Archive for August 8, 2012

IDF believed to be operating armed UAVs

Although reported that Israel has been operating UAVs for nearly a decade, Jerusalem doesn’t admit to using them

By YAAKOV KATZ

 

 

It has been seen in public, filmed by Palestinians in Gaza and displayed at international air shows.

What is it? According to foreign reports, the IDF uses armed unmanned aerial vehicles to attack targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Elbit Systems’ Hermes 900 UAV

Elbit Systems’ Hermes 900 UAV
Photo: Elbit Systems

The Palestinians even have a name for it – Waziz – a reference to the buzzing sound the UAVs make as they fly over the Gaza Strip.

While Jerusalem does not admit to possessing armed UAVs, it has been reported in the rest of the world that Israel has been using them for nearly a decade. Continue Reading »

Swiss experts asked to perform Arafat’s autopsy

Palestinians formally request Swiss lab for help in testing exhumed remains for possible poisoning

By Associated Press

 

Swiss experts have been invited to the West Bank to test Yasser Arafat‘s remains for possible poisoning, the chief investigator looking into the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader said Wednesday.

Yasser Arafat Photo: Atta Awisat

Yasser Arafat
Photo: Atta Awisat

The announcement followed weeks of zigzagging on the autopsy issue by officials in the Palestinian Authority, the self-rule government that Arafat established. Their conflicting positions and hesitation triggered speculation they were trying to quietly kill the investigation.

Last month, Switzerland’s Institute of Radiation Physics said it had detected elevated levels of radioactive polonium-210 on stains on Arafat’s clothing, reviving longstanding rumors in the Arab world that the Palestinian leader was poisoned. Continue Reading »

BUSTED: Israeli-Arab Hizbullah Cell had Bombs & Guns

Police & Shin-Bet arrest Israeli-Arab terrorists who had accumulated serious weaponry in preparation for an attack.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Police and the Shin Bet have nabbed an Israeli-Arab terrorist cell affiliated with Hizbullah. The cell was holding many weapons, including powerful bombs and M-16 rifles.

The bombs were smuggled into Israel from Lebanon, and were intended for use in terrorist attacks within Israel.

A total of 12 people were arrested in connection to the affair, and eight have been indicted. The case was initially under a gag order.

Most of the suspects are drug smugglers from the town of Ghajar in the north and terrorists from the Nazareth area in the Galilee. Continue Reading »

Apparently, Hassan Nasrallah Gets a Taste of his own Medicine

Hezbollah’s support of the Assad regime is no longer a secret. One can assume that these senior Hezbollah people were not innocent pilgrims, but rather on a mission to Iran, to coordinate operations of the Assad regime & its allies, Hezbollah & the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

By Avi Melamed

 
While the world continues to witness the ongoing tragedy in Syria, there is another “mini-drama” simultaneously taking place in that country which is no less significant.

Hassan Nasrallah tells Israel to keep its hands off Lebanon’s oil & gas.

On May 22nd reports began to flow in from different sources that Lebanese Shiite pilgrims returning from Iran had been kidnapped inside Syria. Continue Reading »

Black Swan’s Millepied & Natalie Portman wed in a Jewish ceremony

In 2011 Portman got engaged, won an Academy Award, & gave birth to their 1st son Aleph. Now after 2 year engagement, the movie star said “I do” to “Black Swan” choreographer in a private Jewish ceremony.

By Israel Hayom Staff

 

On Monday, Israeli-American movie star Natalie Portman wed her fiancé, French choreographer Benjamin Millepied in a small Jewish ceremony in Big Sur, California. According to People Magazine, guests included fellow child actor Macaulay Culkin and real estate mogul Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who converted to Judaism before marrying her husband Jared Kushner.

The blushing bride, Portman, in “Black Swan.”

Continue Reading »

Knesset Member Kara: Israel is helping Syrian refugees in ‘hidden ways’

“I spoke to Syrian ministers disillusioned by Assad’s regime,” says MK Kara; Foreign Ministry & diplomatic officials deny sending any aid.

By LAHAV HARKOV, HERB KEINON

 

Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara (Likud) said he is facilitating aid to Syrian refugees and has been in contact with Syrian government officials considering defection.

A number of diplomatic officials in Jerusalem, however, said they were unaware of humanitarian aid from Israel being sent to Syrian refugees.

Deputy Minister of the Negev and Galilee Ayoub Kar

Ayoub Kara, Deputy Minister of the Negev and Galilee

Earlier this year Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman turned to the International Committee of the Red Cross with an offer of humanitarian aid for the Syrians. Continue Reading »

Druze students returning from Syria say the ‘media is exaggerating’

Dozens of Golan residents return home from studies in Damascus; some say ‘we were in constant danger’ while others say ‘not as bad as depicted by the press’  

By Hassan Shaalan

Hundreds of Druze from the village of Bukata in the Golan Heights welcomed back 80 students who returned from Syria Tuesday through the Quneitra Crossing.

Protest in Syria – Reuters

Gadir Zuha, a med student, said she was very glad to return to Israel in good health. “It is true that while in Syria we were frightened and sometimes had to remain indoors, but we looked out for one another. Continue Reading »

Norwegian children’s watchdog: Replace circumcision with symbolic ritual

Children’s watchdog, Dr. Anne Lindboe,  says Circumcising boys violates their right to decide over their own body.

By JTA

 

Norway’s ombudsman for children’s rights has proposed that Jews and Muslims replace male circumcision with a symbolic, nonsurgical ritual.

Circumcision protest

Anti-circumcision movements have been gaining momentum: A demonstration in Canada. – Photo by Reuters

Dr. Anne Lindboe told the newspaper Vart Land last month that circumcising boys was a violation of their right to decide over their own body.

“Muslim and Jewish children are entitled to the same protection as all other children,” Lindboe said, adding that the practice caused unnecessary pain and was medically unbeneficial. Continue Reading »

Egyptian Army Hits Terrorists Hard Killing 20

Egyptian military strikes Sinai terrorists after large-scale attack. Helicopters strike camps, killing 20.

By Maayana Miskin

 

The Egyptian army struck terrorist camps in the Sinai over the course of Tuesday night, killing an estimated 20 terrorists. The strikes followed a large-scale attack near Gaza on Sunday, where terrorists attacked Egyptian army posts and then attempted to enter Israel, and a shooting attack late Tuesday night in Al-Arish.

The army used combat helicopters to hit the camps. The counter-terror assault is the first time the Egyptian army has used missiles in Sinai since attacking Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Continue Reading »

Israel’s blockade to be challenged as Scandinavian ship sails to Gaza

The SV Estelle, boarded by Swedish & Norwegian groups, sets sail from Oslo as organizers hope other ships will join on its way to Gaza.

By Reuters

 

Scandinavian activist groups are launching an aid ship destined for Gaza on Tuesday, hoping to challenge the Israeli blockade and draw international attention to the conflict in a move reminiscent of the 2010 “Freedom Flotilla”, organizers said.

The SV Estelle, a 53-metre Irish vessel

“We have the same goal as the previous flotillas, to put an end to the blockade of Gaza by challenging the Israeli navy,” said Torstein Dahle, the leader of the Norwegian section of the activist group “Ship to Gaza.” Continue Reading »

Egyptian campaign: Sealing all the smuggling tunnels between Egypt & Gaza

Source says heavy equipment brought to  Rafah, “aims at closing all openings between Egypt, Gaza; Egypt PM heckled at soldiers funeral & pelted with shoes.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS

 

Egypt began work to seal off smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a security source said, amidst an uptick in public discussions by Israeli leaders over Egypt’s willingness and capability of policing the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula.

A Palestinian man moves a goat through a smuggling tunnel under the border at Rafah. – Photo: Associated Press

The move came two days after gunmen shot dead 16 Egyptian border guards in an attack blamed partly on Palestinian Islamists.

Continue Reading »

IDF Releases Video: Terrorists Terminated

Israeli generals reveal that Ground Forces & Air Force engaged Sinai-Gaza terrorists in several clashes before wiping them out in 15 minutes.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu & Gil Ronen

 

IDF generals revealed Monday that soldiers and planes engaged Sunday night’s terrorists in several clashes before wiping them out in 15 minutes. On Monday, the IDF released a video recording of the elimination of the APC carrying the terrorists.

Some of the weapons carried by militants in infiltration attempt, August 6 2012 – Photo: IDF Spokesperson

Lt. Gen Gantz and Southern Command Major General Tal Russo toured the Kerem Shalom crossing area Monday morning, less than 24 hours after a gang of jihad terrorists carried out a well-planned attack on Egyptian soldiers, killing 16 of them and wounded several others, but failing in their second objective to kidnap and murder Israelis. Continue Reading »

It’s Morsi’s choice

It should be apparent to the new Islamist gov’t in Cairo that Israel & Egypt have a mutual interest in maintaining a peaceful border

By Boaz Bismuth

The deadly attack on Monday near the Kerem Shalom Egypt-Israel border crossing, in which 16 Egyptian policemen were killed, should make it clear to Egypt that Israel isn’t the problem — it is the solution.

Boaz Bismuth

Boaz Bismuth – Photo: facebbok

It should be apparent to the new Islamist government in Cairo that Israel and Egypt have a mutual interest in maintaining a peaceful border and protecting it from Islamist terrorist organizations that don’t hesitate to kill their Muslim brethren as they sit down to break the Ramadan fast.

Continue Reading »

Adelson presses Romney on Pollard’s release, embassy move, & Palestinian insincerity

The Daily Beast reports Billionaire also pressing GOP candidate to denounce peace talks with Palestinians as a waste of time.

By JTA

 

WASHINGTON – Sheldon Adelson, a major contributor to Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, has asked Romney to speak out publicly for the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.

Sheldon Adelson – Photo: Reuters

Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee, has said he needs to see the relevant intelligence material accessible to a president before deciding whether to grant Pollard clemency, sources told the Daily Beast website.

Pollard was working as an American civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy when he passed classified information to Israel. Continue Reading »

British PM Cameron: “We must never forget Munich victims”

Prime Minister David Cameron, foreign & local dignitaries gather to remember Israel’s slain athletes; Munich widows say IOC ‘discriminating against athletes because they are Israelis, Jews’

By Yaniv Halili

 

 

LONDON – The 11 victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack were finally remembered at London’s 2012Olympic Games.

Hundreds gathered for a moment of silence in memory of the murdered athletes, but the gesture did not take place at the site of the Olympic Games, or in the Olympic village. Instead it was held at the periphery of the events.

הכניסה לטקס האזכרה לי"א. זוכרים את הנרצחים (צילום: AP)

Pictures of Muncih victims at entrance to Guild Hall – Photo: AP

The ceremony was held by the Israeli embassy in cooperation with the local Jewish community at London’s famous Guild Hall. Continue Reading »