Archive for Israel News

| March 24, 2013
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Done Deal: Barbra Streisand will perform in Tel Aviv on June 20

Highly acclaimed Jewish singer/actor will wrap up European tour at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium.

Streisand also set to sing at President Peres’s 90th birthday party.

By DAVID BRINN

 

People who need Barbra Streisand are apparently the luckiest people in Israel.

Ending weeks of unconfirmed speculation, the iconic songstress/actress/diva has announced that she will perform for the first time ever in the country on June 20 at Bloomfield Stadium in Jaffa.

Accompanied by a 60- piece orchestra, the 70-yearold Streisand will end a select tour of Europe with the show at the stadium which holds 16,000 spectators.

Two days earlier, she is expected to perform privately at the Presidential Conference in Jerusalem in honor of President Shimon Peres’s birthday. Continue Reading »

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| March 24, 2013
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Israel Warns Syria: IDF Will Destroy Those Who Fire at Us

Israel warned Syria on Sunday morning that the days of restraint in the face of cross-border fire from Syria are finished. The IDF will now respond.

By Chana Ya’ar

Israel warned Sunday that the days of restraint in the face of cross-border fire from Syria are finished.

Moshe Ya'alon - Photo Reuters

Moshe Ya’alon – Photo: Reuters

Israel will respond to any shooting or other attacks that cross the northern border with Syria, Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon warned.

“Any violation of Israeli sovereignty and fire from the Syrian side will be answered immediately with the destruction of the source of fire when we identify it,” Ya’alon declared. Continue Reading »

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| March 24, 2013
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Kerry & Netanyahu met Saturday evening to restart peace talks

US Secretary of State met with Abbas & then Netanyahu to seek common ground to resume stalled peace talks.

Local poll shows Obama’s ‘charm offensive’ effective: 39% say they  feel better about the US president.

By HERB KEINON

 

After the pomp and ceremony of US President Barack Obama’s three day trip to the region, US Secretary of State John Kerry began nitty-gritty efforts at re-starting talks between Israel and the Palestinians with a late night meeting Saturday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

US Secretary of State John Kerry with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, March 23, 2013. Photo Amos Ben-Gershom-GPO

US Secretary of State John Kerry with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, March 23, 2013.- Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom-GPO

Kerry, who arrived in the region last Tuesday, accompanied Obama during his two days in Jerusalem and Ramallah, and also went with him Friday to Jordan. Continue Reading »

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| March 24, 2013
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IDF Jeeps in Golan Hit By Gunfire from Syria

No injuries in the incident. Initial reports haven’t determined whether the gunfire was intentional.

By Gil Ronen

 

Someone on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights border fired a burst of automatic fire at IDF soldiers Saturday. The bullets struck patrol vehicles near Tel Fares in the central part of the Golan Heights, but caused no casualties.

IDF patrol seen from rebel positionIt is still not clear if the gunfire was deliberately aimed at the soldiers, or whether it was meant to hit one of the sides in the Syrian civil war and unintentionally “spilled over” into Israel.

About one month ago, a mortar round fired from Syria struck near Alonei Habashan in the northern Golan. Continue Reading »

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| March 23, 2013
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Still the President who wants to ‘throw Israel under a bus’?

After this Presidential visit, seen with such support & sympathy, Obama’s rivals will have to muster all their cynicism to claim the US President has Israel’s worst interests at heart.

 

One can only speculate what history might have looked like if United States President Barack Obama had made his “Jerusalem Speech” on June 5, 2009, immediately after his “Cairo Speech”, and how the Middle East would have developed if his attempt to turn a page in U.S. relations with the Arab world had been accompanied by the kind of effort to touch the hearts of the Israeli public that Obama made in Jerusalem on Thursday. Continue Reading »

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| March 22, 2013
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MK Lieberman Objects to Netanyahu’s Apology to Turkey

Netanyahu’s apology to Turkish PM Erdoğan ‘harms IDF soldiers’ motivation & strengthens the radical elements in the region’ says former Foreign Minister.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday, over Netanyahu’s apology to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Earlier, Netanyahu spoke on the phone with to his Turkish counterpart and apologized for the deaths of nine Turks in a 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

In response, Lieberman said in a statement, “Anyone who saw the photos taken on the Mavi Marmara understands beyond any doubt that IDF soldiers acted in self-defense against the activists of the IHH organization, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Europe. Continue Reading »

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| March 22, 2013
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IDF’s new Depth Corps looks at Lebanon

 

Lebanon War III scenario: Hezbollah wakes up to find elite IDF troops have taken over the Beirut airport & that IDF forces are in control of all major bridges & highways connecting Lebanon to Syria.

Hard to believe? An exclusive glimpse into  IDF’s new Depth Corps.

By Yoav Limor

It was August 2, 2006. Deep in the throes of the Second Lebanon War, Operation “Short and Sweet” was underway. A joint force consisting of the elite Sayeret Matkal (General Staff Reconnaissance Unit) and the IAF crack commando outfit Shaldag was ferried by helicopter into Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, where it raided a number of Hezbollah strongholds in the Baalbek region. Continue Reading »

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| March 22, 2013
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President Obama: Israel’s existence prevents a second Holocaust

“The State of Israel does not exist because of the Holocaust.  But with the survival of a strong Jewish State of Israel, such a Holocaust will never happen again.” – Barack Obama

By JTA

 

JERUSALEM – Israel does not owe its existence to the Holocaust but its existence prevents another one from happening, U.S. President Obama said on the third and final day of his first presidential visit to Israel.

U.S. President Barack Obama takes a moment for reflection while visiting Yad Vashem. – Photo: Emil Salman

“Here we hope,” Obama said on Friday at Yad Vashem’s Hall of the Children after touring the Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

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| March 22, 2013
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ex-PM Olmert: Netanyahu Not Worthy of Being Israel’s PM

Former PM Olmert attacks the Prime Minister in new interview, accuses him of treating President Obama ‘like a retarded student.’

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attacked his successor, current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in a new interview published by Globes.

Among other things, Olmert slammed Netanyahu over his relationship with United States President Barack Obama.

“What is this? You go to the President of the United States, stick a finger in his face on live television, preach to him, and while you’re at it, give him a history lesson?” he said.

“Excuse me, with all due respect, he learned something in life, this president,” Olmert continued. Continue Reading »

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| March 22, 2013
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Naftali Bennett: A nation doesn’t ‘occupy’ its own land

The US President’s speech was met with mixed reactions.

MK Miri Regev believes Obama’s speech was “offensive to Netanyahu.” 

By LAHAV HARKOV

 

Reactions from MKs to US President Barack Obama’s speech in Jerusalem on Thursday ranged from excited support to condemnation.

Obama speaking in Jerusalem - Photo by AFP

Obama speaking in Jerusalem – Photo by AFP

Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett mentioned the rockets fired at Sderot in the morning, saying they were the result of the previous withdrawal from land, as were thousands of victims over the years.

“A Palestinian state is not the right way,” the Bayit Yehudi chairman said. “The time has come for new ideas and creativity to solve the Middle East conflict.” Continue Reading »

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| March 22, 2013
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Response to Hamas’ Rockets: Gaza Fishing Zone Halved – Quid pro quo

Senior defense source: Israel will no longer allow Hamas to “drizzle” rockets into Israel.

By Gil Ronen

Israel has responded to the firing of four rockets at Sderot Thursday by cutting the permitted fishing zone for Gaza fishermen in half, from six miles to three miles offshore. This brings the fishing zone back to its size before Operation Pillar of Defense.

Moshe Yaalon - Photo Reuters

Def. Minister Moshe Yaalon – Photo Reuters

“We will not allow Hamas to go back to the previous situation of a ‘rocket drizzle,’ and the entire defense establishment is in agreement on this matter,” a senior defense force in southern command told Arutz Sheva. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| March 21, 2013
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Obama received a chilly reception from the Palestinians

In Bethlehem, Palestinians burned several of the American flags that had been hung along the streets of the biblical city.

By Israel Today Staff

 

If President Shimon Peres was able to cover up Israelis’ general apathy regarding US President Barack Obama’s visit, the hostile response to the American leader’s arrival in Ramallah made it impossible to do the same among the Palestinian Arabs.

As Obama entered the Palestinian Authority compound known as the “Muqata,” hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside holding up their shoes (a major insult in the Arab world) and demanding that the president leave “Palestine.”

Israeli and Palestinian media cited many of the protesters changing slogans such as “We don’t want peace, only bullets and missiles” and “Go home you devil, we don’t want to see Americans here.” Continue Reading »

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| March 21, 2013
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Obama says in Ramallah that settlement freeze not needed to restart peace talks

“If the only way to begin the conversation is that we get everything right at the outset, then we’re never going to get to the broader issue,” President Obama.

By JTA

 

TEL AVIV — President Obama implied in Ramallah that a settlement freeze should not be a precondition for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Obama, Abbas reviewing honor guard.

Obama, Abbas reviewing honor guard. – Photo: Reuters

He made the statement Thursday at a news conference following a long meeting in the West Bank city with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“If the only way to begin the conversation is that we get everything right at the outset, then we’re never going to get to the broader issue, which is how do we structure a state of Palestine and how do you provide Israel confidence about its security,” Obama said. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| March 21, 2013
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WATCH: Netanyahu takes Obama to view Dead Sea Scrolls

On 2nd day of the US Presidential Middle East tour, President Obama visits the Israel Museum and the  technology exposition.

By REUTERS

 

On the second day of his Middle East tour, US President Barack Obama visited the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Thursday morning.

US President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu examine Dead Sea Scrolls, March 21, 2013. Photo: Courtesy PMO

At the facility, he viewed the Dead Sea Scrolls – ancient Jewish parchments discovered in the West Bank in the 1940s which include secular text dating from the third century BC to the first century AD.

For many years, only a small number of scholars were allowed to view the fragments of the scrolls, but access has since been widened.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| March 21, 2013
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New Music video wins Hebrew U. students tickets to Obama’s Jerusalem speech

WATCH: Talia Schein & Shir Ariely  cover Carly Rae Jepsen’s hit song “Call Me Maybe,” winning them tickets to Obama’s speech on Thursday.

 

Two Hebrew University students won tickets to United States President Barack Obama’s highly anticipated speech in Jerusalem Thursday evening with a homemade music video asking the president to “Invite, us maybe?” sung to the tune of the Carly Rae Jepsen hit “Call Me Maybe.”

Carly Rae Jepsen on stage.

Carly Rae Jepsen on stage at the American Music Awards in 2012. – Photo by AP

Shir Ariely, 22, and Talia Schein, 21, are among the 20 winners of a contest for tickets held last week through the U.S. Continue Reading »

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