Former Shin Bet officer whose gumption saved lives of 154 passengers gets token of gratitude – 42 years later

Yoel Lavi doesn’t immediately strike you as a hero. But the 92-year-old grandpa certainly deserves the title: In 1970, he saved the lives of 154 El Al passengers when he prevented a bomb from being loaded on a Tel Aviv-bound flight from Frankfurt.

Only a handful of security officers knew of Lavi’s laudable act. And only now – 42 years after the fact – did he finally receive the thank you he deserves in the form of a plaque of appreciation from El Al and the Shin Bet.

Lavi immigrated to Israel as a teen, alone, in 1935, as part of the Youth Aliyah, a movement that saved numerous kids from the Nazis. His entire family later died in the Holocaust. He soon enlisted with the Haganah, the army organization that turned into the Israel Defense Forces after the State of Israel was founded. He was one of the first officials to join the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, in 1949. Read more.

UN nuclear watchdog shows new satellite imagery in closed session indicating Iran may be removing incriminating evidence, including “ground scraping activities,” removal of building, at nuclear site.

The UN nuclear watchdog showed new satellite  imagery on Wednesday indicating that Iran may be cleaning a site where inspectors suspect it has carried out tests relevant to developing atomic bombs, participants at a closed-door briefing said.

One person who attended the presentation by senior UN nuclear agency officials for diplomats accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency said a May 25 image showed “ground scraping activities” at the Parchin military site. Read more.

Tehran admits being targeted by what could be most sophisticated malware yet; says ‘massive amounts of data lost.’ Computer experts say such complex virus takes national resources to develop

Iranian authorities have admitted that malicious software dubbed Flame has attacked it, and instructed to run an urgent inspection of all computer systems in the country.
Iran’s MAHER Center said Tuesday that the Flame virus “has caused substantial damage” and that “massive amounts of data have been lost.”

The center, which is part of Iran’s Communication’s Ministry said that the virus’ level of complexity, accuracy and high-functionality – noted mostly by the information corrupted – indicated that there is a “relation” to the Stuxnet virus. Read more.

Islamic Republic admits its forces are aiding Assad’s regime in crackdown on pro-democracy protesters; UN’s tally of fatalities in Syrian uprising is at 13,000

Iran confirmed Sunday that it has, as previously speculated, sent troops to aid President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in his country.

The United Nations and human rights groups estimate that over 13,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in March 2011 – 9,200 of them civilians.

“If the Islamic Republic was not present in Syria, the massacre of civilians would have been twice as bad,” General Ismail Kuoni, deputy-commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Qods Force, told Tehran’s ISNA news agency.

Iran, he added, “Had physically and non-physically stopped the rebels from killing many more among the Syrian people.”

This was a rare admission by an Iranian official that Tehran was truly aiding the Damascus regime. Read more.