Archive for Mid-East News

Lebanon rejects Israel’s Defense Minister’s claim Hezbollah controls Lebanese army

After Israel’s DM Lieberman alleged how Lebanon’s army is an “integral part of Hezbollah,” and now both would be legitimate strategic targets in the next war with Hezbollah, a Lebanese military official impugned Lieberman’s allegation, asserting that country’s army is totally independent, subordinate to the government alone.

By Lilach Shoval, News Agencies & Israel Hayom Staff

 

A day after Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused the Lebanese militia Hezbollah of controlling the Lebanese army, warning that both would be in Israel’s crosshairs in any future war, a Lebanese military official rejected the allegation Wednesday, saying that the Lebanese army is “fully independent and subject only to the authority of the political government.” Continue Reading »

Egypt expands buffer zone to 1.5 km wide along border with Gaza

Egyptian military uses bulldozers to destroy an additional 140 homes along its unsecured border with Gaza to expand its buffer zone once again, this time in a coordinated effort with Hamas to prevent illicit weapons, ISIS and other militants from covertly crossing the border.

By The Associated Press

 

Egypt’s military has bulldozed at least 140 homes and more than 200 acres along the Gaza Strip border, expanding a buffer zone in an effort to cut off the flow of weapons and militants.

The governor of Northern Sinai province, Maj. Gen. Abdel-Fatah Harhour, told The Associated Press late Monday that the military began a new phase in clearing the zone, which is 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) wide and 10 kilometers (6 miles) long. Continue Reading »

Israel’s PM: Palestinian reconciliation without Hamas acceptance of Israel is ‘bogus’

A pragmatic Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu opines, “Whoever wants to make such a reconciliation must know our terms are clear: recognizing the State of Israel, disbanding Hamas’ military arm and severing ties with Iran, which calls for our destruction.”
• PA rebuttal: ‘Israel wants to perpetuate the conflict because it obstructs establishing a Palestinian state.’

By Shlomo Cesana, Daniel Siryoti, Mati Tuchfeld, Adi Hashmonai, Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed on Tuesday that Israel would not deal with a Palestinian government that included Hamas if it maintained its anti-Israel stance and remained committed to terrorism. Continue Reading »

Interview with ‘Son of Hamas,’ after shocking the Palestinian delegation, and UNHRC

In an exclusive interview with Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, Arutz Sheva reports reaction from Mosab Hassan Yousef, whose video speech at the UNHRC went viral, after stunning the UN members with his blunt, non-PC speech.

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld

 

“Hamas, which I know well, is an ideological political organization that views extreme violence as a means to achieve its political ends. In the 21st century an individual or group that tries to achieve its goals by violent means should not be legitimized by anybody. In my definition, Hamas is a terror organization.

Palestinian UN delegation stunned during speech by Mosab Hassan Yousef at UNHRC – Screenshot: UN Watch/YouTube

“I have seen how radically different the behavior of democratic Israel is from that of Hamas and Fatah. Continue Reading »

Palestinian autocrat Abbas admits in interview statehood unlikely ‘any time soon’

Ignoring the fact that PA leadership is backed by less than 50% of his people, Abbas blamed Israel for the inability to reach independence, just after admitting that the brutal violence & chaos that characterizes Palestinian society is at fault.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas admitted on Monday that an independent Palestinian state wouldn’t be established any time soon.

He then predictably blamed Israel for that situation, just after he had all but acknowledged that the Palestinians and their chaotic, violent society were holding up the process.

Hamas extrajudicial sentencing: Gazan found guilty of ‘collaborating with Israel’ is dragged through the streets of Gaza with cheers and celebratory shooting into the air.

Continue Reading »

Palestinian Authority autocrat Mahmoud Abbas demands Hamas surrenders all weapons

In the decade since Hamas expelled the PA from Gaza in a violent political coup, all previous reconciliation attempts between Abbas’s Fatah party and Hamas failed to reach an agreement over Hamas’ position to remain armed and independent, like ‘Hezbollah in Lebanon.’

By ADAM RASGON

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday said he would not accept a scenario in the Gaza Strip, in which Hamas’s armed wing would be able to hold onto its weapons.

PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah – Photo: Wikimedia

Abbas’s comments came several hours after PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Hamas Politburo Chairman Ismail Haniyeh met in Gaza in a bid to start work on ending the decade-long territorial division between the West Bank and Gaza. Continue Reading »

Palestinians joined Interpol to incarcerate Mahmoud Abbas’ only serious rival

According to a senior PA official, the main reason for joining Interpol, was to have Mohammed Dahlan arrested.
– According to Dahlan, PA autocrat Abbas is worried that Dahlan intends to take his position as head of the Palestinian Authority, whose mandate actually ended in 2009.

By Daniel Siryoti

 

Palestinian media reported over the weekend that the Palestinian Authority, on the heels of being accepted as a member state to the international police agency Interpol, will pursue arrest warrants against former high-ranking Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan and several of his associates.

A senior PA official was quoted as saying that “Dahlan and his associates Mohammad Rashid and Walid Najab will be placed on our Interpol list of fugitives. Continue Reading »

Erdogan threatens Israel, accusing Mossad behind Kurdish independence vote

Because many Kurds waved Israeli flags during their referendum for independence, Turkey’s strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the Mossad security service as being responsible for the Kurd’s seeking independence and their subsequent vote last week.

By Chana Roberts

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday evening blamed Israel’s Mossad for Iraqi Kurdistan’s decision to become independent.

Iraqi Kurds on Tuesday night declared victory in the independence referendum held Monday.

Kurdistan’s futire border would be the area of their red, white & green national flag

According to Erdogan, the fact that the Kurds flew Israeli flags during their celebrations is proof of Israeli involvement. Continue Reading »

PLO gorgon wants ICC investigate Israel on ‘Illegal Jewish Settlements’ policy

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi told an Arab news service that the PLO decided to submit an official request to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, to investigate “illegal Israeli settlement activity” and Israel’s “ongoing war crime” of “ethnic cleansing and racial segregation.”

By Elad Benari

 

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has decided to submit an official request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate what it calls “illegal Israeli settlement activity”, PLO Executive Committee member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi told the Ma’an news agency.

Ashrawi told the news agency that the committee had made the decision to move forward with submitting an official investigation request to the ICC, which is based in The Hague. Continue Reading »

Hamas Sentences Female Journalist in Absentia for Exposing Common Corruption in Gaza & PA

Hajer Harb, a female Palestinian journalist who is currently receiving medical treatment in Jordan for cancer, was found guilty and sentenced in absentia by a Hamas court for exposing a corrupt health care system in Gaza and under Abbas’ PA, where patients are extorted if they seek better treatment.

 

A Palestinian journalist who exposed corruption in the Gaza Strip was prosecuted by Hamas, the terrorist group that governs the enclave, veteran Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh reported Monday.

Palestinian journalist, Hajer Harb reporting from a Hamas training center in Gaza. – Screenshot: Hager Press/YouTube

In June 2016, Hajer Harb reported that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority extorted Palestinians seeking medical care in Israel, Europe and elsewhere in the Arab world. Continue Reading »

Abbas’ 40 minute tirade at UN: Israeli ‘occupation’ can’t continue

PA autocrat says UN bears a legal, political, moral and humanitarian obligation to end Israeli “occupation”, urges the UN to take steps to impose peace on Israel, accept the Palestinians as owners of the land.

By Elad Benari

 

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday used his speech at the UN General Assembly to attack Israel, as he has done in past speeches as well.

In his remarks, Abbas claimed that Israel is evading its responsibility to end its “occupation of Palestine”.

“While we call to end the occupation, Israel incites and pretends there’s no Palestinian partner for peace,” Abbas charged, ignoring the fact that he has continuously rejected invitations from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to sit down for direct talks. Continue Reading »

Analysis: Hamas’ apparent capitulation to Abbas has him maneuvered into a corner

In Hamas’ decision to dismantle their ‘administrative control’ in Gaza, the radical Islamic movement has moved the ball into Abbas’s court. The PA leader’s refusal to end the sanctions he imposed on the costal enclave’s population 5 months ago would portray the Palestinian autocrat in an even more dictatorial role, especially vis-à-vis Egypt, since they brokered Hamas’ surprise decision.

Elior Levy

 

Since he began imposing sanctions on the Gaza Strip five months ago, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas repeatedly declared that dismantling the Gaza Strip’s administrative committee would be the only way to end the sanctions and ease the pressure on Hamas. Continue Reading »

Iraqi vice-president warns: Independent Kurdistan will be a ‘second Israel’

After the Jewish State became the only country to support a Kurdish referendum for independence in northern Iraq, Vice President Nuri al-Maliki’s office, released a statement,  “We will not allow the creation of a second Israel, in the north of Iraq.”

By AFP

 

An Iraqi vice president warned Sunday that Baghdad would not tolerate the creation of “a second Israel” after the Jewish state became the only country to support a planned Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq.

Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad 2009 – Wikimedia

The leaders of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan must “call off the (September 25) referendum that is contrary to the constitution and does not serve the general interests of the Iraqi people, not even the particular interests of the Kurds”, said Vice President Nuri al-Maliki. Continue Reading »

Bahrain King decrees visits to Israel permissible, denounces Arab boycott

The king of the Persian Gulf state, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, announced to Rabbi Abraham Cooper, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, that his subjects are now free to visit the Jewish state, then went further by calling for the end of the Arab boycott of Israel.

By TOM TUGEND

 

LOS ANGELES – Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa last week denounced the Arab boycott of Israel and said his subjects are free to visit the Jewish state. The head of the Persian Gulf country, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, made the statements to Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, at a multi-denominational event at the center to sign and support a declaration denouncing religious hatred and violence. Continue Reading »

Two Hamas terrorists died in separate tunnel collapses in Gaza

According to an AFP report, a Hamas terrorist died in a collapsed tunnel in Gaza City and another Hamas terrorist in Khan Yunis was also killed when the tunnel he was in collapsed.

By Elad Benari, Canada,

 

Two Hamas terrorists died in separate tunnel collapses in Gaza overnight Thursday, the group said on Friday, according to AFP.

Khalil al-Dimyati, 32, and Yusef Abu Abed, 22, were killed after two “resistance tunnels” collapsed, Hamas said, referring to tunnels used for military purposes.

A Hamas terror-tunnel leading from Gaza to Israel – Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

It did provide details of the locations or causes of the collapses, but confirmed the two men were members of Hamas’s armed wing. Continue Reading »