EU censures Israel for advancing death penalty for terrorists bill in Knesset

Hours after the Knesset passed first vote in favor of a bill alleviating requirements for imposing death penalty on convicted terrorist murderers, the European Union jumps to criticize Israel’s legislative decision as ‘inhuman’ punishment.’

By David Rosenberg

 

The European Union slammed Israel Wednesday, hours after a bill aimed at encouraging prosecutors to seek the death penalty for terrorist murderers passed its first hurdle in the Knesset.

The Knesset, located in Jerusalem, capital of Israel – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The Knesset voted 52 to 49 Wednesday in favor of a bill pushed by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party which would ease the conditions under which terrorists convicted of murder could be sentenced to death. Continue Reading »

Trump Tweets Palestinians to Kiss Their American Dollars Goodbye

@realDonaldTrump “We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel.”

By Israel Today Staff

 

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that if the Palestinian Authority does not become more conciliatory in its approach to Israel, then it will no longer receive American financial aid.

Will $400 Million stop being sent each year to Palestinian despot, Abbas? – Photo: US Department of Justice

The Palestinian leadership has painted Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a major obstacle to peace, going so far as to reject any further American role in the peace process. Continue Reading »

#BDSfail: Beatles’ Ringo Starr to perform in Israel, June 2018

Mere days after New Zealand pop-star Lorde buckled under BDS pressure and ultimately canceled her Tel Aviv concert, Sir Ringo Starr announced his “All Starr” band will perform two shows in Tel Aviv on June 23 and 24.

By i24NEWS

 

Beatles drummer Ringo Starr will perform for the first time in Israel this summer, joined by his “All Starr” band, more than fifty years after the original plan for a Beatles concert fell through.

Starr with his All-Starr Band in Paris, 26 June 2011 – Photo: Wikimedia/Jean Fortunet

The 77 year-old rocker, who was inducted as a solo artist into the Rock &Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, will perform two concerts at the Menorah Mivtahim Arena in Tel Aviv on June 23 and 24 as part of his “Give More Love” European tour. Continue Reading »

2,700 yr-old seal with, ‘Governor of Jerusalem’ found near Western Wall

Seal was discovered in Jerusalem’s Old City during excavation of First Temple era building near Western Wall Plaza.
• Israel Antiquities Authority says artifact was likely attached to shipment or sent as souvenir on behalf of the governor.

By Yori Yalon, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Israeli archaeologists revealed a 2,700-year-old clay seal impression that they said belonged to a biblical governor of Jerusalem.

The artifact, inscribed in an ancient Hebrew script as “belonging to the governor of the city,” was likely attached to a shipment or sent as a souvenir on behalf of the governor, the most prominent local position held in Jerusalem at the time, the Israel Antiquities Authority said. Continue Reading »

US Tells UN: No funds to UNRWA if Abbas refuses to negotiate peace with Israel

Although Abbas received kudos from Palestinians immediately after rebuffing President Trump, UNRAW, which aids millions of Palestinians in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, & Gaza, may withdraw their support from Abbas when free medical, education, and humanitarian assistance is cut off.
– US Amb. to the UN Nikki Haley, “We are trying to promote the peace process, but if that will not happen [due to Abbas’ intransigence], the president will not continue to fund it.”

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley threatened Tuesday to cut funding to UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency) until the Palestinians return to the negotiating table. Continue Reading »

Mid-East expert: “Palestinian national project stands on brink of collapse”

Middle East expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar says Arab world ‘sick of the Palestinians’ and tired of side-stepping their own national needs to maintain Palestinian demands to challenge Israel, even on fallacious claims.

By Tal Polon

 

Middle East expert and senior lecturer at Bar Ilan University, Arutz Sheva weekly columnist Dr. Mordechai Kedar says that the Palestinian Authority is losing support in the Arab world, claiming that former allies are growing “sick of the Palestinians,” as they find support for PA efforts against Israel contrary to their national self-interest.

Interviewed by Channel 20, Kedar says that the Arab world is increasingly impressed by “Israel’s internal stability, its democracy – which even allows all sorts of thugs to say they don’t want to enlist – and the fact that Israel is comprised 20% of Arabs, and not one of them is fleeing. Continue Reading »

Syriac Orthodox bishop in Jerusalem claims Palestinians sent ‘seductress’ to entrap him

Ever since Bishop Murad Severius sued the Palestinian Authority for fraud when they used forged papers in a land transaction where the properties did not actually exist, the Palestinians have accused him of selling land to Jews, arrested him, and now, trying to ruin his reputation with sexual allegations made by a woman who happens to be the wife of a Palestinian allegedly persecuting him.

By Yishai Porat

 

A Syriac Orthodox bishop based in Jerusalem has claimed the Palestinian Authority had sent a call girl to him in an attempt to entrap him.

Murad Severius, 51, was investigated by police after having been accused of committing sex crimes, but the case was closed two weeks ago due to the lack of evidence. Continue Reading »

REPORT: Washington OK’ed hit on an Iranian Revolutionary Guard General

In a report from a Kuwaiti newspaper, the US gave clearance to assassinate Qassem Soleiman, a top Iranian general who commands the IRG Quds Force.

By i24NEWS

 

A report in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida said that the United States gave clearance to assassinate Qassem Soleiman, the commander of the overseas branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Haaretz reported Monday.

RELATED:

Qasem Soleimani- commander of Quds Force of Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution – Photo: Wikimedia/sayyed shahab-o- din vajedi

The report, which was taken from a Kuwait newspaper,  comes amid massive waves of protests and acts of civil disobedience that are sweeping through the streets of Tehran and major cities across the Shiite republic. Continue Reading »

Israeli jets hit Hamas military compound in retaliation to rocket fired Monday evening

Holding Hamas accountable for all rocket attacks on Israel, IDF aircraft attacked a Hamas military compound in southern Gaza despite the rocket exploding in an open area, not causing injury or damage.

By Elad Benari

 

Israeli aircraft on Monday night attacked a military compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in southern Gaza, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

IDF retaliates after Gaza rocket explodes in Israel – Twitter

According to the statement, the airstrike was carried out in response to earlier rocket fire directed at Israel.

“The IDF considers the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for what is happening in the Gaza Strip,” it said. Continue Reading »

Israel’s border-fence 100% effective in preventing illegal migrants from entering Israel in 2017

Israel’s completed border fence successfully prevented migrants from entering Israel illegally in 2017, while gov’t data shows 4,012 illegal ‘residents’ left voluntarily.
• Cabinet to discuss the closing of the Negev’s Holot detention center, leaving held illegal migrants with two options: indefinite detention elsewhere or voluntary departure.

By Itsik Saban and Yori Yalon

 

Not one migrant entered Israel illegally in 2017, according to figures from the Border Crossings, Population and Immigration Administration. The figures mark a turning point in the fight against illegal immigration in the country.

According to the administration’s figures, 4,012 illegal residents – 3,332 of them citizens of African countries – voluntarily left Israel in 2017. Continue Reading »

17 yr-old Palestinian poster child indicted, with mom & cousin for assaulting soldiers

Ahed Tamimi, the 17 yr-old Palestinian blond, blue-eyed poster child, known for inciting violence with IDF soldiers ‘for the camera’, was charged with aggravated assault, incitement, hindering a soldier in the line of duty, threatening a soldier’s life and stone-throwing after attacking 2 IDF soldiers who refused to react to her vocal & physical abuse in Nabi Salih, along with her mother & cousin.

By Elisha Ben Kimon, Yoav Zitun

 

Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi, 17, and her mother Nariman were indicted on Monday for assaulting IDF soldiers in the West Bank village of Nabi Salih.

Ahed was charged with 12 different counts for six different incidents, including aggravated assault, hindering a soldier in the line of duty, incitement, threatening a soldier’s life and stone-throwing. Continue Reading »

Abbas returns to demanding pre-conditions, presents his ‘red lines’

Palestinian Authority (PA) autocrat Mahmoud Abbas, bypasses American and Saudi involvement, setting his demands for any agreement to end the Arab conflict with Israel.

By Dalit Halevi

 

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is also the leader of Fatah and of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), on Sunday delivered his annual speech marking the start of the “revolution” that began on January 1, 1965.

Both despots self proclaimed ‘Presidents for Life’ of Fatah, PLO and Palestinian Authority

In his speech, Abbas presented the following red lines:

  1. “There will be no solution except for one based on international resolutions, headed by the UN General Assembly Resolution 19/67, approved on November 29, 2012, UN Security Council Resolution 2334 of 2016, resolutions of the National Councils and the Arab Peace Initiative, all of which confirm the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders whose capital is east Al-Quds.”
Continue Reading »

Saudi Columnist Admits Trump’s Recognition of Israel’s Claims to Jerusalem Was Just

Leading Saudi intellectual calls on Arab world to abandon its political propaganda:
“Arab mentality must free itself from the heritage of Gamal Abdel Nasser and political Islam of both the Sunni and Shia sects, which has instilled for purely political interests the culture of hating Jews and denying their historic right in the region.”

By Israel Today Staff

 

While much of the Arab world predictably reacted with outrage to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a number of leading Arab intellectuals took a very different position.

Among them was Abdulhameed Hakeem, head of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Continue Reading »

Abbas to push for UN membership, recalls Palestinian envoy to Washington

Speaking from Ramallah on Sunday night, Palestinian autocrat Mahmud Abbas reveled his New Year plans of seeking full statehood membership in the UN, while cutting all ties with Washington, including a recall of their ambassador ‘for consultations’.

By i24NEWS – AFP

 

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has cut ties with Washington over its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but, popular as it is domestically, analysts question how long that tough line can last.

The Palestinians said Sunday they were recalling their envoy to the United States for consultations in a move that follows US President Donald Trump’s designation of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Continue Reading »

OECD Ranked Israel #11 on list of ‘World’s Happiest Countries’

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reports that 93% of Israelis say they are ‘happy’ or ‘very happy’ with their lives
• 30’s & 40’s year-olds are less happy
• Life expectancy for both Israeli men & women has increased by more than a decade since 1973.

By Zeev Klein

 

Israel just missed out on a place in the top 10 happiest countries on a list compiled by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and was ranked No. 11.

Friends enjoying Saturday night dinner & drinks, by the Hatzbani River in northern Israel – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

However, Israel still came out ahead of Germany, the U.S., Continue Reading »