Archive for March 31, 2017

UK Muslim Minister calls on gov’t to prosecute Brits who served in the IDF

 

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Britain’s first Muslim cabinet minister likens IDF veteran citizens to ISIS fighters, saying they should be arrested & prosecuted upon their return to the UK.

By 

 

Britain’s first Muslim cabinet minister has called for Brits who fight with the IDF to be prosecuted upon their return.

Sayeeda Warsi, a one-time Conservative Party chairwoman who resigned her cabinet post over the government policy on the 2014 Gaza war being “morally indefensible,” made the comments in an interview with Middle East Eye promoting the launch of her book The Enemy Within.

Continue Reading »

Trump to renew Military Aid to Egypt after Obama halted it with fall of Islamic Brotherhood

 

Although Egypt has long been one of Washington’s closest allies in the Middle East, Obama halted US military aid with Egypt after the coup d’état that unseated Muslim Brotherhood strongman Mohamed Morsi.

By Reuters

 

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will seek to rebuild the US relationship with Egypt at a Monday meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi focused on security issues and military aid, a senior White House official said on Friday.

“He wants to use President Sisi’s visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September,” the official told reporters. Continue Reading »

Palestinian autocrat Abbas: Trump “serious” about solving Israel-Palestinian conflict

 

Mahmoud Abbas said the Arab League summit on Wednesday confirmed that the Arab world had a “clear” vision for peace on the basis of two-states.

By i24NEWS

 

President Donald Trump is “serious” about solving the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said ahead of a meeting with the US leader.

Netanyahu at White House with Trump – White House/YouTube

“The US administration of President Donald Trump is seriously considering a solution to the Palestinian issue,” Abbas told AFP late Wednesday after a meeting of the Arab League in Jordan.

Abbas met with Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt before leaving for the summit and said contacts with the administration were ongoing. Continue Reading »

REPORT: First Pakistani citizen allowed to register as Jewish since 1980’s

 

Fox News reported Wednesday on how Wilson Chowdry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, spoke for Fischel Benkald, 29, with the Pakistani High Commission in London to facilitate the first Jewish registration in decades.

By JTA

 

Pakistan has allowed one of its 180 million citizens to publicly register as a Jew for the first time since the 1980s.

Fischel Benkald, 29, was notified on Tuesday that the religious status in his National Database and Registration Authority profile can be changed from Muslim to Jew, Fox News reported Wednesday.

Benkald, who was born Faisal Benkald, was brought up by a Jewish mother and Muslim father in Karachi. Continue Reading »

Arabs continue to go after Jewish sites in upcoming UNESCO resolution

 

Despite succsessfully removing sensitive Jewish-related holy sites in Jerusalem from an upcoming UNESCO meeting, Arab states are claiming other historicly Jewish sites, including the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Tomb of Rachel, as Palestinian sites.

By Itamar Eichner

 

In a diplomatic win for Israel, the Temple Mount and Western Wall will not be mentioned nor included in any vote or measure during a meeting of the UNESCO Executive Board on Jerusalem and the territories May 1st.

Jewish Worshiper at the Kotel (Western Wall) – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

A draft of the decision, which Ynet obtained, represents a significant achievement for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israeli diplomacy at UNESCO, which is considered one of the most hostile arenas for Israel at the UN.

Continue Reading »

Pro-Palestinian NGO press Hamas to open Gaza’s only foot crossing into Israel

Arab rights groups remind Hamas that its “Security goals should not come at the expense of human rights.”

By AFP

 

Arab NGOs and rights groups on Thursday called on the Hamas regime in Gaza to reopen the only foot crossing into Israel, after the Islamist movement closed it following an assassination.

Before Hamas took control of Gaza, Palestinian workers in Israel wait at the Erez Crossing to return to the Gaza Strip, July 2005. – Wikimedia Commons

The ‘Palestinian NGOs Network,’ a coalition of more than 100 charities and rights groups, demanded the “lifting of restrictions and restrictive measures which violate human rights”, a statement said. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Prime Minister slashes funds to obsessive UN

 

PM Netanyahu directs the Foreign Ministry to cut $2 million from Israel’s annual UN funding after Human Rights Council passes latest anti-Israel motion.

By Uzi Baruch

 

Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Foreign Ministry to cut $ 2 million from Israel’s payments to the UN, in light of the hostile proposals adopted by the UN Human Rights Council last week.

UN Human Rights Council – Photo courtesy: Wikipedia Commons

 

This amount will be used to deepen and expand Israeli projects in the field of international assistance, and will be invested in developing countries that support Israel in international institutions. Continue Reading »

Hamas developed high-yield explosive rockets intended for Israeli civilian towns

 

Hamas’ new short range, heavy explosive payload suggests these new rockets are specifically intended to bring maximum carnage & devastation to Israel’s Jewish border communities.

By i24NEWS

 

Hamas has recently developed dozens of high-powered short-range rockets capable of carrying heavy explosive loads, intended to be used against Israeli communities in the vicinity of the Gaza border in a future conflict with Israel.

Hamas photo of rocket fired from family home makes it a target for the IAF – IDF Facebook page

The rockets, first reported by Israel’s Army Radio on Tuesday, weigh up to hundreds of kilograms each and have a relatively short range of up to ten kilometers, pointing to Hamas’ intention to inflict maximum damage on Israeli communities situated close to the border with the Gaza Strip. Continue Reading »

Israel’s PM Netanyahu thanks US for support , vows to work toward peace

 

WATCH as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the annual AIPAC convention via satellite, saying, “I’m confident our alliance with the U.S. will grow even stronger in the years ahead,” and that he was committed to working with U.S. President Trump to advance peace with the Palestinian.

By Yoni Hersch, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that “Israel has no greater friend than America” and that he was committed to working with U.S. President Donald Trump to advance peace efforts with the Palestinians and with the broader Arab world.

Netanyahu made the pledge in a speech via satellite link from Jerusalem to the largest U.S. Continue Reading »

WATCH: U.S. Ambassador to UN, Nikki Haley says ‘Days of Israel-bashing are over’

 

Full interview: Addressing the 2017 AIPAC conference, Amb. Nikki Haley said the December anti-Israel resolution passed at the UN Security Council was ‘not only embarrassing it was hurtful,’ vowing ‘it will never happen again.’

By AFP, Ynetnews

 

The US ambassador to the United Nations received a rapturous welcome Monday at Washington’s biggest pro-Israel forum, where she vowed never to allow “Israel-bashing” at the world body.

Nikki Haley was addressing the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference for the first time since President Donald Trump named her Washington’s UN envoy.

And she drew a clear line under the record of her predecessor, who in December abstained from a UN Security Council vote, thus allowing a resolution criticizing Israeli settlements to pass. Continue Reading »

Israeli firm first to be granted license to fly a fully automated drone

Manufactored by an Israeli drone maker, the 7.5 kg quadcopter, called Optimus, is capable of carrying a one kilogram payload at a speed of 36 kilometres per hour for 30 minutes with no human operator.

BY REUTERS

 

The sky’s the limit for an Israeli drone maker that says it has recently been granted the first certificate in the world to fly a fully automated drone, with no human operator.

“We just made history…It flies itself, it’s completely automatic and the best metaphor I can give is if tomorrow somebody gets that same certification to operate an autonomous car with no driver…it’s huge,” Airobotics co-founder and CEO Ran Krauss, told Reuters. Continue Reading »

Pro-Israel Palestinian Arab calls out anti-Israel Jews at AIPAC

 

Solomon, a Palestinian Arab born into a religious Muslim family, also spoke out during the IfNotNow demonstration outside the AIPAC conference Sunday, calling the claim that Israel occupies Arab land, “a lie.”

By David Rosenberg

 

Anti-Israel demonstrators associated with the IfNotNow organization protested outside of the AIPAC conference in Washington DC on Sunday, blasting the Netanyahu government, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and AIPAC’s support for Israel.

The protesters included a large contingent of far-left Jewish radicals, including IfNotNow founder Simone Zimmerman, who served as Jewish outreach coordinator for Bernie Sanders’ Democratic primary bid in 2016.

Sandra Solomon – Photo Courtesy of CIJNEWS.COM

Continue Reading »

REPORT: Hamas seals Erez Crossing into Israel to catch assassin

 

Wafa, the official PA news site reports Gaza’s Hamas-controlled security forces closed all exits from Gaza and are also preventing the enclaves 4000 fishermen from going out to sea, in hopes of apprehending the assassin of a senior military commander.

By 

 

The Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry closed the Erez crossing until further notice on Sunday, a ministry spokesman said, a day after Hamas accused Israel of assassinating a senior member of its military wing, the Izzadin Kassam Brigades.

“The closure of the Beit Hanoun crossing [Erez] comes as a part of the steps being taken by the security apparatus following the crime of assassinating Mazen Fuqaha,” Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry Spokesman Iyad Bazm said in a statement published on the ministry’s website. Continue Reading »

欢迎! Israel Welcomes Chinese Tourism Boom, With Enthusiasm!

 

The welcomed boom in tourism from China, with their increased spending over European tourists, have seen Israel’s hoteliers adapting, with changes in meals, accommodations, the color of flowers, and translated literature in the rooms to name a few.

By Amit Cotler

 

The Ministry of Tourism’s investment in promoting Israel in China has paid dividends, with a 68.6% increase from 2015 to 2016.

The ministry has invested nearly ten million shekels a year, and China’s largest private airline, Hainan, started offering flights to Israel.

A Hainan Airlines Airbus 330 – Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons/Paul Spijkers

The Ministry of Tourism’s data show that 79,268 tourists from China visited the Jewish state in 2016, but the ministry’s goal is to cross the 100,000 barrier in number of Chinese tourists per year. Continue Reading »

Palestinians surpass Israel with foreign diplomatic missions

 

With the Jewish State closing representative offices last year, it’s now lagging behind the Palestinian Authority as they have more diplomatic missions than Israel around the world.

By Yossi Aloni

 

In light of the damage to the Israeli Foreign Service and the closing of embassies – for the first time since the establishment of the State, the Palestinian Authority has more diplomatic missions from Israel around the world.

This symbol adorns all the Palestinian embassies. Pay attention to the map. Does it show only Judea, Samaria and Gaza as the claimed Palestinian state?

The Palestinian Authority has 98 embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions in 95 countries. Continue Reading »