Israel News

US intel assessment: Tehran can now build & deliver nuclear bomb

Director of U.S. National Intelligence: Iran has the means to assemble & deliver nuclear device, but question is whether it has the political will.

By i24News

Iran has the technological capabilities to produce nuclear weapons should it decide to do so, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said in a report to a US Senate intelligence committee on Wednesday.

Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper – Photo: Jim Watson/AFP

The report, titled “US Intelligence Worldwide Threat Assessment,” discusses how Iran could make and deliver nuclear bombs if it made the political decision to do so.

“Tehran has made technical progress in a number of areas — including uranium enrichment, nuclear reactors, and ballistic missiles — from which it could draw if it decided to build missile-deliverable nuclear weapons,” wrote Clapper.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Iran Nuclear threat

Israel Honors Local & Foreign Christians

The World Jewish Congress and Israel’s Knesset jointly award & publicly recognize Nazareth’s Priest Gabriel Nadaf for helping Christians integrate with Israel.

By Ryan Jones

The Israeli Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus and the World Jewish Congress on Wednesday jointly hosted the eight annual Night to Honor Israel’s Christian Allies.

PM Binyamin Netanyahu meets Father Gabriel Nadaf, August 5, 2013. – Photo: Moshe Milner/GPO

After various Israeli politicians and Christian leaders spoke about the shared roots and shared destiny of Christians and the Jewish people, the organizers got to the meat of the evening, the honoring of two Christians who have done much to advance Jewish-Christian relations in recent years. Continue Reading »

Deaf female 19 yr-old beats all odds to join Israel Police as dog trainer

Having been rejected by the army, Shahaf Karavny joins Israel Police force, “I have a special bond with animals, they understand me & they cannot argue with me,” she says

“The Israel Police welcomes people with disabilities,” says K-9 officer

By Itsik Saban

Shahaf Karavny’s story proves that where there is a will, there is a way. After being told she could not serve in the Israel Defense Forces’ canine unit, the 19-year old from Hadera did not give hope and became the first deaf to serve as an Israel Police dog trainer.

Shahaf Karavny with one of the dogs she trained – Photo: Israel Police

Karavny says her congenital condition has not affected her performance.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel Police, K-9

Israeli weed smokers gasping for lower prices

With construction of security border-barrier on the Egyptian border coming to an end, the number of Israeli drug consumers goes down because prices are now sky-high.

Police say Eastern Jordanian frontier may become alternative route for drug trafficking.

By Reuters

Israel’s newly fortified Egyptian border has delivered a severe blow to drug smugglers, forcing its hashish and marijuana smokers to deal with a new kind of high – soaring prices.

IDF Desert Worriers keeping their eyes focused on the border. Photo: Courtesy IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

The ravines that snake past rocky red mountains once provided a popular, low-risk route for traffickers to run drugs, women and African migrants into Israel over the southern frontier along Egypt’s Sinai desert. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Egyptian border, marijuana

Scarlett Johansson quits as Oxfam ambassador

Movie star resigns from humanitarian group due fundamental difference of opinion in regards to BDS, boycotts and Israel.

By The Associated Press

Scarlett Johansson is ending her relationship with the humanitarian group Oxfam International after being criticized over her support for an Israeli company that operates in the West Bank.

A statement released by Johansson’s spokesman Wednesday said the 29-year-old actress has “a fundamental difference of opinion” with Oxfam International because the humanitarian group opposes all trade from Israeli settlements, saying they are illegal and deny Palestinian rights.

“Scarlett Johansson has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years,” the statement said. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: BSD, Israel boycott, Judea and Samaria boycott, SodaStream

U.S. Amb. Shapiro explains: Kerry’s proposal came from Israeli & Palestinian demands

Comments by US envoy to Israel contradict with Prime Minister’s assertion that Kerry’s framework peace agreement demands reflect “American positions”.

Amb. Shapiro reports “very little” of framework paper will be purely authored by Americans.

By HERB KEINON

The paper Secretary of State John Kerry is developing to form the basis for further Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is not solely composed of American ideas, but is drawn from what the Israelis and Palestinians presented, US Ambassador Dan Shapiro said on Wednesday.

Ambassador Dan Shapiro – Photo: Courtesy of US embassy Israel

“As we continue our work at this stage to shape a framework proposal, it is very much drawn from ideas the parties have put on the table themselves,” he said in Tel Aviv at the annual international conference of the Institute for National Security Studies. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Dan Shapiro, John Kerry, Palestinians, Peace Process

773 ‘asylum seekers’ left Israel in January for cash payment

Israel’s Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar reports a dramatic rise in the number of migrant ‘asylum seekers’ who preferred to accept the gov’t offer, and left Israel for the cash payment.

By Omri Efraim

More than 700 asylum seekers left Israel under the “voluntary emigration” program in January, said Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Wednesday during a visit to the Holot detention center.

Human rights organizations criticize the government program claiming it is not “voluntary emigration” when the only other alternative to staying in Israel is incarceration.

The January figure of 773 asylum seekers who exited the country is substantially higher than the overall numbers from the fourth quarter of 2013. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: African illegals, Interior Ministry, migrants

Attempt to Stab Border Policeman Foiled in East Jerusalem

Female Arab terrorist attempted to stab Border Police officer in Issawiya but was stopped in time.

By Elad Benari

Border Police officers foiled a stabbing attack in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya on Wednesday evening.

The incident occurred as dozens of Arab youths were throwing rocks at Border Police officers who were patrolling the neighborhood.

The officers began arresting the Arabs, when one of them, a female, tried stabbing one of the officers. She was immediately stopped. The officer was not hurt.

Earlier Wednesday, a Palestinian Arab man attempted to run over IDF soldiers near Homesh in northern Samaria, before fleeing the scene of the crime. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Border Police, East Jerusalem, Issawiya, Stabbing Attack

Israel Air Force chief: IAF will destroy Hezbollah bases, even in residential neighborhoods

IAF head, Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel says IDF’s military capabilities are 15 times greater than it was during last conflict in 2006 with Hezbollah.

By REUTERS

Israel accused Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas on Wednesday of putting “thousands” of bases in residential buildings and said it would destroy these in a future conflict, even at the cost of civilian lives.

The unusually explicit threat by air force chief Major-General Amir Eshel appeared to be part of an effort by Israeli officials to prepare world opinion for high civilian casualties in any new confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel says Iran and Syria have supplied improved missiles to Hezbollah, which fought the technologically superior Israeli military to a standstill in a 2006 war in Lebanon.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Hezbollah, IAF, Lebanon

‘170,000 rockets threaten Israel’ reports IDF intel chief

IDF’s Intelligence Chief Aviv Kochavi reports that although the number of missiles aimed at Israel have decreased, their lethality & accuracy has been dramatically improved.

By Shahar Chai

Sometimes, less is more: Military Intelligence Chief Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi said Wednesday that despite a drop in the number of missiles and rockets threatening Israel, their level of precision has drastically risen.

“Some 170,000 rockets and missiles are threatening the State of Israel from all regions. Up until recently, the number was much greater and it has decreased, but it will go up again.

“They are much more precise and a lot more lethal. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Aviv Kochavi, Hezbollah, IIDF, Israel intelligence, Syrian unrest

National Union of Journalists in Britain is planning to boycott Israel – again

The National Union of Journalists in Britain 1st voted to support a boycott of Israel in 2007, in protest of the Second Lebanon War, but then later quashed it. The same is expected to happen once again, this spring.

By Haaretz

The National Union of Journalists in Britain is planning to boycott Israel – again, the Telegraph reports. The union first voted to support a boycott (66-54) in 2007, in protest of the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

Boycott Israel flyers on the streets of Paris – Photo: Dreamstime

At the time concerns were raised that it compromised journalistic integrity and that it deviated from the union’s main priorities. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel boycott

Arab Shot Dead After Firing on IDF Soldiers in Samaria

Palestinian killed at IDF post near Ateret, follows series of shooting attacks in Judea & Samaria.

By Ari Yashar

An Arab terrorist opened fire on an IDF guard post next to the Samaria community of Ateret, which lies roughly midway between Jerusalem and Shechem (Nablus). Soldiers returned fire, taking down the terrorist.

An army statement announced that “a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at an IDF (army) post near Ofra. The soldiers responded immediately in order to eliminate the imminent threat to their lives and fired towards the terrorist, identifying a hit.”

AFP reports that Arab sources have identified the terrorist as 19-year-old Mohammad Mubarak from nearby Jalazun. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: IDF, Palestinian terrorist

From Jerusalem of Gold to Jerusalem of Hamas

Hamas has been quietly working, setting up an alternative municipality to gain control of eastern Jerusalem, as a way of wrangling away Abbas’ influence.

By Israel Today Staff

Israel’s leading daily newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, ran a feature story this week warning that the nation’s capital is quietly changing from “Jerusalem of Gold” to “Jerusalem of Hamas.”

It seems the Palestinian terrorist organization has been successfully establishing itself as the municipal director of the eastern half of Jerusalem in recent years.

According to an indictment brought against Hamas in the Jerusalem District Court, the terror group has succeeded in mobilizing activists in a variety of fields, including religious, education and financial services. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: hamas, Jerusalem

PM’s Office: Bennett needs to apologize or leave the gov’t

Minister Naftali Bennett jumps-the-gun in his untimely scolding of Netanyahu after PM said ‘Jews could live under Palestinian sovereignty in future agreement’.

PMO reports that Bennett’s recent comments & undeserving criticism of the PM & his coalition, have put the gov’t in danger.

By HERB KEINON

Either Economy Minister Naftali Bennett apologizes for slamming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in recent days for raising the idea that Jews could live in settlements under Palestinian sovereignty, or he is “endangering the coalition,” sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said Wednesday morning.

“Bennett was given a message that he needs to apologize clearly, otherwise there will be a price,” the sources said, not hiding the fact that Bennett’s comments, including a fiery and feisty speech Tuesday night, has triggered a coalition crisis. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel Politics, Naftali Bennett