Archive for December 21, 2012

Report: Hezbollah Weapons Depot that Blew-up, Held Missiles Capable of Delivering Chemical Warheads

There’s a significant risk of proliferation to other groups, such as Hezbollah, which could pose a global terrorist threat

 

Two days after a mysterious explosion at a Hezbollah weapons depot in southern Lebanon, the Kuwaiti website Al Jarida is reporting that Israel bombed the site because Syria had transferred missiles there that were capable of being equipped with chemical warheads. The missiles had been moved into Lebanon from Syria in the last several months and were being held inside warehouses owned by farmers in the area.

A soldier wearing protective gear.

The report also claimed that Hezbollah has many additional warehouses across Lebanon that are used for the same purpose. Continue Reading »

World’s 2nd-oldest Bible fragment posted online

 

Purchased by Dr Walter Llewellyn Nash from an Egyptian antiquities dealer in 1902, he presented the fragment that is said to have come from Fayyum, Egypy, to the Cambridge Library in 1903.

 

By JTA

The University of Cambridge posted online thousands of pages from fragile religious manuscripts.

nash

Nash Papyrus – Photo from the Cambridge Digital Library

One of the documents scanned and uploaded to the Cambridge Digital Library is the Nash Papyrus, a 2,000-year-old fragment containing the Ten Commandments and part of the Shema prayer discovered in Egypt in the late 19th century.

It is the world’s second oldest known manuscript containing a text from the Hebrew Bible. Continue Reading »

S. Africa’s ruling party supports boycott campaign against Israel

South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC passes resolutions endorsing Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions campaign to “pressure Israel.”

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel on Thursday.

South Africans protest Israel -  Photo: Reuters

South Africans protest Israel – Photo: Reuters

Adopted a series of resolutions blasting the Jewish state at its 53rd National Conference, the ANC adopted policies urging South Africans to support any Palestinian campaigns that “pressure Israel to end its violations of international law, respect Palestinian human rights and engage in fair negotiations for a just peace.”

Another resolution affirmed that “The ANC is unequivocal in its support for the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-determination, and unapologetic in its view that the Palestinians are the victims and the oppressed in the conflict with Israel.”

Continue Reading »

Israel Foreign Ministry: Palestinians are ‘power-drunk’

Foreign Ministry warns PA’s pledge to take ‘far-reaching steps against Israel’ if Netanyahu wins elections is ‘suicidal & delusional’

Jerusalem gears for possible Int’l Criminal Court backlash

Itamar Eichner

 

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking to incite a confrontation with Israel no matter what,” the Foreign Ministry said Friday, following the Palestinian leader’s announcement that Ramallah will actively try to isolate Israel in the international arena.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – Photo: Reuters

On Thursday, the Palestinian Authority, bolstered by its new UN status, said that should the Right, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, win the coming elections – which is a near-certain possibility – it will actively try to destabilize both the Israeli government and Jerusalem’s standing worldwide. Continue Reading »

3 Iranian Stooges in botched bomb plot against Israelis claim innocence in Bangkok court

2 of the Iranians who allegedly targeted Israeli diplomats say they’re innocent & were stunned, shocked to discover hidden explosives in a cabinet in their rented Bangkok home.

 

BANGKOK – Two Iranians arrested after a botched bomb plot that allegedly targeted Israeli diplomats say they’re innocent and were stunned to discover explosives stashed in a cabinet in their rented Bangkok home, a lawyer said Friday.

Iranian Saeid Moradi

Iranian Saeid Moradi arrives at Bangkok South Criminal Court December 21, 2012 – Photo by AP

Both men appeared in court Friday, 10 months after the explosives blew apart their home in a residential Bangkok neighborhood on Valentine’s Day. Continue Reading »

Christmas Exploited for Israel Bashing: ‘O Boycott All ye Faithful’

PA-based Christian orgs are getting into ‘the holiday spirit’, with libelous attacks on Israel, including the ‘Jews killed Jesus’.

By Maayana Miskin

 

A new report from NGO Monitor reveals that several Christian organizations that support the Palestinian Authority are using Christmas to attack Israel. Holiday propaganda ranged from half-truths aimed at portraying Israel as oppressive to “crude anti-Semitism” based on historic Christian accusations of Jews being prophet-killers, the group said.

The report, titled, “O Boycott All ye Faithful,” criticized groups including Christian Aid, Sabeel, Kairos Palestine, and Israel Palestine Mission Network, Presbyterian Church (USA).

The latter group has published a daily advent devotional headed by a picture in which Mary and Joseph, parents of Jesus, are trapped behind a wall styled on Israel’s security barrier between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Israel petitions UN Security Council to condemn rearming of Hezbollah

Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said in a letter to the 15-nation council that Hezbollah’s buildup in Southern Lebanon was in violation of a UN arms embargo & UN resolutions

By Reuters

 

Israel’s UN envoy urged the Security Council on Thursday to condemn what he described as significant rearming by Hezbollah, saying the Lebanese militant group now possessed an arsenal of tens of thousands of missiles capable of hitting Israel.

Hezbollah guerrillas prepare Katyusha rockets at their base near the Chebaa Farms area.

Two Hezbollah guerrillas prepare Katyusha rockets at their base near the Chebaa Farms area on the Lebanese-Israeli border, May 22, 2001.- Photo by AP

Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said in a letter to the 15-nation council that the buildup was in clear violation of a UN arms embargo. Continue Reading »

Human Rights Watch Lying About Israel…Again

NGO Monitor, points out that Human Rights Watch (HRW) is once again leveling false charges against Israel.

By David Lev

 

NGO Monitor, which studies the treatment of Israel by supposedly non-affiliated and apolitical volunteer and civic groups, has accused Human Rights Watch (HRW) of once again leveling false charges against Israel. According to NGO Monitor, HRW accused Israel of attacking “journalists” in Gaza during Operation Pillar of Defense, but the charge “is false both legally and factually, and the timing of this release appears to be a cynical attempt to divert attention from many scandals currently plaguing the organization,” NGO Monitor said. Continue Reading »

Palestinians plan to isolate Israel with new steps & more violence

Emboldened by upgraded UN status, Palestinian officials plan tough steps against Israel if Netanyahu is re-elected including ending all security cooperation

By Associated Press

 

Weeks ahead of Israeli elections, Palestinian officials are already plotting a series of tough steps against Israel to be taken if, as polls predict, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is re-elected and peace efforts remain stalled.

Riots in Hebron (Photo: AFP)

Riots in Hebron – Photo: AFP

Emboldened by their newly upgraded status at the United Nations, the Palestinians are talking of filing war crimes charges against Israel, staging mass demonstrations in the West Bank, encouraging the international community to impose sanctions, and ending the security cooperation that has helped preserve quiet in recent years. Continue Reading »

Echoing Jordanian warnings, UN agrees: Syria, battleground of ‘foreign fighters’

Jordanian officials say that jihadists are hijacking the Syrian revolution & may target Israel next.

UN also says Hezbollah fighting on behalf of Assad.

By Reuters

 

United Nations human rights investigators warned Thursday that fighters from around the world have filtered into Syria to join a civil war that has split along sectarian lines, increasingly pitting the ruling Alawite community against the majority Sunni Muslims.

The warning comes after senior Jordanian officials warned this week that Syria may devolve into a “black hole that sucks Jihadists from around the world.”

Damage in Syria Dec 18

A woman walks past a house destroyed by an airstrike by Syrian government forces.

Continue Reading »

Sea of Galilee water level rising sooner than expected

Israel is anticipating above-average rainfall this year, a pleasant contradiction to the past seven years of drought.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Israeli officials now believe that the region will receive more rain than expected this winter, bringing the Sea of Galilee back up to a level it has not been at in over 10 years.

The beach of the Sea of Galilee – Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Speaking to Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper, Israel Water Authority official Dr. Amir Givati noted that due to abundant rainfall already this winter, the Sea of Galilee already began to rise in late October, more than a month before is typically starts to rise in the annual rain cycle. Continue Reading »

Israel to receive first F-35 stealth fighter jets in 2016

Lockheed Martin official says Israel’s first F-35 stealth fighter jets will be given to the Israel Air Force in the 2nd half of 2016.

The IAF has ordered 19 F-35s, with option to purchase 75.

Pilots refer to F-35 as “the iPad-generation aircraft.”

By Aharon Lapidot and Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

The Israel Air Force will receive its first F-35 fighter jets in the second half of 2016, a Lockheed Martin official said.

Sleek and stealthy. The Israel Air Force will receive its first F-35 fighter jets in 2016, says Lockheed Martin. – Photo: AP

Israel has ordered 19 F-35s, for a total cost of $2.75 billion, and has the option to purchase a total of 75 F-35s.

Continue Reading »

In Jamaica, the Jewish future is in conversions & intermarriages

From 1849, there were enough Jews serving in the House of Assembly that it didn’t meet on Yom Kippur.

When Jamaica achieved independence from Britain in 1962, its 1st ambassador to the U.S. was a Jewish businessman & lawyer, Neville Ashenheim.

By Debra Rubin

 

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JTA) Marie Reynolds used the living waters of Kingston’s Rockford Mineral Baths for the ritual immersion required to complete her conversion to Judaism, formally becoming a member of one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere: Jamaican Jewry.

ucija.org

The tiny, racially mixed community — “200 souls,” as Jewish community leader Ainsley Henriques puts it — may well depend on Jews by choice like Reynolds. Continue Reading »

Vandal arrested for smashing tiles in King David’s Tomb

Suspect says another man who fled the scene, told him his prayers would only be answered if he prayed directly to the stones, which were under the ceramic tiles.

Police arrested a 30-year-old haredi man in Jerusalem late on Wednesday night after police on patrol caught the man smashing ceramic tiles in King David’s Tomb near the Zion Gate.

 Rabbi of Western Wall, Rabbi Rabinowitz - Photo: Courtesy of Western Wall Heritage Fund

Rabbi of Western Wall, Rabbi Rabinowitz – Photo: Courtesy of Western Wall Heritage Fund

He was caught after police on patrol heard loud smashing noises coming from the tomb. They burst into the building and found the man holding an ax, hammer, and a screw driver.

Continue Reading »

Once Again, EU’s ‘Harping’ Ashton condemns Jerusalem construction plans

EU foreign policy head complains that Israel’s plans to build thousands of homes in Givat Hamatos & Ramat Shlomo are ‘extremely troubling,’ and undermine peace prospects.

By AFP

 

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has released a statement condemning Israel‘s decision to go forward with plans to build thousands of new homes in two Jerusalem neighborhoods, Givat Hamatos and Ramat Shlomo.

Catherine Ashton – Photo: EPA

“The approval of an additional 2,610 housing units in the settlement of Givat Hamatos is extremely troubling, coming in addition to announcements made at the end of November and Monday’s approval of 1500 units in Ramat Shlomo,” Ashton said. Continue Reading »