Archive for February 6, 2013

Netanyahu seeks to change electoral threshold to 3%

PM: Likud-Yisrael Beytenu to meet in order to deal with electoral reform.

Yisrael Beytenu & Yesh Atid want gov’t at 18 ministers.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised the joint Likud-Yisrael Beytenu faction on Tuesday that significant changes would be made to the electoral system at the beginning of his new term.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gives speech at 19th Knesset swear in, February 5, 2013.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gives speech at 19th Knesset swear in, February 5, 2013.- Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

Stabilizing the electoral system is the primary demand of Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, as well as a key issue for likely coalition partner Yesh Atid.

In his ceremonial speech to the newly sworn-in Knesset, Netanyahu said it was wonderful that ministers and committee chairmen were able to do their jobs for four years because his last government lasted that long, but that more had to be done to ensure political stability for the future.

Continue Reading »

Turkel Report ll: Israel must adopt int’l war crimes inquiry procedures

State commission probing deadly 2010 Marmara incident issues 2nd report, advises that Israel must enact legislation to cover ‘legal loopholes’ concerning potential war crimes investigations/charges

Aviel Magnezi

 

The Turkel Committee recommended Wednesday that Israel pursue legislation that would adhere to international war crime investigation norms, which are not already covered by existing Israeli law.

The committee, tasked with probing the 2010 raid on the Marmara, a Turkish vessel heading a Gaza-bound flotilla meant to breach the maritime blockade imposed on the Strip, released the second part of its report Wednesday, focusing on the legal aspects of the raid.

The report focused on Israel’s own investigation process in the matter and the various legal ramifications on Israel’s standing in the international community. Continue Reading »

Arab MKs Exit Quickly Before ‘Hatikva’ is Sung

Many Arab MKs rush out before Hatikva, Israel’s national anthem is played. One MK: As an Arab, the anthem oppresses & humiliates me.

Hatikva expresses the Jewish longing to return & be a free people in the Jewish homeland & in Jerusalem.

By Maayana Miskin

 

The 19th Knesset began work Tuesday with much fanfare. Media coverage of the emotional scenes from the end of the day, as the national anthem Hatikva played, missed one important detail: that many Arab MKs were no longer present.

A Knesset Channel camera caught one MK, the controversial Hanin Zoabi, rushing to grab her bag and leave immediately after taking her oath as an MK. Continue Reading »

Japan Dedicates the Statue ‘Rebirth & Resurrection’ Honoring Israeli Tsunami Aid

The new sculpture symbolizes Israeli solidarity with the suffering of the Japanese people.

By  Yossi Aloni

 

Two years after a massive tsunami ravaged the eastern seaboard of Japan, the people of one of the hardest hit towns, Yanmei-Sanriku, have inaugurated a statue honoring the assistance that Israel provided in their darkest hour.

Titled “Rebirth and Resurrection” Photo: .israeltoday.co.ilTitled “Rebirth and Resurrection”, the statue was produced by Israeli artist David Susanna, and was installed in front of the municipal offices and temporary Israeli hospitals established in Yanmei-Sanriku.

Immediately after the tsunami hit in 2011, an Israeli medical delegation was dispatched and worked tirelessly to aid the people of the entire Tohoku region. Continue Reading »

Despite Hezbollah’s Burgas bombing, E.U. leaders are scared to confront Nasrallah

European Leaders know that changing Hezbollah’s designation to ‘terrorist organization’ would seriously hurt its entire drug-smuggling & money-laundering operations which fund its terrorist activities, yet they are more scared of loosing revenue and the risk of retaliation.

By Cnaan Liphshiz

 

(JTA) — In his many years of service for France’s spy agency, Claude Moniquet has seen much evidence linking Hezbollah to terrorist-related activities in Europe and beyond.

NasrallahThe attacks, says Moniquet, a 20-year veteran of the DGSE intelligence service, go back as far as 1983, to the bombing of military barracks in Beirut that killed nearly 300 people, including 58 French soldiers. Continue Reading »

Bennett: “It’s not ethical and it’s not sustainable” for Haredim to not work & study or serve

Bayit Yehudi leader says Israeli economy cannot withstand situation in which Haredim don’t study and work or serve. In NY they study & work, why not here?

 

Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett issued a declaration of intent on Tuesday morning regarding his party’s perspective and intentions for haredi national service enlistment.

“The current situation in which thousands of haredim do not study, serve or work cannot continue,” the Bayit Yehudi chairman wrote on his official Facebook page.

Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett makes post-election speech at Kfar Maccabia, January 22, 2013.

Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett makes post-election speech at Kfar Maccabia, January 22, 2013. – Photo: TOVAH LAZAROFF

“It’s not ethical and it’s not sustainable and the Israeli economy cannot withstand it,” Bennett continued, insisting, however, that “haredim are our brothers” and that he merely desired their integration into Israeli society.

Continue Reading »

WATCH as Syrian tries to wack Ahmadinejad with his shoe in Cairo

Shoe-wielding Syrian man is filmed trying to hit Iran’s President Ahamdinejad during presidential Cairo visit. Ahmadinejad’s visit also protested by mob of Muslim radicals, Salafis

By Roi Kais

 

VIDEO – During a visit to a mosque in Cairo Iran‘s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was received by a shoe wielded by a Syrian national who wished to protest Tehran’s support for Syria‘s President Bashar Assad.

The shoe

The shoe – Screenshot

The Turkish news agency Anatolia posted a video of the attempted attack

Outside the mosque, Ahmadinejad was welcomed by citizens holding signs and posters congratulating him on the first Iranian presidential visit since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Continue Reading »

WATCH: Netanyahu Tells the World, Time to Stand Up to Hizbullah

Netanyahu releases a video clip: Bulgaria’s findings show it’s time to face facts about Hizbullah.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu released a statement Tuesday after Bulgaria officially blamed Hizbullah for a terrorist bombing in the country that killed five Israelis and one Bulgarian last year.

NetanyahuNetanyahu called on the international community to recognize Hizbullah as a terrorist organization.

The Bulgarian government said Tuesday that two people with Canadian and Australian passports linked to Hizbullah were behind the July bus bombing.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Canada “takes the reported involvement of a dual national living in Lebanon very seriously and is working with Bulgarian authorities.” Continue Reading »

Two men arrested for aiding 2 fugitives flee to Syria

The 2 men arrested, residents of Jaljulia & Tamra, confessed to helping 2 relatives escape to Syria. One of the men was serving a 25-year murder sentence.

Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

Two men from the Israeli Arab towns of Jaljulia and Tamra were arrested by the Israel Defense Forces on Monday evening near the border fence with Syria on the Golan Heights in northern Israel, Army Radio reported on Tuesday.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire? The suspects allegedly helped a prisoner cross the border into Syria. – Photo: Reuters

Security forces who spotted suspicious activity along the border fence near Kibbutz El-Rom were initially concerned that armed men were attempting to cross into Israel from Syria.

Continue Reading »

Bulgarian Investigation Proves Hezbollah Executed Burgas Terrorist Attack

After a 7-month probe, Bulgarian interior minister announces that 2 Hezbollah terrorists involved in Burgas suicide-terrorist bombing that killed 6.

By REUTERS

SOFIA – Two individuals with links to Lebanon’s Shi’ite group Hezbollah were involved in a bomb attack on a bus in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas that killed five Israeli tourists last July, Bulgaria’s interior minister said on Tuesday.
Bulgaria bus bomb.

Bulgaria bus bomb. – Photo: REUTERS

The conclusions of the Bulgarian investigation may open the way for the European Union to join the United States in branding the Iranian-backed Hezbollah a terrorist organization since there is now a clear connection to an attack on EU territory.
Continue Reading »

The North how has its 3rd Iron Dome battery deployed

Third missile defense system operational in northern Israel following alleged Air Force strike on Syrian arms convoy

Yoav Zitun

 

Against the backdrop of foreign media reports on an Israeli Air Force strike in Syria, a third Iron Dome battery has been deployed in northern Israel.

Iron Dome

This raises the number of missile-interception systems installed in the north to three. Over the last 10 days Iron Dome batteries have been deployed in the Upper Galilee area and in greater Haifa as well.

The Iron Dome launchers belonging to the third battery were installed in several points and can defend a number of towns from missiles. Continue Reading »

Israel, ‘You Can’t Find PA Incitement? Then LOOK at this!’

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry releases PowerPoint presentation of numerous PA incitement, from ‘Zion is Satan’ to ‘Come Kill the Jews.’

By Maayana Miskin

 

In wake of the release of a report comparing Palestinian Authority textbooks to Israeli textbooks in terms of incitement, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry has released a simple PowerPoint presentation outlining PA incitement and giving examples.

incitementAmong the more disturbing instances of incitement are incident in which teachers used their blogs or Facebook pages to spread hate. One PA school’s Facebook page includes an image of an Arab child being strangled by a snake marked with a Star of David. Continue Reading »

Israel, ‘You Can’t Find PA Incitement? LOOK Here!’

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry releases PowerPoint presentation of numerous PA incitement, from ‘Zion is Satan’ to ‘Come Kill the Jews.’

By Maayana Miskin

 

In wake of the release of a report comparing Palestinian Authority textbooks to Israeli textbooks in terms of incitement, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry has released a simple PowerPoint presentation outlining PA incitement and giving examples.

PA TV incitement and Abbas

PA TV incitement and Abbas
PMW screenshot and Israel

Among the more disturbing instances of incitement are incident in which teachers used their blogs or Facebook pages to spread hate. One PA school’s Facebook page includes an image of an Arab child being strangled by a snake marked with a Star of David. Continue Reading »

Syria won’t retaliate against Israel reports Syrian defense minister on state TV

Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij reported Israel’s alleged airstrike was part of a plan to aid in destroying Syria internally, and calls Syrian rebels Israel’s “tools”. Furthermore, al-Freij said Israel & their “armed gangs coordinated together to target the research center.”

News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

Syria’s defense minister signaled Monday that his country would not hit back at Israel over last week’s airstrike inside Syria, claiming the Israeli raid was actually in retaliation for his regime’s offensive against local rebels, whom he called “tools” of the Jewish state. The remarks suggest the regime’s military options might be severely constrained after 22 months of fighting an uprising that has depleted its weapons and stretched troops thin.

Continue Reading »

Bulgarian gov’t is expected to blame Hezbollah & ally Iran for Burgas attack

The investigative report on the bombing in the airport of Burgas last July that killed 5 Israeli tourists allegedly blames Hezbollah & Iran.

By JTA

 

U.S. officials reportedly have said that Bulgaria will blame Hezbollah and Iran for a terrorist attack that killed five Israelis last year in the Balkan state.

The bus that was destroyed in the Burgas terrorist attack – Reuters

The bus that was destroyed in the Burgas terrorist attack – Reuters

Unidentified U.S. and Middle East officials who were briefed on the findings told the Wall Street Journal that Bulgaria’s government is expected to release an investigative report this week containing theses conclusions.

The report is about the July 18 bus bombing that took place in Burgas, Bulgaria, and was aimed at Israeli tourists there. Continue Reading »