Scandinavian countries too intimidated to place Hezbollah on EU terror list

 

Israel focusing on getting Scandinavian countries to drop their opposition to the move since a decision would have to be unanimous within the EU for designating Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

By Shlomo Cesana

Israel is pushing for the U.S. and other Western countries to pressure Scandinavian countries to drop their opposition to adding Hezbollah to the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations.

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Sirens sounds throughout Israel as part of Home Front Command’s national drill

Everyone called on to actively participate in national exercise by going to their protected areas when  sirens are sounded at 12:30 pm in afternoon & 7:05 this evening.

 

No sirens will be heard in areas bordering Gaza, in order not to cause panic.

By Yoav Zitun

One of the two sirens part of the annual emergency exercise sounded at noon on Monday. The first alarm sounded at 12:30 pm and was meant primarily as a workplace and educational institution exercise. The second siren will sound vated at 7:05 pm, so families can practice in their homes.

נערכים לתרגיל. השר ארדן, הרמטכ"ל גנץ ואלוף אייזנברג (צילום: דובר צה"ל)

Erdan (second from left), beside IDF chief Benny Gantz – Photo: IDF Spokesperson

Following reports of the firing of a rocket from Lebanese territory toward Metula and keeping in mind Israeli worries of the flow of advanced weaponry from Syria to Hezbollah, the Home Front Command has called on citizens to actively participate in the exercise and enter protected spaces. Continue Reading »

200 Activists in Ankara hold kissing rally against ‘policy of moral conservatism’

Kissing Demonstration was held as protest to public decree at subway station requesting public ‘to behave morally’.

 

 

Two hundred Turks held a mass kissing protest at Ankara’s Kurtulus subway station on Saturday as opposition protesters tried to intervene, according to a report in the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News.
Couple

Kissing Couple – Photo: Reuters

There was a heavy police presence that tried to block protesters from entering the station. The demonstration was called in response to a public announcement at the station – requesting passengers to behave morally, targeting young couples that were “acting inappropriately.” A conservative religious group shouted religious slogans and the police worked to prevent clashes between the groups, according to the report.Mustafa
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Reported: Rocket fired at Israel from southern Lebanon

Lebanese security sources say rocket has been fired in the direction of Israel, although it remains a mystery where it may have landed.

Israeli military & police are searching around Metula for source of impact.

By Reuters

 

A rocket was fired from south Lebanon towards Israel on Sunday, Lebanese security sources said. Residents of the northern Israeli town of Metula reported hearing a blast.

Israel's border with Lebanon.

Archive photo showing IDF soldier on Israel’s border with Lebanon. Photo: Yaron Kaminsky

 

“An explosion was heard. Soldiers are searching the area. The cause is still being investigated,” a spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces said. Continue Reading »

Quartet to invest $4 billion economic plan on Palestinians to make peace

Economic Plan headed by Quartet special envoy Tony Blair, will focus on developing the Palestinian private sector, allowing for an independent Palestinian economy to sustain state.

Kerry cautions: Success of plan depends on Palestinians reaching a diplomatic solution.

 

 

DEAD SEA, Jordan – US Secretary of State John Kerry unveiled on Sunday a $4 billion economic plan to revitalize the Palestinian economy, as he called on Israelis and Palestinians to forgive past wrongs and return to the negotiating table.

President Shimon Peres, US Secretary of State John Kerry and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. - Photo World Economic Forum,Benedikt von Loebell

President Shimon Peres, US Secretary of State John Kerry and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. – Photo: World Economic Forum/Benedikt von Loebell

 

“The plan for the Palestinian economy is bigger and bolder and more ambitious than anything proposed since Oslo more than 20 years ago,” said Kerry as he spoke at the closing session of the World Economic Forum by the Dead Sea in Jordan.

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Arab League nothing less than League of illusions

Op-ed:
Saudi peace initiative
was actually introduced by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. The Arab League’s actions have always failed. Its initiatives to intervene in Syria failed, as in North Africa, Iraq and Lebanon.

Guy Bechor

 

Representatives of the Arab League are amending the “Saudi initiative” and turning it into a “peace” treaty with Israel. Certain elements in the Jewish state rushed to praise the idea, even going as far as claiming that the new initiative is important to Israel. Really?

Arab League conferenceThe Arab League does not exist in reality. The new initiative was actually introduced by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in order to increase Cairo’s influence in the Arab world. Continue Reading »

Future Palestine refuses to accept Palestinian Refugees as citizens of new state

 

The Palestinian ambassador unequivocally says that Palestinian refugees would not become citizens of the sought for UN-recognized Palestinian state. “They are Palestinians, that’s their identity,” he says. “But … they are not automatically citizens.”

By Annie Slemrod of The Daily Star

 

BEIRUT: Palestinian refugees will not become citizens of a new Palestinian state, according to Palestine’s ambassador to Lebanon.

Ambassador Abdullah with Palestine’s symbolic U.N. seat in the foreground. - Photo by Mahmoud Kheir, The Daily Star

Ambassador Abdullah with Palestine’s symbolic U.N. seat in the foreground. – Photo by Mahmoud Kheir, The Daily Star

From behind a desk topped by a miniature model of Palestine’s hoped-for blue United Nations chair, Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah spoke to The Daily Star Wednesday about Palestine’s upcoming bid for U.N.

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Nigerian church donates another ambulance to Israel!

Once again the Nigerian church donates fully equipped ambulance to Israel’s first aid association, Magen David Adom.

Church leaders say there are 40 million Christians in Nigeria who love & support Israel.

By Yossi Aloni

 

Nigerian church and government officials last week came to Israel bearing a large financial gift for Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency medical organization (the local equivalent of the Red Cross).

Nigerian Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) donated ambulance to the Jerusalem MDA station - Photo Courtesy, Magen David Adom

Nigerian Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) donated ambulance to the Jerusalem MDA station – Photo Courtesy, Magen David Adom

 

The Nigerian Redeemed Christian Church of God had previously donated a new ambulance to the MDA station in Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

At Beyonce show in Germany, locals call out: ‘Dirty Jews’

 

German members of the audience at the Beyonce concert attack a group of eight Israelis, including 2 soldiers on leave, who arrived early enough to situate themselves at the front row. They got shoved and were called,“dirty Jews.”

By Eran Suissa

 

Israelis attending a Beyonce concert in Berlin over the weekend were met with anti-Semitic chants from the audience.

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In Senegal, a bush-tribe called ‘Sons of Israel’ claim Jewish heritage

“We are all practicing Muslims and we don’t want to become Jewish,” Fadiga says. “In fact, we don’t like to talk too much about our Jewish background, but we don’t hide it either.”

Dougoutigo Fadiga, Senegal

Dougoutigo Fadiga outside the Bani Israel clinic near the Senegalese village’s sacred tree, May 2013. – Photo: Cnaan Liphshiz

“The tree is holy grounds,” says Fadiga, president of this remote settlement of 4,000 souls.

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PM at cabinet meeting: ‘Israel is the most threatened state in the world’

With ‘national emergency week’ begining, as a chemical warfare drill is held country-wide, the Prime Minister says no protection can be a substitute for the striking power of the IDF & stamina and strength of the Israeli public.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

“Israel is the most threatened state in the world,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday at the start of “national emergency week.”

Netanyahu arrives for weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusaelm, May 26, 2013 – Photo: REUTERS/Menahem Kahana/Pool

Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, the prime minister said that the threats against the Israeli Home Front have significantly increased in recent years, pointing to missile and rocket threats.

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New West Bank road to be built for protection against stone throwing

 

In attempt to alleviate growing instances of West Bank stone throwing, IDF commander says new road is planned to protect drivers.

 

Area police chief says: ‘If stones are thrown at you and no one is critically injured, just keep on driving’

By Yoav Zitun

IDF Etzion Sector Commander Colonel Yaniv Alaluf held a meeting with residents of the settlement of Efrat, saying that a new road is to be built in Gush Etzion in an attempt to protect drivers from incidents of stone hurling.

CheckpointThe road construction is expected to be completed within a year.

The meeting was held following the complaints of residents of the settlement against the increasing number of stone throwing incidents in the area. Continue Reading »

Who will Kerry blame for failed peace-talks Netanyahu or Abbas?

 

John Kerry might not be returning to the region soon, but he will continue to pressure Abbas & Netanyahu into saying yes to his plan, the outlines of which are explained here.

 

Secretary of State John Kerry tried to explain at a press conference at Ben-Gurion International Airport why he had been investing most of his time over the past months in a desperate attempt to renew the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kerry and Netanyahu

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meeting with Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem May 23, 2013. – Photo: Reuters

 

He said that in every country he had visited – China, Japan, throughout Europe and in the Persian Gulf – and before coming here, during meetings with the foreign ministers of Brazil and New Zealand – the first question that came up was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Continue Reading »

Grad Rockets Fall on Hizbullah Neighborhood

Two Soviet-made Grad missiles explode in Hizbullah-dominated southern Beirut, injuring at least 4 people.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Two rockets exploded in southern Beirut on Sunday morning. The rockets hit the Hizbullah-dominated neighborhood of Dahiya, injuring at least four people.

Nasrallah supporter - Photo AP

Nasrallah supporter – Photo AP

It was not immediately clear who fired the rockets, or where they were fired from.

One possibility that has been raised in the Lebanese media is that the rockets were fired from a nearby “Palestinian refugee camp” housing Arabs descended from those who fled pre-state Israel in 1948.

The attack may have been linked to Hizbullah’s heavy involvement in the internal Syrian conflict. Continue Reading »

Russian parliament forming Pro-Israel caucus

An Israeli delegation met with influential Christian parliamentarians to talk about raising support for Israel by forming a Russia-Israel alliance in the Duma.

 

A select group of Russian parliament members will soon be urging their colleagues to say “da” to Israel after a delegation of Israelis took steps to initiate the formation of a pro-Israel caucus in the Duma in meetings last week in Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Prime Minister Netanyahu in the Black Sea, May 14, 2013. - Photo REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin Prime Minister Netanyahu in the Black Sea, May 14, 2013. – Photo: REUTERS

The delegation from the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus (KCAC) and the World Jewish Congress met with influential Christian leaders from across Russia.

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