Majdal Shams man wounded from Syria gunfire

Israeli Druze from Majdal Shams injured after shots fired from Syria.

By Ari Soffer

 

A resident of the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights was shot in a suspected terrorist attack as he stood near to the border with Syria Saturday.

The 19 year-old man, said he clearly heard a gun fire before being hit in the foot by a bullet, apparently fired from the Syrian side of the border.

The victim was admitted to hospital in light-to-moderate condition.

The IDF and local police have launched an investigation into the incident, saying that at this point they are unaware of any unusual incidents along the northern border. Continue Reading »

Why is Canadian PM Harper one of Israel’s staunchest supporters?

Harper was exposed to Middle East policy issues when he was 1st elected to Parliament in 1993, who saw Israel as an oasis of democracy surrounded by dictatorships.

 

 

TORONTO (JTA) — It took seven years, but one of Israel’s staunchest allies among world leaders will be making his maiden voyage to the Jewish state on Sunday.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Ottawa in 2012. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO via Getty Images)

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Ottawa in 2012. – Amos Ben Gershom/GPO via Getty Images

In announcing the trip last month at a Jewish National Fund dinner, where he was being honored, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called Israel “a light of freedom and democracy in what is otherwise a region of darkness” and pledged that the Jewish state “will always have Canada as a friend.”

Continue Reading »

Exiled Hariri willing to return to Lebanon & share power with Hezbollah

 

Currently in exile in Saudi Arabia, former Lebanese PM Saad Hariri who’s currently in The Hague, says he is optimistic of a  coalition deal that would unite Sunni & Shi’ite Muslim groups.

By REUTERS
 

 

THE HAGUE- Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri says he is now ready to share power with his rivals Hezbollah if that’s what it takes to help Lebanon finally form a government after nine months of political deadlock.

Lebanon

Saad Hariri in Hague Jan 16 2014 – Photo: REUTERS

Linking up with the powerful Shi’ite group would be a sharp turnabout for Hariri and his Future party, a Sunni Muslim group that supports the Sunni revolt against Shi’ite-backed President Bashar Assad in neighboring Syria’s civil war. Continue Reading »

Lapid: Israel needs ‘to get rid of’ the Palestinians

 

Finance Minister Lapid tackled numerous pressing issues in Tel Aviv event, saying Israel’s rabbis should not meddle in issues unrelated to halacha, settlements  should continue to be funded if/until evacuated and ‘his brother’ Bennett was recently demoted to ‘cousin’.

By Shachar Chai

In what state is the relationship between Yesh Atid chairman and Habayit Bayehudi chairman, why are the settlements still funded by the State and what will be their future – Finance Minister Yair Lapid addressed all of these pressing questions Friday morning at a Tel Aviv panel event.

Lapid: Won't allow a non-democratic Israel (Photo: Yaron Brener)

Lapid: Won’t allow a non-democratic Israel – Photo: Yaron Brener

When Lapid was asked about the issue of women’s recruitment to the army and his past remarks noting that he would act to dismiss the chief rabbis for going against female IDF recruitment, he said: “I am not the minister responsible for (the chief rabbis), Naftali Bennett is.” Continue Reading »

White House presses UNESCO on its sudden cancellation of ‘Jews in Israel’ exhibit

 

The U.S. administration is ‘deeply disappointed’ with UNESCO after it succumbed to pressure by Arab League.

By

 

 

The Obama administration is “deeply disappointed” with a decision by UNESCO, the United Nation’s cultural arm, to cancel the opening of an exhibition on the Jewish presence in the land of Israel and is seeking its placement “as soon as possible.”

UNESCO headquarters

UNESCO headquarters Photo by Unesco.org

Complaints by Arab states led UNESCO to cancel the exhibition, organized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center along with the governments of Canada and Montenegro. It was scheduled to open January 20 at the Paris headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Continue Reading »

IDF Shoots & Wounds Two Gazans on Border Fence After Refusal to Stop

IDF soldiers open fire after warnings to Palestinian protesters to stop approaching  Israel’s border fence in Gaza, and refused to comply with orders to turn back.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

IDF soldiers on Friday fired live rounds and tear gas at protesters who approached the border fence in Gaza and failed to comply with orders to turn back, AFP reported.

IDF soldier on the border with northern Gaza – Reuters

Two Gazan Arabs were wounded, medics and an AFP correspondent said.

Troops fired at some 300 demonstrators who were protesting against what they claimed was Israel’s destruction of farmland for its 300-metre buffer zone, according to the correspondent. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Foreign Minister retaliates: Summons EU ambassadors for rebuke

 

 

After Israeli ambassadors to France, Britain, Spain and Italy were summoned to receive official protest regarding West Bank housing construction, Israeli Foreign Minister summons envoys from same countries to be reprimanded in Jerusalem over ‘biased and unbalanced’ stance from their perspective governments.

By Moran Azulay

Following the summoning of several Israeli ambassadors to European countries to express protest at Israel’s plan to build additional settlements, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered Friday morning to convene the ambassadors from Britain, France, Italy and Spain for a talk in Jerusalem, in order to clarify they are taking a constant one-sided stance against Israel. Continue Reading »

Israeli Daily: PM Netanyahu Supports Liberman’s Plan for Land Swaps

Maariv daily cites “senior Likud sources” in Friday’s paper claiming Prime Minister Netanyahu supports FM Liberman’s population swap plan.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu supports Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s land swap plan, according to a Maariv report Friday.

The swap, which Israel reportedly offered the US in talks in December, refers to the area known as the Triangle in east-central Israel. The area includes the cities of Tayibe and Tira, in which about 300,000 Arabs live

Israeli Arabs in those areas would become citizens of a Palestinian state, according to the proposal.  In return for the area ceded, Israel will get to keep settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria. Continue Reading »

Int’l Real Estate Report: Israel is 3rd-largest foreign investor in U.S. properties

Israelis accounted for 6% of American commercial property sales to foreigners in past 3 consecutive years.

By Reuters

 

Israeli investors are increasingly looking to invest in U.S. properties as they seek to diversify their portfolios and as local real estate has grown pricey.

The  Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel in 2008.

The Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel in 2008. – Photo: Bloomberg

A report by real estate services firm Colliers International with data through mid-2013 ranked Israel as the third-largest foreign investor in U.S. commercial real estate over the past three years with a 6% share, tied with Switzerland and behind Canada and Germany.

In the U.S. Continue Reading »

Australian FM: Exactly Which Law does ‘Israeli Settlements’ Break?

Australian Foreign Minister Bishop again comes out swinging in defense of Israel, saying the world has it all wrong labeling Jewish settlements as ‘illegal’.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop this week continued to demonstrate what is, on the international diplomatic stage, rare support not only for Israel, but for its historic right to this land.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop - Photo Source: The Australian

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop – Photo Source: The Australian

In a must-read interview with The Times of Israel, Bishop said it was wrong for most in the international community to speak of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria as “illegal.” Continue Reading »

A guitar maker becomes a paratrooper

 

A guitar maker from South Carolina, Louis Berman came on Birthright to Israel & fell in love with the country, “A strong Israel & a strong IDF will guarantee the safety of the Jews in the Diaspora. I want to help & contribute,” he says.

By Danny Brenner

 

Continue Reading »

Hamas prepares Gaza’s teens for next battle with Israel

 

Hamas trains Palestinian youth for next armed conflict against Israel with teen boot camp teaching how to shoot rifles, crawl under barbed wire and jump through burning tires.

‘We will know how to overcome the Israeli army’ says 15-year-old student.

By Ynet

 

The New York Times followed a graduation ceremony at Hamas‘ training camp in Gaza, where the next generation of fighters is being trained ahead of a possible future battle with Israel.

Photo: AP

Photo: AP

Some 13,000 high school students in the Gaza Strip joined a six-day program, Futuwwa, run by the movement controlling Gaza since 2007, in order to undergo intensive training carried out by members of Hamas’ military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Continue Reading »

UNESCO postponed Jewish ties to Land of Israel exhibit saying it could harm peace process

 

UNESCO has postponed a Jewish exhibit 2 years in the making, entitled “People, Book, Land – The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel,” after a last minute protest from the Arab League.

 

 

Less than a week before the planned opening of an exhibit chronicling 3,500 years of Jewish ties to the Land of Israel, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has postponed the event, slated to open at its Paris headquarters Monday, out of concern that it could be harmful to the peace process.

UNESCO advocates for Syrian youth education, another example how the Arab League controls UNESCO

UNESCO advocates for Syrian youth education, another example how the Arab League influences UNESCO

“UNESCO is deeply committed to the successful outcome of the peace process in order to achieve stability in the region and we have a responsibility in ensuring that current efforts in this regard are not endangered,” wrote director-general Irina Bokova on Wednesday to the exhibit’s cohost, the Los Angels-based Simon Wiesenthal Center. Continue Reading »

Catholic Church in Poland Unveils 18th Century Blood Libel Painting

On Thursday for the Catholic Church‘s Int’l Day of Judaism, a controversial picture was uncovered to expose realities of the church’s anti-Semitic past.

By Ari Yashar

 

The Catholic Church of Poland unveiled a painting on Thursday that had been kept hidden since 2006, after protests from both Catholics and Jews opposed the depiction of Jews murdering Christian children in the classic anti-Semitic blood libel trope.

The painting, an 18th century CE work by Italian painter Charles de Prevot called “Mord Rytualny (Ritual Murder),” has been mounted on a wall at the cathedral in Sandomierz but hidden behind a red curtain for the past 8 years due to its contents. Continue Reading »

Ex-Ambassador Michael Oren Joins CNN as Their Mid-East Commentator

The former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., who had his share of run-ins with mainstream media, was very popular with American Jewish groups during his 4-year term in D.C.

By and

 

Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, has joined CNN as a commentator on the Middle East, JTA reported Thursday, quoting the news channel.

Michael Oren

Michael Oren. – Photo: Bloomberg

The U.S.-born Oren, who handed over his ambassadorial post in September to Ron Dermer, was very popular with American Jewish groups during his four-year stint in Washington. Before that, he wrote two best-selling books of history – “Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East,” and “Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present.” Continue Reading »