
Brit-Am depends on contributions alongside purchases of our publications
Click Here to make an offering.
Click Here to view our publications.
|
'It is impossible to rightly govern the
world without God or the Bible.'
George Washington
Brit-Am is the "still small voice" that contains the truth.
[1-Kings 19:12] AND AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE A FIRE; BUT THE LORD WAS NOT IN THE
FIRE: AND AFTER THE FIRE A STILL SMALL VOICE.
Home
