Archive for April 29, 2012

Israeli, Egyptian officials in secret talks on gas deal crisis

Behind the scenes, a senior official from the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem was dispatched to Cairo to discuss the disputed gas contract, and reportedly returned several hours later.

 

Officially, the Israeli government has tried to minimize the diplomatic importance of last Sunday’s announcement by Egypt’s state-owned natural gas company that it was canceling its contract to Israel. Behind the scenes, however, the reality was somewhat different, belying the government’s stance that the matter was simply a commercial dispute.

A day after last week’s unilateral announcement by EGAS, a senior official from the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem was dispatched to Cairo.

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Early Elections May Help Netanyahu Get Rid of Barak

If Netanyahu calls elections, Ehud Barak, a thorn in the coalition’s official backing of Judea and Samaria, could be out in the cold.

If Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu calls early elections, Ehud Barak, a thorn in the coalition’s official backing of Judea and Samaria, could be left out in the cold.

Ehud Barak faces political extinction

Ehud Barak faces political extinction - Photo by Reuters

The trigger for possible elections later this year is the movement for changing the military draft system, whose critics have targeted exemptions or shorter terms of service for young men studying Torah. The Prime Minister said Sunday he backs military service for all Jews and civilian service of Arabs,

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with leaders of the “suckers’ rally” that has staged a week-long demonstration opposite his office.  Continue Reading »

Bethlehem’s last Christians?

World, churches silent in face of Islamic persecution of Palestinian Christians

Veteran CBS News anchor Bob Simon just reported on the Palestinian Christians, indicting Israel’s “occupation” as responsible for their dramatic disappearance. The 60 Minutes story caused Israel tremendous PR damage.

Christmas in Bethlehem (archives) Photo: Reuters

Christmas in Bethlehem (archives) - Photo By Reuters

Yet largely ignored by Western media, a systematic campaign of Muslim persecution against the Christians is taking place in Palestinian areas. It’s a religious and ethnic cleansing campaign silenced by the global churches.

Christians have long been the frontrunners of Arab nationalism. The most prominent Palestinian intellectual was a Christian, Edward Said. Continue Reading »

Iran says identified source of reported cyber attack on oil industry

Official at Islamic Republic’s Oil Ministry tells Fars news agency that Iranian security officials were able to identify a computer virus designed to steal and damage data.

Iran has been able to identify the source of a recently reported cyber attack on its oil industry, an official at the Islamic Republic’s Oil Ministry said on Saturday, adding that a computer virus attempted to “steal and damage data.”

Iran refinery - AP - 23.4.12

An Iranian oil worker repairs a pipe at an oil refinery in Tehran - Photo by AP

On Tuesday, Iran’s Oil Ministry said its IT systems had suffered no lasting damage from a suspected cyber attack, but its experts would require two or three days to investigate and address the impact of the virus.

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IDF nabs Palestinian carrying 2 bombs

Terror attack averted: Security forces arrest man in possession of two explosive devices at West Bank roadblock Saturday; suspect taken in for interrogation

 

Terror attack averted: IDF troops nabbed Saturday evening a Palestinian in possession of two explosive devices near the Hawara roadblock in the West Bank, south of Nablus.

The bombs were later blown up by sappers in a controlled detonation. The Palestinian terror suspect was taken in for interrogation by security authorities.

Saturday’s arrest marks the latest in a string of incidents involving Palestinian terrorists detained in possession of arms.

Sappers blow up bombs (Archive) Photo: AFP

Sappers blow up bombs (Archive) - Photo AFP

Last Saturday, Border Guard and Judea and Samaria police forces thwarted a terror attack in the area after detaining two Palestinians armed with four pipe bombs, a handgun and some ammunition. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Ze’evi wins European judo championship

Israel’s Arik Ze’evi makes history, wins European judo championship for fourth time

 

Huge achievement for Israel: Arik Ze’evi, Israel’s top judo wrestler for more than a decade now, won the European judo championship in his class for the fourth time Saturday.

Huge win for Ze'evi (Photo; AFP)

Huge win for Ze'evi - Photo by AFP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Ze’evi Saturday and congratulated him on his achievement.

“You touched all of us,” Netanyahu said. “You put on a show on behalf of the state of Israel; you brought us great honor and hope.”

Meanwhile, President Shimon Peres also conveyed his well-wishes, writing that he is “filled with amazement and appreciation over this wonderful gold medal win.” Continue Reading »

Lebanon intercepts Syria-bound smuggling ship

Authorities in Beirut say they discovered rocket-propelled grenades, rifles in ship that was sailing from Libya via Egypt.

 

BEIRUT – Lebanese authorities have found weapons on board a ship intercepted in the Mediterranean which may have been trying to supply Syrian rebels, security sources said on Saturday.

illustrative photo - Photo: Andreas Manolis / Reuters

illustrative photo - Photo: Andreas Manolis / Reuters

They said the ship, the Lutfallah II, was on its way to Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli when it was intercepted and taken to Selaata port, north of Beirut, for inspection.

An overnight search uncovered weapons including rocket-propelled grenades and rifles in three freight containers, the sources said. Continue Reading »

US deploys fighter jets to base near Iran

US Air Force deploys several F22s to UAE base, Fox News reports; Officials deny deployment linked to potential Iran strike

 

The United States military has deployed several F-22 fighter jets to an allied base less than 200 miles (320 km) from Iran, Fox News reported Friday.

The F-22, US' best fighter jet Photo: Reuters

The F-22, US' best fighter jet - Photo: Reuters

According to the report, the US Air Force strongly denied ordering the deployment in a show of force against Iran, or that it is in some way related to a potential strike on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. It claimed the measure is part of routine activity and “security cooperation with regional partners. Continue Reading »

Backlash after PA silences Critics

A top Palestinian official has resigned after the government of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas moved to silence Internet sites carrying opposition voices.

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas

Communications minister Mashour Abu Daqa said he was stepping down Thursday night after Abbas’ attorney general ordered several websites critical of the government shut down. Government forces also arrested four journalists and an anti-corruption activist who have censured Abbas and other Palestinian officials on Facebook.

Daqa said the Internet censorship was “bad for the image of the Palestinian Authority in the modern world.”

The websites reportedly supported Abbas rival and former PA official Mahmoud Dahlan, who was a top security official in Abbas’ cabinet until 2007, when Iran-backed Hamas seized control of Gaza. Continue Reading »

American Jew hater running for U.S. Senate.

It’s hard to swallow so much Islamic revisionism and deep prejudice from Lee Whitnum, Democratic nominee for Connecticut’s US Senate, without getting choked up (see http://www.jewishledger.com/) That she can still be considered an American boggles the mind. She is an Islamist who repeats the rhetoric of hate and the Palestinian victimhood narrative with particular ease — the ease of taqiyyah.

Lee Whitnum, candidate for U.S. Senate.

Lee Whitnum, candidate for U.S. Senate.

• Whitnum: “In every culture in the world except Israel, if you take something that doesn’t belong to you it’s stealing. In every culture in the world except Israel if you kill someone it’s murder.” Continue Reading »

China’s prime minister visits Auschwitz

Wen Jiabao pays visit to death camp during official visit to Poland; says ‘the tragedy of Auschwitz is the tragedy of all humanity’

 

China’s prime minister paid homage on Friday to the victims of the Nazi Auschwitz death camp, saying lessons drawn from it should help build a safer world.

Laid yellow and red flowers .  Auschwitz death camp Photo: Shutterstock

Laid yellow and red flowers . Auschwitz death camp - Photo: Shutterstock

Wen Jiabao paid the visit to the Auschwitz memorial on Friday, following two days of political and business talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Bronislaw Komorowski in Warsaw

At the memorial in southern Poland, Wen walked through the former camp’s main gate and laid yellow and red flowers at the Death Wall where the Germans executed masses of people during World War II. Continue Reading »

Iran seeks expanded IRGC presence in Gaza Strip

LONDON — Iran has been pressing to expand its presence in the Gaza
Strip.

Arab diplomatic sources said the Iranian leadership was urging the Hamas
government of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to allow additional military
trainers into the Gaza Strip.

The sources said Iran, particularly its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, wants to build a credible military force in the Gaza Strip to confront Israel in any future regional war.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei greets Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. /AFP

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei greets Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. /AFP

“Iran wants Gaza to be as capable as Hizbullah,” a diplomatic
source said. “This means that Hamas and its allies would have tens of thousands of missiles and rockets that could paralyze central and southern Israel.” Continue Reading »

Electric Corp. urgently seeking new gas supplier

Needs 5-month stopgap until Israeli gas starts flowing.

Needing to fill the energy void left by the Egyptians canceling the sale of natural gas to Israel, the Israel Electric Corporation is trolling the world for a new source. The IEC has published an international tender for purchase of imported liquefied natural gas, hoping to start buying as much as $700 million to $850 million worth on December 1, 2012.

Gas drilling rig

Gas drilling rig

The plan is for up to 16 huge LNG tankers, each holding 130,000 cubic meters of LNG, to dock at a Cypriot port, where the gas would be unloaded onto a vessel the IEC would lease from the American firm Excelerate Energy.

Continue Reading »

Obama lifts Palestinian aid barrier

US president signs waiver releasing $192 aid package frozen by Congress. Obama says aiding Palestinian Authority is ‘important for security interests of United States’

President Barack Obama has signed a waiver declaring that aid to the Palestinian Authority is “important to the security interests of the United States,” removing a block on such funding.

Obama Photo: AP

Obama - Photo: AP

In a memo sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, published by the White House, the president said it was appropriate to release funds to the authority, which administers the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

A provision of The Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2012 said none of the funds “may be obligated or expended with respect to providing funds to the Palestinian Authority.” Continue Reading »

Holocaust Memorial, Synagogue Defaced in Geneva

Members of the Jewish community in Geneva find anti-Semitic symbols on a Holocaust monument and local synagogue.

Members of the Jewish community in Geneva, Switzerland, woke up on Friday morning and discovered that anti-Semitic symbols had been sprayed overnight on a monument to Holocaust victims who had lived in the city, according to a Channel 2 News report.

Anti-Semitism (illustration)

Anti-Semitism (illustration) - archive photo

The report said that symbols had also been sprayed on the outer wall of a local synagogue.

Dr. Yitzhak Dayan, the Chief Rabbi of Geneva, told Channel 2 News that he believed the timing of the incident was not accidental. Continue Reading »