Indonesia, Malaysia to attend Israel's Homeland Security convention

[Bengal_Tiger]

Indonesia, Malaysia to attend Israel's Homeland Security convention

Dozens of defense, interior, internal security ministers and heads of intelligence agencies to attend

Iron Dome missile defense system will be showcased at the third Homeland Security convention to be held next week in Tel Aviv, Israeli site Ynet reported Friday.

Defense, interior, and internal security ministers, 35 police chiefs, and the heads of intelligence agencies from across the world, including from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, are set to arrive in Israel and attend the conference.

The four-day convention was organized by the Israel Export Institute in cooperation with the economy ministry, foreign ministry, the defense ministry's International Defense Cooperation authority, the internal security ministry, the Israel Police, and the Prime Minister's Office's National Cyber Bureau.

The exposition will be attended by 13 senior security ministers from India, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Spain, the Czech Republic, and six African nations. The heads of European foreign and domestic intelligence agencies are also expected as are several representatives from countries which do not maintain diplomatic ties with Israel, like Indonesia and Malaysia.

The chairman of the Israel Export Institute, Ramzi Gabbay, told Ynet that in 2013 worldwide investments in homeland security totaled some $215 billion.

"The extent of Israeli firms' export in the sector stands at $1.2 billion. In recent years we have witnessed growth in the cyber-security sector due to the hundreds of start-ups which have provided creative, varied solutions. According to our estimates the Israeli cyber-export market reached $2.5 billion in 2013," said Gabbay.

"The aim of the exposition is to continue to establish Israel's position as a leading global brand in homeland security, both technologically and operationally, while emphasizing Israeli capabilities and experiences accrued through our coping with a plethora of threats," he added.

http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/50066-141107-indonesia-malaysia-to-attend-israel-s-homeland-security-convention

1. Muslim countries that recognize Israel are Turkey, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and others.

Azerbaijan has close military ties with Israel.


2. Bangladesh (aside from Iran) probably has the most restrictions against Israel in the entire Muslim world far more than Pakistan.

Bangladesh has called on the Non-Aligned Movement member countries to mobilise their collective strength to send a strong message to Israel by imposing a trade embargo on the country.

Member states should deny visas to Israeli politicians, officials and business people accused of committing crimes against humanity and slap a ban on arms trade with Israel for violating the provisions of the Arms Trade Treaty, Gowher Rizvi, International Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, said.

He urged the suspension of overflight permissions to Israeli aircraft through the airspace of NAM member states.

- See more at: http://www.dhakatribune.com/foreign-....z6XthOdA.dpuf

August 2014.

Also an editor was jailed for 7 years for wanting to visit Israel.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1079394

3. I do not believe that Bangladesh should be so hostile to Israel when no one else in the Muslim bloc is as hostile to it.


a: Though Israel is carrying out horrific policies in the middle east, Palestinians are also racists and Palestinians have been known to abuse non-Arab Muslims including Bangladeshis in the middle east.

Bangladeshis may support Palestinians for being "Muslim brothers", but Palestinians look down on Bangladeshis as "ajanib" (non-Arab foreigners).


b: Bangladeshis have strong pro-Muslim sentiment but this is not reciprocated by the rest of the so-called "ummah". In any Pakistan v Bangladesh issue most Muslims or "Islamists" will automatically support Pakistan.

Even on this forum many of the western Afghan "Islamists" have mocked Bengalis including Shamlawar Khorasani and others with one calling Bengalis "coackroaches".

This is because there is a racial hierarchy amongst Muslims, where Arabs, middle easterners (including Turks), south west Asians are placed on the top, blacks are placed at the very bottom and Bengalis are looked down upon too.


So why should we care so much about states that care very little about us, or our support for fellow Muslims?

This includes countries that support the Pakistani genocide of 1971 e.g. Saudi Arabia, AKP Turkey etc.



c: We should not recognize Israel but we should have exactly the same policies towards Israel as Malaysia and Indonesia and co-ordinate our policies with them, factoring in our dependence on expatriate labour in the Persian gulf, something that Indonesia and Malaysia don't.


[MENTION=3580]asad71[/MENTION]

[Bengal_Tiger]

Remembering the past: Bangladeshi fighters for Palestine of the 1980s


Volunteers from Bangladesh fighting with Palestinians in Beirut, Lebanon 1982. (Photo: Magnum Photos-Chris Steele Perkins)

By: Yazan al-Saadi

Published Thursday, July 3, 2014

A photograph and a grave. These are two relics of a time, now mostly forgotten, of when thousands of Bangladeshis came to Lebanon in the 1980s as volunteers and fighters for the Palestinian cause. They were no less important in the struggle for Palestinian liberation than others, and their stories deserve to be remembered.

There are many books, films, and reports of international volunteers and organizations that supported and continue to support the Palestinian cause. From armed groups of yesteryear like the Japanese Red Army and the Irish Republican Army to non-violent, ever-growing contemporary organizations like the International Solidarity Movement and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, support for Palestine has always been and continues to be part and parcel of the international scene.

“8,000 Bangladeshi youths had volunteered to fight for the Palestine Liberation Organization,” - US Library of Congress

But not all stories of these extraordinary men and women, traveling far from their homes, motivated by a strong desire to combat injustice, at times facing great peril, are publicly known or detailed sufficiently.
This seems very true for those from the South Asian region, especially Bangladesh. They came to provide a multitude of supporting activities, ranging from transporting weapons and goods between locations in Lebanon to actively engaging in combat against forces threatening the Palestinian cause.

A memory in black and white

In 1982, prior to the Israeli occupation of Beirut, British war photographer Chris Steele-Perkins was down by the shore line and came across a group of Bangladeshi fighters.

They were and would be the only ones he personally met during his tenure in Lebanon. Steele-Perkins did not exchange many words with them, however, he was able to snap an iconic photograph of these men. It would become one of the few remaining images of these fighters.
The relationship between Bangladesh and Palestine, particularly the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), can be traced as far back to the early years of the Bangladeshi state, after a fight for liberation against Pakistan in 1971. It was a brutal, devastating war that resulted in millions dead, and millions more becoming refugees, but ultimately resulted in the creation of the modern state of Bangladesh.

While at first, most Arab states were hesitant to recognize the newly-established state, relations quickly warmed in 1973 when Bangladesh supported Egypt, Syria, and the Palestinians’ fight against Israel during the October War, including sending a medical team and relief supplies.
“There were around 1,000 to 1,500 of them. There were even some battalions that were completely Bangladeshi”- Fathi Abu al-Aradat
Soon after, Bangladesh was included as a member of the Non-Aligned Movement at the Algiers Summit in 1973, and Arab countries mounted pressure on Pakistan to recognize Bangladesh in 1974.

A relationship with the PLO was established around that time period, in which Bangladesh allowed the opening of a PLO office in the capital, Dhaka, and PLO officials were frequent guests at events hosted by the Bangladeshi political and diplomatic corps, a May 1976 US state department cable released by WikiLeaks showed.

The affinity with Palestine became so strong and so entrenched within the Bangladeshi society that in 1980 a postal stamp was created, but never issued, depicting a kuffiyah-draped Palestinian freedom fighter, the al-Aqsa mosque in the background shrouded by barbwire, and words that saluted Palestinian freedom fighters as “valiant” in English and Arabic.
According to a September 1988 US Library of Congress report, the Bangladeshi government reported in 1987 that “8,000 Bangladeshi youths had volunteered to fight for the Palestine Liberation Organization,” an announcement that came after Yasser Arafat visited the country that year and received a warm welcome from media and political circles.
The report also states that a few Palestinian military figures were also sent to Bangladesh to participate in training courses.

Today, there are few documented records in regards to the exact number of Bangladeshi volunteers in Lebanon, or a break-down of what groups they had joined.

Al-Akhbar contacted the Bangladeshi embassy in Beirut in regards to any information on this topic. Although officials at the embassy acknowledged the existence and history of Bangladeshi fighters for Palestine, they stated that detailed information was unavailable.
Similarly, the Palestinian embassy was a dead-end due to the fact that much of the PLO documents were burnt by the Israeli army during its ferocious invasion and occupation of Lebanon.

What lingers of these fighters are but Palestinian officials’ fleeting memories.
“There were around 1,000 to 1,500 of them. There were even some battalions that were completely Bangladeshi, but most of them were spread to different groups,” Fatah's secretary of PLO factions in Lebanon, Fathi Abu al-Aradat, told Al-Akhbar.

“I remember they were highly disciplined. They were known to have incredible will. When the Israelis invaded and captured some of the Bangladeshi fighters, they used to say to them, 'PLO, Israeli No' even when they were tortured,” he said. “They had great relations with the rest of the fighters. They really believed in the cause.”

Although Fatah was known to have a significant number of foreign fighters among their ranks, it was another Palestinian faction, the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), that was a major recipient of fighters, including those from Bangladesh.

The PFLP-GC, a far-left militant group led by Ahmed Jibril and backed by the Syrian government, had split from the main PFLP party that was led by George Habash, after a dispute over ideological and tactical issues occurred between Habash and Jibril (Abu Jihad) in 1968.

“They were with the PFLP-GC,” Ziyad Hammo, a PFLP official and member of the governing municipality of Shatila camp, toldAl-Akhbar.
“They had a lot of military talent but they were mainly supporting services such as transporting weapons or guarding certain offices,” Hammo noted. “If they wanted to fight, they went to fight.”

“I remember three or four of them. There were two who were placed as guards in the Bekaa, and another one in Baablek. People really forgot they were Bengali, they spoke perfect Arabic,” the PFLP official added.
But the question remains: why are there very few accounts of these volunteers’ aid to the cause?

“In the PLFP, we try to remember these men. For example, the Japanese Red Army is very valued and we tried to recover and maintain that history. But with the Bangladeshis, I guess, there aren't many stories and anecdotes about them because their role was limited. At least for the PFLP, I can't speak for other Palestinian factions,” Hammo opined.

“I gather most of them left after 1982, once the UN sent its forces into Lebanon. Some of them died or were captured and later released, and perhaps a few stayed in Lebanon to live the rest of their lives working. It's been 32 years, and I think most of them got old. We all got older,” he added.
Kamal Mustafa Ali: the ‘heroic martyr’

On the outskirts of the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in southern Beirut is the Palestinian Martyr Cemetery, where those who perished struggling for the Palestinian cause lay. Among the many tombstones of Palestinians who have died since the 1970s, those of a few foreigners can be spotted. A few Iraqis, Syrians, Lebanese, Tunisians, a Russian, a Kurd, and also one of a Bangladeshi man named Kamal Mustafa Ali.



The tombstone of Kamal Mustafa Ali in the Palestinian Martyr Cemetery in the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp. (Photo: Yazan al-Saadi)

“In the PLFP, we try to remember these men.”- Ziyad Hammo
There is no mention of who Kamal Mustafa Ali was, not even a birth date. What is etched on the marble slab is a Quranic verse from the House of Imran chapter. It states: “And never think of those who have been killed in the cause of God as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision.”
Below the verse is his name and nationality, and when and how he died as a “heroic martyr.” Ali died on July 22, 1982 during a battle at the Castle of the High Rock, also known as the Beaufort Castle, located in the southern Lebanese governorate of Nabatiyeh.

The castle, which is said to have been established as a military fortification site prior to the Crusaders’ arrival in the early 12 century – due to its strategically located position on a high hill overlooking a large swath of territory – became a site for many heated battles, quickly exchanging hands from power to power.
The PLO controlled the castle in 1976, using it mainly as a base to conduct resistance activities along the border, deploying around 1,000 fighters within its walls and surroundings.
When the Israelis invaded on June 6,1982, the castle was the site of the first major battles prior to Israel's push north towards Beirut. Even though the PLO lost hold of the castle in the span of two days – after intense pounding by Israeli artillery and airstrikes – the Israelis control of the castle was never easy.

The occupying Israeli forces were met with constant resistance by Palestinian groups, and then Hezbollah and other Lebanese resistance groups, until they were forced to retreat in 2000.
Kamal Mustafa Ali perished, as the tombstone noted, during one of those early attempts to retake the castle.
His body was only recovered in 2004, after an exchange deal between Hezbollah and Israel was brokered by German mediation. Four Israeli soldiers corpses were exchanged for more than 400 prisoners, the remains of more than 50 fighters, and a map of deadly landmines that Israel planted in southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa region.
According to the caretakers of the Palestinian Martyr Cemetery, Ali's bones were sent back home to his family in Bangladesh, and a grave was erected in the cemetery to commemorate his sacrifice.
It rests there side-by-side with other bodies and names of Palestinians and non-Palestinians, watched and cared for by Palestinian hands who do not know much of the man. It is the only remaining, physical marker in Beirut of the sacrifices made by Bangladeshi volunteer fighters for the Palestinian cause during the 1980s.

http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/remembering-past-bangladeshi-fighters.html

1. Bangladeshis should not be excessively sentimental towards the Palestinian cause.

The Arab world and middle eastern media in general is hostile to Bangladeshi independence and writers like the notorious Saudi Ali Al Ghamdi publish a lot of anti-Bangladeshi content.


2. There was no sympathy for Bangladesh during the Qader Mollah affair with Arabs completely oblivious and indifferent to the death of between 0.3-0.5 million Bengalis in 1971 but just obsessed about one single political leader, Qader Mollah.


3. We should not waste our time trying to create conflict and hostility with Israel.

Yes condemnations of Israeli atrocities.

However the Bangladesh media and public must also be aware that Palestinians are not angels themselves.

- Palestinians can be quite racist to non-Arab Muslims.

- Palestinians have been known to verbally abuse non-Arab Muslims in the gulf and elsewhere.

- Palestinians care very little about the suffering of non-Arab Muslims e.g. Bangladesh 1971 and so forth.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Bangladesh reiterates solidarity with Palestine

Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.com

Published: 2015-11-28 20:32:41.0 BdST Updated: 2015-11-28 20:49:32.0 BdST



Bangladesh reiterates its “unwavering commitment” to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people for an independent and viable State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.



Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina restated Bangladesh’s position in a message on Saturday on the occasion of the ‘International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People’.

Hasina said the government and people of Bangladesh “remain steadfast in expressing their solidarity with their Palestinian brethren in their just struggle for self determination and statehood”.

She said it was in line with Bangladesh’s Constitutional commitment to support oppressed peoples throughout the world, waging “a just struggle against imperialism, colonialism, or racialism”.

“The values, principles and ideals that inspired us to achieve our independence through a long political struggle and a heroic War of Liberation in 1971 continue to guide our unstinting solidarity with the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle,” she said.

The prime minister also denounced the continued atrocities and systematic violation of human rights and international humanitarian principles by the occupying forces in the Occupied Palestinian territories.

“We call upon all concerned parties to take a pragmatic approach for the resumption of the Peace Process within the framework of the Two-State solution pursued by the international community,” she said.

“Bangladesh believes that the relevant UN Resolutions, the Road Map, the Arab Peace Plan and the efforts made by the Quartet are the best guides for achieving a durable solution to the long-standing Palestinian issue”.

The prime minister also urged the international community to work in unison to restore the legitimate rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people to live in safety, dignity and justice in an independent homeland.

http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2015/11/28/bangladesh-reiterates-solidarity-with-palestine

1. I condemn Israel's atrocities and human violations in Palestine which are repugnant to any normal human being.

2. We Bangladeshis, aside from doing our human and Muslim duty to protest injustice, should not have a romantic attachment to the Palestinians as they like a lot of the Arabs are pro-Pakistan and anti-Bangladesh i.e. they will always support Pakistan over Bangladesh and could care less about the genocide inflicted on us.

3. Israel and Judaism are not the same thing and as Bangladeshis we should have respect for the Jewish community worldwide.

To be honest I don't understand why Hasina is so obsessed with the Palestinians? Will the Palestinians ever give a speech where they speak up in favour of Bangladesh?

NO

They are Arabs and consider themselves true Muslims as opposed to non-Arabs and plus they will always favour Pakistan, the same Pakistan that massacred them in black September, for racial reasons.



General F Jacob, the Jewish general of India who helped Bangladesh to win its freedom.



Bangladeshi Muslim in New York who saved a Jew.

[MENTION=3580]asad71[/MENTION]