Archive for April 5, 2013

UNIFIL’s mandate to track Hezbollah arms a disaster

 

Israel’s national security adviser reports UNIFIL fails to report on Hezbollah armaments, as mandated by the UN.

UNIFIL spokesman: ‘Peacekeepers haven’t witnessed entry of illegal weapons into area of operations’.

Reuters

 

UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have failed to report on Hezbollah guerrilla armaments as required, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday, arguing that Israel could not rely on foreign intervention for its security.

UNIFIL troops – Photo: Reuters

The remarks underscored the conservative strategies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as instability rocks Israel’s neighbors and world powers urge it to roll back its West Bank occupation to make way for Palestinian state. Continue Reading »

Israel’s the Mid-East’s upcoming energy superpower

The impact of Israel as the regional energy superpower plainly heralds imminent & significant changes in the Middle East & signals a very real change in the geopolitics of the region.

By Peter C Glover

Israel’s transformation from a land of milk and honey into a land awash with oil and gas money is under way. When the country’s offshore Tamar field finally started pumping domestic natural gas direct to Haifa on the last day of March 2013, it meant that Israel was no longer in the thrall of its Arab neighbours for gas imports. And it also signalled the beginning of Israel’s rise to energy superpower status.

Continue Reading »

UN aid distribution suspended in Gaza after rioters demanded more cash

66% of Gaza’s population, some 800,000 Palestinians have become dependent on the United Nations Relief & Works Agency’ free handouts of food & cash.

By Reuters

 

The main UN humanitarian agency for Palestinians said on Thursday it was suspending operations in the Gaza Strip after demonstrators angered by aid cutbacks stormed its headquarters.
The Shati refugee camp, Gaza City, October 6, 2012.


A Palestinian boy sits behind bags of flour donated by various aid agencies as part of their food assistance programs, in the Shati refugee camp, Gaza City, October 6, 2012. – Photo: AP

 

Some 800,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of Gaza’s population, depend on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the shuttering could exacerbate hardship caused by Israeli and Egyptian controls on the isolated enclave’s borders. Continue Reading »

Hamas Arrests 2 Salafists for Rocket Attacks on Israel

Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist movement has arrested 2 hardline Islamists for their participation on rocket attacks at Israel.

By Elad Benari

 

 

The Hamas terrorist movement, which rules Gaza, has arrested two hardline Islamists in connection with rocket attacks on Israel, sources close to a Salafist group told AFP on Thursday.

Gaza Salafists wave Al-Qaeda flag during protest – Photo: AFP

The Hamas interior ministry, however, denied that any arrests had been made for “resistance against the occupation.”

Hamas’s “internal security apparatus in the last two days arrested two mujahedeen. One was released after several hours. The other is still detained,” a Salafist source told AFP on condition of anonymity. Continue Reading »

Arab protesters & IDF clash at West Bank funerals

Thousands gather for funeral of Palestinian prisoner Abu Hamdiyeh in Hebron, protesters hurl rocks at police & IDF soldiers.

Funerals for 2 Palestinian youths shot by live IDF fire were held in their home village near Tulkarm.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, TOVAH LAZAROFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN

 

 

 

Dozens of Palestinians threw stones at IDF soldiers on Thursday during the funerals of three Palestinians in the West Bank, Army Radio reported. A policeman was lightly wounded in Ramallah, and a CNN cameraman was lightly wounded in Hebron, according to sources.

Body of Maysara Abu Hamdeya before his funeral in the West Bank city of Hebron, April 3, 2013.

Body of Maysara Abu Hamdeya before his funeral in the West Bank city of Hebron, April 3, 2013.

Continue Reading »

Palestinian Arab at Yad Vashem: ‘A tragedy beyond words’

Bassam Aramin, whose 10 yr-old daughter was killed by an IDF rubber bullet, visiting Yad Vashem, said ‘I surely can identify with feeling like a refugee, humiliated, weak, lost… but the tragedy of the Holocaust is very different’.

Noam (Dabul) Dvir

Ahmed al-Jaafari, a 43-year-old Deheishe refugee camp resident, stands opposite the list of Jews who were sent to the Sobibor death camp. At a certain point, he turns to the guide, Roee Hanani, and asks “why did they keep such an organized list if they planned on killing them all along?”

Hanani replied him in Arabic “the Nazis were very organized. Continue Reading »

Women banned by Jerusalem Police from holding Kaddish quorum at Kotel

Jerusalem police commander alerts Anat Hoffman, Women of the Wall chairperson of prohibition in letter, warning that women will be arrested & charged with breaking the law if they breach prohibitions.

Add Kaddish to the list of Jewish prayers and ritual objects women are not allowed to be engaged with at the Western Wall, according to the commander of the Jerusalem police.

2010 IN PICTURES JULY


Anat Hoffman, leader of the Women of the Wall, is arrested for holding a Torah scroll at Judaism’s holiest site. – Photo: Michal Fattal

 

In a March 14 letter to Anat Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall, Commander Yossi Pariente of Israel Police department’s Southern District wrote that he met with a deputy attorney general for the government of Israel to go over the rules pertaining to Women of the Wall, which include prohibitions on:

“…Wrapping yourselves in tallitot [prayer shawls], holding a minyan [prayer quorum] of women including the Kaddish or Kedusha prayers, and reading from the Torah.” Continue Reading »

Israeli Tourists Kept in Jordan After Cop Disappears

An Israeli tourist group in Jordan have been held there because their Jordanian police officer assigned to the group went missing.

By David Lev

 

 

Touring Jordan

Touring Jordan – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

A group of Israeli tourists in Jordan have been stuck there since Wednesday, and are not allowed to leave their lodgings, because the Jordanian police officer assigned to the group has gone missing.

The group of 21 Israelis left for Jordan last Sunday on a tour of the country’s northern hills. They had been set to return to Israel on Wednesday night via the Hussein Bridge, over the Jordan River. Continue Reading »

ICC rejects Palestinian bid to investigate Israeli war crimes during Operation ‘Cast Lead’

The ICC in The Hague says reason for rejection is Palestine is currently recognized by the UN as an ‘observer,’ not a ‘Non-member State’.

 

The International Criminal Court prosecutor announced Tuesday that he has rejected a bid by the Palestinian Authority to have the war crimes tribunal investigate Israeli conduct during ‘Operation Cast Lead’ in Gaza.

IAF uses white phosphorus in air strike during Operation Cast Lead

Gazans flee an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahiya during Operation Cast Lead on January 17, 2009. – Photo: AFP

The reason for his decision was that under the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, only internationally recognized states can join the court. Continue Reading »

Arab MK claims no democracy in Israel at Toronto Lecture

MK Jamal Zahalka claimed that Arabs are victims of Israel’s “apartheid” policy & that there is no democracy in Israel.

By Elad Benari

 

An Arab Knesset member who visited Toronto last week claimed that there is no democracy in Israel and that Arabs are victims of Israel’s “apartheid” policy.

According to a report in Shalom Toronto, MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) made the remarks during an appearance at the “Palestine House” in Toronto in honor of the Arab Land Day, which was marked on March 30.

The report said that MK Zahalka’s lecture, which was entitled “Exposing the secrets of Israeli democracy”, focused on trying to disprove what he said is the “myth” of the existence of a genuine democratic government in Israel. Continue Reading »

Marmara passenger will donate his compensation to Hamas & Islamic Jihad

Mehmet Tunc, participant in Gaza flotilla of 2010 says he’ll not touch even ‘1 Turkish Lira’ of Israeli compensation, instead plans to donate it to Palestinian terror groups.

By Roi Kais

 

A Turkish citizen who was a passenger on the Mavi Marmara flotilla announced Wednesday that he will donate any compensation from Israel to Hamas and Islamic Jihad .

פעולת צה"ל על המרמרה (צילום: AP)

IDF boards Marmara – Photo: AP

Mehmet Tunc declared that he would not touch even he would not touch even “one Turkish Lira.”

Tunc told reporters in Istanbul that nine of his friends had been “martyred” by the Israeli forces when IDF soldiers acted “against international law.” Continue Reading »

Terrorist Shot Dead After Throwing Firebomb at IDF Soldiers

1 Palestinian terrorist killed after IDF soldiers open fire at 2 Arab terrorists who threw firebombs at them in northern Samaria.

By Elad Benari

 

IDF soldiers opened fire on Wednesday night at two terrorists who approached an IDF position near the community of Einav in northern Samaria.

As the two terrorists approached the soldiers, they hurled a firebomb at them. The soldiers returned fire, killing one terrorist and wounding the other.

PA officials told AFP that the killed terrorist was a 16-year-old teen, identified as Amer Nassar.

The latest attack comes after two days of unrest in Judea and Samaria, as Palestinian Authority Arabs rioted over the death of an elderly terrorist who was serving time in an Israeli jail. Continue Reading »

Jewish leaders urge Netanyahu to make ‘painful territorial sacrifices’

Applauding Netanyahu’s ‘leadership’ on Turkey, the Israel Policy Forum letter, signed by 100 American Jewish leaders, urge collaboration with Kerry & ‘concrete confidence building measures’ with the Palestinians.

 

In the wake of President Obama’s visit to Israel and on the eve of Secretary of State John Kerry’s return, 100 prominent American Jews have sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to “work closely” with Kerry “to devise pragmatic initiatives, consistent with Israel’s security needs, which would represent Israel’s readiness to make painful territorial sacrifices for the sake of peace.”

Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a meeting of the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors in Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a meeting of the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors in Jerusalem, February 18, 2013.

Continue Reading »

Op-Ed: Why The World Easily Believes Jews Kill Children

French courts to rule on the case of France 2 TV vs. media critic Philippe Karsenty, who exposed the al-Dura anti-Israel “big lie.”

By Giulio Meotti, Italy

 

A landmark ruling on Mohammed al-Dura, the symbol of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, is about to be released this Wednesday, April 3rd, by the French Supreme Court.

The court case is concerned with the state-owned France 2 TV and one of its senior news producers, Charles Enderlin, and was lodged against Philippe Karsenty, a brave media critic, whom they seek to convict of criminal defamation.  (A reminder: The film shown on TV of Mohammed al-Dura cowering behind his father’s back and killed turned out to be doctored; one of the portions cut showed him visibly alive at the end of the event and the place he was in was proven to be out of range of IDF soldiers). Continue Reading »

Palestinian who killed by throwing stones convicted of murder

The conviction of the Palestinian attacker who killed a Jewish father & infant son in 2011 has sparked calls for all who attack by throwing stones to be charged with attempted murder.

By Israel Today Staff

 

An Israeli court has convicted a Palestinian Arab stone-thrower of murder for a 2011 attack on Jewish motorists near Hebron that killed a man and his infant son.

Palestinian convicted of murder for throwing stones

Palestinian convicted of murder for throwing stones – Israel Today

Wa’al al-Araji, 25, was just doing what most other Palestinian Arabs his age have been raised to think is acceptable when he assaulted Jews driving near the biblical town. Continue Reading »