Archive for Mid-East News

| October 2, 2013
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Nazi Scientists Aided Arabs Produce Chemical & Biological Weapons

According to an Egyptian journalist in a televised interview, Nazi scientists assisted the Arab countries produce chemical & biological weapons.

By Elad Benari

 

Nazi scientists helped Arab countries produce chemical weapons, according to a prominent Egyptian journalist.

Hezbollah members rally in Beirut

Hezbollah members rally with Nazi Salute in Beirut – Photo: Reuters

The journalist, Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, made the comments in an interview which aired on September 19, 2013. The comments were translated and posted to the internet by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“In the 1950s and 1960s, attempts to end the nuclear arms race began. Countries that already had nuclear arms decided to make do with what they had, and all the other countries, which found it too difficult to join the nuclear arms race, believed that the production of chemical and biological weapons was the poor man’s way to deter the nuclear countries. Continue Reading »

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| October 2, 2013
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Palestinian Council legalizes online dating for the purpose of marriage

 

Palestinian Council recognizes internet dating has become “unavoidable & impossible to prohibit completely.”

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

 

The Palestinian Authority’s Supreme Fatwa Council ruled on Tuesday that men and women are allowed to date online, but only for the purpose of marriage.
A Palestinian couple sits at the bar of a restaurant in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

A Palestinian couple sits at the bar of a restaurant in the West Bank city of Ramallah. – Photo: Reuters

The council explained that dating and chatting on social media websites, “which have hugely developed in this era, have become an indispensable necessity.”

This unprecedented ruling contradicts fatwas by many extremist Islamic scholars against the use of digital technology for dating between Muslim men and women.

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| October 1, 2013
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Egypt Cuts all Ties, Flights & Tourism with Iran

Cairo officially announced the complete end of all tourism activities with Iran, including direct flights just renewed in March.

By Adam Ross

 

Egypt has announced the formal cessation of all direct flights and tourism ties with Iran.

Egypt Cancels all Flights to Iran - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Egypt Cancels all Flights to Iran – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The announcement came Tuesday, with Egypt stating it has ordered an end to all tourism activities with Iran. These had increased considerably during the yearlong rule of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Whereas deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi tried to improve relations with Iran, seeing it as a natural ally, the new regime is trying to distance itself from Tehran. Continue Reading »

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| October 1, 2013
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Netanyahu at UN: Israel will prevent Iranian nuclear weapons, even if alone

 

Israel’s PM Netanyahu outlines necessary steps in avoiding a nuclear armed Iran; speech comes as warning to well-received address by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

A steadfast Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made clear in a speeach to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that Israel would not accept a nuclear armed Iran, and would “stand alone” if necessary to achieve that aim.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday October 1, 2013 at the United Nations headquarters in New York - Photo: AP/Andrew Gombert,Pool

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday October 1, 2013 at the United Nations headquarters in    New York – Photo: AP/Andrew Gombert,Pool

 

“Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, even if we have to stand alone,” he said.

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| September 30, 2013
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Peres: ‘All options open on Iran’ just hrs before Netanyahu-Obama meeting

At his visit to the ICJ in The Hague, Israel’s President Peres reported that economic sanctions may have impact but threat of force could be necessary.

By , and

 

 

Israeli President Shimon Peres said on Monday “all options” are being kept open in forcing Iran to give up its nuclear program.

Peres in The Hague

Israel’s President Peres delivers a statement at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday Sept. 30, 2013. – Photo: AP

Speaking at The Hague, Peres said the economic sanctions against Iran now have not dissuaded the country from enriching uranium or building long-range missiles, although it may have affected Tehran’s public statements. Continue Reading »

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| September 30, 2013
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Lebanon Encroaches Into Israel’s Natural Gas Fields

The Lebanese gov’t is about to award offshore drilling licenses in areas that violates Israel’s exclusive economic zone.

By Gil Ronen

 

Lebanon is homing in on Israel’s territorial waters, according to a report in Globes.

Official Israeli sources told the newspaper that Lebanon is about to award offshore oil and gas exploration licenses in areas that encroach on Israel’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Israel’s “Tamar” oil rig – Reuters

Lebanon published tenders for offshore oil and gas exploration licenses in early September, in five blocks in its EEZ.

It is a highly provocative act which has the potential to greatly inflame hostilities between the two nations. Continue Reading »

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| September 30, 2013
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Christians slaughtered in Kenya, Pakistan but UN eyes are only on Israel

And where was the int’l community that loves to condemn Israel for doing far less, or even nothing at all?

By  Raymond Ibrahim

 

 

The following by contributor Raymond Ibrahim is again telling of how the world has an obsession with picking out every perceived flaw with Israel, while ignoring the very real persecution of Christians and other minorities around the world.

church

 

Muslim slaughter of non-Muslim “infidels,” while a habitual thing, saw an especially dramatic weekend in the nations of Pakistan and Kenya. Even so, these are simply the latest in a long list of jihadi attacks on the Christians of both nations. Continue Reading »

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| September 30, 2013
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Syrian refugees in Turkey blame Hezbollah for their plight

 

Syrian refugee calls the Shi’ite terrorist group the “party of Satan.”

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

 

 

 
ON THE TURKISH-SYRIAN BORDER – Syrian refugees, who have gone to great lengths to escape President Bashar Assad’s bombing campaign, attribute a large part of the violence in their country to the regime’s allies.
Syrian refugees fill buckets with water.

Syrian refugees fill buckets with water. – Photo: REUTERS

In interviews at refugee camps on the Turkish-Syrian border over the past week, the displaced persons accused the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia of enabling Assad’s regime to persevere and to inflict violence on innocent Syrians.

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| September 29, 2013
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Iran shows off new attack drone called Shahed-129

The Shahed-129, is Iran’s newest UAV with a range of 1,700 km (1,060 miles), 24-hr non-stop flight capability with the ability to carry up to 8 missiles or bombs.

Tehran is also developing a kamikaze drone.

By The Associated Press & Israel Hayom Staff

 

Iran unveiled two new locally produced unmanned aerial drones over the weekend, one of which it described as its most sophisticated drone to date that can reach much of the Middle East, including Israel.

Shahed-129 – RT Screenshot

On Friday Iranian Revolutionary Guard chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari showcased the Shahed-129, or Witness-129, an unmanned drone with a range of 1,700 kilometers (1,060 miles), 24-hour non-stop flight capability and can carry up to eight bombs or missiles.

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| September 28, 2013
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PA official blasts token presence at Egypt-Gaza border crossing

 

Hamas accuses the Palestinian Authority of inciting Egypt to keep the Rafah crossing closed to undermine its authority over the coastal territory.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

 

The Palestinian Authority does not want to return to the Rafah border crossing as part of a partial solution to the crisis at the crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Jibril Rajoub, a senior member of the Fatah Central Committee, announced Saturday.

Egyptian Army soldiers guard gates of Sinai Gaza closed border crossing, May 20, 2012.

Rajoub’s announcement came as the Egyptian authorities reopened the border.

“The Palestinian leadership rejects partial appearances, such as the presence of the Presidential Guard at the sovereign border crossings, including Rafah,” Rajoub said.

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| September 28, 2013
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1st time since 1979: Obama, Rohani talk on phone, says deal possible

US President Obama says there is a unique opportunity to make progress with the new Iranian gov’t.

By Reuters

 

U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rohani spoke by phone on Friday, the highest-level contact between the two countries since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and a sign that both sides are serious about reaching a pact on Iran’s nuclear program.

Rohani (Photo by Reuters), and Obama (Photo by AFP).

Rohani (Photo by Reuters), and Obama (Photo by AFP).

Obama had hoped to meet with Rohani earlier this week while both men were in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, but Iran decided a meeting would be too complicated. Continue Reading »

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| September 27, 2013
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Islamic Jihad & Hamas call for 3rd intifada against Jews

Calls for violence against Jewish citizens were issued as protest against visiting Jews to the Temple Mount, their most Holy Site.

Hamas leadership says it has not abandoned its option of sending suicide bombers.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

On the eve of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech at the UN General Assembly, a number of Palestinian groups called for launching a third intifada against Israel.

Hamas's Kassam Brigades [file].

Hamas’s Kassam Brigades [file]. – Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

The calls were issued in protest against visits by Jewish groups to the Temple Mount.The groups called on Palestinians to take to the streets following Friday prayers to express their “solidarity with the Aksa Mosque in the face of Israeli aggression.”Hamas’s

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| September 27, 2013
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Armed Fatah Members in Gaza Arrested by Hamas

Hamas crashed an Al Aqsa Brigades press conference before arresting four members then forcing the men to unmask.

By Adam Ross

 

Four members of the Fatah affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades group have been arrested by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The arrests were reported by the Maan news agency, who said the four, yielding weapons, delivered a vitriolic press conference from the Al Ghafri Tower in Gaza City. The report said after journalists left, Hamas men surrounded the building and forced the Aqsa fighters to unmask before they were detained.

In recent months, Hamas security agencies have detained dozens of Fatah-affiliated political activists accusing them of belonging to the ‘Tamarod’ (Rebel) movement, which was formed to overthrow Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt. Continue Reading »

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| September 27, 2013
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Assad: No need for chemical weapons,”We can blind Israel in an instant”

Al-Akhbar, a Hezbollah newspaper reported Assad saying he no longer needs chemical weapons to deter Israel.

By YASSER OKBI, THE POST CORRESPONDENT

 

 

“We now possess deterrent weapons that are more important and more sophisticated than chemical weapons,” Syrian President Bashar Assad told visitors to his palace in Damascus on Thursday.

Syrian President Bashar Assad gives an interview to Venezuelan state TV TeleSUR, Sept. 26. 2013.

Syrian President Bashar Assad gives an interview to Venezuelan state TV TeleSUR, Sept. 26. 2013. – Photo: REUTERS/SANA/Handout

He emphasized that he had no need for chemical weapons.

According to the report, which was carried by Hezbollah’s paper Al-Akhbar, Assad said this was because the situation in Syria “has never been better,” as “we created chemical weapons in the ’80s as a deterrent against Israel’s nuclear arsenal.

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| September 26, 2013
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Abbas at UN urges Israel to abandon “security obsessions”

State of Palestine President, Mahmoud Abbas, urged Israel to abandon “security obsessions and pretexts,” and to “sow the seeds of good neighborliness.”

By

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday in New York, saying that the Palestinians refuse to enter into  “a vortex” of new interim agreements with Israel.

Abbas speaks at the UN General Assembly.


Abbas speaks at the UN General Assembly. – Photo: AFP

Speaking for the first time in the name of the State of Palestine, Abbas said raising the status of Palestine was not aimed at deligitimizing Israel, but “to consecrate the legitimacy of a State that must exist, which is Palestine.” Continue Reading »

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