Archive for June 23, 2017

Abbas admits ‘Pay for Slay’ monthly stipends to assassins and their families will continue

 

Abbas acknowledged in his speech that it’s a ‘social responsibility’ for the PA to maintain payments to Palestinian prisoners & their families, and went on to say that referring to the jailed attackers/assassins as ‘Palestinian terrorists’ is “racist.”

By i24NEWS

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has defended payments made to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails as an important function of his government.

“The political prisoners are in effect the victims of the occupation, not the creators of the occupation,” Abbas wrote in a speech that was delivered on his behalf by an adviser at the Herzilya conference on Thursday.

“Payments to support families are a social responsibility to look after innocent people effected by the incarceration or killing of their love ones,” he said. Continue Reading »

7 years running: Israel leads North Africa & Western Asia category in global innovation

 

Israel continues to lead the UN’s Global Innovation Index in North Africa and Western Asia category for 7th consecutive yea, ranking 17th overall in the high-income countries group.
• Ranking reflects results in human capital & research, market & business sophistication, and of course, technology production.

By Yair Altman and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Israel continues to cement its status as a leader of global innovation, the U.N.’s Global Innovation Index for 2017 has found.

The Global Innovation Index surveys 130 economies, gauging standards from patent filings to education spending, with aim of providing policy makers with a comprehensive view of innovative activity that increasingly drives economic and social growth. Continue Reading »

Russian officials in Jerusalem seeking closer ties with Israel on Syrian unrest

 

In a new strategy that may end Syrian unrest, senior Russian parliamentarians meet with the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee members in Jerusalem, seeking closer cooperation based on Israeli influence inside Syria.

By HERB KEINON

 

Russia wants to increase cooperation with Israel regarding Syria, and would like Jerusalem to use any influence it has to get opposition groups there to lay down arms and enter negotiations, Konstantin Kosachev, a senior Russian parliamentarian, told The Jerusalem Post.

Viktor Ozerov – Photo (L): Profimedia and Konstantin Kosachev – Photo (R): Medija centar Beograd

Kosachev, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, was in the country on Tuesday and Wednesday with Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the Federation Council’s Defense and Security Committee, for meetings with the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Continue Reading »

WATCH: Jared Kushner starts Trump’s Peace Initiative with Mahmoud Abbas

 

U.S. President Trump’s special advisor Jared Kushner headed over to Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah to discuss his “bullet points” after having met earlier with Israel’s PM Netanyahu, in a bid to start Trump’s peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians.

By Reuters

 

US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday to try to revive long-fractured Middle East peacemaking that Washington acknowledged will take some time.

Kushner, a 36-year-old real estate developer with little experience of international diplomacy or political negotiation, arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning and was due to spend barely 20 hours on the ground. Continue Reading »

Report: Turkey invests million$ to control Temple Mount

 

Investigative report lays out how Turkey is spending tens of millions in Jerusalem, forging ties with radical Islamist elements inside Israel who have harassed & physically assaulted Jews visiting the Temple Mount, just to stir up tension and undermine all attempts at coexistence.

By Uzi Baruch

 

Turkey is spending tens of millions of dollars to gain a foothold inside Israel’s capital city and to stir up tensions between Arab residents and Israelis, a new investigative report claims.

According to the report, set to be published in full by journalist Nadav Shragi this coming Friday in Yisrael Hashavua, since 2004 some $63 million from Turkish NGOs and the Turkish government have gone to organizations in eastern Jerusalem dedicated to “defending and strengthening the Muslim heritage and character of Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Prime Minister’s Office allows 7,000 housing units in Jerusalem once Kushner arrived

 

PM Netanyahu gave a thumb’s-up to the Jerusalem planning and construction committee for processing the approval of 7,000 homes in Jewish neighborhoods in and around Jerusalem.

Arutz Sheva Staff

 

The Prime Minister’s Office gave a green light to the planning and building committee in Jerusalem to discuss the approval of some 7,000 housing units in neighborhoods beyond the so-called ‘Green Line.’

According to the publication in Yisrael Hayom,there are about 3,500 housing units in Gilo, another about 2,200 in Har Homa, 900 in Pisgat Zeev, 500 in Ramat Shlomo and another 100 in Ramot.

Building Jewish homes in Jerusalem – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Following the decision of the Prime Minister’s Office, the approval of more than 7,000 of these housing units, which were not recently promoted, will be accelerated so that they may begin construction on them. Continue Reading »

UPDATED: Jared Kushner arrives in Israel – First stop, condolence call at Malka family home

 

Accompanied by US Israel Envoy David Friedman, Trump’s special advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner arrives in Israel to restart fresh peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians, but first goes to family of Hadas Malka who was murdered in Jerusalem terror attack, with a special message from President Trump.
– Clip of Netanyahu greeting Jared Kushner and entourage. 

Ynet

 

One of President Donald Trump’s top Middle East advisors and son-in-law Jared Kushner touched down in Israel on Wednesday morning before paying a visit to the family of 23-year-old MSG. Hadas Malka, who was murdered last Friday in a combined shooting and stabbing terror attack in Jerusalem’s Old City.While Continue Reading »

US Amb. to UN deals with Israeli-Palestinian conflict in UNSC debate

 

With Obama’s actions at the UNSC concluding Jewish growth in West Bank as illegal, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has branded the resolution a “terrible mistake” that distracts from the tyranny and abuse Gazans are living under by a brutal Hamas government.

By i24NEWS – AFP

 

At a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday focusing on developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said there must be “consequences” for supporting the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group.

At the same meeting, the UN’s envoy for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov presented his second report on Israel’s settlement activities since the adoption of a UN resolution in December demanding a halt to the Jewish outposts in Palestinian territory. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo open’s door to capital’s first huge aquarium

 

Zoo director Shai Doron hopes the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo’s new aquarium, which took 8 years to build, will educate visitors with their 33 tanks housing hundreds of species, on the need to preserve marine life and its habitats.

Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo has inaugurated the city’s first aquarium, which displays hundreds of species of marine life from the Mediterranean and the Red seas.

The 7,000 square-meter aquarium, which took eight years to build and cost 100 million shekels ($284 million), opened to the media on Monday and is due to open to the public soon. Continue Reading »

Palestinians conniving to acquire Cave of the Patriarchs as theirs from UNESCO

 

Cave of the Patriarchs, the sacred burial tomb of the Jewish Patriarchs Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebecca & Jacob & Leah, Rabbi Hai Gaon and Eve, the first woman is being hijacked at UNESCO by the PA as a Palestinian Heritage Site to sever all Jewish connections to Hevron.

By Mordechai Sones

 

The Palestinian Authority is asking the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO to meet in two weeks to recognize the Old City of Hevron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as Palestinian Heritage Sites.

There are currently 1,052 World Heritage Sites declared by UNESCO, of which 9 are Israeli and 2 are in areas currently administered by the Palestinian Authority. Continue Reading »

Armed Palestinian neutralized during attempt to stab IDF soldier

As the Palestinian pulls out his kitchen-knife at a checkpoint in the West Bank in an attempt to kill a soldier during a routine check, the alert soldiers watching immediately react shooting him dead before he can butcher anyone.

 

A Palestinian pulled out a knife and attempted to stab soldiers from the Home Front Command on Tuesday afternoon in the West Bank, the IDF has reported.

An Israel Police officer over the body of the Palestinian attacker – Israel Police

The soldiers were carrying out a routine check near Adam Square in Benjamin, north of Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Kushner’s arrival in Israel Wednesday meant to advance Jason Greenblatt’s peace efforts

 

Jason Greenblatt, who arrived in Israel on Monday is scheduled to hold meetings in Jerusalem & Ramallah until the arrival on Wednesday of Trump’s son-in-law adviser and all-around trouble-shooter, Jared Kushner, “in trying to achieve the ultimate deal,” said former US ambassador Dan Shapiro, in a conference call on Monday.

By HERB KEINON

 

US President Donald Trump, in the thick of all kinds of investigations at home, has managed to create leverage in the Middle East. But it is the type of leverage that needs to be used quickly before it dissolves.

That at least is how former US ambassador Dan Shapiro looks at the Trump administration’s continuing diplomatic push in the region – one that will be reinforced Wednesday with the arrival of Trump’s son-in-law, adviser and all-around trouble-shooter, Jared Kushner. Continue Reading »

PM Netanyahu tells Iran after missile strike on Syria, “Don’t threaten Israel”

 

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel was not worried by the Iranian strike, being their first strike outside its own territory in nearly 30 years. “Israel is prepared for every development, we have no concerns or worries.”

By i24NEWS

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran not to threaten Israel on Monday, hours after the Iranian army fired ballistic missiles at a Syrian base of the Islamic State.

“I have one message for Iran: Don’t threaten Israel,” Netanyahu said, reported AFP.

A picture provided by the Iran’s state TV official website shows Iranian Revolutionary Guards launching a missile from an undisclosed location in western Iran, towards Islamic State bases in Syria – IRIB TV/AFP

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it fired six missiles targeting “terror bases” of the Islamic State in eastern Syria on Sunday. Continue Reading »

UN Watchdog: UNHRC’s attacks on Israel prove corrupt, entrenched political bias

According to NGO Monitor, “The UN Human Rights Council is singling out Israel through the misuse of int’l law and the employment of double standards…The attacks on Israel prove that the entrenched political bias of the council requires immediate action.”
• NGO Monitor plans to confront UNHRC in Geneva.

By Lital Shemesh

 

Jerusalem-based watchdog group NGO Monitor is accusing the U.N. Human Rights Council of deception and bias for its decision to compile a “blacklist” of companies from or with ties to Israel that operate beyond the Green Line, with the aim of declaring them illegal.

UN Human Rights Council – Photo courtesy: Wikipedia Commons

At the council’s headquarters in Geneva on Monday, members of the watchdog group were set to argue the move by the UNHRC unfairly singles out Israel, while ignoring other conflict zones around the world where international companies are free to do business. Continue Reading »

British Police protect pro-Hezbollah, Iranian supporters at Al-Quds Day March in London

 

Among the chants by the pro-terrorist groups protected by the Metropolitan Police at London’s anti-Israel demonstration included: “Zionists/ISIS are the same. Only difference is the name,”  “Zionist are to blame for the apartment fire” and “We are all Hezbollah.”

By JTA

 

Marchers in the annual Al-Quds Day parade in London blamed a fire in a low-income apartment complex that left at least 58 dead on “Zionists.”

Hundreds marched Sunday afternoon behind the Palestinian flag and behind a flag of Hezbollah, which has been named in Britain as an illegal terror organization. Many marchers also carried paper versions of the Hezbollah flag. Continue Reading »