Israel launches spy satellite

Israel has launched its latest military spy satellite, reportedly increasing its capacity to intelligence-gather on enemies such as Iran.

The Ofek 9 will join other Israeli spy satellites, such as this one launched in 2007

The Ofek 9 was blasted into orbit by an Israeli-made rocket on Tuesday, from the Palmachim air base south of Tel Aviv, joining three other Israeli spy satellites in space.

The defence ministry said the satellite had achieved its proper orbit, describing it as “a surveillance satellite with advanced technological capabilities”.

Officials said it has a high-resolution camera and would join its other satellites to give Israel considerable coverage of sensitive areas, adding the camera could pick out missiles and launchers on the ground.

Along with the West, Israel believes Iran’s uranium enrichment activities are aimed at producing nuclear weapons, an allegation Tehran denies.

Israel is also thought to be targeting Syria with its satellites. In 2007, alleged Israeli warplanes struck a site in Syria thought to be a nuclear facility under construction, although Israel has not commented on the incident.

Besides its spy satellites, Israel also has a number of communications satellites in orbit.

Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear power.

An attempt to launch an Ofek-6 in 2004 failed with the satellite crashing into the Mediterranean Sea after a technical malfunction with the launcher.

Hamas warns against Schalit rescue

Terror group’s website says captive has been watching World Cup games.

Hamas boasted on Wednesday that Israel had failed over the past four years to determine the location of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-affiliated Website Al-Resalah quoted Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for one of the groups that is believed to be holding the soldier, as saying that the only way to secure the release of Schalit is for Israel to accept all the demands of the captors.
Israel will never be able to get any information about Schalit, Abu Mujahed said.

“In the past four years, the resistance groups have succeeded in surpassing the occupation’s various methods by holding on to Schalit,” he added. “The occupation got information about him only when we willingly provided it.”

Abu Mujahed, spokesman for Nasser Eddin Battalion, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, warned Israel against launching a military operation to release Schalit.

“If they launch a new aggression on the Gaza Strip and continue with their stubbornness, the fate of Schalit will be similar to that of [missing IAF navigator] Ron Arad.” He said that demonstrations and sit-in strikes by Schalit supporters outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem “show that the [Israeli] government is under immense pressure.”

Earlier, the same site claimed that Schalit was spending his time in captivity watching the World Cup games. It further claimed that Schalit, a French national, was “saddened” by the French national team’s fiasco at the World Cup.

Hamas also reiterated its opposition to allowing representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Schalit.

Riyad al-Ashqar, director of the Information Department in the Prisoners Affairs Ministry of the Hamas Government, mocked a wish made this week by Schalit’s grandfather, who was quoted as saying that he wanted to see his grandson before he dies.

“What’s going to happen if Tzvi Schalit [the grandfather] dies without seeing him?” he said in an article published on a number of Palestinian news Web sites. “I asked myself this question after reading the statement he made on his way to meeting the Israeli Prime Minister. In my opinion, he can go to hell. We’re not responsible for the suffering of the Schalit family.”

The Hamas official said that the Israeli government and Binyamin Netanyahu were responsible because of their refusal to accept the demands of the Palestinian groups that are holding Schalit. He pointed out that many Palestinians who were in Israeli prison had passed away without having the opportunity to see their family members.