Archive for Mid-East News

| January 9, 2013
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Dershowitz: Hagel appointment sends mixed signals, is green light to Iran

 

Renowned jurist Professor Alan Dershowitz says the Iranians are celebrating this appointment in Tehran but says appointment won’t affect U.S. Defense Dept policies regarding Israel’s security.

By Yoni Hirsch and Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

Regarding President Barack Obama’s nomination of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary, renowned jurist Professor Alan Dershowitz said, “I think it’s a mistake.”

Professor Alan Dershowitz: Obama is making a mistake with Hagel appointment. – Photo: Dudi Vaaknin

Dershowitz conducted an interview with The Algemeiner, a new English-language incarnation of an old Yiddish newspaper, and wrote an opinion piece for the paper.

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| January 9, 2013
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Syria trades civilian prisoners for rebel-held Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen

Assad’s regime releases over 2000 civilian prisoners in exchange for 48 Iranians captured last August by fighting Syrian rebels.

By REUTERS

 

Syrian rebels freed 48 Iranian hostages on Wednesday in exchange for the release of more than 2,000 civilian prisoners held by the Syrian government, the head of a Turkish aid agency which helped broker the deal said.

zqzqzqzqThe Syrian rebel al-Baraa brigade seized the Iranians in early August and initially threatened to kill them, saying they were members of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent to fight for Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Islamic Republic, one of Assad’s closest allies, denied this, saying they were Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims visiting shrines, and it asked Turkey and Qatar to use their connections with Syrian insurgents to help secure their release.

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| January 9, 2013
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World leaders ‘concerned’ over Syrian uranium stockpile

US & Mideast officials fear Iran may be trying take possession of uranium stockpile left over from Syria’s nuclear program.

By Ynet

 

Nuclear experts in the US and Middle East have raised concerns about the security of up to 50 metric tons of unenriched uranium in Syria, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.

Such a stockpile could be a vital resource to building a nuclear bomb and could have disastrous implications if seized by Iran.

נשיא איראן אחמדינג'אד עם אסד (ארכיון) (צילום: רויטרס)

Syria’s Assad with Iran’s Ahmadinejad. – Photo: Reuters

Not much is known about the Syrian nuclear program, and the country denied ever having had one. Continue Reading »

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| January 9, 2013
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Palestinian camp in Damascus comes under fire

Five killed in Yarmouk camp, Palestinian representatives call for immediate cease-fire.

By the Associated Press

 

Representatives of Palestinian factions in Syria are calling for an immediate cease-fire after fighting flared at a refugee camp in Damascus.

מגייסים פלסטינים לשורותיהם ומחמשים אותם. מורדים סורים (צילום: רויטרס)

Syrian rebels enlisting Palestinians – Photo: Reuters

Activists say five people were killed in the Yarmouk camp Tuesday, including four who died when a shell struck their street and a fifth shot by a sniper.

The fighting pits gunmen loyal to President Bashar Assad against rebels, who now control much of the camp.

The camp was the scene of heavy clashes in the past, but the battles subsided last month after rebels battled the loyalists to a stalemate. Continue Reading »

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| January 8, 2013
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Politician’s wife from Gaza: We must teach our kids to kill & die

A woman’s role is no less important than a man’s in “Palestine” because it is the mother who “instills in her children the love of Jihad & martyrdom for the sake of Allah.”

By Israel Today Staff

 

The wife of a Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament recently demonstrated the stark difference between the dominant values in Israeli Jewish society that those that have sadly taken hold in much of Palestinian society.

In a December 2 interview with Al-Aqsa TV, Umm Osama, wife of Hamas lawmaker Khalil Al-Hayya, stated that a woman’s role is no less important than a man’s in “Palestine” because it is the mother who “instills in her children the love of Jihad and martyrdom for the sake of Allah.” Continue Reading »

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| January 8, 2013
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State of Palestine not to be written on ID or Passports

Declaration of Palestinian ‘State’ is one thing, but Mahmoud Abbas refrains from issuing new passports or IDs fearing Israeli retaliation

Associated Press

 

With UN recognition of a Palestinian state in his pocket, President Mahmoud Abbas wants official documents to carry a new emblem: “State of Palestine.”

But scrapping the old “Palestinian Authority” logo is as far as Abbas is willing to go in provoking Israel. He is not rushing to change passports and ID cards Palestinians need to pass through Israeli crossings.

“At the end of the day, the Palestinian Authority won’t cause trouble for its people,” Nour Odeh, a spokeswoman for Abbas’ self-rule government, said of the need for caution. Continue Reading »

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| January 8, 2013
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Report: Obama Listened to Israel which Avoided Chemical War within Syria

Israeli surveillance identified Syria’s army preparing chemical bombs. Israel alerted the White House, who gained Russian support to stop Assad.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

Israeli surveillance that spotted Syria preparing chemical bombs to load them on airplanes spurred President Barack Obama into action to win rare support from Russia to stop the plan, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The report follows bits of information published over the past several weeks, according to which Syrian soldiers were spotted mixing chemicals, but details of Israeli surveillance and American involvement were not previously disclosed.

IDF commanders informed Washington in November, according to the newspaper, after satellite imagery showed Syrian soldiers filling 500-pound bombs with a substance that may have been the deadly “sarin” nerve gas. Continue Reading »

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| January 7, 2013
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Egyptian Security foiled car bombing on Gaza border

Egyptian intelligence report that they were able to thwart terror attack at Rafah border crossing.

Explosives, RPG, and grenades were found at scene

By Elior Levy, AP

 

A senior Egyptian intelligence official in northern Sinai said Monday the the military foiled an attempted car bombing near a church and a military camp along the Egypt-Gaza border.

Egyptian security forces in Sinai – Photo: AFP

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Egyptian intelligence received word that militants were preparing a car bomb attack meant to target a military base in a deserted part of Rafah, which borders Gaza. Continue Reading »

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| January 7, 2013
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Senior Investigator Bumped from Bulgaria Bombing Probe

After sensitive information was revealed to the public, Bulgarian officials removed a senior detective from the investigation that killed five Israelis in Burgas.

By Rachel Hirshfeld

 

Bulgarian officials have removed a senior investigator from a probe into a tourist bus bomb attack that killed five Israelis, after she revealed sensitive information to the media.

The state-run news agency BTA reported Monday that Stanelia Karadzhova, head of the regional investigation unit in Burgas, the location where last July’s attack took place, had been taken off the case because “she spoke to the media without clearing her statement with the supervising prosecutor.” Continue Reading »

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| January 7, 2013
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Israeli media banned from Gaza

The Hamas Terrorist group controlling Strip says Israeli media outlets are portraying Palestinians in the strip in negative way.

By jn1.tv

 

VIDEO – Hamas has announced a ban on Israeli media from working inside the Gaza Strip, claiming that media outlets portray Palestinians in a negative way.

Israeli media rely on local Palestinians or foreign media for reports from Gaza (archives) Photo: AFP

Israel tightened its blockade and banned Israeli journalists from entering Gaza in 2006 after Hamas, an Islamist group that refuses to recognize the Jewish state, took power of the enclave.

Israeli media rely on local Palestinians or foreign media outlets for reports from inside the battle-torn coastal strip. Continue Reading »

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| January 7, 2013
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Iran Claims Turkey’s Request for Patriots Is Meant to Protect Israel

Tehran charges Turkey’s deployment of Patriot missiles in is strategically designed to protect Israel from Iranian threats.

By Elad Benari

 

The deployment of Patriot missiles in Turkey is designed to protect Israel from Iranian threats, Iran charged on Sunday, according to the Turkish daily Hurriyet.

Patriot missile

Patriot missile – AFP photo

Speaking to Lebanon’s Al-Manar TV station, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as having said the missiles were “placed by NATO and the West to protect Israel” against possible incoming Iranian missiles.

Iran believes Turkey would not permit its airspace to be used in an attack on the Islamic Republic, Mehmanparast said, but added that the control of the Patriots was not in the hands of Turkish authorities. Continue Reading »

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| January 6, 2013
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Palestinian PM angry at Arab ‘donors’

 

‘Palestine’ PM Fayyad accuses Arab states of failing to uphold their promises of cash support, says his government close to being ‘ completely incapacitated’

Associated Press

 

The Palestinian self-rule government is close to being “completely incapacitated,” largely because Arab countries haven’t delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in promised aid, the Palestinian prime minister said in an interview Sunday.

Salam Fayyad – Photo: Noam Moskowitz

If allowed to continue, the Palestinian Authority’s unprecedented financial crisis will quickly double the number of Palestinian poor to 50 percent of a population of roughly 4 million, Salam Fayyad told The Associated Press. Continue Reading »

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| January 6, 2013
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Netanyahu promises construction of fortified fence along Syria-Israel border

Prime Minister Netanyahu expresses concerns that Syrian violence may spill over, or worse, that the Assad regime will fall and be replaced by Islamic extremists armed with chemical weapons.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Sunday to build a fortified fence along the frontier with Syria, warning that radical Islamist forces have taken over the area.

The Israel-Syria border.

The Israel-Syria border. – Photo by Yaron Kaminsky

Israel has largely stayed out of the civil war that has engulfed Syria and killed more than 60,000 people, but it is concerned that violence could spill over into Israel.

Israel worries that Syrian President Bashar Assad might try to draw Israel into the fighting as a distraction if his situation becomes desperate. Continue Reading »

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| January 6, 2013
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Op-Ed: Arab Christians, You’re Next

Arab Christians are cosying up to the Muslims, but it won’t do them any good, since they’re also on the ‘Jihad list’. This includes a noted Palestinian Christian Arab columnist who has revealed his true colors in an article for the Arab media.

By Giulio Meotti

 
Given the common status as minorities within an overwhelmingly Islamic region, you might expect Christian Arabs to find common cause with Jews and Israel. But it seems that the traditional hatred of Eastern Christianity for Judaism has closed off that option.

First the Saturday people then the Sunday People

The proof is Ray Hanania, a regular columnist for the Jerusalem Post and other publications, a well known Arab Christian, considered by them to be a “moderate Palestinian”. Continue Reading »

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| January 6, 2013
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‘Palestine’ says “NO!” to UNRWA request to accept Syrian Palestinian refugees

Palestinians don’t want Palestinian refugees as Gaza & Ramallah both refuse UNRWA’s request to ‘help their brothers’.

Past calls to come to ‘Palestine’ were empty promises of help; were only made to rattle Israel.

By Aviel Schneider

 

The Palestinian governments in Gaza (Hamas) and the so-called “West Bank” (Mahmoud Abbas) have refused to take Palestinian refugees from war-ridden Syria.

Recently, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which was created to handle the issue of Palestinian Arab refugees, asked the Palestinian governments to allow their brothers from Syria to enter.

Palestinian Arabs in Syria have had to flee their refugee camps under attack from Syrian rebels who view the Palestinians as supporters of dictator Bashar Assad. Continue Reading »

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