Ahmadinejad urges end to Zionism

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted again the imminent collapse of Israel.

In a televised speech last week from the port city of Bushehr, where Russia delivered the last of the uranium needed to start up Iran’s first nuclear power plant, Ahmadinejad told Israel’s friends to “stop supporting the Zionists, as [their] regime reached its final stage,” according to news reports. “Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end.”

“Abandon the filthy Zionist entity, which has reached the end of the line,” London’s Telegraph quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. — jta

Sept. 11 victim buried in Israel

U.S. authorities identified and repatriated a bone fragment belonging to an Israeli victim of the Sept. 11 attacks.

After confirming through DNA tests that a bone fragment found in the debris of the World Trade Center belonged to Israeli victim Alona Avraham, U.S. authorities shipped it back to Israel.

On Jan. 31, her family buried the fragment. Avraham, 30, was aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which al Qaida terrorists rammed into the south tower. — jta

Peres: Facebook can fight hate

Israeli President Shimon Peres said last week that Facebook, the popular social networking site, is an effective means to counter the spread of hate and incitement on the Internet.

“Anti-Semitism is a disease of everyone. Persecuting minorities, discrimination, xenophobia and violence exist in many countries in the world,” he told a group of students at Yad Vashem. “You can fight anti-Semitism using social networks, like Facebook.”

Peres does not have a Facebook profile, but he is considering starting one. — ap

Most U.S. Muslims oppose attacks on civilians

The vast majority of U.S. Muslims say attacks on civilians are “never justified.”

The poll of 1,000 Muslims, taken in late 2007, found that 86 percent described any attack on civilians as “never justified,” the Council on American Islamic Relations said in a news statement last week.

The poll also found that 75 percent of respondents agreed that “brokering a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would improve America’s reputation in the Muslim world.” — jta