Archive for Israel News

| June 5, 2013
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Rice ready to defend Israel’s legitimacy

Israel will be keeping the new US National Security Adviser Susan Rice very busy

By JTA

 

 

Susan Rice has said that a “huge” portion of her work at the United Nations was defending Israel’s legitimacy. Her new job will likely be no less Israel-centric.

Susan Rice meets with PM Netanyahu in 2009.

Susan Rice meets with PM Netanyahu in 2009. – Photo: Moshe Milner/GPO/Getty

President Obama plans Wednesday to name Rice his national security adviser and replace her at the UN with Samantha Power, one of his top White House advisers. Rice would succeed Tom Donilon, who has been in the post since 2010.

Rice has scored mostly high marks from Jewish groups for her defense of Israel at the United Nations, although right-wing groups were furious with her in 2011 when she condemned Israel’s West Bank settlement policies.

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| June 5, 2013
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Two Syrian shells explode in northern Golan Heights

 

Two Syrian shells land in open area, but, IDF still uncertain on which side of the border.


Assad’s forces clash with rebels over the last 24 hours in villages near Israel’s border.

Yoav Zitun

 

 

Two mortar shells exploded in an open area near the Syrian border in the Golan Heights, south of Majdal-Shams.

 

IDF tanks in the Golan Heights - Photo Courtesy IDF Spokesperson's Office

IDF tanks in the Golan Heights – Photo Courtesy IDF Spokesperson’s Office

 

The IDF is currently investigating whether they fell on the Israeli or Syrian side of the border.

Over the last 24 hours fierce battles were fought between Syrian rebels and Assad’s forces in villages adjacent to the border. Continue Reading »

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| June 5, 2013
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Netanyahu sends message to Abbas from the Knesset: ‘Give peace a chance.’

PM Netanyahu uses his Knesset address on the Arab Peace Initiative to send a message of Peace to the Palestinians and another to his restive coalition partners.

By

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a Knesset debate on the Arab Peace Initiative to allay fears in some quarters that his three-month-old coalition is on the rocks – and to urge Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume negotiations with Israel.

Netanyahu addressing the Knesset April 24, 2013.

Netanyahu addressing the Knesset – Photo: Emil Salman

“I want to send a message to Abu Mazen [Abbas] in a language that both of us understand: Give peace a chance,” he told lawmakers. Continue Reading »

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| June 5, 2013
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Hamas Condemns ‘Illegal’ New Abbas Appointed Government

Hamas furious at newly created PA leadership, accuses Fatah of prolonging dispute.

By Maayana Miskin

 

The Hamas government in Gaza has slammed Fatah for creating a new Palestinian Authority government.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya - Photo AFP

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya – Photo AFP

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has tasked Rami Hamdallah with serving as Prime Minister and putting together a new cabinet. Hamdallah is expected to announce his cabinet on Thursday.

Abbas’ move “proves that the Fatah leadership is willing to maintain and prolong the state of disagreement,” read a Hamas statement printed by Maan news.

Hamas sources noted that they have no objections to Hamdallah in particular. Continue Reading »

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| June 5, 2013
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Bipartisan Congressmen urge Obama to relocate embassy to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem

Marking 46 years since Israel’s reunification of Jerusalem, heads of the bipartisan Israel Allies Caucus in Washington say moving US Embassy to Israel’s capital a ‘no brainer’

By Ynet news

 

The heads of the bipartisan Congressional Israel Allies Caucus on Tuesday urged the Obama administration to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, Israel - Facebook profile Photo

U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, Israel – Facebook profile Photo

“We strongly believe that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel with no waivers and no caveats,” said Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05), in an event on Capitol Hill Tuesday marking 46 years since the reunification of Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

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| June 5, 2013
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Israeli industries targeted by low taxes from Palestinian Authority

Factory owners explain how the PA deliberately cuts taxes so that Israeli industries can’t compete.

‘Bennett must intervene before we become totally dependent on the PA.’

By Maayana Miskin

 

Israeli factory owners in the textile and furniture industries have called on Minister of Economics and Trade Naftali Bennett to tax Palestinian Authority-area goods in order to save Israeli industry.

Despite its reported financial crisis, the PA is deliberately taking in less tax income than it could in order to hurt Israel, says factory owner Shaul Ben-Yosef, who spoke to Arutz Sheva.

Israeli factories are currently forced to compete with PA factories – a competition that is heavily biased in the PA’s favor, he said. Continue Reading »

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| June 5, 2013
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Female Soldiers’ Kidnap Attempt Unsuccessful

Police are searching for two Arab men suspected of attempted kidnapping of 3 soldiers from a base near Hadera.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Female soldiers serving at a base near Hadera reported Tuesday night that two Arab men attempted to kidnap them.

Female soldiers Photo Hagai Huberman

Female soldiers – Photo: Hagai Huberman

The Arab men reportedly attempted to drag three soldiers into a car by force.

Police are searching the area. They suspect that terrorists may be behind the attempted kidnapping.

In recent months terrorist groups have made several attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians in order to barter for the release of terrorists imprisoned in Israel. Continue Reading »

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| June 4, 2013
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Female IDF soldiers disciplined for ‘unbecoming behavior’ after posing in their underwear for Facebook

 

Pictures show new recruits dressed only in their underwear & combat fatigues.

IDF Spokesperson office said they were disciplined for their ‘unbecoming behavior’.

By Becky Evans

 

 

Dressed only in their underwear and provocatively holding weapons for the camera, they appear to be having a great time posing for photographs in their barracks room.

In trouble - The images showed the soldiers removing their fatigues to expose their underwear and backsides

In trouble – The images showed the soldiers removing their fatigues to expose their underwear and backsides

But four Israeli female soldiers have now been disciplined by the country’s military for their ‘unbecoming behaviour’ after the raunchy pictures were posted on Facebook.

The images, published on Israeli news website Walla, showed the soldiers removing their fatigues to expose their underwear and backsides. Continue Reading »

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| June 4, 2013
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An ‘Extinct’ Frog Suddenly Appears in Northern Israel

60 years later an ‘extinct’ frog makes a surprising reappearance in Israel’s Hula Valley, becoming a unique ‘living fossil.’

By Arutz Sheva

 

The first amphibian to have been officially declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been rediscovered in the north of Israel after some 60 years and turns out to be a unique “living fossil,” without close relatives among other living frogs, according to researchers at Hebrew University.

Hula painted frog - Photo Hebrew University

Hula painted frog – Photo: Hebrew University

The Hula painted frog was catalogued within the Discoglossus group when it was first discovered in the Hula Valley of Israel in the early 1940s. Continue Reading »

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| June 4, 2013
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British Ambassador: GB vehemently opposes Israel boycott

Amb. Matthew Gould at celebration for queen’s birthday says Great Britain “clearly & unambiguously opposes” Israeli boycotts.

By TAMARA ZIEVE, HADAS PARUSH

 

The British government vehemently opposes boycotts of Israel, British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould affirmed Monday night “clearly and unambiguously,” as his embassy hosted a celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s 87th birthday. “They (boycotts) do nothing to build understanding, they put up walls when we should be tearing them down,” he asserted.

Presdient Peres & Ambassador Gould toast Britain's queen - Photo Mati Milstein, courtesy of the British Embassy

Presdient Peres & Ambassador Gould toast Britain’s queen – Photo: Mati Milstein, courtesy of the British Embassy

While Gould acknowledged that the two countries “don’t always agree on everything,” pointing to the issue of settlements, he said that “the important thing is that we disagree as friends, and we will stand alongside Israel as a friend.”

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| June 4, 2013
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Education Minister ends Knesset speech because he can’t stop giggling

Education Minister Piron stands to discuss ‘penetration of prohibited objects into prisons’

 during  a late night Knesset session,

 but instead of talking, he can’t not stop laughing.

Reuters

 

A reference to “penetration” in a speech to parliament caused Education Minister to burst into a laughing fit that went viral on Tuesday on Israeli websites.

Education Minister Piron - Photo Courtesy of Knesset Channel

Education Minister Piron – Photo Courtesy of Knesset Channel

Shai Piron, who is also a rabbi, could not get past the first sentence of his address, on a proposed law against smuggling cell phones into Israel’s prisons, before beginning to chuckle.

“Mr. Chairman, distinguished Parliament, the aim of this legislation is to deal with a serious phenomenon – the penetration of prohibited objects into prisons,” he said during a late night session on Monday broadcast on the official Knesset TV channel. Continue Reading »

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| June 4, 2013
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Minister Bennett: Label ‘Settler’ Products ‘Made in Peace Zone’

Economics Minister has come up with a  creative idea regarding the labeling of exports originating in Judea & Samaria.

By Gil Ronen

 

Economics Minister Naftali Bennett suggested Tuesday that products manufactured in Judea and Samaria be marked with the label, “Made in the Peace Zone.”

Minister Naftali Bennett

Minister Naftali Bennett

This was Bennett’s novel idea for counteracting the demands to mark products manufactured in Judea and Samaria, as demanded by anti-Israel forces in Europe and elsewhere.

“That way,” he said, “the world will come to Judea and Samaria and see what real coexistence and yearning for peace are.”

Bennett spoke as he toured Samaria and visited Ariel University, where an entrepreneurship conference is being held. Continue Reading »

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| June 4, 2013
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From South Africa MP Dr. Kenneth Meshoe: Israel is NOT an apartheid state

Outspoken African Member of Parliament refutes those who accuse Israel of apartheid as being deceptive & slanderous, saying it’s ultimately insulting to what his own countrymen had long endured.

By Ryan Jones

 

 

 

Reverend Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, an outspoken member of the South Africa Parliament, recently expressed ongoing frustration with accusations that Israel is an apartheid state, calling such claims an insult to what his own nation went through.

South Africa MP, Reverend Dr. Kenneth Meshoe - Screenshot

South Africa MP, Reverend Dr. Kenneth Meshoe – Screenshot

Earlier this year, Dr. Meshoe visited San Francisco just around the time that American universities, especially in California, were swarming with anti-Israel propagandists whose new favorite ploy is to label Israel as a practitioner of apartheid against the Arabs of the region. Continue Reading »

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| June 4, 2013
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Jerusalem ‘unmoved’ by Kerry’s threat of US disengagement from peace process

 

Israeli diplomatic official reiterates: Palestinian preconditions continue to thwart renewal of peace talks.

U.S. Sec of St John Kerry to AJC conference: What happens in coming days will dictate what happens in coming decades.

Kerry planning return visit again next week.

By Yoni Hirsch, Shlomo Cesana and News Agencies

 

A senior Israeli diplomatic official in Jerusalem has told Israel Hayom that he “refused to be moved” by a Reuters report on Monday that quoted a senior U.S. official as saying the U.S. government would abandon its efforts to advance the peace process if it determined that Israel and the Palestinians were not serious about the matter.

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| June 4, 2013
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Federations of North America support Sharansky’s Western Wall compromise

The plan calls for the Robinson’s Arch archeological site at the southern part of the Western Wall to be used as a permanent space for egalitarian prayer. Under the proposal, the Western Wall plaza would be expanded to encompass the additional prayer space.

 

By JTA

 

The Jewish Federations of North America’s board of trustees passed a resolution supporting Natan Sharansky’s proposed compromise on egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall.

Robinson’s Arch archeological site at the southern part of the Western Wall to be used as a permanent space for egalitarian prayer.

Robinson’s Arch archeological site at the southern part of the Western Wall to be used as a permanent space for egalitarian prayer.

Monday’s resolution, according to a JFNA statement, says the compromise “develops a pathway whereby the Kotel will once again become a spiritual center for all Jews and a symbol of unity for the entire Jewish community world-wide.”

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