U.S. Congress honors Israel’s President Peres with Congressional Gold Medal

 

Praising the “unbelievable & unbreakable friendship” between the United States & Israel, Peres said: “Whether through military assistance and security cooperation, or through diplomatic and moral support, you sent us a clear message: that we are not alone.”

By i23news

 

Outgoing Israeli President Shimon Peres on Thursday received the Congressional Gold Medal in the US Capitol rotunda, as he bids farewell to Washington after decades of working with American leaders.

Israeli President Shimon Peres receives the Congressional Gold Medal 26.6.2014 – Photo: GPO

Peres received the US’s other highest honer in 2012, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from US President Barack Obama. Continue Reading »

UN demands end to Syrian military action in Golan border region with Israel

 

U.N. Security Council unanimously adopts resolution, “that there should be no military activity of any kind in the area of separation, including military operations by the Syrian Arab Armed Forces.”

By The Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

 

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday strongly condemned the recent intense fighting between Syrian government and opposition fighters in the Golan Heights and demanded an end to all military activity in the area that has separated Syrian and Israeli forces since 1974.

Wounded Israelis are transported from Golan Heights to Rambam hospital in Haifa on Sunday – Photo: Michel Dot Com

A resolution unanimously adopted by the council echoed U.N.

Continue Reading »

Poll: 60% of Palestinians reject 2-state solution – 67% reject violence

 

Washington Institute survey reveals most Palestinians apparently do seek to ‘reclaim all of historic Palestine’, but they do not support calls for violent measures to realize such goals.

By Ynetnews

Some 60 percent of Palestinians reject the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict, according to a new poll, and instead support a five-year plan to “work toward reclaiming all of historic Palestine, from the river to the sea.” However, a clear majority do not support the use of violence to achieve their goals.

Screenshot from YouTube

Screenshot from YouTube

The survey, commissioned by The Washington Institute, found that only 31 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and 22 percent of those in Gaza supported a two-state solution. Continue Reading »

Israel Security Services reveals identity of 2 suspected kidnappers

Israel’s intelligence agency says 2 Hamas members, Marwan Quasma, 29, & Amar Abu Eisha, 32, from Hebron are the kidnappers.

Shin Bet says both men became wanted as soon as security forces learned of the kidnapping.

 

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed on Thursday the identity of two of the main terrorists involved in the kidnapping of three Israeli youths this month.

wanted The intelligence agency named Marwan Quasma and Amar Abu Eisha both Hamas men from Hebron, as the two principal suspects behind the kidnapping, adding that both men became wanted as soon as security forces learned of the kidnapping.

Continue Reading »

Hebrew University historian concludes: Jews are not descendants of Khazars

New study by professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem finds no evidence that European Ashkenazi Jews are the descendants of Khazars, nor that Khazar subjects in the medieval kingdom converted to Judaism en masse. Past conclusions to the contrary, have no foundations in history.

 

The claim that today’s Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Khazars who converted in the Middle Ages is a myth, according to new research by a Hebrew University historian.

Khazars - AP

The ruins of an 11th-12th century house in Itil, a Silk Road city that served as the Khazar capital, in July 2005.

Continue Reading »

Hamas tells Israel: Don’t Attack Gaza Again, or We’ll Attack Haifa

On the 3rd day in a row, a Hamas member warns the Israeli gov’t against making a “silly move” on Gaza, threatening to hit Haifa in retaliation.

By Dalit Halevi and Elad Benari

 

If Israel attacks Gaza, Hamas will attack Haifa, a member of the group threatened on Wednesday.

Speaking at a rally in Gaza, the deputy head of the Palestinian Legislative Council Ahmad Bahr warned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against making a “silly move” which may result in an escalation in Gaza.

“The resistance will not sit idly by, as it has combat capabilities and missiles that will hit Haifa if the enemy attacks the Gaza Strip,” Bahr declared. Continue Reading »

France warns citizens: Don’t invest in E. Jerusalem, Jewish settlements & Golan Heights

France’s Foreign Ministry says East Jerusalem, Jewish settlements in Judea & Samaria and the Golan Heights, are built on occupied land, which is illegal according to int’l law.

 

The French government issued a warning to its citizens not to engage in financial activity or investments in the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. The French Foreign Ministry wrote in its warning that the settlements are illegal according to international law, and so doing business with them involves legal risks.

Housing sits on the development at Ma'aleh Adumim, an Israeli settlement on the West Bank.

Housing sits on the development at Ma’aleh Adumim, an Israeli settlement on the West Bank, Dec.16, 2009.

Continue Reading »

PA Changes Ministry’s Name to Keep $12 mil Aid Each Month for Prisoner’s Pensions

Scheme to maintain flow of US & EU foreign aid confirmed after PA spokesman praises maneuver to ‘provide political & legal cover’ to continue paying incarcerated murders, released terrorists and their families.

By Tova Dvorin and Ari Yashar

 

Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have successfully pulled off a scheme designed to dupe the US into continuing to give aid to the Hamas-Fatah Unity government – all because of a simple name change.

According to one report earlier this month, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) – the terror group behind the PA and Fatah – changed the name of a PA Ministry office from “Ministry of Prisoner Affairs” to “Authority of Prisoner Affairs” in an attempt to deflect criticism over the 12 million dollar per month salary to terrorist prisoners and their families. Continue Reading »

Israel’s President Peres at White House, talks Pollard & Iraq with Obama

 

Shimon Peres’ final foreign trip as President of Israel yields reported breakthrough in the efforts to release the American born spy, Jonathan Pollard.

By i24news

 

Israeli President Shimon Peres met with his American counterpart Barack Obama on Wednesday, to discuss the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, the sectarian violence ripping through Iraq and the issue of Jonathan Pollard, a US-born Israeli spy who was arrested in Washington in 1985 and jailed for life.

Shimon Peres sits with Barack Obama in Washington 25 June 2014 – Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Washington was reportedly considering releasing Pollard early in exchange for Israeli concessions in the troubled peace process with the Palestinians brokered by the United States, which has since foundered. Continue Reading »

Yo App Proves BDS & Anti-Israel Boycotts are Ineffective

Even a basic smartphone app from Israel, that basically does little to nothing, can amass $1 million in funding, despite the efforts of boycotters.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Global efforts to boycott Israel are failing, and nothing proves that more than the vast sums of investment dollars that are poured into the Israeli hi-tech industry.

Fully 11 percent of all global hi-tech investments every year go to Israel. That’s a huge figure considering Israel’s minuscule size.

And then there’s the regular multi-billion dollar acquisitions of Israeli start-ups and the fact that the world’s leading technology corporations all maintain significant research and development centers in the Jewish state. Continue Reading »

‘Equality of Burden’ law has resulted in only 1 haredi enlisting so far

 

 

Of the 2,996 ultra-Orthodox youths, between 22-28 yrs-old, that were summoned to the IDF’s induction center, only 1,126 (38%) show up & only 1 enlisted.

MK Moti Yogev reported, “The atmosphere in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) street as a result of the law has become anti-enlistment.”

Gideon Allon

 

Only one haredi between the ages 22-28 has enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces since the Equality of Burden Law was passed three months ago, according to an IDF Manpower Directorate report that was presented on Tuesday.

A haredi man at an IDF induction center [Illustrative] – Photo: Gideon Markowitz

Haredim between the ages 22-28 are exempt from military service, but are offered to serve in the IDF or civil service.

Continue Reading »

WATCH: A message from Michael Douglas and son, Dylan

Leading actor & wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, were in Israel to celebrate son Dylan’s bar mitzva in Jerusalem.

By JTA

 

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones celebrated the bar mitzva of their son in Jerusalem.

Shalom from Mishpuheh Douglas, from the heart of Jerusalem,Israel!

The Hollywood power couple arrived in Israel on Thursday for the weekend bar mitzva of Dylan Michael Douglas, Israeli media reported.

The family stayed in the presidential suite of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

They toured Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount tunnels, according to the Forward, which noted that Zeta-Jones has considered converting to Judaism.

 

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Entertainment/WATCH-Michael-Douglas-takes-in-historic-sites-in-Jerusalem-360497 Continue Reading »

Photo Album: Israel’s 9th President reminisced about 10 American Presidents

Peres & Reagan shared jokes, Nixon sent him books, & JFK grilled him on Jerusalem’s nuclear plans. Shimon Peres reflects on 50 years of his meetings with 10 U.S. presidents.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

“Kennedy wanted to know why Isser Harel resigned. He bombarded me with questions, the third or fourth question was ‘are you producing nuclear weapons? Yes or no?’ I told him that Israel wouldn’t be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East.”

Congress

Live broadcast from the U.S Congress : President Peres will receive the Congressional Gold Medal and delivers remarks before members of the House and Senate

On April 1, 1963, the man who was to become an Israeli icon had his first encounter with what would be a long list of American presidents. Continue Reading »

Israeli café owner kicks Palestinian Arab MK Haneen Zoabi out, calling her ‘traitor’

The Palestinian Knesset Member has been vilified in Israel for proclaiming the Arab abductors of the Jewish teens in the West Bank are not terrorists.

 

MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad,) who has been vilified in Israel for saying that the abductors of the three teens in the West Bank were not terrorists, was kicked out of a restaurant, Arutz Sheva reported.

Haneen Zoabi.

Israeli Arab lawmaker Haneen Zoabi speaks at a news conference in Jerusalem, December 19, 2012. – Photo: Reuters

Neither the name of the restaurant nor its location were provided, but the confrontation between Zoabi and the restaurant owner was captured by a cell phone camera.

Continue Reading »

Arabs Say 12 Gaza Targets Struck by Israel, Video Shows Huge Blast

The IAF’s retaliatory attacks hit a training grounds used by terrorists, leaving two people lightly injured, 5 concealed rocket launchers, and a weapons manufacturing site.

By AFP, Arutz Sheva

 

The Israeli Air Force carried out 12 raids on Gaza overnight after terrorists fired more rockets at southern Israel, Palestinian security sources said Wednesday. A video apparently uploaded Tuesday shows a huge blast, allegedly as a result of an IAF bomb that hit the Zeytoun area in Gaza.

Massive explosion in Gaza (Screenshot)

The attacks struck training grounds used by terrorists, leaving two people lightly injured, they told AFP.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement around midnight that airstrikes targeted five concealed rocket launchers in northern Gaza, a terrorist center in central Gaza and a weapons manufacturing site in southern Gaza. Continue Reading »