Archive for May 6, 2013

Wherever an Iranian embassy exists, terror plots on Jews & Israelis are born

 

The former head of the Counter Terrorism Bureau, Nitzan Nuriel, says Iran and their proxy Hezbollah could retaliate for Israel’s reported strikes in Syria by targeting Israeli & Jewish institutions abroad. 

Israeli embassies and institutions around the world raise level of alert.

By Ilan Gattegno, Daniel Siryoti, Lilach Shoval & Shlomo Cesana

Israeli embassies and major Jewish institutions around the world raised their levels of alert on Sunday over fears of terror attacks related to recent events in Syria. This step was also taken during prior periods of tension along the country’s northern borders.

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Livni rejects 1967 borders ‘precondition’ as catalyst for negotiations

 

Tzipi Livni stands fast & refused to accept the 1967 border as a ‘precondition’ to discuss borders, saying ‘That’s one of the points that must be resolved through talks.’

By JTA

 

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni reportedly refused to accept the 1967 border as the basis for a final Israeli-Palestinian border prior to negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State John KerryLivni told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday that Israel would not agree to the 1967 borders as a precondition of peace negotiations with the Palestinians, Maariv reported. Rather, she said, the border issue must be resolved through talks.

President Obama has called for the resumption of negotiations “on the basis” of the 1967 borders, a reference widely interpreted as allowing for an agreement in which Jewish settlement blocs become Israeli territory in exchange for other areas. Continue Reading »

Legislation committee approves Yisrael Beytenu’s electoral-reform bill

The Knesset’s legislation committee approved a bill seeking to raise election threshold and limit no-confidence motions against gov’t.

 

 

 

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a controversial Yisrael Beytenu electoral reform bill Monday.

Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman at press conference, March 18, 2013

Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

The legislation proposed by Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee chairman David Rotem (Yisrael Beytenu) would increase the election threshold to four percent, limit the number of ministers including the prime minister to 19 and deputy ministers to four.

In addition, the bill would require no-confidence motions to be submitted by at least 61 MKs and to include an alternative candidate for prime minister.

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IDF proposes same time served for men & women

 

IDF suggests plan that will determine term of service by position, not gender and shortened service by 4 months.

By Yoav Zitun

An IDF plan aims to see male and female soldiers serving for the same amount of time with the length of service determined by their position, and not their gender.

Swearing-In Ceremony of IDF's Nachal Brigade at the  Kotel - IsraelandStuff PP

Swearing-In Ceremony of IDF’s Nachal Brigade at the Kotel – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

 

IDF officers presented a plan to shorten men’s army service by four months to 32 months at the committee for the Promotion of Equal Share of the Burden on Monday. If approved, the change will become effective as of July 2015. Continue Reading »

Syria Reports: Dozens of Elite Troops Killed in IAF Strike

Syria claims Israeli bombs hit a Republican Guard bases killing dozens of soldiers, long-range missile storehouses, & a chemical weapons research installation.

By Gil Ronen

 

The Israel Air Force (IAF) struck several critical military facilities in Syria, killing dozens of elite troops stationed near the presidential palace, a high-ranking Syrian military official said in an interview with the New York Times.

File photo of IAF planes - Photo EPA

File photo of IAF planes – Photo EPA

Israel refused to confirm the attack, which was the second in three days. The strikes are widely seen as attempts to prevent the Syrian government from transferring weapons to Hizbullah in neighboring Lebanon. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu goes to China as Israel goes on high alert

Iron Dome deployed in the north as airspace closed to all civilian traffic.

Security cabinet sends reassuring messages to Damascus: Israel’s sole interest is to prevent weapons from reaching Hezbollah

 

 

Though Jerusalem was careful not to claim responsibility for yesterday’s strike or for a similar one on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces deployed Iron Dome batteries near Haifa and Safed, authorities closed the northern skies to civilian air traffic, and pressure on gas mask distribution stations quadrupled compared to normal days.

Iron Dome

Iron Dome intercepting rocket launches.

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Netanyahu off to China, 2 hours late due to Syrian unrest

Despite tensions on northern border, visit to China continues as planned. On agenda: Trade relations & far more serious sanctions on Iran.

By Atilla Somfalvi

Even as things heat up in the north, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took off for China, with a slight two hour delay, due to the situation on the Syrian front. The main issues scheduled for discussion during the prime minister’s China meetings include economics and Iran.

עסקים כרגיל. נתניהו בישיבת הממשלה המיוחדת היום בהר הרצל (צילום: נועם מושקוביץ)

Special cabinet meeting convened Sunday – Photo: Noam Moskovich

Sunday morning Netanyahu made no mention of the attacks on Syria, for which Israeli officials had told news agencies that Israel was responsible. Continue Reading »

Analysis: Israel and a Sunni Alliance

An alliance will see Israel teaming up with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey & the United Arab Emirates to forge a Middle East “moderate crescent” to “contain” Iran, rather than confront it.

By Gil Ronen

 

The report of a new alliance between Israel and several Sunni Muslim Arab states for “containment” of a nuclear Iran has people more worried than they should be, according to Arutz Sheva strategic affairs contributor, Mark Langfan.

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (left) has coffee with Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Fahd bin Abdullah upon his arrival April 23 at King Khaled Int'l Airport in Riyadh. - Photo Jim Watson AFP

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (left) has coffee with Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Fahd bin Abdullah upon his arrival April 23 at King Khaled Int’l Airport in Riyadh.

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Settlers & Palestinians band together against problematic waste dump

Regional Arabs & Settlers all agree with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel saying their dump is environmentally unfriendly.

 

 

 
Trash issues have trumped the conflict, as settlers and Palestinians band together to protest a new German funded landfill near a nature reserve in Area C of the West Bank.
THE NAHAL MAKOCH Nature Reserve

THE NAHAL MAKOCH Nature Reserve – Photo: Roee Simon/SPNI

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) is leading the battle against the dump, because along with the settlers and Palestinians, it believes that the landfill is environmentally problematic.

The Binyamin Regional Council is also upset that its settlements can not use the landfill, located in their region, precisely at a time when the state has mandated the closure of the dump where they now deposit their trash.

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Kiwi peace activist caught lying to Israeli Security, then exiled!

Thomson, “I felt humiliated & ashamed. Eventually it seemed to me that he had found something out & knew that I had lied about something.”

By Bevan Hurley @BevanHurleyHoS

 

A peace activist was detained for 48 hours before being sent back to New Zealand for trying to enter Israel on a tourist visa.

Amy Thomson - Photo  Graeme Brown

Amy Thomson – Photo: Graeme Brown

Amy Thomson, 26, was held at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on February 26. She tried to enter the country for a three-month voluntary internship at a non-government organisation promoting peace.

Thomson said the Israel Palestinian Centre for Research and Information told her she should claim to be a tourist. Continue Reading »

Israel + Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates & Jordan share intel

UK newspaper reports Israel agrees ‘4+1’, a joint effort with ‘regional powers’ to counter Iran’s “fundamentalist crescent” of Iran, Iraq, Syria & Hezbollah.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Israel has been working toward a cooperative agreement in compliance with Turkey and three Arab states to implement an allied system of detection technologies to defend against Iranian ballistic projectiles, British newspaper The Sunday Times reported.

Iranian ballisitic missile launched at war game.

Iranian Fateh-110 ballistic missile launched at war game. – Photo: Ho New / Reuters

The initiative, termed “4+1”, reportedly proposes joint efforts to be taken by Israel along with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan to share access to radar and anti-missile technologies, according to the Times.

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West Bank: Palestinians & Settlers clash = 10 injured

Security forces called in to disperse some 30 settlers & 100 Palestinians who clashed near Binyamin settlement

Itamar Fleishman

Violent riots broke out Saturday as dozens of settlers and Palestinians clashed in the West Bank settlement of Binyamin. Ten people sustained injuries as a result of stone hurling.

Settlers clash with Palestinians in Urif last week – Photo Reuters

The clashes started when settlers arrived at a central junction in the settlement in order to protest the recent incidents stone throwing at Israeli cars in the region. According to settlers, Palestinians from neighboring villages arrived at the scene and began hurling stones and attacking them with sticks. Continue Reading »

Israel’s overnight air-strike hit Iranian missile shipment to Hezbollah

Just a few days after an alleged Israeli air-strike on Damascus, Syrian media reports Israeli jets fired on a military research center.

Western intel sources confirm Syrian reports, emphasizing targets were Iranian Fateh-110 advanced surface-to-surface missiles.

By Gili Cohen , and Reuters

 

 

Western intelligence sources confirmed on Sunday morning that both the overnight strike and Friday’s alleged attack on Syria targeted an Iranian missile shipment intended for Hezbollah.

Iranian Fateh-110 Missile - Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Iranian Fateh-110 Missiles – Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

 

The sources said the target was a shipment of Fateh-110 missiles. The Fateh-110 is a medium-range advanced guided missile capable of hitting targets at a range of up to 300 kilometers. Continue Reading »

Explosions Shock Damascus, Israel Accused of 2nd Airstrike

A series of ground-shaking explosions rock Damascus, as local media claims that Israel responsible for rocket attack on research center in capital.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

 

A series of explosions were heard in Damascus overnight Saturday, as the official Syrian news agency SANA claimed that Israel carried out a rocket attack on the Jamraya scientific research center in Damascus.

Blast in central Damascus - AFP photo

Blast in central Damascus – AFP photo

The agency did not say whether there were any wounded or dead.

Syrian television said “the Israeli attack aims at loosening the noose around the terrorists in the eastern Ghouta” region, near Damascus. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem residents protest for right to have movie theater opened on Saturdays

Jerusalem residents & activists rally against a municipality agreement which dictates that currently under construction Cinema City, will be closed on Shabbat.


‘Logic says that we should win,’ one protester says. Jerusalem Deputy mayor says that’s highly unlikely.

By Noam (Dabul) Dvir

Dozens of Jerusalem residents joined a protest at Safra Square on Saturday, calling on the municipality to open a new compound containing restaurants and a movie theater on Saturdays and holidays.

According to the agreement between the Finance Ministry, the property developer and the municipality, the Cinema City compound which is located at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center parking lot and is scheduled to open in the coming months – will work only on weekdays. Continue Reading »