Defense Minister Yaalon: I Blocked Rajoub’s Entry into Israel

Defense Minister explains why he turned down Meretz’s request to host the inciting Palestinian Authority Minister.

By Gil Ronen

 

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon explained Saturday evening that he had decided to block Palestinian Authority official Jibril Rajoub’s entry to Israel before the Meretz party invited him to its conference.

Jibril Rajoub - YouTube screenshotMeretz head Zehava Galon that the defense ministry’s refusal to allow Rajoub into the country in order to take part in the conference smacked of politicking. She noted that Rajoub had recently been allowed to speak before the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

The defense minister made it clear that this was not the case, in a Facebook status message he published Saturday evening. Continue Reading »

American Foreign Policy: Wounded & Dangerous

Israeli leaders for the most part have reacted to U.S. Sec. of St.  John Kerry’s constant harping by rolling their eyes. He seems like a complete lunatic. Obviously Kerry will fail and the best thing we can do is smile and nod, like you do when you are dealing with a crazy person.

By CAROLINE B. GLICK

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry looks like a bit of an idiot these days. On Monday he announced that he will be returning to Israel and the Palestinian Authority and Jordan for the fifth time since he was sworn into office on February 1. Continue Reading »

New Palestinian PM facilitates return to days of Arafat’s corruption

Abbas replaced strong, internationally-backed PM, with little-known academic who is ill-equipped to challenge his corruption or agenda.

By Ryan Jones

 

 

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas this week appointed a new Palestinian Authority prime minister to take the place of the ousted Salam Fayyad, a respected, US-educated economist that the international community fought long and hard to keep in the position.

Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah

Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah

The new Palestinian prime minister is Rami Hamdallah, a mild-mannered academic who for the past 15 years has served as dean of al-Najah University in Nablus. Hamdallah has absolutely no political experience, so many in Israel see his appointment as a maneuver by Abbas to regain the absolute control once exercised by Yasser Arafat. Continue Reading »

The Arab world sees the ‘Safavid’ seeking regional domination

 

A nuclear weapon in the hands of a status-quo state with a defensive orientation, is a very different story, than nuclear weapons in the hands of a state that wants to totally change the international status quo.

By Dore Gold

 

In an interview on Al-Jazeera this past May, the commander of the Free Syrian Army, Brig. Gen. Salim Idris, explained that the diversion of Hezbollah forces from Lebanon to Syria to take part in the civil war was part of a “Safavid” plan for the Middle East region.

Hezbollah terrorists - Photo by EPA

Hezbollah soldiers – Photo by EPA

This past January, an article in the influential Lebanese daily As-Safir accused Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of receiving assistance from his “Safavid allies.”

Continue Reading »

UK trade union voted to ban its members from visiting Israel

 

Union spokesman: Organizations should not oppose boycott.

Labor Leader Ed Miliband said earlier this year “I think the boycotts of Israel are totally wrong. We should have no tolerance for boycotts.”

By JONNY PAUL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
 

 

LONDON – One of the UK’s largest trade unions is to ban its members from visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories on delegations organized by the Trade Union Friends of Israel (TUFI), a London-based organization supporting cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian workers.

Boycotting Israel - Photo: REUTERS

Boycotting Israel – Photo: REUTERS

The GMB, which has over 617,000 members from an array of sectors, voted on Thursday at its annual conference in Plymouth to uphold a 2011 decision to “take a lead in driving forward the boycott and divestment initiatives of “companies who profit from illegal settlements, the occupation and the construction of the wall.”

Continue Reading »

Assad Aide: Israel’s Elite Units Aiding Rebels

Assad’s top aide claims IDF special unit involved in Quneitra battles.

 

In Hezbollah TV interview, she claims Israel working with rebels, which she called ‘armed gangs’.

By Roi Kais

In an interview to the Hezbollah affiliated Al Mayadeen network, Bouthaina Shaaban, the top political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad, claimed that the injured transferred to Israel during the fighting in Quneitra were Israeli soldiers and not rebels, which she called “armed gangs”.

Bouthaina Shaaban, the top political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad

Bouthaina Shaaban, the top political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad – Photo AP

“When we hear that wounded from the armed gangs were transferred to Israel for medical treatment, I wonder whether these might be Mista’arvim” – the Border Guard’s elite counter-terrorism unit, comprised of officers disguised as Arabs. Continue Reading »

Palestinians condemn Israel for quitting the ultra-bias UNHRC

 

Canada & the U.S. lauds Jerusalem’s move to re-engage with the overtly anti-Israel United Nations Human Rights Council while Pakistan and the Palestinians cynically remain skeptical.

 

 

Palestinians attacked Israel as the only country to cut its ties with the United Nations Human Rights Council, in spite of Jerusalem’s efforts to resume those relations, during a Geneva debate on the matter Friday.

UNHRC

“Israel is the only state that has expressed its disengagement from the council,” the PLO deputy charge d’affairs Imad Zuhairi told the UNHRC.

Jerusalem cut is ties with the the UNHRC in March 2012 to protest council actions which it considers show a persistent bias against Israel.

Continue Reading »

UN: No Russians Allowed in Golan Heights Force

The UN reported that Russia is banned from participating in the Golan Heights peacekeeping force, UNDOF.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

The United Nations said on Friday that Russia cannot send troops to the Golan Heights peacekeeping force, after President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to bolster the force, AFP reported.

Russian soldiers march in Moscow

Russian soldiers march in Moscow

Putin offered troops after Austria decided to withdraw its 377 soldiers from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) between Syria and Israel because of growing spillover from the Syria conflict.

However, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said later on Friday that Russia was banned from taking part in the force because it is one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Continue Reading »

Hezbollah showcases Israeli flares & weapons found in al-Qusair

Hezbollah TV shows alleged IDF weapons found in town recently recaptured by Regime’s forces.

 

IDF: They’re ‘left-overs’ from the Israeli 2000 pullout from Lebanon

By Roi Kais

 

The Hezbollah affiliated Al Manar TV channel reported that weapons bearing Hebrew inscriptions have been found in the Syrian town of al-Qusair, recently retaken by Bashar Assad‘s forces and Hezbollah fighters.

Assad's forces in war-toen al-Qusair - Photo Reuters

Assad’s forces in war-toen al-Qusair – Photo: Reuters

The channel’s reporter showed the various weapons, including a 120mm flare.

In the broadcast, the reporter explained that “Israeli side-arms and heavy weapons” were found in the town, including “Uzis, found more than once, Israeli communications devices and heavy rockets.” Continue Reading »

Foreign Ministry strikes against Defense Ministry – Where’s Bibi?

Sanctions of the Foreign Ministry strike include a refusal to issue diplomatic passports to ministers, cessation of cable communications between Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem & delegations around the world and a halt to arrangements for ministerial visits abroad.

 

 

Defense Ministry Director General Udi Shani sent an urgent letter Wednesday to Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he requested that he intercede to end the strike within the Foreign Ministry as soon as possible, in order to save Israel from possible harm to its security and diplomatic ties.

Foreign Ministry union members

Foreign Ministry union members. – Photo: Emil Salman

A senior Israeli official, who read the letter, stated that Shani wrote to Netanyahu that the diplomats’ strike, as well as the decision of the Foreign Ministry union to halt all cooperation with the Israeli Defense Forces has severely hindered the process of changing military and defense ministry attaches in at least ten countries around the world. Continue Reading »

Russia war flotilla move to the Mediterranean

 

President Vladimir Putin sent 16 warships, three ship-based helicopters to the region, saying, “This is a strategically important region and we have tasks to carry out there to provide for the national security of the Russian Federation”.

By Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Russia has deployed a naval unit in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time since the Soviet era, a move Russian President Vladimir Putin says is aimed at defending Russian security, but which comes as Moscow faces off with the West over Syria.

Continue Reading »

French gov’t subsidizes museum’s glorification of Palestinian suicide ‘martyrs’

France’s Culture and Communications Minister, Aurélie Filipetti has yet to close an exhibition where his office subsidizes the glorification of mass murdering random Jewish civilians.

By JTA

 

A Paris museum subsidized by the French government opened an exhibition of photos of Palestinian suicide bombers, which the museum calls freedom fighters.

Death 33The exhibition of 68 photos entitled “Death” by Ahlam Shibli opened on May 28 at the Jeu de Paume museum of contemporary art in Paris.

The museum’s website describes suicide bombers as “those who lost their lives fighting against the occupation,” and the exhibition as being about “the efforts of Palestinian society to preserve their presence.” Continue Reading »

New & Improved U.S. ‘bunker buster’ underwent successful test

Hebrew daily reports: The U.S.’s upgraded bunker buster bomb destroyed a replica of Iran’s underground nuclear facility in its recently conducted test.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
 

 

In an effort to show Israel and other ally states that it is capable of striking Iran’s nuclear plants, the US has recently conducted a test of its bunker buster bomb, destroying a replica of an underground nuclear facility, Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot reported on Friday.

Fordo nuclear siteThe nuclear facility replica, that cost millions of dollars to build, was made of concrete and buried under dozens of feet of dirt and rocks, Yediot reported.

The results of the test were reported to the US’s ally states, among them Israel, to show that Washington is serious about its intentions to strike Tehran’s nuclear facilities, and to demonstrate its ability to specifically target Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment plant near the city of Qom.

Continue Reading »

Pope Francis accepts invitation to visit Israel

After invitation to visit Israel  from Deputy Foreign Minister Elkin, Pope Francis says he has plans to visit Jewish state.

By Itamar Eichner

Three months after succeeding Benedict XVI , Pope Francis has intimated he is planning a visit to Israel. 

Pope Francis - Photo AP

Pope Francis – Photo: AP

The meeting was held at the Pope’s residence rather than the reception hall, at the Pope’s request. At the end of the meeting, the deputy foreign minister presented the Pope with a silver embossment of Jerusalem and invited him to visit Israel, to which he replied that he has every intention of doing so.On Wednesday, the Pope met with Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin as part of Israel’s ongoing dialogue with the Vatican. Continue Reading »

Putin: Russia prepared to replace Austrian (UN) peacekeepers in Golan Heights

Putin commits Russian troops just a day after Vienna announced it would recall its forces from the UN monitoring force, due to worsening fighting in Syria.

By , and Reuters
 

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia is ready to send peacekeepers to the Golan Heights to replace Austrian forces after Vienna said it would recall its troops from a UN monitoring force due to worsening fighting in Syria.

Quneitra

Clashes at Quneitra on the Israel-Syria border caused brush fire that crossed into Israel. – Photo: Gil Eliyahu

“We could replace the leaving Austrian contingent in this region on the border between Israeli troops and the Syrian army,” Putin told the RIA Novosti news agency. Continue Reading »