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March 27, 2009

US Says Israel Carried Out Sudan Bombing
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US officials have confirmed that Israel was behind a deadly air strike
that killed dozens of people in Sudan this past January. The US says
Israel attacked a convoy of seventeen trucks suspected of carrying
weapons intended for smuggling into the Gaza Strip. Estimates of the
death toll range from thirty-nine to more than 100. In Israel, outgoing
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declined to comment on the specific
attack but said Israel can “operate near and far.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: “We are taking action wherever we
can strike terror infrastructure, in places that are nearby and not that
close. We are hitting them, and in a way that strengthens deterrence and
the image of deterrence.”

US officials say they believe the alleged weapons could have come from
Iran but haven’t offered evidence. Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, senior
Hamas official Osama al-Muzaini denied receiving outside weaponry.

Osama al-Muzaini: “Hamas does not receive weapons from any country or
any other side. To have convoys driving weapons to Hamas is a false
statement and comes under the mockery and censorship which Israel always
tries to execute. We affirm that Hamas has their own means, which are
far from the official and international means, to get weapons.”

Supporters of Palestinian rights have long criticized Israeli and US
indignation at Palestinian efforts to arm themselves, when most of
Israel’s military arsenal is funded and supplied by the United States.



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