As speculation and confusion grow amongst the viewers regarding what exactly took place in the Iranian Natanz nuclear plant , Arutz Sheva set out to field information the centrifuges and their functions. We were joined by Dr. Ido Ben-Dayan, Assistant Professor of High Energy Physics and Cosmology of the Physics department at Ariel University. What are centrifuges? It is something similar to a washing machine that aims to separate two types of material. Uranium has two isotopes, only one of which is suitable for creating a nuclear bomb, uranium 235. Over 90% of uranium is uranium 238. In order to produce a nuclear bomb one would need to concentrate a sufficiently large amount of uranium 235 in to a rotating device. The mass of the isotopes is different and so the isotopes can be concentrated In different masses until a large amount of uranium 235 is obtained. What kind of damage can an electricity outage cause a centrifuge? The process of separating the materials is a very delicate process done at a very high engineering level. Once there is a power outage it knocks out the accuracy and timing and can cause destruction of the hub, explosions, and more. If it is indeed damaged the whole process is significantly damaged. What is your evaluation of the extent of the damage done to the centrifuge at Natanz? From what little I know, and I emphasize that I have no information beyond what was published in the media, I think the extent of the damage is significant. The nuclear deal was originally intended to make sure that even if the Iranians decide to produce a nuclear bomb the process would take them at least a year. Following the withdrawal of the United States from the agreement, economic pressure was created and the Iranians officially stopped fulfilling the agreement, so the time to carry out the breach was shortened. How far back do you assume this breach delay the Iranians from obtaining nuclear capabilities? It is difficult to estimate accurately. It is estimated that this is a delay of a few months up to two years and if it is closer to the latter, it is a very big success, since a very large air strike would have delayed the process by at most three years. The action creates a respectable period of time for the statesmen to delay the process. Dr. Ido Ben-Dayan צילום: באדיבות המצולם
The Jewish community of Djerba have experienced a wave of violence from their Arab neighbors. The last case was when two local men came to the Jewish Quarter on the "Island of the Priests" and strangled a Jewish woman in her twenties, near her home, for an extended time. A passerby who noticed what was happening managed to separate the two people and end the attack. About a week earlier, a Jewish boy about 10 years old, a resident of the Jewish Quarter in Djerba, had been attacked by a Muslim resident. The Jewish community says these cases are the result of a new routine of violent discourse towards the Jewish community in Tunisia, which began with the controversial remarks of Tunisian President Kais Saied last January, when he accused the Jews of fomenting instability in the country. "We do not understand what is happening here," said a senior member of the Jewish community who spoke to Arutz Sheva. "Every week or two, something happens. Sometimes the president calls us thieves, sometimes robbers come and break into a house in the middle of the day, once a Muslim Arab beat a 10-year-old boy. , And now the biggest one of all - a person who sought to strangle a 20-year-old girl and kidnap her?" "Enough. We can't live that way anymore, and all because of the incitement and hatred of President Kais Saied," he said. "We call from here on the government to wake up and do something."
The day before Yom HaShoah, the student union of Montreal’s Concordia University sent a letter of apology to the Jewish community. The letter, which was posted on the student union’s Facebook page, stated that they wanted to “strive to acknowledge our mistakes and being the process of correcting ourselves.” They said that they had been “indifferent” to the concerns of Jewish students and the “struggles they have faced” and that in the past they have spoken frequently about fighting other forms of discrimination but always avoided bringing up anti-Semitism. They wrote that the Concordia campus is a place where Jewish students are afraid to openly identify as Jewish and must “tuck their Star of David necklaces under their shirts for fear of having insults hurled at them for things they do not control and are not responsible for.” They noted that the campus is full of anti-Semitic graffiti and vandalism and that the Jewish community does not feel safe at campus events. They said they would strive to foster a more inclusive atmosphere for Jewish students. Nicole Nashen, a student union councilor and the incoming president of Hillel Concordia, told the Montreal Gazette that she was touched by the letter. “As someone who was scared to enroll in Concordia because of its reputation, I was pleased to see it was taking the initiative to acknowledge the wrong it did for decades, and putting actionable steps towards correcting that wrong and trying to mend that relationship,” she said. “Our first reaction is gratitude and pride in the students of our community who very intelligently and very courageously engaged in the necessary dialogue to bring this about,” said Rabbi Reuben Poupko, co-chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs-Quebec (CIJA) in an interview with the Montreal Gazette. He said that CIJA accepts the student union’s apology and expects the body to display “improved behavior.” The Concordia student union has long been associated with anti-Semitism, added Poupko. “I remember being at a (Concordia student union) event close to 30 years ago, when they hosted the No. 2 to Louis Farrakhan, where he gave a speech for the (student union), which was three hours in length, denouncing Jews and Judaism in ways that were obscene,” he said. “To many, that is ancient history, but our involvement on this issue on Concordia campus goes back a long time.”
