Archive for December 4, 2013

Norwegian delegation to appear at Knesset & apologize for Oslo Accords

 

Delegation of Christian leaders from Oslo wish to ask for forgiveness for the disaster of the Oslo agreements.

 

They are coming from Oslo – to apologize for “Oslo.” A group of more than 20 Christian leaders from Norway will be coming to the Knesset on Wednesday to ask for forgiveness for the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians that began in their capital.

 Yitzhak Rabin ז"ל, Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat at the White House during the Oslo Acords, Sept. 1993. - Photo: Reuters

Yitzhak Rabin ז”ל, Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat at the White House during the Oslo Acords, Sept. 1993. – Photo: Reuters

The group will be delivering an apology for the Oslo Accords, which passed in 1993 and 1995, to Deputy Knesset Speaker Gila Gamliel (Likud), the co-chair of the Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus and a vigorous opponent of the accords from the start. Continue Reading »

EU Source: 14 EU countries prepared to ban settlements products if talks fail

 

European Union source says 14 countries interested in implementing boycott on products manufactured in settlements and no financial aid to PA if talks fail.

By Elior Levy

A source with the European Union said on Tuesday that if negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians do not yield an agreement, the EU’s ties with both the Palestinian Authority and Israel may suffer.

EU Headquarters -  Photo: Yves Herman/Reuters

EU Headquarters – Photo: Yves Herman/Reuters

According to the source, if the peace talks fail, the EU might discontinue its annual donations to the Palestinian Authority and expan its ban of Israeli products manufactured in the West Bank.

The issue of marking products manufactured in Israeli settlements has spread across Europe, as 14 EU states, including Britain and France, have noted they would be willing to mark products of Israeli settlements. Continue Reading »

French experts: Arafat did NOT die of poisoning

Swiss forensic experts said last month that Arafat body samples consistent with polonium poisoning.

Russians forensic experts last month said no polonium residue could be found. Israel nuclear expert concurred.

By Reuters

 

 

French forensic tests have concluded that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat did not die of poisoning, as had been suggested by an earlier report, a source who saw the conclusions of the report said on Tuesday.

Yasser Arafat Gaza mural

Palestinian boy touching a mural of Yasser Arafat in Gaza City, November 2009.- Photo: AP

“The results of the analyses allow us to conclude that the death was not the result of poisoning,” the source told Reuters, quoting from conclusions of a report by French forensic experts handed over to Arafat’s widow Suha. Continue Reading »

EXPOSED: Israel providing humanitarian assistance to Syrian civilians

Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon says the IDF has sent food & water across the border, and has been helping the Syrian refugees prepare for winter rains.

 

The Israel Defense Forces has been providing humanitarian aid to Syrians living near the border, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon revealed on Tuesday during a tour of the frontier.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on a tour of the Syrian-Israeli border on Tuesday, December 3, 2013.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on a tour of the Syrian-Israeli border on Tuesday, December 3, 2013.- Photo: Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry

According to Ya’alon, Israel has sent water and food, including baby foods, across the border, and has been helping the Syrians prepare for winter. Continue Reading »

U.S. Ambassador Power Welcomes Israel to UN Human Rights Council’s WEOG

The United States’ Ambassador at the UN tells the UNHRC. “For far too long Israel has been unfairly excluded.”

By Elad Benari

 

Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has welcomed Israel’s admittance into the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Western European and Others Group (WEOG).

 

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC – UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

In a statement she issued on Monday, Power said, “For far too long Israel has been unfairly excluded from regional bodies at the United Nations. I applaud the decision to admit Israel into the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) at the UN in Geneva beginning January 1, 2014, providing Israel membership into one of the regional bodies that shape policy and determine leadership posts in UN fora.” Continue Reading »

Palestinian Investigators to name people responsible for Arafat’s death

 

A decade after he started searching for suspects, a Palestinian investigator said he would name Arafat’s murderer.

Abbas’ PA Accuses Jews of Poisoning Arafat.

Suha Arafat said that a member of Arafat’s own inner circle was responsible.

By REUTERS
 

 

RAMALLAH – A Palestinian investigator said on Tuesday he would soon name the people he believed were responsible for the death of former leader Yasser Arafat, almost a decade after he started searching for suspects.

Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat, not yet dead

Arafat, a guerrilla leader who became the first Palestinian Authority president, died in 2004 from a sudden illness contracted while under an Israeli siege at his Ramallah headquarters in the occupied West Bank. Continue Reading »

Israel holds 36th place in Gov’t Corruption Index

 

Israel climbs 3 spots from 39th to 36th place of 177 countries in level of transparency.

By Avital Lahav, Reuters

Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Israel 36th out of 177 countries, giving it a score of 61 out of 100 for its level of transparency. This suggests a minor improvement from last year when Israel was ranked 39th with a score of 60. However, 64% of OECD members were rated above Israel.

graft Illustration - Photo: Shutterstock

Graft Illustration – Photo: Shutterstock

Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index ranks more than four-fifths of countries in the Middle East below 50 on a scale where zero is a country perceived to be highly corrupt and 100 perceived to be very clean. Continue Reading »

Lady Gaga is coming to perform in Israel

 

Two strikes for the BDS movement: Justin Bieber’s Israeli concert set for May 14th,  then Lady Gaga will be here for her show in summer of 2014.

 

 

Lady Gaga will arrive in Israel in the summer of 2014 for her second performance in the country, Channel 2 reported.

Lady Gaga

Pop music superstar Lady Gaga poses next to her look-alike doll called “Gagadoll” during a press conference in Tokyo on December 1, 2013.- Photo: AFP

Israel will be one stop on a tour promoting the release of her new album ARTPOP. She launched off in London and is expected to hit New York City in March and April. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Housing Minister: Jerusalem will Keep Negotiating – and Building

Uri Ariel calls PA Abbas’ threats to leave negotiations if Jerusalem continues more building in Judea and Samaria, “nonsense.”

By Tova Dvorin

 

Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) revealed Tuesday in an interview with Arutz Sheva Radio that he will keep plans to build over 20,000 housing units in Judea and Samaria on the agenda, calling the Palestinian Authority’s threats to quit negotiations “nonsense.”

“Whoever thinks we should engage in negotiations with them, can engage in negotiations with them,” Ariel stated, “but we will continue to build in Jerusalem – and that’s the way it has to be.”

MK Ariel participated Monday in a joint tour of the Neot Kedumim Nature Reserve with economics and real estate moguls, which included a night tour and lighting a hanukkiah. Continue Reading »

IDF’s Gaza Division Commander: Hamas Cooperates with the IDF

The head of the army’s Gaza Division, Gen. Mickey Edelstein, reveled in a Channel 10 interview that Hamas is ‘Gaza’s cop’ – for now.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Brigadier General Mickey Edelstein, head of the IDF’s Gaza Division, admitted to Channel 10 to a certain degree of cooperation between the IDF and Hamas.

“Hamas is in trouble and now it finds itself isolated,” said Edelstein, in conversation with the Gaza residents released Monday on the television network.

He stressed that “Leaders of Hamas, both the political and military branches, do everything to maintain restraint.” He also claimed that “Hamas soldiers have been prevented from shooting at or mounting charges at the IDF.” Continue Reading »

Australian FM to United Nations: Stop the Constant Israel Bashing


Australia’s recent abstentions “reflected the  gov’t’s concern that Middle East resolutions should be balanced.”

By Israel Today Staff

 

 

Australia recently surprised everyone by abstaining on two UN General Assembly resolutions targeting Israel, signaling that the folks “down under” are growing fed up with the world body’s biased approach to the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop - Photo: SBS/AAP

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop – Photo: SBS/AAP

Like most other nations, Australia typically votes in favor of the dozens of UN resolutions targeting Israel every year. By the end of the General Assembly’s current session, it will have passed 22 resolutions against Israel, and only four against the rest of the world combined. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem asks Berlin to return stolen Nazi loot to Jewish hands

 

Deputy FM Zeev Elkin urges Germany to donate all Jewish-owned art from a trove discovered in Munich in 2012 to Jewish or Israeli museums if owners or heirs can’t be found.

Jerusalem asks to join German investigation into the discovery of 1,400 works of art seized by the Nazis.

By The Associated Press & Israel Hayom Staff

 

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin has urged Germany to give any Jewish-owned art from a trove discovered in Munich to Jewish or Israeli museums if heirs are not found.

Otto Griebel’s “Kind am Tisch” (“Child at a table”), which was among the more than 1,400 works of art seized by German authorities in a Munich apartment in February 2012 – Photo: AP

He said Israel has requested to join the German investigation into the roughly 1,400 artworks found in the apartment of a reclusive Munich collector last year. Continue Reading »

French envoy has dinner reception to honor Hezbollah lawmakers

 

France’s Ambassador’s dinner may be considered in violation of EU sanctions outlawing contact with Hezbollah’s terrorist designated military wing.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL & JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
 

BERLIN – Patrick Paoli, France’s Ambassador to Lebanon, hosted a dinner reception in early November for Hezbollah MPs and the political militia’s international affairs representative in which he honored the three Hezbollah members.

Hezbollah members rally in Beirut in Nazi salute - Photo: Reuters

Hezbollah members rally in Beirut in Nazi salute – Photo: Reuters

The Lebanese Daily Star reported the dinner gathering on Thursday. Hezbollah MPs Ali Fayyad and Nawwar Saheli along with international affairs member Ammar Moussawi were honored by Paoli.

It is unclear if the ambassador violated EU sanctions outlawing contact with the military wing of Hezbollah.

Continue Reading »

Hundreds launch from Gaza in ‘reverse flotilla’ to confront Israel’s naval blockade

 

 

Hundreds of Gazans launched protest flotilla in protests of joint Israel-Egyptian blockade of Gaza but fail to make it to Israel

By News agencies

Hundreds of Palestinian youth activists sailed from the shores of the Gaza Strip on Monday to protest at Israel’s restrictions on fishing in the seas off the Islamist-ruled enclave.

En route to Israel (Photo: EPA)

En route to Israel – Photo: EPA

Around 20 Gaza fishing boats carrying several dozen activists claimed to have broken the naval blockade on the territory in a move denied by the Israeli military. The “resistance flotilla” was at sea for several hours before returning with the claim it had “broken” the blockade which bars fishing vessels from sailing six nautical miles from the shoreline. Continue Reading »

Chabad’s ‘Mitzvah Tank’ takes Chanukah into Australia’s Outback

Even if there are more deadly crocodiles than Jews in Australia’s Outback,that’s not going to stop Chabad emissaries from bring Chanukah to the few wandering Jews.

 

 

Hanukkah Down Under is arguably the most public of Jewish festivals, an eight-day blitz of festivities across the continent.

Chabad's Mitzvah Tank

The ‘Mitzvah Tank,’ a synagogue on wheels, belonging to Chabad of Rural and Regional Australia.- Photo: George Koulakis

Cherry pickers hoist rabbis high above the crowds to light giant Hanukkah menorahs in public spaces; inside the Westfield chain of shopping malls – founded by Holocaust survivor Frank Lowy – menorahs jostle alongside Christmas decorations; on the beaches and in the bays, in parks and even in parliament, Hanukkah is a hive of activity. Continue Reading »