Archive for Mid-East News

| November 9, 2017
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UNCONFIRMED: Summoned to Riyadh, King Salman exhorted Abbas to accept US peace plan

Sources in Saudi Arabia say Abbas was summoned to fly with haste to meet with Saudi King & Crown Prince on Sunday to agree to Trump’s peace deal that’s supported by the Palestinian’s greatest benefactors, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt.

By Mohammad Al-Kassim

 

The Trump administration’s plan to revive the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks involves convincing Israel to impose a new settlement-building freeze and generous financial aid from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a source with direct knowledge of a meeting between Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Wednesday. Continue Reading »

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| November 7, 2017
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Iran appeals to Europe to keep Nuclear Deal for economic benefits for all involved

European leaders quietly say they prefer keeping accord, not because it offered Iran an economic lifeline, but because it opened a vast range of mega-investment opportunities for European countries.

ByREUTERS

 

PARIS – Europe must make clear how it will react if the United States pulls out of the multinational nuclear deal with Iran and do more to encourage international banks to return to the country, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.

Last month, US President Donald Trump broke ranks with European allies Russia and China by refusing to re-certify Iran’s compliance with its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, reached during Barack Obama’s tenure. Continue Reading »

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| November 3, 2017
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PA Official: Hamas controls Gaza, Police swapped blue Hamas uniforms for PA uniforms

On Fatah-Hamas reconciliation in Gaza, Palestinian Authority official says “We couldn’t even arrange a safe trip for Abbas to Gaza….In actuality, Hamas is in control on the ground in Gaza…It is not in our interest or desire to prevent Hamas from continuing its security-related activity in the Gaza Strip.”
• Jordanian-Palestinian communication nearly severed over Fatah-Hamas reconciliation.

Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff

 

The Palestinian Authority does not have the ability to prevent Hamas or any of the other Gaza Strip-based terrorist groups from continuing to dig terror tunnels, senior PA officials told Israel Hayom on Thursday.

One senior PA official close to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Israel Hayom that the “Palestinian reconciliation and the transfer of control [in Gaza] are on the declarative level only. Continue Reading »

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| October 31, 2017
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Iraq outlaws displaying Israeli flags after Jerusalem’s support for Kurdish independence

Although denied by Jerusalem, Iraq’s central government accused Israel of orchestrating the Kurdish vote for their independence, so the government’s decision to criminalize all who raise the Israeli flag in public comes as no surprise.

By i24NEWS

 

Iraq’s parliament in Baghdad voted on Tuesday to criminalize flying the Israeli flag in the country, after they appeared at several Kurdish rallies in the lead up and aftermath of a banned independence referendum last month.

“The House of Representatives voted during its regular session, today, a decision to criminalize all who raise the flag of the Zionist entity in the public circles,” a parliamentary source told the Alsumaria News outlet. Continue Reading »

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| October 30, 2017
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REPORT: Abbas claims only Hamas officials who openly accept Israel will become ministers

PA autocrat Mahmoud Abbas claimed in a HAARETZ report that he won’t appoint any Hamas ministers to the new unity government unless they first publicly recognize the State of Israel.

By Elad Benari

 

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday claimed he would not appoint to the Palestinian unity government ministers from Hamas who will not openly and publicly recognize the State of Israel, Haaretz reports.

Hamas deputy leader, sanctioned terrorist Salah Al-Aruri, declared that the group would never agree to give up the armed struggle against “the Zionist regime”. – YouTube screenshot

Abbas’s comments were made during a meeting he held in his headquarters in Ramallah with former Knesset members from the so-called “Parliament of Peace Forum”: former Labor chairman Amram Mitzna, former ministers Ophir Pines-Paz and Raleb Majadele, and former MKs Colette Avital and Taleb el-Sana. Continue Reading »

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| October 29, 2017
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UNRWA finds another Hamas terror-tunnel beneath Gaza’s UN school

First, plagued with having UNRWA schools used to store Hamas rockets during the summer months, now, for the second time this year, a Hamas terror-tunnel was discovered beneath another UN educational institution in Gaza.
– UNRWA statement: “The presence of the tunnel underneath an UNRWA facility,” which retains immunity under international law, “is unacceptable and places the children and staff in danger” (by nullifying its immunity status when firing missiles at Israel).

By Elior Levy

 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) discovered two weeks ago a Hamas attack tunnel underneath one of its schools in Gaza. Continue Reading »

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| October 29, 2017
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Deprived of National Anthem & Flag, Israel brings in 2 more medals in Abu Dhabi


Raising number to five medals at Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, Or Sasson and Peter Paltchik win bronze medals in the over 100 kg &  under 100 kg men’s, respectively.

By i24NEWS

 

Israel racked up two bronze medals on Saturday in this year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Slam competition, bringing its total number of medals in the tournament to five.

Egyptian judoka Islam el-Shehaby refuses to shake hand of Israeli, Or Sasson after win at the Rio 2016 Olympics – Screenshot: YouTube

Israeli Olympian Or Sasson won the bronze medal for men over 100 kilograms after beating Belgium’s Benjamin Harmegnies. In the men’s under 100 kilograms group, Israel’s Peter Paltchik won the bronze after defeating Hungary’s Miklós Cirjenics. Continue Reading »

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| October 27, 2017
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Gaza’s Hamas security commander escapes assassination attempt

After leaving Friday prayers at a Gaza mosque, Tawfiq Abu Naim, Hamas security commander, was rushed to hospital after his car exploded at the hands of masked Palestinian terrorists.

By Elior Levy

 

Commander of Hamas’s internal security forces in Gaza, Tawfiq Abu Naim was lightly wounded Friday afternoon after a group of masked men shot at him in what appeared to be an assassination attempt.

The men reportedly shot at Naim as he was leaving Friday prayers in a mosque in Nuseirat Camp.After sustaining his injuries, he was evacuated to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. A few other men were also injured in the incident. Continue Reading »

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| October 27, 2017
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Israel’s Intelligence Minister Katz: IDF will stop Iran from acquiring nukes

In Tokyo promoting a tougher Iran nuclear deal, Israel’s Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz says that if the U.S. is unable to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Jerusalem will take action “by itself.”
• Israel’s gov’t won’t allow Iran turn Syria into its military base, he added.

Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Israel is willing to resort to military action to ensure Iran never acquires nuclear weapons, Israel’s intelligence minister said on Thursday in Japan where he is drumming up support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s tougher line on Tehran.

On. Oct. 13, Trump said he would not certify that Iran is complying with an agreement on curtailing its nuclear program, signed by predecessor Barack Obama, opening a 60-day window for Congress to reimpose sanctions. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| October 27, 2017
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Stripped of Flag & Anthem, Tal Flicker wins Gold, sings Hatikvah under noise to silence him

Israeli judoka Tal Flicker wins the under-66 kg category competition at the Abu Dhabi Judo Grand Slam on Thursday, but under the flag of the International Judo Federation, he sang the Hatikvah, while IJF anthem was loudly played.

By ALLON SINAI

 

Israeli judoka Tal Flicker scaled the top of the podium and received his gold medal on Thursday, but the Israel national anthem was not played and the blue-and-white flag was not raised in Abu Dhabi.

The 25-year-old won the under-66 kilogram category competition at the Abu Dhabi judo Grand Slam on Thursday, but he had to do so under the flag of the International Judo Federation (IJF), with the event organizers refusing to allow Israelis to compete under their country’s flag. Continue Reading »

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| October 26, 2017
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Jordan, Italy, France, Spain & Palestinians in Israel for regional emergency exercise

Israel hosts massive joint emergency response exercise including professional teams from Israel, Jordan, Spain, Italy, France and the Palestinian Authority, participating in multiple-faceted drills of extreme-case scenarios inflicting havoc on a regional scale.

By Lilach Shoval, Itsik Saban and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Some 400 firefighters from five countries arrived in Israel this week to participate in a massive regional emergency exercise.

Emergency response teams from Israel, Jordan, Italy, France and Spain, as well as teams from the Palestinian Authority, came together Tuesday to drill an extreme-case scenario in which a huge wildfire burns its way from country to country, wreaking havoc on a regional scale. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| October 22, 2017
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Iran praises Hamas for refusing to end armed attacks on Israel

Although, it will never happen, ‘officially’ both the US & Israel released statements that they expect the new Palestinian unity gov’t to commit to disarming the radical Islamic group, Hamas.

By i24NEWS

 

Top aide to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei applauded Hamas’ refusal to lay down its arms and abandon its struggle against Israel during meetings with a visiting delegation from the Islamist movement in Tehran on Saturday.

Ali Khamenei with Hamas leader Ismail Haniya

“We congratulate you for declaring that you will not set your weapons aside and for describing it as your red line,” Khamenei’s international affairs adviser Ali Akbar Velayati was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency. Continue Reading »

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| October 22, 2017
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Palestinian city dedicates Saddam Hussein memorial as “emblem of heroism, honor”

The tawdry monument dedicated to the mass murderer in the Palestinian town of Qalqilya was erected to honor “the glorious deeds of the martyr Saddam Hussein” as “an emblem of heroism, honor, originality and defiance,” according to Palestinian leaders.

By Tal Polon

 

The city of Qalqilya, under PA jurisdiction, has recently erected a memorial and named a street in honor of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, MEMRI reported. Arab leaders expressed appreciation for Hussein at the dedication ceremony, hailing him as “an emblem of heroism, honor, originality and defiance.”

The monument bears the slogan “Arab Palestine from the River to the Sea.”

Continue Reading »
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| October 19, 2017
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REPORT: Iran procurement activities include nuclear warhead components for ballistic missile

German security official: “Despite the nuclear agreement [lead by Obama in July 2015], Iran has not given up its illegal activities in Germany,” by pursuing to acquire banned components to construct nuclear warheads for their ongoing ballistic missile program.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

 

German security officials have accused the Iranian regime of pursuing its goal to build missiles armed with nuclear warheads, the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegelreported.

“Despite the nuclear agreement [reached with world powers in July 2015], Iran has not given up its illegal activities in Germany. The mullah regime also made efforts this year to obtain material from [German] firms for its nuclear program and the construction of missiles, said security sources,” Der Tagesspiegel wrote on Friday. Continue Reading »

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| October 16, 2017
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Former US Senator & 2000 Dem VP nominee Joseph Lieberman lauds Trump’s Iran decision

WATCH: The 2000 Democratic Vice Presidential candidate and staunch JCPOA opponent, Joe Lieberman, praised President Trump’s refusal to certify the Iranian compliance as the “the right decision and made it in the right way.”

By David Rosenberg

 

Former Connecticut Senator and 2000 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman praised President Donald Trump’s announcement Friday that he would not recertify Iranian compliance with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.

The president is required by law to report to Congress every 90 days on Iran’s compliance – or lack thereof – with the terms of the JCPOA. Continue Reading »

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