Jimmy Carter: Seeking meeting with Netanyahu is waste of time

 

 

Speaking in Jerusalem, former US president Jimmy Carter on Saturday urged Israel to work toward a diplomatic resolution to the Palestinian conflict and end its military presence in the Palestinian territories.

Best of pals – Jimmy & Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza in 2009 – AFP

However, he sounded a less-than-optimistic note regarding the Israeli leadership’s commitment to these goals.

“We didn’t ask for any meeting with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu or his cabinet we have never met in the past and this time we didn’t ask because it would be a waste of time,” said Carter, a member of The Elders, an independent Group of global leaders.

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IDF Southern Commander Trying to Destroy Hamas Tunnels

IDF Southern Command chief trying to stop aggressive tunnel rebuilding, but being blocked by politics as ‘half of Gaza is rearming & digging new tunnels.’

By Uzi Baruch, Ari Yashar

 

Hamas’s “military wing,” the Al-Qassam Brigades, announced on Saturday morning that a terrorist in the organization was killed in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya.

IDF soldiers expose Gaza terror tunnel (file) – IDF Spokesperson

The announcement revealed that the terrorist died when the tunnel he was working to dig collapsed.

Hamas has been actively rebuilding its terror tunnel infrastructure meant to facilitate attacks from within Israeli territory, with the digging said to be taking place six days a week with three shifts each day on roughly 30 tunnels – around the same number as was destroyed in last summer’s war, but in different routes.

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OCHA reports on International teams to Nepal

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ report confirms Israel sends the largest emergency medical team to Nepal.

By the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

 

Many Member States are offering support to the Nepal Earthquake response. Below is a snapshot of some of the operational and in-kind support provided based on initial information received, reflecting part of the tremendous effort of the entire international community in support of the Government and people of Nepal

 

Nepal Earthquake: Foreign Medical Personnel Snapshot (as of 30 April 2015)

 

Israel, far from being the first to arrive or the largest contingency sent, the IDF sent to Nepal the largest medical team.

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Britain warns UN: US ignoring ‘Iran’s active nuclear procurement network’

UN suggests US administration silence on Iranian violations is to not undermine ongoing talks.
• Speculation of the White House’s silence about Iran’s active nuclear procurement network is “further proof that a skeptical Congress must have a voice,” echoing Netanyahu’s warnings that Iran can not be trusted.

 

Britain has informed a United Nations sanctions panel of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms, according to a confidential report by the panel seen by Reuters.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif addresses the 2015 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference, in the United Nations on Monday – Photo: AP

The existence of such a network could add to Western concerns over whether Tehran can be trusted to adhere to a nuclear deal due by June 30 in which it would agree to restrict sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief. Continue Reading »

Palestinian News Agency: ‘Freedom Flotilla III’ is set to challenge Gaza blockade

Although organizers remain mum on details, the pro-Palestinian’s 3rd mission for a confrontational “lifting of Gaza blockade” is expected this summer.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Three ships are expected to set sail for Gaza this summer as part of a humanitarian mission to Gaza, Ma’an News Agency reported Friday.

Activists aboard a flotilla to Gaza [file]. – Photo: REUTERS

Details of the mission, coined “Freedom Flotilla III,” remain under the radar.

Berawi Zaher, coordinator of the international mission, told Ma’an that its details, including the ships’ departure time and fleet location, will not be released in an effort to hamper Israeli authorities from intervening and exerting international pressure to halt the execution of the mission. Continue Reading »

ICC chief prosecutor says Palestinians may face war crimes investigation

Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda rejected Israeli fears of bias by the court, promising to “look into the alleged crimes committed by all sides.”

AFP

 

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has said she is weighing opening war crimes investigations into Palestinians as well as Israelis after Palestine joined the tribunal’s jurisdiction last month.

Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda briefing the Security Council. – UN Photo: Eskinder Debebe

Fatou Bensouda rejected Israeli fears of bias by the court, promising to consider the evidence “independently and impartially without fear or favour,” in an interview published by Israel’s liberal Haaretz newspaper Friday. Continue Reading »

Israel’s ‘Police Minister’ Aharonovich resigns

Public Security Minister says his resignation comes from Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman’s hint to ‘make way’ for younger MKs, and not because of the party’s corruption case, or poor job performance.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich (Yisrael Beytenu) gave one final interview before leaving office on Friday, wherein he reflected on his political career and why he decided to leave political life.

Aharonovich began by addressing his relationship with Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino, which was often stormy.

“The reasons are not simple, but complex,” he told Walla! News. A very public spat erupted between the two defense officials in October 2014. 

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Left-wing group turns to High Court to relieve Elad control of Temple Mount tunnel

Archeological activist from Emek Shaveh dismiss the group as a “radical left-wing organization,” funded by European gov’ts, believes they should have control of the tunnel, which extends from the Silwan parking lot opposite the Dung Gate to the Western Wall.

 

During a Thursday morning press tour of a contested tunnel being excavated under the Temple Mount, Yonathan Mizrachi stopped to explain why his archeological NGO submitted a petition to the High Court requesting that a right-wing NGO cease managerial oversight of the project.

EMEK SHAVEH archeologist Yonathan Mizrachi leads members of the press on a tour of the contested Temple Mount tunnel.

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Buses to run in Jerusalem on Shabbat

The “Shabus” bus line will begin operating with 3 mini-buses from an east Jerusalem transportation company from 8 pm Friday night to 2 am on Saturdays.

 

The Cooperative Transportation Association of Jerusalem will begin operating its new “Shabus” program next weekend, introducing buses that will run between Jerusalem neighborhoods and the city’s nightlife destinations on Friday night.

Members of the Cooperative Transportation Association of Jerusalem holding signs for the new bus line that will run on Shabbat, called “Shabus” – Photo: Ori Katzman

Public transportation in the vast majority of Israeli cities does not operate on Shabbat. Continue Reading »

Copenhagen’s bus agency removes anti-Israel settlements ad

Danish propaganda campaign scrubbed for being ‘unnecessarily offensive’ by local authorities after public transport agency flooded with complaints from residents.

By The Associated Press

 

Copenhagen’s public transport agency on Thursday ordered the immediate removal of posters opposing Israeli settlements on the capital’s city buses after getting “a considerable amount of complaints.”

“Our conscience is clear! We do not buy products from Israeli settlements or invest in settlement industry.” – Facebook

 

Movia, owned by eastern Denmark local authorities, said the campaign by the Danish Palestinian Friendship Association was “unnecessarily offensive.”

The campaign that started Monday was calling for labels on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Continue Reading »

#BDSfail: Robbie Williams arrives in Israel for concert ignoring efforts by Waters to boycott

Williams, one of the top selling artists of all time, lands with family & dog ahead of his Saturday night concert in Tel Aviv to tour Israel, visit Jerusalem.

By Ari Yashar

 

In yet another failure of the BDS movement calling to boycott Israel, the international pop superstar Robbie Williams landed in Israel on Thursday at 6 p.m. ahead of a concert in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.

Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams – Thinkstock

The 41-year-old British musician, who is one of the best selling artists of all time, touched down at Ben-Gurion International Airport in his private Boeing jet, according to Yedioth Aharonoth.

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REPORT: Nepal’s quake hits 5,844 dead – First child born in IDF field Hospital

Watch: IDF Field Hospital assembled
Climbing treks to resume on Mount Everest by next week
UN launches $415 million appeal for emergency aid

By i24news

 

The death toll from a devastating earthquake in Nepal has risen to 5,844, the government said Thursday.

Another 11,175 people have been injured in the 7.8-magnitude quake that hit on Saturday, the home ministry said in a series of tweets.

Climbing will resume on Mount Everest by next week after an earthquake-triggered avalanche that left 18 people dead on the world’s highest peak, a Nepalese government official said Thursday.

Saturday’s avalanche that ripped through base camp also destroyed ladders through the treacherous Khumbu icefall higher up the mountain, raising doubts about the future of this year’s climbing season. Continue Reading »

Report: Iran flexing its regional muscles having Hezbollah & Syria attack Israel

Israel TV10 reports Iran as having instructed the Hezbollah & Syria to provoke conflict on northern border, as a ploy to increase Iran’s regional influence.

By Israel Hayom Staff & Reuters

 

Iran has recently increased its pressure on Hezbollah and Syria to carry out attacks on the Israel-Syria and Israel-Lebanon borders, Channel 10 News reported Tuesday.

Israeli military forces move along the Syrian border [Archive] – Photo: Reuters

Syrian Defense Minister Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij, who is also deputy commander of the Syrian armed forces, met his Iranian counterpart Hossein Dehghan on Tuesday, in Tehran.

The rare visit was aimed at “strengthening coordination and cooperation between the two armies … especially in the face of terrorism and common challenges in the region,” the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said. Continue Reading »

No Hugging Hamas on Thursday As Jimmy Carter Cancels Gaza Trip

With no official reason given, Carter cancels trip to Gaza after both Israel’s President Rivlin and PM Netanyahu refused to meet him.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

Former US president Jimmy Carter called off his visit to the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources on Wednesday. No reason for the cancellation was given.

Former US President Carter met Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza in 2009

Carter was scheduled to arrive on April 30 in Gaza to meet with Hamas leaders, and then with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to help mediate between the two factions’ stalled national reconciliation. The status of Carter’s visit to the West Bank is still unknown and so far has not been cancelled. Continue Reading »

Church’s past restraint was dē factō authorization of ongoing Islamic killings of Christian

In new era where Christians & Jews have a common enemy in the actions of radical Islam, Israel’s leaders should see the potential of an alliance with the new direction taken by the Catholic Church.

By Yossi Shain

 

Across the Middle East, in Africa and Asia, Christians are exposed to violence and terror by radical Islamic groups. The mass murder of Christians and the abduction of Christian girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria, the massacre of Christians and the enslavement of the daughters in Syria and Iraq, as well as the shocking murder of Christian students on a campus in eastern Kenya – following a brutal selection between them and those identified as Muslims – are only part of the Christian minorities’ hardships in the world. Continue Reading »