August 2013 Archives

State: If Peace talks aren’t fruitful, murderers may not be released

PM Netanyahu will demand in the next round of terrorists to be release, that the dangerous prisoners be exiled.

Netanyahu to Kerry: Abbas continues to incite, peace and incitement cannot coexist.

By Mati Tuchfeld, Daniel Siryoti, Efrat Forsher, Eli Leon & News Agencies

The special ministerial team for the release of Palestinian prisoners convened on Sunday to approve the release of 26 terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons since before the Oslo Accords of two decades ago. The move is intended to move the peace process forward. This week will see a second round of peace talks, beginning on Wednesday in Jerusalem.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Palestinian prisoners, Peace Process

Is Hezbollah waging terror campaign against UNIFIL over EU blacklist?

EU’s blacklisting of Hezbollah casts a new light on the friction between the UNIFIL and Nasrallah’s armed Shi’ite movement.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

The European Union’s designation of Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organization has cast a new light on the tussles between the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the armed Shi’ite movement.

Supporters of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah – Photo: Reuters

A Hezbollah official told the Financial Times last week, “People are not going to accept you living among them and calling them terrorists.”

Gerald Steinberg, a professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University and the head of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday, “The reports of increased friction in southern Lebanon are not surprising after the European Union belatedly added Hezbollah to the list of terror organizations.”

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: blacklist, EU, Hezbollah, Lebanon, UNIFIL

PM Netanyahu doing well following surgery

Israel’s Prime Minister’s surgery for umbilical hernia declared a success, doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital report.

PM Netanyahu set to be discharged Sunday afternoon and allowed to return to work later in the week. Sunday’s cabinet meeting postponed and Defense Minister Ya’alon to chair ministerial meeting on prisoners.

By Attila Somfalvi

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent surgery for an umbilical hernia at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem overnight Sunday. The hour-long surgery, which was conducted under general anesthesia, was declared a success.

The prime minister is currently resting and is set to be discharged later on Sunday. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Hadassah Medical Center

After drivers’ strike, trains expected to operate on schedule

Disruptions started last Wednesday as 42 engine drivers, about 20% of the country’s drivers, announced their sudden ‘illness’ just as a new schedule went into effect with more trains to make traveling more accommodating for the passengers.

By Daniel Schmil

The trains are expected to run on schedule Sunday, despite the ongoing tension between Israel Railways management and the train drivers, which led to the cancellation of 40 trains last Thursday.

Passengers boarding an Israel Railways train in Tel Aviv, Sept. 21, 2012.

Passengers boarding an Israel Railways train in Tel Aviv, (illustrative) – Photo: Daniel Bar-On

Sanctions started last Wednesday when 42 engine drivers, about 20 percent of all the drivers, announced their sudden illness just as a new schedule went into effect with more trains, including direct lines from Ashdod and Ashkelon to Tel Aviv. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: trains, transportation

While Knesset Debates Drownings, 2 More Drown

After 5 people drowned off Israel’s shores this past weekend, the Knesset convened to discussed shore safety – and ironically 2 more people drowned this morning as the issue was being examined.

By David Lev

After five people drowned off Israel’s shores last weekend, the Knesset called for a special discussion on how to increase safety at the shore – and ironically, two more people drowned Sunday as the discussion was taking place.

A 49 year old Shfaram resident drowned at a beach in Nahariya, and was declared dead on the spot, while a fifteen year old Tel Aviv resident, who was pulled from the water at the Bograshov beach in the city, was eventually resuscitated. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: beaches, Knesset

Car bomb detonated near Iran, Hezbollah compound in Damascus

Israel Radio reports that Syrian rebels claim responsibility for an attack at a compound in Damascus, which killed 40 Hezbollah & Iranian fighters.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS

Syrian rebel forces claim they killed at least 40 Hezbollah and Iranian fighters in Damascus, according to Israel Radio.

Flags of Hezbollah, Assad’s Syria – Photo: REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

The rebels say they detonated a car bomb near a compound where the operatives from Iran and Hezbollah gathered for a meeting, Israel Radio reported. These claims could not be independently corroborated.

Last month, the UN Security Council called on Lebanese Hezbollah militants to end any involvement in the conflict in neighboring Syria, while Lebanon’s UN envoy pledged that his country would keep its borders open to Syrians fleeing the violence.

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Hezbollah, Syrian rebels, Syrian unrest, UNSC

IDF kill Palestinian on Gaza border after crossing into Israel

Gazan allegedly carrying an item that troops could not see clearly and ignored warnings, was shot dead.

By REUTERS

Israeli troops killed a Palestinian who crossed in from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, fearing he was a security threat though he proved to be unarmed, military sources said.

IDF soldiers patrol near Gaza – Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen

The man, who was not immediately identified, had first drawn soldiers’ suspicions by digging into the ground on the Gazan side of the fortified border fence, where Palestinian gunmen have in the past mounted ambushes, an army spokeswoman said.

He then clambered over the fence, carrying an item that the troops could not see clearly, she said.

Category: Jewish News | Tags: Gaza border, IDF

PM Netanyahu taken to surgery due to hernia

PM Netanyahu was taken to a Jerusalem hospital following pains & will go through operation due to umbilical hernia.

PM’s Office: If general anesthesia is required, then Defense Minister Ya’alon will be appointed acting Prime Minister

By Attila Somfalvi

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to undergo surgery Saturday night in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem due to an umbilical hernia.

Netanyahu was hospitalized after feeling pains, and was examined by his personal doctor, Dr. Tzvika Berkovitch, and by an expert surgeon.

The Prime Minister Office stated that the surgery is to begin with regional anesthesia and that if general anesthesia is required, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon will be appointed acting prime minister. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Health News

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Muslims behind acid attack of two Jewish British teens

Zanzibar police have issued arrest warrant for Muslim Cleric after 2 young volunteers burned with acid in street. Religious figures point finger at fanatic Muslim sect.

Girls were dressed modestly & hid their Jewish background, say relatives.

By Ynet

“Of course this attack on the tourists was Uamsho,” said Sheikh Fadhil Soraga, a moderate Muslim cleric who suffered extensive burns to his face and hands in an acid attack in November that he blames on the radical group.

British media revealed new details of the incident in which two 18-year-old British women were attacked with acid in the island of Zanzibar, off the African coast, some of which pointing at followers of a fanatic Muslim sect as the perpetrators of the attack. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: terror attack

Obama to award Israeli Nobel Prize laureate the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom

Israel’s 2002 Nobel Prize laureate, Daniel Kahneman, is considered one of the world’s foremost researchers in the fields of behavioral economics & hedonic psychology, will be one of 16 recipients of the U.S.’s highest civilian honor.

By Sarah Fried and Israel Hayom Staff

Israel’s Professor Daniel Kahneman, 79, who received the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics, has been named one of the 16 recipients of the 2013 United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House announced Thursday.

Daniel Kahneman – Photo: USgov-public domain/Wikimedia Commons

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the U.S.’s highest civilian honor, recognizing individuals who have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the U.S.,

Category: Israel News | Tags: Barack Obama, economy, Israel US, Nobel Prize

Israel’s Def. Minister does not confirm nor deny IDF involvement in Sinai Incident

Israel’s Defense Minister Ya’alon, in addressing the attack in Rafah in which 4 terrorists were killed, says rumors regarding Israeli responsibility will not affect ties with Egypt.

Ya’alon still refuses to confirm or deny Israeli involvement in the Sinai attack.

Yoav Zitun

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Saturday addressed Friday’s attack in Sinai, but avoided any confirmation or denial of Israel’s involvement in the attack.

Referring to the strike in Egypt’s Rafah in which at least four jihadists were killed, Ya’alon said: “The State of Israel respects the sovereignty of Egypt and is aware of the Egyptian military’s bolstered activity against terror in the Sinai Peninsula. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Egypt, Moshe Ya'alon, Sinai Terrorism

Netanyahu to Kerry: Continual Palestinian Incitement isn’t Conducive to Peace

PM Netanyahu wrote to Kerry saying “Incitement and peace do not go together,” after continual incendiary statements being broadcast on PA TV.

By Gil Ronen

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent a letter Saturday evening to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in which he complained that Palestinian Authority (PA) incitement against Israel is continuing even after a return to U.S.-brokered “peace negotiations” between Israel and the PA was announced.

“Incitement and peace do not go together,” wrote Netanyahu. “Instead of educating the next generation of Palestinians to live in peace with Israel, the education to terror poisons them against Israel and lays the groundwork for continued violence and terror.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: John Kerry, peace talks, ‘Palestinian’ incitement

Donald Duck in Egypt calls for Israel’s destruction

The Egyptian personality who does Donald Duck’s voice for Disney Middle East, says he wishes Israel would be ‘demolished’.

By Israel Today Staff

The Egyptian man whose claim to fame is voicing Donald Duck for Disney Middle East has openly called for the destruction of Jewish state, while vehemently denying that he hates the Jews.

Donald Duck – Photo courtesy: Disney

On Sunday, Wael Mansour, who identifies himself as the “official voice of Donald Duck” in the region, posted the following on his Twitter account:

“I truly wish #Israel is demolished, I hate Zionism, I have so much hate inside me with every single child they murder or land they seize!” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: anti-Israel, Egypt

J’lem Mayor: If peace fails to materialize because of Jerusalem, so be it

Nir Barkat, running for re-election as Jerusalem’s Mayor has big plans for Jerusalem, & none of them has anything to do with dividing it.

Barket says mayoral challenger, Moshe Lion, is supported by backroom wheeler-dealers & doesn’t even reside in the capital.

By Shlomo Cesana

When Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was asked in private conversations why he believed that after five successful years on the job, two wily, veteran politicians — Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman and Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri — had decided to challenge his position as mayor with their candidate, Moshe Lion, he replied: “There were political wheeler-dealers who tried to find out from me whether they could get what they wanted in exchange for their support for me.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Jerusalem, Nir Barkat