Kerry tells US Jewish leaders: Palestinian-Israeli peace a ‘strategic imperative’


U.S. Sec of St. Kerry asks American Jews to endorse negotiations between Israel & the Palestinians.

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice briefed Jewish leaders on resumed Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

Kerry and Indyk.

Kerry and Indyk at the State Department in Washington. – Photo: Reuters

The meeting Thursday evening in the White House lasted 90 minutes, participants said, and was characterized mostly by Kerry’s enthusiasm for the resumed talks, and the serious commitment he said saw from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Kerry appeared bullish about talks he has worked assiduously to revive since becoming secretary of state in February, but also nervous about the potential for failure, warning of circumstances – for instance, pressures on Netanyahu – that could undermine the talks. Continue Reading »

Lebanese Daily: IDF ‘Blundered into Hizbullah Ambush’

Lebanese newspaper with connections to Hizbullah boasts “Only Hizbullah can make bombs that blow up Israelis.”

By Arutz Sheva

 

Two blasts that wounded four Israeli soldiers on the border with Lebanon were in fact an “ambush” set by Hizbullah, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported on Thursday.

IDF Training – Photo courtesy: IDF Spokesperson’s Office

The explosions hit the patrol on Wednesday when the troops crossed the border into southern Lebanon, parts of which are controlled by the Shiite movement.

“The enemy blundered when they violated the border with Lebanon, and fell into a trap that only the resistance could set,” said the newspaper, which has links to Hizbullah. Continue Reading »

IDF Orders Eilat Airport Closed Due to Terror Concerns

A security assessment in Southern Israel led the IDF to immediately shutdown Eilat  airport.

By Gil Ronen

 

The IDF ordered the immediate shutdown of the airport at Eilat Thursday to all arriving and departing flights, following an unspecified security assessment.

The assessment is most likely linked to terrorist activity in the Sinai desert, which borders on the southern port city.

Takeoffs of flights headed north were initially allowed to take place but were also stopped later in the evening.

The IDF will open the airfield at Uvda as an alternate landing spot for flights diverted from Eilat.

The Egyptian military has been conducting a large scale offensive against terror cells that operate in Sinai, in the last few weeks. Continue Reading »

The Forgotten Refugees of 1948: Jews Exiled From Muslim Lands

 

 

The int’l community as well as mainstream media gushes over refugees, except when those refugees happen to be Jewish.

By Noah Beck

 

 

June 20 was World Refugee Day, dedicated to nearly 60 million people worldwide who were forcibly displaced by conflict or persecution. One group of refugees rarely acknowledged is the Jews who were indigenous to Muslim lands but compelled to flee around the time when the State of Israel was established.

Jewish Refugees – Israel Today

 

A Google search for “1948 refugees” produces about 6 million results. All but a few (at least through page six) are about the Palestinian Arab refugees, as if they were the only refugees of 1948. Continue Reading »

Israeli Minister: Iran’s nuclear program can be destroyed with a few hours of airstrikes

 

Satellite imagery identify new missiles test-site being constructed north of Semnan province.

Minister Steinitz: President Rouhani is cunning, & he’ll smile all the way to the bomb.

By News Agencies, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Iran’s new president Hasan Rouhani is “charming, he is cunning, and he will smile all the way to the bomb,” Minister for International, Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz said in an interview with The Washington Post, published on Thursday. Israel believes the United States and others in the West are being misled by the moderate cleric’s recent election to the presidency. Steinitz told the Post that rather than negotiating with Tehran, the U.S.

Continue Reading »

Israel Won’t Sign EU Agreements With Bias Settlement Conditions

Jerusalem says that until there’s a clarification in the wording of the EU’s guidelines excluding any part of post-’67 borders, Israel will refuse to sign any agreements.

 

 

JERUSALEM — Israel reportedly will not sign any new agreements with the European Union that fall under the body’s new guidelines concerning the ‘occupied territories’, without changes in the wording.

High Representative of the European Union Catherine Ashton – Photo AP

High Representative of the European Union Catherine Ashton – Photo: AP

The decision to ask the EU to reword, or “clarify,” the guidelines was made Thursday at a meeting at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv called by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and attended by government ministers, Haaretz reported.

Continue Reading »

PA to US official: PA books not perfect, but working on teaching mutual respect

 

Democratic Whip says the US will not want to fund Palestinian schools after PLO representative admits there’s unfair portrayal of Jews in PA curriculum.

 

 

 

No group on earth has been subjected to more discrimination and hate than the Jews, and the US will not fund curriculum in the Palestinian Authority that does not teach tolerance and mutual respect, US Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) said on Wednesday.

East Jerusalem Classroom

East Jerusalem Classroom – Photo: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Hoyer, leading a massive delegation of 36 Democratic US congressman, said this issue was the first one he broached during a meeting Wednesday in Ramallah with PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Continue Reading »

Haredi gets punched in face for asking woman to move to back of bus

 

 

A male secular youth, becomes outraged and hits Ultra-Orthodox man who asked woman to move to back of Jerusalem bus.

Police are searching for assailant who is still unknown and are considering interrogating the haredi ‘victim’ for ‘women exclusion’.

By Noam (Dabul) Dvir

A secular man hit a haredi who asked a woman to move to the back of a bus traveling in Jerusalem on Thursday.

(Illustration) Photo - EPA

(Illustration) Photo – EPA

According to suspicions, the secular youth punched the man in the face and pulled his beard before fleeing the scene. A complaint has been filed with the police, and a search for the suspect is ongoing. Continue Reading »

Kosher cheeseburger produced in lab

The world’s first lab-grown burger, at a cost of $325,000, could one day offer new possibilities for the kosher palate.

By

 

When the world’s first lab-grown burger was introduced and taste-tested on Monday, the event seemed full of promise for environmentalists, animal lovers and vegetarians.

Another group that had good reason to be excited: kosher consumers.

Cheeseburger and French fries

The world’s first lab-grown burger could be parve and thus paired with dairy products. – Photo: Dreamstime

The burger was created by harvesting stem cells from a portion of cow shoulder muscle that were multiplied in petri dishes to form tiny strips of muscle fiber. Continue Reading »

878 New Homes Approved in Judea and Samaria

 

Actual construction may take a while to begin, but this decision acknowledges the fact that Jews of Judea & Samaria have “rights and needs which can’t be ignored.”

By David Lev

 

The Civil Administration on Wednesday authorized construction of 878 housing units in Judea and Samaria. The units were approved for towns in the Binyamin region, the Jordan Valley, and Gush Etzion, Ha’aretz reported Thursday.

The Jewish community of Shilo, in Binyamin – IDF Photo

The approvals had been set to be issued several weeks ago, but were postponed due to the efforts to restart negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Continue Reading »

Rocket Fired at Southern Israel by Gaza Terrorists

Once again, Arab Terrorists from Gaza fired a Qassam rocket at Southern Israel. The rocket exploded in an open region causing no injuries, no damage.

By Elad Benari

 

Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired a Qassam rocket towards the Eshkol Regional Council on Wednesday night.

Once AgainThe rocket exploded in an open region, causing no physical injuries or damages. Local residents said that the “Red Alert” warning siren had not gone off before the rocket exploded.

Israel and Hamas agreed to an Egyptian-brokered “ceasefire” after Israel’s counter-terrorist Operation Pillar of Defense last November. Nevertheless, the terrorist groups operating in Gaza have violated the ceasefire several times. Continue Reading »

Irish EU Parliamentarian Calls for Arab Violence Against Israel

 

Irish EU representative faces criticism after suggesting that PA Arabs should resort to violence by starting a 3rd “Intifada” against Israel.

By Maayana Miskin

 

 

An Irish politician has caused outrage by urging Arabs to “rise up” against Israel in another “Intifada.”

European Union parliamentarian Paul Murphy said he does not believe that Israel is serious about the newly renewed diplomatic talks with the PA, and that what the PA needs is “a mass struggle from below.”

“There are many positive examples from the first intifada of mass protests, strikes and marches and checkpoints that I think would be ideal tactics to redevelop now,” he explained in an interview with Russia Today. Continue Reading »

After Surgery in Israeli Hospital, Wounded Syrian Teen Miraculously Walks

15 yr-old Syrian girl get up to walk after she underwent emergency surgery at Ziv Hospital in Safed for shrapnel wounds to her left leg & abdomen.

By Danny Brenner, Dan Lavie and Reuters

 

 

A 15-year-old Syrian girl with an amputated right leg and serious shrapnel wounds to her left leg and abdomen, who was treated at an Israeli hospital, shocked medical staff when she managed to walk only a day after undergoing major surgery. The teenager was wounded during clashes in the Syrian civil war and was transferred to Ziv Hospital in Safed for treatment.

Continue Reading »

Gov’t request High Court to uphold prisoner release, despite terror victims’ petition

 

The State believes prisoner release gives Israel potential for improving security situation hence the gov’t files request to squash recent ‘Almagor Petition’ to block mid-August terrorists’ release from prison.

 

 

 

The state on Wednesday asked the High Court of Justice to uphold its decision to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, including some of the worst murderers with “blood on their hands” in custody to the Palestinian Authority on August 13 as part of the recently renewed peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

Demonstration against the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Demonstration against the release of Palestinian prisoners. – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

The state’s request was filed in response to a recent petition by the Almagor Terror Victims Association to block the prisoner release deal by preventing President Shimon Peres and OC Central Command Maj.-Gen.

Continue Reading »

Lebanon: IDF Soldiers Wounded in Lebanon, Return to Israel

IDF Reports: 4 Israeli soldiers suffer light to moderate injuries in an explosion.

Lebanese Army Reports: Israeli soldiers  were 400 meters inside Lebanon when wounded.

By Gil Ronen

 

Four IDF soldiers suffered light to moderate injuries Tuesday night, when an explosion occurred near the northern border, the IDF Spokesman’s Unit said Wednesday morning.

IDF tanks in the Golan Heights - Photo Courtesy IDF Spokesperson's Office

IDF tanks in the Golan Heights – Photo Courtesy IDF Spokesperson’s Office

 

The four soldiers wounded were located 400 meters inside Lebanese territory when the blast occurred, Lebanon’s army said on Wednesday.

“An infantry patrol of the Israeli enemy penetrated 400 meters inside Lebanon in the Labouneh area at 00:24 local time,” the army said in a statement. Continue Reading »