Archive for Mid-East News

| February 10, 2015
One comment

Lebanese Shi’ite cleric holds out olive branch to Jews, Christians on Facebook in peace-seeking campaign

 

Lebanese cleric, Sayyed Muhammad Ali Husseini, preaches inter-faith messages of tolerance in part of a larger social media campaign for peace & co-existence in his multilingual Facebook messages.

By By TAMARA ZIEVE

 

A Shi’ite Lebanese cleric has extended an olive branch to Jewish and Christian leaders around the world with a message of non-violence.

Sayyed Muhammad Ali Husseini – Photo: Facebook

Sayyed Muhammad Ali Husseini, secretary general of the Arabic Islamic Council, took to Facebook on Sunday to warn of the dangers of religious extremism.

“We call on rabbis, priests, cardinals and Muslim clerics, Sunni and Shia, to play down the verses, the scriptures, the traditions and the religious texts that call for violence, because they are more dangerous than nuclear weapons,” he wrote at the beginning of a long message. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| February 9, 2015
No comments

Washington Post echos Natanyahu’s concerns over Iran deal without mentioning him once

Washington Post editorial raises 3 main concerns over potential nuclear deal with Iran.
• 2 are: The Obama administration would avoid confronting Iran & the White House hinted that they would implement future agreements without Congressional approval.

By Yoni Hersch

 

No deal has been signed between Iran and world powers yet, but the reports continuously leaking out of the negotiating rooms and the stern warnings being issued by Israel are making quite a few Americans wary of a possible bad deal. Over the weekend, the Washington Post ran an editorial titled “The emerging Iran nuclear deal raises major concerns” that leveled criticism at the conduct of the American administration. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| February 8, 2015
No comments

ISIS Suspected of Blowing Up a Hamas Official’s Car in Gaza

In this latest car-bombing, one in a series of explosions directed at Hamas & the PA, comes after a Hamas official reportedly criticized ISIS

By Ari Yashar

 

Islamic State (ISIS) has steadily been gaining hold in Gaza since taking part in last summer’s terror war on Israel, but an attack Friday indicates the terror group may have turned its sights on Hamas to vie for leadership of the coastal enclave.

Car explosion (illustration) – Thinkstock

The car of a Hamas official was detonated on Friday night, according to Al-Akhbar and other Arabic reports.

“Police have opened an investigation after a makeshift bomb blew up the car of Sheikh Sami Hams in Nuseirat refugee camp,” south of Gaza City, a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.While

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| February 6, 2015
No comments

Hell on Earth: A Punishment Totally Devoid of Ethical Limitations

Based on a deductive legal principle of Sharia law, & documented in early Islamic sources, the burning alive of a human being is a well known method of eliminating enemies.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar

 

Islamic State publicized a horrifying twenty minute video this week, the high point of which was the execution of a Jordanian pilot, Maaz al-Kassasbeh, by burning him alive. The film attempts to justify the punishment by describing Jordan’s part in the war against ISIS, using photos of ISIS dead, including women, children, men and mainly those burned to death.

Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh – Screenshot from Islamic State insurgents video

The rest of the film has the pilot describing the involvement of the air forces of Jordan, United Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco and United States and notes that American planes take off from Turkish bases. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| February 5, 2015
No comments

Hamas Leader Rallies Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria, to Attack Israel

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar seeks to rally Palestinian terrorists in Syria and Lebanon to ‘help liberate Palestine’ with calls to attack Israel.

By Tova Dvorin

 

A senior Hamas leader called Wednesday for the formation of Palestinian terrorist groups loyal to his Gaza-based Islamist movement in Lebanon and Syria for attacks on Israel.

Mahmud Zahar told reporters in the Gaza Strip that Lebanese and Syrian branches of the Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, should launch attacks on Israel “to help us liberate Palestine”.

He also denied “any interference” by Hamas in Egypt, which last month declared the Brigades a terrorist group and accused it of aiding a spate of militant attacks on security personnel in the restive Sinai Peninsula. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| February 2, 2015
No comments

Inspired by Charlie Hebdo, Iran to host competition for best Holocaust denial cartoon

An Iranian cultural center will reward a $12,000 prize to the artist who creates best cartoon satirizing the genocide of Jews , in ghoulish contest inspired by Charlie Hebdo images.

By Ynet

 

An Iranian cultural center announced a plan to hold a competition for Holocaust denial cartoons, in response to the massacre targeting the Charlie Hebdo magazine after it published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

The winning cartoon from 2006

Iran’s House of Cartoon and the Sarcheshmeh Cultural Complex organized the competition, according to the Independent, and invited participants to submit satirical drawings on the subject of Holocaust denial by the beginning of April. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| February 1, 2015
No comments

Egypt Disqualified by Hamas as Mediator After Court Rules Qassam Brigades Terrorist Group

Hamas spokesman attacks Egyptian decision to blacklist Qassam Brigades as terrorist organization, claiming the ruling only ‘serves the Zionist occupation’.

By Reuters

 

After an Egyptian court on Saturday banned the armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas and listed it as a terrorist organization, a source close to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said the decision ruled Egypt out as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.

Abbas and Sisi – Photo: AFP

Sisi said on Saturday that Egypt faces a tough, prolonged campaign against militancy. “(It) will be difficult, strong, evil, and will take a long time,” he said in comments broadcast on state television after meeting top military officers. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| January 31, 2015
No comments

Report: CIA assisted Mossad to assassinate Hezbollah’s mass-murderer, Imad Mughniyeh

Washington Post reports that the American spy agency carried out surveillance, helped design & build, then test the bomb that the Israelis later remotely detonated in the 2008 assassination.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

The targeted killing in 2008 of Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah’s international operations chief, was carried out by Mossad in cooperation the CIA, according to a report published Saturday by the Washington Post.

The vehicle in which the deadly bomb was hidden -Photo: AFP

A CIA team watched as Mughniyeh left a Damascus restaurant at night and walked towards a parked SUV, said the report. Mossad agents in Tel Aviv then remotely detonated a bomb hidden inside the vehicle, killing Mughniyeh. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| January 30, 2015
No comments

Nasrallah confirms Israeli Intel: Hezbollah, Iran open new front along Golan border

In a televised address in Lebanon, the Shi’ite terror chief, Hassan Nasrallah, enthusiastically praised the “fusion of Lebanese-Iranian blood on Syrian territory” in his effort to add another front in their jihad against Israel.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS

 

Hezbollah on Friday confirmed Israeli suspicions that it was establishing a greater military presence near the Syrian-Israeli frontier on the Golan Heights.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a rare public appearance in Beirut, November 3 – Photo: REUTERS

The Shi’ite group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, gave a televised address in Lebanon in which he extolled the “fusion of Lebanese-Iranian blood on Syrian territory.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| January 30, 2015
No comments

Lebanon to lodge complaint at UN over Israel’s retaliatory shelling

Officials distance the government from Hezbollah’s actions, explaining ‘what Hezbollah declares or does only represents itself as a political party, and they do not represent the Lebanese gov’t’.

By Ynetnews

 

Lebanon will lodge a complaint with the United Nations against Israel over recent IDF border shelling in response to a deadly Hezbollah ambush that killed 2 soldiers, Lebanese paper The Daily Star reported on Friday.

IDF shelling south Lebanon – Photo: Reuters

Two IDF soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded in the Wednesday attack, when Hezbollah launched an anti-tank missile at an IDF convoy traveling near the Israe-Lebanon border. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| January 30, 2015
No comments

Sweden Invites Abbas in Official ‘Royal’ State Visit After ‘Palestine’ Recognition

Stockholm officially invites PA President Abbas despite the fact that ‘Palestine’ doesn’t yet exist.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will visit Stockholm next month after Sweden became the first major state of the European Union to recognize the PA as “Palestine,” the Swedish government announced Friday.

Mahmoud Abbas – Photo: Reuters

“The visit of president Abbas, by invitation from the prime minister, is confirmed for February 10,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Ulla Jacobson told AFP. “He will also meet the foreign minister, the king and the archbishop.”

She said the agenda would include the Arab-Israeli peace process and “what Sweden can offer after (its) recognition” of “Palestine” in October.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| January 29, 2015
No comments

Hezbollah under intense criticism in Lebanon

Senior Lebanese government officials claim Nasrallah is dragging the country into another war in Israel.
• March 14 Alliance leader:‘Nasrallah has no right to implicate the Lebanese people in his battle with Israel.’

By Roi Kais

 

While some in Tripoli and in Beirut’s Dahieh suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold, fired shots of jubilation into the air, celebrating Hezbollah’s Wednesday attack on Mt. Dov, senior officials in Lebanon were quick to accuse Hassan Nasrallah’s organization of trying to drag the country into another war with Israel.

Celebrations of the attack in Beirut’s Dahieh suburb – Photo: Reuters

“Where is the interest of Lebanon if it gets dragged into a war with Israel, when Israel is the one that needs it?” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| January 27, 2015
No comments

Iranian General: Iran’s Goal Still Remains Israel’s Total Annihilation

 

Days before Israeli PM Netanyahu is to address the U.S. Congress, a top Iranian general says his country’s military goals still include Israel’s complete destruction.

By Israel Today Staff

 

A top Iranian general last week reiterated that one of the Islamic Republic’s chief military goals remains the “full obliteration” of the Jewish State of Israel, according to Iran’s state-run PRESSTV.

Iranian general – Source: Israel Today

Jafari was responding to last week’s assassination of another Iranian general, Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, who was killed when Israel targeted Hezbollah field commander Jihad Mughniyeh near the border of the Golan Heights.

Iran has long supported, facilitated and directed Hezbollah terrorism against Israel.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| January 25, 2015
No comments

Analysis: Secret Israel-Saudi ties likely to continue after King Abdullah’s death

 

Expert on Saudi foreign policy: “The changes that the Mid-East has experienced in recent years have created a set of joint interests between the 2 countries.”

By ARIEL ZILBER

 

The tacit security and intelligence cooperation that has come to characterize Israel’s clandestine relationship with Saudi Arabia is likely to remain intact even as the House of Saud undergoes a transition of power following Thursday’s passing of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud.

POTUS Obama bows to Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (2nd R) as French President Nicolas Sarkozy (3rd R) and South Korean President Lee Myung -Bak (L) look on before a family picture with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II (not pictured) at Buckingham Palace, in London – AFPGetty Images

“The changes that the Middle East has experienced in recent years have created a set of joint interests between the two countries,” said Dr. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
| January 24, 2015
No comments

VIDEO: Hezbollah caught on film operating in Syrian Golan

Watch Shiite terrorist group with Syrian army in planned ambush on Jabhat al-Nusra fighters. Lebanese media outlets release rare video contradicting Hezbollah leader’s denial of operating in Golan. 

By Roi Kais

 

Less than a week after a strike attributed to Israel killed senior Hezbollah officers, a Lebanese television channel published on Saturday an unusual video allegedly showing cooperation between the Syrian military and the Lebanese terror group.

Hezbollah ambush of al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters – Screenshot: Facebook

The combined forces are seen setting an ambush for Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria. According to media reports, some 30 rebel fighters were killed and dozens wounded in the incident. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »