Israel on List of 10 Most Powerful Nations In World

National Power Index ranks Israel 10th in recent study. The research is composite index of factors including economic & military capabilities.

By Ari Yashar

 

Israel, the tiny nation that defied history in coming back to life after 2,000 years of exile, is among the top 10 most powerful nations in the world according to a recent research study.

Market Business News recently reported on the 2012 National Power Index (NPI), released by the Foundation for National Security Research (FNSR), a New Delhi-based think tank. The study is a comprehensively revised version of the previous indexes published in India’s National Security Annual Review (INSAR) since 2002. Continue Reading »

EU Ambassador to Israel: Israel Will Be Blamed if Peace Talks Fail

 

EU  envoy suggests that the only issue that threatens agreement is Jewish settlement activity, ignoring ongoing Palestinian indoctrination to incitement, terrorist attacks & security concerns.

By Ryan Jones

 

European Union Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen freely admitted on Wednesday that Europe intends to blame the Jewish state if the current peace talks fail to produce an agreement.

“Naturally, the blame will be put squarely on Israel’s doorstep,” stated Faaborg-Andersen.

He qualified that remark by insisting it would be only “logical” to attribute failure to Israel if the issue that prevents the signing of a peace deal is Jewish “settlement activity.” Continue Reading »

Israel’s 1st non-military satellite to be launched into orbit in 2015

 

 

Israel will launch its first civilian satellite into orbit in December 2015, Israel Space Agency Chairman Maj. Gen. (res) Yitzhak Ben Israel told reporters on Thursday.

The Venus Vegetation and Environment Monitoring New Microsatellite program was the joint project of the Israel Space Agency and French space agency Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES). Continue Reading »

Tavor Battalion Commander: ‘Protecting the security fence is a daily fight’

 

The Tavor Battalion, which is just 1 1/2 yrs-old, one of the youngest in the IDF, has already seen its fair share of ambushes & attacks. Just 2 weeks earlier, a company commander protecting the security fence, came under a Molotov cocktail attack.

 

 

Molotov cocktails, burning tires with exploding gas tanks hidden inside, slingshots that can break bones, shootings – these are the daily security challenges that the Home Front Command’s Tavor Battalion has faced for the past five months, as it defended the West Bank security barrier.

The battalion was deployed in a sector west of Ramallah, covering areas such as the Maccabim checkpoint, Budrus, Bil’in, Ni’lin and Kibya.

Continue Reading »

Israel’s President honored with ‘Spirit of Davos’ award at Swiss ceremony

 

‘I would say I’m an insatiable optimist,’ President Shimon Peres tells audience in special ceremony, and that he will continue to work for benefit of the world.

By Noam (Dabul) Dvir

President Shimon Peres continued with his diplomatic actions in the World Economic Conference in Switzerland, as he was awarded a special honor Friday morning: A special plenary of the convention’s participants saluted Peres for his activity in the past two decades to promote the global forum.

Peres in Davos - Photo courtesy

Peres in Davos – Photo courtesy

“If you ask of me to describe myself – I would say I am an insatiable optimist. Continue Reading »

Analysis: Why end of Israel’s water shortage is not publicized

 

After years of drought and years of being told to conserve ‘every drop’, times have changed: Today, Israel has so much affordable water, Jerusalem can offer it for export. So why is this achievement being kept so secret?

 

In ancient times and even during the years of the British Mandate (1917-1948), the shortage of water in Palestine, as well as among its neighbors in the Middle East, had a decisive influence not only on the area’s economic development, but also on the political strife between Jews and Arabs. Technology has changed all this. Now, the ability to produce all the water that’s needed, whether for human consumption or for agriculture, may soon change our way of life and perhaps even, if our neighbors agree, bring peace closer. Continue Reading »

PM Netanyahu Advances Israel-China Alliance in Davos

In a fruitful meeting with the Chinese FM at the World Economic Forum, Netanyahu urged deeper cooperation.


The Chinese FM relayed to Netanyahu that his country has held 5 joint committee meetings last month on Israel.

By Ari Yashar

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The two discussed the budding alliance between the nations, which has developed rapidly since Wang’s first visit to Israel last December.

Netanyahu commented that the meeting expressed the advanced state of relations between the two nations, adding that Israel wants to further develop bilateral cooperation in technology and foreign affairs. Continue Reading »

Female Palestinian cartoonist threatened after illustration of Islamic Jihad & Hamas

 

Controversial political cartoon refers to Islamic Jihad whose members are believed to have fired recent rockets on Israel.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
 

 

Palestinian cartoonist has come under fire because she published a cartoon that enraged Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Cartoon suggesting Hamas needs to rein in Islamic Jihad military wing Al-Quds Batallions. - Photo: Courtesy

Cartoon suggesting Hamas needs to rein in Islamic Jihad military wing Al-Quds Batallions. – Photo: Courtesy

The controversial cartoon refers to Hamas efforts to rein in Islamic Jihad’s military wing, Al-Quds Battalions, whose members are believed to have been behind recent rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip.

The cartoon by Majedah Shaheen depicts Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh asking his dog to “calm down.” Continue Reading »

Lebanese TV invited to Israel Air Force base to film a message to Hezbollah

 

 

In unique use of public media, IAF allows Lebanese TV network to film inside secure base and interview Air Force commander in bid to send Hezbollah a clear, direct threat.

By Roi Kais

 

A Lebanese network was given rare and unprecedented access to an Israeli Air Force base as part of a larger attempt to send Hezbollah a message.

IAF commander in Lebanese report

IAF commander in Lebanese report

A reporter from Lebanon’s LBC interviewed Ramat David Air Force Base commander, as well as Captain Avihai Aderi, head of Arab media at the IDF Spokesperson Unit.

At the beginning of the report, the Lebanese network focused on attempted to reach an agreement regarding Syria: “While world power are at the Geneva II conference to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis, head of the Ramat David Air Force Base sends a threatening message, warning against the continued transfer of strategic arms from Syria to Hezbollah, threatening that his army will work to prevent arms’ transfer.” Continue Reading »

Treasury marks a victory over diminishing group of Holocaust survivors

Decade-long legal battle ends with decision to not recognize the group Tehran Children, as Holocaust survivors

 

The Finance Ministry’s legal department has defeated another group of Holocaust survivors. Congratulations. It’s an achievement they can hang on their walls as a badge of shame.

This week’s courtroom victory came after a legal battle lasting more than a decade by a group of Holocaust survivors known as the “Tehran children.” The group, whose number has naturally dwindled in recent years, originally consisted of some 1,200 Jewish children from Poland who went to the Soviet Union, then to Iran and finally to pre-state Israel in 1943. Continue Reading »

Egyptian Journalist: ‘We fought for Hamas, and now, they are killing us’

 

Egyptian journalist says, Egypt needs to learn from Israel & “teach Hamas a lesson” until they learn to “respect the Egyptian shoe.”

By Elad Benari

 

Egypt should take a page from Israel’s book and “teach Hamas a lesson,” an Egyptian journalist recently said.

Egyptian Journalist: We Should Attack Hamas Terrorists in Gaza Until They Kiss Egyptian Shoes

Egyptian Journalist: We Should Attack Hamas Terrorists in Gaza Until They Kiss Egyptian Shoes

Al-Alfi said in the interview that Egypt “should discipline [Hamas] just as Israel did… We must strike them so they learn to respect the Egyptian shoe.”

“Only then will they kiss that shoe and learn what Egypt is worth,” he declared.

“Our sons were killed and our economy was ruined in wars fought for their sake. Continue Reading »

Abbas In Russia for $1Billion Energy Deal for Gaza

Report speaks of Abbas & Russian PM to sign agreement on a $1Billion Mediterranean natural gas project off the Gaza coast.

By AFP

 

Moscow  – Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas sought on Thursday to secure a billion-dollar Gaza energy deal during talks with Russian leaders aimed at restoring warmer ties between the two Soviet-era allies.

Abbas and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were due to sign an intergovernmental agreement that reports said included a $1.0-billion (730-million-euro) natural gas project in the Gaza section of the Mediterranean Sea.

The state ITAR-TASS news agency said Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom hoped to produce 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas at the site. Continue Reading »

Scarlett Johansson catching slack over SodaStream ad campaign

The humanitarian group Oxfam, says that while it respects the independence of its ‘global ambassador against poverty’, it opposes ‘all trade’ from Israeli settlements.

 

Oxfam International is criticizing Scarlett Johansson over her new ad campaign for an Israeli company that operates in the West Bank.

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson – Phot: AP

Israeli drink maker SodaStream International Ltd. recently signed the U.S. actress as its first “global brand ambassador.” She is to appear in a television ad during the Super Bowl on Feb. 2.

SodaStream has come under fire from pro-Palestinian activists for maintaining a large factory in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Continue Reading »

Mahmoud Abbas’ Party Continues to Incite with Threats to ‘Bomb Tel Aviv’

Palestinians Speak with ‘Forked Tongue’? Because as ‘peace talks’ continue, official Facebook page of PA Chairman’s Fatah party is AGAIN featuring calls for violence against Israel.

By Ari Soffer

 

The Fatah party of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has posted threats to bomb Tel Aviv on its official Facebook page.

Calling us 'racist' seems empty considering the source.

The threats came in the form of a video by Fatah’s armed wing – the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade – which threatened to turn Tel Aviv “into a ball of fire”, as well as escalated rocket fire on Israeli civilians.

Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade has been declared a terrorist group by the US, EU, Israel and Canada, among others. Continue Reading »

Al Jazeera Interviewer: Why Can’t Arab Armies Be More Like Israel?

 

UNBELIEVABLE!: On the flagship Arab media,  Al Jazeera, a TV interviewer admits that Israeli soldiers are not monsters, & in fact are the most humane in the mid-East.

By Israel Today Staff

 

In a development that might shock many, Al-Jazeera has openly admitted that the Israeli army is far more humane than any Arab armed force, and far less cruel than it is typically portrayed by supposedly objective Western media.

Taken from YouTube

Composite from YouTube

Last week, the host of an Al-Jazeera (Arabic) news program publicly questioned why the Syrian army and its Hezbollah allies “don’t they learn from the Israeli army which tries, through great efforts, to avoid shelling areas populated by civilians in Lebanon and Palestine?” Continue Reading »