The silver lining behind Obama’s cloud of a weak America

The Obama Doctrine: “Snub friends, coddle opponents, devalue American interests, seek consensus, & act unpredictably.”

So, how could France not step-up to the plate?

By Daniel Pipes

 

That the socialist French government of François Hollande just blocked a bad deal with Tehran, emerging as the hero of the Geneva negotiations, is on one level a huge surprise. But it also follows logically from the passivity of the Obama administration.

American foreign policy is in unprecedented free-fall, with a feckless and distracted White House barely paying attention to the outside world, and when it does, acting in an inconsistent, weak, and fantastical manner. Continue Reading »

IDF sends 148-member team, field hospital & 100 tons of aid to Philippines

IDF officers from the National Search & Rescue Unit of the Home Front Command plus senior doctors from the IDF Medical Corps are part of the Israeli team.

 

JERUSALEM — The Israel Defense Forces has sent a 148-member humanitarian delegation to the Philippines to provide search-and-rescue and medical services to areas hard hit by Typhoon Haiyan.

148 IDF soldiers are boarding an airplane for the typhoon-struck Philippines. – Photo courtesy IDF Spokesperson Office

The team left Israel on Wednesday equipped with a field hospital as well as about 100 tons of humanitarian and medical supplies, according to the IDF.

Continue Reading »

Israel’s Prime Minister: U.S. deal with Iran could lead to war

 

PM Netanyahu continues lobbying against ‘bad’ American interim nuclear deals with Iran.

By REUTERS
 

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that war could result from a bad deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program.

Prime Minister Netanyahu at a Likud Beytenu faction meeting, November 4, 2013.- Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The J'lem Post

Prime Minister Netanyahu at a Likud Beytenu faction meeting, November 4, 2013. – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

Netanyahu has been lobbying against any agreement at talks due to resume in Geneva on November 20 that would fail to strip Iran of nuclear enrichment capabilities. He has urged no let-up in international economic sanctions.

He has often hinted at possible Israeli military action if diplomacy and sanctions failed to block what he says is Iran’s goal of building atomic weapons. Continue Reading »

New Zealand refuses entry to Israelis for fear of illegal employment

 

Israeli tourists refused entry & deported by New Zealand immigration authorities as country clamps down on illegal employment.

Following multiple incidents, the Israeli Foreign Ministry issues unusual travel advisory explaining how to avoid deportation.

By Itamar Eichner

 

 

New Zealand’s immigration authorities have started stepping up their enforcement in recent weeks and have been deporting Israelis from the country immediately upon landing. The reason: Fear of Israelis arriving at the country to work illegally in shopping malls carts.

New Zealand – Photo: AP

Last week at least six Israelis were not allowed to enter New Zealand, Yedioth Ahronoth learned. Continue Reading »

Hamas celebrates year since Israel’s ‘Operation Pillar of Defense’ in Gaza

 

Hamas minister calls on all Arabs in Israel, Gaza & the West Bank to unite in a ‘Jihad’ to ‘uproot the Jews’ from all of Israel.

 

Thousands of Hamas security forces on Tuesday staged a military parade in the Gaza Strip to mark the anniversary of the eight-day conflict with Israel last year known as Operation Pillar of Defense.

Hamas hold national flags as they march in Gaza City to mark one year since Israel Gaza operation


Hamas hold national flags as they march in Gaza City to mark one year since Pillar of Defense, Nov. 13, 2013. – Photo: Reuters

The hostilities began when Israel assassinated Hamas’ military commander, Ahmad Jabari, in a November 2012 airstrike.

Continue Reading »

Arab Terrorist Stabs Soldier to Death on Bus as he Slept

BREAKING NEWS

A 16-year-old Arab terrorist from Jenin attacked Cpl. Eden Atias, 19, as he slept inside a bus, stabbed him repeatedly.

By Gil Ronen

 

 

The Soldier Who was Murdered: Cpl. Eden Atias, 19, after an Arab terrorist stabbed him in the neck and upper body in the Central Bus Station at Afula, in northern Israel, Wednesday. The attack took place inside a bus.

“The Israeli soldier who was stabbed this morning by a Palestinian on a bus at the Afula bus station has died of his wounds in hospital,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.

The attacker has been identified as an Arab aged 16 from the Palestinian Authority city of Jenin, who is reportedly staying illegally in Israel. Continue Reading »

Hamas calls dissident opposition group a foreign ‘conspiracy’

Palestinian opposition group the Tamarod failed to organize ‘revolt’ against oppressive Hamas on day commemorating Arafat’s death.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

Hamas officials on Tuesday expressed relief over the failure of calls to stage mass protests against the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas militants take part in a protest against peace talks between Israel & the Palestinians. - Photo REUTERS

Hamas militants take part in a protest against peace talks between Israel & the Palestinians. – Photo: REUTERS

Tamarod, an anonymous group, had called on Palestinians to revolt against Hamas on November 11. It received its inspiration from the Egyptian Tamarod movement, which launched mass protests that eventually brought down the regime of president Mohammed Morsi earlier this year. Continue Reading »

White House demands Israel explain 20,000 new West Bank homes

 

U.S. State Dept. expressed ‘deep concern’ over newest construction tenders, saying White House does ‘not recognize the legitimacy of settlements.’

And once again, Palestinian President Abbas threatens to call off peace talks.

 

The U.S. State Department said it is “deeply concerned” by Israel’s  announcement over the tenders issued for the construction of 20,000 new settlement units in the West Bank and that it is demanding explanations from Israel.

Construction in Har Homa - AP

Construction in Har Homa. – Photo: AP

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Washington was taken by surprise and had no prior knowledge of the plans. Continue Reading »

Abbas’ PA Accuses Jews of Poisoning Arafat ‘Like Prophet Mohammed’

Watch Minister of Religious Affairs for the PA, on official Palestinian Authority TV, claim Arafat was poisoned by the Jews ‘like prophet Mohammed.’

By Ari Yashar

 

In a sermon broadcasted on official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV, the PA Minister of Religious Affairs Al-Habbash said former PA chairman Yasser Arafat, like Islam’s prophet Mohammed, was poisoned to death by Jews.

Yasser Arafat – Photo: AFP

During the sermon, which was translated by Palestinian Media Watch, Al-Habbash said Arafat died a martyr. He added “we don’t have the slightest doubt that they (the Jews) killed him…even Allah’s Messenger (Mohammed) they (the Jews) killed him with poison.” Continue Reading »

IDF field hospital sent to the Philippines

 

The Foreign Ministry announced that Israel would send a search & rescue team with experience in searching damaged buildings, as well as medical staff and a field hospital.

 

 

The IDF will send a humanitarian mission to assist victims of the Typhoon in the Philippines, army sources said.

Soldier preparing supplies for the Philippines – Photo Courtesy IDF

The mission, headed by Col. Ramtin Sabati, who commands the National Rescue Unit, will contain medical staff and a field hospital, and will head out to the storm-stricken areas on Wednesday. The decision came following an evaluation meeting held by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Continue Reading »

French President Francois Hollande to address Knesset

 

French President Hollande reports that he will address the Knesset as originally planned.

By Yuval Karni

 

 

French President Francois Hollande announced he will address the Knesset plenum during his Israel visit set for late November, two weeks after Paris decided to move the speech to one of Israel’s universities.

The initial decision to move the speech was met with outrage at the Knesset.

“If the French president had canceled the speech altogether, that’s his prerogative. But once he decided that the Knesset, which represents the people, is not respectable enough for him and that he’d rather do the speech outside, that’s an insult to Israeli democracy and the Israeli people,” a Knesset official said. Continue Reading »

Arab Hackers Attack Israeli Facebook User Accounts

Hackers from Gaza & Tunisia break into the Facebook accounts of about 13,000 Israelis, making a list of usernames & their passwords public.

By Elad Benari

 

Channel 10 News reported on Monday that Arab hackers had broken into the Facebook accounts of some 13,000 Israelis.

The hackers, from Tunisia and Gaza, made public on Monday evening the usernames and passwords of the accounts which they had broken into. In some cases they changed the profile pictures of the users in question.

Victims of the hacking attack confirmed to Channel 10 that their Facebook account was hacked, with some saying they had thought the attack was a prank by their friends. Continue Reading »

Jewish leaders discuss assimilation at 2013 GA meeting in Jerusalem

 

Pew Research Center report shocked Jewish American community seeking to cope with declining endogamy.

 

 

The leaders of Jewish federations are fiercely debating the effectiveness of their programs for maintaining Jewish engagement, in light of a recent study detailing a severe decline in communal affiliation.

JFNA President Jerry Silverman - Screenshot

JFNA President Jerry Silverman – Screenshot

Last month’s Pew Research Center report detailing spiraling levels of assimilation and rapidly declining endogamy among American Jews is one of the primary topics of discussion at this week’s Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in Jerusalem.

The GA, an annual event that is held in Israel every five years, brings together professional and lay leaders of community federations through the United States and Canada to discuss common interests. Continue Reading »

Hamas & Fatah argue over Arafat memorial ceremony

 

The 2 largest Palestinian factions fight over Arafat’s legacy, as Hamas refuses Fatah members at Gaza memorial ceremony. 

By AFP

Palestinian movement Fatah has accused Gaza’s rulers Hamas of banning it from commemorating Monday’s ninth anniversary of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s death and arresting several of its members.

Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat, not yet dead

“We condemn the summoning and arrest of some of our members and demand to stop them immediately,” said the Ramallah-based Fatah party, which was founded by Arafat and is now headed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas .

Arafat died in Paris on November 11, 2004 at 75 after falling sick a month earlier. Continue Reading »

Israel invited as 1st non-EU member to nuclear research group CERN

Israeli nuclear scientists optimistic CERN, which proved the existence of the ‘God particle,’ will ultimately vote them in despite EU restrictions against Israel.

 

 

The Star of David could join the 20 other flags of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, if the organization that runs the world’s largest particle physics lab votes Israel in.

CERN

The magnet core of the world’s largest superconducting solenoid magnet at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator. – Photo: AP

CERN’s governing council, made up of representatives from each member nation, meets on December 12. Continue Reading »