Israel News

‘Hamas won’t aid Iran if war breaks out’

Salah Bardawil says Hamas ‘won’t do Iran’s bidding in any war’; adds group will not escalate situation with Israel simply at Tehran’s request

Hamas will not automatically side with Iran in case of a military conflict with Israel, the Guardian reported Tuesday.

Senior Politburo member in Gaza Strip Salah Bardawil said that Hamas “will not do Iran’s bidding in any war with Israel, and will not launch rockets at Israel at Tehran’s request.”

Salah Bardawil - Photo: AP

“If there is a war between two powers, Hamas will not be part of such a war,” Bardawil was quoted as saying. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: hamas, Salah Bardawil

Peres, Mark Zuckerberg launch president’s international Facebook page

Peres invited Facebook users around the world to ‘like’ his page and post their own suggestions for advancing world peace.

President Shimon Peres and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg launched the president’s international Facebook page on Tuesday, with Zuckerberg to first to press ‘like’ to the page.

The festivities began at 7 P.M. Israel time (9 A.M. P.S.T.), with a live press conference with web surfers from around the world. Peres and Zuckerberg then launched the page officially at 8 P.M. Israel time (10 A.M. P.S.T.).

Shimon Peres and Mark Zuckerberg - GPO - 6.3.2012

Shimon Peres and Mark Zuckerberg launching Peres' international Facebook page, March 6, 2012. - Photo by: GPO

Answering a question on the role of social media in promoting peace in the Middle East, Peres said that what networks such as Facebook were doing was “convince people they don’t have reason to hate.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Facebook, Shimon Peres

Gingrich Vows to Replace Iran’s Regime

GOP contender Newt Gingrich all but declared war on Iran’s Mullahs during the AIPAC conference saying he would do away with their regime.

GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich sought to upstage his fellow Republican contenders on Tuesday by saying he would “undermine and replace the Iranian dictatorship.”

Gingrich made his pledge at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Tuesday, where would-be Republican presidential candidates are seeking to score Jewish votes.

Newt Gingirch - photo by Reuter

“[I will] undermine and replace the Iranian dictatorship by every available method short of war,” Gingrich said via satellite to AIPAC attendees. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: AIPAC, Iran, Newt Gingrich

Obama: There’ll be a price to pay for premature Iran strike

There will be consequences for both US and Israel for such a move, the US president says, warns against “casualness” of talk by American politicians “beating the drums of war.”

WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama warned Tuesday that there would be consequences for the United States as well as Israel if a premature strike is launched on Iran.

“This is not just an issue of Israeli interests. This is an issue of American interests,” he said at a last-minute press conference. “It’s also not just an issue of consequences for Israel if action is taken prematurely. There are consequences for the United States as well.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: AIPAC, Iran, Obama

‘Israel is world leader in medical marijuana use’

Anesthesiologist and pain relief expert tells Knesset Committee on Drug Abuse that Israel is leader in the field.

Medical Marijuana or cannabis (pot or weed) - Photo By MCT

Israel is the world leader in medical marijuana use, anesthesiologist and pain relief expert Dr. Bareket Schiff-Keren told the Knesset Committee on Drug Abuse on Tuesday.

In addition, Israel Police representative Eyal Zilberman told the committee that medical marijuana is being sold on the black market, and the fields to grow the drug are not properly secured to prevent theft.

Approximately 15 tons of medicinal cannabis are stolen each year, according to the police.

Category: Israel News | Tags: marijuana

Chief Rabbis: Don’t Ascend Temple Mount

Chief Rabbis Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Yonah Metzger joined by other top rabbis in proclaiming Mount off grounds.

Chief Sephardic Rabbi (Rav) Rabbi Shlomo Amar has published a call to believers not to ascend to the Temple Mount. The call appears under the heading “avoid ascending to the Mount and touching its edge,” which is attributed to Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk.

Rav Amar’s declaration was co-signed by former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Rav Eliyahu Bakshi Doron; Rav Shalom Cohen, Head of Porat Yosef Yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem’ Old City Rabbi Rav Avigdor Neventzal, and Kotel Rabbi, Rav Shmuel Rabinovich. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: Temple Mount

Betrayed by history and the present

It’s bad enough that pioneering families at Har Tuv lost their village in the 1948 war. It’s even worse how the authorities are treating their descendants.

For years, descendants of the founders of Har Tuv near Beit Shemesh have felt betrayed by the Israeli establishment. Their agricultural community, founded in 1895 by Zionist pioneers from Bulgaria, became the only Jewish community in the new state that was not re-established after it was destroyed in the 1948 War of Independence.

A photo of residents of Har Tuv before the War of Independence. - Photo by: Emil Salman

The local regional council did not use the name Har Tuv (Mountain of Goodness ); it was reserved for a nearby industrial zone.

Category: Israel News, Jewish News |

Another ‘Fogel Copycat’ Attack Foiled

An Arab woman with large knife arrested near fence of Emanuel, one day after two terrorists tried to enter Elon Moreh.

The latest terror trend among Arabs in Samaria may be an effort to copy the horrific slaughter in Itamar a year ago, in which five members of a single family were murdered with a knife.

Police from the Samaria Region arrested an Arab woman near the perimeter fence of the city of Emanuel Tuesday morning. She was carrying a large knife.

The woman, 32, was identified by a military force near the village of Imtin, next to Emanuel, located in central Samaria and near the city of Ariel and the communities of Karnei and Ginot Shomron. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: terrorist

Egyptian militants blow up pipeline carrying gas to Israel

Previous bombings of the pipeline have been blamed on Islamist militants who have stepped up ac-tivity in the Sinai since downfall of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian security officials say militants have again blown up a gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that transports fuel to neighboring Israel.

The attack on the pipeline is the 12th since the popular uprising that ousted longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak last year.

Police officials said gunmen attacked the pipeline in the north Sinai city of el-Arish on Monday. There were no details on the extent of damage. Previous explosions have shut down gas flow for days or weeks. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: pipeline

Peres asks Obama to free Pollard

Prime Minister Netanyahu also expected to raise issue for second time in meeting with US President.

President Shimon Peres asked US President Barack Obama to release Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard when they met at the White House on Sunday, Peres’s office said Monday.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will also raise Pollard’s fate with the US president when they meet Monday, officials in the Prime Ministers Office said.

Netanyahu officially asked Obama to commute Pollard’s life sentence to time served in January 2011. Since then, Obama has not responded.

Pollard’s wife Esther urged Obama to respond favorably to the repeated requests for the release of her husband, who has been in prison for more than 26 years.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Jonathan Pollard, President Shimon Peres

Israeli court recognizes lesbian couple as biological mothers of child

In precedential ruling, Ramat Gan Family Court criticizes Interior Ministry’s requirement that baby’s egg donor file for adoption.

The Ramat Gan Family Court decided Sunday, in a precedential verdict, to recognize both women of a lesbian couple as the mothers of a baby boy.

Photo by: Dreamstime

The lesbian couple underwent a medical procedure six years ago with the permission of the Health Ministry, in which the egg of one woman was fertilized with the sperm of an anonymous donor and implanted in the womb of her partner.

In 2007 their son was born, but the Interior Ministry only registered the child bearer as the son’s mother.

Category: Israel News | Tags: lesbian couple

Hamas Preacher: Al Aqsa Can’t Remain under Apes, Pigs

‘Palestinian’ incitement against Jews; Hamas preacher declares Al Aqsa cannot remain under the control of “asses carrying books.”

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) exposed another disconcerting video of ‘Palestinian’ incitement against the Jewish people. The video relays a Hamas preacher from Khan Yunis, Gaza, which aired on Al Aqsa TV on February 24, declaring that the Al Aqsa mosque cannot remain under the control of “apes and pigs.”

“We say load and clear: The struggle for Palestine is not a political struggle. It is a purely ideological struggle. It is a clear religious struggle between Islam and Zionism. It is a struggle between Truth and Falsehood, between Islam and heresy, between light and darkness, between good and evil,” the preacher stated. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Al Aqsa, ‘Palestinian’ incitement

Snack foods sell for half-price in Arab sector stores

You don’t have to fly to the United States to buy Israeli products at half price.

You don’t have to fly to the United States to buy Israeli products at half price, it seems: Israeli snack manufacturers sell their products at stores catering to the Arab community for significantly less than at shops throughout the rest of the country.

Shoppers at Arab Israeli and Palestinian stores pay as much as half of what shoppers pay at other stores in Israel, TheMarker found.

Take, for example, Pesek Zman, which sparked the latest round of protests and boycott calls against manufacturer Strauss, after a consumer photographed the candy bars selling for half the Israeli price at a supermarket in New Jersey.

Category: Israel News |

Obama will Refuse to Name Red Lines on Iran – NYT

Netanyahu wants U.S. president to lay down timetable on Iran strike, but administration officials say he won’t.

Officials in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama told The New York Times that Obama will refuse to give Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu what he wants in their meeting later Monday – namely, a clear statement regarding “red lines” on the Iranian nuclear program and a timetable for striking the Islamic Republic if it crosses those lines.

Netanyahu, Obama in previous meeting. Reuters

The Times‘ Mark Landler wrote Saturday, “Mr. Obama will not lay down new red lines on Iran, even if he discusses them with Mr. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Obama