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Friday January 11, 2008

Shorts: Mideast

U.S. prof meets with Hezbollah

Norman Finklestein, a former DePaul professor and frequent Israel critic, met this week with a senior Hezbollah official and visited villages in southern Lebanon that witnessed heavy fighting in the 2006 war between the guerrillas and the Jewish state.

“After the horror and after the shame and after the anger there still remains a hope, and I know that I can get in a lot of trouble for what I am about to say, but I think that the Hezbollah represents the hope. They are fighting to defend their homeland,” the Brooklyn-born Finkelstein said. — ap

Barak: Hezbollah arsenal has grown

Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal is bigger now than before its 2006 war with Israel, Ehud Barak said this week.

Barak noted that, contrary to the situation before the war, Hezbollah and its weaponry are now based north of the Litani River, making for a de-facto buffer zone with Israel. Hezbollah was previously arrayed in southern Lebanon, on the border with Israel, allowing it to fire short-range rockets freely into the Jewish state. — jta

Rabbi wants Olmert hanged

A right-wing Israeli rabbi drew censure after calling for Ehud Olmert and other government leaders to be executed.

Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, a Chabad rabbi in Israel, was shown on television last week addressing a demonstration against the Olmert government’s peace moves with the Palestinian Authority.

“The terrible traitor, Ehud Olmert, who gives these Nazis weapons, who gives money, who frees their murderous terrorists, this man, like Ariel Sharon, collaborates with the Nazis,” Wolpe said. — jta

Uzbek billionaire leaving Israel

Lev Leviev, the Uzbek-born diamond magnate and Orthodox philanthropist, is leaving Israel for London.

Leviev, 51, expects to find better tax terms and new business opportunities in Britain. But he will maintain a home in Israel.

His personal fortune is said to be worth as much as $8 billion, making him Israel’s richest citizen. — jta

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